"Ikea Daim Cake": Chocolate, Caramel, and Almond Cake

Looking for a Yuletide dessert that's not a fruit cake? Why not try this decadent Nordic confection, that can commonly be seen in your local Ikea?

Yes, today I will be sharing how you can make your own Daim cake! If you have an Ikea next door, then you have this fabulous cake within walking distance, but for those of us who live 100 miles away from the nearest Ikea shop (which, incidentally, is the only one in Ireland), we can make it whenever we like with this recipe!

For those of you who have never seen an Ikea before, it's a Swedish chain of homeware shops all across Europe and the USA. Coincidentally, it was St Lucy's Day on the Friday, which is a feast day commonly celebrated in Sweden! Maybe I should have made this for that occasion...

This cake bares a striking resemblance to the Esterházy torta I made earlier in the year: almond meringue layers sandwiching and enrobed in a rich filling made of egg yolk custard and butter. The only difference is an Esterházy torta doesn't have a chocolatey coating.

Having a dark chocolate layer, dotted with little crunchy pieces of slightly bitter caramel, gives the relentless butteriness and sweetness some much needed relief, which I think is missing in the Esterházy torta. But knowing what I know now, I might have another go at that cake as well.

I'm not going to lie, there is a tremendous amount of making in this cake. It has four different components: the dacquoise layers made of egg white, sugar, and toasted almonds; the vanilla mousseline made of egg yolk custard and unsalted butter; the crunchy caramel made of boiled sugar and salted butter; and the chocolate glaze, which is the simplest component.

For ease of reading, I have all the different components' ingredients and methods listed separately. Also, I've slightly updated it as I wish I had made my meringue layers a bit thicker.

TO MAKE DAIM CAKE

For the cake

4 egg whites

4 ounces (115 grammes) caster sugar

4 ounces (115 grammes) ground almonds

Decent pinch of salt

Optional: Almond and vanilla essence, to taste

• In a dry frying pan, toast the ground almonds over medium heat very well until they are a deep, nutty brown. Allow to cool.
• Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) and line the bottom of an un-greased 8 inch (20 centimetre) sandwich tin.
• In a mixing bowl, whip whites to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar while whipping to make stiff meringue. 
• Fold in the toasted almonds, salt, and essences. The trick is to be gentle, but quick.
• Bake the meringue 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. It will dip slightly in the middle, but that's okay. 
• Cool for 10 minutes before loosening from the edges with a knife and turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For the cream

3 egg yolks 

(you can add all 4 leftover egg yolks if you like, but technically it does only need 3)

3 teaspoons (15 millilitres) cornflour

3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar

6 fluid ounces (180 millilitres) whole milk

(for added richness, you can replace a quarter of the milk with evaporated milk)

3 ounces (85 grammes) unsalted butter, soft

1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

Salt, to taste

• Mix yolks, sugar, and cornflour in a small saucepan until pale and creamy. Gradually mix in the milk until smooth. 
• Cook over medium heat, mixing all the time with a balloon whisk or rubber spatula, until it comes to the boil and thickens rapidly.
• Pour into a shallow bowl, cover the surface with greaseproof paper, and cool completely to room temperature. Once it's cool, pull off the greaseproof paper and scrape off any custard that is stuck to it, putting it back in the bowl with the rest of the custard.
• After cooling, place the butter in a mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer. Whip very well until pale, then gradually whip in the custard, little by little. Once completely mixed in, flavour with vanilla and season with salt.

For the "Daim" pieces

1½ ounces (45 grammes) salted butter

1½ ounces (45 grammes) golden syrup

1½ ounces (45 grammes) brown sugar

Two pinches of baking soda

• Fill the kitchen sink with about 2 inches (4 centimetres) of cold water.
• Cook all the ingredients, except for the baking soda, in a saucepan over medium heat, swirling the pan to mix the ingredients. Avoid the temptation to stir! 
• Cook the mixture to 150C, swirling very frequently to prevent the mixture from catching on the base of the pan. Once it reaches temperature, immediately remove from the heat and dip the bottom of the saucepan in the cold water to halt the cooking.
• Add the baking soda and swirl again to mix: it will puff ever so slightly, then pour onto a greased flat oven tray, or a marble slab. 
• When cool, crunch into small sprinkle sized pieces by hand, or by rolling over it in a plastic bag using a rolling pin.

