Spiced squash ring cake Recipe

Spiced squash ring cake Recipe

Ingredients

·         400g (14oz) prepared butternut squash

·         175ml (6fl oz) sunflower oil

·         250g (8oz) light muscovado sugar

·         2 medium eggs

·         175g (6oz) self-raising flour, sieved

·         ¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda

·         1 tsp ground ginger

·         ½ tsp each ground cinnamon and ground mixed spice

·              FOR THE FROSTING:

·         200g tub cream cheese

·         397g can caramel (we used Nestlé Carnation Caramel)

·         60g (2oz) crystallised ginger, chopped

·         21cm/8¼in (1 litre/1¾ pint capacity) ring tin, non-stick if possible, or greased and lined

Method

·         Set the oven to Gas Mark 4 or 180°C. Put the squash flesh into a large bowl with 1 tablespoon water. Cover with cling film, pierce the film a few times, then microwave on High for 8 mins. Alternatively, cook in pan with 4 tbsp water for 15 mins, then drain.

·         Use a hand-held stick blender to blend the pumpkin flesh until smooth.

·         Put the oil, sugar and eggs in a large bowl and whisk together, using a hand-held electric mixer, until thick and pale.

·         Fold in the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and spices. Gently stir in the pumpkin purée. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin. Bake for 50 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

·         Leave the cake in the tin for 5 mins. Run a knife around the edges and turn cake out on to a wire rack to cool.

·         To make the frosting: Mix the cream cheese with 4 tbsp of the caramel (either by hand or in a food processor). Spread this over the top of the cake and sprinkle with chopped ginger. Put the rest of the caramel in a jug, stand this in a pan of water, or microwave it on High for about 30 seconds until it softens. Drizzle some of the caramel over the cake, to finish. Serve the rest of it alongside as a sauce.

·         Loosely wrap cooled and decorated squash cake in cling film, then put into a sealed freezer-proof box for up to 1 month. Defrost at room temperature for 2 hours or overnight in the fridge.

Gordon Ramsay’s Black Forest cake Recipe

Gordon Ramsay’s Black Forest cake Recipe

    

Ingredients

·         For The Chocolate Sponge:

·         125g self-raising flour

·         2 tsp baking powder

·         3 tbsp cocoa powder

·         5 large eggs, separated

·         200g unsalted butter, softened

·         150g caster sugar

·         2 tbsp cooled espresso or strong coffee

·         100g dark chocolate (minimum 65% cocoa solids), melted in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water

·         For The Filling And Topping:

·         500g ripe cherries

·         60g caster sugar

·         75ml kirsch or cherry brandy

·         550ml double cream

·         1-2 tbsp icing sugar, to taste

·         4-5 tbsp good-quality cherry compote

·         Grated chocolate, to garnish

Method

·         Preheat the oven to 150ºC/Gas 2. Butter, line and butter again the base and sides of a 23cm cake tin. Sieve the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together and set aside.

·         In a large grease-free bowl, whisk the egg whites to firm peaks using an electric beater. Beat the butter and sugar in another mixing bowl until pale and light. Beat in the yolks one at a time, then fold the espresso through, followed by the melted chocolate.

·         In several batches, fold the sifted flour mixture and the beaten egg whites alternately into the butter mixture. Spread the combined batter over the base of the prepared tin and level with a spatula.

·         Bake for 40-50 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake emerges clean. Cool for 5 minutes and then turn out on to a wire rack. Peel off the baking parchment.

·         Remove the stems and pit three-quarters of the cherries, leaving the stems on the remaining cherries to garnish. Put all the cherries, the sugar and kirsch in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the cherries are just soft, giving them an occasional stir. Tip the cherries and kirsch syrup into a bowl and leave to cool completely.

·         Meanwhile, whisk the cream and icing sugar into soft peaks.

·         Using a long, sharp knife, halve the cake horizontally. Drizzle each half with the kirsch syrup from the cherries to moisten. Place the bottom half on a cake stand and spread over half the whipped cream. Arrange the stemmed and pitted cherries over the cream, then spoon over a layer of cherry compote. Top with the upper half of the cake. Spread the remaining cream on top. Sprinkle over a little grated chocolate, then garnish with the whole stemmed cherries.

