Boden cake frenzy

Not a recipe post this one, but a quick few photos of some gorgeous cakes I made on a shoot yesterday for the Boden Spring/Summer 2012 catalogue.  My excuse for showing them here is simply that they contained a lot of eggs, about 5 dozen to be precise. Not all from my birds I might add!

I shall be writing a full blog post for the Boden website in a day or two so won't give away all my pictures just yet, but here are a few just to tempt you.

Summer berries & cream shortcake

I made this cake a week or so ago, on a damp and dreary so-called summers morning aftersports day had just been cancelled for the second time because of the famous Bristol drizzle. I made this to cheer up a disappointed 6 year old for whom performing at sports day in front of his dad was to be the highlight of his term. 

It seems laughable now but I had to arrange the raspberries on one side of the cake, and the strawberries on the other as he likes the latter only in jam form. Once asked ‘why don’t you like strawberries, you really like strawberry jam’ - he replied, ‘well they don’t have any jam in them’.  Ah, the joys of feeding children. If you don’t have kids you can not begin to understand how frustrating they can be…..

All photos copyright Oliver Edwards

Summer berries & cream shortcake

This gorgeous, indulgent summery cake is based on the American-style shortcake, a sort of hybrid between a scone and biscuit, rather than the crisper Scottish shortbread. I love them both but to my mind this one is marginally easier to eat when sandwiched around a pile of berries and softly whipped cream. You could easily adapt this recipe to make individual shortcakes but I wonder if that would be missing the point slightly - the glory of this cake is ‘wow’ when you present the towering confection to your loved ones. 

275g plain flour

25g polenta 

75g caster sugar

1tbsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

125g unsalted butter, cold & cut into 1cm dice

150ml full fat creme fraiche 

1 large egg

for the filling:

200g raspberries

200g strawberries

2tsbp caster sugar

250ml double cream

1tbsp icing sugar, plus a little extra to dust

1tsp vanilla extract 

In a food processor pulse the dry ingredients until they are thoroughly mixed. Then add the cold cubes of butter and whizz to a breadcrumb texture. Take care not to over process or the result will be a tough not tender shortcake. You could, in theory, do this by hand - rubbing gently between fingers and thumbs as if making pastry the old fashioned way. But as its important not to get the butter too warm I find it more reliable to quickly use a food processor. 

In a jug, measure the creme fraiche, beat in the egg and then pour into the processor and pulse until just combined to a dough. Don’t overdo the mixing, less is definitely more in this case.

Turn dough on floured worktop, cut in half roll each half lightly into a ball. Using flat of palm press and turn gently until you a have a disc about 1cm thick and the size of a victoria sandwich sponge tin - about 23-25cm. Keep roughly the same size but don’t worry too much about perfection, this is delicious home cooking not the pasty section of a fancy restaurant. 

Carefully lift and slide each circle onto baking trays lined with parchment and bake 180°C for around 10-12 mins until risen and golden brown. Whilst still warm cut one disc into quarters, then each quarter into 2 leaving you with 8 wedges. Set aside to cool completely on a wire rack whilst you prepare the filling.

Mix the raspberries, strawberries and caster sugar in a large bowl and set aside for a few minutes. In another large bowl whip the cream with the icing sugar and vanilla extract - you are looking for soft delicately whipped peaks not stiff solid cream. 

Once the shortcakes are cold, place the complete disc on a pretty plate. Pile the cream on top and spread out with the back of knife. Top with the fruit and arrange the wedges of shortcake around in a fan, sprinkling all over with a little extra icing sugar. I found it easier to use only 7 of my 8 wedges, that number seeming to fit better over the filling. Leaving the extra wedge as a little chef’s perk with a cup of coffee…..

This cake is best eaten the day you made it - it will lose a certain something if it sees the inside of a fridge. But if you do need to chill it, make sure to bring it to room temperature before serving. Or failing that a mere few seconds per slice in the microwave can have a miraculous reviving effect. 

Peach & almond cake with lavender syrup

Almond-based cakes are my all time favourite, perfect as a grown-up pudding with creme fraiche, or for afternoon tea with friends, or even as an indulgent solitary breakfast in the garden. I love the dense, damp eggy-ness you get with almonds and for the baker they are so much more forgiving than the elusive ‘light-as-air’ Victoria sponge, a cake I still feel I have yet to to master.

I am the first to admit that the initial motivation for baking this cake was an aesthetic one, being desperate to capture the gorgeousness of the lavender flowers into something edible. And because they grow in a loose hedge under the peach tree it made sense to me to pair them together in a rich and fragrant cake. As it turned out the flowers, whilst imbibing the syrup with a lovely, almost gingery note, added little in the looks department, darkening deeply on cooking. So the answer was to strain the syrup and sprinkle over a few fresh vibrant coloured flowers at the end. You, and the bees that enjoy them so much, may feel this is a completely unnecessary step, but for me the enjoyment of eating starts simply with the way my food looks. 

for the lavender syrup:

180g caster sugar

20g fresh lavender flowers, about 4 tablespoons (pick tight deeply coloured buds)

100ml cold water 

for the cake:

225g unsalted butter

225g caster sugar 

3 eggs

150g ground almonds

100g plain flower

1 tsp baking powder  

500g peach flesh - about 5 large peaches - cut to bite sized pieces

a few extra lavender flowers to garnish (optional)

23-25cm spring-form tin, lined on the base and greased around the sides

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 5.

