Strawberry Meringue Cake

With Wimbledon just started, thought I'd make something special with strawberries. It was my daughter's birthday and she came up for the weekend, so needed a cake - this was just the thing.
It's made with oil not butter and is very easy to make, yet it looks 'an occasion' cake.

Preheat oven 190C/gas5
Grease and line 2x18cm [7"] sandwich tins

For the cake you need to sieve 150g plain flour, 25g cornflour and 2 level tspns baking powder into a bowl.
Mix together 100ml veg oil [I used sunflower] and 100ml water in another bowl.
Separate 2 eggs and add the yolks to the oil/water mixture and mix together. Stir the dry ingredients in and mix to a batter. Whisk the egg whites till stiff then fold into the mixture.
Divide into the tins then bake for 25-30 mins. Cool on a wire rack. Turn the oven off.

For the little meringues you need to put 1 egg white in a clean dry bowl and whisk till stiff and dry. Mix together 40g caster sugar and 15g icing sugar, then gradually whisk them into the whites.
Put a sheet of baking paper or a silicone sheet onto a baking tray, and using a piping bag and a large fluted nozzle, pipe about 15 rosettes. Put the tray into the oven when it's cool and leave there to dry for about 2 hours - if the oven's too hot, leave the door open.
You can make the meringues earlier and keep them in an airtight tin till you need them.

To finish the cake you need 350g strawberries [ stalks removed] and 250ml double cream.
Keep about 15 strawberries whole then lightly mash the rest. Whisk the cream till it's stiff but still soft and fold in the mashed strawberries.
Use half this mixture as the filling between the 2 sandwich cakes, then spread the rest on the top and decorate with the whole strawberries and the meringues. I sprinkled the meringues with some caster sugar to give a sparkly effect.

Loved the cream with the mashed strawberries - a real Summer taste. You could buy the little meringues or use just strawberries on top, or raspberries or other soft summer fruit. A simple cake, but great for a special occasion.

Chocolate Chip Cake

This recipe is my adaptation of one from an American cookery book called ' Mom's 100 Best Cakes' by Annette Bley. To be honest, most of the cakes in the book don't appeal to me as they're too fussy and complicated, but I've made this one a few times, usually in a plain springform tin; but my lovely dil gave me a tin which had a tube insert a while ago, so I thought I'd try it out.
There seems to be a lot of ingredients, but it's not difficult to make, tho' it is a bit more effort than a chocolate sponge. The original recipe was of course in cups, hence the strange amounts.
It's quite a big cake, so one to make for an occasion [and not if you're on a diet!].


Preheat oven 160C/gas3
Grease a 23cm/9" springform tin or tube pan, and line the base with baking paper. Dust inside of tin with flour and shake out excess.


2 tspn instant coffee granules
2 tsps vanilla extract
1/4 tspn hot water
330g plain flour
30g sr flour
40g + 1 tbspn cocoa powder
1/4 tspn baking powder
1/4 tspn bicarbonate of soda
1 tspn salt
320g dark chocolate chips [ if they're large, chop them up]
220g butter
300g granulated sugar
100g light brown sugar
5 eggs
250ml sour cream
2tbspn double cream



Stir the coffee, vanilla and hot water together.
In a large bowl, sift the plain flour, sr flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarb and salt together.
In another bowl mix the chocolate chips with 1 tbspn of the flour mixture.
In a mixer, or with an electric hand beater cream the butter; scrape the sides then add the granulated sugar a bit at a time. Add the brown sugar and beat together.
Add the eggs one at a time and mix in the coffee mixture.
Then add the flour mixture carefully, alternating it with some sour cream, scraping the sides to make sure it's all mixed in. Add the double cream, and finally mix in the chocolate chips using a wooden spoon or spatula.
Spoon into the tin.

Bake for about 70 mins till the cake is coming away from the sides.

Cool in the tin for 15 mins then invert onto a wire rack; take the paper off, then invert it right side up and leave to cool.

