Tiramisù Mini Cheesecakes (Wheat Free)

Good Monday all my wonderful readers! I apologise timely for the lack of Friday recipe, and I have no reasonable excuse: I was busy socialising. I had a party on Saturday night though, and I made some very tasty mini cheesecakes, and these ones were a twist on the classic retro dessert tiramisù!

Fluffy sponge base, silky vanilla cheesecake with a coffee syrup swirl, topped off with some whipped cream and a dusting of cocoa powder... it is sinfully delicious, and actually very similar to a normal tiramisù, bar the raw egg.

Each person who has eaten one of these morsels has said to me that the coffee flavour in a cheesecake is very unusual, but very nice. The coffee is swirled in, making it quite subtle and not overpowering, but good and intense in some pockets where the syrup has collected.

This is what the cake looks like without the cream and the cocoa dusting...

Without the cream and cocoa dusting that makes this a 'tiramisù' cheesecake, it's a simple and elegant coffee swirl cake, which is equally delicious.

I love mashing up classic desserts, and if you've been following my blog regularly you will have noticed many varieties of dessert mash-ups, which mostly revolve around ice cream and cheesecake, which are my two favourite desserts. However, I have done a nice Neapolitan Coconut Ice mashup, which is neither cheesecake or ice-cream related.

But anyway, back to the actual making of this concoction. This was my second attempt at this particular recipe, the first one failing on account of a botched base sponge: I had both used the wrong sort of cake, and forgotten the baking powder. Thus, they were tough and stodgy, and dislodged themselves from the cream cheese layer. Fail.

I then put my thinking cap back on, and remembered that traditionally tiramisù is made with savoiardi biscuits (or lady fingers), which are little fingers of fatless sponge. I slightly enrich my fatless sponge with sunflower oil to make it more flexible, but it's still very light and airy. It worked much, much better, and even the cream cheese layer and the swirl worked out a bit better the second time too. I think the practise run did me good.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Eggs
☒ Dairy
☒ Gluten
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS

For 12 muffin sized cheesecakes:

For the sponge cake bases:

• 1½ ounces (40 grammes) white spelt flour
• ½ ounce (15 grammes) cornflour
• Pinch of salt
• 1½ ounces (40 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) sunflower oil
• 1 medium egg
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) milk, or water

For the vanilla cheesecake filling:

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) full fat cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 medium egg
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) natural yoghurt, cream, or milk
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) vanilla essence, or the seeds of one vanilla pod
• Pinch of salt

For the coffee syrup:

• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• 2 fluid ounces (60 millilitres) strong coffee
• Optional: 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) white rum or Marsala

To serve:

• 8 fluid ounces (240 millilitres) whipping cream
• 1 or 2 tablespoons (15 or 30 millilitres) icing sugar
• Cocoa, for dusting
• Optional: Grated dark chocolate, or decorating

METHOD

To make the bases:

• Preheat oven to 180ºC (350ºF, Gas Mk.4). Line a 12 hole muffin tin with large paper cases and set aside.
• Get a large mixing bowl and a smaller bowl, and separate the egg, putting the white in the large bowl and the yolk in the smaller bowl. To the yolk, add the oil and the milk and mix well until smooth and fully combined.
• Using an electric mixer, beat the white until it forms soft peaks, then gradually add the sugar, about a tablespoon at a time, beating all the while. Beat until it forms stiff peaks. (Once you have finished beating, you will need to wash the beaters as you'll be using them later to whip egg white again).
• Pour the yolk mixture into the whites and gently fold together. It should still be as fluffy and as increased in volume, but a little more yellow.
• Sieve in the spelt flour, cornflour and salt, then fold very gently until you get a batter that is relatively thick. Divide the batter between the 12 cases; it won't seem like much, but it rises quite a bit so don't worry.
• Bake the bases for 8 to 10 minutes, or until set and slightly springy to touch, and the faintest of golden brown. Remove from the oven, set on a wire rack, and reduce the oven temperature to 150ºC (300ºF, Gas Mk.2)

When your bases come out of the oven, immediately prepare the coffee syrup:

• In a saucepan, heat the sugar and coffee over a low heat until this sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil, and cook for about 2 minutes, or until the bubbles are a little less rapid and the syrup has visibly thickened slightly.
• Remove from the heat and, if using, mix in the rum or Marsala.
• Using a pastry brush, gently dab some of the syrup onto the little sponge bases. If you don't have a pastry brush, use a spoon to sprinkle half a teaspoon's worth of syrup on each sponge.

