With Cake Week 2022 upon us, we have rounded up some of our favourite treats that you can rustle up at home this September.
What better way to honour Cake Week than baking up a storm and enjoying your home-baked goods with friends, family, colleagues or simply just yourself!
Cake Week Recipes – Chocolate Caramel Fudge Cake
Ingredients
- · 330ml whole milk
- · 200g milk chocolate, roughly chopped
- · 65g self-raising flour
- · 200g ground almonds
- · 55g cocoa powder
- · 1 heaped tsp baking powder
- · 165g unsalted butter
- · 45g golden caster sugar
- · 230g light muscovado sugar
- · 55g Bonne Maman Caramel
- · 6 tbsp Bonne Maman Apricot,
- · Peach or Mirabelle Plum Conserve
- · 4 medium eggs, beaten
Chocolate Fudge Cream
- · 250g milk chocolate, chopped
- · 150ml carton double cream
- · 90g icing sugar
- · 40g unsalted butter, softened
- · 25g Bonne Maman Caramel
- · 25g Bonne Maman Apricot, Peach or Mirabelle Plum Conserve
- · Chocolate ‘bark’, cocoa and cherries to decorate, see Cook’s tips
Method
1. Heat the oven to 180C, fan oven 160C, gas mark 4. Grease and line 3 x 20cm deep sandwich tins with non-stick baking parchment. (If you only have one or two tins the raw mixture will wait if you have to cook the mixture in batches).
2. Put 100ml of the milk in a bowl with the chocolate and leave to melt slowly over a pan of barely simmering water. Make sure the base of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Stir until smooth.
3. Meanwhile, sift together the flour, almonds, cocoa and baking powder.
4. In a large bowl and with an electric whisk, beat together the butter and sugars till very pale and smooth. Beat in the 55g of caramel.
5. Now slowly beat in the eggs, adding a spoonful of the flour mixture with each addition. Beat in the melted chocolate and fold in the remaining flour mixture.
6. Stir in the remaining 230ml of milk.
7. Divide the mixture between the three tins and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack and spread the top of each cake immediately with 2 tablespoons of conserve whilst still warm.
8. To make the fudge cream, put the chopped chocolate in a bowl. Heat the cream until almost boiling and pour over the chocolate. Stir until melted and smooth.
9. Beat in the icing sugar, butter, caramel and conserve. Cover and leave at room temperature.
10. To assemble and serve, layer the three cakes with half the fudge cream. Cover the whole cake with the remaining fudge cream and decorate with chocolate ‘bark’, sifted cocoa and fresh cherries.
Cook’s tips
– The whole cake will keep, covered, in the fridge for up to 3 days. Or, freeze for up to 1 month. Thaw overnight in the fridge. Allow an hour at room temperature before adding the fresh fruit and serving.
– The chocolate fudge cream is also good for topping cupcakes or traybakes.
– To make chocolate bark, thinly spread a strip of baking parchment with melted chocolate. Roll up into a thin ‘cigar’ shape and freeze till solid. Squeeze the frozen ‘cigar’ to crack the chocolate and tip out the ‘bark’ onto a plate.
Cake Week Recipes – Lemon & Pistachio Celebration Cake
Ingredients
- · 6 large eggs
- · 360g unsalted butter, softened
- · 360g golden caster sugar
- · 90g ground almonds
- · 30g ground pistachio nuts
- · 270g self-raising flour
- · Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
To Decorate
- · 300ml double cream
- · Bonne Maman Raspberry and Bonne Maman Wild Blueberry Conserves
- · Mixed berries, fresh herbs, and icing sugar to decorate
Method
1. Heat the oven to 180°C, 160°C fan, gas 4. Line the base and sides of 3 x 20cm, straight-sided cake tins with baking paper.
2. Put all the cake ingredients in a large bowl and beat together with an electric whisk until smooth and very creamy. Divide the mixture evenly between 3 tins.
3. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool.
4. Whip the cream until it is just thickened, don’t overwhip. Put one sponge layer on a serving plate. Spread generously with Wild Blueberry Conserve. Add half the cream and spread to within 2cm of the edge.
