Classic Carrot Cake (9)

Okay, so I think I must be the only one to mess up perhaps the simplest cake we've done so far...

How, you ask? Well, (this is quite embarrassing... ) I was short about 300g of carrot as I was looking at the weight for the raisins (which I omitted... had I used them I might have realised my silly mistake)... I was thinking to myself: this isn't really much carrot for a carrot cake... but oh well, on I went... I was a little confused when my mixture didn't weigh as much as it should, but still, on I went.... I was more confused and disappointed when my cakes sank in the middle... but still, on I went with the frosting (which I think I prefer to do in the stand mixer as opposed to the food processor btw).... I frosted the cake and ate a piece, still unaware of where I'd gone wrong. I even reread the recipe a few times trying to work out why the cakes had sunk and I didn't pick up on it. To be quite honest, I didn't realise until I looked at Marie's post and thought, wow, she's got at least six carrots in that photo, I only used two.... things slowly started falling into place from there.

As you can probably (hopefully) guess I was a little tired while making this... it was in the evening, after the kids were in bed and I haven't been sleeping too well lately... excuses, excuses I know.... I really hate making silly mistakes like that but it is not so bad somehow when you realise only when the cake is completely finished, the dishes are already done and it still tastes delicious...yes, that's right... despite being very light on the carrot, this carrot cake is still very yummy... in fact, I just finished a piece now...

Just a short post, and one rather pathetic photo... that is all that my efforts this week deserve!

Okay, I'm going for a nap. I think I need to sleep.

xo

A Tale of Two Fruitcakes (8)

It really was the worst of times this week.

I can't believe it was just a week ago, but we got the terrible call last Tuesday that my husband's brother had died in a motorcycle accident in Egypt. We are all devastated and my husband, in particular, is heartbroken. He is over there and will be for another couple of weeks. I stayed here in Australia with the kids and I'm really sad that I can't be with my husband to support him and that I couldn't be at the funeral as I was very close to his brother. He was a very special man, so generous, loving and loyal to his family and friends. He will be missed terribly. How life can change in an instant...

I decided to still bake this week. In fact, I did more baking than usual. I needed something to do to keep me busy...so I headed for the comfort of my kitchen.

I was a little unsure of the fruitcake. I knew I wanted to make it and I wanted to like it and whether I do or not is still a question I can't answer as I'm keeping it for Christmas! I've baked a lot of cakes in my life, but I hadn't made a fruitcake before... it's usually my mother's job to both make it and eat it (she insists on having one every year at christmas even though she's the only one who really likes it) but this was a great opportunity to give her a break and have a go myself!

So, instead of just one, I decided to make two fruitcakes... I wanted to find a really great recipe that might appeal to more than just my mother and that I could make every year. I have a recipe I've been wanting to try for a while so I started with that. I've posted the recipe below. It has quite a lot of ingredients but, like Rose's recipe, it is relatively simple. A quick overview though: soak large selection of dried and glaceed fruits in brandy and sherry (only overnight, although I let it soak longer). A quite standard cake batter is made (though it does contain a triple shot of vanilla, almond and lemon extracts) and fruit and some pecans are folded in. Into the pan, then the oven. The hot cake is brushed with rum, then warmed, strained apricot jam and finally a rum glaze. Here it is (with rum glaze hiding the almost-burnt top):

Then onto Rose's version. I haven't tasted it but I am a little apprehensive about it because of the large amount of mixed candied peel in it. I am usually not a fan at all. Nor would I list glaceed cherries on my favourite foods list. I looked for good quality peel but couldn't find any so ended up just buying the supermarket brand. I started soaking my fruit a few weeks ago hoping that the extra soaking time might improve the flavour (and maybe texture) of the peel. So a quick overview of this process: fruit soaked for at least a week. Another quite standard cake batter is made and then fruit and a very large quantity of toasted pecans and walnuts are folded in. This is my shining light of hope for the recipe as I do love pecans! Into my brand new wreath pan (do not ask me how much I paid for this... the family will be getting wreath-shaped cakes every year from now on just for me to justify this purchase), then the oven. I used the rum as I am keeping this one for christmas.

