Recipes
Just a few of our favourite Watershed Recipes below. These will be added to regularly. If you have any requests please get in touch and I'll do my best to include it but not everything has an actual 'recipe'! I generally only weigh out ingredients for puddings so I am afraid that most, if not all of these recipes are for puds or cake! Sorry.
Hob Nob Biscuits
Ingredients:
150g caster sugar
150g butter/marg
1tbsp milk
2 tbsp golden syrup
150g self-raising flour
115g oats (not fast cook ones)
• Cream butter and sugar together then beat in the milk and golden syrup.
• Mix in the self-raising flour and baking powder then fold in the oats.
• This makes a stiff mixture which does benefit from a spell in the fridge if you have time as it’s easier to roll into small balls.
• I am usually too impatient, so I use two teaspoons make blobs of mixture on a lined baking tray.
• Cook at 150C for 25mins – don’t rush it! Cool before transferring on to a wire rack.
• These will keep in an airtight container for up to a week – if they last that long!!
Meringue Roulade with several alternative fillings
Serves tween 8 and 10 – or even 12 with thin slices!
7 egg whites – whisked until stiff white peaks form.
Slowly add 14 oz caster sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon cornflour whisking all the time.
Turn out into baking tray tin 15” x 11” that has been lined with baking parchment.
Smooth flat and sprinkle with flaked almonds (optional – I don’t usually bother).
Cook for 25 mins to half and hour at 180 degrees C.
Take out, leave in tin and cover immediately with a wet tea towel for 5 - 10 mins.
Take the tea towel off and leave to cool
Get another piece of baking parchment, sprinkle it with icing sugar.
Take the tin and invert the meringue on to the paper with the almond side down, remove the bottom baking parchment that it was cooked in.
Spread the filling generously over the surface – then taking the long edge of the baking parchment slowly start to roll the roulade taking care to have the serving dish in the right place so you can finish rolling it on straight on to the dish. This won’t create the swiss roll type of effect – to do that you must roll from the shorter end to make a shorter thicker roulade. I like to make one long one which probably resembles more of a sausage roll – meringue on the outside and filling in the centre?
Refrigerate until required then you can decorate if wished with fruit.
Filling:
These can be practically anything that is in season at the time! Don’t over-whip the cream before you add the rest of the ingredients as it will continue to thicken and you don’t want butter!
Lemon – whip ½ pint of double cream. Slowly add juice of two or three lemons and some icing sugar until it tastes quite sharp but sweet at the same time! Can add a small amount of soft cheese too for a more solid texture.
Raspberry – whip ½ pint of double cream. Add some red current jelly and fresh or drained defrosted raspberries. Fresh is best. Can also add raspberry liqueur – Framboise for example. Sometimes with frozen raspberries I cook them lightly with sugar and thicken a bit with cornflour and leave them to cool. This can then be whipped into the cream.
Strawberries – as above – could use lemon in the cream?
Apple and toffee (pictured) – whip the cream and add the toffee or maple syrup. The toffee can be bought or homemade. Spread stewed apple over meringue, then toffee cream, then roll. (These two were a double quantity of recipt).
Bannoffi – same as above with the toffee but chop up banana into the cream mix. It is important not to do this too early as the banana looses its texture and colour over several hours.
Tiramisu – whipped cream, soft cheese, 1tsp coffee diluted in few drops of hot water, tia maria, icing sugar – to taste!
As I say the list is endless….. just make sure you keep tasting the cream mixture to get it just yummy!
Date Banana and Rum Loaf
This is a really yummy cake considering it has no added sugar, no gluten, no dairy and no fat – what it has got is plenty of flavour. It's a firm favourite - with me anyway! It also seems to improve with keeping but it's not lasted long enough to test this thoroughly! I have modified the recipe from the one I found online ages ago by adding more banana, more polenta - and more rum!! I’ve also experimented with alternative fruits and nuts.
