SPECIAL CAKES

Maximum effect for minimum effort; that’s what you want when you’re making a cake for a special occasion. Even though the end result should look pretty spectacular, all the cakes in this section are easily achievable, otherwise they wouldn’t be in this book. Trust me.

SWISS ROLL

A Swiss roll is very straightforward to make, contains only a very few cheap ingredients and can easily be turned into something special; a chocolate log at Christmas or a Caterpillar birthday cake, for instance. There’s no butter in the mixture either so if you fill your Swiss roll with jam and/or a low fat-free cream cheese instead of double cream, it’s pretty low in calories too.

Make Swiss rolls in a standard size baking tray (the one I use is 15″ x 11″ x 1″ ) and line the tin completely so the greaseproof paper comes about an inch (2 cm) above all four sides of the tin, then snip out the corners so there aren’t any little folds of paper left to get stuck into the cake mixture, making the greaseproof paper impossible to get off without tearing the sponge, once it’s cooked.

3 eggs
4oz caster sugar
4oz plain flour
2 tbsp hot water

METHOD
TO MAKE A CHOCOLATE SWISS ROLL:
Instead of 4 oz (100 g) flour, use 3 oz (75 g) flour and 1 oz (25 g) of cocoa powder. If you don’t have cocoa powder, you can use drinking chocolate instead; the texture of the cake will be more or less the same, although it won’t have anything like as good a colour or flavour.

• 1.Grease and line the tin as described above; pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 6 (200°C).
• 2.Whisk the eggs and sugar in a bowl until the mixture is thick, pale and creamy and more or less double in size. This takes between 5 and 10 minutes, depending on the type of whisk or blender you’re using. (Don’t even attempt to do this by hand unless you’re supernaturally strong with the patience of a saint.)
• 3.Gently fold half the flour into the mixture (or flour + cocoa if you’re making chocolate), followed by the hot water, then the rest of the flour, taking care not to beat the mixture; it should be a soft, smooth dropping consistency.
• 4.Scrape the batter into the tin, tilting the tin to help spread the mixture evenly.
• 5.Bake in a hot oven, Gas Mark 6 (200°C) for about 10 minutes until the sponge is risen, slightly golden and springy to the touch. This cake cooks quickly, so don’t go off and do something else; get ready for the next stage.

ROLLING IT UP:

• 1.Wet a tea towel (an old, thin, threadbare one works best) then tightly wring it out so it’s only slightly damp and put it on a clean surface. Lay a clean sheet of greaseproof paper (at least a couple of inches bigger than the cake) on top of the damp tea towel and sprinkle it with sugar.
• 2.Turn the cooked Swiss roll out onto the clean, sugared greaseproof paper and carefully peel off the old paper from the bottom of the cake.
• 3.Working as quickly as you can without tying yourself up in knots, trim the crusty edges off the cake, if there are any. Now flip the greaseproof paper over the short end of the sponge nearest to you; start with a tight fold and gently but firmly roll the whole thing up with the greaseproof paper and damp cloth inside, then leave to cool for about half an hour.

TO FILL WITH JAM OR LEMON CURD:
You can do this while the cake is still warm, so have the jam or lemon curd ready when the cake comes out of the oven; spread it over the warm cake as soon as you’ve peeled the greaseproof paper off, then roll the cake up in the usual way.

TO FILL WITH CREAM:

If you’re filling the Swiss roll with butter cream, fresh cream, or a combination of jam and cream, roll the cake up in the way described above; then when it’s cool, carefully unroll the cake – you don’t need to flatten it out completely – spread the filling over the cake and roll it back up without the greaseproof paper and tea towel.

CATERPILLAR CAKE

There’s more than one way of icing a caterpillar cake, so use the suggestions below as a rough guide – you’ll probably come up with better ideas of your own. Unless you’re one of those mums so brilliant at cake decorating she could give up the day job and turn professional, it’s a good idea to make your kids a novelty cake when they’re still young and uncritical enough to appreciate your efforts. If your finished caterpillar isn’t as good looking as you hoped it would be, pretend it’s a worm that’s just crawled out of the earth, put it on a plate and surround it with Rice Krispie cakes (see Cooking With Children earlier in this chapter).

