Roxy’s Coffee & Tea House in Oban launches baking book

ONE of Oban’s most famous cafés has launched its first baking book, Roxy’s Cake & Bake.

Donna MacCulloch, owner of Roxy’s Coffee & Tea House, said: “Over the years of running Roxy’s with my husband, Archie, I’ve had customers asking me for my recipes and telling me that if I had a book they would buy it – well, here it is.

“Baking and food hold memories.

“I believe they are an important part of who we are as people.

“By creating an enjoyable experience, then it begins.”

The book, which has been published by Tin Shack Press, contains recipes for cakes and traybakes, as well as bread, pies, and quiches.

Roxy’s has shared three recipes from its baking book for Scottish Field readers:

Lemon and blueberry slice

225g margarine (room temp not straight from the fridge)
225g caster sugar
4 eggs
225g self-raising flour, sifted
30g ground almonds
250g blueberries
2 lemons, juice and zest

Preheat oven at 180C/Gas 4. Grease an oblong baking tin and line the bottom with baking parchment.

In a freestanding mixer, whisk the margarine and caster sugar together until light and fluffy, then add the eggs. Mix again. Add the flour and ground almonds, the zest of the two lemons and most of the juice of one lemon – leave around a teaspoon of juice for the topping.

Mix again until all the ingredients are well incorporated – using a spatula scrape round the bowl before pouring into the baking tin. Sprinkle the blueberries over the top. Don’t worry, they will sink a little bit.

Bake for 20-30 minutes until lightly golden in colour. If it bounces back when touched it is ready. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

Mix the lemon juice and icing sugar together to make a thin drizzle icing, and once the cake is cold you can then drizzle the icing on top then cut the cake into slices.

Variations of this is to top with a lemon frosting instead then sprinkle more blueberries on top (pictured). Chill in the fridge for five minutes then cut into slices.

Ginger and pear muffins

Muffin mix:
195g butter
1 tbsp treacle
135ml single cream
25g stem ginger in syrup
225g soft brown sugar
3 whole eggs
225g plain flour
2tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tinned pear halves
blueberries to decorate

Butter icing:
250g unsalted butter
100g cream cheese
300/400g icing sugar

Preheat your oven to 180C, then line your muffin tin with 10 tulip muffin cases and set aside.

Weigh out your stem ginger and finely dice, drain the tinned pears and roughly cut in to chunks.

In a heat-proof bowl, place in the butter, treacle, single cream, and diced stem ginger. Allow to melt over a saucepan of simmering water then remove from the heat and cool to room temperature.

Weigh out all the dry ingredients together. Cream the butter and sugar until light in colour. Pour the wet mix into the creamed butter, followed by the dry ingredients, mix until everything combines and is smooth.

Pour enough batter into each muffin case to cover the bottom. Place 2/3 chunks of pear on top, then divide the rest of the batter between the muffin cases, pouring on top of the pear chunks, then place in the centre of the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until the sponge is fully cooked and a skewer comes out clean. Place on the cooling rack and allow to cool completely.

Using a hand whisk, whisk the room temperature butter until soft and smooth then whisk in the cream cheese until smooth. Add the icing sugar, bit by bit, until combined to the desired consistency.

Place your butter cream in a piping bag with a piping nozzle, and pipe a nice big round bulb on top.

Once all the muffins are piped with buttercream, decorate with some more pear chunks and some blueberries.

Salted caramel cake

25g margarine
225g caster sugar
4 eggs
225g self-raising flour
30g ground almonds
2 tsp salted caramel flavouring
2 tbsp milk

Frosting:
Icing sugar
2 tsp salted caramel flavouring
150g salted butter, softened
150g cream cheese

Preheat oven at 180C/Gas 4. Grease an oblong baking tin and line the bottom with baking parchment.

In a freestanding mixer, whisk the margarine and caster sugar together until light and fluffy, then add the eggs. Mix again, then add the flour and ground almonds, salted caramel flavouring and milk. Mix again until all the ingredients are well incorporated and then pour out into the baking tin.

Bake for 20-30 minutes until lightly golden in colour and the cake springs back to touch. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

To make the frosting, soften the butter and add the cream cheese and icing sugar, then the salted caramel flavouring. I’d add the icing sugar one or two tablespoons at a time when mixing so you can judge the texture you want. When it is light and fluffy, slightly firm in its consistency, you can then spread the frosting over the cake using a palette knife. Leave to chill in the fridge for 10 minutes.

If you don’t want to add the flavour to the frosting, you can drizzle some caramel chocolate over the top, or mix icing sugar and salted caramel flavouring to a pouring consistency and drizzle this on top.

Read more news and reviews on Scottish Field’s food and drink pages, in association with Cask & Still magazine.

Plus, don’t miss Masterchef finalist Sarah Rankin’s recipes in the November issue of Scottish Field magazine.