Vanilla and Chocolate Cake

This cake is sooo tasty you have to try it, I promise you will not be disappointed. 

Ingredients

Vanilla Sponge (bottom layer) ( inch cake tin)

<Bake this cake first as it take longer to cook>

450g Soft butter

450g Caster sugar

450g Self-raising flour

8 Eggs

6 tbsp Milk

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Chocolate sponge (top layer) ( inch cake tin)

225g Soft butter

225g Caster sugar

450g Self-raising flour

4 Eggs

3 tbsp Milk

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

3 Tbsp Cocoa Powder

Vanilla Buttercream Icing

600ml Double Cream

300g Icing Sugar

3 tsp Vanilla Extract

Recipe

1. Heat oven to 180C/fan assisted oven160C.  

2. Grease the cake tins and line the bottom with a circle of greaseproof paper. If you want to make life easy, simply put all the ingredients into a food processor and whizz for 1-2 mins until smooth. 

3. If you prefer to mix by hand, beat the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Fold through the flour, milk and vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth. Add Cocoa Powder at the end for the chocolate sponge.

4. Tap the bottom on your work surface to ensure that there aren't any air bubbles.

5. Bake the Vanilla cake for 60 minutes, reduce heat after 25 minutes to 130C

6. Bake the Chocolate cake for 30 minutes at 160C.

7. Once ready, allow to cool before assembling. 

Icing

1. Pour the double cream into a bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until thick.

2. Whisk in the icing sugar until the mixture is stiff.

3. Stir in the vanilla extract

Assembling cakes & Decoration

1. Place the Vanilla cake onto a serving plate and cut of the top of the cake so it is flat. ( I eat this part whilst decorating the cake, simply irresistible ;) )

2. Get your icing and place it into a piping bag and pipe on around the top of the vanilla cake then fill the centre. 

3. Place the Chocolate cake on top. 

4. Pipe swirls and roses or any design onto the rest of the cake and decorate with macarons and fresh fruit. 

A cake to make an impression... DONE!

xx

Vanilla Macarons

Macarons.. A classic french delight. Apparently they are most challenging dessert to make and so I thought it was about time to give them a try. I researched many different recipes for the Macarons and eventually I combined a few recipes and tips to come up with the perfect recipe. So.. Let see how they are done...

Essential Tips for a Successful Macaron 

1.  Make sure you run through all the ingredients with a sieve so that everything is finely ground and powdery as possible which will give you that smooth macaron and make them really light. 

2. After you have sieved the ingredients you will be left with whole pieces of almonds that didnt make it through the sieve. These you want to discard.

3. Make sure your egg whits are at room temperature as this is critical to make a stiff egg white. ( You can create a room temperature egg by submerging them into a jug of warm water, leave for 5 minutes and you will have room temperature eggs )

4. Mixing stage: If you over mix you will end up with a macaron that is flat without the little ridges around the bottom and that is the mark of a true macaron. If you undermix, then you will be left with a macaron that will crack on the top.

5. Bang the trays on your kitchen top to pop the air bubbles in the macaroons. Bang a couple times and then turn the tray around and bang another couple times.

6. Leave to rest for 20-30 minutes before placing into the oven. 

Ingredients

4 Large Egg Whites or (5 small) (140g)

70g Caster Sugar

230g Icing Sugar

120g Ground Almonds

Tiny Pinch of Salt

250ml Double Cream 

2tsp Vanilla Extract

250g Icing Sugar

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees (130 in a fan assisted oven)

2. Place the egg whites into a a bowl and mix with an electric mixer until they begin to turn white and fluffy and then slowly add the caster sugar. Mix until they are stiff enough to turn the bowl upside down without it falling out.

3. Sift the ground almonds and icing sugar and salt TWICE. Discarding any almond lumps that are too big to pass through the sieve. 

4. Fold the sieved mixture into the egg white mixture using the spatula. To fold the mixture correctly make the figure 8 with the spatula until all the ingredients have been incorporated. The mixture should be smooth and very viscous, not running. 

