Chocolate & Cherry Cheesecake Swirl Cake

Chocolate and Cherry Cheesecake Swirl Cake

Based on the name, this is bound to be a winner! What is not to like in Chocolate, Cherry and Cheesecake?  All together... bliss!

After my mistake with the Maple and Walnut Streusel Cake of putting too much batter on the bottom before the streusel layer, I tried to correct it with this cake.  I over corrected. 

The cheesecake layer all sunk to the bottom (top when turned out of the pan). The cheesecake was also slightly undercooked. It didn't seem to quite set.  I have a fan assisted oven, so generally recipes call for a cooler temperature, but so far with these recipes I've used the recommended temperature, and still had a few issues with under baking.  

The cake fell quite a bit when I took it out of the oven, but I think that may normal taking into account the cheesecake layer. 

Overall it was easier than I expected. The sponge is lovely and moist, I may try cupcakes of the same method, I'm always on the look out for a moist chocolate sponge recipe. I have doubts they will work out without the cheesecake to slow the baking. 

Next challenge may be a proper cheesecake. I've never made one that really impressed me. 

Jolly Jammer and Custard Cream Cupcakes

Today should have been one of those days that I thought "less is more"

Trying to do both these cakes in the 3 hrs that my daughter is at school was way too much to take on and I ended up feeling stressed rather than the relaxed feeling baking normally gives me.

The problem was that because the method and ingredients are so similar, I knew if I did one of these now and not the other it was very unlikely I'd ever go back to them.

That being said, they are both once again delicious.

Jolly Jammer Cupcakes

When I first made the dough for the biscuits, I thought Wow, lovely pliable dough.  When I tried to roll it out, I thought, Wow, I may never get this off my table again it's so sticky.  The recipe doesn't call for the dough to be chilled, but I highly recommend it. I  put it in the freezer for expedience, and it was much easier to deal with after. 

I didn't have a 3.5cm fluted cutter, so I used 4.5cm.  It really throws the scale of the cakes out, but tastes the same. 

I also think I could have done with a bit more icing on the inside of both the cakes and biscuits. 

Custard Cream Cupcakes

Being Canadian, custard has never been a staple food in my life.  This was my first attempt making it.  I seriously considered whipping up a batch of Birds because of time constraints, but I went with the recipe in the end.  I'm not really sure if cooled custard is meant to be solid, but it was. It made it a bit difficult to get inside the cakes, but once there it was worth it. 

All in all, it was too much to do in a day.  There are a lot of steps involved, and I don't think I'd make these again unless I knew someone that really loved either Custard Creams or Jammy Dodgers (Peak Freens to the Canadians). I ended up getting bored and not finishing the biscuits. The last several cakes are just plain vanilla with icing.  Still delicious though!

Maple and Walnut Streusel Cake

I'm only about 5 recipes into the book and I'm already running out of superlatives!
When I choose a recipe, I have a certain degree of expectation of how good the finished product will be. Needless to say, this cake, like all the others, exceeded expectations. Delicious!

I have to admit the recipe called for 100ml of maple syrup to be drizzled over the cake while still warm, but I couldn't bring myself to part with that much of my precious Canadian liquid gold all at once. I probably only used between 50ml and 75ml, but I don't think that it would have improved the cake that much. 

It also calls for a 25cm ring pan, I think mine is 23cm or 24cm. I was worried that I may have too much batter, but I didn't. In fact, the only thing I would change if I made the cake again is that I probably put too much batter in initially, before adding the streusel layer. As you can see in the picture below, the yummy line of cinnamon and sugar goodness is a bit far down the cake, it would have been nicer if closer to half way, which is how it's meant to be done. 

Mint Humbug Cupcakes and Salted Caramel Cupcakes

I decided to do these two together as they both needed tinned caramel.
All I can really say about them is YUM!

The Mint Humbug Cupcakes

I'd never had humbugs before, but they are a lovely combination of hard mint outside with a chewy caramel centre. These cupcakes could not have tasted more like a humbug.  The only bit I struggled with was the chopped humbugs for decoration.  They are not easy to chop! I ended up putting them in the freezer then mashing them with mortar and pestle.  If you like peppermint, these cakes are for you!

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Again, lovely! I'm not sure I enjoyed these ones quite as much as the humbug which surprised me since I was looking forward to them more. It wasn't until I actually started making them that I realised the sponge was chocolate. I expected it to be caramel or vanilla for some reason.  I found them slightly dry, but I think chocolate sponge often is. The caramel centre is a nice treat!

Blueberry Loaf

This recipe looked so good I couldn't wait to try it. It's also quite convenient as most of the ingredients are things I keep in the store cupboards.  I just had to pick up some fresh blueberries.  I may try it with frozen next time. 

The directions seemed a bit daunting at first, but following them as you go it was actually pretty simple to make this impressive looking loaf.  After a little google research, I substituted a 7g sachet of easy bake yeast rather than the dry active yeast called for in the recipe. 

Before baking:

 And after:

I've made this twice now, it was so delicious, and I have to admit, getting it to bake through has been a bit of a challenge.  I think the sugar on top makes it look well browned and baked quicker than it is.  The first time there was definitely some raw dough in the middle. The second time I added about 10 minutes to the baking time and it seemed better.  

Highly recommend giving this one a go!

Jaffa Cake Cupcakes

What better place to start than at the beginning.  The first recipe in the book is for Jaffa Cake Cupcakes, delicious orange and chocolate with a vanilla sponge.

I used orange curd instead of marmalade because I'm not a massive marmalade fan.  They turned out fantastic.