This weekend I got my bake on. I’ve been desperate for a stand mixer since I was a little girl, but my mum wouldn’t let me get one. Mum is a brilliant cook, but she doesn’t bake, so her appreciation for baking gadget is little. Andrew said I could get one after we moved in, and yesterday I finally got my hands on one. I would love to own a Kitchen Aid but I can’t justify spending over £400 on a mixer as baking for me is just a little hobby. Curry’s currently have their Kenwood Patissier Food Mixer on special at £139.99, usually £149.99 – not a massive saving, but I’d rather it is was in my pocket.
First and foremost, none of these recipes are my own. Two are from ‘The Delia Collection – Baking’ and BBC Good Food. You can get the Delia book on Amazon.
I had a flick through Delia and decided to make Iced Lemon Curd Layer Cake
Cake
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 175g self-raising flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 175g butter (I used unsalted) at room temp
- 175g golden caster sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 75g golden caster sugar
- grated zest and juice of 1 large juicy lemon
- 2 large eggs
- 50g unsalted butter
- Zest of 1 large lemon
- 50g sifted icing sugar
- 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice
- Beat all of the cake ingredients in a bowl – use an electric whisk if you can. Beat until you have a smooth creamy consistency.
- Divide the mix between your two tins and cook for approx. 35mins or until the sponge springs back when you press with a little finger.
- When the cakes are cooking, make your lemon curd.
- Put sugar and lemon zest in a bowl
- Whisk the lemon juice and eggs together, then add to the sugar
- Cut the butter into little pieces and add this to the mix,
- Place the bowl over a pan over barely simmering water and stir until thickened – approx 20mins
- When the cakes are cooked, wait 5 minutes then turn out to cool onto wire racks.
- When they are cold, but them in half horizontally (I didn’t do this as my cakes weren’t thick enough)
- Spread the curd between each layer and stack them on top of each other.
- To make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and stir in lemon juice until it is soft and runny
- Wait 5 minutes and spread with a knife
- Sprinkle lemon zest over the top
- 50g dark chocolate broken into pieces (70-75% cocoa solids)
- 110g butter (I used unsalted)
- 2 large eggs beaten
- 225g granulated sugar
- 50g plain flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 110g of chopped nuts – walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts or brazils (I used brazils)
- 75g granulated sugar
- 75ml evaporated milk
- 110g dark chocolate broken into pieces (70-75% cocoa solids)
- 40g butter
- 2 drops of pure vanilla extract
- Melt the butter and the broken up chocolate in a bowl over simmering water on a low heat.
- Stir in all of the remaining ingredients, spread the mixture into the tin and bake for 30mins.
- Leave in tin to cool.
- For the topping, combine the sugar and evaporated milk in a heavy based pan.
- Place the pan over a low heat and allow the sugar to dissolve, stirring frequently.
- When the sugar granules have melted, bring to the boil and leave for 6mins simmering gently.
- Take the pan off the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted.
- Now stir in the butter and the vanilla extract.
- Transfer to a bowl, cool, cover with cling film and put in the fridge for a couple of hours until thickened and spreadable. (I had the place mine into a bowl with warm water as it was too solid)
- Spread over the brownies and cut into 15 pieces!