Gluten free dairy free cake

It was my lovely friend Charlie's birthday this week, and I made a cake for her. As usual. However, a twist... Her dad can't eat gluten or dairy. Ah. Take my tools away from me and you get...

I was happy with the design, but the flavour and texture wasn't as good as a traditional sponge. I used this recipe ( http://www.icedgembakes.co.uk/gluten-free-and-dairy-free-baking-recipes/victoria-sponge-filled-with-jam-and-buttercream/) scaled up for a 10" round cake filled with cherry jam and almond "butter" icing and made the icing and the cake with Pure Soya dairy free marg.

I would definitely try to to do this recipe again, but maybe play with flours and stuff to try to get a better (less solid!) texture. Also I promise I will blog more now due to my new toy (iPad, I just like to get on the bandwagon about 2 years later than everyone else!)

JB x

Birthday cake!

Here it is! Retro in all it's 70's beige loveliness! But bloody yummy :)

If you hadn't noticed, Mr B had a birthday. And in time honoured fashion, being married to a baker who loves to experiment with all kinds of cake, chose the same one he does every year. Coconut and vanilla. Ah well. It is a good'un. It's a slightly mongrelised recipe I have concocted over a few years, mainly inspired by the wonderous Nigella, but it produces a towering sugary sweet nutty wonder. I iced it with buttercream and piped with plain chocolate, but I think ganache would work beautifully as a filling / topping too.

Serves 10-12 (it is huge).

Grease and line 3 x 20cm / 8" sandwich tins (or 2 sandwich tins and a spare tin as I do!). Oven 170 fan.
Ingredients:
300g butter, softened
300g golden caster sugar
2 tsp actual vanilla extract with seeds and all
100g dessicated unsweetened coconut soaked in 225ml boiling water for about 10 mins
6 eggs
300g plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp cornflour

Method:
Cream butter and sugar together until it's really light and fluffy, then add the eggs until they're mixed in. It'll curdle. I don't care.

Mix in the vanilla, then dump the rest of the ingredients in together and beat it a bit until it's kind of smooth. It might still look curdly. I still don't care. Neither should you, trust me. By the way you add all the soaking water from the coconut too.

Divide it between the tins (not that I'm anal but I weigh it, about 500g each. Just over actually) and bake for 25 mins.

Then, to fill and ice, I made a whopping batch of vanilla buttercream (180g soft butter,  600g ish icing sugar, 50ml milk, 2 tsp vanilla schtuff with seeds, blitz like heck in a stand mixer with a cover on until light and dreamylicious) and spread over, under and around the cake. I then toasted some extra coconut and stuck it up the sides. With added glitter, obvs. It's a birthday cake. It needs glitter.

I'm sorry to your arteries. But your soul will thank me.

JB x

Chocolate and Salted Caramel Bundt

Apologies, for many things. Firstly, may blogging laziness, and secondly the quality of this photo. Honestly, I forgot to take a pic until the cake was almost gone (which wasn't long!)
Here it is: my little invention...

It honestly does look better in one piece!

I love my Bundt tin, and I decided it should house a combo of salted caramel and chocolate cake. Who wouldn't want to?! Plus I made a caramel to drizzle all over the top in it's grainy, sludgy saltiness. Yum yum indeed. Serves 10.

Ingredients:
Group one...
350g plain flour
200g golden caster sugar
100g dark brown soft sugar (or muscovado, just something fudgy and dark)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb
1/2 tsp salt

Group two...
3 eggs, lightly beaten
150ml cream, sour cream, greek yogurt or other dairy style wetness
125ml sunflower oil
170g melted salted butter
300g chilled water

Extras...
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract

2 heaped tbsp cocoa powder

Caramel topping...
100g butter (salted)
100g dark brown sugar
good slosh double cream
sprinkling maldon sea salt or other nice big flakes of salt

Method:
Preheat your oven to 170 (fan) and butter your big Bundt tin (approx 28cm diameter). SMaller ones will suffice.

Add group one of ingredients into a bowl and whisk together until any lumps of sugar are broken up.
Whisk group two together until well combined, then beat into group one until a smooth batter is formed. Then, divide the mix into two, and add the cocoa to one half and flour and vanilla to the other. You will then have one beautifully dark and mysterious bowl of batter, and one lightly tanned one, like it's been on holiday. Yum in itself.

Pour the two in whichever way you fancy into the tin and marble them together (slightly) with a teaspoon or any other favourite kitchen implement. I like to have a gently marbled cake, but you could mix it more thoroughly if you like. Then, bake it for 55 minutes or so until your skewer comes out clean. Leave it to cool in the tin for about 10-15 minutes, then turn it out.

To make the caramel topping, melt the butter and sugar together until the sugar has dissolved, then bubble gently for about 30 seconds to a minute. Add the cream (careful, it will bubble!), a pinch of salt, then set aside after stirring well until it's slightly thickened and a little cooler. hen, pour gently over the cake and sprinkle salt over to taste.

Bloody lovely.

JB x