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.

 

Shamrock Fairy Cakes

Stupid picture won't rotate!

Things are fairly hectic at the moment. I'm having my bathroom redone which means the flat is in a constant mess and everything is covered in dust. Work is busy and I've managed to stall mid introduction to a creative pitch because I've suddenly worried about the delivery of my toilet. Sadly I then went on to talk about the reason I stalled and can only be thankful that it's was a client that knows me and doesn't think random tangents of my thinking are standard.  

Anyway I baked on Sunday as it was St. Patrick's Day and I wanted to bring some baking into work on Monday for it. This was made more interesting because I was hung over from attending a brilliant wedding the day before so had to battle through that and tiredness. Added to the intensity was the fact that I'd been inspired by a link my friend Claire had sent me to make shamrock shaped fairy cakes. This meant that I had to think a bit, which was the one skill I was having difficulty with. Oh well.  

Now you'll need some ceramic baking beads to make these which you may not already have. These are vital but you can use the when making pastry cases etc so good to have. Make sure you have bake safe food colouring - I used Wilton's icing paste stuff in Leaf Green. The recipe is fairly basic and I cheated on the frosting but when you're making luminous green cakes I think that's ok as they're more novelty item than something that will win Bake Off. 

Ingredients 

Cakes

100g caster sugar

100g butter

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

100g self-raising flour

1/2 tsp green food colouring 

Icing

1/2 tub of frosting (I used Betty Crocker vanilla icing)

Slightly less than 1/2 tsp green food colouring 

1.    Line a deep muffin tin with paper cases. A fairy cake, shallow tin, won’t work. Place three ceramic beads between the tin and case - spaced equally around the edge. This will push the case into a shamrock shape. Don't worry if it's not exact - people will get the general idea! (See below for how you need them to look before baking).

2.    Preheat an oven to 180°C/GM4.

3.    Cream the butter and sugar together.

4.    Add the eggs and vanilla mixing well. Then mix in the flour followed by the green food colouring. 

5.    Divide the batter between the cases. This will make 12. Don't worry if you don't get batter fully into each leaf shape as it will spread while cooking.

6.    Bake for about 15-20 minutes testing that they are cooked with a skewer. They're done if it comes out clean.

7.    Cool them completely and remove the paper cases.

8.    Mix the green food colouring into the icing and using a piping bag (I know, I'm sorry, it's fiddly but you need to distinguish between the leaves) squirt some on each of the three leaves so people understand what you've created! Then they're done. Serve with Cidona or red lemonade.

 

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

People can be so unaware of their surrounding and the effect they have on others. I always think of 'Sliding Doors' when something happens which could start off a chain of events. The bus driver who refuses to open the middle doors of a bus for a dad with a pram, the pedestrian whose random change of direction causes a bike to swerve, a delivery driver seeing no issue with changing a delivery time by a couple of hours.  

What could happen? I'm a pessimist so I see a missed appointment, an accident waiting to happen and a crisis at work that gets worse because you're not around. In reality this is how we live our lives - randomly bumping, or not, into each other and getting nudged ever so slightly, or not, into different directions. I was thinking about this as at work one of the creative team mentioned 'the nudge effect' in respect to a brief we are working on. I'm lucky enough to work with some ridiculously talented creative people who spend all day thinking about things and coming up with cool ideas. How the hell I got into this job still baffles me and when I think of some of the amazing experiences I've had during my working life I can't help but be very happy that I got nudged along (special thanks here has to go to Lorna for seeing that job at Emap many moons ago and getting me out of media sales - before anyone takes offence it wasn't for me, I personally didn't enjoy it and wasn't that amazing at it).

So we come to baking. My slight obsession with finding a good red food colouring that stays red when baked, remembering that I have a tall cake box at home I got from work and the front cover of 'Jamie's' magazine all nudged me to bake a three (I know!) tiered red velvet cake. The quantities look scary but they should - it's three tiers of substantial cake covered in cream cheese frosting!!!! Let's see how creative the team gets when hopped up on aggressive red food colouring sourced from the US ... 

