It's Cake O'Clock
My Spiced Carrot & Chocolate (yes, it works don’t doubt me) Cake, Chocolate Dipped Chocolate & Roasted Hazelnut Cookies plus a round up of my fave 5 cakes from Around the World so far.
Hey Friends!
I hope you are well this week? Sorry for being late with the newsy this week – I spoke not long ago about Christmas traditions in the Bhogal household, one being Milo always needing to go to the vet around this time of year and true to form, that one got crossed off the bingo card a little earlier than expected this year!
To those of you who celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday, I hope you all had a wonderful day celebrating with loved ones and eating yourself into oblivion – for those of you who didn’t celebrate, I hope you had a happy Thursday and also ate some delicious foods cause why not? I can’t lie, despite being very appreciative that I live in the UK – Thanksgiving is one of those occasions which make me wish I followed young Rubes’ dream of living in the US. Not for the weather (on the west coast), not for the vibes (on the east coast), not for the food (in particular fast food joints which I know are terribly bad for me) but for THANKSGIVING.
For me (and I know this generalisation is very wrong but blame the sitcoms and 90’s rom coms I grew up with) it feels like it’s a mini Christmas just without the presents? The same hoo-ha, the same hullaballoo (I have never used this word in a real life sentence before but wowee isn’t it fun?), the same excitement as you have about Christmas but just a month before.
2 epic Christmas dinners in the space of a month? 2 opportunities to have leftover dinner sandwiches? 2 times the amount of fun, stress, carnage and excuse to do nothing but chill and eat all day long? Sign me up. Someone, anyone, please take this as my open plea to invite me to your Thanksgiving dinner next year. If I scroll past another ‘must-make’ mac and cheese recipe reel or a ‘bring me to Thanksgiving’ appetiser reel, I am going to lose it. I NEED IT ALL. I want it all. Why don’t we Brits mac and cheese at Christmas? Why we just making do with cauliflower cheese? This is no defamation on cauli cheese by the way because drown me in the stuff but the food!! The food just gets me every Thanksgiving.
Whilst I wanted to send out the newsletter ahead of the big day and give you all some recipe ideas or inspo for what to bake to round off an epic dinner, I am also SUPER aware that there were a tonne of much more informed recipe guides out there so to avoid adding to the ever growing pile (and likely getting it wrong because would a Butter Chicken Pie really go down well at Thanksgiving dinner, I don’t know?), I decided to steer clear.
BUT now we have passed that and are now on the home straight to Christmas, this is where I will emerge from the shadows and give you everything I have got to ensure food wise, you are sorted. Over the coming weeks, I’ll give you recipes that are showstopping puds, easy desserts, tasty snacks, a guide on nailing the ultimate roasties (mine are SICKENINGLY GOOD), my Mum’s Indian stuffing recipe which also serves as the base for a gravy so deliciously spiced I could drink the stuff, ideas on how to use up any leftover cheese and of course cakes galore.
Unbuckle those belts folks, chuck on the comfies and let’s tuck in to some good mood food.
P.s I have also compiled a list of must-watch Christmas movies featuring the good (Home Alone 1 & 2 obvi), the bad (Love, Actually – unpopular opinion but I really dislike this movie) and the ugly (ANY Lindsey Lohan Christmas film – they are soooo bad, that they are low key brilliant?). If you’d like a copy for you to work your way through, I’ll make sure I share it with you all next week!
On the menu this week, we have a shed load of cake and a little sprinkling of cookies.
For the main bake this week, and very much inspired by one of top 5 around the world cakes, is my Chocolate Orange Spiced Carrot Cake. I know this all sounds like ingredients which don’t, shouldn’t or can’t work with each other but I promise you – she is a keeper. Two layers of beautifully spiced, soft, moist and moreish carrot cake (there are zero raisins in my version fyi), sandwiching a layer of crisp, buttery, flaky kataifi pastry (yes, I am still obsessed with this after my Chocolate Mousse Cake) and smothered in silky smooth chocolate cream cheese frosting which is spiked with orange zest.
For something a little more low key but naughtily delicious, we have my Double Chocolate & Roasted Hazelnut Cookies which are dipped in milk chocolate and finished with a sprinkling of hazelnuts and flaky sea salt. These are the perfect treat to have stored in your freezer over the crimbo period for any unexpected guests (I’m talking about my dad’s younger sister WITHOUT FAIL) or for any festive film sofa slob sessions.