You can leave the cake as it is or make a simple chocolate ganache with 300ml double cream and 200g dark chocolate.

Put the chocolate in a bowl, then warm the cream - but don't let it boil.
Pour the cream over the chocolate, leave for a minute then gently stir together.
Let the ganache cool to room temperature then pour it over the cake.

This is a very rich, decadent cake, but lovely for a birthday or other special occasion. If you made it without the tube, you could cut it in half and make a filling of your choice. Oh, one thing to be careful of, when you're pouring the ganache over the cake, make sure that you have a tray or something underneath or it goes everywhere! I learnt that the hard way!

White Chocolate Truffle Cake

Recently my friend asked me to make her a special cake, and inspired by some white chocolate truffles I'd been given, I decided that a creamy truffle type topping over a light sponge cake would be ideal . I wanted to add some body to the truffle topping, so used an idea I saw in a magazine and added fromage frais.

It's not a big cake, but is rich, so you only need a small slice.

You need a 20cm springform cake tin, base lined.

Preheat oven 180C/gas4

For the sponge:

Whisk 2 eggs with 50g of caster sugar till light and frothy. Fold in 50g of plain flour and then 50g of white chocolate, which has been melted in a microwave or over a pan of hot water.

Pour this batter into the cake tin and bake for 25 mins till the cake is springy to touch.

Leave cake to cool for a bit in the tin and then turn out onto a wire rack.

For the topping:

Put 300ml of double cream into a pan and bring to the boil, stirring to stop it sticking and burning.

Turn the heat down very low, then add 350g of white chocolate broken into pieces. Stir till the chocolate is melted and mixed with the cream.

Take pan off the heat and leave till it's nearly cool, then add 250g of fromage frais and stir together.

Pour the topping onto the cake and chill for 2 hours in the fridge. That's it - all you have to do is enjoy it!

I made some chocolate curls the other day for my chocolate gingerbread, had some left over and used them to decorate the top of the cake. I dusted a little cocoa over the top, using my trusty small tea strainer.

I didn't have any trouble finding fromage frais, but you could use Quark instead. It went down well with my friend and her visitors. They said it was rich without being too sickly and heavy. The sweetness of the white chocolate in the topping is counteracted by the fromage frais and cream. Adding the cheese gave it an extra bit of zing!

Chocolate gingerbread

This recipe is for a 'pain d'épice' [spice bread]  type of gingerbread - a French classic. Each country has its own version of gingerbread, but I love the French one best.

I wanted to do something a bit different for a special tea, as I'd invited the French conversation group I belong to. I decided to push the boat out, so instead of making just a normal cake looking gingerbread, I made it into a sort of millefeuille version, and added chocolate to it.

The basic recipe came from my French friend's mother, and unlike our English gingerbread, it uses several spices. It's not difficult to make, but making it into a millefeuille was a bit of a faff!

You need:
100g of dark chocolate
100g of honey
*200ml cold double cream
130g flour [my friend's Mum used rye flour but I didn't]
11/2tspns baking powder
2 tspns vanilla sugar
20g icing sugar

for the spices:
1 tspn of cinnamon, 1/2 tspn ground ginger, 1 tpsn freshly grated nutmeg and 1 star anise [crushed in a mortar or a grinder]

100g bar of chocolate to make chocolate curls - or buy some
4 tbspns of cocoa powder

a little flour and 1 tbspn of oil to grease the cake tin

Preheat oven 180C/gas4


Grease and flour a 15cm springform tin - the original recipe asked for a small 'moule à manqué, so I judged that this would be about the right size, and it worked out fine.

Melt the chocolate, honey and 10ml of water in a bowl over a saucepan. Add the spices and mix together.
Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl then add to the chocolate mixture a little at a time. if the mixture seems too thick, add a little water.
Spoon into the tin and bake for 35-40 mins.
Cool on a wire rack.

