Chocolate and Raspberry Layer Cake

Last week I asked J what cake he would like to have. He said chocolate so I asked him to pair it with a fruit so I could enter it to the Love Cake challenge which has the theme of Feeling Fruity.  He chose cherries but I'd only recently made a chocolate and cherry black forest cake so he chose raspberries. I love the combination of chocolate and raspberries so I immediately did a google search for 'chocolate and raspberry cake'. On the image search, we both pointed to this cake and said wow. Mine does not look as good as the picture on the blog but it's close enough and more importantly it tasted really good. 

The cake turned out to be humongous. I knew it was a 3 layer cake but I didn't expect it to be this tall. There was a good height to each of the sponges and with the addition of the icing it made for a very impressive looking cake. The chocolate sponge was really moist and chocolatey and still tasted fresh a week after baking. Yes it took us more than a week to eat the cake despite giving away almost half the cake! The icing was our favourite. I've not made icing using jam before and I'll definitely be using this idea again. I was worried it was going to be too sweet but it wasn't and it gave such a lovely pink colour to the icing. No artificial colouring required. The best bit of course is the chocolate ganache dripping down the cake. I was also rather pleased at finding some super large raspberries to decorate the cake with. 

I'm sending this to a few blogging challenges...

AlphaBakes hosted by myself this month and co hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes. The letter is L and this is definitely a Layer cake. I have to thank Kate from the Gluten Free Alchemist for the idea of a layer cake for L for Alphabakes as she submitted a very gorgeous Layered Dark & White Chocolate Raspberry Cake for the challenge. 

Love Cake hosted by Ness from Jibber Jabber Uk. As mentioned this was the original inspiration for the fruit element of the cake as the theme this month is Feeling Fruity. This cake has fresh raspberries on top and raspberry jam in the icing. 

Bake of the Week hosted by Casa Costello 

 Cook Blog Share hosted by Supergolden Bakes

 making the raspberry icing - I love the bright pink colour 

 slightly messy icing but look at the size of that cake! 

 I love how the ganache drips down the side 

 with chocolate ganache and fresh raspberries on top 

 

 Look at the size of those raspberries! 

 A gigantic slice of cake 

Recipe adapted slightly from GrandBaby Cakes (which was adapted from Country Living) 

For the cake 

475g plain flour

160g cocoa powder

450g caster sugar

1.5 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

1.5 teaspoons baking powder

3 eggs

180mls vevgetable oil

300mls sour cream

250mls hot water

For the icing

450g butter

490g seedless raspberry jam

380g icing sugar, sifted

For the chocolate ganache

150g dark chocolate

150mls double cream

To decorate

Fresh raspberries

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Spray 3 x 18cm sandwich tins with non stick spray and line with greaseproof paper.
• Sift the flour and cocoa powder in to a large bowl.
• Add in the bicarbonate or soda, baking powder and sugar.
• Place these ingredients in your mixing bowl (if using an electric mixer; otherwise mix by hand)
• Add in the remaining ingredients and mix until you get a smooth batter.
• Divide the batter evenly between the 3 tins - I usually weigh mine so they are all the same size.
• Bake in the preheated oven for about 35 - 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow to cool completely on a wire rack. 
• To make the icing, beat the butter and icing sugar until smooth. Then add in the raspberry jam and continue beating until it's smooth.
• Spread the icing between each layer of cake and cover the cake on the top and sides with the icing.
• To make the chocolate ganache, heat the cream in a small saucepan until just boiling.
• Remove from the heat and allow to stand for a few minutes. 
• Add in the chocolate and stir continuously until smooth. 
• Pour the chocolate ganache in the centre of the cake and allow it to drip over the sides. 
• Decorate with fresh raspberries. 

