Raspberry and Strawberry Cake with Marsala

This is one of my favourite cake and I keep baking this one time and time again. I think mascarpone/cream cheese and Marsala is a match made in heaven but if you even add some fresh strawberry and raspberry...........hmmm even nicer.

For the sponge

125 g butter

0.5-1 tbsp instant coffee

175 ml hot water

100 g good quality dark chocolate

190 g caster sugar

115 g self-raising flour

75 g plain flour

25 g cocoa powder

1 egg

For the cream

250 ml double cream

250 g cream cheese/mascarpone

2-3 tbsp icing sugar

3-6 tbsp Marsala - optional but highly recommended

1 Dream Topping

250 g strawberries
150 g raspberries

Preheat the oven to 180C and prepare 2 sandwich tins (19 cm in diameter). Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Blend the coffee with the hot water, add to the butter with the chocolate and sugar and heat gently, stirring until smooth. Pour into a large bowl and leave just until warm.

Sift in the flours and cocoa butter, then using an electric mixer whisk together with the warm chocolate mixture on low speed. Gradually whisk in all other dry ingredients then the egg.

Divide the mixture between the two sandwich tins and bake in the preheated oven for 25-35 minutes until firm and the skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Leave in the tin for 5 minutes to cool slightly before turning out onto a wire rack.

For the cream whisk to soft peaks the double cream with dream topping, add the cream cheese, icing sugar and Marsala and give it a final beat (don't beat it for too long otherwise you can't really spready the cream. Taste the cream and if you think it isn't sweet or boozy enough just add more icing sugar or Marslala.

Layer together the sponge and cream adding sliced strawberries(2/3rd) in the middle layer and leave the raspberries as a whole for the top of the cake and remaining strawberries.

Keep it in the fridge... it is best if you leave it rest in a the fridge for a few hours or next day before serving.

Volkswagen Camper Van Cake

Last week it was our dear friend's, Kabi's Birthday. He turned 18 - again:) khmmm. For this grand occasion I created something special: his favorite car a Volkswagen Camper Van. He has the Lego version of this car so a few days before his birthday I helped myself to his little Lego figures (so I don't have to make them from sugar paste). I think it turned out great, especially as I was making my own templates on the go. During my research for this cake, I found it frustrating that page after page demanded money to check a simple template/tutorial (it is not that they invented anything new).....Anyway i hope you enjoy this free Volskwagen Camper Van Cake tutorial, step by step.

As usual I made a red velvet cake sponge, as I know that this version has good structure and it doesn't matter if you bake it two days ahead, since it just gets better a few days after baking. 

For the sponge
175g softened butter
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
pinch of salt
1 vanilla
165g plain flour
10g cocoa powder
8g baking powder
red food colouring * more on this topic in the Tricks and Recommendations 
1 cake board

For the butter cream
80g butter softened
180g icing sugar
20g cream cheese

For the filling
150g soft cheese
100g white chocolate
150g double cream
1 dream topping
70g dessicated coconut

To cover:
500g white icing
250g  black icing(black sugar paste)-I used an already coloured one, as I read in other blogs that if you try to add food colouring to the white icing you should work on it for quite a while to achieve a nice even black colour.....and I didn't had the time for that
250g red icing (red sugar paste)

To decorate:
Silver edible paint - optional
Green edible paint
Edible glue
Edible pen - optional
Ruler
Paintbrush
Spatula knife
Cake smoother

Preheat the oven to 180C. Put the butter and the sugar into a large bowl and beat together until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs,vanilla, salt and half of the flour to prevent the mixture from curdling. Add the remaining flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and give it a final mix.

Add the food colouring and mix well. 

Put the mixture in a 20X25cm prepared tin and bake it for 1hr and 15minutes, but check the sponge after an hour. If the skewer inserted into the center comes out clean then it is ready. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes than put it onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

For the filling

Whip the double cream to stiff peaks, then add the cream cheese, melted white chocolate dessicated coconut and the dream topping and mix again. Put it into the fridge so it stiffens up a bit before applying.

With your cake leveler cut the now completely cold sponge in half horizontally, then cut off the edges on either side then in half vertically. This gave me two 11cmX20 cm rectangles (cut in half horizontally:

 

Put some cream on your cake board (you can see on the top right picture that the cream is peeking out from underneath the first layer). This cream will mend the sponge to the board so it won't move when you transport the cake.

