Boston Cream Pie

Another one of those I-have-no-idea-what-I'm-baking-but-I'll-try-it-anyway-especially-since-it-contains-chocolate baking attempts. The Boston Creme Pie (another Nigella recipe), is basically a sponge sandwich with a creme patissiere filling and a chocolate ganache icing.

It took a bit of work to make it, since it involved first making the sponges, then the creme patissiere,

then the ganache, then putting them together. Not being very skilled at making sponges, I made one bigger then the other, AND proceeded to put the bigger piece on top of the smaller piece, which caused it to be unbalanced and really hard to ice as the creme patissiere kept oozing out from the centre, and the top piece kept sliding around. But it was totally fun to make and absolutely delicious to eat. Something I will definitely try again.

A London Cheesecake

We've all heard of a New York Cheesecake, but what's a London Cheesecake? Turns out this is a recipe from Nigella's family. What's special about it is the layer of sour-cream icing used to finish the cake off.

Unlike the Madeira Cake which was easy peasy to make, this was rather more complicated, and involved, amongst other things, a water bath in the oven for the cake (see picture to the right). I was afraid it might turn out wrong because I didn't have a cake pan of the right size (my pan was too big).

But I needn't have worried - the result was a rich, creamy, smooth slice of heaven, with just the right touch of sourness. My husband loved it. I suppose having the right sized pan would've given me a thicker sour-cream layer at the top. Must try this again, hopefully with the right pan.

A Madeira Experiment

The great thing about baking is that I'm trying out cakes that i would otherwise never order (or even try at a party).  One example is Madeira Cake. I had no idea what it was and how it would taste when I decided to try Nigella's "My Mother-in-law's Madeira Cake" (in January - have been too busy to blog about it till now)! The only hint I had was the lemons that were part of the recipe, and the only reason I made it was that it seemed to be one of the simplest recipes in the book.  So I thought I would experiment. If I didn't like it, I could always give it to my obliging brothers... 

The fragrance of the eggs and lemons wafting from the kitchen was the first sign that this adventure would be worth it. And indeed it was. I discovered a moist golden yellow eggy lemony (but not overwhelmingly) tea-time loaf cake.  Perfect for tea-time with some milk or tea. 

I read that it goes well with custard. I didn't have any. But I had some left-over sour cream chocolate icing in the fridge.  So in the spirit of risk-taking, I tried some, and it was great! 

It was a worthwhile experiment. In the end I didn't have any cake to give my brothers...