Do you ever get the fancy for something a bit different for dessert? I did, yesterday. It would have to be something that I could make using things that we had in the house, though-I couldn’t actually go and buy something, that would be cheating too much. We are trying not to eat too many desserts.

I thought about a crumble, but that was a bit ‘samey’, but then I came across a variation on bread-and-butter pudding. I don’t make them very often, even though Mark likes them very much, so it would be quite novel. The variation was that it included banana, and a bit of a caramel-y custard due to the inclusion of brown sugar. It sounded nice!

I had most of the ingredients. I was a bit short on white bread, but I did have sliced light rye bread and I thought that would probably do the job. I also wondered about variations. Bananas go really nicely with caramel (like in my Banoffee Pavlova (see Got Egg Whites?-Banoffee Pavlova), so I thought I might boost the caramel by adding some Dulce de Leche. I had bought a tin of this when I suddenly found it in my local supermarket-I had looked for this previously when making my caramel cake (see Quick but Impressive-Caramel Cake) but had failed to find it, so I was sure to pick one up when I did. So clearly I had to use it! I also thought I’d add a handful of raisins, which are more traditional additions to bread-and-butter pudding. I’ve also seen a version that uses halved and buttered hot cross buns as the basis-that sounds yum!

I’m giving the recipe for the original form, and for my alternative form; the photos are all of the alternative pudding but I don’t think it would vary greatly in looks. It’s an old-fashioned hot pud, warming and comforting. Considering that it had just snowed here (we thought we’d done with that!) perhaps I should have made it for tonight…

Original recipe, for 4

4 thick slices white bread

50 g butter, softened

85 g soft brown sugar, plus 1 tbsp to sprinkle

2 eggs

1 large banana, peeled and sliced

Large pinch cinnamon

450 ml milk

1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)

Alternative recipe, for two

2-3 slices light rye bread

Sufficient spreadable butter to thickly butter the bread

30 g soft brown sugar, plus 1 tbsp to sprinkle

1 egg

1 smallish banana, peeled and sliced

Pinch ground nutmeg

225 ml 2% milk

½ tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)

Handful sultana raisins

Drizzle of Dulce de Leche or caramel sauce

Grease a baking dish of appropriate size.

Butter the bread, cut into pieces and lay half, butter side up, on the bottom of the baking dish.

Cover with the banana slices. Add the raisins, if using, drizzle with Dulce de Leche, if using. Top with the remaining bread, butter side up.

Bottom layer of bread, topped with fruit and caramel

In a bowl, combine the sugar (except the tbsp), milk, egg(s) and cinnamon/nutmeg. Whisk to combine.

Put the cornflour/cornstarch into a separate small bowl. Add a small amount of the milk mixture and stir well until it is smooth, then add this back into the bulk milk mixture. Whisk to combine, then pour over the bread, pushing the pieces down into the liquid. Set aside to soak for 30 minutes, or until the oven heats to temperature.

Preheat the oven. 350˚F/ 325 ˚F convection/180˚C/160 ˚C fan/Gas 4

When ready, sprinkle the top of the dish with the remaining tbsp. of sugar.

Bake, 30-40 minutes, until the egg mix has set and the top is golden-brown. Allow to stand for 5 minutes when out of the oven, before serving. Serve with ice cream, cream, custard, etc., as preferred.

It was a tasty pudding with a light caramel taste-it could possibly have used more Dulce de Leche even. I served it with a little cold cream and it hit the ‘something different’ spot-can’t ask for more!

Lemon Raspberry Drip Cake

I think that I mentioned that I was trying to improve my icing techniques and, believe me, they can take some improving. I’ve always liked the look of those ‘drip’ cakes, with the perfect ring of drips running down the length of the cake, and this seemed like a good chance to have a go. Also I’d decided that it wasn’t going to be a chocolate cake for this birthday, and I’d collected a recipe some time ago that used evaporated milk in the sponge-weird but interesting. In the end, as is my wont, I used a variety of things from different places to make my own individual slant on a cake. Also Youtube videos on cake icing helped a lot, too!

