Dairy free chocolate fudge cake with whipped chocolate ganache

 

This recipe needs to be remembered. I baked this for my manager, who doesn't get celebrated enough, and he and the team really enjoyed it. I made it dairy free given I can't taste test anything with dairy, and despite a broken fridge, it turned out great. 

Ingredients:

For the cake:

60g cocoa powder (Tesco)

150ml boiling water

150ml light in colour olive oil (Filippo Berio)

150g no-added sugar soya yoghurt (Alpro)

50ml oat milk

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 large eggs

2 tsp soy sauce

200g plain flour (sifted)

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

280g light soft brown sugar

A few salt flakes

For the ganache:

435g 55% dark chocolate (Morrisons basic)

500ml arla plant-based double cream

Sprinkle of salt

To finish:

50g dark chocolate (Morrisons basic)

Gold lustre dust

Specific equipment needed:

2 x 20cm round springform cake tins

Baking parchment

Piping bag

Star nozzle

Method:

1. In a measuring jug, pour the cocoa powder, followed by the boiling water. Leave to cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 180c/160c fan. Grease and line the base of two springform 20cm cake tins.

3. In a bowl, whisk together the olive oil, yoghurt, oat milk, vinegar, eggs and soy sauce (tick them off one by one to make sure you don’t miss an ingredient), until smooth. 

4. Pour in the cooled liquid cocoa mixture and whisk until smooth.

5. Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, and sugar and whisk until you have a smooth cake batter that easily falls off the spoon. 

6. Pour into the prepared cake tins and bake for around 25 minutes, until springy to the touch and a skewer comes out.

7. To make the ganache, chop the dark chocolate into small (0.5cm or so pieces). Tip into a bowl.

8. Heat the double cream in a pan until bubbling. Pour over the dark chocolate. Wait for a minute and then stir to melt. Once smooth, refrigerate to firm up. This will probably take at least an hour, check regularly that it doesn’t over-set.

9. Use a small amount of the ganache to add a splodge to a the cake plate/presentation board. This will be the glue that holds the cake in place (you can also use spare melted chocolate).

10. Use an electric whisk to whip the ganache, it will change from a dark brown to a light mousse-like brown. 

11. Place one of the cakes on the cake plate/board, making sure you have removed the baking parchment. Dollop on ganache and smooth over the top and sides of the cake.

12. Add the second layer of cake and cover the cake in a layer of ganache like a crumb coat. Chill.

13. Cover the cake with more ganache to smooth out the design. I used a piping bag with a star nozzle, and piped little rosettes around the top and bottom, which worked well I think. Add a few flicks of gold lustre dust to the top using a food-safe brush.

14. Use a vegetable peeler to drag across a bar of dark chocolate to create curls. Pour these in a pile in the centre of the cake, leaving a 2cm border to the outside. 

Devour. 

My Favourite Christmas Cake

Hope everyone had a great Christmas. The Christmas cake I baked this year was my favourite yet, and so I thought I'd share my recipe :) I baked this about 4 weeks before Christmas, and it was packed full of flavour and super moist.

I covered the cake with a layer of marzipan and fondant icing, and then attempted to make a Santa and snowballs :)

Makes one 20cm cake

Ingredients:

For the cake mix:

• 200g plain flour
• 1 tbsp ground almonds
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 150g butter/margarine softened
• 120g soft dark brown sugar
• Finely grated zest of one orange
• Finely grated zest of one lemon
• 15g black treacle
• 25g fine-cut marmalade
• 3 eggs
• 45ml (3 tbsp) brandy
• 25ml dark rum

For the fruit mix:

• 140g dried currants
• 380g sultanas
• 100g dried apricots, roughly chopped
• 95g chopped dried dates, roughly chopped
• 75g dried prunes, roughly chopped
• 75g glace cherries - halved
• 100g mixed peel
• 75ml dark rum
• 75ml brandy

Method:

1. 24 hours prior to baking, soak all of the dried fruits in 75ml of rum and 75ml brandy. Cover and leave at room temperature until ready to bake.

2. Preheat your oven to 160c (140c fan)/320f/gas mark 3. Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm cake tin with two layers of greaseproof paper.

3. Sift together the plain flour, ground almonds, bicarbonate of soda, spices and salt.

4. Cream together the butter and sugar with the lemon and orange zest until light and fluffy. 

5. Add the treacle and marmalade and beat again to combine. 

6. Beat in 2 of the eggs with a tablespoon of the flour mixture, followed by the rest of the flour mixture. Mix until just combined, and then fold in the soaked fruit mixture.

7. Fold in the remaining egg, and then pour into the prepared cake tin. Bake for between 2 and 2.5 hours, until firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

8. As soon as the cake is out of the oven, brush the rum and brandy all over the surface of the cake and leave to cool. Once completely cool, wrap in cling film/place in an airtight container until ready to decorate.

9. Enjoy!

GBBO 2018 Week 7 - Vegan - Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

I was so excited for this week's GBBO, and it didn't disappoint at all!! There were so many recipes I wanted to give a go, and am sure I will bake in the coming weeks. The first, however, was Briony's showstopper - a lovely looking chocolate coffee hazelnut cake, filled with raspberry jam, and coated in a vegan chocolate ganache. Due to time constraints, I didn't make all the elements she did, and I had to alter the recipe slightly, as I couldn't find a few ingredients.

Despite these alterations, the sponge is amazing - like a brownie, you wouldn't know it contained no dairy or eggs! As I've mentioned in previous posts, I try to not eat anything cream-based and have always struggled with ganache. Previously, I've tried water-based ganache, but Briony used full-fat coconut cream instead, and as a coconut lover, I gave this a go. My ganache firmed up a bit too much, but after adding a bit of hot water, it spread really nicely and the recipe made plenty for the whole cake.

Also, when picking a dark chocolate, don't just look in your dairy-free aisle. Good quality dark chocolate should never contain milk, and therefore is vegan without saying it directly on the packaging. I used a Tesco cooking dark chocolate, after checking the ingredients and finding no dairy. This saved me quite a bit of money due to the premium shops put on some vegan foods.

Now, I have to admit I am not a lover of vegan buttercream - I've yet to find a recipe where the frosting pipes to make lovely crisp flowers and leaves. This could be due a lack of decent vegan butter available in the supermarkets I frequent, so I'm going to keep an eye out and keep trying different brands. Briony's recipe does work and makes fairly stiff buttercream, but it still doesn't work quite as well as "real" buttercream. It does look pretty though, just be careful to keep the cake cold after piping so the buttercream doesn't soften too much.

