Chocolate gateau with raspberry Bavarian cream

Last night Lu and I cooked dinner for eight friends and had a lovely night of eating, drinking and laughing til the small hours.  Squeezing all ten of us around our kitchen table was fun, but there was no problem getting the food to disappear fast, and within moments of putting this gateau on the table almost the whole thing had vanished, to the sound of lots of compliments!  I made this cake the day before to allow it to set overnight.  It's my first go at a 'Bavarian cream' - whipped cream with gelatin in (and in this case, a coulis of fresh raspberries and a good amount of Chambord black raspberry liqueur).  You place the cake inside a mould about an inch wider in diameter, and pour the moussey Bavarian cream around it to set.  The cloud-like texture of it was amazing, and works brilliantly with the combination of rich dark chocolate and sharp but sweet raspberries.  One of my all-time best cakes this, without a doubt.  (It's also, by the way, wheat-free: the cake is made only of three ingredients - eggs, sugar and cocoa powder.) 

Chocolate and pistachio layer cake

This mammoth cake I created for my friend Sarah’s wedding.  It’s nine inches wide and made of three layers of cake, which altogether sat about a foot tall.  Covered with dark chocolate ganache over a layer of chocolate buttercream, inside it is made from alternating, striped layers of chocolate fudge cake and pistachio madeira cake, sandwiched together with pistachio buttercream.  It’s then decorated with ground pistachios and fresh figs and berries.  This post includes the recipe and method for each element. 

Hazelnut and strawberry friands

This is the recipe for the hazelnut and strawberry friands I made to go with three other flavoured types for my friend Sarah’s wedding – you’ll also find the recipes for the blueberry and almond friands, pistachio and raspberry friands and my favourite, blackberry and almond friands elsewhere on the blog.

Pistachio and raspberry friands

Here’s the recipe for the pistachio and raspberry friands I made to go with three other flavoured types for my friend Sarah’s wedding – you’ll also find the recipes for the blueberry and almond friands, hazelnut and strawberry friands and my favourite, blackberry and almond friands elsewhere on the blog.

Blueberry and almond friands

Another week, another wedding cake commission!  This time, I’m making one wedding cake and 80 heart shaped little cakes, for my friend Sarah who I used to work with.  She’s getting married in Caerphilly Castle, in an amazing medieval banquet hall – so I suggested we keep the cakes quite simple and rustic, to fit with the theme and surroundings.  Having made friands before and every time they’ve been such a hit, I decided to make four types – the blackberry and almond kind I’ve made and loved previously, plus some almond and blueberries, as in the recipe below.  I also experimented with different nuts, making pistachio and raspberry friands and some hazelnut and strawberry ones.

Pecan pie

To go with our American cornbread and chilli today, I made another classic American dish for dessert – pecan pie.  This was delicious and lasted well for days.  In fact, I think it got better over time, as the filling solidified more.  I’ll definitely be making this again – even if I’m not so convinced by the concept of cornbread!

Cornbread

I made this classic American dish to go with a slow cooked beef brisket chilli Lu made for dinner with friends this afternoon.  None of us had ever tried it before, but we all agreed it looked great and just as you’d imagine it – I based it on a Martha Stewart recipe and so I think it must be as close to as ‘classic’ cornbread as you can get.  I have to confess though, that we all found eating it with savoury chilli pretty bizarre, as it’s as sweet as cake!  I think it must be a US thing – like maple syrup with bacon for breakfast – but we all agreed a far more British way of eating it would be for pudding with custard!

Chocolate hazelnut fig cake

I made this cake for our friend Liz’s baby shower - three layers of chocolate cake sandwiched with buttercream made with ground toasted hazelnuts, fresh figs and topped with edible rose petals. 

Lovely Liz at her baby shower

Lemon madeira cake (10 inch square)

This is the middle tier of the three tiered wedding cake I’m making – to go with the enormous 13 inch chocolate fudge cake bottom tier and the 7 inch fruit cake top tier.