FOR A GREEN CATERPILLAR:
Swiss roll (see recipe above)
Glace icing (see page 177)
Green food colouring
Liquorice Allsorts
Chocolate buttons
Chocolate marshmallow teacakes

METHOD

• 1.Make glace icing in the usual way (see notes, page 177) and add 1 or 2 drops of colouring to get the shade you want. Keep the icing on the thin side so you can pour and spread it over the Swiss roll easily; if it’s a bit too thin and you can see the cake through it, wait for the icing to dry, then make more icing and repeat the process. I’d transfer the caterpillar to the cake board or plate now, rather than risk an accident at the end when the damage will be harder to disguise.
• 2.Before the icing has dried completely, stick the chocolate buttons along the caterpillar’s back to make little spikes (or lay them flat, like spots), cut the marshmallows in half and place them at regular intervals along the bottom of the cake, 4 on each side, like little feet, and use 2 of the liquorice cylinders from the Liquorice Allsorts to make the antennae. The pink and yellow Allsorts with a round bit of black liquorice in the middle make good eyes and mouths; use different colours for each and slice them in half if you think they’re too thick.

ALTERNATIVES:

For a chocolate caterpillar, make chocolate butter icing or melt cooking chocolate and add a couple of spoonfuls of cream when the chocolate starts cooling. Make the easy chocolate frosting (see notes, page 204) or use a readymade chocolate frosting from the baking section at the supermarket, although you might find it’s a bit harder to spread all over the cake without making a mess of the sponge.

Use Smarties, Jellytots or mini marshmallows to decorate the caterpillar’s back instead of chocolate buttons.

Colour the glace icing with pink, yellow or orange food colouring.

CHOCOLATE YULE LOG

Rather than have a too-small log, I’d make two and use one to make a branch and add a bit of length to the other, in which case you’d need to double up the quantities below.

3 eggs
4 oz (100 g) caster sugar
3 oz (75 g) plain flour
1 oz (25 g) cocoa powder.

METHOD

• 1.Leave the Swiss roll as it is, or cut a piece diagonally about 2 inches (4 cm) from one end, which you can attach to the side of the log with butter icing to make it look like a branch.
• 2.Make plenty of chocolate butter icing (see notes, page 176) to fill and cover the log completely, marking the icing with a fork, to resemble bark.
• 3.Stick a robin or a snowman, or something similar, on top of the cake, and finish by sprinkling a spoonful of icing sugar through a sieve to look like snow.

LAYER CAKE

METHOD

• 1.Make the Swiss roll in the usual way; turn it out of the tin and leave to cool on a wire cooling tray, covered with a damp cloth.
• 2.Cut the Swiss roll horizontally into four same-size strips and spread the whole lot with whichever filling, or combination of fillings, you want to use.
• 3.Roll the first strip up; roll the second strip around the first one, followed by the remaining strips, pressing gently but firmly to seal the edges as you go.
• 4.Cover the cake with a thick frosting (see notes, page 204) to disguise the joins and edges. N.B. For an even bigger and more impressive cake, make (almost) double the mixture in two Swiss roll tins with the following ingredients: 8 oz (225 g) plain flour
  1 tsp baking powder
  8 oz (225 g) butter or margarine
  4 eggs
  4 tbsp hot water
• 5.Follow steps 1 – 4 above, rolling up eight strips instead of four.

HONEY, LEMON & YOGHURT CAKE

Like banana cake, carrot cake, ginger cake and fruit muffins, this is the type of thing you find in trendy cafés and leisure centres, where one slice of cake costs more than the whole thing would to make at home. It’s really just a basic creamed sponge mixture with ideas above its station, but because it’s so fragrant and delicious and has such a lovely soft texture, I think it deserves its place with the other special cakes.

FOR THE CAKE:
6 oz (175 g) plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
6 oz (175 g) butter or margarine
6 oz (175 g) caster sugar
3 eggs (beaten)
4 level tbsp natural yoghurt
1 lemon (juice and zest)
2 tsp honey

FOR THE TOPPING:
1 lemon (juice and zest)
2 oz (50 g) caster sugar
....
1–2 tbsp icing sugar

METHOD

• 1.Grease and completely line an 8″ (21 cm) round cake tin and pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 4 (180°C).
• 2.Cream the butter, sugar, lemon juice and zest in a large mixing bowl until pale and fluffy.
• 3.Gradually add the beaten eggs a little at a time, taking care not to curdle the mixture.
• 4.Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl, followed by the yoghurt and honey and fold it all in together with a metal spoon as quickly as you can without over-beating the mixture.
• 5.Scoop the mixture into the tin and bake on one of the lower shelves of the oven on Gas Mark 4 (180°C) for about one hour.
• 6.Make the topping when the cake is still warm by mixing the juice and zest of the second lemon in a small saucepan with 2 oz (50 g) sugar and heating for a few minutes until the sugar melts to make a clear syrup. Sprinkle the syrup evenly over the top of the cake and dust with sifted icing sugar. Equally delicious warm or cold.

