Sorry for the faff! If you’re looking for a recipe on the new blog this weekend email me at julesatdit@gmail.com and I’ll email you the recipe.

In the 10 years I’ve been with him, I’ve never known Hubs to have a proper birthday cake. He’s one of the lucky or unlucky people (depending on your viewpoint) who arrived on this earth just in time to interrupt Christmas Dinner. As this year was a significant birthday I wanted to make him a special cake. I subtly asked him many months ago as to what his dream cake was and set about making it. His brief was:

Victoria sponge and chocolate sponge with buttercream and topped with sugarpaste

In other words a sweet toothed man’s heaven. Not really the ideal cake to eat after a delicious 3 course Christmas dinner, but I wasn’t going to let Hub’s birthday slip by unnoticed. This cake required some serious stelth-like baking. The original plan was to make and decorate the cake while Hubs was at work but a last-minute contract for me meant this wasn’t possible. Anyone who has seen our kitchen/cottage will know there isn’t many places to hide and make secret cakes, so in between Hubs being sent out of the house for hours on end  I was working on the cake. It’s amazing what you can hide in that rarely used wok on top of the cupboards. He knew I was up to something, but didn’t know exactly what.

I decided to theme the cake on the classic car he is currently restoring. Initially was going to use just the Wilton 233 tip to edge the cake and road but I got carried away and decided to decorate the cake with things we may see on our journeys through the countryside in Hub’s classic car. Any metaphors you see on the cake are totally incidental.

The final cake weighed in at 3.5 kg and contained an unholy 1.5kg of white chocolate ganache. Surprisingly given the amount of chocolate the cake wasn’t too sweet. Usually I would have used dark chocolate ganache under the icing, but went for white chocolate ganache as this is Hubs’ favourite and he despises dark chocolate. I’m now converted to using ganache instead of using buttercream under sugarpaste. It’s far nicer to work with, tastes better, but I’ll only use it on special cakes as I’d forgotten how expensive chocolate was until I came to make this cake. Bonus of using ganache is that leftovers can be frozen. This will be transformed into truffles once our Christmas chocolate mountain has been devoured.

The methods I used to make and decorate the cake are a hash of self-taught techniques along with things I’ve learnt from Planet Cake book and Artisan Chocolate course. If you wanted to significantly cut down the time for making this cake use buttercream instead of ganache. Stand by for possibly the longest recipe I’ve ever blogged.  A big thank you to all the family and friends to helped us celebrate Hub’s 30th.

Marbled Birthday Cake
Makes one layered 20cm cake

White Chocolate Ganache

1.3 kg white chocolate, grated or finely chopped

450 ml double cream

For the plain sponge cake (for more info see egg weighing method here)

3 eggs

Stork, margarine or butter

caster sugar

self-raising flour

2 tsp vanilla extract

For the chocolate sponge cake (for more info see egg weighing method here)

3 eggs

Stork, margarine or butter

caster sugar

self-raising flour (weight of eggs ÷5 then x4 (or egg weight x 0.8) = amount of flour)

cocoa powder (weight of eggs ÷5  (or egg weight x 0.2) = amount of cocoa)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Syrup

100g apricot jam/glaze

100ml boiling water

Topping

1.25kg green sugarpaste

royal icing sugar (optional)

Other sugarpaste for decoration

Equipment

8 inch cake board

10 inch cake board

pallet knife

cake turntable (if you don’t have one use smaller cake tin or similar to help raise your cake from the work surface)

1) The ganache needs to be made first as it needs to cool and set overnight before being applied to the cake. In a heavy based saucepan heat the cream until it is at boiling point.

2) Put half the chocolate in a large bowl and pour over the hot cream. Whisk with a hand whisk until mixture is smooth. Add the remaining chocolate a handful at a time and keep whisking to melt the lumps. Allow to cool completely and set overnight.

3) Line the bottom of two 20cm cake tins with baking parchment. Pre heat oven to 180°c.

4) First make the vanilla sponge. Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy then beat in the eggs one at a time until well combined. Before adding the third egg add a spoonful of the flour into the mix to help stop the mixture curdling.

