blue suede cake

for last week's bake i decided to go crazy with the food colouring. as it was burns night i thought it would be good to go for a blue and white theme, combine this with my recent love of blueberries i thought i would tackle a variation on the red velvet bake and make it blue. and with it being blue i decided to change the fabric to suede and so i present you with the blue suede cake!

this is the recipe i used, from the blog bake bake bake - but maybe don't read this until the end because the picture may give you unrealistic expectations! as the number one thing i learnt (or reaffirmed) during this bake is that english food colouring just is not the same as american, as you will see.

as with a normal red velvet cake, this recipe required buttermilk so remember the trick to make your own - one cup of milk mixed with one teaspoon lemon juice, left to stand for 10-15 minutes will be a fine substitute.

 being by creaming the butter and sugar - then add your eggs one at a time

then in a separate bowl you want to make the blue suede part by mixing together the food colouring and coco powder. if you're using a liquid food colouring this will seem a bit strange at first because the two ingredients really separate - you'll have a layer of coco powder with the food colouring underneath. there will be a sciencey explanation for this i'm sure, but if you mix it hard enough (use a creaming action) they will eventually come together

 you can just about see the blue coming through in the right hand photo

reading back over the recipe now, i feel like i might have freestyled from this point onwards - but it came out fine so no fear! you want to alternate adding the milk and dry ingredients (flour, baking powder) to the sugar mix so it never goes too dry or wet.

 you want a nice fluffy mixture - mine went super glossy which made it hard to resist

then came the fun part of adding the food colouring mix in. as you can see, this went rather more green than blue - i kept adding more food colouring in but i don't feel it made that much difference and it does begin to add a weird taste so try to resist doing this!

 my super glossy, but rather green mixture

 then it is in to the oven for baking, when it comes out it's hard to tell what the final colour is. you can get a hint through the cracks but the big reveal is saved for later.

while the cake is cooling you want to make your cream cheese frosting. personally i find cakes completely smothered in this too sickly, so i decreased the quantity and 'just' iced the middle and top (i say just, this was still three thick layers)

ice your bottom layer, then add a covering of blueberries. then ice over these - i decided this was easier than icing and flipping over the other cake layer, that just seemed like a recipe for disaster.

then place the next cake layer on, ice and decorate with any leftover blueberries.

this cake did turn out to be a bit of a monster!

now if you aren't put off by the sheer size of this cake, you will be rewarded by cutting in to it and getting the colours and layers.

  

i think it's really cool to get the blueberries running through the centre, and they add a much needed zing against the sweetness of the cream cheese frosting.

have you made any unnaturally coloured bakes recently? perhaps it's time to crack out the food colouring to add a little pizzaz to your normal bakes!

next time it's back to brownies (not again i hear you groan but, trust me, these are worth it). until then bakers!

love,

nen

x

christmas concoctions part one: orange and cranberry bundt cake

hello everyone! i hope you all had fabulous christmases filled with plenty of festive cheer, food, family and presents! i know i certainly had a great time this year, probably aided my the decision made by my siblings and myself to make it a boozy one...

and now i sit listening to my newly acquired george ezra album (bliss) snuggled down in my christmas jumper and slippers ready to share a foodie delight with you all. in this weird limbo between christmas and new year (seriously, what day is it?!) more food might not seem like your highest priority, but that is where you are mistaken.

so take off your christmas leggings, grab your keys and head to the shop for these ingredients. you will not regret this delicious bake and how it will make your house smell!

but before we begin, i must begin with a thank you to twitterer Becky for the great suggestion. i was a bit stuck for what to make as the centerpiece for my christmas party and so turned to trusty twitter for the answer. other suggestions were a croquembouche (definitely on my list to make but i decided too much of a challenge for this busy time) and a giant cupcake. however Becky suggested a bundt cake, an idea i immediately took to as it seemed reasonably simple (which, as you should now by now, is my biggest draw) and slightly different to the usual christmas offerings.

after searching around a while for a recipe that caught my fancy - i wanted christmas flavours and something colourful/interesting - i chose this one from 10th Kitchen. this was in many ways a blessing and a curse, because i now cannot help but feel vastly inferior to Danguole's beautiful blog, especially her breath taking photography. so while i would not want you to leave me behind, do check her post out when you have a chance!

 i do not own one of the beautiful patterned bundt tins (if anyone wants to get me a late christmas present...) but i do have this sturdy ring tin which i have never used before.

 naturally the awkward shape means that lining with baking paper is not an option, so here is my rather messy attempt at greasing and dusting the tin

as you will be able to see from the original post, the recipe calls for buttermilk which i had forgotten to buy. but, no fear, this can easily be made yourself: you just add acid (lemon juice or vinegar) to milk and leave it for a while to begin curdling. so if you do make it yourself just remember to do it in enough time.

curdling magic

the 10th Kitchen recipe calls for lemons but suggests oranges as an alternative. i decided to run with this as i use lemons quite a lot and fancied something different - plus there is something so christmassy about the smell of oranges.

