Christmas Cake 2013: Penguins

It’s Christmas!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day. I drove back to my parents house last night and I can’t quite believe today is actually Christmas. It all seems a bit surreal, but in a very good way of course.

I wanted to share with you my decorated Christmas Cake. I always do a different design each year and this year it’s Penguins! The theme courtesy of my grandmother’s suggestion – thanks Grandma.

To make it, I covered my gingery Christmas fruit cake with a disc of marzipan and a layer of blue swirled fondant that I made by only half kneading in some blue food dye. The little igloo and penguins are all made out of fondant too. They were a little fiddly to make as their heads kept falling off.

The little penguins features I added by dipping a cocktail stick in black and orange food dye. I’m happy with the finished design though, I think it’s simple but effective.

Happy Christmas everyone!

Banoffee but not as you know it! Banana & Coffee Bundt Cake

Did you know that 15^th November is National Bundt Cake day? One of my fellow bloggers Mary of The Food Librarian is posting a different Bundt cake recipe every day in the run up to 15^th. It’s an amazing (not to mention delicious) feat to undertake and she has done similarevents in previous years. Seeing so many Bundt’s got me wanting to bake my own and join in the baking fun and so I give you my Banoffee Bundt Cake!

 

Banoffee is instantly associated with banana and toffee, but I have often wondered ‘why does it have to be toffee?’ Banana and coffee combined would also be Banoffee, although I admit slightly less conventional. Some people may not like the sound of banana and coffee together, but let me assure you it works. Bananas are naturally very sweet and although often associated with other sweet toffees and caramels, they go equally well with darker, more bitter flavours – who doesn’t love bananas and dark bitter chocolate together? Well coffee works just the same!

 

This recipe is jam-packed full of banana, 4 whole large bananas in fact. It also contains no butter but instead relies on a little oil and Greek yoghurt, not to mention all that banana, for moistness. This also means it would be very easy to make this cake dairy free if needed, by simply using a non dairy yoghurt (check your dark chocolate is dairy free too, most good ones are).

 

The cake has quite a close texture, dense but not stodgy or heavy, more like a pound cake. It’s moist and tender from all the banana and not overly sweet, as there is not too much added sugar, the main sweetness coming from the bananas themselves. I wanted the banana flavour to really shine and so resisted my urge to pile in the spices and instead used only a little vanilla and some dark chocolate chips, which I always adore in banana cake.

The coffee element is present as a coffee glaze, which adds both sweetness and then a slight smoky bitter coffee note which works surprisingly well with the sweet banana and gooey dark chocolate chips. It makes it just that little bit more sophisticated and adds a note of interest.

 

There is something homely and comforting about banana cake, I ate one slice and promptly went and cut myself another. As this recipe quite low in fat I didn’t feel too guilty. Feed it to your friends and see if they can work out what the Banoffee twist is! I plan to submit this post to Mary for her Bundt cake round-up. Will you be baking a Bundt cake for National Bundt Cake day? What would be your chosen flavour?

(Banoffee) Banana & Coffee Bundt Cake

Ingredients

400g (3-4 large) overripe bananas, peeled weight
2 eggs
70ml vegetable oil
125g soft brown sugar
80g dark chocolate chips
90g thick Greek yoghurt

1 tsp vanilla

240g white rice flour

40g potato starch

20g tapioca starch
1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

Coffee Glaze

1 tsp instant coffee

1-2 tbsp water

150g icing sugar

Banana chips to decorate

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Oil a 9-10inch wide Bundt tin and set aside.

Mash the bananas with a fork until very soft and mushy.
In a clean bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil and sugar until combined and starting to go slightly paler and bubbly, about 1 minute.
Stir in the banana mush, yoghurt, vanilla and chocolate chips.

Sift the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, rice, potato and tapioca flour over the batter and fold together using a spatula until a sloppy but thick cake mix is formed.