For the chocolate coating

4 ounces (115 grammes) milk chocolate

2 ounces (55 grammes) dark chocolate

3 tablespoons (15 millilitres) sunflower oil

Pinch of salt

• Heat the chocolates and oil together in a jug in the microwave on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Season with salt.
• Alternatively, melt the chocolate and oil in a double boiler.
• Allow to cool and thicken slightly.

To assemble the cake

• Cut the cake in half (very carefully: it's quite thin and sandwich them together with the cream. 
• Flat ice the cake with a generous amount of cream. Any leftover cream can be used for other projects. 
• Take about three tablespoons of the chocolate coating and spread on top of the cake and sprinkle with Daim crunchies. Don't let it drip down the sides.
• Chill in the fridge for 15 minutes. This allows the crunchies to stick to the cake without running off with the rest of the glaze
• Use the remaining glaze, reheating gently if needed, to glaze the entire cake. Chill completely for 2 hours before serving.

College Classes are Over! Hoorah! (Chocolate Butter Cake with Simple Fudge Icing)

I have officially finished all my Masters degree classes! Now all that's left is the summer thesis (oh joy), and I marked the occasion with a delicious buttery chocolate cake!

 

I don't often make cakes using the creamed method. In fact, for the last four years of running this blog, I have almost exclusively made cakes using a sabayon (that is, eggs beaten with sugar). Over the years I have lauded the use of this method for producing lighter airier cakes....

Until I realised that all this time I've been creaming my butter incorrectly.

Yes, am now a creamed butter cake convert once more. The trick is beating the absolute bloody hell out of the butter, and slowly incorporating the eggs. So, it's like a sabayon in reverse: usually, I beat the eggs and sugar and gradually add the fat. This time I beat the fat and sugar, and gradually added the eggs.

Now, don't get me wrong. I like the lightness of a whipped egg cake. However, they're not as foolproof: they can shrink, not rise properly, be rubbery, etc., but I now understand why a butter cake, or traditional Victoria sponge, is the go-to for beginners.

Also, I am now also a convert to using icing sugar in fudge icing. For years I was a bit of a purist about using sugar syrup, but it's fiddly as Hell. This chocolate fudge icing uses four simple ingredients, and now fussing with boiling sugar.

The basic formula is 4 parts chocolate, 4 parts icing sugar, 2 parts butter, and 1 part milk. So, it's essentially a traditional buttercream icing, with as much chocolate as icing sugar added. It's really light and fluffy, but at the same time rich and thick.

So, let's get started!

INGREDIMENTS

Makes one two-layer 8 inch (20 centimetre) round cake

For the cake,

• 4 ounces (115 grammes) butter, very soft
• 6 ounces (170 grammes) sugar, light brown or caster
• 4 medium eggs, beaten in their own jug or bowl
• 7 ounces (200 grammes) white spelt flour
• 1 ounce (30 grames) cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) baking powder
• 2 fluid ounces (60 millilitres) milk
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) vanilla essence

For the icing,

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) plain chocolate, minimum 45% cocoa
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) butter
• 2 fluid ounces (60 millilitres) milk
• 8 ounces (225 grammes) icing sugar
• 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) vanilla essence

METHOD

First, make the cake.

