Dalek Cake

I’m not the biggest fan of moulds for cakes that are a weird shape as the cake never comes out evenly baked but this one called out to be made. It was an important birthday for someone at work and he is a Dr. Who fan. I accepted early on that this cake would be style over substance but who can resist something that requires painting in metallic edible paint!!! 

I decided to make a mainly red Dalek as it meant I could use red food colouring in the mix and have a good base of colour for the majority of the cake. I highly recommend this site (Cakes, Cookies and Crafts) for the paint. I used metallic red and gold paint with the silver being done with metallic powder. I also had gold metallic powder, because I bought everything (!) having not done this before, which worked very well but was messier than the paint so you had to be more careful. The powder has the bonus of being dry immediately but I’m not sure getting powder over everything was worth that.  

There weren’t instructions with it but on the Lakeland site, where I bought the mould, they recommended an eight egg cake mix. I did that but it wasn’t enough and I think that if you’re trying to fill every nook and cranny ram it with more cake mix than you need. It meant I missed out on some detail so below is the recipe I recommend using 10 eggs! (They also suggested putting a thin layer of frosting on the cake and covering with royal icing before painting. Seriously! What kind of sadists are they? Can you imagine everything that could go wrong?! If you’re brave do it that way but I’m happy with the painting on cake method). 

Ingredients

Lurpak Cooking Mist (seriously this is necessary and amazing)

500g butter, softened

500g sugar

10 large eggs

500g self-raising flour

40g red food colouring (bake safe)

1 x pot of metallic red edible food paint

1 x pot of metallic gold edible food paint

1 x tube of metallic silver edible food powder

1 x pack of Matchsticks (you only need 1 ½ but you can scoff the rest) 

1.    Preheat the oven to 180°C/GM4.

2.    Grease your mould well. This is key to using any mould as you need to get the sucker out afterwards. This cooking mist allows you to just spray every part. Make sure you don’t have too many puddles but the cake batter will mix with it and it should be fine.

3.    Cream the butter and sugar. Add 2 eggs, then 100g of flour mixing well. Repeat with the rest of the eggs and the flour. Then add the food colouring and mix really well.

4.    Put the mould on a baking tray to keep it steady and allow you to move it around. Pour the batter into the mould. It should fill it almost to the top. Then pick the tray up a few cm above the work surface and drop. The aim of this is to get the batter into every part of the mould so do it two or three times.

5.    Put the mould, on the baking tray, into the oven. Cook for about an hour and a half – the batter may spill over the top but it will only go on the tray. If the top is burnt it shouldn’t matter as you’ll be cutting it off once it’s out of the oven because it’s probably outside the top of the mould. You can check with a skewer if it’s cooked but it could need longer. Err on the side of caution and over cook if in doubt.

6.    Once cooked leave the cool in the mould. This is important as you’ll have more chance of getting it out in one piece (saying that I always get impatient and do it when it’s warm!)

7.    Before you turn out cut any cake that is over the top of the mould off so you have a smooth back to the cake.

8.    Turn out and paint! I started with red, and then did the gold detail, ending with the silver. Make sure each layer/colour if dry before putting more on top. I did two layers of each and that seemed to do the trick. Finish by shoving half lengths of Matchsticks in the three points where Dalek’s have sticky out things (or you can fashion them out of black icing but after all that painting who has time for that?) 

N.B. This cake is going to be a bit dry, as you’ve probably overcooked, so maybe have cream or frosting on the side for people to add.

 

Ok so the painting part was lots of fun

Rainbow Cake or Why Lorna Rocks

So a couple of weekends ago I walked 100km in just under 28 hours. The main reason for this is that my friend Lorna asked me to. I’ve explained before that she rallied a team together to collect money for Cancer Research after one of her friends at work was diagnosed with cancer. We have raised over £6,300 which is amazing and is testament to how kind hearted and supportive people can be of crazy physical challenges. It’s also testament to the fact that everyone needs Lorna as a friend. Or at least someone like her as she’s already a very busy lady and might break if she had to be friends with the world (she is already a friend of all animals which is fairly epic in itself). Who else would think of doing such a random thing and actually convince six more people to do it with her? Because of her Cancer Research has an extra 6k to get on with doing what they do best - pretty cool.

So this week I went a bit random. It’s not exactly a true rainbow cake, as I’m missing three colour layers (I need a bigger cake box to transport something taller), but this will give you a good enough guide. There is something satisfying about constructing a truly fun cake with no real purpose other to look pretty and get people hyper on the E numbers (someone in my office had to have a walk to get rid of the excess energy after her slice!)  

