Black Forest Cake

 Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 cup

Cocoa Powder - 1/2 cup

Baking Powder - 1 + 1/2 tsp baking powder

Baking Soda - 2 pinches

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Egg whites - 4

Egg yolks - 4

Caster sugar - 150 g (3/4 cup) 

Vanilla extract - 2 tsp

Sunflower oil - 3/4 cup

For the syrup:

Sugar - 6 tbsp

Water - 6 tbsp

Syrup from canned cherries (if using) - 2 + 1/2 tbsp

For the whipped cream:

Whipping cream - 600 ml

Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp

Canned cherries (for decoration)

Black Forest Cake

Recipe

1. Grease and line a 9” cake tin with parchment paper
2. Preheat oven to 180°C
3. Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt in a mixing bowl and set aside
4. Beat you egg whites till they are fluffy (this may take some time, so I suggest using a stand mixer)
5. Once they start to form soft peaks, gradually add in the sugar
6. Continue beating until the egg whites are glossy
7. Add in the egg yolks and vanilla extract and beat
8. Gradually add in the oil and continue beating for another 1 or 2 minutes
9. Add in the dry ingredients and lightly fold in using a spatula
10. Pour the batter into the lined cake tin
11. Tap the tin to release air bubbles and bake at 180°C for around 25 minutes (to check if the cake is cooked, insert a fork, and if it comes out clean, the cake is baked.)
12. Leave cake to cool while you prepare the sugar syrup.
13. Add the sugar and water to a pan on medium heat on the stove.
14. Let the syrup boil and let the sugar dissolve (this will take around 5 minutes). Set aside
15. Whip the cream and sugar till you have stiff peaks.
16. Remove the cake from the tin and cut horizontally into two.
17. Soak the cake layers in the sugar syrup. Spread a third of the whipped cream on the first cake layer
18. Put the next cake layer on top. Cover the scale with the rest if the whipped cream and top with cherries

Chocolate Cake with Ganache

 Ingredients

Butter, softened unsalted (at room temperature) - 220 gram
Golden caster sugar - 220 gram

Eggs - 4
Vanilla  extract - 1 tsp

Self-raising flour - 220 gram
Cocoa Powder - 3 tbsp
Baking powder - 1 tsp

Salt, small pinch

Milk - 2 tbsp

Double Cream - 300 gram
Dark Chocolate - 300 gram

Recipe

Cake

1. Heat oven to 160°C fan
2. Line the base of 2 x 20cm (8in) deep cake tin, scrape butter on sides
3. Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
4. Add Vanilla extract
5. Add eggs one at a time, beating on low just until they are mixed in
6. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt fold it into the mixture
7. Add milk, and fold a bit
8. Pour batter into the tin
9. Bake for 20-25 mins
10. Check and bake for another 5-10 minutes if the cake is not done
11. Cool the cakes in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes
    

Ganache

1. Heat Double Cream in sauce pan
2. Break chocolate and place in a bowl
3. When cream is going to boil, pour it over dark chocolate, cover it all up
4. Let it stand for 2-3 mins
5. Whisk ganache until it combines and is glossy
6. Cool for 10 mins, leave in fridge for 30 mins

After sponge is cool, layer up the cake and ice with ganache mix.

Plum Cake

Self raising flour 175 gm

Unsalted butter 175 gm

Golden Caster sugar 175 gm

Eggs 3

Baking powder 1 teaspoon

Dark Chocolate 75 gm

Dry fruits (raise etc)

Cherry and Almond Cake

Cherry and Almond Cake is one of my most favourite cakes, never disappoints and always a hit with family and friends. Soft on inside and with a thin crust on the outside.


Ingredients

Butter, softened (at room temperature) - 175 gram (200?)
Golden caster sugar - 175 gram (200?)

Eggs - 4
Almond  extract - ½ tsp

Self-raising flour - 175 gram
Baking powder - ½ tsp
Ground Almonds - 125 gram

Milk - 100ml

Glace cherries - 300 gram
Flaked Almonds - 2 tbsp

Recipe

1. Heat oven to 140C fan
2. Line the base of a 20cm deep cake tin, scrape butter on sides
3. Rinse and dry the cherries thoroughly, then halve and dust with flour
4. Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
5. Add Almond extract
6. Add eggs one at a time, beating on low just until they are mixed in
7. Fold in the flour, baking powder and ground almonds
8. Optionally add half of the cherries to batter at this stage
9. Add milk, and fold a bit
10. Pour batter into the tin
11. Add cherries on top
12. Scatter over the flaked almonds
13. Bake for 45 mins (Check after 30-35 minutes)
14. Check and bake for another 5-10 minutes if the cake is not done
15. Cool the cakes in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes

Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients

Plane flour - 250 grams (sifted)
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon 
Cocoa powder - 2 tablespoons
Unsalted butter - 113 grams (room temperature)
Granulated white sugar - 300 grams
Eggs - 2 large
Vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon
Buttermilk - 240 ml (1 cup)
Red food colouring - 2 tablespoons (liquid)
White distilled vinegar - 1 teaspoon
Baking soda - 1 teaspoon

(Use 2/3 or half of below quantity for icing)
Cream cheese - 227 grams
Mascarpone cheese - 227 grams
Vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon
Icing sugar (sifted) - 115 grams
Whipping cream (double cream, cold) - 360 ml

Recipe

Cake

1. Preheat oven to 180c. 
2. Grease two 9 inch cake tin with butter, line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper.
3. In a mixing bowl sift together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.
4. Beat the butter and sugar in a mixer on medium until fluffy.
5. Add vanilla.
6. Add eggs one at a time, beating on low just until they are mixed in.
7. In a cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring. 
8. Add the flour and the buttermilk (alternating one then the other) into the sugar/egg mixture on low speed, beginning and ending with the flour.
9. In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter. 
10. Pour batter into the two 9 inch cake tins, smooth the tops and bake for 25-30 minutes.
11. Quickly divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops.
12. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
13. Place a wire rack on top of the cake pan and invert, lifting off the pan.
14. Once the cakes have completely cooled, wrap in plastic and place the cake layers in the refrigerator for at least an hour (or overnight). (This is done to make filling and frosting the cakes easier.)

Cream Cheese Frosting

1. In the bowl of electric mixer beat the cream cheese and Mascarpone cheese until smooth. 
2. Add the vanilla.
3. Add icing sugar and beat until smooth. 
4. Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the whipping cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to spread.
5. Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency.

Assemble

1. With a serrated knife, cut each cake layer in half, horizontally. You will now have four cake layers (optional).
2. Place one of the cake layers, top of the cake facing down, onto your serving platter. 
3. Spread the cake layer with a layer of frosting.  
4. Place another layer of cake on top of the frosting and continue to frost and stack the cake layers. 
5. Frost the top and sides of the cake.

Apple and cinnamon cake

Ingredients
4 apples
1 tbsp cinnamon
4 tbsp sugar
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
4 eggs
6 oz (180g) butter, softened
1 1/3 cup brown sugar
½ cup milk
1/4 cup flaked almonds
1/4 tsp cinnamon 


Recipe

1. Preheat the oven at 350ºF (180ºC). 
2. Grease a spring-form pan. 
3. Peel and slice the apples. Toss them with 1 tbsp cinnamon and 4 tbsp sugar. Set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt.
5. In another bowl, cream the softened butter and the sugar until light and fluffy.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
7. Fold the sifted flour alternately with milk.
8. Pour half the batter in then spread the apples. 
9. Pour the remaining batter. 
10. Combine the flaked almonds with the cinnamon and sprinkle over the cake.
11. Bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Marble Cake

Ingredients

Plain flour - 250 gram

Unsalted butter (softened) - 200 gram

Caster sugar - 200 gram

Milk (full-fat) - 40 ml 

Vanilla extract - ½ tea spoon

Eggs (large) - 3

Baking powder - 3 tea spoon

Cocoa powder (unsweetened) - 2 tea spoon

Icing sugar (for dusting)

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven 180C.
2. Line a 1kg loaf tin with baking parchment.
3. In a large bowl, beat the butter, 180g of the sugar and the vanilla extract together until the mixture is light and fluffy. 
4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
5. Add the baking powder.
6. Sift the flour over the mixture.
7. Fold in with 2 tbsp of the milk.
8. Spoon two-thirds of the mixture into the prepared loaf tin – it should fill the tin three-quarters of the way.
9. Sift the cocoa in the remaining third of the mixture and fold in, together with the remaining milk and 20g of sugar.
10. Spoon the chocolate mixture over the cake mixture in the tin, then run a fork through both mixtures, gently swirling the two together to create a marbled effect.
11. Be careful not to swirl the mixtures together too much as you want to leave an obvious marble effect.
12. Bake for 55–70 minutes, until the cake shrinks slightly from the sides of the tin. Test it is cooked by inserting a skewer into the centre and it comes out clean (test the cake after 55 minutes).
13. Remove the cake from the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack. 
14. Once cooled, dust with icing sugar.

