Happy Christmas

Christmas is a time for gratitude, remembering all those things you are thankful for, and indulging in things that make you happy, spending time with loved ones and overdosing on favourite foods. I have a lot to be grateful for, and one thing that is high on my happiness list is chocolate. I decided to revisit a recipe from last year and improve on it by combining cocoa with my gingerbread recipe to create a chocolate version, and substituted milk for ginger beer.

This gingerbread is delicious by itself, dressed up with your favourite icing or used in trifle, which is what I will be doing later this week for Christmas.

Wishing you a very happy Christmas.

What I was cooking this time last year: Gingerbread Trifle

Chocolate Gingerbread

Ingredients

• 2 cups self-raising flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon mixed spice
• 1 cup ginger beer
• 1 cup sugar
•  2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 125g butter
• 1 cup golden syrup
• Cooking oil spray

Method

• Melt butter and syrup in saucepan over low heat until butter is melted and set aside to cool a little.

• Sift the flour, cocoa & spices into a bowl.

• Add sugar, eggs, ginger beer and butter syrup and mix well.

• Spray your baking tin(s) with cooking oil spray. Pour cake batter into tins – I used mini-cupcake tins.

• Bake for 20 minutes at 170°C [fan-forced] or 180°C normal oven (you will need to adjust the cooking time if using larger tins). Remove from oven when cooked – ie skewer comes out clean or the gingerbread springs back with lightly touched.

What is your favourite food that makes you happy? Has this post inspired any new ideas?

Crazy as a coconut

Banana bread has become a breakfast staple in cafés. A coconut bread recipe by Bill Granger was the inspiration for my recipe this week. I’ve changed ingredients and swapped it from a loaf to muffins, to come up with the below recipe.

I’ve packed in triple coconut, with desiccated coconut, coconut milk and coconut oil. Coconut oil is sometimes referred to as coconut butter, they are the same thing. If your coconut oil becomes solid, it can easily be melted my standing the jar in some hot water from the kettle and it will return to liquid again. Coconut oil is reported to be a good oil, with lots of health benefits, and works well in baking.

If you are not a confident baker, muffins are the perfect thing to try making to build up your confidence. No fancy equipment is needed for mixing the batter. In fact, the less mixing you do, the better. It’s also a good recipe to get the kids involved with.

The salt quantity below is based on using fine salt flakes, if you are using regular table salt you will need to reduce the amount you include – adjust to taste but start off cautiously. If you need to reduce or limit your salt intake, you can of course skip the salt.

Delicious served warm straight from the oven, with a slather of butter or just as they are. Suitable for breakfast, morning or afternoon tea or a snack. Any leftovers can be frozen and zapped for a few seconds in the microwave to warm through again.

What I was cooking this time last year: Strawberry and White Chocolate Mousse

Coconut Muffins

* This recipe was adapted from a Coconut Bread recipe by Bill Granger. I have modified and adapted it to come up with the below reincarnation.

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 300mls coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 350g self-raising flour
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 100g brown sugar
• 150g shredded coconut
• 75mls coconut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt flakes
• Cooking oil spray to grease your muffin tin

Method

• Pre-heat the oven on to 180°C.
• Add the dry ingredients (flour, mixed spice, coconut, salt and brown sugar) to a large bowl. Stir to combine.

• Add the coconut oil, eggs and vanilla to a measuring jug and mix to combine. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients in the bowl.

• Measure out 300mls coconut milk and add to the dry ingredients in the bowl.

• Stir until the mixture is just combined, being careful not to over-mix.
• Spray a muffin or cupcake tin with cooking spray.
• Pour the batter into the muffin tray.

• Cook your muffins in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until cooked through (test by pressing lightly on the middle of a muffin, it should bounce back, or when you insert a skewer into the center it comes out clean without any batter stuck to it).
• Remove from the oven, and serve still warm, or allow to cool in the muffin tray. Enjoy.

What is your favourite breakfast recipe? Has this post inspired any new ideas?