I have tasted the first fruitcake and although I haven't crossed the line to being a fruitcake lover I did quite like it, probably more than any other fruitcake I've had, though it definitely wasn't light on the rum flavour! An elderly relative who has consumed many fruitcakes in her time said it was the best she'd ever had! I did make a couple of mistakes. I kind of overcooked it as the pan was a little larger than the recipe stated and thus the cake was a little thin. I also did not line the pan properly. After watching my mother bake fruitcakes for years I knew that you're supposed the bring the parchment paper well above the top of the pan to stop the top burning. The recipe didn't say to do this so I didn't (despite suspecting that I was making a mistake). It did brown a little too much on the edges and top. I will do the job properly next time. And there will be a next time quite soon. My grandfather is turning 80 in two weeks and I offered to bring him a fruitcake to act as his birthday cake. I decided not to use Rose's recipe as it contains a lot of nuts and I don't think his false teeth could handle it. I will post a picture of the finished cake when it's, well, finished!

I also made the tomato soup cake this week for my sister's birthday... I chose it because the idea of strange ingredients somehow appeals to her. I will blog about it when its turn comes but it is RICH (400g of butter in the cake thank you very much... and the extra ganache I used may not have helped)... it is the first cake in a while that I don't have to physically restrain myself from... I actually truly don't want more than one very small piece.

So, it's a terrible week for me and my family.... and it will continue to be difficult for a while yet. I'm glad to have my baking to keep me occupied.

Here is the recipe for Fruitcake number 1:

Fruitcake

Adapted from Roland Mesnier's Dessert University

3 tablespoons dry sherry

3 tablespoons brandy

2 tablespoons diced dried pears

1/3 cup diced glazed fruit (I used a little pineapple, peach, fig, apricot, cherries)

1/3 cup dark raisins

1/3 cup golden raisins

1/3 cup dried currants

3 tablespoons dried cranberries

3 tablespoons dried cherries

2 tablespoons dried blueberries

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped candied lemon peel

1 1/2 tablespoons chopped candied orange peel

3 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

8 tablespoons (1 stick/113g) unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup cake flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon lemon extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

pinch salt

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon honey

2 eggs

1/3 cup coarsley chopped pecans

1/3 cup dark rum

1/4 cup apricot jam

Rum Glaze (recipe follows)

Note: I used a heaping measure of all the dried fruits and pecans

Combine sherry, brandy and all the dried and glazed fruits. Stir, cover and let stand overnight.

Preheat oven to 200 deg C (400 F). Line the bottom of a 10 x 4 inch loaf pan with parchment paper. Note: I used an 8 x 8 inch pan and the cake was a little thin and cooked quicker than the recipe says so I would recommend the correct size pan or an adjustment of the recipe. I would also recommend lining the sides and bringing the parchment paper above the top of the pan as my cake over browned a little.

Sift all-purpose flour and baking powder into a bowl.

Cream butter and sugars until smooth. Stir in cake flour into just combined. With mixer on low speed, add, one at a time, the vanilla extract, almond extract, lemon extract, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, stirring after each addition. Stir in honey, then eggs, one by one. Stir in flour mixture. Stir in pecans. Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the soaked fruit by hand.

Scrape into pan. Turn oven down to 175 deg C (350 F) and bake until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean, about 1 1/4 hours.

Transfer cake, still in pan, to a wire rack. Brush the top of the hot cake with rum. Bring the apricot jam to a boil in a small pan, then strain and brush over the top of the cake. Finally, brush on Rum Glaze. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan before unmolding. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 weeks before serving. Will keep for up to a year.

Rum Glaze

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 tablespoon rum

1/2 tablespoon water

Combine all ingredients in bowl and whisk until smooth. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week.

I just found an updated version of this recipe here. It makes 3 loaf cakes instead, I might try this one next year.

Pure (mini) Pumpkin Cheesecake (7)

Okay, I am kind of happy with my result this week, but I am NOT happy with my photography... every week I say to myself that I'm going to work out how to use my camera properly and then take some time to take a few good shots but in the end I just point and press and end up with something a little off-centre and frankly a little uninspiring... oh well.. how many more weeks have I got to practice?

