Orange Blossom & Almond Bird Cake

The beauty of this bake is that it is as simple, or as fancy, as you wish it to be. The base is a lovely zesty orange and almond country cake, the topping a super sweet fantastical affair.

I had a lot of fun decorating it; with a few cookie or icing cutters in pretty shapes you can let your imagination run wild.

Recipe
My own recipe
Serves 8-10

100g ground almonds
200g plain flour,
200g unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
2 tbsps. whole milk
finely grated zest of an orange
1 tsp orange blossom water
1 tsp baking powder
3 large eggs
1 tbsp of jam
1 roll ready rolled white icing
Various food tint pastes or edible food colourings
Sugar flowers (optional)
Edible glitter (optional)


1. Turn the oven to 180C (160C fan ovens). Grease and line a 20cm cake tin.


2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until pale and smooth.


3. Add the first egg, beat well before adding the second along with a tablespoon of the ground almonds. Beat again, before beating in the last egg and another tablespoon of ground almonds.


4. Next gently stir in the rest of the ground almonds, the orange blossom water, and the grated orange zest.


5. Sieve in half the flour and the baking powder, and stir gently with a metal spoon until well combined.


6. Sift in the rest of the flour, after which spoon in the milk. Continue stirring gently and briefly until well combined.


7. Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin and place in the oven for approx 40 minutes. You'll know it's done when the top bounces back under your finger, and a skewer comes out clean.

8. Leave the cake to cool for 10 minutes in the tin, before turning it out onto a wire rack or plate.



9. Once cool, roll out the ready rolled white icing and cut into shapes with cookie cutters or icing cutters.


10. Heat the tablespoon of jam with some water, cool, then brush a thin layer over the base and the sides of the cold cake with a pastry brush. Stick the icing shapes in whatever pattern you fancy over the sides and top of the cake. Dot any gaps with ready made sugar flowers.


11. When all the shapes have been fixed to the cake, paint them whatever colours you want using a small paintbrush, food colour tint pastes or edible liquid colouring. Scatter edible glitter over the top.


12. Leave the paint on the shapes to dry, before serving with or without cream.

 

 

 

This cake was idly baked while listening to the Bat For Lashes album The Haunted Man

 

 

Raspberry Bakewell Cake

 

This is a variation of the Bakewell cake I've baked before, but this time with a raspberry flavour instead of the original cherry gluten free version posted here. If you ask me it tastes of May, holidays and sunshine (as well as almonds and raspberries of course).

Recipe Serves 8 -10
Adapted from the recipe at BBC Good Food Online, see the recipe here


150g ground almonds
150g caster sugar
150g unsalted butter
150g self raising flour
2 large eggs
1 tsp almond extract
250g fresh raspberries
2 tbsp flaked almonds
1 tbsp icing sugar for decoration

1. Heat oven to 180 (160C Fan) and line and grease a 20cm spring form cake tin.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

3, Add the first egg, and beat well before adding the second into the mixture. Beat again, before throwing in the ground almonds and almond extract.

4. Next sieve in half the flour, and stir gently with a metal spoon until well combined.

5. Sift in the rest of the flour and stir.

 

 

 

6. Pour half the batter over the base of the cake tin, before placing the cherries evenly over the top. Then add the rest of the batter ontop, spread and smooth down with a spatula. Make sure that all the cherries are covered by the batter.

7. Sprinkle the flaked almonds over the cake, then put in the oven to bake for approx 50 minutes. You'll know it's done when a skewer comes out clean.

8. Take out of the oven and leave to cool in the tin for at least half an hour.

9. When the cake is completely cool, remove from the tin and dust a little icing sugar over the top. Serve immediately.

 

 

 

This cake was idly baked while I listened to REM's album Automatic For The People

 

 

 

Lime, Nectarine & Basil Cake

This is a delicately flavoured citrus sponge cake, topped with sticky sugared nectarines and just a hint of basil. I made it gluten free this time, but it can be baked with normal plain flour if you prefer, and take out the ground almonds if you have a nut allergy. Fresh tasting and light, this pretty cake tastes scrummy with any juicy plums, peaches or nectarines circling the top.

