punge

coconut & ginger cake

Nick loves coconut in all shapes and forms. I tend to be able to take it or leave it, but when it's done right, it's just sublime. I also stocked up on creamed coconut a while ago and love trying out all the recipes it can be used in. Creamed coconut comes in blocks like a solid block of lard, and is very oily. It can be dissolved down and used in place of coconut milk in cooking, or used "as is" in place of butter in baking. It's available in most supermarkets and is cheaper than coconut milk both in terms of unit price and by how far it goes when used in cooking.

Unlike my salted caramel coconut cake, this coconut sponge is quite moist, giving the overall cake a richness that is cut through excellently by the sharp-yet-sweet spiciness of ginger, making this an excellent pairing. The ginger butter cream, using fresh ginger juice, is a little more labour-intensive than other frostings, but have patience, it's not only totally worth it, but will also build up your biceps and triceps if you're old-school like me and don't have a food processor with a grater attachment!

This cake doesn't rise very much, so if you want a tall, altogether more impressive cake, double the quantities of the batter ingredients and bake in four tins instead of two. You should only need to increase the amount of frosting by half to accommodate these changes, to 270g butter, 270g icing sugar and 6tbsp ginger juice.

Coconut & Ginger Cake
Ingredients
Cake batter
3 eggs
80g (just over 3oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
100g (4oz) creamed coconut, at room temperature
150g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
40g dessicated (ground/shredded) coconut
110g (3/4 cup) plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Frosting
180g (7oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
180g icing (1 cup confectioner's) sugar
~200g / 8oz ginger (LARGE chunk) - you'll need to squeeze 4tbsp of juice from it.

Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C (electric/fan, 180°C gas, gas mark 4, 320-350°F).
Line two 8 inch sandwich tins with baking parchment, or coat with butter/oil and flour if they are springform tins.
Beat the butter, creamed coconut and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, alternating with a tablespoon of flour, and beating until just combined.
Gently fold in the remaining ingredients and divide amongst the tins.
Bake in the centre of the oven for approximately 25 minutes, until the centre springs back when pressed, and you can hear a fizzing sound. Cool in the tins for 5-10 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to finish cooling.

To make the buttercream, grate the ginger using a fine grater if possible (the finer the grater the more juice you'll be able to extract).
Squeeze the pulp to extract the juice. If you have a juicer it'll make much lighter work of this process.
Beat the butter and icing (confectioner's) sugar until light and fluffy.
On low speed, beat in 3 tbsp of the ginger juice, 1 tbsp at a time, until just incorporated, being careful not to overmix (or it'll go runny). Have a sneaky taste, and if you can stand more ginger, add the last tablespoon and give it a quick mix. If it's too runny to use straight away, refrigerate for about 30 minutes before sandwiching the cake together and covering with the frosting.

I've topped the cake shown with finely sliced crystallised ginger, which adds an ever stronger ginger kick, but isn't actually necessary.

Use any remaining juice in cooking, or dilute in a smoothie/cocktail. I have a feeling it would work well with lime juice and a mixer, but I'd avoid putting it directly into milky concoctions as it'd probably curdle!

I *think* they're looking forward to it...

almond & apricot cupcakes

Apricots are one of my unsung fruit favourites - I forget how much I like them until I have them again, which is rare. It seems to be the season for them at the moment, and while we're not growing any ourselves, they're relatively cheaply available, and make a nice summery addition to any baking repertoire. Apricots pair very well with almonds, but then almonds work with almost anything! Here's an incredibly satisfying recipe for the furry orange soft fruits we so rarely enjoy over here, and while it has several stages which may seem fiddly, it's worth it. If you have plenty of peaches then those will work just as well with the almond cupcakes, and be equally summery :)

As usual, this recipe is for a batch of 6 cupcakes. It scales up nicely according to your wishes. If you want to make a cake, tripling the recipe and baking in 2 or 3 8inch diameter sandwich tins lined with baking paper (or greased and floured if they are springform) for an equal amount of time as the cupcakes, should do the trick.

