Famous faces' favourite fancies – Gin and lemon drizzle cake

I was sad to read about the recent death of Sir Terry Wogan as he was one of those national treasure celebrities who was just part of your life without you ever realising it.  From loving his hilarious, disrespectful commentary of the Eurovision Song Contest (being allowed to stay up late for this was a treat in itself) to watching his face fall when Kenny Everett broke his funny stick microphone in Blankety Blank, if you were a child of the 70s and 80s he was part of the scenery.

His early evening chat show in the 80s and early 90s was one of the few shows to see bands perform their new singles and who can forget that incredible David Icke interview ?(shockingly this was 1991 - 25 years ago!!!! I've never felt so old!)  His charm, wit and refusal to take himself seriously was totally endearing and why people loved him; it takes a lot of talent to make everything seem so effortless.

Sadly, I didn’t make his request during his life time but felt it right to make it in tribute to him, and all the entertainment he provided us with. I can’t make his actual request – Lady Wogan’s lemon drizzle cake – but I decided to make something a little out of the ordinary and added a measure of gin to the lemon drizzle mix.  Sort of my way of toasting the inimitable Sir Terry!

The addition of the gin added a lovely extra element to the cake – it gave an almost sherbet-like zing to the drizzle.  I never used to like gin but have found that I now rather like the less perfumed versions, and Tanqueray is my favourite.  If you’re looking for a new way to enjoy a gin and lemon, this might just be it!

Ingredients

For the cake:
175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
175g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
175g self raising flour
1 lemon, zest and juice

For the drizzle:
50g golden caster sugar
1 lemon, zest and juice
25ml gin – I used Tanqueray

Method

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

Line a 900g (2lb) loaf tin with baking paper.

Beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and whippy.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Fold in the flour.

Fold in the lemon zest and juice.

Spoon into the loaf tin and level the surface.

Bake for approximately 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, stir together the sugar, zest, lemon juice and gin to make the drizzle.

As soon as the cake is baked – and while it is still in the tin – pierce the sponge with a skewer before brushing the drizzle mixture over the top of the cake.

Leave to cool.  I leave it in the tin so the drizzle has to be absorbed and can’t ooze out anywhere.

Serve in generous slices.

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

Eat.

Famous Faces’ Favourite Fancies - Genoa cake

 

Can you believe the last ‘Famous Faces’ post was April 2013?  Why have I left it so long?  I have no answer to that as I do have a stash of them to post.  For those of you (all of you I’d imagine, given my tardiness!) who’ve forgotten what this is all about, basically I wrote to a bunch of celebrities I liked and asked them to tell me their favourite cake.  Which I then bake and post the recipe for.

I thought I’d kick start my Famous Faces posts with a national treasure – June Whitfield.  Hard though it is to believe, June started her career on the radio in the 1940s!  To me, she’s one of those utterly timeless people who never appears to age.  I remember her in my childhood from TV shows such as ‘Terry & June’ but perhaps my favourite role of hers, and I suspect the one most known to non-UK readers of my site, was as Edina’s mother in ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ where her seemingly innocent yet withering put downs were delivered with brilliant ease.

June has selected Genoa cake although she caveats that with ‘not too often’.  Maybe we’ll have to politely disagree on that one....!

Genoa cake is a British classic and is based on the Pandolce cake which originated in 16th century Genoa as a Christmas cake. It’s lighter than a traditional Christmas heavy fruitcake (think more the texture of a tea loaf) and has no icing.  The top is decorated with cherries and almonds. It seems, based on all the pictures I’ve seen, to be more commonly baked in a loaf tin rather than a round tin.  I have no problem with that – it is so much easier to cut a loaf cake!

Ingredients

115g unsalted butter, at room temperature
75g light brown sugar
2 eggs
225g dried fruit – I used a mix of sultanas, raisins and currants
75g glace cherries, chopped in half
Grated rind of 1 orange
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
175g plain flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
50g ground almonds
50ml milk

To decorate:
Handful of glace cherries chopped in half
Handful of whole almonds

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/ fan oven 160°C/ 350°F/ gas mark 4.

Line a 900g (2lb) loaf tin with baking paper.

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy.  You will notice the mix turns paler – always a good sign you’ve beaten it enough!

Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Add the fruit, cherries, orange rind, cinnamon, flour, baking powder, almonds and milk and stir well to ensure all the ingredients have been incorporated evenly.

Spoon into the prepared tin and level the surface.

Gently press the decorate cherry halves and almonds into the top of the cake.

Bake for approximately 1 hour, but don’t worry if it needs longer, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for 30 minutes before de-tinning and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.

