Pope Cheesecake: Chocolate Pecan Toffee Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

This is a continuation of the Customised Bake Trial that I am sincerely glad I did as I now know the extent of inaccuracy that recipes can have or knowledge level they expect.

This time, I made my own caramel butterscotch sauce with a method that seemed to work, added the pecans in afterwards, then poured it on the base, and placed it in the fridge to cool. Mistake. The lovely oozy caramel hardened into a near impenetrable toffee. I really must research this caramel umbrella practically to fully understand this.

Pecan Caramel

Anyway, in a desperate bid to save my springform from hacking machetes, I baked the base with the toffee layer for 20 minutes to soften it before the cheesecake mix went in.

One of the comments from the client was that it was dense. Although a very kind offer was extended for me to stay and join my colleague client, I opted out, thinking I would come home and snoozeafter not sleeping all night. That didn't happen. It seems I can survive on a half-hour disco nap.

Chocolate Cheesecake Mixture

Back to the matter in hand... the denseness. This may have been due having 100g less of cream cheese than what was required. I may amend that sentence... in my crazed sleep-deprived brain it seems wrong. I adjusted the mixture on the fly, reducing the sugar, chocolate, and egg content, to compensate, but that may well have been the reason. I have tweaked my method, so I got a much better finish on the cream cheese mixture than on the first attempt.

Pre-bake

I was able to procure frozen raspberries easier than I thought I would, and the sauce was delicious. I was tempted to syphon some off for private usage, but decided I would make another batch as I still had more sauce.

Sauce

Overall, I believe the review was good, and I was pleased with the cake... just a shame I didn't have enough cream cheese.

In honour of the client who designed this cheesecake, I will call this a Pope Cheesecake.

Finito

Pope Cheesecake and Berry Fruit Sauce available at Samara's Baked Goods

Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

Recipe base here. This was not the actual link I used, however I remember the one I did use say that Ina Garten was the delightful culprit, and it does look similar to what I remember.

Cinnamon is one of my preferred spices... in bread, however I find it rather banal in cakes and confectionery.

Trying to transport my memory back to that point in time, I remember that the donuts stuck to the pan more so than when I made the VanVan ones. Perhaps because of the temperature difference, perhaps because of the batter itself. 

They truly were beautiful

Anyhoo, any little bumps, cuts and bruises were cleverly disguised by the cinnamon sugar coating. I wanted to indulge my lazier side and just coat one side, but then decided that would be half-arsed, so coated both sides.

I was making these the same day as I was making Choco Donuts, so wasn't thrilled by the prospect of immediately cleaning donut tins - which is surprisingly tricky - so that they were ready for next use. For that reason, I made two trays' worth (12 donuts), and made muffins out of the remaining batter. Whilst the batter is not offensive when baked in muffin form, I find it a bit tougher than I would like, so this is purely a last resort.

Once I am certain of whether I will stay in Sweden, I will decide whether to invest in two more tins, as this will better suit the quantities I must make.

Available at Samara's Baked Goods

Double Chocolate Fudge Cake Cookies

Recipe Base from Baker by Nature

I have some left over cream cheese that I want to use, and was certain I had saved a recipe on Pinterest that made some sort of black and white cookie that needed cream cheese. I had a look for it, but instead found a black and white cookie recipe that did not need cream cheese and a recipe for blueberry cheesecake cookies that I am figuring I confused in my mind.

In the oven. Magical

Although the black and white recipe seemed fairly simple, the ratios for both sides of the biscuit were not clear and I did not want to end up baking 70 biscuits.

I did a bit of browsing on my Biscuits, Cookies, and Pretzels board, and found an exciting recipe for quadruple chocolate pudding cookies, however the ingredients included cake mix that I did not have (and to be honest, would be reluctant to buy), so opted for this recipe base instead.

Hot Cake... Cookies!

The author is very particular about her methods but after a disaster attempt with coconut brittle this same day, I was grateful for her level of detail as it gave me the option to ignore or follow what I wanted to.

First Bite

The biscuits have a lovely cakey texture, and are so stuffed with chocolate and cocoa flavour that one is easily a dessert in its own right. I will be adding these to the store, post-haste!

