Sunday 10 July 2011

Brown Sugar Fresh Fruit Cake


Sorry I've been so rubbish with my blog lately. I thought that after I'd finished my exams, I'd have loads of time to bake and blog and read things and occasionally do Other Meaningful Things.

But I was wrong!

Investment banking internships take up a lot of time :(

Especially when you have to be in work by 6.45am. (And no, we don't get to leave at 5pm). However, I quite like what I'm doing and learning...

I think.
I hope....
I pray.

I mean, I better, since I have 8 more weeks to go. So, sorry for not catching up with reading your blogs out there, but don't sorry I still click through and drool over the photos! :) Oh, and thanks for those recommendations about places to eat on my last post, hopefully one day I'll actually get to try some of those places out!




I made this cake for one of my best friend's birthday just over a week ago. I was my first week of my internship, so I was still getting relatively okish amounts of sleep, so I had energy to bake (the sugar may have also had something to do with it...). However, I did not have the energy to look up a recipe.

So I made one up!

This is how it went:

1) Guess the amounts for a simple sponge cake and chuck that into a mixing bowl.
2) Realise that I don't have any white sugar left, so use a mixture of dark brown sugar and icing sugar.
3) Think that I guesstimated the quantities wrong, so add another egg.
4) Realise that I used plain flour instead of self raising. Hastily add baking power.

5) Realise that I forgot to turn the oven on.
6) Turn oven on.

7) Think that it's not sweet enough. Add more sugar. 
8) Think that it's not solid enough. Add more flour.
9) Oops, too much flour. Add another egg.
10) Give up. Pour mixture into mixing bowl.
11) Realise that I forgot to turn the main switch for the hob/oven. 
12) Bang head on table.


A very long time later...


I iced it!

And then my friend (who whipped the cream, very expertly I might say :) and I added fruits that we had in the fridge. It turned out quite out I think. 

Despite the hiccups and my inability to work an oven (slightly worrying considering the amount I bake), it was really yummy! I really like the recipe so I'm going to post it up :)

Not that I'm blowing on own trumpet or anything. 

Only thing is, when I made it I didn't weigh anything out. And because it was over a week ago that I made this I don't really remember how much I put of of everything. So the following recipe is a guesstimate of a guesstimate, so you should probably take it with a pinch of salt (Aha! That reminds me! I added a pinch of salt to the recipe! Total genuis).


I hope you all have a good weekend and week, I'm off to read about share prices in Chinese gas companies, but hope to see you here soon :)




p.s. I do still love reading your comments by the way :) even though I don't have time to reply to all of them :(

p.p.s. if you have an internship in the City this summer, I hope that it is going well :)


Brown sugar fresh fruit cream cake
Recipe hastily remembered from the back of my mind

Prep time: about 30 minutes

Please please please play around with the quantities, I didn’t use scales so I can’t remember what I made up. This is a guesstimate. Please don’t blame me.

Cake
4 eggs
250g/8oz butter
200g/7 oz plain flour
100g/4oz icing sugar
100g/4oz dark brown sugar
2 tbsp baking powder
pinch of salt
dash of milk

Toppings
500ml double cream, whipped with 50g icing sugar
Various fresh fruit

Turn the oven on the 180C/350F.

Cream the butter and the sugar, and add the eggs. When you whisk it, it might look curdle-y. Don’t worry about this. Sift in the flour, and add the baking powder, salt and dash of milk.

Pour into a greased ovenproof cake tin, and bake for about 45 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Leave the cake to cool (you can put it in the fridge), then carefully slice into 3 horizontally.

Whip the cream, gradually adding the icing sugar, until it forms soft peaks. Spread this between the layers and around the outside. Add various fruits (I used banana for the inside, and strawberries, oranges, and pineapples for the topping. And also a cheeky little bit of sprinkles around the outside).

37 comments:

  1. I love the look of this cake! Particularly your mid-icing shot. Thanks for sharing the recipe..I don't mind a little guessing either..it makes me feel like a real chef ;)

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  2. Delicious looking cake. I'm following you. Have a nice weekend.

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  3. This is a very pretty cake! I bet it's tasty.

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  4. What a lovely cake! Good luck with your internship

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  5. The cake looks really nice. Glad to hear you are surviving the internship and I am sure you will learn a lot, not just work related stuff but also other aspects such as endurance/pushing yourself to the limit, working and staying focused with lack of sleep, handling copious amounts of alcohol etc:)

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  6. You are so funny! I would not even dream of making a cake by estimation on the spur of the moment! You are really something! And your cake is really beautiful! Great job!
    Glad to know that you are enjoying your internship despite the long hours! 8 weeks more to enjoy...
    time really flies by when you are having "fun"! Have a great week, Xinmei!

