Raspberry and cream sponge cake

Nothing groundbreaking here, just a standard victoria sponge with fruit and a whipped cream filling. However there is something extra lovely about filling and decorating a cake with homegrown raspberries and homemade jam (rhubarb and raspberry in this case.) 

It's hard to beat raspberries (or strawberries) and cream for a summery cake. It's light and fresh, perfect for a summer birthday.

Our "fruiting garden" is developing very nicely. I picked roughly 1kg of blackcurrants last night, our biggest haul to date. Next up will be the loganberries and second crop of raspberries. I know I should freeze some of them but they will most likely end up in jam as my obsession with making jam is still going strong. All the fruit means all the jam!

Rhubarb and raspberry tarts

As my pineapple tarts were such a raging success with my in-laws last month I couldn't resist making them again with some tweaks. I love a versatile recipe and this bake offers so many flavour possibilities by swapping out the jam filling.

For this version I used some of my homemade raspberry and rhubarb jam and coloured the icing on top pink. I also reduced the icing sugar in the whipped cream to 1tbsp (instead of 3 tbsp) and felt it balanced the sweetness of the jam better. I also had more time to assemble these tarts so they're a lot neater than my first batch.

The shortbread type pastry was better to work with this time, generally less crumbly although I didn't mix it very evenly for fear of over handling it. I'll perfect it eventually. It's worth the effort as it's so deliciously buttery.

We enjoyed the tarts as part of a mother's day high tea at my in-laws' house. I thought the tarts looked so cute on my favourite Royal Winton Grimwades 3 tier cake stand. Pastel perfection! It was lovely to have an excuse to use it. Long time readers (if they're still around?) may remember it from old posts, back when I used to take time to create pretty photos for the blog. Those were the good old days.

Don't be surprised if you see yet another version of these tarts on the blog. There's a strong possibility I'll try a lemon curd version for the Man's birthday next month.

Pineapple tarts

My father in law loves a pineapple tart so I thought it would be fun to make some for his birthday this year.

The recipe I used was from Baking With Granny. (As a side note, I had no idea pineapple tarts were a Scottish thing either!) Unsurprisingly mine are not as polished and photogenic as Amy's tarts. One could say my mine resembled certain lady body parts. . .

Perky!

Admittedly I was in a rush assembling my tarts but even with more time I don't believe mine would ever look that neat!

In terms of the baking the pastry was an absolute pain in the arse to work with, crumbling as soon as I looked at it never mind handle it. Every pastry case broke as I pressed them into the bun tins and needed squashing/patching back together. The dough felt more like a crumbly shortbread than a pastry. I had very low expectations for any of the cases holding together or even coming out of the tin successfully but I was thankfully proven wrong. They may have been a pain to make but they were so buttery and short, perfectly complementing the jam, soft cream and icing topping.

The "quick" pineapple jam was also a tasty success and for a change I managed to not overwhip cream for the filling!

Despite their somewhat rustic appearance I was delighted with my pineapple tarts. They were very tasty and I'm already thinking of other jam or curd combinations I could try. As a lover of all things lemon flavoured I think lemon curd would be a good shout. 

Another consideration would be to reduce or entirely omit the icing sugar in the cream. It's lovely as is but I don't think it's particularly necessary when there's already sweet jam and icing in the bake, other than sweetened cream mimics the "mock cream" used in the shop bought pineapple tarts.

Well worth a try, but be prepared to get frustrated with crumbly pastry.

Strawberry and rhubarb trifle

Yes, I am still wading my way through all the rhubarb in my garden. I might as well rename the blog "what do you make of my rhubarb?"

In my effort to find more ways to use rhubarb I stumbled across a raspberry and rhubarb trifle recipe online by Phil Vickery. Having never tried rhubarb in a trifle before I was suitably intrigued and decided to make it for a little family gathering to celebrate my first wedding anniversary with the Man. If anniversary trifle isn't a thing then I'm totally making it a thing.

I made some tweaks to the recipe according to taste and also what I had in the kitchen. The most obvious swap was strawberry instead of raspberry as I had two packets of strawberry jelly and two tins of strawberries in syrup in the cupboard left over from Christmas (as trifle is a Christmas necessity) so it made sense to use them.

