Guest Baker - Surprise Rainbow Cake

My sister made this wonderful cake for her friend at work and I just had to share it as a guest post. 

I know rainbow cakes have become quite popular, particularly after the Great British Bake Off did their episode on surprise cakes and there are tons of recipes for them on the Internet, however I still thought I'd share this. I first came across a rainbow cake at a meeting of the Clandestine Cake Club at Ms Marmite Lovers in London. MsMarmite had brought it along as her creation. They tend to look unassuming from the outside - plain white buttercream, which I guess makes the novelty of the rainbow of colours inside even more appealing. 

I've never made one as I'm not keen on using lots of food colouring, but I have to say the final result looks amazing! 

I don't have any photos of the step by step but my sister used this Mary Berry recipe for the cake and this recipe without the addition of white chocolate for the buttercream. The buttercream and piped on the outside in a rose pattern like in this and this cake. 

I have seen varying degrees of success with rainbow cakes on the internet so i asked her to share her tips with me and they are as follows: 

- make at least a 6oz mixture for EACH layer 

- use good quality gel or powder food colouring. I prefer gel. 

- unfortunately natural food colourings are probably a no go as they don't tend to be as deep in colour.

- add the food colouring a very small amount at a time, mixing well between additions to make sure you don't overdo the colours. My mum says 'you can always add more but you can't take it out'

- once the cakes are baked use a cake leveller to remove the top of each cake and ensure they are the same height (make sure you don't move the wire on the cake cutter between cutting each cake!

- put quite thick layers of butter cream between each layer to ensure there are clear divisions. 

- decorate the cake quite plainly. 

- use a better knife than this to cut it if you want really clean layers! She was at work and hence didnt have a great knife. 

Enjoy! 

Homemade Sausage Roll and Rum Chocolate Cake, Treat Night

I was really looking forwards to this Saturday night Treat Night as recently every treat night I've been out so have only cooked healthy food for a while.

I decided I wanted to make a sausage roll and try a recipe my friend had given me after I licked the plate clean when she'd make this chocolate cake for a friends birthday!

In the past I've made sausage rolls with a variety of fillings, adding apple, spices, even cheese, but I fancied a really simple sausage roll so just stuck to good quality sausage meat. Feel free to experiment with your own flavour choices though.

I was having these for dinner so made them large but you can make them bite sized for picnics or parties. Much better than the shop bought ones and very easy to make.

I used shop bought puff pastry as I almost always do. I don't think life is long enough to make your own regularly ;)


Take one sheet of puff pastry and cut off about a third. Split 2-3 good quality sausages and remove the meat from the skins. Shape it into one large sausage and lay on the pastry. I used Waitrose Free Range Lincolnshire Sausages.



Break an egg into a little bowl to use as an egg wash.


Paint the egg around each egg as it will act as 'glue' holding your sausage roll shut.




Flip over the pastry so the sausage is enclosed.





Use your finger and thumb to press the two edges together making a pretty crimped effect




Bake at 220C for about 25 mins depending on how thick the meat is.





The finished result. I served it with lots of salad and copious amounts of ketchup. Delicious!





This chocolate cake has a hint of the Caribbean and is fab. Moist, rich and dark - just as chocolate cake should be! The original chocolate cake recipe was in cups so I converted it into grams as I prefer the accuracy for baking. I also only baked quarter of the recipe as I didn't want any leftovers and there were only two of us. The original recipe had Jack Daniels in it, which I think gave a better flavour but I didn't have any in so I substituted it for dark rum.

I started by weighing 64g plain flour into a bowl


Adding 64g caster sugar


And 32g cocoa powder


I then took one egg and 28g of butter and added the dry ingredients



Add 4tbsp of strong coffee and 4 tbsp of your chosen spirit.



Add 1/4 chopped ripe banana




Beat well.




Place in a 4'' cake tin or muffin cases and top with a few chunks of chocolate




Bake at 180C for about 20 mins (it will take longer if you make the mixture 4 times larger and you will need a pan 9x13 inches)





I served it warm with ice cream. A real treat!