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (375°F, Gas Mk.4), and grease and flour the inside of a deep 8 inch (20 centimetre) round cake tin. Alternatively, you can use two sandwich tins of the same width.
• In a mixing bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer or wooden spoon until pale, light, and fluffy. This can take about 3 to 5 minutes.
• Beating all the time, add the sugar in three additions, beating well between each addition. This can take a further 2 or 3 minutes.
• Mix the vanilla essence into the beaten eggs, and add the eggs into the butter and sugar gradually—about four or five additions— beating very well until completely combined after each addition. The mixture shouldn't break, but if it does at any stage add a spoonful of the measured flour and continue beating.
• Put the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder into a sieve set over the bowl, and sieve in half of the dry ingredients. Fold them through gently with a metal spoon or wire whisk.
• Add the milk and fold again, followed by the final addition of dry ingredients. Fold gently until fully combined.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, smoothing the top out as best you can with a metal spoon. Alternatively, split the mixture evenly between the two sandwich tins.
• Place into the centre of the preheated oven and bake one whole cake for 35 to 45 minutes, or two sandwiches for 20 to 25 minutes. Check for doneness with the usual cocktail stick test at the lower time mark, and cook for a further 5 or 10 minutes if needed.
• Once cooked, remove from the oven and cool in the tin(s) for about 10 minutes before cooling completely on a wire rack.

While the cake is baking, make the icing.

• In microwave proof mixing bowl, or a glass bow set over a pan of simmering water, melt together the chocolate, butter, and milk. If using the microwave, heat in one minute intervals on the "Defrost" setting.
• Stir well until fully melted and combined, then cool completely until it thickens, about two hours or so. You can speed up this process by cooling it in the fridge and giving it a mix every so often to cool evenly.
• Once thickened, beat in the icing sugar gradually using an electric mixer until you have a fudgy spreadable icing. 

Finally, assemble the masterpiece.

• Cut the domes off the cake and slice in half, and sandwich cut sides together with about a quarter of the icing. Use half to ice the top and sides, and then use the rest to pipe a border along the top and bottom edges of the cake. I used a star tip, but you can use whatever shape you like.
• If using sandwiches, cut the domes off and sandwich cut sides together as above.
• Decorate the top with the sweets, or any decoration of your choice. I iced the top with a simple icing sugar and milk glaze.

Keep in an airtight container for up to two weeks, but it's best eaten within the first five days.

THIS TIME IN 2016: Depression Is a Terrible, Terrible Thing
THIS TIME IN 2013: Different Sponge Cake Flavours (no April Fool, it's after 12pm)

American Style Buttercream: Because Sometimes Cheap and Nasty Is Just What You Need

The other day, I was eating a shop bought cupcake. Sacrilege, I know, but sometimes I can't make them just like you can get from the shops. Which got me to thinking, what makes the icing on top -- and the filling within -- shop bought cakes so cheap and nasty, but so nice?

I decided to look on the back of the packets of shop bought cakes that had 'buttercream', and they predictably contained no butter in the icing: in pretty much every case, it was palm oil, or hydrogenated vegetable fat. So, I took to the internet to see if people make icing with these fairly gross ingredients.

I did a search for 'buttercream with vegetable fat' or something like that, and I was brought to the official Wilton recipe for buttercream icing: it used butter and vegetable shortening in equal quantities, and lots of vanilla essence. At first, I was skeptical, not only because vegetable fat on its own is fairly disgusting, but because the vegetable fat that was being used in the video didn't resemble anything we have here in Ireland.

In the States, it seems, vegetable fat -- or shortening -- is soft and spreadable and bright white; it beats up like butter. Here, we get blocks of hard vegetable lard; it's made of the same stuff, only in a solid brick of a thing. I had utterly convinced it wouldn't whip or be beaten well like the American style stuff.

However, I got some just to try. I softened the butter and the fat to room temperature and used them both to make some vanilla buttercream icing. And, in complete honesty, I was thoroughly impressed.

