A typical Monday in the life a of a Cake Baker

Thought you might like to know what I get up to when I bake for the Cafe... It all starts about 8.30am when I put out the cakes that I made the afternoon before for the morning, then the baking begins....

I have recently acquired three more 'Silverwood' 8" cake tins. Lucky me, now I have six to play with and it also means that soon I will baking a six layer Rainbow Cake (I know a rainbow has seven colours- ROYGBIV. I think I'll leave out the blue?) Today it meant I could make two triple layer Victoria Sponges at once which is a whopping 24oz cake mix!

24oz Butter
24oz Sugar
12 Eggs
24oz Self Raising Flour
2tsps baking powdering
3tsp Vanilla Extract

Six cakes baked and left to cool on wire racks.

Meanwhile on with Carrot Cake - this is the 'Talk of the Town' It sells out in the Café nearly every time. Who would have thought this was the favourite? It is a simple recipe with no dried fruit or chopped walnut and no iced carrots on the top. I will give you the recipe for this another time...Two lots of carrot cakes baked this morning. While these were baking in the oven, buttercream icing- using two packs of butter and therefore twice the amount of icing sugar (500g/1kg). This should last a couple of days!

Next cream cheese icing no need to clean the mixer again, two packs of butter, twice icing sugar and 500g of full-fat cream cheese. Again this might last a couple of days.

One Victoria cake assembled - I always put buttercream on the bottom layer and raspberry seedless jam on the second layer. The top layer is dusted with icing sugar and the cake was out before lunchtime in the Café. The other three sponges wrapped up and frozen for another day.

The next cake is a Lemon & Blueberry Swiss Roll. Before Christmas I hadn't made a Swiss Roll for 30 years maybe? I remember making one in Food Tech at school (we called it home economics then) so I gave it a go a few weeks ago, and now make one every other week. I picked up a tip that as soon as its out of the oven turn out into baking paper laid on a damp tea towel, then roll up tightly with the paper in the middle, cover over with the tea towel and leave to cool. This will be unrolled and filled with a layer of lemon curd, whipped cream and a scattering of blueberries.

Its not 2pm yet and out goes a carrot cake. Two of the carrot cakes sponges sandwiched together with the cream cheese icing and topped with more cream cheese. I always dust the top with cinnamon. There's always "ah's and ooh's" everytime I put a cake out, walking through the café to the front counter and presenting the cake onto the bar - but where will it go? Ha! There's always a battle as to which cake gets the best spot on bar.

Everyone loves chocolate so a quick mix for a Chocolate cake, an 8oz mix in 2 8"tins cooked for about 25mins. While the cakes are baking, I make the chocolate ganache that needs to cool before it's used to sandwich and cover the chocolate cakes.

Last bake of the day is two lots of Banana Loaf using 8 bananas! These take an hour to bake so they will just about cool enough to put away for tomorrow before home time. Tomorrow they will be iced with Caramel buttercream (a couple of tbsp added to some of the buttercream made today)

While the Banana cakes are baking I make a Tiffin. Melting chocolate, butter, golden syrup then adding broken biscuits, sultanas, cranberries and marshmallows. All mixed together then poured into a rectangular traybake tin lined with cling film. This will be firm enough to cut in the morning.

All Done! So lucky I don't have to wash up thanks to our potwashers, but I do have to clean down my 'station' and put all the cakes away. I will put details of all the recipes on soon.

Phew as I write this now I feel like I have baked it all again! Time for me to relax, before I start again in the morning! On the cake list tomorrow are Brownies, Ginger Cake, more Carrot Cake, Bakewell Tart and Coffee n Cardamon Cake.

Amalfi Lemon Polenta Cake

Sunshine on a rainy day...

Its Spring, a rainy Sunday morning. The weather forecast promises sunny spells this afternoon but I can't wait for the yellow disc to appear in the sky, so this morning I am making Amalfi lemon polenta cake. It's in the oven now and I can smell its lemony sweetness.

Italy's Amalfi lemons are only available in Preston for a couple of months each year but they are worth getting hold of. Larger than normal lemons and more nobbly looking, Amalfi lemons are sweeter and have distinctly more lemoniness about them. They grow as weeds along the Naples coast down and around into the Amalfi Coast. I holidayed in Sorrento a few years ago and they were everywhere. There is a hidden Lemon Grove in the heart of city - a cool shady (hang on a minute the beepers gone off CAKE IS READY) oasis where they sell Limoncello made from the lemons in the grove which are grown organically, delicious. Italians drink a small shot as as a digestif. Back to cake-

This recipe is one of Nigella's but she doesn't specify Amalfi Lemons, but if you can get them a lovely cake becomes an amazing one.

