Mrs Mulford's Cakes

Cupid's Honey Clouds and more Valentine Cupcakes

2012-02-11T22:08:00.002Z

I have been looking for some cupcakes to keep my Sweet Cherry Lips company from my previous post. Love and Cupid came to the rescue in the form of some cute chocolate moulds. I'm not really sure if they are meant to be Cupids as they don't have 'his' official bow and arrow but they have very cheeky faces for Valentines Day. They are lounging on a white chocolate frosting and underneath we have a honey cake with a honey and mallow fluff filling which sounds very comfortable to me!

I simply swapped 1/3 of the sugar for honey and used golden caster sugar for the cupcake. Then in the centre is a 1/2 tsp of honey and 1 tsp of marshmallow fluff topped with a white chocolate buttercream. I used half super white candy melts to half buttercream. The cupid is also made from white choc candy melt sprayed gold.

So we have Cupid's Honey Clouds, Sweet Cherry Lips and Big Banoffee Love! Did I spoil the sentiment with the last one? Well, its definitely big on banana flavour in the cupcake, and in the buttercream frosting plus a rich caramel centre. Nothing complicated just fun with decorations.

I've tried to use different flavours for the theme although I will be enjoying traditional champagne truffles and fizz in the morning ( I know this because I have located said goodies in the back of the cupboard already >< ) The Sweet Cherry Lips can be found here too which are red velvet choc style cupcake, morello cherry centre and a vanilla frosting. Another mouthwatering selection for later in the day.

Happy Valentines and watch out for those LIPS!

Chocolate Lettuce Cake - Really!

2012-01-15T18:25:00.005Z

Could I devise a cake for January that reflected all our good diet intentions? Well....nearly but as you can see from the confused rabbit on top, maybe it's not all it should be! It really does contain lettuce and yogurt which are healthy ingredients but after that, things went a little awry; chocolate chips fell in as well as Green and Black's cocoa powder.

I can imagine there are some of you now with disapproving faces. A bit like in the TV Reality shows; Cupcake Wars or the Great British Bake Off, where one of the contestants has made some inexplicable ingredient combo and the judges aren't convinced but of course, they still have to taste it. However, lettuce cake has been done before but to a more traditional carrot cake type of recipe. If you are tempted to read further, click for the recipe for Spiced Lettuce Cake Bars at Baking Bites.

So what did it taste like, by some miracle was the lettuce hidden from view and were we all pleasantly surprised ? ? ?

Well.....I used iceberg lettuce and chopped it finely but it is hardy stuff. Yes, you can see the lettuce, it kept it's colour surprisingly well and you can taste it a bit. The overall family opinion was that you could taste it a bit much, perhaps an alternative to iceberg would produce something sweeter. The texture was fine, a nice fudgy chocolate cake. We definitely like carrot cake and we like chocolate beetroot cake and even lemon potato cake. But chocolate lettuce cake is being eaten, very, very slowly.

That's it! the cake you only want a tiny bit of, brilliant diet idea, or not?

Can I appease you with a Sweet Cherry Lips Cupcake instead?

In fact, I don't think my heart was truly in the experiment as I was only prepared to sacrifice half the cake batter to the lettuce cake and the other half was turned into some delicious chocolate cherry cupcakes. So for the curious, here is the Chocolate Lettuce Cake recipe and for the traditional, a few Sweet Cherry Lips Cupcakes. Happy Baking for 2012!

Text Only Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Cake

225g (8oz) Butter
225g (8oz) Golden caster sugar
4 Large eggs
200g (7oz) Self raising flour
60g (2 oz) Dark Cocoa powder (Green and Blacks)
125 ml ( ½ cup ) yogurt

For the one half of batter: 1 cup of lettuce finely chopped
60g (2 oz) Dark chocolate bar cut into small chunks or chocolate chips

For the other half: few drops of red food colouring and 2 tbsp milk

Icing 1 for cake

60g (2oz) Butter
225g (8oz) Icing sugar

25g (1oz) Cocoa powder

Chocolate Sprinkles

Icing 2 for cupcakes

60g (2oz) Butter
225g (8oz) Icing sugar

60g (2oz) cream cheese

Cherry Jam - 6 tsps- Morello Cherry works well

Chocolate Lips to decorate

Preheat oven 150c/130c Fan/300F/Gas Mark 2.

Grease and line a sandwich cake tin (20cm/ 8 inches). Place 6 large cupcake liners into tin.

Cream the sugar and butter together. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the cocoa powder . Fold in the flour and add yogurt. Divide batter into 2. In one half add the chopped lettuce and chocolate chips. Put into a lined sandwich tin and then into the oven for 30 mins until done. Allow to cool and decorate with simple chocolate buttercream (whisk softened butter and icing sugar together with cocoa powder mixed into 2 tbsps of hot water) and sprinkles.

For the remaining batter add 2 tbsps of milk and a few drops of red food colouring. Place into cupcake cases in tin and cook for 20 mins or until done. Allow to cool and then cut out top with teaspoon. Place a tsp of cherry jam/ jelly into centre and replace cake piece on top. Make cream cheese frosting; combine butter and icing sugar first and then add cream cheese. Beat until light and fluffy. Pipe onto cupcakes and add decoration, I used chocolate lips. My sweet cherry lips ! no lettuce.

Chocolate Orange Checkerboard Christmas Cake and a Tigger!

2011-12-17T16:30:00.000Z

The wonderful thing about Christmas is......

Sometimes it speaks for itself....

Then you find yourself right in the middle of all the excitement....

Feeling thankful.

This cake has been bought to you today by:

Ingredients; chocolate, chocolate oranges and tangy oranges , simple orange buttercream and chocolate buttercream. My recipe chequerboard or checkerboard cake, use orange in the first batter, orange and light cocoa in the second and dark cocoa in the third.

Great smells; Zest of oranges, melting chocolate

Grrreat Ideas: inspiration from blogger Becky for ' Tigger ' Writing @ Cakes by Becky

Excitement: Only 7 days left 'til Christmas....

Remembering to say thank you to ALL my Worldwide Friends and wish you

'Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas !'

Bah Humbug Cupcakes !

2011-12-11T19:33:00.003Z

Bah Humbug Cupcakes ! The Christmas Machine is in full swing here in the UK, in fact with only two weeks to go, the Cadbury's cream eggs are just around the corner, literally. So spend, buy, consume..... Bah Humbug! or have I turned into Ma Humbug? It's funny what sets you off and for the post of most cringe worthy gift..... I would like to nominate the Baa Humbug Candy Pooping Sheep!

Time for a nice cup of tea and a tiny cupcake to lift your spirits up and a calm down. After all 'Misery loves company' but even Scrooge's 'Bah Humbug' couldn't last. So for this penultimate post of the year, the humble humbug has been my inspiration. With it's lovely stripey peppermint coat and a toffee centre, it is a traditional old English candy. Was Scrooge referring to these sweets? Probably not, as the word also meant hoax or jest, maybe he would have been sweeter for one or two?

What I really fancy, is a cake......

I haven't included a full recipe as the flavourings are very simple. Use you favourite cupcake recipe and substitute the white sugar for light brown sugar. Flavour with dark caramel or toffee essence.

Cut a small teaspoon of cake from the middle and pop some caramel sauce or dulche de leche in and replace the cake piece.

Treat yourself to this from Waitrose. In the States, lots of caramel sauces, you are the King of Caramel sauces! Of course you could make your own.....

Cover the top with a simple buttercream flavoured with a few drops of peppermint essence*.

For the fondant topping; first flavour the fondant with a couple of drops of peppermint flavouring and extra icing sugar to stop it getting sticky, *the idea is not to overdo it but build up the peppermint flavouring on the top. Now you have a choice; you can cut circles out of the fondant and paint stripes on them with black colouring or; roll out thin strips of black fondant, place and roll them into the white fondant, then cut the circles out. You can see the different ones below:

You can make little humbug shapes and add Christmas Decorations if you want to get carried away. Give to anyone who is looking miserable and cheer them up. Meanwhile if you fancy the real thing;

From A Quarter Of

From Amazon USA

Of course, while looking for additional images I got side tracked because Mother Nature has the best stripes courtesy of WebEcoist:

Cor Humbug !

No Cake Please It's My Double Birthday!

2011-11-28T20:13:00.000Z

Mrs Mulford's Croquembouche - Sugar Spun Caramel Choux

What no cake? Has Marie Antoinette left the building? It was my birthday and my Foodbuzz birthday this November. I decided to combine the two in this blog and do something a little different.....so instead of you seeing a round up of my recipes, I thought it would make a change for you see what I actually made from your blogs. And what did I eat for my birthday?

Eric and his Croquembouche

A croquembouche, a wonderful tall tower of light choux pastry; I filled mine with alternate layers of bittersweet chocolate cream and whipped cream, then sweetened the outside with drops of caramel and spun sugar. I used the choux recipe from Eric Lanlard's Glamour Cakes which I prefer. The online version by Eric for Delicious Magazine is different but I left the link for you to see. Eric is a very successful chef and we are very lucky to have lured him over to the UK. The best tip in the book; make the caramel in two batches.

Speaking of tips and recipes, I need to say a big 'THANKYOU' to my Foodbuzz friends and list the blogs that I actually baked, even if that meant going on line to get a speciality ingredient or measuring in cups!

I cook at least once a month from Foodbuzz recipes and I find myself using internet recipes more and more, even though I still love my books. Some of the personal stories behind some of the recipes have been sometimes funny, other times heart wrenching and I find myself listening to you.

A birthday card from my sister, is that really me?

So another year older and here's my 'Big Thank You Blogroll' to the following Foodbuddies from Foodbuzz who inspired me to cook something from their country :

1. Citrakale aka Citra in Turkey. Thank you Citra, I have made this just with mushrooms and also spinach and cheese, now a regular favourite here; Tavuk Mantarlı börek (Chicken Mushrooms Pastry) .

2. Cake Duchess aka Lora in South Florida, USA. Thank you Lora, your whole site is a wonderful cornucopia of temptation and since we don't have these in the UK I had to make Gooey Sticky Cinnamon Buns .

3. Gastronaut Adventures aka Gunnar in Sweden. Thank you Gunnar, I had forgotten how good and easy it is to make real fruit curds and I had to follow you on the Masterchef show, brave man; Lemon and Lime Curd.

4. Amybites aka Amy in Chicago, USA. Thank you Amy for making my addiction to butterbeer worse or should we all be blaming JK Rowling? No, of course not! I was in a real hurry to make these and it was worth every bite; Butterbeer Cupcakes .

5. Dream of Cakes aka Eftychia in Limassol, Cyprus. Thank you Eftychia for sharing all your delicious cakes and sugar craft. What I also enjoy, are your traditional Cypriot recipes especially these very tasty shoes which I made with ground pork ! Papoutsakia .

And it took two people to tempt me into baking macarons:

5. Mad about Macarons aka Jill in Paris, France. Thank you Jill for your ravishing photos of Paris, increasing my envy levels as you enter another hallowed patisserie and generally hitting every taste bud receptor with your lovely flavour combos; To Orange Blossom and Paris Lovers .

6. Eat Live Travel Write aka Mardi in Toronto, Canada. Thank you Mardi for Macarons - Some Tips and Tricks which finally pushed me over the edge to Macaron Home Heaven. Mardi, where do you get all your energy from?

7. Our Adventures in Japan aka Kat and Satoshi in Osaka, Japan. Thank you to Kat and Satoshi for all your lovely recipes. I have gradually acquired many Japanese ingredients over this year but things like fresh daikon are a rare find in the UK but this is such a tasty and quick recipe: Daikon wrapped Pork

8. The Little Foodie aka Mariko in Hawaii. Thank you Mariko for sharing this lovely family post and now I know what Lilikoi curd is when I visit Hawaii some time soon ( ;-D ) Sunrise Layer Cake

9. A Culinary Journey with Chef Denis aka Chef Dennis. Thank you Chef for being such a brilliant Foodbuzz ambassador and putting up with some many women in your life! Can't be a bad job after all.....>< Anyway amongst your many lovely dishes I made Roasted Branzino - Sea Bass. Sea bass is one of my favourite restaurant fish dishes and I guess I was just lazy about cooking it at home, now a firm home favourite, thank you.

