Lavender & Lime Chiffon Cake

   The theme for this month's Epsom Clandestine Cake Club was 'Flower Power' and there's no way I could have guessed where the venue was, it was pretty special!

   But first things first, the cake! I chose to bake a lavender and lime chiffon cake as I had plenty of eggs left from my recent trip to Yorkshire (post here). As far as flower essences go, the only ones I've really come across are rose and lavender. As my last CCC bake used rose water (rose and pistachio bundt), I decided to give lavender a try.

   I've never had anything with lavender in before and worried it'd be too scented. But the lime curd filling and lime buttercream cuts through the floral flavour perfectly. I've been enjoying using the curds that Mackay's sent me, so zesty balanced with just the right amount of sweetness.

   A few other cake clubber's used lavender in their bakes too; lemon and lavender, chocolate and lavender, vodka and lavender.

   Other cakes used lemon and poppyseed or rose. But all were covered in varying flowering decorations.

   A strange coincidence that lavender was such a popular choice because this was our beautiful outdoor venue...

   Mayfield Lavender is a 25 acre lavender field on the North Surrey Downs and is very impressive! We were joined by many a busy bee and also other visitors to the fields offering to buy slices from us. People were impressed that there's such thing as a secret cake club where you get to eat an abundance of home baked treats. 

Lavender and Lime Chiffon Cake
(Recipe adapted from Technicolor Kitchen)
     6 eggs, separated
     60ml sunflower oil
     6 tablespoons water
     300g caster sugar
     2 teaspoons lavender extract
     187g plain flour, sifted
     1 teaspoon baking powder
     1/2 teaspoon salt
     1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
     1/2 jar Mackay's lime curd
     140g unsalted butter, softened
     450g icing sugar
     1 tablespoon lime juice
     1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and line the bottoms of three 8 inch round cake tins with baking paper, do not grease.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, oil and water and set aside.
• Place 200g of the sugar, the lavender, flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and gently combine. Add the yolk mixture and whisk to form a smooth batter.
• Place the egg whites in a large bowl in a stand mixer and beat on a medium-high speed until frothy. slowly add the remaining 100g of sugar and the cream of tartar and continue to whip until soft, droopy peaks form. 
• Fold 1/4 of the beaten egg whites into the batter, taking care not to deflate the mixture. Gently fold in the remaining eggs whites.
• Divide the batter between the three tins and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden and a cake tester comes out cleanly from the centre/
• Allow the layers to cool completely in the pans. To remove, run a blunt knife around the edges, invert each pan and tap out the cake onto a wire rack. Carefully peel off the paper.
• Leave the cakes wrapped in cling film overnight to firm before sandwiching with a generous helping of lime curd.
• For the butter cream, beat the butter until smooth before adding the icing sugar, lime and vanilla. Continue beating until smooth and creamy.
• Start with 1/3 of the buttercream and cover the cake with a palette knife to form a crumb coat. Refrigerate for approximately 30 minutes before covering the cake with the remains. Decorate with fresh flowers and glitter.

   If you fancied reading our Clandestine Cake Club write up by Andrew then you can find it here.
Or Becky's blog has a cheeky picture of Harriet and myself having a good old cakey chat, here.

A little trip to Yorkshire

   A little bit of a different post today. I haven't been away for a while so was very excited to spend a few days in Yorkshire and as there was lots of eating, I thought I'd share a few pictures.

   On arrival I was happy to find that our room had a comfy little window snug overlooking Bay Tree Farm. I got very used to afternoon tea in this spot. And rather than overseeing traffic for my day job, I enjoyed observing the horse movements clip clopping down the road. Much more civilised!

      The farm is located near the grounds of Fountains Abbey. When they say 'a great day out' on their website, they really mean it. It took a good 90 minutes to walk (the long way round) from the farm to one of the southern gates of the abbey's grounds. The overgrown grass and bugs eating my legs alive didn't help so much.

   On the next day we paid Betty a little visit in Harrogate...and in York of course! I even got myself a fat little rascal to takeaway as an evening snack. Definitely will have to try making some myself now.

   There were lots of views to be seen and pictures to be taken in Grassington. I attempted to get too close to a sheep for a close up photo, before realising a walker was laughing at me...said sheep was 'using the bathroom'.

   He looked convincingly innocent!

   No trip 'up North' is complete without pie. I chose Skipton Pie and Mash Shop's Homity pie. I also chose a selection of pork pies to bring back for my Grandad from J. Stanforth's.

   In attempts to walk off all the pie and mash we drove towards the dales to Bolton Abbey. Thankfully I managed to keep my snazzy new trainers dry on the stepping stones. The children's activity trail through the woods was quite exhausting so I made an executive decision to stop for an energy top up before making the return journey...

   Two scoops of honeycomb and caramel please!