Pour the cake mixture into the tin and bake for 45-50 minutes until well-risen, golden brown and cracked along the top. Test the middle is cooked using a skewer, but be careful not to hit a chocolate chip.
Leave to cool in the tin for 20 minutes before turning out on to a wire rack to cool completely.

Coffee Glaze

Dissolve the instant coffee in 1 tbsp water. Add the icing sugar and mix together well until a thick, yet pourable icing is created. Add a few more drops of water if necessary to create the desired consistency. It should be spreadable without being runny.

Drizzle the icing over the top of the inverted, cooled cake, letting it slowly drizzle down the sides of the cake.

Decorate with a few crushed banana chips if desired.

Eat and enjoy.

Gluten Free Ginger Christmas Fruit Cake

It’s that time of year again, time to bake the Christmas cake!! I’ve always baked my own Christmas cake, even in my pre-coeliac days. There is something magical and special about preparing the fruits, soaking them in booze and then baking them into a dark spicy cake that is so traditional and ritualistic that I always look forward to it. Plus as the cake bakes you get the most divine aroma of warm fruits, black treacle and spices wafting through the kitchen that it instantly makes me feel all warm and cozy. Knowing that you are preparing food for your family to share and enjoy, and the love and time that goes into making it make it all the more special.

Each year I try and give the cake a bit of a different twist. Last year I replaced the brandy with rum and use some ground cardamom in the spices, this year I decided to give it a warming twist of ginger. I stirred a generous amount of crystallised ginger into the fruit mix and upped the ground ginger in the cakes spice mix. I also used satsuma zest and juice in place of my standard orange and replaced sultanas with dates. Ginger itself adds a peppery warming heat, which I felt would work well in a Christmas cake. I can’t wait to taste it on Christmas day and find out if it comes through.

I left my fruits soaking for a whole week, preparing them one weekend and baking the cake the next. During this time they soaked up the booze and fruit juice and became wonderfully plump and glossy. The zest, fruits and brandy created quite a heady aroma that I was half tempted to forgo the cake and eat spoonfuls of the fruit mix on its own but I managed to resist.

My cake is now snugly tucked away and awaiting its first feed of brandy in a few days time. Nearer Christmas I have the fun challenge of decorating it. I was stuck for ideas this year, but my grandmother has suggested a penguin which I think it a lovely idea. I’ve not planned a design yet, you’ll have to wait until nearer the time to find out if I managed it.

Do you bake your own Christmas cake? Are there any special family traditions you MUST do around this time of year to get into the festive feeling?

Gluten Free Ginger Christmas Fruit Cake

Ingredients – Soaking Mix

170g raisins

100g dates

65g dried apricots

50g crystallised ginger

50g dried cranberries

Zest of 1 lemon

Zest of 1 satsuma (or ½ orange)

50ml brandy

40ml satsuma or orange juice

Ingredients – Cake Mix

140g gluten free plain flour

15g tapioca starch

20g ground almonds

120g dark soft brown sugar

120g unsalted butter

1½ tsp ground ginger

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

40g black treacle

2 eggs

(pre soaked fruit mix – above)

Feeding

30ml brandy once baked & additional for feeding

Soak the Fruit

Place the raisins and cranberries into a bowl. Chop the dates and apricots into pieces the same size as the cranberries and slice the crystallised ginger into small cubes.

Grate over the zest of the lemon and Satsuma. Squeeze the juice from the satsuma and add to the brandy. Pour the liquid over the fruits and stir to coat.

Cover the bowl with cling film and leave the fruit to soak for at least 24hours and up to 1 week, in a cool place to allow the fruit to plump up and absorb the brandy and fruit juice. I left mine for 5 days and stirred it twice in this time.

Bake the Cake

Lightly grease a 6.5inch/15-16cm deep round spring form tin. Line the base and sides with greaseproof paper, letting the paper rise about 1 inch above the rim of the tin. Preheat the oven to 140C or 120C fan.

Weigh all the cake ingredients, expect the pre soaked fruit, into a bowl and mix with a hand mixer until well combined.