Two bites!

Available at Samara's Baked Goods

BluBlu Cheesecake

Recipe base from The Hummingbird Bakery Book.

One of the things that I really appreciate about living in Sweden, is the having the option to pick your own fruit in the beautiful forests.

I have determinedly partaking in this activity since I moved here, and whilst I am not as skilled as others at picking a huge quantity, I am nevertheless always excited to have enough to do something with other than through a bunch into yoghurt.

Fresh from the forest

Swedish blueberries are so beautiful: unlike the American varieties (that I believe are not technically blueberries, but a relative of them), they have as dark purple flesh as their skin.

Having been disappointed with my Blueberry Cake, I was reluctant to make another with my handpicked fruit, so went with a recipe base that I felt was more reliable: cheesecake.

Gorgeous

The base cheesecake mixture was beautiful, and I must be sounding like a broken record where cheesecakes are concerned, as this was another mixture that I truly felt sad about baking.

In they go!

I had washed and frozen my blueberries on the day they were picked, and found that the water on them made them clump together slightly. Nothing too dramatic, but after a conversation with a colleague, I tried washing then air-drying the fruit overnight before freezing and this made a much 'looser' and easier-to-manipulate batch.

From the oven

I appreciate that the appearance is aesthetically pleasing as when you have the fruit and its sauce over the top, however I have never truly appreciated that style in terms of taste. Then again, I have only had shop bought versions, and I like very few mass-produced cheesecakes.

Available at Samara's Baked Goods

Chocolate Pecan Pie Cheesecake with Berry Sauce - Customised Bake Trial

I am very excited about this cheesecake, especially as this is an original recipe for a bespoke order from my store.

My client and I went through my recipe books and settled on a chocolate cheesecake recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery book as a base, and incorporating nutty and fruity elements. We decided to try out a nut base with a raspberry sauce to drizzle over it.

I did some research into nut bases, and found a few gluten free options, but then I found a Pin that incorporated pecan pie and cheesecake.

Cocoa Biscuit Base Mixture

This gave me the idea to make a pecan pie filling to sit on the cocoa base, and top with the chocolate cheesecake.

The recipe seemed suspicious as it included eggs in a sugary-syrup pecan mixture with melted butter, and this potion was then expected to be boiled! With eggs in it!!! Outrageous. I was seriously torn whether to go with my instinct and omit the eggs, or to follow the rules. The jobsworth won this time. In my mind this was no win, as the mixture puffed up unexpectedly and when stirring it to calm it, I discovered the sugars had melted and burned to the bottom of the pan along with a substantial amount of pecans, and these offensive burnt bits were happily entering the good part like so many bad salmon.

I was in a dilemma again. Should I cut my losses, and make another batch, or was it *just* passable? Miss Thrift won that battle: I plugged on, and tapped into the hope that the predominantly sweet flavours will put up a spirited fight against the burned flavours. If it harms the taste, I will opt for a nut crust for the final product.

Then came the cheesecake mixture. Feeling somewhat deflated from the pecan pie filling fiasco, I wasn't as diligent as I should have been when incorporating the melted chocolate into the cream cheese mixture, and was left with some unattractive chocolate clumps floating about. Something to fix for next time.

Speckly Chessecake

I have finally bought a pan large enough to hold my springform tin for Bain Marie baking, and I made such a hoohah of getting that into the oven, that I disappointed myself. I remembered to wrap the tin in foil - eventually - however I may have been overzealous when filling the pan with water, and I'm worried that the water got into the springform... and my cake! I'll have to watch out for that when it's sliced.

Homemade Blueberry and Raspberry Sauce

The original plan was to make a raspberry sauce to drizzle over the top, and having become accustomed to a frozen 'pick and mix' selection of fruits in Swedish supermarkets, I didn't anticipate there not being any available. Ah, such arrogance. I had to improvise and buy a packet of raspberries mixed with blueberries. I made a simple sauce, and I will make sure I go to a larger supermarket and find frozen raspberries if the client doesn't like this trial.