   And now I'm home, rested and ready to do some baking and perhaps thinking about going back to work on Monday!

   I can't recommend Bay Tree Farm enough, Val was very welcoming and kindly sent me home with a dozen eggs from happy countryside eggs for baking. Thank you!

Mini Coconut and Lime Curd Cakes

   What better way to start seven days off than a birthday weekend! Not my birthday, but Mother Loves Food's. On Friday afternoon I pushed my way through the sweaty train crowds with flowers and baking supplies for the weekend.

   First up was a Limoncello cake from Peggy Porschen's Boutique Baking book. I seem to struggle with aesthetics when baking anything from this book. Maybe its the fact that everything in there is just so beautiful, its a little daunting! That and the fact that most recipes in there require three same sized sandwich tins, which I do not own. I never learn that throwing it in one big tin doesn't work quite the same.

   The result, an inch high cake. It did have a good rise for the extremely wide tin I put it in but not the impressive towering oozy boozy lemon cake I'd envisaged. Instead, I carefully filled it with some lemon curd and Limoncello buttercream and drizzled with more Limoncello and a sprinkling of gold stars.

   Next up were these little lime cakes baked for my mum to take into her work tomorrow. Of course I sneaked one to test, especially after overheating in a hot kitchen in this heatwave. I was so excited to try my new baking tray for mini square cakes from Lakeland, the perfect individual size servings and the cakes slipped out with very little encouragement. I always worry when not using cake liners.

   Each little square lime cake is filled with Mackays lime curd and topped with coconut soaked in lime juice. With a little help of some icing sugar, the curd has the perfect sweetness to cut through all the lime. 

Mini coconut and lime curd cakes

(Makes 24)

     250g unsalted butter, softened

     250g caster sugar

     4 large eggs

     2 teaspoons vanilla extract

     zest of 2 limes

     250g self raising flour, sifted

     drop of milk

     half jar Mackays lime curd

     juice and zest of 1 lime

     3 tablespoons desicated coconut

     3 tablespoons icing sugar

• Heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and grease two mini cake trays.
• Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• In a separate bowl beat the eggs. Add a tablespoon at a time to the butter mix, beating well after each addition.
• Add the lime zest and vanilla extract and gently stir to incorporate.
• Fold in the flour with a large metal spoon until the mixture just comes together.
• Fill the baking trays a quarter of the way up, about 1 tablespoon per cake, before adding a teaspoon of lime curd to each and topping with the rest of the cake mixture.
• Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden and the cakes start to come away from the sides of the tray.
• Leave to cool in the tray for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• To make the icing, whisk together the icing sugar, lime juice and coconut and spoon onto each cake once cooled. To finish, top with a sprinkling of lime zest.

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

Strawberry & Elderflower Chiffon Cake

Cheesy family photo!

   Like many, I've had my heart set on a Kitchen Aid stand mixer for some time. Forever jealous of those who already own one, I finally decided to 'invest' in my future bakes.

   I ordered my wee little robo-mixer online last night and collected from my local Waitrose this afternoon. It was all loaded up for me in a trolley ready to wheel to the car park. I transfered the royal cargo into the boot of my noddy car and poodled off home dreaming of the chiffon cakes I could now bake, for now I can whip up as many egg whites as I fancy. (Otherwise, I'm just too impatient to whisk 9 egg whites to stiff peaks by hand!)

   Although my recent purchase of American measuring cups has proven helpful when baking from online recipes, I decided that I felt more confident baking something I've not made before in metric. Far too excited to bake and too impatient to convert cups to metric, I was lucky to stumble across a lemon chiffon cake recipe on The Cake Hunter...another Sophie, of course!

   I decided to make a strawberry version, seeing as its 'summer' and Wimbledon fortnight. Inspired by Steph from Riverside Baking's recent bakes with cordial I used strawberry and elderflower cordial to flavour the cake.

Strawberry & Elderflower Chiffon Cake
(Adapted from The Cake Hunter)
     9 large eggs, separated
     375g golden caster sugar
     270ml water (with Bottle Green Strawberry and Elderflower Cordial diluted)
     1 1/2 tsp baking powder
     2 tsp salt
     430g plain flour
     180ml sunflower oil
     zest of 1 lemon
     Fresh fruit to decorate
     Strawberry jam
     Cream cheese frosting

• Heat the oven to 150 degrees. Grease and line 2 x 9 inch springform cake tins.
• Beat the eggs whites in a stand mixer until stiff. 
• Mix together the remaining ingredients in a LARGE mixing bowl (I had very little room to fold in the egg whites in my mixing bowl, oops!)
• Fold in the egg whites with a large metal spoon.
• Divide the mixture between the two tins, pouring from a low height to ensure no air is knocked out.
• Bake for 1 hour, until golden and a skewer comes out clean.
• Remove from the oven and place tins upside down on wire cooling racks for 10 minutes.
• After, take the cake out the tins and leave to cool completely.