10. Sage Trifle via the Hendersonville/Carolina Epicurean aka Rocquie in NW Carolina, USA. Thank you Rocquie, I love food history even the relatively recent stuff and I was really pleased to make this for a valentines dance this year and it was very popular too; Orange Kiss Me Cake .

11. In the Kitchen with Kath aka Kath (and Bob!) in Seattle, USA. Thank you Kath there was just something about your pie..sigh...Blueberry Pie. Blueberries are now readily available in our supermarkets in the UK . Traditionally blackberry and apple were more commonly used here but they have been elbowed out of the way by this pie and the juicier the better. I could cut into that pie crust right now...

And finally:

12. Cakewalker aka Brooks. Thank you Brooks for all your lovely cakes and sugar craft but what I really wanted were your Brown Sugar Burger Buns! In fact, we didn't put burgers in ours; we just had them with bacon, lettuce and tomato and the rest with lovely fresh butter. I have been trying lots of different breads this year and learning that US flour and other countries flours are not all the same and so yielding different results. This was the first time I had used brown sugar in bread making and there was a nice change to taste. Thank you for the inspiration and it was so much fun watching you and rooting for you in the competition too. Happy baking, my friend.

There are many more waiting on the saved list that I couldn't mention here but it has been a very interesting and tasty year.

Maple Toffee Apple and Chocolate Marshmallow Picnic Cakes

2011-10-30T17:54:00.001Z

Two for the price of one in this blog! I love toffee apple cake and I love chocolate cake but which is best? There's only one way to find out....with apologies to one of my family's favourite UK comedians, Harry Hill* ; that's to eat them. This weekend everyone in this house has successfully shared a cold with each other and we are eating these as 'comfort' cakes and watching Harry on TV. The cakes were designed as picnic cakes and are very easy to transport and keep well (I think) but taste just as nice at home, even with colds.

There are lots of caramel apple cake recipes available but what I really wanted was to taste a toffee topping more like a toffee apple than a caramel sauce. However, the toffee on a toffee apple can be very hard and brittle so I've settled for something chewier. I also like the extra depth that maple syrup gives to the toffee with the lovely apple and cinnamon aroma coming from the cake.

The toffee is a little more work but so worth it and is my favourite picnic cake; sweet , moist and still some sharpness from the apples. Also makes a brilliant pudding cake, heat through to soften the toffee, serve with cream.

The Chocolate Fan Club will insist that the second cake; a rich chocolate chip cake with a sticky marshmallow filling is the best. It's such a cheat and it's so easy you can cook this up in half the time of the apple cake or at the same time and keep everyone happy. Rich organic cocoa powder and 70 % dark chocolate chips in the cake batter for a very chocolatey cake but milk chocolate works just as well. Sweetened with the melted marshmallow filling in the centre make it an 'easy to carry' picnic cake without anyone getting sticky fingers.

Text Only Printable Recipe for Maple Toffee Apple Cake

Shiny Maple Toffee Apple Cake!

Ingredients for :

Cake:

4oz (110g) Butter
4oz (110g) Demerara (Raw) sugar
1 tbsp Maple syrup
1 tsp Cinnamon powder
1 Large egg
4oz (110g) Self raising flour
1 tbsp yogurt
2oz (55g) Apples ( 1 large Bramley cut into small chunks)

Topping:

2 tbsp Maple syrup
3 oz (85g) Demerara (Raw) sugar
1 oz (25g) Butter
2oz (55g) Apples ( 1 large Bramley cut into small chunks)

Method:

Preheat oven 160c/140c Fan/300F/Gas Mark 2.

Grease and line cake tin. This recipe was made in a 8 inch/ 20 cm square tin.
Cream the sugar, fat and maple syrup together. Whisk in the eggs and cinnamon powder. Fold in the flour and add the yogurt and then the apple chunks. Put into tin and place in centre of oven.

Check after 20 minutes. Cook until risen and a skewer comes cleanly out.

To make toffee and apple topping first weigh out ingredients and then cut apple into chunks and put to one side. Place sugar, maple syrup and butter in a wok or heavy based pan and put on a low heat until butter is melted. Increase heat until toffee mixture is boiling. For this small amount it will not take a long time for the mixture to caramelise, after a couple of minutes it will turn a darker toffee colour and take off heat. You can test the toffee by putting a little on a cold plate to test it's hardness. If you are happy with the result return the pan to the heat and add the apples for another minute stirring well. Pour over top of cake, spread apple pieces evenly with the toffee. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes and ease any grease proof paper away from toffee on the sides of the cake. Mark into squares, cool in fridge completely before cutting.

Text Only Printable Recipe for Chocolate Marshmallow Picnic Cake

Chocolate Chip Marshmallow Picnic Cake - Milk Chocolate Version

Ingredients:

Cake :

6oz (170g) Butter
6oz (170g) Golden caster sugar
1 tbsp Caramel or golden syrup
3 Large eggs
4oz (110g) Self raising flour
2oz (60g) of Dark cocoa powder

3 tbsp milk

3oz (85g) Dark chocolate cut into small chunks, choc drop size ( Most of a Green and Blacks
100g bar of 70% Dark chocolate minus one tasting segment :-D)

Marshmallow Filling:

Bag of Marshmallows- about 12 marshmallows for this amount

Method:

Preheat oven to a moderate temperature 160c/140c Fan/325F/Gas Mark 2.

Grease and line cake tin. This recipe was made in a 12 x 9 inch ( 30cm x 23cm ) oblong pan.

Cream the sugar and butter together, add the syrup and whisk in. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Mix in half the flour and cocoa with the milk. Fold the rest of the flour with the chocolate chips.

Put into tin and place in centre of oven. Check after 20 minutes. Cook until risen and a skewer comes cleanly out.

While the cake is still warm turn cake out onto fresh piece of greased baking parchment and remove original parchment from cake. Cut in half and place marshmallows over one half leaving a gap around marshmallow because they will spread. Fold other half of cake on top of marshmallows using parchment to help you.

The marshmallows will begin to spread with the heat of the cake, don't put too close together as you will get marshmallow run out!

If there isn't enough warmth left in the cake to melt the marshmallows return to the oven for 5 minutes. Cool cake and place in fridge. When cold and marshmallow has reset, cut into squares. You didn't even have to make icing for this.

This cake also works well with a lighter cocoa powder and milk chocolate chips. A pound cake is used as a denser cake holds together better, especially when rearranging the warm pieces and then finally cutting into squares. Easy to make for any occasion.

Finally, Harry Hill is also fond of TV Cooks as well as food fights and Nigella is no exception. I'm not sure if the US view her in quite the same way as the UK but here is one of Harry's takes on her show to finish this month's blog. I think she's great too.

Fruit and Nut Surprise Picnic Cake ( Gluten and Dairy Free )

2011-10-25T23:23:00.003+01:00

I love autumn picnics; wrapping up warm and enjoying the changing scenery and food. To set the scene, here's a beautiful picture taken just a few miles from my home, of the River Wye, dividing England and Wales, providing a wonderful picnic backdrop.

That means cake time too, so this month * I am providing picnic cake recipes; making the most of some seasonal ingredients and one for chocolate lovers too. The ideal picnic cake, moist and sweet should be easy to pick up and easy to carry. Let's make it easy to bake too so if you are ready to enjoy the autumn sunshine, we will start with a Fruit and Nut Surprise Picnic Cake.

You may ask what is the surprise? Well it seems that when I am designing recipes 'over here', aka the UK... there are certain food combinations that don't seem to be so acceptable to the general public. Whereas in the US, I would be quite happy to title this as a 'Berry and Peanut Butter Picnic Cake', here the humble peanut is not so highly regarded in cake form. In fact, you would be hard pressed to get the average person to try a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, let alone base a cake on this combination. However, a little move upwards and here we have 'Fruit'; juicy blackberries and blueberries and 'Nut Cake'; peanut butter in the batter. Before you know it, retitled, they have tasted it and actually like it........

I have made several versions of this cake and the one I am really happy with has both the blackberry and blueberry in it and uses organic pure peanut butter with a slight crunch. The original recipe assumed that the blackberries would give out far more juice and I used semolina instead of gluten free flour as a topping and in the batter. That didn't work at all and I have posted a picture in the outtakes, it came out far too dry. I also used a commercial peanut butter that had extra sugar etc added but that didn't work out so flavoursome.

If you love peanuts you can also add a good crushed tablespoonful with the demerara sugar on top. It's not sticky and not too sweet, just juicy and nutty at the same time, delicious!

Cooling off on the window sill is a Fruit and Nut Surprise Picnic Cake which can be made gluten and dairy free.

* I won't be providing a picture of my new cooker, fridge freezer and dishwasher but last month's lack of posts was primarily due to my main kitchen equipment all dying at once. Very expensive! After some trepidation of using a new oven because they all have slightly different cooking and browning abilities, I am back to baking. My last oven ran very hot and I find that I am still adjusting to the new oven and despite checking it with a thermometer, I would always urge you to adjust the recipes to your oven's preferences!

Text Only Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cake:

4oz (110g) Non dairy cooking fat or margarine

4oz (110g) Demerara (Raw) sugar
4oz (110g) Organic crunchy peanut butter

2 tbsp milk

2 Large eggs

4oz (110g) Self raising flour / Gluten free self raising flour

4oz (110g) Blueberries

4oz (110g) Blackberries

Topping:

½ tbsp Warmed maple syrup or honey

1 tbsp Demerara sugar

Optional add 1 tbsp crushed salted peanuts

Method:

Preheat oven 160c/140c Fan/300F/Gas Mark 2.

Grease and line cake tin. This recipe was made in a 8 inch/ 20 cm by 10 inch/ 25cm oblong tin.

Cream the sugar, fat and peanut butter together. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Fold in the flour and add milk. Place two thirds of the mixture in the tin and sprinkle most of the blueberries over. Cover lightly with the rest of the batter. Place the blackberries around the edge and the rest of the blueberries in the centre.

Place in the centre of the oven. Check after 20 minutes. Cook until risen and a skewer comes cleanly out. Brush top with a little warm maple or honey around the fruit and sprinkle with extra sugar and if desired, crushed peanuts.

Allow to cool before cutting.

Leaving to cool on window sill may mean that not a lot of cake gets to the picnic!

Apricot and Pecan Speedy Cake Squares - Gluten Free

2011-08-21T20:20:00.000+01:00

Apricot and Pecan Speedy Cake Squares

Sometimes it's nice to have a few 'fall back' recipes that you can make quickly but still have an original twist to them. This cinnamon cake topped with apricot jam and pecans makes a quick bake, coffee time treat. I love this easy recipe; made with store cupboard ingredients plus it works really well with gluten free flour and dairy free margarine, when you need to cater for different diets.

Two smaller treats with maple flavoured mascarpone cream.

For events I make one batch with gluten free flour and cut them into smaller finger sizes, then divide onto two plates and label one 'Gluten Free Apricot and Pecan' and the other, just 'Apricot and Pecan'. Guests may leave the labeled gluten free cakes if they are not on a special diet and never get to try it. This is one way to break down taste barriers for gluten free foods and you only need to make one batch of goodies! You can tell them afterwards of course...

Text Only Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cake :

170g (6 oz) Butter
170g (6 oz) Demerara sugar
3 Large Eggs
170g (6 oz) Self raising flour/Gluten Free Flour
2 tsp Cinnamon

Apricot jam

Pecans 16 or 25 or more!

Method:

Preheat oven 140c/120c Fan/275F/Gas Mark 1.

