Limoncello Drizzle Cake

So my mate's mum was turning seventy. She's a bit of a cracker, and loves a slice of cake. She's a brill baker, and on said party day, appeared with trays of cream scones, cheesecake, and a rum baba so strong, it should have come with a fire safety warning. One false move... Genuinely could not eat a slice then drive. No.

I did a bit of scouting about with the family, in terms of what kind of cake she would love. Turns out she adores a lemon cake, which is lovely, but in its natural state is also as dull as a Jane Austen book. This was going to be something a bit more lively.

This would be a moist lemon cake, laced and glazed with Limoncello, with a lemon ribbon running through the middle. I forgot to take a picture of the ribbon, because I was such a party animal*. I made it in the stunning new Nordic Ware 70th Anniversary crown tin, which seemed to fit the occasion and recipient just beautifully.

Cake:

• 225g butter
• 450g golden caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 350g Homepride plain flour 
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 250ml low fat lemon yoghurt
• Zest and juice of a large lemon
• 5 tbsp Limoncello
• Yellow food gel

Topping:

• 500g icing sugar
• Limoncello
• Yellow food colouring gel
• Sugar crystals/pearls

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
2. Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with melted butter and dust with flour.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and ginger.
6. Pour the yoghurt into a jug, and add the Limoncello and the lemon zest and juice.
7. Sift in a third of the flour mix followed by half the yoghurt. Repeat this until everything is combined. 
8. Give everything a quick mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds.
9. Remove 5 heaped teaspoons of the mix, and dye it yellow.
10. Pour half of the mix into your prepared tin. 
11. Spoon over the yellow batter.
12. Cover with the rest of the mix.
13. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
14. Leave the cake to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin.
15. When completely cool, mix the icing sugar with enough Limoncello to make a runny icing. 
16. Add a little yellow food dye. 
17. Tip it over your cake.
18. Decorate with sugar crystals, and your work here is done. 

* Busy stuffing my face with other cake.

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and basic recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page.

Ferrero Rocher Bundt Cake

The challenge was set... The recipient, my friend Tash; she of Italian heritage, cocktail drinking expertise, and cake eating prowess. I told her she could pick her desired flavour. With barely a moment's hesitation, she declared it shall be a Ferrero Rocher bundt cake.

I've been asked for this one before, but declared it a bit boring. I had to liven it up, and see that it was fit for my little party pal. It was going to be a moist chocolate cake, laced with hazelnuts, Nutella, and hidden Ferrero Rochers, which would be baked into the cake. No messing around with this one.

Sadly, I had to break the news to my colleagues that this was going to sit on my desk all day, then be taken elsewhere at the end of the day. Did not go down well. Not at all.

Ingredients:

• 225g butter
• 350g golden caster sugar
• 100g soft brown sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 310g plain flour
• 50g ground hazelnuts 
• 40g good quality cocoa powder - I use Green and Blacks.
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 200ml vanilla yoghurt 
• 75ml chocolate milk
• 2 tablespoons of Nutella
• 6 Ferrero Rocher, cut in half (full ones will sink like a stone...)
• Jar of chocolate spread (not the hazelnut type)
• Chopped hazelnuts, lightly toasted
• More Ferrero Rocher to decorate

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
2. Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with Cake Release spray and dust with flour mixed with a little cocoa.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. Add the extract.
6. In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, ground hazelnuts, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
7. Pour the yoghurt and chocolate milk into a jug and stir in the Nutella.
8. Sift in a third of the flour mix followed by half the yoghurt mix. Repeat this until everything is combined.
9. Give everything a quick mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds.
10. Pour the mix into your prepared tin. 
11. Push the Ferrero Rocher halves vertically into the mix, as if you were marking out hours on a clock. Push them in until they are only just peeping out of the batter. It will swell over the top when baking. 
12. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
13. Leave the cake to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin.
14. When the cake is fully cool, pop the chocolate spread into a jug and heat in the microwave for around 30 seconds to loosen it. Tip over your cake and decorate with more Ferrero Rocher and chopped hazelnuts..

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and basic recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page.

Cream Tea Bundt Cake

Can’t decide what to get Mum for Mother’s Day? What says ‘I created something excellent, well done me’, than offspring who bake you something magnificent? Not only does Mum get to stuff her face with some wonderful cake, but she can show off to her pals what talented spawn she really has. It’s a win win.

When Homepride asked me to make something Mother’s Day related, it had to be a play on the traditional cream tea; a moist scone, split in two, with thick strawberry jam, and enough cream to ward off brittle bones until you’re 97. This isn’t essential, but I also added a glug of gin to mine, as a cheeky nod to Mother’s Ruin!

Obviously, it isn’t Mother’s Day just yet, but I decided to test mine on my tame testers at work. I was a total renegade and removed a shelf from the milk fridge, so that I could store the cake until the generally accepted ‘cake time’ of 10.30am (not my rule - I have no such silly rules). The milk fridge is steeped in office politics, and believe me, this was a bold move. Luckily for me, this misdemeanour did not get me fired; on the contrary, it created lots of ‘oooh’ noises from the whole floor. Needless to say, lots of people sampled cake on Friday, and the missing shelf from the fridge was replaced before too much drama was created...
For the full details, please pop over to the Homepride website! Recipe coming soon...