rugby ball birthday cake

I'm back with the next installment of "weird things I end up making as cakes for my nephews' birthdays." Last year for middle nephew it was rolling individual grains of rice from fondant for a curry themed cake and this year it was defying the laws of gravity with a rugby ball cake standing on its end. As you do.

After my usual Google images research I made the lower half of the "ball" as a marshmallow rice Krispies no bake for a solid lower structure. I'm still new to this common baking technique so didn't have full faith it would support the cake, but it did the job brilliantly.

For the cake I used a standard Victoria sponge mix baked in 6" round cake pans. Once sandwiched together with butter icing and jam (rhubarb jam, obviously courtesy of my rhubarb empire) I carved it into a dome. I even made a bonus mini "14" cake with the spare sponges I ended up not needing for the main cake. 

For the rice krispie lower half I pressed the mixture into a cereal bowl for a mould as the diameter more or less matched the cake tins. I also pressed some of the mix into one of the tins for a layer of extra height as I wasn't convinced the bowl was deep enough. This is the bake mid construction:

I have no idea why this photo uploaded sideways, sorry!

The flat bottom of the bowl created a solid base for the structure and I figured as I was intending to present the ball cake sitting on a kicking tee (also made from the rice Krispies mixture) it would look like it was sitting in the tee rather than a ball with a chopped off bottom.

I have to admit that despite my best efforts the kicking tee was not completely level and immediately after I finished taking my photos the cake toppled off the "tee", rolled off the worktop and onto the floor! It was one of those dramatic, slow motion, "noooooo" moments as I couldn't get to it in time to catch it. . . 

Somewhat miraculously the cake landed with a thud, unharmed?! How it stayed in one piece is beyond me, it barely even marked the fondant. I am both stunned and grateful that it didn't splat onto the floor in pieces minutes before leaving the house for the birthday party.

The fondant isn't my finest work as it tore as soon as I draped it over the cake but I patched it up the best I could and moved on with my life. In hindsight I probably should have applied the fondant in sections (like a rugby ball skin, I guess!) as the joins would have been covered by the coloured bands but I'm happy with the overall look I achieved.

The birthday boy was suitably impressed, mostly that it was a Scottish ball (which was an important detail) and the cake tasted good. It's definitely one of the most interesting cake cross section photos I've taken.

In the interest of not excluding eldest nephew's cake from earlier in the year, I made a UFC belt birthday cake. He was thoroughly delighted with it too. 

It amuses me that even at 14 and 16 they still want to continue the tradition of silly birthday cakes from their daft aunty. They're not too cool for me yet!

lemon and blackcurrant cake

I've had the lemon and blackcurrant cake from the Clandestine Cake Club book bookmarked since it came out 10 years ago but have always been unable to make it as I couldn't get my hands on any blackcurrants. 

Not anymore! In addition to the "rhubarb empire" we inherited an established blackcurrant and gooseberry bush in our new garden so my lemon and blackcurrant cake dream finally became a reality! (More on the gooseberries another time.)

This cake did not disappoint, it was well worth the wait. Good job, as I had baked it for a family birthday. The sponge itself is almost pudding-like: slightly heavier and juicier in texture compared to a Victoria sponge due to the addition of blackcurrants and ground almonds and also a lemon drizzle soak. 

The blackcurrant coulis/quick jam was also outstanding. What a flavour and colour! I will admit to not quite having enough blackcurrants for it (guilty of eating too many blackcurrants through the week) so I subbed in some fruit from a bag of mixed frozen summer fruits, picking out the blueberries, blackberries and blackcurrants to keep the dark purple colour.

I can see myself making this cake every year which is a lovely thing to look forward to each summer. If you have blackcurrants or can get access to any then I highly recommend trying this recipe. I also recommend serving the cake with fresh berries and cream!

Lemon and blackcurrant(ish) cake 

Recipe mildly adapted from Clandestine Cake Club by Lynn Hill

Sponges:

250g Softened butter (I used Stork baking margarine)

250g Caster sugar

4 large eggs

250g Self raising flour

50g Ground almonds

Zest of 1 lemon

100g Blackcurrants 

Lemon soaking syrup:

Juice of 1 lemon

2 tsp caster sugar

Coulis/jam filling

500g Blackcurrants (I only had 350g of fresh blackcurrants left so topped up the amount with a bag of frozen berries)

Approx. 100g Caster sugar (sweeten to taste)

Preheat the oven to 190C/ 170C Fan/gas mark 5 and grease and line x3 8" (20cm) round cake tins with baking parchment.

Beat together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour along with the lemon zest and ground almonds and mix until fully combined. Gently fold in the blackcurrants. 

Divide the cake batter between the 3 tins and smooth the tops evenly. Bake for approx. 20 minutes or until pale golden, well risen and firm to touch.