Grease and line cake tin. This recipe was made in a 7 inch/ 18 cm square tin.

Cream the sugar and butter together. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Fold in the flour and cinnamon. Put into tin and into the oven.

Place in the centre of the oven. Check after 20 minutes. Cook until risen and a skewer comes cleanly out. Allow to cool slightly. Meanwhile warm at least a quarter of a cup of jam and brush over cake top.

Warm two dessert spoons of jam and toss in 16 to 25 pecans depending how generous you want to be with the squares. Cut cake into squares or fingers. Coat the pecans with the jam and centre onto to the fingers or squares.

For an extra treat mix some mascarpone cream with maple syrup and pipe some ribbons on for extra decoration when cake is completely cool. Too easy.

Top Tip: Large grain sugar such as demerara / raw sugar and fresh eggs help support the structure of this gluten free cake.

The Big Butterbeer Cake and Butter Beer Fizz - Cracking the Recipe

2011-07-20T16:10:00.004+01:00

Have you ever tasted something for the first time and thought that was OK and then a little while later, develop an almost addiction to the stuff ? I saw the amazing blog by Amy of amybites on her *Butterbeer Cup Cakes* and thought must try that one day. However, a well timed trip to Orlando gave me the opportunity to taste the Butterbeer at Universal's Wizarding World. Wow! I thought that was a bit sweet and had to refresh my palate with some Hogshead Ale too. However, the magic was beginning to work and before I returned home, I was in the supermarket trying to get the right Butterbeer ingredients.

Just like Amy's recipe there are some ingredients that you just have to have to make this Butterbeer and the cake. Luckily you can buy American Cream Soda in the UK as an import from the famous Cybercandy and a few other online stores. ( Do not use cola, wrong taste. )

Also, you can buy Butterscotch Chocolate chips fairly easily online from various suppliers such as Amazon but I used mine from my trip ( Also, I'm told that Sainsbury's also stock a version).

Now imagine this scene; I am in Publix looking at the all American goodies but I am taking a long time because I don't know where stuff is, in this unfamiliar store. Also, it appears that I am muttering to myself about what I must buy because I refuse to take a shopping list in with me. I am going along the shelves chanting 'butterscotch chips, must find butterscotch chips.' People are making way for me because a) I am muttering obsessively and b) you have to stand in the middle of the aisle to get a good view of all the stuff that's there.

My family, now bored, have abandoned me and gone back to the car and besides I embarrass them when I am on a food hunt asking awkward questions etc. Finally, 'Thank You!' to the brave Publix employee that offered to help me, told me I had a great accent, just like Harry Potter ( ? ) and found the cream soda too. No one was impressed until I made the cake, THEN they were and could we have it again? Ha ha! Can you picture me embarrassing my family again, apparently my Sirius Black impression wasn't too hot either.

Slices of the Big Butterbeer Cake - Sweet caramel sponge with a hint of butterscotch and topped with a frothy butternut icing. It's sandwiched together with a butterscotch chocolate and sprinkled with gold dust for a bit of extra magic!

The final film ; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, has revived the Butter Beer longing again. So I am back in the potions room, I mean kitchen, making a fresh batch. This post contains two recipes; one for my version of the Butterbeer Cake, however, if you want cupcakes then Amy's version is the best I've found to date. I've also added my version of the Butter beer recipe and the essences can be purchased on ebay or Amazon or a good cake decorations supplier. There are plenty of recipes out there on muggelnet and other fan sites so you can have a good look round and see if you fancy the hot or cold version.

Some of the key ~~potions~~ ingredients.. I thought the topping of the Butterbeer at Universal had a slightly artificial taste to it and really reminded me of the Bird's Dream Topping Brand. The caramel adds to the darker colour and overall sweetness. You need the butterscotch essence and ideally the Vanilla Butternut too.

Text Only Printable Recipes

Ingredients :

Cake :

225g (8oz) Butter
225g (8oz) Soft brown sugar
4 Large eggs
275g (10oz) Self raising flour
2 tbsp Caramel Syrup
2 tsp Butterscotch flavouring

¾ cup American Cream Soda

Optional – You can add 110 g (4 oz) butterscotch chips at this point

Butterscotch Centre:
110g (4oz) Icing sugar
2 oz (60g) Butter
110g (4oz) White chocolate with butterscotch flavouring or butterscotch chips

Cream Frosting Topping:

1 Sachet Birds Dream Topping

Milk to mix

Vanilla Butternut to taste

4oz (110g) Icing sugar
1 oz (30g) Butter

Method:

Preheat oven 140c/120c Fan/275F/Gas Mark 1.

Cream the sugar and butter together. Whisk in the caramel syrup and butterscotch essence then the eggs, one at a time. Fold in half the flour. Stir in the cream soda. Add the rest of the flour ( and the butterscotch chips if desired). Divide into two sandwich tins.

Place in the centre of the oven. Check after 20 minutes. Cook until risen and a skewer comes cleanly out. Allow to cool and make icings.

For the butterscotch centre and the cream frosting topping make up the sachet of Dream Topping but put in slightly less milk for a slightly stiffer consistency. Put to one side.

Gently whisk butter, and icing sugar together. Add and stir in two spoonfuls of the Dream Topping. Melt the butterscotch chips and combine with the icing. Spread on one cake half and place other cake half on top.

For the topping mix the butter, icing sugar and butternut essence until a stiff paste is produced. Gradually stir in the rest of the Dream Topping and spread over the top of the cake. It is possible to cover the sides as well but this a quite a wet topping to mimic the frothy beer topping and does make it tricky, if rather fun, to pick up. Finally, sprinkle with edible gold dust.

Butter Beer Fizz

Ingredients:

1 can of American cream soda per person

1 tbsp caramel syrup per can

½ tsp Butterscotch essence (Preema brand) per can or a few drops of LorAnn Vanilla Butternut flavouring . I found the LorAnn butterscotch had too chemical overtones.

Optional Topping :

Dream Topping and milk to mix

2 tbsp Cream soda* (Save some from the main beer mix if you are not using large quantities)

½ tsp Vanilla Butternut essence

Method:

Combine most of the soda* and the syrups and essence in a glass. For a ‘slushie’ version as served in the park, use a plastic cup or your Hogwart’s Butterbeer Mug and put in the freezer for an hour before serving. Stir half an hour in to break up ice crystals.

Make up Dream topping with milk according to the directions on the sachet and mix in the butternut essence. Lighten by adding a two tbsp of soda and float/place on top of beer.

Notes:

***Other inspired 'Harry Potter' Cakes : - Magical Sherbet Lemon Cake***

If anyone can tell me why the Butter Nut, Butter Pecan or Butter Flavouring used in the States is not marketed in the UK, I would be very interest to know. Many thanks.

Choc & Nut Sundae Cake - A Nutella Conversion

2011-07-09T16:47:00.004+01:00

After a Knickerbocker Glory and a Banana Split Cake, do we have room for one more? Of course you do, that's the beauty of puddings, you may feel full after your main meal but then by some miracle, you can suddenly make room for a dessert or three. For the third of the ice cream themed cakes; we have the Choc and Nut Sundae Cake which is also gluten free. A very rich, chocolate, single layer cake with toasted hazelnuts and a very special ingredient or two in the cream swirls on the top. Serve one or maybe two small slices each.....

I hope I've whetted your appetite because I have to give credit for the original recipe to Nigella's Nutella Cake. I have made a few adaptions but she lured me with the words 'easy' and 'delicious' and besides, I was so curious as to how you could bake a cake with a whole jar of Nutella, that I had to try it. I had not been a Nutella fan and even considered it just a diluted form of my more favoured pure chocolate spread, but no more. I have been converted by the real intense hazelnut flavour this imparts to the cake.

The next important ingredient has to be the chocolate used in this recipe. Again this is completely transformed by Green and Black's Sweet Dark 70 % Chocolate. This and the chocolate extract are well worth seeking out before you make this cake because they will make all the difference to the taste. It reminded me of the best Choc and Nut Sundaes ; a dense rich dairy ice-cream, covered in dark chocolate sauce whirls and then topped with sweet hazelnuts.

Under the dark chocolate icing is a layer of creamy white, whipped buttercream, flavoured with Pure Chocolate Extract. This extract gives a fantastic chocolate flavour with a hint of something more and after looking at the label that something more is alcohol , 45% proof ! Of course, if I had read about the process, I would have known that is how the flavour is extracted and very nice it is too. You are only going to use a little in the frosting but I know it is important for some of my friends to avoid certain ingredients.

It is stocked by Waitrose and various online stores and I would recommend it, not only for this recipe but also it's good in a cup of hot chocolate or coffee. ( Click on Star Kay Whites for an interesting historical link about the company which has been operating since 1890 in New York.) If you want to avoid alcohol in your frosting then I would recommend using a good quality white chocolate with vanilla flavouring instead.

Text Only Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cake:

6 Large eggs

125g (4.5 oz) Butter

1 tablespoon Honey

400g Nutella ( jar size)

100g (3.5 oz) ground hazelnuts (or almonds)

100g dark chocolate ( bar size - Green and Black’s)

Icing 1:

225g (8 oz) Icing sugar
55g (2 oz) Butter

2 tbsp Milk

1 tsp Chocolate extract ( or to taste )

Icing 2:

225g (8 oz) Icing sugar
55g (2 oz) Butter

2 tbsp Milk

85g (3oz ) Dark Chocolate

Decoration:

Chopped toasted hazelnuts

Tin:

Nigella uses a 23cm springform tin but I used two 7 inch/18 cm sandwich cake tins, greased and lined. Slightly less cooking time but worked out well for two smaller cakes.

Method:

Preheat oven 140c/120c Fan/300F/Gas Mark 2

Beat the butter and Nutella together, and then add the honey, egg yolks and ground hazelnuts or almonds until well combined. Melt the chocolate gently in the microwave. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff. Fold in the cooled, melted chocolate into the main batter, then lighten the mixture by stirring in a third of the egg white. Gently folding the rest of the egg white a third at a time.

Pour into the prepared tin and cook for 30/40 minutes or until the cake's beginning to come away at the sides, then let cool on a rack.

Make first icing by mixing softened butter and icing sugar together with the chocolate extract. Whisk in the milk until icing is light, spread over cake tops.

Make the second icing by mixing butter and icing sugar together and then add the milk. Melt chocolate and gradually stir into icing. Spoon into icing syringe and make swirls on top of cakes. Finally sprinkle with hazelnuts.

I enjoyed serving this as a chilled cake which fitted in with the ice-cream theme nicely. It worked really well as a party dessert cake too, serving up small rich chocolatey slices at the end of a meal.

Banana Split Cake

2011-06-16T15:59:00.001+01:00

One banana, two banana, three banana, four! Moist banana cake split with cream, fruit puree and topped with chocolate sauce and more fruit, a cake made for summer. This cake is very easy to make with readily available ingredients. I made this Banana Split Cake with fresh fruit and organic fresh cream as well as long life cream, such as Elmlea or Cool Whip, and canned fruit and, they were both good. Easy recipe, good fun toppings and don't forget the sprinkles...

The hardest part is getting the bananas ripe enough to provide a good strong flavour to the batter. In this household bananas are a favourite fruit so they never have time to go 'over ripe' unless I hide them. Sounds bizarre, that's us. Pick the other fruits for the cake centre that won't swamp the flavour of the banana cake; I have made this with apricot or peach puree and raspberries, pineapple chunks, topped off with just a few maraschino cherries .

I had a lot of help for the topping suggestions from the children; they favoured more chocolate sauce and sprinkles. However, the plain banana cake is also very good on it's own. You may have to make several just to be sure.

If you haven't manged to eat the plain cake, simply cut a generous 'V' shape from the middle. You can do this with a smaller groove in the cupcakes and muffins too.

Spread some fruit puree in the split and then fill with the fruit of your choice

Cover this with a layer and cream, finish with more fruits and decorations. I hope this will to remind you of one of your favourite ice-cream desserts; the banana split.

