Citrus Summer Fruit Drizzle Cake

Okay, well, long time no post, huh?  Last post was in December last year and now it's July!  This was a bit of an unexpected hiatus but a necessary one.  I became swamped with work after the Christmas holidays as I did not do so well in my first term at school and needed to make it up.  This got made worse by everyone getting sick or other things coming up which meant things were not getting done at reasonable times and ended up having to be done in a very short space of time.  Very stressful.  So much so that I ended up at the doctor's and have been given medication for anxiety, which I've always had but got worse these last couple of years.  Fun fun fun.  Anyway, the good news is that I did pass my probation year and I am a fully qualified teacher!  Bad news is that currently I don't have a job after the summer.  I didn't do so good in the interview as what I thought I was saying was not coming across.  Ah well.  I've just got to keep trying and see what comes up.

But we're not here to listen to me moan; we're here about cake!  Hectic work life meant there was little time for baking in the last few months but when I was doing reports it was something I just had to make time for.  Writing reports is so so dull and takes forever!  I had to break it into smaller blocks per day and then even smaller ones after that.  Baking was then fitted in between the blocks to keep me sane. 

 

This looked like a nice, summery bake.  I like baking with fruit, even if I am not keen to eat it.  I also think it looks aesthetically pleasing too without being too complicated.  I ended up making two of these; one for home and one for school.  I bought a mixed box of fruit from Sainsbury's which had strawberries, raspberries and blackberries in.  I then bulked it out a little with an extra tub of blueberries.  I also decided I would zest up the cake with some lime in the batter rather than just using the juice in the drizzle.  It worked really well.  It is a really moist cake with a nice tang to offset the sweetness of the fruit.  Both cakes were gobbled up very quickly.

And just before I let you have the recipe, I want to give a shout-out to my Hubby.  One of the biggest tragedies of not baking much has been the lack of food photography I have gotten to do!  Doubly so because that wonderful, sweet husband of mine gave me a DSLR camera for Christmas!  I was so surprised and felt so spoilt.  It has been so fun to use and takes such lovely pictures.  I am still getting to grips with it but I think I did a pretty good job with these snaps!

Recipe -  Adapted from BBC GoodFood
Makes a 2lb loaf cake


Cake:

• 175g/6oz butter
• 175g/6oz golden caster sugar
• 250g/9oz self-raising flour
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• Zest of 2 limes
• 100g/3.5oz mixed summer fruits 

Drizzle:

• 75g/2.5oz mixed summer fruits
• 1-2tbsp lime juice
• 140g/5oz granulated sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and grease a 900g/2lb loaf tin with butter.  Line the base with a long strip of greaseproof paper so that the ends hang out over the sides of the tin (it will help you remove the cake from the tin later).
2. In a large bowl mix together the butter, sugar, flour, eggs, lime zest and vanilla extract  until the batter is smooth, pale and creamy.  It will be very thick.
3. Put a third of the mix into the cake tin then scatter half of the fruit over the top.
4. Spread another third of the cake mix over the top and then scatter on the rest of the fruit.  
5. Finally top with the last of the cake mix and smooth over with a spoon.
6. Bake for about 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
7. Put the fruit and sugar for the drizzle in a bowl with the lime juice and stir together, mashing the fruit a little as you do.
8. When you have removed the cake from the oven poke it all over with a skewer.
9. Spoon the drizzle over the cake then leave inside the tin until the cake is cool and the topping is set.  
10. Use the strip of paper to help remove the cake from the tin.

Strawberry Mousse Cake

Being a classroom assistant occasionally gives me the opportunity to do things I might not otherwise choose to do.  On Wednesday I was told I would be accompanying the P4/P5 trip to Cairnie Fruit Farm that was happening on Friday.  I will admit, I was dreading it.  I heard the word 'farm' and could only think of mud.  I hate mud.  I will avoid walking through it whenever I can, even in boots worn specifically for walking through mud.  If I do have to go through it, I do so on tiptoe and try and do it in the fewest steps possible.  I probably sound a bit mad, don't I, but I've been that way since I was a small child.  You would never have caught little me playing in the mud and I can't understand why any of the kids I work with can stand to.  It's just yucky.

When Friday rolled around, my dread had lessened slightly upon looking up exactly what the place we were going was and discovering that part of it would be fruit picking.  That sounded quite cool and I could come away with fresh fruit to bake with.  There didn't seem to be much else to be concerned about in terms of mud but due to paranoia I had the fiancé's Mum's wellington boots in a bag over my shoulder anyway.  Really I should try to be less paranoid because I ended up carrying them around in said bag all day.  Ah well.

