When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Cake Part 2
In particular, my layered Lemon, Blueberry & Coconut Meringue Cake. Also on the menu this week is an Austrian Sachertorte, plus my Double Baked Warm Chocolate Meringue Cake.
Hey Friends!
I hope you are all having a lovely week so far? It seems like a minute ago, I was complaining that it felt like we were on day 5467 of January and yet here we are, edging closer to the end of February and I immediately regret not making the most of those slower moving, snail paced days. God damn you Rubes for having no chill and wishing away time because please tell me why I went into the supermarket last week and was bombarded with all things Easter.
You know ya girl loves chocolate but a whole wall dedicated to easter eggs, whilst we are still 2 months out from the big day, feels…a lot. Not loving it folks, not loving the countdown one single bit.
But what I am loving at the moment ‘cause I promise I am not all that doom and gloom are:
The lighter evenings. SO sure, 7pm rolls around and it’s still pitch black out there (I live in a tiny village where we don’t have street lighting so I am very much strolling around with a camping lantern anytime post 6.30) but lighter evenings make way for Spring – arguably second best season behind Autumn.
It’s citrus season! I’ve made my disdain for apples very clear on here a number of times so I’ll welcome any fruit that comes into season at the start of the year that mixes up the sea of griege fruit and veg in the shops. Everything from here until the summer berries roll by will be zesty, peppy, zippy and zingy.
Pilates. In truth, I haven’t been back to class ever since that fateful day 2 years back when I was asked if I was Ravinder Bhogal (incredible chef and owner of Jikoni), completely misheard the lady, agreed cause all I heard was Bhogal, chatted for 15 minutes unknowingly under the guise of someone else and ended the convo by welcoming her back to the restaurant with open arms because it became evidently very clear I was masquerading as someone else and was too mortified to come clean, so cancelled my membership and never went back to avoid another awkward encounter. But folks, SHE’S BACK BABY! Admittedly back at a class that is now nowhere near aforementioned horror show but sure does feel good being back to twisting, turning, contorting this inflexible body to the point she’s pulled a muscle in her back but wow, hot girl Christmas here I come.
Merit Beauty. Disclaimer – I am working with Merit on a partnership, but I am always on the hunt for new products from a cruelty free makeup brand – especially when the products are safe for acne prone skin like I have and give that minimalist but fresh make up look. In truth, I used to be a huuuuuge make up girlie back in the day. You’d find my feed littered with beauty breakdowns of all the products I’d be loving but over the last few years, I have become more and more obsessed with baking to the point where I don’t seem to now have a life outside of the kitchen. Most days I wear no make up and so when it comes to filming content, I want makeup that is quick to apply, easy to use and multifunctional.
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My personal faves from the brand are The Minimalist (think of this as a foundation/concealer hybrid which can give little to heavier coverage depending on how your mood), The Flush Balm (my fave is the new colour Archival, very buildable colour but also works nicely as a sheer lip colour), Brow 1990 (has this lovely gel consistency which gives a natural finish but I also use it to highlight beauty marks and freckles) and The Clean Lash (if you haven’t used a tubing mascara before, try this – SO easy to remove at the end of the day. Bye bye panda eyes).
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The lovely folk at Merit gave me a link which holds all my personal faves, including their lowest priced sets which is only available exclusively through this link – plus their Signature Bag comes for free with every first purchase. It is Friday funday after all.
Love is Blind. Admittedly this new series should be called Love is Bland but trash reality tv will always have my heart DON’T JUDGE ME.
Rhubarb. The obsession is real. I am still poaching every stick I can get my hands on and trying to think of new magical ways I can use it. Right now? I’ve gone from weaving it to plaiting it. Yup, that’s me this week folks.
We’ve got a double dose of chocolate this week, alongside a zesty affair to see you through any weekend baking plans.
First up, we check out the latest Around the World and head to Austria for their Sachertorte. A cake which celebrates simplicity in terms of flavour – expect nothing more than chocolate, apricot…and a whole lotta sweetness.
Next comes something a little bit filthier, my Double Baked Warm Chocolate Meringue Cake. I first shared this over a year ago (time flies when you’re drowning in cake) but I wanted to revisit the recipe, tweak it, better it, and gluten free it (last time it had malt in there). It looks fussy and appears high maintenance but she’s a low key, easy to make, good time bake. Best eaten warm for that fudgy, chocolate fondanty finish.
