Creamed Sweetcorn and Blueberry Loaf Cake with Zingy Lime Icing​

This delicious, moist and flavourful cake is packed with sweetness from the creamed corn, to the addition of tart blueberry conserve to the hit of lip smacking lime icing. 

I know what you are thinking – creamed sweetcorn in a cake? But if you think about it cornbread is good and that is really just a cake made from corn! Trust me it works. I had a can of creamed sweetcorn in the cupboard and it had been there for a while. I wondered what could I come up with using this, apart from soup or succotash - whatever that is. Then I thought that a bit like the addition of pumpkin in my pumpkin and pecan loaf cake recipe, the vegetable would add a depth of flavour and a tempting moistness. There is nothing worse than a dry cake is there?! 

So I decided to use that, some blueberry conserve which was hidden away at the back of the fridge, and limes – a big bag of which we keep for using in gin. One wouldn’t go amiss! I made the batter, stirring up the ingredients by hand in a bowl, the good old fashioned way. I transferred it to the prepared loaf tin and added dollops of blueberry conserve to the batter, mixing it through with a knife to give it a nice swirl effect. 

I popped it in the pre-heated oven and when it was ready I let the cake cool in its tin for a few minutes before turning it out onto a wire cooling rack. Then with some icing sugar and the juice of one whole lime, I made a simple icing which could be drizzled over the top of the cake. I let is set and fully cool whilst we went to the cinema and then we came back and had dinner, followed by a slice of the cake, with a dollop of thick cream on the side. I didn’t tell Disneyboi what the secret ingredient was as he would likely have baulked at the thought – so after he had enjoyed his wedge, I told him and he was surprised. 

He’s not a huge fan of sweetcorn, but does love cornbread. So the cake's flavour doesn’t taste like a can of Green Giant don’t worry. But lies somewhere between cornbread and a blueberry muffin. That doesn’t sound too bad does it?! Here’s how I made it… 

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Creamed Sweetcorn and Blueberry Loaf Cake

by S Vettese October-31-2020

Moist Cake made with creamed sweetcorn and blueberry conserve swirls

Ingredients

• 200 grams granulated sugar
• 100 grams vegetable oil
• 3 medium eggs
• 200 grams of creamed sweetcorn
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 250 grams self raising flour
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 6-8 heaped tablespoons blueberry conserve
• Juice of one lime
• Icing Sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C (160 fan) and grease and flour a two pound loaf tin. 

2. In a bowl, add the sugar and oil, mixing together until smooth and the sugar is absorbed. 

3. Add the eggs, sweetcorn and vanilla and stir to incorporate. 

4. Add the flour and bicarb and stir this through until a smooth batter is achieved. 

5. Transfer to the loaf tin and dollop the blueberry conserve onto the top of the batter. 

6. With a knife or end of a spoon swirl the conserve through the batter. 

7. Pop in the oven for 45 to 60 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean from the centre of the cake. 

8. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the loaf tin and placing on a wire rack. 

9. Make the icing by mixing the lime juice with enough icing sugar to achieve a drizzling consistency 10. Drizzle the icing over the cake and allow to set slightly before slicing. 

11. Best served warm with a bit of cream on the side

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 45 - 60 mins Total time: 1 hr 20 mins Yield: 1 loaf cake

Creamed sweetcorn can be found in most large supermarkets in the tinned veg aisle.

Zombie Cake Banana Bread

A tempting banana loaf infused with the taste of porter – specifically BrewDog Zombie Cake – which gives it an amazing depth of flavour.

Well, since everyone has been in lockdown, it seems we have all taken to using up our foosty (great Scottish word there) bananas in the best way we know how – turning them into banana bread. There is something warm and comforting about banana bread and that is why we are possibly turning to this old favourite, in these difficult times.

To add flavour to mine, I decided to add my favourite porter to the mix, as I knew the flavours in Zombie Cake from BrewDog, would work extremely well with the ‘nana sweetness of the cake batter. Zombie Cake is described as a praline porter, with notes of toffee and chocolate, followed by vanilla, coffee and nuts. So you can see exactly why I thought this would be a perfect combination.

Aside from drinking the porter, this is a great way to get my BrewDog fix which I am missing greatly since the pub has been shut!

I made my usual banana loaf recipe, changing the amounts slightly to compensate for the added liquid. I used very ripe bananas which were way past their best for eating, ideal for the recipe. I mashed them up with a fork and then set about making the batter.

To top the cake, I had pre-cut slices of banana which when baked, looked lovely on top of the finished loaf. Doing this is entirely optional, but remember to do this before you mash the bananas.

When eating the cake, I could taste all those notes from the Zombie Cake porter, which did give it an amazing depth of flavour which you couldn’t quite put your finger on. It kept the banana bread moist and I stored it in an airtight container for a week, having a wee slice each night with a cuppa.