Strawberry picking was fun!  And I learnt several things I didn't know about strawberries.  Like how the fruit grows from the flower on the plant.  So each flower you see on a strawberry plant turns into a strawberry.  They're also called strawberries because they grow best in straw, since it helps to insulate them.  And if they're not pollinated in the right way the strawberries will grow into funny shapes.  It was all really cool.  I came away with a punnet filled to the brim with beautiful red strawberries.  Sonata strawberries I believe they are, which are the second most popular kind in Britain after Elsanta.  They are the preferred strawberry for jam since they are apparently quite sweet.  Can't say that's a bad thing, especially when baking is concerned.  They were all so gorgeous and perfect and ripe and I got so many compared to what I would get at the supermarket.  Plus the punnet was built into the trip fee so I didn't even have to pay for it.  I did fork out for an extra punnet for the fiancé's Mum though, since she'd asked me to get her some.  I also bought raspberry jam for the fiancé and a lovely canvas bag for me (I like souvenirs that last and remind me of where I've been).

So I had a punnet of strawberries that I wanted to bake with but exactly what I should bake took a little bit of thinking.  As much as I love sweet things, I am very picky about them and hence I don't end up eating most of what I bake.  This time I really wanted to make something that I wanted to eat too.  I don't like fruit in cakes so just baking the strawberries into something was not really an option.  However, I like things that taste like fruit and I love strawberry flavoured things.  I figured I could probably think of something I could flavour with the strawberries and once I was on that line of thinking it didn't take long to decide on strawberry mousse.  I could certainly do with more practice with the stuff and mousse cakes can look so pretty. 

I've made chocolate mousse before but this would be my first time attempting it with fruit.  So my first instinct was to go looking for strawberry mousse cake recipes.  I found plenty but a number of them produced quite big cakes and required a lot of ingredients.  I only really wanted to make something small, around 6 inches in diameter since that would be a nice size for myself and the fiancé.  I was also slightly limited by what I had in my cupboard.  The shopping wasn't coming until later that day and I hadn't ordered anything special for baking anyway.  Really, reducing my favourite vanilla sponge cake recipe should provide plenty for the cake base.  So I changed tact in searching and just went looking for a simple mousse recipe instead; preferably one that used white chocolate in it because that sounded yummy.  And I did, though I halved it for my recipe and chose to leave out the chopped fruit. I also decided on a white chocolate border, since the chocolate border I made on the last mousse cake looked rather nice and I didn't have many other options for supporting the mousse.  At some point I will try the acetate ring thing.  The pink stripes were a last minute decision after I remembered I still had some strawberry chocolate buttons and thought a striped pattern would be pretty.  It did turn out to be quite effective so I was rather pleased.

It is a delicious cake.  A nice sponge accompanied by a very light mousse with an obvious strawberry taste but nothing overpowering.  The chocolate is lovely with it.  It was quite enjoyable to eat something I'd baked and actually like the taste.  I've not done it in a long while.  I really wish I wasn't so fussy sometimes.

Recipe - makes a 6 inch cake

Cake - adapted from the Good Food Channel:

• 1 large egg
• Caster sugar - weight equal to that of the 1 egg in its shell
• Unsalted butter - weight equal to that of the 1 egg in its shell
• Self raising flour - weight equal to that of the 1 egg in its shell
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and grease and line one 15cm/6inch round cake tin.
2. Put the butter and sugar in a bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until fluffy and pale.
3. Separate the egg and whisk the yolk and vanilla together in a jug and add to the butter mix a little at a time, folding it in to add air to the mixture.
4. Sift in the flour and fold that in also.
5. Whisk the egg whites into soft peaks and then fold those into the batter until you cannot see any white in the mixture.
6. Spoon into the cake tin and smooth evenly.  Make a dip in the centre of the mixture with a spoon so the cake bakes flat.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until risen and springy and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
8. Allow to cool in its tin before removing and plating it. 

Chocolate Collar:

• 60g/2oz white chocolate chips
• 20g/0.7oz strawberry chocolate buttons

1. Melt the chocolate in two heatproof bowls over saucepans of gently simmering water.
2. Meanwhile, use a piece of string or a measuring tape to measure the circumference of the cake (should be about 48cm/19inches).
3. Cut out a strip of greaseproof paper which is 1cm/0.5inches longer than the length you measured and 7.5cm/3inches tall.
4. Use pastry brushes to coat the paper with the chocolate, creating thick stripes with the white chocolate and thin ones with the strawberry, trying to space them evenly.  Be sure to make the coating as thick as possible and use all the chocolate.  Paint right to the edge of one short side and both long sides.  Leave 1cm/0.5inches uncoated on the other short side.
5. Allow to firm up slightly, so that the chocolate has thickened and is no longer runny.
6. Carefully place the strip around the cake.  Make sure the base of the strip touches the plate and the two short ends match up.  Press against the cake to make sure there are no gaps between it and the chocolate collar or the filling will escape.
7. Chill in the fridge. 

