Poinsettia Christmas Cake

Some of you may remember that a couple of months ago I mentioned I had started attending a cake decorating and sugar flower class. The course ran for 4 months and the last 5 weeks of this was spent planning and completing our very own projects – a Christmas cake, iced and decorated using our new skills. The best part was we were free to choose whatever design we liked, meaning that everyone’s cakes turned out very differently. Some people went very modern with red and gold swirls, others made little penguin figurines or piped on Christmas tress. I decided to go quite traditional and make a classic Christmas flower – the poinsettia.

There is quite a lot of thought, planning and patients required to make a Christmas cake, but as the saying goes ‘good things comes to those who wait.’
We spent one week looking through books and designing how we wanted our cakes to look. Then we made the actually rich fruit cake at home and kept it for two weeks, feeding it with brandy. After this it was marzipaned, iced and then decorated over consecutive weeks. In-between these times we worked on our decorations. In total it took 6 weeks from idea to finished cake. The actuall cake itself is not that difficult and if you didn’t want to ice or decorate your cake you would be able to have made and be eating your Christmas cake in just two weeks, but it always tastes better if allowed to mature for a few weeks.

The following recipe is my favourite for a rich fruit cake. Its one I make every year for Christmas, but its also good for special celebration cakes or even as the bases of a wedding cake. It chock full of fruit, moist and full of rich spicy flavours. A rich fruit cake such as this one can be kept for several months, happily getting older and maturing gracefully before being consumed by a bunch of hungry happy people on Christmas day.

Rich Christmas Fruit Cake
Ingredients
175g raisins
175g sultanas
175g currants
80g dried apricots
100g glacé cherries
Zest of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 orange
225g plain flour
1½ tsp mixed spice
45g ground almonds
150g light soft brown sugar
150g butter or margarine
1 tbsp black treacle
3 eggs
2 tbsp brandy
45g blanched almonds
Extra brandy for feeding

Method
Grease and line the base and the sides of an 8inch/20cm tin.
Weight out the currants, raisins and sultanas and then gradually sort through them, a handful at a time, removing any stalks attached to the fruit before placing into a large bowl
Weigh out the apricots and cherries and cut into small pieces using a pair of scissors. Grate the zest from the lemon and the orange and add it all into the bowl along with the raisins.
Pour over the 2tbsp brandy, stir and then cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave for at least 12 hours or preferably overnight, to allow the fruit to soak up the brandy.
The following day, preheat the oven to 140C. Grease and line the base and the sides of an 8inch/20cm tin.
Chop the blanched almonds into small chunks and add to a clean large bowl along with the remaining ingredients. Beat for 3 minutes until mixture is smooth and well combined.
Add the soaked fruit to the batter mixture and stir together using a spatula until all the fruit is well coated and distributed.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, level the surface and then create a dip about 2cm deep in the centre of the cake. (This compensates for the usual dome/rise when baking and results in a flatter cake) Place the cake in the oven and bake for 2 hours and 45 minutes. After the 2 hours you may want to quickly add a sheet of foil over the top of the tin to prevent it from over browning.
Ensure that a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean before removing from the oven and allowing to cool in the tin.
Prick the top of the cake all over with a fine skewer and then slowly drizzle over another tablespoon of brandy.
Remove the cake from the tin and wrap in clingfilm, leaving the greaseproof paper attached to the cake. (This helps keep it moist).
Place the cake in an airtight container and lave in a cool dark place for a minimum of two weeks to mature. Unwrap it once a week to ‘feed’ with an extra tablespoon of brandy before re storing until required.
The cake can be made anything from 2 weeks to 6 months ahead of time. The brandy preserves it. (Although I have never kept a cake longer than 3 months myself).


To marzipan the cake – this must be done one week in advance of putting on the icing.
600g marzipan
2 tbsp apricot jam
Icing sugar

2-3 weeks ahead of wanting to eat the cake, it is time to cover it in marzipan.
To do this unwrap the cake, carefully peel off all the greaseproof paper and discard.
Turn the cake upside down and place it onto a sturdy cake board, 2inch wider than the cake. (If you cake rose into a very high peak, carefully cut the cake to a level surface before placing upside down).
Examine the cakes top and sides carefully. Fill any tiny holes or crumbled edges with small pieces of marzipan until all edges are flat and smooth, you don’t want any small gaps for the icing to sag into later.
Then dust a work surface with icing sugar and roll out the remaining marzipan into a large circle, ensuring it is quite a bit wider that your cake as it has to drape over the sides as well as cover the top.
When the circle is wide enough, heat the apricot jam with 2 teaspoons of water in the microwave until melted. Quickly brush the hot jam over the top and sides of the cake which acts as glue.
Pick up your circle of marzipan with the help of the rolling pin, centre it over the top of the cake and place it down, allowing the excess to drape over the sides of the cake.
Use your hands to smooth the draped marzipan neatly over the sides.
Cut off any excess marzipan from round the bottom edge, allowing a ½ cm rim with which to push back against the cake to ensure there are no air holes.
Place the cake in a container and allow the marzipan to firm up and dry out for at least a week before attempting to ice it.