Add the pre soaked fruit, including any remaining juices and fold together using a spatula.

Spread the mix into the tin, pressing down gently. Create a small dip in the middle of the cake to allow the mixture to rise into a flat, level surface on baking.

Bake in the oven for 2hours 10minutes until browned and quite firm to the touch. Allow to cool in the tin for 20 minutes before pricking the surface of the cake and drizzling over 30ml more brandy. Cover the cake and leave to cool in the tin before unmolding. Leave the greaseproof paper round the cake and wrap it tightly in clingfilm. The longer the cake has to mature the more developed in flavour it will be.

Every 1-2 weeks carefully remove the clingfilm from the cake and drizzle over a little more brandy. This is known as ‘feeding the cake’ and will ensure a richer and moister flavour and texture to the cake. (This is non essential though)

Makes 1 x 6.5ch cake

When Ready to Decorate

Ingredients - Decoration

500g fondant icing

250g marzipan

2 tsp brandy

Food dye to decorate

Ribbon

Trimming and Decorating the Cake

When ready to decorate, peel away the greaseproof paper and carefully level the surface of a cake using a bread knife. Fill in any tiny holes with fruit taken from the off cuts of cake.

Place the cake on a 7-8inch cake board that has a few dobs of royal icing on it, to keep the cake in place.

Roll out the marzipan and use the base of the tin to cut out a large circle. Brush the top of the cake with a little brandy and smooth the marzipan over the top of the cake.

Roll out the fondant icing so that it is 2 inches bigger in diameter than the base of the cake. Brush the cake with brandy before covering with the fondant. Smooth the edges and top with your hands or cake smoother if you have one. Cut off the excess fondant from around the base.

Gather up the off cuts of fondant and dye as appropriate for decorations. Decorate the cake as desired and secure a ribbon around the bottom edge of the cake.

(I don’t have any photos of my finished cake yet, as its still in the ‘feeding’ stage)

Nutty Cinnamon Sultana Crumb Cake

I first made this cake a few years ago in my pre-coeliac days. I have fond memories of it being one of my favourite cakes I’ve ever baked. I have recently been longing to recreate it, but part of me was worried it either wouldn’t live up to my expectations, or else wouldn’t replicate so well in gluten free form.

This weekend I decided to do some therapeutic cake baking, and wanted something tasty and yet not piled high with mountains of frosting (I’ve really gone off buttercream frosting recently). My thoughts drifted back to this cake and I decided to bite the bullet and bake it.

 

The original cake calls for a much bigger pan, so I started my halving the quantities. I then used a combination of different gluten free flours and added some xanthan gum to held bind it all together. Tapioca starch is a recent discovery of mine and it adds a great chewy moistness to baked products, you only need a little though. It wouldn’t be suitable to use all tapioca starch.

I also substituted the milk with buttermilk, which like yoghurt, I find adds a lovely moistness and tenderness to the crumb. I also increased the quantity of the buttermilk, as gluten free flours are quite starchy and tend to absorb more liquid. The final substitution I made was to swop the raisins for sultanas.

The cake comprises of a thick vanilla cake mix layered with cinnamon sugar, melted butter, sultanas and chopped pecans. A second layer of cake mix is added before the cake is topped off with more of the nutty cinnamon. The cake batter itself turned out quite stiff, almost like a very soft scone mixture, but still light and airy. At first there didn’t look enough to cover the middle layer, but it puffed up and rose nicely in the oven.

 

Half an hour later I removed the cake from the oven. The top had turned into a crisp sugary cinnamon surface, studded with the sultanas and now-lightly-toasted pecans. It smelt divine and I had to prevent myself from sticking my fork straight in. I managed to resist temptation and left it to cool in the tin while I went and did my weekly shop.

 

Upon returning, the waft of sweet spicy cinnamon and freshly baked cake hit me as soon as I opened the door and I knew it was time for a taste.

