Avoca scone: What not to love?

For those who have been to England and Ireland, having a scone for breakfast is an experience not to be missed. Scone is usually be enjoyed with clotted cream and homemade jam. There are many variations of scones out there, but to me the traditional scone is the best.

After lot of research high and low for the perfect scone recipe, I have come to conclusion that Avoca cafe produced the best one. The best kept secret of producing good scone is actually minimal kneading of the dough to create a light texture of scone. Excessive handling of the dough might release excess gluten that make the scone hard and flat.

Ingredients

450 g self raising flour

a pinch of salt

a pinch of baking powder

50 g caster sugar

50 ml double cream ( if you don't have this, use 250ml milk instead)

200 ml milk

1 egg beaten

1 egg for glazing

110g butter at room temperature diced

Methods

1. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder. Add the sugar into the dry ingredients.

2. Rub the flour with the butter until it forms breadcrumb texture.

3. Add milk and double cream and mix it until it forms a daughy mixture. The dough will be slightly wet.

4. Gather the dough into a ball and turn it onto a floured surface. Roll the dough flat to 2.5 cm thickness.       

5. Using the round cutter, cut it into round shape and transfer it to the baking tray.

6. Glaze it with the egg wash and if you like, you could add some sliced almonds on the top surface of the scones.

7. Bake 180 degrees celcius for 15 minutes.

you know the scone is ready when you see the bottom part of the scone has changed into brownie colour...

Fool proof sponge cake recipe....

To me, sponge cake is a versatile cake since you could tweak them to become other cake by adding other flavours such as vanilla, lemon and orange. It is a simple cake that could become celebratory and done for the wedding or just enjoyed plainly as afternoon tea at home... There are 2 versions of sponge cake basically... one with fats like butter or margarine or  one which is done without fats. The sponge cake with fats could hold the buttercream better as opposed to the one without, which often being paired with fresh cream such as whipped or double cream.

For wedding cake, sponge cake could be prepared few days early or even one week early... The cake could be frozen in the fridge and defrosted a day before the wedding in room temperature. Just make sure you wrap the cake individually with the foil paper and plastic bag before being placed in the freezer.

The recipe...

150g butter at room temperature.

100g sugar

150g self raising flour

3 large eggs at room temperature.

1 tsp baking powder

1tsp essence vanilla or 1/4 cup juice of lemon and lemon rind from 1 lemon.

Method

1. Sift flour and baking powder.

2. Beat butter and sugar until white and fluffy ( about 5 minutes)

3. Add egg one at a time.

4. Add dry ingredients and do not over beat. Stop the mixer once all are are mixed.

5. Divide the mixture into 2 and fill in the 7 inches round baking pan or  6 inches square baking pan.

6. Bake 25 minutes in 170 degrees celcius middle rack in the oven.

Or if you are dirt lazy like me... try all in one method. However, replace the butter with margarine and mixed all ingredients in one bowl until well mixed.

Once it is done, let it cold in room temperature and sandwich them with jam and buttercream.... the top layer could be decorated with buttercream and fruits... 

Cheerio... and enjoy your afternoon tea....