This cake will easily serve 10 :)

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 565g (4 & 1/2 cups) self-raising flour
• 600g (3 cups) granulated sugar
• 125g (1 cup) cocoa powder (I used Dr Oetker)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 200g (1 & 1/3 cups) hazelnuts, roasted, peeled and roughly chopped*
• 200g (7/8 cup) dairy-free spread, melted
• 400ml (1 & 2/3 cups) hazelnut milk (I used Innocent)
• 250ml (1 cup and 2 tsp) walnut oil
• 1 tsp xantham gum
• 3 1/2 tbsp instant coffee granules
• 50ml (3 tbsp and 1 tsp) boiling water

For the vegan ganache:

• 300g (around 1 & 1/5 cups) coconut cream (NOT creamed coconut)
• 300g (1 cup and 2 tbsp) dairy-free dark chocolate (I used an 85% but 70% would work well)
• pinch of salt
• 2 tbsp Kahlua

For the vegan buttercream:

• 50g (3 tbsp) vegan margarine
• 200g (2 cups) sifted icing sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• Red and green concentrated gel food colouring (I use Wilton)

To finish:

• Around 200g (5/8 cup) raspberry jam

*It tends to be much cheaper to buy whole hazelnuts and roast them yourself. Simply preheat your oven to 200c (180c fan)/400f/gas mark 6, and cook the hazelnuts for 5 minutes. Pour into a sieve and shake to peel off the skins. Pick out all of the peeled hazelnuts, cool, and then roughly chop.

Method:

Ganache

The ganache takes a few hours to firm up so I would suggest making this first.

1. Chop all of the chocolate roughly and pour into a heatproof bowl.

2. Heat the coconut cream in a saucepan over a low heat until it is bubbling. Take off the heat and pour over the chocolate. Stir until all of the chocolate has melted.

3. Stir in the Kahlua. Cover with cling-film and chill for around 2 hours, or until it is spreadable (a Nutella-like consistency would work well).

4. If the ganache becomes too firm, don't worry! Boil a kettle and add boiling water, half a teaspoon at a time, beating well after each addition, until it is back to the ideal spreadable consistency.

5. Before using, whisk the ganache to aerate it, using a hand-whisk or in a stand mixer. It will become a light brown colour and increase in volume.

Cake Layers

1. Make the sponge. Preheat your oven to 180c (160c)/355f/gas mark 4. Grease the base and sides of three 20cm circular cake tins, and dust with flour (I find this gives a better result than using baking parchment).

2. In a large mixing bowl, pour the self-raising flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, roasted hazelnuts, and salt. Briefly stir together.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, pour the melted spread and hazelnut milk, and start whisking on a medium speed. Add the boiling water to the instant coffee, mix until smooth, and then pour into the spread/milk mix, along with the walnut oil and xantham gum (whilst whisking). Whisk for a few minutes to aerate.

4. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, and pour in the wet mix. Beat until all of the dry ingredients have been incorporated. My batter ended up very thick. 

5. Evenly divide between the three cake tins, and bake for around 35 minutes, until firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Once cooked, leave to cool for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool fully.

Vegan "Buttercream"

1. Beat the margarine with the icing sugar and vanilla extract until smooth.

2. Spoon out one-third of the buttercream, and colour this green. Colour the remaining buttercream a red/pink colour. Chill until ready to use.

Assembly

1. Place a tablespoon of ganache on your serving dish. Place the first sponge on this ganache and press down lightly. This sticks the cake to your dish, making it easier to decorate.

2. Spread over a thin layer of the ganache, and then spread over half of the raspberry jam - you want there to be a visible layer of raspberry as the chocolate and coffee flavours are so strong.

3. Top with the next layer of sponge. Spread over another thin layer of ganache, then the remaining raspberry jam. Top with the final layer of sponge.

4. Cover the top and sides of the cake with ganache - take time doing this, it can take a bit of patience to make sure all of the cake is covered neatly. I found I got a neater finish by dipping a palette knife (or you could use an icing smoother) in hot water, drying it, and then smoothing over the top and sides of the cake.

5. Place a 2D Wilton nozzle (large rose tip) into one piping bag, and a large leaf nozzle (Wilton 366) into another. Spoon the red buttercream into the piping bag with the 2D nozzle, and the green buttercream into the other piping bag.

6. Snip off the ends of each piping bag, and pipe roses and leaves onto the cake as desired.

To pipe roses - hold the piping bag vertically over where the middle of the flower will be, and then pipe a spiral outwards. 

To pipe leaves, simply use even pressure to pipe around 2cm lines on the cake - the nozzle gives the leaf effect. 

7. Enjoy!

GBBO 2018 Week 2 - Cake - Chocolate Collar Peanut Butter Cake

The showstopper challenge for week 2 of GBBO was all about making a two-tiered cake with a chocolate collar. This is essentially a layer of chocolate wrapped around the outside of the cake - not something I've ever properly tried before, though I do like chocolate work.

So, to test myself, I gave this a go - I made two chocolate sponges (I used Karen's recipe, adapting it only slightly, and it worked wonderfully) and sandwiched and frosted them with and a funky peanut butter frosting, which crazily makes a meringue buttercream but contains egg yolks! It didn't hold as firm as the standard Italian meringue buttercream I'm used to, but worked well for sandwiching and frosting.

I then didn't follow the challenge rules and only collared the top cake...sorry guys, but after doing the top collar, I couldn't face doing the bottom one, and to be honest, I think it didn't need it!

So...chocolate collars are pretty fiendish. I have by no means mastered this, but I did learn a few things:

1. If you can, use acetate sheets cut to the length you need. I only had plastic wallets and had to tape some together to get the length I needed (51cm for my 15cm round cake)...this made it very fiddly.

2. Once the chocolate has tempered, it sets really fast!! I temper chocolate an old-fashioned way in using a granite slab to cool down the melted chocolate - I think all the bakes used sugar thermometers, which possibly would have been easier.

3. I mean, it sets really really fast!! Be careful, you need to transfer the wrap to the cake when it is still soft enough that it doesn't crack, but isn't liquid. This took me three attempts to get right, so have spare chocolate in if you can.

4. I used a cheap 54% dark chocolate - I think I could have got a nicer shine if I'd used a fancier 70-80% one.

However, the cake still cut wells and tastes great, so it's worth a go when you have a day or so to spare!

Makes one 15cm and one 23cm cake

Ingredients:

For the cake sponges:

• 450g (3&1/2 cups) margarine
• 450g (2&1/4 cups) caster sugar
• 8 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water
• 100g (1 cup) cocoa powder
• 350g (2&1/2 cups) self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 200ml (1 cup minus 3 tbsp) yoghurt

For the peanut butter frosting:

• 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk
• 120ml (1/2 cup) water
• 220g (1 & 1/4 cups) caster sugar
• 340g (2&2/3 cups) butter, cut into cubes (room temperature)
• 150g (5/8 cup) crunchy peanut butter
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• pinch of salt (depending on whether your peanut butter had salt added to it)

For the chocolate:

• 300g (around 1&3/4 cups)  dark chocolate (I used 54% cocoa solids but 70% would be even better)
• 90g (1/2 cup) white chocolate (for the shards)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180c (160c fan)/355f/gas mark 4. Grease the base and sides of a loose-bottomed (or springform) 15cm and a 23cm round cake tin. Dust with a little flour.

