Psychedelic Rainbow Swirl Lollipop Cake

Woaaah. This cake is a bit of an attack on the eyeballs isn't it? But I love it so much. I think this may be my favourite cake that I've made this year. Yes, even more than the Pocky Cake. Last week was Regex Man's birthday, and in case you don't remember, he has been the recipient of some of my craziest cakes; the Mint Chocolate Chip Cake, the Rainbow Cake with jelly beans and the Fudge Brownie Cookie Dough Cake, just to name a few. He was also the inspiration behind my beloved Fruit Tingle Cake i.e. pretty much the best icing I have ever made. He has a sweet tooth that rivals my own, and I always feel like I can go super over the top on his cakes and he'll love it.

But this year I was completely out of ideas. I've been in a creative baking rut for a while now, and I keep having to force myself out of it. I looked to the internets for inspiration in my time of need. I came across this visually stunning but seriously simple decorating technique from Hungry Happenings and immediately loved it. I decided it would be a perfect idea for this cake since last year I put a rainbow inside the cake, and this time I would put a rainbow on the outside. I'm also a big fan of Katherine Sabbath (if you're not following her on instagram, you should be) and remembered her gorgeous lollipop-covered cake and realised that rainbow lollipops would be the perfect topper for this particular cake. This cake is exactly the type kind of cake I like to bake because it's so impressive looking but is actually relatively straight-forward to make. And there's rainbows and lollies and popping candy. I love how the swirling icing matches the lollipops so that it kinda looks like the lollipops are melting all over the cake.

I simplified the swirling rainbow decoration on the top of the cake by using royal icing instead of white chocolate ganache. It was less work, quicker to set and I think it helps ensure a brighter colour since you're working with a bright white icing as the base rather than a semi-translucent white chocolate ganache. I definitely suggest using gel colouring if you want to achieve the same brightness of colours in your royal icing. No innards shot of the cake, but it was fairly simple; a vanilla layer cake with Fruit Tingle Icing in between the layers and vanilla icing on the outside. Just so you know, I sat and ate the whole of that huge lollipop at the back while watching the Lego Movie. It was pretty great.

Psychedelic Rainbow Swirl Lollipop Cake

(makes a tall 3-layer 6" cake or a shorter 7" cake, icing idea adapted from this recipe)

For the cake:

355g (about 2.5 cups) plain/all-purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

225ml (about 1 cup minus 1 tbsp) milk

2 tsp vanilla extract or scraped seeds from 2 vanilla bean pods

350g (about 1 & 3/4 cups) sugar (granulated or caster)

225g (2 sticks) butter, softened

4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease three 15cm (6 inch) (or 18cm (7 inch), cake will be shorter) round cake tins. Line the base of the tins with baking paper. 
2. Combine flour and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside. Mix milk and vanilla together in a measuring jug.
3. Using an electric mixer on low speed, beat sugar and butter in a large bowl until blended. Increase speed to high and beat well until very pale and creamy, at least 5 minutes. 
4. Reduce speed to medium low, add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. Alternately add flour mix and milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture (I did it by adding 1/4 of of the dry mixture followed by 1/3 of the wet mixture at a time). Beat until smooth, occasionally scraping bowl with a spatula. 
6. Split mixture equally between prepared tins and smooth top with a spatula (I usually do this accurately by weighing the batter first)
7. Bake until a skewer inserted into the centre just comes out clean and the outside is golden, about 35-40 minutes (will vary depending on your cake tin size). Take cake not to overbake or cake will be dry. 
8. Cool in tins for 15 minutes, then carefully turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely. Keep cakes wrapped in clingfilm and chilled in fridge until you are ready to assemble. Can be stored in an airtight container overnight if you want to prep the cakes a day ahead.