Baked! What a lovely colour

The author of the pecan pie recipe said that her cheesecake developed a huge crack, and whilst I have not yet been afflicted by this, I made sure to cool the cheesecake in the oven with the door open for an hour to prevent it.

I will see how it cuts tomorrow at work, but I am actually feeling quite positive about this cake, despite the pecan pie filling mistake.

Cheesy Onion Donuts

Recipe base from The Kitchy Kitchen, link here

It's been a while since I made these so I'm going by my memory here.

I was thoroughly enjoying my donut adventure, and was quite intrigued by this recipe for savoury donuts I came across. I am trying to work out how I did, as it isn't on my Pinterest, but I imagine that app had something to do with it.

The flavours included in the recipe were sound: jalapeno, nice: green onion, good; cheese, jackpot!

I started to think something had gone awry when half of the cheese was left unaccounted for, and there were general grey areas in some parts of the method.

Not a spicy in the donut as I would have liked

I plugged through, and got as frustrated as I ever have been trying to make a suitable batter and then transferring it to the tins. Manage it I did, and everything was more or less ok... until I tried to remove them from the tins to cool completely. The cheese topping made this a real challenge, and as recommended by the recipe I returned them to the oven to melt the cheese further.

It was a massacre, cap'n!

This just resulted in 'plasticising' the cheese, into a texture that I didn't much appreciate.

I was quite annoyed at the whole exercise, and was ready to write it off... until I tasted the most mangled donut. It. Tasted. Amazing. The flavours were on point, and can even be ramped up a notch for more Oomph. The method just wasn't quite right, and I am sure a few personal flourishes were omitted, unknowingly confusing the instructions.

This definitely is a recipe I need to work on, as it has great potential.

Chocolate Surprise Microwave Brownie Cake + Recipe!

Ooooh, guess what?! No recipe base link this time, as this was my first, and very own original recipe.

I shall concede that the recipe follows the basic rules and ratios of any cake, so originality is a bit of a loose concept here.

So it was a Friday night after a long week. I reserve one guilty pleasure, which is: Friday Nights Off. No work, no guilt, just unadulterated freedom. Obviously that means Netflix and junk food. Small problem. I don't have any junk food outlets in my local area; at best I can get some sushi, which is undoubtedly delicious, but doesn't hit That Spot.

I haven't baked in a while, and this is purely a case of 'the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak'. Like most people in my profession at this time of year, I am dog tired, weary, and somewhat in shock that I am still able to function.

I was craving something sweet and naughty, and really did not feel like going through the rigmarole of baking a huge batch of something or a big cake just to feel so guilty about not presenting it more or less complete at work* and not have any of it. I decided that this was the moment. Hell was about to Freeze Over.

I have a problem with microwaves. Yes, they are a convenient and cost effective way of cooking and heating, but I can't help but feel the heat is half-arsed. The heat seems to leave the food as quickly as it enters it, and I have an embedded impression that if the microwave is allowed to give the food a big zap for more substantial heating, it somewhat 'denatures' ingredients, changes the taste, and consequently, the end result. I tend to limit my infrequent use of microwaves to heating complete food dishes that contain the carbohydrates such as rice and noodles (yes, last night's dinner... if there was a dinner last night).

I also have a distinct memory of wandering into an unintended and ill-advised discussion about 'microwave cakes vs. oven cakes' with a class, and somehow upsetting a student. Sorry! My personal gripe with microwaves is mine, and mine alone.

I must admit that I have become more curious about developing recipes for microwave cakes since I started Pinterest-ing a couple of months ago, and after making emergency freezer cookies for a friend's birthday, I wanted to make her a few sachets of microwave cake mixture so she could simply snip a corner and squeeze it into a mug then bake it in the microwave.

My interest was further piqued after I found microwave cake mixture being sold in my local supermarket. This actually made me rather indignant. I feel that the spirit of the microwave cake is to use ingredients that you are quite likely to have knocking about, and whip up an individual portion of cake that (in my opinion) wouldn't taste quite right after being baked by a microwave, but the satisfaction it provided would far outweigh the work it required to make and clean up afterwards. I didn't check too closely, but I imagine, like ready boxed cake mixture, it would taste generic, without personality, and processed. I am being completely elitist here. I have never used ready made cake mixture. I have an unshakeable belief that it is not thrifty.

