miniature strawberry layer cakes

Hello, old friend.

For someone who has no children or dependents--excluding a recently acquired, mischevious rag doll cat-- and little other responsibility, I have managed to let days become weeks and months, and it's gotten to the point where I'm ashamed to mention my 'blog' to anyone. I refer to it conversation more of a point of embarassment, rather than a living, evolving part of me as it once was.

Despite this, I have still been baking with fervour, and taking photos of things I have created and forced upon co-workers and family members, despite these photos merely sitting on my computer, neglected for months on end. I have no doubt spent what would be days making macaron varieties, deviating from my favourite recipe, trying a couple of new techniques. There has been lady grey, maple and pear, key lime pie, and a recent trial of a savory variety: parsley and herbed goats cheese, which took some people by surprise. I've fallen in love with swiss meringue buttercream, and have imposed ruffle cakes on unsuspecting people at any given ocassion. I've ran a cake decorating workshop at work to an adorable group of ladies who still tell me that this has changed their lives. And I've also fallen back on many traditional and reliable recipes that have long been neglected. It has, admittedly, been nice to cook to eat and not to blog. But I have missed this.

I made these sponge cakes a while ago, on one of those days that I wanted something traditional and reliable. But of course, everything looks much more sweeter and desirable to me when it's a miniature version of it's usual self. You can use any old sponge cake recipe, but I've included the go-to recipe that I love. Fondant strawberries are so painfully easy to make with a small amount of fondant, so it was criminal not to use them.

Ingredients (makes 6 three layer cakes)

For cake:
80 gms butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for brushing
240 gms plain flour, plus extra for dusting
8 eggs, at room temperature
220 gms caster sugar
1 vanilla bean, scraped seeds only

For filling:
300 mls whipping cream
2 tbsps icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

100 gms strawberry jam
Strawberries (about a dozen), washed, and sliced thinly with a small, sharo knife.
Preheat your oven to 180C. Brush one lamington tin or square cake tin with melted butter and then dust sides flour. Tap upside-down over your sink to remove excess flour.

Triple-sift flour (it does make a difference!) into a large bowl and set aside.
Whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla seeds in an electric mixer until thick, pale and tripled in volume, which should take approximate 8 minutes.
Sift the flour over the egg mixture once more, in three batches, folding each batch in with a large metal spoon. Gently fold in melted butter.

Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and bake until lightly golden, about 20 minutes. The centre should spring back when pressed lightly with your fingertips, and the surface should not be sticky. Remove from oven and gently run the blade of a knife around the edges of the pan. All to cool for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Remove baking paper, and turn back over to cool completely.

Once sponge has cooled, cut nine rounds from the cake using a 4-5cm cutter. Slice each round horizontally with a small sharp knife, to create 18 rounds. Spread two-thirds of the rounds with strawberry jam.

Whip cream in the bowl of an electric mixer with icing sugar and vanilla bean paste until light and fluffy. Spread onto the jam-covered rounds, and top with sliced strawberries. Start stacking cakes, finishing with a plain round, to make six three-layered cakes. Finish each cake with a generous spread of cream, and deocrate with small fondant berries, if using.

I'm going to keep posting those recipes that I've made and loved in my hiatus, as well as plenty more than I have stashed away with the burning desire to try. I have missed this. I've missed sharing recipes, and more than anything else, reading other blogger's recipes, too. Luckily, blogging is forgiving, especially if you do it mostly for yourself, which I do, but thank you nonetheless to any of my readers who have tolerated and will (hopefully) forive my laziness.

Recommended baking soundtrack: Magnetic Fields - Love at the Bottom of the Sea.

strawberry tarts

Sometimes, I have great difficulty choosing my favourite fruit. I've always been a strawberry person from a very young age. As a little girl, I would choose strawberry flavoured things over any other - milkshakes, ice creams, candy, you name it. I would be absolutely delighted when my mother allowed me to choose absolutely anything from the specialty bakery we frequented, as I would always, always choose a strawberry tart. But as I've gotten older and strawberries have gotten firmer, paler and sometimes even fuzzier, peaches, raspberries and even ugly duckling pineapple have fought and won my affections. Strawberries sometimes slipped into the back of my mind.

Last week, I bought a five-dollar punnet (obscene, I know) of strawberries and all of the reasons why I loved them rushed back to me, quickly. Each one was perfect, soft, juicy and made me wonder what I was ever thinking to choose any other. Each one cemented strawberries as my all time favourite fruit. I adore strawberries. I always will. Swoon.

