Blueberry Bakewell Tarts

These delightful little tarts are a treat with a cup of tea or coffee, or even for a dessert after a delicious meal.

Ingredients:
For the blueberry jam:
125g fresh or frozen blueberries
15ml caster sugar
A squeeze of lemon juice

For the pastry:
200g plain flour
100g butter, chilled and cubed
40g icing sugar, sifted
1 large egg, beaten

For the frangipane:
55g butter, softened
55g caster sugar
1 large egg, beaten
40g ground almonds
15g plain flour

To decorate:
50g icing sugar, sifted
Fresh blueberries

Method:
Preheat the oven to 170C.

In a small saucepan, combine the ingredients for the jam and heat gently until the berries start to burst. Cook for a few minutes until the mixture is very thick and has lost its watery appearance. Press through a sieve to remove the skins. Allow to cool completely.

To make the pastry, sift the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar. Using a palette knife cut in the egg, press the dough all together to form a ball, wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out the pastry between a sheet of greaseproof paper and the cling film to 3mm thickness. Use a 5cm round cutter to cut out 12 discs. Use the rounds to line the base of a greased 12-hole, non-stick muffin tray. Cut 12 strips 1cm wide and 20cm long from the remaining pastry. Use these to line the sides of the muffin tray, carefully pressing the pastry together at the seams to seal. Chill for 15 minutes.

Place the ingredients for the frangipane in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and thoroughly combined. Prick the bases of the pastry cases with a fork. Divide the cooled jam among them, placing half a teaspoon in each. Top with the frangipane.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until the frangipane is risen and golden. Cool in the tray for a few minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Mix in the icing sugar with a little water to form a runny paste and use to decorate the tarts. Top with blueberries.

Coffee and Walnut Cake

This English teatime cake is found in every museum and gallery café for good reason.

It is a wonderful pick-me-up in the afternoon.

Ingredients:
For the cake:
200g walnuts halves
200g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
200g caster sugar
4 eggs
50ml coffee granules, dissolved in 30ml boiling water
200g self-raising flour

For the icing:
600g full-fat cream cheese
100g light brown sugar
Icing sugar for dusting

Method:
Preheat the oven to 170C. Butter a 20cm spring-form or loose bottomed cake tin, about 7cm deep, and line the bottom with baking paper.
Spread the walnuts out on a baking tray and place in the oven to very gently toast for about 7 minutes. They need to be just turning golden. Remove the tray from the oven and allow the nuts to cool. Roughly crush half of the walnuts with the side of a large knife and set aside. Reserve the remaining nuts for decoration.
In a bowl, cream together the softened butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the coffee. Fold in the flour and the crushed walnuts. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top with a spatula.
Bake in the oven for 45-55 minutes, or until the cake is springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven. Allow it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Run a knife along the inside edge of the tin and turn the cake out onto a wire rack. Allow the cake to cool completely –could take up to 2 hours – before icing it. In the meantime make the icing.
In a bowl, beat the cream cheese with the light brown sugar until creamy. Place the cooled cake on a serving plate or stand. Spread the mixture over the cake and cover with the reserved walnuts. Dust with icing sugar.
This cake will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Marbled Mocha Cake

On a warm spring afternoon everybody loves a teatime treat. There's few that wouldn't appreciate this coffee and chocolate flavoured cake. It's luscious and light and the mascarpone icing is to die for doll, with crunchy chocolate-covered coffee beans, available from most good supermarkets, to make a speedy decoration.

For variety, use Maltesers, Planets or Revels to scatter over the top of the cake.

