Dark Chocolate & Ginger Birthday Cake

   As most birthday's should go, mine this week has been full of cake. I turned 23 on Thursday so Boy Loves Food treated me to a gorgeous Victoria sponge from Bea's of Bloomsbury. Obviously every last crumb of said cake had already been devoured so I decided to get baking for a family BBQ this morning.

   Flicking through my books this morning I settled on a chocolate and marmalade cake from the Clandestine Cake Club cookbook, except I substituted the marmalade for some of my favourite Mackay's ginger preserve.

Dark Chocolate and Ginger Birthday Cake

(Recipe adapted from Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook, serves 8-10)

     250g butter

     200g dark chocolate (I used Green and Blacks 70%), broken up into small chunks

     6tbsp Mackay's Ginger Preserve

     250g caster sugar

     4 large eggs

     250g self raising flour

     2tbsp cocoa powder

Chocolate buttercream:

     100g dark chocolate (60-70%), broken into small chunks

     200g butter, softened

     400g icing sugar

     2tbsp cocoa powder

• Heat the oven to 175 degrees. Grease and line two 20cm round, springform cake tins.
• Place the butter in a saucepan, and just before it has completely melted add 100g of the dark chocolate. Remove the pan from the heat and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the butter and chocolate are fully melted and combined.
• Stir in the ginger preserve and mix well to break down any big lumps. Ass the sugar and eggs and stir until thoroughly combined.
• Sift in the flour and cocoa powder and gently fold in until just combined, then fold in the remaining chocolate. Pour the mixture, spreading evenly.
• Bake for approximately 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• Meanwhile, make the chocolate buttercream. Melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the water does not touch the base of the bowl. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
• Beat the butter for a few minutes to soften and loosen it, then sift in the icing sugar and cocoa. Keep beating until you have a light, fluffy buttercream. Beat in the cooled but still molten chocolate until combined. Once the cakes are cool, sandwich together with a layer of buttercream, then cover the top with a thin layer of the remainder. Decorate with glitter and a generous sprinkling of hundreds and thousands.

     

Strawberry & Champagne Duffins

   I find Twitter to be one of the most useful blogging enablers. I get the sense of being in a little baking community where I can quite easily while away an hour or so chatting, exchanging tips and inspiration. But mainly, drooling over everyone's latest bakes that help to add to a never ending 'to-bake' list and an ever expanding bookmarks folder on my phone.

   So when I saw a tweet from the lovely people at Mackays asking for some bakers to join them and get baking with jam, I couldn't wait to join in. After an email suggesting a few ideas, a lovely stash of jams and curds arrived on my doorstep the very next day. At the very top of my 'to-bake' list was Duffins. One of those hybrid style bakes that people rave about. And because they sell them at my favourite cake place, I just had to give them a go.

   And now I know exactly why people rave about them. These are quite possibly the best things I have ever baked. Ever. I baked them last night and filled them this morning to take into the office but I'm already plotting alternative filling combinations. Custard and lemon curd. Apple and ginger. Lime and chocolate.

   I'm a little bit of a jam doughnut fiend. A popular choice for office birthday celebrations and also a reminder of eating them as a little person at my grandparent's. These Duffins, in case you didn't know, are a hybrid of a jam doughnut and a muffin. And because Mackays make an awesome strawberry and champagne preserve, they're just that little bit fancier!

Strawberry & Champagne Duffins
(Makes 22, recipe from Afternoon Tea with Bea)
     420g plain flour
     4tsp baking powder
     1/2 tsp salt
     1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
     330g caster sugar
     2 eggs, lightly beaten
     375ml sour cream/buttermilk
     2tsp vanilla extract
     130ml sunflower oil
Coating & dipping
     250g unsalted butter, melted
     300g caster sugar
     1/2 jar of Mackays Strawberry preserve with champagne

• Heat the oven to 180 degrees and grease two 12 hole muffin trays.
• Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
• Add all the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Don't overmix.
• Spoon the mixture into the muffin tray, filling them three quarters of the way up.
• Bake for 22-30 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
• Whilst the Duffins are baking, put the melted butter and sugar in their own shallow bowls and set aside.
• Once ready, remove the Duffins from the oven and tip out.
• Immediately dip the muffins in the melted butter, then roll in the sugar to liberally and evenly coat.
• Fill a piping bag with jam. Push the nozzle/tip through the top (or bottom if you want it to look neater) of the doughnut, up to midway. Pipe about 1 tbsp of jam inside each doughnut.

   I'm now left with one question...is it acceptable to have only champagne preserves from now on? To follow other jammy bakes, keep an eye on #bakingwithmackays