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.

 

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.

Victoria Sponge

Sometimes I bake on other days of the week. Like last night - a Tuesday. In thanks for sponsorship for a sleep out I did for Centrepoint I said I'd bake cakes for a couple of people at work. One of them chose to have it as her work birthday cake and requested a Victoria Sponge. So here is is. Filled with strawberry jam, whipped double cream and berries. It basically got inhaled by everyone. Success.