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Zombie Cake Banana Bread

by S Vettese April-12-2020

Moist Banana Bread infused with a chocolate porter

Ingredients

• 60ml vegetable oil
• 100 grams dark brown sugar
• 50 grams granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 Over ripe Bananas Mashed
• 200 grams plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 125ml BrewDog Zombie Cake Porter

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan) and grease and flour a regular sized loaf tin.In a bowl, sift together the flour, salt, bicarb and cinnamon. Set aside.In another bowl, beat together the veg oil, sugars, egg and vanilla until thoroughly combined.Add the mashed banana and stir this through.Add the dry ingredients and mix these together until just combined and dry bits can be seen.Lastly add the porter and stir this through before pouring the batter into the loaf pan.Top with the banana slices if doing so, the place in the oven and cook for 55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the centre of the cake.Once baked, leave to cool before removing from the pan.Allow to cool completely before slicing. The banana bread keeps well for a week in an airtight container.

Details

Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 55 mins Total time: 1 hr 15 mins Yield: 1 loaf cake

Disclaimer: I have not been paid for this post. However, I do hold shares in BrewDog.

White Chocolate Chunk Blondies

I always wondered what it would take to get me blogging and now I know – a global pandemic!

Hello everyone, in case you have missed me, and I hope you that you are all staying safe and well in these crazy, scary times we are now living in.

I have had some time on my hands, like most of you out there. I will be at work some of the time, as I am a key worker, but will be at home for periods too. So I have cleaned the house, tidied the garden, caught up with the seasons I haven’t seen of Chicago Fire, but what else could I do?

With Disneyboi fiddling away on the PC upstairs, as he can work from home, I thought why not a spot of baking? It’s been a while, but there is something extremely calming and comforting about baking as I’m sure, if you have stumbled upon this post, you agree with too.

So I popped to the supermarket with a list of ingredients (along with other essentials!) and queued to get into the shop, staying 2 metres away from my fellow shoppers. With barely a square of Andrex, or bag of penne to be found, thankfully I could see the white chocolate staring at me from the shelves.

I had a hankering for White Chocolate Chunk Blondies, which is nothing too outrageous, but just what I fancied. For white chocolate it has to be Milky Bar, the best white chocolate around. As I child I was often called the Milky Bar kid, as I had a shock of whitey blonde hair and a pair of penny rounder, John Lennon style, spectacles with the wee loops which went around my ears to keep them on. I think I might have been quite cute!

source

I digress however. I wanted to make a gooey bar of caramelised sugar studded with delicious white chocolate. So my go to recipe for blondies was adapted to include a mixture of milky bar chunks and lots of milky bar giant buttons.

This is so easy to mix up with just a few ingredients that you may already have lurking in your kitchen cupboards. It takes no time at all to bake in the oven and is scrummy to eat when still warm from the oven.

Baked in a brownie pan, or any square tin you have, I lined mine with greaseproof paper which I keep in place with some binder clips - all sterilised and cleaned of course. For the chunks I chopped each chunk of large bar of Milky Bar into two and mixed these through, along with giant Milky Bar button. Any white chocolate you like would suffice of course.

The recipe uses vegetable oil. Using oil instead of butter ensures that the bars stay gooey and moist even once cooled. Any flavourless oil would work here, but I always have veg oil on hand.

I baked them in my oven which has a mind of it's own and they are a bit darker on top than I would have liked. But it doesn't affect the taste at all, it's purely aesthetic. If you'd like paler coloured blondies, you can always tent your pan with a bit of foil to stop it catching.

The dark brown sugar in the recipe gives the bars a golden caramel taste and with the ultra-sweet white chocolate they are ideal for those of you, like me, with an extremely sweet tooth.

Once made, I cut them into squares and sat down to enjoy them with a cuppa and an episode of Tiger King – desperate times!!

If you make these, I hope you enjoy and please stay safe everyone.

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White  Chocolate Chunk Blondies

by S Vettese March-29-2020

Soft caramelly bars of deliciousness studded with tons of white chocolate chunks and buttons

Ingredients

• 125ml vegetable oil
• 230 grams dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 125 grams plain flour
• 100 grams white chocolate chunks
• 100 grams giant white chocolate buttons

Instructions

Line an 8"x8" brownie pan with greaseproof paper and preheat the oven to 180C (150C fan). In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt. Set aside.In another bowl, stir together the sugar and vegetable oil until it resembles wet sand. Add the egg and vanilla and stir to combine.Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Add the white chocolate and stir these through also.Pour the batter into the brownie panWith a spatula or knife, spread the mixture into the corers of the pan. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.Allow the blondies to cool slightly before removing gently from the pan. Then with a knife cut into 16 equal squares. Your blondies can be eaten slightly warm and stored in an airtight container up to a week.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 25 mins Yield: 16 bars