I almost sat this week out... We don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia and with no plans to invite friends over for a cheesecake party (though now that I think about it, what a great idea!) I didn't feel like this large, tempting dessert calling my name, and my name alone, from the fridge all week... honestly, my waistline kind of needed a break.

I didn't really want to sit it out though... I feel invested in this bake-through now... I'm going to need to have a good reason not to participate I think or I'll begin to experience the little known phenomenon of bake guilt (or should it be cake guilt?) So, I began to think that perhaps I could make half the mixture and do it in the silicone muffin pan, like the chocolate oblivions, and freeze some of them so they a) wouldn't go to waste or b) wouldn't go to my waist (at least not all at once) ... and how would I do the crust? I know, I'd make some gingersnap cookies and stick one artfully into the side of a mini-cheesecake and with a swirl of caramel, I'd have well, quite a lovely little dessert! Of course it looked much fancier in my mind than in real life, but it always does, doesn't it?

So, I made some gingersnap cookies (recipe at the end of this post for these). The recipe made nearly 40 cookies, so I baked a dozen and froze the rest of the cookie dough which is sitting, already shaped, in a zip-locked bag in my freezer labelled with required oven temperature and cooking time (oh, how I cherish the rare moments of oragnisation in my life!). Here they are in the oven (I decided to incorporate the pecan element into the cookie, but couldn't decide how, so experimented with a couple of ways as well as plain):

But.... we ate all those before I got onto the cheesecake, so I had to bake a couple more from my frozen stash:

Then I made the cheesecake. Here is the pumpkin (homemade, as my last minute decision to actually make the cheesecake meant I didn't have time to order it) cooking with the sugar (I was a little concerned when I read that I needed turbinado sugar as I'd never heard of it before, but a quick check of wikipedia taught me that it's just demerara sugar... easy!):

It's satisfying to watch the cream, cream cheese and eggs disappear into the pumpkin mixture to create this lovely, silky orange liquid:

Into the silicone muffin pan (lightly coated with cooking spray). Half the cheesecake mixture made 9 mini cheesecakes. Then the pan goes into a large baking tray on a rack, for a little water bath. I found a better arrangement than I used for the oblivions as it was all a little too precarious for my liking last time (still spilt some water on a couple of the babies though).

I baked them for 25 minutes and then turned off the oven and let them sit in there another 10 minutes. After cooling I wrapped them well, still in the pan, and put them in the freezer.

This morning I popped out three and let them defrost on the counter while I made the caramel.

I am getting a little less nervous about making caramel and have even avoided making crystals the last few times! Here it is just before I took it off the heat....

The caramel was quite thick and sticky... I was expecting it to be a little thinner. It tastes divine (as all good caramel does) but when it hits the cold cheesecake it goes, not hard, but quite firm so that the spoon does not slide easily through it... when I ate it with the cheesecake the caramel stuck to the spoon in one big glob, so I got a lovely mouthful of caramel with a little cheesecake but then the rest of the cheesecake was left without much caramel. Did anyone else have this happen?

Oh, and I made the whole recipe for the caramel... I think half would have been too difficult, so I have 6 frozen cheesecakes left and most of the caramel in a jug in the fridge (always good to know exactly how many sweet treats are on hand....)

So, the taste? Yummy. Scrummy. My husband loved it too. My cookie was a little too large to stick in the cheesecake how I had imagined it so I had to cut it in half and then couldn't quite get it to sit how I wanted it. Oh well, it is what it is, right? Or was, I should say, as it's long gone now.... :)

xo

Gingersnap Cookies (with pecans)

(recipe adapted from Joy of Baking)

170g unsalted butter, softened

105g dark muscovado sugar

100g granulated white sugar

1/4 cup molasses

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

260g all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

pinch salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

approx 1/2 cup chopped pecans

extra white sugar

Preheat oven to 180 deg C (350 deg F).

Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add molasses, egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated.

In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Add to butter mixture and mix until well combined. Cover and refrigerate for 30 mins.

Roll chilled dough into balls of approx 1-inch (2.5cm). Press one side into the chopped pecans and then roll to cover completely in extra white sugar. Place on lined baking trays about 5 cm apart. Flatten cookies slightly. Bake for 12-15 mins. Longer baking will result in a more crisp cookie. Cool on racks.

