The Cake Slice June 2012: Brooklyn Blackout Cake

This cake is rich, intensely chocolaty, fudgy, moist and decedent. It’s almost black, brownie-like layers are sandwiched together with a smooth, bitter chocolate cream, before being covered in a sweet dark chocolate frosting and scattered with some reserved cake crumbs….it’s dark and mysterious and utterly divine.

This cake is too good to be simply labelled as a ‘cake.’ In my eyes this is not cake. It’s a sort of torte, gateaux, truffle, brownie, dessert, cake hybrid. It’s a dessert for serious chocolate lovers and is so rich and sophisticated that it should come with an ‘adults only’ warning.

As last Sunday was Fathers day I saved baking this until then, when I could present it to my dad over dinner. This is such a dark, moody creation, that it seemed the perfect ‘manly cake’ – no light fluffy fruity layers here!

The cake was meant to be a 9inch cake, which is then cut into 3 layers. I decided to halve this recipe and baked the cake in a 6inch tin, which worked fine, although only resulted in 2 tiers, rather than 3. Not that this mattered. I then discovered I didn’t have enough eggs to make the filling, so substituted this was a dark chocolate ganache (a decadent cream and chocolate combo) that I suspect was even more indulgent than the proposed filling.

The cake layers themselves are very moist and fudgy. Almost middle of a brownie in consistency. Their deep dark colour comes from copious amounts of cocoa powder and some hot strong coffee. The coffee seems to really enhance the chocolate flavour, without being obviously coffee. The cake layers become even more sticky and fudgy as they are stored over time.

The outer frosting was quite sweet, but this acted as a nice contrast to the rich cake and bitter chocolate ganache filling. My mum was in rhapsodies over her slice. We all agreed it was fabulous and definitely more of a dessert than an afternoon tea cake. One I’ll be sure to bake again (think I’ll stick to my ganche filling too). I strongly recommend you giving a go!

Click here to see the list of my fellow Cake Slice bakers.

Brooklyn Blackout Cake

(Recipe adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)

Chocolate Blackout Cake

180g plain flour (I used Doves Farm plain GF)

80g cocoa powder

1½ tsp gf baking powder

1½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp salt

400g caster sugar

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

240ml buttermilk

115g butter, melted

2 tsp vanilla extract

240ml hot brewed coffee (you can use decaf)

Chocolate Filling *(see notes below for my ganche filling)

4 egg yolks

130g caster sugar

2 tbsp cornflour

1/8 tsp salt

240ml water

160m double cream

85g dark chocolate, finely chopped

1 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Frosting

115g dark chocolate, chopped

155g butter, softened

190g icing sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Chocolate Blackout Cake

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line two 9inch/22cm round cake tins.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the sugar and mix until all the ingredients are blended.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolk, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla extract. While mixing the dry ingredients at low speed, add the egg mixture in a steady steam. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat for 1 minute, until well blended. (It will be quite thick)

Add the hot coffee and mix gently until combined. (It will now be very liquid)

Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until starting to come away from the sides and firm to the touch. Cool the cakes in the tins before turning out.

Chocolate Filling

In the bowl, beat the egg yolks, sugar, cornflour and salt until pale, about 1 minute.

In a saucepan, combine the water and cream and bring to a boil before removing from the heat. Whisk half of the hot cream mixture into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Pour this mixture into the remaining cream in the saucepan. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Continue to boil, whisking, for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the chocolate until it is completely melted. Pass the filling through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Cover the surface of the pudding with clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until chilled.

Chocolate Frosting

Melt the chocolate until smooth and set aside.

Beat the butter until creamy, before gradually adding in the icing sugar. Beat until it starts to form a buttercream.

Beat in the vanilla extract and the cooled chocolate, mixing until blended.

Assembly

Using a large serrated knife, cut the two chocolate cake layers in half, to create 4 layers. Set one layer aside and crumble half of it into crumbs to use as decoration later (you can eat the remaining bit).