The cake was light and tender in texture but sturdy enough to hold together well on slicing. The top and sides were crisp and slightly chewy while the middle was soft and yielding to the fork. The sultanas gave a wonderful chew and the nuts were…nutty thanks for their toasting in the oven. The cake batter itself is not that sweet, the main sweetness coming from the generous layers of cinnamon sugar both inside and out. I think using buttermilk in the batter was good too, as its natural acidity and tang helped combat some of the sweetness, preventing the finished cake from being overly sweet.

 

The texture had a slight chew to it, almost like it was a yeasted cake. It took me a while to realise what it reminded me of – a cinnamon roll! This cake is like a cinnamon roll in cake form – that same soft yet sturdy texture to the crumb. Delicious.

This cake was a little different in texture, but just as tempting tasty as I remember. I love how it has two distinct layers of the cinnamon, nuts and fruit, rather than everything being mixed together. I really enjoy having lots of different textures in a cake, and this one didn’t disappoint. A mix of tender cake, chewy raisins, toasted nuts and a generous sprinkling of cinnamon sugar which turns crisp and caramelised during baking. I might just go and have another slice…just to neaten off the edges.

Nutty Cinnamon Sultana Crumb Cake

(Recipe loosely based from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)
Cake
90g white rice flour

50g brown rice flour

30g tapioca starch/flour
2 tsp gluten free baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
165g buttermilk
100g butter, softened
70g caster sugar
1 egg

Nutty Cinnamon Sultana Filling
65g light soft brown sugar
1 tbsp white rice flour
1 tbsp cinnamon
100g sultanas
70g pecans
70g butter, melted

Method – Nutty Cinnamon Sultana Filling
Combine the light brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a bowl and stir with a fork to mix everything well. Roughly chop the pecans and mix with the sultanas in another bowl. In a third bowl, melt the butter until liquid and set aside for use later.

Method - Cake
Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line an 8x8inch/20cm square pan.
In a large bowl combine the butter and sugar and beat with a mixer on high speed until pale and evenly mixed. Scrape down the bowl and add the egg and vanilla and beat until the mixture is smooth and aerated.
Combine the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Add about a third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir with a spatula, only until the flour disappears. Add a third of the buttermilk and fold in. Repeat twice more until all the flour and buttermilk have been incorporated. Stir just enough to incorporate the ingredients.
Spread half the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Sprinkle half the cinnamon mixture over the batter and then drizzle over half the melted butter using a spoon. Scatter half the sultanas and nuts over the top.
Drop spoonfuls of the remaining batter carefully over the filling and use a spatula to smooth the batter all the way to the edges of the pan. (It will look like there isn’t enough, but it puffs up on baking). Top with the leftover cinnamon, butter and nut mixture, covering the cake evenly.
Bake for 30 minutes, until the cake is golden brown, fragrant and beginning to pull away from the edges of the pan. A skewer can have a few sticky cinnamon crumbs attached, but no raw batter.

Place the tin on a wire rack and leave the cake to cool completely in the tin before cutting into generous squares and devouring.

Store any leftovers on a plate wrapped in clingfilm or an airtight container

Makes 1 x 8inch cake

Birthday Mini Coconut Cupcakes 2 ways – Chocolate and Coconut & Lime Butterflies

On Saturday A invited me round to his house for a film night with some of his friends. Everyone was bringing something to share and I decided to bake some mini cupcakes. It’s my birthday today, so I think my brain was already thinking about cake! I love how mini cupcakes are cute and individually sized, the perfect thing to share around when you want just a little something sweet.

I decided to make coconut cupcakes and then decorate them two different ways with two different flavours in the hope there would be something to suit everyone. Plus, I always think a mix of colours and flavours look more appealing than having everything the same.

 

Half of the mini cupcakes were topped with chocolate frosting and some lightly toasted coconut, while the other half I turned into mini butterfly cakes, filled with some of my leftover zingy lime curd. I was happy with how they both turned out but I loved the lime curd butterflies. I’ve not made butterfly cakes for years. They always used to make an appearance at birthday parties, lightly dusted with icing sugar. I felt quite nostalgic making them.