Pineapple and Cherry Cake

Ingredients

Glace cherries - 150 gram
Canned pineapple with fruit juice - 227 gram
Softened butter - 150 gram
Light muscovado sugar - 100 gram
Eggs beaten lightly - 2 large
Self-raising flour - 200 gram

Pineapple and Cherry Loaf

Pineapple and Cherry Loaf

Recipe

1. Pre-heat the oven to 140 ˚C fan. Grease and line a loaf tin.
2. Chop the glace cherries into halves and wash them using running water. Drain well and dry on a kitchen towel. Drain the pineapples keeping aside about two tablespoons of the fruit juice, chop the pineapples and dry them on a kitchen towel as well. Toss cherries and pineapple in plain flour.
3. Mix butter, sugar, eggs, and the flour.
4. Now fold in the pineapples and cherries along with the 2 tablespoons of fruit juice from the canned pineapples. Pour the batter into the prepared tin.
5. Bake it in a pre-heated oven for an hour and 15 till the loaf is golden brown, well risen and a skewer comes out clean. Cool the loaf on a wire rack. It can be stored for a couple of days but it hardly lasted the same day in my house!

Note: 

For a cake, I used 2.5 times of all ingredients and spring-form cake tin. Make sure to leave the loaf inside the oven(switched off) for a while after it is done.

Glace cherries - 375 gram
Canned pineapple with fruit juice - 565 gram
Softened butter - 375 gram
Light muscovado sugar - 250 gram
Eggs beaten lightly - 5 large
Self-raising flour - 500 gram

Date Cheese Cake

Date Cheese Cake

Ingredients


FOR THE BASE 75g/3oz digestive biscuits
40g/1½oz butter
25g/1oz demierara sugar

FOR THE FILLING 50g/2oz butter, softened
175g/6oz caster sugar
450g/1lb cream cheese (full fat soft cheese)
25g/1oz plain flour
1 lemon, juice and finely grated rind
3 eggs, separated
150ml/5fl oz double cream, lightly whipped


FOR THE TOPPING 150ml/5fl oz double cream, whipped
Dates - 20
a little icing sugar (optional)

Date Cheese Cake

Recipe

1. Lightly grease a 23cm/9inch loose-bottomed round cake tin. Cut a strip of non-stick baking parchment to fit around the sides of the tin, fold the bottom edge of the strip up by about 2.5cm/1inch creasing it firmly, then open out the fold and cut slanting lines into this narrow strip at intervals. Fit this into the greased tin with the snipped edge in the base of the tin and put a circle of non-stick baking parchment on top. 
2. Preheat the oven to 160C. 
3. Put the digestive biscuits into a polythene bag and crush the biscuits with a rolling pin. Melt the butter in a medium pan; add the crushed biscuits and demerara sugar. 
4. Mix well, spread over the base of the tin and press firmly with the back of a metal spoon. Leave in a cool place to set whilst mixing the cheesecake. 
5. For the cheesecake, measure the butter, sugar, cheese, flour, lemon rind and juice and egg yolks into a large bowl and beat well until smooth. 
6. Fold the lightly whipped double cream into the mixture using a plastic spatula or large metal spoon. 
7. Whisk the egg whites with a hand held electric mixer until stiff but not dry and fold into the mixture. 
8. Pour on to the biscuit base and gently level the surface with a plastic spatula. 
9. Cut Dates into halves, take the seed out then gently put them in the tin on the top. 
10. Bake in the preheated oven for about 1/1¼ hours or until set. 
11. Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake inside for a further one hour to cool. 
12. Run a small palette knife around the edge of the tin to loosen the cheesecake then push the base up through the cake tin. 
13. Remove the side paper and put the cheesecake on to a serving plate.

Optional: Spread the lightly whipped cream in the dip of the cheesecake and scatter the fruits haphazardly on top. Lightly dust with icing sugar if wished.

Coffee Cake

Coffee Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting


Ingredients

Self raising flour - 1 and 1/2 cups
Eggs - 3 medium
Baking powder - 1 teaspoon
Vegetable Oil - 90 ml
Water - 180 ml
Sugar - 1 and 1/2 cups
Double Cream - 250 ml
Icing Sugar - 3 or 4 tablespoon


Recipe

1. Mix ingredients  with electric whisk for 3-4 minutes.
2. Bake in oven fan assisted 180 degrees for 45 minutes.
3. Coffee mixture -
•  In 500ml of water dissolve 2-3 tablespoon  of coffee depending how strong you want your coffee cake. 
• Add 1 tablespoon of sugar.
4. Once cake is baked cut in half and let it cool.
5. Then pour the coffee mixture all over the two halves of cake so the cake is soaked. 
6. Put in refrigerator  to cool.
7. Whisk double cream about 250 ml with 3-4 tablespoon of icing sugar, depending again how sweet you like and pour little bit of coffee mixture  in it.
8. Once cake is cooler, spread the cream mixture between the 2 layer of cake and on top.

