Cherry Bakewell Cake (Recipe) - for Norwich June 2013 Clandestine Cake Club

This was a wonderful cake with a summery feel that I made for the last Clandestine Cake Club mmet (Norwich branch).

Unfortunately, it was made a little too late to fully cool - so suffered a little damage when I removed the paper from the outside.

Lovely soft almond sponge, filled with cherry preserve and dried cherries soaked in kirch. The top had a water icing and glace cherries.

The teapot and cups toppers on the cake are Kanban card toppers (for card making). These were simply taped on to the back of cocktail sticks and then inserted into the top of the cake. If any one is interested, we do keep those in stock.

Sponge Cake Recipe 

200g of salted butter

375g caster sugar

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

2 tsp almond extract

250g plain flour
50g ground almonds

2 tsp baking powder

160ml milk

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and combine followed by egg yolks. Add dry ingredients and milk with canilla, alternating (1/3 of the amount at a time).

Bake in a 170deg C pre-heated oven for approx 50mins in an 8" tin until a cake tester comes out clean

Allow to cool and then refrigerate until firm.

Tort (split) into two or three even layers.

Lemon Macaron Layer Cake - Clandestine Cake Club - Norwich Club (May) - RECIPE

Unfortunately, I've had little time for blogging of late - so have a lot of catching up to do !

This is the cake I made for the May meet of Clandestine Cake Club (Norwich). I'll warn you now if you are thinking of making it - it WAS a labour of love.....

There are a lot of aspects to this cake - sponge, swiss meringue buttercream, macarons and homemade lemon curd. It contained 48 macaron shells as there were also macarons between the layers.

It was very time consuming so wouldn't be a cake that you would want to make on a regular basis. It was also very rich, so only snall slices required.

At a guess, this cake served around 36 portions. I brought a lot of it back and it got handed round several neighboring companies and staff at my work !

Sponge Cake Recipe 

200g of salted butter

375g caster sugar

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

2 tsp vanilla extract

275g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

160ml milk

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and combine followed by egg yolks. Add dry ingredients and milk with canilla, alternating (1/3 of the amount at a time)

Bake in a 170deg C pre-heated oven for approx 50mins until a cake tester comes out clean

Allow to cool and then refrigerate until firm.

Tort (split) into three even layers.

Spread the bottom and middle layers generously with lemon curd, then top with a layer of macarons and a layer of Italian meringue buttercream.

LEMON CURD RECIPE (makes two jars)

200g sugar

3 eggs + 2 yolks

100g melted butter

250ml lemon juice (or 150ml lemon and 100ml lime)

zest 3 lemons

The lemons I bought looked sublime, but infact were very disappointing.... Loads of peel and very little juice.I used 5 lemons and still had to top up with 100ml of lime juice on this occasion as I ran out of lemons !

First of all, melt the butter and them add the lemon juice and lemon zest.

Whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugar in a pan, then whisk in the butter and lemon mix.

Stir continuously over a low heat until thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Put into sterilised jars and seal. 

This lemon curd recipe does not need a double boiler. Keep a sink full of cold water nearby. If it looks like it might split, plunge the pan bottom into the water and then whisk like fury. I've never had it split yet...(though I've water dunked it once or twice before).

For the macarons, please see the macaron recipe here : http://www.siliconemoulds.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/seville-orange-curd-and-mallow-macarons.html

This time however, I made lemon macarons instead of orange. These are baked on the Revolutionary Double Sided Macaron Mat from SiliconeMoulds.com.

For applying buttercream and getting lovely straight sides on your cake, use a bench scraper (£6.99 from www.siliconemoulds.com).

These can be butted up to the cake and be flat on the cake board. It gives you a lovely smooth finish with very little effort and a professional finish.

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com

Iced Coconut Finger Buns - Summer on a Plate (RECIPE)

Being on a diet and avoiding carbs for a considerable amount of time - I had a really strong craving for some soft white bread and something sweet.....

This is a new recipe I've created and although I DID have one, the rest were eaten by staff and people in adjacent units in rapid quick time. Carb fest over - it's back to the diet :-(

I do love making bread. There is something really satisfactory in kneading the dough, watching it rise and the smell from the oven and knowing there is no preservatives. Nothing beats the smell for fresh bread and coffee.

We are opening a cookery school in Attleborough, Norfolk, NR17. First class is a bread class on Friday 14th June - where students will be making and baking various types of hand made breads including sour dough.

 Future cookery classes at Sarah-Jane's Kitchen will appear on www.siliconemoulds.com very soon. These will include chocolate work, macarons, structural cakes, cupcakes, cookies etc.

Ingredients - makes 10 > 12

250ml coconut milk

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp golden syrup

1 sachet instant yeast

500g white bread flour

Put the flour, salt and yeast in a bowl, making sure to keep the salt away from the yeast.

