Summer berry USA flag traybake

For my second Cake Club meeting, I made a lemon sponge traybake, decorated with strawberries and blueberries in an American flag design - the theme was 'Born in the USA'.

Can you guess what it is yet?

It took me a while to think of a cake themed to our cousins across the pond. I've visited America loads of times, but I have to admit that I can't remember eating cake there - at least, none so good that it's stuck in my memory. Doughnuts, yes, plenty... Lots of pie... Loads of cookies... But I couldn't think of the sort of cake that would sum up my experience of America. Should I make a bundt cake (a la Dolly Bakes)? They eat them 'over there', and I certainly have a lot of recipes to choose from. But then someone said the clue in the name was that they were German, not American, so I scrapped that idea.

Everyone I canvased opinion from simply replied with Mississippi mud pie, or key lime pie, or apple pie... It's a CAKE CLUB, I retorted!

I set on the idea of using the American theme in the decoration, having seen a similar idea with the Union Jack for the upcoming Jubilee. I had been considering it for our Jubilee party, but instead decided to turn it into the Stars & Stripes.

The Stars & Stripes

I used a simple yet fluffy and light lemon sponge recipe, topped with buttercream, with blueberries and strawberries in the flag design. I even counted the number of stripes.

I have to admit, this was one of the best cakes I've ever made. The buttercream was delicious - the creamiest, smoothest, loveliest buttercream. I used my Kitchenaid for the buttercream this time, which I normally don't bother with, but I always will in future. I heeded Eric Lanlard's comments on a recent episode of Baking Mad where he explained how to cream the butter and ensure the result wasn't too grainy, by making sure the sugar was properly dissolved into the butter. Yum.

My first traybake

100g marg
175g self-raising flour
50g ground almonds
2tsp baking powder
4 eggs
225g caster sugar
125ml Greek yogurt
zest of 2 lemons

Put all the ingredients in a bowl. Mix them all together. Job's a goodun.
Pour into a traybake cake tin, 30cm x 20cm - I treated myself to a new tin just for this bake.
Bake in the oven at 180 degrees (160 fan) for 30 minutes.

I used about half a pack of butter and about 300g ish of icing sugar (but I never measure buttercream!). After laying out the stripes, I thought about laying tiny white marshmallows inbetween, just to crank up the American-ness of the cake. But I didn't like how it looked, and preferred the simplicity with just the berries.

Everyone at Cake Club was impressed. Mine certainly was the most attractive cake. I have lots of berries left over, so I might yet make a Union Jack version at the weekend.

A delicious use of summer berries

My first Meal Planning Monday

I'm grabbing hold of the Meal Planning Monday baton and running with it...

I've always been a weekly meal planner - I've just never written it down before, so why not start now. For me it's a must. It organises me and the other half, and takes the pressure off trying to think of something tasty and nutritious either first thing in the morning with bleary eyes, staring into the freezer trying to imagine being hungry in 10 hours, or in a rush the second I get in the door from work when all I want is a cup of tea. It also saves money, most definitely, and is a great way to make sure everything is healthy and balanced. I'm not very good at being spontaneous, neither in general day-to-day events nor at dinner time, so it suits me.

It also means I get a dedicated amount of time to sit down with recipe books and food magazines, browsing through new ideas and recipes.

This week, we shall mostly be eating:

Monday: Steve's still in Wales mountain biking, and I'm going to a cake club, so I won't have dinner.

Tuesday: Sweet & sour chicken kebabs, with peppers and pineapple, with fruity noodles.

Weds: Jacket potatoes with tuna and beans (a guilty pleasure of mine).

Thurs: Salmon and brown rice salad with soya beans and cucumber.

Friday: Curried chicken and mango salad.

Saturday: Sausages with a salad of roasted butternut squash & peppers with rocket.

Sunday: Who knows. I like to leave one day open for whatever's left in it fridge!

Thanks to Dolly Bakes for introducing me to Meal Planning Mondays!

Cake Night - Cherry Bakewell Cake

Cake really is made for sharing.

