CAFTA

This week’s winner of a CAFTA (Cake’s Achievement in Film and Television Arts) award was nominated by my friend and work colleague Soo. I see this as payback for making her Monday mornings less traumatic by providing her with a ‘back to work’ cake boost!

The award is for “Cake that heralds the start of something big” and goes to the cake that Hagrid bakes Harry Potter for his 11th birthday, in the film “Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone”.

Harry is, at this point in the story, completely unaware of his destiny and is living with the horrible Dursley’s who comprise of his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and their spoilt son Dudley.

The Dursley’s are trying to keep Harry from receiving the mysterious letters which have been arriving thick and fast at home (informing him of his impending education at Hogwarts). They are hiding on a remote island on a dark and stormy night. Hagrid arrives and among other things presents Harry with his first ever birthday cake.

Hagrid proudly announces that he baked and wrote the cake himself, and confesses he might have sat on it. I like the way that he’s not quite sure...either way, it’s a cake to interest the people at CakeWrecks (I love this site!):

While Hagrid is explaining Hogwarts to Harry, Dudley tucks into the cake.

Hagrid catches him and gives him a pig tail.

The moral of this story, as I see it: if you’re going to eat a cake that isn’t meant for you, make sure the baker hasn’t got any magical powers BEFORE you start tucking in.

Please email me (with photos) your CAFTA nominations.

Birthday cake for The Boy Wonder

It’s The Boy Wonder’s (AKA my nephew) 11th birthday so what could be better than a lovely sponge cake with buttercream? Answer – nothing!


This cake turned out a little surreal even by my standards and that’s its charm. Where else will you see pirate seals with a ship’s figurehead of a seal Amy Winehouse? (“In a psychiatric institute” is not an acceptable answer).


I feel I should explain the thought process behind the cake...even though it may frighten you to have an insight into the workings of my mind. Like most 11 year old boys, my nephew is fascinated by pirates. One of his favourite toys is Gottron, a rather lovely seal, who has ambitions to be a singer (he does have a beautiful singing voice so it isn’t a hopeless dream). Here is Gottron:


Keeping up so far? Good. Now, some while back I ordered marzipan seals and they’ve been unused and sitting in my cupboard ever since. Then I found a superb pirate ship cake tin...can you see where this is going?

Complicated tins cry out for cake release rather than just butter as you keep more of the fine detail; you can even see the little staircases between decks:


Of course, no pirate ship would set sail without a carved figurehead and I’m therefore hoping you’ll see the logic in a boatful of singing seals picking Amy Winehouse as theirs. All makes sense now doesn’t it? Please tell me it makes sense!

They tried to make her go to rehab, but she said “No, no, no”:



The cake is made from my trusty Genoese sponge recipe. My nephew is a sponge hoover and I know that if I made anything else he’d be disappointed. The recipe can be found here and I used 1.5x the quantity as the tin was so big. For your convenience I have set out the increased amounts below, but the basic mix will be enough for most average tins.

It is a myth that pirates made people walk the plank. If the Nassau Pirate Museum (ooh – get me!) taught me anything, it was that there is only one recorded incident of a person walking the plank. As for seals however, they had no stats...


All pirate ships have names and this one is no exception:


The crew had to serve a purpose in order to earn their keep. These two are on cannon duty. If you think the cannons look like Twix bars it’s because you have no imagination:


I freely admit I am no cake decorator but I am rather proud of this. What it lacks in skill it makes up for in oddness:


Gottron, meet Amy:


Genoese sponge never disappoints; it’s soft and crumbly and tasty and delicious:


Abandon ship! Abandon ship! She’s lost half her hull and is sinking!


As it was a birthday tea, I also made my Nutella cupcakes. The recipe for these can be found here and I urge you to try it as they are the best cupcakes I’ve ever tasted! Modest as always!


Ingredients (for the genoese birthday cake):
For the sponge:

338g Unsalted butter

338g Caster sugar

338g Self raising flour

6 large eggs, beaten

Vanilla

For the buttercream:
250g Unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
400g icing sugar
Blue food colouring – to be used in half the buttercream

How to make:
- Preheat oven to 160°C/fan oven 140°C/325°F/Gas mark 3
- Grease (or brush with cake release) your chosen tin.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Don’t skimp on this stage as it’s the key to creating an airy sponge. I like to beat the butter on its own and then add the sugar as it seems to give a paler, lighter result.
- Add the flour and eggs a little at a time. Because you’re adding them alternately in small amounts the mix will not curdle.
- Add the vanilla and beat the mix until it’s fluffy, pale and glossy. Taste a tiny bit to ensure it tastes smooth – if you can taste any grittiness it isn’t properly mixed.
- Spoon into your tin.
- Bake. The larger your cake the more cooking time it will need. Larger cakes can take anything from 40 minutes to over an hour. The key, as always, is the look and whether a skewer comes out clean. Ensure that you skewer the cake in different places as I often find the edges may be cooked but the centre still very raw. Be patient – it’s worth the wait!
- Let cool in tin before turning out.
- Now make the buttercream. Beat the butter and vanilla together until smooth and pale then stir in the icing sugar before beating to a smooth buttercream. At this point, I split the buttercream into two bowls as I wanted to leave half of it naturally coloured, and then colour the other half blue for the sea.
- Assemble your cake as required.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful things you have made.
- Eat.