Ingredients

Cakes

250g softened butter

600g caster sugar

4 large eggs

40g cocoa powder

80ml or 80g of bake safe red food colouring (Dr. Oetker red gel works)

2 tsp vanilla extract

600g plain flour

2 tsp salt

2 x 284ml pots of buttermilk (Waitrose is the only place I can find it or 2 parts natural yogurt to 1 part whole milk)

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 tsp bicarb of soda 

Frosting

200g softened butter

900g icing sugar

400g full fat cream cheese 

1.    Preheat the oven to GM4.

2.    If you have three 20cm sandwich tins then grease and line the bottoms. I only have two so you'll need to use one twice.

3.    Cream butter and sugar in a big bowl. It won't properly cream together but just make sure it's all mixed up. Add the eggs one by one, scraping down the sides.

4.    Put the food colouring, cocoa powder (I don't bother to sift) and vanilla in a bowl and mix together. Add to the batter and combine.

5.    Then add the salt and about 1/3 of the flour. Mix. Then add one of the pots of buttermilk, mix, then 1/3 flour, mix, then second buttermilk pot, mix, then the last of the flour.

6.    Mix the vinegar and bicarb in a bowl and add to the batter. Mix well.

7.    The batter allows you about 800g per layer so weigh it out in a bowl and put in the sandwich tins. Obviously if you just have two then keep some back.

8.    Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes. If you have a gas oven you'll want to switch the tins around on the shelves half way through if doing two together. Test with a knife or skewer and if it comes out clean leave them to cool.

9.    The frosting is easy but icing sugar is so messy. If I had an outside  I'd do it there but I don't so I use a good processor. The quantities pack it to the max and you can of course use a hand held whisk or freestanding. So put the butter in with the sugar and mix until combined through. Add the cream cheese and you're done.

10.  Once the cakes are cool layer them together with frosting - there is enough for a fairly generous layer between each. Remember to do this on your serving plate, stand etc as you won't be able to move it once finished! Choose your most evenly rounded top for the top one and smooth out any random bumps or wonkiness by using a sharp bread knife to gently cut then away. When it comes to frosting a palette knife is your friend. Build the coverage of the sides up slowly by doing a little at a time until you can't see any cake. Crumble up some of the cut off cake and sprinkle on the top. Voila!  

N.B. When frosting, to get a nice finish on the bottom, gently put strips of baking paper slightly under the bottom layer and once you are finished slowly remove them. It will give you a clean finish.

 

Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

I don’t really have anything to waffle on about this week before I let you have the recipe of what I made on Monday. I did think about sharing a list of all the places The Thew and I went on Saturday for one of our quarterly ‘Days of Fun’ but I got worried about how long the list of places was getting and what that may say about the alcohol consumption that went on. Needless to say we drank a lot, ate a lot of cheese and had fun.  

So on to the recipe. I found this on The New York Times’ website and tinkered a bit with quantities as their original recipe would have made something that resembled all that is wrong with US portion sizes. These went down well and were described as a reverse cheesecake. 

Ingredients

Cookies

40g of desiccated coconut

120g butter

165g dark brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

95g plain flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

130g porridge oats

50g stoned dates, chopped (you could use raisins or sultanas if you prefer)

3 tbsp caster sugar 

Filling

60g cream cheese

3 tbsp mascarpone cheese (I forgot to weigh what this was!)

12g icing sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract 

1.    Heat the oven to 180°/GM4 and spread the coconut on a baking tray. Toast for about 5 minutes (stiring half way through. You want it going golden and smelling great. Once done turn the oven up to 190°C/GM5.

2.    Cream the butter and brown sugar together until light in colour.

3.    Add the eggs and vanilla, mixing well. Worth scraping down the sides of the bowl midway through.

4.    Add the flour, salt, baking powder and 1 tsp of the cinnamon. Beat well and then add the oats, dates, and coconut mixing well again.

5.    This mixture will make 32 cookies so divide the mixture in half, then into four and then each of the four pieces into four. It sounds complicated when written down but it will make sense when you’re doing it. Roll them into balls.

6.     ombine the caster sugar with 1 tsp ground cinnamon and roll the balls in it to cover the outside.

7.    Put them on a baking tray, well-spaced out, flatten very slightly and bake for about 12 minutes (turn half way through if you have a gas oven to give an even colour).

8.    While that is going on put all the filling ingredients in to a bowl (sifting in the icing sugar) and mix well. Once the cookies are cooled use the filling to sandwich two together. I suppose it was about a tsp worth but I just used a knife the spread it on about 5mm thick.