Serve in generous slices with a cup of tea.

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

Eat.

Famous Faces’ Favourite Fancies – Lemon and poppy seed cupcakes with lemon butter icing

I have often voiced my dislike of lemon on this site and balanced it with my family’s love of it.  I even married into a lemon-loving family so now have even more relatives flying the ‘we love lemon’ flag.  What has proven to me, once and for all, how my lemonphobic ways are out of step with society at large, are the Famous Face responses I received.  Of the responses, I would estimate that maybe as many as three quarters of the male choices are for lemon cakes of one kind or another, mostly lemon drizzle.  The ladies are far more varied in their tastes.  I wonder why this is? Do women think more about cake than men?  Are we more willing to try different flavours, whereas men find something they like and stick with it? This is also why I have to ration the Famous Faces posts....otherwise it would be week after week of lemon drizzle cakes (I can hear my family murmuring that wouldn’t be a bad thing!)

Gyles Brandreth is someone I can always remember popping up on the television in one guise or another throughout my life.  Whether you recall the ‘interesting’ jumpers he wore on TVAM, his anecdotes in Countdown’s Dictionary Corner, or his reports for The One Show, I defy you not to have had a chuckle at/with him at some point.  I remember, in my younger days, reading that Gyles and his wife ran a teddy bear museum in Stratford-Upon-Avon, now relocated to Wimbledon (the museum that is, not Stratford-Upon-Avon) and thinking this was the most wonderful thing anyone could do! Then he became a Conservative MP for Chester for five years.  I think that could be termed a broad career!

Here’s an interesting thing: for my Famous Faces feature I wrote to many different people and chose a selection of better known politicians from each of the major parties.  I have had three responses from politicians (Boris Johnson, Gyles and one who thanked me for writing but declined to answer) and they have all been from Conservatives.  What can this mean?  Is it mere coincidence?

I have tried my best to meet Gyles’ selection criteria.  He said: “a lemon cupcake with butter icing takes my fancy...who cares about cholesterol?!”  The lemon sponge element is particularly interesting in this recipe.  The combination of lemon zest with yoghurt gives it a light, lemon curd flavour.  The poppy seeds add crunch, so often missing in cupcakes.

The buttercream is as classic and simple as buttercream can get.  I think people often say that this type of buttercream is too heavy but I don’t think it is; my theory is that it isn’t whipped enough.  If you whip buttercream long enough it becomes light and fluffy – like whipped cream. 

PS. For a confirmed, card-carrying lemon hater...I thought these cupcakes were delicious!

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

175g unsalted butter
225g self raising flour
175g golden caster sugar
2 lemons – grated zest only
3 eggs
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
100g natural yoghurt

For the buttercream:

225g unsalted butter –at room temperature
400g icing sugar
1 lemon – juice only

To decorate: flowers and sprinkles

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Line a 12 hole cupcake pan with paper cases.

Start by melting the butter over a gentle heat and then leave to cool slightly before making the cupcakes – about 5-10 minutes is plenty.

Place the flour, sugar and lemon zest in a bowl and stir together.

Stir in the poppy seeds.

Add the eggs and yoghurt to the cooled butter and whisk together.

Pour into the dry mix and combine.

Spoon into the cases – they will look fuller than with a normal cupcake batter but don’t worry; they rise nicely and won’t overspill the pan.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the sponge comes out clean.  I recommend using the skewer test as the cupcakes remain pale, so judging them on colour won’t help.

Leave to cool completely on a wire rack, and remove from the baking pan as soon as it is cool enough to do so.

Now make the buttercream: beat the butter until pale and whippy.

Beat in the icing sugar and lemon juice.

Keep beating until you have a light whippy buttercream that looks almost like cream – you can’t rush this!

Spoon into a piping bag and swirl generously on each cupcake.

Decorate with sprinkles or wafer flowers.  Best eaten on the day of making.

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

Eat.

Famous Faces’ Favourite Fancies – Rainbow cake

 

I didn’t realise it at the time, but there was a definite theme, particularly for the ladies I wrote to for my Famous Faces’ feature.  I can only describe it as they all are women I would be delighted to sit down, share a pot of tea and cake, and have a right good natter with.  Therefore, it’s no surprise that I wrote to world famous author Jilly Cooper.