The sponge is really easy and robust as you don’t want to have to faff with lots of ingredients and breakages when doing multiple layers. Don’t worry though – it’s a nice sponge and tastes well. It also keeps so you can make the sponges a couple of days in advance. Maybe I should start getting sponsored for the tallest cake I can make?! 

Ingredients

Cake

Each layer uses the following (you can mix in big batches and divide into bowls to add the food colouring. Each layer will need 415g of batter).

100g softened butter

100g caster sugar

2 large eggs

100g self-raising flour

10ml or 10g of bake safe food colouring 

Icing

You can obviously just buy Betty Crocker ready mixed frosting or:

200g softened butter

900g icing sugar

400g full fat cream cheese

Decorations 

1.    Preheat the oven to 180°/GM4.

2.    Grease and line two sandwich tins. I did two sponges at a time as I only have two tins and my oven only fits two at a time!

3.    Cream the butter and sugar together, add the eggs one at a time and then mix in the flour. See – easy!

4.    If dividing the mixture do it now into about 415g a layer then add the food colouring and mix.

5.    Put into a tin and bake for 25 minutes. If you are cooking two at a time and have a gas oven then you’ll need to swap the shelf they are on half way through.

6.    Cool and turn out until ready to construct.

7.    If making frosting then then ideally use a food processor as icing sugar is messy! The quantities pack it to the max but you can of course use a hand held whisk or free standing . So put the butter in with the sugar and mix until combined through. Add the cream cheese and you're done.

8.    Then even out the top of the layers (you can always leave the top one domed if you like). Use the height of the sides as a guide and use a bread knife to saw through.

9.    Sandwich the layers with a thin layer of frosting and then finish off by covering the whole thing in it! I used hundreds and thousands on the top but you can use whatever you like. 

N.B. You can get some crumbs in the frosting when you do the whole cake. I’d advise to do a thin layer around the whole cake not worrying about crumbs running the lovely frosting. Pop into the fridge for 30 minutes and then finish off with a thicker layer that should stay lovely and clear of crumbs.

 

Upside Down Nectarine Cake

I’m in great pain. My legs hurt but not as much as The Thew’s – probably because he runs faster than me and is officially the fastest Woodrow. I’m the slowest but it’s a role I fill bravely and with style! The Brentwood half marathon felt like a good idea at the time but I did have a couple of glasses of champagne inside me along with a glass of wine when I agreed to do it. Most things start to seem like a good idea at that point. The worrying thing is that I have a harder half marathon in less than two weeks when I go to Ireland to see my family. Once again it seemed like a good idea at the time to combine a boozy family trip to Connemara with a race. Thinking back I was probably drunk. 

However alcohol cannot explain why on Sunday evening, in pain from the half marathon I just ran, I signed up for a 100km walk. That’s explained by friendship which is a much better reason. My good friend Lorna has a friend who has cancer and she’s doing the walk to raise money for research into cancer. Lorna is one of those amazing people who will fight any battle to the maximum that she believes is worth fighting – she’s like a super hero on the side of all that is right and just. If she could shrink into a space ship, like Dennis Quaid in Innerspace, and fight cancer head on inside bodies she’d be doing it. Because she can’t, and because she’s one lady who won’t sit idly by, she’s going to walk 100km. Because she’s my friend, and it’s important to her, I’m walking it too.  

The above has very little to do with my baking this week apart from forgetting about baking because of the run, then realising I had some nectarines to use up and that I had the ingredients for a sponge. I’m awful at turning out upside down cakes so was happy this one worked! You can use any soft fruit here really but I think it’s worth the extra time to do a nice pattern in the top. 

Ingredients

Topping

50g butter

75g caster sugar

5 nectarines, chopped (I did slices – 6 per nectarine – but you could just half them if you prefer) 

Cake

150g butter

150g caster sugar

3 large eggs

60 ml milk

1 tsp vanilla

150g self-raising flour 

1.    Preheat an oven to 180°C/GM4.

2.    Use the 50g of butter to coat the bottom of a tin – I used 23” but you can use any size really. Make sure it’s kind of evenly spread and grease the sides lightly. Sprinkle the 75g of sugar over the butter. Then arrange your fruit on it.

3.    Cream the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs one at a time mixing well.

4.    Put in half the flour, mix, then mix in the milk and vanilla, then mix in the last of the flour.

5.    Cover the fruit with the batter and bake for about 35 minutes, testing to check it’s cooked. If you’ve used a smaller sized tin you may need another few minutes.