Strawberry mousse - adapted from Simon Rimmer, via BBC Food 

• 125g/4.5oz strawberries, plus 7 for decorating
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 115g/4oz white chocolate chips
• 1/2 tbsp gelatin
• 25ml/1fl.oz warm water
• 225ml/8fl.oz double cream
• 15g/0.5oz icing sugar 
• Pink food colouring (optional)

1. Cut the tops off the strawberries and then blend into a purée in a food processor or using a stick blender.
2. Pass the purée through a fine meshed sieve into a clean bowl to remove any excess pulp and seeds.
3. Add the lemon juice and mix in.
4. Melt the chocolate chips in a large, heatproof bowl placed over a pan of lightly simmering water.  Set aside.
5. Add the gelatin to the water and leave for a few minutes.
6. Put 65ml/2fl.oz into a saucepan with the icing sugar and sit over a gentle heat until it is warm.
7. Add the gelatin and stir continuously over the low heat for 5 minutes so the gelatin dissolves.  DO NOT LET IT BOIL.
8. Pour the cream/gelatin mix into the white chocolate and beat until it is smooth.
9. Add the purée and mix in.  At this stage you can add a couple of drops of pink colouring if you wish to brighten up the colour.
10. Whip the remaining cream into soft peaks and then fold into the chocolate mix until incorporated.
11. Pour on top of the cake.  If you want, drop five drops of food colouring at random points on the mousse and use a toothpick/skewer to swirl them into a pattern.
12. Return to the fridge and leave to set for about 3 hours.
13. Carefully remove the greaseproof paper from the chocolate collar.  It should come away easily if the chocolate is thick enough.
14. Cut the tops off the remaining strawberries.  Place six of them around the outside of the cake.  Cut the last one into six pieces lengthwise and arrange into a star pattern in the centre of the cake.

Strawberry and Cream Cake

Easter is the fiancé's mum's New Year.  The clocks have gone forward, making the days longer; the weather is usually brighter and warmer and she can put up the summer curtains.  She also insists on having her children over for lunch, and now me by extension.  Being the avid baker I was charged with dessert and could make whatever I wanted.  Well I really didn't know what I wanted to do except that it would be something I'd not made before.  And vaguely spring/summery, to reflect the changing seasons.

I had a look through my cupboards to see what I had and see if it sparked any ideas.  As often happens when I open my cupboard, something fell out: one of the packets of freeze dried strawberry powder I had bought to use in my quest for strawberry extract alternatives.  Well there was an idea.  A strawberry cakes.  Strawberries are quite a summery thing.  And what else does one think of when they have strawberries?  Why, cream of course.  There.  Strawberry and cream cake.  That should be fine.

However, I wasn't sure how to go about adding the strawberry powder to a cake.  Would it be like with cocoa where you supplement some in place of flour?  Should I rehydrate it first?  Obviously the safest answer was to look it up and see if I could find a recipe that used it.  Which clearly I did find and it was a vegan recipe too, which is cool.  Of course I ruin that by covering it with cream.  As far as I can tell, from this recipe and from comments on various forums, you just add the powdered strawberry to a white cake recipe, with a little liquid of some kind, like strawberry extract or reduced strawberry purée.  This recipe uses strawberry extract as its liquid, which I cannot get here in the UK (hence why I have my quest).  So I made a strawberry purée, since I had strawberries in my fridge (I bought them to use for decoration but didn't end up going with that idea in the end).  

I may have got a bit carried away with icing this cake.  Ages ago I saw several pictures of cakes covered in buttercream roses.  They all looked so pretty and though this cake is not particularly tall I wanted to give it a try.  And just to make it a bit more interesting, I wanted to have a gradient colour change running from the centre to the base.  Whipping the cream and icing the cake took about 40 minutes as a result but the final outcome did look so beautiful.  I was very proud.

The overall result was a very beautiful cake that tasted like strawberries with cream.  The only problem though is that it had quite a close texture and as a result was a little 'gummy'.  The fiancé said it was a bit like a fruit roll, only better.  Despite that though, everyone seemed to really enjoy it and a vast majority of it got eaten.

Recipe - adapted from My Vegan Cookbook

Whilst the cake itself is a vegan recipe, my decision to use cream to decorate it means I've essentially ruined that.  So if you want a fully vegan cake, use a vegan alternative for the cream.  A lot of places I've seen use whipped coconut cream. 