While the cake is in the oven, make the lemon syrup. Heat the lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan on the hob until the sugar has dissolved and the mix becomes syrup-y. Remove from the hob and leave to cool then drizzle over/brush onto the cakes a few minutes after they have come out the oven.

For the berry filling, put the blackcurrants and caster sugar in a saucepan over a low heat. Cook until the mixture turns into a thicker, jam-like consistency, roughly 5 minutes. Take off the hob and leave to cool.

Once both the sponges and filling are cool, assemble together by spreading the jam over two sponges then stack them on top of each other, then top with the remaining sponge. Finish with a dusting of icing sugar if you fancy extra flourish.

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.

world flags cake

I interrupt the Adventures with Rhubarb series with a flag cake I made for my youngest nephew's birthday last month. 

He's absolutely obsessed with flags so requested a flag themed cake, the only specification being the inclusion of the Scottish flag. I was admittedly relieved the cake wasn't going to be a complicated sculptural affair, "just" flags stuck on a standard shaped cake.

As usual I underestimated the length of time it would take to roll and cut out all the different fondant colours for making all the flags. I baked the cake (a standard Victoria sponge) the night before, thinking I would easily finish it the following morning. I started shortly after 9am and got my conveyor belt assembly station set up. . . And was finished by 2.45pm. You'd think I'd learn from over 10 years experience of making my nephews' birthday cakes that fondant is fiddly and ALWAYS TAKES LONGER THAN I THINK.

I do find it funny the amount of time I spend making random things for my nephews' birthday cakes. In March it was hand rolling fondant rice grains, in May it was cutting out 60 flags. 64 if you also include the paper ones on cocktail sticks.

I largely only made flags which didn't have overly complicated details. (So no American flag, sorry Americans.) However I also purchased some writing icing pens which came in handy for adding extra colour within crosses or drawing a couple of small central motifs.

I got to eat Canada and Seychelles. Do not ask me to name any more flags as I've already forgotten most of them!

Needless to say the cake was a raging success and the birthday boy had fun identifying all the flags. For a fairly simple idea it made an effective, colourful cake.

Adventures with rhubarb part 3: a failed loaf cake

Well this is embarrassing. After declaring in my last post that the only thing I was decent at baking was cake, here I am with a dud.

I suspected there was far too much fruit/liquid going into the cake batter as I was making it, but trusted the recipe anyway.

I should have trusted my gut. This is one soggy cake.

It reminded me of the time I baked this raspberry and apple cake (shockingly, 11 years ago?!) It was definitely fully baked, but sank into a stodgy heap whilst cooling due to excessive moisture from the fruit.

It's a shame as this is actually a nicely flavoured cake, I might even heat it up with custard to see if that saves it. If I were to bake it again I'd only add a couple of spoonfuls of the stewed rhubarb. Actually, it wouldn't be dissimilar from this almond and rhubarb cake I've made previously.

I won't bother writing out the recipe, which came from The Hummingbird Bakery's Cake Days book, as I feel the almond cake I linked to above is a better almond and rhubarb cake recipe.

Ah well. You live and learn. I'm moving onto rhubarb chutney next.

Adventures with rhubarb part 2: the trials and tribulations of making jam

"You should enter The Great British Bake Off", they say.

Little do they know I can basically only bake cakes. I would barely last a week in the tent as I am rubbish at jam and scones and have pretty much zero experience with bread and pastry.

I have made jam two or three times previously and all overset to the degree they could be used as cement mortar or silicone sealant. I was convinced the thermometer lied so threw it out after my last attempt. My last attempt also burned to the bottom of the pan so I became convinced my preserving pan base wasn't thick enough either. 

After moving house and discovering we had a rhubarb patch and gooseberry and blackcurrant bushes I knew it was time to conquer jam. I'm clearly not a natural, but determined nonetheless to learn. Luckily the sheer size of the rhubarb patch allows me to experiment without feeling like I've wasted too much money or precious fruit.

Armed with a different pan, new digital thermometer and a new recipe book I was ready to go!

Things I've learned about jam making in the last week:

I need a better preserving pan. I used my big Denby casserole dish this time as it has a heavy, thick base but it isn't quite tall enough for boiling jam as jam sparked EVERYWHERE. My kitchen was very sticky last week!

105C is not the "golden number" for jam setting, it's a rough guideline. I only found this out after reading "the basics" beginning section of my new jam making book, The National Trust Book of Jam. It was one of those penny dropping/light bulb moments and I suspect this could be where I've gone wrong in the past. Learning to "read" my jam will undoubtedly come with experience. For my rhubarb jam I discovered 102 - 103C was the best setting point.

Every jam is different, even when you're using the same recipe. It won't necessarily set the same even if you take it off the boil at the same temperature you used last time.