Advantages

• It is very stable: it's not prone to curdling or splitting like traditional buttercream made with only butter. It also holds its shape very, very well, which makes it perfect for piping
• The combination of vegetable fat and butter is quite bland: it doesn't have as strong a buttery taste, which makes it easier to flavour. You don't need as much essence, powder, or what-have-you.
• It's cheaper: a pound of butter is about €2.40, whereas a pound of vegetable fat is half the price at €1.20. So, if you mix them in equal quantities, you save 60c per pound.
• It whips up really quickly: the vegetable fat catches more air bubbles and makes something akin to whipped cream icing, but it doesn't go off like cream does. It'd make a nice filling for fondant fancies or the like.
• It's pale, therefore easy to dye.

Disadvantages

• The butter and fat take a lot of beating to come together. You need to work them a lot with a wooden spoon and a strong wrist, or with an electric beater. HOWEVER, if going the electric option, use it to mix the butter and fat only until beaten, otherwise....
• It whips up really quickly: if you use an electric beater to mix in the icing sugar, you will end up with something that's more like whipped cream than buttercream. So when adding the icing sugar, switch to a wooden spoon.
• It's a little more greasy in mouthfeel than traditional all butter icing, and doesn't have the smoothness of butter.
• It's fairly bland if you don't add enough flavouring, because it lacks the richness of the butter. You might want to add a baseline of vanilla essence in underneath whatever flavour you're adding in.

Long story short: Make sure the butter and fat are well and tempered to room temperature. Mix the butter and fat together really well on their own first. Don't over mix once you add the icing sugar. Add vanilla essence no matter what flavour you're making it for more depth. Forgive it its slightly greasy mouthfeel.

Salted Caramel Shortbread (Wheat Free)

So, today I decided to try out a classic: Millionaire's Shortbread! I don't usually go in for making plain and simple classics, but this week I got a serious hankering for some delicious caramel shortbread.

Recently I've been making a lot of condensed milk (using a new technique which I will share at a later date) and using it to make hot chocolate on these cold winter nights, and as such I used it to make some lovely buttery caramel for my shortbread. To shake it up a little, though, I sprinkled some coarse sea-salt on the top of the chocolate.

I made a small batch using a loaf tin, which is the recipe I will share with you.

INGREDIMENTS
Makes 1 4x7 inch (10x18 centimeter) rectangle, which cuts into roughly 18 pieces

• 3 ounces (85 grammes) spelt flour

• 1 ounces (30 grammes) cornflour or rice flour

• 2 ounces (55 grammes) butter, at room temperature

• 1 ounces (30 grammes) icing sugar

For the caramel topping

• 1½ ounces (40 grammes) caster sugar

• 1½ ounces (40 grammes) butter

• 3 ounces (85 millilitres) condensed milk

• Pinch of salt

For chocolate topping

• One 3½ ounce bar (100 grammes) dark or milk chocolate

• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) sunflower oil

• Coarse sea salt

HOW-TO

• Preheat your oven to 160°C (320°F, Gas Mk.2½, or very moderate) and line the sides of a loaf tin.

• In a mixing bowl, beat the living daylights out of the butter until soft and creamy. Use a wooden spoon: it needs more elbow grease, but you have much more control over how soft you make your butter.

• Pour in the icing sugar, and cream until light and fluffy. Sieve in the flours and salt and mix until the flour is combined. It will look crumbly, but this is exactly how you want it.

• Press the dough evenly into the sandwich tin, smoothing the top with a spoon, and prick all over with a fork or skewer, and bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until set but still soft.

• On removing from the oven, put on a wire rack and allow to cool in the tin completely.

Now, make the caramel:

• In a small saucepan, melt the sugar and butter gently together over low heat. Once the sugar has dissolved, add in the condensed milk and salt.
• Once fully melted and combined, bring to a rapid boil and cook for about 2 or 3 minutes until thickened.

• Pour in on top of the shortbread. Allow to cool to room temperature before setting for about 30 minutes to an hour or until cool to touch.

Finish off with chocolate glaze:

• Once set, prepare the chocolate glaze. Melt the chocolate and oil together either in the microwave on "Defrost", or in a bowl over simmering water.

• Pour the chocolate over the top of the caramel, and allow to cool to room temperature before allowing to set in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
• When fully set, remove from the tin and cut into square, chocolate side down, with a sharp knife.