Sandwich together all layers with the cream and put the cake into the fridge for at least 30 minutes for the filling to be hardened so you can shape it more easily.

Once the cake is cooled and a bit more solid you can start your carving: I used a knife to create the curved front and slightly curvy back. I also carved a small part of the top(creating to rooftop effect - once i have icing on the top you will see what i mean) off and removing a tiny amount of sponge from the bottom (all around)- I will explain later why.

 

As it was a fee style exercise I guessed where the wheels should be and carved out the wheels. We need this sponge for the actual wheels so try to remove that sponge part in one piece.

For the butter cream

Cream together the softened butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the cream cheese and mix again.

Spread the butter cream thinly on the surface of the sponges,try to smooth the cream with an offset spatula knife for a nice finish. Don't forget to cover the 4 little wheels with butter cream- but before you do that make the "whleel"-sponge smaller so even with the icing on top you can fit it back into the whole - NOT LIKE ME. 

Refrigerate until set to the touch and then spread the remaining butter cream over the cake to give a perfect finish.

Once you have two layers of butter cream on the cake (as smooth as possible) you can start applying the icing layers.

To cover

Be careful with the sugar paste as it drys out quickly so if you don't use it wrap it in cling film.Make sure your work surface is clean and dry before you kneed the black sugar paste until warm and pliable. Use some icing sugar to dust your work surface and roll out  a tiny amount of black icing. Cut an 5mm wide strip and cover the very bottom of the cake. As the car's body not supposed to touch the ground I cut a tiny amount of sponge off from the bottom. By covering it with black icing I hope to make the bottom invisible.

Now you can roll out the white icing (approx. 350g-400g) on the work surface (dusted with icing sugar) to 3-4mm thickness to cover the van. Carefully lift over the centre of the cake and lay onto the butter cream layer. Dust your icing smoother with some icing sugar and rub the icing gently over the cake. Don't rush this part as it will make the whole cake awful if you make a mistake at this stage.

On the edges smooth with one hand and keep lifting the icing with the other (I am sure there are plenty of Youtube videos available on this technique).Use a sharp knife to trim the edges and the spaces for the wheels.Save the trimming for other decorations. 

Now you can see the top better:by carving a small edge off from the top it creates a roof-top effect. 

Using the remaining of the black icing cover the 4 wheels and craft 2 number plates.

Using white icing prepare the accessories: 4 small rounds for the alloy, 4 wheel bolts, 2 handles, 4 big lights, 2 small lights and a surf board.

   

Support the Surf boards to end, so it takes up a curved shape once it is dry. I used my edible glitter paint to personalise the number plate and paint some of the head lights and wheel bolts.

Now comes the hard part: to create the iconic curved icing for the van. I used a piece of paper, a scissor and a pen.....I took me about 10 minutes until i was happy with the shape but in the end I got my template. Once I was happy with the curve I cut out the spaces for the whleels. The front wheel should be totally visible while the back wheel should be half covered (only if you can fit in your wheels properly......I learnt a lot from this project).

  

Push the wheels into their place (carefully as the icing is probably still soft), then with edible paint glue on the two cut out red panels (one at the time). Try to be careful so the panels don't sink (leaving a red gluey patch exposed),supporting the panels with a palet knife from the bottom until the glue sets (it takes about 2-3 minutes).

Until the red panels totally set I prepared the grass on both sides. Simply roll out some white icing and cut a wave in the middle. Place the two parts on either side of the van and trim off the ends hanging off from the board. I used some edible glue on the board just to keep the grass intact. With a paint brush create some grass effect. You can also prepare some road markings if you wish. 

I have to apologise as I got too excited at this point and totally forgot to take more pictures.

Roll out some black icing and using your ruler cut out 4 long strips (all the same height). It is totally down to your preference but i cut two blocks for the front - securing all parts with edible glue - 4 "blocks" to the sides and I left the back windscreen as i long strip.

Using your white icing cut out two long narrow strips for the bumpers (one on the front one on the side) and three more strips for the roof rack. Now all you have to do is glue on the lights and number plates and using your edible pen create the Volkswagen symbol. I tried and failed to do this from icing so that is why I opted for the pen.