THE ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE CAKE

Don’t use cooking chocolate or any of the bars of chocolate flavoured coating you find in the supermarket’s baking section. Regular ‘eating’ chocolate between 40–60 per cent cocoa solids (look at the list of ingredients on the wrapper) is much better for this cake. It doesn’t have to be expensive either; most of the big supermarkets make reasonably good plain chocolate at around 50p for a 4 oz (100 g) bar. For an extra moist sponge, add a couple of tablespoons of natural yoghurt at the same time as the eggs, sugar and melted chocolate – but don’t overdo it or you’ll end up with a pudding instead of a cake.

6 oz (175 g) self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 oz cocoa powder
8 oz (225 g) soft brown sugar
8 oz (225 g) butter or margarine
2 heaped tsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 tbsp of boiling water
8 oz (225 g) plain chocolate
3 eggs
2 tbsp golden syrup

OPTIONAL:
2 tbsp natural or Greek yoghurt

METHOD

• 1.Base-line two 7″ (18 cm) sandwich tins and pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 4 (180°C).
• 2.Melt the butter and chocolate (both broken into small pieces) with the dissolved coffee and golden syrup in a heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water.
• 3.Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre.
• 4.Add the sugar, beaten eggs and the thick melted chocolate mixture to the well and whisk the whole lot together on maximum speed for about 30 seconds to make a mixture with a smooth, fudgy texture.
• 5.Divide the mixture equally between the two sandwich tins and bake in the middle (or lower and middle shelves if you can’t fit both tins on the same shelf) of the oven for 20 –30 minutes, until the sponges are risen and firm to the touch.
• 6.Allow to cool slightly while you make the chocolate frosting, then fill and cover the cake and store in an airtight tin. This cake keeps well for at least a week.

TO MAKE THE CHOCOLATE FROSTING:
8 oz (225 g) icing sugar
4 oz (100 g) plain chocolate
1 oz (25 g) butter
1 egg
1 tbsp golden syrup

• 1.Melt the chocolate, butter and syrup in a bowl over a pan of boiling water.
• 2.Sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder together into a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre.
• 3.Pour the melted chocolate mixture into the well with the egg (or, if the bowl is big enough, add the dry ingredients and the egg to the chocolate mixture) and beat at high speed for about 30 seconds until you’ve got a thick, smooth icing.
• 4.Fill and cover the cake, using a flat knife or a fork to make swirls in the icing on the top and sides of the cake.

CHOCOLATE CARAMEL CAKES

FOR THE SHORTBREAD:
6 oz (175 g) butter
4 oz (100 g) caster sugar
12 oz (300 g) plain flour

FOR THE FILLING:
2 x 450 g tins Carnation condensed milk (= 1 pint)
4 oz (100 g) butter
4 tbsp golden syrup

FOR THE TOPPING:
12 oz (300 g) plain chocolate
Small carton of single cream

METHOD
TO MAKE THE SHORTBREAD:

• 1.Cream the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl for no more than a minute. (You’re not making a sponge cake so it doesn’t have to be especially pale and fluffy.)
• 2.Add the flour and beat on the lowest speed setting for another minute until the mixture resembles medium-fine breadcrumbs.
• 3.Press the shortbread mixture into the greased oven tray and bake at Gas Mark 4 (180°C ) for about 15 minutes. Don’t let the shortbread go brown; it should still be only just golden.

TO MAKE THE FILLING:

• 4.Put the butter in a large saucepan over a low heat; when it’s melted add the condensed milk and the golden syrup and heat gently for a couple of minutes until the ingredients are blended, stirring all the time.
• 5.Turn the heat up and boil (not too fiercely or you’ll get splashed with very hot syrup – and it hurts) for 5–10 minutes, stirring or whisking with a small hand whisk all the time, until you have a light golden brown caramel.
• 6.Remove from the heat and let the caramel cool slightly for a minute or two, then pour and spread over the shortbread base and leave to cool completely for at least half an hour.

TO MAKE THE TOPPING:

• 7.Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water and stir in the single cream.
• 8.Pour and spread over the cool caramel and shortbread base with the back of a spoon, making swirling patterns in the chocolate. When the chocolate is starting to set, mark into squares, and when it’s cool, cut completely, lifting the chocolate caramel shortbread cakes off the tray with a flat knife and store in an airtight tin.