2. To make the cake, pour the margarine and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer, with the paddle attached. Start the mixer on a low speed and cream the margarine and sugar together until it is light and fluffy.

3. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl.

4. Add the eggs, one at a time, to the butter/sugar mixture, adding a tablespoon of the flour/cocoa powder after each egg.

5. Add the remaining flour/cocoa, and the yoghurt, salt and coffee. Turn the stand mixer to a low setting, and mix together just until all of the flour has been incorporated.

6. Divide between the two tins so that they are about 2/3 full each. Bake. The 23cm tin will take about 35-40 minutes to cook, the 15cm should take 55-60 minutes. They are cooked when a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean, and the cakes are springy to the touch.

7. Leave to cool for a few minutes, before turning the cakes out of the tin onto wire racks to cool fully.

8. Make the frosting by heating the water with the sugar in a small saucepan, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved.

9. Pour the eggs and egg yolk into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and start whisking on a medium speed until they have at least tripled in volume and become light in colour.

10. Keep heating the sugar and water until a sugar thermometer dipped in the syrup reads 113c/235f. As soon as it reaches this temperature, turn off the heat and VERY CAREFULLY, pour the syrup over the egg yolks, making sure the speed of the mixer is set to low. Once all of the syrup has been added, turn up the speed of the mixer (to about medium) and keep whisking until the side of the bowl no longer feels warm (about 10 minutes). The mixture will get very light, but not hold as firm peaks as the traditional meringue would.

11. Once cooled to room temperature, keep whisking whilst adding the butter, a cube at a time. Don't add too much butter at once, or the buttercream may split.

12. Once all of the butter has been added, add the peanut butter and cinnamon, mix and taste. If needed add a little salt or more peanut butter. Place in the fridge until ready to use.

13. To assemble the cakes, use a serrated knife to level off the top of each cake, then slice each cake into two.

14. Place the first 23cm cake onto your serving dish. Add 2-3 tbsp of the frosting and smooth over the top of the layer. Gently press on the second 23cm cake layer, and then cover the top and sides of the cake with more frosting. There should be more than enough frosting to cover and fill these cakes, so you shouldn't have to worry about running out.

15. Place the first 15cm cake layer onto the centre of the 23cm cake. Top with 2 tbsp of the frosting, and add the final layer of cake. Cover with more peanut butter frosting, and then chill for 20 minutes.

16. It's chocolate collar time! Prepare your acetate sheets - they need to be a little taller than your 15cm cake, and around 51cm wide (which should be the circumference of the cake, you can check this if you like). Once prepared, place on a surface you don't mind getting covered in chocolate...

17. This is how I temper chocolate. Break two-thirds of the chocolate into cubes and put in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 20-30 second bursts, stirring well after each burst. During the bursts, finely chop the remaining third of the chocolate.

18. Once all of the chocolate has melted, remove from the microwave and pour in the remaining chopped chocolate. Stir until the chopped chocolate has melted and then pour onto a granite slab. 

19. Use a palette knife to spread the chocolate around the slab, scooping it up into a line, then spreading out and repeating. You'll notice the chocolate starts to get thicker. At this point, spoon the chocolate back into a bowl and QUICKLY spread out evenly over the acetate mould, going over the edges.

20. Wait for a few minutes, until the chocolate looks light it is starting to set - this is difficult to judge but it shouldn't take more than 3 minutes. Gently press the collar around the cake, leaving the acetate facing outwards for now. Leave for another few minutes, and then, when you think the chocolate has fully set, gently pry away the acetate.

21. I tempered more white and dark chocolate and spread them on some spare plastic wallets I had. Once cool I broke these into shards to decorate the top and sides of the cake. Next time I might try some different chocolate decorations - if you do anything cool, please let me know!

22. Enjoy!

Japonaise (Coffee Almond Meringue) Chocolate Basket Cake

I baked this for my dad on Father's day - I wanted to try to bake something special for him and remembered how much he loved the chocolate coffee macarons I made a few months ago. I had a spark of genius and remembered an almond meringue-based dessert known as a japonaise, which traditionally is sandwiched with coffee buttercream and covered in flaked almonds.
I took the concept of this dessert and turned it into a birthday cake by covering the cake with a chocolate "basket" (which is a lot simpler than it looks!) and topped with seasonal fruits - these cut through the richness of the coffee buttercream nicely.
To make the basket all you need is dark chocolate and bubble wrap!
Both of my parents loved this cake, and it's one I'll definitely make again, so why not give it a go?

Makes one large 20 x 15cm cake

Ingredients:

For the japonaise (almond meringue) layers:

• 6 egg whites
• 330g (1 & 2/3 cups) light soft brown sugar
• 150g (1 & 1/2 cups) ground almonds

For the coffee buttercream:

• 160ml (2/3 cup) water
• 200g (1 cup) light soft brown sugar
• 2 tsp instant coffee
• 250g butter softened (at room temperature)

For the chocolate basket:

• 250g dark chocolate (I used 55% but higher % cocoa would work well)

To finish:

• 200g of your favourite fruits (I used strawberries and blueberries)

Method:

1. To make the japonaise layers, preheat the oven to 140c (130c fan)/gas mark 1. Grease the base of two baking trays.

2. Draw a 15 x 20cm rectangle on two sheets of baking parchment. Flip them over (so the ink/pencil is facing downwards) and stick to the baking sheets.

3. In a spotlessly clean bowl, whisk 2 egg whites until very frothy and soft peaks form when the whisk is lifted (this is easiest using a stand mixer or electric whisk).

4. Gradually add 110g brown sugar, a teaspoon at a time, whisking well between each addition. Once all of the sugar has been added, turn the whisk up to high and beat until stiff peaks form when the whisk is lifted from the mixture.

5. Fold in 50g ground almonds gently, until evenly distributed.

6. Fill a piping bag with the mixture. Pipe half of the mixture onto the first baking sheet, filling the rectangle template you drew. Repeat with the other baking tray.

7. Bake for around 45 minutes, or until crisp on top. Halfway through the cooking time, switch the trays over in the oven.

8. Repeat steps 1-7 with the remaining ingredients (so you end up with 6 meringue layers). Set aside to cool fully.

9. Whilst the japonaise layers are baking, make the coffee buttercream by pouring the water into a saucepan with the brown sugar and coffee. Bring to a boil and simmer until all of the brown sugar has dissolved. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

10. Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and start beating until the butter is very pale and soft. 

11. Slowly pour over the coffee mixture and beat for 10 minutes - it will look like it has split but trust me, it'll come together to a thick spreadable consistency. Reserve a third of the buttercream for the top and sides of the cake.

12. Assemble the cake by placing the first japonaise layer on your serving dish. Spread over a few tablespoons of the coffee buttercream, then place the next layer on top. Repeat until you have stacked all of the japonaise layers. Set aside whilst you prepare the chocolate basket.

12. To make the chocolate basket cut four strips of bubble wrap - measure the height of the cake - e.g. if it is 8cm, make two strips 20cm x 8cm, and two 15cm x 8cm.