Tip:
It's best to make the pain d'épice the day before you need it, as it's easier then to cut it into disks. This is what I did, and it wasn't too difficult to cut the layers.

Whip the cream till thickish then add the icing and vanilla sugars at the end and mix in gently.

Cut the cake into disks using a bread knife. Make a layer with a disk of pain d'épice then some cream, another biscuit layer and finish with a layer of cream.
Decorate the top with the chocolate curls and sprinkle the cocoa over [I used an old tea strainer].

Everyone enjoyed this, and loved the subtle spice flavours mixed with the chocolate and then the cream layer. It really is a cake of contrasts.


*Sorry, I originally said 20ml of cream - it was 20cl of cream in the French recipe and I just typed 20ml, but it's 200ml of course.

Orange and Chocolate Mini Loaves

Last weekend we went to stay with our daughter and visited Bluewater shopping centre. There's a great John Lewis store there, and I love browsing in their kitchenware. A few weeks ago, Phil, from the great As Strong As Soup  blog, posted a 'financier' recipe and I hunted everywhere for my financier tin to make some, but couldn't find it, so when I saw a mini loaf one in John Lewis, I bought it. I don't think it's exactly the same size as a financier tin?
We were given a gift pack of several bars of Lindt chocolate, one of them being their Intense Orange bar, so back home I decided to make some little chocolate loaves with orange in my new tin. They're not financiers as they have no almonds in them, but they're good anyway. The original recipe made 6, so I doubled it up.
To add to the chocolate flavour I made a chocolate ganache, and found some orange and lemon jelly slices in the baking cupboard and used the orange ones to decorate the top.

Preheat oven 200C/gas 6 and grease a 6 hole financier or mini loaf tin [or you could use a 450g loaf tin - a 1lb one in old measures]

Put 110g of soft butter, 110g of caster sugar and the zest of a medium orange in a bowl and beat it till nice and fluffy. Add 2 beaten eggs a bit at a time and mix together well.  Sift 75g of sr flour and 25g of cocoa together and add to the batter. Fold in then add 2 tbspn of orange juice and mix this in.
Spoon into the tins and bake for 15-20 mins till firm to touch.
Leave in the tin to cool for about 10 mins then turn onto a wire rack.
To make the ganache, put 50g of orange chocolate and 3 tbspn of double cream in a bowl over simmering water and melt gently, and stir together till nice and glossy [use a wooden spoon].
Spoon some ganache over each mini loaf and decorate with an orange slice.

You get a double hit of chocolate with the cocoa and the orange chocolate topping. The cake has a good soft texture, just the right amount of orange flavour, and is just the right size for an afternoon treat.

White Chocolate Mousse Cake

I made this as my dessert contribution to my OH's family's Christmas get together. I had a couple of bars of white chocolate in my baking cupboard, so these were the basis for the cake.
I wanted to make a chocolate sponge base with a light topping, and I'd made a similar topping for a cake before, only using a 50% dark chocolate. It's a bit of a faff to make, as it uses gelatine [not my favourite ingredient], but the results are worth the effort. Hope you think so too!

Preheat oven 180C/gas4
Grease and line a 20cm springform cake tin with baking paper.

To make the sponge base, whisk 2 eggs with 60g of caster sugar till thick and creamy. Add 60g plain flour and 1 tbspn cocoa powder into the batter and fold in. Gently add 30g of melted butter and mix together.
Spoon or pour into the tin and bake for 20-25mins till firm to touch.

For the topping, sprinkle an 11gm sachet of gelatine over 3 tbspns of cold water and leave to sponge.
Melt 200g of white chocolate carefully and add 60g butter. Stir in the yolks of 4 separated eggs.
Whisk the 4 whites into stiff peaks and also whisk 284ml of double cream into soft peaks.
Melt the gelatine over a pan of hot water, then stir into the chocolate mixture.
Fold in the double cream and then the whisked egg whites.
Pour this over the baked sponge base and chill for at least 4 hours, but better still, overnight, till the mousse has set.
Take the cake out of the tin, peel off the baking paper and put on a serving plate.
The mousse cake will keep in the fridge for 2 days, but don't recommend you keep it any longer than that.