6.    You can serve this hot or cold so either cool completely, or if serving hot, leave for about 10 minutes before turning the tin upside down on a plate and hoping it comes out well!

Millionaire’s Shortbread

There was very little drama this week in the picking of a recipe. I just did what I’d planned to do last week as I remembered to buy the ingredients I needed. This does not help me with a blog post at all. Therefore I’m not going to waffle on and get straight to the recipe. However I’ll use this space to recommend a couple of plays to read that I've read lately. I get that they won’t be everybody’s cup of tea but then what is?

• August: Osage County by Tracy Letts – excellent play about a family coming together after a death. Lots of different relationships at play, interlinking and exploring what family is. It’s being made into a film so quite excited to see it. 
• A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen (free on Kindle) – I randomly came across this on a link to a reading list F. Scott Fitzgerald had given to someone. It explores a woman’s role in marriage and her identity within it. I didn’t realise until I had read it that it was highly controversial at the time of publishing in 1879. The writer had the belief that "a woman cannot be herself in modern society," since it is "an exclusively male society, with laws made by men and with prosecutors and judges who assess feminine conduct from a masculine standpoint." The thought is still sadly relevant over 100 years after first being published so worth a free download and read.  

Ingredients

55g butter, melted

250g shortbread, smashed (either whizz in a food processor or put in a sturdy sandwich bag and whack it with a rolling pin)

150g soft dark brown sugar

150g butter

1 x tin condensed milk (397g)

200g dark chocolate (you can use milk if you prefer)

1 x packet white chocolate buttons (if you want pretty patterns on the top)

1.    I highly recommend using a silicon baking tray thing if you have one. Mine is 20cm square and you'll need to rest it on a chopping board, as you need a solid base when using silicon baking things. If not line a 20cm square tin (or of similar size), making sure you have plenty of grease proof paper over the edges so you can lift the finished product out.

2.    Mix the biscuit crumb into the melted butter. Once mixed press into the bottom of the tray, even out and let set for an hour.

3.    The caramel takes about 10 minutes to get ready. Put the butter and sugar in a saucepan. Melt and mix together on a low heat. Then add the condensed milk, turn up the heat and stir sluggishly while it comes to a rapid boil. This will take about 3-4 minutes. Once boiling keep stirring vigorously for about 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir until it stops bubbling when you stop stirring. I know that doesn't quite make sense but stir a bit, see if it bubbles, stir etc etc. You want to cool it a bit.

4.    Pour the caramel over the set base and then let set for another hour or so. I know this seems like a long time to make something that is a pimped up Twix but most of it is leaving it to set and you can make it over a whole day if you have places to be.

5.    Once the caramel is set melt the chocolate in separate bowls. Pour the dark chocolate on first and spread evenly. If using the white chocolate put dollops of it on top and swirl it using the tip of a sharp knife to make pretty patterns. Let set in the fridge.

6.    Now to cut. If using silicon turn it out on a board and if not lift it out using the paper. Then take a long sharp knife and a kettle of boiled water. Pour hot water over the blade of your knife. Wipe off excess water and then rest the blade where you want to cut. The chocolate will melt allowing you to cut through so it doesn't splinter. Repeat after each slice, cleaning the blade. A bit long winded but it works! Makes about 20-25 depending on how many slices you can be bothered to cut up.

Daisy Cake Pops

The Thew is currently running across the Sahara so I'm at a bit of a loose end. I do like having my own space but when I'm doing nothing I have realised that I like to have someone to do nothing with. As Carrie Fisher says about couples in 'When Harry met Sally' - "You had a date on national holidays." I suppose I miss having The Thew around to just hang out with and randomly bug. Maybe that's how you know you've found the person you want to marry. You've found the person you just want to hang out with above and beyond anyone else.
 
Currently The Thew is making me think he misheard the marriage vows and thought it was 'in fitness and in health'. My respect for couples who had to be apart before modern communication has jumped up measurable (alongside my respect for couples who have to be apart these days). The Thew is in the middle of the desert with no phone but I can track his progress online via the chip in his shoe and watch him finish a stage of the race via a webcam. He can get messages of support printed out and given to him so he knows people are cheering him on. Just amazing.  How couples coped when they were separated for months without any form of communication is beyond me. Anyway I’m just a little bored (and obviously very proud and excited about The Thew doing well on his run) so baking was a good distraction this week.
 