• 290g/10oz plain flour
• 180g/6.5oz caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1.25 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 75g/3oz freeze dried strawberry powder
• 330ml/11.5fl.oz water
• 30g/1oz butter
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 115g/4oz strawberries
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• Pink food colouring
• 450ml/16fl.oz double cream (or coconut cream for fully vegan cake)

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and grease and line 20cm/8inch round cake tin.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and freeze dried strawberry powder.
3. Blitz the strawberries to a purée and run through a sieve into a saucepan.
4. Reduce the strawberry purée over a medium heat until you are left with about half.  You should have about 1.5 tbsp worth of purée.
5. Melt the butter.
6. In a small bowl, combine the water, oil, melted butter, lemon juice, strawberry purée and a few drops of food colouring.
7. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix together gently with a spoon until combined.  
8. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and level out.
9. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
10. Allow to sit in the tin for about 10 minutes and then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.
11. Whip the cream until you get stiff peaks.
12. Spoon about a quarter into a piping bag fitted with a large closed star nozzle.  
13. First pipe a large rose in the centre of the cake, then pipe a circle of smaller roses around it.  It doesn't matter if there are gaps between roses, fill these by holding the nozzle perpendicular to the cake and squeezing out just a little cream to create a small flower shape.
14. Squeeze any cream left in the bag back into the bowl and add a few drops of pink colouring.  Fold in carefully so you have a slightly pinkish cream.  If there are obvious streaks of colouring running through it doesn't matter since it adds to the effect.
15. Pipe another circle of roses around the outside of the first circle.  These ones should be pretty close to the edge.  Fill any gaps between the roses in the same manner as before.
16. Repeat step 14.  You should now have a darker pink cream.
17. Pipe roses around the side of the cake and fill in all gaps along the top edges, base and between roses with small cream flours.

Angel Food Cake With Whipped Cream and Summer Fruits

Huzzah!  Finally a successful bake.  After two failed experiments it is nice to have something turn out right.  Twice in fact, because I made one and then realised I'd made the horrific mistake of not using wheat-free flour!  So I did it again.  So that's wheat free on the left and wheat-ful on the right.

Anyway, this is a birthday cake for my boyfriend's mum (and the spare is going to the school).  She recently gave me a lovely cupcake recipe book and had commented on how nice the summer fruit topped ones were.  So I knew exactly what topping I wanted to give her cake.  But what to go with it?  After some hunting I settled on something I've never tried to make before: Angel Food Cake.  Apparently it's very good if you're on a diet as it doesn't have any fat in it so really she could eat as much of this cake as she liked and not feel too guilty.  However, there was then the issue of finding a small version, since so many recipes involved 12 egg whites and large-ish tins.  Finally I stumbled across one that is baked in a loaf tin.  Perfect!  A delightfully simple recipe, though I made a couple of substitutions.

Recipe - Adapted from Cookie Madness (a great blog with some fabulous recipes!)

This cake is preferably eaten the day it is made but it would probably only last that long anyway.

Ingredients:

• 6oz/170g caster sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2.2oz/60g self raising flour (wheat free if you desire)
• 6 large egg whites at room temperature
• 3/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 180ml double or whipping cream
• Various summer fruits
• Some icing sugar for dusting
• Pink food colouring (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and line a 9x5 inch loaf pan (mine was a bit narrower) with aluminium foil.  Do not use non-stick foil!
2. In a small bowl, mix half the caster sugar with the flour and the salt.
3. In a large (metal) bowl, whisk the egg whites until they are foamy and then add the cream of tartar.
4. Continue whisking until you reach the soft peak stage.
5. Start adding the sugar a bit at a time, still whisking but on your lowest setting.
6. When all the sugar has been mixed in, add the vanilla and whisk that in too.
7. Carefully fold 1/4 of the flour mixture into the egg whites with a spatula.  You need to be careful because the flour can fall straight through the egg whites and get stuck at the bottom so make sure you are actually mixing it into the whites.  
8. Repeat until all the flour has been mixed in.
9. Carefully spoon or pour the mixture into the foiled loaf tin and bake in the oven for about 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
10. Cool in the cake in the loaf pan on a wire rack to help keep its shape.
11. When cool, remove from the tin and gently peel off the foil.
12. Whisk the cream with some vanilla until soft peaks form.
13. If using food colouring, drop some drops into the cream and swirl through with a skewer.
14. Put into a piping bag with a large star nozzle (I used a Wilton 1M) and pipe swirls onto the cake.  I did three big swirls and then lots of little swirls to fill in the gaps.
15. Decorate with the fruit and then dust with the icing sugar.