Victoria Sponge Cake

Ingredients
Eggs 4
Caster sugar 225g
Self-raising flour 225g
Baking powder 2 teaspoon
Unsalted butter at room temperature 225g

Strawberry or raspberry jam
Whipped double cream

Victoria Sponge Cake

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan.
2. Grease and line two 20cm/8in sandwich tins. Use a piece of baking paper to rub a little butter around the inside of the tins until the sides and base are lightly coated, then line the bottom with a circle of baking paper.
3. Break the eggs into a large mixing bowl, add sugar, flour, baking powder and butter.
4. Mix together until well combined with an electric hand mixer (you can also use a wooden spoon), but be careful not to over mix. The finished mixture should fall off a spoon easily.
5. Divide the mixture evenly between the tins.
6. Bake the cakes on the middle shelf of the oven for 25 minutes. Check them after 20 minutes.
7. To assemble the cake, place one cake upside down onto a plate and spread it with plenty of jam.
8. If you want to, you can spread over whipped cream too.
9. Top with the second cake, top-side up.
10. Sprinkle over the caster sugar.

Coffee Walnut Cake

Ingredients

For the sponges

• 340g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
• 340g caster sugar
• 250g plain flour
• 90g walnuts
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 6 large eggs
• 3 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 1.5 tbsp boiling water

For the frosting / topping

• 750g icing sugar
• 250g unsalted butter
• 4 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 tbsp boiling water
• 2 tbsp milk
• approx 9 walnut halves for decorating

Equipment needed

• 3 - round sandwich tins (20cm)
• Baking parchment
• Stand mixer or electric hand whisk
• Food processor
• Offset palette knife
• Silicone spatula
• Sieve
• Kitchen scales
• 2 x wire cooling racks
• Display plate or cake board

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 180oC / 160oC Fan / Gas Mark 4 (I have a fan oven so all my recipes are tested at the fan temperatures). To make the sponges, grease and line three 20cm sandwich tins with baking parchment. If you only have one or two tins, you can still do the cake, but you’ll have to do the baking in batches
2. Weigh out the walnut halves and dry fry in a frying pan over a medium heat for 5 minutes, or until the oils start to release the walnut aroma. Set aside to cool while you prepare the rest of the sponge mixture
3. Beat together the sugar and butter with an electric hand whisk, or a stand mixer if you have one, until they are light coloured, smooth and creamy. Beat in each egg thoroughly, one by one (rather than dropping them all in together). If the mixture starts to split, just add a tablespoon of flour and continue beating – this will bring the mixture back
4. Dissolve the coffee in the boiling water and fold this into the wet mix
5. Weigh and measure the flour and the baking powder and put into a food processor. Add the cooled walnuts. Blitz thoroughly until all the nuts are incorporated and form a light, fine powder
6. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can try crushing the walnuts as small as possible by putting them in a sandwich bag and whacking them with a rolling pin but it will be difficult to get them fine enough to work in the cake)
7. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture using a silicone spatula, making sure to mix any flour that ends up at the bottom of the bowl. Be gentle when you’re folding in the flour – you don’t want to knock out any air you’ve incorporated into the mix through all that whisking!
8. Divide the mixture evenly between the three tins. Smooth out the surface of the sponge mixtures with an offset palette knife and bake for about 23-28 minutes (keep an eye on it from 20 minutes), or until a cocktail stick comes out clean when poked into the centre of the sponge
9. Remove from the oven and when the tins have cooled enough to handle, take the sponges out of the tins and set to cool on wire racks
10. While the sponges are cooling, prepare the coffee butter cream icing. Weigh the butter into a bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk until soft. Gradually add the icing sugar and continue to mix. Make up the coffee and beat into the mixture. Add 2 tbsp milk if you need to loosen the butter cream a little more
11. Once the sponges have cooled, if they have raised middles, slice the tops flat with a bread knife (I usually spread a bit of the icing on the off cuts to taste a secret preview of the final cake)
12. Put the bottom sponge on your display plate or cake board. Neatly spread about 1/3 of the butter-cream icing onto the bottom layer of sponge using an offset palette knife. Try to spread evenly, and right up to the edges of the sponge, so you can see a neat line of icing once the top layer of sponge goes on
13. Add the next sponge and repeat. Turn the top layer of sponge upside down and lie on top of the spread icing; pressing down gently, and scraping off any excess icing that squidges out of the middle
14. Using the offset palette knife, neatly spread the remaining icing on the top of the cake and garnish with the remaining walnut halves.