Macmillan Coffee Morning: Cakes and Bakes

A while back, I was asked by a friend to make some cakes for a bake sale her Grandma was holding as part of Macmillan's World's Biggest Coffee Morning. This scared me as the circumstances in which I normally make cakes never call for them to be particularly outstanding...

After much deliberation, I settled on a Coffee and Walnut cake, a Madeira and some Lemon Biscuits, all of which I have made before without much difficulty.

This is a picture from the first time I attempted Lemon Biscuits. These were left circular and un-iced as my family tend to prefer bakes without icing. As the biscuits for the bake sale needed to be extra special, I used a circular star type cutter and decorated them with lemon icing.

In order for the icing to remain on the biscuit and not dribble over the sides, I piped icing around the edges and allowed it to dry completely before adding the rest of the icing.

I was seriously impressed that I'd come up with this idea, it worked spectacularly. I finished them off with some citrus sprinkles by Dr. Oetker.

Next, I made a Madeira Cake. I've made this cake hundreds of times without any problems so it was really just typical that this turned out poorly when it really mattered! As I have just purchased Mary Berry's Baking Bible, I decided to follow the Madeira recipe in it.

My regular recipe is from the original GBBO book and I felt this would also be a great bake. The recipe told me to throw everything into the bowl and mix, which I was uneasy with. The cake came out unrisen and a bit flat which I believe was due to the lack of method behind the recipe.

I therefore had to smother the cake in a lemon icing in order for it to look less rubbish. On the day, my Granddad bought the cake so disaster averted!!

And, for my 'Show Stopper'...

This cake was received in the best way I could have possibly imagined it to have been, I was so proud! Having made this cake previously, I knew that the sponges came out thin in the tins I was planning to make them in and therefore doubled the mixture. The cake was, quite frankly, colossal in size, and apparently was selling for £1 a slice!

Not necessarily a full house of successful bakes but it was all in aid of a charity very very close to my heart. I only hope the efforts of myself and my fellow bakers have helped Macmillan in all of the amazing work they do!

Coffee and Walnut cake from The Great British Book of Baking, Madeira Cake from Mary Berry's Baking Bible and Lemon Biscuits from Great British Bake Off: How to Bake: The Perfect Victoria Sponge and Other Baking Secrets

Lemon Cupcakes and an Introduction to The Caked Crusader!

So, here's the story. Every summer I go to Waterstones before my holidays and invest in more books than I can justify. This year, my books took the theme of baking (who'd have thought it!) and among the others was Meet Me at The Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan. Firstly, this book was truly lovely and I can fully recommend it- warning though, it made me want to open my own cafe, so beware! Secondly, this book introduced me to The Caked Crusader and so the challenge begins as I attempt all of her mouth wateringly fantastic cakes. I can't stress enough how much everyone needs to read her blog and try out her recipes- http://thecakedcrusader.blogspot.com/- go bake!!


Lemon Cupcakes

This was the first of The Caked Crusader's recipes that I tried and also the first time that I had ever made Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I can safely say that I- or if I were cruel enough to drag my brother into this, we- failed miserably in terms of the buttercream!

The cupcakes were moist, with a crunchy layer of lemon syrup over the top of them, a result of brushing the left over lemon juice over the cupcakes as soon as they came out of the oven. I used the same method when making my Lemon Drizzle Cake and knew it was a winning idea as soon as I read the recipe.

Despite the fact that my brother and I were both in agreement with The Caked Crusader in her dislike of having rind in a cake, we decided to continue with the recipe and put the rind in the mixture. This provided great flavour but unfortunately the texture just wasn't right for us and we'll know not to do the same again next time!

Unfortunately, as I say, we were unsuccessful in making our Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Our buttercream came out almost like the cream that comes out of a can and had the most undesirable texture. This annoyed me hugely as I knew how lovely the cakes were supposed to be. I eventually asked The Caked Crusader for her help and she suggested that the sugar hadn't dissolved properly and that we were to continue to whisk until the buttercream was smooth and creamy. I think in our haste to have our cupcakes, we skimped on time to allow the sugar to dissolve and were to quick to stop the buttercream from reaching it's potential, leaving us with our disappointing result!

