Cake that keeps fresh - help please!

headintheclouds

Hi,

I want to make my sis a cake for her 40th birthday, which is on Sunday. We're going away for a long weekend on Thursday, and the only time I have to make the cake is tomorrow evening. I want to make a plain cake rather than fruit but I'm concerned it may be past its best by Sunday. I know I could buy a shop-made one later in the week but they are not as nice and are usually full of preservatives and e-numbers which are no good for the children - and it's much nicer if you take time and trouble over something yourself.

I'd really appreciate some advice on what kind of cake to make so that it's not all hard and stale by Sunday. I'm moving house soon too and my recipe books are all packed, so a link to a recipe would be great too.

Hope you can help.

Thanks!

conspirator

Total novice guess here but maybe Christmas cake type ingredients such as dried fruits etc.

Have a great day

shegha

Are you planning on icing the cake? If so this will would keep for upto a week. You could alway bake freeze then add a butter cream or chocolate coating.
What sort of cake does you sister like?

Penelope_Penguin

I make plain sponge cakes often. To be thrifty, I bake one when I have the oven on, then leave it in the cake tin until I'm ready to ice, which may be a few days later. It's always still fresh, and when I asked DH he thinks they even improve.

Recipe for single layer, 20cm cake:

100g Flora
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
100g SR flour

HTH, Penny. x

headintheclouds

Thanks everyone.

Definitely plain cake required. I don't like fruit cake and there will be lots of children around, most of whom prefer plain. Can't freeze it because my house was flooded, I'm living in a hotel at the moment and I'm just borrowing a friend's kitchen for the evening. Life is complicated, isn't it?

The cake tin tip sounds a good one. Hope my friend doesn't mind losing her tins for a few days. Mine are all packed in the storage room.

Thanks again.

celyn90

I'm sure it will be fine too. I did a soft chocolate one for a friends wedding recently - cooked on Tuesday morning eaten on Sunday. All I did was leave it in the tin (like PP does) then wrap the whole thing thickly in cling film to keep the moisture in. When you come to ice it spreading it really thinly with jam first - warm it so it's runny - can also help to keep it moist . cel x

Tao81

If you make this Nigella Lawson Chocolate Fudge Cake you will be sure of a fabulously moist success - it tastes divine too!
It seems that the chocolate fudge icing seals in the freshness for days until it is ready to be cut for eating.
A large cake too, so plenty for both adults and children at a family party.

For the cake:

400g Plain Flour
250g Golden Caster Sugar
100g Light Muscovado Sugar
50g best quality cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
142ml/small tub sour cream
1tbsp vanilla extract
175g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
125ml corn oil
300ml chilled water

For the fudge icing:
175g dark chocolate, min 70% cocoa solids
250g unsalted butter, softened
275g icing sugar, sifted
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / Gas Mark 4
Butter and line the bottom of two 20cm sandwich tins
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb and salt.
In another bowl or wide-necked measuring jug whisk together the eggs, sour cream and vanilla until blended.
Using a freestanding or handheld electric mixer, beat together the melted butter and corn oil until just blended (you'll need another large bowl for this if using the hand whisk; the freestanding mixer comes with its own bowl), then beat in the water.
Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix together on a slow speed.
Add the egg mixture, and mix again until everything is blended and then pour into the prepared tins. And actually, you could easily do this manually; I just like my toys and find the KitchenAid a comforting presence in itself.
Bake the cakes for 50-55 minutes, or until a cake-tester comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their tins on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto the rack to cool completely.
To make the icing, melt the chocolate in the microwave - 2-3 minutes on medium should do it - or in a bowl sitting over a pan of simmering water, and let cool slightly.
In another bowl beat the butter until it's soft and creamy (again, I use the KitchenAid here) and then add the sieved icing sugar and beat again until everything's light and fluffy. I know sieving is a pain, the one job in the kitchen I really hate, but you have to do it or the icing will be unsoothingly lumpy. Then gently add the vanilla and chocolate and mix together until everything is glossy and smooth.
Sandwich the middle of the cake with about a quarter of the icing, and then ice the top and sides too, spreading and smoothing with a rubber spatula.

Serves 10 (or 1 with a broken heart!)

taken from 'Nigella Bites' p47

For anyone who really doesn't have time to do all this, a big cheat is to rush along to your local Sainsbury store, there you will find a chocolate fudge cake covered in chocolate icing that is really good and stays fresh for over a week until cut. It only costs about £5.99 - a steal!

However, if you can find the time and equipment to make Nigella's cake you are sure to be a huge success. Just note people's faces when you tell them you made it yourself - they won't want to believe it! It's that good, honestly, you'll feel so proud of yourself, it's well worth the effort!:D

Have a great day on Sunday.
Hope this has helped?

Love
Jane xx

morganlefay

I was going to suggest a lemon drizzle cake because all that lemony sugarpoured into it will keep it nice and squidgy, but I think Nigella's choc fudge sounds MUCH nicer :T

mrbadexample

Nigella's just a pretender!

What you need is a Chocolate Yoghurt Cake, as recommended by MBE!

It needs 2-3 days in foil to improve, so if you make it tomorrow, it's actually getting better while you wait. By Sunday, it will be perfect! It keeps for up to a week in foil, apparently, although I've never let it get that old.
It's plain, and could be tarted up a bit with some icing if you wanted.

headintheclouds

Thanks everyone,

I took on board the tips I'd read before I had to start making the cake, used a choc cake recipe my friend recommended, using oil rather than butter, and will now wrap it in lots of clingfilm. My mouth is watering from the descriptions of the Nigella cake and the choc yogurt cake. I will definitely try both of those as soon as I have a kitchen of my own again.

Isn't it great that you can ask a question on this forum and you get so many kind and helpful answers? I really appreciate the time you've taken to help me - and I'm sure my sis and the rest of the family will appreciate the cake. Next step is to work out whether 40 candles will fit!;)

Tao81

Good Luck Headintheclouds Hun. Hope the party goes well..........Not sure the 40 candles is a good idea!:eek: Especially as your cake will be really lovely and outrageously moist!;) Danger of it sinking under all that weight!.....
.....I'd go for just the two myself - A big four and a big zero!

Mrbadexample- you have no idea of what you're missing sweetie!
I defy anyone who tries it not to have full on chocolate sex!:p

Happy cooking and wishing you back into your own kitchen very soon.


P.S. Yeah this site is fantastic! Martin deserves a medal doesn't he?!:A
I liked the suggestion on another thread of 'Martin for Prime Minister'

cya x