Strawberry Cake - Recipe

                                              Fantasy Cake - a recipe by Lisa Faulkner

I've been away from home this week and have indulged in some fabulous food, especially my treat of the week, which was an evening meal at Le Caprice. As regular readers know I love coffee, and I've had more than a few expertly made cups this week but the best was definitely at Le Caprice.

I made this cake a couple of weeks ago and have to say my strawberries have been amazing this year, I can't believe how many strawberries you can get off two rows. I've made a few strawberry cakes this year from them and these are now my favourite summer cakes, they're fabulous, especially if you serve them with cream.

I came across this recipe whilst browsing through some cookery books in the library, a quick search on the web and everyone agreed this cake is one of the best strawberry cakes ever.

The recipe can be found on the Waitrose website and they have a video on You Tube showing the cake being made -  I'd recommend using the method shown on the video and not the one on the website. My only comment regarding the recipe is the amount of strawberries used which is 400g, I used less and it was absolutely fine.

The cake keeps really well covered in cling wrap and stored in the fridge.

Make it before all the fresh strawberries disappear!


                                                       VIMTO SQUEEZY - REVIEW

I was delighted to be sent Vimto Original, Cherry and Strawberry to try, the weather has been hot and the timing was perfect.

The Vimto Squeezy is lighter than a cordial in taste, I'm not always very keen on cordials, some taste like boiled sweets - perhaps it's just me who thinks this, but these are excellent and definitely don't taste like boiled sweets!

These mini bottles are easily transportable to flavour bottles of water whilst you are out and about. Handily they will also fit into my handbag and take up no space at all.

The squeezy bottles come in a small 50ml bottle and are sugar free.  To flavour a 500ml bottle of water simply squirt in one teaspoon of Vimto.  There are approximately 25 servings in a bottle and at a RRP of just £2.49 they are very good value.  Available from Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Co-op Stores.

Disclaimer:  I was sent the products for review, all thoughts are my own.

Mini Raspberry Cream Brownies - Recipe

These petits fours are 'high faff' and take a bit of patience to make but they are well worth it. They're quite rich and I could only manage to eat one, which is no bad thing, because I really wouldn't want to know how calorific they are.

I've got a few raspberry canes at the bottom of the garden, there's nothing quite like home grown raspberries, they are in a league of their own.

My hob is induction and melting chocolate is a dream, it's possible to place the chocolate in a pan and melt it gently on the hob, it's so much easier than melting chocolate over a pan of water and I find the chocolate never overheats.

The cream is made from raspberry puree, cream and melted white chocolate, I added a little red food colouring to brighten up the raspberry cream to give it a pretty pink colour.

When I piped these I didn't let the raspberry cream chill down for long enough

I'm off for a week to eat at a few posh restaurants and some not so posh, drink coffee at some trendy coffee shops and some not so trendy.......but meanwhile I'll leave you with the recipe for these fabulous brownies.....

You will need:  22cm square baking tin, greased  and lined with baking parchment so the paper extends over all four sides.  4cm cutter.

80g salted butter
150g dark chocolate
115g caster sugar
2 small eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
60g plain flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder

Raspberry Cream
250g raspberries
1 tbsp icing sugar
60ml cream
125g white chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 160ºC.
2. Place the chocolate and butter into a bowl and place over a saucepan with gently simmering water. Stir until the butter and chocolate have melted. Remove the bowl and allow to cool.
3.Place the sugar, eggs and vanilla in a bowl and mix until pale and creamy.
4. Fold in the cooled chocolate.  Sift over the flour and cocoa powder.
5. Pour into the baking tin and cook for 15-20 minutes. Cool in the tin. Place in the fridge for an hour.
6. Raspberry Cream.  Place 125g raspberries with the icing sugar into a food processor and blend until smooth.  Strain through a fine sieve. Add the raspberry puree to a small saucepan along with the cream and bring to the boil.  Add the pieces of white chocolate to the pan, remove from the heat and spoon the raspberry cream over the chocolate pieces.  Leave it for approximately 5 minutes and then whisk to a smooth glossy sauce.  Pour into a bowl and place in the fridge until chilled and set.
7. Take the cake out of the fridge, remove the cake from the tin.  Place on a board and cut out rounds using the cutter.
8. Place the chilled raspberry cream into a piping bag fitted with a 1M Wilton nozzle and pipe onto the brownie rounds, top with a fresh raspberry.

I'm submitting this post to the recipe linky #cookblogshare over at Supergolden Bakes.......

Strawberry and Rhubarb Crumble - Recipe

One of my favourite fillings for crumble is strawberries and rhubarb - both the strawberries and rhubarb were picked from my garden and so it was more or less a free pudding.

The downside of this filling is that it looks more than a bit of a mess when it's served up and I think the filling is best suited to individual crumbles.  On a positive the filling is a glorious bright pink and tastes like heaven.  I like to let the crumble cool down for a while before I serve it with a dollop of ice cream.

I prefer to roast my rhubarb

The rhubarb is placed in the dish with the strawberries

A top tip is to combine the butter, flour and sugar with a fork -
 this method keeps hands and rings clean

The crumble rubble

For the filling:
6 sticks of rhubarb
4 tbsp water
8 tbsp caster sugar
250g strawberries

For the crumble:
110g butter
110g demerara sugar
200g flour

1. Preheat the oven to 180C fan.
2. Cut the rhubarb into sticks and place on an oven tray, sprinkle with the water and caster sugar and roast in the oven for 10 minutes.
3. Remove from the oven and place the rhubarb without the juice into a greased ovenproof dish.  Add the strawberries to the dish.
4. To make the crumble, rub the butter into the flour and sugar. Cover the rhubarb and strawberries with the crumble mix and bake in the oven for 45 minutes until the crumble is golden and the filling is bubbling over the crumble.