5) Stir in the vanilla extract then fold in the flour. It needs to be of dropping consistency (in other words it drops off the spoon easily). If not, add a small amount of milk to help loosen the batter. Split the mixture equally into two bowls.

6) Now make the chocolate sponge. Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy then beat in the eggs one at a time until well combined. Before adding the third egg add a spoonful of the flour into the mix to help stop the mixture curdling.

7) Stir in the vanilla extract then fold in the flour and cocoa. Add milk if needed to get it to dropping consistency. Share the mixture equally between another two bowls.

8) Take one bowl of the vanilla cake mix and one of the chocolate mixture. Blob the mixture one spoon at a time into one of the cake tins then swirl the mixture a small amount with a skewer. Repeat with the other mixture in the remaining cake tin.

9) Bake for around 40 minutes until the cakes have risen and a skewer comes of out the cakes clean.

10) Let the cake for rest for a few minutes before turning it out of the tin and removing the baking paper. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

11) Blast the ganache for 10 seconds or so in the microwave to make it easier to spread. Don’t overheat the ganache or will burn.

12) Put a small amount of the ganache on the 8 inch cake board and stick one of the cakes to the board. If need be trim the top of the cake to make it flat. Brush with some of the syrup to help keep cake moist.

13) Spread some of the ganache on the top of the bottom cake and place the next cake on top. Again trim the cake to make it flat and brush with syrup.

14) With a pallet knife begin to build up the ganache on the side of the cake until it is in line with the edge of the board. Then spread the ganache onto the top of the cake. Let it set overnight.

15) If you want a defined edge on the ganache once the cake has set overnight take a long pallet knife, dip in boiling water and glide across the cake to smooth the ganache. Allow the cake to set again overnight.

16) Make a paste of royal icing and put a large blob of this in the center of the 10 inch cake board then place the cake on the smaller board in the middle.

17) Knead the sugarpaste until it is soft then roll out on a piece of baking parchment or worksurface lightly dusted with icing sugar until big enough to cover cake. Use the palm of your hand to buff the icing and give it a shine.

18) Brush the cake with some of the remaining syrup then transfer the sugarpaste across to the cake. Smooth the icing on the top of the cake then work your way down the sides gently working the icing down to stop creases. Carry the icing on along the board to cover it then trim with a sharp knife. Buff the icing again with your hand and/or plastic smoother.

19) Adorn the cake with sugarpaste decoration. Use gin or vodka to stick the decorations on as it is sticker and less likely to stain the sugarpaste.

It’s fair to say 2011 had some peaks and troughs but we made it through relatively unscathed. We’ve eaten and cooked some interesting  things along with meeting some fabulous people. I can’t predict the food trends for next year, but I have a feeling that 2012 is going to be a great year to remember. For me highlights of the year include:

Writing for Marks & Spencer.

Teaching myself how to decorate cakes.

Appearing on both BBC Radio Derby & Leicester too many times to remember, mostly talking about food.

Running my first cookery school for children and teaching adults how to cook

A day out on the West Coast Railways taking in the food and scenery from the warmth of a Pullman Carriage.

Spending the day at School of Artisan Food learning the art of chocolate making .

Taking part in my first village show and coming second with my Victoria Sponge.

Our summer holiday at Dapper Camping Club in the Brecon Beacons.

The grapevine finally fruiting

Taking part in my first Clandestine Cake Club with my Beetle Forest Gateaux.

and finally watching my business grow stronger.

Oh and don’t worry. It may be January but there will be no mention of the d word on here that is peddled out in many places after the festive season. Here’s to a really rather grand 2012.

I’ve made various stollens over the years but always come back to this recipe as it’s the stollen I recognise. I spent some of my childhood growing up in Berlin and remember the Christmases there with fond memories. Nothing compares to their Weihnachtsmarkts of which there is over 50 spread all over the city. The smell of the glühwein, gingerbread, bratwurts and kartoffelpuffer intermingled with the crisp, cold winter air and, if you were lucky, the odd fleck of snow.