And there you are! Delicious caramel shortbread. The caramel is soft and chewy, and the coarse salt gives little savoury bursts among the sweetness.

Recipe Revision: Vanilla Fudge Recipe

Last year I published a recipe for soft vanilla fudge, which is no doubt delicious, but can at times be very temperamental. Recently I've been finding out ways of making fudge a little easier to make, and this is the resulting fudge!

Beautiful isn't it?

It turns out that the first thing I discovered is that condensed milk is actually really useful. My original recipe didn't use condensed milk, because it's quite expensive and at the time I couldn't justify the cost of using it when it's perfectly feasible to make fudge without it. But when I discovered a really simple 2 ingredient condensed milk cheat, it suddenly became a lot cheaper. So, I'm reconciled with it.

The second thing is that traditional fudge is too sugary for my liking and not rich enough. I remedied this by upping the butter amount in the recipe. Very simple, but now the flavour is a lot fuller and not as one-dimensional.

This fudge is really soft and melts in the mouth. Depending on how long you beat it for is how firm and grainy it gets: the less you beat it, the softer; the more you beat it, the firmer.

I'm going to be adapting all my previous fudge recipes using this new improved version. Stay tuned!

INGREDIMENTS

This is a large quantity that will make about 1 pound (450 grammes) of fudge, but I've found it can be easily halved or even quartered. Just be really careful when making small batches because it can burn or crystallise easily.

• 8 ounces (225 grammes) condesned milk
• 8 ounces (225 grammes) light brown sugar
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) butter
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) milk
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla or other essence

HOW-TO

• Prepare an 4 by 6 inch (10 by 15 centimeter) loaf tin by lining it with non-stick baking paper. You could also use a silicone baking tin, which needs no lining.
• In a heavy-based large saucepan, heat the all the ingredients in a heavy bottom saucepan the sugar has completely dissolved. Using a pastry brush dipped in hot water, wash the sugar crystals from the side of the pan. Alternatively, you can just pop the lid on the pan for a minute to allow the steam to wash it all away instead.
• Once the sugar has dissolved and there is no evidence of sugar crystals left, bring the mixture to the boil and once boiling clip a sugar thermometre to the side of the pan. Cook over medium-high heat until the whole thing reaches 118°C (245°F), stirring occasionally to prevent the dairy from burning to the pan.
• Once the fudge has reached temperature, take the pan from the heat and add the vanilla essence. B beat vigorously with a wooden spoon until thick, creamy and opaque. The mixture will slightly lose its shine and become more matte, and the consistency will be like freshly made Mr Whippy ice-cream. 
• Pour into your prepared tin and allow to cool at room temperature overnight.

Do not even think of setting it in the fridge: you can store it in the fridge once set, but setting the fudge in the fridge will cause crystallisation. Store in an air tight container to avoid it catching any unwanted odours or flavours.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR: The Grand Christmas Cake Creation of 2013 (Part 2)

Buttercream Icing: the King of all Icings

Buttercream icing is possibly one of the most versatile kinds of icing there is. Either spread haphazardly or
piped artistically onto a cake, it still looks and tastes great, and is very quick and easy to prepare. In fact, the only thing simpler than it is good old whipped cream, which doesn't have the same keeping power as buttercream. It's just butter, icing sugar, milk and flavouring

Due to its simplicity, buttercream icing is easily flavoured, easily used, and easily stored. If you've made too much, you can keep it in the fridge in a air-tight box and it'll keep for up to a fortnight (in my experience). However when storing exercise caution: it must be kept airtight, because it's high butter content (and thus high fat content, sorry to disappoint) makes it a magnet for unwanted tastes and odours.

But Anna - I imagine hearing you say - I'm lactose intolerant? Do I have to give up buttercream forevar? Fear not! I have a friend who is lactose intolerant, and as such making cakes for him was a worry when it came to buttercream. I discovered, however, that it works just as well with margarine instead of butter, and water instead of milk; just make sure it's the soft kind, not the block kind. Then, even as a non-dairy eater, you can enjoy the silky creaminess of buttercream icing.