Now, make the cream cheese layer:

• Like with the bases, you will need two bowls, both about the same size. Separate the egg, putting the white in one bowl and the yolk in the other.
• To the yolk, add the cream cheese and mix until smooth and creamy. Gradually add half the sugar to the cream cheese mixture, mixing between additions, so the cream cheese doesn't turn runny. Gently stir in the yoghurt and vanilla.
• Using an electric mixer once more, whip the egg white as before, gradually adding the remaining sugar and the pinch of salt.
• Once the white is beaten to stiff peaks, gently fold it into the cream cheese mixture in two additions. You'll have a lovely light batter.
• Divide the batter between the 12 cases, spreading out evenly. Give the tray a firm tap on the work surface to even out further and release any trapped air bubbles.
• Pour about a teaspoon (5 millilitres) of coffee syrup into the centre of each cheesecake and then, using the tip of a knife or a chopstick, swirl the syrup into the cream cheese layer. Don't overdo it, or you'll end up completely mixing the syrup in and losing the swirl effect.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until set around the edges and a little bit jiggly in the middle. Remove from the oven and cool for about 10 minutes in the tray before transferring the cakes carefully to a wire rack.
• Chill for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. Serve chilled.

To serve:

• Whip the cream and icing sugar to stiff peaks using , and then use it to fill a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle. Pipe a little rosette on each cake, and dust with some cocoa powder. If you like, you can sprinkle some grated dark chocolate on top too for that extra decadence factor.

Now, as you've probably read, there are quite a few steps involved in making these, but none of these steps is very complicated. But the result is delicious and well worth the effort. These are a great little morsel to bring along to a party, because everyone can have a serving of cheesecake without the hassle of cutting up or plating up.

THIS TIME IN 2014: Spanner in the Works: White Spelt Flour No Longer Exists

THIS TIME IN 2013: Dinosaur Kimberleys (Wheat Free)

Coffee and White Chocolate Checkerboard Cake (Wheat Free)

Fancy something a little bit more about the visual impact? Well, here we are....

Tada! A checkerboard inside! I was inspired to try a checkerboard cake as a practise run for a surprise that is coming up at the beginning of next month (keeping you in suspense), and I did a bit of researching on Pinterest and Google Images. A lot of recipes use a special concentric circle cake tin, but I just used a normal cake tin and cut out the circles with a variety of cups. This is only a little cake, so you'd have to cut around plates or bowls for a larger cake.

I was really pleased with the results, and the nice glaze coating was a nice touch too. I've found that it's best to thinly ice a cake before glazing, so the glaze is all smooth and consistent. I alternated coffee and vanilla flavoured sponge, and then used coffee and white chocolate icing. It was a success, both visually and taste-wise.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Eggs
☒ Dairy
☒ Gluten
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS

1 four inch (10 centimetre) layer cake

For the vanilla cake:

• 1½ ounces (40 grammes) white spelt flour
• ½ ounce (15 grammes) cornflour
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) baking power
• 1½ ounces (40 grammes) caster sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) sunflower oil
• 1 medium egg
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) milk, or water
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence, or the seeds of ½ a vanilla pod

For the coffee cake:

• 1½ ounces (40 grammes) white spelt flour
• ½ ounce (15 grammes) cornflour
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) baking power
• 1½ ounces (40 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) instant espresso powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) sunflower oil
• 1 medium egg
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) strong coffee, cooled

For the white chocolate coffee glaze/icing:

• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• 2 fluid ounces (60 millilitres) strong coffee
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) white chocolate, broken
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

METHOD

To make the cakes:

• Preheat oven 180ºC (350ºF, Gas Mk.4). Grease a 4 inch (10 centimetre) round sandwich tin with a little butter or margarine. 
• Prepare the vanilla cake recipe following this method, using a spoonful of the dry ingredients to dust the greased tin. Return the excess back to the bowl, then continue making the cake.
• Bake the cake for 20 to 25 minutes, until springy to the touch and a cocktail stick poked into the centre comes out clean.
• While the cake is still warm, loosen from the tin and turn out onto a wire rack. Wash the tin, and grease again.
• Prepare the coffee cake recipe following the same method, using a spoonful of the dry ingredients to dust the greased tin. Return the excess back to the bowl, then continue making the cake.
• Bake as before, then turn out onto a wire rack in the same way. When the cakes are cool, cut off the domes, making sure the cakes are the same height.
• Measure the cakes with a ruler, and slice in half horizontally. Look through your kitchen for cups, glasses, bottle lids or anything round that can be used for cutting. Choose one that is 2½ inches (6 centimetres) across, and one that is 1¼ inches (3 centimetres) across.
• Cut each cake slice into rings using at first the larger cutter, then the smaller cutter. You'll have two concentric rings of cake and a little disk from each slice.
• Arrange the slices so that each layer has an alternating pattern of vanilla and coffee cake, to make the checkerboard. Two layers should be going vanilla-coffee-vanilla, then the other two should be coffee-vanilla-coffee (You'll only be using three layers, so you can use the extra layer for something else or to snack on.)