We also have the 5 Around the World Cakes which featured in my top 5 out of 50 cakes so far round up. You can grab the downloadable PDF’s as well as any suggested tweaks to help make the bake a little more festive for the Greek Portokalopita (Orange Cake), Swedish Prinsesstarta, Danish Dreamcake, Brazilian Carrot Cake (this is the one that inspired the main bake if you couldn’t tell) and my dearly beloved Brooklyn Blackout Cake.
Getting straight into what you’re all here for with my Double Chocolate & Roasted Hazelnut Cookies. A small disclaimer that this recipe was developed as part of a collaboration with a brand for the launch of a new tea range BUT these cookies are so damn good, I had to also share with you here as they would make for some perfect edible gifts. They look the part, they taste deliciously good and if you bake the whole cookie dough in a skillet pan in the oven, you’ll have a cracking pud to share (or not), dunk, scoop and top with vanilla ice cream.
However you choose to make them, make sure you keep a stash of these in the freezer for when the clock strikes 8 pm on a Sunday and the urge for a sweet treat gets too unbearable. One word of warning – the unbaked cookie dough must sit in the freezer for 4 hours at least (preferably overnight) before they are baked to ensure we get that ooey gooey, barely set cookie guts.
They have crisp and crunchy edges, soft middles and finished with a good dunking in milk chocolate and sprinkled with a generous pinch of flaky sea salt to finish. Deep and rich in flavour, high in filth factor – this is how cookies should be done.
Recipe Makes: Approx 15 Cookies
Y O U – W I L L – N E E D –
Cookies
225 g Unsalted Butter, room temp
100 g Light Brown Sugar
85 g Caster Sugar
1 Large Egg
135 g Condensed Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
350 g Plain Flour, sifted
¾ tsp Baking Powder, sifted
½ tsp Bicarbonate of Soda, sifted
125 g Chopped Roasted Hazelnuts
50 g Cocoa Powder, sifted
Pinch of Salt
250 g Milk or Dark Chocolate, chips
180 g Milk Chocolate, chopped into small chunks
To Finish
200 g Milk Chocolate, melted
Handful Chopped Roasted Hazelnuts
Good pinch of Sea Salt
M E T H O D –
First up, line a baking tray with some greaseproof paper or silicon mat and arm yourself with an ice cream scoop.
Into a bowl, add the unsalted butter and sugars. Cream together for a minute or two until combined using a paddle attachment. We don’t want this to be light or fluffy, we just want this combined – if you overmix here, you are likely to have cakey cookies.
Next, add the egg and condensed milk. Mix well until combined.
In a separate bowl, add the plain flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cocoa powder, pinch of salt and roasted hazelnuts (you want these chopped very small). Mix well using a balloon whisk.
Add 250 g chocolate chips to the flour, give it a mix before adding to the butter bowl.
Mix until everything has combined, and no visible streaks of flour are left. By this point, it should very much look like a dough.
Use the ice cream scoop to scoop out dough balls (each dough ball should be approx. 90 g). Roll into a ball and press the tops of each dough ball into the 180g chopped chocolate chunks and place onto your lined baking tray. The taller you shape your cookie dough ball (e.g., cylindrically as opposed to round) the chunkier the cookie will be). You want each dough ball to be about 2 inches tall for a thick cookies
Place the baking tray into the freezer and leave for at least 4 to 6 hours but preferably overnight. These need to be completely frozen through before they are baked.
Once they have frozen through, preheat the oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.
Place a few of the dough balls onto a lined baking tray leaving plenty of space around each one and bake for 15 minutes. The cookies will be VERY SOFT but please do not stress, they will set when cooled.
Remove the tray from the oven, use a glass or cookie cutter to scoot around the edges to tidy up and let the cookies sit on the tray for at least 30 to 45 minutes before moving them onto a cooling rack.
Once the cookies are completely cooled, melt the milk chocolate and transfer into a tall glass, large enough for the cookie to fit in.
Dunk each cookie halfway into the melted chocolate and allow any surplus to drip off. Scrape off any chocolate on the base of the cookie before transferring to a cooling rack – this will help your cookie to not stick to the rack when the chocolate is setting.
