Another cake? So soon?
I know, I know. I didn't intend to be doing any baking for a little while, but then our niece Maria came round for a few hours on Saturday afternoon while her mum was at the hairdressers. Hairdressers are tedious enough when you're then one getting your hair done; I can't imagine how boring it would be for a four year-old to sit and wait for all the primping and preening to be done.
So, as I'm always at a loss as to how to entertain kids older than Lucas, I suggested baking. And since it was Dave's mum's birthday, I thought that it would be particularly nice to bake her a birthday cake. Maria agreed, so we hopped into the kitchen and started making a mess not much mess at all.
I've always been a huge advocate of the importance of children learning how to bake and cook in general, so it was really nice to get a chance to put this into practice. Lucas, hurry up and grow big enough to come and cook with Mumma!
We borrowed Dave's Super Dad BBQ apron and set to work with gusto. Maria weighed everything out while I kept an eye on the display and then tipped the ingredients into the shiny KitchenAid bowl. (I never knew that the steel bowl was so much fun--we pulled all sorts of hideously distorted faces in the sides of the bowl while the cake mixed!) She even grated some of the lemon zest--"Mmmm, it smells lovely"--for me.
She wielded a spatula expertly to spread out the batter in the cake tin, then we tidied up the kitchen a little while the cake baked in the oven. Maria is a great little commis chef in the making!
Filling the roulade was great fun! Maria was well up for whipping the cream as she "had big muscles, honest!" After a couple of minutes she conceded that perhaps they weren't that big after all, so I finished it off for her. We splodged out big spoonfuls of lemon curd onto the unrolled cake and then spread them out. The whipped cream followed and Maria spread that out with the very funny palette knife. And then we crushed and splodged some very ripe and very delicious raspberries over the cream until Maria declared that there was enough.
A good time was had by all! Maria was proud as punch when she presented her cake to Nanny and even happier when she realised how good it tasted!
Maria starts giggling just as the flash goes off. Auntie Ang hovers in the background in case the cake goes splat!
Lemon-raspberry roulade
For the cake base (adapted from a Delia Smith recipe):
50g unsalted butter, very soft
110g golden caster sugar
110g self-raising flour, sifted
finely grated zest of one lemon
2 large eggs
icing sugar, to dust
Preheat oven to. Grease and base-line a Swiss roll tin (32 x 23cm, approximately).
Place all ingredients in a large bowl and whisk together with a hand-held whisk for about 2 minutes until well-combined. Add a tablespoon (15ml) of hot (not boiling) water and whisk again briefly.
Spread evenly in the prepared tin and bake for 8-10 minutes until springy. Don't open the oven until the 8 minutes are up.
Leave to cook in tin for 5 minutes. Meanwhile spread a tea towel out on your worksurface, place a sheet of baking parchment over that--slightly longer than the baking tin, and sift a layer of icing sugar over that.
Invert the tin over the prepared baking parchment. Peel off the lining paper and leave to cool for another five minutes before rolling up using the baking parchment as a guide. Roll the ensuing paper sausage up inside the tea towel and leave to cool.
For the filling:
jar of very good quality lemon curd
300ml double cream
a punnet of raspberries
Whisk the cream until soft peaks form. Set aside.
Unroll the roulade and spread it with a generous layer of lemon curd. We had about 1/4 of the jar left. Follow this with three-quarters of the whipped cream; spread out evenly. Top this with most of the raspberries, saving 8 of the best-looking ones for decoration. Make sure to press the berries into the cream.
Using the paper to help, carefully roll the roulade back up. Transfer to a serving plate.
Add a couple of spoonfuls of lemon curd to the remaining cream and whisk together until stiff peaks form. Transfer to a piping bag with a star nozzle or, if you can't find your piping bag, to a small ziplock sandwich bag and cut off the corner. Pipe eight rosettes of the lemon cream along the centre of the roulade. Top with the reserved raspberries.
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Comments
I'm volunteering Maria to your baking services until she discovers make up & boys! (At at least 30)
Lovely to see you both having so much fun in the kitchen, and the end result was absolutely gorgeous! The pictures don't do it justice, you have to taste it!
The lemon and raspberries were a perfect combination. I don't think I'm brave enough to attempt this wonderful creation at home, but feel free to pass on anything for tasting!! Big kisses from Aunty to Lucas!xxx
1. Posted by Aunty Rach on June 6, 2008
Mmmm...I've never made a roulade and the flavorings look perfect!
2. Posted by fran on June 7, 2008
Your litle niece is adorable! And the cake looks great, too.
3. Posted by Alison on July 5, 2008