To ice the cake using fondant icing
500g fondant icing
Icing sugar
White alcohol e.g. vodka

After allowing the marzipan to dry out you are now ready to ice the cake.
Roll out the fondant icing in the same way as the marzipan, ensuring once again that it is wider than the cake. A good tip is to make it once inch/2.5cm wider that the cake board, which is already wider than the cake.
When the icing is rolled out, brush the cake with the white alcohol and cover the cake with the icing as before, carefully smoothing down the sides and cutting away any excess.
You can then use a cake smoother to rub over the top and sides to remove any fingerprints or untidy folds, but this is not essential.
After icing, place the cake in a large cardboard box and leave for a further week before decorating.
The cake needs to breath, and the icing will sweat if kept in an airtight container. If you do not have a cardboard box large enough, place in your normal container but leave the lid offset to allow the air to circulate. However, if you wish to crimp the edge, as I have done with my cake, you will need to do this immediately after icing the cake while the icing is still soft.

One week after icing, your cake, you are free to decorate it as you please. I chose to crimp the top of edge of my cake to add an interesting border, which requires a crimping tool that you can buy from cake decorating shops.

During the times the cake was setting, I made my poinsettia sugar flower. This has to be done by cutting out each leaf from special sugar flower paste and attaching them onto florist’s wire before being twisted or draped into shape and allowing to dry out. The leaves and petals of the flower are then taped together, one by one, using florists tape until the complete flower is formed. The ends are cut and they are placed into a small plastic flower folding tube (called a flower pick) which is then pushed into the cake to display your flower.
For me, this was the most difficult and nerve wrecking part of the cake. Making the petals was fine, but when it came to taping them together, three of my petals broke off from their wires! Luckily I managed to reattach two of them so all was not lost. The petals were so fragile that I held my breath every time I accidentally knocked two of them together. I was so relieved when it was finished and displayed on my cake, but then my next challenge was driving it home. I winced every time I went over a bump in the road, imaging the leaves knocking together and breaking. I drove slowly (thankfully it was quite late and no one else around on the roads) and amazingly it made it home in one piece – phew!

I also cut out tiny holly leaves of sugar flower paste (although fondant would work just as well for flat decorations) and used them to decorate the edge of the cake. I then tied a thin red ribbon around the centre and piped shells in royal icing around the base and piped small red dots of royal icing in-between each shell.

I was absolutely thrilled with how the cake turned out. Despite making many Christmas cakes in the past, I have never attempted to decorate one properly before, but my cake decorating course has really given me the confidence and skills I needed. It took a lot of time, effort, nerves and planning but I really feel the end result was worth it. It will look so special displayed on Christmas day and will be my oven special contribution to the foodie festivities, which if I’m honest, are usually left to my parents. I had such a lot of fun at my cake class and met a lovely group of ladies. It has inspired me to keep on practising and trying out new designs for future celebrations.

Happy Christmas to you all!

Mocha Mud Cake

Chocolate and coffee are one of those flavour pairings that work brilliantly together. Neither flavour overpowers the other, while each contributes its own qualities. The chocolate is of course chocolaty and already full of flavour but the addition of coffee deepens the flavour, making it seem more intense while adding its own rich, almost smokey taste and aroma. Just wonderful.

I used this pairing in a mud cake I made last week for my cake decorating/sugar class Christmas party to celebrate finishing our Christmas cakes (post to follow). The cake is moist yet sturdy and full of the rich, intense mocha flavour. Its dense and fudgey texture makes it resemble more of a brownie than a cake, as I always think of these as being light and fluffy. It’s not that sweet, the rich dark chocolate being the star of the show.

The cake rose into a dome and the surface cracked whilst cooking, but once out of the oven, the dome subsided and the cake turned out almost perfectly flat on top. I served it with some crème fraiche, as its creamy, slightly acidic flavour cut through some of the cakes richness. It was quickly gobbled up along with the mince pies and oat slices that some of the other members bought. It would make a wonderful celebration cake covered in silky ganache or as a dessert for a dinner party, served with crème fraiche and fresh berries.

Mocha Mud Cake
(Adapted from ‘Kitchen Wench’ blog)
Ingredients
200g butter
200g dark chocolate
25g cocoa powder
2 tbsp instant coffee granules
60ml water
1 tsp vanilla
200g caster sugar
3 eggs
115g self raising flour

Method
Grease and line an 8inch/20cm springform cake tin and set to one side. Preheat the oven to 160C.
Put the butter, chocolate, cocoa powder, water and vanilla into a saucepan and place over a low heat to slowly melt. Stir from time to time to ensure even melting.
When completely melted, remove from the heat and set to one side to cool slightly.
Meanwhile, beat the eggs and sugar together for 3-4 minutes until pale, thick and creamy.
Pour the cooled chocolate mixture into the egg mixture in a thin stream, beating all the time. Then beat for a further 30seconds until light.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 55-65 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out relatively clean.
Allow to cool completely in the tin before removing and storing in an airtight container until required.
It will keep well for 4-5 days. If any leftovers turn a little dry, heat gently in the microwave and serve with custard.

