This week has been remarkably glow-y, it’s really hummed with niceness you know?… and I have absolutely no idea what’s made it feel so reasonable.
Usually Monday’s are my worst day of the week, this Monday wasn’t bad at all - neither was Tuesday (weird), the weather has been grotty and COLD (I’m back in my Patagonia fleece – the one with the singed cuff - because I don’t do cold), I’ve had a couple of baking failures, and I’ve slept poorly… yet here I am sort of pogo-sticking around with an irritating spring in my step – probably annoying for those I encounter and I’m 100% likely to end in a puddle of tears at some point soon. Brace yourselves people!
You know what it might be? Wedding spirit! Not my own I should add. The Duke of Westminster married Olivia Henson at Chester cathedral on Friday [I live in Chester by the way]. I didn’t go into town while the wedding was on but popped in a couple of times during the week and felt strangely proud and buoyed by the spirit of it all – there were beautiful flowers lining the streets, as well as free ice cream on Friday, and a general sense of happiness everywhere. I felt a bit like I was part of a Disney movie or an extra on Bridgerton despite not actually being involved in the day. You know what it is? I just love seeing happiness in others, and there’s been lots of that this week.
Also in the news (my news), I’ve baked a lorry-load of cakes and loved every minute of exploring various recipes - even the ones that I had to make twice having unintentionally omitted whole ingredients from the cake batter and only realising when they were 10 minutes into their bake - FYI, a cake without the correct amount of fat is not a good thing - DRYYYY!!
There have been pound cakes (my testing of this one isn’t over - why are the simplest things always the hardest to get right?), an olive oil genoise that became a trifle cake (wizardy), a fluffy, buttery, blueberry Victoria sponge, various attempts at perfecting a sweet muffin batter, and (back on the blueberry trend) a truly fabulous blueberry, lemon and almond cake that is the epitome of comfort cake. On reflection – all this cake-ing could also have contributed to my elevated mood. After all, cake* is LIFE!
* and bread, can’t forget bread.
FYI, I plan to share all of these recipes with you over the course of the next few weeks – it’s gonna be a bake partayyyyy… and you’re all invited!
Oh, and I haven’t forgotten the sandwich debate. I’ve decided that the first direction we need to go in is a burger bun… ‘tis the season’ after all (I’m manifesting summer, stick with me). PLUS, a good soft white roll serves a lot of purposes – I’m talking: chicken mayo salad, sliced egg & salad cream salad, ham & mustard mayo salad, a bacon butty, burger, fish finger sarnie, chip butty - they all work on this vehicle, so it’s important I nail down a good recipe I think. I will come back to you with the goods next week! OH, AND… I think I’ve mastered those Gail’s seedy crackers; they are THE best, most addictive savoury snack - better than crisps… wait, I’m not sure if I’ve been too bold there, but they’re SO good!! I’m going to make them one more time to check my quantities, and then you have to try them too!
… and the news you’ve all been sat on the edge of your seats waiting to hear, I GOT THE TIMER - Mum got me it as a surprise having read last weekend newsletter (She’s THE CUTEST… it’s green and pink and a game changer in the kitchen… when you remember to actually put it on!!!).
Right, I think we’re all caught up… below you have not one but TWO blueberry cakes to enjoy and next week we’ll talk burger buns and crackers - it’s going to be WILD!
Hope you’re all doing ok,
sending love and hugs as always,
Steph X X X
Fluffy Blueberry & whipped crème fraîche cream Vicky sponge
We had a friend visit last Sunday and I made this little blueberry Vicky sponge that really surpassed even my own expectations. The sponge is very similar to my ultimate Victoria sponge recipe with a couple of little tweaks- it’s such a fluffy little thing yet it’s moist and keeps superbly. It’s filled with a simple blueberry jam and a stunning whipped crème fraîche cream. Heaven!
