These are 3 of my absolute favourite flavours and I think they work really well together, I used them before for these lovely chewy cookies. This cake is a white chocolate and lemon sponge, filled with a blueberry and lemon curd (homemade!), coated in a whipped white chocolate and blueberry buttercream and decorated with fresh blueberries and a dusting of icing sugar. I used a stencil from this pack, I love the effect cake stencils give, so simple yet so impressive and this bird one is my favourite in the set.

The cake itself is lovely, moist and chocolatey, it is almost like a blondie. To make the white chocolate and lemon sponge (based on Peggy Porschen’s White Chocolate Passion Cake from Boutique Baking):

This will make a 3 layer 8 inch cake.

180g white chocolate
250ml milk
90g soft light brown sugar
330g golden caster sugar
3 large eggs
320g plain flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
zest of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 160C and grease and line 3 sandwich tins (you could also make it in 1 tin and divide into 3 once cooled). Put the chocolate in a saucepan with the milk, brown sugar and 130g of the caster sugar. Heat the mixture and stir so that all the chocolate is melted and bring the mixture to the boil. Take off the heat. In a bowl cream together the butter and the rest of the caster sugar. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well. Add the flour, baking powder, lemon zest and salt and mix in with a spatula. Now add the chocolate mixture to the cake mix (the hot chocolate mixture tastes delicious – try it before you mix it in!) a splash at a time, mixing in well until it is all well combined. Divide the cake mix between the tins and bake at 160C, if you are using individual sandwich tins this will take about 30 minutes. Once cooked the cake should be golden and coming away from the side of the tin. Leave them to cool in the tins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Do not try to ice a still warm cake, it just goes wrong and with these cakes they will firm up if you leave them for a while, making them easier to trim and ice.

The Blueberry and Lemon Curd is best made first or even better would be to make it the day before so it has time to firm up. The addition of blueberries to lemon curd gives it a fantastic purple colour that I love. You will need:

200g frozen blueberries
2 unwaxed lemons
200g caster sugar
100g unsalted butter
3 eggs and 1 egg yolk

Start with the blueberries, put them in a pan and gently heat them, breaking them up as you stir them. You want them to release there juices and to break up, once this is done then pour the blueberries through a sieve, pushing as much through as you can. You should get a gorgeous deep purple juice/puree. Discard what remains in the sieve. Use a fine grater to zest the lemons and put the blueberry puree, lemon zest and the juice of the lemons in a heatproof bowl with the butter and sugar. Put the bowl over a pan of simmering water, as though you were melting chocolate. Stir and heat until the butter has melted. Whisk the eggs together and then add them to the mixture, whisking well until it has all combined. This now needs about 10 minutes to cook, but keep stirring every now and then. The mixture should be creamy and thick after 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to cool. Keep in the fridge until you need this.

The White Chocolate and Blueberry frosting is make using blueberries to give the lovely colour, you will need:

200g frozen blueberries
250g unsalted butter (softened)
250g icing sugar
50g melted white chocolate

Start with the blueberries by making a blueberry puree like you did for the curd. Heat the blueberries in a pan so that they break up and release their juice and then push them through a sieve. In another bowl beat together the butter and sieved icing sugar, whipping it until it is nice and light. Add the chocolate and mix well. Now add the blueberry juice a bit at a time until you get the colour that you want.

You can now assemble the cake.

Stack the 3 layers on top of each other with a layer of blueberry and lemon curd in between each of them. Use a palette knife to spread the frosting over the cake. The best way to do this is to first spread a very thin layer over the cake to catch the crumbs and give you a neat shape to work with. Leave this in the fridge to firm up before using the rest of the icing to completely cover the cake. Use a cake scraper to get a neat finish on the side of the cake. Decorate with fresh blueberries and a dusting of icing sugar.

Enjoy!

Lottie xx

I am entering this into the Simple and in Season Food Blog Challenge for May.

I am also entering this into Calender Cakes hosted by Lauralovescake and Dolly Bakes. This month’s theme is all about World Baking Day.

The post White Chocolate, Blueberry and Lemon Layer Cake appeared first on Lottie's World of Cakes & Bakes.