Almond & Apricot Cupcakes
Ingredients

Almond Cupcake batter (6)
40g caster sugar (slightly less than 1/4 cup, which would be 50g)
50g (2oz, 1/2 stick) butter or margarine
1 large egg
55g (generous 1/2 cup) self raising flour
40g (1/4 cup) ground almonds
1 tsp almond essence
pinch of salt

Apricot buttercream
2 apricots (approx 80g of flesh), chopped
100g (4 oz, 1 stick) unsalted butter
180g icing (1 cup confectioner's) sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C (electric/fan, 180°C gas, gas mark 4, 320-350°F)

Line a muffin tin with 6 muffin cases

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Beat in the egg
fold in the remaining ingredients
Divide among the cases (approx 35g / 3tbsp per case)
Bake for 20-25 minutes until risen, slightly golden and firm to the touch. A toothpick will come out clean and you'll hear a fizzing sound.
Allow to cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, fry the apricots in 1tsp of the butter till soft and slightly caramelised, about 5 minutes. Mash with a fork/spatula to loosen any remaining lumps.
Beat the remaining butter with the icing sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in the softened, cooled apricots and pipe onto your cupcakes, before devouring in a satisfyingly gluttinous frenzy.

a film for you!

Eagle-eyed among you will have spotted that most of my photos are taken by Nick Loven, my wonderful boyfriend and fantastic director/producer/head honcho of Crow's Eye Productions. On top of all these things, he's a massive nerd and has a real thing for Dr. Who, as do (and are) a lot of his friends, several of which are talented script writers to boot. They got together with the Loven family (Nick's uncle on sound and Nick's mum on costumes) and made a fantastic Dr. Who fan film, "The Mystery of Rorrim".

After months and months and months of hard graft, which included serious costumery by Pauline at Orchard House Wardrobe (check them out too, particularly if you are a fan of period costumes, the historical accuracy of period clothing right down to the last miniscule and expertly executed detail are breathtakingly astounding - real "period-costume porn" going on there!), the film is finally ready for full release, and you can watch it in all its splendid glory, totally free!

Enjoy, heartily, there will be cake next week (promise!) and for those of you that love it, yes, there's a second one on the way - filming starts this very day!

sticky rhubarb drizzle cake

With two stalks of rhubarb from our neighbours remaining, Nick came up with the bright idea of rhubarb drizzle cake, extracting rhubarb juice by cooking it, and using it in a similar way as lemon juice in a lemon drizzle tray bake. We love the way drizzle cake typically has a crunchy topping and tried to replicate that here, but rhubarb juice obtained by cooking rhubarb is very thick, so instead of sinking into the cake leaving only the sugar crystallising on top, it leaves a thicker, glossy glaze on the cake top, making it incredibly sticky and moist. An ice cold glass of milk cuts through the stickiness perfectly, and as there's no additional frosting, you don't have to wait for the cake to cool completely before digging in.

N&L's Sticky Rhubarb Drizzle Cake

Ingredients

300g (2 stalks) rhubarb

225g (9oz) butter or margarine

225g (1 cup) sugar

4 eggs*

250g (1 3/4 cup) self-raising flour

* I have it on good authority (thanks Mattijs!) that if you only have 2 eggs that will work if you add some milk (half a cup or more) to your batter too, it'll be slightly denser than here.

Method

Chop the rhubarb into 1cm chunks and place 250g (set aside the rest for later) of it in a pan on a medium heat, covered, for approximately 10 minutes. Strain gently through a sieve - you don't need to squeeze it.
Keep both the juice (it will yield approximately 50g) and pulp for use in the recipe.

Preheat the oven to 160°C (electric/fan, 180°C gas -mark 4, 320-350°F) and oil and flour an 8 inch cake tin (or line a 20cm square tin with baking parchment).

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time while beating, adding a little of the flour between additions of egg if the mixture becomes too runny.

Fold in the flour and rhubarb pulp from the juice extraction process. The batter should have a good dropping (but not pouring) consistency, if it is too thick, add a little of the extracted rhubarb juice.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Place the chopped rhubarb on the top and bake for 45 minutes, until the top is golden and the centre is firm. You should be able to hear a fizzing sound.

While the cake is in the oven, prepare the rhubarb drizzle by mixing the rhubarb juice with an equal weight of sugar (I had 56g - approximately 2oz of each).

When the cake is cooked, remove it from the oven and immediately skewer and spoon the rhubarb drizzle over the top.