Click on 'a how to' from Video Jug

Here's the recipe and for those of you who may like or even remember the original Banana Splits Theme song - get singin'...

Text Only Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cake:

8oz (225g) Butter

8oz (225g) Golden caster sugar

4 Large eggs

8oz (225g)Self raising flour

2-3 overripe bananas ( 8oz - 225g peeled weight at least )

1 tsp vanilla essence

Topping:

3 tbsp Fruit Puree

1 pt Whipped Cream

Selection of fruit and sauces

Sprinkles or nuts

Method:

Preheat oven 140c/120c Fan/275F/Gas Mark 1.

Grease tin and line bottom with baking paper. Quantities are for 1lb loaf tin and 6 cupcake bases.

Mash the bananas well and put to one side.

Cream the sugar and butter together. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Add the mashed banana and vanilla. Fold in the flour. Spoon into tin and cup cake cases.

Place in the centre of the oven. Check after 15 minutes for the cupcakes, remove when firm and risen. Check and cover the loaf tin to stop over browning. Cook for approx. another 30 minutes until risen and a skewer comes cleanly out. Allow to cool and chill.

Cut 'V' shape from centre of cakes and spread fruit puree over. In the main loaf add fruits in the groove! Cover cakes liberally with cream. Add more fruit cream, sauce, sprinkles, nuts, whatever you fancy. Chill for at least an hour before serving.

The loaf size cake served eight of us and it was a lot less work than making 8 banana splits at the last minute for dessert. Tra la la.....

Easy cup cake version: Banana cup cake split and filled with just the apricot puree this time and topped with cream, more apricot fruit puree with dark chocolate sauce, topped with a cherry. Fruity.

Knickerbocker Glory Cake - Checkerboard Cake Style

2011-06-12T22:15:00.006+01:00

The first from the trio of ice-cream inspired cakes, comes the Knickerbocker Glory Cake, via the English Knickerbocker Glory dessert, quite a mouthful in all senses of the word! Layers of different flavoured ice cream, now transformed into cake, sandwiched with sweetened cream and raspberry jelly, topped with cream and chocolate and more! The idea was to get the feeling of fun and decadence in the tall layers; do you remember tasting different flavours as you delved down into the glass?

Although perhaps, no longer a fashionable dessert, it holds fond memories from childhood for many people . It used to be one of the largest and definitely the tallest ice cream sundae desserts you could buy. This excerpt from Wikipedia explains the name:

'A knickerbocker glory is an ice cream sundae that is served in a large tall glass, particularly in the United Kingdom.

The knickerbocker glory was first described in the 1930s and contains ice cream, jelly, and cream. Layers of these different sweet tastes are alternated in a tall glass and topped with different kinds of syrup, nuts, whipped cream and often a cherry. Layers of meringue, fruit and even alcohol may be included but, as with an ice cream sundae, there is no precise recipe.

The name knickerbocker glory is drawn from knickerbockers, a type of long trouser traditionally worn by young children (but particularly young boys).'

While building up the layers of cake, the checkerboard idea came from my childhood; sweet memories of Neapolitan ice-cream; blocks of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry pink flavours. It's a fun technique and you don't need any special equipment, only good strong flavourings; vanilla, dark cocoa (Green and Blacks) and strawberry (try Crusha Milkshake flavouring for that 'pink' taste or strawberry jelly).

Using a seedless jam or jelly makes for easier joining of the cake rings and whipping up the buttercream to mimic cream texture adds a light sweet finish rather than heavy fondant.

If you didn't want to use this technique you could simply make a marbled version or place the flavoured batter side by side as I did for the cupcakes:

Text Only Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Vanilla and Strawberry Cake :

8oz (225g) Butter
8oz (225g) Golden caster sugar
4 Large eggs
8oz (225g)Self raising flour

1/2 tsp vanilla essence for half the batter and 1 tbsp of milk

2 tbsp of Strawberry Milkshake syrup (eg Crusha)

Chocolate Cake :

4oz (110g) Butter
4oz (110g) Golden caster sugar
2 Eggs
2oz (55g) Self raising flour
2oz (55g) of Dark cocoa powder (Green and Blacks).
1 tbsp golden/corn syrup

2-3 tbsp Seedless raspberry jam/jelly to join the cake circles and spread thinly on two layers

White Butter Cream for inside and decoration:

8oz (225g) Icing sugar
2oz (55g) Butter
2 tbsp Milk

A few drops of vanilla or white chocolate flavouring to taste

Pink Butter Cream for outside decoration:

8oz (225g)Icing sugar
2oz (55g) Butter
2 tbsp Milk

4 tbsp Milkshake Flavouring plus a few drops of pink colouring if desired

Method:

Preheat oven 140c/120c Fan/275F/Gas Mark 1.

Grease three tins and line bottom with baking paper. Quantities are for three 7 inch /18cm cake tins. If you are not using all the mix in the tins and want to make a few mini cupcakes; weigh each colour batter in tin to get even sized cakes.

Cream the sugar and butter together. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Fold in the flour. Divide into two. Add vanilla and milk to one and add the strawberry flavouring to the other. You can weigh each one to make sure you have the same weight of mixture in both, for two even bakes.

Make up the chocolate cake batter using the same method but add the syrup with the eggs and then fold in the flour and cocoa.

Place in the centre of the oven. Check after 20 minutes. Cook until risen and a skewer comes cleanly out. Allow to cool .

Chill cakes before cutting out circles to reduce crumbing. You can use a special tin or simply use a cup or round pastry cutter for the centre circles, score with a knife and then cut out. For the outer circle use a saucer to draw around and cut out. Do the same for all three.

Warm the jam/jelly lightly and brush liberally onto the cut surfaces, swap the coloured circles and insert back into cakes making three layers. Finish by spreading a thin layer of jam/ jelly over two layers. Chill for 5 minutes.

Simple butter cream – whisk butter, and icing sugar and flavouring together. Add tbsp of the milk at a time until smooth enough to spread over cake. The white icing should be slightly stiffer than the pink so the layers do not slide off. Spread the icing on top of the jam layers and place the final layer on top. Return to fridge and chill.

Make the outer icing but this time make sure it is well whipped without being runny. Spread and cover all three layers, use the rest of the white icing to pipe swirls on the top and decorate as desired.

While colours are important to the visual effect of the checkerboard cake, I would like to stress the importance of flavours. A quick 'thank you' here to the Malvern Tango Club for being a panel of tasters.

Meanwhile, have a look in an ice cream parlour or store and pick some of your favourite flavour trios;

cherry, chocolate and almond or maybe ; blueberry, raspberry and lemon and sometimes there's pistachio, caramel and coffee. Some nice colour blends here but it would be boring if all we had was the colour of the ice cream and no flavour, so take it to the next level and research your favourite blend for your cake. After a recent visit to the US Marble Slab Creamery - Ice Cream Parlour I am going to have to incorporate Butter Pecan into one future layer at least, delicious! Let me know if you decide on a favourite trio...or more.

Cactus Coconut Cake and Cybercandy

2011-05-14T16:46:00.003+01:00

Sometimes you just need something different, sometimes you need a treat and, luckily one of these times has been eating a Cactus Coconut Cake. A lovely polenta and coconut cake, topped with Malibu and sweetened mascarpone, toasted coconut and decorated with Cactus Candy. Not a prickle in sight but a fun name for this imported sweetie from Cybercandy, more from them at the sharp end of this blog !

The inspiration for the polenta cake comes from Martyna at the Wholesome Cook blog; lemon polenta cake. I have baked this a few times now with a variety of toppings when there is no cactus available! The picture on the left shows a Piña Colada Cake and a Raspberry Polenta Cake. I had a challenge to make a cake for a friend who had a nut, dairy and gluten allergy but they could eat coconuts. The raspberry and coconut worked really well together and next time, I will include whole fresh raspberries in the batter too. I also adapted the recipe using butter or a non dairy baking fat , no baking powder and slightly more coconut than polenta . I love the taste of butter in plain polenta cake but in the decorated cakes, you couldn't really taste the difference with the non dairy fat. The coconut did make a change from having almonds with the polenta and, the texture of the coconut complemented the polenta , providing a light chewiness rather than any grittiness you sometimes get. Remember to buy quick cook polenta and cook in a slow oven for an improved texture.

Text Only Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cake :

10oz (300g) Butter or Non dairy fat
8oz (225g) Golden caster sugar

4 tbsp honey
4 Large eggs
10oz (300g) Quick Cook Polenta

5oz (150g) desiccated coconut
Juice of one large lemon
4 tbsp milk

4 tbsp Malibu or coconut syrup poured onto the cooling cake

Cream Topping:

4oz (110g) Icing sugar
4 tbsp Mascarpone Cream (250g pot)
1 tbsp Malibu or a few drops of coconut essence

Decoration:

3oz (90g) Toasted Coconut crushed or left in strands ( subs unsweetened dried coconut if pref)
Cactus Candy cut into cubes (subs pineapple chunks and maraschino cherries to decorate for a Piña Colada cake.)

Method:

Preheat oven 140c/120c Fan/275F/Gas Mark 1.

Grease 2 sandwich cake tins; add greaseproof paper at the bottom . Quantities are for two 7 inch /18cm cake tins. (NB This will fill the tins but they will not rise too much, if you use different size tins please adjust your oven temperature accordingly)

Cream the sugar and fat together. Beat in the honey. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well. Fold in the polenta and coconut and finally stir in the juice and milk. Put equal quantities into cake tins and place in oven.
Check after 20 minutes. Turn oven down by twenty degrees and cover tops with loose grease proof paper to stop over browning. Cook for another 20 mins or until a skewer comes cleanly out. Allow to cool slightly. You may prefer to turn the cake over and decorate using the less brown, flatter underside or trim the top slightly. Prick surface of cake gently and pour over syrup or Malibu.

Mix mascarpone and icing sugar together and add coconut essence or Malibu. Spread onto the tops of both cakes and decorate with coconut and candy. Put into fridge until cream firms slightly.

Cybercandy did provide inspiration for a new cake topping but for anyone homesick for a 'Baby Ruth' Bar or a real 'Giant Pocky' , Cybercandy is the site for you; sweets and candy from around the world with emphasis on the US and a fair crack at Japan too. A Quarter Of provided the sweetened toasted coconut for the topping which in the UK is also known as Sweet Tobacco.

Sweet tobacco, sweet toasted coconut

(I didn't manage to put that in the title too: a Sweet Tobacco Cactus Coconut Cake may be just too far! )

I was initially hunting for real American Soda, for the famous Harry Potter Butter Beer Recipe (yes, US Cream Soda does taste different), and was immediately tempted by the wide array of treats on offer at Cybercandy. Bubbly Strawberry Chocolate Fish and the Lemonade and Cola Kitkat come highly recommended. The Giant Pocky remained in one piece but we liked the strawberry flavoured packs too.

So many fun things to choose from and the sweet Ferraris from Sweden were a harder chew but it's the only way I'll afford twenty Ferraris in one go! With Father's Day coming up or anyone stuck for a different present, this site could solve your gift problems. We used Cybercandy for birthday favours as well and got some nice girlie items but for those with teenagers the Amber Insect Inside Ribbon Candy has to be a possibility!

Curiosity got the better of me and I had to try the Cactus Candy and it turned out to be a real talking point for the topping on this Coconut Cake. More like a sweet, amber, quince jelly and why did I think it would be green?

Meanwhile, apart from cactus and exams last month, in the UK we had some unseasonably hot weather, rare enough in summer but good enough for some ice cream themed cakes. Come back over the next few weeks for your Banana Splits, Knickerbocker Glories and Chocolate Sundae Cakes.