Place one cake layer on a serving plate and spread over half of the filling. Top with another cake layer, the rest of the filling and the final cake layer. You should have a three-tiered cake at this stage.

Spread the chocolate frosting over the top and sides of the cake. Don’t worry about being too neat as its going to get covered in crumbs.

Scatter the saved cake crumbs over the top of the cake (sides too if you wish)

Serve immediately or store at room temperature for up to 3 days. The cake becomes even more moist and fudgy over time.

Notes:

* I halved this recipe and baked the cakes in 2 x 6inch tins. These made cakes a little too thin for cutting in half so my cake was only two-tiered instead of three.

* I didn’t have enough eggs to make the filling so I made a simple chocolate ganache using 160ml hot double cream, poured over 85g dark chocolate and stirred until smooth. Leave the ganache to cool and thicken before using – divine!

Coffee Swirl Cake with Choc Chips

I had three egg whites sitting in the fridge needed to find a purpose and hit that old problem – what can I make with them? The things that instantly spring to mind are pavlova and macarons, but not being a meringue fan these didn’t appeal. A quick sort through my recipe archives and I discovered the perfect recipe – a buttermilk loaf cake made using 3 egg whites – perfect!

Rather than stick with a vanilla cake, I decided to incorporate a little coffee and turn it into a vanilla coffee swirl cake. As I didn’t intend to frost the cake I also scattered in some dark chocolate chips and pecans, plus a little extra sprinkled on top. I love this combination in a cake, the chocolate turns all soft and melty and the nuts become nicely toasted.

During baking, the top of the cake forms a dark, slightly chewy crust, while the middle stays soft and tender. At first I was a little worried I had over baked it, but the cake inside was fine and I loved the contrast between the toasted chewy top and the moist crumb within. The crumb texture is quite close, probably due to the eggs whites and buttermilk, but the cake is not heavy or dense, and in fact it’s all too easy to eat.

I loved how each slice was slightly different, depending where in the vanilla-coffee swirl it was cut. The chocolate chips and pecans added little hits of texture and flavour when you happened to bite into one and worked well with the coffee. A great way to use up leftover egg whites!

This cake is also my entry to this months We Should Cocoa. A chocolate challenge event created by Choclette of Chocolate Log Blog and Chele of Chocolate Teapot. Each month they challenge bakers to get create with chocolate plus a mystery ingredient, which this month is…Coffee!  This month’s challenge is being hosted by Lucy of The Kitchen Maid. I’ve been meaning to participate in this event for months, so now I’ve finally done it! Click here for more info on how to take part.

Coffee Swirl Cake with Choc Chips

Cake
100g butter
200g caster sugar
3 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla extract
180g buckwheat flour*

60g brown rice flour*
1 tsp gluten free baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp xanthan gum
220ml buttermilk

2½ tsp instant coffee granules

4 tsp hot milk

Topping & Centre Sprinkles
50g chopped nuts – I used pecans

70g dark chocolate chips

Method
Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease and line the base and sides of a 9x5 inch loaf tin.
Mix all the sprinkle ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

Dissolve the coffee in the hot milk and set aside.
Start by whisking the egg whites until they becoming opaque and fluffy, but don’t yet hold a peak.
In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg white and vanilla and mix gently.
Sift over half the flours and the xanthan gum and fold in gently, followed by buttermilk and then the remaining flour along with the bicarbonate of soda and baking powder.
Pour half of the batter into the loaf tin and scatter over half the sprinkle mix.
Add the coffee mixture to the remaining batter and mix briefly to combine. Spread the coffee batter into the tin and top with the rest of the sprinkle mix.

Use a tablespoon to delve down to the bottom of the tin and make one folding motion, so that some of the vanilla batter from the base of the tin comes to the surface and swirls with the coffee batter. Do this once more at the other end of the tin. Do not over mix.
Place the tin on a baking tray and bake for 50-55 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Allow to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack and leaving to cool completely before slicing to reveal the swirls of vanilla and coffee cake.
Eat and enjoy.