My only other significant change was using less sugar in the stewed rhubarb and omitting the vanilla as I prefer a more tart flavour. I think the original quantities would be far too sweet as mine was sweet enough. I guess it'll vary depending on your rhubarb though.

Although not necessarily a change, I also didn't follow the recipe for the custard. I used the same ingredients but measured by eye and went by taste. It was roughly the same quantity.

Usually for trifle I make a plain Victoria sponge, however I decided to go for a Swiss roll like the Phil Vickery recipe. I used my trusty Mary Berry recipe from her "Baking Bible", once again swapping the raspberry for strawberry jam. It's been a few years since I last made a Swiss roll (9 years ago, apparently?!) so that was a fun change.

The resulting trifle was fantastic! The lemon in the rhubarb gave a lovely zingy flavour in contrast to the sweeter strawberry flavour and Swiss roll. 

Everybody thought this trifle was immensely tasty. I have to admit, the rhubarb in our garden is the nicest rhubarb I've ever encountered; it is so red and sweet. This trifle is definitely one to add to the rhubarb repertoire.

Strawberry and rhubarb trifle

Recipe based on Phil Vickery's mum's trifle

X1 Swiss roll filled with strawberry jam. I used this Mary Berry recipe but without lemon. Same method but I used the following quantities in a larger tin measuring 33 x 23cm:

4 large eggs

100g caster sugar 

100g self raising flour

At least 4 spoonfuls of jam for the filling.

X2 135g packet strawberry jelly, made according to instructions. Admittedly I didn't end up using all the jelly, but I felt it needed more than one packet.

X2 tins of strawberries in syrup (drain the syrup) or fresh, chopped strawberries

Stewed rhubarb:

350g rhubarb, chopped into small chunks

Juice of 1 large lemon

100g sugar

Approx. 1 pint of custard, fresh/homemade, shop bought or made up with Bird's custard powder.

300ml double cream, lightly whipped.

Method: 

Make the Swiss roll, cut it into slices, then cut each slice in half. Place into the bottom of the trifle bowl and around the sides. Layer the fresh, chopped or drained, tinned strawberries into the centre.

Make up the jelly according to instructions. Top tip: if using tinned strawberries, use the fruit syrup for your jelly. Add enough boiling water to melt the jelly blocks then top up the rest of the liquid with the fruit syrup.

Once cool, pour the jelly into the trifle bowl until it fully covers the sponge and fruit. Put in the fridge to set, ideally overnight.

Put all ingredients for the stewed rhubarb in a pan and simmer over a low heat until the rhubarb has softened. Set aside to cool. Once cool, add on top of the set jelly.

Make up the custard, either using the powdered variety, make from scratch or buy ready made. If you're making it though, it's best to make it on the thick side to give it a firmer set. Let the custard cool before adding to the trifle, on top of the rhubarb layer.

Lightly whip the double cream and add as a final layer on top of the trifle. Re-chill and serve, with a flourish of sprinkles for decoration.

an alternative lemon cake

Some may stunned to learn that I, the lady with a raging sweet tooth, am with a man who doesn't eat refined sugar or gluten. He follows a keto diet which has led me down a rabbit hole of keto-friendly bakes. We have had great success experimenting with cheesecakes, cookies and brownies but I keep forgetting to photograph any of our bakes.

This lemon cake, made for Man's birthday a few months ago, is my favourite keto cake I've tried so far. The recipe came from the Sugar Free Londoner, a great blog to follow if you also fancy dabbling with low sugar baking. My only changes were not using the coconut butter drizzle topping and baking the cake in a 7" deep round cake tin as despite owning many cake tins I do not possess an 8" bundt tin.

The cake had a good, strong lemon flavour and, as expected, was subtly sweet. Quite often I find keto cakes tend to be on the heavier/denser side as they don't have the natural 'lift' of standard flour, however I thought this cake had a surprisingly light, fluffy texture. I'm assuming it was the combination of coconut flour with the almond flour, rather than just almond flour. The addition of yoghurt also gave the sponge a soft crumb. 

