This is one of Mary Berry's most recent recipes, appearing in her latest TV series, the book that goes with it and in several places on the internet, one of which you can see here. I was dying to have a go at making it but was so busy with other stuff that I had to put it on the back burner, so to speak, until I had the time.
Come Easter time I finally got around to it. I decided to fill and top the cake with a lemon buttercream, and to decorate with some fruity mini eggs and triangles of a newly discovered find in a French supermarket; a chocolate bar called Blond.
As it turned out it this chocolate tastes absolutely like Caramac. A Caramac bar was a real treat when I was a little girl and its unique caramel flavour is to die for. I haven't seen it in the shops for years although to be fair, I haven't been looking - the confectionary aisle of any supermarket is out of bounds, being far too dangerous.
I was not too chuffed when I took the cakes out of the oven as they didn't look very enticing. A good slathering with lemon buttercream improved matters!
It had an excellent, even crumb and was nice and moist, as it was bound to be with the grated apple in it. I shall certainly be making this one again very soon although I think next time just a filling of lemon curd and a dusting of icing sugar might be enough without the buttercream, just like an apple Victoria sponge, which is what it is really.
Ingredients
225g baking spread, straight from the fridge
225g caster sugar
225g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 large eggs, beaten
2 dessert apples, such as granny smith or golden delicious, peeled, cored and grated
For the buttercream
1 lemon, zest only
100g butter, softened
200g icing sugar
a splash of milk
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C / 160 Fan / gas mk 4. Butter and line the bases of two 20cm sponge tins.
Put all the cake ingredients except for the grated apple into a large bowl and beat with an electric hand held whisk until well combined. Fold in the grated apple.
Divide the mixture between the two tins, level the top and bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool in the tins.
To make the buttercream, sift the icing sugar into a large bowl to make sure there are no lumps. Beat in the butter until smooth and then beat in the lemon zest. Add a splash of milk if needed if the mixture is too stiff.
When the cakes are cold, release from the tins and sandwich together with half of the buttercream, spreading the rest on the top.
Decorate as you prefer!
Cuts into 8-10 slices.
That looks like a fine Easter cake. I'd much rather have a slice of that than another bit of mass-produced chocolate egg. I seem to remember Caramac being a slightly strange beige colour and tasting REALLY sweet. But - and this may be good or bad news - I think I saw Caramac buttons on sale in a supermarket recently.
ReplyDeleteCaramac is really sweet, as I recall. And buttons.....oh dear.....I shall not rest until I have bought some......
DeleteI think you can also still get Caramac bars. This sounds delicious. I've just bought the new Mary Berry book and make her version of the cake, which was also delicious.
ReplyDeleteSnowy, I bought a bag of Caramac buttons as mentioned by Phil above and have to say I was disappointed. They tasted so sweet and sickly that after only two or three of them each we threw the bag away.
DeleteI don't remember them being quite that sweet, unless my memory is wrong (or tastes changed). The French chocolate is much, much nicer.