Store in an airtight container or freeze in slices on day of baking

* Note: This cake also works with 240g of ‘normal’ wheat flour or a combination of your own GF flour mix without any problems

Apple & Cinnamon Buns – Cookbook Review

No Meat, No Dairy, No Gluten, Just Flavour…and Goodness. This is the title of the cookery book by Wendy Horne that I was recently sent to review. Being both vegetarian and coeliac it captured my attention as it is quite rare to find a vegetarian friendly gluten free cookbook. A number of coeliacs I know also can’t tolerate dairy, so the fact this book encompassed all three was great. It is probably worth a mention thought that it’s vegetarian friendly, but not vegan friendly, as even though no dairy products are used, the recipes do contain eggs.

My first impression of the book was a little sceptical. The pictures on the front looked a bit dull and dated and inside the recipes are simply set out with no photos or pictures. However, I know it’s rather clichéd but as the saying goes ‘you should never judge a book by its cover’ as while flicking through the book I kept coming across delicious sounding dishes and have ended up with lots of tags stuck out the top for recipes I want to try. It was lovely having the pick of the entire book without the need to - ignore the chicken or work out a suitable flour substitute as I usually have to.

The recipes are split into soups, salads, main courses, terrines, potatoes, puddings & cakes and odds & ends such as chutneys. While trying to decide which recipe to make first it was a toss up between some little lentil pies or these apple & cinnamon buns. The buns won out in the end! The recipe intrigued me as:

1)      it was made entirely in a food processor

2)      it contained raw blitzed apple puree in the batter, not cooked like most recipes call and…

3)      it was apple and cinnamon – how could I resist!?

I followed the recipe to the letter, even using the requested dairy free Pure spread as I fortunately had some in the fridge after recently making a dairy free cake for a friend. The little buns contain apple in two forms. A large amount is blitzed into the cake batter and then some more finely chopped chunks are stirred in at the end. The recipe just stated ‘apple’ rather than specifying cooking or eating apples and so I decided to use a Bramley cooking apple in the blitzed up batter and a sweeter red eating apple for the little chunks. This worked well and resulted in a tart fresh tasting apple flavour to the cake while any little chunks bitten into were sweet and pleasant. I left the skin on the chunks of apple too, as the little red flecks looked pretty when you took a bite.

The cakes were incredibly light and moist and scattered with tiny air pockets throughout. The cinnamon flavour was quite pronounced which I adored and was the perfect pairing for the apple.

All the fresh pureed apple meant by the following morning the buns had come away from their cases and had developed a sticky top surface, becoming even more moist and tender, just like a good ginger cake. I had one slightly warmed with custard for pudding and it was gorgeous.

I’m sure the recipe would work well with other fruit too, maybe a firm pear and ginger combo, or fresh cranberry and orange zest…? No one would ever guess they were gluten and dairy free! I can’t wait to bake something else from the book, I think those little lentil pies are next on the list.

Apple & Cinnamon Buns

Recipe from No Meat, No Dairy, No Gluten, Just Flavour and Goodness by Wendy Horne

Ingredients

110g Pure dairy free spread

110g golden caster sugar

¼ tsp xanthan gum

175g gluten free plain flour (I used Doves Farm Plain)

2 eggs

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp cinnamon

50g ground almonds

175g apple, peeled and chopped (I used Bramley)

50g apple, peeled and finely diced (I used unpeeled red eating apple)

Method

Heat the oven to 160C and line a muffin tin with 12 paper cases.

In a food processor, whiz the pure dairy free spread and sugar together until smooth.

Add half the flour and mix briefly. Add the eggs, blitz again and then add the rest of the flour, cinnamon and the xanthan gum.

Add the large amount of chopped apple and blitz until mostly broken down and only little flecks remain.

