savoury

Marmite and Cheese Muffins

- Michael Leave a comment

Love it or hate it? Marmite. Personally, I fuckin’ love the stuff. It’s Iron Cupcake Leeds this Sunday and because of Valentine’s day the theme is Love or Hate. I’ve been meaning to enter Iron Cupcake for a while now and I want the first time I do to be fun. So I want to do something a bit different. Hence the marmite. There are a couple of ways of incorporating  the stuff in to bakes and I have practised one before the weekend, just to see whether it’d work for what I’d need it for.  The creation was Marmite and Cheddar muffins, and I then tried frosting them with a couple of different alternatives, unfortunately neither of them really worked all that well.

DSC_0811

The “cupcakes” themselves were wonderful. A little lighter than Scones but had a really great flavour (I’d personally put a little bit more marmite in myself to give more of a tang). As I was intending to frost them I didn’t add any extra cheese or marmite to the top, which I’d recommend you doing.

DSC_0806

Now the frosting, I tried two different kinds. The first was a “savoury cream cheese frosting” which came out way too creamy and just didn’t go with the cake at all. The recipe for that can be found here. The second was a “Cheddar Cheese” frosting, which worked MUCH better, however I couldn’t get it to thicken and it piped wrong. The recipe for that one can be found here.

 DSC_0813

These cakes, while tasty, aren’t quite there for me to be taking to a competition. So instead I’m going to try some chocolate cones with a Marmite Caramel Ganache frosting.

DSC_0814

Marmite and Cheese Muffins
 
Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 420gflour
  • 20ml baking powder
  • 200g mature cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
  • 100g butter
  • 30ml Marmite
  • 300ml milk
  • 4 large eggs
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C) and line a muffin tin with cases (or grease it).
  2. Mix the dry ingredients together. The flour, baking powder and cheese.
  3. Melt together the butter and marmite, allow to cool slightly and mix in the milk and eggs. Beating until the eggs are incorporated.
  4. With the mixer on a slow speed gradually pour the liquid mixture in to the flour.
  5. Mix until just combined, it will be lumpy but that’s ok.
  6. Spoon the mixture in to the prepared cases. Sprinkle over some remainder cheese and drizzle some extra marmite.
  7. Bake for 20-25 minutes (slightly less if using cupcake cases).
  8. Remove and allow to cool for a few minutes in the tray before transferring to a wire rack.

Hope Cove – Part 2 – Pulled Pork

- Michael 3 Comments

Well, it’s time for my second post from my trip to Devon last week. I’d intended to get this up last week but unfortunately life got in the way and I just completely ran out of time. That should mean you have a double recipe week now though.

Now, you’ve already seen my quick, if lackluster write up on arriving in Hope Cove and presenting my friend with is cake. If not, you can read that here. Day two dawned with the unexpected joy of the sun poking it’s head out. It had been overcast the day before and I’d not had high hopes for the Sunday weather. Out of nowhere the British summer decided to momentarily revive itself. I grabbed a cup of tea and headed down to sit by the sea and enjoy not being in Leeds. I was in charge of the evening’s food and had opted for a Maple and Mustard Pulled Pork. It’s perfect for a largish group and great for an occasion like this as you can just stick it in the oven and come back to it about 6-7 hours later.

DSC_0190

DSC_0155

After a fairly lazy morning I took out the meat (which I’d prepared the night before) and stuck it in the oven at about 12. After this we were free to do anything until the evening. We opted to head up onto the headland and prepare an area for a campfire to have later that night, before coming back down to the flat and doing a nice afternoon session of centurion in the sunshine.

1170658_589879654394727_324631632_n

 

After that came sea-kayaking, which I’d have to say, probably isn’t the best thing to do after you’ve done a full game of centurion. We capsized, but no one died so it’s fine, right?

999607_589879311061428_1627249196_n

The evening was spent stuffing out faces with the pulled pork, which was sided by Isobel’s sweet potato wedges, homemade garlic bread and some creamed corn. After filling our bellies we headed up to the campfire spot, where we all proceeded to fall asleep next to the fire (too much food and a packed day didn’t really do much for our energy levels). All in all it was a great way to round the weekend off.

DSC_0231

This recipe is great because it doesn’t require a slow cooker, or for the pork to be completely submerged in liquid, which means that all you need is a standard roasting tin, rather than a slow cooker or pot. It still falls apart amazingly and the sauce it creates is beautiful.

556786_10101066831659579_1399229315_n

Hope Cove - Part 2 - Pulled Pork
 
Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 200g sea salt
  • 300g light muscovado sugar
  • 2kg/4lb 8oz piece pork shoulder
  • 100ml maple syrup
  • 100g wholegrain mustard
  • 2 tbsp English mustard powder
Instructions
  1. Mix the sea salt and 200g of the sugar in a large food bag, add the pork and coat it well. (If you don’t have a bag, rub over the pork in a dish and cover with cling film.) Leave in the fridge overnight.
  2. The next day, remove the pork and wipe down the meat with kitchen paper. Heat oven to 140C/120C fan/gas 1. Mix the remaining sugar, the maple syrup, mustards and some ground pepper. Rub half the mixture over the pork and sit it on a rack in a roasting tin. Roast for 6 hrs.
  3. Spoon the remaining maple mixture over the pork and roast for 1 hour more.
  4. Rest the meat for 30 minute on a plate loosely covered with foil. To serve, tear the pork into big fat chunks and, after skimming the surface, spoon over any juices from the tin.

1098067_10101066770262619_1552701139_n