Like this, then the other ones should be the inverse

• To make this cake, I used two coffee-vanilla-coffee layers, and one vanilla-coffee-vanilla layer. If you look at the photographs you can see how I arranged them.

To make the glaze (which is also the glue):

• In a saucepan, melt the sugar and coffee together on medium heat. Bring to the boil, and boil for a few seconds until the bubbles become a little less violent.
• Remove from the heat, and stir in the broken chocolate, allowing the heat to melt it.
• Return to the heat, reduced to low, and continue to stir until smooth and glossy.

To assemble the cake:

• Put the bottom layer on plate and, using a little bit of the white chocolate mixture while it's still runny, spread a little bit round the inside of the circular holes in each ring so the cake fuses.
• Spread some of the glaze on the top of the layer, and build the next layer. Repeat with the last layer.
• Allow the rest of the glaze to set to a spreading consistency icing, then use some to make a thin crumb coat. Chill in the fridge until fully chilled, about 30 to 40 minutes, then allow to temper to room temperature for about 10 minutes.
• Return the remaining icing to the heat and reheat until flowing again, but not hot. Put the cake on a wire rack with a plate underneath, and pour the glaze over, coaxing it over the edges with the back of a teaspoon. Use the back of the teaspoon to make a pattern on the top, and decorate with silver dragées if you like, or any other decoration.
• Allow the glaze to stop dripping, then let sit for about 5 minutes afterwards. Transfer to a serving plate.

This sized cake is ideal for a two or three person celebration, and has the added cute factor. This was a successful trial run for my next checkerboard project coming soon....

THIS TIME IN 2014: No blog
THIS TIME IN 2013: No blog

Carrot and Orange Cake with Fresh Cream Icing (Wheat Free)

This Monday just past was my brother's girlfriend's birthday, and he managed to sneakily ascertain that her favorite cake is carrot cake. And as such, I delivered!

I made a carrot cake for my blog a while back, but since then I've honed the recipe. I made sure to grate the carrot more finely, and find a good balance of carrot to cake mixture, and it turned out really well. However, traditionally, carrot cake is traditionally decorated with cream cheese icing, made by mixing cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and lemon juice, but I personally find this a bit sweet and heavy for carrot cake. Instead this time, I opted for a lighter icing, made with cream cheese and whipping cream.

I took a leaf from the book of making a gelatine free set cheesecake, where cream cheese and whipping cream are beaten together and mixed with lemon juice to set it, the acid reacting off the dairy. I sort of made up an icing recipe using the same logic (except with orange juice, because orange in a carrot cake is good and traditional) and it worked really well! It set up a little, but still remained light and fluffy. A nice accompaniment to the denseness of carrot cake.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat

CONTAINS
☒ Eggs
☒ Dairy
☒ Gluten
☒ Nuts
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS:

For two round 8 inch (20 centimetre) sandwich cakes:

• 2 ounces (55 grammes) cornflour
• 6 ounces (170 grammes) white spelt flour
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) baking powder
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) ginger
• ¼ teaspoon (2 millilitres) coriander
• 2 pinches ground cloves
• Pinch of salt
• 4 medium eggs
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) sunflower oil
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) brown sugar
• 8 ounces (225 grammes) finely grated carrot
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) raisins

For the fresh cream icing:

• 9 ounces (250 grammes) cream cheese
• 9 fluid ounces (250 millilitres) whipping cream
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 1 tablespoon orange juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

To decorate:

• 18 whole or halved nuts, for example pecans, walnuts, or almonds

METHOD

First, make the cakes:

• Preheat oven 180ºC (350ºF, Gas Mk.4). Grease two 8 inch (20 centimetre) round sandwich tins with a little butter or margarine. 
• In large bowl, sieve the cornflour, spelt flour, baking powder, spices, salt, and caster sugar. Take a spoonful of this mixture and use it to dust the tins, returning the excess to the bowl.
• In a jug, beat together the brown sugar, sunflower oil, and eggs until fully combined. Mixing the brown sugar with the wet ingredients makes it easier to dissolve out the lumps.
• Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture. Mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until it is half mixed, and then add in the carrot and raisins. Mix until completely combined and smooth.
• Divide the mixture between the two tins and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until springy to the touch and a cocktail stick poked into the centre comes out clean.
• Cool in the tins for about 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edges to loosen. Turn out the cakes and allow them to cool completely.