It is very important that after you finished with your cake you leave it on room temperature so all icing hardens up (otherwise it will melt down if you put it into the fridge like that).

Until the last moment - when I presented the cake - I left it in the fridge because of the coconut filling. 5 of us only managed to demolish half the cake, mind you we just finished a massive Thai dinner. 

   

Baked Lemon Cheesecake

I always wanted to make a baked cheesecake, so when we invited some guests the last time the time was right. As the dinner was quite heavy, I wanted something light and delicate. Well it isn't the lightest dessert, but it tasted divine (also it is quite easy to make). I found a recipe on the BBC Goodfood website, but I slightly had to modify it to my taste.

 

Baked Lemon Cheesecake

 

Ingredients

260g digestive biscuit

120g melted butter

 

600g light soft cheese/cream cheese

250g mascarpone

2eggs

2egg yolks

zest of 4 lemons

juice of 2.5 lemons

4 tbsp flour

150g caster sugar

 

few spoonful of cream fresh/soured cream

few spoonful of lemon curd

handful of blueberries

 

 

Heat the oven to 180C and line the bottom of a 23cm spring form tin with baking paper. Crush the biscuits to crumbs and work it together with the melted butter. Press the biscuit paste into the bottom of the pan and place it to the fridge while you prepare the filling.



 

 

Whisk all the other ingredients in a large bowl until completely combined, pour into the tin, then bake for 35-40 minutes. Turn off the oven and leave the cake inside until cool.

 

 

 When it is completely cooled remove from the tin and top with cream fresh, lemon curd and blueberries if you like. You can keep the cake in the fridge if you want a cold dessert summer time.

Banoffee Cupcakes

It was my 1 year' anniversary at my workplace and I made some cupcakes to celebrate this. I made some banoffee cupcakes and raspberry and lemon cupcakes from my new book from Peggy Porschen. I have to say I struggled to get 12 cupcakes from the amount she described so I increased the measurements slightly. I also found the icing ever so slightly too sweet, so I added less icing sugar. BUT even with the sweet frosting it was more than delicious.

Banoffee Cupcakes

For the decoration

50g sugar florist paste(different colours)/marzipan

pink or white pearls

1 banana

For the frosting
120 g full-fat cream cheese
100 g unsalted butter, softened
220 g icing sugar, shifted
1 banana mashed 

For the sponge

120 g unsalted butter

120 g caster sugar

pinch of salt

seeds of 1 vanilla pod

2 large eggs

120 g self-raising flour

40 g plain chocolate (minimum 53% cocoa solids), chopped into small pieces

For the sugar syrup

70 ml water

70 g caster sugar

scraped vanilla pods

For the filling

100 g soft caramel 

Make the decoration at least a day ahead.

Kneed the sugarpaste or the marzipan with a small amount of paste food colour, if using, until smooth and pilable. Roll out the paste to a thickness off approximately 2mm.

Place the blossom cutter on the paste and press firmly. Lift off the cutter and release the blossom. Cut a few at a time. Lightly dust the blossom veiner with icing sugar and one by one place each blossom shape in the venier and press. Carefully bend the venier outwards to release the shaped blossoms and place in a well of palette or on a foam pad. Leave to set for at least a few hours or preferably overnight. 

Once dry, you can add shades of colour to your blossoms by brushing with a tiny amount of petal dust using a fine artist's bush. With a brush place a small amount of edible glue in the middle and place a pearl in the middle with a tweezer.

I also made some banana decoration. I sliced one banana then covered the surface with sugar. With a blowtorch caramelise the surface...and that is it:)

To make the frosting

Place the cream cheese in a mixing bowl  and beat until smooth and creamy. Place the butter and icing sugar in a separate bowl. Cream together until very pale and fluffy.

Add the cream cheese, a little at the time, to the butter mixture and mix at medium-high speed until the frosting is combined. Add the banana purée and chill until set.

To make the cupcakes

Place the butter, salt and vanilla seeds in a mixing bowl and cream together until pale and fluffy.

Beat the eggs lightly in another bowl and add slowly to the butter mixture while whisking quickly. If the mixture starts to separate or curdle, stop adding the egg and beat in  2-3 tablespoons of flour. This will rebind the butter.