Back to the present. Such was my immediate need of something sinful, that I decided that I needed to step over to the dark side, and make myself a microwave mug cake. I had a few rogue ingredients cluttering the fridge that were left over from other bakes, and had no use, so decided to chuck them in there too.

Hubba hubba

This whole event was a double surprise (for me), as I was not only using the microwave, but making a chocolate cake too, which readers of my blog may have realised is not my favourite flavour.

Not the best picture, but it's all full of chocolate-y-ness

Anyway, although I could still taste the 'microwave' flavour on the cake, it was actually quite yummy, and hit the spot. Just don't compare it to an oven cake. It is a different animal, this microwave cake.

Cakey texture at the bottom

*Ok, ok, I do have a sample of batches just for Quality Control purposes, but have had a very small proportion of my own baking, sometimes not tasting recipes entirely. For some reason, I view eating it myself as selfish. Now I write it, I see how ridiculous that it. I made the stuff; I should enjoy it!

Here's the recipe! I don't imagine I will make the same one twice, so please feel free to use this as a base, and have fun with your ingredients!

Chocolate Surprise Microwave Brownie Cake

Time: less than 6 minutes

Yield: 1 serving in a microwave safe mug that can hold 350 ml/12 oz volume

Storage: the batter can be refrigerated for a day, the microwaved cookie can be covered in its mug and kept in the fridge for 2 days. Heat on low for a few seconds before serving.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup self raising flour (plain is fine, just add 1/4 tsp of baking powder)
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp cream (some or all can be substituted for milk or non-dairy alternative)
• 2-4 tbsp milk (some or all can be substituted for water or non-dairy alternative)
• 2 tbsp mild flavoured oil such as rapeseed (can be substituted with liquid margarine)
• OPTIONAL: 1 piece chocolate treat (e.g. a Rolo)
• OPTIONAL: 1-2 tbsp chocolate chips + extra for topping (dark for vegan)
• OPTIONAL: 1-2 tbsp caramel + extra for topping, any variety. Can be substituted with peanut butter or dairy-free alternative for vegans
• OPTIONAL: 3 tbsp maximum whipped cream/dairy-free alternative for topping (spray cream or similar is fine)

Method

1.  Mix the dry ingredients in a small bowl using a small whisk or fork to remove lumps.
2. Add the oil and cream, and mix to combine.
3. Add 2 tbsp of milk and mix. You want a soft dropping texture that takes 3-4 seconds to drop from a spoon. Add 1 tbsp of milk at a time until you reach this point.
4. Add a couple of spoonfuls into a microwaveable heatproof mug, then drop your chocolate treat in.
5. Add more mixture until you have spooned about half of it into your mug.
6. Add your caramel and chocolate chips so that they are evenly spread over the surface of the mixture.
7. Spoon the rest of the mixture into the mug
8. Heat on Medium power for 30-45 seconds at a time until you reach the texture that you want, and being mindful that you must avoid burning the chocolate. Maximum 3 minutes in four intervals. I used a smaller mug on the High heat setting, so had to stop heating it after 2 30-second intervals, as it was about to overflow. The texture at the top was just firmer than batter, but it was baked with a more cake-y texture at the bottom. Be aware of this, to avoid over-heating.
9. I whipped some cream in a small bowl and spooned it over the mug cake, drizzled some caramel and sprinkled some chocolate chips on top. This was purely personal; again, have fun with it!
10. This is very hot, so let cool for a minute, and eat with caution!

Note: If you just want to 'get on with it', and make a simpler cake, mix this directly into your mug, dry ingredients followed by the wet ones, mix thoroughly so it's combined, then add any or all the optional ingredients in afterwards (ensuring the chocolate treat is towards the bottom if you are using it), and only adding the whipped cream if you want to!