To make this cake you will need:

Chocolate cake:
2 large eggs
125g caster sugar
100ml milk
130ml sunflower oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
220g self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
30g cocoa powder

Orange cake:
2 large eggs
125g caster sugar
100ml milk
130ml sunflower oil
1 to 2 tsp orange extract
finely grated zest of 1/2 an orange
250g self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
orange food colouring (I used sugarflair paste in tangerine)

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line an 8 inch cake tin. You will need 2 mixing bowls, one for the chocolate cake, one for the orange. Start with the chocolate cake. Mix together the eggs, sugar, milk, oil and vanilla until combined. Add the flour, baking powder and sieved cocoa powder and stir in. Now make the orange cake, mix together the eggs, sugar, milk, oil and orange extract in another bowl. Add the flour and baking powder to this and mix in. Add the orange colour a bit at a time until you have the desired colour.

Now for the fun part….making the stripes!

You need to put a bit of orange and then a bit of chocolate mix into the pan alternately, pouring each bit on top the the last. So start with orange and pour or spoon 2 tablespoons of mix into the centre of the pan, straight away put 2 tablespoons of the chocolate mix on top of this, then 2 tablespoons of orange on top of this, then 2 tablespoons of chocolate on top of this and keep going. As you put each mix on it pushes the others out and they form rings around each other so you should have a cake mix in the pan that looks something like this (don’t worry if it isn’t neat, it doesn’t have to be exact, as you can see mine isn’t!):

Bake in the preheated oven at 180C for about 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

If you want to ice the cake then you need to level off the top. Once the cake is baked leave it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out and leave to cool on a wire rack. Once it is cool slice of the top to create a nice, flat level surface. This also fives you a chance to see the rings inside!

To ice mine I used a whipped chocolate ganache. Gently heat 300ml double cream in a saucepan and break 200g dark chocolate into it. Keep stirring until all the chocolate is melted. Leave the ganache in the fridge to set for a pit. Once it is cold take it out of the fridge and use and electric whisk to whip the cream. Spread the ganache evenly over the cake and finish with a dusting of cocoa powder. Now it will be a surprise for your guests when you slice into the cake!

Enjoy! I think that by using a more liquid cake mix you could create even narrower stripes and an even prettier cake, I might have a go.

Lottie xx

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I created my sourdough starter last year using the the River Cottage instructions. This uses just flour and water and the starter is fed regularly for the 7-10 days until it has a yeasty smell, then it can be used to make a loaf. I have seen recipes for starters that use pineapple juice in them and in Paul Hollywood’s book ‘How To Bake‘ his instructions involve a grated apple. My flour and water starter works just fine and is nice and bubbly but I might make one using pineapple or apple soon and compare the two starters to see which is best. Once your starter is ready then it needs very little care. If I am using mine then it stays at room temperature and gets fed but if I am not using it then it just lives in the fridge. I kept it in the fridge for a couple of months while I was away, when I got back I took it out and after a few feeds it was yeasty, bubbly and ready to use. It is so simple, I still find it fascinating that I can make an actual loaf of bread from this jar of fermenting sloppy flour and water.

Previously when I have made sourdough I used the widely used method, also described on River Cottage of using some of the starter to create a ‘sponge’ and then using this as the basis for the dough. Paul Hollywood on the other hand seems to skip the sponge step and uses a larger amount of starter to make his sourdough. I thought I would give this method a go. His recipe in ‘How to Bake‘ uses 500g sourdough starter to make 2 loaves. I didn’t have this much starter and needed to keep some so made 1 loaf with 250g starter, I may need to create a bigger starter if I want to keep using this method! I also added some cranberries and pistachios to my loaf.

To make this Cranberry and Pistachio Sourdough you will need:

375g strong white bread flour
250g sourdough starter
7g salt
180ml tepid water
olive oil for kneading
small handful of dried cranberries
small handful of unsalted pistachios

Put the flour, starter and salt into a mixing bowl with the water. Mix together using your hands and add more water if you need it. Once you have formed a dough tip it out onto a lightly oiled work surface. Knead the dough for 5-10 minutes to form a soft, smooth dough. Put the dough into a lightly oiled bowel, cover with cling film or a tead towel and leave to rise for 5 hours (Mr Hollywood suggests a temperature of 22-24C if you can be that accurate!). Avoid the temptation to sit and watch your dough, it won’t rise that quickly, sourdough is slow!

