• Comment
• Print
• E-mail

Cooking Clever - Fab food for tough times No. 36

Let them eat cakes

Sometimes, only a cake will do. Everyone needs a few in their culinary repertoire. Here are three that between them will cover most occasions – the chocolate layer cake is perfect for birthdays and celebrations, the pistachio almond cake is a sophisticated after dinner pudding and the carrot cake is just the thing for afternoon tea, writes Katy McGuinness

Chocolate Layer Cake

Pistachio Almond Cake

Carrot Cake

• 1
• 2
• 3

Chocolate Layer Cake Cost: €11.50 (From Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery)

230g good quality dark chocolate (70% solids)
170g unsalted butter, at room temperature
350g light soft brown sugar
3 large eggs, free range or organic, separated
370g plain flour, sifted
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon salt
500ml semi-skimmed milk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons good quality vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 170°C (fan)/ 190°C/ 375°F/ gas mark 5. Grease and line two 20cm cake tins with greaseproof paper. Break the chocolate into pieces and place in a microwave safe bowl. Melt on a medium setting in 30 second bursts until completely melted. Set the bowl aside to cool. In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar until the mixture is pale and smooth, which should take 3-5 minutes using an electric hand mixer. Put the egg yolks in a separate bowl and beat them for several minutes. Slowly add the egg yolks to the creamed butter and sugar and beat well. Add the cooled chocolate to this mixture and again beat well. Combine the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a separate bowl. Combine the milk and vanilla extract in a jug. Add one third of the flour to the creamed mixture and beat well. Pour in one third of the milk and beat again. Repeat these steps until all the flour and milk have been added. In a clean bowl whisk the egg whites, with clean beaters, until soft peaks start to form. Carefully fold the egg whites into the main batter using a metal spoon. (Do not beat or you will take all the air out of the mixture.) Divide the mixture evenly between the tins and bake for abut 30 minutes. Insert a skewer in the centre of one of the cakes – it should come out clean if it is cooked. Remove from the oven and leave the cakes in their tins for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool. Peal the greaseproof paper from the bases of the cakes. Once they are cool sandwich the layers together with chocolate buttercream icing and cover the top of the cake with more. Decorate with chocolate sprinkles or other sugar decorations. The baked sponge layers can be wrapped in clingfilm and frozen, to be defrosted when needed.

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

175g good quality dark chocolate (70% solids)
225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon semi-skimmed milk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon good quality vanilla extract
250g icing sugar, sifted

Melt the chocolate in a bowl or plastic jug in the microwave until smooth and a thick pouring consistency. A general guide would be to heat at 30 second intervals on medium, stirring in between, to avoid burning the chocolate. Alternatively melt the chocolate in a heatproof glass bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Stir occasionally until it has completely melted and is quite smooth. Leave to cool slightly. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter, milk, vanilla and icing sugar until smooth – this can take several minutes with an electric hand mixer. Add the melted chocolate and beat again until thick and creamy. If it looks too runny to use for icing simply keep beating, this will thicken the icing and improve its consistency.

Pistachio Almond Cake Cost: €8 (from River Café Cookbook Easy)

270g unsalted butter
1 lemon
1 vanilla pod
100g blanched almonds
120g pistachios (unsalted)
250g caster sugar
4 organic eggs
40g plain flour

Topping:

1 lemon
60g pistachios
50g caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 150°C/gas 2. Line a 22cm x 12cm x 6cm tin with parchment paper and grease with 20g butter. Soften the remaining butter. Finely grate the lemon peel. Split the vanilla pod and scrape the seeds. Finely grind the almonds and pistachios together. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the zest, vanilla seeds, then fold in the nuts and sieve in the flour. Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for 45 minutes. The cake is ready when a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin, then turn out. For the topping, grate the lemon peel and squeeze the juice. Halve the pistachios. Mix the lemon juice with the sugar, boil until thick, then add the zest. Stir in the pistachios and pour over the cake.

Carrot Cake Cost: €10 (Recipe from The Market Kitchen Cookbook)

450ml vegetable oil
400g plain flour
570g caster sugar
5 medium eggs
4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
530g peeled and grated carrots (about 700g unpeeled)
150g walnuts, roughly chopped

For the icing:

200g full fat soft cream cheese, preferably Philadelphia
150g icing sugar, sifted
100g butter, softened

Preheat the oven to 180°C/ Gas mark 4. Grease and baseline a 26cm diameter/7cm deep springform/ loose-bottomed cake tin. Place all the ingredients except the carrots and nuts in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer for five minutes. Add the carrots and nuts and mix through. Transfer the mixture to the cake tin and bake for 1¼-1½ hours or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool for about 20 minutes, then remove from the tin and carefully peel off the lining paper. Place the cake on a wire rack to cool completely. For the icing, place the cheese, sugar and butter in a bowl and cream together until smooth. Spread over the cold cake using a palette knife, then chill in the fridge until firm. Serve the cake sliced into wedges. With a scoop of vanilla or white chocolate ice cream this would make a great pudding.

Next week: A trio of great curries