Millionaires Shortbread

Hey people of the internet :)

I've decided to make a Millionaires Shortbread because a lot of people think that it is hard to make because it involves making caramel and so I wanted to give a simple recipe for you guys to follow. So here we go :)

What you will need:

1. 23cm/9in square tin
2. Greaseproof paper
3. Measuring scales
4. Mixing bowl or food processor
5. Metal spoon and two wooden/plastic spoons
6. Two saucepans
7. One bowl to fit over one of the saucepans
8. Chopping board
9. Sharp Knife

Ingredients:

Shortbread Biscuits:-

1. 8oz/225g/  Plain flour
2. 6oz/175g/  Unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
3. 2 3/4oz/75g/   Caster Sugar

Toppings:-

4. 5oz/150g/  Butter
5. 1 x 379g Condensed milk
6. 3 1/2oz/100g/  Golden syrup

7. 12oz/350g/  Dark chocolate chopped into pieces

Method: 

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius or 300 degrees Fahrenheit

2. Line a 23cm/9in square tin with greaseproof paper.

3. Place the cubes of butter and flour into a mixing bowl. Rub the flour and butter together. You do this by getting some of the mixture and rubbing it between your thumbs and your fingers until there is no lumps of butter left and it looks like bread crumbs. If this doesn't take your fancy then you can use a food processor and pulse the flour and butter together until it resembles bread crumbs.

 4. Add the caster sugar. Either mix it in with a spoon if you were using your hands or put it in the food processor and pulse again.

5. Place the mixture into the lined tin and spread it evenly along the bottom of the tin with the back of a spoon. Then press the shortbread mixture down firmly with your knuckles. And then prick the surface with a fork.

 
 6. Using oven gloves to place the tin in the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes or until it looks golden brown.

7. Set aside the tin to cool. At this point if you just want the shortbread then take it out of the tin, sprinkle caster sugar over the top and cut into rectangles. 

8. If you want to continue then, while the biscuit is cooling, we can move onto the topping.

9. Place the butter, condensed milk and golden syrup in a saucepan over a medium heat, stirring occasionally until the butter has completely melted and the mixture is smooth.

 


10. Increase the heat slightly and bring the mixture to a boil and stir continuously. The caramel thicken and glossy, so take it off the heat immediately and set aside to cool slightly. Then poor it on the cool shortbread to cool completely.

  


11. Once the caramel has set and is cool, we can move onto the chocolate.

12. Get a pan of water and put it over the heat so it starts to simmer. While it is starting to simmer, place the pieces of chocolate into a bowl and then place it over the simmering water. Make sure that the bowl does not touch the water. Stir occasionally to stop the chocolate sticking to the bottom.

 
13. Pour the chocolate over the caramel and leave to set, this should take a hour onward.

 




14. Once it is set, take it out of the tin and cut into squares.

And wholah you have a treat for yourself, enjoy :)

If you need any help or have any requests feel free to talk to me on twitter at @Funny_Girl225

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The Basics: A Victoria Sponge Cake

A Victoria Sponge Cake is the basic cake, its simple and easy and can be developed. Once you have mastered this cake, you have the whole world of cakes at your finger tips. You can go onto develop the cake with different icings, flavours or shapes. So the aim is to make this easy to follow so that your baking experience can be enjoyable :)

What you are going to need:

1. A measuring scale
2. A mixing bowl
3. An electric whisk (you can use a balloon whisk but it is hard work)
4. 3 small bowls for 3 eggs
5. 1 medium bowl for flour
6. Sieve
7. Spatula
8. Two 6 inch cake tins
9. Greaseproof paper
10. Metal spoon and a knife
11. Cocktail sticks
12. A cooling rack

Ingredients: 

1. 6oz/170g/ 0.75 cup Softened butter
2. 6oz/170g/0.75 cup Caster Sugar
3. 3 eggs
4. 6oz/170g/ 0.75 cup Sieved self raising flour
5. Either flour + butter or oil to grease the tins
6. 3 tablespoons of jam
7. Caster sugar or icing sugar to sprinkle

Method:

1. Preheat  the oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 356 degrees Fahrenheit

2. Greasing the tins. Get the greaseproof paper, place the cake tins on top and draw around them in pencil and then cut around the pencil marks, so you have two circles. From that there will be scrap pieces of greaseproof paper and so use them to spread the butter across the bottom of the tins and up the sides. Then place the circular pieces of greaseproof paper into the bottom of the tins and then spread butter on top of that. Finally put a tablespoon of flour into the tins and then move the tin around so the flour completely covers the tin, place the tins to one side. If you want to use oil do the same as the butter but with oil and do not add flour.

 

3. Making the cake. Weigh out the butter and the caster sugar into the mixing bowl. Weigh out and sieve the flour into the medium sized bowl. Crack the eggs into the small bowls, one egg into each bowl.

4. Mix the butter and the caster sugar together with the electric whisk until completely incorporated, which is for about 2-3 minutes.

5. Add the eggs little by little into the butter and sugar mixture and mix fully with the electric whisk, keep on adding more egg until all the eggs are incorporated. It is vital that this process is not rushed, otherwise the cake could curdle (which means is looks a little like scrambled eggs) and it may not rise as well. If this does occur add a tablespoon of flour and whisk and then continue on with adding the eggs.

6. Use a metal spoon to FOLD in the flour a tablespoon at a time, do not use the electric whisk for this step. If you do not know what folding is, it is the creating of a figure 8 in the mixing bowl continually until all flour is incorporated.

7. Half the mixture evenly into the two cake tins. Even out the cake mixture in the tins and then using oven gloves to place the tins into the preheated oven for 25 minutes.

8. Using oven gloves remove the tins and place one cocktail stick into each tin and see if the cocktail sticks come out clean (if it does it is cooked), otherwise place the cakes back into the oven for 2-5 minutes and check them again.

9. Place the tins on the cooling rack and leave them there until the cakes are completely cool, which takes about 20-30 minutes.

10. Once the cakes are completely cool, run a knife around the sides of the tin to make sure they are not stuck and remove them from the tins, take off the greaseproof paper and return them to the cooling rack.

11. Now that the cakes are cool you can decorate. Put three tablespoon of jam onto one cake and spread it evenly, add more if you prefer a stronger taste in jam. Place the other cake on top and then sprinkle either caster sugar or icing sugar over the top cake to finish. I, personally, prefer caster sugar as it adds extra texture.

There you go, you have a Victoria Sponge Cake. I hope this was useful :)

If you need any help or have any requests feel free to talk to me on twitter at @Funny_Girl225

Hey there!

Hey there, I'm Victoria, kinda obvious from the name of this blog, and I'm just an ordinary girl with a passion for cakes. Is there a reason behind this? Well... why not? The fact my friends have been bugging me to make a blog may have come into play, but really I want to help the people of the internet start to bake. So this blog post is going to be everything to do with baking, I'll post things from simple recipes, to complex recipes, to cake decorating and anything in between. Enjoy and get baking :)