Sticky Honey and Blackberry Cake

This burnished and bejewelled cake reminds me of autumn - the amber hue of the honey and the inky purple juices of the blackberries seem to signal that the most cosy of seasons is almost upon us. I managed to get hold of some locally produced honey from Bea's Bees Wildflower Honey for this cake and would recommend that you try to source some locally produced honey for yours. 

Sticky Honey and Blackberry Cake

(recipe via BBC Good Food)

175g unsalted butter, softened

175g light brown sugar

2 tbsp. runny honey

3 medium eggs

175g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 handful of blackberries drizzled with 1 tsp honey

For the syrup

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tbsp. runny honey

Preheat oven to 180 Centigrade/gas mark 4/ 356 Fahrenheit.

1. Grease and line a 23 cm spring form tin.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder together in a separate bowl. Set aside.
3. Cream together the butter, sugar and honey until light and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, along with a spoonful of the flour to prevent curdling. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure that everything is incorporated. 
5. Beat in the remaining flour, gradually, to ensure that no lumps form. 
6. Spread half of the mixture into the cake tin.  
7. Drizzle a teaspoon of honey over the blackberries and scatter half of them on top of the cake batter.
8. Spread the remaining cake batter over and top with the last of the blackberries.
9. Bake for 25 minutes, then remove from the oven and cover with foil. Return to the oven for another 15-20 minutes, until the cake is springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. 
10. Prick surface of the cake with a skewer, and mix together the lemon juice and honey for the syrup. Drizzle over the surface of the cake and leave until completely cool, before removing from the tin. 

Hints/tips

• You can replace some of the weight of the sugar with an equal weight of honey. If you do decide to do this, you may not need the drizzle syrup - use your judgement once the cake is baked. 
• Replace the blackberries with cherries/blueberries/raspberries. Depending on the amount you use, you may need to adjust the baking times to suit. 
• Add cream cheese frosting to the top if desired.

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In search of the ultimate cookie

I have been in pursuit of cookie perfection for a long time. I was tantalisingly close in my previous post here - I even stated boldly (and rather prematurely) that I had found the ultimate cookie. Yet, it was slightly lacking in aesthetics. I still kept one eye on the horizon for the knockout cookie - a killer combo of crisp and chew with a choc-chip /cookie ratio that nailed it visually.

It occurred to me though, that my idea of the ultimate cookie, could be different to yours. So, I thought I would conduct a bit of cookie market research - I decided to bake two very different types of cookie, and ask willing volunteers to vote for their favourite by using the hashtag #CookieA or #CookieB on my twitter feed.

Cookie A is a traditional 'Maryland' style cookie  - chunky, packed full of choc-chips, rustic in appearance, with a crunchy edge and a slightly chewy centre.

Cookie B is more of a modern 'coffee shop' sort of cookie - large, flat and very chewy, flecked with shards of dark chocolate rather than the traditional choc-chips.

So, which one did people seem to favour?

It was a landslide victory for Cookie A! Feedback focused on the sweet/salty balance achieved in this cookie and the rustic appearance, which people tended to associate with the archetypal cookie. People also preferred the more is more approach to the amount of choc-chips that were swirled into the mix.

Cookie B converts gravitated towards the crunch/chew balance addressed in this version. Despite the equal quantities of vanilla used in both cookies, Cookie B seemed to carry the vanilla flavour more obviously, which resulted in a sweeter tasting cookie. Some people were disappointed that this cookie had flecks of chocolate in the mix, rather than choc-chips. However, other testers thought that the chocolate flecks gave the cookie a more sophisticated edge.

I think that the perfect cookie lies somewhere between both recipes. My idea of cookie nirvana would be the amount of choc-chips and sweet/salty balance of Cookie A, combined with the texture of Cookie B.

So what have I learned from the experiment?

I think it's vital that I ask customers to consider what their ultimate version of a cake or baked item would be, so that I can provide them with products that match this ideal. The experiment has also highlighted that small changes to a recipe can yield dramatically different products.

Want to test Cookie A or Cookie B for yourself? Place an order for cookies with me today.

Becky BakesWell on Facebook

Becky Bakeswell x

Black Forest Gateau

My husband LOVES Black Forest Gateau and a good recipe is surprisingly hard to come by. A lot of BFG recipes are more like a chocolate cherry layer cake in form, rather than a light and squishy gateau. The best recipe I have found, is Delia Smith's original Black Forest Gateau recipe, rather than her 'Return to the Black Forest' recipe which is a roulade in form. The original recipe it is not available on line, so I have decided to share it on the blog. My husband's greed can also be your gain...