5. Pipe onto trays lined with baking paper.

6. Bang the trays on the kitchen top firmly to make sure that any air bubbles into the mixture will pop preventing cracking. 

7. Leave them to then rest for 25 minutes.

8. Bake for 30 minutes ( check that one comes off cleanly, if not then bake for a little longer).

Whilst they are baking you can make the filling:

I made up my own vanilla filling, here how it is done. 

1. Pour the double cream into a bowl and whisk until thick, then add the icing sugar and whisk again until very thick and creamy. Add the vanilla and mix by hand. Place the contents into a piping bag and thats ready to go.

Bon Appetit 

xx

Vanilla and Chocolate Marble Cake

So this is actually a cake that I tried out at the weekend.. its simple, light, impressive and very tasty. Very addictive actually. I think my boyfriend and I finished half within one night. This is a truly fabulous cake that will impress anybody!

Recipe

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5557/chocolate-marble-cake

My Changes:

1. I cut down by half on the sugar. 

Decoration

1. Place about 50g of butter into a bowl, add 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder and icing sugar. The consistency you want is not to thick that it will get stuck in the piping bag, yet not to runny it will not hold its form. 

2. Pipe little rosettes around the border of the cake.

3. Place sliced fresh strawberries in the middle and dust with icing sugar. 

4. Now...DIVE IN! 

Pistachio and Raspberry Cake with White Chocolate Ganache

Pistachio and Raspberries make THE perfect couple.. add a White Chocolate Ganache Filling and Decoration and we are singing! Try this and you will not be disappointed... it is simply delicious!

Recipe

http://www.marthastewart.com/314110/pistachio-cupcakes-with-raspberries

I used this cupcake recipe to make this cake. However, instead of making cupcakes I put the batter into two separate cake tins. 

My Changes:

1. I made a white chocolate ganache for the centre filling, here is how it is done...

Ingredients

200ml double cream

420g white chocolate, finely chopped.

Method

1. Place the chopped white chocolate into a medium size microwave safe mixing bowl. Set aside while you heat the cream.

2. Heat the cream in a small saucepan until just boiling.
3. Pour the cream over the chocolate and leave to stand for two minutes. This will give the chocolate time to soften.
4. Stir the ganache until smooth. If all the white chocolate has not melted then place the bowl in the microwave and heat for 30 seconds. Remove and stir until smooth.

5. Leave the white chocolate ganache to cool. 

6. Whisk until stiff to a peak 

Decorating 

1. Once your cakes have completely cooled down, turn the first cake upside down so that the uneven end is at the bottom of the plate. 

2. Pipe the ganache as a border and then fill the rest of the cake with around 2 dessert spoons of ganache. 

3. Place the other cake on top of the filling. 

4. I then piped a border of ganache around the cake and placed torn up pieces of raspberries in between each fold.

5. Dust with icing sugar and sprinkle with chopped pistachios and there you have it! 

For piping techniques visit this youtube site for help:

http://www.howcast.com/videos/509136-Basic-Piping-Techniques-Cake-Decorating-Tutorials

xx

Ultimate Carrot Cake

So.. everyone loves carrot cake right? 

This is the carrot cake I made for my french boyfriend which he adored so get baking ladies ;) 

Recipe

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/18516/simple-carrot-cake.aspx

My Changes:

1. I reduce the amount of sugar to 200g. 

2. I reduce the amount of vegetable oil to 280ml

3. For the cream cheese icing I reduce the amount by half. 

4. I decorate the cake with grated carrot and chopped walnuts.

Easter Pavlova

Hello Hello,

So here goes, my first post...


This is a yummy Pavlova that I made for Easter for the family...

Recipe

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/easter_lemon_pavlova_99601

My Changes:

1. Instead of lemon curd I made a strawberry puree which I folded into the cream. To do this you need about 200g of fresh strawberries, chop them up and but them into a blender or puree them with a hand blender. 

2. Once you have whisked the double cream so you can put it over your head in a bowl without it falling out, marble in the strawberry puree.

3. Add this into the centre of the meringue and top it off with fresh sliced strawberries. Yummy!

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