Lemon and raspberry Madeira cake

I’m not a huge fan of Madeira cake – I’ve always found it to be rather dry and bland. However, when my friend asked for help in making a fondant-covered Mr Bump cake for her son’s first birthday cake, I knew that it had to be Madeira cake. We needed to make the cake on the Thursday for the party on the Saturday, which meant that the cake needed to last well and the cake needed to be covered in a decent layer of fondant icing. Sponge is too light and can collapse under heavy icing, and Madeira cake tends to last better as well.

Having never made Madeira cake, I decided that I needed to test some recipes in advance. This first recipe is adapted from the BBC Good Food’s Madeira Loaf Cake. When I baked it, I increased the quantities to a 5 egg recipe, however this was huge! Therefore, I have reduced the quantities below to make a 4 egg recipe, which should fit perfectly in a deep 20cm cake tin. I have also added the glycerine to this recipe as it was something suggested in the second Madeira cake recipe that I tried and I think it does help to maintain moisture in the cake.

In order to get a beautifully flat and evenly baked cake, I use my magi-cake strips: these are an investment but they make a huge difference! You soak them in water and then wrap them around the cake tin: this adds an extra layer therefore prevents the edge of the cake from cooking more quickly and drying out. It also prevents the cake from doming and so ensures a nice even top to your cake.

Unfortunately, I underestimated the length of time needed to bake my cake and opened the oven too many times! This meant that the cake ended up sunken in the middle. I managed to hide this under a thick layer of buttercream – as you can see from the picture, you would never know!

To cut cakes in half, I would hugely recommend a cake-cutting wire: this is a lot easier than trying to use a knife!

Overall, I wasn’t sure about this cake – EHH and I both felt that it was still a little dry. However, EHH took it into work and they loved it! Several of his colleagues claimed that it was the best cake that I have ever made!

Lemon and raspberry Madeira cake

Ingredients

1. 235g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
2. 235g golden caster sugar
3. 4 large eggs
4. Grated zest 2 lemons
5. Few drops vanilla extract
6. 1 tsp glycerine
7. 265g self-raising flour
8. 65g ground almonds

Buttercream icing:

1. 110g butter, at room temperature
2. 500g icing sugar, sifted
3. 3 tblsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

To fill and decorate:

1. 6 tablespoons raspberry jam
2. Raspberries
3. Mint leaves

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 170C.
2. Grease and base-line a 20cm deep round cake tin with baking parchment.
3. Using an electric whisk or stand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy (about 5 minutes of beating).
4. Beat the eggs together in a separate bowl.
5. Beat the eggs into the butter/sugar mix, a little at a time, beating well between each addition.
6. Mix in the lemon zest and vanilla.
7. Fold in the flour and almonds until you have a thick batter. The batter should be loose enough that it falls off a wooden spoon, if it’s too thick mix in a splash of milk.
8. Tip the batter into the tin and smooth over the top.
9. Bake for 75 – 100 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cover with foil after about 60 minutes to stop the top from burning.
10. Remove from the oven then leave to cool for 15 mins then remove from the tin, peel away the paper and leave on a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.
11. While the cake is cooling, beat the butter, juice and half of the icing sugar in a large mixing bowl until smooth.
12. Add the rest of the icing sugar and beat until smooth and creamy.
13. Once the cake is completely cool, cut in half.
14. Cover one half with raspberry jam.
15. Cover with the other half and then top with buttercream.
16. Decorate with the raspberries and mint leaves. 

Chocolate and raspberry Kitkat gateau – again!

Having had a practise bake last weekend (!), this weekend was actually my friend’s hen do and so time to make my second chocolate and raspberry Kitkat gateau. Making it for the second time was definitely easier – having made a few mistakes last week, I followed my own instructions and tips this time and it was actually a fairly easy and simple cake to bake.

I did make a couple of changes this time – I didn’t have much raspberry liqueur left and so I had a search through our alcohol cupboard and found a bottle of plum brandy and decided to use that in the cake instead. You can’t really taste the alcohol in the cake but it does add an extra depth and slight fruitiness to the cake and so I figured changing the type of alcohol shouldn’t affect the flavour too much. I’m not sure if adding the alcohol rather than just water affects the texture at all – will test this out next week when I have to make another chocolate cake – this time for a four-year-old’s birthday so no alcohol in this one!

