Gluten Free – Dairy Free- Lemon and Lime Cake

Originally, I wanted to make a yoghurt icing for this cake but everywhere I read online was not impressed with 'dairy-free' margarine/butter. So, I decided to just use icing sugar and soya yoghurt knowing full well that it is full of water and probably wouldn't work!

Long story short - it didn't work, I strained the yoghurt - it ALL went through.. I used the 'thicker' stuff.. it did NOTHING when I added the icing.. except go a horrible grey colour.. I will figure it out. But for this, I stuck with simple, yet effective, lemon icing. :)

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line two 8 inch baking tins with baking powder. 

Ingredients

250g dairy-free margarine

250g caster sugar

4 eggs

250g plain gluten free flour

½ tsp. gluten-free baking powder

2 tbsp. full fat soya milk

2 tbsp. lemon & lime juice

Zest of a lemon & lime

•        Add the margarine, sugar and zest to a bowl – beat it with a paddle mixer until the mix is well combined.

•        Add the eggs one by one, it may look a little curdled but don’t panic it will look better once the flour is added.

•        Sift in the flour and baking powder – mix on low to combine.

•        Then add the milk and juices.

•        Bake in a pre-heated oven for 20 minutes.

Sugar Syrup

50g caster sugar

50ml water

1 tsp. lemon & lime juice

•        Boil the sugar and water on a low heat until all the sugar is dissolved.

•        Remove from the heat and stir in the juices.

•        While the cakes are still warm, skewer some holes into the cake and pour the sugar syrup over them.

Icing

250g icing sugar

Lemon juice

•        Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add the lemon juice tsp. by tsp. until the mixture is a ‘droppable’ consistency.

•        Pour the icing into the centre of the cake and let it pour over the edges. 

•        If you made the cake in two tins, add some icing to sandwich the sponges together. 

♥ ♥

Wendy

XO

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Animal Print 21st Cake

Well, this was a bit of an adventure outside my comfort zone - decorative icing! Worth it though for the finished result and it was Mollies 21st ('baby' sister!!). You'll need apricot jam to brush over each cake to help the icing stick :)

• Tiger cake - for this layer we need around 1.5 boxes of fondant and plenty of orange food colouring. It took a long time to incorporate it evenly throughout the icing but we got there in the end (the same goes for the black icing). Paint the sides with water to help the black icing stick. It really was just guess work for the black - we started with straight lines using a pizza cutter. Then we just did random curvy lines - short, medium, long etc and stuck them on. 

• Leopard cake (1 box) - this layer was painted using a mix of food colouring and vodka. The main icing was white fondant with a little bit of brown food colouring to create a 'tan' colour. Then it was a case of painting circles in brown and half circles on the outside with black.....or something like that.

• Zebra cake (3/4 box) - this followed the same 'method' as the tiger cake but with white and black. Good Luck! haha. 

I didn't actually use cake boards between each layer but I would the next time as dismantling the cake was a bit of a disaster...who cares though, it all got eaten in the end. 

Chocolate Biscuit Cake (12 inch) - Tiger

550g butter

300ml golden syrup

450g chocolate

400g digestive biscuits 

400g rich tea biscuits

1 large packet of maltesers

• line the tin with greaseproof paper before you start.
• melt the butter, golden syrup and chocolate in a large bowl over a pan of simmering water.
• to a very large bowl add the biscuits and maltesers.
• once the chocolate mix is ready, pour it over the biscuits and mix to combine.
• I recommend eating 5 or so biscuits from each packet... there was a LOT of biscuits in this cake.

Chocolate Cake (9 inch) - Leopard

185g butter

330g caster sugar

2½ tsp. vanilla essence

3 eggs

75g self-raising flour

225g plain flour

1½ tsp. bicarbonate of soda

80g cocoa powder

280ml buttermilk

Chocolate Cake (7 inch) - Zebra 

165g butter

300g caster sugar

2 tsp. vanilla essence

3 eggs

65g self-raising flour

200g plain flour

1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda

70g cocoa powder

250ml buttermilk

Chocolate Cake Method

• preheat the oven to 180°C and line each baking tin with greasproof paper. 
• beat the butter, sugar and vanilla with a paddle attachment until light and fluffy.
• add the eggs one by one, ensuring they are incorporated each time. 
• transfer to a large bowl.
• alternatively fold in the flours, cocoa powder and bicarb with the buttermilk.
• transfer to the prepared tins - bake th 9 inch for 1¼ hours and the 7 inch for 1 hr 10 minutes.
• always test the centre of your cakes with a skewer, if it comes out clean - its baked! 

