6 Easy Baking Recipes Ready In Under An Hour

6 Easy Baking Recipes Ready In Under An Hour

Here are some quick and easy baking recipes to try at home. Make sure you have all the necessary baking tools before you start!

Best Ever Classic Chocolate Brownies

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

• 100g butter, chopped
• 200g dark chocolate, chopped
• 4 eggs
• 250g caster sugar
• 100g plain flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 30g cocoa

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180C. Line a 22cm square brownie tin with baking parchment.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a microwave or in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Cool to room temperature.
3. Whisk the eggs and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy.
4. Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and sift on the flour, baking powder, and cocoa. Fold this in to give a fudgy batter.
5. To ramp it up, add 100g chopped white or milk chocolate chunks, or 100g toasted roughly chopped hazelnuts or pecans, or 2 handfuls of baby marshmallows.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top is cracked but the middle just set.
7. Cool completely, then lift out of the tin and cut.

Classic Millionaire's Shortbread

Cook Time: 1 hour (plus chilling)

Ingredients:

• 200g mix of milk or dark chocolate

Shortbread:

• 200g cold butter, cubed
• 275g plain flour
• 100g caster sugar

Caramel:

• 397g condensed milk
• 150g soft light brown sugar
• 150g butter
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a 20cm brownie or square tin.
2. Put the flour, sugar, and butter in a food processor and pulse until it forms a dough.
3. Press the dough into the base of the tin and press into the corners with your fingertips. Prick with a fork and bake for 20 minutes until golden and dry. Leave to cool.
4. Put the caramel ingredients in a small pan over a medium-low heat and cook, continually whisking, for 2-3 minutes until the sugar has melted. Cook whisking for a further 6 minutes until thickened.
5. Pour over the cooled shortbread, smooth over, cool to room temperature, and chill until set (about 2 hours). You can freeze to speed this up if you like.
6. Melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water until smooth and glossy. Leave to cool slightly, then pour over the set caramel.
7. Cool again until set. Sprinkle with a pinch more salt and cut into squares with a hot knife to easily go through the chocolate.

Best stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Classic Vegan Carrot Cake

Cook Time: 1 hour (plus cooling)

Ingredients:

• 125ml vegetable oil
• 175g soft light brown sugar
• 2tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 orange, zested
• 300ml soy milk
• 1tsp apple cider vinegar
• 2tsp psyllium husks
• 325g plain flour
• 2tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 1/2tsp ground cinnamon
• 1tsp ground nutmeg
• 1tsp ground ginger
• 1/2tsp sea salt
• 110g walnuts, roughly chopped
• 300g carrots, grated

Frosting:

• 60g vegan butter
• 200g vegan cream cheese
• 1tsp vanilla bean paste
• 700g icing sugar

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180C and line two 18cm cake tins with baking paper.
2. Whisk together the oil, sugar, vanilla, and orange zest in a large bowl until the sugar begins to dissolve.
3. In a measuring jug, combine the soy milk and the cider vinegar. Whisk well and set aside. The milk may appear to split or thicken, but don't worry.
4. In a small bowl, mix together the ground psyllium husks and 3 tbsp of water. Allow to thicken for 20 seconds before adding to the brown oil and sugar mixture. Whisk well for 30 seconds; the mixture should come together and the oil should no longer be separated from the sugar.
5. Little by little, add the thickened soy milk to the oil and sugar mixture, whisking all the time.
6. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate, 2 tsp of the cinnamon and all of the nutmeg, ginger, and salt. Stir together.
7. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture along with the grated carrots and 70g of the chopped walnuts. Mix until just combined.
8. Divide the batter between the two prepared cake tins and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes. Before removing from the oven, test with a toothpick in the center of each cake; it should come out clean.
9. Allow the cakes to cool completely in their tins on a wire rack. While the cakes are cooling, make the frosting.
10. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or in a bowl using electric beaters), beat the vegan butter and cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Add the vanilla bean paste and beat again to combine.
11. In another bowl, sift the icing sugar. With the stand mixer on low, add the icing sugar a heaped spoonful at a time. If you add it all at once the frosting will split. You may not need to add all the icing sugar, so keep adding until the frosting is thick, smooth, and whipped (the more sugar you add, the thicker the frosting will become).
12. To assemble the cake, remove the cooled cake layers from the tins. Carefully apply a generous layer of frosting on top of one layer. Top with the second layer, followed by the remaining frosting. Then use a palette knife to lightly ice the sides of the cakes, leaving a naked finish with the sponges still slightly exposed.
13. Before serving, sprinkle the cake with the remaining tsp of cinnamon and the roughly chopped walnuts.