There are two ways of making stollen; with yeast or without yeast. This version doesn’t contain yeast and is the type I prefer. Now don’t let various supermarkets make you believe stollen should be a pappy, sweet, air filled fruity bread. It isn’t. It should be dense, full of fruit with the majority of the sweetness coming from the marzipan and icing sugar coating. If you didn’t want to make a stollen the most authentic stollen you can buy in the UK is either from Aldi or Lidl, though be careful you don’t get waylaid by the lebkuchen and pfeffernüsse. Lethal for the waistline, yet delicious.

Stollen

250g plain white flour
¼ tsp salt
60g butter, softened
1½ tsp baking powder
100g caster sugar
few drops of vanilla extract
25ml dark rum
zest of 1 lemon
1½ tsp ground mixed spice
25g suet
65g currants
65g flaked almonds
20g mixed peel
125g creme fraiche
1 large egg, beaten
125g Marzipan (see below for marizpan recipe if you want to make it from scratch)

to finish:
15g melted butter
icing sugar

1) Preheat oven to 180oc. Rub flour, salt and butter together until it is the consistency of breadcrumbs.

2) Add baking powder, sugar, vanilla, rum, lemon zest, mixed spice, suet, dried fruits, almonds. Mix in the creme fraiche and egg to form a dough.

3) On a floured surface roll to form an oblong 15cm x 23cm x 2cm. Form the marzipan in a sausage shape and place in the middle. Fold dough over marzipan and seal.

4) Place on a baking sheet seam side down and bake for 25-30min.

5) Once cooked remove from the oven and place on a wire rack. Brush liberally with melted butter and dust with lots of icing sugar. Allow to cool.

6) Wrap tightly in foil. Keeps for 2-3 weeks. Personally I find the flavour and texture improves after a week.

Marzipan
(just be aware this is an uncooked marzipan and uses raw egg. In the stollen it is fine as it’ll be cooked, but like any other product that uses raw eggs take care who eats it when it is in its uncooked form)
Makes 1kg

As you can imagine food is quite important to us over the festive season. Some of these foods have traditional or nostalgic connections and some are just because they taste so good. Many of these suggestions below will be great on your festive dinner table or will make equally good gifts. To see what I recommended last year see this blog post.

Artisan du Chocolat – While at Bite n Write food bloggers conference in November I was lucky enough to try some chocolates from Artisan du Chocolat. The tobacco infused ganache really stood out. Initially it developed for one of Heston Blumenthal’s Christmas Feasts.  Now it is only made to order, but you can buy their tobacco bars. I’m not a smoker in the slightest, but the smoky berry taste of this chocolate is delicious and perfect for Christmas.

Penderyn Whisky – While staying at Dapper Camping Club in summer we went on a whisky tasting tour at the Penderyn distillery. During the tour we tasted some of their whiskeys. Hubs is now a fan. Their cream liqueur, Merlyn, is really rather good too.

Buffalo Brownies – A fabulous brownie company that is local to me. Their chocolate chip blondies are really something. Sweet, rich, fudgy and almost like Scottish tablet. One of their Chip blondies cut into smaller pieces would make fine little petit fours. They have a great offer on at the moment: box of 6 mixed brownies for £6 (free P&P) I’ll certainly be taking advantage of this offer!

Macarons & More – I finally got to try some of Tim Kinnard’s macarons at this year’s Good Food Show. My favourite flavours are the coffee macarons along with the mint and dark chocolate ones. I certainly wouldn’t say no to a box of these in my stocking. A perfect after dinner alternative.

Shorrocks Lancashire Bomb cheese – Here Christmas isn’t Christmas without a great cheese board. The newest cheese this year to our board will be Shorrocks Lancashire Bomb cheese. When left at room temperature this strong yet creamy cheese softens so it’s almost spreadable. Delicious and not one to be wasted on top of a jacket potato.

