Chocolate and passionfruit cake

I was looking for inspiration for a birthday cake recently and came across this recipe for a Chocolate layer cake with passion fruit icing | BBC Good Food.

Mine turned out slightly differently (I only made two layers and I spread the buttercream out rather than piping it for a more ‘rustic’ feel as I ran out of time!) but it was absolutely delicious and I have received more requests for this recipe than anything else I’ve made so I strongly suggest trying it! It went very well with vanilla cupcakes and GF Bakewell Slice | miss suzylee.

(all photo credits miss suzylee)

GF Bakewell Slice

birthday baking

I always like to have a gluten free option when I bake for parties so no-one has to feel like they are missing out – this time I decided to make a Bakewell slice traybake. It was a big winner and soon disappeared, not just being eaten by the GF guests!

Ingredients

Pastry base:

125g gluten free plain flour

1 tsp xanthan gum

30g icing sugar

50g butter

1 free range egg yolk

Filling:

120g butter

115g caster sugar

4 free range eggs, beaten

125g ground almonds

1/4 tsp almond extract

160g raspberry jam

Topping:

25g flaked almonds

75g sifted icing sugar

3 tbsp boiled water

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180/160 fan/gas mark 4. Line a 20x30cm shallow baking tin with baking parchment.
2. Pastry base: sift the flour, xanthan gum and icing sugar into a large bowl, add the butter and rub in until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and 2 tbsp cold water and mix together with a knife until the mixture comes together in beads. Gather into a ball, wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.
3. Once chilled, remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out between two sheets of baking parchment (the mixture will be very sticky and this stops it sticking to the side or the rolling pin). Place the rolled out pastry into the baking tin and press gently into the corners.
4. Bake for 10 minutes then remove and leave to cool (leave the oven on).
5. Filling:  Beat the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes using an electric whisk on a high setting). Gradually beat in the eggs on a medium speed then fold in the ground almonds and almond extract until combined.
6. Spread the jam over the pastry base, then spoon the filling over the jam and sprinkle with the flaked almonds.
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin, then carefully remove from the tin.
8. Topping: Mix the icing sugar with the boiled water to make a runny paste, then drizzle over the Bakewell slice. Leave to set, the cut into squares and serve.