Black Forest Cake - Recipe

Our first cherries this year

Some days it's easy to misjudge how long things are going to take and I didn't allow enough time to make my cake, hence the Black Forest cake is a 'little messy' on the sides of the cake. Once the cream was 'set'  I couldn't clean up the outside of the cake.  On the positive side I don't want my cakes to look as though they have come off a production line - I like the homely side of baking.

There are quite a few stages to making the finished cake and lot's of kitchen equipment is used, which equals loads of washing up, the dishwasher was definitely my best friend when I made this cake.

First stage is the chocolate base which wasn't chocolatey enough but I have allowed for this in the recipe below.  Second stage is a chocolate layer which is spread over the sponge cake.  Third stage is to puree a half a jar of sugar free cherry jam,  I used half a jar of Cerises Griottes, Montmorency Cherries which was a purchase from Le Pain Quotidien, and spread this over the set chocolate, third stage is to make a set cream topping, fourth stage is to make chocolate shards.

I was brought up on frozen Black Forest Gateaux(which I loved at the time) and this cake is thankfully on another level.......

The tin needs to be lined so the cake can be easily lifted out

Dark Belgian Chocolate is melted and spread over the upturned sponge cake

At last I got round to using the jar of jam that has been sitting in my store cupboard

Cherries from my greengrocer and quickly made shards of dark Belgian chocolate

The chocolate sponge layer was a bit shy of that lovely chocolate taste
but this cake is amazingly delicious

You will need:  20cm square baking tin lined with baking parchment - the lining paper needs to come 5cm above the tin to enable the cooked sponge to be lifted out of the tin.

For the cake
3 Eggs
100g Caster Sugar
75g Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
25g Cocoa Powder

Fruit Layer
Half a jar of unsweetened Morello Cherry Jam
1 tbsp either Kirsch or Brandy

Chocolate Layer
70g Dark Belgian Chocolate (I used Waitrose)

Cream Topping
2 tbsp Kirsch or Brandy
5 tbsp Icing Sugar
2 Gelatine Leaves
200ml Whipping or Double Cream

1.  Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
2.  Beat the eggs and sugar together until a whisk leaves a trail.
3.  Sift over the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder and fold in gently.
4.  Pour the batter into the baking tin and bake for 30 minutes. Cool in the tin.
5.  Remove the cooled cake from the tin by holding the baking paper.
6.  Place the cake onto a plate.  Melt the chocolate carefully over a pan of simmering water.
7.  Pour the melted chocolate over the sponge and leave to set.  Place in the fridge to harden.
8.  Puree half a jar of cherry jam with a tablespoon of kirsch or brandy and carefully spread over the set chocolate.
9.  To make the cream: put the kirsch into a small saucepan with the sieved icing sugar and place on a gentle heat.  Soak the leaf gelatine as per the manufacturers instructions. Whilst the pan is still on a gentle heat, add the soaked gelatine and stir to dissolve in the kirsch/brandy and icing sugar mixture.  Whisk the cream to the floppy stage and fold in the gelatine mixture.  Spread the cream over the pureed jam.
10. Make the chocolate shards.  Once the shards have been made place them into the freezer - because they are so thin they can be difficult to handle.
11. Decorate the cream with cherries and the chocolate shards.
12. Eat and enjoy - best served with some runny double cream.

Coffee Crunch Bars - Recipe

Coffee Crunch Bars

I love coffee and cake and these small crunchy bites were a fabulous accompaniment to my mid- morning latte.  If I was able to choose one of these cakes in a coffee shop I'd be more than delighted.  The sponge layer is light and the coffee and spiced crunchy topping is drizzled with an espresso icing.

I buy espresso powder for baking but it can also be used in chilli con carne for richness, depth of flavour and colour.