Overload of Blueberries = Cake

This cake is absolutely delicious and is literally bursting with blueberries. The blueberries along with the addition of yoghurt in the batter produce an incredibly moist and tender cake. The cake also contains two types of nut, some in the form of almond marzipan, used in the batter, and the other as crush hazelnuts which are sprinkled over the surface of the cake to give a nutty crunchy topping. What more could you want from a cake?

Last weekend, as ever, the urge to bake got the better of me and as I had a whole tub of blueberries from work, I went in search of a recipe to accommodate them. I found (and used) a great sounding recipe from Chocolate & Zucchini which required plenty of blueberries. However, I also tweaked it a bit by adding marzipan and hazelnuts into the equation and reduced the sugar slightly to compensate for the added marzipan. The result is fantastic, moist cake, juicy blueberries, little pockets of marzipan and a nutty topping. It was perfect to share with the rest of my family for afternoon tea, as I had gone home for the weekend. It’s definitely one I will make over and over again.

Blueberry Overload Cake
Ingredient
200g plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
115g butter
150g caster sugar
3 eggs
240ml plain natural yoghurt
400g blueberries
65g natural marzipan

For the topping
1½ tbsp light soft brown sugar
2½ tbsp finely chopped hazelnuts

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line a 22cm 9inch spring form tin.
Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs on at a time, beating well between each one. Chop the marzipan into small squares and fold into the batter along with the vanilla and yoghurt.
Sift over the flour, bicarb and baking powder and fold in well, turning the bowl as you go until just combined.
Place half of the batter into the cake tin and then cover the surface with half of the blueberries.
Spread the remaining half of batter evenly over the blueberries and top with the leftover berries.
Scatter over the chopped hazelnuts and sprinkle on the brown sugar.
Bake between 1hr – 1hr 15minutes until springy and a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean. (It will be wet if you hit a blueberry).
Allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before removing from the in and allowing to cool before serving.
Tastes great eaten on its own, with crème fraiche or slightly warm with ice cream.

Starry Firework Cupcakes

It was Bonfire night here in the UK on Monday and as this is also the day that I take treats into work for the Monday Munchers I wanted it to be a themed treat. I remembered reading about a cake that had sugar sprinkles/strands folded into the cake batter just before baking to result in multi coloured streaks throughout the cake. This sounded ideal and I decided to give it a shot.

You must be very quick with the folding in of the coloured strands otherwise the colour starts to leech off them and gets lost into the surrounding batter. I know this as my last few spoonfuls of batter was dotted with little pools of red and green dye. I chose to bake cupcakes rather than a big cake as these are more portable and easy to share around. I was pleased with the results as the sugar dissolved into the cake but streaks of colour remained, speckling the sponge. I iced each one with a little glace icing (it was rather thin as I ran out of icing sugar) and decorated the tops of each one with tiny sugar stars.

From the outside they look just like ordinary cupcakes but biting into them reveals their speckled interior. I liked how the stars represent a starry night and then when you bite into them they reveal an explosion of coloured streaks to resemble fireworks. I bit of a long shot I know, but I had fun with it.


Starry Firework Cupcakes
Ingredients
110g self raising flour
110g butter or margarine
110g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 tbsp sugar strands
Icing sugar and sugar stars to decorate

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a tin with 12 fairy cake cases.
Place all of the cake ingredients (expect the sugar strands) into a bowl and beat together with an electric mixer until pale, smooth and fluffy.
Quickly stir in the sugar strands using a spatula and divide the mixture between the paper cases.
Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes until risen, springy and golden brown.
Remove the cakes from the tin and allow to cool on a wire wrack.
Make some glace icing by dissolving some icing sugar in a very small amount of water.
Spread the icing over the top of the cooled cake and scatter over a array of multi coloured sugar stars.
Makes 12 cupcakes

Daring Bakers October Challenge – Bostini Cream Pies

It’s that special time of the month again, time to post about this months Daring Bakers Challenge. This month’s recipe was chosen by Mary from Alpineberry and when I first saw the recipe that was exactly what I though – challenge!

Bostini Cream Pies were Mary’s recipe of choice and these are miniature versions of a traditional Boston Cream Pie with a few subtle differences. I Boston Pie is a Chiffon Cake split in half and filled with a thick fresh custard and topped with a chocolate glaze. A Bostini Cream Pie is miniature Chiffon Cakes on top of set fresh custard and drizzled with chocolate sauce.
I have never tasted or even seen a real Boston Cream Pie and so I was instantly feeling a little nervous about how it should look and taste – challenge no.1. As I read through the recipe I discovered that it involved making a Chiffon Cake (a cake made with mainly whisked egg whites) and although I have made one of these before, it didn’t turn out well – challenge no.2. Then I read that a rich fresh egg custard was also required – challenge no.3 as the last time I attempted one it spilt into a horrible mess. By the time I had read through the recipe a few times I was feeling quite nervous about attempting to make this creation. I did a bit of internet browsing and found out what the pie was supposed to look and taste like and I gradually started to feel more at ease and decided to go ahead and give the little pies by best shot.

The recipe calls to bake the cakes in ‘custard cups’ which I took to mean ramekins. However I don’t own enough of these for the recipe but I did have a silicone muffin tin that was shaped into individual hearts and so I used this instead.