Finishing up the bakes this week is my Lemon, Blueberry & Coconut Meringue Cake. I have been working on this recipe for a few weeks but ditched it when I became enthralled with making a chocolate version instead but now we are back into citrus season, I wanted to kick off with a zesty, zippy and zelightful (shh) number before we dive into all things citrus in the coming newsletters. Whilst it looks complicated, the bake is easy to breakdown over 2 days and I’ll tell you which bits you can cheat, what parts you can substitute and where you may want to use store bought so you truly can have your cake and eat it.
Let’s dive straight into it with this week’s latest Around The World cake. We are now 55 cakes down, I’ve officially lost the plot, we are nearing 2 years since this series first started (lol lol lol), I’ve been everywhere from Japan to the Philippines to Brazil and most places in Europe all from the comfort of my kitchen and yet we still somehow have 25 cakes left to go.
Is it the gift that keeps on giving or is it the series that will just never end? Whichever way you see it, I’ll be mildly lost when it does finally come to an end (we pray for a end of year 2025 finish at the very most). Who even am I without cake?? Very much anticipating another existential life crisis (the first lead me to baking) but whilst I wait for that, we head to Austria for a slice of their famous Sachertorte.
The one and only time I have ever tried this cake was yonks back when I went to Vienna for a random weekend away. This was way before I began baking but even then, I was hunting down cakes to try (there are always signs people). I remember googling best places to try Sachertorte and was flooded with advice on skipping paying Hotel Sacher or their café Sacher Wien a visit and instead head for a slice at Café Mozart. Not one to question, off I went to grab a slice, full of hope and joy, and back I came wildly disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an okayish chocolate cake (mediocre at best) but I’ve always been someone who wants to be punched in the face with flavour. This chocolate cake is the opposite of that - it’s distinctively polite and oddly rather dry?
It's known for its simplicity, with Franz Sacher creating the cake back in 1832 for a special occasion at the ripe old age of 16. And when I put the age into context of the cake, the cake is nothing short of brilliance cause let me tell you, all I was making at the age of 16 was bad life decisions – not chocolate cake for a Prince. Made up of a chocolate cake, sliced in two, smothered in apricot jam and finished with a chocolate glaze – it’s a cake that teeters on the edge of almost too sweet, even for me.
I opted to use a recipe from sacher.com because who better to learn from than the source itself…right??? Welllll….They very much state on their website that what they share is just an approximation because the actual recipe is a tightly kept secret – which ya know, props to them cause I’d probably do the same but what I would do is probably share a recipe which doesn’t produce the results of a cake so dry I could hurl it across the room as a frisbee and probably do some damage to wherever and whoever it lands on. The below recipe is very much theirs but with additional commentary from me about what I would do differently next time (I’ll be in the italics, the enemy will be in the normal).
If you prefer your choccy cakes on the tamer, dryer, more boring side of life, this one is for you – follow my additional steps to ensure a moist sponge and DEFINITELY add a good pinch of salt to the cake batter & glaze to help balance the sweetness.
Recipe Makes: 1 x 24 cm / 9 inch baking tin
Recipe Serves: 9 (a little goes a long way)
Y O U – W I L L – N E E D –
Sponge
130 g Dark Chocolate, min. 55% cocoa content
1 Vanilla Pod / 1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
150 g Unsalted Butter, room temp
100 g Icing Sugar, sifted
6 Large Eggs, separated
100 g Caster Sugar
140 g Plain Flour, sifted
Good Pinch of Salt
To Finish
200 g Apricot Jam, strained
200 g Caster Sugar
125 ml Water
150 g Dark Chocolate, min. 55% cocoa content
Good Pinch of Salt
Double Cream
M E T H O D –
Preheat oven to 150C Fan/170°C/338°F. Grease and line the base of your baking tin and flour the sides.
Place the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and place over a small pan filled with water. Place over a medium heat to gently melt the chocolate. Alternatively, pop into the microwave and carefully heat in short bursts.
Once melted, allow the chocolate to cool slightly.
Slit vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out seeds, if using. Add the butter, icing sugar and vanilla to a stand mixer bowl and use the whisk attachment to cream together until light and fluffy.
Separate the eggs. Whisk the egg yolks into the butter mixture one by one. Now gradually add melted chocolate.
Pour the egg whites into another stand mixer bowl with the caster sugar and mix until stiff (here I would gradually introduce the sugar 1 tbsp at a time to ensure it dissolves) then transfer to your other bowl.
