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Wednesday 23 January 2013

Gin Cake

That's right. Gin. And Cake. Gin sponge, gin syrup, gin icing - this is boozy baking at it's, well, booziest.

The idea for this bake was sparked by a Facebook comment from my lovely friend (and baking advisor) Nick.

Him: Have you got cake?
Me:  No. I may start getting a complex that you only like me for my baking.....
Him: Baking AND gin.

Hhmmm, there's an idea.  A little research bought up this recipe from How Sweet It Is which has had several rave reviews from cake type bloggers, and here it is, in all it's gin soaked glory.

The cake, which contains a 1/4 cup of gin (60ml)



The glaze, which contains 5 tablespoons of gin.

The icing, which contains 3 tablespoons of gin.

The verdict?  I am drunk on cake.  The house is smells beautifully of sweetness and juniper and I don't mind that the cat is licking gin filled icing off the kitchen floor.  Add a lovely sugar high and it's turning in to a brilliant night.

Sunday 13 January 2013

Spiced Beer Cake with Italian Meringue Buttercream

This cake is the first of my trial bakes to decide what to make for the Great Suffolk Bake Off.  The competition has a Suffolk theme so I am planning to use Suffolk ingredients (as my sugarcraft skills aren't up to creating a cake reincarnation of Southwold Pier) so local flour, butter, milk and eggs are in, but unfortunately coffee, chocolate and citrus are out.

For me the first obvious choice of Suffolk ingredient to try as a star ingredient was beer - according to Suffolk CAMRA the county has 27 breweries.  The limited choice of other ingredients did make the search for a potential recipe a little tricky but I was really inspired by the great recipe from Joy the Baker and the idea of a spiced Broadside cake from The Caked Crusader.  With a few tweaks the recipe for my cake is below:


Spiced beer cake with Italian meringue butter cream


For the cake

Ingredients 

2oz butter (I used lightly salted)
110 g golden caster sugar 
50g dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon each of mixed spice, ground ginger and nutmeg (these were the only suitable spices I had in the cupboard - I'm sure ground cloves, cinnamon or similar would work well)
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)
2 eggs
220g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
6 fluid oz beer - I used Adnams Southwold Bitter (this handily gives you a good sized glass of beer left).



Pre-heat the oven to 180 oC and line a 7 inch square or 8 inch round cake tin.

In a stand mixer or with an electric whisk beath together the butter, sugars and spices for 3 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.

Mix the flour and beer in to the butter/sugar mix, alternating between the two.

Pour the mix into the tin and bake for about 45 minutes or until a knife inserted into the middle come out clean.  Then it's on to...


The un-iced cake - would be great on it's own.

The Frosting

Since receiving my KitchenAid I have been itching to try making Italian meringue and this seemed like the perfect excuse.  I used a recipe from Cakelove who have a really handy video with very easy to follow instructions.



Pouring the sugar syrup in to the egg whites was horribly nerve wracking but it felt AMAZING when the egg whites stayed nice and thick and shiny.  The mixture did collapse a bit when I added the butter but it whipped up again quickly and you end up with absolutely loads (I have a full piping bags worth in the freezer).  This recipe calls for 1lb (1LB!) of butter - I'm trying not to think about how much of that I have already consumed.

The Result

The beer makes the cake really moist but it doesn't come across in the flavour as much as I would like.  Next time i'd like to try a beer with more citrussy hops to cut through some of the sweetness.  If I wasn't trying to use Suffolk ingredients I'd add the juice and zest of a lemon to add some freshness.  Husband loves the sweetness but it's a bit much for me.  Not the one for the bake off but worth repeating.




Monday 7 January 2013

Some Resolutions

At the beginning of each year when other people are busy planning diets, exercise regimes, quitting smoking and polishing CV's I tend to bundle together a slightly more random group of plans for the year. These have varying degrees of success (last years included learning to make meringue - successful; having more manicures - questionable; and setting up a twitter account for FiFi the Fiat - fail).  This year I have decided to blog my progress as well as other projects and adventures which will probably translate as "things I have baked", "things I have drunk" and "places I have drunk them".

Resolutions 2013

Start a blog - here goes

Drink more beers - that's beers rather than beer, although the second could be a happy by-product of the first.


What? More?


Go to The Euston TapThe Craft Beer Co, a BrewDog bar, The White Horse and The Norwich Tap House - It's all in the name of research.  Honest.

Learn more about Spirits - in an alcoholic sense rather than the ghostly, otherworldly sense. 

Stop buying "plastic" bread - my lovely husband was kind enough to buy me a KitchenAid (christened Nellie) for Christmas so I now have no excuse for spending money on and consuming mass produced naff bread when I could be making and eating yummy home made bread.  This links nicely to.....


Me with beautiful Nellie
Master enriched doughs - following the success of last years "Master Meringues" project, next on the list are enriched doughs - brioche, buns, doughnuts, Danish pastries etc.

Appreciate my surroundings - I'm lucky enough to live in a beautiful part of the world where thousands of people flock every summer - this year I plan to make the most of it (and reduce day dreams of  Westermill Farm to a couple of hours a week).  This should be helped by....

Get out more - not in a get fit way, just in a get off your lazy arse, get out there and see how nice the world is kind of way.  This should also help to counteract the effect of the vast amount of bread products I will be consuming.