Repeat for all the cookies before sprinkling over a scattering of roasted hazelnuts and a generous pinch of flaky sea salt on top.
NOTE: These are best eaten on the day but can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days for max freshness. If you eat these a day or two once they have been baked, pop them into the oven or microwave for a quick blast of heat to revive for a melty, gooey cookie.
Next up, we have my top 5 Around the World Cakes. As we have made 50 out of the 80 cakes so far, I thought it was about time to recap and rank my fave five so far. I’ll be real – I can’t believe just how long this series has been going on for but I am SO grateful that a lot of you here are still enjoying it. There are so many fun ones still left to do and I can’t wait to FINALLY hit number 1 at some point next year. I will likely be a few stone heavier but a whole lot happier as I move onto my next planned series.
Here I am sharing downloadable PDF’s for : Greek Portokalopita, Swedish Prinsesstarta, Danish Dream Cake, Brazilian Carrot Cake and Brooklyn Blackout. Whilst these are my fave five, I feel like there should be a notable mention of the Persian Love Cake, French Fraisier Cake and the German Black Forest Cake as close runner ups. I often get asked which cake I would recommend people trying to attempt first and my words are – any of these 8.
Any of these will leave you, those around you and more importantly, your belly VERY happy. None of these are mammoth tasks, all of these are fairly achievable by most but please PLEASE read the recipes through thoroughly first before attempting to see if you have any queries and if you do, let me know below so I can help you out. Read the recipe once. Read the recipe twice and make notes and read the recipe thrice and get to baking. This is the way I managed to make my way through Bake Off technicals without spontaneously combusting.
I won’t share the full recipes for them all in the body of this newsy because that would be a LOT of text so make sure you download these PDF’s and check out my notes on the below to help you tweak any of the bakes to make them a little more festive for this time of year.
Greek Portokalopita: Phenomenally juicy and sweet, this cake was a total hoot to make as it was so easy. The actual hands-on time was super minimal, and the actual outcome was sublime. This is the perfectly bright and sunny anecdote to the incessant rain and cold weather this week. It’s made up of a sweet, syrup-soaked sponge made with no flour...just filo. Unsure what sort of sorcery the Greeks are up to over there, but this cake is nothing short of magic. It's the perfect beginner bake as no stand mixer or electric hand whisk is needed - just a blender, your hands, an oven, and an empty tum ready for a whole lotta yum.
To make it a little more festive for this time of year, I would add 1 tsp of ground cinnamon & 0.5 tsp of ground cardamom (or about 6 crushed pods) to the batter base and serve this up warm, as opposed to waiting for it to cool down. Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a sprinkling of chopped pistachios and a few mint leaves to garnish and I am CONVINCED this is gonna make any Scrooge feel festive AF.
Swedish Prinsesstarta: It took me 3 attempts to get this right. THREE. But ya know, I could just tell at the start that she was going to be worth the effort. Layers of soft, delicate sponge, sandwiched between a vanilla bean pastry cream, raspberry compote and then swaddled in green marzipan. She’s a posher, jazzier, sassier version of the Victoria Sponge. It’s giving the old razzle dazzle, and I am bloody here for it. Just to reiterate, this is definitely MY version of it and I am in no way trying to pass this off as authentic.
To make this a little more festive, do NOT lose the marzipan finish. That is a must. But to give that almond flavour a big boost (I LOVE anything almond flavoured), add 1.5 tsp of almond extract to your batter base when you are folding through your flour. For this time of year, switch out the raspberries for cranberries and fold through some grated white chocolate in your whipped cream to finish. If you are worried about making that marzipan finish look neat, you can mask a tonne of sins by using Christmas biscuit cutters to stamp out snowflakes and holly leaves from the marzipan and use those to hide any blemishes.
Danish Dream Cake: I remember when I first tried this cake and it honestly blew my tiny pea brain mind. I couldn’t fathom how something so simple could produce something so delicious. There is a part of this cake that makes it taste like an Indian burfi I used to devour as a child – which is why I am sure I adore it even more but the sponge base is super light, the overall cake is incredibly easy to make and the topping (so I am told) is very versatile. If you don’t like the idea of a caramelised coconut topping sitting on top of a tender, delicate vanilla sponge - switch out the coconut for oats, hazelnuts, almonds or macadamia nuts instead. There is also a chocolate version of this, which would be my tweak for a festive twist.