Makes: 18

You will need:  18cm shallow square tin base and sides lined with baking parchment paper

For the cake:
55g Stork
100g Caster Sugar
1 egg
5 tbsp thick natural yogurt (if there is any whey place into a fine sieve to drain off the whey)
125g self raising flour
½ tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
½ tsp vanilla extract

Topping:
85g plain flour
70g unsalted butter
½ tsp ground mixed spice
1½ tsp espresso powder
70g caster sugar
pinch of salt


Icing:
85g icing sugar
1 tbsp made espresso coffee

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
2. Make the topping - into a bowl place the flour and butter into a bowl and rub the butter into the flour to resemble fine breadcrumbs.  Stir in the mixed spice, coffee and caster sugar.  Put on one side.
3. Make the sponge - add all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix for 2 minutes.
4. Pour the cake batter into the base of the prepared tin and level.
5. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter.
6. Bake for 35 minutes and test by inserting a skewer into the centre of the cake, if it comes out clean the cake is cooked.
7. Transfer the cooked tin to a cooling rack.  When the cake has cooled down - remove by holding onto the baking paper and placing on the cooling rack until completely cold.  When cold carefully remove the baking paper.
8. To make the icing - place the icing sugar into a bowl, gradually add the coffee.  If the mixture is too thick add a little water.
9. Place the cooled cake onto a board, cut into 18 pieces and drizzle over the icing.  Leave to set.

More recipe ideas using espresso powder
Cappuccino Cupcakes
Coffee Cappuccino Creams with Cream and Sweet Coffee Sauce

Mary Berry's Lemon Drizzle Cake - Recipe

Lemon Drizzle Cake with a Crunchy Topping

I've been making this recipe for more years than I care to remember.  It's easy to make, only requires a few ingredients, bakes well and freezes too - not forgetting it is amazingly delicious.

This last week I've been away from home and it doesn't leave any time for baking, but I just managed to find time to make this Mary Berry recipe.  There are lots of recipes for lemon drizzle but this one has a tender crumb and the granulated sugar topping is perfect.

Mary Berry calls these Crunchy Lemon Syrup Loaves

Instead of making loaf cakes use a small oblong tin and make a traybake
 or the batter can be used to make cupcakes

It can get a bit messy in my kitchen!

You will need:
2 eggs at room temperature
175g self-raising flour
175g caster sugar
100g soft margarine (Stork)
1 tsp baking powder
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
4 tbsp milk

For the crunchy topping:
100g granulated sugar
juice of 1 lemon (to get more juice from the lemon simply pierce the lemon and place in the microwave for 10 seconds)

2 x 450g loaf tins, greased and lined

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Beat together the soft margarine, eggs, flour, caster sugar,  milk, baking powder and lemon zest until smooth, using an ice cream scoop place the batter into the prepared loaf tins.
3. Bake for about 35 minutes until golden brown.  Place the tins onto a wire rack to cool.
4. Whilst the cakes are cooling, make the topping by mixing together the granulated sugar and lemon juice.
5. Leave the loaves in their tins and pour the topping over them.  Leave to cool before removing from the tins.

More Lemon Drizzle Cake Recipes:
This Year:          Almond and Lemon Drizzle Cake Bars
Four Years Ago: Lemon Drizzle Cake - National Baking Week

Easter Egg Cupcakes - Recipe

Easter Egg Cupcakes with Smashed Eggs

The blogosphere is on overload with Cadbury Creme Eggs recipes, but alas I'm not a fan of the Creme Egg.  The photographs and recipes I've seen though are enough to make me wish I was a Creme Egg fan.

I've used my favourite chocolate filled eggs because I'm happy that I can decorate my cakes and eat the eggs at the same time.

I made some of the cupcakes in muffin cases and others in a friand tin.

Makes: 12 chocolate cakes
You will need: 150g softened unsalted butter, 150g caster sugar, 150g self-raising flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 25g cocoa powder, 3 eggs

1. Line a 12 hole muffin tray with paper cake cases. Put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat for 2 minutes. Divide the mixture among the cases.
2. Bake in a preheated oven, 180°C for 20 minutes until they are risen and just firm to the touch. Transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool.

Chocolate Fudge Icing

You will need: 25g unsalted butter, 15g cocoa powder, 175g icing sugar, 2/3 tablespoons of milk.

1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Stir in the cocoa powder and cook, stirring for about 30 seconds until smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and gradually stir in the icing sugar and milk, mixing until smooth.
2. Return to the heat for 1 minute, stirring until it has a glossy pouring consistency, if it is too thick add a teaspoon of milk. Quickly spread the icing over the cakes whilst it is still warm. Top with mini eggs.