Pectin. Learn about pectin as this is what makes your jam set. Some fruits like strawberry and rhubarb are low in pectin, therefore need added pectin to help the jam set. This can be done by either using jam sugar (as opposed to granulated) and/or citrus like lemon juice. For my first batch I used jam sugar, but as I already had lemon and orange in the jam I found it made a firmer set. For subsequent batches I used half jam sugar and half granulated sugar and I felt it worked better.

For a complete jam novice I'm really pleased with my three attempts. Although the first batch is perhaps a bit too dark/over boiled, none of them are disasters. They are all edible and that's a vast improvement from previous attempts.

Batch 2 is definitely my best effort. I was initially worried it was under set but after spreading some on a scone (not baked by myself, as I said earlier, I'm crap at scones) I decided that it's actually spot on. It's incredibly tasty. There is something rather special about homemade jam.

Like the stewed rhubarb, the orange really lifts the rhubarb flavour in this jam. It's definitely a recipe I'm looking forward to perfecting over the years with my rhubarb patch.

There are also recipes for rhubarb and raspberry jam and rhubarb and strawberry jam in the National Trust Jam book which I'm keen to try later in the year. The Man and I have transplanted our young raspberry bushes and strawberry plants from our old garden so hopefully we'll have home grown raspberries and strawberries to enjoy with our home grown rhubarb in years to come.

Rhubarb, orange and ginger jam

Recipe from National Trust Book of Jam

 

1 kg rhubarb, washed and cut into 2cm slices.

1.1kg sugar (I used 500g jam sugar and 600g granulated sugar)

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 large orange

55g drained stem ginger in syrup

Start your prep the night before you intend to make your jam:

Layer up the chopped rhubarb, sugar and lemon zest in a large glass bowl then pour the lemon zest on top. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a cool place to soak overnight. Stir it before going to bed then again the following day before using.

Place the orange in a small saucepan and pour in enough water to almost cover it or at least half cover. Bring to the boil and simmer until the orange has softened, about an hour. Remember to turn the orange every so often to ensure it cooks evenly. Leave to cool in the pan and set aside.

The following day, wash and sterilize 4-6 glass jars and lids then place them on trays in the oven at a low heat, around 100C, while you prepare the jam.

Tip the rhubarb sugar mixture into your preserving pan. Put it on a low to medium heat and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Meanwhile drain the softened orange (discarding the water) and roughly chop it up. Chuck it in a blender with the stem ginger and blend into a paste. Alternatively, chop finely. Tip this mixture into the jam pan once the sugar has dissolved.

Now bring your pan to the boil, remembering to stir every so often and remove any scum which forms at the edge of the pan. It'll take about 10 minutes to thicken and come to a setting point, around 103 - 105C.

When you think it's ready take the pan off the heat and dab a small amount of jam onto a cool saucer then set the saucer in the fridge for 5 minutes. Push your finger through the cooled jam; if the jam "wrinkles" and leaves a trail, it's ready. If not, put the pan back on the heat and boil for longer.

Take the jars out the oven and ladle jam into them, filling right to the top. Put the lids on tight (or cover with waxed discs and cellophane tops with elastic bands) and add labels, naming and dating your jam. Store your jam in a cool place and keep in the fridge once opened.

Adventures with rhubarb part 1: stewed rhubarb and orange

I moved house at the end of last year. (I don't recommend selling, buying and moving house three days before Christmas, it was stressful.)

The garden at the new house, rather excitingly, has mature fruit bushes and a ginormous rhubarb patch. This is just my first gathering of rhubarb this year, I can already see I'll need to pick more in a few weeks time.

And what do you do when you inherit a rhubarb empire? Stew it, make crumbles and (try to) make jam!

Usually I stew rhubarb simply with sugar, occasionally pimping it up with ground ginger, cinnamon or vanilla extract, but this time I decided to follow a BBC Good Food recipe which added the zest and juice of an orange.

This flavour combination is a complete revelation, I don't know why I've never thought to pair orange with rhubarb. The orange lifts the tart rhubarb and gives it a sweet zing. It's insanely tasty. Even the Man had to admit it was delicious and he doesn't particularly like rhubarb. 

We enjoyed our stewed rhubarb and orange at the weekend with plain yoghurt and a handful of flaked almonds. A quick, fresh and simple dessert.

And this concludes part 1 in my rhubarb adventures. Stay tuned for part 2: the trials and tribulations of jam making.

Stewed rhubarb with orange

Recipe from BBC Good Food

500g-600g rhubarb, chopped into 2cm wide chunks

100g (ish) of caster sugar

Zest and juice of one orange

2 tbsp water

Put everything in a saucepan and simmer over a low heat until the rhubarb is softened but not mushy, around 8 minutes. Serve warm or cold alongside plain yoghurt, ice cream or custard.