Heritage Lemon Cake

It's been a very quick start to 2012, time has flown by so fast that I didn't even realise tomorrow will be the last day of January! So to keep my promise to you, I will write about my amazing new cake tin! :)

I am in love with this tin.

I have been in love with this cake tin since I discovered the nordicware range years ago, since then I have never fallen out of love with it. Other tins have come and gone, but this is unique and has a special place in my cupboard for it.....

Oh Heritage Pan, how I love theee [sigh]! And a huuuge thank you to my brother who actually got the tin for me! It was a lovely moment when the cake was baked and we were eagerly anticipating for the cake to cool so we could invert the cake and see the gorgeous creation. It was a true drum roll moment!

I knew what I wanted to first bake with it from the moment I held the tin, a delicious zingy moist lemon cake!

It was absolutely gorgeous and I received so many compliments that I feel like gifting everyone now with a Heritage Lemon Cake! And can you see the gorgeous stand the cake is on?

It is my equally impressive Cath Kidston cake stand... which I too love! It was a beautiful gift from my beautiful friend Tamz, and I love getting it out and showing it off :)

SO...... although it is now January and we had some snow only just a few days. I am bringing smiles, sunshine and Spring into my house with this beautiful cake stand and delectable lemon syrup cake!

The recipe is from my trusted GoodFood magazine and is for a Lemon Drizzle cake which I have adapted as I wanted a shower of icing sugar on top instead of the drizzle icing. In order to keep it moist, I pricked and brushed some lemon syrup on to the cake before inverting and inverted it as soon as it cooled slightly.

Enjoy the recipe 'cos I sure did   ;-)

New website

Dear All,
So here I am again after a disappearing act! Go on, yell at me, you know you want to! I have missed you all immensely, and just so you know - there's no one else in this relationship, ok? I only have eyes for you :-*

I've just been really busy with spurts of procrastination! I just cant help it, do you guys ever feel like that? There's like 101 things on your to-do list but you just cant get on with it. It's like there's an invisible force around you wanting you to sit and take it easy. It's so frustrating.

And as for the busy stuff, I've been making cakes!! Thats the highlight of my weeks! I get such a sense of achievement from baking that cake to putting the final touches on it. Boy, it's stressful but oh so satisfying once the cake is delivered. I love it!

I have done baking but nothing really new and sadly nothing from my bake list but all that to change in 2012.... I can feel it in my bones, I will be back with a truckload of recipes for you! Ok, maybe more like a mini cooper full of recipes ;-)

So I've been updating my facebook with the pics and now have copied them to a brand spanking new website which I hope you all will check out for me and comment with any suggestions you may have.

I'm gonna love you and leave you now. I promise to update soon with a great tried and tested recipe for you all to try!

So everyone coming along well with Christmas baking??

Much love xxx

While I was gone…..

 

I have no excuses for not blogging other than life took over… Do forgive me, I didn’t mean to leave you in the lurch [hangs head down and gives puppy eyes]…

It started with me needing to give all my attention to finishing a college course, which I handed in last month, Yay! But then it seemed like I was juggling 101 things at the same time. Mr WWW got a new job which is quite a distance away and therefore means I am on school/nursery runs all the time. And then the cooling fan on my oven went haywire! It just does not switch off, at all!! So we had to manually unplug it at the back of the cooker. That had me depressed for a while as I couldn’t bake [saddens at the memory] but the mastermind that I am, I have found that if I get my daughter’s stepping stool up to the front of the cooker and tilt the cooker forward, I can just about reach the plug and socket! So I’ve now started to plug it in when I need to bake and unplug it half hour after baking…. Will need to do for now!

A couple of months ago I purchased a giant cupcake tin, they look sooo good I just couldn't resist! And I had my first chance to use it for a birthday order. I had loads of fun and was very happy with the end result of a shabby chic style cake!

It was such a hit on Facebook (find me and “like” me on www.facebook.com/whiskwhiskwhisk ) that it was shortly followed by another order of a giant cupcake and 50 matching cupcakes for a wedding mendhi party!!

The theme was green, red and gold. The bride was very pleased with the results!

Very glitzy, sparkly and hopefully captured the Indian influences.

I even found a designer piece of chiffon material that happened to match the cake quite well….!

 

I hope you have now forgiven me and we can start again, what you say??? I shall be taking part in this month’s Daring Baker’s Challenge and I sure have missed my fellow Daring Bakers! Cant wait to start rocking and rolling baby!!

Biscuit Joconde Imprime with Double Chocolate Mousse Entremet

A bit of a mouthful, hey? Well, let me tell you – once you’ve tried a slice of this pure happiness, you’re gonna want to learn the name too double-quick!

In other words, a sponge cake where a pattern is imprinted in it and is used to create the surrounding shell of a filled dessert.

This was the Daring Baker’s Challenge for January 2011. When I saw the challenge, I was soo excited. How fancy schmancy is this for a dinner party! It’s a pure showstopper and you can play around with the cake wrap with colours, designs and size. The choices were countless. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do the challenge as I had to travel to South England when we heard my Grandma had had a  brain haemorrhage and passed away the next day.

But I knew it was something that I just had to do at some point and just needed an occasion. I had seen so many amazing pieces of work by all the fellow Daring Bakers, they really had exceled on this challenge. I was in total awe of every single one of them!

I made a gift basket for my sister-in-law’s new addition (see Baby Shower cupcakes) but felt a tad bad for the three nephews so I thought I’d make a cake for them. And I knew exactly which cake I wanted to make…

I also made it nut-free so my sister-in-law could have some too. That was a bit of a hurdle as the recipe specifically asked for almond/hazelnut meal, and I guess that added to the flexibility needed to wrap the cake around the entremet. I threw caution to the wind and used the recipe for the decor paste (which didn’t need any nuts) to do the design and also the sponge layer. Put it in the oven and prayed to God that it would come out right.

And it did. Wahey!!

Don’t you just love the spun sugar squiggle, love it! And the gold dust, so beautiful with the chocolate ganache layer.

It’s not exactly how I had envisioned it as I really wanted the white chocolate mousse showing over the biscuit Joconde imprime but I guess my measurements weren’t right and I needed to make more of the white chocolate mousse than the milk chocolate mousse. Oh well, tasted just as gorgeous. And I would definately like a glossy smooth finish next time.

The layers are (from bottom to top): 1.  Biscuit Joconde Imprime  2. Rich dense chocolate cake  3. Milk Chocolate mousse   4.  White chocolate mousse  5. Chocolate Ganache

I will definately be making this again, possible with a strawberry twist to it. I loooove my strawberries… or maybe something totally wacky. You’ll need to wait and see, lol.

The recipe is quite lengthy but don’t let that put you off, it’s so totally worth it!

Click down for recipe xx