Trays can be covered and placed in the freezer before baking, then the frozen unbaked cookies transferred to freezer bags to be baked whenever fresh cookies are required. Just let them defrost a little on the counter before baking.

Makes 40+ cookies.

Catalan Salt Pinch Cake (6)

Okay, so this week it really should be a short post. It's just one cake, no three-stage buttercream, no curd, no custard. Just a cake. But it's never really just a cake. It's a Spanish almond sponge you eat with your fingers and involves a technique I've never used before. I was a little bit excited to try this recipe just because of this new and interesting method (and the idea of eating cake with your fingers appeals to me somehow). Oh, and after buttercream overload last week I was actually looking forward to something simple and light.

So, I started with toasting the almonds (I couldn't get unblanched sliced ones so went just with blanched) and then worked on the famous mis en place. This didn't take too long for this recipe. Here it all is looking lovely on the kitchen counter:

The almonds are whizzed up with a little sugar:

Eggs whites are whipped up with sugar into meringue (remembered to defrost a few leftover whites from last week's yolk extravaganza):

The almonds are folded into the meringue and then comes the interesting step... slowly adding lightly beaten eggs, two tablespoons at a time, mixing for 2 minutes in between each addition for a total of at least 20 minutes mixing. I would like to know the reason behind the extended mixing but I enjoyed somehow the gradual adding of the egg and watching it become a light billowy mixture.

Flour and lemon zest is added and makes a mixture that looks like this:

Into a parchment lined springform pan and into the oven. It took the full 35 minutes (maybe even a couple more) to cook. It came out and quickly started to shrink... it pulled the parchment into a quite pretty looking shape I thought:

I decided to eat it in the proper way and not worry too much about germs (best to be with good friends or family who don't mind sharing your germs... though I'd like to think we're all pretty clean, and we didn't put our hands all over it, just on the piece we were pinching and then eating!). I whacked the cake on the table still in the parchment, gave everyone a plate and told them to pinch away. Too easy.

I have to say that everyone liked the concept of the pinch, it was like breaking bread together. But the top was a little sticky and the cake sticks quite badly to your fingers. Once on the plate, we switched to forks. Anyway, I served it with lightly sweetened creme fraiche and fresh blueberries and it was quite delicious I thought (no pictures of it served up though, my fingers were too sticky).... light, but moist and very almondy. I couldn't really taste the lemon zest so I might add a little more if I decide to make it again. Not a total standout, but lovely nonetheless.

Okay, short and sweet (but not too rich)...

xo

Woody's Lemon Luxury Layer Cake (5)

So, I'm going to attempt a short post, although knowing my long-winded self it will be longer than I intend....

It seems I am excited about every new cake we set out to bake... Last week I was giddy over chocolate oblivions and now I must proclaim my love for lemon... lemon tart, in particular, is one of my very favourite desserts so, yes, once again I had high expectations (oh, and did I also mention that I do rather like white chocolate?)

Okay, so I spread this one out over a few days. I made the cakes first and though the mix was relatively easy (I especially liked mixing the melted and cooled white chocolate into the batter... something about the almost identical consistency of the two mixes coming together...), I wasn't completely happy with the finished cake. I blame it on my oven entirely. I decided to use my convection oven which I've found works really well for a single cake but have discovered that although it has a setting for two levels and a double-level rack it does not cook two cakes evenly at all. One was ready before the other and they were coming away from the edges before a skewer was showing done. The one on the top was unevenly browned on the bottom and the one underneath came out a little lopsided. I won't be doing that again. Oh, and I forgot to put my cake-strips around the pan so they browned on the edge a little more than they should have. Ok, so I'll take the blame for that one...

Anyway, into the freezer they went, to reemerge yesterday for their lashings of curd and buttercream... Here they are, naked and waiting:

The curd I also made last week and it took all of my willpower not to eat this from the fridge by the spoonful. It is delicious and such a beautiful yellow, it makes you happy just to look at it! I'm going to make a big batch before christmas and give it as gifts. I had separated it into curd-for-the-buttercream and curd-for-the-filling and there was a moment of panic when I couldn't find the 6 tablespoons for the buttercream. Finally, though I did find it, hiding (from my spoon) in the back, behind some cheese.