Then, prepare the icing and decorate:

• In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth, then add in the cream, a third at a time,beating until smooth between additions.
• Once all the cream is added, beat until the cream reaches soft peaks. This could take a while, especially if you're whisking by hand with a balloon whisk. I recommend a electric mixer for this.
• Once it has formed soft peaks, add in the juice, zest and half the sugar. Beat until mixed in, then add the rest of the sugar. Continue beating until stiff peaks form, being careful not to over whip as the cream will split.
• If the cakes have a big dome, cut them off before decorating. Put one cake on the serving platter, top with about a quarter of the cream. Then place the other cake on top, upside down. Ice with another two quarters, then use the last quarter for piping little rosettes along the top and bottom edges.
• Place the nuts on top of the rosettes in a pretty pattern, spacing them evenly.
• Chill for at least 2 hours to allow the icing to set, then allow to temper to room temperature before serving.

And here's the end result. It was very tasty, and not all heavy and sweet with too much cream cheese icing. I think this is a nice, fresh twist on a classic.

THIS TIME IN 2014: No blog
THIS TIME IN 2013: Pouring Fondant Done the Awkward Way

April Afternoon Tea Party: Bollywood Part Two!

This Saturday past, the 11th, was April's Afternoon Tea Party. This month's theme was once again Bollywood, but unfortunately the weather was too sunny to project a film onto the wall, so we just listened to music and chatted.

For this month's get together, I made gulab jamun, which are little deep fried dumplings soaked in cardamom flavoured syrup, and samosas, which are triangular pastry packages filled with either sweet or savoury centres.

Two sisters who go to the events are mad into their Indian culture; their brother described them as 'Otakus for India'. As such they're big into their Indian cooking, and brought some delicious homemade treats, including gulab jamun and carrot burfi (which is a dessert made with grated carrots, cream, sugar, and spices).

I was challenged by the older sister to make some gulab jamun myself, and luckily I had the recipe in a cookbook I'd got from my sister for my birthday. However, they require milk powder, and I didn't know where to get milk powder, so I looked online for a way to make them without milk powder, and I found this video for making cheat dumplings with bread. As per the recipe, I soaked white bread in sweetened milk, rolled the bread into dumplings, deep fried them, and then soaked them overnight in some syrup I had made, flavoured with cinnamon and cardamom.

They weren't as nice as the other woman's, but for a first attempt I think they worked. Hers were more cakey and full of flavour, mine were a bit stodgy and lacking in flavour. Maybe doing it the traditional milk power dough way is better after all.

I also found a recipe in the cookbook for samosas, which I've always liked since I was young. My father used to buy little savoury Indian snacks from the supermarket for family meals and celebrations, and I always liked the samosas because they were crispy on the outside and squishy in the middle.

I only made a third of the suggested quantity in the recipe, and instead of the suggested chocolate ganache filling, I mixes some dried mixed fruit with brown sugar and Indian spices, kinda like mincemeat. I shallow fried them and they turned out absolutely wonderfully: they were lovely and crispy...

The dough for the samosas, as directed in the recipe, was 3 ounces (85 grammes) of flour, 1 fluid ounce (30 millilitres) of sunflower oil, and cold water to bind. The dough was then divided into 12 pieces and rolled out as flat as possible for folding into little triangles around the filling.

All in all, I think this month's event had some delicious treats, that are very different to what I'm used to as an Irish foodie. I think I'll be doing samosas a lot more anymore, maybe some savoury ones.

THIS TIME IN 2014: No blog

THIS TIME IN 2013: Black Forest Gateau: a Retro Classic? (Wheat Free)

Treacle Tarts, without Breadcrumbs (Wheat Free)

Last autumn, I tried my hand at making a treacle tart, but I shook it up by adding some apple to it to make something that was somewhat toffee apple inspired. I was delicious, but very much an experiment. I was going to try the recipe again, but then I just... forgot about it. Until this week, when my companion's mother invited me round for tea, and requested in jest some treacle tarts as payment for her company. So, here they are!

However, these are a little different to traditional treacle tarts, insofar as they don't use breadcrumbs. I used breadcrumbs the last time, and found it a little squishy, and I wanted something with a little more firmness. Also, I don't eat bread so I find buying bread just to make breadcrumbs is sort of backwards. So, I researched what I could use instead, on many a baking forum, and one forum user suggested ground almonds.

