Sunday 29 August 2010

Clotted cream cake



This continues my theme of (ahem) healthy cakes; you may recall my
honey cake from a couple of weeks back that contained no sugar – just a whole jar of honey, well this cake contains no butter! Instead it uses a whole pot of clotted cream, which is known for being low in fat and calories. Don’t say anything...just nod and we might get away with it!


If you need proof why you should never read food labelling this is it:
my lovely pot of clotted cream told me that one teaspoon (note – teaspoon – not tablespoon) contained 150 calories and a whopping 54% of the recommended daily intake of saturated fats. When I read that horrid label spewing its hate-speak I needed a slice of cake to cheer me up!


Replacing the butter content with cream produces a snowy white cake and the flecks of vanilla looks very pretty in contrast.


The texture is light and spongy and the taste is – as you would imagine – creamy!
I’d say that the overall effect was a softer, more delicate cake. I made a very simple strawberry compote to serve with the cake and it worked really well; it elevated the cake to something more elegant.


As it’s a holiday weekend I also revisited one of my favourite things I’ve ever baked – a
Rheinish apple tart. I can’t believe it was almost two years ago that I made it!


Ingredients

2 eggs
225g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, seeds only
225g clotted cream
200g self raising flour

Optional: strawberry compote. I bought one box of strawberries, washed and hulled them. Mashed half with a fork and added sugar to taste, then chopped the rest and added them to the mashed ones.

Method

Preheat the oven to 180˚C/fan oven 160˚C/350˚F/Gas mark 4.

Line a 20cm round springform tin with baking paper.
Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla seeds into a bowl and whisk until very thick – almost like a mousse. Don’t skimp on this stage.

Stir the clotted cream so that the crust is mixed into the cream and stir it into the egg and sugar mix.

Fold in the flour taking care not to knock air out of the batter.

Spoon into the prepared tin and level the surface.

Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave to cool on a wire rack until it is cool enough to handle, then de-tin and leave to cool completely on the wire rack.

Store in an airtight container.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.

17 comments:

Soo said...

Thanks for the health warning -- I'll have to remember to tear the label off clotted cream before I buy it next time. :)

The cake looks fab. How wrong is it that I'd like a little softly whipped cream with the cake and strawberries?

Lester Fontayne said...

Liberate yourself from the tyranny of all this low-calorie, low-fat nonsense by reading Gary Taubes' "The Diet Delusion". Unfortunately, it'll only serve to open your eyes to the horrors of sugar and flour. Goddamnit! Why won't they just let us have our cake and eat it??? ;o)

Caroline said...

Looks amazing CC! Clotted cream replacing butter is clearly the way forward for our collective health.

Seriously though, that looks lovely - really light and moist and I love the simplicity of the strawberry compote to go with it too, I can't usually be bothered to make things like that, but it really makes the cake look great!

Anonymous said...

oh yummmmm. This looks so good, thanks for posting! I think you added my other blog queenbee, but my recipe blog is here: http://sprinklewithsugar.blogspot.com/ (if you're interested :)

Katie said...

Yikes I knew clotted cream was rich but thats madness - looks like it produces a wonderful cake though.

The apple tart looks fab too. You need a slice of each to have apple tart and clotted cream :)

Anonymous said...

Made this today and it was absolutely lovely, BUT it was a small cake and not enough to go round! As I'm only an amateur baker, I have no idea what to do to get a bigger cake. Pls help as I'm def going to make this again. Thanks.

The Caked Crusader said...

Hi Anonymous

I think the key to this cake is getting volume to the batter. Achieving this is vital and there are 2 key stages:
1. The whipping of the egg and sugar. Don't skimp - mine took 15 mins, maybe more. This is where you get the air in the batter.
2. Folding in the flour - if you do this too heavily you'll knock all the air out.

Hope this helps. Of course, if you liked the cake there's nothing to stop you making it how you made it but doubling the ingredients!

Maria♥ said...

That Clotted Cream Cake looks and sounds heavenly! This is the second recipe I've seen this week for this cake, the other is in last month's Sainsbury's magazine. Must be a sign that I need to bake one too ;o)

Maria
x

Cakelaw said...

There is absolutely no fat or calories between the white cake and red compote is lovely to behold. The Rehinsih apple tart looks superb also - yum!

Helen said...

Hi

I've tagged you on an award on my blog : )

http://halfapotofcream.blogspot.com/

Victoria said...

This cake looks delicious and with the little touch healthier, it's a good choice for days when we want to spoil without guilt :)

coco cooks said...

Fall equals apple tarts! Health smealth... But its nice to attempt new recipes that are better for us.All in moderation for a heal;thy life. I do love clotted cream.

Unknown said...

Just made a low-carb version of this (with Atkins bake mix and sucralose sweetener) - it worked fine and smells fabby!
http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=1678372393741&set=a.1151460901283.24308.1070438406&notif_t=like

Unknown said...

Th cut low-carb version:

http://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=181626411868181&id=1070438406#!/photo.php?fbid=1678476396341&set=a.11514609012

Anonymous said...

Hi, made this cake twice in the last two days following the recipe religiously, and both times the cake seemed to burn somewhere between 30 and 40 mins in the oven. 1st attempt was regular oven and this morning's was fan. Temp was exactly 180 throughout the bake (have a thermometer in the oven as well as just in case my oven temp settings have gone wacky and that too read 180 throughout the bake). By burn I mean the outer crust burns and gets that slight bitter taste but inside is lovely, can you recommend anything please? I am trialling this for a wedding cake in the summer so really want to perfect the bake!

The Caked Crusader said...

Hi Anonymous

This should be quite easy to fix - after about 25 minutes loosely cover the top of the cake in foil - loosely. If you do it too tight the cake will steam. This should stop the top cooking too quickly.
Hope this works for you

Happy baking

Unknown said...

HI PLEASE WHAT IS CLOTTED CREAM