Poppy Seed cake

In preparation for embracing the “Swank Diet” in the new year, I am taking steps to wean myself off certain favourite foods. A lot of the diets books I have been reading say it is important not to put your body through sudden and / or drastic changes, so I am currently cutting back on coffee and dairy products, and if I am eating dairy, using low-fat or no-fat versions. If you are regular follower of this blog, you may have detected that I love baking and I believe cake should be classified as its’ own food group. The inspiration for this recipe is to come up with a cake that doesn’t use butter. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s healthy, but for me, it’s a step in the right direction.

The cake has been drowned in a sticky syrup, which you could skip if you want or need to reduce your sugar intake. Delicious served warm alongside a scoop of fat free natural yoghurt.

What I was cooking this time last year: Veggie Burgers

Lemon Poppy Seed Yoghurt Cake

Ingredients:

Cake

• 2 cups self-raising flour
• 3/4 cup raw sugar
• 1 cup zero fat yoghurt
• 1/2 cup rice bran oil (or other vegetable oil)
• 2 lemons
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Generous pinch salt
• 4 tablespoons poppy seeds

Lemon Syrup

• 2 lemons
• 1/2 cup raw sugar
• Water

Method

• Turn the oven on to 180°C to pre-heat.
• Add the flour, sugar, eggs, salt, vanilla, lemon zest, yoghurt and oil to your food processor bowl.
• Juice the zested lemons, and add 1/2 cup lemon juice to the food processor bowl.

• Mix until the cake batter is combined.
• Add the poppy seeds to the food processor bowl and pulse until mixed into the cake batter.

• Grease a cake tin.
• Pour the cake mix into your greased cake tin, and set a timer for 45 minutes (you may need to adjust the cooking time depending on your oven and cake tin size).

• To make the syrup zest 2 lemons to produce long strips of zest. Add to a saucepan.

• Juice the lemon, to create 1/4 cup lemon juice, add 1/4 cup of water and add to the saucepan.
• Add 1/2 cup of sugar to the lemon zest and juice mix.

• Cook the syrup mixture over a medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture comes to the boil.
• Take the syrup off the heat and set aside to cool.
• Once the cake is cooked, remove from the tin and pour over the syrup while the cake is still hot.
• Serve warm or once cooled. Enjoy.

What is your favourite healthy(ish) cake recipe? Has this post inspired any new ideas?

Protein punch

When I came across a recipe in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Food section that used a tin of red kidney beans to produce a gluten-free chocolate cake, to say I was dubious is an understatement. Curiosity got the better of me however, so I decided to give it a try. I shared my experiment with my family, because I knew I would be guaranteed an honest opinion – my brother is never one to hold back with his reaction. I doubled the original recipe and split the mix among three cake tins to create a triple layer cake The result was a success, a fudge cake that I smothered in dark chocolate icing with white chocolate cream between the layers. I didn’t tell everyone about my secret ingredient, and everyone was genuinely surprised when I revealed the details. A great way to sneak in extra protein for kids or vegetarians, and of course, a perfect recipe to cater for those that are gluten-free. Feel free to decorate.

Tip: make sure the cocoa powder is gluten-free if you are catering for those that are intolerant.

What I was cooking this time last year: Zucchini Fritters

Chocolate Fudge Cake

* The basic cake recipe ingredients list is taken from a recipe by Debbie Skelton that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Food section on 7 August 2013.

Ingredients:

Cake

• 2 x 420g tins of red kidney beans, drained
• 2 tablespoons espresso coffee
• 2 tablespoons vanilla paste
• 10 eggs, at room temperature
• 250g softened butter, plus extra to grease your cake tins
• 320g sugar
• 140g cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt flakes
• 2 teaspoons gluten free-baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

White Chocolate Cream

• 100g white chocolate
• 300mls cream
• 1/2 tin condensed milk (approx 200mls)

Dark Chocolate Ganache Icing

• 220g dark chocolate
• 300mls cream
• 1/2 tin condensed milk (approx 200mls)

Method:

Cake

• Turn the oven on to 180°C.

• In a food processor, purée the kidney beans, coffee, vanilla and two eggs until smooth.