I piped some rosettes on top of the cake to make it look more festive. I know it's not a dessert for the diet-conscious, but it is Christmas! It really just melts in your mouth.

Sticky Toffee Cake

I love Sticky Toffee pudding, so having it in a cake form is my idea of heaven. The ingredients are virtually the same, just baked instead of steamed. Icing replaces the toffee sauce, but again you use almost the same ingredients. The recipe was given to me by a friend who runs a small cake shop, and this cake is one she makes regularly for her shop, and it's a best seller.

So, first preheat your oven to 180C/gas4. Grease and line a 28x18cm tin.

You need 225g of dates which you cut into pieces and put in a pan of water and bring to the boil. You boil them uncovered for about 10 mins till the dates are soft. Then take them off the heat and stir in 1 tspn of bicarbonate of soda, and leave to cool.

Cream together 175g of soft brown sugar and 115g of butter of margarine; add a tspn of vanilla extract.

gradually beat in 2 eggs and fold in the dates and 175g sr flour.

Spoon this mixture into your tin and bake for about 35 mins till nicely risen. If you need to, cover the cake for the last 10 mins as the dates are liable to burn.

To make the icing you heat 6tbspns of double cream, 80g soft brown sugar and 25g of butter gently in a saucepan till the sugar dissolves. Then bring to the boil and cook, uncovered for 4 mins till it's golden. Don't stir. Watch the mixture carefully, and take it off the heat if it gets too dark. Leave to cool.

When it's cool, beat in 25g of sifted icing sugar till it's smooth, then spread over the cake. I use a palette knife which I've wet to make a nice pattern on the cake. Leave the icing to set before you cut the cake.

A very indulgent cake - moist sponge, rich sticky sweetness from the dates, toffee icing - heaven in a slice!

Key Lime Mousse Cake

The title is not quite correct because I couldn't find any Key limes! I've made this cake before using oranges, which were the fruit used in the original recipe.It's  from Woman's Weekly magazine, but when I don't know, as it's in my recipe folder. I thought I'd try it with limes, and it turned out well. It's a thick layer of mousse, and it's definitely a dessert cake, rather than a cake to have with a cuppa.
I haven't used the original cake recipe either this time, as I wanted to make a Victoria sandwich.

175g butter
400g caster sugar- 175g for the cake
3 eggs
175g sr flour
1 tspn baking powder
400ml double cream
250g mascarpone cheese
juice and rind of 5 limes
juice of a small orange
1 tbspn gelatine powder
icing sugar to dust
if you want the filling really green, you can use a few drops of green colouring, which I did.

Preheat oven 160C/gas 3
Grease and line a 23cm springform tin.
Beat the butter and 175g of the sugar together till it's creamy and fluffy using a hand mixer. Then add the eggs one at a time, beating between each one. Stir in the flour and baking powder gently and then spoon the mixture into the tin.
Bake for 30-35 mins. Leave the cake in the tin for 5 mins and then turnit onto a wire rack.
For the filling - beat the remaining 225g of sugar with the cream, mascarpone, lime juice and zest and the orange juice to a smooth cream using a hand mixer.
Put 2 tbspn of water in a bowl over a half full pan of simmering water. Sprinkle over the gelatine and stir till it's dissolved. Don't overheat it or the gelatine won't set properly, as I discovered the first time I made it!
Stir the gelatine into the filling mixture and add the green colouring if you want. Beat the mixture again.
Cut the cake in half (horizontally!), clip the side back on the cake tin and put the bottom of the cake in the tin. Spoon the filling on top then put on the top layer of cake. Put in the fridge for 2 hours, then put onto a plate and dust with icing sugar.