Ingredients (makes 8)

Recipe from March issue of delicious

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/3 cup icing sugar

100 gms chilled unsalted butter, chopped

2 vanilla beans, split, seeds scraped

1 egg

3/4 cup caster sugar

2 tbsps red currant jelly

250 gms mascarpone cheese

500 gms strawberries

For pastry, place flour, 2 tbsps icing sugar and a pinch of salt in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and half of the vanilla seeds, then whiz until mixture looks like sandy crumbs. Add the egg and process until mixture comes together in a ball. Shape into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. 

Preheat oven to 180C and grease eight 10cm wide, 2cm deep loose-bottomed tart tines. Divide dough into eight portions, roll to about 5mm thick and line tins. Chill for a further 15 minutes. 

Meanwhile, for the toffee glaze, place caster sugar in a small pan over a low heat with 2 tbsps of cold water. Stir until sugar dissolves, then increase heat to medium-low and cook, without stirring, for 5 - 6 minutes until golden caramel. Remove from heat and carefully add 1/2 cup water. Return to medium-low heat, add red currant jelly and stir to dissolve. Cool to room temperature. 

Remove tarts from refrigerator, line with baking paper and fill with pastry weights. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove baking paper and weights and bake for a further 5 minutes or until pastry is a deep gold and is evenly dry. Cool in tins on a wire rack. 

Combine mascarpone with remaining icing sugar and vanilla seeds. Fill cooled tart cases with mascarpone mixture, top with berries and drizzle with toffee. Eat ASAP!

As I was making these and keeping them all to our household, I filled each tart shell as needed to keep the pastry fresh and crisp. The toffee mixture can be kept covered, at room temperature and the tart shells in an airtight container for a few days. It's quick and easy to make each tart up as needed and it's certainly worth it if you're serving eight people at once. 

You could try this with raspberries or even cherries... but you probably shouldn't.

Recommended baking soundtrack: Beach Fossils - What a Pleasure. 

strawberry meringue layer cake: a lesson in small failures

A quick post and a quick recipe! Recently, I've been purchasing too many strawberries. Now, I am a huge strawberry enthusiast - they're surely one of the most aesthetically adorable fruits; they're great fresh, frozen and pureed; and are delicious in desserts, salads or eaten straight from the punnet. For me to say I have gone overboard means I have really bought too many for even me to consume and enjoy. So when myself and two of my closest friends went to visit the other member of our quartet who had recently come out of hospital, it was a great excuse to bring a cake to use up some of my strawberry supply.

As I mentioned, this cake is so easy and delicious. Who would have thought it was possible to layer sponge batter and meringue in the same tin to make what I like to call a macaron cake. It's obviously not like a macaron, but the way the sponge form a foot to a puffy, golden meringue top reminded me of the satisfaction of pulling a good batch of macarons from the oven.

Two of these beautifully light cakes sandwiched with Chantilly cream and an abundance of fresh strawberries was a huge hit, and hopefully lifted the spirits of our patient.

Ingredients
Recipe from Forever Summer by Nigella Lawson

For cake:

125 gms plain flour

25 gms cornflour

a 1/2 tsps baking powder

100 gms unsalted butter, softened

300 gms caster sugar

4 eggs, separated

50 gms flaked almonds

2 tbsps milk

2 tsps vanilla bean paste

For filling:

375 mls double cream

1/4 cup icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

250 gms strawberries

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line, butter and flour 2 x 22cm spring form tins. 

Weigh out the flour, cornflour and baking powder into a bowl. Cream the butter and 100 gms of the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until pale and creamy. Add the egg yolks and beat until combined. Gently fold in the dry ingredients, add the vanilla, and stir through the milk to thin the batter. Divide the mixture evenly among the two prepared tins. 

Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, and then gradually add the remaining caster sugar. Spread a layer of meringue over the top of the sponge batter in both tins. Sprinkle almonds evenly over tops. Bake  for 30 - 35 minutes, until the tops of each have puffed and the almonds are golden. Let the cakes cool in their tins.

Whip the double cream with vanilla and icing sugar until smooth. Sandwich your cake generously with cream and strawberries. 

Now, I should mention that I loathe my oven. Yes, it's a bit of an excuse to blame your oven for imperfections (a workman never blames his tools etc.), but I have tried very hard to work with its weaknesses and this effort is often the source of many frustrations. This cake was no exception - I burnt some of the almonds and areas of the sponge's crust :( And only after about 15 minutes of cooking time! So, be aware of a potential shorter cooking time if your relationship with your oven is anything like mine. But with time, I have been able to realise that one of the best things about baking - despite my high standards sometimes being crippling to my ego - is that the results are always edible and enjoyed by all. Even me. 

Recommended baking soundtrack: Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People.