Ellen Bakes

Rhubarb and Custard Tray Bake I designed this recipe because my mum grows rhubarb in the garden and it never gets eaten because no one really loves it. So I tried to make something that my family would love! Ingredients: FOR THE CAKE 3 Eggs 150-175g Self Raising flour (use closer to 175g if you want a less custard-y cake) 175g Sugar 175g Butter 1tsp baking powder or 1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda 25-50g Custard powder (please don't use liquid custard in this recipe! If you only have liquid custard have a look at a different recipe) FOR THE RHUBARB Three-four medium sticks of rhubarb, its up to you how much you want to add! 75-100g Sugar  A splash of water FOR THE ICING (make as much as you feel you need) Icing sugar Custard powder (to taste (or don't add it at all!)) Water EXTRAS Poppy seeds Cinnamon Nutmeg Some apple (diced small or grated) Berries (probably not strawberries as they have a high water content, but you do you gal...

Shortcrust Pastry This pastry can be used to make pies of all kinds! If you want to make it sweet, check the 'extras' section for ideas. I haven't used measurements for this recipe as you can make different amounts, although I usually use 150g of flour but you can make more or less :) Ingredients: Plain Flour  Butter (cold) Water (ice cold) EXTRAS Sugar Cinnamon (or other spices) Method: - Weigh out your flour and put into a large bowl - Weigh out your butter, use have as much butter as flour (so for 150g flour, use 75g butter) - Cut the butter into cubes and rub it into the flour with your hands until it resembles breadcrumbs - Add any extras and a small amount of the ice cold water and mix, keep adding water until the dough comes together and isn't too sticky or dry - Wrap in clingfilm and put into the fridge for at least an hour - Roll out pastry on floured surface until about the thickness of a pound coin. Then use the pastry as you wis...

Easy Plain Cupcakes These cupcakes are perfect for just weekend baking or a party, this recipe will make about 18 cupcakes but feel free the adjust the recipe to make as many as you want :) Ingredients:  200g Self-raising flour (sifted) 200g Sugar 200g Butter 3 Eggs 1 tsp Baking powder Method: - Preheat oven to 180'C - Cream together the butter and sugar until fully combined - Add the flour, baking powder and eggs - Pour mixture into cupcake cases (fill half way!) and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and a skewer poked into one comes out clean - Decorate with icing and sprinkles if you wish  - 

Simple Buttercream This buttercream can be used to decorate cakes or all sizes and can be made into lots of different flavours! Although when icing bigger cakes, make more icing as this will only cover around 12 cupcakes :) Ingredients: 75g Butter (softened) 150g Icing Sugar Splash of milk EXTRAS Vanilla extract Cocoa powder Lemon (be careful as the acid in the lemon may curdle your buttercream) Cinnamon (or other spices) Method - Beat the butter until smooth and lighter in colour  - Add icing sugar ( PLEASE SIFT! ) and mix until fully combined - Add any extras and decorate your cakes!

Gingerbread Muffins Ingredients: 125g Self-raising flour (sifted) 125g Sugar 125g Butter (softened) 2 eggs 1 tsp Cinnamon 1 tsp Ginger (fresh or ground) 25g Oats 2 tbsp Black treacle  1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda FOR ICING 150g Icing sugar 75g Softened butter 1/2 tsp cinnamon (and extra to be sprinkled on top) Method: - Preheat oven to 170'C  - Cream together the butter and sugar until combined, then add the black treacle and mix until fully combined - Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, oats, cinnamon, ginger and eggs  - Put the mix into cupcake/muffin cases (in a tray), make sure you fill it up half way or just over - Bake for 12- 15 minutes or until a skewer poked into a muffin comes out clean - Make up the icing whilst the muffins are cooling but beating the butter until it goes lighter in colour and then sifting in the icing sugar and cinnamon  - Ice the muffins with either an off-set spatula or just a knife and then...

Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients: 120g Butter 65g White sugar 30g Soft light brown sugar 1 tsp Vanilla Extract 1 egg 200g Self raising flour 1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda 1/2 tsp salt (DO NOT USE if using salted butter) Chocolate chips or chopped chocolate of your choice (I use about 150g- 200g but use as much as you want) EXTRAS Mini Eggs (or similar) 30g Cocoa powder (reduce flour to 170g if doing this) Raisins  Chopped nuts Smarties or M&Ms  Lindt lindors (put one in the centre of each cookie ball before baking)  Method: - Preheat oven to 170' - Melt the butter until mostly liquid, it shouldn't be really hot but just warm - Mix together the butter and sugars until fully combined then add the vanilla and the egg.  - Add the flour and bicarbonate of soda (sift both) and mix until just combined. - Add the chocolate and any extras  - Roll into balls of your chosen size (I usually make about 12-15) and place...