Classic Victoria Sponge

Cook Time: 40 minutes (plus cooling)

Ingredients:

• 175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 175g caster sugar
• 175g self-raising flour, sifted
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1/2tbsp milk

Sponge Filling:

• 4tbsp strawberry jam
• 142ml double cream

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180C. Line and butter 2 x 18cm sandwich tins.
2. Beat all the cake ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the milk if the mixture is too stiff to drop off a spoon when tapped gently.
3. Divide the mixture between the tins and level. Bake side by side for 20-25 minutes until the sponges have risen slightly, shrunk away from the edge of the tin, and spring back when lightly pressed.
4. Leave to cool for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and peel off the paper. Cool completely before filling.
5. Spread the jam onto the base of one sponge. Spread the cream on top of the jam. Sandwich the other sponge on top.
6. Dust with icing sugar.

Custard Tarts

Cook Time: 50 minutes (plus cooling)

Ingredients:

• 2tbsp plain flour
• 2tbsp icing sugar, plus more to serve
• 375g puff pastry
• 250g caster sugar
• 2 lemon zest strips
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 4 egg yolks
• 50g cornflour
• 500ml whole milk
• 1 vanilla pod

Method:

1. Mix the flour and icing sugar and use this to dust the work surface.
2. Roll the pastry out to make a 45 x 30cm rectangle. Roll up lengthways to create a long sausage shape.
3. Cut the pastry into 24 wheels, about 1-2cm thick. Roll each wheel lightly with the rolling pin to fit 2 x 12-hole non-stick fairy cake tins.
4. Press the pastry circles into the tins and mould into the tins to make thin cases. Chill until needed.
5. Heat the oven to 220C fan / 200C / Gas 7.
6. Make a sugar syrup by bringing the sugar, 200ml water, lemon zest, and cinnamon stick to the boil. Reduce until syrupy. Allow to cool, then remove the cinnamon and lemon.
7. Whisk the eggs, egg yolks, and cornflour until smooth.
8. In another large pan, heat the milk and vanilla pod seeds in a separate pan until just below the boil.
9. Gradually pour the hot milk over the eggs and cornflour, then cook on a low heat, continually whisking.
10. Add the cooled sugar syrup to the custard and whisk until thickened slightly.
11. Pour the custard through a sieve. Pour into the pastry cases and bake for 15 minutes until the pastry is golden and the custard has darkened.
12. Cool completely in the tins, then sift over icing sugar and ground cinnamon to serve.

Salted Caramel Shortbread

Cook Time: 50 minutes (plus cooling)

Ingredients:

• 300g butter
• 150g caster sugar
• 350g plain flour
• 100g rice flour
• 150g dark chocolate
• Salt flakes for decorations

Caramel:

• 100g caster sugar
• Salt flakes

Method:

1. To make the caramel: Heat the sugar in an even layer in a frying pan until it melts and then starts to bubble to a golden brown. Swirl the pan if you need to keep the melting and browning even. Add a good sized pinch of salt flakes and tip the caramel onto an oiled baking sheet set on a wooden board. Cool and then break into chips with a rolling pin.
2. Whizz the butter and sugar in a food processor until you have a smooth paste. Add all of the flours and a pinch of salt and whizz to form a dough.
3. Tip onto a lightly floured board. Pat out gently and sprinkle with the caramel chips. Fold in half and then transfer to a 20 x 30cm or similar tin and push into an even layer. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.
4. Heat the oven to 180C fan. Bake the shortbread for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
5. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes. Mark into fingers with a knife and then cool completely. Cut along the marked lines into pieces.
6. Heat the chocolate in a bowl set over (but not touching) a pan of water or microwave until it starts to melt. Stir until smooth and take it off the heat.
7. Lay the shortbreads next to each other with a tiny gap in between them on a cooling rack and spoon over the chocolate in strips. It doesn't have to be perfect. While the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle with some salt flakes and then leave it to set.