The Wedding Edition - Part 2

Featuring my Chocolate, Honeycomb & Cherry Slab Cake plus the latest Around The World Cake.

Hey Friends!

I hope you are all well? We are now 3 days out from the big day and guess bloody what? I am still yet to do the following:

Get my nails done.

Make the wedding favours (we are doing cookies and not iced cookies, I mean legit gooey in the middle, crisp on the outside sorta cookies).

Get my dress steamed.

Get my mehndi done.

Get my hair done.

Get the newsletter done.

Get my holiday bits packed (did I mention I am off to Greece for the week post wedding?? The only reason I am getting married if I am being honest – obv a joke, in case James is reading).

Get the last bit of wed-min all done.

Get my ingredients shopping done.

Get some writing edits done before the end of the week.

Oh…and make the actual wedding cake.

Yup. That’s right. I haven’t started it AT ALL.

cake and cookie carnage

So, with that in mind, we are keeping the newsy this week short and sweet. If I start rambling, tell me to zip it and get on with it cause the minutes are slipping by, the denial continues to build and my to-do list is never ending.

Has the anxiety kicked in? Not yet. It’s still yet to become fully fledged but give it some time folks. In a few short hours I’ll be no doubt drowning in a puddle of stress but for now we procrasti-bake.

…and that my friends was me 2 days ago. And now here I am, on the eve of my wedding, sitting in bed at 9pm furiously typing away as I was ADAMANT that this newsy would go out before I head off for a week’s holiday.

Are there more pressing things I should be doing? Absolutely but a little catchup with my newsletter friends was in order before I spend the rest of the night with my mum and sisters watching hopefully a dreadful rom com fuelled by cookies and chocolate. The wedding diet went well out the window about 6 months back so here we are, enjoying my last night before I take another step into adulthood.

GULP.

Amendment Part 2 – I didn’t get this out last night as I had hoped so here we are on my FLIPPING WEDDING DAY trying to get this finished before my hairstylist turns up. Let’s gooooo!

Amendment Part 3 – Well that didn’t go to plan. I got married and now I am en route to my mini-moon. To sum up the day – it was chaotic, dramatic and beautiful in equal measures. A room full of our nearest family and friends and it couldn’t have been more perfect. I’ll give you the full deets in the next newsy!

Amendment Part 4 – Bloody hell. Excuse my French but somehow weeks gave gone by and I still haven’t managed to get this edition of the newsletter out to you. For good reason may I add. Whilst I had every intention of spending the first day of our minimoon finishing up this newsletter and hitting send to deliver a hit of sugary goodness to you all but then life happened. And it happened in abundance.

There I was, all smug and content that I was on my way to Greece for a week of nothing but Greek salads, gyros, souvlaki, sun, sea and Aperols, all whilst my phone was on do not disturb. No work emails, no worries. Just bliss. First day was fine. Sure, I was nursing an almighty hangover from the wedding the day before and existing on 3 hours sleep but the ultimate relaxation station was awaiting me.

We made it to Naxos after a plane, ferry and car ride and all was fine and dandy. Until I woke up the next day with a swollen eye. Cool. No biggie. Nothing an antihistamine won’t fix.

Then Day 2 rolls by and the swollen eye now has me resembling Quasimodo and I was relegated to lurking in the depths of the shadows whilst wearing sunglasses as the local pharmacy told me it was a stye and needed an antibiotic cream. Cool, cool. Problem solved. Solution in hand. Nooooo biggie.

Day 3 rocks up, more of the same but this time, this time my stomach is feeling a little tender. Good job I had another 4 hour ferry and 50 minute car journey ahead of me to get me to Crete.

Day 4, the eye is recovering (hooray!) but my stomach is shot to pieces. Anytime I’d eat anything, it’d have a 30-minute waiting period before it decided it wanted an express check out. Which way? Your guess was as good as mine. Still, it kept me on my toes.

Day 5 to 6 was more of the above. Day 7 rocked up and I felt marginally better. Boat day it is. We bloody love a boat day. Get me on the old ocean waves. A migraine decided to creep up on me. Not ideal but a dip in the ocean will work wonders (so said the skipper). I didn’t think this was wise but forever guilty of caving into peer pressure, in I went, forcefully enjoying a snorkel whilst my brain felt like it was going to explode. Got back onto the boat, sat down for 5 minutes, ate 1 bite of melon and IMMEDIATELY projectile vomited off the side of the boat the minute it hit my stomach.

before the sickness vs in the trenches

And when I say projectile, I mean with such ferocity and speed, it also came out my nose. The sting of stomach bile, the rawness of my stomach and the embarrassment of seeing another boat moor up just as I was hitting my sicky stride is something I won’t be forgetting anytime soon. It was in this moment, I looked at James, a week into married life and thought well, hasn’t our first week been just splendid.

So here we are folks, home from honeymoon earlier than planned, one emergency doctor’s appointment completed and several blood tests down the line to confirm I do in fact have E. Coli. My energy levels are clinging on for dear life but the promise of a fat nap soon as I have hit send on this newsletter is seeing me through.

I shan’t go back and read what verbal vomit I have just produced above so if anything was TMI or unnecessary, I do apologise but just one word of advice – skip the ice in your drinks whilst abroad.

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Considering how pressed for time I am, there’s no on the menu section this week. Instead, we are diving straight in.

