Cake.

For those of you who have stuck with my blog for a while, you'll know my affection and fondness towards British food and this post explores that exact streak of mine. I've really had some of the best cake, pies and pudding in England and you can tell how different they are to some of the commercial ones you taste at other places. I love 'tea' in Britain. It means so much more than just the hot beverage we know (and in my case, love). Tea is an occasion. Tea can't possibly be served by itself; it has to have a teacake, a scone or two and at least one type of cold sandwich. What I enjoy especially about cake in England and even Ireland for that matter is that more often than not, it refers to a big, fat, wholesome and rustic affair. The flavour is more important than the appearance and in my opinion, this enhances creativity while baking to a great extent. When you aren't concentrating on the exact measurements of food colour, fondant and marzipan, your attention can be focused on the actual ingredients going into the cake. It's this kind of baking that I find soothing, not making highly temperamental meringues like macarons. These kind of cakes let your creative juices flow and result in fewer disasters because the end product is less glamorous and thus, in my opinion, more welcoming. 

So I was forced into going for a safari holiday with my family last week and my sole saviour in the lodge was TLC. I'm not really into nature, wildlife or birds. Food, clothes and lazing are more my speed. So anyway, I watched Rachel Allen's Cake Diaries and saw her make this Marbled Chocolate Crumble Cake. I couldn't take down the recipe cause I couldn't pause the channel (grr) but I knew how to make the individual components so it was just a case of putting them all together. Don't worry guys, I found the exact recipe she used and I'm sharing it with you so you don't have to jigsaw puzzle your way into making a cake.

MARBLED CHOCOLATE CRUMBLE CAKE
I really enjoyed baking this cake cause it's basically combining two desserts into one; a simple sponge and a crumble. It's surprisingly light and not very decadent- perfect for teacake!

I think a picture of a slice is really important cause there's no hiding anything then. You can see how nice the crumb is, judge the moisture and, in this instance, see the wonderful marbled effect. To take it just over the edge, warm custard is a great accompaniment, failing which, just pour some warm milk over the top.

Now that you know I made this without a recipe, you know just how easy it is. So try it, and tag me in pictures of the finished product. Here's the recipe: Marbled Chocolate Crumble Cake. Enjoy!

This second cake is my absolute favourite, The only downside to me mentioning it is that I don't have a proper recipe. I learned this cake at cookery school in Dublin and made it at home last week for the first time after a year. It turned out so great that I couldn't believe it. For starters, at school, we used love;y, big, Irish cooking apples but at home I just made them with our regular ones. What I did though, is squeezed some lime over them to give them a little tang and it worked perfectly! So, incase you want to try this cake yourself, how about some research? Look for a basic almond sponge recipe, place the apple pieces marinated in lime juice in the middle and put half the sponge batter below the apple and the other half above. This is my favourite teacake. Just look how great it turned out.

IRISH APPLE CAKE
The flaked almonds (which I flaked myself) at an amazing crunch and great textural depth to this already phenomenal cake.

Slice. Crumb. Perfect.

Lastly, you can cheer cause it's a Jamie Oliver recipe. I used it as an outline and tweaked it according to the ingredients I had and the flavour I liked. I love carrot cakes as a rule and this one is just beautiful and bloody expensive to create. It contains almonds, walnuts, orange juice and zest (I use Malta Oranges), 5 eggs and mascarpone for the icing. So, save up and make it for an occasion. 

Here's the recipe: Carrot Cake and here's how mine turned out!

CARROT CAKE WITH MASCARPONE LIME FROSTING
This cake is just teatime decadence. When you add so many splendid ingredients in one cake, you realise how much it paid off when you see the finished product.

CARROT SLICE ANYONE?

So that's it from my #CakeWeek. Hope these recipes are helpful. This post made me feel like my old self again, when I blogged often and about absolutely anything that popped into my mind. Working on getting that side of myself back, and this sure feels like a start.

As usual, let me know your thoughts in the comments below and for regular updates, follow me on Twitter & Instagram, I'm quite the addict.

Stay Hungry!

xoxo

D