Recipe
My own
Serves 8-10



4 nectarines, cored, halved and thinly sliced
170g gluten-free mix self-raising flour (I use Dove's Farm gluten-free)
freshly squeezed juice of 1 lime
2 tsps grated lime peel
150g & 3 tbsps caster sugar
3 tbsp ground almonds
170g unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 eggs
1 latge handful of fresh basil, torn or chopped finely, plus one sprig left whole for decoration
Grated peel of another lime, for decoration, optional



1. Turn the oven to 180C (160C fan oven). Grease and line a 20cm round spring form cake tin.

2. Beat the butter in a large bowl until fluffy. Add 150g of the sugar and beat until smooth.

3. Whisk in the eggs one at a time, then add the lime peel, lime juice, most of the basil and all ground almonds. Add the flour and mix until well combined.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Arrange the nectarine slices on top in concentric circles to cover the top of the cake and press them lightly into the batter.

5. Scatter the left over 3 tbsps sugar, evenly over the top of the cake.

6. Bake for approx 1 hour until golden. You'll know it's done when the top bounces back under your thumb and a skewer comes out clean. Let it cool in the tin for 15 mins before carefully cutting around the cake and placing it on to a plate or wire rack to cool further.


7. Sprinkle the grated lime over the top and place a sprig of basil in the middle. Serve at room temperature with tea, or while still warm with ice cream or cream as a dessert cake.

This cake was idly baked while listening to PJ Harvey's album To Bring You My Love

Plum, Almond & Pear Flan

This is the most gorgeous flan, cinnamon laced plums and pears nestling in a plump almond batter. Perfect for an idle baker, it looks much more work than it really is. By baking this as a flan, rather than a tart, you cut out all the fussy pastry making and introduce a delicious biscuit base that adds a satisfying depth and crunch to the taste. It's also one of those puddings that can be made in advance, and brought out to much acclaim when it's time to eat, leaving you free to relax and enjoy yourself rather than slaving over a hot oven.

Adapt this recipe to accomodate whatever fruit you have in the house, using plums or pears alone if you like. If I'd had them I'd have added more plums, as they taste particularly good and look stunning against the almond filling.

Recipe
Adapted from the one online that I printed out years ago, and can't find on the web now
Serves 8-10


for the flan base:
200g digestive biscuits, crushed
85g butter, chopped small

1. To crush the biscuits, seal them in a plastic bag and hit them with a rolling pin. Then place the crushed biscuits on the weighing scales to measure out the right amount.


2. Gently melt the butter over a low heat, before stirring the crushed biscuits into the pan and stirring until they're well combined.


3. Press the mixture into a 9 to 12 inch tart case with a removable base, as you would for a cheesecake.

for the filling:
100g unsalted butter, softened
100g caster sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
85g self raising flour
100g ground almonds
2 or 3 drops of almond extract
4 or more large plums, halved and cored
1 pear, halved and cored (and peeled if you wish)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
vanilla sugar, to sprinkle
2 tablespoons red or purple plum jam
3 handfuls flaked almonds, toasted



4. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl for approx 3 minutes until light and fluffy.


5. Beat in the eggs one by one, followed by the drops of almond extract.


6. Next add the flour, milk and ground almonds, mixing well until smooth.


7. Pour the filling over the biscuit base in the tin, and smooth it down.


8. Roll the fruit in the cinnamon on a plate, before placing the plums and pears into the filling. You can either chop them finely and arrange them in concentric circles, or for a more rustic flan like mine you simply place the fruit halves into the filling, pressing them into the batter.


9.  Sprinkle a little vanilla sugar ontop, and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes until the filling looks pale golden and bounces back under your thumb.


10. Take out of the oven and leave to cool a little, before taking out of the tin.


11. While the flan cools, warm a couple of spoonfuls of plum jam over a low heat and then strain through a sieve. Brush the flan with the strained jam juice, before scattering with flaked almonds.
I didn't bother, but you could also sift a little icing sugar over the flan if you like.


12. Serve warm or cold, with creme fraiche or cream.

This flan was idly baked while listening to London Calling by The Clash

Sweet Honey Loaf

Forgive the delay in posting, dear readers, I came down with a nasty bug after Easter, and then as soon as I'd recovered it was time to go away on holiday. It seems apt to choose a honey cake as my first bake since illness, for honey has been used for centuries for its antibacterial effect in aiding the body's natural healing. Used in this delicious, sweet and soothing loaf cake, the delicate honey and nuts are a delight for the senses and my own favourite form of medicine.