Sift the flour over the mixture, then fold in (here I would sift the flour over the butter mix first, add an additional pinch of salt, mix well and then introduce the meringue).
Transfer the mixture to the springform, smooth the top, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes with the door slightly ajar, followed by a further 50, oven door closed (there is not a single chance that this cake would ever need in excess of 1 hour to bake. To avoid producing a toast like sponge, I would suggest baking for 30 to 35 minutes max., oven door closed)
Remove the cake from the oven, carefully turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely (I personally would suggest allowing the cake to sit in the tin for five minutes before turning out onto clingfilm/saranwrap and wrapping whilst still warm to retain moisture).
Once the cake is cool, slice in half horizontally.
To finish, warm the jam and stir until smooth. Brush the top of both cake halves with the jam and place one on top of the other. Brush the sides with the jam as well (I find the apricot jam too sweet and too bland for this cake and think a more tart jam, such as raspberry would work better, despite not being traditional).
To make the glaze, put the caster sugar into a saucepan with the water and boil over high heat for 5 minutes (don’t do any more than this, I left mine for too long which meant my glaze crusted over VERY quickly).
Take the sugar syrup off the stove and leave to cool a little. Add the chocolate and stir until it forms a thick liquid (here I would add another small pinch of salt to help balance the sweetness).
Pour the lukewarm glaze over the top of the cake and quickly spread using a palette knife. Leave the glaze to set for a few hours (this says lukewarm glaze but I would use the glaze whilst still warm as once that begins to set, any additional swoops and swishes from the palette knife will disrupt the smooth finish and you’ll see the glaze crust and crack).
Whip the double cream and serve a slice of cake alongside a generous dollop (they say unsweetened cream but that for me is madness so add a sprinkling of icing sugar and some vanilla, whip and then serve alongside).
Let’s keep the recipes rolling, continuing with one of my fave to make, easy but looks pretty impressive bake. Let me introduce you to my Double Baked Warm Chocolate Meringue Cake. Yup, it's a mouthful in both ways but one that I guarantee you are going to love. It's warming, it's indulgent, it's annoyingly delicious and utterly filthy. Whether you're hosting friends, family or just yourself, this naughty little number will tickle just about everyone's pickle whatever the season, whatever the reason.
And to sprinkle over even more good news - it's entirely gluten-free so it’s a whole lotta yum for almost every tum. Plant-based friends please do not cry in despair. It took me several attempts but I managed to make a version of this just for you a while back – you can find the recipe for that in this old newsy here.
There is something about slicing into that crisp meringue shell hiding its gooey, marshmallowy filling, sitting on that velvety smooth, melt in the mouth chocolate sponge/brownie/fondant barely baked smush. WOWEE WOW. She is a showstopper of a dessert, one that doesn’t require a tonne of skill to make and also doesn’t require much cooling time which means it’s in your tum in no time.
Theres lots of ways in which you can jazz this recipe up and make it your own. I’ve played around with using Black Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder as opposed to normal cocoa for a smoother, richer chocolatey flavour and love adding some Amarena Cherries on top of the choccy sponge before topping with the meringue. Introducing a hidden layer of fruit into the mix helps to balance out the overall sweetness and DO NOT SKIP THE SALT.
This is a recipe I have developed utilising my beloved All Things Butter Chocolate but I assure you, having tested both ways, if you can’t get your hands on it, you will be in good hands with substituting it for equal quants of salted butter - no need to increase cocoa amount, just stick to plain salted.
Recipe Makes: 1 x 20 cm / 8 inch cake
Recipe Serves: 8
Y O U – W I L L – N E E D –
Sponge
255 g Dark Chocolate, chunks/callets
115 g All Things Butter Chocolate (sub for Salted Butter), diced
55 g All Things Butter Unsalted, diced
50 ml Double Cream
225 g Light Brown Sugar
4 Large Eggs
50 g Cocoa Powder, sifted
50 g Potato Starch (can sub for Plain Flour)
3/4 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Flaked Sea Salt
Meringue
2 Large Eggs, whites only
0.5 tsp Cream of Tartar, sifted
220 g Caster Sugar
2 tsp Cornflour, sifted
0.5 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
5 g Cocoa Powder, sifted
M E T H O D –
Preheat oven to 150°C Fan/338°F/Gas Mark 3 and grease and overline a 20 cm/8 inch cake tin.