Lemon and Poppyseed Cake

I had a craving for lemon cake the other day. I found the end of a bag of poppyseeds so I decided to add that in as well. I used my cake tin from Ikea and was really impressed by the pattern created by the icing after it cooled. It looks like a beautiful flower. The cake was moist and very lemony and received high praise at J's work. Fortunately, I managed to try a slice but I do wish I had more! Lemon cake is definitely one of my all time favourites. What's your favourite cake? 

 sorry the lighting is really poor this time of the year 

 adding lovely lemon zest and poppyseeds

 ready to bake 

 love the flower pattern 

Recipe adapted slightly from BBC Good Food

For the cake
175g butter
175g golden caster sugar
200g plain flour, sifted
Zest of 4 lemons
Juice of 2 lemons
3 eggs
2 tablespoons poppyseed
150mls sour cream

For the icing 
200g icing sugar
3-5 tablespoons lemon juice

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Cream butter and sugar until smooth.
• Add in the eggs, one at at time, mixing well between each addition. 
• Stir in the lemon zest and poppyseeds.
• Add the sour cream, lemon juice and flour. 
• Pour into a greased baking tin and bake for approximately 50-60 minutes (depending on size of tin) until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• As soon as the cake is out of the oven, use a fork to prick holes all over the cake. Pour 3-4 tablespoons of the icing (see below) on top of the cake and leave it to absorb. 
• Turn the cake out after about 10 minutes onto a serving plate.
• Thicken the icing slightly by adding more icing sugar and pour over the top of the cake. 
• to make the icing, sift the icing sugar into a large bowl. Slowly add the lemon juice and stir until smooth. Initially, make the icing a little runny to spread over the cake then thicken with icing sugar for the glaze.

Blackberry, Lemon and Vanilla Cheesecake

J's favourite fruit is blackberries and he is always asking for a blackberry dessert. Luckily I had a large box of blackberries from my colleague's garden in the freezer. I've made numerous crumbles with them but this time I wanted to make something a little special. J also loves cheesecake hence this blackberry, lemon and vanilla cheesecake. The inspiration for this recipe was a lovely two layer cheesecake but unfortunately mine looks nothing like that! However, it tasted heavenly and that's what really counts. I made a vanilla layer using vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste and a blackberry & lemon layer. The blackberry layer was a little tart and paired perfectly with the sweeter vanilla layer. 

I'm sending this to  Four Seasons Food hosted by Louisa from Eat Your Veg and co hosted by Anneli from Delicieux. The theme this month is "getting fruity".

It also fits in to Shop Local hosted by Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary. This challenge was created to highlight produce from local sources. The blackberres in this recipe came from a colleague's garden. 

 digestive biscuit base 

  blackberry mix on the left and vanilla mix on the right 

 ready to go in the oven 

 after baking for about 25 minutes 

 adding vanilla mix on top which mostly sunk to the middle, pushing the blackberry layer to the outside 

 

Recipe adapted from ivillage.com
40g butter
300mls sour cream
18-20 digestive biscuits
900g cream cheese
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
220g caster sugar
180mls milk
4 eggs
360g frozen blackberries
zest and juice of 1 lemon

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Melt the butter in the microwave or in a small saucepan.
• Blitz the digestive biscuits in a food processor and stir in the melted butter. 
• Press into the bottom of a lined 23cm springform tin making sure that the biscuits also go partway up the sides of the tin.
• Place in the fridge to chill whilst you make the filling. 
• Beat the cream cheese and sugar until combined. 
• Add in the milk then beat in the eggs, one at a time.
• Add in the sour cream and continue mixing until smooth.
• Divide the mixture evenly between 2 large bowls. 
• In a food processor, puree approximately 300g of the blackberries with the zest and juice of 1 lemon. Pour into 1 of the cream cheese mix and stir in the whole blackberries.
• In the 2nd cream cheese mix, add the vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste and mix well.
• Pour the blackberry filling on to the biscuit base and bake for approximately 25 minutes  (recipe said 10 minutes but even 25 minutes was not enough for me - it probably needs 35-40 minutes) 
• Remove the cheesecake from the oven and pour the vanilla filling on top.
• Return to the oven and continue baking for another hour or until the top is set.
• Chill in the fridge before serving. 