So, last night I had it all sorted... curd made, cakes out of the freezer. Onto the buttercream! I read the recipe and realised that I had to let it sit for a couple of hours. Lesson for next time... read whole recipe in advance. I knew I would be in for a long night, especially as my 3-year-old was having trouble going to sleep and my 6-month-old, who had been asleep, was starting to make waking-up noises...

Anyway, I made the custard base... this is a satisfying (though expensive, with 3 blocks of green & blacks white chocolate!) recipe to make somehow. However, I was a little unsure of when it was done. Just used that developing baking instinct Marie has been talking about! Whipped up the butter, added the cooled custard base and now, well, I had a couple of hours to kill. Checked on what movies were on tv and found The Happening. I should really have picked up a book instead (or perhaps done the dishes) because it was not worth even killing time.

Here is the buttercream chilling out in it's ice bath (wasn't sure if it needed to be cooled... must buy instant read thermometer... but it seemed like it wasn't quite cool enough and it's quite warm here at the moment):

Whipped it up and it went lovely and thick and paler in colour:

Here is the cake with it's fillings but no buttercream on the outside:

I had only a little bit of curd left over and I blobbed it on the cake without any thought as to what I was going to do with it. I discovered that swirling it with a skewer and a little extra buttercream made the blobs look a little like roses. So, I went with that idea and as it was now approaching midnight, just did three of them. Packed up half-heartedly and went to bed. Without having a slice. Clearly, I was very tired.

I put it in the fridge. I'm a little unsure of how necessary it is to do so, with this or any buttercream. If anyone could shed some insight, that would be great. Like I said, it's heading into summer so it's getting warm here and I didn't want it to turn into a slippery mess. I also found the buttercream quite soft and thought it needed hardening up a little. Obviously it's not good straight from the fridge but I see that as a good thing as it stops me going back for more and more... I actually have to wait for it to come to room temperature!

And here is a slice:

I'm pretty happy with the result. A few things I would do differently:

Bake cakes in the regular oven

Use cake-strips

Make a thinner layer of buttercream on the top... it looks a bit top-heavy to me

Umm... that's all I can think of right now, although I would consider cutting off the top crust as I don't like the big brown line between the crumb and the buttercream.

Oh, the taste? Delicious... but, not my favourite. I think the lemon curd makes it. I think my cakes were a little overcooked due to the issues with the oven and I find the buttercream almost (get ready for it...) too white chocolatey. Just a little though. Having said that, I do still really like it, just being extra picky... it's so difficult to choose a favourite that one has to be sometimes! For now, my favourite is the Almond Shamah Chiffon....

Okay, ending post now... baby trying to chew my face...

xo

Triple Chocolate Baby Oblivions (4)

I had high expectations for this one....

I hadn't made the torte before as I haven't had 'The Cake Bible' for very long and though I'd read and been intruiged by the recipe I had not had occasion to make it. A name like 'Chocolate Oblivion' is enough to send shivers down the spine of even the most casual of chocoholics and well, I am pretty dedicated to the chocolate cause... in all it's permeatations, I do. well. just. love. chocolate.

Due to this devotion to chocolate I had a feeling it would be dangerous to have these in the house and no one to help eat them (my husband, with his infamous missing sweet tooth, I knew, would not be much assistance) so I arranged friends to come over both Friday and Saturday nights to share in the chocolate oblivion. Good thing I did too, because they were amazing. delicious. scrumptious. delectable. my chocolate heaven.

I made them on Thursday night and the mixture was very easy. I decided to go with the milk chocolate version. I could only get 63% dark chocolate and 35% milk chocolate so I substituted 150g with milk chocolate instead of the 170g Rose suggests, just to make up for the lack of cocoa solids in the milk chocolate.