Easy Chocolate Brownies Brownies are an amazing bake for any occasion and are really easy to make! Ingredients: 275g Butter (softened) 375g Caster sugar 4 eggs 75g cocoa powder 100g self-raising flour EXTRAS Chocolate chips or chopped chocolate Seedless jam, placed on top before baking Chopped nuts Freeze dried fruit  Dried fruit Method: -Preheat oven to 160'C - Mix together all the ingredients and mix together in a stand mixer or just with a bowl and wooden spoon. This should take about 2 minutes but, if done by hand, a bit longer - Add in any extras you would like (other than jam) - Pour into a greased and lined baking tin (splodge jam on top once in tin, this will make nice puddles) - Bake for 40- 45 minutes  - Leave to cool slightly and serve warm or leave to cool fully and put in a airtight container 

Savoury Bread Base This bread is really simple and makes a great base for rolls, loaves or even pizza! Bread can always feel like a bit of a faff but make sure you take the time to make it and do the full prove times to get the ultimate fluffy bread. Ingredients: 400g Strong white bread flour 1/2 tbsp dried yeast 1 tbsp sugar 1 tsp salt 350 ml warm water  1 tbsp semolina (this isn't necessary but helps make the bread fluffier) Salted water for glaze EXTRAS Garlic Mixed herbs Pizza toppings  Cheese  Sun-dried tomatoes Rosemary  Fresh, halved tomatoes Olives Method: - Mix dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl - Add the water and mix to form the dough. The dough should be sticky and will stick to your fingers. - Turn onto a floured work top and knead for 10 minutes adding more flour if necessary (the key with kneading is just to keep it moving, everyone's kneading technique is slightly different!) -  Place i...

Simple Banana Bread Everyone seems to have an abundance of brown bananas at the moment so I thought I would share my super easy banana bread recipe! Ingredients: 2 brown bananas 125g Sugar 125g Butter (softened) 150g Self-raising flour 2 eggs 1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda EXTRAS 1tsp Cinnamon  Chocolate chips/chopped chocolate Raisins/sultanas   Nutmeg Extra bananas (add 25g more flour for each banana added) 25g Oats Oats and Sugar (sprinkle on the top before baking) Method: - Preheat your oven to 170'C  - Cream together the butter and sugar until combined with no streaks of butter - Add the flour, eggs, bananas and any extras and mix until fully combined, but don't over-mix as it will make a stiff cake - Pour the mix into a lined loaf tin (or muffin tin) and bake for 40-45 minutes (25 minutes for muffins) - Leave to cool and enjoy!

My Essentials for baking I would always recommend having the basic bits for baking as it can really help when starting out. Lots of these things you will probably already have, but many you can buy from a good supermarket or online. Equipment: Balloon Whisk Wooden Spoon Spoon Measurements Spatula Bowl Mini Whisk Sieve Jug Pastry Brush Electric Whisk (only if you are making meringues) Cake Tester/Skewer Cookie Cutters (mainly circles) Muffin/Cupcake Tin Cake Tins Loaf Tin Oven Gloves Piping Bag and Nozzles Conversion Table https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vT5YwdeMpgPDHiLK6n8fg3-O5Oy9Hyr-jIz_wnovcIC23NJqO6hhC8oP7by3yQd5ilp9yCl8h7fiHSG/pub Rolling Pin Ingredients: Plain Flour Self-Raising Flour Bread Flour Yeast Eggs Sugar (caster, light soft brown and icing) Butter Baking Powder Bicarbonate of Soda Vanilla Extract

Welcome to Ellen Bakes! My name is Ellen and I love to bake! I will be posting on this blog about once a week with a new recipe, you can subscribe to see when I upload by pressing the subscribe button on the home page or at the top of your screen.  Please feel free to send me anything you make and any recipes you would be happy for me to post. There is also a comment section on each post where you can share any tips and tricks for the recipe and ask any questions! Most of my recipes will just say 'sugar', 'butter', or 'flour' and, unless I state otherwise, you can swap these ingredients for any variants you have in your cupboard (although please use self raising/plain/bread flour when needed, we don't want any flat cakes!), and generally any allergy-specific alternatives can also be swapped in. I will also avoid using measurements for extras, such as chocolate or dried fruit, as I know a perfect amount for me might be too little for someone else!...