• Add the butter and sugar and process until smooth.

• Add the remaining eggs, two at a time, processing until smooth.
• Add the cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt and process until smooth.
• Cut grease-proof paper to size to fit the bottom of three cake tins.
• Grease the three cake tins and line the bottoms with the grease-proof paper discs.
• Divide the cake mixture between the three cake tins and smooth out to encourage them to cook evenly.

• Cook in the oven for approximately 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
• Remove the cakes from the oven once cooked and allow to cool in their tins.

White Chocolate Cream

• To make the white chocolate cream, add the white chocolate, cream and condensed milk to a large bowl.
• Suspend the bowl over a saucepan of hot water and gently heat until the chocolate is melted and everything is combined. Allow the chocolate ganache to chill completely in the fridge.
• Once the white chocolate mixture has chilled, beat the cream until thick.

Chocolate Ganache Icing

• To make the chocolate ganache icing, add the dark chocolate, cream and condensed milk to a large bowl.
• Suspend the bowl over a saucepan of hot water and gently heat until the chocolate is melted and everything is combined. Allow the chocolate ganache to cool to room temperature.

Assembly

• To assemble, place one cake on your serving plate.
• Top with half of the white chocolate cream, and spread the cream across the top of the cake.
• Add the next cake on top of the white chocolate cream layer.
• Add the remaining white chocolate cream, and spread the cream across the top of the cake.

• Add the final cake to the top of the second layer of cream.
• Top the layered cake with dark chocolate ganache icing, and spread to cover the top and sides of the cake.

• Allow to chill in the fridge until ready to serve. Enjoy.

What is your favourite chocolate cake recipe? Has this post inspired any new ideas?

Gooey caramel

One of my all time favourite desserts is Nigella’s Molten Chocolate Babycakes. I wanted to play with this recipe and come up with a caramel version.

The salt quantity below is based on using fine salt flakes, if you are using regular table salt you will need to reduce the amount you include – adjust to taste but start off cautiously.

Babycakes are best cooked to order just before you are ready to serve. The original chocolate and these caramel puddings can be frozen before cooking (if you happen to have any such thing as extras), so that you have them on standby for emergencies. You will just need to add a couple of extra minutes to the cooking time if cooking straight from the freezer. You also may need to play with the cooking times depending on your oven, you want a cooked pudding that will turn out of its mould intact but retaining its gooey centre. Delicious with whipped cream or ice-cream.

What I was cooking this time last year: Pumpkin Cannelloni

Salted Caramel Babycakes

* This recipe was adapted from a Molten Chocolate Babycakes recipe by Nigella Lawson. I have modified and adapted it to come up with the below reincarnation.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 50g butter, softened
• 350g white chocolate
• 150g brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt flakes
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 50g plain flour
• Cooking oil spray to grease your cake tin

Method

• Add the white chocolate and brown sugar to a large bowl.

• Suspend the bowl over a saucepan of hot water and gently heat until the chocolate is melted and everything is combined. Allow the chocolate to cool slightly.
• Add the butter, vanilla, eggs, salt and plain flour to your food processor bowl. Blend until combined.

• Add the chocolate sugar mixture to the food processor and blend until combined.
• Spray 6 moulds with cooking spray, and you may want to line the bottom of each mould with a disc of grease-proof paper cut to size.
• Divide the batter between the 6 moulds.

• When ready to cook, pre-heat the oven on to 200°C.
• Cook your baby cake(s) for 12 – 15 minutes.

• Remove from the oven, run a knife around the outside of the cakes to loosen from the mould, then tip out onto small plates or shallow bowls.
• Serve with whipped cream or ice-cream. Enjoy.

What is your favourite gooey recipe? Has this post inspired any new ideas?

Grandma cake

I’m not exactly sure why, but for me rhubarb has always been a grandmaesque ingredient. Rhubarb is also popping up at farmers markets and green grocers in Sydney at the moment, so I used it as the inspiration for this week’s recipe. I love the pretty deep pink colour cooked rhubarb provides. Because I don’t like my rhubarb too stringy, I cut the pieces quite small, about 1cm wide. I used hazelnuts, but you could experiment with almonds or other nuts.

