My love for Collies, Cakes, Cooking, Eating Out & Days Out.
A few months ago I found a recipe for a Maple Syrup Cake which turned out to be a disaster. The quantities, nor the method seemed correct but I ploughed ahead and baked a dreadful dry and sunken cake. So after a bit of experimentation I now have a recipe I have created for a delicious Maple Syrup, Orange & Pecan Cake with an orange buttercream filling. Even better, you can always swap the Pecans for Walnuts and it will be just as tasty!
I haven’t baked for a couple of weeks as we are busy refitting the kitchen.
However the new oven is all connected and our new hens have just started laying eggs so a cake was in order. I find that a lot of recipes for Lemon and Poppyseed Cakes turn out to be uninspiring loaf cakes. This recipe turns a run of the mill Lemon and Poppyseed Cake into an indulgent Lemon and Poppyseed Layer Cake!
But first a giggle – the recipe calls for 4 large eggs! Five of my girls lay medium eggs and one seems to lay enormous eggs. I picked two of the huge eggs and two medium ones thinking that would balance out to about 4 eggs. The first two huge eggs I cracked into 
the mixture were double yolkers! A fab surprise but not quite what I was looking for in my cake. I had enough yolk but probably not enough egg white, so I threw in one egg white and crossed my fingers. As you can see the cake worked out well, and is very yellow. My ladies are fairly free range and love a bit of corn every day so in turn we get very golden eggs!
Cake:
225g Stork
225g Self Raising Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
100g Golden Caster Sugar
100g Light brown sugar
4 large eggs
zest of 2 lemons – finely grated
20g poppyseeds
Filling:
Half a jar of Lemon curd
75g softened butter
250g sifted icing sugar
splash of milk
Heat the oven to 160c fan.
Grease an line 2 x 18cm cake tins.
Put all the cake ingredients into a bowl and mix until smooth and creamy.
Divide the mix evenly between the two tins and cake for 20-25 minutes.
Remove from the oven when baked and left in the tins for 5 minutes before turning out onto cooling racks.
Whilst the cakes are cooling make the buttercream filling. Put the butter and icing sugar in a bowl and mix together, slowly add a splash of milk until the butter cream is soft and creamy.
When the cakes are completely cooled cut each one in half with a sharp knife. 
A very sharp bread knife is good and cut lengthways through from edge to edge. You should now have four circular thin sponge cakes.
Pick one to be the bottom and place onto a plate. Cover the top of this one generously with lemon curd.
Next sandwich the next sponge slice on top of the lemon curd. Smother the top of this one with a generous helping of buttercream.
Nestle the next sponge slice on top of the buttercream and cover this slice 
generously with lemon curd as you did earlier.
Finally add the top layer and cover it with the rest of the buttercream.
There you have it Lemon and Poppyseed Layer Cake.
As it is my birthday this week my hubby said he would bake me a cake instead
of me baking one. Not going to argue with that! After a bit of mooching through some recipes we found the perfect one. From the book Scandinavian Baking by Trine Hahnemann, Honey Cake with Orange Buttercream. This is a book we’ve had a while but not yet tried a recipe from but this one has a lot of my favourite flavours in it. So whilst hubby baked I was snapping photos so I can share this bake and recipe with you. Continue reading “Honey Cake with Orange Buttercream”
As I made a Spiced Chocolate Cake last week it triggered the call for a Spiced Apple Cake, it is that time of year after all – Halloween and Bonfire Night! After a bit of encouraging on Twitter to create an Apple Cake here is my answer… Toffee Apple Cake.
This is a cake that looks impressive and seems as if it should be tricky to make. But fear not, this Toffee Apple Cake is easy to bake and uses the simplest of
ingredients. I’ve added an extra twist by covering it in Maple Syrup Buttercream and topping it with home-made Caramel Sauce. The best thing is you don’t need fresh apples, this Toffee Apple Cake keeps things simple by using shop bought apple sauce. It couldn’t be easier so lets get cracking… Continue reading “Toffee Apple Cake”
Whilst I know it isn’t Rhubarb season at the moment fear not this Rhubarb and Custard Cake isn’t made with fresh rhubarb! I have created this cake as I love the good old fashioned Rhubarb and Custard boiled sweets. That and I come from a long line of custard lovers. There is always a joke at a family gathering that we need extra custard served with our puddings. Luckily most
restaurants are only too happy to oblige.
The indulgent ingredient of this Rhubarb and Custard Cake is the subtle addition of Rhubarb and Ginger Liqueur from Edinburgh Gin both in the buttercream filling and the frosting. It is a simple Victoria Sponge recipe with a few twists so good for a quick and easy bake.
When I was deciding what to bake this week a little voice from the neighbouring room asked if requests could be made. I stuck my head round my husband’s office door and he said “something orangey”. So here we are a moist yet light Orange & Lemon Layer Cake.
When I feel like baking a cake but have no inspiration or quite often not much time you cannot beat a Victoria Sponge Cake. I like to push the boat out and be a little more indulgent by adding Continue reading “Victoria Sponge”