Womersley Food vinegars – I’d heard lots about this brand so was pleased to finally try some at this year’s Good Food Show. Their Golden Raspberry & Apache Chilli vinegar and Lemon, Basil, Bay and Juniper vinegar will certainly brighten up leftovers on Boxing Day.

Farrington’s Mellow Yellow Garlic Mayonnaise - It may seem odd that I’ve mentioned mayo, but trust me this is one of the best mayonnaises on the market and equals the homemade equivalent. I’ve been a big fan of Farrington Oil’s for years. There is a reason why Nigella says life’s too short to make mayonnaise when you can buy Mellow Yellow Mayonnaise. A big dollop of this in your turkey sarnie will transform it.

What foods will be adorning your Christmas dinner table this year?

With only *whispers* 2 weeks left until Christmas. It’s fair to say Christmas is a hectic time of year for me and the business. Today is my first day off in two weeks and from tomorrow will not be stopping until Christmas Eve. Hubs’ & parent’s presents are sorted, as for everyone elses? Thank for the lord for the internet and Derby Westfield opening late in the run up to Christmas.

I will admit I’m a cookbookaholic, but it takes a lot to impress me with a cookbook. If you’re looking for a great Christmas gift this year here are my top cookbooks of the year. Go here to see last year’s selection.

Pieminister: A Pie for All Seasons – Tristan Hogg & Jon Simon – One of my favourite cookbooks of the year. This isn’t a book telling you how to cook Pieminister pies, it’s a book all about the art of pie making and how they can be made at home in all their different forms. It is this book that has shown me how great suet pastry can be and who can say no to a Hunters Chicken Pie?

Supper Club: Recipes and notes from the underground restaurant – Kerstin Rogers Kerstin a.k.a. Ms Marmite Lover is a legend in the blogging world. She continues to write one of my favourite blogs and I hope one day to finally visit her Supperclub in Kilburn. This cookbook is not only beautiful, it is also full of great advice on how to run a supperclub and wonderful recipes. An essential bookshelf book and a fab coffee table book.

My Daddy Cooks – Nick Coffer Nick writes the blog My Daddy Cooks and his cookbook has been a true hit, not just by bloggers. The fact that Nick and Kerstin’s books above were available in my local library without having to order in says it all. Earlier in the year I reviewed this book with my Little Helpers and they loved the book. I may not yet have a family, but the cookbook is still very much used.

Laudree: Sucre: The Recipes A stunningly beautiful book all about French patisserie that seems to have slipped under the radar. Who can say no to a little book with gilt-edged pages, wrapped in tissue paper and stored in a dainty box. I managed to borrow a copy of this from the library and now, if Santa is listening, I’ll have my copy soon.

The Whole Hog Cookbook – Libbie Summers & Paula Dean A cookbook that very much focuses on nose to tail eating. It features fabulous pork dishes from around the world and even includes some sweet dishes. The hardest thing about this book is deciding what to cook first.

Planet Cake – Paris Cutler – This book has a great deal to answer for. It is this book that has given me cake decorating confidence over the last year and helped me create the Baby Shower Cakes. Perfect book for those new to cake decorating.

The Vintage Tea Party Book – Angel Adoree – following on the vintage wave that is currently flowing this is the book from Vintage Patisserie who featured on Dragon’s Den. This isn’t just about cakes, it’s about the savoury options too along with how to throw the perfect vintage party.

River Cottage Veg Every Day – Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall – You can’t go wrong with River Cottage books. This book is the book that accompanied the TV series and full of great veggie meals that even satisfy carnivore Hubs. The mushroom ragout and polenta from this book is particularly good. If you have the other River Cottage books you’ll recognise some of the recipes in this book, but it is still a very good cookbook.

What Shall We Cook Today? A great cookbook for children that came out this year. A novelty to find one that caters for both boys and girls of a wide age range and it’s just about baking cupcakes, even if the cover doesn’t let on to that fact. I like how the book is split into seasons of the year. The Little Helpers made the Chocolate Salami from the book which went down very well.

What cookbooks are you hoping Santa brings?