Preparing the cake itself was not as daunting as I had thought. Separating the eggs and whisking the egg whites was the thing which took the most time but it was quite enjoyable. After making the batter I poured it into my little heart moulds and baked them until puffy and lightly golden. Thanks to the joys of silicone they came out of the moulds easily.

Next I prepared the custard. I weighed all the ingredients, mixed them together and put them on the heat before realizing that the recipe suggested heating the milk and cream first before adding the egg yolks – opps! There was no way I was going to throw away my custard mixture containing 9 egg yolks and over half a pint of cream and so I decided to go with it, heat it gently and just hope for the best. I stirred it constantly for about 5 minutes and when I dipped my finger into the liquid it was barely warm and so I (stupidly) thought “I’ll just fill the sink with water to soak the utensils in, the custard will be fine for a moment.” When I returned to my custard barely a minute later, the surface looked like it had developed a slight skin and I picked up my spoon it give it a stir only to find the beginnings of a thick stodge, resembling instant potatoes. ARRGGG how did that happen so fast?! I whipped it off the heat and stirred like a maniac and thankfully it hadn’t split and was still smooth. A small word of advice, never leave your custard. I spooned some of the custard into the same heat shaped moulds I had used to bake the cakes and left it to cool down on the side before covering and placing in the fridge overnight.

The next day I prepared the chocolate glaze which was very quick and easy to do. I then nervously un-moulded by set custards from the heart moulds and amazingly 5 out of 6 of them came out perfectly. I topped each custard base with a little cake and drizzled over the shiny chocolate glaze. They looked so cute and elegant that I almost didn’t want to eat it but my curiosity got the better of me. The verdict? Rich, smooth, creamy, satisfying, sweet, chocolaty, indulgent and utterly moorish. The cake is slightly dense in texture and yet springy and light to taste and works perfectly with the very rich and creamy custard. The dark chocolate glaze adds a bitter sweet note that brings everything together perfectly.

A work of warning though these are very very rich from all the eggs and cream. They may look small but I don’t think I would want them any bigger. I had lots of cake batter and custard left over the first day and so I baked a deep 6inch cake, cut it in half and then froze it along with a container of custard ready for when I next need a cake or dessert at short notice.

I was very happy with how the Bostini Cream Pies turned out and now thanks to Mary I have got over my fear of Chiffon Cakes, although maybe my custard making skills still need a little practice.

I converted the recipe below into grams, but if you would prefer it in cups then head over to Mary at Alpineberry for the original.

Bostini Cream Pies
For the custard
135ml whole milk
2¾ tbsp cornflour
1 whole egg
9 egg yolks
550ml whipping cream
Seeds from ½ vanilla bean
95g caster sugar

For the Chiffon Cake
210g plain flour
115g caster sugar
11/3 baking powder
1/3 tsp salt
55ml sunflower oil
3 egg yolks
140ml fresh orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 egg whites
1 tsp cream if tartar

For the chocolate glaze
225g dark chocolate
225g unsalted butter

To prepare the custard:
Combine the milk and cornstarch in a bowl; blend until smooth. Whisk in the whole egg and yolks, beating until smooth. Combine the cream, vanilla bean and sugar in a saucepan and carefully bring to a boil. When the mixture just boils, whisk a ladleful into the egg mixture to temper it, then whisk this back into the cream mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain the custard and pour into 8 large custard cups. Refrigerate to chill.

To prepare the chiffon cakes:

Preheat the oven to 325°. Spray 8 molds with nonstick cooking spray. You may use 7-ounce custard cups, ovenproof wide mugs or even large foil cups. Whatever you use should be the same size as the custard cups.Sift the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add the oil, egg yolks, orange juice, zest and vanilla. Stir until smooth, but do not overbeat.Beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Gently fold the beaten whites into the orange batter. Fill the sprayed molds nearly to the top with the batter.Bake approximately 25 minutes, until the cakes bounce back when lightly pressed with your fingertip. Do not overbake. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. When completely cool, remove the cakes from the molds. Cover the cakes to keep them moist.

To prepare the glaze:

Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Place the butter in a saucepan and heat until it is just about to bubble. Remove from the heat; add the chocolate and stir to melt. Pour through a strainer and keep warm.

To assemble:

Cut a thin slice from the top of each cake to create a flat surface. Place a cake flat-side down on top of each custard. Cover the tops with warm chocolate glaze. Serve immediately.

(I made 6 mini Bostini Cream Pies and 1 deep 6inch cake)

Spiced Pumpkin Cake

It’s that time of year again, when the leaves start turning a red golden brown and falling off the trees and squashes and pumpkins appear in the shops. I adore the warm, smooth and comforting taste and texture of squashes and love to eat them simply roasted, in risottos, with pasta, on pizza or in soups. However, I had never eaten or tired a pumpkin pie or cake before. After reading many posts from fellow bloggers about these sweet delights I decided it was high time I too sampled these autumnal treats.