The recipe called for 2 x 9″ cake tins-I only have one, a springform tin. I didn’t want to wait to bake the second layer, nor to have to buy a second tin, but I do have three identical 8″ loose-bottomed tins. A 9″ tin is actually 25% larger than an 8″ tin (it surprised me to know that!) so I reckoned that three 8″ tins would make three slightly thinner layers to the two 9″ cakes. As the 9″ cakes were supposed to be torted (apparently the posh way of saying ‘cut in half, horizontally’!’), I thought that I could end up with a 3-layer cake instead of the 4-layer cake in the recipe. It was a plan.

Cake

1 cup/250 g/8 oz/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp (plus extra to grease the pan)

3¾ cup/312 g/11 oz self-raising flour

3 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

Zest of 1 large lemon

2 cups/500 g/16 oz granulated sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

1¼ cups/310 ml/10 fl oz evaporated milk

Heat the oven to 325˚F/160˚C/Gas 3

Grease and line 2 x 9” or 3 x 8” cake tins. Set aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Use a balloon whisk to ensure well-mixed. Set aside.

Zest the lemon, set aside.

Place the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes.

Reduce the mixer speed to medium and then add eggs, one at a time, beating to ensure each is fully incorporated. Beat in the vanilla extract. Fold in the lemon zest.

Fold in the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the evaporated milk.

Transfer to the prepared tins. Bake until a skewer comes out clean 35-40 minutes. Remove from oven and leave to cool, in the tin on a rack, for 10 minutes, then invert onto the rack to cool completely.

I was making the cakes well in advance of the birthday itself, actually 5 days beforehand, so as to not be rushed. My research on-line suggested that freezing the cakes would be beneficial to the outcome of the frosting procedure, not to mention meaning that I wouldn’t need to crack on and ice them, so I decided to try it out. The secret, it seems, is to wrap the cakes and freeze them whilst they are still warm from the oven, i.e. just as they are tipped out of the tins. A good layer of plastic wrap was applied to each cake and they were placed, individually, on the shelves of the freezer. It’s important not to stack the cakes until they are frozen, though.

The cakes would be filled with a raspberry compote and with lemon buttercream, which would also be used to ice the outside. I made these up on the day before I intended to do the icing.

Raspberry Compote

1 pkt/300 g/10.6 oz frozen

⅓-½ cup/85-125 g/2.6-4 oz granulated sugar

2 tbsp cornstarch (cornflour)

A small amount of cold water

Place the frozen berries and sugar into a small saucepan and slowly simmer over low heat until soft.
Mix the cornstarch with a little water until smooth.
If you do not mind seeds in your compote, then add the cornstarch/water mix to the berry mixture and stir well until thickened.

I’m not fond of seeds in my cakes, so I decided to sieve the softened fruit through a sieve, pushing the puree through with a wooden spoon and thus catching most of the seeds. I rinsed out the pan, to ensure that any residual seeds were removed, before returning the compote to simmer, then added the cornstarch to thicken it, as above. The finished compote was stored in the fridge until needed.

Lemon American Buttercream

Apparently, what I’ve always just thought of as buttercream, made with butter and icing sugar, is also known as American buttercream. It seems a bit bigheaded of the Americans to lay claim to something that everyone else uses as well. I can’t see anything particularly American about it!

340 g/12 oz/ roughly 2½ sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

567 g/20 oz icing (powdered/confectioner’s) sugar

142 g/5 oz whipping (heavy, double) cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon extract (optional)

1 tbsp lemon juice

½ tsp salt

Few drops yellow food colouring (optional)

Beat the butter until smooth and light.Add the sugar, 1 cup at a time, whilst mixing on low speed. Add the salt, vanilla, lemon extract (if using), lemon juice and cream. Beat on high speed, 2-3 minutes, until smooth and fluffy. If liked, add a few drops of yellow food colouring.

Beat on low for an additional 15 minutes to remove air bubbles.