Make the syrup by bringing all the ingredients to the boil in a small heavy based saucepan. Simmer for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and allow to infuse whilst you get on with the cake.

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. The easiest way to do this is in a food mixer, but a wooden spoon and plenty of elbow grease will do the job just as well for the more energetic. 

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Tip in the almonds, flour and baking powder and fold together until well combined. Finally fold the peach flesh gently through the cake batter. Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake for about 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

Remove the cake from the oven and pour over the strained syrup, allowing it to cool in the tin a little before you try to remove it. Decorate with a few fresh lavender flowers scattered over the top, which your guests can eat, or simply admire before discretely picking off…...

In search of a pudding

Some nights you just need cake or pudding - something nice to look forward to once the kids have gone to bed. And tonight is one of those nights. Outside its sunny but cold and windy, not al fresco eating weather, so something sweet to comfort and warm as I snuggle on the sofa, thankful Friday is here at last.

Alas, the cupboards and fridge are both fairly bare so I had to wing it a bit. My first thoughts turned to creme brulee, or even a proper rice pudding. Both of these need double cream - I had none. I found a pack of dried figs lurking in the back of the cupboard. A quick snout in the fridge revealed two thirds of a block butter, just about enough to make a cake and, most pleasingly, an unopened bottle of my favourite oloroso sherry.

So cake it was. A sort of fig and oloroso syrup upside down cake. And, of course, a small glass of sherry for the cook. It is Friday after all.

Fig & Oloroso upside down cake

you need:

5tbsp demerara sugar

50g unsalted butter

4tbsp dry Oloroso sherry (I like Sainsbury's Taste the Difference dry oloroso)

250g soft dried figs, sliced in half 

zest of 1 lemon

170g caster sugar

170g unsalted butter

2 large eggs

170g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

1tsp vanilla extract

1-2tbsp milk

23-25cm spring form cake tin, greased & based lined with baking parchment

what to do:

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Add the demerara sugar to a heavy bottomed frying pan and warm over a low heat. After a few minutes the sugar will begin to melt - resist the temptation to stir but give the pan a little shake from time to time to release and mix the granules. As soon as they have melted add the butter and sherry, taking care as it will spit and sizzle. The sugar may clump up and harden again, but stir gently over a very low heat until the butter melts and the syrup comes together. Add the figs and lemon, stir thoroughly to mix then pour into the cake tin. Set aside whilst you make the cake batter.

In a food mixer, or with an electric whisk, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each. Sift over the flour and baking powder and pour in the vanilla extract. Fold gently with a large metal spoon, adding just enough milk to make it soft enough to fall off the spoon with ease.

Spoon the batter into the tin over the figs and level with a knife. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven, and allow to cool for 5 minutes in the tin. Carefully turn out the cake onto a large plate and peel off the baking paper.

Like many cakes, this one is at its best when eaten warm, fresh from the oven, perhaps with a dollop of rich Greek yogurt or creme fraiche. Indeed the day after baking a cake, not being remotely snobbish about these things, I often give my cakes, piece by piece, a 10 or 20 second zap in the microwave. It'll revive them no end. I hold my hand up high and admit to using a microwave, not often, but sometimes they are exceedingly useful. And warming cake is a case in point.

Rhubarb & almond streusel cake

I think I may have just said it before but, as this is my blog, I feel I can say it again. I love cake. Plain cake, fruity cake, fancy cake, kids cake, grown up cake. You name it. The only cake I'm not too keen on are what I call 'gloopy icing cakes'. You know the ones - where there is more icing than cake and its just all a bit sickly and saccharine, not to mention dreadfully difficult to eat.

With Doris, Ellie, Mabel & Sam laying exceptionally well at the moment (4 eggs every single day for over a week) I am obliged, happily, to keep baking. Like me, they can sense spring in the air and I like to think that its making them happy and productive. Which in turn makes me happy.

And so, here is my latest cake, slotting rather nicely into the grownup cake category. This is a wonderful cake for dessert when you have friends to visit, with a dollop of creme fraiche it is elevated swiftly into 'pudding' territory. But great too for afternoon tea, and also for my favourite time to eat cake, weekend breakfast with good coffee. There is really no need to feel we have to eat muesli or porridge on a Saturday morning.