Once all the egg has been incorporated into the butter mixture, shift in the remaining flour and stir until the batter is just combined. This will ensure the sponges stay light and fluffy. Fold the chopped chocolate through the batter using a rubber spatula.

 Using a piping bag or a tablespoon, carefully place the batter into the cupcake cases until two-thirds full only. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the inserted wooden skewer comes out clean.

To make the sugar syrup
While the cupcakes are baking, prepare the sugar syrup for soaking. Place the water, sugar and vanilla pod into the saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer until all the sugar dissolved then set aside to cool down slightly. Discard the vanilla pod.

Once the cupcakes are baked, let them rest for about 10 minutes outside the oven. Using a pastry brush, soak the tops of the cupcakes with sugar syrup while they are still warm: this allows the syrup to be absorbed faster.

Leave the cupcakes to cool down completely then using a melon baller, scoop out the tops of each cupcake.

To add the filling, decorate
Using a fork, crush the ripe banana and then mix it together with the caramel cream. Place the banoffee mixture into a plastic piping bag and use to fill the scooped-out holes of the cupcakes.

Fill the chilled frosting in a plastic piping bag fitted with a large pain round nozzle and pipe a swirl of frosting on top of each cupcake.

To finish, place a sugar blossom or a slice of caramelised banana on the top of the frosting for each cupcake.

Terry's Chocolate Orange Cake

I offered to bake a cake to our BBC Children in Need Charity bake sale. I choose the cake I made for Halloween as it is sturdy, easy to slice, can be on the cake sale table for long and ok to transfer.......and it is delicious(the main thing). I also love chocolate and orange together, but I slightly altered the look of the cake so it would fit for sale. 
Recently I adapted a new look and prepared the cakes in my new 12 slices Zila Cake mould.
If you want to see the Zila range or buy some, you can do it here: Link to buy Zila Cake Mould

Terry's Chocolate Orange Cake

For the sponge
150 g self-raising flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
175 g butter at room temperature
175 g golden caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1-3 tbsp milk
100 g 70% dark chocolate, melted and cooled

For the cream
300 g soft cheese
zest of 2 oranges
juice of 1.5 orange
3-5 tbsp icing sugar
200 ml double cream
1.5 tsp powdered gelatine
orange food colouring

For the decoration
1 Terry's Chocolate Orange
50 g dark chocolate
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp butter

Heat the oven to 180 C. Butter and base line your 23 cm round cake tin with baking parchment.

Put all the cake ingredients except the chocolate in a  large bowl. Beat them together with an electric mixer until you have a creamy mixture, then fold in the melted chocolate. Add a little more milk if the mix is too stiff- it should fall easily from a spoon.

Pour the cake mix into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 20 -25 minutes or until the sponge springs back when pressed. Cool the cake than cut in three with a cake leveller.

For the filling, mix all ingredients in a big bowl except the double cream and the gelatine.

Heat the double cream in a heavy based pan to boil. Take off from the heat and add the powdered gelatine and mix well to dissolve any lumps. Cool down the mixture to room temperature  then add to the orange mixture. Work together the two mixture and add the food colouring(the amount you need depends on the brand, so use as recommended) and put to the fridge to harden a little.

When the cake is cooled and the orange mixture is solidish, spread one layer to the bottom sponge, sandwich on top the other sponge layer and spread another layer of cream on top.
For the chocolate icing, melt the chocolate with 3 tbsp of milk then add the butter. Spread on top of the cake, than pipe on the rest of the orange cream.
Finish off with the Terry's Chocolate Orange slices.

Enjoy:)

Ps: if you not familiar with the Terry's Chocolate Oragne, here it how it looks like:

Summer Field Rainbow Cake

It is my sister's 14th birthday!!!!!! As she is staying with me for a month, we had the chance to prepare her cake together! I had this vision before...with the grass, flowers and the butterflies.....that hides a rainbow cake underneath. I have to say it all turned out very well, but I am not truly happy with the cake sponge. I used curd cheese filling and white cake recipe-apparently it is really popular in the US (I never heard about that before). White cake usually used in rainbow cake recipe, as you should leave out the egg yolks, that creates a white sponge-so easier to colour. Anyway I share the recipe...maybe it is just my baking abilities....

I know the food colouring isn't the best for us...but you only have Birthday once a year!