Instead of the coconut butter drizzle topping I made a keto friendly lemon curd (recipe found here, I halved the quantities) and swirled it through some whipped double cream. It made a beautiful birthday cake served with some grated lemon zest and fresh berries.

We have since made the same cake again but with a syrup topping (2 tbsp erythritol, our natural sweetner of choice, mixed with the juice of one lemon) to make it a lemon drizzle cake which also worked brilliantly. It's proving to be a versatile cake and I'm sure we'll continue to experiment with it. I'm thinking some raspberries folded through the batter might be our next variation.

chocolate and hazelnut cake

Well hello there. A lot has happened in a year. I didn't intend to abandon blogging but crap happened and I didn't deal with it very well, I certainly didn't want to talk about it and I pretty much spiralled into a pit of negativity and sadness. I still don't want to talk about it but I feel ready to dip my toes back in here now that I've vaguely touched on it. I've missed using this space and having a handy creative archive to refer to.

However, I have come to the decision that I want to return this blog to just baking and crockery as it has got to a stage where I'm not happy posting my sewing and knitting projects here anymore. I'm aware I've mentioned moving them to a separate space for at least 4 years, but this is the year where I feel I need to make the change. If/when the move happens, I'll let you know here.

In the meantime you can still find my knitting projects on Ravelry and I recently joined The Foldline where I've reviewed a few sewing projects from the last year.

So without further ado, CAKE. We're still here for cake, right?

This particular cake, inspired by Ferrero Rochers, was baked for my sister-in-law's birthday last April. I'd definitely describe it as a "grown up" cake. The hazelnut sponges were rich and textured and the chocolate ganache coating was rich and luxuriously cocoa-y. I'm glad I sandwiched the sponges together with a chocolate butter icing and used it to pipe decorative swirls on top as the sweetness of the butter icing really lifted the cake.

On the whole there was a lovely balance of textures and flavours. You certainly didn't need a large slice to feel full and satisfied either.

Somewhat amazingly, I appear to have kept a physical note of what I used for the sponges. The rest of the details however are a hazy memory, but this is roughly what I did:

Chocolate and hazelnut cake

sponges:

250g softened butter

250g soft light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs

150g plain flour

1 heaped tsp baking powder

150g hazelnuts (roasted, skinned and ground.) I bought a couple of bags of already roasted, skinned and chopped hazelnuts then whizzed them up in my small food processor to ground them up further. 

chocolate ganache:

I have no idea what recipe I used for this, but I definitely used double cream with a combination of good quality milk and dark chocolate with high cocoa percentages. I have a funny feeling I may have incorporated melted butter into the ganache at the end...? Who knows. If you want to recreate this cake I recommend referring to a favourite chocolate ganache recipe or picking one of the many kicking about on the internet. It's safer than following my vague memory.

chocolate butter icing:

I likely mixed this up without following a recipe, so I recommend following whatever chocolate butter icing you like best. I personally really like the one in the Hummingbird Bakery's Cookbook.

topping:

another bag of roasted, skinned and chopped hazelnuts

a box of Ferrero Rocher

Preheat the oven to Gas 4/180C/ Fan 160C. Grease two 20cm/8 inch round cake tins and line the bases with baking parchment. 

In a large bowl beat together the margarine and sugar for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl mix together the ground hazelnuts, flour and baking powder. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add a tablespoon of the flour mixture with the last egg to prevent the mixture from splitting. Tip in the rest of the flour mixture along with the vanilla extract and mix until everything is combined.

Divide the mixture between the cake tins and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for approx. 25-30 minutes until well risen and springs back when touched. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

For the icing beat the butter, cocoa powder and icing sugar until light and fluffy, for about 5 minutes. Use to fill the cake and put the remaining icing in a piping bag with a 1M nozzle to use later.

