Marmalade and Cardamom Drizzle Cakes

This is something I've been playing around with for a while, but the bitterness of the marmalade and the aromatics of the cardamom in these cakes work really well together, with quite a grown up flavour. I used some gorgeous little silicone flower moulds I got from my aunty for these, added a real special twist!

Ingredients:

Cake:

6oz self raising flour
6oz caster sugar
6oz marg
1.5tsp baking powder
3 eggs
Zest and juice of 2 oranges
Ground seeds from approx 15-20 cardamom pods
1 heaped tbsp marmalade

For the drizzle:

2 heaped tbsp marmalade (I used some without rind - your choice)
Zest and juice of 1 orange

Makes 12 mini cakes or 1 large tray bake
180oC oven

Method:

1. Combine all of the cake ingredients and mix into a smooth batter
2. Grease the tins/moulds you're using, and fill with the batter
3. Bake for 20-25 mins for mini cakes or 30-35 mins for a larger cake, until golden brown and coming away from the edges of the tin
4. Whilst the cakes/cake are baking, heat the ingredients for the drizzle in a pan and boil rapidly for 5 mins
5. When the cake is ready, remove from the oven and pour over the drizzle and leave the cake to cool completely
6. Once cool, remove and serve, easy!
This is great with a coffee for elevenses, or with custard as a dessert. It'll keep for 2/3 days in an airtight tin.

Happy Baking!

The Baking Ginger x

Pecan and Maple Syrup Bundt Cake

This is a really delicious recipe, adapted from Nigella Lawson's cake, perfect for Autumn!

Ingredients:

Cake:

- 300g plain flour
- 125g unsalted butter/marg
- 150g caster sugar
- 1 tsp bicarb of soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 eggs
- 250ml creme fraiche

Filling:

- 75g plain flour
- 30g butter
- 250g pecans (roughly chopped)
- 200ml maple syrup
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp mixed spice

Bundt tin
Butter for greasing
Oven 180oC fan

Method:

1. First make the filling; mash the flour and butter together with a fork until it looks like breadcrumbs. Add the remaining filling ingredients and mix into a lumpy paste
2. For the cake mix; cream the butter and sugar together, then add 1 of the eggs and beat
3. Add half the flour and beat
4. Add the other egg and beat again
5. Add the flour, bicarb and baking powder and mix
6. Finally add the creme fraiche - you'll end up with quite a stiff cake batter
7. Put half of the cake mix into the greased bundt tin, then push the mixture up the sizes of the tin to make a channel all the way around the tin
8. Put the pecan filling into the channel in the cake mix
9. Cover the pecan filling with the remaining cake mix
10. Bake in the centre of a preheated oven for approx 40 minutes until golden brown and coming away from the edges of the tin
11. Once baked, leave to cool in the tin for 30 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.
12. To serve, dust with icing sugar

This cake looks great once sliced into, to show off the pecan filling.

Delicious with a hot cup of tea after an Autumn walk!

Happy Baking,

The Baking Ginger x

Ultimate Chocolate Celebration Cake

This is a recipe I've inherited from my Gran, which she has adapted from a Mary Berry recipe. It's my 'go to' chocolate cake for birthdays or special occasions, it's often requested! The plain chocolate in the ganache means this cake is rich, but not overly sweet, it's a more grown up flavour; a very popular one!

Ultimate Chocolate Celebration Cake

This makes a big cake, but it’s perfect for birthdays or other celebrations; it’ll easily cut into 20 generous helpings.

Ingredients:

4oz cocoa powder
12tbsp boiling water
6 large eggs
4fl oz milk
12oz self raising flour
2tsp baking powder
8oz marg/butter
20oz caster sugar

500g plain chocolate, chopped (good quality)
500ml double cream
(6 tablespoons apricot jam – optional)
Variety of chocolate sprinkles to decorate (optional)

160oC fan oven/180oC other ovens

2 x 8x10in rectangular baking tins (at least 3in deep) greased and lined

Method:

1. In a large mixing bowl make a paste using the cocoa powder and water; add the water gradually and beat well after each addition until the cocoa comes together into a thick, smooth paste that looks like melted chocolate.
2. Add the remaining cake ingredients and mix well – it’ll form a thick batter. Divide the batter equally between your two cake tins and make a slight indent in the middle of the batter so they’ll rise level.
3. Bake the cakes in the middle of a preheated oven for 35-40 minutes until the cakes are coming away from the edge of the tin and a sharp knife or knitting needle comes out clean when inserted into the middle of each cake. (Check on them halfway through baking it check they’re not getting too brown).
4. Once they’re cooked turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely; don’t be tempted to ice them too early or your icing will melt and ruin your cake.
5. Once the cakes are cooled you can make the ganache for filling and topping your cake. If you like apricot jam you can heat the jam in a pan over a low heat until it melts and then brush over each cake, it makes the ganache stick better, but I don’t like it so I don’t bother – it makes little difference.
6. To make the ganache put the cream and chocolate into a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir constantly as it melts. Do not let the mixture boil.
7. Once all the chocolate has melted take the bowl off the heat and leave it to cool until it’s tepid, approx 10 minutes – then you can assemble the cake!
8. Begin by covering one cake in ganache, put onto a cake board/large plate, put the other cake on top and cover in ganache. Start in one corner and fill in the gap between the two cakes with ganache, as well as covering the sides of the cake at the same time. Use a flat bladed palette knife to smooth the ganache.
9. Once you’ve covered the whole cake cover the top with sprinkles if you're going to and leave it for at least two hours in a cool place to let the ganache set. The cake will keep for at least a week in an airtight container, it’s great served with cream for a real treat!