Arizona's Cactus Candy - Inspiration

Magical Sherbet Lemon Cake - Harry Potter Time

2011-03-26T17:22:00.001Z

Well here it is at last, the Magical Sherbet Lemon Cake! And what took me so long? And why is it purple and blue? And how is it magical? In the glittery sparkle, we have golden stars and, hidden in the grooves of buttercream, are fizzy popping explosions. Underneath we have whirls of green, red and yellow and finally in the centre the very English, sharp, sherbet lemon cream...

Suddenly ...

there were cupcakes too!

And carried away in a magical, cake making frenzy, popping cake pops were made as well!

I had been playing with the idea of a 'Sherbet* Lemon Cake' for a long time and made some very nice variations on this theme. I made various yellow cakes with a great lemon tang but they ultimately looked so boring. Inspiration for this cake is a *lemon sherbet; an English candy with a hard candy lemon flavoured body and shot through the middle with sherbet powder, just like the picture on the left. Luckily for me, one brain synapse was still working and a thought transmitted across to another random cell;

'If Dumbledore had wanted a Sherbet Lemon Cake, it would have to look at least magical, if not very special and, probably not an obvious yellow colour'.

So how did we get to Harry Potter fiction from a Sherbet Lemon ? click here . Meanwhile, a quick visit to Madame Rosmerta's Recipes via Muggle Net and, one of my other favourite Harry Potter fans; Britta Peterson (who has a web site with lots of creative ideas as well as a very good Butterbeer recipe ) I realised where I was going wrong. Too much ‘muggle’ !

The good news is that is really is a fun cake to make and does not need any special equipment. It gets it’s magic from colour and sparkle, especially the laser cut holographic glitters and gold stars. Take your favourite cake recipe and add colour.

I used a lemon basic (pound) cake recipe:

Text Only Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cake :

8oz (225g) Butter
8oz (225g) Golden caster sugar
4 Eggs
8oz (225g) Self raising flour
2 Lemons

Food colouring red and green

Inner Butter Cream :

4oz (110g) Icing sugar
1 oz (30g) Butter
Juice only from lemon
Sherbet powder ( 2 Sherbet fountains or two packets of Dib Dabs)

Outer Butter Cream :8oz (2250g) Icing sugar
2 oz (60g) Butter
Few drops of Vanilla essence

Purple Food colouring

Holographic edible Glitters - Blue and Purple

Gold edible icing stars

Space dust or Popping Candy

White chocolate for cake pops ( 100 g bar )
Coloured sherbet powder for cake pops

Method:

Preheat oven 140c/120c Fan/275F/Gas Mark 1.

Grease a dome/ 1L pyrex bowl and line bottom with baking paper, put 6 cup cake liners in a tin. This recipe is enough to make one cake and 6 cup cakes. If you trim the dome cake, it should leave you enough crumbs for 12 cake pops too.

Remove zest from both lemons. Cream the sugar and butter together. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the lemon zest. Fold in the flour and add the juice from one lemon.

Divide the mixture into three and add food colouring to two of the portions. Place three colours of batter into the cases or tin, take a cocktail stick and give them a good swirl.

Place in the centre of the oven. Check after 20 minutes. Remove cup cakes.

Turn oven down by another 20 degrees and cook main cake for a further 40 mins. Cook until risen and a skewer comes cleanly out. Allow to cool and make icing.

Simple butter creams – whisk soft butter, icing sugar, flavouring and colour together to form a soft spreadable icing. Add water as necessary. For the inner lemon butter cream; the idea is to get a real tang, so we have added the juice of a large lemon and some sherbet powder. Has your face puckered up yet? Good, that is what you are after, the zing in the centre of the sherbet lemon!

Trim your dome cake to the desired shape and save the off cuts for the cake pops.

Gradually crumbing the off cuts for cake pops. Mix with a spoon full of zingy lemon butter cream and a spoon full of cream cheese. From into balls and place into fridge until firm enough to put on stick, coat with chocolate and magical sprinkles. Cake balls, not sure? click on Bakerella.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, cut the cooled cake in half and make a central hole with an apple corer. This is for your zingy, lemon cream centre just like the sherbet lemons. Spread the icing over the two halves and them pack sherbet powder onto the icing. Put a mix of sherbet powder and icing into the central hole too. Assemble the cake and then cover in purple buttercream. A thin crumb coat works best, chill, the follow with a second coat and add upward swirls with a fork. Sprinkle glitter and stars for magic.

The cup cakes get the same treatment with the centre cut out, filled with buttercream and sherbet powder and the centre inverted to make a shape for a wizard hat. Cover with the purple buttercream and add swirls with a fork on both the large cake and the cupcakes.

Sprinkle glitter and stars for magic. There seem to be plenty of suppliers for these glitters. (I ordered mine and the edible gold stars from Cakes and Shakes UK via Amazon as they had lots of other tempting things on offer.)

I have to concede that the cup cakes were the most popular, although the large cake tasted really good, people actually wanted to hold the cup cakes and look at the sparkle for quite awhile! What was slightly more tricky was the fizz and pop.....

Also, known as 'space dust' in the UK, this gives a popping sensation in the mouth as it reacts with moisture. I mixed some with the glitter and sprinkled it over the cakes at the last moment and round the edge of the large cake to serve up with a slice.

Strangely enough, the most successful were the cake pops that really did 'Pop'. I put the space dust in the mini cases the cake pops were drying in . I covered the cake balls in coloured chocolate , some coloured sherbet powder and put them on top of the popping candy in the cases. It all went in the fridge to firm up.
The small cakes lost a lot of their pop, the large cake was second best and, the pop cakes went 'Pop, Fizz, Pop'. Producing silly smiles on all the adults that could actually remember it first time round. Click on this for a UK supplier, A Quarter Of.

For white sherbet supplies there are two main types readily available in the UK

Sherbet Fountains or

Sherbet Dib Dabs

So a sherbet lemon in the UK is a candy. I also learnt that I had been spelling it wrong for years as a 'Sherbert'. However, I am not the only sinner here and it can be found on many an English site. I hope you enjoy the Harry Potter Deathly Hallows film again which I found 'darker' than the others, ( then again I am a real coward ) but enjoyable too. It was great fun using the holographic glitters that kept well and so did the stars. It would be very easy to produce the cupcakes and it seemed, according to my tester groups, adults liked them just as much as the children. Happy Magical Baking !

Cakes For Gamers - Playable Angry Birds and Tetris

2011-03-10T17:13:00.000Z

Midweek distraction No. 15 - An Interactive Angry Birds Cake and Tetris Cupcakes. This first amazing cake was made by Mr and Mrs Cooper for their son's birthday. I'm also a bit of an Angry Birds fan especially when passing the time in waiting rooms of one sort or another. However, this one beats a lot of the competition as it's a playable cake so you can now officially play with your food and eat it. Excellent.

If you feel inspired to make this yourself Mike Cooper has posted instructions c/o http://www.electricpig.co.uk/2011/02/21/bake-your-own-playable-angry-birds-cake/

Still too complicated for you? Maybe, just a cupcake or twenty then? You can create you own Tetris instead !

Thanks to Dorkbyte

Also, to be found at the Instructables website ; ' Biggest How To and DIY Community where people make and share inspiring, entertaining, and useful projects, recipes, and hacks'....and cakes of course, step by step. Walk this way.

Eastern Fig and Rose Dome Cake

2011-02-27T01:36:00.001Z

Cardamom and rose scent the house as this week's cake takes form. Travelling east for inspiration using semolina instead of flour, I have added sweetness and texture with Turkey Figs and almonds. Baked into a dome, dusted with gold and topped with crystallised rose petals and gilded almonds, we move the cake again out of the ordinary further east to a Kubla Khan 'Pleasure Dome'.

Sparkling in artificial light

OK, maybe the last bit is OTT but that's my source of inspiration this week. Who doesn't love the look of dome cakes; steamed treacle puddings, jam sponges and chocolate castles with rivulets of sauce running down the side? To put this into an English afternoon or American coffee cake style that would keep, I used a subtle rose syrup poured over the cooling cake. However, lovely as it looked undecorated, I wanted to take it to the level of a special occasion cake ; two shades of gold powder are simply dusted over the edges and sparkling roses and almonds crown the centre .

Further Inspiration - images courtesy of
Dr.Chris Mullen

Click to enlarge and see the texture in detail

East meets West:

Soft semolina and ground almond cake; holding figs and flaked almonds, gently scented with cardamom and encased in a sparkling rose glaze. It is possible to increase the amount of cardamom and rose to serve with coffee. The amounts here go pleasantly with Traditional English Afternoon Tea or Earl Grey.

One of the pleasures of this cake was the simplicity and effectiveness of the gold powder as a decoration. It made a refreshing change to have a light sweetness added with a glaze, without dressing the cake in layers of marzipan and royal icing, yet still producing a 'centrepiece' cake.

Text Only Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cake:

5oz (140g) Butter

5oz (140g) Caster sugar

3 Large eggs

6oz (170g) Semolina

1 tsp Baking powder
5 tbsp Warm milk
1 tbsp Cardamom Pods

3oz (90g) Ground almonds

2oz (60g) Flaked almonds

5oz (140g) Dried figs - preferred

Rose syrup:

5oz (140g) Caster sugar
5fl oz (150 ml) Water
2 tbsp Rose water or as much as 100ml, I use lesser amounts for UK palates

Decoration:

Golden almonds: made from 2 tbsp almonds toasted in a pan with 1 tsp butter and gold sugarcraft powder
Crystallised rose petals

Gold sugarcraft dusting powder

Method:

Preheat oven 120c/110c Fan/250F/Gas Mark 1 to 1/2

Grease 1L Pyrex bowl or similar

Grind the seeds of the cardamom pods and infuse in 5 tbsp of warm milk for 10 mins.

Partially rehydrated dried figs - superior dried figs - worth sourcing from Waitrose

Cream the sugar and butter together. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well. Add 90% of the semolina, all the baking powder and the ground almonds, mix well. Strain the milk and stir the milk into the mix. Chop up the figs into small pieces and coat in remaining semolina; fold into mixture with the flaked almonds. Spoon into prepared bowl and place in oven.

Make the syrup while the cake is cooking. Add the sugar, water and rose water together and warm until sugar is dissolved. Heat and boil for three minutes.

Check after 20 minutes adjust temperature as required. Check the oven is not too hot, the cake cooks for at least an hour until a skewer comes cleanly out. Allow to cool for at least 5 mins and ease from bowl.

Place on a wire rack over a shallow bowl. Prick cake over and pour warm syrup over. Brush over sides as necessary. This is more of a glaze than the traditional eastern syrup steeping method but the recipe could be adapted for that purpose on a thinner depth of cake.

Toast flaked almonds in butter and add gold powder. Dry on kitchen paper. Add central decoration of crystallised roses and the gold almonds in crown shape. Dust sides with golden sugarcraft powder. Enjoy being inspired!

Waiting on a Sunny Windowsill for Afternoon Tea

Cake Works of Art - Miniature to Grand Designs

2011-02-16T23:07:00.000Z

Midweek distraction No. 14 - Miniature and Grand Designs in Cake Art. The two artists I have featured this week have produced works of art, in cake form, where the attention to detail grabs the eye.

Attention to Detail ?

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The first artist from the UK, produces tiny, tiny cakes and other delicacies which although they are not edible, produce a longing in me that they should be so.

I have enlarged the picture so you can see the detail on this Kiwi Gateau. (NB The gateau is filled with 'kiwi buttercream, smothered in coconut dusted kiwi icing & decorated with kiwi slices & fresh cherries'.) I love the detail of the icing on the knife. Catalogue @ Linsminis

Linda Cumming's work first attracted my attention while I was searching cake images and, I was amazed to find that they were not real but clay miniatures. In fact, Linda produces a whole cornucopia of delights on her web site; from game birds, to fruit, to your commissions. Based in Durham in the North East of England, Linda is a fellow member of IGMA (International Guild Of Miniature Artisans), the highest honour that can be achieved in the field of handmade miniatures.