Leave the cake in the tin to cool, at least slightly - if you're in a rush then 10 minutes in the fridge should do it!

rhubarb bake

Rhubarb season is coming to a close at the allotment, and while all of ours has failed to grow, our neighbours have been very generous with theirs. Here's a moist and chewy cake, inspired by a traditional Jewish-Polish cake that's usually made with apples (but works wonderfully with plums, and now also rhubarb) that doesn't need frosting (but you always could), making it perfect for cutting into chunks and taking for picnics. The masses of cinnamon make for incredibly homely smells while baking too. Make sure you use a high sided (>5ish cm) tin for baking it in, or line with greaseproof paper to a height greater than this, and place a baking sheet on the shelf below to catch any overspill - the batter looks flat but the cake rises and rises in the oven. Save any that does overflow - it's delicious!

Lydia's Rhubarb Upside-Down Bake
Ingredients
Batter
150g (1 cup) plain flour
240g (1 cup) caster sugar
2 large eggs
160ml (2/3 cup) apple juice
120ml (1/2 cup) vegetable oil (canola oil)
1tbsp ground cinnamon
1tsp vanilla extract
1tbsp and 1.5tsp baking powder

Rhubarb filling
240g (8.3oz, roughly 2 stalks) rhubarb, cut into chunks
1tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp caster sugar

Optional Icing
45g (1/4 cup confectioner's) icing sugar
up to 1.5tsp lemon/lime juice

Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C (electric/fan, 180°C gas -mark 4, 320-350°F). Line an 8 inch round tin / 20cm square tin with baking parchment to give a height of at least 6cm. If you have a springform pan with tall enough sides, buttering/oiling and flouring the tin will be sufficient.

Combine all the ingredients for the batter - beat until well combined, it will look quite elastic and flat, similar to pancake batter.
Place the rhubarb filling ingredients in a bowl and toss until all the rhubarb is well coated.
Place half the batter in the bottom of the baking tin and tilt the tin to allow the batter to roll its way to the edges.
Place the rhubarb pieces on top and drizzle the rest of the batter on top to cover the rhubarb.
Finally top with the remaining cinnamon/ginger/sugar mix that didn't stick on the rhubarb (there'll be quite a lot of it!) - when the cake is done it'll be turned upside-down and this sprinkling will be on the bottom, and the first thing to hit your tongue when you eat it!

Bake for 40-45 minutes, you'll hear a fizzing sound when it's done and the top will spring back. Don't worry that it's sunk in the middle - that's perfectly normal for this cake.
Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring, upside-down to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Be careful when removing the paper / bottom of the springform tin from the cake, as the rhubarb will have sunk and will be sticking - use a knife / spatula and patience.
Dust the top side (what was the bottom of the cake while baking) with icing sugar or drizzle with a glaze (add lemon juice a 1/4 teaspoon at a time to about 1/4cup confectioner's sugar, mixing, until you reach a drizzly icing consistency) . Also works well served with cream or ice-cream.

cherry jam

It's a sad fact that cherry trees in the UK are in decline, we've lost 90% of our cherry orchards in the last 50 years and now import 95% of the cherries we eat. I've had a good look around where I live, and sadly, most of the cherry trees are ornamental, yielding little or no fruit, and the fruit it brings is incredibly sour. Luckily, near where Nick's parents live there are a few very good places for cherry foraging, so this weekend we went a-raiding and came away with about 3kg of delicious, delicious cherries. We've saved about 30 seeds and plan to plant them up, then out, when it looks like they can fend for themselves.

With so many cherries we had meant to make jam, freeze some for cherry liquor, and some for tarts and pies. We got a bit carried away though and saved very few for liquor, and started making jam with the rest before we remembered the tart and pie plan. Oh well, guess we'll just have to go back and collect some more...

I've calculated the ingredients on a "per kilo of fruit" basis. Should work with any soft fruits.

Cherry Jam, makes ~1.3 litres, 2.3 pints

Ingredients

1kg (2.2lbs) cherries, de-stoned weight

770g sugar
1 sachet (13g) pectin

115ml (1/2 cup) water

35ml (2tbsp and 1tsp) lemon juice

Method

Place a small plate in the freezer, this will be used later to test whether the jam has reached setting point.

To sterilise your jars, immerse them in boiling water before drying in the oven on a low heat (~130°C, gas mark 1-2, 260°F) for approximately 10 minutes. Sterilise the (metal) ladle, funnel and/or perspex measuring jug you will use for pouring the jam into the jars in the same way.

Bring the fruit, water and lemon juice to the boil in a large saucepan and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes until the fruit is tender.

Reduce the heat and add the sugar and pectin, stirring until dissolved.