Filled and Rolled Loaf

I'm not even sure if this is already in my To Blog list as I have made a bread a few times that this recipe has evolved from. Nevertheless, I had to write about it. As I am wont to do, I was ogling a few of my recent baking snaps, and my greedy eyes rested on the pictures of the filled and rolled loaves that I made a couple of weeks ago.

Having never made two loaves in one day, which obviously involved four sets of hand kneading, I had some tired memories from that experience and was reluctant to do it again. But I'm huuuuuuungry! I decided to do some cursory research on cold proving dough overnight in the fridge as a friend has actually claimed that it produced a better loaf, Naturally I was going down this route. Fresh bread in the morning within an hour of waking?! Yes, please!


Unfortunately my plans were scuppered after I forgot to add sugar to my fresh yeast, which already doesn't seem as enthusiastic as the cakes I have seen in London. Oh well. I shall have to talk about my last bake.

Prior to this point, I had only ever made a bacon and cheese version, and still hadn't settled on a winning cheese combination. Well, this was the time I had to step up to the plate as it were, as a vegetarian cheese-only version had to be produced as well.

I have never used fresh yeast before, however I firmly believe that fresh is always best where possible, so decided to give it a go. Now I have to say that on my previous yeast attempts I used the instant variety, and whilst the bread proved nicely on all occasions, the actual activation was somewhat lacklustre. I should specify that I did not know the difference between dried and instant, and now that I do, the inactivation makes more sense.

Anyhoo, the fresh yeast activation was also marvellously underwhelming. From all the images I had seen, it should produce a glutinous beige semi-paste semi-liquid, however mine was the beige coloured water with some sad bubbles on top. I kept it in a corner in my bedroom that I believe is the warmest, least draughty place in my apartment, and made sure the temperature of the water was optimal, etc, etc,. I suspect the amount of fluid I am using for activation is a bit more than usual, and also the yeast here is just less assuming.

Pre first-prove hand kneaded dough

Aside from the physical workout of kneading the dough (I ought to invest in a stand mixer), the hardest part of this process is retaining the bacon that is used to fill the loaf. It's far too tempting!
The cheese... hmmm, I mentioned earlier how I had some pressure to produce a tasty cheese combination, and a common one that I was finding was parmesan and mozzarella. Now I wasn't so sure about mozzarella, as it is a lovely albeit gentle cheese, that I favour more for its texture than its taste. Well, I decided that I wasn't one to judge on cheeses, not being too well versed in them, so decided on Grana Padano and mozzarella (I couldn't find parmesan). i also had a random half bag of grated Tex Mex cheese, so I threw that in too. I found a nifty trick to grating mozzarella was to freeze it for 30 minutes. Shrewd! I ground black pepper over the vegetarian version, and would have done so for the bacon one, however I forgot. Meh! There was bacon in there!

Mmm bacon

Fromage!

The bacon and cheese bread came out well, a bit of oozing from the criss cross slashing, but I actually found that particular ooze rather charming.

After second prove

Baked!

The cheese version came out of the oven well, but because I'm a doofus, I cooled the bread upside down, hence squashing the poor loaf. Still tasty, but it looked like it was sat on.

Squashed vegetarian version

Bacon & Cheese slice

Available at Samara's Baked Goods.

I have still not settled on this cheese combination, so will work on it further. Perhaps blue cheese? Opinions, as always, are welcome. Relevant to this post, of course!

Available at Samara's Baked Goods.

Vegan Banana Cookies

Recipe based on Yammie's Noshery: LINK

I'm not sure how it somehow became a mild expectation, however my second year students seem to believe that at some magical point of the year I will bake something for them.

Last academic year (2014/15), I had a particularly lovely bunch of students in my second year classes, and decided to treat them the smaller class. Not out of favouritism, just unfortunate timing. I knew one of the students is a vegan, so I in order to include her, I had to ensure I made a 'young person appealing' biscuit or something that didn't include eggs.

I found a recipe on one of my favourite haunts at Yammie's, and made a few tweaks to make sure it stayed vegan, and also nut-free. I had attempted a recipe a few days earllier earlier for flourless brownie cookies, hence they were gluten free, and after attempting a vegan version of them, namely replacing eggs with bananas, I was rewarded with flat, unappealing, yet extremely yummy... things.

