Elderflower, vanilla and strawberry cream sponge.

Every thing recently has been busy and I mean really busy. Work has been busy and I've been busy. Have I said busy enough yet? Anyway after work on Saturday I had to hurry home, even turning drinks with my work girls down, because I needed to bake this cake. Not just any cake but my mum's birthday cake. I had this cake planned for a while and after searching around for recipe inspiration I finally found a recipe that worked well for me and with few tweaks I had it sorted.

I decided that no birthday cake is perfect until it's been topped with cake bunting. Or as my brother called it a clothes line. I made one before if you fancy a little diy project.  I will warn you as this cake contains cream it will need to be eaten within two days and stored in the fridge. But that shouldn't be a problem with how delicious this is!

You will also need to use English strawberries. Preferably local strawberries. I walked past the market in the morning nd was tempted to buy them but didn't want to store them at work so I waited until my lunch which worked out to be a good thing as they were on offer two punnets for £1. Can't argue with that and they taste so good.

Anyway enough chat. Time for cake!

You will need:

 175g butter, softened

 175g caster sugar

 3 eggs, lightly beaten

 175g self-raising flour

1 tbsp vanilla extract

 3 tbsp elderflower cordial

 300ml pot of double cream

 225g strawberries

 icing sugar, to dust

Grease and line 2 x 20cm cake tins. 

Preheat oven to 190ºC (375ºF, gas 5). 

Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, then fold in the flour and 2 tbsp elderflower cordial.

Spoon the mixture into the cake tins and level the surface. Bake for 20 mins or until the sponge has risen and springs back when pressed lightly.

Cool in the tins then turn out. Whip the cream until it holds its shape. Fold in the remaining 1 tbsp elderflower cordial. Slice the strawberries in half leaving a few for the top of the cake.

Spoon the cream onto one cake and arrange the cut strawberries in the on the cake. Top with second sponge and press down lightly. Add a small amount of cream to the top of the cake and place a few whole strawberries. Dust with icing sugar. 

Enjoy!

Valentines hearts recipe!

So tomorrow is the day to celebrate love or drown your sorrows if once again your spending it alone. Valentines never used to be like that for us. Every Valentines day Jack Valentine would pay a visit. We would hide upstairs and wait for him to ring the doorbell. By the time we ran downstairs Jack Valentine would be long gone and he would have left each of us a brown paper bag full of goodies. Usually notebooks, pencils and a love heart chocolate. Being a child we innocently believed it and I still have magical memories of Jack Valentine.

Tomorrow I will be cooking a Valentines meal. It will be our third together and the end of the month marks our four year anniversary.

I baked these vanilla hearts, which would make a perfect gift to put in a Jack Valentine bag for children, give to your loved one or eat yourself!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

325g plain flour

200g chilled salted butter

125g/4½oz golden caster sugar

2 tsp good-quality vanilla extract

2 large free range egg yolks

100g chocolate, melted

1. Place the flour in a bowl, cut up the butter and add to the bowl. Mix together to make breadcrumbs. (Do this by rubbing the butter into the flour.)

2. Add the vanilla extract, egg yolks and sugar. Mix together to form a dough.

3. Chill the dough for around an hour.

4. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/Gas 4 and lightly grease 2 large baking sheets.

5. Roll the dough out on a floured surface and cut out hearts with a heart cutter, place onto the baking sheets.

6. Bake for around 10 minutes until golden brown, keep and eye on them so they don't burn.

7. Once cooked leave to cool.

8. Serve the hearts with the chocolate and let people dip for themselves. If you are giving them as a gift dip in chocolate and wait for the chocolate to set before wrapping.

♥

Birthday Blog Cupcakes!

Tomorrow marks my blog's first birthday! I can't believe that I've occupied this space on the Internet for that long. I'm also proud of the things I've achieved and I want to say a massive thank you to everyone that follows, supports and comments on my posts. I literally wouldn't be here without you.

Well now I've got the soppy stuff over, it's not a celebration without cake. So I came up with an idea, to create something a bit special. My rosewater and vanilla cupcakes. Here's the recipe for you guys:

Ingredients:

150g butter, softened

150g caster sugar

175g self-raising flour

3 free range eggs

4 capfuls of vanilla extract

5 capfuls of rosewater essence

Few drops of pink food colouring

1. Line a 12 section bun tray with pretty cases and preheat the oven to 180ºC/Gas Mark 4.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar. I use an electric mixer as it makes the mixture smoother but it can be done by hand.

3. Sieve in some of the flour and crack in one egg and mix, continue doing this until all the ingredients are mixed together.

4. Add the vanilla extract and give the mixture another whisk (for luck)

5. Fill the cases half full with half of the vanilla mixture. You should be left with another half ,to

this add the rosewater and add the pink food colouring and set aside.

6. Put the cakes into the oven for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes take the cakes out of the oven and

 spoon the pink mixture over the top. Pop back into the oven for a further 12 minutes. The cakes should be

firm to touch.

7. Cool the cakes on a wire rack.

8. Decorate with buttercream frosting and sprinkles.

I hope that's not too confusing. Layering the mixtures up will mean you get the two tone effect in the picture above. You could always add the pink food colouring to all of the mixture and just make pretty pink cupcakes!

♥