Tuesday 7 April 2015

Cakes #206 and #207 - Chocolate Feast


Tuesday Chocolate Feast!

#206 White Chocolate Mud Cake with Almond.

#207 Marble Cake.

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 White Chocolate Mud Cake with Almond

150 g butter
100 g white chocolate
250 ml caster sugar
125 g ground almond
½ tsp baking powder
3 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 170 C and grease and flour a 22 cm springform cake pan.
2. Melt butter and chocolate together and beat in sugar.
3. Fold in the flour mixed with baking powder and eggs.
4. Pour into cake pan and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes so that the middle of the cake is still a little moist.
5. Let cool in the pan before placing the cake on a serving plate.

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Marble Cake

300 g butter
400 ml granulated sugar
4 eggs
600 ml plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
150 ml cream

100 g dark chocolate
3 tbsp cocoa powder

1. Preheat oven to 175 C and grease and flour  a 2-litre bundt cake pan.
2. Combine flour and baking powder in a bowl.
3. Cream together butter and sugar.
4. Mix in eggs.
5. Add the dry ingredients together and the cream and mix well.
6. Melt the chocolate.
7. Take about 1/3 of the cake mixture and fold in the melted chocolate and sieve in the cocoa powder.
8. Fill the cake pan with the plain and chocolate cake mixtures alternately to get the marble effect. If you want to create a proper marble effect take a skewer and swirl it around the mixture in the pan.
9. Bake the cake 50-60 minutes in the oven and let cool on a rack before removing from the pan.

Cake #205 - Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake


Sunday Treat - Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Buttercream.


Salted Caramel Buttercream

250 ml granulated sugar
60 ml water
120 ml cream
175 g butter, cubed
sea salt to taste, I used about ½ teaspoon

1. Mix sugar and water in pan and heat over low heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, then allow to come to a boil.
2. In another pan, heat the cream, but do not boil.
3. Cook the sugar syrup until it turns into caramel. Once you are happy with the color of the caramel, take it off the heat and immediately whisk in the hot cream.
4. Add the butter, one cube at a time and whisk until the caramel thickens.
5. Transfer the caramel to a bowl and place in the fridge or freezer to chill.
6. Once chilled, use a mixer to whip up the caramel. Because there's a lot of butter in it, it will double in volume and lighten in color (like buttercream). Fold in sea salt flakes with a rubber spatula.

Chocolate Sponge

175g self-raising flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp soda
150g caster sugar
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
150 g butter, melted
150 ml milk
2 tbsp syrup

1. Preheat the oven to 175 C and grease and flour a 22 cm cake pan.
2. Mix together all ingredients and beat well.
3. Pour batter into pan and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
4. Let cool and fill and top with the salted caramel buttercream.
5. Garnish with fresh strawberries or fruit of your choice and grated chocolate.

Cake #204 - Chocolate Madeleines


Saturday Dessert - Chocolate Madeleines.

I am fascinated by these little cakes and the shape of them. They are pretty, they are small - I could easily eat them all...!

Chocolate Madeleines (makes 36)

200 ml plain flour
100 ml unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch of salt
4 large eggs
250 ml granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar
175 g butter, melted

1. Sift together flour, cocoa and salt.
2. Place eggs and sugar in a large bowl and whisk until thick. Fold in flour, then melted butter.
3. Butter the madeleine pans, then spoon in the batter, filling each about three fourths full.
4. Heat the oven to 200 C.
5. Bake the madeleines for about 7 minutes and turn them immediately from the molds.
6. Enjoy fresh.

Cake #203 - Strawberry and Lemon Cake


Friday Strawberry Dream,
shortbread and sponge cake, filled with home-made lemon curd and Finnish Fazer lemon flavoured white chocolate mixed with whipped cream. Fresh strawberries and lemon meringue sprinkles on top.

A summer cake. Fresh. Colourful. Worth developing a little further. Stay tuned for upgrade to next level...

Cake #202 - Raspberry Mud Cake


Raspberry Mud Cake,
made of Fazer raspberry flavoured dark chocolate.


Raspberry Mud Cake

200 g Fazer Raspberry Dark Chocolate (or dark chocolate and a few drops of raspberry extract)
200 g butter
3 eggs
200 ml granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
250 ml plain flour
125 g fresh raspberries (and more to decorate)

1. Preheat the oven to 175 C and grease and flour a 22 cm springform cake pan.
2. Melt chocolate and butter.
3. Beat together eggs and sugar.
4. Mix together flour and baking powder and fold into the egg and sugar mix.
5. Fold in chocolate and butter and then carefully the raspberries.
6. Pour into pan and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.
7. Let cool before removing from pan.
8. Serve with ice cream and fresh raspberries.

You can find the original recipe in Finnish on the Fazer website.

Cake #201 - Birthday Cake


A small surprise birthday cake with Minecraft theme for a friend of my son's.

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Sponges are coloured with different shades of blue food colouring. Filling is vanilla buttercream and topping is rolled sugarpaste cut into squares.

Cake #200 - St. Patrick's Day Sandwich Cake


St Patrick's Day Sandwich Cake.

Compiled of slices of white and brown toast, filled with garlic&herbs cheese, pickled dill cucumber and ham, and decorated with spinach, carrot and Tayto's cheese&onion crisps.