Vanessa Kimbell's Ndali Vanilla Gift Swap

I am lucky enough to have been invited to join Vanessa Kimbell's latest event. The concept is similar to the Christmas Gift Swap however this time with a focus on vanilla and fair trade. To be more specific Ndali Fair Trade Vanilla.

Vanessa went out to Uganda earlier this year see where and how the vanilla is produced and the impact that fair trade has. Over the years I have increasing looked to buy local and where this isn't possible to buy fair trade but I have to admit that often this was without really thinking why. I was buying fair trade because I 'should' not because I really understood or that it resonated with me. Reading Vanessa's posts has really brought home the reason that fair trade just makes sense. The clue is in the title. It's fair! We all know it's wrong to steal from someone so why would we underpay farmers and producers?

For this reason I'm proud to be a part of the event and very grateful to all involved, including Vanessa Kimbell, Ndali Vanilla, Fortnum and Mason, Kenwood and The Fair Trade Foundation.



We were sent some vanilla and I already had some Ndali extract



There are four categories and I have decided to enter two - sweets and cakes.

I have made some vanilla latte fudge. I decided on this flavour largely as I seem to have a slight addiction to vanilla latte's.



My second gift is a rhubarb and vanilla crumble cake as I always think vanilla and rhubarb are the perfect pairing. It's not the most beautiful cake to look at but I think it tastes divine. We were encouraged to use as many fair trade ingredients as possible. The rhubarb I was given from a friends garden so as I didn't pay for it I guess it won't be fair trade unless I make her a cake in return!



I'll post later to let you know how the day went, but very much looking forwards to it.

Recipes

Vanilla Latte Fudge

100g fair trade caster sugar
75g fair trade light soft brown sugar
227g tub of clotted cream
1/2-1 tsp of vanilla powder, depending on your taste
1tsp fair trade instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp of boiling water

Place all of the ingredients in a pan and stir continually over a very low heat until the sugar has all dissolved. I find that if you rush this part the fudge tends to be more grainy.

Stop stirring, bring to the boil and put the lid on. Turn it down and leave it for 3 minutes. Watch it to make sure the sugar doesn't start to burn.

Take the lid off and use a sugar thermometer to keep it boiling until it gets to 116 C.

Once at 116 C plunge the pan into a bowl of cold water and leave for about 20-30 secs before starting to stir. Stir it until the fudge starts to set and then pour into a container lined with greased cling film for it to set.

Leave to set overnight and then use a hot knife to slice into equal sized squares.

This is lovely with your favourite hot drink and would make a great present.

Rhubarb and Vanilla Crumble Cake

For the rhubarb compote
About 4 lengths of rhubarb
2-4 tbsp fair trade soft brownn sugar to taste
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the cake
2 eggs weighed with their shells on
The same weight of self raising flour
The same weight of fair trade sugar (I used a 50:50 mixture of caster and light soft brown)
The same weight of margarine or butter
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract.

Crumble topping
75g lights soft brown sugar
100g plain flour
75g butter

Preheat the oven to 190 C

Start by chopping the rhubarb into small chunks and cooking slowly in a pan with the sugar. If it looks like it is going to catch turn the heat down and/or add a splash of water. Cook for 10-15 mins until the mixture it quite thick and jam like. Leave to cool slightly

Meanwhile make the cake. Mix all of the ingredients together and beat well.

Make the crumble mixture by using your finger tips to rub the mixture together until it forms the texture of bread crumbs.

Line an 8" cake tin and place the cake batter in the bottom, cover with a layer of rhubarb compote and top with the crumble mixture.

This also works well with berries it apple or I'd guess any fruit which is soft once cooked.

Bake for 30-40 mins until golden on the top.

Serve as a cake with a cup of tea or as a pudding with custard.

Happy First Birthday Sarah's Kitchen Diary

This is my 83rd post and one year since I started my blog on 22nd August 2011.

I wanted to mark the first anniversary in some way. I've been interested in cooking since I was a very small girl. I'd help my mum and my nan in the kitchen and I especially love baking. I think I've mentioned before my first baking book was Mary Berry's Ultimate Cake Book, which has been revamped and republished in various guises over the years. I've lost count of the number of copies I've bought as gifts and genuinely every recipe works! My copy, although well looked after, is also well loved. The recipes I've baked the most invariably have a smudge of cake batter or chocolate on them. These days a lot of the recipes that I've made time and time again are committed to memory and in even when I play around and create a recipe 'from scratch' the starting point and the baking knowledge is likely to come either from my mum or Mary Berry.