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  7. Glad to hear your internship is going well. It is difficult to find time to blog. I always feel guilty when I don't get to other's blogs to comments. But I think most bloggers totally understand.

    Your cake looks beautiful and delicious. I have a recipe for brown sugar cake which I had never heard of before and am looking forward to trying even more after seeing yours. Looking forward to your recipe too:)

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  8. This cake looks so pretty and I love the fruit toppings :D)!!

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  9. Who doesn't want to have such a tempting cake!! I am drooling! Great recipe, dear. Thanks for sharing this. Shall visit again very soon!

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  10. Sounds like your internship is going great! The cake not only looks so beautiful it looks delicious as well!!

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  11. wow you always make amazing cakes don't worry about comments lovie studies first hugs

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  12. i love sweets, fatastic cake^^

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  13. Hi Xinmei! What a pretty girly cake! I love it! Wa... you have to be in work by 6:45am! It must be tough waking up. Good luck with your internship!!

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  14. This cake is beautiful and seriously, isn't anything covered in cream and fruit wonderful to eat? Good luck with the internship. We'll all be waiting so take care of yourself.

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  15. What a beautiful cake! You are working SO hard. Good thing you have a little time for fun!

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  16. So pretty! I think it's wonderful that you were able to just whip up a cake with no recipe- I'm not that imaginative! So glad your internship is going well. :)

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  17. beautiful cake! wowow, love the three tier cake and the decor. :D didn't know u were in IB!!! kudos to you!

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  18. Great job with this cake, Xinmei! It looks really yummy! I've never had a brown sugar cake before, but I bet it tastes as good as it looks! Glad everything's going well with your internship! I feel so guilty about not getting posts out too. But life gets in the way sometimes :) We do what we can, right? :) Great post!

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  19. Well done with all of those challenges! And you must be exhausted which makes this cake baking such a sweet gesture! :D

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  20. Mmmm looks well tasty! Give me a slice right now with an espresso and I'll be in heaven!!!

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  21. I love inventive spirit in the kitchen! You go! As long as it tasted good, who's to complain? I'm sure some of the best meals have been done by the seat of the pants and a prayer to the kitchen gods!

    Glad you're rockin' the internship! Keep it up!

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  22. Wow the internship sounds intense but amazing if it's interesting for you - good luck! This cake is so pretty, I love the sprinkles round the edge :)

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  23. I could never "hastily" throw together a recipe like this, haha. You seriously made a gorgeous cake for one that came together so dramatically in the kitchen, lol. Good luck with the internship! I totally know how that can be :)

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  24. wow that looks heavenly, and so sinful :)

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  25. good to see you're still keeping it up, and that investment banking hasn't destroyed your soul yet =P

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  26. Wow, nice cake. Would love to have this....hungry now...lol!

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  27. My goodness, this looks like absolute perfection to me. The colours are sensational, and the interior looks really moist and delicious.
    Give me!!!
    *kisses* HH

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  28. For a guesstimate of a guesstimate, this cake sure looks lovely! I'd be too scared to play around with the recipe in case it doesn't turn out exactly like yours. Glad that you're so focused about your internship. But you have to be in at 6.45am, what kind of job is that? In my early days, we had to come in at 6am! Haha, I'm pulling your leg...just enjoy it while you're there, sweetie ;-).

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  29. Such a beautiful cake with lovely fruit toppings. Your cake looks heavenly. Very nicely done!

    http://spoon-and-chopsticks.blogspot.com/

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  30. oh my gosh...it's such a BEAUTIFUL cake!!! No one would ever know you had any problems in making it!

    you have to be at work at 6:45 a.m.?? Yikes! :)

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  31. Xinmei appears to have been too modest to mention the little voting button for the Dorset Cereals blog awards on the top right - get voting people!

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  32. Yummy! I especially love the sprinkles at the bottom.

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  33. Wow! I must say you are very good in guesstimate, your cake sure turned out looking very good! Yum!

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  34. Love that close up shot of the slice on the plate, quite mouthwatering!

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  35. Oh yum this looks delicious, i love how youve decorated it as well it looks so pretty!

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  36. Wow - this came out a stunner! Fresh fruit works so well with sponge - and obviously, with cream too!

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