Ingredients
250g stoned dates
3 small or 2 large bananas
100g roughly chopped pecan or walnuts nuts (I prefer walnuts)
200g raisins and 200g sultanas (or other dried fruit - apricots are gorgeous, also cranberries? Any combination is good)
150g polenta
2 tsp mixed spice or cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp - plus more probably - rum (I used spiced rum because that's what I've got!)
Line two 2lb loaf tins with baking parchment and preheat your oven to 180C fan oven or 160C, gas 4.
Boil the dates in a small pan with 200ml water and simmer for 5 mins. The water should be absorbed but a bit extra left over is fine. Blitz with hand wand but do make sure that there are no stones left in the dates as this will seriously mess up your equipment! Add the bananas and blitz more until smooth. Add a bit more rum (or water) if you have no date juice and it's too dry.
In another bowl mix all the dry ingredients together before adding the date/banana puree and rum and combine well with a spatula. Add more rum if necessary.
Dollop it into the tins - and bake for about an hour and test that a skewer comes out clean. Cool before cutting.
Ingredients
250g stoned dates
3 small or 2 large bananas
100g roughly chopped pecan nuts
200g raisins and 200g sultanas (or other dried fruit - apricots are gorgeous, also cranberries? Any combination is good)
150g polenta
2 tsp mixed spice or cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp - plus more probably - rum (I used spiced rum because that's what I've got!)
Line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment and preheat your oven to 180C fan oven or 160C gas 4 (I don't kno anything about gas so this is what the receipe says?
Boil the dates in a small pan with 200ml water and simmer for 5 mins. The water should be absorbed but a bit extra left over is fine. Add the bananas and blitz until smooth. Add a bit more water (or rum!!) if you have no date juice and it's too dry?
In another bowl mix all the dry ingredients together before adding the date puree and rum and combine well with a spatula. Add more rum if necessary.
Dollop it into the tin - it will be very full - and bake for about an hour and test that a skewer comes out clean. Cool before cutting.
Sticky Toffee Pudding
A very easy pudding to prepare in advance. If you make the cake early you can heat it up in the oven before pouring the toffee sauce over each portion - you can even stick each portion under the grill for a caramalised finish. Any leftover pud can be turned into a delicious Queen Mother's Date Cake. See instructions at the bottom of the receipe.
Ingredients
¼ lb Marg or butter
¾ lb sugar
2 eggs
1lb self raising flour
1 x 8oz packet dates
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 pint boiling water
First and well ahead of cooking time, you must pour the boiling water over dates and bicarb. Leave to one side until the water has been absorbed and cooled. This will take a while and can be done a few hours beforehand if remembered!
Then I throw all the ingredients into the mixing bowl of my machine and whiz it up! It’s a good idea to whisk up the eggs a bit first though. Or alternatively, if you prefer to take more care you can cream the butter and sugar, beat in eggs gradually, fold in the flour before adding the date mixture and mixing thoroughly.
Pour into baking tin approx 12” x 9” and bake in hot oven for approx 40 mins.
The Sauce
¼ lb butter
½ lb brown sugar
½ pint double cream
Boil all ingredients together. Pour over baked pudding and brown under grill before serving with cream.
If there is pudding left over boil remaining sauce until thick and fudgey - pour over and leave to set cold – then becomes a Queen Mother’s Date Cake!!
Lemon Meringue Eton Mess/Lemon Meringue Ice Cream
Lemon Meringue Eton Mess/Lemon Meringue Ice Cream
This is an extremely easy, extremely tasty simple pudding that is very popular. It can be served as a type of Eton Mess or frozen, either in slabs or in individual pots for summer parties.
Ingredients:
I large double cream 600ml
I jar lemon curd 411g approx.
Lemons
3 x boxes of 8 meringue nests
Whisk the cream until it’s quite thick then add the jar of lemon curd. If the curd you are using is very thick decant it into another bowl, add a little lemon juice and beat until runnier as it will fold into the cream better.