I borrowed a silicone muffin tray from my mum and thought that I would have no problem finding the rest of the required equipment in my own kitchen. It turns out that I don't have a rack that fits easily into my biggest roasting pan... I tried many combinations of racks and pans to get the water bath ready for my little oblivions and was worried for a while that it wasn't going to happen at all! I finally managed to sit a rack almost across the top of a large roasting pan. It's difficult to explain how it worked out in the end and of course I forgot to take a picture but it's enough to say that it was a VERY precarious arrangement. My largest, deepest roasting pan was almost full to the very brim with hot water just to get it even close to halfway up the sides and I shuffled and edged my way to the oven, barely able to hold the weight of it and watching the top of the water slide its way up and almost over the edge. With horrible visions of tripping and sending a flood of water through the kitchen (not to mention a ruined batch of chocolate oblivions), I finally managed to slide them carefully and safely into the oven. A rather large sigh of relief followed.

Covering them with the upended pan (difficult due to how high they were sitting in the pan) and then removing them from the oven (just as heavy but now hotter) caused a few extra moments of panic, but they were finally sitting cooked and safe on the kitchen counter:

I wasn't completely confident that they were fully cooked but I was not risking returning them to the oven!

I left them to cool for 45 minutes (they sunk a bit in the middle after this time... is this normal?) then put them in the fridge overnight.

In between feeding the kids and myself breakfast, making coffee, cutting my daughter's school lunch and packing her bag I attempted to unmold them. I thought this would be an easy job as apparently they are supposed to 'slip out easily'. Hmmm.... I don't know what my problem with silicone is but there is no 'slipping out' happening when I use it. Shaking the upside-down pan, inserting various spatulas and knives to prise out the baked goods, cursing under my breath, yes. But no slipping or anything similar. And I even greased the pan lightly! Perhaps I'm using inferior silicone...

Anyway, I got 11 of the 12 cakes out in varying states of 'togetherness'... the ones that came out quite cleanly look fabulous... the others looked a little rough. The one that didn't make it, well... I couldn't throw it out! It might not have looked pretty but it tasted delicious!

I had decided to try out the lacquer glaze but remembering that glaze will show up all a cake's imperfections I decided to smooth out the sides with a spatula dipped in hot water. This worked pretty well... they were still a little lumpy but were relatively smooth... I kept them upside-down as the glaze would not have worked on the shape the right way up (not to mention that it would have pooled in the substantial dip in the top)... Here they are, smoothed out and unglazed:

I LOVE pouring glaze over a cake... the thick, shiny, chocolate streaming over the top and down the sides... Mmmm, did I mention that I'm partial to a bit of chocolate.

To make these 'triple-chocolate' and to try to cover up the imperfections of the cakes I melted some white chocolate and piped some designs on top.

I have to say, these look really great with the lacquer glaze... if they had all come out of the pan perfectly they would have looked quite stunning. As it was they got many compliments on the appearance and even more on the taste. The second night (and second lot of friends over to try them...) they sat out of the fridge for quite a while and it was a warm night... so they were a bit beyond room temperature when we ate them and they were so very very delicious... light, yet rich... better than the best chocolate mousse I've had.

I will definitely make these again. And again. And maybe again.

I

chocolate oblivions.

Pumpkin Cake with Burnt Orange Silk Meringue Buttercream (3)

So, it was the Pumpkin Cake this week for the Heavenly bake-through... Halloween is generally a pretty quiet event in Australia but having a Canadian husband and some Canadian friends here in the same city we usually take the opportunity to celebrate. Growing up I think I remember one child, just once, knocking on the door trick-or-treating and my Mum being embarrassed because she had nothing to give him! Having gone trick-or-treating with a group of young children for the last couple of years and seeing how much fun they have it is definitely an occasion we will continue to celebrate!

So, our friends were having the Halloween party this year and of course, I was to bring the cake. I couldn't get the 3D Pumpkin pan unfortunately, though it would have been very impressive I'm sure (not so sure about how my marzipan shaping skills would have held up)... it would not have arrived in time if I had ordered it online, so I used a 10-cup fluted tube pan instead as the recipe suggests.