Increase the heat and bring the mixture to a rolling (rapid) boil. Boil for 20-30 minutes.

To test readiness, spoon a teaspoon of the jam onto the chilled place and place in the fridge for 1 minute.

Remove plate from fridge and push your finger through the jam. If the jam in front of your finger wrinkles and generally feels jammy, it's ready, otherwise give it another 5 minutes boiling time and test again, repeating until setting point is reached. Remove the froth/scum on the surface with a spoon - this will result in a clear jam with a much nicer texture.

Pour into your sterilised jars, et voila! Jam!

cherry liquorice cupcakes

Apparently it was national cherry day 3 days ago (16th July), something that was drawn to my attention by the botanical baker blog. As it happens, we had foraged some cherries that were sitting happily in the freezer only a few days before that. I love cherries, and I'm really looking forward to more foraging this weekend in a spot in Lincolnshire we know to be fantastic, and the jam-making that follows.

I don't know where the idea came from but I was convinced that cherries and liquorice should go well together. This proved to be yet another combination that, when suggesting it to Nick, was met with a pause, a confused-disgusted look, and a quiet escape of "um...". But I have faith. Scouring the internet for liquorice/cherry cake recipes I wasn't that surprised that I couldn't find the combination already there. Nor was I surprised that liquorice cupcakes do, most commonly, contain liquorice. But I don't have liquorice at home and it's rare that I want to go shopping, especially as my car's MOT has expired and isn't booked in for its test 'till Tuesday, which it'll probably fail so miserably that it'll be sayonara to Mike II. But I digress.

Apple & Spice mentioned that liquorice cake using melted/disolved liquorice has a treacle flavour to it, so I figured that using treacle should imbibe a liquorice taste too. Sweetapolita.com described an aniseed extract frosting that didn't repel the liquorice-haters but was satisfying liquorice-y for it's admirers.

Sweetapolita also nicely links liquorice with almonds, which everyone knows goes well with cherries. I felt a mix of treacle and star anise (I know star anise isn't the same thing as aniseed, but both have a liquorice taste) would be the best way to go to avoid the treacle making the cake too dense and sticky but give it enough moisture.

I couldn't decide between a liquorice cake with cherry frosting, or a cherry cake with cherry jam filling and a star anise frosting. I actually started preparing the star anise-infused milk for the frosting before changing my mind and using it for the sponge instead. So here it is, my non-liquorice liquorice cake with cherry frosting. The recipe is for 6 cupcakes, as I have a tendency when trying out recipes to decrease the batter to the minimum possible (i.e. 1 egg's-worth), so multiply up for your "needs"! If you want to make an 8" cake instead of cupcakes then triple the quantities given below (both for the batter and frosting), baking for the same amount of time as cupcakes in two sandwich tins.

This cake is light and airy yet moist, and while some people can't taste the anise at all (freaky taste-buds, Andy!), for others it's quite pleasantly noticeable. Either way, everyone who's tried it has loved it, including two non liquorice-lovers! Enjoy!

Lydia's cherry liquorice cupcakes
(suitable for liquorice-haters!) makes 6

Ingredients
Cake Batter
60g (2oz) margarine or butter
60g (2oz, 1/4 cup) caster sugar
1tbsp treacle (blackstrap molasses)
1 large egg
1 tsp almond extract
115g (3/4 cup) self-raising flour
60ml (1/4 cup) milk (or 40ml = 2tbsp+2tsp milk if you have an electric grinder for the star anise)
1 star anise, ground (~1.5tsp ground), if you don't have a grinder, use 2-3 star anise

Cherry Frosting
90g (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
180g icing (1 cup confectioner's) sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
1tbsp kirsch/cherry liquor (cherry juice/flavouring/extract should also work)
40g fresh/tinned cherries (stoneless weight, approx 20 small cherries), chopped

With a swirly frosting as pictured, you should still have some frosting left at the end, so you can get away with decreasing the quantities slightly. If you're doing a thinner coating of frosting (i.e. spreading it on) you can get away with making just half of the frosting quantity.

Method
If you have an electric grinder, grind your star anise to a fine powder and set aside and ignore the simmering milk stage. Otherwise, simmer the star anise in the milk for 10 minutes and allow to steep, cooling, for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 160°C (electric/fan, 180°C gas - mark 4, 320-350°F).
Line a cupcake tin with cupcake cases / line 2 8inch sandwich tins with greaseproof paper or grease with butter and coat with flour (if you have springform tins).