I have so many other decorating ideas, but only made 6 cakes so the other techniques will have to wait. They may be small cakes, but they still take a while to decorate. The four cakes covered in sugarpaste all use the covering method you can find on The Pink Whisk’s blog. I also brush the cake lightly with freshly boiled water to help the icing adhere. Usually I cover the board then cover the cake, this is personal preference. You don’t have to cover the boards at all, but I find it looks neater and I have a particular aversion to the Christmas themed foil boards. To stick the sugarpaste/sugar florist paste decorations to the cake I use either gin or vodka as it’s quick drying, less likely to stain and sticks well. You can also use water, but I find gin/vodka works better. All of these designs are simple and can be easily replicated. No special equipment needed apart from maybe the odd length of ribbon and a piping bag. The cakes were made using one of my favourite recipes, steeped in Sloe Gin, then covered in marzipan over a week ago.

Christmas Present Cake

This is probably my favourite cake. It is simply covered in red sugarpaste then decorated with a bow made from sugar florist paste. This is a type of modelling icing that has a finer, stretchier texture and allows you to roll it a great deal thinner than sugarpaste. It also sets very hard. Icing flowers you see for sale are made from this and while yes it is edible it’s used more for decoration. I love working with sugar florist paste. Unless you are going to be using a lot just buy white florist paste and colour your own.

To make the bow take two identical lengths of sugar florist paste. Fold one of the lengths over itself in the middle. This will be the loose ends of the bow. Place the folded part of this length in the middle of the cake. Take the other length and fold both ends to the middle and pinch together. Get a smaller length of sugar florist paste and wrap around the middle of the bow to give the illusion of a knot. This is the bow loops. Stick this on top of loose part of the bow.

Holly Cut Out Cake

The green from this cakes comes from the green marzipan layer. This time don’t brush the marzipan with water when adding the sugarpaste as you’ll struggle to get the cutouts cleanly away from the marzipan. Cover the cake with sugar paste then using a holly cutter cut out the holly shapes. Using some water stick the remaining icing to the marzipan. Roll balls of red icing and stick in place with vodka.

Snowflake Cake

This cake started out slightly different, hence the snowballs trimming the bottom of the cake, then I saw these beautiful Victorian inspired Ice Crystal Cakes cakes on Peggy Porchen and decided I had to give these a go. It is piped on using royal icing and the silver balls are great new ones from Dr Oetker that don’t break your teeth. If I was to do these cakes again I would keep the decorative snowflake, leave out the decoration on the side, then just trim the bottom of the cake with simple ribbon.

Glitter Stars

Possibly the easiest of the cakes. Simply covered in white sugarpaste. Then I kneaded some gold lustre dust into a small amount of sugarpaste then once rolled out, dusted in edible glitter. Cut out the stars then stuck on with vodka. Edible glitter is always difficult to photograph. In real life this cake is very glittery! This is a very good cake to do if your icing has flaws. Stick a star over the cracks.

Florentine Topped Cake

No icing required here. Melt 15g butter with 15g golden syrup. Mix in 50g mixed fruit & nuts (Lidl do a particuarly fantastic bag of fruit & nuts that I’ve used here). Spoon topping onto cake then leave to set. Trim with ribbon.

Traditional Royal Icing

Christmas isn’t Christmas without a Christmas cake topped with break-your-teeth royal icing. I use Royal Icing Sugar as it is easier and more convenient. For a 3 inch cake like these you need about 100g royal icing sugar and 15ml of water. Using an electric whisk whip until you have soft peaks. If it doesn’t reach soft peak stage, add more icing sugar a tbsp at a time. When spreading the icing on you can either make it smooth or go old school and make peaks in the icing to make it look like snow. To make the icing harder add a dash of lemon juice, to make it softer add a bit of glycerine. The robin comes from one of the cakes I made on Holly Bell’s cupcake course. Can you spot the foot prints in the snow? There were made with the end of a skewer.

So how have you decorated your Christmas cake this year?

