Spring Baking Recipes

With Spring now here, we thought it would be a good idea to suggest some delicious goodies for you to make while being stuck at home. After all, who doesn’t love a sweet treat?

White chocolate and dried mango rocky road

Ingredients

200g white chocolate

2 tbsp golden syrup

130g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

Pinch of salt

½ tsp ground cinnamon

200g digestive biscuits

100g mini marshmallows

150g dried mango

1 tbsp icing sugar, for dusting

Method

1. Lightly grease the inside of a 23cm square baking tin. Line the base and sides of the tin with baking paper.

2. Put about 2.5 cm of water into a medium saucepan. Find a heatproof bowl that will fit the top of the pan. Make sure the base of the bowl does not touch the water.

3. Put the pan on the hob and bring the water to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and add the white chocolate, golden syrup, and butter into the bowl. Stir occasionally to allow the mixture to come together. As soon as the mixture is smooth, take it off the heat and allow to cool for around 10 minutes.

4. Add the salt and cinnamon and mix.

5. Crush the biscuits very roughly by putting them into a freezer bag and crushing them with a rolling pin. Make sure there are still chunks of biscuits and do not turn them into tiny crumbs! Empty the contents of the bag into the chocolate mixture and stir. Add the mini marshmallows and dried mango and stir until everything is coated in the chocolate mixture.

6. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and use the back of a spoon to flatten it and press it into the corners.

7. Put the tin into the fridge for at least 2 hours, or until set.

8. Take it out of the tin and unwrap. Dust with the icing sugar and slice it into squares.

Cupcakes (inspired by the BBC’s online recipe which you can find here: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/cupcakes)

Ingredients

110g softened butter

110g golden caster sugar

2 large eggs

½ tsp vanilla extract

110g self-raising flour

For the buttercream

150g softened butter

300g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp milk

Food colouring of your choice (optional)

Decorations of your choice (optional)

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and fill a cupcake tray with cases.

2. Using an electric whisk, beat 110g softened butter and 110g golden caster sugar together until pale and fluffy then whisk in 2 large eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.

3. Add ½ tsp vanilla extract, 110g self-raising flour and a pinch of salt, whisk until just combined then spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases.

4. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle of each cake comes out clean. Leave to cool completely.

5. To make the buttercream, whisk 150g softened butter until soft then add 300g icing sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract and a pinch of salt.

6. Whisk together until smooth then beat in 3 tbsp milk.

7. If you want to colour the buttercream, stir in the food colouring. Spoon or pipe onto the cooled cupcakes. To make them look even more like Spring themed cupcakes, add mini Easter eggs or edible flowers for decoration.