All in all, fabulous cupcakes with a beautiful icing, we just cocked it up somewhat!

Thanks to The Caked Crusader :) 

Ingredients:

For the cupcake:125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
125g caster sugar
2 eggs
125g self raising flour
Juice and rind of one lemon
Dash of milk, if necessary

For the Swiss meringue buttercream:4 egg whites
250g caster sugar
250g unsalted butter
2 teaspoons lemon extract


Method:

Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan oven 170°C/375°F/Gas mark 5.
Line a muffin pan with 12 paper cases.
Start by making the cupcakes. Beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs, flour, lemon rind and half the lemon juice.
If necessary (this will depend on the juiciness of your lemon), add a dash of milk and beat until well combined and smooth. You’re aiming for a nice light, almost dropping consistency batter.
Spoon the mixture evenly into the 12 paper cases.
Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Mine took 17 minutes.
Remove from the oven and, straight away, brush the remaining lemon juice over the hot cupcakes.
Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Now make the swiss meringue buttercream. Place the egg whites and sugar in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir pretty much constantly to prevent the egg from cooking.
After 5-10 minutes, when the sugar has dissolved, remove the bowl from the pan of simmering water and whisk until the meringue has puffed up and the mix is cool.
Add the butter and lemon extract to the meringue and whisk until the butter has been completely incorporated into the meringue. At first it will look a disaster – it will collapse and look curdled but don’t worry! Stop when the mixture is smooth, light and fluffy.
Spoon the buttercream into a piping bag and swirl onto each cupcake.
Enjoy!

Lemon Drizzle Cake and Cupcakes

Today, I made cakes! Lemon Drizzle cake and cupcakes, nomnom! So, seeing as I've just come back from Zumba, I am writing about my cakes instead of eating them which sucks but hey ho...

Yes, I know it seems like I always make Lemon Drizzle Cake, but this time I tried a new recipe. I've followed the recipe in the Great British Book of Baking a few times now and, although the cake is amazing, I'm still hugely unhappy with the baking time and how it mainly comes out burnt.

But, then came along 'Baked and Delicious', a baking magazine -which is very expensive- with free silicon bakeware and this week happened to have a Lemon Drizzle Cake recipe in it. So I rang my Nana and Grandfather, as I do every week and asked them if they'd like to try it.

The recipe was relatively easy and it was pretty much the same as the old recipe but I hoped that the silicon loaf tin would stop it burning or at least stop it burning so much. I was wrong, almost, it still took an hour to bake and it still had browned edges despite the fact I had covered it in tin foil half way through- see above photograph! I still stand by the fact that every tin should be lined with baking paper, maybe I should take my own advice next time!

I was also really disappointed with how small it was! I felt they weren't going to provide sufficient slices but apparently it was brilliant, I must just be greedy!

Next, I made cupcakes!

These tasted unbelievable. I got the recipe from the UKTV Good Food channel website and, as per, bunged everything in the mixer and let it go. This is what happened when I added the flour, mid conversation with mum and forgot the shield...

When the cupcakes came out, they had all kind of peaked and I figured that the buttercream recipe adjoining the cupcake one that I had made was not going to cover all 12 cakes.

I had followed the recipe down to the letter but it barely covered the bottom of the bowl so definitely suggest doubling it for super iced cakes! Also, don't add too much food colouring, I figured a small drop would get me pale pink icing but it was really really pink...

So, I decided to make butterfly cakes but then thought it might look quite quirky if I just put the lids back on. I actually thought these looked really cool!

Definitely going to adapt these to my Strawberry Yoghurt cupcakes, maybe in my next installment? And, I figured that I could eat these tomorrow and it wouldn't affect my Zumba hot body!


Lemon Drizzle Cake- Take 2!