   To make the frosting, I improvised...feeling a little over confident with my new robo-mixer I threw the remnants of a box of icing sugar, a large spoon of margarine and a whole tub of regular Philadelphia into the mixer and gave it a little whizz. Of course, I had to be a little girlie as usual and trickled in a few drops of pink food colouring!

   Once cooled, I sandwiched the cakes together with a layer of strawberry jam and some frosting. To finish, I topped the giant cake with fresh fruit and some gold dust...naturally.

   10 minutes later, the cake started sinking...overconfident was I no more! Half way through baking, I swapped shelves as these giant sized cakes wouldn't fit side by side on the same shelf in my oven. Lesson learnt. 

   I took a slice out and drove it over to Harriet to give her a cakey boost to her busy week. The slice, or wedge, just about managed the giant roundabout between our houses. I got home a further 10 minutes later to find that the middle of the cake had sunk some more, and pink frosting was oozing out.

   Sinking strawberry cake tasted good but never, ever, again will I open the oven door half way through baking! I've also since noticed that I forgot to read the end of Sophie's recipe where it mentions to freeze the cake for 10 minutes before icing to firm up. Doh!

Speculoos Blondies

   Firstly, if you haven't tried Speculoos biscuit spread then you must do so now. Made from caramelised Lotus biscuits and blended to the consistency of peanut butter, Speculoos is ideal spread on toast, in a buttercream for a coffee cake, or just straight from the spoon.

 I'm not overly confident in making brownies after failing miserably in a Leith's baking class but decided to give white chocolate ones a go. I will not let them defeat me! The white chocolate pairs well with the golden goodness of Speculoos making these soft and gooey. Luck was on my side this time and these fellas turned out good!

   I thought by using what was left of my Speculoos jar for these it would stop me taking sneaky spoons straight from the jar...instead I just ate at least half the batch to myself!

Speculoos Blondies
(Recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction, makes 16)
     1 cup plain flour
     1/2 tsp baking powder
     1/8 tsp bicarbonate of soda
     1/2 tsp salt
     1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
     1 cupe light brown sugar, packed
     1 large egg
     1 egg yolk
     1 tsp vanilla extract
     1/2 cups Speculoos spread
     1 and 1/4 cups white chocolate chunks

• Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Line and grease an 8x8 baking tray.
• In a medium sized bowl, toss together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of sofa and salt. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, stir the melted butter and brown sugar together until well combined. Whisk in the egg and egg yolk, then add the vanilla. Stir in the Speculoos spread. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Be careful not to overmix, which will result in crumbly, hard blondies. The batter will be very thick. Fold in the white chocolate chunks.
• Spoon the batter into the prepared baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes. The blondies may appear very soft, but they will set as they cool. Allow them to cool completely - about 3 hours - before cutting into squares.

Usually I'll convert American cups into metric, but as I always find so many good recipes from across the waters I invested in some cup measures to make things a little easier.

Spiced Guinness Cake

   For Father's Day I made my Grandad this loaf cake. As a fan of fruit cake I thought he'd enjoy this as sultanas are soaked in Guinness. The recipe is from The Clandestine Cake Club Cookbook, and asks for light ale, but Guinness works just as well.

Spiced Guinness Cake
(Serves 12)
     350ml light ale/Guinness
     100g sultanas
     2 tbsp honey
     200g dark muscovado sugar
     400g wholemeal flour
     1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
     1 tsp ground cinnamon
     1/2 tsp ground cloves

• Mix the Guinness with the sultanas and leave for a couple of hours for the fruit to plump up a little and absorb some of the flavour.
• Heat the oven to 190 degrees. Grease and line the base and sides of a 900g loaf tin leaving a little of the paper above the rim to allow for any rising.
• Gently warm the honey and add to the Guinness and sultanas along with the sugar, stirring until all the sugar has dissolved.
• Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and then pour in the Guinness mixture. Stir until thoroughly combined into a thick batter.
• Pour the mixture into the tin, spreading it evenly. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin completely before turning out.

This cake can be kept in an airtight container for up to a week.

Orange Dondi Cake

   An orange dondi cake has been at the top of my 'to bake' list for a while. A list that seems to be out of control at the moment.

   My Welsh Grandmother, or Nain as we call her, always used to make this when we'd go and stay with her in Aberystwyth in the school holidays. This cake was served in those afternoon's where my brother, cousins and I were just too hungry to wait for dinner. I guess its the orange equivalent of a lemon drizzle cake, but to me it just seems 100 times better.

Another favourite of Nain's bakes is lemon meringue pie, no one can make it quite the same!

I made this for my Dad, loaf cakes are very easy to carry on the train, tube and take to lunch!