Banana and Berry Loaf

Apologies for the long absence, September has been a really busy month as I was away celebrating my birthday and moving house in between! I then got a bad chest infection/sore throat which meant no unpacking, no baking or blogging! Anyway I am just about back on my feet so I thought I'd share this recipe with you quickly. I baked this back in August before moving house as I had leftover ingredients to use up. It's a really quick and simple bake and tastes amazing!! I really loved the chocolate chunks with the berries and bananas. 

I'm sending this to the No Waste Food Challenge run by Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary. This month it's guest hosted by Mireille from Chef Mireille's East West Realm. I used up leftover fruit and half a bag of chocolate chunks for this recipe.

Similarly it's suitable for Credit Crunch Munch hosted by Sarah from Maison Cupcake for Helen and Camilla.

It's also perfect for the Vegetable Palette hosted by Shaheen from Allotment 2 Kitchen. The September challenge is purple and blues. The blueberries are blue but they look purple after baking! 

Finally to Four Seasons Food hosted by Louisa from Eat Your Veg and co hosted by Anneli from Delicieux. The theme this month is "getting fruity" and there's plenty of fruit in this!

 I like adding chunks of banana rather than completely mashing them up 

 adding sour cream 

 lovely fresh berries 

 leatherwood honey - a really fragrant solid honey from Australia 

 chocolate chunks for extra indulgence

 

An original recipe by bakingaddict 

220g flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
115g brown sugar
1 tablespoon Leatherwood honey
80mls vegetable oil
2 eggs
125mls sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 bananas, cut into large chunks
blueberries,raspberries and a handful of chocolate chunks (I forgot to weigh the berries but just throw in what you have)

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Whisk the sugar and vegetable oil together then add in the eggs and continue whisking. 
• Stir in the mashed bananas followed by the sour cream .
• Gently fold in the berries by hand.
• Add the flour and baking powder to the mixture.
• Stir in the honey.
• Mix briefly being sure not to overmix.
• Finally stir in the chocolate chunks and pour into a loaf tin. 
• Bake for approximately 50minutes - 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Check at 45 minutes as you will need to cover the top with foil if it's too brown. 

Chocolate and Mint Loaf

Remember I mentioned in previous posts about getting goodies from a friend who visited America? I asked for Andes creme de menthe baking chips as I've baked with them previously and they were really tasty so I was really pleased she got me a bag of these. Unfortunately it was one of the hottest days of the year when I received these and we were out for the whole day so these sat baking in the car boot. Unsurprisingly when I got to them they had melted completely so I popped them in the fridge when I got home and it solidifed again but in a giant lump. I didn't want to waste them so I decided to incorporate them into a chocolate and mint loaf cake. I put about 1/2 of the bag into the cake and sprinkled some on top of the cake before baking. I used the remainder to make a minty chocolate ganache to go with the cake. The result was a really moist chocolatey and minty cake with a delicious mint chocolate ganache. You could still taste chunks of the mint chocolate in the cake which was my favourite part. I suspect these would be good in brownies too which was my other option. 

 This is what it looked like after it had melted and then been refrigerated 

 

For the cake
100 grams plain flour
100 grams caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
20 g cocoa powder
90 g unsalted butter
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
75 ml sour cream
~150g Andes Creme de menthe baking chips + ~25g for the topping

For the ganache
50 mls double cream
~100g Andes Creme de menthe baking chips

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Place all the ingredients for the cake in a stand mixer and mix until smooth. Alternatively mix everything by hand in a large mixing bowl.
• Pour the cake batter into a loaf tin.
• Sprinkle the top with Andes creme de menthe baking chips.
• Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it's almost boiling.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the mint baking chips.
• Continue stirring until smooth.
• Pour the ganache over the cake before serving.