Ingredients

175g unsalted butter
175g caster sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
225g self raising flour
2 tbsp milk
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
6 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp golden syrup

For decorating:
1 small lemon, finely sliced (I skipped this out)
50g granulated sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
a little bit of cold water
50g icing sugar, sieved

Method:


-Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F/gas4

-If using a silicon loaf pan, dust it with flour once greased

-Cream the butter and sugar together until they are light and fluffy. Add the eggs gradually and then sift in the flour. Fold until combined then add the milk, lemon zest and half of the lemon juice and continue to mix

-Spoon the mixture into the tin and level off

-Bake for around an hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean

-Heat the remaining lemon juice and golden syrup in a pan. Once the cake is out of the oven, prick the cake and drizzle the syrup all over it

Enjoy!

Cupcakes

Ingredients:

150g butter, softened
150g sugar
3 eggs, beaten
150g self raising flour, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp milk

For the frosting: I suggest you double up here where possible

75g butter, at room temp
150g icing sugar
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
a selection of food colouring- be creative!

To decorate:

crystallised flower petals, optional
sprinkles, optional
silver balls, optional
hundreds and thousands, optional
sweets, optional

Method:


-Preheat the oven to 180˚C/160˚C fan oven/gas 4

-Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy

-Gradually add the beaten egg, adding the flour to stop it from curdling. Add the vanilla and milk and combine

-Place some muffin cases into a muffin tin and divide the cake batter into them

-Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Take them out of the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack

-In a bowl, beat the butter until smooth, then sift in the icing sugar. Add the milk and vanilla and beat until smooth and creamy

-Once cool, decorate your cupcakes as you please!

Enjoy!

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Having been given The Great British Book of Baking by my brother for Christmas, I have been dreaming about making lemon drizzle cake for days. So, by side stepping revision for a bit, I decided to give the recipe a go. After raiding the cupboards, I only needed to buy some lemons so consequently it was pretty cost efficient but it does use a large amount of all of the ingredients included.

The picture on the page makes the cake look really lemony coloured and looked incredibly moist. However, after baking the cake for 60 minutes (yes, a full 60, that's what the recipe says!) mine came out looking burnt and not exactly as 'moist' as in said picture. The skewer kept coming out with cake mix on it so it continued to burn as it cooked thoroughly. I do believe, however, that had I lined the tin with baking paper, this may have been avoided.

As for the glaze, it's just pure caster sugar and lemon, so the contrast totally blows you away. I only had golden caster sugar though which turned the 'drizzle' slightly brown and not the bog standard frosty white colour that you would expect on a shop bought version. I thought this would spoil the look of the cake but it turned out that you couldn't see the glaze anyway. Despite this, the recipe was by far the easiest I've done in a while, I simply bunged it all into my mixer and away it went. I do suggest, though, that you mix it by hand for a bit first as my mixer sent the flour all over the kitchen, much to my parents annoyance. Or, if you have a Kitchen Aid, use the shield bit!

In the end, the cake tastes amazing, especially as the glaze on top has soaked through but I can't get over the extremely long cooking time which has left a peculiar burnt lemon flavour in my mouth!

Lemon Drizzle Cake- adapted from The Great British Book of Baking

Ingredients

For the Cake:

200g unsalted butter, softened

250g caster sugar

3 medium eggs, beaten and at room temperature

2 medium lemons, unwaxed if possible and finely grated

250g self raising flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

100ml milk, again at room temp

For the topping:

100g caster sugar

juice of 2 medium unwaxed lemons

finely grated zest of 1 medium unwaxed lemon

Method

-Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F/Gas 4. Line a 20cm springclip tin or deep round cake tin

-Place the butter, sugar, eggs and zest into a bowl and sieve over the flour and baking powder. Add the milk and mix until smooth and completely combined

-Spoon the batter into the tin and level it out. Bake in the oven for around 50 minutes or until golden brown. A clean cocktail stick should come out clean when put into the centre

-To make the topping, combine the sugar and lemon juice until it creates a runny glaze

-Once the cake is cooked, immediately transfer the tin onto a wire rack and prick the cake all over then spoon the glaze all over

-Leave to cool completely in the tin before serving

.

Enjoy!