New Year, New Yum
Back at it with my Tonka Bean, Butterscotch & Raspberry Princess Cake, the ULTIMATE Cinnamon Rolls with Salted Caramel Frosting and my go to Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe.
Hey Friends!
Is it too late to say Happy New Year?
Have I missed the boat?
Well screw it, cause I make the rules around here – HAPPY NEW YEARRRRR!
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break and are all suitably stuffed like a turkey after all the feasting, nibbling and grazing. I’ll level with you, if I see another roast potato within my vicinity I am going to KICK OFF. I don’t want it. I don’t wanna see it. I don’t even want to breathe the same air as it. Very over potatoes, very over feeling like a potato but same time my life is carbs so the cycle never ends.
I am not one for the new year, new me malarkey. I don’t set resolutions as such because when I inevitably fail them a few days later, I feel rubbish about my lack of self control so I decided to beat the system instead folks by setting none. Now there is nothing to fail, now there is nothing haunting my thoughts and now I can continue on my merry little way. Instead I like to list out goals of things I would like to achieve and more so this year, things I would like to experience.
I made a promise to myself at the end of last year that 2025 Rubes is gonna live life a little more outside of the kitchen. 2025 is the year Rubes gets a life. I know I live a very fortunate one but if I don’t force myself to have a day off, I would happily work away 365 days a year, experimenting, baking, inevitably dropping something, failing, reworking, making cakes, editing content, writing newsletters and fawning over new bakes.
Somewhere along the lines, I’ve associated having time off with being lazy. The guilt kicks in if I’m not in the kitchen and the worry that I’ll be left behind starts to creep up. I KNOW this sounds daft, I KNOW everyone needs time off and if I were to hear any of you saying the same thing I would be screaming at you for this unhealthy obsession.
Which is why I am in search of a new hobby this year. Something that gets me out of the kitchen, something that gets me interacting with others, making new friends (because why is this so hard to do when you get older??) and something that gives me some much needed light relief. I love baking, I truly do but my whole personality is now cake and before I lose myself entirely to carbs, I’m gonna force myself to colour outside the lines a little.
I’ve always wanted to try rock climbing. Maybe I’ll get back into painting. Perhaps I’ll try a new sport, look for a local netball team. Get into something niche and quirky like cheese rolling (ya know the one where they roll the cheese down the hill and run after it?). If I EVER get that desperate please feel free to have a serious word with me. But I just want something. I’m gonna find myself something that isn’t baking and caking and give myself that glorious gift of guilt free time off. That being said, please don’t stress that there will be a lack of baked goods on the horizon cause I’m BACK BABY, and hopefully better than ever.
Which reminds me – I am going to be eyeballs deep writing book 2 in the next few weeks and would love to be able to share a few recipes with some of you to help me recipe test, share any feedback, let me know if the recipe writing isn’t clear or accurate and any changes you would suggest. If that feels like a little something you would like to do, please send me a message or leave a comment below. I’ll be sure to comp any subscription here in return for your kindness, plus cover ingredient expenses.
Okay enough random yap now because I am boring myself (someone had to say it) – let’s get into the newsy, shall we?
We’re open and back in business with the normal yum, same level of filth and all the delicious bits we all truly deserve.
Coming up in the newsy this week, we have my go to Swiss Meringue Buttercream recipe. This has been tried and tested for over 5 years and has never let me down once. I firmly believe in quality over quantity and whilst this is trickier to make than its basic b*tch sibling American Buttercream (shade intended, don’t hate me), it is well worth the time investment.
a triumphant trio of treats
The main bake this week is my Tonka Bean, Butterscotch & Raspberry Princess Slab Cake. Think light, think delicious, think sophisticated yum. I was meaning to make this just before Christmas before I got sucked into a Gingerbread house vortex and I’m so pleased it came out just as good as I had imagined it being. If you’ve never tried anything Tonka Bean flavoured before, you are in for such a treat – paired with a tart raspberry compote, whipped butterscotch mascarpone cream and a layer of pistachio cream, SHE IS BLOODY DELIGHTFUL.
Finishing up the offerings are my ultimate Cinnamon Rolls with Salted Caramel Frosting. I have a cracking recipe for these in my book One Bake but I have tweaked, amended and somehow made something great even greater? They are made up of the pillowiest of all bread doughs which is slathered with my All Things Butter Cinnamon and finished with a Salted Caramel Cream Cheese frosting. Don’t fret for those who can’t get their hands on the butter, I give you a easy speedy sub for the real thing.