This really is a crowd pleaser, the ganache icing gives it a real wow factor, and you can have fun with extra decorations too!

Happy Baking,


The Baking Ginger xx

Lemon Drizzle Bundt Cake with Raspberries and Cream

Ripples from the Bundt Tin

Another variation on the theme of lemon and raspberry - it's a good one!

This was for my brother's birthday, it makes a good celebration cake because it looks as good as it tastes!

Bundt tins are a bit old school, but the cakes they make look really cute, and are perfect for filling with cream on special occasions, what's not to love??

If you haven't got a Bundt tin this would also work as a traybake, with the cream spread on top.

Lemon Drizzle Bundt Cake with Raspberries and Cream

Bundt Tin

Ingredients

Cake:
4oz self raising flour
4oz marg
4oz caster sugar
2 eggs
1tsp baking powder
1tbsp milk

Extras:
zest and juice of 3 lemons

Batters ready to go

3oz sugar
1tsp red/pink food colouring
150ml double cream
2tbsp icing sugar
150g raspberries plus extra to decorate

Bundt tin
170oC fan oven/180oC other ovens

Method

1. Put all the cake ingredients into a bowl and beat into a smooth batter. Add the lemon zest.

Marbling done!

2. Divide the batter equally between two bowls and add the food colouring to one - make it as bright a colour as you'd like, they fade when they're cooked so be bold!

3. Thoroughly grease the Bundt tin with marg (use kitchen roll to apply it, or your fingers) and fill with alternate spoonfuls of each batter to get the marbled pattern. You can also then drag a skewer or knife through your batter to make the marbling even more pronounced.

4. Bake in the centre of a hot oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden and coming away from the edge of the tin.

5. Leave to cool slightly before attempting to remove from the tin - tapping the bottom of the tin and gentle shaking are the best ways I've found to do this! Whilst it's cooling combine the juice from the lemons with the 3oz sugar in a small pan and heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Mid drizzle

6. Once your cake is out of the tin pour over the lemon juice and sugar - this is the drizzle part of the lemon drizzle. Leave the cake to cool completely. You can get to this point a day or so before you need the cake and keep it in an air tight container and then fill with cream just before serving.

7. When you're ready to eat the cake whip the cream to soft peaks, sieve in the icing sugar and smash up the raspberries before adding them too. Fill the centre of the cake with the cream and pile it high! Decorate with raspberries if you want to. (You can do this a couple of hours before eating - just keep it in a cool place afterwards)

Completed cake!

Like I said this cake is great for birthdays or celebrations but it'd make a really special dessert too, it's one of our new family favourites!

Happy Baking!

The Baking Ginger xx

We're All Going (May Have Already Been...) On a Summer Holiday!

This summer I've been doing some temp office work, got some pennies for my pocket and some fantastic work experience to boot, but I had a week off in the middle of it to go to Mull with the family. We stay in a friend's cottage on the beach, and it's a bit of a tradition to do loads of baking before we go so we're well stocked for elevenses and afternoon tea! (Definitely didn't have cake for breakfast one day...)

Before going I rang my Gran to ask for her Marmalade cake recipe - she's given it to me numerous times but I always seem to misplace it - hence starting a place to keep all of my recipes together!

Marmalade Cake

Like I said, I've made this cake a lot - it gets better after a few days in the tin, but it doesn't always last that long in our house!

Marmalade Cake

Ingredients:

7fl.oz vegetable oil
5 heaped tbsp marmalade
6oz caster sugar
4tbsp milk
3 large eggs (beaten)
6oz self raising flour
6oz wholemeal flour (also self raising if you can find it)
0.5tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 heaped tbsp marmalade
2oz flaked almonds

Greased and lined 8in round tin
Preheated oven (140oC/280oF fan, 160oC/320oF for others)

 Method:

1. In a large bowl beat together the vegetable oil, marmalade, sugar, eggs and milk (use an electric whisk if you have one, if not elbow grease will do!)

2. Add the wholemeal flour (no need to sieve as it's too chunky to get through the gaps).

3. Sieve in the white self raising flour and bicarb, and mix well - you should end up with a fairly runny batter.

4. Pour the mix into your greased and lined tin, taking care to clean and mixture off the sides if it gets a bit messy, so it doesn't burn.

5. Place in the middle of your preheated oven for 45 minutes

6. After 45 minutes check your cake - if it's getting too brown on top make a fashion a little foil cover for it

7. Cook for another 45 minutes (90 in total - this is a long time for a cake, but this is a dense, moist cake so a long slow bake is what it needs)

8. Use a clean, sharp knife or skewer (we use a knitting needle in our house) to test if your cake is ready after 90 minutes; insert it into the middle of your cake, if it comes out clean it's done, if not pop it back in the oven for another 10/15 minutes - repeat this until your skewer comes out clean.

9. Once it's cooked remove from the oven and carefully cover the top with the extra 2tbsp marmalade (the cake tin will also be hot so be careful). Scatter the flaked almonds over the marmalade and put the whole thing back in the oven for 10 minutes to let the marmalade warm through and set the almonds in place.

10. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely in the tin.

11. Once cool remove from the tin and store in an air tight box - if you can leave it for a few days all the better, if you can't resist a slice for breakfast is perfect!

Other Treats

Ginger, Nut and Chocolate Slice

 Also for this trip I made:

- Ginger, Nut and Chocolate Slice

- Peanut Butter Biscuits

- Lemon Cookies

- Cornflake and Oat Crumble Bakes

The recipes will follow soon hopefully!

I'll leave you with a photo from Mull, it really is a special place.

Happy Baking!

The Baking Ginger xx

A sunset from Mull; perfection!