So in making a first 'birthday' cake I had to make something influenced by my mum and Mary Berry.

I have taken Mary Berry's basic Victoria sponge but added some fresh raspberries to the batter. This is something my mum used to do for a quick pudding when I was young, typically served with custard and using whatever fruit was in season, raspberries, blackberries or apples.

I also added some white chocolate to the buttercream as I think this makes it more of a celebration cake and goes very well with the raspberries.

I toyed with the idea of making a sophisticated celebration cake with minimal decoration but decided that because I could and as it was a first 'birthday' I would go to town with the decoration. So I decorated the cake with plenty of sprinkles and sparkles and topped with some long silver candles.

If you want to recreate this please remember that the addition of raspberries to the cake will make it very moist and prone to go off quickly so eat it or freeze it within a day or two otherwise you'll end up with a mouldy mess. I never seem to have that problem as cake never lasts long in my house!

Here is a picture of my creation.





Happy First 'Birthday' to
Sarah's Kitchen Diary!

Here is a picture of the bottom when it came out of the oven. You can see the raspberries.



Here is my bible!





Recipe

8oz self raising flour (I use sponge flour as I think it gives a better texture)
8oz caster sugar (I use unrefined)
8oz margarine or butter (I always use Stork as I think it gives a better texture and have seen Mary Berry do the same so much be good)
4 large free range eggs
2 tsp baking powder
A couple of handful's of raspberries

For the icing:
250g butter
500g icing sugar
100g white chocolate

Start by pre-heating the oven to 180C.

Line two 8" round cake tins

Put all of the cake ingredients, apart from the raspberries, in a bowl and mix until blended.

Pour half of the mixture into each cake tin and place in the pre-heated own for 30-40 mins until a skewer, when placed into the cake, comes out clean and they are springy to the touch. Remember from the tins and put on a wire rack to cool completely.

Whilst the cakes are cooling make the icing. Put the butter in a stand mixer and beat for a few minutes until very pale, light and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once all of the icing sugar is incorporated leave the icing to keep mixing, whilst you melt the chocolate, as this will make the icing lighter and fluffier.

I always melt chocolate in the microwave on full power but for bursts of 15-30 secs stirring in between each one, but I know some people are scared of the chocolate burning so feel free to melt it in a pan suspended over a bowl of boiling water. Once the chocolate is melted, stop the mixer and put the chocolate to one side to cool slightly. This avoids the hot chocolate melting the butter and ruining your icing.

Once the chocolate is cooler pour it into the mixing bowl and blend until it is incorporated into the icing.

Put half of the icing on one cake and then place the other cake on the top to create a sandwich. Add the remaining icing to the top and then decorate with your choice of sprinkles, sparkles and candles.

Enjoy!

1000th Tweet: Grandma's Birthday Cake

This will be my 1000th tweet so I thought it should be a special post. It was my Grandma's birthday this week so my sister and I made her a cake to help her celebrate. She's in a home now but she's always enjoyed homemade cake so we thought she'd like to have one to share with the other residents. When we went to see her her mind still seemed so young and it reminded me of this lovely story I read earlier in the week.
It is a basic Victoria sponge sandwiched with raspberry jam and then iced with a vanilla buttercream tinted pink with food colouring using this rose effect

Virtuous Red Velvet Cake

As much as I love red velvet cake I always question if it really is a good idea to use the best part of a bottle of food colouring purely for the visual effect.

Now this isn't a virtuous cake from the point of view of fat or calories or anything but rather because it uses all natural ingredients to achieve the colour rather than red food colouring.

I wasn't really sure where to start with this recipe other than thinking that beetroot and raspberries both made very red smoothies/juices so probably had a reasonable chance of replacing the colouring. I looked at lots of recipes for red velvet cake, carrot cake and chocolate and beetroot cakes. I also looked at Harry Eastwood's book as she uses a lot of vegetables.