After sandwiching the sponges together with butter icing, coat the sides and top with the ganache. It doesn't matter if it isn't smooth. Press chopped hazelnuts onto the side of the cake (this is messy, admittedly) and scatter them across the top. Finally, pipe 12 decorative swirls of the leftover butter icing on top of the cake and press a Ferrero Rocher chocolate on top of each swirl.

sticky toffee cake and cupcakes

Fancy cake decorating has never been my thing. If this was made in the Great British Bake Off tent Mary Berry would likely describe it as "informal", but that's ok, my presentation standards aren't high. As long as it tastes good and I get to eat a bit, I'm happy. Worst comes to worst, just stick it on a pretty plate or a cake stand.

I baked this sticky toffee cake for my uncle's 60th birthday this week, so obviously I couldn't cut into it for photographs, but I did sample a cupcake and they were utterly delicious. Sticky and sweet with squidgy pockets of dates in a brown sugar sponge. There's no point being diet conscious here. Sometimes you need to give the calories the middle finger and shove a whole damn cupcake in your mouth and delight in all the sugar.

Despite having used this recipe multiple times before (briefly mentioned here and here) it has never received its own blog post, so I thought it was high time I rectified the situation. The only change I made was to make my own toffee sauce for the topping and mixing into the icing instead of buying a tin of dulce de leche. It was incredibly thick and sticky to handle, bordering on unco-operative, but the flavour was definitely worth it.

 Look at that dripping toffee. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Sticky Toffee cake cupcakes

Cake recipe is basically doubled quantities of Hummingbird Bakery's sticky toffee cupcakes from their "Cake Days" book. The mixture yields two 8 inch round cakes and 9 cupcakes.

Toffee recipe is from Edd Kimber's "The Boy Who Bakes" book, listed under "salted caramel sauce", although I omitted the sea salt.

For the sponge:

360g (13oz) pitted and chopped dates

360ml (13 fl oz) boiling water

160g (6oz) slightly salted butter, softened

300g (11 oz) soft light brown sugar (I subbed in some brown muscovado sugar as I didn't have enough soft light brown sugar)

4 large eggs

360g (13oz) plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

 2 tsp vanilla extract

For the toffee sauce:

150g granulated sugar

10g salted butter, softened

125ml double cream

For the icing:

160g (5 1/2oz) unsalted butter, softened

500g (1lb 2oz) icing sugar

50ml (1 3/4fl oz) whole milk

100g (3 1/2oz) toffee sauce

Place the chopped dates in a bowl, pour over the boiling water and leave to soak for about 1/2 hour. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Grease and line two 8" round cake tines and line a muffin tin with cupcake cases. 

Using a hand held electric whisk or a freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until soft and fluffy. Add the eggs in one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl and mixing well on a medium speed after adding each egg. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Add these dry ingredients in 3 batches to the other mixture, then mix at a medium-high speed until everything is fully incorporated. Lastly, mix in the vanilla and date mixture by hand, making sure the dates are evenly dispersed throughout the batter.

Fill the cake tins with the batter until roughly two thirds full. The remaining batter should fill approx. 9 cupcake cases. Bake the cakes in the oven for 25-30 minutes until risen and springy to the touch. The cupcakes should be baked separately as they're smaller and only take 18-20 minutes to bake. Leave to cool slightly before removing from the tins and placing onto a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

For the toffee, melt the granulated sugar over a medium heat in a medium sized heavy based saucepan on the hob until fully dissolved.  Don't stir the mixture as it will crystallise, just give it a gentle swirl every so often. Once it has turned deep golden remove the pan from the heat and carefully pour in half the cream. Be careful as the sugar will bubble fiercely! Once the mixture has settled a bit, add the remaining cream and then the butter. If your mixture is lumpy (mine definitely was) then put the pan back on the heat and stir until smooth. (Mine took quite a lot of stirring and I added in a bit more cream.)

For the icing, mix together the butter and icing sugar on a low speed (or by hand) until sandy in texture. Gradually add the milk then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy. Finally add the toffee and beat it in thoroughly to ensure everything is well mixed. Use to generously fill and top the cakes and use the remaining icing to decorate the cupcakes. Swirl the toffee on top of the icing.