Beat the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat to incorporate.
Fold in the flour (with the ground star anise if you had a grinder), then the treacle, almond extract and 40ml (2tbsp and 2tsp) of the milk (remove whole star anise if used, you can strain out the ground star anise if you wish, but it's not necessary).
Divide among the cases and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the centre of the cake(s) are firm and springy to the touch.
Allow to cool fully before frosting - for the cake, cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes before transferring, upside-down, on a wire rack.

To make the frosting, beat the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy.
Add all the liquid (if your cherries have seeped liquid, then add this too but subtract the amount from the amount of kirsch you add so that the total volume of liquid added does not exceed 1tbsp and 1/2 tsp, otherwise the frosting will be too runny, and is very likely to curdle) and the chopped cherries before beating again until incorporated. Be careful not to overbeat the frosting as it will become runny.

Yum!

cold-brew coffee cake

With a small tub's worth of last week's frosting surviving the week's biscuit needs, salted caramel buttercream was always going to be the frosting of choice for this week's adventure. And having come across the idea of cold-brew coffee a few months ago, I've been meaning to try a batch for a long time. Cold-brew coffee is brewed over 12-24 hours at room temperature before use, and because no hot water comes into contact with the coffee grounds, the acids aren't leached into the liquid, resulting in a much smoother taste, and fewer gastric side effects. For those interested in the caffeine content, cold-brew coffee also contains less caffeine than hot-brewed coffee gram for gram. The main reason for cold-brewing coffee over hot-brewing and then cooling is that coffee that's gone cold tastes rank, owing to the bitter acidic compounds that are extracted with hot water. So for a decent iced coffee, this is the way. I'm not sure it matters as much if you're using it in a cake, especially as the subtler flavours in coffee that you get to taste with the cold-brew method, were you to drink it instead of bake it, are masked by the other cake ingredients. I've certainly used hot-coffee-gone-cold in cakes before and not had any problems with it, but hey, I was making some anyway.

The first attempt at this cake ended up with a very subtle coffee flavour, especially delicious straight from the fridge with slightly hardened frosting. Personally I wanted something more unmistakably coffee-ee, which the second batch was, though it mellowed over the next day. The recipe is for the full strength cake, but if you prefer a weaker version, decrease the amount of coffee used throughout the recipe by half. This cake has a couple more stages in it's making than other cakes - the cake is drizzled in a coffee/sugar syrup mixture which needs to be made beforehand and cooled, and the salted caramel frosting requires the caramel to be made and cooled beforehand too. It's worth it though.

Best a day after baking and frosting, and I imagine it would only get better over the next few days, but I can't personally vouch for that.

Lydia's Cold-Brew Coffee Cake
Ingredients
Cake Batter
120g (5oz) butter
300g (1 1/3 cups) caster sugar
2 eggs
120ml (1/2 cup) coffee (see below)
240ml (1 cup) plain yogurt
300g (2 cups) plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 tbsp white wine vinegar

Coffee
Cold-brew method: 300ml (1 1/4 cups) coffee grounds, 300ml water
or hot-brew-gone cold method: 240ml (1 cup) coffee grounds, 300ml off-the-boil water
or 240ml (1 cup) coffee made with espresso powder/wholebean instant coffee powder, I'd make double strength from what the manufacturer recommends as a starting point.

Sugar Syrup
60ml (1/4 cup, 4 tbsp) caster sugar
60ml water

Salted Caramel Frosting
125g (scant 2/3 cup) caster sugar
60ml (1/4 cup, 4 tbsp) water
80ml double cream or cream substitute like Elmlea
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g (10oz, 2 1/2 sticks, 1 1/4 cup) unsalted butter - softened (if you haven't the time to let it soften at room temperature, you can cut it up into small cubes and whisk it with a hand held mixer, or beat it in a standing mixer until softened)
300g (1 1/2 cups) icing/confectioner's sugar

Method
To make the cold-brew coffee, mix the grounds and the water, let stand for 10 minutes and mix again. Cover and leave at room temperature for 12-24 hours (I had time for a 15 hour wait) then strain and pass through a muslin cloth/cheese cloth to strain out the silty muck.

If making hot-brew-gone-cold method, brew as normal and leave to cool.

For the sugar syrup, bring the sugar and water to the boil in a pan while stirring to dissolve. Leave to cool.