None of them had a recipe for red velvet, with no food colouring so I made one up. The mixture was slightly wet so next time I might use less liquid and it isn't quite the same flavour so I think I'd use maybe 1 tbsp more of cocoa but I have to say I'm pleased with the over all result. In particular that I managed to get a good depth of colour with all natural ingredients.

Recipe

Makes a 9" square cake plus an extra cup cake

10oz self raising cake flour
10oz caster sugar
8oz margarine (I always use stork)
4 eggs
1/4 pint whole milk
1/4 pint natural yoghurt
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1tsp vanilla bean extract
4oz raw beetroot, grated
4oz frozen raspberries, defrosted, blender and sieved to remove all seeds.

Measure the yoghurt, milk into a jug. Add the beetroot and raspberry purée and blitz with a hand blender until very smooth.

Beat together the margarine and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing in between each.

Add the flour, cocoa, baking powder, cream of tartar and blend.

Add the yoghurt mixture and stir well until combined.

I took a large spoonful of the mixture out to make a single cupcake. I did this so I could check the colour and also so I had some 'spare' to crumble for the decoration on the top.

Pour the rest of the mixture into a lined and greased tin and bake in an over pre-heated to 180C for about 40-50 mins (the cup cake will need to come out after 15-20 mins).

Once cooked remove from the oven and cool.

I iced the cake with a standard buttercream with cream cheese mixed in and the topped with crumbs of red velvet cake from the cupcake I made.

Here is the finished result





And the cupcake so you can see the colour achieved





I am going to submit this as part of the Alpha Bakes challenge from The More than Occasional Baker and Caroline Makes. This months letter is V hence the Virtuous Red Velvet cake

Jubilee Flag Cake

My dad made a cake. This should be headline news. I think I have seen him in the kitchen cooking about 3 times in my entire life and at least one of them involved a tin of bake beans!

He was given instructions, but still made it all on his own and it really was pretty good!

It was fashioned on Mary Berry's Flag Traybake but just with a standard sponge.

He mixed 24oz margarine with 24oz caster sugar, 24oz self raising flour, 12 eggs and 6 tsp of baking powder and poured it into a large roasting pan. It took almost an hour to cook at 180C.

He then made a basic butter cream with 16oz butter and about 16oz icing sugar and a splash of milk.

Once the cake was cool he spread the icing all over the top and placed raspberries and blueberries on it in a union jack pattern.

Jubilee Afternoon Tea

After being out of the country for the royal wedding last year I decided to throw myself into the Jubilee celebrations with abandon. So liberal amounts of red, white and blue later a Jubilee afternoon tea was ready for my friends.

For the savoury elements I decided to keep it relatively simple. My take on coronation chicken, revamped into a fresh salad, which would have jewelled with pomegranate seeds (had I not left them in the kitchen) plus salmon, cream cheese and pickled cucumber sandwiches, cheese and chutney sandwiches, chicken and lemon mayonnaise sandwiches and ham sandwiches This was all washed down with some bubbly with a non alcoholic version for my pregnant friend and the drivers.







For the sweet elements I had such a long list to chose from, but I manage to narrow it down by prioritising the ones which were most in keeping with the red, white and blue theme (plus the lime cupcakes as you can see from previous posts I love lemon drizzle cake and I'd been meaning to try experimenting with a lime version for ages)
- raspberry cupcakes
- lime drizzle cupcakes
- blueberry and lemon cupcakes
- mini Victoria sponge
- individual eton mess












Recipes

Jewelled Coronation Chicken Salad

Serves 4-6 (easily doubled or trebled)

1 roast chicken, cold
Mixed leaves
1/2 a cucumber
Pomegranate
300ml natural yoghurt
2 tablespoons of korma curry paste
1 teaspoon of honey
2-3 springs of mint, chopped
Seasoning
A squeeze of lemon juice

Start by making the dressing. Mix the curry paste, honey, mint, lemon juice and seasoning into a thick dressing.

Scatter the lettuce leaves all over a platter and then add cubes of cucumber and chunks of roast chicken.

When you are ready to serve drizzle liberally with the dressing and scatter with pomegranate seed. Serve the rest of the dressing alongside.