Add the almonds, bicarbonate of soda, cream of tartar and blitz to incorporate.

Add the diced apple and pulse once to combine, you don’t want to break the apple up though.

Divide the mixture between the 12 muffin cases, about 1½ tbsp of mix in each.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes (mine took 24 minutes)

Once baked, leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack until cold.

Makes 12

Go Gluten Free! The Roundup

Today is the second day of Coeliac Awareness Week which this year runs 14th–20th May 2012. For the past few days I have run an event, challenging people to bake/cook and blog about a recipe they adapted in some way to make it gluten free. The entry deadline was last night and so here is the roundup of the tasty submissions.

I kicked off the event with some Gluten Free Sour Cream Scones. Perfect for afternoon tea.

Quick off the mark was Chef Annie from Annie’s Supper Club. A fellow coeliac who I had the pleasure of meeting a few months back. She’s provided us with a delicious recipe for Gluten Free Waffles – perfect for sweet or savoury toppings. Here Annie has topped hers with three cheeses, crispy spicy chorizo and some sautéed cherry tomatoes – wow!

Next up was Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog with her Brown Butter & Choc Chip Friands. These tasty little cakes are made using ground almonds instead of flour for a moist and tender cake, you’d never know they were gluten free. Love the idea of using browned butter too – must try!

Another recipe from me, a GF version of Minni’s Chocolate Pie. The infamous pie from the book/film ‘The Help’ Chocolaty, sticky and decedent, everything you’d want in a pie. Made with crisp gluten free pastry.

Nipping in at the last minute we have this gorgeous looking Banana and Coffee Cake from Nic of Cherrapeno. I love the idea of pairing coffee and banana together (and some chocolate chips!) Nic shows that subsisting wheat flour with gluten free flours can produce delicious cakes. Looks wonderful moist – save me a slice!

As Coeliac Awareness Week is going on all week, why not try eating one day completely gluten free and seeing how you could adapt your diet or try ordering a gluten free meal off a restaurant menu or simply looking at the everyday foods you take for granted and seeing where gluten can sneak in.

Thank you to everyone who took part or gave support in some way. I hope you’ll try out a few of the recipes and see that missing gluten doesn’t mean missing out!

Birthday Black Bean Chocolate Cake with Coconut Meringue Frosting & Passion Fruit Curd

It was my birthday on Tuesday and I turned 25. Yikes, I feel like I’m getting old! I still remember turning 16 and feeling that was so grown up, but that was now nearly 10 years ago – scary!

I had been thinking through various different cake options to bake for my birthday and had almost settled on a carrot cake concoction, when I saw a recipe for black bean chocolate cake that just grabbed my attention completely and blew all other cake options out the water. I’d heard of black bean brownies, but never seen them used in a cake before. The cake looked so rich and decadent and was naturally gluten free as the beans replaced all the flour! I had found my birthday cake!

I had the cake layers for my birthday cake but still needed to decide on what to pair with it – chocolate, coffee, peanut butter, vanilla, caramel, cherries…I then remembered I had a jar of passion fruit curd sitting in the cupboard that my aunt had bought back from France for me. The idea of the sharp fruity passion fruit against the chocolate cake really appealed to me. Staying on the tropical theme I decided to make a simple meringue frosting, flavoured and decorated with coconut to give it twist.

Half way through making the beany cake layers I was a little unsure how they would turn out. After blitzing the beans with the eggs and sugar it smelt distinctly savoury and earthy and not at all like a sweet chocolate cake. I decided to press on anyway and by the end of the mixing process a delicious rich chocolate fluffy batter had been created that resembled soft chocolate mousse. It looked much more appealing and the raw batter tasted wonderful, no hint of beans!

Once baked, cooled and assembled I was really pleased with how the cake turned out. I loved the contrast between the dark cake and the snow white frosting. The flavours were also wonderfully contrasting. Rich chocolate cake, sharp and tangy passion fruit curd and then super sweet coconut meringue.

