Raspberry and Lemon Cake

This cake is one I made in my 'Week of Cake' - I brought it into work, where it was met with much appreciation! I've made a cake like this a couple of times now, once with blueberries and once with raspberries. The first one I made didn't have crumbled almonds, and I definitely think it is a nice touch to add them. The cake ends up quite moist so best to eat with a fork!

Raspberry and Lemon Tray Cake

Ingredients

6oz butter

6oz caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

2oz flaked almonds

grated zest of 1 lemon

4oz ground almonds

4oz self-raising flour

2 tbsp milk

200g raspberries, fresh or frozen (tip: if you are using frozen allow them to defrost for a while, otherwise the cake will be too soggy)

3 of Your 5-a-Day Cake

This cake helped me get some of my much-needed fruit and vegetables in my 'week of cake'!

3 of Your 5-a-Day Cake

Ingredients:

10oz self-raising flour

½oz ground almonds

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

5 tbsp sunflower oil

4 tbsp orange juice

1 egg

2oz light brown sugar

2oz molasses sugar

150g carrot, grated

1 eating apple, peeled, cored and grated

1 orange, zest grated

3oz raisins

2oz mixed seeds

My Week of Cake - The Verdict

First off...apologies for the delay in posting about the result of my cake week. A nasty bout of food poisoning (not brought on by my cake, might I add) rendered my little head incapable of blogging for a couple of days.

I managed 5 days of eating nothing-but-cake. I was persuaded by my mother, and various friends that it would not be sensible to continue onto the 6th and 7th days. I had a difficult day 5 where a couple of glasses of wine the night before, added onto no real food all week led to me feeling significantly worse for wear.

Therefore, I have concluded it is IMPOSSIBLE to exist on nothing but cake, and if you disagree, I challenge you to try it! 3 guesses as to what I am giving up for Lent...

A Week of Cake - DAY 5 - Blueberry Cupcakes

Now then...day 4 passed in a blur, all I know is I ate a breakfast cupcake, a Welsh cake, a slice of nutty chocolate cake, a slice of nutty apple cake, a slice of apple and carrot cake, a blueberry cupcake, more nutty chocolate cake and chocolate beetroot cake (a girl at work gave it to me, so tasty!)

This morning was a real struggle, no proper dinner and a glass or two of red wine left me feeling more than a little delicate. A slice of chocolate cake and custard for my breakfast didn't help matters, all I wanted was wholemeal toast with lashings of butter, but alas the cake challenge continued...

Blueberry Cupcakes

This recipe is a really good one, I often find blueberry cupcakes to be too sweet, but I think this one gets it just right. The zest of the orange gives them that added edge.

A Week of Cake - DAY 4 - Roxanne's Nutty Chocolate Cake

This cake came about from an unfortunate green banana situation where I had measured out the dry ingredients for a banana cake, and then discovered my bananas were too green to use! A quick brainstorm later and I came up with this nutty cake. I used this cake to get one of my 5-a-day, and luckily I get all of my vegetables free from Ripple Farm Organics, you can check out their new recipe blog here.

Roxanne's Nutty Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

4oz rye flour

4oz white self-raising flour

2 level tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 heaped tbsp Green & Black cocoa
4oz caster sugar

3oz butter, melted
4fl oz buttermilk
5oz grated squash (preferably Butternut, but I used Hokkaido which worked fine)

2 eggs, beaten

1oz hazelnuts, chopped

DAY 3 - Verdict (+ Pancakes & Molten Chocolate Babycakes!)

I had friends round for dinner this evening, and far be it for me to inflict pure cake for dinner on them, so I decided to whip up some pancakes. Delia's recipe is best, you can find it here. I made 2 sauces to go with the pancakes.
The first a creamy mushroom sauce - fry a sliced onion and a crushed garlic clove in some sunflower oil, add about 75g of sliced button mushrooms, 100g soft cheese and 2 tbsp milk. Cook over a gentle heat until the mushrooms and onion are softened.
I also made a tomato-y sauce - fry a sliced red onion and a crushed garlic clove in some sunflower oil, add 1 punnet of quartered cherry tomatoes, ½ tin of peeled plum tomatoes, a tsp of brown sugar and a tbsp tomato purée. Cook gently until the cherry tomatoes have softened, and then add a handful of torn spinach leaves before serving.

A Week of Cake - DAY 3 - Nutty Apple Loaf Cake

Day 3 and I'm getting into the swing of this cake eating. I still gaze mournfully at my fruit bowl as I walk past, but I must soldier on and eat cake and more cake!