 

I thought most people would go for the chocolate topped ones, but the lime butterflies actually disappeared first. I still love its zesty vibrant flavour. Both varieties had disappeared by the end of the night though. Of course I had to taste one of each beforehand, for photography and quality control purposes you understand.

 

A is taking my out for dinner tonight to celebrate my birthday, and then my family are coming to visit during the May bank holiday, so I’m going to have a special couple of weeks!

Mini Coconut Cupcakes

Ingredients

60g gluten free flour (I used 40g brown rice flour, 15g buckwheat flour, 5g tapioca starch)

50g butter

35g creamed coconut (from a block, not the liquid)

60g caster sugar

1 egg

¼ tsp xanthan gum

¼ tsp coconut extract

¾ tsp GF baking powder

Butterfly Curd Filling

2 tbsp lime or lemon curd

Chocolate Icing (makes enough for 24 mini cupcakes)

70g butter

25g dark chocolate

10g cocoa powder

140g icing sugar

1 tbsp milk

Decoration

2 tbsp desiccated coconut

Mini Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 170C. Line a mini cupcake tin with 24 paper cases.

Soften the block of coconut cream in the microwave until softened. Make sure the butter is very soft too. Weigh out all the ingredients into a bowl and beat together until smooth, light and fluffy.

Divide the batter between the paper cases using a teaspoon.

Bake for 12-14 minutes until risen. They will remain quite pale.

Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Chocolate Icing

Make sure the butter is soft and beat until soft and fluffy. Melt the chocolate, pour over the butter and mix until combined.

Sift over the icing sugar and cocoa powder and mix together carefully using a spatula, until most of the sugar has combined.

Add the milk and beat with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add a little more milk if necessary.

Transfer the icing to a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle. Pipe on top of the cooled mini cupcakes.

Decoration

Heat a dry frying pan over a low heat. Add the coconut and mix slowly with a spoon, until lightly toasted and golden. Do not walk away as it can go from white to burnt in seconds.

When toasted, transfer to a plate and leave to cool.

Lime Butterflies

Run a sharp knife in a circle, cone formation around the top of the cooled cupcakes, about 3mm in from the edge. Remove the middle cone of sponge.

Fill the cone void with half a teaspoon of lime curd, or filling of your choice.

Cut the removed sponge cone in half to create two 3D triangle shapes.

Place these at a slight angle back on top of the filled cupcake, to look like the wings of a butterfly.

Dust the top lightly with icing sugar.

Makes 24 mini cupcakes

Apple Carrot Cake with Honey & Lemon Ricotta Frosting

I am sure I can’t be alone in having a recipe folder on my computer of ‘must bake’ recipes that I have gathered over the years from food blogs, magazine articles and other random places. I was recently having a sort out and came across a recipe for Carrot and apple cake with a lime cream cheese frosting that I immediately remembered I’d longed to bake the first time I saw it on The Passionate Cook blog. Image my surprise (and horror) at discovering the recipe was from 2009 – 3 years ago and I still hadn’t baked it! I dread to think how many other recipes I’ve got saved, waiting patiently to be baked. Far too many I fear.

Anyway, I decided it had waited long enough and a few weeks ago I finally got round to baking it – with a few of my own twists naturally. The thing that first attracted me to the recipe was:

1)      it's carrot cake – my absolute favourite

2)      it also contained apple – another big bonus

3)      it looked so incredibly, unbelievably moist

Carrot cake is probably my favourite cake. I just love the combination of textures, flavours, spices, crunch…delicious! Looking at the ingredients list it seemed to be lacking some of my favourite carrot cake components and so I decided to tinker with the recipe and add some sultans, walnuts, extra spice and brown sugar in place of some of the white sugar.

 

I also changed the frosting from being a lime cream cheese to a honey & lemon ricotta. Why? Well the cake itself sounded relatively healthy with all the apple and carrot, so I wanted something a little lighter and fresher. Ricotta flavoured with lemon and only marginally sweetened with a little spoonful of honey seemed to fit the bill.