Brazilian Carrot Cake: The sponge is super soft and tender, incredibly moist and moreish and has a nice hint of carrot in the background with being walloped in the face with it. I wasn’t convinced carrot and chocolate would work but being wrong has never been so delicious. I am not about to tell you to go dunk your carrots into a jar of Nutella…but I am mildly tempted to give it a go because this is just a whole load of wow. This cake very much inspired the main bake this week – the simplicity of this one makes it the perfect beginner bake. No fuss, no fancy equipment needed. My only word of advice is don’t scrimp on the vanilla bean in the batter – it’ll be worth it.
My only suggestion to make this cake more festive is to level up by making the main bake of today – my spiced carrot cake with a crunchy filo layer for texture, smothered in a chocolate orange cream cheese frosting. Wildly different from any OG style carrot cake but wildly delicious.
Brooklyn Blackout Cake: Rounding up the top 5 is my fave Brooklyn Blackout. If you couldn’t tell, we LOVE chocolate over here and by we, I very much mean me. It is filthy, it is outrageous and it is incredibly naughty. It’s rich, it’s in your face, it’s over the top and it’s everything you could want in a chocolate cake and more. It’s made up of layers of moist chocolate sponge sandwiched with layers of chocolate pudding and covered in chocolate frosting and chocolate sponge crumb. Are you ready for the choccy horror show??? And by horror, I, of course, mean FILTH.
There are ZERO tweaks I would make to this cake. None. She’s perfect as is. If you want to make this look slightly christmassier – add some cherries (fresh with the stems on cause we are all about the aesthetics too), dunk them in some gold powder if you have it (this is a stretch I know cause why would you have this??) or gently add some gold leaf and position on top to decorate. Other than that, don’t stray, don’t doubt the sugar quantities, just make, bake, eat and enjoy.
Moving onto the main bake of the week, my Chocolate Orange Spiced Carrot Cake. Sure, she sounds weird. Sure, she sounds like it shouldn’t work. Sure, it sounds like a myriad of ingredients I had just lying around and needed to use (semi true). I get it. Trust me, I doubted whether a chocolate and carrot combo could work but that’s until Brazil came along and changed my mind on it all.
Whilst their version lies at the core of this cake in terms of inspo, it couldn’t be more different if we tried. I LOVE a spiced carrot cake. You all know I am a hardcore cardamom girly at heart and pairing the queen of spice with the subtle warmth of cinnamon and the zingy heat from stem ginger makes for a huge carrot cake win. We’ve added chopped pecans to the batter for that traditional nut element, but we have skipped the raisins because they seem to somehow be more divisive than America’s politics (too soon? Sorry). The key ingredient to any good carrot cake funnily enough, is not carrots, is PINEAPPLE. Yup, I don’t make the rules around here (lies, I do) I just do the baking and I am here to tell you please do not doubt me on that – adding it helps to add moisture, sweetness and a flavour which compliments the carrots well.
And if that wasn’t weird enough, we are also adding orange zest to our chocolate cream cheese frosting because chocolate and orange is a match made in heaven (apparently this is only a British thing??) and is a flavour combo which is festive AF.
Talking of all things festive AF, I am also dropping into your inboxes next week to share my Black Forest Meringue Roulade – a relatively speedy and easy dessert you can whip up over Christmas to impress guests (and more importantly, yourself). We made meringue roulades on bake off as a signature challenge once where we were only given 1hr 30 mins to complete. See, I told you it IS speedy.
Anyway, back to the old COSCC (Chocolate Orange Spiced Carrot Cake, duh), there is also a hidden layer of flaky kataifi because after the success of the Chocolate & Pistachio Mousse Cake, I am now utterly obsessed and want to use it everywhere. The additional crunch really helps to add a strong textural element to an otherwise very soft cake BUT is entirely optional. I made a version with and without and both were a total triumph.
It’s deliciously spiced, warming, comforting and sumptuous. The perfect antidote to the cold weather.
Recipe Makes: 2 x 20 cm / 8 inch sponges
Recipe Serves: 12
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