Last week, I wasn’t that keen on the chocolate icing so I decided to make a few changes. This time, I added a tablespoon of cocoa, to increase the chocolate flavour and reduce the sweetness. Instead of the raspberry liqueur, I added a tablespoon of very strong coffee (1 tsp instant coffee granules dissolved in 1 tblsp hot water) and also 1 tsp salt. You can’t taste the coffee but adding it helps to reduce the sweetness and intensify the chocolate flavour; the salt similarly helps to bring out the chocolate flavour. For me, these changes definitely helped to improve the icing – adapted recipe below.     

The only other change was to use three different types of Kitkat on the outside – dark, milk and Cookies and Cream (topped with white chocolate) – just for a slightly different look.

Chocolate icing:

Ingredients

1. 175 grams dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
2. 250 grams unsalted butter (softened)
3. 275 grams icing sugar (sifted)
4. 1 tblsp cocoa (sifted)
5. 1 tbsp strong coffee (1 tsp instant coffee granules dissolved in 1 tblsp hot water)
6. 1 tsp salt

Method

1. Melt the chocolate in a glass bowl sitting over a pan of simmering water, and set aside to cool slightly.
2. In another bowl, beat the butter until it's soft and creamy.
3. Add the sieved icing sugar, cocoa, salt and coffee.
4. Beat again until light and fluffy.
5. Add the chocolate and mix together until everything is glossy and smooth. 

Chocolate and raspberry brownies

Wow! It’s been ages since I last wrote a blog post! Don’t worry – I’ve been making and eating lot of cake in this time, just haven’t gotten around to writing it up!

So, going back a couple of weeks, a very good friend had just given birth to her first baby and so, of course, I wanted to make cake for her and her husband. They don’t live nearby and so I had to post the cake – so no cupcakes, or anything else delicate! I’d recently been given a chocolate and raspberry brownie recipe from a friend (strangely, I had cut out the exact same recipe from Good Food recently!) and so decided that this was the perfect opportunity to give it a go! The only thing that I changed to this recipe was the addition of 100g of white chocolate chunks - just to add an extra dimension!

I’m not much of a chocolate cake fan and I generally find brownies too rich, however, raspberries are just the perfect addition to brownies – they really cut through the richness. These brownies are definitely a treat – just try not to think about the amount of sugar, butter and chocolate in the recipe! They are very simple to make but do be careful of adding the eggs too early – you need to allow the melted chocolate mix to cool, otherwise the eggs will cook in the heat of the chocolate!

In the past, I have found brownies tricky – getting the outside crisp and the inside set but gooey! This gave me the perfect opportunity to dig out a baking tray that I hadn’t yet used (bought on impulse when Lakeland had a 3 for 2 offer on their baking tins!) – a Lakeland individual tray bake tin. A quick spray of cake release spray over the tin and it was ready to go. There was a reasonable amount of mixture that wouldn’t fit into the tray, and so I used this to fill some mini loaf cake cases and just popped these into the oven at the same time.     

As the brownies were in the individual traybake tin, I decided to reduce the baking time by 5 minutes and this turned out to be perfect – the brownies came out crisp on the outside and gooey inside – perfect! I left them to cool for a while in the tin and then eased them out and onto a cooling rack.

I wrapped these in clingfilm and popped them in a box and into the post for my friends. Annoyingly, despite paying first class postage, they didn’t arrive until 6 days later. She claimed that they were still delicious, however, whether they truly were, whether she was being kind, or whether she was in that early motherhood, sleep deprived state that meant that any cake was good cake, I’m not sure!  The one that I had, a couple of days after baking, was really tasty and a really good texture! I’ll definitely be making these again!   

Chocolate and raspberry brownies

Ingredients

1. 200g dark chocolate, broken into chunks
2. 100g milk chocolate, broken into chunks
3. 100g white chocolate, broken into chunks
4. 250g pack salted butter
5. 400g soft light brown sugar
6. 4 large eggs
7. 140g plain flour
8. 50g cocoa powder
9. 200g raspberries

Method

1. Heat oven to 170C.
2. Line a 20 x 30cm baking tray tin with baking parchment OR spray an individual traybake tin with cake release spray.
3. Put the dark and milk chocolate, butter and sugar in a pan and gently melt, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
4. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
5. Stir the eggs, one by one, into the melted chocolate mixture.
6. Sieve over the flour and cocoa, and stir in.
7. Stir in half the raspberries and half of the white chocolate chunks, scrape into the tray, then scatter over the remaining raspberries and white chocolate.
8. Bake on the middle shelf for 30 mins (25 if you are using the individual traybake tin) or, if you prefer a firmer texture, for 5 mins more.
9. Leave in tin to cool before slicing into squares.
10. Store in an airtight container.