To make the drizzle for the cakes, combine 1/4 cup (60ml, 4 tbsp) of sugar syrup with 1/4 cup of the coffee (if making the weaker version of the cake, make the drizzle up as described here, but use only half of it).

Preheat the oven to 170ºC, (325ºF, gas mark 3, electric oven, 180ºC - 350ºF gas 4 for gas oven).
Line two 8 inch tins with paper (a butter/oil and flour coating doesn't work quite so well for this cake).
Whisk the butter and sugar until smooth.
Beat in the eggs.
Add coffee and beat until smooth. It will be very runny at this stage.
Add half the flour and mix well before adding half the yogurt.
Repeat with the remaining flour and yogurt.
Add the salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar, and beat well.
Divide whatever batter avoids death by immediate eating between the two prepared baking tins and bake for 45-55 minutes (now's a good time to make the frosting), until the centres spring back and a skewer comes out clean. It'll have a fizzing sound when baked if you listen closely.

Immediately skewer it all over and pour the syrup/coffee mixture over the cakes (1/4 cup, 4 tbsp, for each layer. If you're making the weaker version of the cake, use only 2 tbsp per layer).
Allow to cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before turning out on a wire rack, upside down, to finish cooling.

For the salted caramel frosting, dissolve the caster sugar in the water over a low heat, before turning the heat up and cooking for 2-3 minutes. The caramel will be bubbling, slightly golden in colour, and thickened. Slowly pour in the cream while stirring - be careful as it will splatter. Once mixed, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract and salt and allow to cool. Whisk the butter with the icing sugar until light and fluffy, then add the cooled caramel and blend until just combined.

To assemble, sandwich the two cake layers together with frosting, and cover with a thin layer. Refrigerate for about an hour before adding a second, thicker layer of frosting. This 2-stage process gives a "crumb coating" and will help prevent stray cake crumbs from appearing on the outside of the cake. It's not strictly necessary, but it does look neater, especially with such a crumbly sponge.

Enjoy chilled, with yet more coffee, either brewed the normal way, or using what remains of the cold-brewed coffee, diluted around 1:4 with cold water/ice/milk and a dash of sugar syrup to taste.

salted caramel coconut cake

Following on from last week's warm spice cake with black pepper in the frosting, I really wanted to make a salt and pepper cake this week, admittedly because I think it sounds cool. I think it'll taste awesome too, think spicy gingerbread topped with salted caramel frosting. Mmmmm. I don't know why I didn't go for that in the end, perhaps because the weather in the UK is finally starting to look like the July it is and a gingerbread/caramel combination is a bit too wintry for right now. In any case I had salted caramel on my mind, and with the allotment bursting with strawberries, something was calling me to combine the two together. In my mind, the sponge could basically go one of two ways to support such a flavour combination without overpowering it, either a plain vanilla sponge (not really my style), or coconut. Coconut it is :)

So here it is, a somewhat cacophonous sounding combination of flavours - coconut cake topped with salted caramel buttercream and balsamic vinegar & pepper-glazed strawberries. The flavours combine exceedingly well, each subtly announcing its presence before bowing out to allow another flavour to come in and say "Hi!". I'm glad it happened, I think it's lovely, and will go very nicely with a good cup of Earl Grey.

Lydia's Salted Caramel Coconut Cake
Ingredients
Cake batter
3 eggs
175g (0.8 cups) caster sugar
125g (1 scant cup) plain flour
190g (2 scant cups) shredded coconut
1 tsp vanilla extract

Frosting
125g (scant 2/3 cup) caster sugar
60ml (1/4 cup, 4 tbsp) water
80ml (1/3 cup) double cream or cream substitute like Elmlea
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g (10oz, 2 1/2 sticks, 1 1/4 cup) unsalted butter - softened (if you haven't the time to let it soften at room temperature, you can cut it up into small cubes and whisk it with a hand held mixer, or beat it in a standing mixer until softened)
300g (1 1/2 cups) icing/confectioner's sugar

Filling & Topping
150g (~1/2 cup) strawberry jam
7 medium strawberries, cut into chunks
2 tsp caster sugar
1/4 tsp balsamic vinegar
4-5 twists black pepper (freshly ground)

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C / Gas 4 - electric oven, slightly higher if using gas).
Line two 8 inch pans (for springform pans, a light brushing with vegetable/sunflower/canola oil and coating of flour will be fine, otherwise line with greaseproof paper).

