It happens every year. After Panto come the Panto blues. That down time when you’ve no more rehearsals or performances, no lines or lyrics to remember, and you’re wondering what to do with yourself (apart from planning the next one!) So what to do? BAKE of course!
I hadn’t made my hubby his favourite coconut ‘loaf’ cake for a while, so thought I’d start with that. Unfortunately, we started watching a film and I forgot to set a timer! So major cake fail as you can see 😞 All was not completely lost however. After I trimmed off all the burnt bits, the middle was actually still nice and moist. So it went in a bowl with a generous helping of custard 😊
I’ve also treated myself to some new cake pans. After reading reviews etc I went for PME anodised steel in 6″7″8″ and 10″. I was dying to try one out, and to test a recipe for Chocolate and Vanilla marble cake, so putting the burnt offering out of the way I set to it.
Recipe:
300g margerine (I used Stork)
375g sugar
400g SR flour
3 eggs
10ml madagascan vanilla extract
2 heaped tablespoons cocoa
200ml buttermilk
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 160° (mine is fan) Generously grease a 6″ x 4″ high cake pan and place a disc of parchment in the bottom. Set aside. Place everything except the cocoa in the bowl of a stand mixer and combine on low speed with paddle attached. Scrape the paddle and sides of the bowl, and continue to mix until the batter looks paler in colour and is light and fluffy. Divide batter into two bowls. Mix cocoa to a medium consistency paste with water, and incorporate into one of the bowls of batter. Do this gently using the ‘folding in’ method. Randomly place ‘blobs’ of both batters in your pan. Make sure there are no gaps, and smooth the top. Bang the tin on your counter a few times! As this is quite a tall cake, I used a ‘baking belt’ to help it bake evenly. If you don’t have one, you can use a damp towel. (See link below) Bake time 45-60 mins. Leave to cool in the tin then run a blunt knife round the edge and turn out. I still had a slight ‘dome’ so I removed that, then split the cake in two. I sandwiched it together with milk chocolate ganache, then spread ganache on top too. For this cake 200g Chocolate and 100ml double cream was just the right amount. To make it, break chocolate into small pieces and place in a glass bowl. Heat the cream gently until it starts to bubble, then pour over the chocolate. Give it a quick stir to ensure an even coating, then leave it for a minute. Stir again. If there are still lumps of unmelted chocolate, heat in the microwave on 50% power in bursts of 20 seconds, stirring after each burst. Continue until the ganache is smooth with no lumps. Let it cool until it’s the consistency you want.
I am very pleased with the result. The cake is moist, has some density while retaining a light texture, and most importantly, it tastes great!
Yum!
Happy baking everyone!
Stay safe and healthy
Debbie ❤
Baking for Therapy 