I'm stretching the word 'baking' with this one as there is no baking involved. However there is some cake and chocolate melting so it’s part of the way there. Lots of cake pop tins have started to appear everywhere but they seem like a pain to use. Therefore this one just mushes together some stuff to create the same sort of thing. Cake pops give you the perfect opportunity to raid the home baking section of the supermarket for all those wonderful glittery and sprinkly bits that make baking fun so bonus! I'd say this is the perfect recipe to do with kids as its easy, a bit messy and involves lots of colourful decorations. I was a little concerned about how you keep them upright but solved it by getting a flower oasis and sticking them in that. I think most florists do them and mine only cost a £1. Yay!
 
Ingredients

Pops
200g pre made Maderia cake
150g dark chocolate
100g white chocolate drops

Decoration

150g white chocolate
24 lollipop sticks

Sprinkles
24 edible daisies (I used Dr. Oetker ones as they were cheap and I decided to forget the episode with the red food colouring that ruined by Red Velvet Cupcakes)
 

1.    Melt the dark chocolate by your preferred method. I don't have a microwave so I have to use the old bowl over boiling water way.

2.    Whizz up the cake into crumbs in a food processor and add to the melted dark chocolate. Let it cool a bit and then mix in the white chocolate drops.

3.    Make 24 round ‘pop tops’ out of mixture, putting them on a plate and chilling them in the fridge for 20 minutes or so.

4.    Melt the white chocolate and dip in the top of each of the lollipop sticks before pushing into each of the pops. Then let this set as it ensures that the two stay attached during the next stage.

5.    Dip each pop into the white chocolate until thickly covered. Then spin the pop around upside down to get the excess chocolate off. Repeat again before dipping one side into sprinkles (an egg cup works best for keeping the sprinkles), standing upright by your preferred method and sticking a daisy on. Then let everything set.

If you can’t get a flower oasis then a glass with sugar in can work or maybe get a paper bowl, turn upside down and punch holes in the top.

Chocolate, Banana and Walnut Cupcakes

The Thew is flying to Morocco in about 2 ½ weeks to take part in the Marathon des Sables. For anyone not familiar, and why would you be!, it’s a 155 mile run in the Sahara carrying everything you need for the 6 days you’re toiling away in the oppressive heat. They do give you a basic tent and rationed water on the way around so it’s not all bad! He likes to physically challenge himself and it seems to keep him out of trouble. If he’s not around he’s probably midway through a 6 hour run while carrying an 8kg pack and he’ll soon be home needing to be fed and watered. Something I excel at so we’re both playing to our strengths with this one.

To ensure he is at optimum fitness he does regulate what he eats. His diet is one without starchy carbs and is gluten free. He avoids refined sugar, overly sweet fruit (so green bananas are good, but ripe ones are bad) and anything processed. It’s fairly impressive and I have no idea how he does it. He loves bread and is mental for chocolate (although he does indulge in the 85% cocoa one) but over the years he has weaned himself off wanting them. I suppose still consuming alcohol helps, although no beer because of gluten. He is the most self-motivated and determined person that I know and his changes of diet over the years have proved a constant cooking challenge to me which I’ve enjoyed overcoming.  It also means that I eat much better than I naturally would and I’m much fitter as I tend to get scooped along with things he is doing. Although flying over the handle bar of a mountain bike speeding downhill isn’t something I wish to repeat.

So this week’s recipe owes much to the rejection of some bananas for being too ripe for him. I’ve let them continue to ripen as the browner the skin the better the fruit is inside for baking. It’s hard to do banana recipes on the spur of the moment because you need them ripe and everywhere sells green ones. Therefore I’ve taken advantage of the ones I have to do this and paired it with the blonde icing I did for the birthday cake I made last week (as I had left over white chocolate and crème fraiche). These are so simple to make, with the walnuts dampening down the sweetness from the chocolate, letting the bananas shine through.

If you’re feeling generous check out The Thew’s Just Giving page as he’s raising money for a great cause.

Ingredients

Cupcakes

125g unsalted butter

200g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 ripe bananas

4 tbsp sour cream

2 large eggs

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

300g plain flour (if you discover you only have s-r, like I did last night, then just half the bicarb and baking powder. It seemed to work!)

50g walnuts, chopped

80g milk chocolate, chopped (you can use dark if you prefer)

 

Frosting

100g white chocolate (good quality)

25g butter

100ml crème fraiche

100g icing sugar

1.    Preheat the oven to 180°C/GM4.

2.    Get a largest saucepan as you can do everything in on. Melt the butter and then take off the heat.

3.    Add the sugar, vanilla and bananas mushing the bananas in with a fork. You can do all the mixing with a fork.

4.    Stir in the sour cream and eggs and beat to a mix. Then add the bicarb, baking powder and flour. Mix well.

5.    Then add the milk chocolate and walnuts and mix again.

6.    Put into cupcake cases and cook for about 20/25 minutes. I made small cupcakes (filling the cases about 2/3rds) as I wanted to frost them but if you fill to the top then you’ll get more muffin sized ones. Either way works just test that a skewer comes out clean.