This time the result was a very soft, squidgy cookie. In hindsight, they were perhaps too soft and squidgy, so I will probably increase the flour content next time.

After all that, the vegan student was absent that day. Pity.

Curious little chappies

Cheeky stowaway emergency freezer cookie

Squidge!

Two different types of dark chocolate

10th December-15

I made these again for one of my smaller classes, and tried to juzz them up by adding a dollop of my homemade caramel... Before baking. As expected, it melted, making them quite unappealing appearance-wise. They tasted amazing though so I'm not abandoning the idea or these actual specimens. I consulted my ...Domestic Goddess bible by Nigella Lawson, and tried making an indent so I could fill the biscuits post-bake, but they smoothed out in the oven, so I decided to skip that extra flourish.

The taste was lovely, definitely one for the recipe collection.

Melted dark chocolate

In the tin

Fresh out of the oven

The stack

Available at Samara's Baked Goods

Chocolate Layer Cake

Recipe Base from The Kitchn: LINK

Hmmm, I am surprised I have not written about this cake, as it seems to be one of my most popular ones... weeeeeell, that's stretching it a bit. It's more a situation that this is a cake whose appearance exceeds the work required to create it, so it was the one I whipped up for a friend's barbecue. From that second attempt at the cake, I make the huge artistic leap to say that it's become somewhat of a go-to cake that I use to show that I care a little bit as it looks a bit more showy than a biscuit.

I, personally, am not the biggest fan of chocolate cake. Certainly not this one, which is of the cocoa variety. According to the preamble on the recipe, there are three types of chocolate cake: flourless, cocoa, and fudgy. The chocolate cakes that I appreciate most are of the fudgy variety. Most definitely. However, its seeming failings aside, this cake is actually quite good. I am very wary of layer cakes as I fear they will not be moist, and knowing the drying effect of cocoa, I was on edge the first time I made it.

I made some tweaks to the recipe that are scrawled somewhere on my paper copy, and going against my general rule of following a recipe exactly once, I just went with my gut.

I have now made this cake three times, and it has delivered each time.

My first attempt was okaaaay, but I ruined it by using icing that I had too much of and was far too soupy. Not wanting to waste the icing, I used as much of I could of the moussy stuff to sandwich and surround the layers. It resulted in a chocolate milkshake-looking cake.

The second attempt was perfection. Until I tried to level it. This is the second time I've attempted such a thing, and both have not gone well. When stationary the cake was a masterpiece. In transit, it slid off it Samara-crafted cake slope. Fabulous. I am considering investing in a wire cake cutter tool, however have not had confidence in the online reviews of the ones I have looked at. Suggestions anyone?

Finished product, naked cake style!

Eagle eyed viewers can spot my leveling attempt!

My last attempt was for my first order from my new online bakery, and was intended to be a 5th birthday cake for my colleague's son. This lucky young'un has a liking for both raspberry and chocolate, so after discussions, we agreed on sandwiching the icing with both raspberry and chocolate frosting. We didn't want to make it too adult/cocoa-ey, so I suggested a milk chocolate buttercream frosting. Grand idea, but ineffective. I used 150 g of precious milk chocolate chips, and it somehow got absorbed by the butter icing flavour, so I resorted to cocoa in order to obtain the cocoa taste, I managed to find some inspirations on making rasberry buttercream frosting, and concocted a rather successful batch of the stuff.

So lesson learnt: real milk chocolate does not flavour buttercream icing.

Now as much as I bluffly profess that I have no time for frou frou, decoration, and such like, this is more a testament of my abilities than of the visions I have in my head of what I want to create. This is one of those times that I will hide behind that proclamation. I pictured a towering masterpiece with clear and straight levels of cake and two tone icing. That is far from what the reality was.

Looks like something from Ghostbusters 2!

Luverly.

Whilst I was very confident in the cake and all the flavours, I have to admit that the final piece was a let down.

You see? You see?! It was better on the test run!

