Week 14 - Moscow Mule Cheesecake

Hola baking buds! As you read this I am on holiday, hopefully soaking up the sun & sipping a Margarita by the pool. So in the words of Blue Peter, here's one I prepared earlier! Sorry it's a bit short, but between packing & painting my toenails, I just about squeezed in enough time to write this up. Normal service will be resumed next week!

This is the final creation in the series of cocktail inspired recipes & I have to say it is far more successful than the last one! The combination of ginger & lime is delicious, enjoy...

200g ginger nut biscuits
50g butter
1tbsp golden syrup
250g marscapone
200g cream cheese
2 limes

1. Crush the biscuits into fine crumbs, ginger nuts are tough cookies, so it's best to do this in a food processor. Melt the butter, stir in the golden syrup, then add the crushed biccies. Tip the mixture into a loose bottom tin & press down well using the back of a spoon, pop it into the fridge while you prepare the topping.

2. Mix together the marscapone & cream cheese, then add the juice & zest of the limes. Smooth this mixture over the biscuit base & stick it back in the fridge for a couple of hours to set. I like to add a couple of ribbons of lime zest to the top as decoration. To do this, only zest 1 1/2 of the limes & use a veggie peeler to peel ribbons off the remaining half.

This makes a great dinner party desert, really fresh & light, & something you can just magic out of the fridge at the end of the meal! Right better get back to the packing, I think I have a few too many shoes....we are only going for a week. See you next week, Rebecca

Week 10 - Pina Colada Cake

Yipppppeeee! Sorry my little cupcakes, you've got an over excited Rebecca this week! Today I found out that I've won a competition I entered at the Vitality Show. Courtesy of the lovely people at Oakley, I'm off to Cornwall in the summer to learn to surf! It'll be amazing, can't wait, always thought I'd be good as a surfer chick...now's my chance! In the meantime there's still cake to bake, so back to the matter in hand.

Last week I mentioned I was writing a manifesto for cake, it was inspired by a crisis of confidence a couple of weeks ago, brought on by a copy of Olive mag. Don't get me wrong I love the mag & read it every month, but their cakes make mine look like mutants quiet frankly! So, after giving myself a talking to I started to think about why I bake & decided to celebrate it, this is the result...

1. My cakes are real cakes! They do not have their own stylist or make up artist & they may not be as pretty as the cakes in magazines. Yes, my cakes may be lopsided, uneven & roughly iced but as the saying goes, it's what's on the inside that counts, my cakes are delicious & yummy even if they are not supermodels!

2. Baking is my therapy & cakes are easy to make, all it takes is some flour, butter, sugar & eggs. Cake mix should not come out of a box or contain e numbers & things I can't even pronounce. I'll keep my cakes natural.

3. Not everything I bake will work or taste right, nothing is perfect! I'll accept the mis-adventures, pick up the spatula & try again.

So this is my new mantra, to be repeated often to avoid another cakey confidence crisis!

Back to this weeks recipe & the it's the second of my cocktail inspired cakes, Pina Colada Cake. This one really was an experiment & if I'm honest I've actually come to the conclusion I don't much like coconut so I'm not sure I can make an objective decision on whether it's a success or not? Referring back to item 3 above...here goes!

300g plain flour
50g caster sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
50g desiccated coconut
50g butter
1 egg
300g canned pineapple chunks (keep the juice)
100ml pineapple juice

for the frosting
250g marscapone
40g icing sugar
50g desiccated coconut

1. Melt the butter in a large mixing bowl, add the egg & pineapple juice & beat together lightly

2. Add the pineapple chunks & mix well, then add the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarb & desiccated coconut & fold together until all the ingredients are combined

3. Pour the mixture into a tin, I made my cake in a loaf tin, then bake in the oven at 180c/GM5 for around 30-40 minutes until well risen & the top is browned, just starting to crack. Leave to rest in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out on a rack to cool

4. To make the frosting beat the icing sugar into the marscapone & pop back in the fridge until needed. Spread the desiccated coconut on a small baking sheet & pop it in the oven for 5-10 minutes until it starts to toast & turn a lovely golden colour

5. When the cake is completely cooled, spread the marscapone mixture all over the top, then sprinkle the toasted coconut over the top

So the result? It smells great & the pineapple chunks & juice gives the cake a really lovely soft gooey texture, I just need some coconut fans to test it out for me. See you next week, when I have a feeling we might just get a visit from the Easter Bunny! Rebecca x

Week 4 - Cosmo Cake

This week is the first of my cocktail inspired cakes. I'm a big fan of Sex & the City, so I'm starting with Carrie & friends favourite, the Cosmopolitan! I've used a basic sponge mixture as the base & added the key flavours from a classic Cosmo, cranberry, orange & lime. I love the rich colour of a Cosmopolitan cocktail, so I thought I'd try & recreate that in the cake. I must admit I don't normally use any artificial colourings in my baking, but it is Valentines week, so it seems apt to have a red cake! For the frosting I've made a Cointreau butter cream which really helps bring all the flavours together. You can leave the Cointreau out of the recipe if you like, it'll be just as good. I hope you like it...

100g butter
100g caster sugar
100g self raising flour
2 eggs
75g dried cranberries
Juice & grated zest of 1 orange
Juice & grated zest of 1 lime
Few drops of red food colouring (optional)
2 tbsp Cointreau (optional)

For the frosting
140g icing sugar
60g butter
2 tbsp Cointreau (optional)

1. Cream the butter & sugar together in a large bowl, beat in the eggs one at a time to make a smooth batter

2. Mix in the cranberries, Cointreau & the juice & zest of the orange & lime, keeping a little of the orange zest back for the frosting

3. Fold in the flour until it's all combined, then add a few drops of red food colouring until you get to the desired shade of red!

4. Pour the mixture into a greased cake tin & bake at 190c for 30-40 minutes until well risen & the top just starts to crack. Leave to rest in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool

5. To make the frosting, cream together the butter & icing sugar then add the orange zest & Cointreau. If you're not using Cointreau, add milk instead to help make it smooth. Mix well until you end up with a lovely fluffy frosting you can smother over the cake with when cooled

I'm not sure I'd make a red cake again, it feels too un-natural! But I have to say it tastes good, the juices & Cointreau give it a lovely moist texture. There will be more cocktail cakes in the weeks to come. I think I'm going to like this new theme, cocktails without the hangover!

Next week I have a feeling you'll either love or hate the recipe, Rebecca