5. Repeat with the second sponge and the Raspberry Conserve.
6. Top the last sponge with mixture of fresh fruit and herbs. Dust with icing sugar and any left over pistachio crumbs.
7. Layer up the cake. Keep chilled in the ‘fridge and serve within an hour.
Cake Week Recipes – Gin & Tonic Drizzle Loaf
Ingredients
- 1 Grapefruit/orange or 2 x lemons/limes
- 175g Self-raising flour
- 175g Caster sugar + 75g for soaking syrup
- 175g Unsalted butter, softened
- 3 Eggs
- 120ml Gin split into 50ml and 70ml
- 75ml Tonic water
- 150g Icing sugar
Equipment
- Knife
- Fine grater/zester
- Large mixing bowl
- Electric hand whisk
- Fork
- 2lb Loaf tin lined with baking paper/ loaf tin liner
- Saucepan
- Spoon
Method
- Preheat the oven to 165°c (fan).
- Take whichever citrus you are using and cut half into slices for decorating (½ grapefruit/orange or 1 whole lemon/lime). Zest and juice the other half using the fine grater/zester to zest and the fork to get the juice from the fruit.
- In the large mixing bowl, combine the self-raising flour, citrus zest and 175g of caster sugar. Add the butter, eggs, 50ml of gin, 2 tbsp of citrus juice and mix with the electric hand whisk until smooth.
- Pour the batter into the lined loaf tin and bake for 35 minutes until golden and springy to touch. Remove from the oven but leave in the tin.
- While the loaf is cooling slightly, pour the remaining citrus juice, tonic and 75g sugar into the saucepan and heat on a medium-high heat for 5-8 minutes until the sugar has completely dissolved. Allow to cool slightly before stirring in the remaining gin (70ml). Set aside 3 tbsp of the syrup for the glaze.
- Poke the loaf all over with the fork and drizzle with the syrup from the saucepan. You can do this while the loaf is still warm.
- When the loaf is completely cool, remove from the tin. Wipe clean your mixing bowl and then use it to combine the 3 tbsp of reserved syrup with the icing sugar to make a glaze and pour over the top of your loaf, slightly pushing it down the sides with the end of a spoon to create a drip effect. Decorate with citrus slices and serve.
Cake Week Recipes – Coffee, Caramel & Pecan Layer Cake
- 370g unsalted butter, softened, split into 250g and 120g
- 400g caster sugar split into 250g and 150g
- 4 eggs
- 250g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 3 fresh espressos (120ml) or 1 tbsp + 1 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 5 tbsp of boiling water
- 150g pecans, roughly chopped + extra for decorating.
- 150ml double cream
- 1 tsp salt
- 500g icing sugar
Equipment
- 2 x 8” cake tins, lined
- Mixing bowl
- Wooden spoon
- Knife
- Saucepan
Method
- Preheat your oven to 160°C (fan) and line your cake tins with baking parchment.
- To make the sponge, cream together 250g of the butter and 250g of the caster sugar then add the eggs and mix until combined.
- Add in the flour and baking powder, followed by two of the espressos, and mix until no lumps remain.
- Gently stir in the roughly chopped pecans and divide the batter evenly between the two or three cake tins, depending on how many you’re using. Use the back of the wooden spoon to level.
- Bake the sponges for 20-25 minutes until golden and springy to touch and allow to cool completely. If they aren’t springy, put back into the oven and check again after 5 minutes.
- Whilst the sponges are cooling, make your caramel by heating the remaining 150g of caster sugar and water together in a saucepan over a medium-high heat until boiling, without stirring – the sugar will naturally dissolve. Try not to agitate the caramel as it cooks and only swirl if necessary, do not stir with a spoon.
- Once the caramel has become amber in colour (around 5 minutes) and the bubbles are small, pour in the double cream, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon as you do so. It will bubble up and create a lot of steam, so be cautious. Once combined, stir in the salt and transfer the caramel to a bowl to cool.
- Once the caramel is cool, rinse the mixing bowl and spoon to make your buttercream. Combine the remaining 120g butter, icing sugar, final espresso in the bowl and cream together until smooth.
- Save 60g caramel for the drip, then assemble your cake by sandwiching each layer with the buttercream and a spoonful of caramel spread on top before lightly coating the top and sides with the remaining buttercream to achieve a naked cake effect, scraping off any excess with the knife. If your remaining caramel has thickened up, pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds before pouring on top of the cake and teasing down the sides to create drips using the tip of your knife.
Sprinkle some roughly chopped and whole pecans around the top edge and serve
