CARROT CAKE

Sam's Famous Carrot Cake, the best of it's kind. Great for a wedding cake, though the one above was for a less happy occasion. The light is a bit strange in the photo; the cake is white, not yellowish.

The original recipe has been adapted to yield a 28cm cake.


5 eggs
290ml milk
10ml lemon juice or vinegar
295ml sunflower oil
500g sugar
15ml vanilla extract -- 0r 16,25ml to be exact!
15ml cinnamon
2.5ml salt
415g flour
15ml bicarbonate of soda
365g grated carrots
125g desiccated coconut
195g chopped nuts
1 very small tin crushed pineapple with liquid (200ml)



In a large bowl, mix together eggs, grated carrots, coconut, nuts, pineapple, sugar, spices and liquids.


In a medium bowl, mix together remaining ingredients, which will be flour and bicarbonate of soda.



Combine by sifting the flour into the wet mix.

Bake in 175 for 1 hour and then in 150 for any remaining time.



FILLING:
Orange marmalade.

Cut the cake into three layers. Dampen all layers by brushing on orange juice or milk before spreading on a thick layer of marmalade. Make sure the top and the sides of the cake do not remain dry or crusty before applying the icing.




ICING:

200g unsalted butter
icing sugar to taste
800g cream cheese
15ml lemon juice


Beat together butter and sugar until white. Push the cream cheese through a sieve to soften it and add to the butter with the lemon juice. Mix together well. Add more sugar if necessary.

If you want an even finish, it may be easier to achieve it if you pop the icing in the fridge for a while to harden it a bit.




Cake recipe from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sams-Famous-Carrot-Cake/Detail.aspx

DOG-SHAPED CHOCOLATE CAKE

This was for my sister-in-law's birthday. The cake itself is a Black Forest cake, or Black Forest gateau, as Delia Smith likes to call it. As gateau is just a French word for a layer cake, I'll call this a cake. The recipe is from Delia's book Delia's Complete Cookery Course. Anyway, Black Forest, or Schwarzwald is in Germany. Why the French then?

Black Forest cake is a very traditional cherry cake, and something I wanted to try but you can use any recipe you like because this post is just about creating the dog-shape.


Delia's Black Forest gateau:

6 large eggs
150 caster sugar (Non-British readers: that just a type of sugar that's slightly finer than usual)
50g cocoa powder

Filling and topping:
300ml double cream (I'd say you need 400ml)
sugar
450g tin or jar Morello cherries
(I also used raspberry jam for the semi-circle)
1-2 tblsp Kirsch or rum
(50g plain chocolate to decorate - didn't use any because I wanted the dog to remain perfectly white.)

Use a 20cm deep cake tin. Separate the egg whites from the yolks, do not discard anything. Whisk the yolks with the sugar until they just begin to pale and thicken, which will not take long. Fold in the sifted cocoa powder. Beat the egg whites on their own until white. Stir a little bit of the egg white into the chocolate mix to loosen it up and fold in the rest of the egg white. Bake in 180°C until done but not dry.

The cake should be very moist so I used the liquid from the cherries to dampen the cake when I filled it.

What I used to paint the mouth, eye and ear is a mixture of honey and cocoa powder.


When the cake has cooled down, cut it as demonstrated below.



Thinnen the head and legs of the dog. Leave the semi-circle thick. Adjust any bits if they look wonky.




Cut the cake into layers and fill it.



Then it's time for the cream. I forgot to save some to make a tail.




Paint on the eyes, etc, just before serving if you're using honey-cocoa mixture because it will bleed a little.

ROYAL ICE CREAM COMFORTER

Today was the second Monday I wanted to go dancing in the effort of starting a new hobby. Last week I had a bad day so I stayed home and ate, and ate a bit more. Today I took so long finishing my dinner (eating again?!) that I would've been very late so I decided to give it a miss again. I wish I had some ice cream and lemon curd now to cheer me up.

Next time I will be there, and I will be on time. I'll have to go now that I've written it here.

Here's an older photo and my recipe for a treat good enough for the Queen. I bet she eats her ice cream with lemon curd like I do. I bet she loves it.


A few scoops of vanilla ice cream
Maybe four spoonfuls (tbsp) lemon curd
Fudge shavings or pieces (from 1 bigger piece of pick-and-mix fudge)
Vine fruit: raisins, sultanas, currants, whatever you like.