Enter
The Times great bake-off
Britain is in the grip of cake mania. Last week the Women's Institute,
spiritual home of the iced occasion fruitcake, reported that interest in its
baking courses was up 60 per cent; one online retailer said it was selling a
cookie cutter every 15 minutes; and on Monday the nation is to be galvanised
into action with the start of National Baking Week.
It is entirely to be expected, of course: in the current climate of gloom and
doom, what more therapeutic activity could there be than baking? There is
something about the slow, measured alchemy of the amateur pâtissière that
makes it the perfect antidote to the economic chaos of the past weeks.
If only those so-called masters of the universe had spent more time in the
kitchen. There's a lot you can learn from a cake. For example, nothing
demonstrates more acutely the fact that things can fall as well as rise as a
vanilla sponge. The cake-maker has to learn to be assiduously risk-averse,
since success depends entirely on the careful calibration of ingredients. In
terms of returns, you get out of a tart exactly what you put in to it. If
you are slapdash with the scales, it won't work. Too much fat and it will be
heavy and unctious; too much sugar and it will have an unpleasant
sickliness.
Some of us have always put our faith in cake. One of the abiding memories of
my early childhood is the Rolling Stones album Let it Bleed. I was 2,
and I was obsessed - mainly because the album cover had a large picture of a
cake on it. They say that those early years are the most formative, and it's
certainly true that I have carried into adult life a passion both for the
Stones and for sponge-based confectionery.
Then came Nigella. Ah, Nigella. With her special sexy spoon-licking and
irresistible, voluptous passion for food, she gave all us poor, starved
Ryvita-crunchers permission to pick up our mixing bowls. Her book How to be
a Domestic Goddess, with its giant pink and white cupcake cover, showed us
how old-fashioned comfort food could slip effortlessly into the culinary
canon of the modern female.
“Sometimes ... we don't want to feel like a postmodern, post-feminist,
overstretched woman,” she wrote, “rather a domestic goddess, trailing
nutmeggy fumes of baking pie in our languorous wake.” Cakes, as much as our
BlackBerries and tight timetabling, became part of the working woman's
arsenal. Nigella added a spoonful of irony and a sprinkling of glamour to
her recipes, and almost singlehandedly brought back baking.
I, for one, think we owe her a great debt - not just because I like a bit of a
slice at teatime but because, over time, her legacy and that of her
imitators seems to have brought us closer to cooking in general and away
from the horror of pre-packaged foods, hydrogenated fats and vile chemicals.
A home-made cake may contain hefty quantities of sugar and fat but it is
still much less bad for you than something stuffed so full of preservatives
that it could survive a nuclear winter.
So here, as recession looms and unemployment rises, are some recipes for light
relief. Because whatever else happens, you will always find comfort in cake.
A cake for elevenses
Lemon chiffon sponge
Ingredients
190g butter (room temperature)
190g sugar
4 medium eggs
190g self-raising flour
Zest of half an organic lemon
For frosting:
640g icing sugar
320g good-quality cream cheese
Zest of one organic lemon
80g butter
Method
Preheat the oven to 180c/Gas Mark 4. Beat the butter and sugar in a mixer
until white and fluffy. Add 1 egg at a time, followed by ¼ of the flour, and
keep repeating until all are combined. Then add the zest and mix thoroughly.
Grease two 8in (20cm) cake tins with butter and dust with flour. Divide the
mixture between the tins and bake for 30min or until a skewer comes out
clean. Turn the sponges out and leave to cool on a wire rack. Meanwhile,
prepare the frosting. Combine the icing sugar, cream cheese and lemon zest
until smooth in a mixer.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Pour the butter slowly into the frosting
while mixing.
Refrigerate the frosting. When cool, cut the sponges in the middle to make 2
discs each. Start with one layer of sponge on a cake board; spread frosting
on top (about 80g). Next put a layer of sponge on top of the frosting and
repeat until you have layered all four discs. Cover the outside of the cake
with the remaining frosting and put in the fridge to set.
Lemon Chiffon Cake by Konditor & Cook, 22 Cornwall Road, London SE1
(020-7261 0456) konditorandcook.com
... for Sunday tea
Strawberry cake
Ingredients
225g caster sugar
1tsp baking powder
210g self-raising flour
25g cornflour
225g unsalted butter (room temperature)
4 large eggs
225g fresh strawberries, chopped into small pieces
1tsp vanilla extract
For vanilla buttercream icing:
25g unsalted butter (room temperature)
125ml semi-skimmed milk
2tsp vanilla extract
1kg icing sugar
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4. Grease and line two 8in (20cm) cake tins.
Put the sugar, baking powder, flour and cornflour into a food processor.
Pulse until evenly mixed (about four seconds). Add the remaining four
ingredients and process briefly until well combined.
Divide the mixture evenly between the two cake tins. Place in the middle of
the oven and bake for 25min. Check that the cakes are cooked by inserting a
skewer into the middle, which should come out clean. Leave the cakes in
their tins for 10min, then turn out on a wire rack to cool.
To make the icing, beat all the ingredients until smooth and creamy, adding 3
drops of pink food colouring if desired. When the cakes are completely cool,
place one cake on a plate. Spread a thin layer of strawberry jam on top.