Cake baking on a tiny table. Lots of different products available on Ebay and Etsy too.

Linda aims to supply the discerning collector with highly detailed, unique, handmade 12th scale miniature foods all individually handcrafted to the highest standard. I thought of one of my fellow bloggers and casually asked Linda about macaroons. Well, here they are for you Jill aka Mad About Macaroons;

You can also follow Linda on her blog: http://linsminis.blogspot.com/

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The second artist is from the USA; Margaret Braun produces elegant tiers of celebration cakes adorned with icing sculpture and painted artwork. In contrast, I have the desire to see the cake uncut so I could enjoy gazing at the outside for longer. Of course, there would be a strong possibility that it would only be a passing whim, so get out the camera and pass the knife!

Detail of Cakewalk Through Barcelona - picture courtesy of Margaret Braun

Picture courtesy
of Margaret Braun

From the title of the photograph, you may guess correctly that I found Margaret via research on the Cakewalk, for an earlier blog. Margaret's book is called Cakewalk: Adventures In Sugar With Margaret Braun which gives lots of detail into her creations and the inspiration behind them.

Large tiered cakes are not new but I still love the 'Wow Factor' that sugarcraft can provide. Icings become more like sugar sculpture and with paint effects, take on new dimensions. I love the detail on Akbar's Cake; the colour and the pearls make for an exotic fabric of icing.

Elaborate detail on Akbar Cake - Picture courtesy of Margaret Braun

The other reassuring thing I noted about Margaret's cakes was the fact that the inside sounded just as good; this article for an autumn wedding cake called 'Whimsical Art by Margaret Braun': 'This cake is a chocolate buttermilk blackout cake filled with vanilla/toffee crunch buttercream and an October velvet (cinnamon cake) layered with vanilla butter creamcheese icing and preserved cherry.' I could definitely go there, sounds wonderful. For more inspiration I found this YouTube clip from PlumTV, titled a Master Class ; Art and the Cake with Margaret Braun. Lots of tantalising shots of her cakes and some ideas on her techniques make this interesting viewing;

PS. I once titled one of my cakes 'elaborate' but after viewing Margaret's masterpieces decided that 'fairly standard' would be nearer the mark... Lots of enjoyable inspiration here again from both artists , thank you to Linda and Margaret for allowing me to publish your material here too and showcasing what you love to do. Please click on the links for their details or for further information.

How I found Romance on a Cake Walk

2011-02-09T14:54:00.001Z

Midweek distraction No. 13 - Romancing the Cake Walk - or how my husband has an incredible sense of humour when he sees me dancing. Nope, only kidding but after finding out about the dance for a previous mid-week post No. 8, the idea stuck. I've been rooting around and have found more Cakewalk references, spelled both ways; from church fetes to steam fairs and romance..

So...I'm on ebay; in goes the word 'Cake Walk' and up pops a vintage postcard with a joke picture on the Cake Walk. Still with Cake Walk on the brain, I make a successful bid:

And on the back is a romantic tryst, written nearly a hundred years ago; will she be in his power? Did Edith live happily very after? I hope so. If you can decipher some of the surprising love notes:

I thought you might like this for reference as Valentine's Day approaches but what chance do we have of receiving such poetic words? I'm not sure that a quick text message will do. Can you get romantic e-mails ( apart from the obvious ones that say will you marry me or we have won the lottery) ...?

Thank you to fellow bloggers who explained to me how the Cake Walk was still going on; some at their children's schools and, occasionally in the UK, at Church fetes. What caught my eye was the fair ground ride, also called the Cakewalk. Here you can see it at the Nottingham (UK) Goose Fair:

More info the Cakewalk rides http://www.carouselroundabouts.co.uk/cakewalk.html

Finally, a special mention to a blogger with the right name and lovely cakes; Mr Brooks Walker aka Cakewalker, the link goes to Brook's page with his Gran's Chocolate Cake-

Cakewalker's Foodbuzz Blog Link Here

I hope you enjoyed a bit more of Cake 'Walking' and are thinking romantic foodie thoughts. By next weekend, I hope to have baked a Orange Kiss Me Cake and, had a successful outcome with a Wilton's Tasty Fill Heart Tin ; Previous Round: Cake Tin Disaster 1: My Lovely Cake 0. Cheer me on.

Strawberry Bon Bon Pink Cake

2011-02-06T13:36:00.008Z

Too 'girly' for the guys ?

A strawberry flavoured, tangy meringue shell, hiding soft pink cake with a pink marshmallow centre. This is probably on the trend towards Barbie Pink not Strawberry Red and dare I say it, would make a good cup cake, there I've said it ! However, as far as taste and texture go; it's a keeper.

Strawberry Bon Bon Pink Cake which is pink and not red ? Well, in my current sweet/candy experimental recipe phase, this is a flavour known to many people as 'pink'. It may say strawberry on the packet but if you shut your eyes, it's never strawberry but it's sort of like it and you've had it on ice cream and other candy.......

Strawberry Bon Bons courtesy of Tudor Sweets of Ross (Online)

But where is the Sherbert Lemon Candy Cake ? It's still in design mode due to complications with the icing so I've stepped ahead to this sweetie. In the UK, we have a sweet called Strawberry Bon Bons; slightly tangy on the outside with a chewy middle. Inspiration but a cake with a chewy middle? Too many of those have been made in the past, so I've settled for a soft marshmallow centre. My favourite ingredient for this cake is the outside tangy flavour. This is produced by Kali, the name of a coloured candy sherbert or sherbet (not the pudding or any other variation on water ice). It's similar to sour candies but often has a flavouring too. In our old fashioned sweet shops it's sold in jars of many colours or you can buy online. It's great on ice-cream too and cookies and biscuits, I digress, on with the recipe;

A large, very delicious, strawberry Bon Bon Cake

Text Only Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cake:

8oz (225g) Butter
8oz (225g) Caster sugar

4 Large eggs

2 Egg yolks

8oz (225g) Self raising four

Few drops of red food colouring

Marshmallow Centre:

1tbsp Icing sugar
2 tsp Butter6oz (170g) Marshmallows or recipe ( James Martin UK )

Few drops of red and strawberry flavouring if desired

Strawberry Meringue Frosting:

2 Egg whites

15oz (425g) caster or granulated sugar

3 ½ fl oz (100ml) water

2 tbsp Strawberry Syrup mixed with a few drops of red food colouring

Method:

Preheat oven 140c/120c Fan/300F/Gas Mark 2

Grease 2 sandwich cake and/or muffin tins; add greaseproof paper at the bottom as well. This mixture makes 1 cake plus three 'tasting' muffins.

Cream the sugar and butter together. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well. Sift and then fold in half the flour. Add the eggs yolks and the food colouring. Fold in the rest of the sifted flour . Put equal quantities into cake tins and/or muffin tins place in oven.

Check after 20 minutes. I didn’t want the top to brown too much to detract from the pink colour so I baked this at a lower temperature. Remember; cook until risen and a skewer comes cleanly out. Allow to cool.

Remove very top edge if you want a really pink effect.

Melt marshmallows gently in the microwave or double boiler. Mix butter and icing sugar together and add a few drops of strawberry flavouring. Mix thoroughly into the melted marshmallows and add more colour if desired. Spread on one cake half, just in the centre, it will spread slightly out and then place the other cake half on top. Put into fridge until mallow has reset.

For the meringue frosting, sort the colouring and flavouring out first. This mixture sets pretty quickly and you won’t have time to suddenly look for things. Place sugar and water in a heavy based saucepan and allow water to start to dissolve the sugar. In another bowl whisk both egg whites until stiff. Heat the sugar and water syrup until 240°, or to the soft-ball stage. Pour the syrup slowly into the egg whites whisking all the time. The mixture will start to thicken. Whisk a few drops of the coloured strawberry mix at a time until the desired shade is acquired. Spread the icing, covering the whole of the cake. Sprinkle liberally with Kali or your coloured sugar.

The Kali Sparkle and Tang!

I Heart You Online and Monty Python

2011-02-03T14:35:00.000Z

Midweek distraction No. 12 - Rocky and Balls - and some vintage Monty Python. Two You Tube clips for you this week; the first on the possibilities of social networking and the second, on serving cake.

One soppy, girlie one because it's nearly Valentine's Day, from two of my favourite songstresses ; aka Hannah-Rei and Sophie Madeleine of Rocky and Balls fame. What if you did fall for someone on Facebook, or Twitter or dare I say it, Foodbuzz ? This is for you:

One for the guys, on the importance of serving cake correctly, even in war, Monty Python style. You find out 'how' towards the end of the clip and you may need a doily...........

I'm off to cook Chinese food now but the cake will be back at the weekend. Happy Chinese New Year!

Lime Lovers' Layer Cake

2011-01-29T18:58:00.000Z

This Lime Lovers' Layer Cake completes the trio of lime and chocolate themed cakes this month. It's very different from the previous cakes; with light, fatless, sponge layers, sandwiched with tangy cream, topped with a semi-hidden, dark, chocolate ganache and, encased in a sweeter lime icing. To emphasise the lime, the cakes have been brushed lightly with lime syrup too and, some tiny chocolate touches have sneaked in here and there, there and here...

It's about time for short cut too. I enjoyed making the lime curd from scratch and it is still better than anything you can buy. There have been other fantastic recipes as well for lemon based curd, such as the Diethoods recipe for Lemon Curd which caught my attention, from Foodbuzz. If you are in the UK and, you are stuck for time; you can try bought curd such as the Duchy one below. It's not such a problem in this recipe when you are mixing it with other ingredients such as cream. Just add a shot of lime juice to spark up the flavour to lime.

Text Only Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cake Layers 1 & 2:

5 Large eggs
5oz (140g) Golden caster sugar
5 tbsp Milk
1 Lime zest
5oz (140g) Self raising flour

A good pinch of salt

Cake Layer 3:

3 Large eggs
3oz (90g) Golden caster sugar
3 tbsp Milk
2 oz (60g) Cocoa powder
1 oz (30g) Self raising flour

1 tsp Baking powder

A pinch of salt

Filling:

Lime Juice Syrup ( Juice of one lime, 2 oz (60g) sugar boiled together)

7.5 fl oz (227 ml) Double ( Heavy) cream - Yeo Valley Organic
1 tbsp Lime Curd

Decoration part 1:

3.5 oz 100g bar of Dark Chocolate ( Green and Blacks for example!)
2 tsp Butter
7.5 fl oz (227 ml) Double ( Heavy) cream - Yeo Valley Organic

Decoration part 2:
12 oz (340g) Icing Sugar
2 tbsp Lime Curd
1 tbsp Butter
Colour if desired

Sweet lime candies, sweet jellies, chocolate if desired

The amount given here can be reduced to 8 oz of icing sugar etc if you do not want to decorate so elaborately.

Tins:

3 round tins ( I used two different sizes and cut one of the cakes to make it smaller for a tiered effect) Lined, greased and floured.

Method:

Preheat oven 140c/120c Fan/300F/Gas Mark 2

Line and prepare the cake tins.

Remove the zest from one large lime. Squeeze the juice out and combine with the sugar, heat in the microwave for one minute, stir and heat again for two minutes to make a lime syrup. Set aside for later.

Whisk the sugar and egg yolks together until pale and creamy. Add the milk, lime zest and salt which should soften the batter. Sift in the flour, and fold in gently.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff with clean and dry beaters.

Gently fold the egg whites into the main mixture, trying to keep those air bubbles in.

Pour into tin and put into oven. Place in the centre of the oven. Check after 15 minutes. Cook until the sponge lightly springs back to your touch.

Repeat the above steps with the chocolate cake mixture. I used the chocolate mix in the largest tin as a base layer to reflect the chocolate on the top of the cake.

Let the cakes cool completely.

Brush the tops of the cakes with the lime syrup made earlier.