Toffee apple cake

What grabbed my attention with this cake was that the toffee apple topping was on both sponges, not just the top layer. The apples bake in brown sugar as the cake cooks and you end up with caramelised apples not dissimilar to tarte tatin but with absolutely none of the faff!

Here are the apples in the tins before being topped with cake batter:


These shots shows the ‘tarte tatin’ look of the cake:


I think that sponge, apple and cream is a marriage made in heaven and it shows that – British Royal family aside - three in a marriage can sometimes work. But I digress...

The toffee oozes into the sponge and is sticky, sweet and scrummy. You may also notice that I don't believe in skimping on the filling:


The recipe said to sandwich the layers with whipped double cream. I’m sure that would be divine, but I tweaked it slightly and added some good quality fresh custard. I use custard cream a lot for accompanying cakes – basically it’s whipped cream with spoonfuls of custard beaten in to it.


This cake defines “squidgy”. When you cut slices the cream gently oozes out at the edges


One tip – when the cakes are baking, some of the brown sugar leaks out of the tin (if you use a loose bottomed tin). Stand the tins on a baking sheet to stop this making a mess.

Note to optimistic work colleagues: you won’t be seeing this cake tomorrow. Sorry.

Ingredients:
For the cakes:
3 small eating apples (I used Pink Lady)
6 tablespoons dark brown sugar
175g unsalted butter
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
175g self raising flour

For the filling (and also serving cream):
600ml double cream
500ml fresh custard
Dash of vanilla extract

For the topping:
2 tablespoons icing sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

How to make:

- Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4.
- Line the bases of two 20cm sandwich tins with baking paper.
- Peel and core the apples then slice them thinly. Toss them in the brown sugar until well covered.
- Arrange the apple slices in the base of each tin.
- Now make the sponge: Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
- Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding some of the flour if the mix starts to curdle.
- Beat in the remaining flour.
- Divide the batter between the two tins and spread carefully so as not to disturb the apple slices. Level the surfaces.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer comes out cleanly. Mine took 37 minutes.
- Place the tins on a wire rack and leave to cool before turning out of tins. If you turn the cakes out too soon the toffee apple won’t be set and could slide off the top of the cakes!
- Lightly whip the cream then gradually add spoonfuls of custard. This is not an exact science – add as much as you think the cream can hold without turning runny. It’s not difficult though and there’s no need to be frightened!
- Sandwich the cakes together with as much of the custard cream as you think necessary. Put the rest in a bowl for people to help themselves when you serve the cake.
- Mix together the icing sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the top of the cake.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.

CAFTA

This week’s winner of a CAFTA (Cake’s Achievement in Film and Television Arts) award was, again, nominated by Courtney who writes the lovely Coco Cooks. Thanks Courtney ...and as for the rest of you, I’m starting to think you’re just not trying....!

The award is for “Animal Cake” and goes to the Armadillo cake in Steel Magnolias. Particularly nice touch is that the cake is a red velvet so it looks like the armadillo’s guts. Actually, I’m not sure that makes it more appealing...

Here is the cake:


For those of you (i.e. me) not familiar with Groom’s cakes this should tell you all you need to know:
A groom's cake is a wedding tradition typically associated with the American South. While a wedding cake may often be decorated in white and light in texture and/or colour, the groom's cake can take a variety of forms, many incorporating chocolate or fruit. Cheesecake sometimes serves as a groom's cake. The decoration of the cake may reflect the favourite hobby or interest of a groom, or be used for humorous effect, as depicted in the film adaptation of Steel Magnolias, in which a red velvet cake was fashioned in the shape of an armadillo. The groom's cake is often served at a separate table from the wedding cake at a wedding reception, though it may be served as a dessert for a rehearsal dinner.

The cake is being sliced and served:



Then, Drum (the man) asks Ouiser (the lady): Can we call a truce long enough for me to get a piece of cake?

This is the piece she slices him:


Just to clarify which part of the anatomy he gets:



He studies it on the plate before observing: Thanks, nothing like a good piece of ass!


Here’s the scene in full:



Please email me (with photos) your CAFTA nominations.