Raspberry Cheesecake - Recipe

No bake Mini Raspberry Cheesecake

These were supposed to be called raspberry rippled cheesecakes but my rippling wasn't great.  I've always liked cheesecake but I haven't made a cheesecake for some time now and these mini cheesecakes were really lovely and remind me of warm days. I used a silicone muffin tray which makes turning them out easy.

I'm suffering from 'writers block' and my posts are a 'little to the point' at the moment, hopefully I'll find something interesting to say in future posts - maybe I should say I fell into the raspberry canes in my fruit patch whilst picking the raspberries but I have to admit the raspberries came from the freezer cabinet in Waitrose!

Do you prefer bake or no bake cheesecake? I would be really interested to know.

Will they freeze?  I have no idea - they didn't get as far as the freezer but I can't see
a reason why they shouldn't freeze and thaw successfully.

Makes: 6 in a regular size silicone muffin tray or 12 in a silicone mini muffin tray

Ingredients:
55g butter
115g crushed digestive biscuits
3 tbsp water
2tsp powdered gelatine
150g raspberries + extra to decorate
2 tsp lemon juice
3 tbsp caster sugar
zest of 1 lemon
150ml double cream
150ml ready made custard
freeze dried raspberries to decorate

Method:
1. Melt the butter and add the crushed digestives. Place the silicone tray onto a metal tray. Divide the biscuit mixture between the six holes. Press the biscuit mixture down with the back of a spoon.  Place the tray in the fridge for an hour.
2. Place the water into a heatproof bowl, sprinkle over the gelatine, leave on one side for 5 minutes.
3. Puree the raspberries, then press through a plastic sieve to remove the seeds.
4. Place the bowl of gelatine in a saucepan of gently simmering water and heat for 5 minutes, stirring until the gelatine is a clear liquid.
5. Pour the cream into a bowl and whisk to soft peaks.  Fold into the custard with the grated zest of a lemon and the sugar.  Stir 1½ tablespoons of the gelatine into the raspberry puree and fold the remainder of the gelatine into the custard and cream mixture.  Pour the mixture into the muffin moulds.  Place blobs of the raspberry puree on top and taking a skewer swirl the mixtures together. Chill in the fridge for a few hours to set.
6. Remove the cheesecakes from the moulds and decorate with extra raspberries and freeze dried raspberries.

Hummingbird Cake - Recipe

The cake has to be stored in the fridge or cut into portions and freeze

The last three cakes I've made have used tinned crushed pineapple and thankfully I have now used up the last tin...........I chose to make this cake because I love the name Hummingbird Cake!

Apparently this cake recipe has been around since the 19th century and is a tradition in the Southern United States.  Hummingbird cake is made using coconut, banana, spices, crushed pineapple and pecans, with a cream cheese frosting.

The 'cake lady' at my local coffee shop used to make this cake and it goes perfectly with a cup of coffee, but for me any cake goes perfectly with a cup of coffee.

Hummingbird Cake

It's a really easy cake to make and you don't need any fancy kitchen equipment - all you need is a bowl, spoon and a sieve.

You will need:  23cm square cake tin greased and base lined.

Ingredients:
450g can crushed pineapple
150g plain flour
75g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
220g soft light brown sugar
45g desiccated coconut
2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
180ml vegetable oil

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
2. Pour the contents of the tin of crushed pineapple into a sieve set over a basin and leave to drain. Press down with a potato masher to get the syrup to drain into the bowl.  Reserve 60ml of the pineapple syrup for later.
3. Sift the plain and self raising flour into a bowl, followed by the bicarbonate of soda and spices. Add the sugar to the bowl, stir in the drained pineapple, reserved syrup, coconut, banana, eggs and oil.  Pour the cake batter into the cake tin.
4. Bake the cake for approximately 40 minutes. Leave the cake in the tin for 10 minutes, remove the cake to a rack to cool.

Cream Cheese Frosting
30g butter, softened
60g full fat cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
240g icing sugar
Pecans, chopped to decorate

1. Cream the butter and cream cheese together in a large bowl.  Add the vanilla extract and gradually beat in the sifted icing sugar.
2. Spread over the cooled cake.
3. Decorate with chopped pecans.