The cake was dense in texture, but deliciously moist. A cross between a brownie and flourless chocolate cake. I didn’t tell anyone what the secret ingredient was and tried to make them guess. No one did until I started giving them huge hints, but everyone agreed it was delicious. I’ll certainly make the cake layers again, maybe pairing them with raspberries or cherries next time, or a bitter coffee ganache for an extra indulgent adult dessert!

You may well be sceptical about adding beans to your cake, but give it a go and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

Black Bean Chocolate Cake with Coconut Meringue Frosting & Passion Fruit Curd
Recipe adapted from Chocolate and Carrots blog

Black Bean Chocolate Cake
1 400g can black beans (240g drained weight)
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
60g butter
155g caster sugar
40g cocoa powder
1 tsp gluten free baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Coconut Meringue Frosting
1 egg white
100g caster sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp coconut extract
25ml water (or coconut water)

To Assemble
2 tbsp passion fruit curd (or any other curd of your choice)
2 tbsp desiccated coconut

Black Bean Chocolate Cake

Preheat the oven to 175C. Grease and line the base of two 6 inch round cake tins.
Drain and rinse the black beans under running water. Place into a food processor along with 2 eggs, vanilla and the sugar. Blitz until well combined and the beans are broken down. Scrape down the sides once or twice if necessary. There will be a few tiny bits of bean skin visible, but this is fine.
Make sure your butter is soft, and then blitz into the bean mixture, followed by the two eggs. It will split, but don’t worry.
In a small bowl combine the cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Add to the bean mixture and blitz again to incorporate. It should turn wonderfully chocolaty, thick and mousse-like in consistency.
Divide the batter between the cake tins and bake for 25-35 minutes. They will be risen and springy to the touch.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the tins, by which time they will relax and sink down to form an even layer. Turn out onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.

Coconut Meringue Frosting

Heat a pan filled with about 2 inches of water over a low heat, until it just comes to a simmer. Lightly whisk all the ingredients, expect the coconut extract together in a large heatproof bowl. Place the bowl over the top of the saucepan (it shouldn’t touch the water) and whisk continuously until the mixture reaches 160F/75C on a sugar thermometer. It should have turned white by this stage.
Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk the mixture vigorously with an electric mixer until thick, glossy and tripled in volume. It should feel cool to the touch and will take 4-5 minutes.
Whisk in the coconut extract.
Use immediately, as it will harden if left.

To Assemble
Place one cake layer on a serving place and spread over the passion fruit curd. Blob on some of the meringue frosting and spread out into an even layer.
Top with the second cake layer and use the rest of the frosting to ice the top of the cake.
Toast the desiccated coconut in a dry frying pan until lightly golden and then scatter over the top of the cake to decorate.
Leave to set for 30minutes before serving.
Best eaten within 2 days, after which the meringue frosting starts to break down.
Makes 1 x 6inch cake

The Cake Slice April 2012: Cinnamon Swirl Buttermilk Bundt Pound Cake

This months cake was a simple yet delicious Bundt cake. I was pleased about this as sometimes I just fancy a nice slice of cake, delicately flavoured and not piled high with mountains of icing. This was a simple pound cake, lightly flavoured with spices with just a hint of orange zest, and a middle layer of cinnamon and cardamom spiced streusel crumbs.

Although my Bundt cake didn’t come out of the pan cleanly – it broke in the middle where all the yummy streusel crumbs were (I blame it being gluten free which made it more delicate to handle) - it was undoubtedly delicious.

In the original recipe the cake contained a little orange and cardamom, while the streusel contained cinnamon. As I adore spices I used both cardamom and cinnamon in the cake and streusel, which made for a lovely spice combination. The spices were still quite subtle as only ¼ teaspoon is used of each. I was pleasantly surprised how well the orange zest came though, as it was only a tiny amount, and how well it complimented the spices. It ended up giving the cake quite a Middle Eastern flavour.