I am not overly impressed with my efforts this week... I had all these grand visions of how I would decorate it but time kind of slipped away on me and I ended up just piping on some (badly formed) black bats and sprinkling it with some orange sugar. Oh, and I have to say now that I haven't even tasted it. Or seen a cut slice for that matter. I had to leave the party before the cake was cut and there was chaos in the house created by the 25 or so children running around and the hosts trying to feed everyone and calm down the kids after the post-trick-or-treat excitement/sugar-high... so I didn't feel it was a convenient time to ask them to cut me a piece. I wish I had a piece right now... though skipping the calories this week maybe makes up for last weeks Almond Shamah gluttony.

I had to make the Pumpkin puree as the canned stuff is not readily available here, though I did find an online source here. I might buy it for the cheesecake in a few weeks, though there was something satisfying about making it myself. Into the oven went a whole pumpkin until it was soft... I couldn't wait for it to cool properly so while still hot I peeled back the skin and scooped out the flesh. I pureed it up in the food processor and then decided that it was far too watery so sat it is some cheesecloth over a bowl and yielded quite a substantial amount of pumpkin water. I'm very glad I did this actually.

I toasted the walnuts and rubbed off their skins, resulting in this lovely mess in my dish towel:

Then mixed up the cake which is really quite a simple task, though I am worried I might have over-mixed it and caused it to be tough but cannot say for sure as, you know, I have not had any! Anyway, into the tin it goes:

And out of the oven (it took about 40 mins in a 160 deg C fan-forced oven):

So, with the cake-baking done I only had to make the buttercream and with my creme anglaise sitting pretty in my fridge I thought it would be a quick mix-up on Saturday before the party. I don't know why I thought this because although I am neither experienced or confident with buttercream I have made this recipe before (minus the orange) and it took a long time and I was not happy with the results (in fact, the cake ended up uneaten, in the garbage because of the buttercream... a very sad thing, I know, but it was inedible, like a greasy slick of solid butter). I'd already spent considerable time making the creme anglaise as my sugar crystallised the first time I made the caramel. But it is the Italian Meringue that has me a little perplexed and wondering what on earth is wrong with me that I can't get it right...I again managed to crystallise the sugar so had to start again with the syrup.... One egg white in the KitchenAid took a little while to get going and I had to adjust the height of the whisk to get it to whip up at all. I don't have a hand-held mixer but perhaps if I was to attempt this again it would be a good investment.

Anyway, once the sugar was the right temperature I poured it into a glass jug and then attempted to pour it only my little cloud of egg whites in the bottom of the bowl. Well, some of the syrup stayed in the saucepan. More stayed in the jug (despite desperate attempts with a silicone spatula to scrape it out) and what did go in the bowl hit the sides and went hard on contact. Because there was such a small amount of egg white it was virtually impossible to get the syrup to fall where it should... it either hits the side of the bowl or the whisk. So I highly recommend using a hand-held beater for this! I really don't know how much syrup went into the egg white or whether there was enough to cook it, but I was beyond attempting it again. So it would just have to do.

I beat up the butter (with a little fear over the temperature as the recipe is quite exacting when it comes to temperature of the butter and I don't have an infra-red fancy thermometer, though it's looking like another good investment), added my creme anglaise...

Then the italian meringue, followed by the orange concentrate (reduced in the microwave) and rind. I was a little unsure of how much to beat it at the end... it somehow felt as if it needed a good beating but it said in the recipe only until just incorporated so I tried to use a somewhat gentle hand. I had to refrigerate it for a few hours before frosting the cake and when I re-beat it once it came back to room temperature it seemed to loose a little something, it seemed less light somehow. Anyway, onto the cake it went, followed by hastily piped black bats (from a store-bought tube of black 'writing icing' I have to confess) and a sprinkling of hideously overpriced orange sugar. It is getting quite hot here so I was a little unsure of where to keep the cake before leaving for the party... it went in and out of the fridge a few times (didn't want the icing sliding off but didn't want a solid chunk of butter on cold cake either).

Again, didn't taste it so can't comment but was somewhat worried about the consistency of the frosting. I tasted that, of course, but it's hard to pass judgement without the cake. I might make it again just to be able to try it!

Someone send me a piece please!

Oh, and with the leftover pumpkin puree I made a pumpkin pie for my sister-in-law's birthday as she had told me days before it was her favourite dessert (very good timing I thought!) Here it is, acting as birthday cake...