white chocolate and raspberry cake

i made this cake two weeks ago now, but unfortunately i was struck down with flu last weekend which meant there has been an absence of activity (aside from battling through feverish delirium to try and get some sleep, flu is not the one). but it does mean that i get the chance to remember this cake all over again - because it was really delicious. raspberries have to be up there with my favourite fruits and they are just so good in bakes.

the recipe is also really simple, which is always good. you start with a basic sponge mix. i've been mixing my bakes by hand recently - something i used to avoid at all costs but i now find it quite satisfying (it also means i don't have to faff around getting the whisk out, laziness always wins out).

the recipe i used is from the clandestine cake club book - another book that i bought a while ago and had yet to use (beyond drooling over the pictures, naturally).

such a beautiful cover - i love the blue

 

  a moment's appreciation for how glossy this mixture is!

 at this point you deviate from a normal sponge by stirring in the raspberries. as the recipe states, it's important to be gentle when folding them in - otherwise they will break up and you won't get a full burst of raspberry goodness.

 look at the incredible colour contrast

 

now comes the exciting part - covering the cake in chocolate!

i deviated fractionally from the recipe here, by using the full 150g bar of chocolate rather than the 125g the recipe called from (because, chocolate). however i do not think there is any way they used anywhere near that much, because the picture in the book had a tiny dribble of chocolate! but more chocolate is always better.

i learnt an important lesson in decorating this cake: allow chocolate to cool before piping it! i put the chocolate straight from the bain marie into the piping bag and picked it up. SUCH a mistake. my hand was throbbing for hours afterwards! and it also meant my piping was sloppier than usual as i was struggling to hold it. so there's an important lesson for us all there.

another baking tip: put your piping bag in a glass so it is supported while you fill it - especially useful when both hands are needed to hold a pyrex dish full of hot chocolate!

 

 

 who doesn't enjoy a good piping action shot? 

 here is the finished cake in all of it's smothered in chocolate glory; but of course the best bit is cutting it to reveal the raspberries...

this cake was really fun to make and another hit in the office (although very crumbly so the carpet was a bit worse off!). what are your favourite recipes featuring raspberries? i'd love to know!

as i'm writing this, i have a golden syrup cake in the oven - so look out for that making an appearance soon!

love,
nen
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muffin madness!

well here it is - 2013 (still keep typing 12...) and i'm feeling productive and inspired so here is another post! my new year's resolution is to make sure i post on this blog at least once a week - degree be damned! happy new year!

the second birthday in our house last term was the lovely emma who has a penchant for muffins. therefore her birthday bake was simple in conception if not necessarily in execution!

her birthday came in the middle of exeter's monsoon season and so i had to brave the noah-inspired floods to stock up on ingredients for the multitude of muffins that i had planned. it was also a time where i was really busy which meant that the baking did not occur until the night before her birthday when i returned from a history cocktail social somewhat inebriated...! with april as my sous chef we set about establishing a muffin production line that carried on into the small hours of the morning. the things you do for love! (actually it was quite fun!)

so perhaps we were lucky that the muffins came out as well as they did - but they went down a treat and made a beautiful centre piece for emma's birthday tea. and gave me a chance to crack a few of my (possibly too) large collection of cake stands which i carted down to uni with me!

i already knew emma had certain favourite flavours so i set about finding recipes for these - the first was white chocolate and raspberry (one of my favourites too!). finding raspberries in the middle of november is not the easiest task so i made do with raspberry coulis but i think the result was passable. i also made an error in picking up a bar of white chocolate 'crunch' (which was basically a thin white chocolate kitkat) but i'd like to think this added texture!

april doing a pro job of mixing

we saved some of the coulis and chocolate to sprinkle on top before baking

our bradley wiggins muffin - complete with sideburns!



another variety i chose was the classic blueberry as these are nice and moist and can be a bit lighter than other muffin varieties.

sticking with an unintentional fruit theme another type was banana and chocolate chip (again there were overripe bananas in the kitchen) - what began as using up ingredients actually turned into my favourite type!

lastly we also made lemon drizzle muffins which were not all that successful as the drizzle leaked all the way through the muffins and their cases! but were still scrummy.

part of the beauty of muffins is their simplicity to make - you don't need an electric whisk, just a wooden spoon as they only want a minimal amount of mixing. they are also lower in sugar than cakes so are slightly better for you - especially with the fruity additions! however this does mean they don't keep as long - but when you make things this yummy they don't tend to hang around for long!

love,

nen

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