Hi everybody! Today I want to share my nine small batch baking recipes to lift your lockdown mood!
Ever since Australia's first lockdown in March 2020 (were we ever that young?) I've been really keen on small batch baking. A baby batch of scones, a tiny tray of brownies, a cheeky little cheesecake... too cute! You get all the fun and diversion of baking, but far less waste or overindulgence. This time last year I harboured the hope that by 2021, lockdowns would be a thing of the past, but clearly they're not. Victoria is now in its SEVENTH lockdown, Sydney is starting the seventh week of its current lockdown, different parts of Brisbane and regional Queensland are either entering or leaving lockdowns... and... it's just a lot. So, for those of us fortunate enough to be healthy and staying at home, I hope that these small batch recipes bring a bit of joy into your lockdown routine.
Equipment
For the scones, you just need a tray, but for the cakes, cheesecakes, brownies and bundt cake, the equipment I have is a 20 x 10cm mini loaf pan, an 18cm round springform pan and a 16cm miniature bundt tin (with a capacity of one litre). Because these happen to be the tins I have, when I create small batch recipes I create them with these tins in mind. If you don't plan to be baking these things a lot, I'd suggest having a look for some foil trays at your local supermarket - a small pie dish or takeaway foil container could be a good alternative for the loaf pan or the round pan.
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| Small-Batch Scones |
The OG and still the best! Just four scones. These are definitely the most popular recipe here on the old blog - almost every week someone on Instagram will make these and tag me. They're basically Belinda Jeffrey's fluffy buttermilk scones from Mix and Bake, just made in teensy tiny quantities (and without dried fruit), and instead of rolling out the dough and cutting it into circles, I just pat the dough out and cut it into quarters. They're so easy, so quick, and so good. Once you start making these you won't stop. (I certainly haven't stopped!)
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| Small-Batch Cheddar and Chive Scones |
How to improve upon perfection? Add cheese.
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| Petite Passionfruit Loaf Cake with Sour Cream Glaze |
This petite passionfruit loaf cake is a scaled down version of my passionfruit and sour cream bundt. I love that cake, but I only wanted a small amount of it. And here we are. The sour cream glaze is the bomb - learnt it from the magnificent Beatrix Bakes, and I use it to ice cakes all the time now.
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| Little Lemon and Ricotta Blueberry Cake |
A bright lemony cake, moist from the ricotta and with lovely pops of blueberries. Definitely a tea time or breakfast cake!
5. Baby Banana Bundt Cake with Sour Cream Glaze*****
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| Baby Banana Bundt with Sour Cream Glaze |
I know banana bread was all the rage during lockdowns, but I also love a proper banana cake, especially when slathered in that excellent sour cream glaze!
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| Baby-Batch Buckwheat Brownies |
Lovely dark and slightly smoky gluten-free brownies. The recipes makes a 20x10cm slab of brownies, or eight little squares.
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| Small Cheesecake |
Heck yes! A small version of Sarah's Favourite Cheesecake. It's a classic American style baked cheesecake - biscuit base, with a vanilla and lemon scented cream cheese filling. So good! I make the small cheesecake in my 18cm tin for a shallow cheesecake (with a high biscuit to cream ratio), but given how shallow it is, I think this would work well in a 15cm tin if you've got one. (Just quietly, my wife and I ate the entire small cheesecake in one evening, whoops).
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| Small Squacquerone Cheesecake |
I made this small squacquerone cheesecake when I received some complimentary squacquerone cheese from That's Amore Cheese. You can read more about it on my blogpost, but essentially squacquerone is a fresh cheese from Emilia-Romana that's a cross between cream cheese, mascarpone and ricotta. Yum. This cheesecake is a plain European style cheesecake (no biscuit base, and slightly less rich and creamy than my regular American-style cheesecake). And actually, if you replace the squacquerone with the slightly less recherché Quark, you get a mini version of my Awesome German Cheesecake!
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| Petite Pistachio Cheesecake |
Well, if the squacquerone cheesecake is a bit of a lighter cheesecake, this pistachio cheesecake is the complete opposite. It is incredibly rich! It's a scaled-down version of the pistachio cheesecake on Buttermilk by Sam, and has salted pistachios in the biscuit base, and real pistachio butter folded into the filling. It's really thick and creamy (and expensive, because pistachios), so I think it's really nice to make this in a small version. I actually made it for my (non-lockdown) birthday this year to share with my parents.
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That's it! I have some more small-batch baking ideas bubbling away... I'm thinking biscuits or cookies should be next! If you have any ideas or any recipes you'd like to see me tackle in a small version, let me know and I'll put my thinking cap on!
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