I made the mistake of using a ready made decorating tube or what turned out to be a thick, sticky, sugar paste, that I have never used before. And will probably never use again. My test 'piping' was passable enough that I wouldn't have minded that being on top of the actual cake. My real attempt looked like a child of the age displayed on the cake did it. I was as embarrassed to the extent that I could be (which is not much). To try to distract from the main debacle, I added some fresh raspberries covered in a white chocolate mix, which did nothing for their appearance, but did everything for the flavour, sprinkled some dried raspberry flakes and icing sugar over the top. It helped marginally, if that.

Reluctant frou frou

Side-ish view

Reflection:
Pipe writing with softer more suitable flavoured and perhaps dyed icing with my own piping tools
Pipe the icing between layers for a neater finish

I have a chance at redemption! My colleague has asked for a repeat order, with the addition of marzipan! I'm not confident on the flavour combination, but faint heart never won fair lady!

29th November 2015 UPDATE
Well... it was neater, however my mental images of piping a Cumberland style coil of icing for neatness didn't quite work, and I have a LOT to learn about marzipan. I'm not even convinced what I was using was marzipan. I wasted maybe half the packet. Learned it was delicate so didn't quite work with my strenous rolling, and that I should probably invest in a good size pastry rolling mat for ease of application.

As the original plan was to cover the whole cake in marzipan, I filled the layers with raspberry buttercream icing only. I also decided to try and beat the cake levelling system by placing the top cake layer upside down so that its flat bottom would create a level surface for icing. Yeeeeh, that didn't quite work. The top layer decided to have a bit of a breakdown, or rather just started to break so I had to carefully flip it over and use the domed surface.
Then I had to go to Plan B, and just roll out a top layer of marzipan and then cover the cake in the chocolate icing. There were no good raspberries in my local supermarket (they were all mouldy), so I there was no real juzzing to be had either. I tried, though, I did try. I tried to do stripy icing for the writing, and it disaster. Then I tried two tone sugar paste with blue and yellow, and it all melded together into a very pale green in the bag. Every day, there is so much to learn!

Yes, yes, the writing has not improved

Available at Samara's Baked Goods

Mini Zingi Loaves

Recipe based on 'How to be a Domestic Goddess' by Nigella Lawson.

So after having my recipe book for so long, I have finally decided to invest in mini-loaf tins. Along with a couple of 6-well donut tins, and a cupcake carrier case. No one cares about that, but I had to say it.

When selecting which mini-loaf tins to invest in, I was wavering between getting individual mini loaf tins (approximately 1/2 of a regular loaf), 6-well tins (approximately 1/3 of a regular loaf), and a 8-well tin (around 1/4 of a regular loaf). I was overwhelmed by the choice alone, so had to let Nige decide for me. In this book, she uses the 8-well tins, so they were what I opted for.

Now as I mentioned, I had invested in donut tins, and I have been having a lot of fun with them (I will update my blog as soon as possible), and realised that my other new purchase was not getting used, so I changed my plan of making more donuts, and debut homemade mini loaves... to myself.

Lovely whipped batter

As Ms. Lawson was my deciding factor for the tin, it only seemed fitting that the recipe I used first, was the one that swung the vote: Mini Lime-Syrup Sponges.

Syrup... somehow eclipsed by those
gorgeous loaves in the background!

I didn't have lime at home, but I did have an organic (non-waxed) orange, and a lemon, so I used the zest and juice from the orange, together with some of the juice from the lemon. It turned out that I did not need the lemon juice, but it did add a certain lightness to the flavouring.

I decided to make a double batch as 8 mini-loaves to take to work just wouldn't do, and thank goodness I did! I'm unsure whether I neglected to read it, or it simply wasn't there, but how full should the wells be?! Yes, yes, I understand the concept of dividing the batter equally across 16 wells, however with my non-fan, and quite frankly, dodgy, oven, I am limited to baking one tray at a time, so I fill them accordingly.

Syrupped!

I decided to fill the wells approximately 3/4 full, and as you can see from the pictures, they rose magnificently. Too magnificently.

And on the inside...

Taste and texture were perfection... and they may have been even stickier if the loaf size was more appropriate.

Definitely one to be tried again.

Available at Samara's Baked Goods