At a recent family gathering my aunt (of guest post My Aunt's Peanut Butter Cookies fame) brought along an apple and peanut butter chip cake that tasted delicious, I decided to do what she had done and make a recipe up.

Roxanne's Nutty Apple Loaf Cake

Ingredients

4oz caster sugar

4oz butter, softened

2 eating apples, peeled, cored and grated

2 eggs, beaten

3oz wholemeal flour

2oz self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

100g peanut butter chips (I used Reese's)

DAY 2 - Verdict

Today was marginally easy than day one, although cravings for toast and pasta are coming in thick and strong.  

Today I ate..

Breakfast

1 Welsh cake (they tasted better when cooled. Low sugar so good start to the day)

1 blueberry cupcake

A Week of Cake - DAY 2 - Chilli and Feta Cake

After a small meltdown last night when I wondered what on earth I was doing, I was slightly dreading breakfast this morning. However, after a tasty blueberry muffin and a small Welsh cake (they taste better, and don't fall apart when cooled) I was ready to start the day. 

One of the things that has kept me going so far is a feta cheese and chilli cake which I adapted from a savoury cake on the BBC Good Food website.

Chilli and Feta Cake

Ingredients

200g white flour (I used gluten-free as the original recipe suggests, but any plain flour would be fine)

1 tsp salt

3 level tsp baking powder

300ml buttermilk or milk with a squeeze of lemon juice (I used about 100ml buttermilk with 200ml semi-skimmed milk and 1 squeeze of lemon juice)

3 eggs

1 tbsp tomato pureé

1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

100g feta cheese, chopped into cubes

50g mixed seeds

DAY 1 - Verdict

I'm feeling a little queasy, and desperately craving something savoury, or crunchy or hot...and it's not even the end of day 1!
Here's a run-down of today's diet...

Breakfast
Breakfast cupcake (fairly healthy, contains apricots, muesli, orange juice and marmalade)
Mid-morning snack
Slice of apple and peanut-butter chip loaf cake (contains apple, but sugaryness of peanut butter discounts that)
Lunch
2 slices of feta and chilli loaf cake (no sugar, tasted a bit crumpty...healthy enough but didn't leave me feeling full)
Slice of ginger Parkin cake (kindly donated to me by a girl at work)
Mid-afternoon snack
2 (big...) slices of raspberry and lemon cake (contains real fruit...but sugar too)
Pre-dinner snack (told you I'd be honest!)
Slice of apple and peanut-butter chip loaf cake
Dinner
1 Welsh cake (They fell apart, and weren't very fulfilling so I won't be recommending that recipe!)

After 1 day I've realised this is going to be a LOT harder than I thought. However, I will rise to the challenge and drink red wine as one of my 5-a-day if I need to...

A Week of Cake - DAY 1 - Breakfast Cupcakes

Yesterday was spent in preparation for my week of cake-eating, in total I baked EIGHT batches of cakes. During the next week I will be sharing those recipes on my blog everyday. I will also keep you updated on my daily diet (admitting to the world how much I eat!), and I’m sure my numerous cravings for fresh fruit and vegetables. I will keep a tally of ingredients used and how many different types of cake I eat each day. I have decided to modify my rules ever so slightly…as a girl should never say no to cake…if anyone happens to offer me homemade cake I will simply have to accept. I have taken my weights and measurements (a girl never tells), and I will reveal whether I have managed to maintain my healthy weight whilst only eating cake…

I’d love to read your comments about my efforts, and feel free to get your friends to head over to my blog too.

Monday morning began with…

 

Breakfast Cupcakes

These cupcakes contain muesli, orange juice and marmalade - all you could ever need from a breakfast!

A Week of Cake

Over a slice of orange and almond cake at the weekend, I confessed “I wish I could eat nothing but cake”.  As I thought about it I wondered if it would be possible. After all there are all sorts of foods, sweet and savoury that could be classed as cake, potato cakes, oatcakes apparently even turnip cake…

Therefore, on Monday 28^th February 2011 I will begin my challenge of eating nothing but cake for one entire week. Not only that, all of the cake will be homemade by myself.

I will spend this Sunday in preparation cooking up such delights as muesli cake, fruit and nut cake and carrot cake. I intend to keep my diet as balanced as possible, and ensure that all the food groups are covered – getting my 5-a-day will be a struggle but I will do my best.

If anyone has any ideas for cakes that they think I should include send me ideas or recipes to roxannebm@hotmail.com.

I will be blogging my daily diet of nothing but cake and include recipes for every meal of the day. Watch this space for A Week of Cake.