This cake could be served with some thick cream, ice-cream, natural yoghurt or custard, delicious warm or cooled.

What I was cooking this time last year: Orange Crème Caramel

Rhubarb and Hazelnut Crumble Cake

* The basic cake recipe ingredients list is taken from a Women’s Weekly Recipe Card recipe.

Ingredients:

Rhubarb

• 1 bunch of fresh rhubarb
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 vanilla bean pod
• water, to just cover the chopped rhubarb

Hazelnut crumble

• 150g hazelnuts
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice

Cake

• 125g softened butter
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups self-raising flour
• 1 cup milk
• 50mls milk
• vanilla bean pod from the rhubarb
• Cooking oil spray to grease your cake tin

Method:

• Wash the rhubarb, chop off the green top and the bottom of the rhubarb stalks.
• Chop the rhubarb stalks into 1cm pieces and add to a saucepan.

• Add the sugar and vanilla pod to the rhubarb, and add water until just covered.
• Cook the rhubarb on a medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes until soft.
• Drain the cooked rhubarb from the liquid, and return the liquid to the saucepan.

• Cook the rhubarb liquid until it reduces and thickens.
• Add the rhubarb syrup to the cooked rhubarb and set aside to cool.
• To make the crumble, add the hazelnuts, brown sugar and mixed spice to your food processor bowl.

• Pulse the crumble mix until the nuts are chopped and everything is combined.
• Set the crumble aside.

• Turn the oven on to 180°C.
• To make the cake batter, add the butter, sugar and vanilla pod to the food processor bowl. Beat together until  light and creamy.
• Add the eggs and beat until combined.

• Mix in a little of the sifted flour alternately with the milk, until everything is combined.
• Spray your cake tin with cooking oil to prevent sticking.
• Add half of the cake batter, and spread out over the bottom of the cake tin.
• Top the cake batter with half of the cooked rhubarb, then half of the crumble mixture.

• Add the remaining cake batter, rhubarb and crumble layers.

• Cook in the oven for approximately 60 minutes or until the center of the cake springs back when lightly touched.
• Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 5 – 10 minutes, then remove from the tin. Your cake is ready to serve warm or you could wait until it is cool. Enjoy.

What is your favourite colour? Has this post inspired any new ideas?

Citrus

Oranges are beautiful in Sydney at the moment, and I wanted to use them in a cake. I was lucky enough have some help with my baking today from my three year old niece – her favourite part was taste testing as we worked our way through the various steps. My favourite part was spending time with my niece, and playing with my sister-in-law’s purple KitchenAid mixer. I paired the citrus flavour from the orange with coconut. Instead of icing, I created a syrup to soak into the cake.

What I was cooking this time last year: Winter Punch

Coconut and Orange Cake

Ingredients:

Cake

• 125g softened butter
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• zest from 3 oranges

Syrup

• 1/2 cup sugar
• juice from 3 oranges

Method:

• Turn the oven on to 180°C.
• Beat the butter and vanilla together until pale and white.
• Add the sugar to the butter and beat until light and creamy.

• Add the eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition.
• Add the orange zest and mix until combined.
• Mix in the coconut until combined (stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed).
• Mix in the flour until combined (stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed).

• Transfer the cake batter into a cake tin.

• Cook the cake for approximately 25 minutes or until it springs back when touched in the center.
• While the cake is cooking, juice the oranges, and add the juice to a small saucepan.
• Add the sugar for the syrup to the saucepan and cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes until it reduces and thickens a little.

• Remove the cooked cake from the oven, remove from it’s tin and place on a plate with high / curved edges.
• Pour over the syrup and allow to soak into the cake.

• Serve warm or allow your cake to cool. Enjoy.

What is your favourite flavour combination? Has this post inspired any new ideas?

Birthday cake

I was inspired by this cake by Raspberri Cupcakes, and my friend’s upcoming birthday celebration.