Tonight I had Cake Night with my friend and colleague, Kelly, a talented journalist so full of ideas she doesn't know what to do with them. But although she's mastered the art of words, she isn't so great in the kitchen (we had to explain how to make scrambled eggs not so long ago).

Cherry Bakewell Cake

So, we arranged Cake Night, a bit like a school cookery lesson, but time to chat and relax together too. We baked a Cherry Bakewell Cake, something quite simple but with great results. I was proud of Kelly's first cake...

200g margarine
200g golden caster sugar
100g ground almonds
100g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp almond essence
4 large eggs

Put everything in a big bowl and mix together (it helps if the marg is nice and soft to start with). Pour into two 20cm cake tins, and bake at 180 degrees (160fan) for about 30 - 35 minutes. The cake will be quite soft and spongy when cooked, but a skewer should come out clean.

When cool, spread one layer with cherry jam or conserve. Place the second layer on top, and spread over some icing (icing sugar & cooled boiled water - I never measure icing amounts!). Finish off with a sprinkling of toasted flaked almonds. 

Make sure to grease your tins and use baking paper. We didn't have any baking paper, and so a little part of the cake fell off as we were trying to turn them out, but the icing soon covered that part up - and it tasted great even if it wasn't the neatest.

Slighty wonky part...

It was lovely to spend time with a friend, chatting and baking together, and then being proud of something we made together. There's something so fulfilling of slicing up that cake you'vev spent time perfecting, sharing it out to friends and family, and enjoying watching them tell you it's delicious.

This cake was ideal for a beginner, as you just bung everything in a bowl, mix, and hope for the best. The taste is beautiful - the tang of the cherries, the sweet icing, the scrumptious almonds... It really is like a cherry bakewell tart in a cake.

Delicious and just like a cherry bakewell tart

Delicious chocolate cake

To celebrate my almost-brother-in-law's birthday this weekend, I made a gorgeous Devil's Food Cake. This chocolate cake recipe is just divine - it's fluffy, light but dense, sticky but melting and floaty. I love this recipe and I maintain it's the best cake I've made.

I still haven't made the ideal frosting - an egg white, marshmallowy creation - but have been experimenting with different approaches. This time, I melted 150g of dark chocolate in 150ml of double cream, heated in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Once cooled, I spread some to sandwich the cakes together, then more on the top....and then the leftovers around the sides too. Topped with a few chocolate vermicelli, it looked yummy.

And it tasted SO GOOD......!

How to make a strawberry meringue roulade

My boyfriend is brilliant, and knows how to make a strawberry meringue roulade, without any help from me... I feel proud, but also a little jealous that he's reasonably adequate in the baking department - that's supposed to be my thing!

 This recipe makes a really yummy meringue, squidgy in the middle, with a good crunch from the almonds.

4 medium egg whites
1 tsp lemon juice
225g caster sugar
1 tsp cornflour
Some flaked almonds
Some strawberries, chopped

Whisk the egg whites and lemon juice together until you have stiff peaks. It doesn't need to be totally stiff as if you were making proper meringues though.
Mix together the sugar and cornflour.
Whisk in the sugar mixture one spoonful at a time. You want the egg white mix to look thick, smooth, and gloss, but don't over-whisk.
Spread evenly into a roulade baking tin that you've lined with baking paper.
Sprinkle almonds on top.
Bake at 150C for about 45 minutes.
Turn meringue out of tin on to a piece of baking paper and allow to cool for about 15 minutes. Take the paper off and place on a cooling rack.
Once cool, whip some double cream - I never measure it, but used most of a 300ml tub of cream. Spread whipped cream on to meringue, sprinkle over the chopped strawberries.

Now, you're meant to roll from long edge to long edge, although sometimes I roll from short edge to short edge. The former gives you a longer sausage of roulade, meaning you get more slices out of it... however, the latter means you get less slices, but they're bigger slices...

Delicious. But it's best to feed a crowd - the boyfriend made it just for the two of us, and we kept the leftovers in the fridge, but with the strawberries this meant it leaked a bit. Best eaten on the day.