Meringue Roulade with Elderflower Infused Strawberries - Recipe

Strawberries from the garden, egg whites from the freezer, chocolate from the store cupboard - I only had to buy the whipping cream.  I nearly got away with a free dessert!

The slightly adapted recipe is by Mary Berry and one I have used many, many times and in true Mary Berry style - I cut the finished roulade in half and put one half in the freezer for another day.

I serve my meringue with lots of macerated strawberries

I'm very sad but I always feel happy when I line a tin neatly

Remove the lining paper and dab meringue into the four corners (this secures the lining paper)
place the lining paper into the tin and then add the meringue

The cooked meringue 

Now for the recipe:
4 egg whites
225g caster sugar
pinch cream of tartar
300ml whipping cream
1tsp vanilla extract
icing sugar for dusting
dark chocolate for decoration

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC Fan. Line a large baking sheet with baking parchment.
2. Whisk the egg whites with a pinch of cream of tartar until stiff. Add the sugar a teaspoon at a time, until the egg whites are stiff and glossy.
3. Spread the egg whites evenly on the lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven and cool on a baking rack for 10 minutes.
4. Take a large sheet of baking parchment and dust with sifted icing sugar.  Turn the meringue over onto the baking parchment.  Remove the paper from the base of the meringue.
5. Whip the cream and vanilla extract to soft peaks.
6. Spread the cream over the meringue, roll the meringue from one of the long ends, using the parchment paper to help with the rolling. Dust with icing sugar.
7. Melt a few pieces of dark chocolate and drizzle over the meringue.
TIP: The cream of tartar helps stabilise the meringue and prevents weeping too.

Elderflower Infused Strawberries
200g fresh strawberries
1 tablespoon elderflower cordial
1 tablespoon caster sugar

1. Wash the strawberries.
2. Cut the strawberries into quarters.
3. Pour over the elderflower cordial, sprinkle over the caster sugar.
4. Mix together.
5. Cover and place in the fridge overnight.

The swiss roll tin I used measures 34x24x2 and is part of the range of The Bakers Dozen James Martin Bakeware by Stellar Cookware.

Cheese, Onion and Potato Quiche with a Wild Rice Salad - Recipe

This fabulous quiche recipe is by Tom Kerridge

One of my favourite websites is BBC Good Food, I love reading the constructive comments from those who have made the recipes.  The recipe is by Tom Kerridge and apparently he makes this for his pub restaurant. Everyone said that there was too much mixture for one quiche and they had lot's left over. One commenter said how she adapted the recipe to give enough filling with none left over. I followed her suggestion and it has worked out brilliantly.  To make the full quantity you will need a deep quiche tin approximately 5cm deep.

It's a fabulous quiche, the pastry is easy to make and gloriously crisp to eat.  There is a layer of cooked new potatoes, spring onions and Montgomery Cheddar cheese cooked in a creamy custard layer.

No soggy bottom here!

I used the bottom heat setting to bake my pastry which gives a lovely crisp pastry base - the custard layer is also cooked very gently on a low setting using bottom heat to give a luxurious velvety custard.

Hubby said this is the best quiche he has ever eaten and people on the BBC Good Food website have said it's their favourite too.

Adapted recipe

225g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
140g cold butter, diced
1 tsp icing sugar
1 egg yolk
For the filling:
250g new potatoes, no need to peel, cooked and sliced
1 bunch spring onions, sliced
125g Montgomery cheddar, diced
2 eggs
300ml double cream

You will need:  23cm loose base fluted tin 2.5cm deep

1. Sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a large bowl. Add the butter and rub in until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the icing sugar, egg yolk and 3 tbsp cold water, to form a firm dough. Wrap well in cling film and rest for 20 minutes in the fridge.
2. Preheat the oven to 200ºC.  Roll out the pastry and line the tart tin. Cover with baking parchment and fill with baking beans. Cook for 20 minutes, then remove the paper and beans. Brush the pastry base with beaten egg and cook for 5-10 minutes more until the tart case is pale.
3. Turn the oven down to 160ºC. Place a layer of cooked potatoes on the base of the tart, scatter over the spring onions and cheddar. Whisk together the eggs and cream, season. Pour into the tart case and cook for 40-45 mins or until just set. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
Original recipe

I served a Wild Rice Salad with the quiche........the glass bowl is by Arcoroc they are amazing and great multitaskers. I purchased a set of different sizes from Divertimenti, they are light weight, nest inside each other, don't scratch, freezer, dishwasher and microwave safe and it's free postage too. Cons are they are quite shallow so absolutely no good for some whisking tasks and they aren't oven proof(but this isn't an issue with me).

225g wild rice
850ml water
1 red and 1 yellow pepper, sliced into strips
cucumber sliced lengthways
1 orange, peeled, pith removed and segmented
A handful of cherry tomatoes quartered
1 red onion finely sliced
handful of chopped parsley
Dressing:
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
seasoning to taste

1. Pour the water into a large pan, bring to a boil.  Stir, cover and simmer for 40 minutes until tender.  Drain and cool. Or use a microwave rice steamer and cook for approximately 30 minutes.
2. Add the dressing ingredients to a basin and whisk together.  Pour onto the cooled rice.
3. Mix the peppers, orange, tomatoes, red onion and parsley into the rice mixture.
4. Store in the fridge until needed.

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.