Orange Dondi Cake
     vegetable oil for greasing
     8 oz margarine, melted
     1/2 pint fresh orange juice
     10 oz granulated sugar
     2 eggs
     14 oz self raising flour, sifted

Cake Glaze
     6 rounded tbsp icing sugar
     3 tbsp fresh orange juice

• Preheat the oven to 160 degrees and line a loaf tin with baking paper or a loaf tin liner.
• In a large bowl, stir in the orange juice and sugar into the melted butter.
• Beat in the eggs and flour until well combined, I just used a hand whisk for 2 minutes.
• Pour into the loaf tin and bake for 1 hour in the centre of the oven.
• Whilst the cake is baking, make the glaze by stirring icing sugar into orange juice until a thin paste is formed.
• Once the cake is cooked, a skewer comes out clean, pour the glaze over the hot cake and leave to cool. 

Once cool the glaze should form an orangey thin crust to the loaf. I think next time, I may add orange zest to the cake batter to enhance the flavour.

This made enough to fill a 2 lb loaf tin and make 6 mini muffins.

Custard Creams & Bourbons

   There's nothing better than a good British biscuit. I can't hide my fondness for a good hot brew and a biscuit to dunk. But then again, who isn't fond of a good dunk?

   I got the best gift ever, biscuit moulds! Clearly someone knows me very well! I tried out the custard cream and bourbon ones this evening but still have jammy dodger ones to try.

Custard Creams
(Makes 16-20 biscuits)
     225g plain flour
     50g custard powder
     30g icing sugar
     175g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
     1/2 tsp vanilla extract
     50g unsalted butter, room temperature
     200g icing sugar
     2 tbsp custard powder

• Pulse the flour, custard powder and icing sugar in a mixer until well combined.
• Add in the butter and vanilla extract and continue to pulse until the mixture begins to come together.
• Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for 30 minutes in the fridge, or until firm.
• Take a small ball and press into the moulds, turn out onto a lined baking tray.
• Chill for a further 15 minutes, heat the oven to 180 degrees.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.
• To make the filling, beat the butter until soft and creamy, approximately 5 minutes.
• Slowly incorporate the icing sugar and custard powder and continue to beat until smooth.
• Once the biscuits are completely cool, use a spoon of the filling to sandwich two biscuits together.

Bourbons

(Makes 16-20 biscuits)

Follow the recipe for custard creams and substitute the custard powder with cocoa powder.

   The bourbons came out of the moulds much easier than the custard creams as the dough was a lot shorter. Perhaps a little tweaking to the recipe is required for optimum mould shaping.

Raspberry and Rose Muffins

   With a few hours to spare this afternoon I felt it was only right to spend them baking. This is the bonus of early shifts...despite the 04:30am alarm!

   Following on from my recent ramble of trying to bake a little healthier, I picked up some pretty massive raspberries whilst waiting for my train after work to pop them into a recipe I tweaked from this month's Women's Health. By tweak, I mean a lot of improvisation. I thought I had enough maple syrup, but had to make up 30g with the vanilla syrup I make for my coffee. The recipe wanted vanilla extract anyway, and it worked!

   The recipe was for a healthier version of a victoria sponge cake, but I made individual muffins as I love my new Wilton muffin tray so much. I also skipped the yoghurt take on a victoria sponge's jam and cream and added a fresh raspberries into the cake batter and drizzled the baked muffins with a rose icing to finish.

   I've really enjoyed the bakes I've made so far from these recipes in Women's Health, definitely opened my eyes to healthier alternatives to refined sugars. Simple alternatives really do make all the difference. The other recipe I've tried is lemony hazelnut and blueberry muffins, recipe here.

Raspberry and Rose Muffins
(Adapted from Women's Health May/June 2013)
Makes 12 medium muffins
     160g unsalted butter, softened
     160g white spelt flour, sifted
     2 eggs
     2 tsp baking powder
     160g maple syrup
     1 tsp vanilla extract
     small squeeze lemon juice
     pack of fresh raspberries
     few drops pink food colouring
     few drops rose essence
     half a cup icing sugar

• Heat the oven to 180 degrees and place 12 muffin cases into the tray.
• Cream the butter in a large mixing bowl until fluffy.
• Add 2-3 tbsp of flour and beat in the eggs until the mixture is light and fluffy (if its curdling, add another spoon of flour).
• Add the remaining flour, baking powder, maple syrup and vanilla extract and fold.
• Divide the mixture between the muffin cases, poke in a few raspberries in each and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden.
• Leave to cool for 10 minutes in the muffin try before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the rose icing, I mixed half a cup of icing sugar with a few drops each of rose essence and pink colouring. Top up with a few splashes of water and stir well. Pour into a piping bag and drizzle on the cool muffins.

I also dusted a little gold 'space dust' on top...couldn't help myself!