This is my take on another delicious Dan Lepard recipe. It was originally in the Guardian, but a slightly tweaked version is available here on his site.

It’s a lemony sponge, filled with lemon curd, and topped with an icing made with clotted cream. Can’t say fairer than that.

I probably should have cut the top off the lower sponge to make for a prettier cross-section, but I kinda like the crust…

(Thanks to Fran for the photo – taken on the fifth floor of in no less a venue than Freston Tower, an Elizabethan folly or lookout beside the Orwell Estuary in Suffolk.)

I cracked two eggs whilst making another batch of Lavender Cupcakes the other day so I had to make soemthing else as well (of course I did). These jammy buns are from a nice little book my sister sent me Best-kept Secrets of the Women’s Institute: Cakes and Biscuits (only their cakes and biscuits apparently) by Jill Brand. This recipe looked nice and simple but I didn’t put nearly enough jam in them, and I used plum as I didn’t have any rasberry. They are very scone-like and great with a cup of tea, they need to be eaten fresh or in a couple of days – so hard.

225g SF flour
pinch of salt
80g margarine (I used butter)
80g caster sugar
2 eggs
Jam of some description

Rub the fat into the flour and salt until it resembles breadcrumbs, stir in the sugar. Make a well in the centre and add the eggs, mix well to form a stiff dough – (the dough was not stiff at all for me at this point so I added more flour.) Turn the dough onto a floured surface and form into a roll, divide int 10 pieces and roll each one into a ball.
Place on  a greased baking tray and make a hole in each one (making sure not to go all the way through ) and fill with a little jam – more than I did – a big teaspoon I’d say. Close the whole and spinkle with sugar, although if you left the whole open and flattened them a bit they’d be a lot like jammy dodgers. Bake at 180 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Leave to cool a little on the tray before turning out onto a wire rack.

The other cake in the photo is the carrot cake version of the beetroot cake I made recently but with dates instead of raisins. This recipe is very moist and light but it does crumble a little in the middle when you cut it – rather annoying.

I have wanted to try making something sweet with beetroot for a while, I never used to like the stuff at all until Lawrence introduced me to beetroot and cheese sandwiches. This recipe is from the Riverford cookbook you can use carrots instead or a mix of both I guess. The beetroot looks so beautiful when it’s grated and added to the mix, I wish it kept that bright red/purple look once it was cooked. It’s very simple to make and bakes very evenly with a lovely colour, the texture very moist and you really can taste the beetroot, which I like – nothing worse than making a cake with ingredients for the sake of it and all you taste is sugar. I added a bit of cinnamon by the way, I think it needed something extra, perhaps nutmeg would work too?

So I also decided to have a go at making muffins, English ones that is. The intention was to make them early and have them for brunch but we decided to go to the Tate in the morning so it turned into afternoon tea. I’d never realised that they were cooked on the top in a heavy saucepan – I was convinced it wouldn’t work and the insides would be gooey dough once I cut them open – but they weren’t, they were perfect! I don’t think I’ll ever buy a pack of muffins again, very simple and just half a bag of flour, some salt, yeast and bit of sunflower oil. Oh, and dusting with semolina to create that lovely crisp texture on the outside is essential. I followed the recipe in River Cottage Bread book:

500g white bread flour
325g warm water
10g salt
5g dried yeast
drizzle of sunflower oil
semolina for dusting

Mix the dry ingredients, add the water and combine until it reaches a sticky dough then add the oil and turn out on to a surface to knead – the key is in the kneading (Daniel Stevens’ book explains all the methods very well) and leave until doubled in size, took about an hour for me. Then deflate the dough and divide into 9 pieces, shape each into a round (again, research this), flatten to about 1-2cm, cover in semolina and leave on a board covered in a plastic bag until doubled in height. Heat a heavy bottomed saucepan (even better if you have a Rayburn or Aga) over a medium heat and carefully place about 3 muffins at a time in the pan. Cook on one side for a minute or two then turn, cook for a further 10 minutes turning occasionally. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Cut open, toast and pile up some poached eggs on top (with a sneaky bit of cheese in between) or keep it simple with loads of butter and some Marmite. So rewarding!

Well, I’ve been a bit quiet because unfortunately I managed to break my wrist a month ago. Not only is it slightly awkward looking after a small child but it also makes baking a little tricky. I have managed however to make three test bases for Dan and Fran’s wedding cake! I was struggling with the white chocolate mud cake base – it’s so huge that the centre really did seem to turn to mud, or perhaps more the texture of clay. I seemed to have cracked this though by reverting to the fan assisted oven. I’d decided a while ago that a conventional oven cooked cakes more evenly – this is of course true with your average sized cake but not the beasts I’d been working with.

I couldn’t resist having a go at Mary Berry’s American wedding cake just in case it was a better base. Unfortunately again I didn’t use the fan and the centre was more like a Warm chocolate pudding! Still, it had a great reception from our builders – Dougie said ‘it just melts in the mouth’ – hmmm, perhaps that’s not the desired effect but it still tasted good.

I only made the base which took a whopping 22 eggs.

Ingredients:

17 eggs, separated
5 whole eggs
1 lb 9 oz (700g) Caster sugar
2 lb (900g) good plain chocolate, broken and melted
1 lb 1 oz (475g) ground almonds
4 1/2 teaspoons black coffee (I left this out as Dan doesn’t like coffee)

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees, lightly grease and line a 30cm tin.
Measure yolks, whole eggs and sugar into a large bowl and whisk until thick and light. Add slightly cooled chocolate and coffee (or not).
In a separate bowl which the egg whites until stiff, not dry and fold carefully into the chocolate mixture. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for about 1 1/2 hours.

I didn’t bother icing the cake as it was just a test but here’s the ingredients for the three tiers (you need huge bowls):

30 eggs, separated
8 whole eggs
2 lb 13 oz (1.27 kg) Caster sugar
3 lb 9 oz (1.6 kg) good plain chocolate, broken and melted
1 lb 14 oz (840 g) ground almonds
7 1/2 teaspoons black coffee
8 oz (225 g) apricot jam, sieved

Divide the mixture between 15cm, 23cm and 30cm deep round cake tins, lined with greaseproof paper. the large cake will bake for 1 1/2 hours (cover loosely with foil for an hour), the medium for about an hour and the small for about 45 minutes. They can all go in the oven at once – the large on the middle shelf and the other two on the top (depending on how big your oven is of course!)

Icing:
2 1/2 lb (1.25 kg) plain chocolate, broken
1 lb (450 g) unsalted butter
Melt the chocolate slowly in a bowl over boiling water add the butter and stir until melted. Place each cake on a cooling rack and pour over the icing, smoothing with a palette knife.

Well that’s enough awkward typing for me, the next post should be Dan and Fran’s successful wedding cake in a week or two!