Baker's note: I felt the icing was quite slack, so it may be worth omitting the milk and only adding it at the end if you feel the icing needs it.

strawberry and cream cake

After the success of last year's Wimbledon final cake I decided to make another this year. I didn't write out a recipe last time so I thought the cake was worth documenting again.

This is such a pretty, summery cake. I love the simplicity of a dusting of icing sugar and the freshness of strawberries and cream.

I also love when a filling squidges when you cut into the cake. There's strawberry jam and whipped cream sandwiched between the sponges here which makes for a satisfying squidge.

A couple of folk last time asked whether the strawberries made the sponges soggy and I think the trick to avoiding that is to keep the strawberry chunks fairly small and not to add too many. I also gave them a light coating of flour before incorporating them into the cake batter.

I don't think I have anything else new to say about the cake. The combination of vanilla flecked sponge with strawberries, cream and jam is a winner. The only bummer is that the cake needs to be kept in the fridge due to the cream filling, but then again, you may find this cake won't last longer than one sitting. It's pretty good.

Strawberry and cream cake

sponges:

200g margarine/ softened butter

200g golden caster sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

200g self raising flour

100g strawberries, chopped into relatively small chunks - lightly coated in flour

filling:

300ml pot of double cream - lightly whipped

generous spoonfuls of strawberry jam 

icing sugar for dusting

extra strawberries for decoration

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Grease two 18cm/7 inch round cake tins and line the bases with baking parchment. In a large bowl beat together the margarine and sugar for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs to the mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add a tablespoon of the flour with the last egg to prevent the mixture from splitting. Add the vanilla bean paste and flour and mix everything together until fully combined. Stir in the strawberry chunks until evenly distributed.

Divide the mixture between the cake tins and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for approx. 30 minutes until well risen, light golden and spring back when touched. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Once cool, sandwich the cakes together with whipped cream and strawberry jam. Decorate the top of the cake with a dusting of icing sugar and halves of strawberries. 

This is best eaten on the day of serving although it will keep for a couple of days if covered and kept in the fridge.

raspberry trifle cupcakes

I'm just going to put this out there... these are the best cupcakes I've ever made, quite possibly the best cupcakes I've ever eaten. They are THAT. DAMN. TASTY.

I've had this recipe bookmarked in the Hummingbird Bakery's "Cake Days" book for 4 years. I knew I wanted to make it at some point, but due to my aversion to recipes which don't use the whole egg I've always grumbled at the 5 egg yolks listed in the custard topping ingredients and flicked the page. When was I ever going to have 5 egg yolks lying around?

Well guess who had exactly 5 egg yolks spare after making a meringue roulade last week? The stars had finally aligned!

These cupcakes were definitely worth the 4 year wait. Hell, I would make another meringue roulade just to have an excuse to make these cupcakes again. I need to stop being such an ass about not using whole eggs.

The creamy, custard topping is to die for. It pairs beautifully with the soft, fluffy, vanilla sponge and jammy, raspberry filling.

My only change to the recipe was baking the raspberries inside the cupcake as I love the squidginess of a baked raspberry. It also means that the cupcakes keep better, not that these will hang around for long. They are pretty addictive.

I could quite happily shove endless quantities of these cupcakes in my mouth and not get fed up with them. I have no shame.

I am also delighted to report that there were no tiny bugs in these raspberries. Each raspberry was thoroughly inspected. This is the first time I've bought raspberries since *that* incident. Wow, that was almost two years ago. You'd almost think I held a grudge...

Raspberry trifle cupcakes 
Recipe from Hummingbird Bakery, "Cake Days", barely adapted.
The recipe looks long, but it really isn't that complicated. Don't feel put off!

sponge:
80g (3oz) unsalted butter, softened
280g (10oz) caster sugar
240g (8.5oz) plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt
240ml (8.5fl oz) milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, large

filling:
punnet of fresh raspberries
jar of raspberry jam

custard topping:
500ml (18fl oz) milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste)
5 egg yolks
100g (3.5oz) caster sugar
30g (1oz) plain flour
30g (1oz) cornflour
200ml (7fl oz) double cream

Preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/Gas 5 and line two cupcake trays with paper cases. (The mixture gave me 18-20 cupcakes.) Mix together the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl with a mixer set at a low speed. The mixture should look like fine breadcrumbs.