Combine the coconut milk, golden syrup and eggs and pour into the dry ingredients. Mix together and then turn out and hand knead for around 10mins. Cover with cling wrap and leave until doubled in size.

When doubled in size, divide into 10 > 12 pieces and shape into finger buns.

 I made mine into 10 x 85g pieces and these made generous sized finger buns ! 

Cover with oiled cling film and leave again until doubled in size. Bake for approx 8 > 10mins at 180deg C Fan.

Remove from oven and immediately apply the icing and coconut.

For the icing, I used powdered sugar (sorry - didn't weigh) - maybe around 400g - some coconut milk and a couple of teaspoons of Malibu if you have any plus a teaspoon of glycerine. Mix together until you have a thick and stiff paste. Pipe this straight on to the top of the buns in a thick line and allow it to melt over the bun then quickly scatted some flaked coconut over the top.

They'll be very soft and dense but fluffy if that makes sense in the inside. A complete dream in a bite that made me think of summer sunshine.

A May bank holiday day out with Oliver to the seaside.....

We didn't get the terrible twos, or the terrible threes but we often get a stroppy 4yo !

In a mood and not getting his own way at Orford Castle. Mummy and Daddy hadn't finished looking - Oliver had done it all and was ready to leave.....

I love this photo - sums up the strops nicely !!

"Run Run As Fast As You Can.....

You can't catch me - I'm a gingerbread man !"

I've had a really stupidly busy week and been working extra long days - even more than my normal long ones. Going to bed at 3am and getting up around 7.30am doesn't leave much room for play or fun ..... That's why there has not been much blogging of late - though I do have a couple of belated things still to post from right at the start of the month.

My mum was down visiting last weekend and brought Oliver a book The Gingerbread Man. I remember having it myself as a child. Mine was a hardback and gingerbread man was on a ribbon. There was a slot in my book so you could pass him through the pages.

 

Anyway - we've been reading that this week and reciting the main lines pretty much every where we go ! I decided it was time to make some gingerbread men (and bears). A few were delinquints - like the one with the spikey hair and big tummy and the one poking it's toungue out and having a bandaged arm... I used Martha Stewarts recipe - which you can find here.

I decided to make a load of teeny weeny gingerbread bears too band sandwiched them together with some butter icing made with th usual butter and incing sugar as well as ginger syrup.

Oliver and I made the dough yesterday morning and I baked it tonight after we got back from BEWILDERWOOD on silicone baking mats / tray liners. They only took 10mins for the large ones and 5 mins for the teeny weeny ones.

Oliver ran for hours and hours. Bewilderwood is THE most fantastic place for children and adults. We both had a fantastic time on all the tree top walks and there are some excellent slides.

Yup - no time other than the odd snap - you can just about spot Oliver high-tailing it up those stairs !

Some really cool tree houses and dens. Boat rides etc too. It's fairly expensive - but includes everything.... and worth EVERY penny.

You can't see how big or steep this scramble net is - but I'm looking down on Oliver climbing up. This is his second time round !

It's a pretty big complex at 50 acres. It's VERY easy to stay all day - even with a toddler. By the time we left to come home, Oliver was so tired he could barely stand, yet still didn't want to leave !

There is stuff for all ages - including slides and zip wire rides. This grandfather and two young boys were having a wonderful time on a swing for three ! The face painter they had was truly awesome. I think Oliver is a little too small - next year maybe... but there were full grown adult men and women going about with painted faces as well as the kids.

This place even makes adults feel 10yo again. I cannot tell you how good it is. If you ever visit East Anglia - TAKE YOUR KIDS TO BEWILDERWOOD !

Soap Bouquets ...

Since I had a go at the cupcake bouquet, I just HAD to have a go at making a soap bouquet using this pretty little silicone mould for making little rose heads. We have a good selection of different flower types including chrysanthemum, flower, sunflower, and rose in this small size. A bouquet of soaps would look stunning made with any of these - or even a mixture of these. Likewise, the same result could be made with chocolate roses or flowers !

I've used the exact same principles as before - only this time the ball I used was 4" and polystyrene from a craft shop. I cut a little off with a serated bread knife to give a flat base and stuck it on top of a little tinplate watering can with some double sided sticky tape. The soap base was opaque melt and pour SLS free

The watering cans ARE usable and came from Asda. They have them in pink and green at a bargain price of 2 for £5.00

Each soap is held in by one toothpick. At this point, I hadn't wrapped them - but after photographing I removed each one, wrapped in cling film (saran wrap) and them put back in place.

20 little soaps were required to cover the ball. In between are some fake rose buds and gypsophila snipped from a fake flower posy.

For all florists supplies, there is a great flower supplies wholesaler in Banham, Norfolk with loads and loads of stuff - from wrap to ribbon, fake flowers, baskets by the billion all sorts of vases, stones and anything else associated with that sort of trade. They are not on line unfortunately. For anyone wanting ot visit, they're open 7 days and right next to the entrance of Banham Zoo.....