The cake was also very soft and moist with quite a close textured crumb, thanks to the buttermilk. I didn’t need a big cake this month and so only made half the recipe and baked it in a slightly smaller Bundt pan. I was disappointed the top part of my cake got stuck in the pan, making for a slightly ‘crumbling castle’ look of a cake, but the taste more than made up for its appearance. Note to self, always grease your Bundt tin thoroughly!

My favourite part was the spiced streusel layer, but it was a wonderful cake all round. I think I might try baking it in a traditional round cake tin next time, and maybe adding an extra layer of the streusel crumbs on top. Yum!

Click here to see the blogroll to see how my fellow Cake Slice Bakers cakes turned out

Cinnamon Swirl Buttermilk Bundt Pound Cake
(Recipe adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)

Spiced Streusel
60g gluten free plain flour
70g light soft brown sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cardamom
40g butter

Buttermilk Pound Cake
290g gluten free plain flour
225g butter
1 tsp gluten free baking powder
1 tsp xanthan gum
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp cardamom
400g caster sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp finely grated orange zest
240ml buttermilk

Method – Streusel
In a small bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and spices. Melt the butter and pour over the flour. Mix together with a small spoon until you create small clumps of crumble-like topping. Set aside for later.

Method – Cake
Heat the oven to 170C. Thoroughly grease and flour a 10inch Bundt pan.
Sift the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, xanthan gum, salt and spices into a bowl and set aside.
In another bowl, beat the butter until soft and creamy. Gradually add in the sugar, continuing to beat until well combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well. Mix in the vanilla and orange zest.
Add a third of flour mixture, followed by half the buttermilk. Repeat the process until you have used all the flour and buttermilk, mixing well between each addition.
Spread half of the batter into the Bundt pan and smooth out. Scatter over the cinnamon streusel crumbs and top with remaining cake batter.
Bake for 65-75 minutes, until light and springy to the touch and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, before flipping over the removing from the tin.
Allow to cool completely before dusting with icing sugar and serving.

Note: I halved this recipe and baked it in a 6½ inch Bundt pan for 55 minutes

The Cake Slice February 2012: Boston Cream Pie & I’m off to LA!

Boston Cream Pie is an American dessert that has a rather confusing name as it is essentially a dessert cake. It consists of a thick layer of pastry cream inside two vanilla sponge layers, topped with a rich chocolate ganache! I was thrilled when it was voted this months Cake Slice bake.

The recipe calls for baking one cake in a 9inch tin that is later cut in half. As I needed to make the cake gluten free I decided instead to use two tins to save the trouble of cutting the cake in half as GF can be a little more fragile. This worked really well and I ended up with two thick layers of sponge. The sponge itself contains very little fat and is made using lots of whisked eggs and hot milk. I’ve not made a sponge using hot milk before but it worked well and you could actually see the cake batter start to puff up and rise with the heat as you mixed it in. It produced a lovely light textured sponge too.

I’m rather particular about creamy things. I don’t like the taste of plain cream, whipped or otherwise, but I adore custard and crème patisserie. I think it’s because cream just tastes bland and fatty, whereas custard has other textures and flavours. Either way the pastry cream filling for this cake made me very happy and was so good. Silky smooth, flecked with vanilla and so tempting that I found myself licking out the bowl afterwards.

Once assembled a bitter chocolate ganache is made and drizzled seductively over the top of the cake while it’s still warm, so that it slowly trickles down the sides, all shiny and glossy. Who could resist?!

The component parts on their own are simple and quite ordinary sounding, sponge, vanilla cream and chocolate glaze, but assembled together they made for one deliciously indulgent cake/dessert. The whole thing was surprisingly light, so much so I had to resist the urge to keep going back for further slices. If you’ve not tried Boston Cream Pie before, I highly recommend you do!