Straight up simple cakes like this have to be my favourite- I’m charmed by their elegance and modesty… I also think these cakes are not too dissimilar to scones with clotted cream and jam which aren’t a million miles from bread, butter and jam which basically means this is a sandwich aka Lunch eh? (Humour me!!!)
Ingredients
85g Unsalted butter softened (squishy soft)
90g Caster sugar
40g Soft light brown sugar
40g Light olive oil
2 Large eggs (specifically 117g - weight out of shell) lightly beaten and at room temp - 22C for me
130g Self-raising flour (Ideally one with a lower protein content - 8 or 9g protein per 100g – Shipton Mill is great!)
35g Whole milk room temp (20C)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
Pinch of sea salt
Filling
Blueberry ‘jam’
100g Frozen blueberries
10g Lemon juice
25g Caster sugar
Whipped crème fraiche cream
100g Double cream
25g Crème fraiche
5g Icing sugar
Caster sugar for sprinkling
Method
For the ‘jam’. Measure the blueberries into a saucepan with the sugar and lemon juice, place over a medium heat and cook until the sugar has dissolved, turn up the heat and bring to a simmer, continue to cook for around 5 minutes or until slightly thickened and glossy. Cover and set aside to cool.
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan and grease and line 2 x 6-inch cake tins with parchment.
Sift the flour into a large bowl and add a pinch of salt. Set aside. Combine the room temp milk and vanilla in a jug and again set aside.
Next, beat the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer (with the beater attachment) on a medium/high speed until homogenous and slightly aerated - about 3 mins, scrape the bowl down a couple of times if necessary to make sure everything is being incorporated. With the beater still running on medium, stream in the olive oil, once all the oil has been added it looks a bit curdled and yuck, scrape the bowl around again and beat for another minute or 2 and it should come together again before your eyes - it should resemble soft serve ice cream.
Now with the mixer running on medium start adding your room temp eggs a little at a time – make sure each addition is incorporated before you add the next and scrape around the bottom and sides of the bowl as necessary. Once all the egg is in, you should have a beautifully emulsified batter situation.
Next add the sifted flour/salt - and mix on the lowest setting until just combined. Finally, with the mixer still running on low, stream in the milk/vanilla mixture. Once all of it has been added, and is just mixed through, stop the mixer, and give it a final gentle fold with a spatula.
Now transfer the super smooth batter to your cake tins - approx 260g batter per tin - and level with a palette knife. Bake in the oven for around 20-23 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of each cake comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool for 5 minutes in the tin - they may *slightly* flatten/shrink having removed them from the oven - and turn out onto a wire rack - they are fragile so be careful. Leave to cool completely.
Once cooled, combine the cream, crème fraiche and icing sugar in a large bowl and whip to medium peaks - don’t be tempted to over whip here, the cream will miraculously continue to thicken of its own accord.
Place one sponge layer on a cake board, spread the chunky jam over the top followed by the whipped crème fraiche cream. Place the remaining sponge on top, sprinkle the top with caster or icing sugar – I did a liberal shower of caster!
Enjoy!
Blueberry, Lemon & Almond cake
On the surface this cake seems simple, however, it tastes really quite luxurious.
The base recipe isn’t a million miles from a pound-cake-style cake; however, it’s stuffed with a few extras to take it to the NEXT LEVEL. I’ve included a drop of olive oil alongside the butter for a touch of moisture, some ground almonds for texture and flavour, AND some ricotta for a guaranteed soft crumb. It’s fresh with lemon zest, jammy with blueberry jewels, and has a crunchy Demerara/flaked almond top. I also douse it in a lemon syrup - akin to a lemon drizzle for added moisture, and a sprinkle of icing sugar for added sparkle never goes amiss, right?
It's also a wonderful canvas for all manner of variations; you could use ground hazelnuts or pistachios instead of almonds, orange zest instead of lemon and cherries/slices of plum instead of the blueberries. It’s the epitome of a miracle cake and you really REALLY ought to try it!!!
Recipe
Ingredients
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