13. Melt the dark chocolate in the microwave by heating for 30 second bursts on full power, stirring well after each burst.

14. Spread the chocolate evenly over the bubble wrap and set aside to cool.

15. To finish the cake, spread the reserved coffee buttercream over the top and sides of the cake. Gently peel away the bubble wrap from the chocolate and place the chocolate "basket" sides onto the cake - be very gentle!

16. Top with seasonal fruits.

17. Enjoy!

Lemon and Strawberry Stripe Cake

Work's been pretty hectic recently - as an accountant, there are times of the year when the workload gets a bit crazy! Thankfully, however, that time has just about passed, and to celebrate I really wanted to try out a new type of cake. This was inspired by a striped cake I saw in a Tesco magazine (their recipes are really good!) - I adapted the flavours of the cake, and the buttercream is my own creation, but I think the overall look is pretty :)
The stripe effect is made by making sponges in trays, so they are akin to Swiss rolls. I flavoured one with lemon zest, and the other, I tried to give it a strawberry kick with some strawberry conserve. The strawberry flavour was pretty delicate though, so next time, I might try adding pureed strawberries instead.
I made the buttercream ruffles using a tip similar to the Wilton 406:

The cake isn't as tricky to make as it looks, so give it a go!

Makes one 20cm cake

Ingredients:

For the lemon sponge:

• 130g (1 cup) plain flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• Finely grated zest of 2 lemons
• 4 eggs
• 35g (2 tbsp) butter, melted
• 85g (2/3 cup) caster sugar + 1 tbsp for sprinkling

For the lemon syrup:

• Juice of 2 lemons
• 75g (3/4 cup) icing sugar

For the strawberry sponge:

• 130g (1 cup) plain flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• Finely grated zest of 2 lemons
• 4 eggs
• 35g butter (2 tbsp), melted
• Pink food colouring (I used a concentrated gel)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp good quality strawberry conserve
• 85g (2/3 cup) caster sugar + 1 tbsp for sprinkling

For the strawberry topping:

• 2 tbsp good quality strawberry jam

For the lemon buttercream:

• 300g (1 & 1/4 cups) butter, very soft
• 600g (6 cups) icing sugar, sifted
• 2-3 tbsp lemon juice
• Pink food colouring

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180c (160c fan)/355f/gas mark 4. Grease the base of a 23 x 33cm swiss roll tin/baking tray, and line with baking parchment.

2. Make the lemon sponge by pouring the eggs, lemon zest and sugar into a mixing bowl. Whisk for around 5 minutes (I used a stand mixer but an electric hand whisk would work fine) until the mixture has tripled in volume, and become very pale.

3. Sift over the plain flour and baking powder, and pour the melted butter around the edge of the mixture. Gently fold in, being careful to knock as little of the air out of the mixture as possible.

4. Pour into the prepared baking tray, and tilt the pan to evenly spread the mixture across the tray. Bake for around 10 minutes, until golden on top and springy to the touch.

5. Halfway through the cooking time, prepare the lemon syrup by pouring the lemon juice and icing sugar into a small pan. Place on a low heat and bring to a simmer.

6. Simmer for 2-3 minutes until the icing sugar is clear and the mixture is syrupy.

7. Once the sponge has baked, take it out of the oven, and use a pastry brush to brush over the lemon syrup. Place a sheet of baking parchment on your work surface, and then sprinkle over 1 tbsp of caster sugar.

8. Turn the sponge out onto the sugared baking parchment, and gently peel off the parchment stuck to the base of the sponge. From a short-end, roll the sponge (with the greaseproof paper) to a tight swiss roll, and leave to cool fully.

9. Repeat the same steps for the strawberry sponge, except instead of lemon zest in the sponge, add vanilla extract, strawberry conserve and pink food colouring to the eggs and sugar, and then whisk this mixture until tripled in volume.

10. Whilst the strawberry sponge is baking, make the topping by gently heating the strawberry conserve with 3 tbsp water, stirring regularly. Bring to a simmer and cook for 2-3 minutes.

11. Once out of the oven, spread over the strawberry syrup, then turn out onto sugared baking parchment, and roll as previously.

12. Whilst the cakes cool, make the buttercream by beating the butter, icing sugar, and lemon juice together until well combined, light and fluffy. I used the whisk attachment on my stand mixer and ended up with a fluffy soft buttercream that worked really well.

13. Divide the buttercream evenly into two bowls. Add pink colouring to one half of the buttercream and beat in.

14. Carefully unroll both sponges. Cut in half lengthways.

15. Take one of the lemon sponge halves. Spread with a thin layer of the pink lemon buttercream, then roll from a short side to make a swiss roll.

16. Take one of the strawberry halves, and spread with another thin layer of the pink buttercream. Wrap this around the rolled lemon sponge (effectively continuing the spiral).

17. Repeat with the remaining lemon and strawberry halves.

18. Cover the sides and top of the cake gently with a thin layer of the white buttercream. This acts as a crumb coat and should help stop crumbs from escaping into the outside buttercream layer.

19. Refrigerate for 15 minutes, or until the buttercream doesn't stick to your finger when pressed lightly.

20. Prepare a piping bag by adding a Wilton 406/ruffle tip to a piping bag, and trimming off the end. Fill with the pink buttercream.

21. Starting at the base of the cake, start piping ruffles by having the wide end of the nozzle pointing downwards, and angling the piping nozzle - this is by no means something I'm expert in, but I angled my tip slightly downwards so that the bottom of the nozzle was about 30 degrees away - I'd recommend checking out youtube for videos on this bit :)

22. When you only have about a quarter of pink buttercream left, add half of the white buttercream and continue piping the ruffles around the cake - this will give you a slight ombre effect. Alternatively, you could use a new piping bag with a clean piping nozzle if you don't want this effect.

23. Continue piping up the sides of the cake, and then, starting from the centre on top of the cake, pipe concentric circles - again there are some really good youtube videos showing this really clearly.

24. Place in the fridge until the buttercream has set (10-15 minutes).

25. Enjoy!

Dairy-Free Whole Lemon Cake with Coconut Lemon Curd

One of my closest friends passed her PhD this week and she just loves lemons. Therefore for the celebrations, I made the lemon-iest cake I could. Two layers of whole lemon cake, sandwiched with a homemade lemon curd and frosted with lemon buttercream. Everything is dairy-free, and the coconut lemon curd turned out fantastic! It took around 4 hours from start to finish, but I was happy with the result. If you like lemons, you're going to love this cake ;)

Makes one 20cm cake (easily serves 15-20)

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 1 unwaxed lemon
• 275g (1 & 1/3 cups) dairy-free butter/shortening - softened
• 275g (1 & 2/5 cups) caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 275g (2 & 1/5 cups) self-raising flour

For the coconut lemon curd:

• 3 lemons, zest and juice
• 150g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
• 75g (2/5 cup) coconut oil
• 3 eggs, beaten

For the lemon buttercream:

• 150g (2/3 cup) dairy-free butter/shortening, softened
• 300g (3 cups) icing sugar
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Yellow food colouring (I used a concentrated gel)

For the candied lemon:

• 2 unwaxed lemons
• 45g (3 tbsp) granulated sugar (and around 30g extra for dusting)
• 100ml (2/5 cup) water

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180c (160c fan)/350f/gas mark 4. Grease the base and sides of two 20cm loose-bottomed cake tins and dust with flour.