After 5 hours tip the dough out a floured work surface and knead in the cranberries and pistachios until evenly dispersed. Shape the dough into whatever shape you want it, leave it to rise on a floured cloth/greaseproof paper/prooving basket and cover with a tea towel. This time you need to leave it for 10-13 hours, I left mine overnight so it was ready to bake in the morning.

Bake in a preheated oven at 200C on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Cut a pattern or lines in the top of the dough if you wish. To create a crusty outside put a tray of boiling water in the bottom of the oven to create steam when you put the bread in. Bake the loaf for 30-40 minutes until golden. Leave to cool on a wire rack and then enjoy!

While I am pleased with the taste and appearance of my sourdough using both methods, I still haven’t achieved the rise I want. I know this might come with practice and I wonder if a proving basket might help (on my list of things to get) but if anyone has any words of wisdom on sourdough then please do share them with me!

Happy National Bread Week!

Lottie xx

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So next time you are near Victoria and have a fancy for tea and cake, I can recommend Peggy Porschen! You can find it on the corner at 116 Ebury Street, Belgravia. Enjoy!

Lottie xx

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Happy Easter everybody! The sun is out and it looks like it is going to be a glorious Easter Sunday! Easter is also the perfect time to bake, if you are a chocolate fan you won’t be short of ideas and if you like making bread then chances are you will be making some hot cross buns this weekend. Last year I made hot cross buns but I also made a German Easter bread which is a bit like brioche, it is called Osterzopf. This year however I didn’t have the time to make bread and needed something much quicker, I therefore turned to Hot Cross Scones, just like Hot Cross Buns but in a scone form! Perfect for those of you that don’t have the time to wait around for bread to rise! I used this recipe from Delicious Magazine but took my influence from the cross from a simnel cake by using marzipan and grilling it to give it some colour.

You will need:

225g self raising flour
75 g butter
40g brown sugar
75g small sultanas
50g cut mixed peel
1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
1 large egg beaten
4tbsp milk

Rub the flour and butter together with your fingers until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, sultanas, peel and spice and mix in. Add the milk and egg and bring together to form a soft dough. Knead gently to bring the dough together and roll out to 2cm thickness.  Use a round cookie cutter to cut out the scones, don’t twist  the cutter or the scones won’t rise evenly. Brush the tops of the scones with milk. Add flour crosses if using. Bake in a preheated oven at 220C for 15 minutes.

Now for the cross, you can either do as the recipe suggests and use plain flour and water. If you are doing this then mix 50g plain flour with 1-2 tbsp water. Roll out, cut strips and place the cross on the scones. Do this before baking. When the scones come out of the oven dissolve 2 tbsp caster sugar in hot water and brush over the tops of the scones to give them a glaze.

If you are using marzipan crosses:

You need marzipan, apricot jam and a beaten egg yolk.

Roll out the marzipan until it is quite thin and cut into strips. Warm some apricot jam in a pan and brush over the tops of the scones to glaze them and also help the marzipan stick. Arrange the marzipan strips on top of the scones to form a cross and trim the edges. Brush the marzipan crosses with beaten egg yolk.

Place the scones under a heated grill to brown the marzipan, watch them very closely, this will happen quickly and you don’t want them to burn. Be careful when removing them as they will be very hot. Allow to cool.

Enjoy your almost hot cross buns, quick and easy hot cross scones!

Lottie xx

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To make the sponge for 12 cupcakes:

6oz self raising flour
6oz butter/margarine
3 eggs
6 oz self raising flour
splash of milk
1tsp orange extract
2-3 tbsp cocoa powder

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well. Add the milk and orange extract. Fold in the flour and cocoa powder with a metal spoon or spatula. Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases and bake in the oven at 180C for about 15-20 minutes.

To make the icing:

250g unsalted butter
500g icing sugar
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp orange extract
2-3 tbsp cocoa powder (for the chocolate nests)

Beat all the ingredients together until you have a smooth icing.

To make the chicks:

Add some yellow food colouring to some dessicated coconut and mix well until all the coconut is coloured. You also need some chocolate drops for the eyes and jelly sweets cut into triangles for the beak.

Add some yellow food colouring to the icing for the chick cupcakes. Spoon a dollop onto a cupcake and use a palette knife to smooth the icing and form a dome. Cover the cupcakes in the yellow coconut and add the eyes and the beak. You might need to use a bit of icing to stick these on.

Happy Easter!

Lottie xx

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