For the filling, whip the cream until stiff and then combine with the lime curd . I cut one of my cakes to make an extra layer and trimmed one down to get a tiered effect. Sandwich together.

Layers of tangy lime cream filling, stack 'em up!

For the first part of the decoration; whip the double cream until stiff. Put to one side. Melt the bar of chocolate with 2 tsp of butter for the ganache. Pour what you need to coat the top of the cake only. With the remainder add this to the whipped cream for decorating round the base of other parts of the cake. Place the cake into the fridge until the ganache hardens.

This was my favourite part of the cake with the semi-hidden ganache; soft tangy icing over bittersweet chocolate.

Sift the icing sugar and mix with the lemon curd and butter until a workable consistency. Add colour or juice as required. Gently cover the top ganache and reveal as much as you want to with the decoration. Cover the sides of the cake with the remainder of the icing and the chocolate cream. Decorate further as desired.

Notes

This kept surprisingly well for a fatless sponge, although it was all eaten at the end of the third day. I have a fear that this type of sponge will turn to rubber if you leave it longer than a day. I can only assume that since it was encased in various syrups, cream and icings, it had help maintaining it's 'inner freshness'!

However, the project gave me an idea for further studies about hidden ganache within or on top of the cake. I would like to make a simpler version of this cake again; with only two layers and a larger proportion of cream to cake, for a dessert cake. It has also given me an idea for a sherbert lemon cake; as in the English sweets type of sherbert, aah the possibilities....

Triple Chocolate Truffle Cake

2011-01-22T00:59:00.003Z

On the theme of tongue twisters again this week, I think this one wins; Triple Chocolate Truffle Cake. It is a homage to three of Green and Black's cocoa products; their 70% dark chocolate bar, their cocoa powder and their white chocolate. To reflect the truffle theme; the cake is centred with a lime truffle filling. The cake is very dense almost truffle like itself and the coating is a butter only ganache. This is a very rich, intensely chocolate cake with a central tang. So you have been warned, small slices equals massive cocoa hit!

I try to produce new and exciting twists on the cake theme and this one is for fans of very dark chocolate. Also, in the USA, there is National Chocolate Cake Day on the 27th January. I think this is a fitting tribute and from the recipe you will see that it takes a lot of chocolate. You could adapt this recipe by using your own favourite chocolate but try the chocolate chosen here for it's intense taste with the added benefit of ethical buying and an organic product.

Text Only Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cake :

8oz (225g) Butter
8oz (225g) Golden caster sugar
4 Large eggs
4oz (110g) Self raising flour
4oz (110g) Cocoa powder (Green and Blacks)
1 tbsp Golden Syrup or Corn SyrupMilk up to ½ cup

2oz (60g) 70% Dark chocolate bar (Green and Blacks)

Key Lime Truffle Centre:

100g bar of White chocolate (Green and Blacks)

2 dstspn Lime Curd ( Orange also works well )

I Lime (Juice only)

Dark Chocolate Ganache:

4oz (110g) Butter
8oz (225g) Dark Chocolate 2 lots of 100g bar of 70% Dark chocolate (Green and Blacks) plus the remainder of the bar used for the main cake

Method:

Preheat oven 140c/120c Fan/275F/Gas Mark 1.

Grease sandwich cake tins. I used 7 inch ones and with greaseproof paper at the bottom .

In a blender (I use a Magimix with a Sabatier blade) chop up ¾ of the bar of chocolate into small chunks or chop up with a knife.

Cream the sugar and butter together. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the cocoa powder . Fold in the flour and add milk to the mix until it is of a soft dropping consistency. Stir in the chocolate chunks.

Divide into two cake sandwich tins. You can weigh each one to make sure you have the same weight of mixture in both, for two even bakes. This amount made enough for four tester cupcakes as well.

Place in the centre of the oven. Check after 20 minutes. Cook until gently risen and a skewer comes cleanly out. These cakes are cooked in quite a cool oven so that the cocoa does not burn and get bitter. Allow to cool and make the truffle centre.

Melt the white chocolate very gently in the microwave. As soon as it starts to melt, take it out and give it a gentle stir. The remaining heat should melt the rest of the chocolate. Add two heaped dessert spoons of the lime curd and stir in. Add a tsp or two of the lime juice to adjust taste for more tang! The mixture should start to thicken and be ready for spreading on the cake.

Brush cake sides and centres with the remaining lime juice and spread truffle mix on one half. Place the other half on top gently and place in fridge for half an hour. This will help firm the centre filling and keep the cake cool ready for the ganache topping.

Now that lovely chocolate has collected underneath in the dish, it can be saved for ice cream topping or add some cereal such as rice krispies with a spoonful of golden syrup. Pop into some cases with sprinkles for some upmarket krispie treats.

Place the cake on a wire rack over a glass dish to catch the ganache as it drips down the side. You don’t want to waste any of the lovely chocolate! Again break the chocolate into small chunks and melt gently in the microwave. Cut soft butter into chunks and slowly stir into the chocolate until the butter is completely blended. The chocolate should be nice and shiny now. Spoon several tablespoons full on top of the cake and allow it to flow to the sides. This is the first crumb coat only, giving you a more even layer for your next coat of ganache. Add some more until the sides are covered too. I use a pastry brush to ensure the sides are coated.

The mixture will have started to thicken and you can pour the rest from the centre of the cake for it's final coating. Transfer the cake now to its final serving plate. Allow the ganache to firm slightly before adding any addition decorations.

Small candy limes were added to reflect the central lime theme.

Notes

I used four bars of chocolate for this recipe which can make this an expensive cake to produce. However, it is so rich, I would recommend that you only need to cut very small slices so the cake would serve 20 people. The type of chocolate used is still eating chocolate (as opposed to cooking chocolate) as I feel that the aroma given by the eating chocolate is more noticeable and nicer. This is particularly notable in the Green and Black's White Chocolate which is enhanced with Bourbon Vanilla.

This cake is almost a complete contrast to the sweet Limey Chocolate Limes Cake I made last week. Both made with chocolate and lime but have different textures and a different emphasis on the key ingredients. Next week, I am ending the lime trio with a totally different fatless mix , again with lime and chocolate but with double (heavy cream). I will be thinking of a suitable tongue twister title until then.....

Cake Comedy - No Cooking Required

2011-01-19T11:25:00.002Z

Midweek distraction No. 11- Jim Gaffigan - Cake Comedy. Sometimes when I'm not baking cake or eating cake, it's important to look at cake from another's perspective. Here's Jim Gaffigan's musings on cake:

Also, some of you may have noticed I am on a lime theme at the moment and I would like to thank Gunnar from Gastronaut Adventures for his recipe for lemon and lime curd which was my original inspiration. I will be using it as a key ingredient in my next two cakes.

I adapted the recipe ; using eight limes since we have such small ones here in the UK (no more jokes please) ; mixing half the butter at the beginning and the other at the end of the recipe; 1 cup (8 oz/ 225g) of sugar and six eggs. I still have the old Good Housekeeping recipe for lemon curd that calls for a hefty 2 cups of sugar to 4 lemons > < .

The recipe makes quite a large jar of Lime Curd but you can have it on scones with cream and on shortbread too!

I also referred to a recipe from One Perfect Bite called Adam's Curd which gives another technique for making lime curd . In fact, I hung around Mary's blog for quite awhile something to with Key West Lime Bars and other lime goodies. That's enough liminess from me now, thanks to my Foddbuzz Foodies for sharing your recipes.

Limey Chocolate Limes Cake

2011-01-15T23:33:00.006Z

A belated 'Happy New Year' which means I should have given everyone time (about two weeks) to fall back into their old ways. Time for cake?

Hidden in Tangy Lime; a Smooth Chocolate Buttercream

Starting with a fun make, based on an old English candy - chocolate limes - a crispy lime sweet shell with a smooth chocolate center. Translated into a tangy lime cake with a crunchy lime meringue frosting and a smooth milk chocolate buttercream hidden inside. Now say the title again really fast as a tongue twister....

Chocolate limes from a really lovely, old fashioned, sweet shop in Ross-on-Wye. Where rows of sweet jars line the shelves and you have to ask the lady for what you want and say please ...Tudor Sweets of Ross

Text Only Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cake:

6oz (170g) Butter
6oz (170g) Caster sugar

3 Large eggs

2 Egg yolks

2 Limes*
6oz (170g) Self raising four

Few drops of green food colouring

Chocolate buttercream:

4oz (110g) Icing sugar
2oz (60g) Butter

2oz (60g) Chocolate (choose your favourite)

Lime Meringue Frosting:

2 Egg whites

15oz (425g) caster or granulated sugar

3 ½ fl oz (100ml) water

*Juice of one of the limes mixed with green and yellow food colouring

Method:

Preheat oven 140c/120c Fan/300F/Gas Mark 2

Grease 2 sandwich cake tins; add greaseproof paper at the bottom as well.

Cream the sugar and butter together. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well. Sift and then fold in half the flour. Add the eggs yolks, the zest from the two limes and the juice from one of the limes. Fold in the rest of the sifted flour and add the food colouring. Put equal quantities into cake tins and place in oven.

Check after 20 minutes. I didn’t want the top to brown too much to detract from the green colour so I baked this at a lower temperature. Remember; cook until risen and a skewer comes cleanly out. Allow to cool.

Melt the chocolate. Whisk butter and icing sugar together and add melted chocolate. Spread on one cake half and place the other cake half on top. Put into fridge until buttercream has set.

For the meringue frosting, (also known as American Frosting in old Good Housekeeping books), sort the colouring and flavouring out first. This mixture sets pretty quickly and you won’t have time to suddenly look for things. Add two drops of yellow food coloring to two drops of green and add the juice of the remaining lime. This should give you a lime green colour at the end.

Place sugar and water in a heavy based saucepan and allow water to start to dissolve the sugar. In another bowl whisk both egg whites until stiff. Heat the sugar and water syrup until 240°, or to the soft-ball stage. Pour the syrup slowly into the egg whites whisking all the time. The mixture will start to thicken. Whisk a few drops of the coloured lime mix at a time until the desired shade is acquired, hopefully lime green! Spread the icing, covering the whole of the cake.

Notes:

I endeavour to make as much of my baking 100 % organic and avoid Evil E numbers and such like. However, with food colourings that has become a bit of a challenge and something I am still sourcing and experimenting with. A lot of food colourings may claim to be ‘natural’ but that doesn’t mean organic. These too can be very expensive compared to others and some of the colour ‘holding’ qualities are not so good.

I’m currently researching more brands, especially for a green colour, so I can come up with one that doesn’t impart an unwanted flavour such as spinach to the icing or go from green to pale grey. Fine if you want it but not in this case. I am not adverse to a very pale natural colour but in sugarcraft it's sometimes good to have fun at mimicking the real thing. I wanted a Limey Chocolate Limes Cake!

Happy Christmas and Cake

2010-12-01T13:20:00.001Z

Midweek distraction no 10 - this is the last blog for 2010 until the new year. I wish you Happy Holidays, a Happy Christmas and successful baking.

On a Christmas Cake Theme; I leave you with a slice of my White Christmas Cake :

And a song about a rather heavy Christmas Cake. The words and music were written by C. Frank Horn in 1883. 'Mrs Fogarty's Christmas Cake', sung and played by musician, Tom Smith, from Boston, MA, USA ( http://tomsmithmusic.com/) :

and a joke :

Dave’s Christmas Cake Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup of butter
1 cup of sugar
4 large eggs
2 cups of dried fruit
1 cup of brown sugar

2 cups flour
Lemon juice
Nuts
1 bottle of brandy

Method

Sample the brandy to check for quality. Take a large bowl. Check the brandy again. To be sure it's the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink. Repeat. Turn on the electric mixer, beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar and beat again. Make sure the brandy is still OK.

Cry another tup. Tune up the mixer. Beat two leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit. Mix on the turner. If the fired druit gets stuck in the beaterers, pry it goose with a drewscriver.