 

 making the orange infused sugar which smells incredible - you could make extra and store it for flavouring other bakes, even drinks

 

 

 

the mixture itself is very easy to bring together. but the best bit has to be adding the cranberries: just look at the contrast of the berries against the pale mixture

 

 

 it's then a case of sitting back as your house fills with a delicious christmassy smell (which was particularly welcome in our house as my sister had burnt popcorn the night before and the smell was still lingering)

 

on the day of the party i made an orange glaze to cover the cake: i used the juice of a whole orange which was FAR too much and just would not thicken up. i think half the juice would be plenty and would stop it running straight off the cake on to the plate! also, because it's christmas, i added a sprinkle of holly leaf and berry decorations.

 

 and here is the finished result! apologies for the poor image quality: i forgot to take photos before the drinks started flowing...

this cake is great: the sponge is denser than a normal sponge, i think this comes from the buttermilk. therefore the zing from the sharp cranberries adds a nice bite in contrast. likewise, the crunchy icing crust compliments the sponge. a lighter alternative to christmas cake.

up next, my less than successful attempt at white chocolate and cranberry cookies.

happy holidays bakers!

love,

nen

x

calm after the storm (& golden syrup cake)

hello lovely blog readers! apologies for my recent absence, things have been a little crazy over here: firstly there was a rather wild weekend spread between london and exeter (in particular i'm looking at emma and emily's shots suggestion), which meant my immune system took a battering and so followed one of the nastiest cold's i've had the displeasure of experiencing. having battled through to the other side of that, i came to the end of my time at cauliflower cards (sad face) and set about returning to the job hunt. but i am now pleased to announce that i will be gainfully employed come january - so everything is now a little calmer!

which gives me a much overdue chance to return to my blog and share with you a bake i've been meaning to write up for weeks.

baking w/ golden syrup: orange, ginger & dark chocolate cookies plus sticky golden syrup cake http://t.co/al5C0o2mh6 pic.twitter.com/aoOpKGX3Fc
— Ruby Tandoh (@rubytandoh) October 25, 2014

this bake followed on from a tweet from ruby tandoh (who it top value on twitter, a fabulous and refreshing mix of baking and feminism) - when i saw golden syrup in the title i knew i had to take a gander.

so what follows is my attempt at ruby's sticky golden syrup cake. (a quick note, i did not have the required soft dark brown sugar, mine was light so the cake is not quite as dark as you would expect)

 beginning with the most important ingredient, look at that glossy, sticky goodness! 

golden syrup is a notoriously difficult ingredient to work with, especially when it comes to weighing it out! my tip is to place the tin on a scale, note the weight and then work out what it needs to go down to. further advice - position this as close to the intended location of the syrup as physically possible, as it will go everywhere! as you can see from the above pictures (which i could not get to go the correct way round for the life of me) i was only 2g off the 125g aim (little victories...!)

then follows the really fun part, mixing together the butter, sugar and syrup over a low heat so that they all melt together into a small heart attack.

(aforementioned light brown sugar) 

 

attempted action shot so you can see below the butter on the surface

the dry ingredients are then mixed together in preparation for the big coming together

 this recipe is wonderfully simple to follow

 

 i finished the batter off with a whisk in order to achieve a smooth consistency - and then in to the oven it goes

 

 

ruby's tip of a tin foil hat (rather poorly executed by myself) to keep the moisture in as it cools

does that not make you want to dive in?!

and so to the finished result: unfortunately i kept my cake in fractionally longer than was required (getting used to a new oven) so it was not quite as moist as i had hoped but that was entirely my own fault. this is definitely one of those cakes to serve warm with a generous helping of custard (much like one of my winter pleasures, jamaican ginger cake, mmm....) i took this one in to the office with me, it was still lovely cold but if you have the chance go for the custard! 

 

what are your favourite winter warmers? have you started thinking about what to bake for this festive season? i would love to see your baking efforts and hear about your favourites!

finally, i would like to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to my manager, Jo, who gave me two wonderful tea cups and saucers as a leaving present. it was so thoughtful and brought a little lump to my throat!

until next time bakers...

love,

nen

x