For the vanilla icing:

800g (about 6 1/2 cups) icing (powdered) sugar, sifted (or blitzed in the food processor)

400g (about 3.5 sticks) butter (I use salted, add about 1/2 tsp of salt if you use unsalted)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2- 4 tbsp milk adjusted to taste/consistency
Optional: 2-3 rolls of Fruit Tingles or any other fizzy tablet candies like Bottle Caps or Smarties (not the chocolate covered candy with the same name), SweeTarts or Barratt's Refreshers

1. Prepare the icing; remove butter from fridge 30 mins before starting and chop into small cubes. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter on high with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy. 
2. Reduce speed to medium-low and gradually add icing sugar until combined, add vanilla then increase speed to high and beat until very pale and fluffy. 
3. Gradually add milk until you reach desired texture, you may need to add more icing sugar if your mixture is too runny, or more milk if you mixture is too stiff. The icing should be smooth and easily spreadable, but stiff enough to hold its shape.
4. Optional: Separate 1/3 of icing mixture in a separate mixing bowl. Place Fruit Tingles in a food processor and blitz until it breaks down to small crumb-sized pieces. Using an electric mixer, gradually beat fruit tingle pieces into the icing, adding to taste.
5. To assemble cake; remove cake layers from the fridge and use a long shape knife (preferably serrated) to carefully trim the tops of the cake to ensure they are level. Flip your cake layers upside down before assembling.
6. Place one layer on your cake stand and use an offset spatula to spread a thick layer of icing (I used the Fruit Tingle icing for the filling of this cake) over the top of the cake. Repeat with remaining cake and more icing.
7. Crumb coat cake and then chill for about half an hour, then cover with remaining icing (plain vanilla) and smooth with offset spatula.
8. Chill cake to set icing, and prepare royal rainbow icing below.

For the royal rainbow icing:

Note: can be replaced with storebought royal icing mixture if you prefer (like this)

1 large egg white (can be replaced with 2.5 tbsp meringue/eggwhite powder + 5 tbsp water)

2 cups (about 250g) sifted icing/confectioner's sugar

Juice from 1/2 lemon

Food colouring (I used Wilton gel colours to achieve a more vibrant colour without using too much colouring)
To decorate: rainbow lollipops in a variety of sizes and shapes

1. Place egg white in a medium mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer to form soft peaks. 
2. Add icing sugar and lemon juice and stir with a spatula to combine. 
3. If icing is too thick, add water 1 tsp at a time; if it is too thin, add more icing sugar. You want your mixture to be a thick but still running paste, if it is too thin it will run right off the cake and if it is too thick it won't mix and drip down the sides.
4. Split mixture into 6-7 bowls and add colour to each bowl. I did yellow, orange, red, pink, purple, blue and green.
5. Carefully drizzle small amounts of each colour over the top of the cake. I started from the centre and worked my way out, this makes it easier to gauge when there is enough icing for it to just start over-flowing around the edge of the cake. Some of the icing may pool around the bottom of the cake stand, you can either leave it or attempt to wipe it up but it may get messy. (Another option is to place strips of baking paper around the edges of the cake so that it catches the excess without messing up your plate). This gif might help give you an idea of how it should look.
6. Chill cake until ready to serve, then remove from the fridge 30 minutes before serving and decorate with lollipops. I also decorated the bottom of the cake with some rainbow popping candy.

Rhubarb & Ginger Cordial with Mint & Raspberry Ice

I had a pretty awful week last week and it was bloody hot over the weekend, so the last thing I wanted to do was turn on my oven and bake something. I was dreaming about popsicles and icy, cool refreshments. So you'll have to excuse me for not having a dessert recipe for you this week, but instead a lovely homemade cordial that will not only make a great cold drink, but is also a fantastic cocktail mixer and will make some pretty delicious popsicles too.

A few months ago I saw David Lebovitz's fresh ginger syrup recipe and knew that I needed to make it. Anything ginger is up my alley. I've made the original recipe many times and it is fantastic as is, I totally recommend you try it. There was obviously no point reposting his version here, but this week I had a fresh bunch of rhubarb to play around with as well, so I decided to try a version with a bit of a twist.