Click here to see The Cake Slice blogroll

Boston Cream Pie
(Recipe adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle)

Hot Milk Sponge
130g plain flour (I used white teff flour)
1¼ tsp gluten free baking powder
120ml whole milk
3 eggs
150g caster sugar
55g butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

Vanilla Crème Patisserie
3 egg yolks
50g caster sugar
15g cornflour
240ml whole milk
15g butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
60ml double cream

Chocolate Ganache
85g dark chocolate, 70%
80ml double cream
½ tsp vanilla

Hot Milk Sponge
Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease two 9inch tins and line the bases.
Heat the milk and butter together until the butter has melted. Set aside.
Beat the eggs at high speed until well blended. With the mixer still on, slowly trickle over the sugar until the mix has tripled in volume and become thick and foamy. Beat in the vanilla.
Scatter a third of flour and baking powder over the surface and fold in gently using a spatula in a folding motion. Continue folding, adding the rest of the flour.
Heat the milk and butter mixture again until hot and then add it all to the cake mix, pouring it around the edge of the bowl in one go.
Fold in as before, being sure not to over mix.
Quickly divine the batter the two pans and bake for 18-20 minutes until risen, lightly golden and springy to the touch.
Allow to cool for a few minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack and leaving to cool completely.

Vanilla Crème Patisserie
In a large bowl whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour.
Heat the milk until just beginning to boil, remove from the heat and slowly drizzle it over the egg yolk mixture, whisking all the time.
Return the mixture to the pan and heat gently, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Do not allow it to boil.
Remove from the heat, strain through a sieve into a clean bowl and beat in the vanilla and butter. Cover and set aside to cool to room temperature before chilling in the fridge for 2 hours.
When cold, add the double cream and beat with an electric mixer until it forms light peaks. Use to fill the cake or refrigerate until required.

Chocolate Ganache
Chop the chocolate into small chunks.
Heat the cream in a small saucepan until just coming to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped chocolate. Mix gently until dissolved.
Stir in the vanilla and set aside to cool for 5 minutes before using.
Can be made in advance and re-melted gently on a very low setting in the microwave.

Assembly
Lay one layer of sponge on your serving plate. Spread over the chilled custard mixture, leaving a little border around the edge as it will spread out of its own accord.
Carefully place the second sponge layer on top and place in the fridge to chill for half an hour.
Once chilled, pour over the chocolate ganache and spread out over the top surface. A little will dribble down the sides of the cake but this is fine.
Allow to stand for 30 minutes so the glaze firms up a bit before serving.
Store any leftovers in the fridge, covered in clingfilm.

Hollywood Here I Come!

In separate news…on Thursday I am off to Los Angeles to visit my friend, J, who moved to Hollywood to study film last year! I’m so EXCITED!! We have got lots planned and she has just informed me that it’s the Oscars on Saturday, while I’m actually in LA, so hopefully I might even get to spy a few celebs!

I was wondering if anyone had any good suggestions for Veggie friendly Gluten free restaurants, cafes or shops for me to visit while I’m there, or any specialist foodie places that are a must see. Ice cream, pancakes, waffles, pizza, chocolates etc that are in and around Hollywood.
I’ve found one restaurant called Hugo’s that sounds amazing and just discovered that BabyCakes NYC have a branch in LA too (so excited!), but apart from that I’m open to suggestions…

Also, I’m planning on taking lots of food for my 11 hour flight as when booking I mentioned I needed a special meal as I was Vegetarian Coeliac I was told ‘no, you have to choose one or the other, we can’t give you a meal incorporating both’…….?? Same applies if you are dairy and gluten free, you would have to choose just one! Errrrm how is that supposed to work?? In the end I’ve gone for Coeliac as that’s actually a medical condition but it’s probably going to mean a meat based meal. I also don’t hold out much hope for the other GF meal bits provided, as I’ve done some review hunting and so many people out there have been given gluten-containing bread, cakes or even croissants as part of their supposedly gluten free meal – so I’m going to be very suspicious of any food served to me on the flight!