Happy 21st Birthday Mollie!
19/092013

♥ ♥

Wendy

XO

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Easy Lemon Cake...

...on a Christmas plate! Too soon? I think so. Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan) and line two 8 inch baking tins. This is an all in one recipe so all you will need is an ingredient list! 

Sponge

225g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
225g caster sugar
225g butter/margarine
4 eggs
juice of half a lemon
zest of one lemon

Filling

Lemon Curd

♥ ♥

Wendy

XO

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Marbled Chocolate Ring Cake

Even if this cake tasted disgusting (which it didn't might I add), it looks spectacular and is perfect for any special occasion. I got the funky cake tin in TK Maxx for under €10 - WIN! 

Preheat the oven to 180^°C - Be sure to grease and line the tin with strips of baking paper to prevent the cake sticking.

Sponge

225g butter
225g caster sugar
4 large eggs
225g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
1.5 tbsp cocoa powder
1.5 tbsp hot water

• blend the cocoa and water to create a paste.
• to a large bowl, add all the remaining ingredients and whisk until blended. 
• spoon half the mixture, using a teaspoon into the bottom of the tin.
• mix the cocoa paste with the remaining cake mixture and repeat the previous stage until its all used up.
• swirl the mixtures together with a small knife and level out the top.
• bake in the oven for approximately 40 minutes until well risen and springs back when touched. 
• leave the cake to cool in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Icing

150g plain chocolate

2 tbsp water

100g butter

50g milk chocolate

• to make the icing, melt the chocolate, water and butter in a bowl over a saucepan of hot water.
• pour over the cake and leave to cool for 1 hour (leave the icing to cool a little so it 'sticks' to the cake better)
• to decorate, melt the milk chocolate over a pan of hot water and spoon into a plastic sandwich bag/piping back, cut of a corner and drizzle over the cake. 
• yum yum yum!

♥ ♥

Wendy

XO

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January - Coffee Victoria Sponge

This was a really quick and fun way to make a coffee cake! Preheat the oven to 160^°C and line 2 tins with greaseproof paper. 

Melting icing...again

Sponge

4 Eggs 

Soft Margarine

Self-raising flour

2 tbsp instant coffee granules

• Weigh eggs in shells, weigh out the same amount of margarine, sugar and flour.
• Cream the margarine and sugar until light and fluffy, whisk in the eggs, sieve flour into the mixture.
• Mix the coffee with 1 tbsp of hot water and fold into the mixture.
• Spoon into prepared tins and bake for 25 minutes.

Icing

300g icing sugar

2 tbsp instant coffee granules

15g butter, melted

Walnut halves (or coffee chocolate beans - nom!)

• Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl, mix the coffee with 3 tbsp of boiling water add to the icing sugar with the butter.
• Once the cake is cooled ice (ice baby...) and decorate your cake.

PS - I wish I was better at icing cakes 

Lemon and Lime Cake

This is one of my favourite cakes to bake - the lime gives it a little extra 'zestyness' :) Preheat the oven to 180◦C and grease your tins and line the bottoms. (It’s easier to use two – less cooking time, and if you have a divider http://www.kitchencookware.ie/baking/cake-decoration/cake-leveler/ you can divide it in four, you can get them cheap in ikea too)

Sponge

250g unsalted butter, soft

250g caster sugar

4 eggs

250g self-raising flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

1-2 tbsp. Milk

1 tbsp. Lemon juice (heat them in the microwave before juicing)

1 tbsp. Lime juice

The zest of a lemon

The zest of a lime

• Put the butter, caster sugar and zest into an electric mixer and cream together for 7 minutes.
• Add the eggs, one by one and mix for 2 minutes at a time.
• Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and add it to the mix until it’s all incorporated.
• Add the milk and juices and mix for a further minute.
• Divide between your baking pans and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes (may take longer depending on oven/how wet the mixture is).
• Remove when ready and leave to cool a while before taking them out of the tins to cool fully.

Lemon and Lime Syrup

50g golden caster sugar

50ml water 

¼ tsp. Lemon juice 

¼ tsp. Lime juice

• For the syrup, heat the sugar and water in a pan. Bring to the boil slowly, stirring well until the sugars dissolved. Remove from heat, cool and then add the juice.
• Pierce the cake with a skewer and pour over the syrup (use a little teaspoon).

Icing

125g unsalted butter, the softer it is the easier it is to make

350g icing sugar

50ml between remainder lemon and lime juice 

•  For the icing, cream the butter and juices together for 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
•  Add the icing sugar and blend for a further 2 minutes.
• When icing the cake put a really thin layer on first to stop the crumbs ruining your icing, then decorate.

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