Caramel Cupcakes

I've needed to get my fringe cut for about two weeks now and have been unable to find the time. I have no idea why not as it’s a relatively simple procedure and doesn't take long but I just haven't found the time. Now I'm rapidly running out if hair styles which allow my fringe to be pulled back. If I leave it down then it goes to the side and just looks stupid. I may have attempted to trim it myself at the weekend but after the first tiny snip I realised that only madness lay in in that approach and put down the scissors. 

Currently I'm attempting to rock a high bun/top knot thing which saves me tons of time. Just whack damp hair into a high ponytail and swish up with a hair band into something looking relatively neat. If only everything in life was that easy. Although I always panic that tying wet hair up will somehow cause it to rot as it can't fully dry as I'm sure I heard that somewhere (I did Google it and apparently people with thick hair who put it in a ponytail wet and leave it for days can get mildew! Who leaves their hair in a ponytail for days on end?) 

Anyway I can't find time to get my fringe trim but I do find time to bake. I had started prep by taking the butter out if the fridge on Sunday and I urge you to do the same. Normally I just soften butter with the electric whisk but this recipe is so much easier if it’s squishy to begin with. This is a Hummingbird Bakery recipe with my own tweaks to their frosting (mainly halving it as they get you to make so much). Their base for cupcakes is so simple and the addition of milk makes then verge on muffin texture while keeping something fundamentally cupcake there. My sister made these for our Mother's Day afternoon tea this year and they were amazing.

Ingredients 

Cupcakes

80g softened butter

280g sugar

240g plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

240ml whole milk (don't scrimp with semi-skimmed - look how much sugar you're putting in)

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

150g caramel (Carnation have finally cottoned in to the fact that it’s fairly dreary boiling a can of condensed milk for 2 hours just to get caramel and now do the boring work for you)

Frosting

80g softened butter

250g sifted icing sugar

50ml whole milk

80g caramel 

1.    Preheat the oven to 190°C/GM 5. Fill two 12 muffin/cupcake tins with cases. The original recipe says this makes 12-16 cupcakes in a muffin tin but I can get about 24 out if you use large cupcake cases.

2.    Put the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and using an electric whisk mix together until it looks like breadcrumbs.

3.    In a jug hand whisk the milk, eggs and vanilla. Add about ¾ of this to the cupcake mixture and mix well. Then add the rest with the caramel. Mix until smooth and then divde the mixture in to the tins. Fill the cases about 2/3’s full (I always end up with a bit more in each).

4.    Bake for about 20 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. I have a gas oven to turn the tin around half way through as otherwise the ones nearest the back get more browned than the ones at the front.

5.    While this is going on make the frosting. Mix the butter and sugar together. It will form lumps of butter and sugar, so don’t panic – you don’t want to cream them. Then add the milk, mix well, and then the caramel. Done.

6.    Once the cupcakes have cooled slather the top in frosting. I use a palette knife and hope for the best as I’m not skilled with anything delicate.

Multi-coloured Sponge Cake with Double Frosting

Thanks to Barty for the photo as I forgot my phone!

A sense of relief has occurred. I feel like all the emotions of the year culminated during last week, crescendoing around the weekend and dissipated while eating Chinese on Sunday night. I shan't bore you with the details as most is referenced in other blog posts but two massive events are over that I now realise I expended a lot of my mental reserve on. When you're in it you don't really feel it, however once it’s gone you are struck by a feeling of lightness and calm.

Actually I'm more knackered than anything else but nothing some sleep won't fix. I managed to feel good enough to give blood on Monday morning (which I think everyone who is able should do http://www.blood.co.uk/) as I'm part of a study on the frequency of donation so need to stick to a schedule. I love how after donating there is an excuse to eat crisps before 9am - "I probably need salt" - and that I can leave with a snack pack of biscuits to 'sustain' me for the ten minute walk to the office. Anyway all this left me stuck for something to bake this Monday and fairly bored with the whole idea of doing anything other than sitting when I got home. 

Then, while looking for ideas around a Thai chicken sausage roll that I'd discussed with my desk at work, I found the gem of an idea take shape. Nothing to do with chicken but all to do with multi-coloured cakes. I have no idea of the connection and can only put it down to tiredness, randomness and other such things that occur when your brain unwinds. So here is a multi-coloured layer cake with double chocolate frosting. I completely cheated and bought the chocolate fudge frosting (and would have bought vanilla to sandwich it but it wasn't in the shop). You can make your own but I think that when this much food colouring goes into a cake you may as well just say to hell with it and get dirty (in a good way) pre made frosting.