Whisk together the milk, vanilla and eggs in a jug with a fork. Pour 3/4 of this into the dry mixture while mixing on a slow speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything gets mixed in. Add the rest of the egg mixture and mix again on a higher speed until the batter is smooth.

Fill each cupcake cases with the batter until about two thirds full and press a raspberry into the centre of each cupcake. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until well risen, light golden and springy to touch. Leave to cool in the trays for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

While the cupcakes are in the oven you can make the custard topping. Combine the milk with the vanilla in a saucepan and bring to the boil. In a bowl, combine the egg yolks with the sugar, flour and cornflour to create a paste. Add 1 tbsp of the heated milk if necessary. Remove the saucepan from the hob once the milk has boiled and pour 4-5 tbsp of it into the paste. Give the paste a mix then pour it into the saucepan with the milk and return to the heat. Bring the milk back to the boil, continually whisking to avoid lumps, and boil for a further minute to fully cook the flour. Pour this custard mixture into a baking tray and cover with cling film to prevent a skin forming. Leave to cool for 30-40 minutes.

Once cool, tip the custard into a large bowl (feel free to sieve the custard like me if you discover that it's a bit lumpy!) and beat with a wooden bowl to break it up. In a separate bowl, whisk the double cream into soft peaks, then fold the cream into the custard mixture. Now your topping is ready!

Using a sharp knife, cut a circular disc/hollow in the centre of each cupcake (until you reach the top of the raspberries baked inside), place roughly 1/2 tsp of raspberry jam in the centre, then press the cut off sponge back on top. Pipe or spread the custard on top of each cupcake, topping with an extra raspberry and some sprinkles for full on party trifle effect.

Baker's note: The cupcakes will keep/store better without the custard icing, so only ice as many as you're planning to eat at the time and keep the remaining custard in the fridge in a bowl covered with clingfilm.

strawberry meringue roulade

Meringues give me "the fear". I never really know what they're meant to look or feel like so they send me into a bit of a baking panic. Making sure the baking bowl and whisk are completely oil free and successfully separating multiple eggs makes me feel nervous. I also live in fear of the "bowl above your head" test not working. What if I haven't whipped the egg whites enough and the mixture actually does fall on my head?  The whole thing stresses me out.

However I decided to push myself out of my baking comfort zone this week. I was not going to default to a victoria sponge which, let's face it, I do a lot. The double cream and strawberries in the fridge were going to be put in a meringue roulade!

Unfortunately my lack of understanding for meringue structure shows. This was barely cooked enough, perhaps too much on the mallow-y side. I think I put too much faith in the recipe's estimated baking times as it soon became apparent that my meringue needed longer in the oven. The resulting roulade was still very tasty, but a bit sloppy. I don't know whether it needed more cooking at the first stage with the hot temperature or the latter cooler setting. Feel free to share your meringue making wisdom with me!

I've done it though. I didn't die despite panicking when I saw the meringue going all gloopy when I tried to roll it up ("waaaaah it's not cooked enough, it still feels hot and I've already put the cream on!") and I have a better idea of what to expect next time. I'm sure it's something I'll try again.... and photograph in better light!

Now I need to think of something to do with 5 egg yolks. Custard, anyone?

Strawberry meringue roulade

Recipe from Mary Berry's Baking Bible, substituting raspberries for strawberries

for the meringue:

5 large egg whites

275g (10oz) caster sugar 

50g (2oz) flaked almonds

for the filling:

350g strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped

300ml (1/2 pint) whipping or double cream 

Preheat the oven to 220C/ 200C Fan/ Gas 7 and line a 33 x 23cm tin with baking parchment. In a clean, oil free bowl whisk the egg whites on a high speed on your mixer until very stiff. If you can hold the bowl upside down above your head without the egg mixture falling out, it's ready! Add the sugar to the eggs a teaspoon at a time, whisking well between each spoonful. 

