Grandma Ptak’s red velvet cake (main picture)
Prep: 30 min
Cook: 1 hr
Serves: 8-10
For the sponge
600g caster sugar
1 tsp fine salt
5 eggs
250g vegetable oil
5 tbsp red food colouring
2 tsp vanilla extract
50g cocoa powder
560g plain flour
100g cornflour
500g buttermilk or plain yoghurt
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp white vinegar
Butter, for greasing
For the icing
200g unsalted butter, softened
250g cream cheese
750g icing sugar, sifted
1½ tsp vanilla extract
Heat the oven to 150C/300F/gas 2. Grease and line two 24cm cake tins.
Make the sponge: in a large bowl, whisk together the caster sugar, salt, eggs, oil, food colouring and vanilla.
In another large bowl, sift together the cocoa powder, plain flour and cornflour.
Pour the buttermilk or yoghurt into a jug. In a small bowl, combine the bicarb and vinegar, then stir into the buttermilk.
Whisk half the flour and cocoa into the egg and sugar mixture, then mix in half the buttermilk. Add the remaining flour and cocoa mixture and mix well. Finally, add the remaining buttermilk and mix until smooth.
Pour the lot into the prepared tins and bake until the top is springy to the touch and a skewer comes out clean – about one hour.
Meanwhile, make the icing: in the bowl of a mixer, whip the butter until light and creamy. Add the cream cheese and beat well. Gradually add the icing sugar and beat on a low speed for three minutes. Scrape down the bowl, then add the vanilla and beat for another five minutes. Ice the cooled cake to serve.
From The Violet Bakery Cookbook, by Claire Ptak (Square Peg)
Neapolitan brownie bombe
Prep: 1 hr
Freeze: 6 hrs
Cook: 15 min
Serves: 12
2 packs shop-bought brownie mix
150ml vegetable oil or butter
2 eggs
1.4 litres strawberry ice‑cream, softened
1 litre vanilla ice‑cream, softened
500ml chocolate ice‑cream, softened
Cocoa powder
Heat the oven to 180C/ 350F/gas 4. Line two baking trays with baking paper and line a large bowl with clingfilm.
Mix the brownie mix with the eggs, oil or butter, until just combined. Pour the mix into the baking trays and spread evenly. Bake according to the packet instructions, until the brownies are fudgy yet firm. Remove and leave to cool.
Once cool, cut one trayful in half lengthwise, then into eight equal rectangles. Leave four as they are, and cut the other four diagonally into eight triangles. Line the prepared bowl with these brownie pieces, covering the sides and bottom, and pressing down firmly, especially the seams, to create a shell with no gaps.
Scoop the strawberry ice-cream on to the shell and smooth with a spatula. Cover with clingfilm and press a medium-sized bowl into the ice-cream, so it rises up the sides and is flush with the top of the bowl. Freeze for three hours.
Unwrap, repeat with the vanilla ice-cream and freeze for another two hours.
Meanwhile, cut a circle into the other tin of brownie the diameter of the large bowl.
Uncover the now-frozen vanilla layer, fill with chocolate ice-cream, cover with the circle of brownie and freeze for one hour.
Carefully remove from the freezer and flip on to a serving platter. Leave a couple of minutes, then remove the bowl and dust with cocoa powder.
From Tasty: Latest and Greatest by Buzzfeed (Ebury)
Lemon and elderflower drizzle cake
Prep: 25 min
Cook: 20 min
Serves: 6-8
200g butter, very soft
200g caster sugar, plus 7 tbsp
extra
4 medium eggs, lightly beaten
200g self-raising flour
2 small lemons, juiced and zested
3 tbsp elderflower cordial
100g full-fat cream cheese
200ml double cream
Edible flowers or sprigs of lemon thyme, and lemon zest, to decorate
Heat the oven to 190C/375F/gas 5. Lightly grease and line the bases of two 20cm round cake tins with baking paper.
Using an electric whisk, beat together the butter, sugar, eggs, flour and the lemon zest, until completely smooth. Scrape into the prepared tins, smooth the surface of the cakes to ensure they’re even, then bake for 20 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.
Remove the cakes from the oven, leave to cool in the tins for five minutes, then turn out on to a baking sheet. Peel off the baking paper and carefully flip the cakes so they’re domed side up.
Mix five tablespoons of the extra sugar with the lemon juice and two tablespoons of elderflower cordial. Use a co*cktail stick to prick the cake all over, then gradually pour the syrup over both cakes and leave to soak in and cool completely.