Smokes salmon, cream cheese and pickled cucumber sandwiches

Smoked salmon (I used Waitrose essentials trimmings as it doesn't need to be in large pieces for this)
Cream cheese
Cucumber
White wine vinegar
Sugar
Seasoning
Sliced bread

At least and hour before use a potato peeling the slice the cucumber into ribbons. Put them into a bowl and toss in a generous glug of white wine vinegar, a large pinch of sugar and seasoning.

Spread the bread with a thin layer of cream cheese. Add the smoked salad and a few ribbons of cucumber. Top with another slice of bread and cut into triangles of fingers, with or without crusts as desired.

Cheese and chutney sandwiches

Grated mature cheddar cheese
Your favourite chutney
Sliced bread
Butter

Thinly butter the bread and add a generous helping of grated cheese. Spread the other side of the bread with the chutney and add to the top of the sandwich.

Cut into triangles of fingers, with or without crusts as desired.

Chicken and lemon mayo sandwiches

Roast chicken, chopped
Mayonnaise
Lemon juice
Dijon mustard
Seasoning
Lettuce
Sliced bread

Out the chicken into a bowl and add the mayonnaise. I would normally make this using Jamie Oliver's recipe but my friend is pregnant and therefore can't eat raw eggs so I tarted up bought mayonnaise with a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, a squeeze of lemon juice and seasoning.

Sandwich the chicken mixture, with a few lettuce leaves, between two slices of bread.

Cut into triangles of fingers, with or without crusts as desired.

Red, White and Blue Cupcakes
Makes 12

For the cakes:
4oz self raising flour
4oz margarine
4oz sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder

For the flavourings and icings:
Zest and juice of 1/2 lime
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
Zest of 1/4 lemon and about a tablespoon of juice
About 10 raspberries
Freeze dried raspberry powder
12 Blueberries
8oz butter
8-10oz icing sugar
A tablespoon of milk

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C in a fan oven). I started by making all of the cake plain for ease. Beat together all of the ingredients for the cake and share the mixture between 12 muffin cases.

In 4 sprinkle the lemon zest and another 4 with lime zest and give them a gentle stir with the end of a teaspoon so the zest doesn't sit on the top. Leave the other 4 plain.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 mins.

While they are cooking mix a tablespoon of granulated sugar with the lime juice. As soon as the cakes come out take the 4 lime ones and make very small holes in them with a skewer and drizzle over the lime juice mixture.

Whilst the cakes are cooling make the icing. I always beat the butter for 5 mins or more until it is very pale and then gradually add the icing sugar and finish with the milk. This makes the icing very light and fluffy and also makes it much paler which is good when you're aiming for white!

In a small saucepan take the raspberries and the other tablespoon of sugar and heat up until it has thickened slightly. To get smooth icing sieve the raspberry mixture to remove the pips. Put to one side to cool.

Split the icing into two bowls. In the one add the lemon juice. In the other add the raspberry juice.

Pipe the icing onto the cakes. I used a round nozzle for the lemon icing and a Wilton 2D for the raspberry. I topped the lemon ones with blueberries and the raspberry ones with a sprinkle of raspberry powder.

I also had a few little union jack flags which I popped in the top.

Mini Victoria sponges
Makes 2

Using the same recipe as for the cakes above split the mixture between two 4 inch cake pans.

Once cool split each cake and sandwich with whipped cream and strawberries.

Eton Mess

Greek yoghurt
Whipped cream
Vanilla extract
Icing sugar
Strawberries
Raspberries
Meringues

Mix roughly equal amounts of cream and yoghurt with a little vanilla extract and icing sugar. Layer up in glasses with the fruit and meringues.

Pasteis de Nata

With my previous job I use to have to travel to Portugal fairly frequently and as well as making some good friends I also developed a love for Pasteis de Nata or Pasteis de Belem, which is the name given to the version which allegedly is the original recipe.

Now my understanding is that the original recipe is a closely guarded secret, but I got the recipe below from my friend and I have to say it wasn't a bad attempt!

Start by getting a sheet of ready rolled puff pastry. In a slight variation on the traditional I sprinkled the pastry with cinnamon and brown sugar.