7.    Then to make the frosting melt the butter and white chocolate together. Beat in the crème fraiche off the heat and then stir in sifted icing sugar.

8.    Once cupcakes are cooled simple frost and serve!

Makes 24 cupcake sized ones and about 18 big muffins sized ones.

A Birthday Cake for Lucy

I'm cheating here as I made this a few weeks ago. However I'm writing this before I go holiday, for me to publish on holiday, so that I have a nice steady stream of posts. Dedication!

I always get excited when making a cake for someone's birthday. I think it's because I associate it with the amazing cakes my parents made for me and I really got into the swing while I was at university. When I started university my mum gave me a '1000 Recipes' book that covered everything - I still have it and do refer to it when I get faced with something random - and it had a whole 'Celebration Cake' section.

I gave this book to my friend Neil and said he could pick any cake he wanted for his birthday. Now they were pretty much all round or square and I figured I could get through any icing requirements with minimal fuss. However Neil chose the 'Hedgehog' cake which not only required the cake being cooked in two different sized pudding bowls but the cutting and constructing of the hedgehog shape from these. I think marzipan was also involved which just goes to show how random this cake was. Anyway, it all worked out and a successful birthday party was rounded off by a hedgehog aflame with candles.

Since then I do love a random cake mould but there is so little call for them in everyday life. I can never really justify it for a one off cake but a couple of years ago I invested in a giant cupcake mould. Since then it has brought nothing but joy into my life and so when Lucy on my team had her birthday coming up I decided that nothing but a giant cupcake would do for her.

It's really all in the preparation of the mould and the bravery of extraction. Everything else is just literally frosting and baubles!

This is basically Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Fudge Cake recipe but in a different shape.

Ingredients

Cake
400g plain flour
250g caster sugar
100g light muscovado sugar (soft brown will do)
50g cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (I kind of heap it up a bit)
1 tsp salt
3 large eggs
Small tub of sour cream (they come in 142ml and 150ml)
1 tbsp vanilla extract (I think it’s worth investing in a good one so about £5 a bottle)
175g butter melted and cooled (use a large saucepan – see below)
125ml corn oil
300ml cold water

Fudge icing
200g dark chocolate (I go for the 72% one as any higher gets a bit powdery in taste)
250g butter softened
275g sieved icing sugar (if you can do this outside all the better as icing sugar gets everywhere)
1 tbsp vanilla extract

      Cake

1.   Preheat the oven to GM4 or 180°.

2.   Put the flour, both sugars, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a large bowl and mix together.

3.   Add the oil to the butter in the large saucepan – this then becomes the main mixing bowl and minimises washing up. Whisk together – an electric whisk is going to be your friend here. Add the water and whisk again.

4.   Add the dry ingredients and mix well.

5.   In another bowl, or the measuring jug you had the oil in (washing up again), put the eggs, sour cream and vanilla extract. Add this to the other ingredients and mix well.

6.   Make sure your mould is well greased with loads of butter and put a small round of baking paper at the bottom of the mould. Fill it with cake mixture - go easy on the deeper side as it does rise -and bake for about an hour but you’re going to need to test it by shoving a skewer in and checking it comes out clean.

Fudge icing

1.   Melt the chocolate and leave to cool slightly.

2.   Sieve the icing into the butter (if you can do this outside all the better as icing sugar gets everywhere). Then cream together.

3.   Add the melted chocolate and vanilla and mix well.

4.   (Or buy a tub of Betty Crocker Fudge Frosting. Don't be proud as it's actually doesn't taste that different!)

Construction

1.   Cut off any cake that is excess and over the top of the mould. Eat this.

2.   Get the cake out of the mould! Leave it to cool and then just be very careful. I can't give much more instruction but just wish you luck. If the top sticks you don't need to worry as you're going to be covering it in fudge icing. If part of the bottom sticks then just make sure that's not facing front and on show!

3.   Use about a 1/3 of the icing to sandwich the two parts together and cover the top with the rest.

4.   Cover with as much decoration as you can get on there. I used silver balls, sugar butterflies and edible gold spray (possibly my favourite decoration ever). You're going to have to throw the decorations at it as it's not a flat surface but this is lots of fun. If there are children around get them to help.