Penguin Cake

I have a friend who loves penguins, so for her birthday I made her a penguin themed cake. I decided to try and make an “iceberg” going down into a small pond, with penguins standing around it. This is how it turned out:

The cake is a vanilla sponge which has been sandwiched with raspberry jam, and the "iceberg" is made from cut up circles of the same cake which have been layered on top of each other in decreasing size and then sugar paste icing has been draped roughly over the top to create a ridged, snowy effect. I then made royal icing to cover the sides of the cake and to give a rough, ice-like appearance. The royal icing has about a tablespoon more lemon juice than normal in it, as it allows a shiny appearance as well as setting off the sweetness of the icing nicely.

The "water" is made using a gel icing and is coloured a dark blue. The gel icing gives a really water-like effect as it is slightly translucent. It can be made any colour.

The penguins are made out of sugarpaste icing. Unfortunately, It was very difficult to colour the sugar paste icing black so instead the penguins have been painted black using black food colouring. 

Here you can see the icy effect on the side of the cake, with the penguin sliding down the ice berg into the water below. A larger cake would have allowed more penguins and a larger lake - I will have to see if i can find a bigger cake tin so that i can experiment with this! 

Please comment below if you would like any of the recipes, for the icings, cake or jam.

Thanks for reading!

Chocolate and Hazelnut Ice-Cream Roulade

This recipe originated from a French patisserie and is a very rich and indulgent dessert to make. I decided to modify the original recipe to add a summer twist - with the addition of a frozen filling, the roulade makes it a great dessert to serve on a warm summers evening, and the iced centre makes it slightly more refreshing than it would otherwise be. Even so, I would advise very thin slices, as it is very rich.

Slices of chocolate and hazelnut ice cream roulade

The roulade is made with ground hazelnuts, which keeps it very moist, and it is kept thin so that it can hold a large amount of the iced filling. The filling is a vanilla creme mousseline, which needs to be cooled and beaten, like an ice cream mixture in order to keep its texture smooth. 

The whole roulade has been coated with a dark chocolate ganache, mixed with finely chopped, roasted hazelnuts, which add a crunch to the dessert.

It can be placed in the freezer once assembled, and stored for up to 2 weeks, or served within half an hour. 

This can be served with cream or a mint chocolate sauce to add freshness, however due to how indulgent it is on its own, I think its best just served refershingly cold.

I shall post a step-by-step recipe in a few weeks time. 

Thanks for reading!

Strawberry Swiss Roll

Finally, after many months of icy weather and pouring rain, the sun came out and brought with it the first few lovely red strawberries. Unfortunately, enough to make jam haven't grown yet but I have a small amount of jam left from last year (it keeps very well if the jars are sealed) so I made a strawberry Swiss roll.  It was made slightly more difficult by the fact that I managed to break my finger while helping on the farm this Sunday, but it didn't turn out too badly. This particular recipe makes a very light, meringue-like Swiss roll which is easy to roll and tastes delicious.

Swiss roll with strawberries and cream

The sponge is made with beaten egg whites and has no fat added to it, which gives it a very light, soft inside and a crisp, meringue style outside. If the jam is spread on quickly, it is a perfect mixture to roll while its still warm. If ground almonds are added to the mixture to substitute some of the flour, they also help to keep the Swiss roll moist, making it easier to roll up.
The jam is homemade strawberry jam, made last year which keeps very well. I will write a post on making and preserving jams as soon as the weather warms up and I have enough fruit to make a descent amount. 
The decorations are simply whipped cream, sweetened with icing sugar and flavored with vanilla paste which has been piped with a star nozzle along with sliced strawberries.

Unfortunately, the Swiss roll didn't last till tea time, as my younger brother discovered it and decided it was too good to wait for!

If anyone is interested in or would like me to post about any particular recipes or techniques or step by step instructions to make any of my cakes please post a comment below. Also, I am happy to do a page on any idea that you would love to try but haven't found the prefect recipe yet. 
Thanks for reading! 

2 Chocolate Cakes

Over the weekend, a friend asked me to make her a cake for an afternoon tea party she was throwing. She didn't specify what type of cake she would like, but rather left that decision with me. With the weather still being so cold, I thought that a couple of lovely, warming chocolate cakes  would go down well.
The recipe i have used here produces a very moist cake which is bitter-sweet because of the very dark chocolate used in it. It has a very spongy texture, making it not too heavy.
The first cake I made simply incorporated a simple flower pattern:

piped flower design

Around the outside of the cake, i have piped small rosettes of chocolate ganache  on both the top and the bottom. The flower design is just a simple one using a no. 2 piping nozzle.

The centers of the flowers are made by simply placing a small white chocolate ball where the four petals meet.

The other cake is very similar to the one above, the only difference being in the decoration:

piped rosette design

This cake also has piped rosettes of the same chocolate ganache around both top and bottom, although it uses a larger nozzle. More rosettes have be added for enhanced decoration. I have place a white chocolate ball in their centers to add a flower-like effect to the appearance of the cake. 

For both cakes, two layers have been sandwiched and coated with a smooth chocolate buttercream. The bittersweet of the cake contrasts well with the sweetness of the icing, which makes the cake a lovey afternoon treat. Even so, I'd advise a small slice only - it is quite a rich cake!

Rob's 12th Birthday Cake

It was my brother Rob's 12th birthday a few days ago, and he is slightly obsessed with smarties (well, any kind of chocolate to be honest) so I decided to make him a smarties cake. In order to theme it with his birthday, I thought it would be nice to make it in the shape of a 12 and then cover it in smarties:

The cake used is a very light but moist chocolate cake, from a friends recipe entitled 'troepe koek' meaning a troop cake - a very appropriate title considering the size of the cake it produces. It has to be cooked in a roasting tin because of the huge quantity of mixture!
Both numbers could be cut from the one cake, and are sandwiched with cream and black cherries and then topped with chocolate buttercream and decorated with 5 pack of smarties.
This cake was very well received by all the boys at Rob's party, and the cake is firm enough to be cut up and placed in party bags. Pretty fun to make as well, if a little time consuming.

Mother's Day Cake

Here's the story: I'm currently cooking with only one hand due to an incident attempting to take some very stubborn brownies out of their tin where the knife slipped and went straight though my hand. After 7 hours in A and E and three stitches, my hand is fixed but I can't move my fingers yet, so I only have one hand to bake with!
Hopefully the recipes, cakes and bakes I post on here will get more impressive as my hand gets better, but here is a simple Mother's Day cake made on the 10th of March:

Mother's Day Cake

I used a cup cake recipe for the actual cake - it is the most lovely moist vanilla sponge I have tried, but is a little richer than your typical Victoria Sponge. It's sandwiched with vanilla cream and home made strawberry jam from home grown strawberries and topped with more vanilla cream. 
The flower decorations are simply made by slicing up marshmallows and dipping the sticky side in coloured sugar crystals.