Loch Katrine cake

This one has it all – pastry base, layer of jam and raisins, sweet sponge and an icing that sits somewhere between glace and buttercream. One warning – it is very, very sweet and I say that as someone who can eat a sugar cube and think it could do with a bit of extra sweetness!



The base is smothered with jam and raisins....


....topped with sweet sponge.....


....then iced:


I confess that what drew me to this recipe was its name. “Why?” I hear you ask - well because Loch Katrine was the subject of a William Topaz McGonagall poem. “Who?” I hear you ask - well he is widely acknowledged to be the world’s worst ever poet – clumsy word order, limited vocabulary, poor rhymes, lack of sensitivity – it’s all there! Definitely in the “so bad it’s good” category his poetry recitals often ended with him being pelted with rotten fruit and eggs brought along by the crowd who took grim delight in “poet baiting”. Most people would be deterred by this and start to doubt their talent but not McGonagall, oh no…spurred on by his talent he also decided he would be an actor. Somehow landing the role of Macbeth, he felt that the actor playing MacDuff was trying to upstage him so, in retaliation, he refused to die resulting in him being dragged off stage.

One of my favourite McGonagall stories is when he walked 60 miles during rain and storms to Balmoral to ask Queen Victoria to make him Poet Laureate. She wasn’t in so he walked home. Sadly, he didn’t try again meaning that Britain was deprived of the greatest potential Laureate.

But back to Loch Katrine. Many McGonagall poems were in praise of beautiful Scottish landmarks and scenery. Unfortunately he had a limited vocabulary so recycled couplets which can often give you a strange sense of deja vu when reading the poems – “trees and shrubberies green / most lovely to be seen” is a particularly common one.

While you are eating your Loch Katrine cake, you may like to ponder this interesting fact included in the poem, the word order in the second and last sentences being particularly representative of his work:

And as I gaze upon it [Loch Katrine], let me pause and think,

How many people in Glasgow of its water drink,

That's conveyed to them in pipes from its placid lake,

And are glad to get its water their thirst to slake.

Nowadays, signed McGonagall works sell for more at auction than first edition Harry Potter books. I think such recognition would have pleased McGonagall greatly.

If you would like to read the whole of Loch Katrine (and why on earth wouldn’t you?) it can be found here. This will probably whet your appetite for more and I recommend the McGonagall Online site where you can subscribe and have a poem emailed to you every day!

Ingredients:
For the base:
125g self raising flour
60g unsalted butter
1 tablespoon caster sugar
Milk, to bind – I needed 4 tablespoons

For the topping:
4 tablespoons raspberry jam
A generous handful of raisins
60g unsalted butter
250g caster sugar
2 eggs
150g self raising flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Milk – if needed, I didn’t.

For the icing:
270g icing sugar
2 teaspoons butter, melted
Vanilla extract or lemon juice as required (if you’re using vanilla add 2-3 teaspoons and then water, if using lemon use the juice of 1 lemon)

How to make:

- Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.
- Grease a 25cm x 18cm baking dish – ideally about 3cm deep.
- Make the base by rubbing the butter into the flour until it resembles bread crumbs.
- Stir in the sugar and then add enough milk until the pastry comes together. Mine took 4 tablespoons but add it gradually so the pastry doesn’t get too sticky.
- Roll out the pastry and use to line the greased dish.
- Spread the pastry with raspberry jam and then scatter the raisins on top. Ensure the raisins are well distributed so that every slice will get some!
- Now make the topping. Start by creaming together the butter and sugar. The mix will not go pale and light and fluffy as you might expect because of the ratios involved – there is hardly any butter to the sugar. Mix until the ingredients look well combined.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time and also beat in the vanilla extract, if using.
- Fold in the sifted flour and if the batter looks a bit dry add some milk. My mix didn’t need any milk.
- Spoon over the base and spread over so all the jam and raisins are covered.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Mine took exactly 30 minutes. The cake has quite a thick crust on the top – don’t worry about this as it tastes lovely and gives a nice surface for the icing to adhere to.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack. When cold cover with icing.
- To make the icing put the icing sugar and vanilla/lemon in a bowl and stir until all the lumps are removed and a thick paste is formed.
- Stir in the melted butter and spread over the cake. Work quickly as the icing sets rapidly.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.

Cool stuff

If there’s one thing I don’t need it’s another mug, but then I saw this one and it was almost like it was made for me. From “The interesting thoughts of Edward Monkton” range I think you’ll see why it struck a chord.....