I chose to make a pumpkin cake from an old copy of Good Housekeeping Magazine. The recipe called for roasting and then pureeing your own pumpkin rather than using a can, which was just what I was looking for as I have never seen tinned pumpkin puree here in the UK. When preparing the cake batter it reminded me strongly of carrot cake, as it used oil instead of butter and soft brown sugar instead of caster.

Roasting and then pureeing the pumpkin turned it a wonderful shade of orange and added a great colour to the batter once combined. A lovely array of warming spices were stirred in and I could tell the cake would be good from tasting the batter even before it was cooked.

I chose to decorate the cake with a simple chocolate icing as I wanted something to offset the sweetness of the cake whilst still allowing the pumpkin flavour to shine through. (I turned up cake upside down to ice it, as this always gives you a flat surface to work with).

The cake was incredibly moist and all the pumpkin flavour was really enhanced by the spices and added a silky richness to the cake. I took it into work for the Monday Munchers where it was greatly enjoyed. I was pleased to find that not many people had tasted pumpkin cake before either so it was the subject of much discussion.

If I made the cake again I would like to try adding some raisins, or maybe cranberries into the batter along with some chopped pecans as I think these would be a great addition. Either way I’m glad I’ve finally tried a pumpkin cake and more importantly, that I liked it!

Spiced Pumpkin Cake
For the cake
550g raw pumpkin
250ml sunflower oil
200g light soft brown sugar
3 eggs
225g self raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1tsp cinnamon
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

For the chocolate icing
100g dark chocolate
45g butter
2 tbsp milk or cream
75g icing sugar

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Chop the pumpkin into small chunks, place on a baking tray and bake for 30-35 minutes until softened and lightly golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Reduce the oven temperature to 170C.
Grease an 8inch loose bottomed tin and set to one side.
Put the oil and sugar into a large bowl and whisk together until the sugar crystals have dissolved. Then add the egg one at a time, beating well between each one.
Add the flour, bicarb and spices and fold in using a spatula.
Puree the roasted pumpkin using a hand blender or processor until smooth. Fold into the batter.
Pour the cake mix into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.
Allow to stand until warm before un-moulding.

To make the icing, break the chocolate into pieces and add to a pan along with the butter and milk/cream.
Heat gently until all melted, stirring occasionally.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly before sifting in the icing sugar and beating with a spatula until smooth and thickened.
If of a good spreadable consistency then ice the cake, if not then allow to cool for a little longer until firmer.

Makes 1 8inch/20cm cake.

Flourless Chocolate Espresso Mud Cake

This cake is not much to look at but its taste and texture is sublime. I have adapted it from another recipe so that it is completely flourless apart from 3 tsp of cornflour, which I don’t count the same as standard wheat based flours. This also means that this cake is gluten free which means it is suitable for people on a wheat and gluten free diet – ideal for a colleague in my office who has just been advised to cut wheat from his diet. I felt sorry him and didn’t want him to miss out on the Monday Munchies and was the reason for developing this cake.

It has a thick chewy outer crust which hides an airy mousse like and incredibly rich cakey layer inside. You know the very centre of a good squishy brownie, well the whole inside of this cake is just like that – mmmm! It involves 200g of good dark chocolate along with a hit of strong coffee which produces an intensely chocolaty deeply rich flavoured and moist cake with an unbelievable aroma. Small slices are enough for an instant mood enhancing boost.

I replaced the flour with ground almonds and added a little cornflour and gluten free baking powder to help stabilize the cake. It puffs up when baking and then sinks ever so slightly on cooling. It’s best to let it cool completely in the tin as it’s quite fragile when warm.

It was devoured at work (I only got a little taste) and it would also make a wonderful dessert for a dinner party, dressed up with some drizzles of white chocolate, lightly whipped cream and plump raspberries.

I’m afraid I don’t have a picture of the inside, I thought it would be rude to cut into it before delivering it to work.

Flourless Chocolate Espresso Mud Cake
Ingredients
200g butter
200g dark chocolate 65% plus

30g cocoa powder

2 tbsp instant coffee powder

60ml water

1 tsp vanilla essence

180g caster sugar

3 eggs

100g ground almonds
3 tsp cornflour
1 tsp baking powder

Method

Grease an 8inch/20cm loose bottomed cake tin and line the base with greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven to 160C.
Place the butter, chocolate, cocoa, coffee powder, water and vanilla essence in a medium saucepan.
Place over a low heat and melt gently until smooth, whisking every so often to make sure it all combines together smoothly.
Then set to one side to cool slightly.
Beat the sugar and eggs together using an electric mixer until thick, creamy and pale in colour.
Keep whisking and slowly add the melted chocolate mix until all incorporated.
Scatter the ground almonds, baking powder and cornflour over the surface of the batter and beat again to combine.
Pour the mix into the cake tin (it will be very liquid) and bake for 50-55 minutes until it looks puffed up and slightly cracked on top and s skewer inserted into the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it, but no wet batter.
Leave to cool in the tin before un-moulding and devouring.It can be left at room temperature, but if you keep it in the fridge it will become denser and be more like a giant truffle.

Sugar in Your Tea?