Place eggs and sugar in a heatproof bowl and whisk over a simmering pan of water (make sure the water level is low enough that it doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl) until thick, creamy and the whisk leaves a trail when lifted out.

Remove from heat, add the vanilla extract and continue whisking for 2-3 more minutes.

Gently fold in the flour and coconut with a metal spoon, being very careful not to over-blend - otherwise the cakes won't rise well and will turn out quite chewy. Don't worry too much if you do overdo it though, it'll still taste delicious, it'll just give your jaw more of a workout!

Divide the mixture between the two pans, levelling with the spoon. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until firm to the touch.

Cool in tins for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks (upside-down) to finish cooling.

To make the buttercream, dissolve the caster sugar in the water over a low heat, before turning the heat up and cooking for 2-3 minutes. The caramel will be bubbling, slightly golden in colour, and thickened.

Slowly pour in the cream while stirring - be careful as it will splatter. Once mixed, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract and salt. Allow to cool (you can pour the salted caramel sauce onto a plate and place in the fridge or freezer - this will take about 5-10 minutes to cool sufficiently).

Whisk the butter with the icing sugar until light and fluffy, then add the cooled caramel and blend until just combined. I find that if using a standing mixer, it's best to turn the mixer off and add the caramel to the buttercream in one go before continuing to blend, otherwise the caramel gets caught on the paddle and doesn't mix into the buttercream as quickly, which can result in a runny, over-beaten frosting.

To assemble the cake, spread the jam over one layer of cake, top with a generous dollop of salted caramel buttercream and place the other layer on top. The sponge itself can be quite dry as it's meringue based, so it can afford a really generous filling! For the smoothest finish, cover the cake in a thin layer of buttercream and allow this to set in the fridge for ~30 minutes before covering the cake again in the remaining buttercream. This first layer acts as a "crumb coat" and prevents cake crumbs from "spoiling" the smooth appearance of the finished cake. This is mostly important if you've had to trim the cakes in any way, but if you're not bothered by a super-smooth finish, then you can bypass this step and coat the cake in one, thicker layer of buttercream.

Combine the strawberries with the sugar, balsamic vinegar and pepper, and spoon over the top of the cake, drizzling with the rest of the balsamic glaze that clings to the bottom of the bowl. You can also sprinkle the top of the cake with some more sea salt to add a pleasantly salty crunch.

Tuck in!

warm spice cake

Two of my nephews are graduating from university this year, and both from the fair city of Bristol, which is one of several awesome cities on the planet. The family descended on Bristol this past weekend for a celebratory gathering, and as is tradition, everyone brought a dish with them to share. In honour of one of my graduating nephews having spent some time in Sri Lanka recently, I wanted to make a chai latte cake, with a cardamom-based sponge topped with chai-spice buttercream. With its warm notes of cinnamon, ginger and cloves, evoking a "snuggle in an armchair" mood particularly apt for the wet and cold summer the UK is currently knuckling down through, what's not to love? There are many variations in the spices used in Indian chai-wallah, and it varies from region to region, so there's a lot of scope for experimentation. I liked the sound of using black pepper, to bring out a fiery note, and because it's just plain cool to say "oh yeah, there's pepper in the frosting."

As it turns out, what I came up with didn't taste chai-ee or latte-ee at all, and certainly not reminiscent of any sort of hot beverage when presented next to my niece's ridiculously good coffee macaroons, but rather took on a life of its own. I was slightly concerned that the spices were overpowering and would not be well received, but the praise just kept on coming! It turns out that this recipe's a winner, and boy am I stuffed now.

This cake is best described as a warm spice cake, with very strong cardamom and clove overtones (the amounts of these spices could easily be reduced if you want more input from the other spices). It's best served with a hot mug of coffee or tea, and enjoyed nesting down in a plush armchair with a good book.