First up this week, we have the latest Around The World. Cake number 22 takes to Morocco for their Meskouta – a cake often rustled up in a hurry when any last minute guests decide to rock up to your door unannounced.

The wonderfully light, moist sponge is an easy to make, simple to bake, citrussy kinda cake. Whilst a soaking syrup isn’t commonly used, I think the zesty orange syrup spiked with cinnamon which is liberally applied to the hot sponge turns the Meskouta into something quite special – think of this like Lemon Drizzle’s slightly more exotic sibling.

Whilst I love a lavish, multi-layered sponge, there is something quite special about the simplicity of this cake, allowing the orange to scent the tender crumb whilst complimenting the almost herbal aromatics from the extra virgin olive oil. The cake is then served with nothing but a generous dusting of icing sugar to finish. Best eaten warm or enjoyed cold the next day with a cup of coffee, it’s understated but delicious – if you’re after a quick but satisfying sweet treat, look no further.

Here I suggest adding a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream and an extra drizzle of syrup to accompany a hefty slice of nice. This is a truly addictive cake – I found myself eating slithers of the cake all day long until there was barely a crumb left.

Please note I will add the PDF recipe downloads soon (my energy is currently on negative percent).

Recipe Makes: 1 x 25 cm / 10 inch fluted bundt tin

Recipe Serves: 10 to 12 (but 1 rubes)

Y O U – W I L L – N E E D –

• Cake

4 Large Eggs

300 g Caster Sugar

135 ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil

200 g Plain Flour, sifted

60 g Potato Starch, sifted

2.5 tsp Baking Powder, sifted

¼ tsp Salt

2 Extra Large Oranges, zest only

130 ml Orange Juice, fresh

• Soaking Syrup

125 ml Water

1 Extra Large Orange, zest only

125 ml Orange Juice, fresh

180 g Caster Sugar

1 Cinnamon Stick

• To Finish

Icing Sugar, to dust

M E T H O D -

1. Preheat the oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and liberally grease and flour a 1 x 25 cm / 10 inch fluted bundt tin.

2. For the cake, add the eggs, sugar and extra virgin olive oil to a mixer bowl. Using the paddle attachment mix on a medium to high speed for 8 minutes until the eggs are pale and doubled in volume.

3. Into a separate bowl, add the flour, potato starch, baking powder and salt. Use a balloon whisk to combine.

4. Add half the flour, alongside the orange zest and half of the fresh orange juice to the mixer bowl. Combine on a low speed just mixed.

5. Add the remaining flour and orange juice and mix on low until there are no flour streaks remaining. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides and base of the bowl to ensure all the ingredients are well mixed.

6. Transfer the batter to the floured bundt tin. Tap the base of the tin firmly on the work surface to remove any air bubbles.

7. Place the tin onto the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 30 to 34 minutes, until the top of the sponge is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed. Use a skewer to test for doneness and if it returns little crumbs but no batter, remove from the oven.

8. Whilst the sponge is baking, make the soaking syrup by adding all the ingredients to a pan. Place over a medium heat and bring to a boil.

9. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for a further 5 minutes until lightly thickened. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

10. Once the sponge has baked, leave to sit in the tin for 5 minutes. Carefully turn out onto a large sheet of clingfilm/saran wrap and tightly wrap for 1 hour.

    If you are serving warm, unwrap the sponge and place onto your serving plate. Use a pastry brush to liberally apply the soaking syrup to the tops and side, loosely cover with the clingfilm and leave to soak for 30 minutes before dusting with icing sugar to finish.

    If you are serving the cake cold, unwrap the sponge after 1 hour, apply the soaking syrup and wrap again. Allow the sponge to cool to room temperature before placing in the fridge.

11. Remove the cake from the fridge 2 hours before serving and allow it to come up to room temperature. Dust the top liberally with icing sugar and serve.

Moving onto my Wedding Cake Trial Number 2 – my Chocolate, Honeycomb and Cherry cake. We all know I love nothing more than a filthy chocolate cake, so there was no way I couldn’t give something like that a go but make it a little classy and a little more wedding appropriate.

The first trial was simplicity done well. The flavour, whilst deep and complex, was singular layered. One flavour teamed with one flavoured buttercream so on this version, we went for MORE. Extra was the name of the game and extra it was.

Made up of:

• Chocolate Genoise Sponge soaked in a Hot Chocolate Syrup

• Hazelnut Praline & Milk Chocolate Feuilletine

• Honeycomb Cream

• Chocolate Genoise Sponge soaked in a Hot Chocolate Syrup

• Hazelnut Praline & Milk Choc Ganache

• Honeycomb Cream

• Amarena Cherry Compote

• Chocolate Genoise Sponge soaked in a Hot Chocolate Syrup

• Honeycomb Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Layered without being too much. Rich whilst light. Complex without being overwhelming. Extra in all the right places. Wild in design yet restrained where needed. And above all else, it was memorable.

I had a vision for how I wanted this to all come together – almost like a wildflower meadow, sprinkled with the addition of fruit for a touch of colour and a point of interest. Nothing rigid or controlled, just free flowing creativity which produced the most beautiful cake. Lightly embellished with piped hearts, she’s a cake design I’ll be coming back to time and time again.

Sweet but not sickly. This cake is a masterpiece.

Please note – the downloadable PDF’s will be available for the below in a week or so.

Recipe Makes: 4 x 30 x 40 cm / 12 x 16 genoise sponges

Recipe Serves: 30

Y O U – W I L L – N E E D –