This recipe makes a cute sized little loaf, ideal when you have less people to feed, or simply fancy feeding yourself very well indeed.

Recipe
Recipe my own. Makes a small 1lb loaf.
Serves 4-6

for the base:
50g unsalted butter, room temperature
110g runny honey
2 eggs, room temperature
75ml milk
125g caster sugar
50g dessicated coconut or ground almonds
150g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
half a teaspoon vanilla or almond extract


1. Turn the oven to 160C (140C fan ovens). Grease and line a 1lb loaf tin.

2. Put the butter and honey in a pan over a hob on a low heat and stir until melted. Pour it into a large bowl.

3. Add the caster sugar and eggs to the bowl. Whisk the mixture for a minute until smooth and starting to bubble. Tip in the vanilla or almond extract, and the dessicated coconut or ground almonds. Stir gently until combined.

4. Sift the flour and baking powder gradually in 2 stages to the batter. Next pour in the milk, and beat the batter until light and smooth.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin, then bake for approx 50 mins. Bake until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

6. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 15 mins, before taking it out and onto a wire rack or plate to cool fully.

for the icing:
100g icing sugar, sifted
approx 1 and a half tablespoons water
1 teaspoon honey


7. To make the icing, gradually whisk the water and honey into the icing sugar in stages, until the icing is runny but firm and shiny.

8. Drizzle the icing in lines over the loaf, and then leave to set.

9. Serve accompanied with an equally healthy green tea.

This honey loaf was idly baked to the sounds of Laura Marling's double album version of A Creature I Don't Know

Blueberry & Primrose Bakewell Cake

For my own birthday cake, I wanted to create something lovely, light and subtle, a cake to freshen the palate before the onslaught of chocolate this Easter. Ground and flaked almonds create a scrumptious Bakewell taste when laced with any berry, and here I used them to compliment fresh blueberries and the sweet tang of primrose, an edible flower in great supply in gardens, fields and hedgerows at this time of year. A little piece of Spring in every slice.

Recipe
Serves 8 -10
Adapted from the recipe at BBC Good Food Online, see the recipe here

150g ground almonds
150g caster sugar
150g unsalted butter, room temperature
150g self raising flour
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp almond extract
150g fresh blueberries, washed and dried
3 handfuls flaked almonds
3 handfuls primroses picked from the garden, 10 minutes before the decoration, optional
sprinkling of vanilla or caster sugar, for decoration, optional

1. Heat oven to 180 (160C Fan) and line and grease a 20cm spring form cake tin.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

3, Add the first egg, and beat well before adding the second into the mixture. Beat again, before throwing in the ground almonds and almond extract.

4. Next sift in half the flour, and stir gently with a metal spoon until well combined.

5. Sift in the rest of the flour and stir.

6. Pour just under half the batter over the base of the cake tin to cover it, before placing the blueberries evenly over the top. Then add the rest of the batter, spreading and smoothing down with a spatula. Make sure that all the berries are covered by the batter.

7. Sprinkle the flaked almonds over the cake, then put in the oven to bake for approx 50 minutes. You'll know it's done when a skewer comes out clean.

8. Leave to cool in the tin for 20 minutes, before carefully turning out of the tin to cool on a wire rack or plate.

9. Shortly before serving, pick the primroses from the garden or a park or hedgerow, and place over the cake to decorate. Sprinkle with a little vanilla or caster sugar, and serve with or without cream.

This cake was idly baked while listening to Just A Minute on BBC Radio 4

Dark Chocolate, Rum & Almond Birthday Cake

Birthday cakes come in all shapes and flavours, so for my younger brother's 30th birthday I decided to make a special boozy variation of his favourite childhood chocolate cake. Laced with rum and almonds, and topped off with a gorgeous rich dark ganache, this is a fabulous cake for any celebration, plus a lot of fun for an idle baker and little helpers to decorate.

Recipe
Serves 10-12
Recipe adapted from the Ultimate Chocolate Cake by Angela Nilsen at the BBC Good Food website, see the recipe here

for the 2 cake bases:

300g light muscovado sugar
200g butter, room temperature, chopped into small pieces
4 eggs, room temperature
25g cocoa powder
200g dark chocolate, at least 70% cocoa solids, broken into small pieces
85g ground almonds
85g self raising flour
quarter of a teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 tablespoons dark rum
75ml half fat creme fraiche



1. Turn the oven to 160C (140C fan ovens), and grease and line two 18cm or 20cm round baking tins.

2. Stir the chocolate pieces, butter, and rum in a pan over a low heat until melted. Put to one side to cool.

3. In a large bowl, sift all the dry ingredients (sugar, cocoa, almonds, bicarb and flour), stirring until combined. Make a well in the centre of the ingredients.

4. In another bowl, beat the eggs until light and frothy, before adding the creme fraiche.

5. Next fold in the chocolate mixture and the egg mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring gently until just combined, to create a smooth batter.

6. Pour the batter evenly into the 2 prepared baking tins, and bake in the oven for about 1 hour 20 minutes. You'll know the cakes are done when a skewer comes out clean and the tops spring back under your thumb.

7. When baked, take the cakes out of the oven and leave to cool for 20 minutes in their tins, before placing on a wire rack or plates to cool further.

for the chocolate ganache icing:

300g dark chocolate, at least 70% cocoa solids, broken into small pieces
378ml double cream
3 tablespoons golden caster sugar
180g flaked almonds
Queen white chocolate fudge writing pen to decorate, optional


8. To make the ganache,  place the chocolate pieces in a heat proof bowl.

9. Heat the double cream and caster sugar gently in a pan over low heat until it is about to boil, then quickly pour the mixture over the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted and the ganache has come together smoothly. Cool briefly.

10. Meanwhile, place the flaked almonds in the oven to lightly toast for 10 minutes and then take out to cool.

11. When ready, place the first cake base upside down and spread a quarter of the ganache over it. Then sandwich it with the second cake, before spread the rest of the ganache around the sides and the top of the cake.

12. Press the toasted almond flakes around the sides of the cake, before piping ganache rosettes around the edge of the top using a piping bag. Leave the icing to set. If you want to hurry this process along just place the cake in the fridge for a while.

13. Just before serving, you can use melted white chocolate to write Happy Birthday if you wish to, but I cheated and used a simple writing fudge pen from Queen which I thoroughly recommend to all similarly idle bakers.


14. Serve with whipped cream. Keep any leftover cake in the fridge.

This cake was idly baked to the sounds of The Black Keys album El Camino.

Spiced Cranberry Upside Down Cake

I was inspired to bake this gorgeous cake when I found some cranberries in the freezer, leftovers from Christmas. Winter will be over before we know it (I'm a deluded optimist I know) and this recipe is the kind of warming rustic fare that works best after a cold brisk walk in the elements. As it cooks it perfumes the house with the darkly sweet aromas of baked spices, orange and cranberry.

Serves 8-10
Adapted from the recipe on the website www.joyofbaking.com. See their recipe here.

for the cranberry topping:
230g fresh cranberries, or frozen and thawed, halved
190g caster sugar
90g unsalted butter
1 tablespoon water
half a teaspoon ground cinnamon


1. Turn oven to 180C (160C fan ovens), and grease and line a 20cm round spring form tin. If you're using a tin with a removable base, make sure you place a baking sheet under the cake tin, to catch the drips from the cranberry topping juice.

2. To make the cranberry topping, melt the butter over a low heat. Next add the caster sugar, water, cinnamon, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil.

3. Finally, add the cranberries and stir them into the sauce then pour into base of the tin.


for the cake base:
200g light muscovado sugar
200g unsalted butter
2 large eggs
200g self raising flour
quarter of a teaspoon ground cinnamon
quarter of a teaspoon nutmeg
quarter of a teaspoon ginger
quarter of a teaspoon ground star anise
grated zest of 1 orange
100g ground almonds

4. To make the cake base, cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl.

5. Add the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition.

6. Add a spoonful of flour, and stir into the mixture along with the grated orange zest.

7. Stir in the rest of the flour, followed by the spices and ground almonds. Stir with a wooden spoon gently until just combined.

8. Pour the batter over the cranberry mixture in the baking tin, and bake in the oven for approx 50 minutes, checking at 45. You'll know the cake is done when a skewer comes out of the cake base clean. Remember that the topping at the bottom of the tin will still be sticky.

9. Leave the cake in the tin for 15 minutes, then very carefully turn it upside down to release, and leave to cool a little on a wire rack or plate. Serve warm with yoghurt, cream, or creme fraiche.

This cake was idly baked while listening to John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman 1963 sessions