I'd forgotten just how much filling there was, and I think maybe I'll try just half the quantity next time.
The mousse laye is refreshing and luxurious, but I think its a bit overwhelming. I'd like a bit more cake.
I like the idea of this cake, and think I'm going to try it with raspberries next time.

Spiced Banana Cake with Butterscotch icing

Yet another loaf cake to add to my repertoire - well the recipe used a 900g loaf tin, but I wanted a round cake so used a 20cm springform tin. Inspiration for the cake was a few very ripe bananas in the fruit bowl. I rarely use alcohol in cakes, but this time I did what the recipe said, and soaked the sultanas in the rum.
I wanted to try a different topping so I used a butterscotch one I'd wanted to try for ages - I know it has a lot of sugar in it, but for a special occasion..........!

100g sultanas
50ml rum
185g plain flour
2 tspn baking powder
½ tspn bicarb
pinch salt
2 tspn cinnamon - I used 3 tspns
125g soft unsalted butter
150g light soft brown sugar
2 large eggs
4 small very ripe bananas
1 tspn vanilla extract

For the icing:
75g golden caster sugar
15g butter
50g light muscovado sugar
1 tbspn golden syrup
75ml double cream

In a small pan pour the rum over the sultanas and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and leave to soak.

Preheat the oven 170C/150C fan/Gas 3.
Grease and line a 20cm springform tin or a 900g loaf tin

Put flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt and cinnamon in large bowl and mix well.
In a separate bowl beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer till light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs one by one, then stir in the mashed bananas, sultanas, rum and the vanilla extract.
Fold in the flour and pour into the tin.
Bake for 1-1¼ hours until golden. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

For the icing - simmer all the ingredients over a low heat for 6-8 mins. Stir to make a smooth sauce, then leave to cool and thicken, and pour over the cooled cake.

I liked the rum flavoured sultanas in the cake, but I did find the icing rather too sweet, even for my palate. The friends I made it for however, loved it. The cake had a good crumb, as Mr Hollywood would say, and was moist, with a good banana flavour which wasn't overwhelmed by the rum sultanas. Will make it as a loaf cake next time, without the rum and the sweet icing. Enjoyed the cinnamon in the background, which gave the cake that extra something.

ps I have a new photographer - OH has bought a new camera and will take the photos for me!

Chocolate meringue log

A very Happy New Year! Here's to lots of great baking.

After the success of the meringue on Christmas Day, I thought I'd try a variation as a dessert for New Year's Eve. I hunted through my cookbooks and folders and found a recipe for a meringue log in a Home and Freezer Christmas book. Anyone remember Home and Freezer magazines, littles ones which were always in racks by the checkouts?
Anyway I thought it sounded ideal, although it has a fewextra ingredients in it, like mini marshmallows.
You could use a chocolate sauce as the filling instead of the spread if you wanted, as this what was in the original recipe. I thought the spread would be more substantial when rolling up the log. I had visions of the sauce running out of the sides of the log! I know there's hazelnuts in the spread, but I don't think this will change the taste of the log very much.


5 egg whites, beaten
150g icing sugar, plus 1 tbsp extra
2 tsp cornflour, sieved
 1 tbsp cocoa powder
400ml double cream
1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out
chocolate spread such as Nutella - or use chocolate sauce if you prefer
50g raspberries and a few redcurrants of you can find them
100g mini marshmallows

to decorate
extra icing sugar and cocoa powder, to dust
*chocolate sauce and raspberries or any red berries

Preheat oven to 150C/gas 1. In a clean bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the icing sugar, beating till the mixture is creamy and gooey. Then whisk in the cornflour and cocoa.
Spoon the mixture onto a Swiss roll tin lined with baking paper. Bake the meringue for 1 hour then set aside to cool.
In a bowl whisk the double cream with icing sugar and vanilla seeds till it's thickened.
Sieve some icing sugar and cocoa powder onto a large piece of parchment paper then turn the meringue out onto the paper.
Spread the chocolate spread on top , followed by the whipped cream, then dot with raspberries and mini marshmallows.
Carefully roll up the log, using the parchment paper to help you, and dust with more icing sugar and cocoa. Serve with some *chocolate sauce and raspberries. I had some recurrants in the freezer, so added a few of those.

