Curried Chicken & Mango Salad

I came across this recipe in the May 2012 issue of Good Food magazine and I just couldn't wait to try it. Mango! Curry! Chicken! Sesame seeds! All things I love, love, love to eat and it was everything it promised to be - light and delicious, spicy and exotically flavour-some. Don't just take my word for it though - give it a go and try it for yourself!

Serves: 2 as a main dish, or 4 as a starter.

Ingredients


6 chicken mini fillets
1tsp olive oil
2tsp curry powder (I used a hot curry powder)
4tbsp natural yoghurt
2tbsp mango chutney
zest and juice of half a lime
1 Little Gem lettuce (I actually used Cos as that's what the shop had), leaves separated
1 ripe mango, peeled and sliced
half a red onion, finely sliced
2tsp toasted sesame seeds

1. Heat the oven to 200C/Gas mark 6 and line a baking tray with tinfoil. Toss the chicken fillets in the oil and 1tsp of the curry powder, making sure that they're evenly coated. Place on the baking tray and bake for 20 mins or until cooked through. Allow to cool slightly and then slice.
2. Meanwhile, combine the rest of the curry powder in a bowl with the yoghurt, chutney and lime zest and juice.
3. To serve, arrange the lettuce leaves on your plates. Top with the sliced mango and chicken. Scatter over the red onion slices, drizzle with the dressing and then scatter with the sesame seeds.
4. Enjoy!

Buttercream

Since I use it so much in my baking I suppose I should give you all some simple variations that you can use again and again!

Let's start with the basic buttercream mix:
225g unsalted butter, softened
1tbsp milk
350g icing sugar
Beat it all together until smooth. Simples!
However, it just takes the smallest of steps to turn this oh-so-easy icing into something more!

Citrus buttercream - replace the milk with the same quantity of orange, lemon or lime juice and maybe some finely grated zest too if you'd like.
Chocolate buttercream - replace 55g of the icing sugar with 55g cocoa.
Coffee buttercream - replace the milk with the same quantity of strong cold espresso and a quarter teaspoon of coffee extract.
Nut buttercream - Reduce butter to 175g then add a quarter teaspoon vanilla extract, 55g smooth peanut butter and 100g chopped nuts of your choice.
Raspberry/Strawberry buttercream - replace the milk with the same quantity of raspberry/strawberry coulis and stir 75g chopped raspberry/strawberry through the finished icing.
Bailey's buttercream - replace the milk with the same quantity of Bailey's.
Mocha buttercream - replace 55g of the icing sugar with 55g cocoa and replace the milk with the same quantity of strong cold espresso.
Orange-choc buttercream - Replace 55g of the icing sugar with 55g cocoa. Replace the milk with the same quantity of orange juice and add either a quarter tsp of orange extract or a good pinch of finely grated zest.

As you can see the only thing that limits you with buttercream is your imagination! Let me know if there are any "must-try" combinations that you swear by that I haven't listed here!

Clíona's Amazing Chocolate-Caramel Christening Cake

Hello everyone! I've been a busy little bee the last few weeks - a new job and lots of life-stuff going on. My little niece-to-be had her chistening ceremony recently and her Mum asked me to make a cake I'd made before that she'd really liked. Well - say no more!
I won't lie...2 days went into the decorating of the cake (well, I do have to work too!) but the basic cake itself is very simple and even a novice cook should be able to knock this one out in an evening. The decorating is slightly trickier but there's nothing stopping you from giving it a bash, after all, this is my first attempt of doing anything like this myself.

A word of warning: this is RICH cake. Tiny slices. Seriously. You'll thank me later.

Makes a very tall 8" cake - approx. 12-16 slices

Ingredients
For the Vanilla & Chocolate sponges
225g unsalted butter, softened
225g caster sugar
175g self-raising flour
85g ground almonds
1tsp baking powder
3 eggs
150ml natural yoghurt
1tsp vanilla extract
5tbsp cocoa powder
For the Caramel & Choc-caramel sponges
225g unsalted butter, softened
175g soft light brown sugar
50g dark brown sugar
175g self-raising flour
85g ground almonds
1tsp baking powder
3 eggs
150ml natural yoghurt
1tsp vanilla extract
1tbsp cocoa
To assemble and decorate
1 can Carnation Caramel
1 quantity chocolate buttercream

1. Preheat oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4. grease and line the bases of 2 x 8 inch (20cm) sandwich tins with baking paper. 
2. For the vanilla and chocolate sponges mix all the ingredients, apart from the cocoa,  together with an electric whisk. Transfer half the mix into another clean mixing bowl and whisk in the cocoa. Scrape the mixes into the tins and bake for 20-25 mins until a skewer poked in comes out clean.
3. Repeat this for the caramel and choc-caramel sponges, again reserving the cocoa until you've split the mix between two bowls and whisking it into one batch. Bake as before.
4. Allow the 4 sponges to cool fully on a wire rack.
5. Place the vanilla sponge on a base (or plate) of your choice. Spread a third of the caramel over the base sponge and top with the caramel sponge. Spread another third of the caramel over this and top with the choc-caramel sponge. Spread the final third of the caramel over the choc-caramel sponge and top with the chocolate sponge.
6. Cover the cake in chocolate buttercream and chill in the fridge for an hour.
7. Remove from fridge at least 15 mins before serving.
8. Relax, enjoy, and watch everyone marvel when you cut into the cake and they see the colour graduations of the sponges!