Piñata cake 

 

What’s a piñata cake?

Cut into a normal looking sponge cake to reveal a naughty surprise – it’s packed full of sweets!

But how is it done? It’s actually quite easy to hide a hidden centre in your bakes – and we’re here to show you how.

With our simple step-by-step recipe, our piñata cake is much easier to make than you may think. All you have to do is hollow out the inside of the sponge after baking and pack it with a variety of sweets.

You can choose jellied sweets like Haribo or chocolate sweets like M&Ms, just remember to make sure your cake is completely cooled before you add the sweets otherwise they’ll melt inside.

Decorate with different coloured buttercream to make it extra special. We used purple, blue, pink and green, but you could use whichever colours you prefer – you could even go one step further a choose all the colours of the rainbow!

This cake should serve up to 6 people and will last 3 days in an airtight container. This recipe would work just as well with a chocolate cake mixture and you can also fill it with fresh fruits or chocolates – the possibilities are endless!

The cake is named after a classic pinata which kids beat to make the sweets fall out, but we wouldn’t advise taking a bat to this treat: it’s far too tasty to waste. Simply slice into the pinata cake to reveal the surprise. Little eyes will light up seeing the sweets tumble out the middle of this extra special bake.

This cake takes 25 mins to bake and 1hr to fill and decorate.

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 200g butter
• 200g caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 2tsp vanilla extract
• 200g self-raising flour
• 1tsp baking powder

For the buttercream:

• 550g icing sugar
• 175g butter
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 2tsp water
• Food colouring; purple, pink, green and blue

To decorate and fill:

• Hundreds and thousands
• M&Ms
• Skittles
• Haribo sweets
• Dolly mix

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Step 1

 
 

Preheat oven 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and line 2x 21cm/9inch cake tins with greaseproof paper.

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Step 2

 
 

Make your sponges using the all-in-one method, pour all of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl and whisk with an electric hand whisk until combined. Once combined, pour into the cake tins making sure you they’re as even as possible.

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Step 3

 
 

Bake in the oven for 20-25 mins until springy to the touch. Turn the cakes out onto a wire rack and decide which is going to be the base and which is going to be the topper. Turn the base upside down and leave to cool.

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Step 4

 
 

Meanwhile prepare the buttercream. Whisk the butter and vanilla extract and gradually add in the icing sugar until combined. If the mixture is too thick, add a little water, if it’s too thin, add some more icing sugar until it reaches a creamy texture. You don’t want the mixture to be too wet as you’ll be adding food colouring to it later on. Leave to one side.

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Step 5

 
 

Turn the top cake upside down and mark out a circle on the sponge using a sharp knife. Make sure you don’t cut all the way through the sponge, you want to go half way down and scoop out the insides. Do the same to the base cake.

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Step 6

 
 

Once you’re happy with both sponges, cover the outside edges of each layer with a light buttercream. You can do this neatly using a small spoon or spatula.

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Step 7

 
 

Pop the base cake onto your chosen serving plate or board and pack it with different sweets and chocolates. Make a little mound of sweets and when you’re happy with the amount put the topper cake on top like a lid. Press the edges down firmly so they sandwich together.

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Step 8

 
 

Coat the cake in a light buttercream layer – this is a crumb coat which will stop any crumbs from sticking onto your final decorations. Leave to one side to set.

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Step 9

 
 

Split the rest of the buttercream mixture evenly into 4 separate bowls. Add a few drops of food colouring to each e.g. purple, blue, green and pink and mix with a spoon until you’re happy with the colour.

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Step 10

 
 

Spoon the mixtures into individual piping bags and pop them into the fridge to firm for about 5-10 mins, so the colours don’t run or blend when you pipe them onto the cake.

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Step 11

 
 

Take the piping bags out of the fridge and pipe onto the cake. Start from the outside and work in drawing different coloured wavy lines with the nozzle.

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Step 12

 
 

Once you’re happy with the top, work on the sides. Start from the bottom and pipe up the cake edges pulling away as you reach the top of the cake. Sprinkle the cake with hundreds and thousands to finish.

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Step 13

 
 

Serve on a cake stand and cut into the middle of the cake using a sharp knife, revealing the sweetie surprise!