Lydia's Warm Spice Cake
Ingredients
Cake batter
1 1/2 tsp ground cardamom (if you're grinding it fresh, about 30 pods should do it)
1 2/3 cups (360g) caster sugar
2 cups (275g) plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8oz (200g) butter/baking margarine (I use Stork) - butter at room temperature and unsalted
1/2 cup (125ml) milk (I use skimmed - 1% fat, but any sort is fine)
2 tsp vanilla extract
5 eggs, lightly beaten

Frosting
1 brown tea bag, steeped in about 100ml fresh-off-the-boil water, for about 10 minutes
~2 tbsp milk
2 1/2 cups (500g) icing sugar (confectioner's sugar in the US)
14oz (350g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tbsp + 1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp + 1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp ground black pepper (not so finely ground that it looks brown, if you have very finely ground pepper I suggest you start with just 1 tsp and adjust from there based on your own taste).
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method
Preheat oven to 300°F (150°C / Gas 2 - electric oven, slightly higher if using gas).
Line two 8 inch pans (for springform pans, a good rub with butter and coating of flour will be fine, otherwise line with greaseproof paper).

Combine cardamamom, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in the mixer bowl, then beat in the butter, milk and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy.

Continue to beat while adding the eggs.

When just combined, pour into the two prepared tins and bake for ~45 minutes, until the top is lightly browned, and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. The cake shouldn't wibble - if it does, it's not done yet. You'll also know it's perfectly done when there's a fizzing sound (like a glass of soda) if you listen closely.

Cool in pans for 5-10 minutes, then turn out, upside-down, onto wire racks to finish cooling. It also helps to place in the fridge for an hour or overnight (or freezer for half an hour if you're in a rush) before cutting and frosting.

To prepare the frosting, beat the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the spices and vanilla extract.

Make up the tea-infused water with enough milk to yield 120ml (scant 1/2 cup) and, once cooled, slowly add to the frosting while beating. If the mix starts to curdle, stop adding the liquid and add a little more icing sugar, about 1/4 cup (50g).

To assemble the cake, level the tops of the cakes with a sharp knife if necessary (which it might not be, if you let them cool upside-down), and slice each cake layer in two. Sandwich your now-four-layer-cake together using the frosting, and finish off by covering the top and sides with frosting too. If you're piping rose-swirls as I've done here, you'll probably need all the frosting, otherwise cover and refrigerate any that remains for naughtiness with cookies at a later date.

Enjoy!

lacy bakes

This year, Nick's grandparents celebrate their 60th anniversary. His family are scattered as far as Sweden and San Fran (ridiculously cool I know, and we've taken much advantage of this, spending time in such amazing places with the most amazing people!), so getting everyone together for such a momentous event is not easy. But most of the family was able to get together earlier this year and I was honoured to be asked to bake a cake for Pat and Arthur. As it was such a special occasion, we wanted an elegant cake that would be a showstopper in itself, so we opted for a two-tiered affair in white. Knowing they were firm favourites, the top tier was red velvet cake, and the bottom carrot cake, both from The Hummingbird Bakery cookbook, with a white chocolate buttercream. Searching for wedding cake inspiration uncovered this lacy number on Belle Amour, and it was love at first sight. I mean, look at the detailing, all those beautiful hours of love spent toiling over this magnificent cake, the texture screaming "touch me! STROKE ME!!!", and no matter how many other tabs I opened and liked the look of, this one kept calling me back. How hard could it be, right? As it turns out, it's not as hideously complicated as at first it looked, but my god does it take a lot of time. I have a tendency to underestimate the time required for almost every cake I bake, but it's not something that's ever bothered me. Until 2am, and the hundredth-or-so plunge of the cutter onto the icing, when my fingers were screaming in agony, and only half the cake was done. In these dark moments it's hard not to give up and just eat the thing, or at the very least have a design rethink and claim that "half-finished" is a very real style (and, incidentally, very fashionable). But the sugar-induced headache was already raging and, by pure coincidence, so would be the sugar-induced insomnia, and I was sort of nearly there anyway...

3am rolled by and I'd reached a stage where the cakes could be packed up, leaving the last bit of detailing between the tiers and around the base until the next evening when we arrived at Nick's parents, helped along with a glass or two of wine. The cake was topped off with a few sprigs of sugarpaste lily of the valley, which Pat had worn in her hair for the wedding all those years ago. Sadly these weren't handmade as it was too short notice, but the store-bought ones (from The Craft Company, but not currently available) worked well.

I knew it was all worth it when someone squealed "she MADE that?!!". Happy days :)

For Pat and Arthur, thanks for being an inspiration to us all.

P.S. This cake works well in the most unlikely of colours too, a friend requested this Jonathan Saunders (S/S12, so I'm instructed) -inspired combo for her birthday last month, in her favourite red velvet / white chocolate buttercream pairing. The simplified lace effect was much quicker, and just as nommy!

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