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).