Chocolate Liquorice Cake

I know I have been away for quite a while and so much has happened since I last updated this blog!

I have been handed my 5 week notice from the Civil Service and am looking to find a new job asap.  Although I knew this was coming for a little while now it still feels as though you’ve just walked into a glass wall.  You know, that shocking impact that comes out of nowhere and leaves a bewildered and slightly quizzical look on your face.   

Being handed your notice is like having the ground fall out from under your feet.  You feel queasy and sick.  You feel as if things don’t seem right or taste right and you feel very very scared.  I’m an optimist for the most part and believe everything happens for a reason but those first few days after being told the news were unpleasant to put it mildly.

So although I have put my head down and have been applying for jobs virtually non-stop for the past couple of months I have to admit I have found a lot of solace in baking when I’ve had the time to do it. 

This cake has been in the ‘idea section’ of my notes/favourites folder for a long time.  I like the taste of liquorice; it’s almost like a sharper sweeter version of cinnamon but without cinnamons complexity.  Almost a single note sweetness which I feel cuts through the taste of chocolate very well.  I’ve tried this combination before with my Upside Down Chocolate Plum and Aniseed Cake, where I paired the chocolate and plums with star anise, so I know that the chocolate/liquorice combo works well. 

Instead of using star anise this time though I used a liquorice bar which I chopped up and melted down in water which was then added to the cake.  I found a chocolate cake recipe which used a lot of water in the batter in order to achieve this.

The Easy Chocolate Cake recipe is one I’ve used many times.  True to its name, you just dunk all the ingredients into a bowl and mix, then mix in the water at the end.  I was thinking of trying this with mint leaves where you boil the water with fresh/dried mint and add to the recipe instead of mint flavouring – I wonder if the mint flavour will be strong enough to show up in the chocolate cake though...

Anyway the cake was lovely and soft with a nice dense fudgy texture but not too heavy.  It cut very well and the ganache goes very well with it.  Unfortunately the liquorice flavour wasn’t as strong as I expected it to be so I would definitely increase the liquorice from one bar to two bars.  Saying that though, the liquorice flavour seemed to get stronger on the 3^rd day (yes there was still some left over on day 3 – you only need a little slice to satisfy your chocolate craving) so the flavour somehow developed and deepened.  I would still increase the liquorice though and I’ve included the modification in the recipe below.

Chocolate Liquorice Cake

·         225g plain flour

·         350g caster sugar

·         85g cocoa powder

·         1 ½ tsp baking powder

·         1 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

·         2 free range eggs

·         250ml milk

·         125ml vegetable oil

·         2 tsp vanilla extract

·         250 ml boiling water

·         2 bars liquorice, chopped up (I used Panda All Natural Soft Liquorice Bar)

Preheat oven to 180 C, prepare two 8” round baking tins.

Boil the water with chopped liquorice until all the liquorice is dissolved.   Pour into a measuring jug and top up to 250ml again as some water will have evaportated.

In a large bowl, beat all the ingredients except the flavoured hot water until well mixed. 

Gradually add the boiling water until mixed in smoothly.  The batter will be very watery.

Divide the batter between the two tins and bake for about 30-35 minutes.  The cakes will be done when a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Allow to cool before icing.

Chocolate Ganache

·         200ml double cream

·         200g dark chocolate (I used Callebaut Fortina 65% dark chocolate)

Heat the cream until it just comes to a simmer and is heated through – don’t allow it to boil.

Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and leave alone for at least a minute.

With a whisk, gently start moving the mixture in small circles until you see a deep chocolate stain form, after which mix the whole until it is a uniform deep chocolate colour.  Don’t mix more than you need to. 

Leave the ganache covered to cool down and become spreadable.

Ice the two halves of the cake together.

Add some dark chocolate curls for decoration (again mines were from Callebaut - just saying for information sake, no product placement intended!).

Chocolate Chip Banana Pancakes with Caramel and Vanilla Mascarpone

I’m not really a pancake person.

My breakfast usually consists of a big bowl of porridge, with a sliced banana and maple syrup or toast/bagel/crumpet with tea.

Pancakes take a little bit too much effort in the morning and I usually find them a bit indulgent and filling (mind you, I do like to have them with a sliced banana and some squirty cream so maybe that’s why).

My usual recipe for pancakes isn’t even much of a recipe.  I crack an egg into a jug, add half a mug of milk, then enough plain flour to create a thickish batter.  Sugar is optional depending on who I’m making it for but I always add it for myself.

The idea of following a precise, written recipe for pancakes isn’t something that I would usually do, but coming upon this recipe just happened to coincide with me being in the rare mood for pancakes.  It also contained chocolate chips and bananas, a combination which I love, so I couldn’t resist.