Add the chocolate, unsalted butter, chocolate butter and double cream to a pan and gently heat until melted. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes.
Add the sugar and eggs to a stand mixer bowl and use the whisk attachment to mix until you reach the ribbon stage – this will take about 8 minutes on a high speed.
Reduce the speed on the mixer to low and gently pour in the melted chocolate down the side into the bowl. Go low and slow. Once everything is added, keep mixing for a few more rotations.
In a separate bowl, add all your dried ingredients and mix well using a balloon whisk.
Add the mixed flour and vanilla bean to the stand mixer bowl and use a rubber spatula to fold through until you are left with no visible streaks of flour. Be gentle but be thorough and make sure you scrape the bottom of the bowl to ensure everything is mixed.
Transfer batter to your lined tin and pop it into the oven for 25 to 28 minutes – you want a hard top but a wobbly middle.
Whilst the cake is baking, make the meringue by adding the egg whites to a clean mixer bowl. Use a whisk attachment to whisk until they are stiff but not dry.
Add the cream of tartar, mix for another few rotations before going in with the caster sugar a tbsp at a time. Make sure you mix well between each addition as you want that sugar to melt into the whites, otherwise you will be left with grainy meringue.
Once all the sugar has been added, go in with the cornflour and vanilla bean and mix until just combined. You want the meringue to reach medium to stiff peak. A firm but spreadable consistency.
Remove the cake from the oven and turn up the heat a notch to 180°C Fan/390°F/Gas Mark 4
Pipe or scoop the meringue on top of the cake - don’t worry if the cake relaxes aka collapses a little - and use the back of the spoon to gently swirl and cover.
Put the cake back in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, before reducing the heat back to 160°C Fan/350°F/Gas Mark 3 for another 10 minutes until golden and crisp
Allow the cake to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes before gently removing and leaving to sit for another 15 minutes at room temperature until slicing.
NOTE: if the cake feels too wobbly once baked, leave to sit for another hour or pop in the fridge to cool before slicing.
One thing about me is when I like something, it is a sure-fire guarantee that I will start to obsess over it until I hyperfixate, revolve my life around it, get utterly consumed by it, eat, bake and make it on repeat for a few weeks until I am sick to my back teeth and never want to see it ever again. Currently the obsession pendulum is swinging incessantly, with no signs of it slowing down, between Rhubarb and Princess Cakes.
Whilst I have to be mindful of the term Princess Cake (I made some Instagram folk rather irate over it), this week’s main bake is more slab than princess. The obsession has now evolved, and we have moved away from a domed top to an arguably more chill torched meringue finish. And sure, there isn’t necessarily anything chill whatsoever about torched meringue, but we have forgone the marzipan covering, said bye bye to the whipped cream domed top and closed the door on the decorative braiding.
Instead of all that additional jazz, we have got 3 layers of sumptuously soft, lightly spiced but heavily zested lemon sponge, drenched in a lemon and cardamom sugar syrup for that drizzle-esque/make the backs of your cheeks squeak vibe, topped with a layer of whipped blueberry mascarpone, blueberry compote, whipped coconut cream, lemon curd and smothered in a velvety smooth vanilla bean swiss meringue which is then torched for that golden girl finish.
Welcome to my Lemon, Blueberry & Coconut Meringue Cake.
Yes, it’s a lot but do you really expect anything less from me? I love a layer cake, I love each addition complimenting the next and I love the flavour complexity. Of course there are a multitude of ways in which you can make this a much easier, much more manageable bake. For instance:
You can ditch the slab in favour of a traditional round sponge. Opt to bake in 18 cm / 7 inch tins for 20 mins – check on sponges and adjust timing from there.
Ignore the addition of the coconut cream (unsure when coconut became such a divisive ingredient) and double up on the whipped bloob mascarpone instead.
Instead of making your own lemon curd from scratch, you can use storebought OR you can double up the lemon curd and coconut, remove the blueberries and you have a lemon meringue cake. Use that base curd recipe for any other fruit – this one translates particularly well with passionfruit and oranges.
If the idea of making swiss meringue is sending you into orbit, double up on one of the whipped mascarpones and finish off your cake with a slathering of that instead.
Make your sponge, drizzle, compote and curd on day 1 – leaving day 2 for creams and construction.
Take this cake as your sign that spring is a coming. Let the good times roll.
Recipe Makes: 1 x 30 by 40 cm / 12 by 16 inch shallow baking tray
Recipe Serves: 10
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