Butterscotch Layer Cake: Attempt 2

Recipe based on Nigella Lawson's How to Be a Domestic Goddess.

Big news! I've finally set up an online store for local deliveries and collection (Stockholm only).
I am just as surprised as everyone, as I have no real inclination to make a profit from baking, or indeed a living from it either. A friend directed to me a lovely site called Tictail.com, which gives you free online store space to set up a shop and sell items that you advertise.

The close up

Not one to blow my own trumpet, but in my category, my shop looks pretty polished, even though there are many things to improve.

Twins!

Anyhoo, as of 08/11/15, I have received two orders. One was for a chocolate layer cake that I will wax lyrical about in another post, and the other order was for a bumper 6 items!

One of the items in this order is... you guessed it, the Butterscotch Layer Cake that this post is named for!

Lovely smooth batter

This was the second time I'm making it, however I was fairly confident, although some doubt lay in the oven in the flat I am currently renting, and am still yet to get used to. It's a hasty oven, so I have been extra vigilant after 2/3 of the baking time has passed as I have been burnt before. As were two of my cakes.

So grateful for my stackable cooling racks

The cake is intended to be a naked one, so unlike my first attempt, I decided to present it that way, and instead of being governed by the quantity of icing and caramel I had made, I was governed instead by the aesthetic. Kinda. You know me, not one for frou frou. They looked better than the first attempt anyway. In a manufactured sort of way.

Homemade caramel

Butterscotch Cream Cheese Frosting

Anyhoo, they* turned out well, I was pleased, I will hopefully update with pictures of The Cut later.

Nice Slice

*They were twins! Otherwise known as two cakes made at the same time!

Available at Samara's Baked Goods

Red Velvet Layer Cake

Based on recipe from Hummingbird Bakery.

For those who saw my awful attempt at a multi-coloured cake, may wonder why I go back to this. I am one of those people who wonders too.

Anyhoo, I am getting a bit more interested in cakes of a more interesting format, e.g. ring, bundt, and stumbled across a Red Velvet Bundt recipe through one of those 'you may be interested in...' links.

Having tried the Hummingbird Bakery recipe for cupcakes, and the unfortunate multi-coloured cake, I was wary of trying a new set of ratios, so figured I'd use the 'old faithful' instructions, and stick the batter in a bundt.

I chickened out, as I have had a bad experience when making a spontaneous bundt, and opted for a layer cake instead.

I made a spare cupcake to crumble over the top, which was inspired by the bundt recipe.

The result was a very even light cake. I could probably have levelled the layers, and used more icing inbetween them, however I feel that is a waste of cake, and I wasn't sure how much I'd have left to ice the rest of the cake.

There She Is!

Overall I was pleased, however I need to learn to be more generous with icing.

There is something in red food dye that irritates my mouth, so I couldn't really have the cake.

A Slice of Life

Available at Samara's Baked Goods

Butterscotch Layer Cake

Recipe base from Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess.

I would like to say I followed the instructions exactly but right off the bat, I added too much water to the sugar for my caramel. First time excuse still valid??

Caramel

I managed to rescue it somewhat, and the cake was a success. Moist, and not overly sweet. Obviously no oil painting, but it was gone in 15 minutes from the staff room, which I was pleased with.

Finished Article

The cut! The top was missing a piece as it stuck to the tin

Read about my second attempt here

Available at Samara's Baked Goods

Hummingbird Cake

Based on recipe from... You guessed it: The Hummingbird Bakery book.

A signature fruit cake that I would never have attempted, again because it is a layer cake (see Brooklyn Blackout Cake), and also because it has pineapple in it. Not my cup of tea... Or so I thought!

The batter was easy to create, and the bake was very simple. Again, being a reluctant cake decorator I unceremoniously slathered the cream cheese frosting on, and arranged some pecan nuts on the cake. It actually had its own charm. I'm hindsight, I should have probably levelled the cakes as the result was quite a tall assembly, but meh! I didn't want the scraps about.

The cake turned out to be lovely and light... Whilst it was mainly a banana and pecan cake, the cream cheese frosting made it reminiscent of carrot cake.

Definitely one to do again!

Available at Samara's Baked Goods

Multi-Coloured Velvet Cake

Based on the recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery book.

I decided to make a multi-coloured velvet cake to represent my school's house system by doing a layer of green, red, and blue, sandwiched and covered in yellow cream cheese icing.