This is my entry to this months Sugar High Friday which is hosted by Johanna from The Passionate Cook. This month’s theme was to cook a local/famous dish or food that originated in the region where we live. I am living in the county of Yorkshire and so I set about thinking of all the foods Yorkshire can put claim to, which as it turns out is quite a few. In the end I decided to bake a Yorkshire Tea Loaf and to make it, of course, using Yorkshire tea. You can’t get much more regional than that.

Despite knowing about Yorkshire tea loafs, I wasn’t really aware of the history behind it and so a little research was called for.

Yorkshire Tea is a black tea blend produced by tailors of Harrogate, one of the few remaining family tea and coffee merchants in the UK. The company was founded in 1886 by Yorkshire tea merchant Charles Taylor. It has a reputation for producing high quality teas.

The Yorkshire Tea Loaf was produced by Taylors as a way of using their Yorkshire tea to expand their range. It involves using the choicest fruits which are infused overnight with the tea. After the addition of flour, eggs, sugar and spices it produces a moist tea loaf which is delicious eaten on its own, sliced and buttered or in true Yorkshire style, with a thick slice of the crumbly Yorkshire cheese, the one much favoured by Wallace and Gromit…Wensleydale.

This tea loaf is quite unusual in that it contains no additional fat in the form of butter or oil, the only fat in the recipe comes from the eggs. The added sugar is also fairly low, although the dried fruit does of course add its own sugar and sweetness. Overall I consider this tea loaf to be relatively healthy. The lack of butter doesn’t mean that you end up with a dense and chewy loaf, quite the contrary. Thanks to the large amount of tea used, it is incredibly moist, so much so, that it actually makes a slight ‘squish’ sound when you bite into it. Despite the fairly large quantity of fruit, making the cake feel heavy when handled, it remains surprisingly light and even in texture.

You need to plan this tea loaf a little time in advance as it requires steeping the fruit in the tea overnight. Once this stage is done the rest of the loaf is very quick and easy to put together. I tasted a little of the leftover tea that hadn’t been absorbed by the fruit the following morning and it had really taken on the sweetness and flavour of the fruit. If I hadn’t been wanting to use it in the cake I could quite happily and have drank it there and then.

The combination of the soft brown sugar, mixed spice, fruits and almost aromatic tea gave me the strong impression of a Christmas cake with all the smells mingling together deliciously. Once cooked it takes on a different appearance with a lovely sticky/glossy golden brown surface, making it look almost as if its been glazed. The curst has a slight chew to it, which yields to a moist spiced interior that is speckled with plump juicy fruit and rosy cherries. The tea gives a most unique, yet not obviously tea, flavour. Overall I love it, it’s the perfect thing to munch on in the afternoon, the crust of a currant bun and the interior similar to a fruit cake but without being too rich or dense and of course it goes brilliantly with a cup of tea.

Other foods regional to Yorkshire include Yorkshire Pudding, Yorkshire Curd Cheese Tart, Bakewell Tart, Wensleydale and Yorkshire Blue cheeses, Liquorice/Pontefract Cakes, Fat Rascals (scone like biscuits) and of all things, Savoury Ducks (the Northern version of faggot).

Yorkshire Tea Loaf
Ingredients
200g raisins
100g currants
50g glace cherries
¾ pint freshly made Yorkshire tea
75g soft brown sugar
2 eggs
½ tsp mixed spice
270g self raising flour

Method
Weigh out the currants and raisins and place into a large bowl. Pour over the hot tea, cover the bowl with cling film and leave to steep for 12 hours or overnight.
The next day, the fruit will be very plump and juicy looking. Some tea will still remain in the bowl which is fine.
Grease a 2lb loaf tin and pre-heat the oven to 150C.
Chop the cherries into halves or thirds, depending on size, and add to the soaked raisins along with the sugar and spice. Stir until mostly dissolved.
Add the eggs and mix well until they are evenly combined.
Scatter the flour over the surface of the mixture. Using a wooden spoon, start at the centre of the bowl and beat the flour into the mixture, working your way out towards the edge until everything is well incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour and 30 – 40 minutes until golden brown on top and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out relatively clean (it may still be sticky if you hit a raisin)
Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes in the tin before turning out onto a wire wrack to cool completely.
Serve in thick slices. I like it just as it is but it can be served with butter or with a slab of Wensleydale cheese for that authentic Yorkshire experience.
Makes 1 2lb loaf.

You have until Monday, 27th of August to cook and blog about a local specialty, so get investigating!

Fresh Apricot Upside-Down Cake

I made this cake whilst on holiday in France. We had bought an abundance of ripe, fresh apricots from the market in the village and despite eating quite a quantity of them, in the hot weather, they soon became so ripe that they were starting to leech their juices. Something had to be done to use them up quickly and this wonderful apricot cake was the result.

Baking the apricots really intensified their already sweet fragrant flavour. They looked so vibrant and glossy studded into the cake and surrounded by pools of their sweet buttery juices. The vanilla scented cake has quite a close texture but is very light and soft. This also meant it absorbed all the apricots excess juices, allowing the flavours to mingle together brilliantly. This cake is so simple and yet utterly delicious, especially when served with a big blob of crème fraiche. I think this may in fact be the best cake I have eaten all year. I bet it would be equally good with plumbs in the autumn time.