It’s confession time folks. I have needed to get this off my chest for a long time. Like THE longest time known to mankind. Please don’t hate me but I internally cringe every time I scroll past a recipe on social media which happily advocates for American buttercream. I remind myself it’s not my business. Say nothing Rubes. This isn’t your place. They are still a good baker. Don’t shit all over someone’s parade – you are far better than that.
And you know what. I AM better than that, but this is a safe space now, right? Here in our little LB corner of the internet, I can say something as damning as American Buttercream is everything that is wrong with baking, and you will proceed to read why before you type and judge…right folks? RIGHT FOLKS?!
Listen, I get it - it’s easy, it’s simple. 2 or 3 ingredients, minimal fuss required, is so sturdy its basically cake cement. I get it. I promise you, as someone who started off using ABC when I first delved into baking, I BLOODY GET IT. But please, I beg you to love yourself more than this. As someone whose whole personality is based on cake, please let me introduce you to a much better option of Swiss Meringue Buttercream. If you are investing your time and money into baking and making something which people will hopefully gleefully eat, let it be worth it.
Let it be so wholly delicious, someone asks for seconds. Another asks for the recipe. A third asks you to make it again next time. The last begs you to pack some up for them in Tupperware you know you will never, ever see again (shout out to all my long-lost plastic tubs, I miss you x). Let it be for something that makes a memory, makes someone happy, makes their day.
I will wax lyrical about baking and all its yummy, tasty benefits. I will try and convert as many people over to the sugary, sweet side as much and as often as possible. But the one response which rings loudly in my ears, is the standard line of ‘oh it takes too long, and it never goes right’. I’ve always said the most important ingredient in baking is patience. Not exactly an earth-shattering, groundbreaking revelation but having some patience goes a long way.
ABC requires zero patience. It’s lazy baking. It’s quick, easy, doesn’t matter if it’s tasty or not, sorta baking. A spoonful of that stuff and I can literally taste the dentist appointment coming my way. Sickly sweet with a mildly unpleasant texture, it’s basic. It’s a basic b*tch buttercream. There. I said it. And I feel SO MUCH BETTER FOR IT. If you couldn’t tell, I have been storing this rant up for a long time.
And it’s all for good reason. I just think you deserve better.
There are a tonne of better tasting buttercreams and frostings for you to bless your bakes with. There’ll be no more scraping the icing off the sponge to enjoy a slice of cake. There’ll be no more icing sugar explosions in the kitchen (why does this stuff go EVERYWHERE?!). And there’ll be no more basicness on our watch okay?
Truth be told, I steered clear of making this buttercream until a few years back as I feared it was too tricky and too faffy to master but after an encouraging facetime from my GFF Antony Amourdoux, I did it. So, this folks, is the equivalent of that phonecall. I am here to encourage, champion and scream in your face that you can do it. This recipe has been tweaked over the years (the base of it stolen from said GFF) but now the outcome is foolproof (dare I say idiotproof too?) and results in a silky-smooth delight, ready for you to pipe, stack and ice away.
Recipe makes: Enough to stack, crumb coat and decorate 3 x 7 inch cake or 2 x 9 inch cake
Y O U – W I L L – N E E D –
250 g Egg whites (ideally not from a carton and from eggs a few days old, at room temp)
525 g Caster Sugar (you can mix this up w Golden Caster Sugar or even Light Brown Sugar)
500 g Unsalted Butter, diced at fridge temp (make sure this is good quality butter like All Things Butter)
500 g Unsalted Butter, diced at room temp (again good quality but you can also mix up 50% of this with salted butter when adding sweet flavourings to the BC eg. Cocoa powder, caramel sauce, biscoff etc)
1.5 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
M E T H O D –
First up, get a saucepan filled with hot water and place it over a medium to high heat. You want to get that simmering.
Into a large stand mixer bowl (also achievable in a non-stand mixer capacity), add the egg whites and sugar. Using the whisk attachment, mix on a low speed to combine both the sugar and egg whites together until well combined and smooth. You don’t want to work this up to a meringue, you want to keep this slow and steady just to begin dissolving the sugar. There’ll be no gritty buttercream on my watch, folks!
Once mixed, place the bowl onto the pan of simmering water, ensuring the bottom doesn’t touch the water (if it does, not a major biggie but just be mindful that the base will cook quicker than the rest).
You want to cook the egg whites to a temperature of 65°C AT LEAST. I go for 67/68 to be on the safe side but this ensures the egg whites are safely cooked and will whip up nice and sturdy. This will take a bit of time so be sure to regularly stir the sugary egg whites with a balloon whisk to minimize any crystallization on the sides.
Once cooked, place the bowl back onto the stand mixer and use the whisk attachment to mix on a high speed until you have a thick, glossy and stiff meringue.
