Lemon & Passionfruit Sponge Cake

It’s my lovely friend Sarah’s birthday on Monday, and tonight we’re all going out to dinner as a group to celebrate by eating our body weights in dumplings. We’ll be heading home for dessert, though, so I figured a birthday cake might be in order.

I was a little slow off the mark today. I meant to be impressively organised and wake up early to have the cake baked and decorated by lunch time.

This did not happen.

I ended up sleeping through my alarm and racing around to the supermarket at 11:30am in a mad dash for ingredients. I wasn’t home until almost half past twelve, and by the time I’d unpacked all the shopping bags and turned the ovens on to preheat, it was creeping up towards 1pm. Argh!

The result is that I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to decorate, and so the icing isn’t as smooth as I’d like and I didn’t spend enough time getting everything to sit perfectly. Never mind, though – I think it’ll still taste pretty good!

I got the recipe out of my favourite recipe book, The Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook. Jennifer Graham’s recipes are generally so good that there’s no need to change a thing, so here’s how I did it in my own words…

LEMON & PASSIONFRUIT SPONGE CAKE

6 eggs

1 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup self raising flour

1/2 cup plain flour

1/4 cup custard powder

1/4 cup cornflour

1. Firstly, preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius (that’s 340 Fahrenheit) and grease and line three 20cm (8 inch) cake pans.

2. Crack the eggs into a large mixing bowl and beat on a medium speed for 2 minutes.

Crank the speed up to full power and beat for 15 – 20 minutes until the eggs have become thick and fluffy.

3. Add the sugar gradually in 3 lots, beating for 2 minutes after each addition to allow the sugar to dissolve. Beat on high for a further 10 minutes once all the sugar is in to allow the egg mixture to become thick and fluffy.

4. Mix together the flours, custard powder and cornflour by sifting together three times. Gently fold into the egg mixture until just combined, making sure that all the flour pockets are gone.

5. Evenly divide the mixture between the three cake pans and bake for 18 – 20 minutes, until lightly coloured.

6. Remove from the oven and remove the cakes from their pans immediately and allow to cool for around half an hour before decorating.

Meanwhile, as the cakes are baking and cooling, you can whip the cream and get on with the rest…

LEMON CURD FILLING

4 egg yolks

½ cup sugar

1 tablespoon lemon zest

85 ml lemon juice

½ teaspoon lemon essence

70g butter, cubed

1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg yolks, lemon zest, juice and essence and sugar over a low-medium heat until combined. Stir constantly until the mixture has thickened and is starting to simmer.

2. Turn off the heat and add the butter, one cube at a time, stirring to melt and combine.

3. Place in the fridge until cold and firm.

PASSIONFRUIT SAUCE

2/3 cup passionfruit pulp

¼ cup orange juice

1 ½ tablespoons caster sugar

3 teaspoons cornflour

2 tablespoons water

1. Mix the passionfruit, sugar and orange juice together in a medium sized saucepan and place over a low-medium heat. In a cup, combine the cornflour and water, stirring until smooth.

2. Add the cornflour mixture into the saucepan and stir continuously over the heat until thick and simmering.

3. Remove from the heat and place in the fridge to cool.

PASSIONFRUIT FROSTING

50g butter, softened

½ cup passionfruit pulp

4 cups icing sugar4

1. Make sure the butter is very soft, then add the passionfruit and half of the sifted icing sugar. Beat well by hand until smooth.

2. Add in the remaining sifted icing sugar and continue to beat by hand until thick and smooth. It should be easy to spread.

DECORATING

1. Once the cakes are cooled, place one on a plate and pipe large whipped cream rosettes around the outside edge.

2. Place a heaped tablespoon of lemon curd filling into the middle of the cake and gently spread towards the whipped cream rosette border.

3. Pipe more whipped cream rosettes on top of the lemon curd to cover.

4. Gently spoon some of the Passionfruit Sauce over the centre rosettes.

5. Place another sponge cake gently on top and repeat the process.

6. Then place the third cake on top and gently spread with passionfruit frosting, allowing the frosting to drip over the edge and down the sides of the cake.

7. Sprinkle with coloured cachous and gently press lilies (or a flower of your choice) into the top of the cake.

8. Press halved strawberries into the gaps between the cream rosettes on each layer of the cake.

Enjoy!

Happy 24th birthday, Sarah! xxx

Buttercream & Birthdays

October is a pretty crazy month ’round these parts. It’s my husband’s birthday on the 11th, my birthday on the 13th, my mother-in-law’s birthday on the 15th and my sister’s birthday on the 24th…and that’s leaving out about a million aunts/uncles/cousins/grandparents/etc who are also born in October. Something in the water, eh?

So, as it’s my husband’s birthday tomorrow (!), I thought I’d kick off the celebrations with the first birthday cake of the month.

And so, without further ado: a fitting cake for my lovely, adorably geeky gamer husband:

Mario! Do ignore my slightly out of focus camera work. My photography skills are pretty much non-existent.

It’s Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Fudge Cake, and Mario is a buttercream transfer. It was the first time I’d ever attempted a transfer, and it really was ridiculously easy. Time consuming – it took me around an hour (plus two hours of freezing time) to do it, but that’s also due to me working at a ludicrously slow pace because I was so scared of  ruining it! – but simple. I made the transfer before I’d even made the cake so it could freeze while I baked.

Here’s Nigella’s recipe (very slightly adapted – though I do wish I could take credit for the entire thing!):

CAKE:

400g plain flour

250g caster (superfine) sugar

100g dark brown sugar

50g cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

140ml sour cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

175g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

125ml canola oil

300ml chilled water

FUDGE ICING:

175g dark chocolate

250g  butter, softened

275g icing (powdered) sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius (that’s Gas Mark 4 or 350 degrees fahrenheit for all you non-Australians!)

2. Grease and line two 20 centimetre round cake tins.

3. Put the flour, sugars, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb soda and salt in a large bowl and mix to combine. In another smaller bowl, place the eggs, sour cream and vanilla extract and whisk together. Using an electric mixer (I like my big stand mixer, but hand-held would also work just as well), beat the melted butter and the canola oil until just combined, then beat in the water. Turn the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients all in one go. Then add the egg mixture, mix again (still on low speed) until everything is blended. Pour the mixture into your greased and lined tins.

4. Bake the cakes for 50-55 minutes (though this depends hugely on your oven; mine were done in 45 minutes), testing with a skewer to check that they’re done. When the cakes are ready, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool in their tins for 15 minutes before you turn them onto a wire cake rack and allow them to cool completely.

5. FOR THE ICING, melt the chocolate in a metal or Pyrex bowl sitting over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring constantly and making sure that the bowl is never touching the water. When melted, remove from the heat and leave the chocolate to cool for a couple of minutes.

6. Grab your electric mixer again (after giving it and its bowl a quick clean) and beat the softened butter until it becomes light in colour and has a creamy consistency. Add the sieved icing sugar  to the butter mixture beat it again until it gets light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the melted chocolate and beat on high for a minute or so, until the mixture is thick and glossy (it should be of a spreadable consistency).

7. Use about a quarter to one third of the fudge icing to sandwich the two cakes together, then use the remaining frosting to cover the top and sides of the cakes. Don’t bother trying to make the icing look perfect – this kind of frosting begs to be slapped on unevenly.

8. Transfer to a pretty cake stand, and voila! Done and dusted.

Now, the real question is whether I have enough self control to save it for tomorrow…