2. Place the lemons in a pan of simmering water and cook for around 20 minutes, until a knife can easily be pressed into the lemon.

3. Remove the lemon from the pan, leave to cool for a few minutes, and then cut in half. Remove any pips. Place the remainder of the cooked lemon (including any peel) into a food processor/high power blender and blitz until a fairly fine puree. Set aside whilst you prepare the cake batter.

4. Cream the butter with the caster sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy and no sugar crystals can be seen.

5. Add the eggs and two tablespoons of the flour. Beat in until all of the egg has been incorporated.

6. Sift over the remaining flour and add the pureed lemon. Fold in until evenly distributed then split between the two cake tins.

7. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the sides of the cake are coming away from the tin and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool.

8. To make the coconut lemon curd, put the lemon zest, juice, coconut oil and sugar in a heatproof bowl, and place this over a pan of simmering water (make sure the base of the bowl does NOT touch the water). Stir occasionally until all of the coconut oil has melted.

9. Slowly pour in the eggs, whisking constantly. Keep whisking for around 10 minutes until the curd has thickened to a point where it coats the back of a wooden spoon. At this point remove from the heat, pour into a bowl/jar and set aside to cool completely.

10. To make the candied lemon, cut 2-3mm slices of lemon (using a serrated knife is best). Place in a pan with the sugar and water and bring to a boil. Cook for 20-30 minutes, until the pith (the white section under the yellow zest), has become see-through. Drain and dust each lemon slice in granulated sugar. Set aside to dry.

11. To make the lemon buttercream, beat the dairy-free butter (or a shortening such as Trex) until it is very soft. Add the icing sugar and 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice and beat. If the mixture is too dry to pick up all of the icing sugar, add more lemon juice, a teaspoon at a time. Beat until smooth and thick enough to pipe. Split into three bowls. Leave two natural, and colour the other a strong yellow.

12. To assemble the cake, level the top of each cake with a serrated knife. Place a tablespoon of buttercream on the cake board/serving plate, and top with the first sponge. Press down lightly. Top the sponge with half of the coconut lemon curd and smooth evenly over the sponge.

13. Top with the second sponge, again pressing down lightly. Use one of the no-food-colouring bowls of buttercream to spread a thin layer of buttercream on the top and sides of the cake. This acts as a crumb coat and helps to give a smarter finish. Place in the fridge for 20 minutes to firm up.

14. Use a palette knife to spread the remaining white buttercream over the top and sides of the cake. Place a 1M (large flower) nozzle into a piping bag and fill with the yellow buttercream. Pipe half of the buttercream on the sides of the cake, piping small lines of yellow at different heights around the cake. Use a palette knife to smooth over these piped lines. This gives my attempt at an ombre/watercolour look.

15. Pipe the remaining buttercream around the rim on the top of the cake. Hold the piping bag vertically, and then pipe up and across to make a ribbon-like effect.

16. Place the candied lemon on the cake. I used some of mine to spell out Dr. and her name, and I placed the remaining slices on the sides of the cake :)

17. Enjoy!

Ninjabread Christmas Cake

So, a few months ago, I made two Christmas cakes (see the recipe for the cake here) - one 20cm, and one 15cm cake. For the 15cm cake, I halved the recipe, which results in a smaller but deeper cake. This was fed with brandy as with the 20cm cake. Around a week before Christmas, it was time to cover the cake. I then finished decorating the cake on Christmas Eve. Now I know I'm no expert when it comes to fondant work, so I decided to keep the design fairly simple. Firstly I covered the cakes with marzipan and white fondant. Then I added some royal icing decorations and gingerbread men. There's a more detailed recipe/guide below :)

Ingredients:

2 Christmas cakes (one 20cm and one 15cm) - see linked recipe above

For the royal icing:

• 225g (1 cup) icing sugar
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp glycerine

For the gingerbread:

• 95g (2/3 cup) butter or margarine
• 75g (2/5 cup) dark soft brown sugar
• 40g (1 & 1/2 tbsp) golden syrup
• 225g (1 & 1/2 cups) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Other:

• 500g ready to roll marzipan
• 500g ready to roll white fondant
• 75g ready to roll purple fondant
• 1-2tbsp sieved apricot jam
• Icing sugar, for dusting
• Concentrated green gel food colouring (mine was Leaf green from Wilton)

Method:

1. A week before Christmas, the cake needs to be covered with marzipan and fondant. Lightly dust a work surface with icing sugar and roll out 1/3 of the marzipan to a circle roughly 25cm in diameter - this should be enough to cover the top and sides of the 15cm cake. Try to get the marzipan 2-3mm thick. 

2. Brush the 15cm cake lightly with the sieved apricot jam. This acts as an adhesive to the cake, letting the marzipan stick. 

3. Transfer the marzipan onto the sponge, and gently smooth down the tops and sides of the cake - try to be as smooth as possible. However, the odd rip doesn't really matter as it will be covered with fondant. After smoothing down the sides (using your hands or you could use a fondant smoother), trim off the excess fondant from the base.

4. Roll out the remaining marzipan to a circle around 30cm in diameter. As with the 15cm cake, brush the 20cm cake with apricot jam and transfer the marzipan onto the cake. Gently smooth the top and sides. Try to get the top as level as possible (as this is where the 15cm cake will sit). 

5. Place some cling film on your surface (enough to fit a 25cm circle of fondant), then dust with more icing sugar, and then roll out 1/3 of the white fondant to a 25cm circle. Keep the fondant 3-4mm thickness to help prevent rips. 

6. Brush the surface of the 15cm cake with a little water, then carefully transfer the fondant to the cake. The easiest way to do this is pick up the clingfilm holding the fondant, and then flip this onto the cake. Whilst the clingfilm is stuck to the fondant, smooth your hands over the top and sides. Then remove the clingfilm - this helps me at least to get a smoother finish/the chance of ripping seems less.

7. Repeat for the 20cm cake with the remaining fondant. Roll 1/2 of the purple fondant out to a long rectangle (around 50cm in length and 2cm in width). Cut into a neat 1cm thick rectangle. Lightly brush the base of the 15cm cake with a little water, then transfer these ribbon across. Roll the remaining purple fondant to a long rectangle about 60cm in length and 1.5cm in width, and gain cut into a neat 1cm thick rectangle. Transfer to the base of the 20cm cake.

8. Stack the 15cm cake on top of the 20cm cake, then set aside for 3-4 days for the fondant to firm up.

9. A few days before/on Christmas Eve, begin the other decorations. To make the gingerbread, preheat your oven to 200c (180c fan)/400f/gas mark 4. Grease and line the base of a baking tray with baking parchment.