Switch over the whisk attachment to the paddle (if you are doing this with a handheld electric whisk, ignore this and keep going) and pop the mixer onto a medium speed. Add the diced fridge temp butter to the bowl in stages. Some recipes say to add cube by cube but they’re being dramatic - you’re all good to be a bit more generous with the additions. The fridge temp butter helps to reduce the temperature of the meringue, meaning no sloppy, soupy buttercream.
Once that has been added, go in with the room temp buttercream bit by bit. Once you start adding this, the consistency of the BC will go from A to Z real quick. The texture will become firmer, it will resemble buttercream more so as you know it but won’t look silky smooth.
After all the butter has been added, now is the time to go in with your additions. Vanilla Bean Paste is a must and a bare minimum for me. After that, go in with cocoa powder (about 80 g Dutch Processed or 100 g normal), salted caramel sauce, mango puree, coconut cream, milk powder, malt powder, biscoff, the kitchen sink – you name it, it goes in right now).
Turn the speed down to the lowest and let it mix and do its thing for about 15 to 20 minutes. I know this sounds like a long time but it’ll go from clumpy to silky smooth with minimal air bubbles, making it perfect for piping and stacking. The texture will be visibly different and so silky smooth you want to dive in head first.
Moving onto the main bake of the day, my dearly beloved, one true love of 2025 so far – my Tonka Bean, Butterscotch & Raspberry Princess Cake. One thing about me is that I am always gonna be extra when it comes to making cakes. My aim of the game for this year was to keep it simple. Don’t overdo it Rubes. Keep it basic, keep it relaxed and then here I am with a multi-layered, multi-flavoured, marzipan covered with plaited edges Princess Cake because I have issues, evidently. But I make no apologies for it because WOW, what a total beauty she is.
If you’ve never tried Tonka Bean as a flavour before, you really must. Imagine a vanilla bean pod having a baby with almonds. A weird visual, granted but that is the best way I can describe the flavour. It has a mildly marzipan-ny undertone and rich vanilla bean scent, all intertwined in a warming, slightly nutmeggy vibe. I’ve described this horribly but if you’ve tried it before, you know I am right.
It’s quite a niche product so most likely not available at most supermarkets but it is readily available on Amazon or in food shops which specialise in spices (it originates from South America). A little goes a long way and you won’t often find a sponge recipe of mine that doesn’t include vanilla bean paste cause I am obsessed but low and behold folks, today is the day.
We are pairing that powerhouse of a spice alongside a whipped butterscotch mascarpone, a tart raspberry compote and a layer of pistachio cream. It’s not the simplest of bakes but when planned well, you can get the whole cake made, done and consumed within 2 days.
There are lots of ways to cheat the recipe and whilst I have made it as a slab cake (I don’t know how else to describe it? A rectangle cake???), you can easily make this as a normal layered sponge, scrap covering the cake in marzipan and switch out the homemade butterscotch sauce for a shop bought number. Whilst I will always err on the side of being extra, I will always give you examples of how to simplify to ensure everyone gets to enjoy a slice of yum at home.
For example:
Switch out the sheet cake for 2 x 20 cm / 8 inch tins.
If you can’t find tonka bean, sub in 2 tsp vanilla bean paste, 1 tsp almond extract and 1/8 ground nutmeg instead.
Scrap making the butterscotch sauce from scratch and use shop bought. If you can’t find butterscotch sauce in the shops, sub for salted caramel instead.
I opted for a raspberry compote which is super easy to make but in the interest of keeping things super simple, you can lightly mash down fresh raspberries and use those to layer on to the cream instead. Please note, the raspberries will be much tarter this way but the sharpness will work well against the sweet layers.
Pistachio paste/cream IS expensive, so you can eliminate and substitute for another layer of raspberry compote instead. If you do want to keep a point of difference, you could even use peanut butter as a substitute here. The flavours would work well with the raspberry and tonka bean, whilst being a more readily available, cheaper option.
This makes up a bit of a whopper of a cake if you make it how I have so feel free to halve the quants and bake in a smaller tin for a reduced serving size OR freeze the leftover cake. If you opt to freeze, my advice would be to slice the cake into servings, wrap individually in clingfilm/saran wrap and then store for up to 3 months. This way you can defrost just a slice, as opposed to a whole cake.
Fresh cream cakes for me will always come out on top, alongside a filthbag Choccy number. The lightness of the cake, paired with the sweetness from the butterscotch, sharpness from the raspberries and warming spice from the sponge – I have no notes, no complaints and no niggles.
She’s perfect. Look at her.
Recipe Makes: 30 x 40 cm / 12 x 16 inch shallow baking tray
Recipe Serves: A lot – a good 10 slices, which can then be sliced in half depending on your cake consuming abilities.
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