Fresh Apricot Upside-Down Cake
(Recipe from My Cool Desserts blog)
For the topping
150g caster sugar
55g butter
55ml water
8 – 9 fresh apricots

For the cake
4 eggs
1½ tsp vanilla
55g butter
115g self raising flour
140g caster sugar

Method
Heat the oven to 170C. Grease and flour a 9inch circular spring-form cake tin.
Cut the apricots in half, remove the stone and set to one side.
To make the topping, place the sugar and water in a pan and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.
Bring to the boil and allow to bubble for 5-8 minutes until lightly golden brown.
Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. As soon as it’s melted in, pour the golden syrup mixture into the base of the tin. (If you stir for too long then mixture can seize up and go grainy. Don’t worry if this happens, spoon it into the tin anyway and it will dissolve again during baking.)
Add the halved apricots onto op the syrup, cut size down.

To make the cake, put the eggs, sugar and vanilla into a bowl. Beat with an electric whisk for around 10 minutes until thick, pale and creamy.
Sift over the flour and fold it in gently.
Melt the butter and stir into the cake mix (It will be quite runny as this stage).
Pour the batter over the top of the apricots and place in the oven to bake for 45-50 minutes.
It should be golden brown and top and a skewer inserted should come out clean.
Allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes before placing a large plate over the top of the tin and quickly turning out.
The apricots syrups juices will drizzle themselves down the sides of the cake.
Serve cold or slightly warm with cream or crème fraiche.

Little Lemon Cakes

These cute little lemon cakes were the latest offering to my work Monday Muchers. I have missed the last two Mondays, one because I was away on holiday and then last Monday I took in some madelines that I bought back from France instead.

I had to work this Saturday which meant I didn’t have my usual planning and shopping time before baking so it was a matter of using what I had available. I recently bought some mini petit fours cases and I was dying to try them out and as I hadn’t taken anything lemony into work before, these little cakes were created.

They take only a few minutes to put together as the cake is made using the ‘all in one’ method. They are topped with a subtle lemon buttercream and a dried blueberry. They are very light and surprisingly lemony considering their tiny size and the blueberry on top adds a nice little pocket of flavour when you bite into it.

I was a little worried at first that people weren’t all that happy about this weeks offering as no one seemed to be eating them. I thought that fact that they look a bit like eyeballs might have been putting people off, but it turned out they were just being polite and not wanting to be the first person to take one. It got to around noon when the first one was sampled and after that they disappeared pretty quickly.

Being bite size people happily ate 3 or 4 of these without worrying, afterall a slice of cake would be much bigger.

Little Lemon Cakes

Ingredients
60g self raising flour
55g butter or margarine
55g caster sugar
1 egg
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp lemon juice

For the buttercream
50g butter or margarine
100g icing sugar
½ tbsp lemon juice
Handful of dried blueberries

Method
Preheat the oven to 175C. Place 25 petit fours cases on a baking tray and set to one size.
Place all the cake ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.
Divide the cake batter between the paper cases using a teaspoon.
Bake for 8-10 minutes until risen and golden brown.
Transfer to a wire wrack and allow to cool.
Meanwhile, make the buttercream. Add the butter into a bowl and sift in the icing sugar. Carefully work the sugar into the butter using a butter knife or a wooden spoon.
When incorporated beat well until smooth and add the lemon juice a bit at a time, making sure it doesn’t go too runny.
When the cakes are cold, pipe or spread the buttercream over the cakes and top with a dried blueberry.

Makes 25 mini cakes.

Glossy Cherry Amaretto Ring Cake

The cherry season comes and goes so quickly that eating these sweet purple fruits feels like such a treat. I enjoy eating them just as they come, holding onto the stalk and nibbling around the stone, however, I also love cherry cake but have only ever made it with the preserved glace cherries, never with fresh fruit. I decided to change that. I was initially going to chop the cherries up and just stir them through the batter and bake in a standard cake tin but as I was hunting out the tin I discovered my silicon ring mould that I had actually forgotten I owned. My ideas immediately altered and I came up with this ring cake instead.

I love the smell and flavour of amaretto and on my last visit to France I found some amaretto syrup that is wonderful to use in baking. I decided to add some to the cake as after-all cherry and almond sis a classic combination.

The aroma as this cake was baking was amazing. Not only did the sweet fruity aroma of the cherries linger in the kitchen after softening them, but then it mingled with the heady scent of the amaretto. Once baked, the cherries provided a lovely glossy topping to the light fluffy cake. I loved the flavour of the amaretto with the fresh cherries, it was deliciously different without being complex. The whole thing was very quick and easy to put together. It stayed lovely and moist and I found the flavours had actually improved the next day.