10. Melt the butter, sugar, and golden syrup together in a saucepan, stirring regularly until the butter has melted. Set aside for a few minutes to cool.

11. In a mixing bowl, sieve together the plain flour, ground ginger, ground cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda. Make a well in the centre and pour in the melted butter/sugar/syrup. Beat until you have a warm dough.

12. Dust your surface with a little plain flour, and then roll the gingerbread out until it is about 3/4cm/1/2 inch thick. Use gingerbread men cookie cutters (I had some funny "ninjabread" ones I used) to neatly make the gingerbread men, Depending on the size of the cutters, you should get between 6 and 12 men with the dough. My cutters were about 6cm tall.

13. Bake the gingerbread men for around 8 minutes, until the biscuits have become slightly more golden. Set aside to cool.

14. To make the royal icing, tip the egg whites into a grease-free bowl and whisk briefly until they have become frothy. Add the icing sugar a tablespoon at a time, and whisk after each addition. If you have a stand mixer (with the whisk attachment), you can leave it running whilst you add the icing sugar.

15. Add the lemon juice and glycerine, then whisk until the mixture forms stiff, glossy, white peaks. 

16. Take 1/3 of the mixture and set aside in a bowl. Dip a cocktail stick in the green food colouring and use this to colour this royal icing. Beat well to evenly distribute the colour.

17. Place a "Grass piping nozzle" (Wilton nozzle 233) in a piping bag and fill the bag with the green royal icing. Snip the tip off the bag, then pipe vertically downwards on the 20cm cake top (around the 15cm cake). Stand your gingerbread men up in the "grass".

Grass piping nozzle/Wilton 233

18. Place a 1M piping nozzle (open star) into another piping bag and fill this with the white royal icing. Pipe swirls over the top of the 15cm cake. Leave to firm up.

1M Open Star piping nozzle

19. Enjoy!

Hummingbird Cake

I made this cake for my mum's birthday, as she had requested a fruit-filled cake. A Hummingbird cake is, to my understanding, a banana and pineapple cake, with spices like cinnamon and allspice thrown in, and toasted nuts for extra jazz. I've been wanting to make it for a while, but haven't had the opportunity. Now was my chance. I baked her two layers of Hummingbird cake, frosted and filled the cake with a cinnamon buttercream and then covered the cake with fondant. I used the fondant as I wanted to try some "cake art" - using concentrated food colourings (mine are from Wilton), I painted a Hummingbird on top of the cake (as well as some flowers). I'm no artist, so I was so happy when my mum immediately knew what kind of bird I'd attempted (before I'd told her what the cake was).
The cake itself I am told was delicious (I'm allergic to bananas so couldn't give you my opinion!), and it looked and smelled amazing. The spicing gives it an extra dimension of flavour (as well as a slight Christmassy feel because of the cinnamon), and the cake easily serves 12.

Makes one 20cm cake (two layers)

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 190g (1 & 1/2 cups) chopped walnuts
• 370g (3 cups) self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mixed spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• one 200g can crushed pineapple
• 3 eggs
• 160ml (2/3 cup) vegetable oil
• 1 & 3/4 cups (350g) soft light or dark brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the buttercream:

• 200g (7/8 cup) softened butter
• 400g (4 cups) icing sugar
• 1-2 tbsp milk
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger

To finish:

• 500g ready to roll fondant
• Concentrated gel food colourings

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180c (160c fan)/355f/ gas mark 4. Grease the bases of two springform 20cm round cake tins and dust the bottoms and sides of the tin with a little flour.

2. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper, and pour over the chopped walnuts. Bake for around 5 minutes, until toasted (they'll smell strongly of toasted nuts when they're ready).

3. Pour the toasted walnuts, flour, cinnamon, mixed spice, brown sugar and salt into a bowl and stir briefly (making sure the break up the sugar if there are any lumps).

4. Make a well in the centre of the mixture and pour in the oil and eggs. Beat briefly until evenly distributed.

5. Add the mashed bananas and the pineapple and fold in until evenly distributed. Divide the mixture between the two cake tins.

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until lightly springy to the touch, and a skewer inserted into the centre has no uncooked mixture on it (it may be a little wet due to the pineapple). Leave to cool in the cake tins for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

7. For the buttercream, beat the butter until is very soft and spreadable. Sift over half of the icing sugar and 1 tbsp of milk, and beat in. Once you can no longer see any icing sugar, add the other half the icing sugar, the cinnamon and ginger, and beat. If the mixture seems very stiff, add more milk, a teaspoon at a time. It is ready when it is easy to spread, but holds it's shape.

8. To assemble the cake, level both cakes by using a serrated knife to trim off any dome of the baked cake.  Place a tablespoon of buttercream on your serving dish/board.

9. Place your first sponge on the board/dish, pressing down lightly to stick the cake to the board. Top with a third of the buttercream and spread evenly over the top of the sponge.

10. Place the second sponge on top of the first, and press down lightly. Cover the top and sides of the cake with the remaining buttercream. Use a palette knife to smooth the tops and sides (this will help when you put the fondant on the cake). Place the cake in the fridge for around 10 minutes.

11. Dust your work surface with icing sugar, and roll the fondant out until it is around 25cm in diameter (and a rough circle). I roll the fondant out on a silicon mat as I find the fondant is less prone to stick to it than my work surface.

12. When ready to cover the cake, take the cake out of the fridge. There are two ways to transfer the fondant. I transferred mine by rolling the fondant over a non-stick rolling pin and then gently moving the rolling pin over the cake (unrolling the fondant over the cake in the process). If you've used a mat, you could also simply flip the mat onto the cake, then unpeel the mat off to reveal the fondant.

13. Quickly but gently, ease the sides of the fondant down over the cake. If you come to a crease, unfold it and lightly press down. If you notice any air bubbles on top of the cake, use a pin to pop them. If you notice air bubbles on the side, gently smooth the fondant down, effectively pressing the air out of the bottom of the cake. You can then use fondant smoothers to smoothen out the sides and top of the cake.

14. Leave the cake to firm up for at least 1 hour. Paint your cake as desired - I used Wilton food colourings and sugarcraft paintbrushes, and just had a go. Have fun with it :)

15. Enjoy!

Halloween Spooky Spider Chocolate Orange Cake

This Halloween cake was an incredibly fun bake. The sponge is one of my favourites, flavoured with chocolate and orange. The sponges have whole oranges in them so are packed full of flavour. In total there are three layers of sponge (two chocolate orange sponges, one pure orange sponge), sandwiched and covered with a chocolate orange ganache and fondant.
I then went a bit crazy with the decorations. I used Wilton black food colouring to paint silhouettes of trees and spooky houses, ghosts and bats around the sides of the cake. On top of the cake, I made a white fondant web and a big black fondant spider.
This was the most elaborate fondant cake, and I was pretty happy with the result. Not perfect by any means, but it was enjoyed :)

Ingredients:

For the chocolate sponges:

• 1 orange
• 250g self-raising flour
• 25g good-quality cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 150g soft light brown sugar
• 125g caster sugar
• 225g margarine (or softened butter)
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

For the orange sponge:

• 1 orange
• 140g self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 140g caster sugar
• 110g margarine (or softened butter)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp mixed spice
• 50g dark chocolate chips

For the ganache:

• 150g milk chocolate
• 150g 70% dark chocolate
• 150g double cream
• 600ml orange juice (not from concentrate)

For the fondant decorations/to finish:

• 500g dark purple fondant (I bought mine from Hobbycraft)
• 100g black fondant
• 50g white fondant
• Black gel food colouring
• Red gel food colouring

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C(160C fan)/355F/gas 4. Grease two 20cm tins and dust with flour.

