Carrot Cake

I fancied a bit of baking today - and carrot cake was the result (got inspired with this recipe).

No matter what I do, my carrot cakes baked in the UK are never as orangey as the ones baked in Portugal... do UK carrots have less carotene? I haven't got a clue!

I usually do my carrot cake differently, but today I did it like this:

• 3 carrots, peeled
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups flour
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven at 180ºC and prepare baking tin with margarine and flour.

In a blender/liquidifier/Magic bullet/whatever you use, put carrots, eggs, oil and blitz until you get a runny orange mix without any chunks of carrot.

In a bowl, place flour, sugar and baking powder. Add carrot mix to the bowl and mix well.

Pour onto tin and bake.

Let it bake for about 35-40 minutes, stab it with a skewer to check if cooked.

I guess you could ice the cake to your liking... cream cheese or chocolate would go well... but I could not be bothered am a carrot cake purist, and just had it like that :)

Yum!

Amazing Chocolate Cake!

Chocolate cake is not my favourite (I'm more of a lemon drizzle cake kinda gal), but I hold my hands up - this was probably one of the best chocolate cake I ever had! Definitely the best chocolate cake I ever baked.
It was just sooooo good I could have eaten the whole thing by myself... so, I took most of it to work so M. and I couldn't eat it all as we would feel guilty because we are on a perpetual diet.

I got inspiration from this recipe, but deviated from the recipe as usual.

Here's what I used:

• 3 cups flour (I used self-raising)
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 ½ tablespoon baking soda (the photo has baking powder, but I did use baking soda)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup of chocolate powder (I used Tesco's drinking chocolate powder)
• 1 ⅓ cups vegetable oil
• 1 pack of buttermilk (284 ml)
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup freshly brewed strong coffee (I brewed a Nescafé Dolce Gusto Americano capsule)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 pack of plain chocolate
• 1 pack of milk chocolate
• +/- 200 ml of whipping cream

Spray a large round cake tin and line the bottom with parchment paper.

In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, chocolate powder.

Add oil and buttermilk and combine using the mixer on low speed.

Add eggs one at a time.

Add coffee slowly.

Mix that bad boy!!

Pour batter onto the tin.

Bang in the oven, preheated at 170ºC.

It took me about one hour for it to be baked.

When the cake is almost ready (last 10 minutes of baking), start preparing the ganache. 

Easy peasy: Hot water in pan, bowl inside pan, chocolate and cream inside bowl, wait until it starts melting, mix - done!

Set it aside and let it cool for a bit.

By this time your cake should be ready, so take it out and let it cool for a bit.

I turned my cake upside down because the bottom was prettier.

Spread the ganache all over the cake, the counter and yourself.

I must say that I was rushing so I didn't do a very good job (had to pick up J. from work)... I just wanted the cake done and ready, no time to make it look perfect!

I don't think any of these pictures makes this cake any justice! Each slice was so moist and yummy, it was great! (I really should have taken a picture of a slice)

Anyway, if you need a chocolate fix, I seriously recommend to have a go at this - I can't wait until I bake it again!

Cake with guava!

J's mum mailed us some guava paste ages ago, it has been sitting in the fridge ever since.
Despite liking guava paste, as long as there's quince jam in the fridge we never touch the guava.

However, J's been pestering me about his nan's kickass swiss roll filled with guava paste, and daring me to have a go myself.
So... to shut him up I made him a cake filled with guava paste.
This way he wouldn't be disappointed in case my swiss roll was crap and wouldn't mention how my baking skills are inferior to his nan's.

So, here's what I used:

• 200 g margarine (I melted in the microwave)
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 cups flour (I used self-raising)
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 cup of milk
• Guava Paste (you may use any jam or filling - I would recommend nutella as well!)

Get a round baking tin ready with spread and flour and set aside.

In a big bowl, add margarine and sugar.

After beating until smooth, add eggs (one by one).

Stick a finger in it and lick it - yum!

Add milk and flour little by little, always mixing it well.

Pour it onto the tin.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180ºC for 50 minutes.

Let it cool down for a bit (about 10 minutes) and remove it from the tin.

With a wet knife, cut cake in half (be delicate as the cake may fall apart)

Add filling to the bottom part of the cake.
(my guava paste was really hard, so I had to cut thin slices instead of spreading it all over the cake)

Put top bit on and press a down so the filling glues to both parts of the cake.

Wait for the cake to cool down and serve... or if you're like us who can't wait - at least be careful when cutting it hot as it can be quite crumbly. 

J the butcher did the honours of almost destroying my cake! 

Less than 24 hours later, there's only one slice left... so I guess despite it not being J's nan kickass swiss roll - my cake must have hit the spot!

Glazed Lemon Cake

This is one of my favourite cakes!

The first time I baked this cake I was living in a bedsit in Cardiff, missing home and stuff... and on a whim, baked a cake in what was my little/shared/often disgusting kitchen.
I was so proud of my cake that I took it to work and shared it with my colleagues! (there's nothing like sharing and spreading the joy of cake)

I've lost count of how many times I've done it, and luckily it always comes out nice and moist.

Here's the recipe:

• 2 ½ cups flour (I use self-raising)
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup orange juice (freshly squeezed)
• ¼ cup lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
• ¾ cup oil
• 4 eggs

For the glaze:

• 1 ¾ cup powdered sugar
• ½ cup lemon juice (freshly squeezed)

Pre-heat the oven at 160ºC and get the baking tin ready.

I have always used my loyal old tin with a hole my mum sent me from Portugal, but I guess it'll just come out as nice if you use a different type of tin.

Margerine that bad boy and dust it with flour.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, orange juice, lemon juice, oil, vanilla essence and eggs. 

Beat it all well until combined.

Pour the batter into the tin and bake for about 50 minutes (start checking it after 30 minutes, to avoid nasty surprises).

While the cake is baking, mix powdered sugar with ½ cup lemon juice and whisk to blend.

When the cake is ready, remove it from the oven, beat the lemon juice and powdered sugar mix again, and spoon half of the mixture on top of the cake.

Loosen edges and turn cake onto a plate. 

Drizzle remaining mixture over the cake and let it cool.

... and that's it!


Enjoy :)