Ingredients List

6 large eggs
142g (5oz) caster sugar; 
50g (2oz) cocoa powder, sieved; 
285 ml (1/2 pint) double cream; 
1 level tbs. caster sugar; 
1 tin or jar of pitted morello cherries (700g) drained and juice reserved
50g (2 oz) plain chocolate 
3 tbs. kirsch or cherry brandy.

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade, 356 degrees Fahrenheit or gas mark 4.
1) Grease and line two eight inch sandwich tins or three six inch sandwich tins if you would like to make a triple layer cake like mine. 
2) Separate the eggs and whisk the yolks with the sugar until pale and quite thick. 

3) Fold in the cocoa powder in two batches.

4) With a clean whisk beat the whites until stiff but not too dry. Stir a large spoonful of the whisked egg whites into the cocoa mixture to loosen it then carefully fold in the rest of the whipped whites in two batches.

5) Divide the mixture between the tins and bake on the centre shelf of your oven for 15- 20 minutes.

6) Check that the cakes are baked by inserting a skewer into the centre of the cakes. The skewer should come out clean and the cakes should be springy. Leave to cool in tins for 10 minutes and then release from the tins on to a cooling rack whilst still slightly warm.

To decorate:
1) Add the the tablespoon of caster sugar to the cream and softly whip it - it should just about hold a soft peak when the whisk is lifted from the surface, but should it still be floppy and voluptuous. 

2) Remove the baking paper from the cooled cakes. Stir together the kirsch or cherry brandy and the reserved cherry juice. Drizzle the cherry/kirsch liquid over the cakes and leave for five minutes so that the cakes soak up the liquid.

3) Layer up the cakes with the softly whipped cream and most of the drained cherries.

4) Spoon some cherries on the top in the centre of the cake and pipe some swirls of cream round the edges. Grate the chocolate over the cream on top to decorate.

Alternative: Increase the amount of cream to 568 mls (1 pint) so that you have enough cream to around the edges of the cake and press chocolate sprinkles on to the sides.

Past, Present and Future

Blog updates

Becky BakesWell has had a bit of a rebrand and the blog will be updated every Monday from this point on. So why did I take a bit of a rest from blogging? The honest answer is that for a year, I worked as a baker at a tea room. I loved my job and it felt great to be baking cake for a living. However, baking for a large portion of the week meant that I didn't always have the time or the inclination to blog what I had baked at home. Quite often I would bake something at home on the spur of the moment and I wouldn't have the camera set up to document the process, so the blog wouldn't get written. 

Another reason for my self-imposed rest from blogging was that I felt disloyal to the tea room that I worked at. It may sound strange, particularly as my managers would not have minded me blogging in the slightest, but I felt that I couldn't really put all my effort into Becky BakesWell whilst baking for someone else. 

So, why did I leave and what am I doing now? 

In the end, the financial constraints of working part-time on a standard baker's wage meant that it wasn't a viable long-term career move. I was sad to leave the kitchen behind, but my new career as a content editor means that I can combine two passions in life - writing copy and baking in my spare time. 

What does the future hold for Becky BakesWell?

I am happy to say that Becky BakesWell is going through a period of exciting development. I am now available to take orders for cakes and sweet treats, I fancy having a go at selling cakes at food markets and a website will be coming soon. I need to finish my taste test series and I would like to do some short baking films over the summer months. 

Look out for my next blog post on Monday.

Happy Baking,

Becky BakesWell. x

I'm Baaaack!

It's a long time since I posted on here - far too long.

I didn't intend to have a break from posting on here, I just found myself instagramming photos of things I have baked and uploading photos directly to Facebook rather than creating blog posts. Once a few weeks had passed, it became harder to get back into the blogging groove. I also think that sometimes, it is difficult to consistently put time and effort into blogging without any interaction between me and the people who may come into contact with what I write. Especially when Instagram or other social media sites provide that instant connection and exposure.

So, why start blogging again?

Well, I have missed the creative outlet that a blog provides. There have also been developments at Becky BakesWell HQ - I have registered with my local council to bake for the public now, not just for friends and family. I am in the middle of deciding whether to register my business as a 'sole trader' company or  a 'ltd' company - a little bit daunting, but exciting nevertheless!

Watch out over the next few weeks for a flurry of updates on baking projects and a re-brand of the blog!