2. Place the 2 whole oranges in a small saucepan, cover with boiling water and simmer until soft, about 20 minutes. Set aside to cool. 

3. For the chocolate sponge, cut one of the oranges in half and remove any pips. Process the whole orange, including the skin, until smooth. 

4. Cream the margarine with the brown and caster sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, flour, cocoa powder,  baking powder, spices and orange pulp and beat until smooth. 

5. Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and bake for 25-30 minutes until springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of each sponge comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool fully.

6. Make the orange sponge by cutting the remaining orange in two and blending one half. Cream the margarine with the sugar until light and fluffy, then add the remaining ingredients. Beat until smooth.

7. Pour into one 20cm cake tin, and bake for 25-30 minutes, until springy to the touch. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

8. Make the ganache by heating the orange juice in a saucepan until it has reduced to 100ml. This will take about 15 minutes.

9. Pour a few inches of water into a saucepan and place a glass bowl on top, ensuring that the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the surface of the water. Chop the chocolate roughly and pour into the bowl with the cream.

10. Heat the water in the pan, stirring the chocolate often. Once melted, take off the heat and set aside to cool slightly. Add the reduced orange juice and stir well. Leave to cool to room temperature then chill for at least one hour.

11. When ready to assemble, take the ganache out of the fridge to come to room temperature. Briefly, whisk (using an electric whisk if you have one). 

12. Level the tops of the cake. Place a small amount of ganache on a cake board/serving dish. Place the first chocolate sponge on the cake board. Add a third of the ganache to the top of the sponge, and level.

13. Add the orange sponge, and lightly press down onto the ganache. Add the second third of the ganache and top with the remaining chocolate sponge.

14. Use the remaining ganache to cover the top and sides of the cake. This acts as a crumb coat and tastes brill. Place in the fridge for at least 15 minutes to firm up.

15. Roll the purple fondant on a silicon mat (lightly dusted with icing sugar) until it is 2-3mm thick. Carefully transfer on to the cake and gently smooth over. Use fondant smoothers to make the fondant as smooth as possible.

16. To make the web, roll the white fondant out until it is around 3-4mm thick and 15cm wide. Carefully cut out the spider web design with a sharp knife and set aside to dry slightly.

17. Make the black spider by taking a large blob of the black fondant and rolling it into a ball. Stick a smaller sphere of black fondant to the body. Use a fork to ruffle the body up. Use the small ball fondant tool to hollow out some eyes. Place a small ball of white fondant in these hollowed out sections and paint with the red colouring.

18. Use the remaining black fondant to roll out eight legs, about 6cm in length and 1cm in width. Gently bend the legs and dry in this position (I used some bent corrugated card to achieve this). Stick the legs to the body with a little hot water.

19. To finish the cake, place the white web on the top of the cake and top with the spider. Paint trees and houses around the sides of the cake with the black food colouring.

20. Enjoy!

Spooky Mummy Parkin

Every year Halloween seems to get bigger and bigger in the UK. This year I helped to host a cake sale at my work and decided to bake something fun. At this time of year, treacle is one of my favourite flavours, and so I decided to bake a Parkin with a twist. I layered two parkin sponges with a thin layer of orange buttercream, which cuts through the darkness of the treacle nicely. The mummy decoration is simpler than it looks, and it was really well received. This easily serves 12 people and is perfect on a cold autumnal night.

Serves 12 (at least)

Ingredients:

For the Parkin:

• 300g golden syrup
• 150g treacle
• 220g butter
• 220g soft brown sugar
• 200g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting the tins
• 4 tbsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 150g porridge oats 
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp milk

For the buttercream:

• 150g butter, softened
• 300g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting the surfaces
• 1-2 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

To finish:

• 300g white ready to roll fondant
• 50g black fondant
• Purple food colouring

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 140c (130c fan)/285f/gas mark 1. Grease two 20cm springform cake tins lightly and dust with plain flour.

2. Melt the golden syrup, treacle, butter and brown sugar together in a large saucepan, stirring regularly. Once the butter has fully melted, set aside to cool for a few minutes to cool slightly.

3. Sift the flour, ginger, cinnamon,  and mixed spice into a mixing bowl. Pour over the melted syrup/butter, and beat to combine. Add the eggs, milk and porridge oats, and beat briefly.

4. Evenly divide between the two cake tins. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until the sides of the cake are coming away from the tin and the top feels firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

5. To make the buttercream, beat the butter until very soft and smooth. Sift over the icing sugar and add 1 tbsp of the orange juice. Beat until the icing sugar has been incorporated, adding more orange juice if it is difficult to stir.

6. To assemble the cake, place a tablespoon of buttercream on your serving tray/cake board. Place the first sponge on the board/tray on top of the buttercream, and press down lightly.

7. Spread half of the buttercream on top of the first sponge and level. Top with the remaining sponge. 

8. Use the remaining buttercream to cover the top and sides of the cake. This acts as a crumb coat, and tastes great! Place in the fridge to firm up for around 15 minutes.

9. Now for the fondant. I'm still a newbie to fondant work, but this is how I made this mummy face. Roll the black fondant out until it is 2-3mm thick. Cut out an oval about 10 x 6cm in size. 

10. Roll the white fondant out to a rough square about 20 x 20cm. Divide into 1-inch strips. 

11. Lay a piece of cling film on a chopping board/ flippaple surface. Place your black oval in the centre of the clingfilm. Start laying strips of the fondant around the black oval to look like bandages. Whenever one piece of fondant would lay over another (like a bandage would), slice one of the pieces of fondant. Place the first half on one side of the second piece. Use the other side of the sliced first piece on the other side of the second piece. This will give the impression that the bandages are running over each other, when in fact they're not! Keep going until you have a rough circle about 21cm. 

12. Colour a few tablespoons of the remaining white fondant purple. Roll out to about 1-2mm thickness and cut out eyes about 1 inch in diameter. Use offcuts of the black fondant to make the pupil and add a dot of white fondant to finish. Stick to the black fondant by dabbing a little water onto the black oval, then press the eyes lightly onto the fondant. 

13. Lightly roll the fondant to help adhere it together then top with clingfilm. Flip the fondant over and remove the base layer of clingfilm.