I started off with a classic butter cake, and doubled it. The cake recipe came from my Australian Women’s Weekly recipe card collection, but it is a classic cake so similar details can be found in various recipes. I use raw sugar in my cooking, because it’s less processed. I used 5 cake tins to make this cake, if you don’t have that many tins you can cook the cakes in shifts. I was sparing with the food colouring to start with, but ended up needing to add quite a bit to get the increasing gradients of colour I wanted (I was unable to track down the colouring gel mentioned in Raspberri Cupcakes post, and ended up using liquid natural pink food colouring). Pink was a special request from the birthday girl, but of course you could go with any colour you like (if I was making this for me, it would be purple). To decorate the cake I went with a white chocolate icing, decorated with edible red glitter and served the cake with raspberries.

What I was cooking this time last year: Salmon Pastries with Thyme Lemon Hollandaise Sauce

Vanilla Layer cake with White Chocolate Icing

* The cake recipe ingredients list is taken from a Women’s Weekly Recipe Card recipe.

Ingredients:

Cake

• 250g softened butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 4 cups self-raising flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup milk
• food colouring

Icing

• 400g white chocolate
• 900mls cream
• 100mls condensed milk

Method:

• Turn the oven on to 180°C.
• Beat the butter and vanilla together until pale and white.
• Add the sugar to the butter and beat until light and creamy.

• Add the vanilla and salt and beat until combined.
• Add the eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition.

• Mix in a little of the sifted flour alternately with the milk, until everything is combined.
• Divide the cake batter into 5 portions.

• Leave one portion uncoloured, then add food colouring to the remaining 4 portions so that you have increasing shades of colour across the portions.
• Spread each portion out in its cake tin.

• Cook each cake for approximately 15 minutes or until it springs back when touched in the center.
• Allow your cakes to cool.
• To make the icing, add the white chocolate, condensed milk and cream to a bowl.

• Suspend the bowl over a saucepan of hot water and gently heat until the chocolate is melted and everything is combined.
• Cool the icing mixture in the fridge until firm.
• Whip the icing to make it light and fluffy.
• To assemble the cake, add one layer at a time to your serving plate, add a layer of icing in-between, then add the next layer of cake in decreasing colour gradients as you get to the top of the cake.

• Finish the cake by the top and edges with icing, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

• Add any final decorations (I used edible red glitter) and birthday candles. Your cake is ready to serve. Enjoy.

What is your favourite colour? Has this post inspired any new ideas?

Chocolate jam

One of my favourite things in the world is chocolate cake. I also had an over-supply of jam recently, and decided to experiment by including jam in my chocolate cake.  I used blackberry jam, but you can of course use what ever jam you prefer. I started with a Nigella old-fashioned chocolate cake recipe, and replaced half the sugar with jam. I liked the result, but the jam in the cake mixture was still quite subtle, so, next time, I will replace all the sugar with jam (and do away with the need to add milk). The dollop of jam hiding inside is a nice surprise when you bite into the cupcakes.

For the icing I used dark chocolate, and to help it match the sweetness of the cake, I added condensed milk. Condensed milk in a tube is a wonderful thing, you can add a squeeze instead of vanilla and icing sugar when whipping up some chantilly cream.

What I was cooking this time last year: Fried Saganaki Cheese with Salsa

Chocolate blackberry cupcakes

* This recipe’s base ingredients were inspired by a Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake recipe that appears in Nigella Lawson’s cookbook, Feast. I have modified and adapted Nigella’s recipe to come up with the below reincarnation.

Ingredients:

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Cupcakes

• 200g self-raising flour
• 100g sugar
• 200g blackberry jam
• 50g cocoa powder
• 175g butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 150g sour cream or yoghurt
• 50mls milk

Icing

• 100mls cream
• 200g dark chocolate
• 50mls condensed milk

Method:

• Heat oven to 180°C.
• Add the butter, sugar and vanilla to your food processor bowl and mix until light and fluffy.

• Add the eggs, milk, sour cream and 100g of the jam and mix until thoroughly combined.

• Add the cocoa powder and flour and mix until thoroughly combined.