 

The baked cake was certainly very very moist. However, on day of baking I found it quite tricky to cut due to the strands of apple and carrot, which were not easy to slice through due to the sponge mix being so soft and tender. Instead it tended to snare onto the knife and drag the crumb structure apart as I tried to slice it. This didn’t affect the taste – which was spicy, fruity and flavoursome, but didn’t make for great presentation. However, after a night in the fridge the cake firmed up and was much easier to slice.

 

I actually preferred it better the second day, firmer yet still very moist. The flavours had mingled together giving a more well rounded general flavour. The frosting too had firmed up, the excess liquid in the ricotta being absorbed by the cake, making it become more like a cheesecake style top than the softer, wetter mix it had been originally. It tasted very fresh and I liked that it was barely sweet, giving a nice contrast to the sweeter cake beneath.

 

The cake was delicious and I loved the slight chew or crunch from the added walnuts and raisins. It’s not my ultimate carrot cake, a recipe for which I’ve have yet to find, but it’s certainly a tasty version of one. It’s cooked at a low temperature which adds to it being a very soft cake and making it more of a pudding cake than an afternoon tea cake. The apple adds a great freshness when paired with the carrot. Use a sharp cooking apple for a slightly tart flavour, or a dessert apple for a sweeter one.

Apple Carrot Cake with Honey & Lemon Ricotta Frosting

Apple Carrot Cake

300g peeled carrot
150g peeled and cored apple (cooking or dessert, your choice)
150g butter
175g light soft brown sugar

50g sultanas

50g chopped walnuts
180g gluten free plain flour
3 eggs
3 tsp gf baking powder
1½ tsp ground ginger

1½ tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Honey & Lemon Ricotta Frosting
250g ricotta cheese
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tbsp honey (or more to taste)

Apple Carrot Cake

Preheat the oven to 150C and line an 8inch spring form tin with greaseproof paper.

Grate the apple and carrot using a coarse grater and set aside.

Add the sugar to a large bowl. Melt the butter and pour it over the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each one.

Sift over the flour, baking powder and spices. Beat lightly until most of the flour has been incorporated. A few streaks are fine.

Add the grated apple and carrot and fold in using a spatula. Then fold in the sultanas and chopped walnuts.

Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 1 hour. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean and it should be slightly firm to the touch.

Allow to cool almost completely before removing from the tin and leaving to cool completely. Meanwhile, make the frosting

Honey & Lemon Ricotta Frosting

Place the ricotta into a bowl and beat lightly until quite smooth. Add the honey and grated lemon zest and fold together well. Taste and add more honey if you want it sweeter, 1 tbsp makes it only faintly sweet.

Chill until required, before spreading over the top of the cake. Finish with a final scattering of fresh lemon zest.

Store the finished cake in the fridge and eat within 3 days.

Note: I found the cake was even better after a night in the fridge, when it was easier to cut and the frosting had firmed up.

Simnel Cake & Mothers Day

Simnel cake is often associated with Easter, but it is traditionally a cake baked for Mothering Sunday. Young girls who lived and worked away from home in service were given half a day off on Mothering Sunday, during which they would bake this cake and take it home to their mothers. This year Mothers Day is Sunday 10th March.

A Simnel cake is a light fruitcake containing sultanas, apricots and cherries that is topped off with a layer of marzipan and decorated with 11 marzipan balls around the edge. This fruitcake is also extra special as it also contains a middle layer of marzipan that is baked into the cake itself, producing a delicious moist and gooey almond middle layer. It’s quite unique and I know of no other cake which does this. I suppose Stollen is similar in that it has marzipan baked inside, but Stollen is more of a bread than a cake, and there is no marzipan decoration.

The marzipan on top of the cake is often lightly toasted gently under a grill to give it a speckled golden appearance and a little more depth of flavour. Alternatively you swipe at it with a blowtorch (I did!) I find this results in a more even browning.