For the filling, tip the remaining elderflower cordial into a bowl, add the cream cheese, then soften with an electric whisk. Add the cream and a tablespoon of sugar and beat to soft peaks.
Carefully slide one of the cakes on to a plate – use a palette knife to help. Spread with most of the cream. Sandwich with the remaining cake and spread over the remaining cream. Decorate with edible flowers and lemon zest.
Recipe by Rosie Reynolds
Rich chocolate buttermilk cake
Prep: 40 min
Cook: 35 min
Serves: 8-10
For the cake
220g plain flour
400g granulated sugar
90g cocoa powder
1½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
2 large eggs
240ml buttermilk
115g butter, melted
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup (240ml hot coffee (or 2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in a mug of boiling water)
For the chocolate filling
200g dark chocolate (70% cocoa), chopped
240g unsalted butter, softened
4 egg yolks
160g caster sugar, sifted
For the ganache
300ml double cream
140g dark chocolate (about 52% cocoa solids), chopped
Chocolate curls and
cocoa powder, to decorate
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Grease and flour (or line) two 24cm round baking tins.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla. Beat until smooth, stir in the coffee, then divide evenly between the tins, and bake on the middle rack of the oven for about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tins for 15 minutes, then on a rack. (Run a butter knife around the edges of each cake. Put a wire cooling rack over the top of each tin and flip the cakes; gently thump on the bottom of the tins, until the cakes release.)
For the filling, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, then set aside to cool.
In a large bowl, cream the butter with an electric mixer for 10 minutes, then beat in the egg yolks and sugar for five minutes. Stir two spoonfuls into the cooled, melted chocolate, then mix it back into the butter mixture, until fully combined and smooth.
For the ganache, bring the cream to a boil. Put the chocolate in a large bowl, then pour the cream over and stir. Once cooled, beat to soft peaks.
To assemble, spread the filling on to one cake and sandwich with the other. Ice with the ganache. Decorate with chocolate curls, or dust with cocoa powder.
From The Farmette Cookbook by Imen McDonnell (Roost Books)
Zebra cake
Prep: 25 min
Cook: 40 min
Serves: 8-10
260g unsalted butter, at room temperature
420g caster sugar
4 eggs
430g plain flour, sifted
1 tbsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
240ml whole milk
30g cocoa powder, sifted
For the buttercream
50g unsalted butter, softened
40g cocoa, sifted
350g icing sugar, sifted
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch sea salt
30ml whole milk
110ml double cream
Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas 6. Grease and line three 15cm round cake tins.
Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Slowly beat in the eggs until just mixed. Split this batter between two bowls. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Split the dry ingredients between two bowls.
Now add half of one of the bowls of dry ingredients to one of the bowls of batter and beat together. Add the vanilla and half the milk, then add the rest of that bowl of dry mix, stir, and set aside.
Take the second bowl of reserved batter, repeat the above steps, adding the cocoa to the dry ingredients.
You should now have two bowls of mixed batter: one vanilla, one chocolate.
Spoon three tablespoons of the vanilla batter into the centre of each cake tin. Add the same amount of chocolate batter into the centre of that. Repeat, adding to the centre each time.
Bake for about 25–30 minutes, until done, then leave to cool, first in the tins for 10 minutes, then on a wire rack.
For the buttercream, beat the butter for five minutes on high speed, then mix in the remaining ingredients and beat until smooth. Spread on the cakes to sandwich together, then ice the top and sides.
From Sweet Tooth, by Lily Vanilli (Canongate)
Pistachio, rose and cardamom cake
Prep: 25 min
Cook: 15 min
Serves: 10-12
For the cake
70g spinach leaves
2 tbsp milk
225g unsalted butter
225g golden caster sugar
225g self-raising flour
70g finely ground pistachios
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cardamom
4 large eggs
For the icing
400ml double cream
4 tbsp caster sugar
¾ tsp rose water
To decorate
1 handful roughly chopped pistachios
1 handful dried rose petals
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Grease and line two 24cm round cake tins.
Put the spinach in a colander and pour boiling water on top so it wilts. Leave to cool for a minute, then squeeze out all the water, put the wilted leaves in a blender with the milk and blend to a puree.
Mix all the other cake ingredients with the spinach puree and whisk for two minutes, until light and creamy (you could use a stand mixer). Divide the mix equally between the two prepared tins and bake for 15 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave to cool completely.
In a bowl, whisk the cream with the sugar and rose water, until it forms soft peaks.
Put one cake on a plate, then spread with half of the cream. Sandwich with the other cake, and ice the top with the remaining cream. Sprinkle the pistachios and rose petals on top and serve.
Recipe by Chetna Makan