Add this curd to the cream and continue to whisk until quite stiff. Taste and add extra lemon juice, slowly, to get the taste you prefer. I like it very sharp so I add quite at least two lemons worth of juice and sometimes more! Whisk again until stiff peaks form then crumble in the meringue nests and fold in with a spatula.
Serve in a glass bowl with lemon zest for decoration. This doesn’t keep for too long before the meringues soften so don’t make it too far in advance. An alternative is to freeze the mixture and make a yummy ice cream. Put the mixture into two lined 2lb loaf tins and place in freezer. I also have some small paper desert cups that I use to make smaller lemon pots of ice cream and I freeze trays and trays of these during the summer!
Note: homemade meringues do not work as well as bought ones as they dissolve into the mixture far quicker and it loses texture and becomes a sweet sloppy mess!
Double Chocolate Cheesecake
A very nice, easy to make cheesecake and quite suitable for vegetarians. Serves about 16 plus as it’s very rich. I've always used Cadbury’s milk chocolate and Bournville Dark in the past but I’ve found Tesco’s plain and milk chocolate are plenty good enough!
Base:
3oz Marg melted
Packet choc chip cookies, crushed
Filling:
225/8oz plain chocolate
225/8oz milk chocolate
55g/2oz caster sugar
350g/12oz soft cheese
425ml/15fl oz double cream
Base: melt 3oz butter/marg approx. and add packet of crushed chocolate chip cookies. Press into a lined 8” springform tin. Chill.
Filling: Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of steaming water then put aside to cool.
Whip the cream lightly then add the cheese and sugar and whip some more. Then add cooled chocolate slowly whisking all the time until firm (do not over-whisk) then spoon over the biscuit base and level the top.
Cover with a dinner plate, or clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 2hrs but preferably over- night.
Raspberry Cheesecake
A very nice, easy to make cheesecake. Not suitable for vegetarians though I'm afraid. I have actually measured out the ingredients while I made this recently so I could write it down fairly accurately as I usually just do it by eye and taste. Good luck!
4oz Marg melted
10oz crushed digestive biscuits
350g frozen raspberries
Raspberry Jelly 135g
1tsp powdered gelatine
1 ½ oz sugar
500g pot Greek style yoghurt
300g soft cheese
3 desert spoons approx. raspberry jam or redcurrant jelly
Line a 9” loose bottom round cake tin with a parchment liner
• Mix the crushed biscuits with the melted marg and press into the bottom of the lined tin.
• Place the raspberries, jelly and sugar in a pan and gently cook until all the jelly and sugar has dissolved. Sprinkle the gelatine over the top and allow it to dissolve then stir into the mix. Do not boil. Take off the heat and allow to cool for a while.
• Beat the yoghurt and soft cheese together until smooth and gently add the raspberry mixture and fold in until completely combined. It will be quite a runny mix so don’t worry.
• Taste the mixture for flavour and sugar. Add some jam or jelly if it’s not a strong enough flavour, or some icing sugar if it’s too tart – it’s really all about personal taste. I like it to have a strong fruit flavour and not be overly sweet.
• Pour over the biscuit base and allow to set overnight in the fridge!
Best Ever Carrot Cake
A very special recipe – the best! This cake has been extremely popular with visitors to Watershed Studio! Courtesy of Bourton House and in both metric and imperial to keep everyone happy, though not both at the same time naturally!
10 fl oz corn oil
13 oz castor sugar
9 oz plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
5 med eggs
0.5kg grated carrots
4oz chopped walnuts (optional)
5 oz sultanas
This will make two 8” x 3” round cakes or one traybake tin. Line cake tins with baking parchment.
Beat oil & sugar at high speed; add eggs one at a time. Add dry ingredients, then stir in the carrots and walnuts and sultanas.
Bake the cakes at gas mark 3, F325˚, C170˚ for approximately 60 to 90 minutes, or maybe a bit longer!
Icing: Whisk 100 grams (approx 3 oz) of soft cheese with 65 grams (approx 2 oz) of unsalted butter, ½tsp vanilla essence and about 1 oz icing sugar.