The eleven marzipan balls around the edge are meant to represent the twelve disciples, minus the traitor Judas. However, I’m unsure if this was present on the traditional Mothers Day Simnel cake as this seems to symbolise an event more associated with Easter, so this may have been added later. Either way if you are a lover of marzipan, then getting a slice of cake with one of the marzipan balls is an extra treat.

My mother and I both love this cake and I try to bake her one every year. Unfortunately (for me) she is away on holiday over Mothers Day this year, but I am going to see her in a few weeks time, and plan to bake her one then. These photos are actually from a previous years Simnel cake, but I wanted to encourage everyone to bake one themselves.

This recipe originally came from The Ultimate Cake Book by Mary Berry. I have been baking Mary Berry’s recipes since I was a little girl and this book belongs to my mum. It’s much used, its batter splattered pages a record of years of enjoyment. I have fond memories of sitting for hours and reading through the recipes and gazing in wonder at the (now slightly dated and faded) photographs. I like to think I knew and loved her long before her Great British Bake Off  fame.

This cake is light, moist and studded with a colourful array of fruits. The sweet gooey marzipan adds a wonderful flavour that goes so well with the fruits. I find baking one a very enjoyable experience as mixing the batter always makes me reflect back on happy memories, mixing a little love into the cake itself. I’m sure this is one of the reasons it tastes so good, as a cake made with love, for someone you love is truly a special thing.

Simnel Cake
(Recipe adapted from Mary Berry’s Ultimate Cake Book)

Ingredients
175g light soft brown sugar
175g butter
175g gluten free (or regular) self raising flour
3 eggs
25g ground almonds
2 tbsp milk
100g sultanas
100g dried apricots

100g glace cherries

50g extra dried fruit of choice – raisins, pear, cranberries etc
2 tsp mixed spice
½ tsp cinnamon
250g marzipan
2 tbsp apricot jam
Method

Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease and line the base and sides of a deep 8inch/20cm round cake tin with greaseproof paper.

Weigh the sugar, butter, flour, ground almonds, eggs and spices into a bowl. Beat together using an electric mixer until smooth. Beat in the milk.

Weigh out the dried fruit and chop the apricots and cherries into large pieces using a pair of scissors.
Fold all the dried fruit into the cake batter.
Pour half the cake mix into the tin and spread into an even layer.
Take 100g of the marzipan and roll out into a circle. Use the base of the cake tin to cut out a circle. Place this circle of marzipan on top of the cake batter in the pan. Top with the remaining cake mix and spread out evenly.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour before quickly removing the cake from the oven, covering the top of the tin with foil to prevent it from browning any further and return the tin to the oven for a further 30-40 minutes

It should be firm yet springy to the touch when cooked.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely in the tin. Once cool, release from the tin and carefully peel off the greaseproof paper.
Thinly roll out the remaining marzipan and cut out another circle, using the cake tin as a guide like before.
Heat the apricot jam until soft. Brush over the top of the cake and place the marzipan disc on top. Use your fingers to crimp the edges slightly.
Gather up the leftover scraps of marzipan and roll into 11 balls. Use a little jam or water to attach them around the rim of the cake.

Heat your grill and place the cake under the grill and allow the marzipan to toast and go golden brown. Rotate the cake as needed and keep a careful eye on it as it will start to brown very suddenly. Alternatively use a blowtorch (I find this works best) or leave it natural.

Tie a ribbon around the cake and present to your Mum.

Makes one 8inch/20cm cake

Chocolate Beetroot Cake with Beetroot Glaze

I’m sorry I have not posted in a while. I had a cake in mind and a blog post all ready to go only to be hit with a nasty stomach bug, meaning food has been the last thing on my mind. I’m pleased to say I’m now well on the road to recovery, my taste buds have rejoined me and I have rediscovered my appetite! So without further ado, here is a rather belated chocolate beetroot cake.