While dreaming about my wonderfully cold drinks, I kept imagining cups mixed with fresh raspberries. It might seem a little excessive when you consider the price of fresh raspberries, but it looks so pretty and is so perfect for summer. So I made up a batch of ice cubes with fresh raspberries and bits of fresh mint leaves frozen into them. SO PRETTY. I included instructions below but it seems a bit silly to be writing instructions on how to make ice.

Yep, I couldn't resist pulling out my heart-shaped ice cube tray for this. And then I realised Valentines Day is coming up shortly, so I guess this would be a great idea for that...even though I usually tend to avoid anything heart-shaped for the day because it's so overdone and cheesy. We don't really celebrate it in my house since my husband hates the day, but feel free to use this idea for your Valentine.

Once the ice melts you have the mint which makes a great extra flavouring for the drink and you can eat the raspberries. Pretty AND helpful. I didn't have any booze in the house so I couldn't test it out as a cocktail but I imagine it would be fantastic. Rhubarb and ginger always work great together, however this is definitely a drink for people who are already a big fan of ginger (as it's rather spicy).

I love the light pink hue the rhubarb gives the drinks when you mix it up (it's quite a bright pink in its concentrated form, which is also great). I definitely think it's worth making this up with the fancy ice cubes, and it looks so pretty in my shiny new blue-green jug and glass set! This set is actually the very first thing I bought for my new house. Not something useful like a washing machine or a bed; I bought a jug with matching glasses. I was standing there staring at the pretty blue-green glass and imagining how great they would be for serving cold drinks on my sunny new porch, so I had to get them. Of course I need to get some tables and chairs for my porch and to get rid of my ridiculous mosquito situation before I can actual realise this dream, but at least I have the pretty glasses.

Homemade Rhubarb & Ginger Cordial

(adapted from David Lebovitz's Fresh Ginger Syrup recipe, makes about 2 cups/0.5L)

200g fresh ginger, unpeeled (you can peel it if you prefer, but my ginger was very young so it didn't need to be removed)

200g chopped rhubarb pieces (about 2cm thick pieces)

4 cups (1L) water

450g (2 1/4 cups) sugar

Pinch of salt

1. Chop ginger into thin slices, then run knife over the slices to roughly chop it into smaller pieces.
2. Place chopped ginger, rhubarb,  water, sugar and salt in a large saucepan. Heat to a boil, then reduce the heat to a steady simmer, and cook for 45 minutes to one hour.
3. Let cool, then strain the cordial through a fine-mesh strainer. Store the strained cordial in the refrigerator, covered, until ready to use. (I kept mine in an airtight bottle) It should keep for about 2 weeks in the fridge.
4. To serve; Mix cordial with water or soda/sparkling water and a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice. Add some mint and raspberry ice cubes (directions below) if you want to pretty it up. Adjust amount of cordial to taste, I think a good ratio of cordial to water is about 1:3 depending on how sweet you want it. Will also make a great cocktail mixer or can be mixed with water to make some fantastic popsicles.

Fresh Mint & Raspberry Ice Cubes

1 punnet fresh raspberries

A small bunch of fresh mint leaves

1. In your ice cube trays (heart-shaped ones are great for this), place one raspberry per ice cube space, or a rip up a few small pieces of mint leaf. 
2. Fill trays carefully with water, you may need to gently press the raspberries down with a fork to remove any big air bubbles.
3. Freeze until ready to serve, at least 4 hours.

Chocolate Buttermilk Waffles with Fresh Mint Ice Cream

It was about time I got more use out of our waffle maker! I had leftover buttermilk and cream from last week's epic baking efforts, so the only thing I bought was a bunch of fresh mint and I had all the making of waffles with homemade, no-churn ice cream. I shared Lisa's awesome no-churn ice cream recipe with you not too long ago. It really is a time-saver, so long as you're not averse to the slight tint of flavour from the sweetened condensed milk.

