Baking | Tray Bake: Quick lemon drizzle

Pretty much Mary Berry's Lemon Drizzle but with slight changes to the bake, different sugar and more lemon for the topping. I like lemon cakes to be really, really lemony and fresh tasting.

Cake:

6oz butter

6oz golden caster sugar

6oz self raising flour

6oz eggs (3 large free range)

1 tsp baking powder

Finely grated rind of 2 lemons

Juice of 1 lemon

Drizzle:

Juice of 2 lemons

Finely grated rind of 1 lemon

170g golden caster sugar 

Beat together the butter and the sugar until pale and well creamed. Add the lemon rind. Golden caster sugar is delicious because it creates a more golden sponge and it's unrefined which also, in my opinion, seems to create a richer flavour. 

Lightly beat the eggs and add to the bowl along with the lemon juice.

Sift in the flour and baking powder and then beat the whole mix together, use a spatula to clean down the bowl and give a final mix. Do not over stir. 

Pour/scoop into a greased and lined tray, I use my brownie tin which is about 30cm x 20cm.

Cook in the oven on Gas Mark 4 for 20-30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin.

While the cake is cooling, make the drizzle topping. Juice the lemons and simply combine with the sugar in a small bowl. Pour or spoon over the cake evenly when still warm. 

When the cake is completely cold, place in an airtight container. 

The icing / drizzle will firm up and become a crunchy topping while keeping the cake extremely moist.

I can make the batter of this cake in 10/15 minutes, then the cake goes in the oven for 25 minutes and can be iced warm so it is a very quick and simple cake to knock up in a hurry. 

It's also a rather shallow tray bake so very forgiving, if it doesn't quite fit the tin you have to hand you can cook for more or less time. 

The drizzle topping makes the cake moist and keeps it moist, even if you have been heavy handed with mixing or have over cooked it.  

Baking | Mocha Coffee Chocolate Cake

I will have to add this recipe later, I make this cake all the time for my friend, I usually make it in any container she has, even once being made in a roasting tray lined with foil. Also cupcakes. This was a very small tin, maybe 5 inches? I have notes on my phone so I will fill in later.

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.

Recipe | Raspberry Tiramisu

 

Recipe to follow…!

Beetroot Chocolate Cake (Gluten Free) with Cream Cheese Icing

GLUTEN FREE RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

200g Dark Chocolate

I used 100g of 70% and 100g of Bournville

Check your chocolate is Gluten Free, Bourneville is GF but others may not be.

250g Raw Beetroot, grated.

4 Large Free Range Eggs, separated. 

150g Golden Caster Sugar.

120g Ground Almonds.

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder (Use Gluten Free variety)

1 Tablespoon 100% Cocoa Powder.

20cm Spring Form Cake Tin

Butter to grease the tin

Cocoa Powder for dusting the tin 

(instead of plain flour which of course is NOT gluten free!)

Pre heat oven to Gas mark 4        

Takes 50 to 60 minutes to bake, until a skewer is stuck into the centre and comes out clean. 

METHOD

1) First melt the chocolate in a Bain marie.

2) Grate the raw beetroot on the chunkier side of your grater, or you can use a food processor. Put into a mixing bowl.

3) Separate the eggs, you can put the yolks straight in with the grated beetroot and the whites in a second bowl. We will be beating them separately.

4) Mix the egg yolks in with the beetroot.

5) Add the golden caster sugar, the ground almonds to the beetroot and mix well.

6) Then add the baking powder and cocoa powder and melted chocolate into the beetroot and mix really well.

7) In the second bowl, whisk the the egg whites with an electric mixer until you have stiff peaks.

8) Use a metal spoon to fold a quarter of the egg whites into the beetroot mixture to loosen, then once combined, fold in the rest but try not to over mix.

9) Add the mixture to the prepared cake tin and gently spread out using a spatula.

10) Bake in the hot oven for around 50 minutes.

11) Leave the cake to cool for 5 to 10 minutes, then carefully take out of the tin and place on a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

As you can see, I stabbed the cake 5 times with a skewer as I couldn't tell if it was cooked. I would usually check by pressing the top but a strong crust had formed so that didn't work.

My oven is dodgy and the temperature fluctuates but this took 60 minutes in total. I put a square of foil over the top for 10 minutes as I was worried it would catch. 

When I removed the cake from the tin I broke it, as a flourless sponge the cake is very fragile and I handled it too much.

I also do not recommend using a flexible cake "tin". Definitely use a spring form tin. 

I will make this again, probably as cupcakes or even as a tray bake then sliced into bars.

RECIPE | CREAM CHEESE ICING

GLUTEN FREE RECIPE  

100g Full Fat Cream Cheese

200g Icing Sugar

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

In a big bowl, whip the cream cheese, add the vanilla and then sieve in the icing sugar. 

I find some types of cream cheese (supermarket own brands and Phillidelphia) more wet than others, if you find this then just add more icing sugar to thicken the mix. 

PLEASE NOTE | GLUTEN FREE

I checked the ingredients (01/04/2014) but your own ingredients may differ. 

Please check the brands of products you're using for gluten. Some cheaper products or lower fat alternatives may add ingredients containing gluten to thicken or prolong shelf life.