For those of you who watched the second series of Great British Bake Off will be familiar with finalist Holly Bell. I was a fan of hers from the first episode because she’s local to me, has a similar obsession with Bakewells and (according to insistent family & friends) we are very similar look wise and mannerisms. Yes, I’ve also been known to get the tape measure out while baking, don’t judge me. I’m a perfectionist.

Holly has recently started cupcake and bread making courses at the lovely Bridge 67 Cookery School in Smeeton Westerby near Market Harborough. She invited me along to try the course. The cookery school is based in cute little house on the farm with the kitchen downstairs and the dining room upstairs. It almost felt like we were in someone’s house. I liked that the ovens were (rather nice) domestic ovens proving if you could cook it there we would be able to cook it at home.

The theme of the cupcake courses is Creatures & Flowers. I like that it wasn’t just cutesy, pretty cupcakes. We learnt about the best way to make cupcakes, how to work with fondant and buttercream along with some secrets from Great British Bake Off. Although I have experience of making and decorating cakes I still felt I learnt lots from the day including the all in one method for cakes and how to make mousse like buttercream. At the same time I think the course would also be suitable for beginners. If you’re wondering why one of my fondant snails is wearing a pair of glasses it’s meant to be Hubs, but it looks more like a character from Despicable Me.

I think it’s fair to say I won the award for messiest student of the day. Cake mix, I got it everywhere. Up the wall, on the floor, splattered across the cooker and up the cord of the hand mixer. I loved the tranquil location and the relaxed nature of the day. There was me, 3 other students, Holly and her helper Rosie. Some of the conversations we had were hilarious, I think Holly regrets asking me a question about one of my previous jobs but what is said on the course stays on the course!

A big thanks to Holly for inviting me along, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Listen out for Holly on BBC Radio Leicester for a week beginning 19th December between 3-5 for her new festive show.

Your baked bean tin cakes should be nicely fed now so it’s time to get covering them in marzipan. You need to leave at least 24 hours between covering the cake marzipan and icing to allow the marzipan tp dry and stop the oils from the marzipan leaching and spoiling the white icing. One of the reasons for covering a fruit cake in marzipan is to act as a foundation for the icing. It’ll help to hide the major lumps and bumps of the cake beneath.

I have been known to make my own marzipan and there is something really delicious about homemade marzipan but this year due to time constraints I went for the shop brought variety which work just as well but can sometimes be a bit sweeter. It really doesn’t matter if you use white marzipan or yellow marzipan.

I use the top and collar method (I don’t know if this is the correct term, but it’s what I call it!) for covering the baked bean tin Christmas cakes as it gives the tidiest result. If you wanted to cover the cake with one piece of marzipan The Pink Whisk has a fabulous tutorial.Just like with lining the mini tins decorating the cakes doesn’t take 1/12 of the time of a 8 inch cake, it still takes more or less just as long.

When doing photos like this I should really stop being lazy and set up the tripod. Trying to brush a cake with my left hand while taking  a photo with the other hand isn’t the easiest task! If you want to see more detail on the photo above, click on it.
To cover 1 baked bean tin cake you’ll need:

100g of marzipan

Small amount of apricot jam/glaze

icing sugar

1) Place a blob of glace or royal icing in the middle of the cake board. This will be the glue that sticks your cake to the board.

2) You want your cake to be straight and level. The easiest way to achieve this is to turn your cake upside down as the bottom will provide the flattest top. If need be slice a small amount off the new bottom to help level the cake. Also use small blobs of marzipan to patch any holes in the cake and jack it up from the bottom.

3) Thin a small amount of apricot jam/glaze with freshly boiled water, then brush over the cake. This will help the marzipan stick.

4) Dust the worktop surface with a small amount of icing sugar. Roll out the marzipan until it is about 5mm thick. Cut a round the same size as your cake. Place the round on top of the cake.

5) Using a piece of string measure the circumference of the cake. Roll of strip of marzipan that will wrap neatly around the cake.

6) Stick the marzipan to the side of the cake and smooth the edges together.

7) Allow to dry for a miniumum of 24 hours.

How to decorate your Baked Bean Tin Cakes.