I based the waffle recipe on a plain buttermilk recipe, replacing some of the flour with cocoa powder. However I did find them a little too salty and not quite sweet enough because of the addition of cocoa so I've adjusted the amounts in the recipe below to fix that. You definitely still need to serve it with something sweet and light like the mint ice cream. The buttermilk does it's job of keeping the waffles wonderfully fluffy and soft while still crisp on the outside thanks to the wonders of wafflemakers.

I know a lot of people commented on the last no-churn ice cream recipe about the strong condensed milk flavour in the ice cream. Unfortunately that's the cost of using a no-churn recipe that still stays as smooth as a normal ice cream, but I did try to tone down the strength of the condensed milk flavour by infusing the condensed milk with fresh mint leaves in this recipe. I've always wanted to try making fresh mint ice cream. As much as I love mint flavouring, I really did enjoy the subtle flavour of fresh mint in this ice cream. Of course there's nothing stopping you from using peppermint extract/essence instead, or creme de menthe if you want to get some green colour into the ice cream as well.

I made the ice cream so quickly on Friday evening after work that I totally forgot to take any progress shots and didn't even save a single leaf of fresh mint for the photos. So you'll just have to take my word for it that the ice cream is well-infused with the flavour. I was a little worried that the condensed milk would overpower the light flavour of the mint leaves especially while tasting the warm mixture, but after freezing it overnight I found the flavour was just the right amount of mint for me. You don't want it to be too strong as it's quite herby, if you know what I mean. If you like it strong you could always blend up the leaves into the mixture rather than straining them out.

I served my waffles with a drizzled of warm melted chocolate mixed with a tiny bit of cream, you could also make chocolate awesomesauce or plain melted chocolate. I was tempted to mix chocolate through the ice cream itself to make my favourite mint chocolate chip flavour, but instead I topped the whole thing off with some cocoa nibs instead. It added a nice bite with a bit of nuttiness to the whole thing. I don't know why I'm tagging this under the breakfast tag as this is strictly a dessert kinda waffle, but out of habit I feel the need to categorise anything waffle-related under breakfast. Okay I'm rambling now, see ya next week!

Chocolate Buttermilk Waffles with No-Churn Fresh Mint Ice Cream

(waffle recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker, ice cream recipe adapted from spicyicecream)

For the ice cream:

1 large bunch of mint, about 70g, chopped

1 can (395g) sweetened condensed milk

2 cups cream (pure/pouring cream (or heavy cream in the US, min 35% fat unthickened))

Place chopped mint and sweetened condensed milk in a small saucepan on low heat and stir regularly. Do not allow to come to the boil. Stir over heat to allow mint to infuse, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool completely and then chill for about an hour.

Place cream in a large mixing bowl and beat with electric mixer on high until it reaches soft peaks (take care not to overmix). Gently fold in condensed milk mixture until combined and then pour mixture into a large loaf tin (about 1.5L capacity). I find it easier to use a whisk to combine them, to avoid pockets of condensed milk mixture remaining unmixed. Freeze overnight. Best eaten within 1 week.

For the waffles:
(makes about 8 regular waffles or 5 large Belgian style waffles)

1 & 1/4 cups (about 175g) plain/all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted

4 tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking (bicarb) soda

1/4  teaspoon salt

1 & 3/4 cups buttermilk at room temperature

115g (½ cup) butter, melted and cooled to room tempeature

2 eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Optional: chocolate sauce and cocoa nibs or chocolate chips to serve

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, butter, eggs and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently whisk to combine. Do not overmix.

Spray a waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray or brush with melted butter, then preheat. Once the waffle maker is ready, add the batter according to the manufacturer's instructions and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the waffle maker indicates they are ready. Serve immediately, or place in oven to keep warm. Leftover waffles can be wrapped in plastic wrap, placed in a ziploc bag and stored in the refrigerator for 2 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month. Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce and nibs.