Chocolate and beetroot has now become another ‘classic’ flavour combination, but aside from a chocolate beetroot brownie a few years ago, I have not explored the pairing much myself. I love fresh beetroot, its moody, dark, blood red colour and mysterious earthy flavour always draws me to it. A few weeks ago I picked up a huge pack and enjoyed a happy few days eating it roasted or shredded into salads and sandwiches. However, it got to a stage where every time I opened the fridge I seemed to discover yet another beetroot still waiting to be used. There is only so much beetroot I can take before my mind starts imagining how to include it in a baked treat.

Beetroot and chocolate seemed the place to start and I decided on a simple cake. I wanted the beetroot to be the star of the show and so shunned anything covered in mountains of cream or frosting in flavour of a simple snack cake. I then hit upon the idea of jazzing it up with a glaze, made a fabulous vibrant pinky/purple using the juice of the cooked beetroot. This added both a burst of vibrant colour and little sweetness, while being completely natural, no food dye required!

The cake itself is on first glance just a chocolate cake, but if you look more closely you can see a definite rustic burgundy hue to the sponge. It also smelt different to regular chocolate cake, slightly earthy, mysterious and yet still very chocolaty. The flavour too was chocolaty, only more complex with an undertone of there being something a little bit extra special included, without it actually screaming beetroot. I would liken it to when you add just a touch of coffee to chocolate cakes, you don’t necessary taste the coffee, but it adds a depth and richness to the chocolate. This seemed to work in the same principle.

On the first day the cake was light and tender but over the next two days it became softer and stickier as the beetroot released its moisture into the cake. I think the cake was at its optimum about 2 days after baking, when I couldn’t stop eating it. The arty drizzle of beetroot glaze worked really well against the flavour of the cake and added little bites of sweetness against the rather intense chocolate flavour of the cake.

This was a delicious cake and I loved its simplicity yet complex flavour. I’ll be experimenting with other beetroot baked treats again, it’s worth the ruby stained hands, although you could always buy the precooked stuff – just not the kind in vinegar please!

Chocolate Beetroot Cake with Beetroot Glaze

Cake

180ml vegetable or sunflower oil

180g gluten free self raising flour

55g cocoa powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

200g caster sugar

250g cooked beetroot (or 350g raw)

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Beetroot Glaze

80g royal icing sugar (*see note)

Juice from the cooked beetroot

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C and grease and line a deep 8inch springform tin.

If you are using a packet of cooked beetroot then continue onto the next step. If using raw beetroot, trim the ends and peel the skin from the beetroot. Cut each beetroot into quarters and place into a small glass bowl. Add 1 tbsp water and cover the top with clingfilm. Microwave on high for 8 minutes until the beetroot are just softened. Set aside to cool, but do not throw away any of the beetroot juice created.

Place your cooked beetroot (reserve any juice for later) into a food processor and blitz until you have fine shreds. Add the eggs and blitz again. Add the oil and vanilla and mix again until well combined.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and add the sugar. Pour your beetroot mixture on top and fold everything together using a large spoon of spatula.

Pour the cake mix into the tin and bake for 35-40 minutes until slightly springy to the touch and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, before running a knife around the edge of the tin and releasing the cake from the tin. Leave to cool completely.

Once cooled, place the royal icing sugar into a small bowl and slowly add the reserved beetroot juice, 1 teaspoon at a time, until you achieve a thick, yet drizzle-worthy glaze. It will be a gorgeous bright purple colour.

Transfer the cooled cake to a serving plate and artfully drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake.

Leave to set for 20 minutes before serving.

Makes 1 x 8inch cake

The cake tastes even better as it ages, as the beetroot slowly releases its moisture into the cake making it turn softer and moister. I found 2 days in it was at its best.

* Note: Royal icing sugar sets hard and won’t be so easily absorbed into the cake, making for a better finish. You can use regular icing sugar in place of the royal icing sugar, but it will remain wet and soak into the cake and disappear over time