Then slice some strawberries and place a thin layer on top of the jam. Hold
the second cake and ice the bottom of it with a 1cm layer of vanilla
buttercream. Carefully top the first cake with the second, iced-side down.
Once the cakes are centred, ice the top cake with the remaining buttercream
and top with fresh, hulled strawberries.
Strawberry Cake by Primrose Bakery, 69 Gloucester Avenue, London NW1
(020-7483 4222) www.cake-boy.com
Chocolate cake
for a special occasion
Ingredients
175g unsalted butter, softened
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
250g plain flour, sifted
1tsp baking powder, sifted
25g cocoa powder, sifted
2tbsp milk
For the ganache:
1 block couverture
250ml cream
For decorating:
150g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
Handful of fresh raspberries soaked in framboise
Method
Preheat oven to 180C/Gas mark 4. Butter and line an 8in (20cm) cake tin. Cream
together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually add the
eggs, beating well. Fold the flour and baking powder, with the cocoa powder
and milk, into the cake mixture. Transfer to the prepared tin and bake for
between 1hr and 1 hours or until the cake is springy to the touch. Leave to
cook in the tin for about 5min before turning on to a wire rack to finish
cooling. When the cake is completely cool, cut it into two equal layers.
Next, make a syrup: place 250ml water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add
250g sugar and stir until dissolved. Cool and chill in the refrigerator for
30min.
Meanwhile, make the ganache. Place the couverture in a heatproof bowl
(reserving a little for decoration). Place the cream in a saucepan and bring
to the boil, then remove from heat, pour over couverture and stir until
mixture is smooth. Leave to cool.
Remove chilled syrup from fridge and stir in 300ml framboise. Transfer the
cooled ganache into a piping bag. Dip the sponge cake disc in the syrup and
place in the base of a round 20cm springform cake tin or specialist cake
frame. Pipe a third of the ganache on top and scatter over a handful of
framboise-soaked raspberries. Pipe another third of ganache over the
raspberries. Dip the second sponge disc in the remaining syrup and place on
top of the raspberry and ganache layer. Pipe the remaining ganache over the
top and smooth evenly with a palette knife. Chill the cake in the fridge for
4 hours, then remove the frame or tin.
To make the decoration: break the chocolate into pieces and place in a
heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water, making sure
that bowl and water do not touch. Stir until melted.
Use a Cellophane cake decoration strip to make the decoration for the sides of
the cake. Place the strip on a flat work surface, paint the melted chocolate
over it, then immediately wrap it around the cake, chocolate side inwards,
and leave to cool. Shave some chocolate from the couverture block and
sprinkle over the cake; arrange framboise-soaked raspberries over the top.
Carefully peel the Cellophane off the cake and serve.
Chocolate and Raspberry Sacher Cake by Eric Lanlard. Glamour Puds
with Eric Lanlard begins on Monday, November 10 at 7pm on Discovery Travel &
Living Channel; www.cake-boy.com
And for children...
Mint choc-chip cupcakes
Ingredients
(makes 12 large cupcakes)
125g softened unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
2 free-range eggs
1 tbsp whole milk
20g good-quality cocoa powder
105g self-raising flour
tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g milk chocolate chips
For the mint buttercream icing:
100g softened unsalted butter
200g icing sugar
1-2tbsp whole milk
3-4 drops of peppermint extract
Food colouring (mint or green)
Method
Preheat oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4 and fill a muffin or cupcake tin with 12 paper
cases.
Cream the butter and sugar in a mixer, using an electric whisk or in a large
bowl with a wooden spoon until it turns a slightly lighter colour. Add the
eggs one by one, then the milk, and continue to mix until well incorporated.
Sift the cocoa, flour and bicarbonate of soda together and add to mixture,
stirring or mixing on low speed to combine.
Fold in the chocolate chips. You should now have a light, fluffy mix with no
lumps (except for the choc chips).
Spoon the mixture into the paper cases; it should fill each one two thirds of
the way up. Bake in a preheated oven for 20-25min, resisting the temptation
to open the oven door until they are done.
After 20 minutes you can test the cupcakes by pressing down lightly on one
with your finger. If it leaves an indent they need a little longer; if it
springs back up they are ready. Leave to cool, either in the cupcake tin or
on a wire rack.
To make the icing, cream the butter in a mixer until light in colour. Sift the
icing sugar into a separate bowl and add in two batches to the butter,
beating between each addition until the mixture is light, fluffy and a
uniform consistency. Add 1tbsp milk and beat to incorporate, then stir with
a spatula or similar to ensure that any bits left at the bottom of the bowl
are mixed in. Beat again briefly with the mixer and add a touch more milk if
needed - you want a consistency that's soft and spreadable but not runny.
Add the peppermint extract and food colouring and mix well.
Once your cupcakes have cooled completely, spread the icing on with a teaspoon
or spatula and top with more chocolate chips, chocolate sprinkles or milk
chocolate buttons.
Mint Choc Chip Cupcakes by Crumbs and Doilies, every Saturday from 10am at
Partridges Fine Food Market, Duke Of York Square, London SW3; www.crumbsanddoilies.co.uk