All I can say about these are that they were absolutely delicious.  So moist, soft and fluffy inside, while having a very slight crunch on the outside.  These were perfect with the mascarpone and caramel topping, although they still make for a heavy and slightly indulgent breakfast in my opinion.  Moderate portions are the key here.

Chocolate Chip Banana Pancakes with Caramel and Vanilla Mascarpone

·         2 ripe bananas

·         2 eggs

·         200ml milk

·         150g self-raising flour

·         25g ground almonds

·         15ml/1tbsp caster sugar

·         Pinch salt

·         1tbsp chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)

·         Butter/oil for frying

For the mascarpone topping:

·         250g mascarpone

·         1tsp vanilla bean paste

·         2-3 tbsp caramel

·         2 tbsp golden syrup

In a bowl, mash the bananas and beat in the eggs and 100ml milk.  Combine the flour, almonds, sugar and salt and mix into the bananas/egg mixture.

Mix in the remaining milk and the chocolate chips.

Place some butter in a frying pan and let it heat up on medium-low heat.  On low heat, add a dollop (about 3-4 tbsp) of batter into the middle of the melted butter.

Once you begin to see bubbles appearing on the top of the batter, flip it over and cook for about a minute more.  Use up all the batter.

To make the caramel mascarpone topping simply mix all the ingredients together in bowl.  If you find it too thick then just thin it with a little amount of milk.

Serve spoonfuls of the caramel mascarpone on top of the pancakes.

Old Fashioned Cupcakes with Strawberry and Caramel Cream Cheese Icing

There was a time in my life that I would never have left the house without makeup.

I’m talking about a full-face war mask that covered every perceived blemish underneath it.  This entailed full coverage foundation, concealer, corrector, topped with mineral powder foundation (yes, two layers of foundation), then coloured with full on thick matte lipstick, blush, eyeshadow, eyeliner, oodles of mascara, and a little bronzer and highlighter.  It didn’t look as bad as it sounds but subtle it was not.

I was very into the beauty side of things before and bought a lot of cosmetics.  And I mean a lot.  An amount so large, that most of it had to be given away on a regular basis in one of my purging events that I have talked about before.  Mainly because there is no way I can use that much before it goes bad and partly because, well, it made way for more purchases.

But now that I’ve entered into my thirties, I’ve noticed that going out without makeup just doesn’t bother me anymore.  As I reached the end of my twenties I came to accept the slight dark circles that I naturally have under my eyes and the constant redness on my cheeks.  I realised that my forehead isn’t as big as I think it is and even though my eyes aren’t as large as all my sisters’ they aren’t small either.

I still draw the line at having the right side of my face photographed though – my nose looks much much straighter on the left side.

Still though, I think it is with age that you come to accept the things about you that make you uniquely you.  If you know what I mean.

One thing I haven’t been able to shift with age though is an annoying little emotion called guilt.  Guilt when you fail to live up to other people’s expectations.  Guilt when family sees you as being the best at something then you don’t or can’t deliver.  I think the desire to please features strongly here too.

You see this happened when I made those damned Ganache filled Red Velvet Cupcakes.  Cupcakes – not the things which give me the most joy when baking.  But these were so good that requests came thick and fast for more and I set about making what I described as a ‘top three desert island dessert’ under much pressure and at a point in time when I was in a very low mood.   

The combination of pressure and low mood and distractions and I don’t know what else made these turn out not as good as the first batch.  Since some in the family wanted to (and did) give these to friends because they were so impressed with them, well...  It just drenched me with feelings of guilt.

They weren’t bad exactly, just not as good as before.  I tried to look back and analyse what went wrong and I realised a couple of things.  Firstly I used all plain flour and missed out the cornflour by accident.  This was because I had written ‘cake flour’ in my notepad (copying direct from the site) and didn’t substitute the amount of cornflour into the flour quantity that I know I’m supposed to do when I write down ‘cake flour’.  I also doubled the recipe since so many wanted seconds the first time but didn’t get any.  I’m not sure what happened in the doubling of the recipe but there was a lot of oil.  Maybe I should have decreased the quantity of oil a little when doubling – I don’t know. 

You can see here that the texture was dry, crispy and crumbly on the top and edges

I should definitely have used the electric whisk which I advised you all to do in the post, but I didn’t.  I used a hand held whisk because there were too many people milling about the kitchen and I didn’t want to go in there.  These are not excuses by the way, this is an analysis. 

So the oil wasn’t thoroughly incorporated into the batter and when placed into the cupcake cases, separated even more.  I also lost my ice-cream scoop.  Because this was my parents’ house and things get lost very quickly and very easily in my parents’ house.  So I had to use two tablespoons which took longer and gave the cupcakes more time to separate.  These then basically baked with a slight layer of separated oil which made the top and sides crunchy and nothing like the soft, light, fluffy ones I made before.  The taste was still great but the texture was all wrong.

