Sorry, this week's bake is a bit late!!! It was Spice week on GBBO last week, and I made a variation of Manon's signature - a ginger and lemon cake. The sponge (which I adapted slightly from Manon's recipe) is lovely and soft, and deep with ginger - I never would have thought to use fresh ginger, but it worked incredibly well! The sponges are sandwiched with Manon's recipe for lemon and ginger curd - I do like this but it is VERY strong in ginger, so I only used a thin layer to sandwich the cakes, but you could use more if you like.
Her recipe also makes a lot of curd, so pour the rest into a sterilized jar and it can be spread on toast or used in other bakes!
I covered the cakes with an Italian meringue (as Manon did), but I flavoured it with a touch of chilli - this is controversial, but I like the slight heat in the meringue (where the heat isn't just more ginger). If you don't want this heat though, you could any other spices you like, or just something like vanilla extract or lemon rind.
Now, I'm not sure I'm super keen on how I coloured my meringue so I won't put that in the recipe below. If you're interested, I used Wilton's concentrated gel colourings to colour some of the meringue red and orange, then spread this on the cake to try to give an ombre effect - if you have tips on how to get stronger red/orange colours that'd be really good (I always end up with pastel shades...)
Makes one 20cm cake (serves 10-12)
Ingredients:
- For the sponges:
- 200g baking margarine
- 250g dark soft brown sugar
- 100g black treacle
- 100g golden syrup
- 100g root ginger, fresh (I washed but didn't peel mine), finely grated
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- pinch of salt
- 250g plain flour
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 150ml skimmed milk
For the curd:
- Juice of 4 large lemons (around 150ml)
- Zest of 2 large lemons
- 2 sheets of gelatine
- 150g caster sugar
- 100g fresh ginger (this is really strong, so if worried, cut down to 50-75g)
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 3 eggs
- 3 egg yolks
- 100g baking margarine (I found this worked just fine, but you could use butter instead)
- pinch of salt
For the Italian meringue
- 3 egg whites
- 300g granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp water
- 1/2 tsp chilli flakes (to taste/optional)
Method:
1. Make the cake. Preheat your oven to 180c (160c fan)/350f/gas mark 4. Grease the base and sides of two 20cm cake tins (preferably with loose bottoms/springform), and dust with flour.
2. In a saucepan, melt together the margarine, brown sugar, treacle, golden syrup and ginger, stirring regularly until all of the margarine has melted. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
3. In a large mixing bowl sift together the plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, ground ginger and cinnamon and add the salt. Pour over the melted margarine mixture and then add the eggs and the milk. Whisk together just until all of the flour has been incorporated.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tins and bake for 20-25 minutes, until just firm to the touch and the edges are slightly coming away from the sides of the tins. Leave to cool for 5 minutes, and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool fully.
5. Make the curd. Pour the lemon juice into a pan and add the leaves of gelatine, fully submerging them. Leave for 5 minutes for the gelatine to soften.
6. Add the lemon zest, ginger, caster sugar, ground ginger, eggs and egg yolks and start to stir. Place on a very low heat and keep stirring for 5-7 minutes, until the curd thickens enough to cover the back of a wooden spoon (do not let it boil or the eggs will scramble!)
7. Add the margarine, spoonfuls at a time, mixing well between each addition. Season with salt to taste. Leave to cool to room temperature, and then place in the fridge to fully set.
8. Make the Italian meringue. Pour the granulated sugar and water into a small saucepan and place on a low heat.
9. Meanwhile, place the 3 egg whites into a grease-free bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, and start whisking on a low speed.
10. Once the sugar and water reach around 110c/230f, turn the speed of the mixer up to whisk the egg whites until they are white and frothy. Keep heating the sugar/water until the temperature reads 119c/248f. At this point, take off the heat and turn down the speed of the stand mixer.
11. Gently pour the VERY HOT syrup over the egg whites whilst whisking on a low speed. Once all of the syrup has been added, turn the speed of the mixer up and whisk until the meringue is glossy and holds stiff peaks.
12. To assemble the cakes, place one sponge on your cake board/serving tray. Spoon over a few tablespoons of the curd and level out. Top with the other layer of sponge and then cover with the meringue.
13. Enjoy!!
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