Glossy Cherry Amaretto Ring Cake
For the cherries
250g cherries
1 tsp amaretto syrup

For the cake
110g self raising flour
110g butter
110g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
2tsp amaretto syrup

Method
Preheat the oven to 165C and place a ring mould cake tin on a baking tray.
Cut the cherries in half, twist apart and remove the stone. Then cut each half in half again. Using a cherry or olive stoner is much quicker if you are lucky enough t have one.
Place the cherries into a frying pan and add a couple tbsp water. Heat until bubbling and the cherries are starting to soften but not brake down. Then drizzle over the amaretto syrup and cook for a little longer. Remove from the heat when most of the water has evaporated and the cherries look glossy and syrupy.
Allow to cool while you make the cake batter.
For the cake, place all of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric whisk until smooth, fluffy and slightly lighter in colour.
Drizzle the cherry mixture over the base of the ring mould and dollop the cake batter over the surface using a large spoon.
Carefully spread out the cake mix and smooth the surface ensuring the cherry mixture remains under the batter.
Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until risen and golden brown.
Allow to cool for 5 minutes before inverting onto a large plate and leaving to cool completely.
This is delicious eaten just as it is or served slightly warm with custard or cream for dessert.

Baby Banana Cakes with Chocolate Fudge Swirls

It was Sunday afternoon and I had spent most of the previous week planning what to make to take to work for the Monday Munchers. I decided to make mini banana muffins and to top them with a chocolate icing. Only it didn’t go quite as planned and I had to have a quick rethink. I didn’t have any mini muffin cases but I had looked at Asda’s online shopping page and found that they sold them. Perfect, I thought, I can go there Sunday morning and buy some. So off I went, only to find that not only did they not have any, but they don’t even stock them in that store, despite it being a big one. It seems not everything listed online is available in the shops. Grrr. I walked home again and even called in an a little Co-op in the hope they might have them, but no such luck.

Upon arriving home I decided I would just have to make something else instead. But after flicking through a few recipe books nothing else appealed. I had had my heart set on the mini banana muffins. I had even bought a banana and let it go brown and mushy specially. I decided to improvise and to make the banana cake recipe anyway but to cook it in a swiss roll tin and then stamp out circles of cake and sandwich them together using the icing I had planned as a topping. I wasn’t sure how it would work out and I didn’t have the right sized tin. I spread the batter out to a reasonable thickness that just covered ¾ of the tin and hoped for the best. (I used a 30x40cm tin but only used about a 30x30cm surface).

It cooked surprisingly evenly and remained lovely and moist. I was able to stamp out a good number of cake circles using a biscuit cutter and sandwiched them together with my favourite chocolate icing. It’s a recipe by Nigella Lawson that I have adapted slightly. It produces a really rich, chocolaty icing that remains soft and fudgey in texture.

These baby banana cakes are very cute and absolutely delicious. Moist, light and flavoursome with the rich, fudgey, intensely chocolaty icing complementing the banana flavour wonderfully. Being so small they are easy to hold and only about two bites big, meaning that even people on a diet feel they can have one and that people not on a diet can eat two or three without feeling guilty. They’re only small afterall! I think these turned out looking better than the mini muffins would have done. They were joyfully received at work and were pronounced “the best yet.” The little diamond shaped ones you can see in the photo are the off cuts from stamping out the circles, I used them too as I thought they were equally attractive.

If you have any of the icing leftover it’s wonderful for cakes, spreading on bread instead of Nutella or melting and pouring over ice cream, pancakes or waffles. If you double the recipe, you will have enough to fill and completely cover an 8inch/20cm layer cake.

Baby Banana Cakes with Chocolate Fudge Swirls

For the cake
1 large overripe banana
75g butter or margarine
60g soft brown sugar
150g self raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon
1 egg
40ml vegetable oil

For the chocolate icing
35g butter
75g dark chocolate
½ tbsp runny honey
140g icing sugar
50ml double cream
½ tsp vanilla

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Get a dry, non stick swiss roll tin ready.
Peel the banana and mash with a fork until very soft and mushy.
Put the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and cream together until light and fluffy. Beat in the banana mush, followed by the egg and vanilla until just combined.
Sift in the flour, cinnamon and baking powder and work everything together in a folding motion. I find a spatula works best.
Finally add the oil and beat until well incorporated.
Pour the cake mixture into the tin, and smooth out into an even layer.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown and springy when pressed.
Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a cooling wrack.

Meanwhile, prepare the icing.
Brake the chocolate into pieces and add to a pan along with the butter and honey.
Melt gently over a low heat, stirring when it all starts melting. Remove from the heat when a few lumps still remain and allow to cool slightly while finishing melting.
Pour the chocolate mixture into a large bowl and stir in the vanilla.
Sift a few tablespoons of icing into the chocolate and beat/stir together until all the sugar has been incorporated. Repeat until all the sugar has been used up. The icing will be quite thick at this point.
Then pour over the double cream and beat until all combined and glossy.
Leave to cool and thicken while preparing the rest of the cake.

Take the cooled cake and place on a clean work surface.
Stamp out small discs of cake using a 4cm cutter. Try to get as many circles out of the cake as you can.
Match the cake discs into pairs and place back on the cooling wrack.
Once the icing has cooled to room temperature, place into a piping bag complete with a small star nozzle.
Pipe a swirl of icing onto the underside of one of the discs in each pair. Top with the second cake circle so that it faces top side up.
Pipe another swirl of chocolate icing on top of the sandwiched cakes. Repeat with rest of the cakes.
Makes 14 baby sandwiched cakes or 28 discs.