Sun's Out, Buns Out
…Or at least it was. Two delicious bites this week with a Texas Sheet Cake and my Baked Summer Berry Custard Crumble Buns. A mouthful of deliciousness in every way.
A little One Bake Two Ways book update…
I KNOW I SAID NO MORE BOOK CHAT FOR A BIT BUT I LIED OKAY. And anyway, this one is important, I promise!
I just wanted to share with my UK friends a little update on delivery. Some of you who have ordered through Waterstones may have received an update email yesterday with a new delivery date – unfortunately the books are currently sunning themselves in a port in Malaysia which means they have been held up ever so slightly. A nice life for them I know but does mean our publication date has changed from May 23rd to June 20th, so just a few weeks later than planned.
Whilst this may sound like a small drag, it does give me and my lovely publishing team a little more time to do some fun promo bits including giveaways (we love the free stuff!) and recipe reels, as well as allowing me to show off the book in a bit more detail than I have done so far. And ya know, as they say, good things come to those who wait/cake.
Currently the book is on offer at a few places:
Waterstones are still offering £6 off for my UK friends.
Amazon in the UK have the book with 15% off.
Amazon in America has the book available with a 10% discount.
Amazon in Canada has it available with a whopping 28% OFF!!
Mildly questioning the latter about whether this is an error on their part, I truly have no clue but whilst it is there, GRAB A COPY CANADA FRIENDS BEFORE THEY REALISE. I’m now going to go through the rest of Europe on there to see if there are any more bargains occurring and will keep you updated.
She really is a beauty of a book. Albeit delayed, I promise you, it will be well worth the wait. If anyone has any questions about the book, wants to know more about the recipes or is still unclear on the book premise, feel free to drop me a message and we can have a little yap about all things One Bake.
First up this week we have the latest ‘Around The World’ bake. I have no idea how we are at number 38 – part of me thinks “already?”. Then the other half of me is like, “is this it??”. Then the emotional part of me is like “what the hell am I going to do with my life once this series is over??”. Then the brain part of me is like “we’ll move onto another 80 something list” but then the body part of me is like “please detox from sugar for a bit cause your cholesterol is mad high”.
Once that chaotic internal dialogue has chilled out a bit, I will let you know the plans for life post 80 cakes cause right now, it took us a whole damn year to get to the halfway point so worrying what what comes next truly is a Rubes 2025 problem. She can deal with that. We don’t need to.
So in at 38, we head back over to the United States and this time, we hit up Texas with its Texas Sheet Cake. This cake is a total crowd pleasing bake and by the sounds of it (thanks insta friends for dropping the intel), gets served up at events, occasions, parties, funerals (I guess if I am sad, I may as well be sad with cake??), picnics, potlucks (what really is a potluck and do I need to start potlucking?) and I can see why because it is an incredibly easy cake to whip up, especially for a large crowd.
I know my reel wasn’t particularly clear with my feelings on the cake so just going to clarify this once and say I DID LIKE IT, I just didn't like it enough for it to be all the way down at number 38. I meaaaan, this?? Better than a Brooklyn Blackout? Behave. I dream about that baby often and between you and I, it will be right up there as one of the first bakes on my bakery menu whenever I get brave (slash rich) enough to do that.
Before I take up my qualms with the people behind the list (pls don't ask me where it is from cause we all agreed yonks back to keep it a secret), I will say that this is the perfect beginner bake. It is super easy and really quick to make, bake and eat so if your kitchen expertise hits the heights of burning water, then this may be the bake for you. It really is just a mix and bake sorta number and with no fancy pants equipment required either, I could see this being a great weekend bake to make with the kids (my kid being a dog so let that term be as loose as you need).
It's made up of a light, kinda dense, super moist chocolate sponge which is topped with a sweet chocolate frosting and a tonne of pecans. Mine was more brownie-esque by the time I got to eating it as I let it marinate in the fridge overnight but I truly wish I got to enjoy this one slightly warm cause I could imagine that to be a much better way of enjoying it.
The below recipe is converted, tweaked and adjusted from a highly rated recipe on google and whilst it is traditionally baked in a large jelly roll pan (what on earth is that?), I just used what I already had knocking around to avoid me buying a pan to only ever use once.