Rhubarb & almond streusel cake

You will need:

300g young pink rhubarb, cut into 3cm pieces

zest & juice small orange

60g granulated sugar

200g unsalted butter

200g caster sugar

3 eggs

140g ground almonds

60g self raising flour

1 level tsp baking powder

100g flaked almonds

40g dark brown sugar

1 tsp ground ginger

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 180oC. Line the base of a 23cm springform tin with baking parchment and brush a little melted butter around the sides.

Arrange the rhubarb in a single layer in a baking dish. Toss in the orange zest and juice and sprinkle over the sugar. Bake in the oven for 15 mins. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a little.

Make the cake batter by creaming together the butter and caster sugar, either by hand with a wooden spoon and a lot of elbow grease or, as I did, in a food mixer. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Fold in the ground almonds, flour and baking powder. Pour into the prepared cake tin and level a little with a knife. Press the baked rhubarb pieces lightly into the surface, reserving the cooking juices.  It will look like a lot of rhubarb but during cooking it will be enveloped beautifully within the cake. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

Whilst the cake is baking make the streusel topping by mixing the reserved rhubarb juice with the flaked almonds, brown sugar and ground ginger. When the cake has had its initial baking spread this mixture gently over the surface and return the the oven for another 20-25 minutes. It is ready when a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin.

This cake is a great 'keeper', lasting well for several days. I have just eaten a piece 4 days after I made it and it tastes virtually as good as it did on its first outing from the cake tin.

A simple citrus drizzle cake - the first cake of the new year

In our house it has become a tradition to bake a cake every weekend. Not always a new cake, not always a special cake, but always a cake of some sort. Yesterday saw a truly special baking moment; the first cake of 2011, and the first ever cake with home produced eggs. The first of many - surely cakes with super fresh eggs from the garden were one of the main reasons for investing in these (very expensive) chickens?! I was ably helped by Eve, my willing 3 year old, who as usual was mostly interested in the spatula licking phase of baking, even preferring this to eating the finished product. Still, all the more for mummy.

The first cake of the new year, for me, had to be a super simple affair. I was not looking for a fudgy fancy confection of chocolate or gooey icing. A quick glance at the less than impressive post-Christmas fruit bowl gave instant inspiration; 2 rapidly yellowing limes, a slightly soft lemon, a large not-bad looking orange and a very much past it melon. The chickens had the melon, sliced into quarters and devoured with glee in a matter of minutes, as a small way of thanking them for their part in the process. The rest of the fruit were to be turned into a citrus drizzle cake, sharp yet sweet, simple and pure. My idea of cake nirvana, and somehow perfectly right for the first Sunday of the year.

Citrus Drizzle Cake

makes 1 loaf

10-15 minutes to make; 40-45 minutes to cook

3 eggs, separated

180g unsalted butter

180g caster sugar

160g self raising flour

60g ground almond

2 limes, zest & juice

1 lemon, zest & juice

1 orange, zest & juice

2 tbsp milk

For the syrup:

approx. 150ml citrus juice (this is what my fruit above yielded)

100g caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 200/180 fan/ gas 6. Grease and line a loaf tin with baking parchment, leaving a 'tail' at either end to help you lift the cake out.

Either in a food mixer with a whisk attachment, or a generous bowl and an electric whisk, whisk up the egg whites until stiff. Be sure that both the bowl and whisk are super-clean before you start as any hint of grease will mean the whites will not gain enough air to fluff up. Once the eggs are whisked, set aside.

In a separate bowl, add the egg yolks, butter and sugar and beat together until light and fluffy. I used the beater attachment of my Kenwood Chef as I tend to a be a lazy cakemaker, but a wooden spoon and copious elbow grease would do the job well if you preferred. Beat in the flour, almond and all of the citrus zest, and finally beat in the milk.

Take a generous spoon of the whisked egg white and beat this into the cake mixture - this will serve to loosen the mix a little. Then fold the remaining egg whites in gently but firmly. I find a figure of eight action with a large metal spoon to be the best way of doing this, but you will find the way that works best for you. Be careful not to over mix as you will loose the precious air you spent time whisking in.

Pour into the prepared cake tin, level slightly with the back of a spoon and cook in the oven until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. In my oven this took 45 minutes, but check after 35 or so just in case - ovens are notoriously difficult things to judge when giving baking times, yours may vary from mine in all manner of ways.

Whilst the cake is cooking prepare the 'drizzle' by boiling the reserved citrus juice and the sugar in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat when the sugar has dissolved and you are left with a glossy syrup that tastes quite sharp. If you want it sweeter feel free to add a little more sugar, but for me the drizzle should have a zing that tingles on the tongue and serves to wake the cake up, lifting it from the plain to the sublime.

Once the cake is done remove it from the oven and slowly pour the drizzle over the still hot cake. Do this spoonful by spoonful and watch it satisfyingly soak into the sponge. Don't rush or it will puddle and run over the sides of the tin, which would seem such a shameful waste of the delicious nectar. Allow to cool in the tin before lifting out onto a plate.

Fabulous served with coffee for a late sunday breakfast.