Cinnamon Layer Galette
A delicious desert that can be prepared well in advance and put together just before it's needed.
Ingredients:
12oz marg
1lb caster sugar
2 eggs
11oz plain flour
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 pint double cream
Firstly the most time consuming bit - but you can store and reuse these over and over - draw approx 12 x 9" circles on slightly larger squares of baking parchment.
Preheat the over to 190 degrees C or gas mark 5.
Cream the butter and sugar then beat in the eggs. Fold in the flour and cinnamon - I generally make this in the food mixer as it's quite a stiff paste and can be a bit tough on a hand mixer.
Using a knife spread the mixture on each of the circles, working from the centre outwards - you get good at guessing how much.
I do three at a time on three shelves in the oven - whilst three are cooking I prepare another three. Bake for about ten minutes and when done slide the baking parchment and cinnamon biscuit on to a wire rack to cool and reuse the tray for the next round.
The cooked discs will have cooled by the time the next batch are done so place them gently into an air tight container and repeat after each baking.
These will keep for over a week in such a container.
When you want them whip the cream into a semi whipped state.
Put a blob of cream on to your serving plate and place the first cinnamon round on to it - spread cream on top and continue to layer the cake upwards in this way.
Dust with icing sugar - ideally the cake needs to stand for a couple of hours to allow the cream to soften the cinnamon rounds to make cutting and serving much easier.
Enjoy - can be served with stewed rhurbarb of apple puree?
Honeycomb Icecream
The number one most popular desert! This is included by popular request and is extremely easy!
Ingredients:
600ml pot of double cream
397g tin of condensed milk
2 x 140g bag honeycomb (I get mine at The Range)
Line two 2lb loaf tins with a baking parchment liner.
Whisk the cream into stiff peaks then add the condensed milk and whisk some more until the mixture is quite firm.
Bash the bags of honeycomb, unopened, with a rolling pin taking care not to split the bags!
The lumps will vary in size which is perfect and then tip them into the mix and gently incorporate.
Divide between the two tins and freeze overnight.
This is an adapted Mary Berry recipe - she makes her own honeycomb but I have found that this doesn't remain stable after being frozen for any length of time. The bought honeycomb doesn't break down as quickly but it will need using up within a month ideally.
Watershed Flakey Flapjack
These are very popular with all our artists, guests and family and I am expected to produce them for every fundraising event where cake is required.
Ingredients:
330 g stork margarine (or butter)
200 g golden syrup
330 g granulated or demerara sugar – or whatever sugar you like!
200 g rolled oats
200 g self-raising flour
250 g cornflakes (you can also all other cereals such as Rice Krispies or Bran Flakes if you feel like a change. I generally use 100g of Krispies and 150g corn flakes).
Line an 9” x 12” tray-bake tin with baking parchment.
Measure out the oats, flour and cornflakes/Rice Krispies into a bowl.
In a large pan gently melt the margarine, sugar and golden syrup together stirring regularly. Briefly bring this to a rapid boil for just over a minute.
Add the dry ingredients to the pan and stir well to incorporate fully. Spoon into the lined baking tray and flatten the top down before cooking for about 15 - 20 minutes at 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6. Cool and cut into approx 20 fingers when cooled down.
Winter Chocolate Brownie Cookies
A very easy, delicious cookie that manages to look attractive at the same time!
Ingredients:
85g cocoa powder
400g caster sugar
125ml vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
250g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
For rolling:
icing sugar
Method:
1. Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix with a hand mixer or in your electric food mixer. Cover paste and chill – a few hours is good to ensure the mixture is manageable for moulding later.
2. Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas mark 4. Line baking trays with parchment. Tip icing sugar into a shallow bowl. Take a spoon of dough and drop into the icing sugar and roll into 2.5cm balls with your hands. Make sure each ball is coated in icing sugar before placing onto prepared trays.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Let stand on the baking tray for a minute before transferring to wire racks to cool.
Enjoy or share, or both!