The Pink Whisk Brilliant Baking Step-by-Step Cake Making (5 page)
Read The Pink Whisk Brilliant Baking Step-by-Step Cake Making Online
Authors: Ruth Clemens
Electric handmixer or stand mixer
900g (2lb) loaf tin (pan), 18.5 × 11.5cm (7 × 4
1
⁄
2
in)
1 Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan)/180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4, and line the loaf tin with baking paper.
2 Quarter each glacé cherry with a sharp knife. Not halves, not wholes, they won’t stay up up up! Place the quartered cherries in a sieve over a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Allow them to stand for a minute before swishing round to wash them free of any syrupy juice. Tip the cherries onto a couple of sheets of kitchen paper – spacing them out and patting them dry. Put them into a dry bowl and set to one side.
TIP
Quartering the cherries before rinsing means that the syrup hiding in the middle gets washed away too. If left in the syrup the cherries will most certainly make a beeline for the bottom of the cake!
3 Now for the eggs, 3 medium eggs are called for here. Crack them into a jug and beat the yolks and whites together with a fork. You need 150ml (5fl oz) of beaten egg and not a drop more. Controlling the liquid content will keep those cherries suspended in the cake mixture, so drain out a little of the beaten egg until you have exactly the right amount. Now on with the cake!
4 Cream together the butter and sugar – nice and light and fluffy please. Beat in the vanilla extract, then start to add the egg a little at a time and beat well after each addition until it’s fully incorporated.
5 Weigh out the flours and add one tablespoon to the cherries. Toss the cherries and flour together until they are all lightly coated.
6 Add the rest of the flour and the coated cherries to the cake mixture and fold together using a spatula until the cake mixture is nice and even.
7 Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure the cherries are evenly dispersed before spooning the mixture into the loaf tin. Roughly level with the back of spoon and bake in the oven for 50 minutes. Test the cake by inserting a skewer – it should come out clean. If there is still moist cake mixture stuck to it then bake for a further 5 minutes and test again.
8 Remove from the oven and allow to cool fully on a wire rack. Once cooled, mix the sifted icing sugar with a little hot water to make an icing with a thick consistency. Drizzle over the top of the cake and serve.
Choc Chip & Fudge Madeira
Naturally this is a firm hit with the children and is the slice most regularly requested as a treat in lunchboxes! Any combination of milk, dark and white chips work well – or throw in your own favourite additions.
Makes one 900g (2lb) loaf cake
Prep: 25 minutes plus cooling
Bake: 50 minutes
Oven: 160°c (fan)/180°c/350°F/Gas Mark 4
TIP
Tossing the choc chips and fudge in a little of the flour helps to give the cake mixture something to grip onto and keeps them up where they should be rather than skulking at the bottom!
Ingredients
Cake
150g (5
1
⁄
2
oz) butter, softened
150g (5
1
⁄
2
oz) caster (superfine) sugar
150ml (5fl oz) beaten eggs (3 medium)
130g (4
1
⁄
2
oz) plain (all-purpose) flour
50g (1
3
⁄
4
oz) self-raising (-rising) flour
100g (3
1
⁄
2
oz) dark chocolate chips
50g (1
3
⁄
4
oz) fudge chunks
To decorate
25g (1oz) dark chocolate chips, melted
20g (
3
⁄
4
oz) fudge chunks
Equipment
Electric handmixer or stand mixer
900g (2lb) loaf tin (pan), 18.5 × 11.5cm (7 × 4
1
⁄
2
in)
1 Follow the same method as the Cherry Madeira, except choc chips and fudge chunks need no washing and chopping so toss them in a tablespoon of the flour and you’re ready to go.
2 Drizzle the finished cake with melted chocolate and scatter on the fudge chunks. Serve.
Coconut & Passionfruit Bundt
This is an unassuming cake in the looks department, but you’ll definitely be going back for more! The crunchy seeds of the passionfruit are lovely, but if you’d prefer your cake without them simply push the pulp of the passionfruit through a sieve and discard the seeds.
Makes one 25cm (10in) Bundt cake
Prep: 25 minutes plus cooling
Bake: 35 minutes
Oven: 160°c (fan)/180°c/350°F/Gas Mark 4
Ingredients
Cake
250g (9oz) very soft butter
265g (9
1
⁄
2
oz) caster (superfine) sugar
4 eggs, large
200g (7oz) self-raising (-rising) flour
Pulp from 2 large passionfruit, approx. 80g (3oz) each
100g (3
1
⁄
2
oz) creamed coconut, finely grated
140ml (4
1
⁄
2
fl oz) coconut cream
To decorate
50g (1
3
⁄
4
oz) icing (confectioners) sugar, sifted
2 tsp coconut cream
Equipment
2.4 l (12 cup) Bundt tin (Bundt pan)
Electric hand-held whisk or food mixer
Disposable plastic piping bag
1 Preheat the oven to 160°C(fan)/ 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Prepare the tin: grease it well, including the ring in the centre and all the other little nooks and crannies.
TIP
Cake release spray is a handy little helper when it comes to tricky shaped tins that can’t be lined with paper. A good generous spray takes the hard work out of greasing tins.