Then from the long side roll the pastry into a sausage shape


Slice into 12 even rolls





And squash or roll each one into a circle to line a muffin tin. Don't worry about being too neat. I've not seen any looking very uniform.

Put the pastry to one side and then carry on by whisking 6 egg yolks with 120g of caster sugar until it is very pale and fluffy. I used my Kitchen Aid table top mixer for this. Then slowly whisk in 300ml of cream.

Put this into a saucepan and heat on a very low heat until it thickens slightly. DO NOT allow it to boil otherwise you'll end up with scrambled egg and waste all of your lovely ingredients.

Once thickened pour the custard into each of the pastry lined muffin tins.

Bake at 250C* for about 20 mins. Until the tops are light brown and the custard is set with a slight wobble.

Traditionally they're served sprinkled with cinnamon and icing sugar.



*As I've said before I always try and trust a recipe the first time and then make alterations if necessary. In this case I found the very hot oven meant that the top burnt before the filling and patty was cooked. So in future I'd lower the temperature quite significantly, maybe to about 200C and probably even blind bake the pastry (no one likes soggy bottoms!). To rescue mine I covered them in tin foil to stop them going any browner but to allow them longer to cook.

Cupcakes, cookies and hens

In a couple of weeks I'm going to be bridesmaid for one of my best friends. Last weekend was her hen do and I arranged one of the activities. Given I love baking and we were likely to be a little hungover I decided that cupcake and cookie decorating could be a good idea. I bought a wedding dress and heart cookies cutter, baked away, packed up all of my sugar craft equipment, nozzles, colours etc added in sprinkles, hearts and glitter and the activity was ready!
Most of the hens were a little apprehensive having never done this kind of thing before. However after a short while they were all decorating away like pros. It always amazes me how well people do, even if they claim not to be creative.
Here are some of the efforts
The cupcakes...




The cookies...




The brides dress?




The winning cupcake...




The winning cookie, with the wife and husband to be's initials...




Lion's face...




A few others...








Best of luck to the happy couple!

Raspberry Loaf Cake

I'm sure my Christmas list must have looked very odd to lots of people. Nearly all of it was food related in some way shape or form. I think it is now bordering on an obsession. Even people at work joke I work to fund my baking habit!

One of the things I asked for was some freeze dried raspberry powder. I have read about using it in macaroons or reconstituting it for drinks, coulis etc but I decided to try it in a cake.

I used a basic sponge recipe and simply added some of the freeze dried raspberry powder to give flavour and colour. Once baked I made some raspberry flavoured icing by adding the powder to icing sugar and enough water to make a pouring consistency. I then used a small sieve to remove any lumps and drizzled it all over the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides. I expected the colour to be a light pink colour but it was actually quite dark and almost purpley.

Next time I will whizz up the powder a bit more before using it as some of the pips were still whole. And as much as I don't like food colouring I might put a few drops in to change the colour.

It turns out its a fab way of getting the taste of raspberries without buying out of season.



In the background is a lemon drizzle cake which is one of my all time favourite quick recipes.

Recipe
For the cake:
2 eggs weighed with the shell on
The same weight of self raising flour
The same weight of caster sugar
The same weight of margarine
A splash of milk
3tsp freeze dried raspberry powder

For the icing
Approx 3 tbsp icing sugar
3 tsp freeze dried raspberry powder
A little water

Pre-heat the oven to 190C
Incorporate all of the ingredients for the cake together
Pour into a lined 1 litre loaf tin
Bake for approx 25-30 mins depending on your oven.
Remove from the tin and place on a wire rack to cool

While it cools sift the icing sugar and raspberry powder into a bowl and slowly stir in enough water to make a dropping consistency.

Once the cake is cool drizzle the icing over the top of the cake allowing it to drip down the sides

Macaroons

From my Mum's birthday cake there were some extra macaroons so I sandwiched them with a chocolate ganache. Half with slivers of crystallised ginger and half with little chunks of marzipan.

As mentioned in my previous post these were from a recipe from @hollybellmummy, which was the most detailed recipe. I would certainly recommend giving it a go!

Chocolate and ginger macaroons






Chocolate and marzipan macaroon