So, to give it a go, you will need:
Recipe Makes: 1 x 20 by 30 cm / 8 by 12 inch deep tin
Recipe Serves: 12
Y O U – W I L L – N E E D –
Sponge
235 ml Water
225 g Unsalted Butter, diced
20 g Cocoa Powder, sifted
240 g Plain Flour, sifted
350 g Light Brown Sugar
1.25 tsp Baking Powder, sifted
½ tsp Sea Salt
125 g Sour Cream, room temp
2 Large Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
Frosting
120 ml Whole Milk
20 g Cocoa Powder, sifted
145 g Unsalted Butter, diced
70 g Dark Chocolate, chunks
400 g Icing Sugar, sifted
150 g Pecans, roughly chopped
M E T H O D -
Preheat the oven to 150C Fan/170C/340F/Gas Mark 3 and grease and overline a 20 by 30 cm / 8 by 12 inch deep tin. NOTE: the overlining will help you pull out the cake if the tin does not have a removable base.
For the sponge, add the water, unsalted butter and cocoa powder to a saucepan. Place over a medium heat, stirring occasionally. Bring to the boil.
Whilst you are waiting, add the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder to a large bowl and use balloon whisk to mix until combined.
In a small bowl, add the sour cream, eggs and vanilla and mix until smooth.
Once the cocoa water has come to a boil, remove from the heat and add in the sour cream. Mix well before pouring into the flour bowl.
Use a balloon whisk to mix until smooth and no visible flour streaks remain. Pour batter into your lined tin and pop into the oven to bake for 26 to 28 minutes until the sides of the sponge have started to come away from the tin and the top of the sponge is soft but bouncy.
Whilst you are waiting for your cake to bake, make the chocolate frosting. Add the milk, cocoa powder, butter and chocolate chunks to a pan and place over a medium heat.
Stir occasionally to avoid the base from catching and bring to a boil. When boiling, remove from the heat and add the sifted icing sugar. Use a balloon whisk to mix until smooth and no lumps of icing sugar remain.
Add the chopped pecans before mixing again.
As soon as your cake has baked, remove it from the oven and pour over the hot chocolate frosting topping. Use the back of a spoon to level out and spread before leaving the sponge to cool and the icing sugar to set.
Once set, remove the sponge from the tin and place a serving board.
Use a hot knife to slice before serving and enjoying on it’s own or topped with some vanilla ice cream.
Moving onto the main bake of the day, we have my Baked Summer Berry Custard Crumble Buns – the name is a working title okay. It’s truly a delicious mouthful in every way and after a weekend in the sun in Saint Tropez, I was desperate to make something fruity, light and delicious as a way of welcoming myself back into the kitchen after a few days off.
I totally get that baking bread from scratch can seem quite daunting slash be extremely time consuming but I have broken down your timings over in Rubes Recommends so you truly can have your cake (or bread in this case) and eat it. UK friends, I may have peeped the weather forecast for this weekend and Saturday is looking like it may be a misery guts day so make these this weekend to bring a little pep to your step.
These beautifully bouncy babies are made up of a deliciously soft, plump, buttery vanilla brioche bread and filled with a good glug of vanilla custard, topped with a lemon crumble and summer berry selection before being finished with a generous dusting of icing sugar. When I say “let me at ‘em”, what I truly mean is “LET ME BLOODY AT THEM IMMEDIATELY”. The combo of vanilla custard and summer berries really just gets my tastebuds tickled in the right way and I know that flavour combo is basic but guess what, I can be too sometimes and I ain’t ashamed to admit it.
The brioche base for the bread is just SUMPTUOUSLY (what a fab word) soft. The sort where you press the tops of the buns, and it springs right back. The kind where you can gently peel off layers of buttery bread. The type where you wish your bed and pillow were made of it cause good Lord that would make for some deliciously sweet sleep.
Please don’t be apprehensive about baking bread – I promise you I have detailed out exactly what you are looking for, when you should be doing things and how it should all come out, leaving there little to no chance of it going wrong. The only bit I cant help you with is how many of them you will consume. The below recipe makes 12 buns so *should* feed 12 but honestly I have eaten 2 fresh out the oven, washed down with a vat of iced coffee and now I am eyeing up a third (because I need fuel to write the rest of this newsletter obvi) so let the serving size serve more as a suggestion instead.
Next time when I make these, I’d split the dough into 24 to make smaller servings and pop half into the freezer once rolled out, before the second prove. Emergency cake is good but emergency brioche on the other hand?? Unmatched.
They may not look as pretty as I would have hoped (I rushed a tad) but they smell and taste so good. Top with whatever fruit tickles your pickle, add a little herby garnish on top (some micro mint/basil/lemon thyme) on top and you’ve got a banging little sweet treat that I guarantee will float just about everyone’s boat.
Recipe Makes: 12
Recipe Serves: 12 (supposedly)
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