I love Jilly Cooper – I hope she won’t mind me calling her a true English eccentric (I mean it as a compliment – they are always my favourite people!) and an animal lover.  She’s also written moreinternational bestsellers than I’ve had hot dinners (NB.  That is a lie.  I am not known for skipping hot dinners.  I am using hyperbole to indicate that she has written lots of books!) I’m sure you will have heard of them ...particularly if you were a teenager in the late 1980s and desperate to read something a little racy (how we struggled in those pre-internet years!).  Riders?  Rivals? The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous? Polo?  Admit it...you’ve read at least one!

Jilly sent me a lovely response in which she reminisced about something called Rainbow cake that she had enjoyed during the (second world) war years.  She remembered it being pink, yellow and golden brown and described it as fascinating and haunting her, not least because she couldn’t imagine its ingredients during rationing!  I had a hunt for this recipe but found nothing, so hope that Jilly will be pleased with a modern rainbow cake.  I’ve wanted to make one of these for a while but the necessity of food colouring put me off, until I found the Dr Oetker natural gel colours.

I used disposable foil tins to bake my cakes and it meant I could prepare them all together rather than bake two cakes, wash the tins, bake the next two etc.  They came out well.  I kept the layers of sponge thin to stop it becoming the world’s tallest cake, but it still came out large...but as long as it fits on a cake plate, I consider it acceptable!

You might all have realised this yourself and roll your eyes as I share my latest discovery, if so, pretend I’m not the last person on the planet to work this out: tall cakes are a nightmare to cut and the layers can slide.  This is a cake that’s kept in the fridge – because of the cream cheese frosting – so cut slices straight from the fridge as the cold cake is far more stable and rigid.  Put the cut slices on their serving plates and let come to room temperature.  I can’t believe I’ve been baking every weekend for over seven years and have only just thought about doing that!  Oh well, better inspiration strike late than never......

Even the crumbs of rainbow cake are pretty:

Ingredients

For the cake:
375g unsalted butter, at room temperature
330g caster sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 eggs
120ml milk
450g self raising flour
Natural gel colours in red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet – I used Dr Oetker gel colours

For the frosting:

270g unsalted butter, at room temperature
225g icing sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
675g cream cheese – I used Philadelphia

Method

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

Line six 20cm round disposable foil tins with a disc of baking paper.  If you have six loose bottomed sandwich tins then use those.

Weigh your empty mixing bowl.  I know this sounds weird but you will be glad of it later!

Start by making the sponge: Beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Don’t skimp on this stage as this is when you get lots of lovely air into your sponge.

Beat in the eggs gradually, add some of the flour if it looks like it might curdle.

Beat in the milk.

Stir in the flour until the mixture is smooth and well combined.

Weigh your mixing bowl full of batter.  Deduct the weight of the empty bowl to find the weight of your batter.  Divide by six to find how much batter to allocate to each tier – this will ensure even layers.  This was my calculation:

Empty bowl – 789g
Bowl full of batter – 2,429g
Therefore batter weighs – 1,640 (i.e. 2,429-789)
Batter divided by 6 – 273g.  Each colour needs 273g of batter.

Weigh the batter out into six small mixing bowls – I used my cereal bowls.

Add the colours to each bowl – you will find you need more of some colours than other.  For strong colours like red and blue, I needed the whole tube.

Spoon into the prepared tins and level the surface.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the sponge comes out clean. Another good sign is if the sponge is just pulling away from the edge of the tin.  I could only fit four tins in my oven at a time, I did the remaining two afterwards – there didn’t seem to be any issues from the batter sitting around.

Leave to cool completely.

Now make the frosting: beat together the butter and icing sugar in a large mixing bowl (I used my kitchenaid).

Beat in the vanilla extract.

Beat in the cream cheese, adding it a spoonful at a time, until your frosting is smooth and well combined.

Use about half the frosting to sandwich together the layers of sponge.  Make sure you get them in the right order – from the bottom up: violent, blue, green, yellow, orange, red.

Use the remaining frosting to cover the top and sides. 

Refrigerate until you wish to serve, ideally removing from the fridge about 30 minutes beforehand.  Here’s my top tip for getting a crisp slice from such a tall cake: take the cake from the fridge about 30 mins before you wish to serve and cut it while it’s cold.  Place the slices on plates and leave to come to somewhere between cool and room temperature.  It’s so much more stable to cut when cold.

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

Eat.

Famous Faces’ Favourite Fancies - Chocolate and ginger tiffin

 

If you’ve turned on the television before 9.30am at any point in time since 1984, the chances are you will have come across LorraineKelly.  I did an almost comic double take when I read that – 1984!  Lorraine Kelly has been getting up before the crack of dawn for 28 years to present live breakfast telly...and somehow looks younger now than when she started!