14. Remove the cake from the fridge. Dip a pastry brush in hot water and lightly dab over the cake, to help the fondant adhere.

15. Flip the fondant back onto the cake. Remove the top layer of clingfilm and fix if needed. I liked the look of some fondant bandages flowing over the cake, so I didn't trim it down.

16. Enjoy!

GBBO 2017 Week 4 - Caramel Poppy Seed Cake

The showstopper challenge on the mighty caramel week for the GBBO 2017 series was all about making an impressive caramel cake. As my partner's family is Polish, I've been keeping an eye on Julia's bakes, as she keeps making eastern European inspired bakes. I was really intrigued by the cake she made this week, a light poppy seed cake with a walnut and prune filling and caramel frosting, so thought it'd be fun to give it a go.

The cake was a big success! The cake was really lovely and airy, but still had a lot of flavour, and the filling was a bit hit with my boyfriend's mum :) I altered the caramel sauce and buttercream a little - I wanted the buttercream not quite as sweet, so used treacle instead of the golden syrup Julia used. otherwise this recipe doesn't stray too far from what was seen on the show. I had some fun with the caramel decorations though - they aren't as difficult as you might think! Just be very careful, boiling caramel really hurts :(

Makes one 20cm cake (easily feeds 12)

Ingredients:

For the sponges:

• 200g (7/8 cup) unsalted butter/margarine
• 5 medium eggs, at room temperature
• 200g (1 cup) caster sugar
• 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 10g (2 tsp) poppy seeds
• 200g (1 & 3/4 cups) self-raising flour, sifted

For the filling:

• 75g (1/2 cup) walnut halves or pieces
• 75g (1/2 cup) semi-dried prunes (I used Whitworths, which are partially rehydrated)

For the caramel sauce:

• 50g (1/4 cup) butter or margarine
• 100g (1/4 cup + 2 tsp) treacle
• 150g (2/3 cup) caster sugar
• 150ml (3/5 cup) double cream

For the buttercream:

• 50g (1/4 cup) softened butter
• 50g (1/2 cup) icing sugar, sifted

For the caramel decoration:

• 240g (2 & 2/5 cups) caster sugar
• 4 tablespoons water
• 9 walnut halves

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (170C fan)/375°F/Gas mark 5. Grease the base and sides of two loose-bottomed 20cm cake tins, and dust lightly with flour.

2. Gently melt the butter/margarine (in a microwave or in a saucepan) and leave to cool until needed.

3. Separate the eggs, placing the egg whites into a large grease-free bowl, and the yolks into a another large mixing bowl. Whisk using a hand-held electric whisk (or use the whisk attachment of a stand mixer) until the whites stand in soft peaks when the whisk is lifted from the bowl. Whisk in 100g of the caster sugar to make a stiff, glossy meringue. Set aside.

4. Add the remaining 100g of sugar to the yolks, along with the vanilla extract, and whisk (there’s no need to wash the whisk) until very thick and mousse-like and the whisk leaves a distinct, ribbon-like trail when lifted from the bowl. Whisk in the poppy seeds.

5. Using a large metal spoon or similar implement (I used a metal palette knife), carefully fold in a third of the sifted flour. Once you can't see any speckles of flour, add a third of the eggs whites, and fold in. Repeat this, alternating between adding flour and egg whites, until it has all been incorporated.

6. Pour the melted butter/margarine around the sides of the bowl and gently (but thoroughly) fold in. Divide evenly between the two cake tins.  

7. Bake the sponges for about 18-20 minutes until golden, well risen and starting to shrink away from the sides of the tin - if you press the centre of the sponge it will spring back. Leave to cool for 5 minutes in their tins, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

8. For the walnut and prune filling, roast the walnuts in the preheated oven for around 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes, until they smell nutty and are golden in colour. Leave to cool. Put the prunes into the bowl of a food processor and blitz to make a thick puree. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the walnut and blitz the pieces (briefly) until they are chopped medium-fine. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

9. To make the caramel sauce to flavour the filling and buttercream: place the butter, treacle and caster sugar into a medium pan and stir over a low heat until melted and smooth. Meanwhile heat the cream in another pan until it is just simmering. 

10. Bring the sugar/treacle mixture to the boil and cook for about 4 minutes, or until becomes thicker and even darker in colour. Stir the mixture often to ensure it doesn't burn.  Remove the pan from the heat, cover your hand with an oven glove and very carefully add the hot cream. 

11. When the foaming subsides, return the pan to a low heat and whisk constantly with a wire hand whisk for a few minutes until thickened (on a sugar thermometer the temperature would read 110C/230F). Pour into a heatproof bowl. Leave to cool to room temperature, then place in the fridge to chill fully. 

12. For the caramel buttercream: beat the butter/margarine until it is very smooth and fluffy. , until very light in colour and texture. Gradually whisk in the caramel sauce. When it’s very smooth and light, remove 100g and mix this into the prune/walnut filling. 

13. Add the sifted icing sugar and beat until it is smooth but not too slack - if it seems very loose, add more icing sugar. Transfer ⅓ to a separate bowl for the ‘crumb coat’.

14. To assemble the cake, level both sponges, then set one sponge top-side down on a serving plate. Spread with the walnut/prune filling. Place the second sponge on top.

15. Evenly spread the top and sides of the cake with the buttercream set aside for the ‘crumb coat', using a palette knife or spatula. Chill for 10 minutes, or until it is no longer sticky to the touch. Using a cleaned palette knife or spatula, neatly spread the remaining ⅔ of caramel buttercream over the entire cake and chill until firm.

16. Meanwhile, make the caramel for the shards: put the sugar into a medium pan and shake the pan so it settles in an even layer. Add the water, and place on a low heat. Gently melt the sugar, tilting the pan occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. Meanwhile grease and line the base of a baking tray with baking parchment. 

17. Once all of the sugar has melted, turn up the heat and boil without stirring until the syrup turns a rich, golden-brown caramel colour. Take off the heat, and leave until cool (to speed up this process you can dip the pan in some cold water/ice). Once the caramel is thick enough to leave a trail from the pan, use a whisk to spread the caramel out on the baking parchment - make a thick line about 7cm in size at the bottom, then have fun drizzling the caramel above this (this will make a feature for the cake that should have stability due to this base). If the caramel gets too thick, place back on a low heat for a few minutes.

Reserve 1/4 of the caramel for the walnuts.

There are other fun things you can do with the caramel. For example, to make a sugar cage, grease a ladle and drizzle the caramel over in a web pattern. Whilst warm (but not too hot), gently peel the cage away. If it gets too cold, I found out (to my horror) the caramel sticks to the spoon...

18. Place the walnut halves in the reserved caramel and swirl to get an even coating (I'll admit, mine weren't as even as I'd like - we can always improve!), then tip out to cool. Leave to set.

19. Once the caramel is hard, press the large into the buttercream on the top of the cake and decorate the top with the caramel coated walnuts.

20. Enjoy!