Summer Field Rainbow Cake

Nyári Mezővel borított Szivárvány Torta

For the sponge

290gr plain flour

250g sugar

150g butter/fat

300ml milk

3 tsp baking powder

1tsp salt

1 tsp almond extract

5 egg whites

5 different food colouring

For the filling

150ml coconut milk

400g curd cheese

2 vanilla pod

60g dessicated coconut

85g cream cheese

100ml double cream

4 tbsp icing sugar

zest of 1 lemon

2 tbsp Amaretto

green food colouring

For the butterflies and flowers

50g Gum paste/Flower paste

food colouring of your choice

For the grass

80g dessicated coconut

green food colouring

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Mix the flour, sugar, butter,milk, baking powder, salt and almond extract. When it is all mixed add the egg whites and mix it again. Divide the mixture to 5 bowls and add the food colouring to each one. Line the cake tin with baking paper and bake each layer for 20 minutes or until the top springs back if you touch lightly with your fingertip.

In the meantime you can prepare the butterflies and flowers. Divide the flower paste to 3 parts. 

Colour two of them and roll them out on a flat surface. Using your butterfly and flower cutters cut out the shapes. Place the butterflies on a folded paper, so when they dry out and harden the wings will hold their shape.

For the cream mix together all the ingredients with an electric mixer.

You can start layering your cake. When all layers are covered with cream I added some green food colouring to the leftover, so when I cover the cake, the outside layer will be green (in case the dessicated coconut wouldn't cover all surface). 

For the grass simply put the dessicated coconut into a bowl and pour on top the green food colouring(as much as it turns the coconut to green) and start mixing with a silicon spoon to cover all shreds. When you are happy with the result, put the grass on top of the cream (the cream should stuck on the surface as it is wet).

Place on top the butterflies and the flowers....and you are ready. Keep the cake in the fridge.

And you can see the smile on her face when she blew out the candle.

Chocolate Cake with Toasted Almonds

I made 2 cakes for my husband's birthday (English people still have the tradition, that you should bring in sweets if you have a birthday-we had the same tradition in Hungary up to age 10 when you left the lower grades of elementary school). Anyway I totally forgot about it, and I needed a quick and light chocolate cake, as few people wouldn't eat the fruits on his workplace. I didn't have time to mess about complicated and complex chocolate cake (I started to bake after 8pm) so I baked this extra quick and light cake(you can use a 23cm round tin as well, but if I bake for a crowd I prefer the square one as it is easier to slice nicely).

Chocolate Cake with Toasted Almonds

For the sponge

6 eggs

pinch of salt

6 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp flour

3 tbsp cocoa powder

100 ml vegetable oil/sunflower oil

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

1tsp baking powder

For the cream

150g dark chocolate

50g double cream

50g cream cheese

8 tbsp forest/apricot/raspberry jam 

For the cake cover

50g dark chocolate

40ml double cream

1 tsp liquid glucose

100g toasted almonds

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 19X25cm cake tin.

Separate the eggs then with a pinch of salt beat the egg whites until it form stiff peaks. While continuously mixing with an electrical mixer add the egg yolks, then the sugar and the oil(mixing between each addition). 

Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and the baking powder in two lots, carefully folding in the mixture.

 If you rush this step you can ruin your whole cake. Two typical mistakes: not folding thoroughly and you will have small lumps of flour in the ready sponge, or you mix it too vigorously and you break up the air bubbles in the mixture(that you created with the mixer) and it won't rise at all in the oven.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the inserted wooden skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool then take it out from the pan.

For the filling melt the copped chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, then add in the double cream and the cream cheese. 

Divide the cooled sponge to three parts with a cake leveller and start assembling the cake.

Brush 4 tbsp jam on top of the sponge then add half of the chocolate cream and sprinkle over a handful of toasted almonds. Repeat the process with the second level, than cover the cake with the top layer of sponge.

For cake cover, melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, then add the double cream and the liquid glucose. Pour over the cake and using a spatula knife cover the sides as well. Sprinkle over the rest of the toasted almonds. On the sides I paced the almonds on one by one to have an even surface(it only takes 2-3minutes).

Keep in the fridge until consuming, but remove 15 minutes before serving, so the chocolate can soften a bit.

The other cake was the standard white chocolate and coconut cream filled red velvet cake for their special request: