Celebration Cakes!

 16/05/2016

Right, you lucky things. Not one but two cake recipes. You can thank my fussy family for that. I made a birthday cake for my wonderful mum who loves coffee and walnut as do I. The boys, on the other hand, love traditional Victoria sponge. In a moment of pure genius, I made both cakes from one mix. With just a few tweaks to a simple recipe, you can achieve two completely different cakes. I have included quantities for two full sized, two-tier cakes here but I actually made one and halved the mix to add the different flavours to each. I then cut each cake into a semi circle and placed the two semi-circles together to form a half-and-half cake!

This is an all-in-one method of making a cake. It is so so easy. You literally bung all the ingredients in together and mix well and you are left with the most light and airy cake without the need to cream butter and sugar or add eggs one at a time and worry about curdling. Just stick it in, mix it up, bake it, apply to face!

Coffee & Walnut Cake

Ingredients:

• 225 g (8oz) margarine
• 225 g (8oz) caster sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 heaped teaspoons instant coffee (I used Azeera)
• 225 g (8oz) self-raising flour
• 2 level tsp baking powder
• 75g roughly chopped walnuts

For the filling and topping:

• 2oz margarine
• 6oz icing sugar, sifted
• 1 heaped teaspoon instant coffee, dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water
• 1 tablespoon milk (optional)
• Walnut halves for decoration

Method:

1. Grease and base line 2 x 20cm (8in) sandwich tins.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
3. Place the eggs in a large bowl and stir in the coffee until dissolved. Measure the margarine, sugar, flour and baking powder into the egg mix and beat until thoroughly blended. Divide the mixture evenly between the tins and level out.
4. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 25 minutes or until well risen and the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly pressed with a finger. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes then turn out, peel off the parchment and finish cooling on a wire rack.
5. For the buttercream icing, beat the margarine and coffee until soft and fluffy. Gradually sift in the icing sugar until well combined and add a tablespoon or two of milk to loosen slightly.
6. Use half the buttercream to sandwich the two cakes together. Spread the remaining buttercream on top. Decorate with walnut halves.

Victoria Sponge Cake

Ingredients:

• 225 g (8oz) margarine
• 225 g (8oz) caster sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 225 g (8oz) self-raising flour
• 2 level tsp baking powder

For the filling and topping:

• 2oz margarine
• 6oz icing sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon milk (optional)
• Raspberry jam

Method:

1. Grease and base line 2 x 20cm (8in) sandwich tins.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
3. Place the eggs in a large bowl and stir. Measure the margarine, sugar, flour and baking powder into the egg mix and beat until thoroughly blended. Divide the mixture evenly between the tins and level out.
4. Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 25 minutes or until well risen and the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly pressed with a finger. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes then turn out, peel off the parchment and finish cooling on a wire rack.
5. For the buttercream icing, beat the margarine until soft and fluffy. Gradually sift in the icing sugar until well combined and add a tablespoon or two of milk to loosen slightly and some vanilla extract for flavour.
6. Spread the bottom layer of cake with the jam then use half the buttercream to sandwich the two cakes together. Spread the remaining buttercream on top.