Summer berry sponge cake with creamcheese buttercream.

With all the rain we having be having lately I was being to feel a little fed up, so what could I do to cheer myself up, well bake of course! I decided to make a summer berry sponge as I had been berry collecting in by Nanna's garden and had loads of blackberries, I also had some strawberries and raspberries to use up so these also went in.

The cake batter looked glorious with the colourful berries running through it, my mouth was watering even before baking it.

The sponge it's self was light and fluffy with the lovely soft fruits, I ate the first slice whilst it was still slightly warm, I just couldn't wait. It was delicious. I then had to trim off some of the cake to make it look untouched as I was taking it with me to my mum's for lunch. I hope I am not the only one that occasionally has to trim off extra pieces of cake, or arrive with one less cupcake than intended!

I decided to proceed and cover the rest of the cake (well what was left of it!) with creamcheese buttercream. I make creamcheese buttercream a lot but this time I had a box of organic unrefined icing sugar from m&s to use so I thought I would give it a go. This made the buttercream a rich golden colour, it looked lovely but was actually a little to sweet, everyone loved the way it looked, but agreed that my normal creamcheese buttercream is actually much nicer.

Summer Berry sponge recipe

225g Butter or margarine
225g Golden caster sugar
225g Self raising flour
4 eggs
125g summer berries

pre heat the oven to 170oC

Cream butter and caster sugar together, until very light and creamy. I do this for at least 5 minuets

Add eggs one at a time with a little flour, mix until all the eggs are combined

sift in the flour and fold in.

stir in the berries.

Add to a greased and lined baking tin and bake until golden brown.




Cream cheese buttercream recipe

300g icing sugar, sifted
50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
125g cream cheese, cold

Beat icing sugar and butter untill the mixture comes together and is well mixed, add the cream cheese in one go and beat untill it is completely incorporated. Then mix on a high speed untill light and fluffy.

do not overbeat, as it can become runny.

Carrot cake - with no nuts

This week it has been my boyfriends birthday. I had been asking him for weeks what cake he wanted and he finally decided on a carrot cake. I was a little worried as I have never made a carrot cake before. Even though I love carrot cake I have always put off baking it, im not too sure why, I think it is all the grating of the carrots that put me off and it wasnt even that bad! The cake was actually lovely and I will be making it more often, much to the delight of my boyfriend and my mum.


Because I needed this cake for a birthday I wanted it to be perfect, so I reached for my trusted hummingbird bakery cookbook. I adjusted the recipe slightly as my boyfriend wanted a cake with no nuts, and his wish was my command on his birthday! the recipe was also for a 3 layer cake but I wanted a more traditional two layer cake, so I just had slightly larger sponges.

I filled the cake and covered it with cream cheese frosting. It covered really well and there was enough buttercream left to add some piped detail. For the writing I used melted milk chocolate. So far the cake has lasted 3 days and is still really moist.

Carrot Cake  

Sponge

300g soft light brown sugar
3 eggs
300ml oil
300g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
300g grated carrots

preheat the oven to 170'c

Mix the sugar, eggs and oil until well incorporated. Slowly add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt and vanilla extract and continue to beat until well mixed.

Stir in the grated carrots until evenly dispersed.

Pour the mixture into 20cm (8") cake tins lined with grease proof paper. Bake for 20-25 minutes untill golden brown.

leave to cool and cover with creamcheese buttercream. I used a double quantity so I could cover and fill the cake

Cream cheese buttercream (single quantity)

300g icing sugar, sifted
50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
125g cream cheese, cold

Beat icing sugar and butter untill the mixture comes together and is well mixed, add the cream cheese in one go and beat untill it is completely incorporated. Then mix on a high speed untill light and fluffy.

do not overbeat, as it can become runny.

I think this recipe would also work well as cupcakes, I will try them and post the results soon.