They turned out really well, and my companion's family liked them (so I think they think I'm good girlthing material for their child/sibling), the mother comparing them to something like a gingerbread tart. Generally speaking, treacle tart isn't spiced, but I like to add a little bit to mine just for flavour.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat

CONTAINS
☒ Eggs
☒ Dairy
☒ Gluten
☒ Nuts
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS

For four 4 inch (10 centimetre) tarts, or one 7 inch (18 centimetre) round tart

For the pastry:

• 1 ounce icing sugar
• 2 ounces butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces
• 3 ounces spelt flour
• 1 ounce cornflour
• 1 tablespoon cold milk/water

For the filling:

• 1 ounce treacle
• 5 ounces golden syrup
• 4 ounces ground almonds
• 1 medium egg
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• ½ teaspoon ginger
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon 

HOW-TO

• Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F, Gas Mk.4).
• Put the butter, sugar, flour and cornflour in a mixing bowl and rub together with your fingertips into a crumble.
• Mix in about a tablespoon of milk (or water), mixing with your hand, until you get a nice smooth, pliable dough.  Roll out to a ¼ inch (0.5 centimetre) thickness.
• This amount will line one 7 inch round tart tin, or 4 four-inch tarts, and you don’t need to grease them. Cut out rounds to fit the individual cases, or press into a round tart tin, using the rolling pin to trim the excess falling over the edges.
• Gently heat the treacle and syrup together until warm and runny, either in a saucepan over low heat, or in a heatproof jug in the microwave for about a minute on medium power.
• Remove from heat, and stir in the ground almonds, spices, lemon zest and juice and mix thoroughly. Allow the mixture to cool slightly, so the almonds can soak.
• Once cool enough to touch add the egg and beat immediately until smooth and pourable. Divide the filling among the individual pastry cases, if using, or pour into the large pastry case.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes for four individual tarts, or 25 to 30 minutes for one large tart.
• Allow to cool completely in the tin before removing. The pastry will slightly shrink, making it easier to remove.

NOTES

You can use any leftover dough to decorate the tarts. Traditionally, treacle tarts are decorated with a lattice pattern, the weaves sometimes being twisted. I used some cut outs because I didn’t have enough left over dough to make lattices.

THIS TIME IN 2014: No blog
THIS TIME IN 2013: Gingerbread of the Gingeriest Proportions (Wheat Free)

Low Effort Tray Bake Sponge (Wheat and Dairy Free)

The last few weeks have been unbelievably busy for me. Between work and members of family being ill (and courting a young boy thing) I've been up the walls, and my usual sponge cake recipe is quite bitty and requires a few delicate steps. So, I decided to give a one-step mix a go, and it turned out quite successfully!

The texture is a bit different: it's still light and fluffy, but the crumb is nice and firm, which makes cutting it very, very easy. I was running a youth group today, so I knocked up a nice jam sponge tray bake with chocolate glaze. Each year at Easter, I break all my chocolate eggs into a box and use them for baking with; my mother hates it.

I used the exact same measurements for my usual go-to sponge recipe, but I simply doubled the liquid and used only oil instead of a combination of oil and butter. Instead of cross referencing, though, I'll write it up for you. This is the basic recipe, which is dairy free, but if you combine it with a buttercream for chocolate icing it will obviously no longer be dairy free.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Eggs
☑ Dairy

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS:

Dry

• 3 ounces (85 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) cornflour
• Pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) baking powder
• 3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar

Wet

• 2 medium eggs
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) sunflower oil
• 2 fluid ounces (60 millilitres) water
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

METHOD

• Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4, or moderate). Grease a loaf tin and set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, sieve together the dry ingredients. Take a spoonful of the dry mixture and use it to dust the inside of the greased tin. Tip the excess back into the bowl.
• In a jug or smaller bowl, open the eggs and add in the oil, water, and vanilla essence. Beat with a fork until fully combined and pale.
• Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture, and pour in the wet mixture. Using a balloon whisk or the same fork, mix the wet and dry together until you have a nice smooth batter.
• Pour the batter into the tin, and bake in the centre rack of the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. You will know it's done when it's springy to the touch, and a cocktail stick of knife poked into the middle comes out clean.
• Once cooked, take from the oven and cool in tin for about ten minutes to firm up a little, then take out of the tin to cool fully.

Like my regular sponge recipe, this can be shaken up to change the flavour. You could use coffee instead of water to make coffee cake, or almond essence instead of vanilla, you could add in some grated lemon zest and use lemon juice instead of the water, use brown sugar instead of white to make it toffee flavour, you could swap some of the cornflour for cocoa powder to make it chocolatey. It's really very versatile.

I split mine in half and filled it with raspberry jam, then topped it off with a simple chocolate glaze and sprinkles. My youth group enjoyed it anyway!

THIS TIME IN 2014: No blog
THIS TIME IN 2013: Buttercream Icing: the King of all Icings