Spread the meringue mixture evenly into your tin and sprinkle with flaked almonds. Bake on a shelf fairly near the top of the oven for about 8 minutes until pale golden, then turn the temperature down to 160C/ 140C Fan/ Gas 3 and continue baking for a further 15 minutes. Remove from the oven when the meringue is firm to the touch and turn it out, almond side down, onto a sheet of baking parchment. Remove the baking parchment from the base of the meringue and leave to cool for around 10 minutes.

Whilst you're waiting for the meringue to cool, hull and roughly chop up the strawberries and whip the cream until it holds stiff peaks. Gently fold the strawberries into the cream then spread this mixture evenly over the meringue. Start rolling up the meringue fairly tightly, starting from the long end, until you have a roulade. (This is when I started panicking as my meringue was still pretty hot and was turning into a squidgy lump as I tried to roll it up!) Wrap in baking parchment and chill in the fridge before serving.

strawberries and cream cake

Just a quick post today. I wasn't intending to blog this as I didn't take any photographs other than these two snaps with my phone, but I enjoyed this cake so much I felt compelled to share it regardless of photo quality.

My friends and I had a small Wimbledon final party last Sunday so naturally I baked a cake for us to enjoy. It's the same sponge recipe as the strawberry cupcakes I baked the previous week - basically a victoria sponge with a handful of chopped strawberries and teaspoon of vanilla bean paste - baked in two 18cm (7inch) round cake tins, sandwiched together with jam and cream and topped with strawberries and icing sugar.

It was light, fresh and delicately sweet. I really wish I had taken better photographs! One of my friends baked Pimms cupcakes so we were well supplied with cake for the afternoon. We needed it to console ourselves after Federer's defeat.

It could just be that I was too distracted by conversation and cake this year, but I felt like I had seen more exciting Wimbledon finals. Anybody agree?

birthday blow away sponge and shiny new things

It was my birthday last Friday and my Mum baked a beautifully fluffy blow away sponge cake. However this was actually her second attempt. Her first cake went awry because she accidentally used self-raising flour instead of plain flour, resulting in sponges with flat edges and strangely domed centres. Always double check your ingredients folks!

Unfortunately I could only manage a tiny piece of cake due to the unwelcome stomach bug I woke up with that morning, but I can report it was as light as a cloud with a delicate, sweet vanilla flavour.

The chopped strawberries, jam and whipped cream filling kept the flavours fresh and light as well. As much as I love a buttery, heavily frosted birthday cake this was a lovely change. It could also be made completely dairy free by omitting the cream filling.

Although I didn't make the cake I'll include the recipe at the end of the post as I think it's worth sharing.

Birthday gifts this year included flowers, ferrero rocher, small pieces of jewellery and a stash of socks. You should see my sock drawer at the moment; it is positively overflowing with colourful, crazy prints. I love a good pair of socks.

Somewhat unexpectedly, I ended up with an overlocker for my birthday! On Monday morning I discovered through Char that Lidl had deals on Singer sewing machines and overlockers this week (retailing at about half their usual price) so I headed into town and grabbed an overlocker. My Mum also bought a new sewing machine for herself as she never got round to replacing her old one which broke years ago, so we're two very happy ladies.

Matchy matchy machines! This makes me very happy. I'm looking forward to producing clothes with professionally finished seams. On a side note, my Singer sewing machine is officially 10 years old this year. Whaaat?

And lastly, I'd like to introduce you all to the life size, cardboard cut-out Superman my brother bought for my birthday. Who knew owning a 2D Henry Cavill would be so much fun. He's proving to be quite a hit.

"Nice jugs, Jo."

"Ummmm why thank you, Henry."

He has also managed to scare the crap out of me on several occasions when I forget he's in the room. Such a stealthy guy.

Blow away sponge

4 eggs
4 oz caster sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste (or extract)
2oz plain flour
2 oz cornflour
1 level tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas 6 and grease/line two 8 inch round cake tins. Whisk the egg whites on a high speed until they form stiff peaks when the whisk is lifted from the bowl. (You can also do the bowl above your head trick to check!) Add the sugar, egg yolks and vanilla and give a quick mix. Sift together the flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl, then carefully fold it into the egg mixture with a metal spoon until everything is incorporated. The mixture should look quite pale and glossy. 