That was the idea. I had grand visions of a tall cake covered in smooth yellow, with the awaiting surprise of the multi-colours within when sliced.

This cake hardly measured up.

I knew it wouldn't work out as soon as I failed to find sandwich tins (20 cm or otherwise) in my local shops (in Stockholm). After asking a few Swedes, it seems that the concept of layer cake is a bit foreign to them, at least baking the layers separately. Instead on the rare occasion that they would make a layered cake, they would make a regular/large cake, and cut it into the layers they wanted, and then reassemble. This would never do for me.
I compromised by buying disposable foil tins (23 cm diameter), and resolving to make batches as advised to produce 12 cupcakes, dye them accordingly, and then make cupcakes from the rest.

Disaster. First of all, I only added half as much red dye as needed, and only clocked that I had done so when they came out. A considerable amount of the red cake stuck to the bottom of the tin (yes, I did grease and flour it!). Then the green batter developed an unpleasant brown layer on its top and sides (as did the cupcakes). The blue was alright, but looked far more teal than the navy I was after.

Then the Lack of Cooling Racks Tragedy struck. Only having one, which was actually the removable grill part of the pan covered with baking paper, meant that the cakes didn't get the opportunity to cool properly as they were coming out of the oven - my oven is not a fan one, so I baked one cake at a time, followed by the 'residual cupcakes', and so on.

At this point, I was too far gone to even consider starting again, so tried to make the best of a bad job by cutting the discolouration off the cooled yet sweaty cakes. It wasn't so bad at this point.

Let's make the cream cheese frosting. Oh no! The ridiculously expensive weighing scales I bought merely because of the proximity of the shop and my need for them decided to give me a static electric shock, and refuse to work. I decided to freestyle with the measurements, and came out with some fairly decent icing, despite the yellow not making as much of a difference as I wanted it to.

Underwhelmed. 

Icing the cake. Literally, this was the icing on the cake. Trying to ice this cake with its exposed and crumby sides was a nightmare; the multi-coloured specks kept 'tainting' the icing, so I was unable to get the clean finish I was after.

The end result was a small, squat, sugary mess, that looked like I'd dropped it on the floor. I couldn't even bear to take a picture, I was so ashamed.

The cupcakes (and cake) tasted good, however looked extremely unappetising.

Blart

To improve (should I ever recover enough to return to the scene of the crime), I reckon I should make this as a pound cake, perhaps with a marbled or tiger effect. Although I have a feeling it will still not be what I want. To ice the cake, I will probably use royal icing (the stiffer one used for wedding cakes, I think) despite my aversion to icing - using and eating!

Spiced Pound Cake

Based on Hummingbird Bakery Book Recipe

I couldn't find any lemon extract, so used 1/4 teaspoon of lemon essence, and 1/4 teaspoon of 'citrus powder' mixed in with the flour.

I've started a not-so-revolutionary tactic of leaving my butter out permanently (must buy a butter dish) so that it is nice and soft which works for most of my recipes.

I am happy with the way the cake turned out, the batter was lovely, velvety and smooth, and despite my cake tin being slightly bigger than recommended (26cm ring tin vs the advised 25cm), the batter filled it properly, and rose to fill the tin too.

I felt the cake was getting a bit too 'done' at 50 minutes, so put some foil over the top to prevent it from burning, and returned it to the oven for another 10 minutes.

Total cooking time: 60 minutes.

I topped it with some left over cream cheese frosting and chocolate frosting (yes, I combined them!). Not sure how this will work with the cake, however I wanted to get rid of the icing, so heigh ho!

Icing Mash Up!

Update: the second picture does not do this cake justice. The texture was perfect - baked completely, fluffy, and even.

Unflattering picture... it was truly spectacular

I have made and developed this recipe several times since, and it is definitely a go-to cake for me. I love its buttery-ness, along with its complex spices. Perfect with tea! I need to develop a single serve microwave version of this...

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Based on Hummingbird Bakery book recipe.

Cakes came out rather moist, a bit too moist for my liking, although they were fully cooked.

I used vaniljpulver rather than the recommended vanilla extract due to availability, however I now have my bottle from the UK, so will use next time!

I only made 12, will definitely make more next time

Note to self:

TWO bottles of Dr Oetker's Red Food Colouring

Vanilla Paste from UK

Rating #1: 9/10