I made my buttercream on the day before I was going to use it, so stored it, covered, in the fridge. Before using it I brought it to room temperature and beat it, for 2-3 minutes, with my hand electric mixer. I found it to be still a little stiff, so zapped it in the microwave for 10 seconds, which loosened it perfectly for beating and spreading, without melting it.

American buttercream is stable at room temperature for a few hours. It can be stored refrigerated, covered, for a week of so, or will freeze in an airtight container for several months.

Assembling the Cake

If frozen, remove the cakes from the freezer, keep them in the plastic film and allow to defrost on wire racks until room temperature, about 3 hours. remove the film.

If using 9” cakes, torte each cake (i.e. cut horizontally through the centre) to end up with four layers. If using 8” cakes, this will not be necessary. If preferred/needed, trim the cakes to remove domes or the caramelized outer layer (I didn’t).

If liked, spray the top and bottom surface of the bottom layer with sugar syrup (a 1:1 solution of sugar in water) to ensure moistness. Glue the cake layer to a cake board or place using a blob of buttercream.

Place a thin layer of buttercream on the cake layer. Using an icing bag fitted with a large nozzle, pipe a ‘dam’ of buttercream around the edge of the layer, Fill the dam with raspberry puree. Spray the next layer with sugar syrup, if using, then place this on the lower level, ensuring that the cake is centred correctly. Continue to fill and add layers, finishing with the top layer. A 9” cake will have 4 thinner layers, the 8” cake will have 3 thicker layers.

Using an offset spatula, add a thin layer of buttercream to the sides and top of the cake, to seal the layers and act as a crumb coat. Place the cake in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to settle the cake and set the crumb coat.

When set, remove the cold cake from the refrigerator and ice the sides and top of the cake with buttercream icing, smoothing as much as possible. Replace the cake in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes for the icing to set, before adding the drip coat.

I probably could have done with just a bit more icing for this cake, and if doing a 9″ cake I’d recommend 1.5 times the amount, as a minimum, even double quantities if you like a thick frosting. In this case I wasn’t too worried about the ‘bare’ edges to the top as I was planning a ganache drip that would cover this.

Chocolate Ganache Drip

Ideally, white chocolate ganache should be at a ratio of at least 3:1 chocolate to cream.

100g bar good quality white chocolate (I used Lindt)

About 35 ml whipping cream (heavy cream, double cream) at least 30% fat content

Food colouring (if liked)

Break the chocolate into very small pieces and place in a heatproof bowl.

Heat the cream to simmer but do not boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and allow to sit a minute or so, then stir. If needed, microwave the chocolate cream mix in 10 second bursts until a smooth thick liquid is obtained. Add colouring, if wanted. Allow to cool to almost room temperature.

Take the cake from the fridge. The icing needs to be cold for the drip to work.

Ideally, use a disposable icing bag or a ziplock bag. Fill the bag with the ganache and then clip a tiny hole in the point (you can use a small icing nozzle if preferred). Add ganache around the top edge of the cake, allowing drips to form and run down at random intervals. When the edge if complete, use the remainder to pipe over the top surface of the cake. If needed, use an icing spatula to completely smooth out the ganache top. Decorate as liked if using sprinkles or similar, or allow to set in the refrigerator if using piped decorations, etc. The ganache does not harden completely so items can be embedded after the setting period.

I was pretty pleased with my first effort. I’d chosen to colour my white chocolate ganache with a little red food colouring, to suggest the raspberry filling and to contrast with the yellow buttercream. I think my ganache could have been just a tad more liquid to drip more elegantly but, not surprisingly, I probably chose the harder of the ganaches to get right: ones made with dark chocolate are apparently easier to work with. If available, a little additional cocoa butter can help the fluidity of white chocolate ganache. So far as final decorations were concerned, I decided to just add a sprinkling of some bright red sugar crystals to the ganache whilst it was still quite liquid. If I’d had remaining buttercream, I’d have piped a border around the base of the cake and maybe some other piped decorations, too.

It’s a very filling cake but a pretty tasty one too. It’s best removed from the fridge for a couple of hours before serving, to allow the buttercream to come to room temperature.