Christmas Candy Cane Chocolate Tart

Candy canes are one of the many things I love about this time of year. Christmas usually involves an obscene amount of candy canes being consumed, along with an equally obscene amount of chocolate (usually in the form of Quality Streets and a bucket sized container of Maltesers). So why not combine these two lovely sweet things into one decadent dessert? This Christmas Candy Cane Chocolate Tart is not just a plain chocolate ganache tart. It has a small surprise inside...

Ooooooh, pretty swirly insides! I tried to make the inside filling of the tart match the pretty swirling reds and whites of the peppermint candy cane, by using a peppermint white chocolate ganache swirled with a bit of red colouring. That layer was then hidden under a glossy layer of peppermint dark chocolate ganache (I used the Lindt peppermint flavoured chocolate but you can flavour plain chocolate too) and topped with layer of crushed candy canes.

Yep, pretty pleased with how this one turned out. I nearly overmixed the colouring into the white chocolate, which threatened to just turn the mixture into a uniform pink filing rather than a swirling red and white, but luckily stopped mixing it just in the nick of time. I was a little worried the crushed candy canes might be to crunchy and sharp on top but sitting the ganache overnight in the fridge allowed them to soften just enough to make them pleasant to eat with the rest of the tart.

This one is definitely for the mint chocolate fans. I'm a big fan of the combination, but I know there are people out there who don't like it. I'm not judging. I made sure not to make it too pepperminty, I don't ever want to feel like I'm eating a tart full of toothpaste.

I used my adaptation of Bravetart's chocolate tart shell, which I previously used for this tart, and it turned out perfectly. The slight bitterness from the shell goes well with the rich ganache, and I was really glad I split the layers into white and dark chocolate, because I think if I had kept it all dark chocolate it would have been a little bit too rich. But if you prefer your tart filling rich and intense, feel free to use all dark chocolate instead.

In other news, you might have noticed on Instagram that A & I bought our first house! It's been in the works for several months and now we are finally about to move in. It's all very hectic and exciting. It however does mean that over the next few weeks I am going to be incredibly busy and possibly without a working oven for a bit. So unfortunately this might interrupt the regularly scheduled Monday posts every week. I'm sorry! I'll do my best to keep it up but if not, I hope that all of you have a fabulous holiday season and a very happy new year! See you on the flip side.

Christmas Candy Cane Chocolate Ganache Tart
(tart dough adapted from Bravetart) 
For the tart dough:

105g (3.75 ounces/about 1/2 cup) sugar

35g (1.25 ounces) brown sugar

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract/vanilla bean paste/seeds scraped from 1/2 a vanilla bean pod

1/4 tsp salt

125g (4.5 ounces) butter, room temperature

3 egg yolks

255g (9 ounces) plain/all purpose flour, sifted

50g (1.75 ounces) cocoa powder, sifted

For rolling: 15g (0.5oz) cocoa powder + 15g (0.5oz) icing/powdered sugar sifted together

With a hand or stand mixer, combine sugars, vanilla extract, salt and butter on medium speed. Mix only until ingredients are thoroughly combined, but by no means light and fluffy. Add in the yolks, one at a time then reduce speed to low. Add in the flour and cocoa powder all at once and mix until homogenous. If you’re comfortable with dough and a pin, you can roll it right away. Otherwise, form the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate about 15 minutes to make the it easier to handle.(You can refrigerate the dough for up to a week or freeze for several months. Before rolling, set the dough out and let it slowly come to room temperature over a few hours.)