The cake still tasted great though and the inside was soft

So what did I do to remedy the situation?  I set about trying to find another batch of the best tasting cupcakes I could.

When I came across these in my then newly purchased book Back in the Day Bakery by Cheryl and Griffith Day I was very hopeful.  Partly because the recipe uses the reverse creaming method which I have tried with good results before, making a cake that was very soft albeit a little dense.  I was curious to see how they would translate into cupcakes and can say that they were a tremendous success.  You know they taste good when people are eating them without them even being iced yet.

When I did manage to ice the ones left I used my own very simple cream cheese icing rather than the buttercream suggested in the book.  I rarely like simple buttercream as I find it too sweet.  I think the cream cheese cuts into that sweetness very nicely and always prefer it for simple icing.  After making the cream cheese icing, I divided it into two bowls and placed some strawberry jam and pink food colouring in one and some spoonfuls of caramel and tangerine food colouring in the other.   I find this is the simplest method of making ‘different flavoured’ cupcakes and it does make a difference in taste even though the vanilla cupcake underneath the icing is the same.  It’s a great technique if you’re baking for a fund raiser/stall/farmers market as you can get lots of flavours by using the same cupcake recipe and adjusting the icing a little.  You can try it with adding different flavoured jams, citrus zest, purees and conserves, then by coring the cupcake and adding the correspondingly flavoured jam, curd or ganache.

This is an American book so all the recipes are in volume measurements using cups (1 cup = 250ml).  I’m very comfortable using both cups and grams and have the equipment for both, so rarely convert volume measurements into grams although I will give the calculated equivalents in brackets below.  I also can’t find cake flour in the UK and when the recipe calls for it, I always use a mix of plain flour and cornflour to substitute.

Old Fashioned Cupcakes with Strawberry and Caramel Cream Cheese Icing (adapted from Back in the Day Bakery)

This recipe makes some very soft cupcakes that are just the perfect balance between dense and fluffy, although slightly leaning more towards the dense side.  The vanilla flavour is very well showcased and I feel it’s better to use vanilla paste or a vanilla pod if you have them as the taste will be so much better and pronounced.  Although the cake is good on its own, taking a bite with the cream cheese icing is just sublime.  This is definitely my favourite vanilla cupcake recipe, I feel like I don’t need to look for another now that I have this in my repertoire.  

Vanilla Cupcakes (makes 24)

·         1 cup (250ml) full fat milk

·         1 tsp vanilla extract or ¼ tsp vanilla paste

·         2 ¾ cups (400g) plain flour

·         ¼ cup (30g) cornflour

·         2 cups (400g) sugar (I used caster)

·         1 tbsp baking powder

·         ¾ tsp fine sea salt

·         ½ pound (230g) unsalted butter, cut into cubes, room temperature

·         4 large eggs, room temperature

Preheat the oven to 180C and prepare 24 muffin tins with liners (I used muffin liners rather than cupcake liners and got exactly 24 cupcakes).

Mix together the milk and vanilla and set aside.

Combine the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt together until well incorporated (I did this by a hand whisk).

Add the butter to the dry ingredients and mix with an electric mixer until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.  I personally find it easier to mix in the butter by hand, using the tips of my fingers to rub the butter into the dry ingredients.  It is also far more enjoyable!

Add the eggs one at a time mix in thoroughly after each addition.  Gradually add the milk and vanilla and mix until well incorporated.

Using a large ice cream scoop if you have one (or two tablespoons, if you don’t), scoop the batter into the liners and bake for about 25 minutes.

Cream Cheese Icing

·         200g Philadelphia Cream Cheese (full fat), from fridge

·         250g unsalted butter, room temperature

·         750g-1kg icing sugar

·         Strawberry jam

·         Caramel

·         Pink and tangerine food colouring

Whisk the cream cheese with an electric whisk until lightened.  Add the butter and whisk until the two ingredients are well mixed.

Gradually add the icing sugar and mix in each addition by hand first before using the electric whisk to prevent it flying all over the place.  You can sift the icing sugar before adding to make it easier to incorporate but I don’t.  Keep adding the icing sugar until you have a consistency of icing that is fairly firm – you will be adding jams and caramel to it later which will soften it up.  I used approximately 750g icing sugar.

Divide the icing into two bowls (or more if using more than two flavours).  Add about 3 tbsps of jam (or to taste) to one and mix in, then add a little pink food colouring if you prefer – the jam turns the icing a little pink so you might not want to add the extra colouring.  Add about 4-5 tbsps (or to taste) of caramel to the other with the tangerine food colouring and mix in well.  If you don’t have pink and tangerine food colouring then simply substitute with what you do have to hand.

Assembly

Once the cupcakes have cooled completely, place the icing in icing bags fitted with icing nozzles of your choice (try saying that really fast!).  decorate with sprinkles and dragees of your choice.