Ingredients:

200g butter softened
200g caster sugar
200g ground almonds
100g fine polenta(cornmeal)
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
 2 Amalfi lemons or 2/3 lemons depending on size
4tbsp icing sugar

Method:
Preheat oven to 180degC/160degC fan/ gas 4. Grease and line a 23/24cm cake tin.
Mix butter and sugar in a mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand held electric mixer add the almonds, eggs, polenta, baking powder and the zest of the lemons (save the lemons for juicing later) mix well until everything is incorporated.
Scrape the cake mix into the tin, level and bake in the preheated oven for about  40mins. A cocktail stick should come out clean when inserted into the centre.
Whilst the cake is cooking, make lemon syrup by heating the juice of lemons with the icing sugar in a pan until the sugar has dissolved.
When the cake is ready leave it in its tin and place on a cooling rack. prick all over with a cocktail stick and drizzle over the lemon syrup covering the whole surface of the cake. Leave to cool......then remove from the tin onto a plate. Serve with a dollop of mascarpone and berry fruits for an indulgent treat, with creme fraiche, or just on its own.... a yellow disc of sunshine cake evoking memories of blue sky and warm radiant heat.

Roast Butternut Squash and Chorizo Soup

Ingredients

1 Butternut Squash

1 med onion diced

500ml chicken stock

30g chorizo sausage v finely diced

Sprig of Rosemary

Salt n Pepper

I tablespoon olive oil

Method

I usually make this if the oven is already on cooking something else. The squash is roasted whole in the lower part of the oven at 150-180 degrees C for 40-60mins.

You can leave this to cool and keep in the fridge until you are ready to make the soup or use straight away.

Cut the squash in half lengthways and scoop out the seeds and discard. 

In a medium to large pan fry the onion in the oil until soft and then add the butternut squash flesh. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Leave to simmer for about 15 mins while you fry the chorizo in a small pan. Heat the chorizo on a medium heat and it will exude its flavoured oil. Add some chopped up rosemary and remove from the heat.

The soup should be ready to blend to a smooth consistency now. Add some boiling water if you want it thinner. Finally stir in the chorizo and season to taste.

Quick Fruit Cake

Ingredients

4oz soft butter or margarine

4oz soft brown sugar

2 eggs

8oz self raising flour

1tsp baking powder

8oz dried fruit ( raisins, currants and sultanas)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2tbsp milk

Method

Preheat oven to 150 degC fan/ 165

Grease and line a 7" round cake tin

Put all the ingredients except the fruit into a mixer and beat until smooth. Add the fruit and stir until incorporated. Pour the mix into the cake tin and bake for about an hour- check with a wooden skewer, cook for longer if required. Mine was ready after an hour. Turn out and cool on a wire rack.

Quick Quesadillas

This my favourite Monday lunch at the moment. It's very quick and easy to prepare and so versatile you can fill them with whatever takes your fancy.

Ingredients

2 tortillas or wraps of whichever type you like

Handful of grated cheese

1/4 sliced pepper chopped or sliced

Chipotle paste- widely available in supermarkets

Method

Heat a frying pan that your tortilla will fit in flat

Smear a small amount of chipotle paste on both tortillas

Put one chipotle paste side up in the pan, sprinkle the cheese and the peppers on top. Place the other tortilla paste side down on top and press down gently. Flip over to toast the other tortilla. Serve into a plate once cheese is melted and tortilla is crispy.

There are countless fillings you could use- even sweet like bananas and chocolate spread! 

Be adventurous! Let me know your flavour combos 😃

Celeriac, Apple and Bacon Soup

I have made plain celeriac soup before but I didn't find it too moreish. So when I received another celeriac in my veg bag I had to think of something else to do with it. So here we are -the addition of bacon and apple makes such a difference!

Ingredients

1 large Celeriac, peeled and chopped into large chunks

2 onions, diced

2 Apples, chopped 

4 rashers smoky bacon, chopped

1 litre vegetable stock

1 tbsp olive oil

Method

In a large saucepan, fry the onion and the bacon in the oil until soft. Add the celeriac, apple and stock. Bring the soup up to the boil then simmer until the celeriac is soft. Blend and add a liitle milk or water if needed for desired consistency. Heat to serve.

And for those unfamiliar with celeriac this is what it looks like... Not the prettiest looking vegetable. It's widely available in the winter months so give it a try.

Creamy Polenta Recipe

This is great as an alternative to pasta with Italian dishes.

200g Polenta 

800ml cold water

Knob of butter or splash of olive oil

Handful of grated parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper

Put polenta, water and butter into a saucepan and bring up to the boil whisking continuously. As the mixture heats it thickens. Reduce the heat to low once it boils. Be careful as it spits. It should be thick and creamy like mashed potato. Turn off the heat and whisk in cheese and season to taste.