Raspberry and blueberry lime drizzle cake

During Easter week, EHH’s parents came over to help us tackle the garden. I needed something fairly simple that I could whip up in the morning before they arrived, as I was playing netball the night before. I had a flick through my recipe file and found this recipe for raspberry and blueberry lime drizzle cake from BBC Good Food. I first made this last summer and it was delicious, but slightly too sticky. Therefore, this time, I decided to reduce the amount of syrup. Having read the comments on the website, I also decided to coat the fruit in flour to prevent them from sinking. One more simple touch that I added was a sprinkling of golden castor sugar on top at the end – this adds a lovely sweet crunch, which contrasts well with the soft sticky cake.

It is a really simple cake to make. I used my Magi-cake strips to prevent the outside of the cake from over-cooking; they also help to ensure that the cake rises evenly: I would highly recommend them!  The only tricky part is the length of time to cook - this varies enormously depending on your oven. Keep an eye on the cake after about 25-30 minutes as the top may begin to get too brown - cover with foil if it does look like it needs it. Test with a skewer to check whether it is cooked. 

The end result is delicious and lasts well for about 3-4 days. It is great on its own with a cup of tea and also works well as dessert – with cream or custard. Definitely one of my favourite cakes!

Raspberry and blueberry lime drizzle cake

Ingredients

1. 225g softened butter, plus extra for greasing
2. 225g golden caster sugar
3. 4 medium eggs
4. 2 limes, grated zest and juice
5. 250g self-raising flour, sifted with a pinch of salt, plus extra flour
6. 25g ground almonds
7. 100g each blueberries and raspberries

For the syrup:

1. Juice of 2 limes
2. Grated zest of 1 lime
3. 80g golden caster sugar, plus a little extra for scattering

Method

1. Set oven to 180C.
2. Line the base and sides of a 20cm/8in square cake tin (not loose-based) with baking parchment.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes in an electric mixer).
4. Gradually beat in the eggs, adding a little flour towards the end to prevent curdling. Beat in the lime zest, then fold in the flour and almonds.
5. Fold in enough lime juice - about 3 tablespoons - to give you a good dropping consistency (the mixture should drop easily from the spoon when tapped).
6. Place the blueberries and raspberries in a bowl and scatter with the extra flour. Gently shake the bowl to ensure that all the fruit are evenly coated in flour. 



Ready to go in the oven!

7. Fold in three quarters of the blueberries and raspberries and turn into the prepared tin.
8. Smooth the surface, then scatter the remaining fruit on top - it will sink as the cake rises.
9. Bake for between 35 and 60 minutes (cover with foil if beginning to brown too much), or until firm to a gentle prod in the centre. A skewer pushed into the centre should be clean when removed.
10. While the cake is baking, make the syrup: put the lime juice, zest and sugar in a small saucepan. Put over a gentle heat and stir, without allowing to bubble. The sugar should dissolve a little.
11. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, prick all over with a skewer then spoon the syrup over it.
12. Once cool, carefully remove the cake from the tin and discard the lining paper.
13. Scatter with golden castor sugar and cut into 12 pieces to serve.  

 

Mini Red Velvet cakes

As per my previous post, I’ve been inspired by GBBO this week. My second bake of the weekend was mini Red Velvet cakes – partly inspired by Claudia Winkleman on GBBO and partly due to my wish to use my new mini sandwich tin! 

I used the Bertinet Kitchen Red Velvet cupcake recipe used previously for my Halloween Red Velvet cupcakes, simply spooned into the mini sandwich tin rather than cupcake cases. The recipe suggests that it makes 14 and it did overspill considerably out of my 12 hole tin, so I would use less next time! Before spooning the mix in, I sprayed the tin liberally with Dr Oetker cake release spray and the cakes came out very easily so I would definitely recommend!

Once baked, I allowed the cakes to cool for about 10 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack. I then allowed them to cool completely before cutting their rather mushroomed tops off and cutting them in half. To improve their appearance, I then turned them over, so that the bottom edge became the top. The cakes were then filled with a mix of crushed raspberries and raspberry jam and vanilla buttercream, topped with a buttercream star and a raspberry and dusted with icing sugar.