Baking | Coconut lime drizzle tray bake

I have already made this and posted it before but this is slightly different.

This time I made a 6 oz tray bake with a lime drizzle top, vs previously I made cupcakes with an 8 oz recipe and a lime coconut frosting / icing.

INGREDIENTS:

6oz Self Raising Flour

6oz Butter

6oz Eggs 

(Which was 3 Large Free Range British)

4oz Desiccated Coconut

Juice and Zest of 2 Limes

1 tsp Baking Powder

The icing topping was lime, and 3oz unrefined golden caster sugar which is spooned over the cake when still in the baking tray and still warm.

Baking | 80th Birthday Cake

For my Grandad's 80th Birthday I made a large eight-zero cake for 30 people.

I was going to hire an 8 shaped baking tin and a 0 shaped baking tin but in the end I decided that among my 30+ tins I would probably be able to construct my own and save £30 on the hiring fees which seemed pretty steep!

I used a few different shaped tins, carved them into shape using a sharp serrated knife and then to flatten the tops perfectly I used a baking wire which guarantees a perfect level surface.

I made my chocolate cake recipe which is heavy on cocoa powder, the ratio of cocoa to flour is almost half and half which creates a rich, light cake.

I "dirty iced" the bare cake with icing, as well as the the filling which glued everything together, I put the cake in the freezer for 10 minutes which quickly solidified the outer buttercream so when I added the warm (but cooled down) chocolate ganache, it wouldnt melt off the sides.

I tried to make a thick ganache but it didn't seem any thicker than my usual ganache, however as it cooled down it become a firm truffle consistancy. I could have rolled it into balls and used them as chocolate truffles.

I melted some white chocolate to decorate, as well as using ganache to glue raspberries to the edges. The white chocolate was very thin, I wish I had used something thicker or less see-through. 

I added some dark chocolate curls I made from using my sharpest knife to shave chocolate that had been in the fridge for 24 hours.

I added orange roses to the centre of the numbers and then I felt the cake needed some green so I finely grated some lime zest over it too. 

The cake was dry, I think it was because I carved them and the dried out, plus the un-tested baking times of using random measures of cake mixture in a variety of tins, my family said it wasn't actually dry, but it was a dry mix for my usual standards. Especially when my chocolate cakes are light and moist after perfecting the recipe.  With all the gananche and raspberries I suppose the cake wasn't that noticeable! The important thing is that Grandad enjoyed it!

Baking | Coconut Lime Cakes

I couldn't be bothered to document this recipe as 1) I wasn't well and B) I didn't have time and 5) It was a test that I didn't expect to work but it did etc...

This recipe made 18 small cakes (fairy cakes or cupcakes).

I overfilled the cases as they were foil cake cases. I find the foil cases challenging as they continue to cook the cakes after removing from the oven, but they do hold moisture well and look nice. So I overfilled them so they were more substantial and harder to dry out.

8oz recipe again, 

INGREDIENTS:

8oz Self Raising Flour

8oz Butter

8oz Eggs 

(Which was 3 Large Free Range British)

6oz Desiccated Coconut

Juice and Zest of 2 Limes

1 tsp Baking Powder

The icing was lime, no coconut.

I added 2oz butter, juice and zest of 1 lime and about 8oz Icing Sugar to a bowl and whizzed with an electric hand mixer until thick, light and fluffy. 

I used a fork to dollop icing onto the cakes as it's quicker than piping!

I made them on Sunday and they were still perfectly moist today (Tuesday) and I imagine they will be ok for another 2 days. Just keep them in an airtight container in a cool place but NOT in the fridge.