• Place cup cake cases into your baking tray.
• Spoon mixture into the base of each cup cake case.
• Add a spoon of jam on top of the cake mixture in each cup cake case.

• Top the jam with another spoon of cake mixture.
• Bake the cupcakes for approximately 25 – 30 minutes, or until they spring back when lightly touched.
• To make the icing, add the chocolate, cream and condensed milk to a large bowl.

• Suspend the bowl over a saucepan of hot water and gently heat until the chocolate is melted and everything is combined.
• Cool the icing mixture in the fridge until firm.
• Whip the icing to make it light and fluffy.

• When the cupcakes are cooled, spread the tops with icing. Your cupcakes are ready to serve. Enjoy.

How do you like to eat your jam? Has this post inspired any new ideas?

Macadamia madness

For my mum’s birthday cake, she put in an order for something with lemon curd. Lemon curd is also known as lemon butter. I had been wanting to experiment with macadamias in a cake for a while and thought a macadamia cake would compliment a tangy lemon butter beautifully.

Macadamias are a nut that are native to Australia and a few other countries in South East Asia. In Australia we are able to readily buy the nuts, either roasted and salted, raw or chocolate covered, and also buy macadamia nut oil, which is good for baking. I used both the raw macadamia nuts and macadamia oil in my cake. Because of the high oil content in the nuts, I processed them with the flour so that I did not end up with a macadamia nut butter type concoction.

This is my twist on recipes that use ground almond meal. I used 2 x 20cm or 8″ round cake tins to bake my cake. I used the lemon curd as a filling with cream for the middle and poured instead of icing over the top. My cake ended up looking quite rustic, because I was too impatient to let the lemon curd set fully and poured it over the cake while it was still quite runny.

To test if something is at “coats the back of a wooden spoon” stage,  take your wooden spoon you have been using to stir out of your liquid, and draw a line across the back of the spoon with your finger. If the line you have drawn stays there, and liquid isn’t bleeding down and distorting the line, it is ready.

Macadamia Cake with Lemon Curd Icing

Ingredients

• 300mls double or extra thick cream
• Lemon jelly or jube lollies to decorate

Macadamia Cake

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup of sugar
• 3/4 cup macadamia oil plus extra to grease your cake tins
• zest from 1 or 2 lemons
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1 cup plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 200g raw macadamias

Lemon Curd

• 100g butter, chopped
• 1 cup sugar
• zest of 2 lemons
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

Method

• To make the cake, preheat the oven to 180°C, grease 2 x 20cm or 8″ cake tins with a generous coating of macadamia oil and cut out 2 circles of grease-proof baking paper to line the bottom of the tins.

• In a food processor, blitz the macadamias and flour until the macadamias are finely chopped and resemble almond meal.

• Add the baking powder, sugar, lemon zest and blitz to combine.
• Add the eggs, lemon juice and macadamia oil and blitz to combine.
• Divide the cake mixture between the 2 cake tins and smooth the tops.

• Bake the for approximately 25 minutes. When the cake bounces back when touched and is cooked, remove from the oven.
• Leave the cake to cool for 5 to 10 minutes in the tin.
• Turn the cake out of the tin onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• Your cake is ready to serve, enjoy it while it is still warm or once it has cooled.
• To make your lemon curd, add your curd ingredients to a heat proof bowl.

• Half fill a saucepan with hot water and place on the stove top over a medium to low heat, to great a gentle simmer.
• Set the bowl over a saucepan of hot water to create a bain marie.
• Stir the curd over the saucepan of hot water until it thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.

• Remove the curd from the heat and the bain marie. Refrigerate the curd until you are ready to assemble your cake.
• To assemble your cake, place one cake on your serving plate.
• Coat the first cake with lemon curd and cream.
• Set the second cake on top of the cream and lemon curd, and coat the top of the cake with extra lemon curd to ice.
• Decorate with your lemon lollies if using.

• Your cake is ready to serve. Refrigerate until you are ready for the birthday candles and singing.

What is your favourite birthday cake? Has this post inspired any new ideas?