What the Caked Crusader chose to bake to this week (7 June 2008)

In some circles admitting that you like Michael Buble will go down about as well as stating that you spend your spare time torturing kittens. For reasons unknown he’s a singer that many people (particularly music journalists) criticise without really ever listening to.

Personally, I have nothing against someone wanting to sing the best songs ever written and trying to perform them with some style – ok, it’s a well trodden path however there’s always room at the top. But Michael (hey, I’ve supported him from the start – I feel we’re on first name terms) is more than that and his recent albums have started to showcase his increasingly impressive songwriting talent. Oddly, while he gets better and better at recording new material I find his cover versions are getting weaker.

I’ve seen him in concert twice and both times have been tremendously enjoyable experiences – his banter between the songs and involvement of the crowd elevates it above a standard concert where the singer manages an occasional ‘thank you’ between songs. What sticks in my memory though, is his performance of “My Funny Valentine” particularly the bit when he steps away from the mic, walks to the front of the stage and sings to the crowd – just his voice projecting across the auditorium. Now that’s talent, and when you consider just how big the Royal Albert Hall is you’ll realise the boy must have something!

Upside down peaches and cream cake

Barely a day goes by when I don’t read at least one recipe (I'm wondering if this is obsessive?), and like anything, the more you do it the better honed your radar becomes. Not only did this cake look luscious but it had something that stopped me in my tracks - and I don’t say that lightly! The genius of this cake is that the filling is made with clotted cream. Clotted cream! Usually when a cake has a cream filling it’s whipped cream. But how naughty (and calorific) is it to fill it with clotted cream? Clearly this cake and I needed to become better acquainted.....

My caramelised peach topping came out a little wet and squidgy – it was still beautiful but I think it was due to me spooning over the liquor that came out of the peaches when I tossed them in sugar. You can see the juices all gathering in the bottom of the tin before I’ve even added the cake:


Next time I would just line the peaches in the tin and abandon the sugary juicy liquor (although it did taste divine, really divine – oh, decisions, decisions!). I used fresh peaches and as they were very ripe and juicy found it difficult to cut them into perfect segments. While using tinned peach slices would give a more professional look, the intense peachy smell of the cake when cooked more than compensated for the lack of precision in the slices. The basic idea of the cake would work with lots of different fruits – plums and mangos are two that spring to mind.


I served this as a dessert but it would work equally well at teatime. It is a delightful taste and texture sensation: soft juicy peaches, moist golden sponge, whipped clotted cream. Contentment, thy name is cake.

Here’s my arty close up to show the lovely texture of the sponge. The clotted cream filling is inspired and I will definitely be using it again in other cakes!

My nephew (AKA my trusty side kick The Boy Wonder) declared this cake "a masterpiece" and took the remaining chunk home with him for breakfast tomorrow. The kid's got style......

Ingredients:
For the cake:

200g unsalted butter, at room temperature
200g self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
200g golden caster sugar
4 eggs
2 tablespoons milk (whole or semi skimmed)

For the peach topping:
3-4 ripe peaches (or 2 tins of peach slices)
85g light brown sugar

For the filling:
300g clotted cream (I used a tiny bit more)
2 tablespoons golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

How to make:

- Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.
- Line two 20cm sandwich tins with baking paper.
- The sponge is an all-in-one recipe. This means you put all the cake ingredients into a bowl and beat together until smooth and well combined. Put to one side.
- If using fresh peaches halve and stone them then cut each half into four i.e. each peach will yield 8 slices. If using tinned peach slices, drain them and let the juice run off them a bit so they’re not wet.
- Toss the peach slices in the sugar and arrange in a single layer in the bottom of one of the sandwich tins.
- Spoon half the cake mix over the peaches – be gentle so you don’t disturb them. Spoon the other half into the empty sandwich tin. I wrapped the cake tin containing the peaches in foil in case any juice leaked out during cooking.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Mine took 25 minutes. The half with the peaches will take slightly longer to bake: about 5-10 minutes more.
- Leave to cool in the tins on a wire rack. Be extra careful when removing the cake with the peaches from the tin. As the peaches make the sponge juicier it will be fragile.
- Whisk the clotted cream with the sugar and vanilla. Beat until stiff. Spread over the plain sponge and top with the peach sponge (be careful!). I made the sponges the day before I needed them and kept them overnight in air tight tins. I made the cream and assembled the finished cake on the morning of the day I wanted to serve it.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.