Here is how to make the baker's wonder material.

INGREDIMENTS:
This will easily ice 12 fairy cakes, or ice the top and fill an 8 inch (20 centimeter) cake.

• 6 ounces (170 grammes) butter, softened to room temperature
• 12 ounces (340 grammes) icing sugar, sieved
• 2 to 3 tablespoons (30 to 45 millilitres) milk, or more if needed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence, or essence of your choice: such as peppermint or almond.

It is absolutely imperative that all the ingredients -- including the milk -- are at room temperature, otherwise the buttercream and curdle.

HOW-TO:

• Beat the butter, vanilla essence and the first tablespoon of milk with about a third of the sugar to start with, using a wooden spoon or electric hand mixer, until fully blended.
• Beat in another third of the sugar until fully blended with the second tablespoon of milk, then add the final third of sugar and beat continuously for about 3 or 4 minutes until light, fluffy and pale.
• If the mixture is too stiff to use properly, add milk a teaspoon at a time until it's just right. It should be soft, but still hold stiff peaks when the beater/wooden  spoon is pulled out of the icing.

And that, truly, is it. The awesome versatility in application and flavouring has been hailed and capitalised upon by bakers for a very long count of years. If you want to make buttercream that isn't just plain old vanilla (which, don't get me wrong, has its time and place), then here are some simple tips, taking the measurements of the above recipe in mind.


If you want an orange, lemon or other citrus icing, take 1 whole citrus and grate off its zest (you want only the orange or yellow outer layer of skin, not any of the white bit underneath – known as pith – because it’s very bitter) and add this with the first addition of icing sugar before beating. Instead of the milk, add the same amount of the citrus juice. You can keep the vanilla essence in for extra sweetness, or replace it with citrus essence for extra zing.

If you would like a chocolate icing, replace ½ ounce of the icing sugar with ½ ounce of cocoa powder. This makes a very rich, dark chocolate icing, so if you don’t like it as dark you can reduce the substitution, or use hot drinking chocolate power, which is sweeter.

If you would like a coffee icing, replace the milk with the same amount of very strong black coffee, either made with instant espresso powder or from a filter. If you're extra coffee mad, you can replace the vanilla essence with coffee essence.

For toffee or caramel icing, simply add a tablespoon of golden syrup or toffee-flavoured ice-cream sauce, which you can get from any supermarket. If you can get it, you can use butter-vanilla flavouring instead of the vanilla essence; I managed to get a few vials of such flavouring from Lidl.

For any kind of berry or soft fruit icing, such as strawberry, banana or raspberry, replace the milk with the same quantity of fruit purée (you can make this by squidging fresh or defrosted frozen fruit through a sieve) or add about an ounce of strained jam. Also, you could add some fruit flavoured ice-cream sauce, or milk-shake powder.

For coconut icing, replace the milk with the same quantity of coconut milk or juice. If you can get your hands on solid coconut milk, you can replace an ounce of the butter with the coconut milk.

For peanut flavoured icing, replace half of the butter with smooth peanut butter. If you can get your hands on any other kind of nut butter, you could use those too, such as almond, hazelnut or cashew nut. Similarly, you could substitute half the butter for any other kind of thick, sweet sandwich spread; like Nutella.

The options don't stop there! A while back I made Coca Cola flavoured buttercream on vanilla cakes, which was inspired by a recipe I read online for Coca Cola cupcakes. I tried the original recipe and it was a disaster, but I took inspiration from it to make another cake (at the time I was allergic to chocolate, so this recipe for moist chocolate cakes wouldn't have been for my consumption anyway). The Coca Cola flavoured icing was nice, but in future I think I'll reduce the cola over heat to make it thicker and more concentrated before adding it to the icing.

I hope this recipe serves you well!