Divide the mixture between the two tins and bake for approximately 15 minutes until risen, golden and firm to touch. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before turning out to finish cooling on a wire rack. Sandwich together with chopped strawberries, jam and whipped cream. Serve with a dusting of icing sugar.

nutella chocolate chip cookie dough no churn ice-cream!

Well if I thought my last post had a long winded title this one is even more ridiculous. But yaaaay, ice-cream!

After seeing Kate's no churn ice-cream a couple of weeks ago I knew I had to make some too. The recipe suited me perfectly: satisfyingly simple and plain enough to pimp up with extra flavours.

Naturally Nutella had to be added to the ice-cream party. Nutella *and* chocolate chip cookie dough? Take that, Ben 'n' Jerry's!

Unlike Kate I used an eggless cookie dough recipe as I tend to feel wary about eating or serving a sizeable amount of raw egg mixture. Folk are probably going, "woah woah woah, don't you always scrape the baking bowl like every greedy baker?" Yup, I do. I'm aware I contradict myself as I could still get salmonella from a small amount of raw egg mixture, but in my head it seems more acceptable and less risky.

The cookie dough chunks actually taste similar to those found in Ben 'n' Jerry's ice-cream which is great and the ice-cream itself is super chocolatey, rich and almost mousse-like when it softens. My only complaint is that it tastes a little bit powdery so the amount of cocoa powder in the recipe could be reduced. Perhaps I would add more Nutella too. After all, when is adding more Nutella ever a bad thing? 

I don't think this beats proper ice-cream, but for something quick, chocolatey and cheat-y this is very satisfying. It doesn't crystalise either which is great, although it is a beast to get out of the freezer tub!

(Note to self: invest in a proper ice-cream scoop.)

Nutella chocolate chip cookie dough no churn ice-cream

Recipe is a combination of BBC Good Food (via What Kate Baked) and The Noshing Bride

cookie dough:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I used light muscovado)

2 tbsp softened (slightly salted) butter

few drops of vanilla extract

1 1/2tbsp milk

1/3 cup plain flour

1/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Combine the butter and sugar and mix for about a minute. Stir in the vanilla, milk and flour before adding the chocolate chips. (I actually wanted a slightly stiffer mixture so I added more flour.) Clingfilm and set in the fridge for half an hour to firm up.

ice-cream:

1/2 a 397g can of sweetened condensed milk

600ml double cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp cocoa powder

1/4 cup nutella spread

(any remaining chocolate chips!)

Whisk the cream until a thick consistency similar to clotted cream. In a separate bowl combine all the other ingredients (except the chocolate chips) before mixing into the cream. Stir in the chocolate chips and scrape the mixture into a freezer container/loaf tin and cover with a lid or clingfilm. Freeze until solid. I left mine in overnight.

strawberry and cream scones

It's Wimbledon season which can mean only one thing... it's time for strawberries and cream! Clichéd food blogger sitting right here.

There's little I love more in the summer than watching Roger Federer run about on a tennis court whilst I eat strawberries and cream from the comfort of my sofa. The only problem is when he does a shirt change as I run the risk of spilling food down my front due to the excitement. Anyway, I digress.

If I can stop myself from eating all the strawberries and cream as they are, I like to put them in scones. Add a dusting of icing sugar on top and the scones transform into something rather luxurious.

There's not much else I can really say about strawberry and cream scones, it's just a really good thing which everybody should make in the summer. I have a tendency to spread a lot of strawberry jam on my scone. What can I say, I like a bit of scone with my jam.

Scone-making used to be a skill which eluded me. I usually left them for my Mum to make as mine never turned out quite right. It's that balance of giving the mixture a light fold without over handling it. However, last year I became determined to master scone-making and after some practise, mostly making cheese scones to eat along with homemade soup, I think I've just about cracked it. :)

For my scones I used my Granny's recipe, which is this recipe but minus the dates. Mmmm date scones. Perhaps I need to bake another batch...