Ingredients

400g butter (bring to room temperature as it will be a nightmare to mix otherwise)

400g sugar
8 large eggs
400g self-raising flour
Food colouring - I had red, blue, yellow and green liquid which didn’t come out as vivid as I would like. I’d suggest gels or pastes but will try them out and report back.
1 tub chocolate fudge frosting
1 tub vanilla frosting (I made one which can be foundhere as I had the ingredients at home but I'm going to be honest and admit I didn't weight anything out. Just guessed and went on taste!)

1.    Preheat the oven to 180°C/GM 4 and butter and line two sandwich tins. I think it’s always worth lining sandwich tins as it makes getting the cakes out so much easier.

2.    Cream together the butter and sugar and then add the eggs two at a time. The mixture will curdle as I’ve never made one that doesn’t but it never seems to matter. Some people get every concerned about it but I think stuff it.

3.    Then fold in the flour. I know it will be tempting to just mix (and I normally would) but as you need to mix in the food colouring you need to respect the air in the mixture a little bit. The batter will be thick so never fear.

4.    Then divide the mixture up into as many bowls as food colours you have. Add an amount – start small and add more if you need – and mix in. You’ll need to be bold with it and I used about a tbsp for each of my four bowls.

5.    Add the individual coloured batter to the sandwich tins. I attempted rings of colour (see below – without piping bags because who has the time!) but you can just dollop it in. It’s a robust batter so it won’t spread that much.

6.    Bake for 35-40 minutes and then leave to cool. Or accelerate the cooling in the fridge once turned out, as I did, as I was tired and wanted to go to sleep.

7.    Then sandwich the two cakes together with the vanilla and cover with the chocolate. You could sandwich them with jam and then cover with buttercream if you prefer. Really whatever if easiest. Done.

 

Tip: when frosting a cake you normally do it on the plate or board that you serve on. As it can go everywhere slip thick slips of baking paper around the bottom of the cake, once on the board, and frost away. Once done carefully remove the strips of paper and you’ll get a clean finish.

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.

Coffee and Walnut Cake with White Chocolate Frosting

I was asked to make a birthday cake for a friend this week and I was more than happy to do so - especially as I was being given dinner as part of the deal. The brief was chocolate or coffee and walnut. I went one better and made a cake using all three! This is a 'proper' cake - grown up, not too sweet and perfect in civilised company. We ate it with wine while watching dubious Harlem Shake videos but it could be grown up if you wanted it to be.

The icing and filling is amazing. Nigella's blonde icing is truly a thing of amazingness. Just make sure you use a very good white chocolate as the cheaper stuff can be too sweet. Tesco have just brought out a cooks chocolate range which I think it very good.

Ingredients
450g butter
225g caster sugar
4 large eggs
200ml strong fresh coffee, cooled
4 tsp cocoa powder
225g self-raising flour
175g chopped walnuts (plus extra to decorate)
200g white chocolate (good quality)
50g butter
200ml crème fraiche (the original recipe says 220ml but it comes in 200ml tubs so that's what went in)
100g icing sugar

1.    Preheat the oven to 190°/GM5.

2.    Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add the eggs in one at a time making sure you whisk well each time.

3.    Add the coffee and then the flour with the cocoa sifted in on top. Whisk well but don’t panic if it looks a little bit like scrambled eggs as this may curdle but it won’t matter once it’s baked.

4.    Fold in the walnuts and divide the mixture between two shallow tins that have been well greased – ideally put some baking paper on the bottom.

5.    Bake for 25 minutes. Now this makes quite a delicate cake so I’d suggest cooling completely in the tins. I made mine the day before they were needed and by the time I turned them out it made become more robust and didn’t break when turning out or sandwiching together. However you’re going to cover this in frosting so if it breaks just weld it together with that.

6.    Melt the chocolate with the butter in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.

7.    Cool a little once melted, mix in the crème fraiche and the sift the icing sugar on top and mix in as well.

8.    Leave in the fridge for about 20 minutes and then use half to sandwich the two cakes together and use the other half to ice the top (you could do the sides but I was in a rush due to coming home late because the Central line was on the blink). Decorate with walnuts if you like and serve.