Fast approaching national treasure status (if not indeed already there) and famed for her infectious giggle, what I love about Lorraine is her ability to do funny and serious with equal success and her warmth – something that is often lacking in television.  Of course, the fact that she selected her favourite fancy as anything including chocolate and ginger didn’t hurt either...a woman after my own heart!

I chose a no-bake tiffin as it seemed the best of all worlds – biscuity, fruity, nutty, gingery and chocolaty.  I think that’s enough of words ending in ‘y’!  I mixed milk and dark chocolate for the topping but you can use whichever blend you choose.  Here it is before the chocolate:

The chocolate sets nice and thickly on the top and requires a satisfying amount of pressure to bite through it, at which point you are rewarded with a biscuity mixture of fruit and nuts.  Using ginger nut biscuits adds an extra punch of flavour but you could use plainer biscuits if you preferred.  You have to love something that you can leave a set of teeth marks in:

Ingredients

For the base:

225g ginger nut biscuits
125g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons golden syrup
25g cocoa powder
80g raisins
75g toasted flaked almonds

For the topping:

200g chocolate – I used half dark, half milk, but you can use all dark or all milk if you prefer

Method

Have ready a 20cm x 13cm disposable foil tin.  I bought mine in the local supermarket – there were three in the pack and it came with a cardboard lid.

Crush the ginger nut biscuits in the food processor or using a bag and a rolling pin.  If using the processor, pulse, because you want a mixture of crumbs and lumps of biscuit – don’t treat it like you’re making a biscuit base for a cheesecake.

Place the butter and golden syrup in a large saucepan and melt together, stirring occasionally so that the mixture doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan.

NB. When weighing out the flaked almonds give them a squeeze in your clenched hand to crush them a little – it will make the finished tiffin easier to cut.

Tip the biscuits into the melted butter along with the cocoa, raisins and almonds.

Stir until well combined then press into the foil tray.  Press down so the mixture feels compact.

Cover and refrigerate.

When cold and hard, make the topping: melt the chocolate either in short bursts in the microwave (my preferred method) or in a bowl over a pan of simmering water – take care that the bowl doesn’t touch the water.

Pour the melted chocolate over the set base and spread to ensure an even covering.

Leave to set (no need to refrigerate but it won’t do it any harm – just might take the gloss off the chocolate).

Cut into bars and enjoy with a cup of tea.

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

Eat.

Famous Faces’ Favourite Fancies – Olympian chocolate cake

You may have noticed that the Olympics have started...if you live anywhere near London (as I do) your local news has featured at least one Olympic themed story every day for seven years and there has been much unrest over how London will work (and get to work) during the Olympics.  Personally, I love the Olympics, but enduring the protracted build up has rather threatened to take the shine off it all.  I’m hoping that, now it’s actually started, my love will return... I’m sure that an hour or two spent enjoying the mens’ rowing will be just what the doctor ordered!

One of our great medal hopes (and certainly one of the most popular) is the diver Tom Daley. It is hard to believe he is only 18 years old as he seems to have been around forever!  What I admire about Tom, apart from his immense talent and dedication to his sport, is the aplomb with which he conducts himself – he always comes across so well in interviews, and seems to enjoy himself.  I think so many modern sports people often look like they forget they’re meant to enjoy it.

I heartily approve of Tom’s choice of chocolate cake and I went all out to make this as chocolatey as possible; the recipe is basically a Victoria sponge but chocolated up at every opportunity! (NB.  I suspect that “chocolatey” and “chocolated up” are not proper words, and if they are, they aren’t very pretty.   But they just seem right somehow!)

The addition of melted chocolate into the buttercream made it a firmer, more moussey texture than normal and it had a deep chocolate flavour.  It kept well too.  Whenever I comment that a cake keeps well I hope it conveys to you the magnitude of the cake.  I think mountaineers could scale the north face of this one!

Best of luck Tom – the country is behind you!  Win us the gold!

Ingredients

For the cake:

225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
200g golden caster sugar
4 eggs
200g self raising flour
50g cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
100ml milk

For the filling:

100g milk chocolate, melted
125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
25g cocoa powder
75g icing sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan oven 170°C/375°F/Gas mark 5.

Line two 20cm round loose bottomed sandwich tins with baking paper.

In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy – don’t skimp on this stage as this is where the air is added.  Your mixture should look like over-whipped cream before you stop.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.  If the mixture looks like it might curdle add some of the flour.

Fold in the flour, cocoa and baking powder.

Fold in the milk.

Spoon into the two prepared tins, as evenly as possible (I do it by eye but you can weigh it if you wish to be more precise) and level the surfaces.

Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cakes comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tins until you can safely de-tin; then leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

You can keep the sponges in an airtight container for a day or two before building the finished cake.

Now make the filling: Let the melted chocolate cool a little, but not so much it sets again.  I like to melt small quantities of chocolate like this in a microwave, giving short 20 second bursts – but a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water works just as well.

Whisk the butter, on its own, until it is white and fluffy – looking like whipped cream almost.

Add the cocoa, icing sugar and melted chocolate and whisk until well combined and the mixture resembles a thick mousse.

Place one of the sponges, flat side up, on the serving plate and spread half the filling over it.

Place the other sponge, flat side down, on top and press gently to make a good seal.

Spread the remaining filling on top and spread over.

Decorate as required.

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

Eat.

Famous Faces’ Favourite Fancies – Pineapple and chilli upside down cake

I have to confess, in most things, to being a fogey before my time, but particularly with music.  My radio is set to Absolute 80s where it shall stay until they set up Absolute 40s.  I’m more Andrews Sisters than Destiny’s Child, more Bing than Bieber...I’m sure you get the idea.

So, when a modern singer comes along who I really like it’s exciting for me – I get to buy CDs (sorry, I haven’t caught up with this new-found downloading of music yet) on the day they’re released; it reminds me of being young again.  (For the record, I am in my thirties...I know, I know, I sound about 70!)

Paloma Faith is such a talented woman –songwriter, singer, actress, style icon (with a nod to the vintage fashions of days gone by) and also incredibly witty and likable when interviewed.  And she’s from Hackney, just like Mr CC.  OK, I admit it – I totally have a girl crush on her!

Her debut album “Do You Want the Truth or SomethingBeautiful”  has been in my car stereo for so many months now that I think I could sing it in my sleep.  I can’t wait for the new album “Fall to Grace” which is out in May.

I’m also very excited that Paloma picked one of my favourite cakes – a pineapple upside down cake.  Then I hit a problem; I’ve made a pineapple upside down cake before and most pineapple upside cakes are pretty similar.  How could I make a cake different from the norm and worthy of Paloma?

This recipe was the perfect answer to my prayers.  I’ve been a slow and suspicious adopter of chilli into baked goods but this recipe tickled my taste buds.  The syrup that bakes on the bottom of the cake (and becomes the top on turning out) is spiked with chilli and lime meaning that the cake is infused with a sweet spiciness that is also fresh and light.

 The sweetness of the syrup takes all the sting from the chilli just leaving a sweet chilli taste; I think next time I might be tempted to leave a few chilli seeds in there as I do like my spice.  Apart from that, it was classic pineapple upside down cake all the way...i.e. extremely pleasant!

Ingredients

250g golden syrup
1 fresh red chilli – deseeded and chopped as finely as you can
Grated zest of 1 lime
430g tin of pineapple rings in juice (not syrup) – this is the weight of the whole tin, not the drained weight; keep the juice as it is used in the cake
225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
225g caster sugar
4 eggs
225g self raising flour

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Take a 20cm round springform tin and line the inside with foil, then a paper liner – if you have an all in one paper liner it will save you the stress of the syrup oozing out whilst baking.  I went for the belt-and-braces approach of foil and a liner and that worked fine.

Start by making the syrup: place the golden syrup, chilli and lime zest in a saucepan and heat, only for about2-3 minutes, until the syrup has loosened up.

Pour just over half the syrup into the prepared tin and swirl the tin around so the syrup is evenly distributed.

Place as many pineapple rings as you can in the syrup without overlapping them too much.  I got 6 in.

Now make the sponge: beat together the butter and sugar until light and whippy.  Don’t skimp on this stage.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

Stir in the flour and enough pineapple juice from the can to make a nice smooth dropping consistency.

Chop the remaining pineapple from the can and stir into the sponge batter.

Carefully spoon the batter into the tin taking care not to disturb the pineapple rings and syrup.

Spread the batter to the edges of the tin to try and seal in the syrup and stop it from bubbling up over the edges whilst cooking.

Stand the cake tin on a baking tray with lipped sides – just in case any syrup sneaks out during cooking!

Bake for approximately 45-55 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.  Mine actually took a bit longer – just over an hour.

Leave the cake to cool, in the tin, for 20 minutes then turn out i.e. invert onto a serving plate.  Tempting though it is to wait for the cake to cool completely before turning out, you run the risk of the syrup being glued onto the baking paper!

When you come to serve the cake, remember that you have just under half the syrup left – if you warm this gently it is very nice poured over the cake.

Serve the cake warm with ice cream or at room temperature with cream.

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

Eat.