Sample the brandy to check for vonsisticity. Next, sift two cups of flour. Or something. Who cares?

Check the brandy. Now sift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Spoon the sugar or something. Whatever you can find. Grease the oven. Turn the cake tin to 350 degrees.

Don't forget to beat off the turner. Throw the bowl out of the window. Check the brandy again and go to bed. Hic.

Orange and Cranberry Port Wine Cake

2010-11-27T15:31:00.000Z

A beautiful, glazed cake enhanced with soaked cranberries in Port wine and flavoured with orange and spice. It really is simple too, a very basic pound cake made with good quality organic butter and demerara sugar.

Just one thing to remember, it's the Port that 'maketh' the difference. It plumps up and adds sweetness to the cranberries. I also added a spoonful to the orange glaze. The other notable difference I found, in this recipe, the butter taste was not dominated by any of the other flavours. Therefore, you get this lovely buttery, spiced orange, fruity taste left in your mouth during and after you've eaten it.

A very fruity first slice.

Text Only Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Pre bake 2/3 days ahead:

7oz (200g) Dried Cranberries (2 bags of Crazy Jacks Organic Cranberries)
4 tbsp Port (Port wine /sweet Port, non-alcoholic suggestion; raspberry cordial)

Rinse and check over fruit for any stalks etc. Put into a small bowl with Port and cover; stir each day to plump up the fruit.

Cake:

8oz (225g) Butter (Yeo Valley Organic)
8oz (225g) Demerara sugar (Raw sugar)
4 Large eggs

2 oranges
8oz (225g) Self raising four
2 tsp Ground cinnamon
Cranberries (see pre-bake info above)

Glaze:

4oz Demerara sugar
4 fl. oz Orange juice (the juice from the 2 oranges)
1 tbsp Port

Worth seeking out - good quality dried fruit http://www.crazyjack.co.uk/

Method:

Preheat oven 140c/120c Fan/275F/Gas Mark 1

Grease and flour cake tin. For this recipe I used a ring tin or you could use a Bundt tin or a loaf tin.

Cream the sugar and butter together. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well. Add the zest from the two oranges. Fold in half the flour and the cinnamon. Then coat the cranberries in the remaining flour and combine with the cake batter.

The mixture is quite chunky so you will need to spoon it into the tin. Place into the oven.

Check after 25-30 minutes. Cook until risen and a skewer comes cleanly out. This one took 40 mins in my ring tin.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes, make sure sides of the cake are coming away from the tin and remove. Place on serving plate ready for a brushed glaze or on a cooling rack and tray for a poured glaze.

To make the glaze; use the juice from the two oranges and put in a saucepan with 4 oz demerara sugar. Bring to the boil, stirring all the time until the sugar is completely dissolved and boil for three minutes. Allow to cool for two minutes and add the tbsp Port. Brush or pour over the cake.

The cake serves at least 16 and the recipe can be halved easily. This did remind me of an English Cherry Madeira Cake which was traditionally served with Madeira wine. Although I suppose you could serve this with Port, I am firmly in the Cheese and Port Brigade and then, Tea and Cake Platoon. So I’m off to ‘put the kettle on’….

Chocolate Cake For Breakfast

2010-11-23T22:47:00.000Z

Midweek distraction no 9 - Chocolate cake is still the theme and why not have it for breakfast? Bill Cosby doesn't see a problem here, in this classic sketch:

And if you want any more encouragement, some lyrics from Greg Lee:

'Last night I dreamed about cake for breakfast
Two big pieces just for me.
They're standing there on a paper platter
covered with a doily.'

Chocolate Button Cake - Grown Up Style

2010-11-20T12:06:00.001Z

Warning this is the richest chocolate cake on the blog so far! It started off as a little recipe experiment from a humble chocolate button cake but beware, this is a dark, dark, chocolate cake rather than the sweet confection you are all used to . Using lots of Green and Black's 70 % chocolate and topped off with dark Duchy Original Thins on a whipped chocolate cream. Tempted?

Everyone loves chocolate buttons and chocolate cake and I guess that's why it's such a popular combination. However, there seemed to be an age limit on this so I've upscaled this for the adult palate. I've kept the essentials; buttons and cake but added lots of real dark chocolate, alcohol and nuts and pretended to be grown up.

Text Only Printable Recipe

Ingredients :

Cake :

8oz (225g) Butter
8oz (225g) Golden caster sugar
1 tbsp Dark treacle
4 Large eggs

3oz (90g) Self raising flour
1oz (30g) of Dark cocoa powder
4oz (120g) Ground almonds

8 oz (225g) Dark chocolate 70% – Green and Blacks - 2 bars and a bit

Topping:

¼ pint (150 ml) Double cream
3 ½ oz (100g) Dark chocolate 70% – Green and Blacks
1 tbsp Port or liqueur or add flavouring to taste

Chocolate Thins to decorate or your favourite buttons – Duchy Originals

Method:

Preheat oven to a low temperature 120c/100c Fan/250F/Gas Mark 1/2 .

Grease and line two sandwich cake tins. I like using 8 inch (20 cm) square ones to shape the cake ready for cutting smaller squares for serving later.

Cream the sugar and butter together, add the treacle and whisk in. Whisk in the eggs one at a time. Fold in the flour and cocoa, and then fold in the ground almonds. Melt the chocolate and combine well into the mix.

Divide into two cake sandwich tins. You can weigh each one to make sure you have the same weight of mixture in both, for two even bakes. Place in the centre of the oven. Check after 30 minutes, mine actually took 40 mins to cook. Cook until a skewer comes cleanly out and the sides of the cake are just coming away from the tin. Allow to cool and make topping.

This cake is so rich it doesn’t really need a topping but just to go OTT, make this simple chocolate cream. Melt chocolate and in a separate bowl whisk the double cream until nearly thick. Add the cream to the melted chocolate one tbsp at a time and beat in. Add flavouring to taste. Spread onto both cakes. Allow to set slightly before putting on buttons.

Just to prove I’m not mean or a snob; I made one cake without a liqueur in the chocolate cream and put milk chocolate buttons on it for my children but then, they wanted giant buttons as well, who wouldn’t?

Options

However, I think the giant buttons do make it look quite special and I used Duchy Originals Dark Chocolate Thins . You can vary this by adding the liqueur of your choice to the chocolate cream or simply orange juice or mint flavouring to go with the other Duchy Thins in the range shown on the link. They are available online or from Waitrose.They have a nice design on the back which you could also use as a decoration.

If you can't source these products, look for good quality dark chocolate with 70% cocoa mass. Happy Hunting!

Cakewalk

2010-11-17T09:48:00.000Z

Midweek distraction no 8 - the Cakewalk. I love old film archives and this one shows clips of the Cakewalk. It has been suggested that the dance originated as a parody of the formal ballroom dancing preferred of white slave owners, including satirical exaggerations of European dance moves.

Cakewalk dance competitions were commonplace in the black community of the southern USA in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In those, couples would be judged on their style in the Cakewalk. The winners were said to have 'taken the cake'*, which was often the prize.

This clip was downloaded by http://www.blues-dance.com/ . Also, if you are interested in more Cakewalk and Blues Dance history another interesting site is Sonny Watson’s http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/d5index.htm .

*There is a much older possible origin to the phrase ' take the cake', going back to the ancient Greeks. Aristophanes wrote "The Knights": "if you surpass him in impudence, then we take the cake". Throughout history it seems sometimes you just got to have...cake. Later on this week we are back to Chocolate Cake with very special 'buttons'. Watch this space.

Banana and Pecan Roulade

2010-11-13T10:34:00.013Z

This week’s cake has two of my favourite ingredients in it; pecans and bananas. Then again, I have a very long list of favourites so add maple syrup and cinnamon and a filling of sweetened cream cheese, for a lightly spiced, nutty, Banana and Pecan Roulade.

For the UK, let’s just say, I meant a fatless swiss roll but doesn’t ‘roulade’ sound nicer. Also, for a change, there is a slightly different mixing technique for the fatless sponge, where the eggs are whisked separately and you have the final challenge of rolling it all up!

However, these ingredients are particularly forgiving for rolling up with the banana keeping the roll moist. Adding a nice nutty texture with pecans and the cream cheese tang you get cake similar to rolled up carrot cake. This is quick to make and tastes better than you can buy, so have a go.

Text Only Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Cake:

5 Large eggs
5oz (140g) Golden caster sugar
1 tbsp Maple Syrup

2 Medium size ripe bananas (8 oz/225g with the skins off)
3oz (90g) Pecans

1 tsp Cinnamon
½ tsp Mixed spice
3oz (90g) Self raising flour

Filling:

10oz (280g) Cream cheese
2 tbsp Maple Syrup
1 tsp Cinnamon

Decoration:

Icing sugar to dredge
Optional; banana slices or dried banana pieces if not serving straight away, whole pecans and some of the filling mix on the top of the roulade

Tins:

I used a large baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper, 26cm x 38cm which makes 1 large sponge or cut the sponge in half, two smaller ones

Method:

Preheat oven 140c/120c Fan/300F/Gas Mark 2

In a blender (I use a Magimix with a Sabatier blade) chop up the pecans coarsely.

Whisk the sugar and egg yolks together until pale and creamy, they should have at least doubled in size. Mash or puree the bananas and add to the mixture with the maple syrup. Sift in the flour, the spices and stir in the pecans.

Whisk the egg whites until stiff.

Ready to fold

Gently fold the egg whites into the main mixture, trying to keep those air bubbles in.

Pour into tin and put into oven. Place in the centre of the oven. Check after 15 minutes. Cook until the sponge lightly springs back to your touch.

The roll method I use is to let the cake cool slightly, for only 5 mins max. Prepare a large piece of greaseproof paper with icing sugar sifted over it. Loosen sides of cake if necessary then turn the cake out first on to a large cooling rack or tray. This confirms that you can get the cake out of the tin.

Gently peel off the original greaseproof paper and then invert the cake onto the sugared greaseproof. You may need your hand to help you support the cake as you do this. Cover with a dampened tea cloth for 2 mins, remove tea cloth and start to roll, with the paper, into a roll.

Scary close up of the roll cooling off on the washer...

Let the cake cool completely.

For the filling, simply combine the cinnamon, maple syrup and cream cheese together. This recipe has a lightly spiced cream cheese filling only sweetened with maple syrup, very similar to a carrot cake topping. This may not be sweet enough for some cake lovers so think about adding icing sugar now if it’s too tangy for you.

After cake has cooled, gently unroll. Keep a large tablespoon of the filling for the decoration, if desired and, spread the filling generously over the cake. Start to roll up again. Trim ends of the cake for a neat look. (Test that bit, I do.)

Place on serving dish and dredge with icing sugar for a simple and effective finish. You can also decorate the top with a band of filling and place pecan and/or bananas slices on the top, as you wish. This cake serves at least 12 people and a good slice each time, no arguments!

Extreme Cake Engineering

2010-11-10T08:52:00.000Z

Midweek distraction no 7 - Moving on from last week’s Ultimate Car Cake to a Moving Building Cake! You get to play with motors, cake and paints, for an alternative career choice, meet the cake engineer and creative artist; David Cakes. David has been hard at work and play for many years creating amazing cakes but this one had an extra twist:

David was commissioned by Liverpool Biennial, to create a replica in cake of a Richard Wilson’s installation; "Turning the Place Over", in Liverpool’s city centre. The building had been radically changed whereby a section could be seen turning literally inside out. A piece of cake really! (Sorry, couldn’t resist that one.) View now:

If you are interested in more of David’s creations, please check out his site here http://www.davidcakes.co.uk/. In the meantime, I am off to do more humble things such as putting marzipan on the Christmas Cake. (Maybe, if I find that old Meccano set we could have a pop out of the chimney Santa Claus or a rotating snow scene... or maybe not.)

Free animated gifs by Sevenoaks Art