Ingredients:
For the Cake:
225g butter, plus extra for greesing the tin
30ml cocoa
30-45ml instant coffee
2ml vanilla extract
225g golden caster sugar
225g flour
20ml baking powder
4 eggs

For the Coffee Icing:
2 x 250g tubs mascarpone
85g golden caster sugar
20ml instant coffee dissolved in 20ml boiling water

To Decorate:
plain chocolate coffee beans (or Maltesers, Planets or Revels)
Cocoa

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line the baes of 2 buttered 20cm sandwich tins with baking paper.
Mix the cocoa with 30ml boiling water in a medium bowl until smooth. In a cup, mix the coffee with 15ml boiling water, add the vanilla extract and stir to dissolve.
Put the butter, sugar and flour, baking powder and eggs in a large bowl and beat until smooth. spoon half the mixture onto the cocoa and beat well. Flavour the remaining mixture with the dissolved coffee. Spoon alternate dollops of mixture into the sandwich tins and tap sharply to allow the mixes to join and level. Run a skewer through the mixes to marble them together, but don't blend too much. You don't want them completely combined.
Bake for 25 minutes or until set and springy when touched in the centre of each pan. Cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then remove the cakes from their tins and continue cooling on a wire rack.
For the icing, beat the mascarpone with the sugar and coffee until well mixed. When the cakes have cooled, Strip away the lining paper. Sandwich the cakes together with some of the icing, ten use the rest to swirl on top. Scatter with coffee beans (or chocolate candy balls) and dust with a little cocoa.

Mississippi Mud Pie

This decadent, rich pie has a thick filling and a crumbly biscuit base, similar to a cheese cake. It is said to resemble the muddy banks of the Mississippi river and remains a popular dessert in the southern states of USA. There are many variations, most of which have just one layer of chocolate filling, but I like to vary it with having a paler coffee filling on top of a dark chocolate filling.

Ingredients:

For the biscuit base:

200g digestive biscuits

60g butter, diced

60 dark chocolate, chopped

For the Chocolate Filling:

90g dark chocolate, chopped

90g butter, diced

2 eggs, lightly beaten

90g dark muscovado sugar

100ml double cream

For the Coffee Filling:

90g white chocolate, chopped

90g butter, diced

2 eggs, lightly beaten

90g white sugar

100ml double cream

10ml instant coffee powder, dissolved in 30ml hot water and cooled

For the topping:

100ml double cream, well chilled

50ml icing sugar

1 Chocolate Flaky to scatter on top.

Method:

To make the base, put the digestive biscuits into a re-sealable bag and lightly bash them with a rolling pin until evenly crushed. Tip into a large bowl. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Stir until smooth, then take off the heat, pour onto the crushed biscuits and mix until evenly combined. Tip the crumb mixture into a 23cm cake tin with removable base. Using the back of the spoon, press the mixture onto the base and up the sides of the tin to cover evenly. Chill to allow the base to firm up.

Preheat the oven to 180°C

To make the chocolate filling, melt the dark chocolate and butter together in a bowl over simmering water and leave to cool slightly. In another large bowl, beat the eggs and muscovado sugar together, using an electric mixer, until thick and doubled in volume. Whisk in the cream, then fold through the melted chocolate and butter.

To make the coffee filling, melt the white chocolate and butter together in a bowl over simmering water (as above) and leave to cool slightly. In another large bowl, beat the eggs and white sugar together, using an electric mixer, until thick and doubled in volume. Whisk in the cream and the dissolved coffee, then fold through the melted chocolate and butter.

Pour the chocolate mixture over the biscuit base and carefully top that with the coffee mixture. Try not to get them mixed together. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes until just firm. Allow to cool completely before removing from the tin.

For the topping, whip the cream with icing sugar until it holds soft peaks. Spread this over the top of the cooled pie and finish with a scattering of broken up flaky. Cut into slices to serve.

Blueberry Coffee Muffins

Whether served as a desert,

a breakfast muffin or to girlfriends on a coffee morning,

these muffins are a favourite treat.

Ingredients:
180g butter
325ml sugar
3 eggs
7.5ml vanilla extract
250g sour cream
60ml milk
625ml flour
10ml Baking powder
5ml bicarbonate of soda
2ml salt
5ml instant coffee granules
2 punnets of blueberries

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy, then while beating add the eggs one at a time.
Add the vanilla, sour cream and milk and fold in to create a batter.
In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients of flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt and coffee.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet, a little at a time, until all combined. Don't over mix.
Add the blueberries and fold into the mixture.
Spoon into muffin pans with muffin papers and bake in a moderate oven for 25-30 minutes. Makes about 15-16 muffins. I like my muffins large, so I make 12 from this mixture.