* I made a simple chocolate sauce using double cream and melted chocolate.

It was delicious. A lovely combination of flavours - the only thing I wasn't sure about were the marshmallows -they weren't really necessary to the filling, a bit chewy. The chocolate sauce gave it another kick of chocolate - you can never have too much chocolate imho, but again, it isn't absolutely necessary to the log.

Chococlate and raspberries are always a good combo, and this is a log I'll certainly make again.

Matchmaker cookies with White Chocolate Ganache

Christmas Baking 5

I didn't get time before Christmas to post this biscuit recipe. It's yet another variation on the basic cookie recipe I posted a while ago.
I made up a hamper for my aunt and wanted to make her some special biscuits. There was a box of Matchmaker chocolates and a bar of white chocolate hanging round, good Christmas flavours, so how could I use these? I came up with the idea of a double cookie - 2 cookies with the Matchmakers chopped up in them, sandwiched together with a white chocolate ganache. A real Christmas treat for my aunt.
I thought they'd be fiddly to make, but they weren't.

I made 15 double cookies from this recipe - 30 cookies

Basic recipe:
225g butter [soft]
240g caster sugar
1 egg yolk [beaten]
2 tspn vanilla essence280g plain flour
pinch salt
Extras:
100g Matchmakers [or any mint chocolate sticks] chopped up finely
icing sugar

Filling:
2 tbspn double cream
100g white chocolate, broken up

Preheat oven 190C/gas5
Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone sheets

Beat butter and sugar together, then add egg yolk and vanilla extract and beat in. Stir flour and salt together nd add to the mixture. Then add the chopped up Matchmakers and stir thoroughly. Divide the dough in 2 and wrap in clingfilm and put in fridge for an hour.
Take out androll out between 2 sheets of cligfilm or baking paper.
Cur out cookies using a 6cm fluted cutter. Space them out well on the baking sheet and bake for 10-15 mins till golden.
Cool on a wire rack.
Por the cream into a pan, add the chocolate and melt over a low heat, stirring from time to time till smooth.
Take off heat and let ganache cool. Chill in fridge till it has a spreadable consistency.
Spread ganache over half the cookies and top with the rest. Dust with some icing sugar.

My daughter was the tester and loved them. She said what she liked best was the contrast between the crunchie choc mint cookie and the soft white chocolate filling. I had to make a second batch for her to take home and to work, and used some After Eight type mints I'd been given instead of the sticks, and they worked fine.

I also made some Angel Cookies using just the basic recipe and cutting out angel shapes. I iced them with  thick white glace icing and sprinkled the tops of their heads with some edible silver glitter.

White chocolate parfait

We don't like Christmas pudding, so I try a new Christmas dessert recipe every year. Last year it was sticky toffee pudd. and this year I wanted to do something lighter. The recipe said that this amount would serve 8, but it served 3 people who had seconds! I made it in advance and froze it.

The recipe comes from this year's 'Woman's Weekly Christmas special'.

100g white chocolate broken up into pieces
250ml ready made vanilla custard
3 tbspns Baileys liqueur
142ml pot double cream
2 tbspns grated dark chocolate
a few raspberries

small loaf tin lined with cling film

Melt the chocolate and stir in the custard.
Leave to cool then stir in the Baileys.
Whip the cream then add it to the mixture.
Spoon it into the lined loaf tin and feeze overnight.
When it's solid, cover and wrap and label it.
Take it out and put it in the fridge 20 mins before you want to use it.
Put onto a plate, sprinkle the top with grated dark chocolate and decorate with a few raspberries.

Note: it melts quite quickly!