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350° F) and lightly grease a 22cm loose bottomed tart tin. Dust the counter with the prepared cocoa/powdered sugar mixture. Don’t use flour, it will toughen the dough and dull the richness of the chocolate color. Roll to 0.75cm (1/3") thickness.Carefully set dough over the tart shell and use your thumbs to press the dough into the corners of the pan. Press the overhanging dough against the edges of the tart pan to trim off the excess and leave the dough flush with the edges. Dock tart lightly with a fork. The dough is extremely forgiving and can be rerolled two or three times, you should be able to press any cracks together to mend them.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. After 10 minutes or so, check on the tart. If it has formed an air bubble; use a skewer to gently poke a small hole in the bubble to deflate it. Continue baking until the tart is firm and dry to the touch. Cool in tin for about 10 minutes, then carefully remove from tin and cool completely on a wire rack. Shell can be stored in an airtight container overnight.

For the chocolate ganache filling:

300g (10.5 oz) good quality white chocolate, finely chopped

300ml (about 1 1/4 cup) thickened cream

About 1/2 tsp peppermint essence, adjust to taste

150g (5.25 oz) good quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

150ml (about 2/3 cup) thickened cream

1/4 tsp peppermint essence (or use mint flavoured chocolate)

Optional: Red food colouring , crushed candy canes to decorate

(Note: if you don't want the white chocolate layer inside, simply replace with equal amounts of bittersweet chocolate and pour all the filling in at once) Prepare the white chocolate filling first; place chocolate in a large mixing bowl and set aside. Place 300ml cream in a small saucepan and gently heat until it just comes to the boil. Pour over white chocolate and leave for 5 minutes to melt. Use a whisk to combine until smooth, then gradually add about 1/2 tsp peppermint essence to taste. Add about 5-6 drops of food colouring in several different spots on the surface of the ganache, or swirl in several drops of gel colouring, then pour mixture into the tart shell to get the swirl effect. (Try not to over stir or the colour will just mix in and turn it pink) Place tart in the fridge for at least an hour or until set.

Place bittersweet chocolate in a medium mixing bowl. Place 150ml cream in a small saucepan and gently heat until it just comes to the boil. Pour over bittersweet chocolate and leave for 5 minutes to melt. Use a whisk to combine until smooth, then gradually add about 1/4 tsp peppermint essence to taste. Gently pour over the tart to cover the white chocolate layer, using a spatula to smooth the surface. You may not need to use all of it, just enough to completely cover the layer underneath. Sprinkle crushed candy cane pieces over the top and chill in the fridge until set. Remove from the fridge about 20 minutes before serving, use a sharp serrated knife to cut. Can be stored for a few days in an airtight container in the fridge.

Check out all my past Christmas recipes!

Rainbow Cake with Jelly Beans

My first rainbow cake. It was bound to happen eventually. But surprisingly, this is the first time after four and a half years of baking for this blog. Friends would look at me funny and say, "Are you sure you've never made a rainbow cake before?!". I've done rainbow sprinkle ombre cakes and rainbow-shaped cakes but for some reason I never went for the full rainbow cake experience.

I remember the first time I laid eyes on a rainbow cake. It was on Kaitlin's amazing Whisk Kid blog and it blew my mind. Back then I had never seen anything like it and I was completely smitten. I remember thinking to myself that I would probably never have the talent and precision to make anything that perfect. And since then so many others have made equally impressive versions of the rainbow layer cake. It had been done. I remember wishing I could have it as my wedding cake but I wasn't able to get it. Sad face!

But then a couple of weeks ago I had the challenge of coming up with a crazy birthday cake for my friend Regex Man. It's been getting pretty hard to beat my previous efforts for his birthday, most of them have turned out to be some of the most popular cakes on this site including the mint chocolate chip cake. I finally decided that this would be the perfect time to try my first rainbow cake. Sure it was nothing original but it was SO MUCH FUN. I've learnt so much about assembling layer cakes over the years and surprisingly this cake came together without much stress or mishaps. The important thing to remember; be patient! I baked three layers of this cake one night, three layers the next night and then iced it the morning after. Trying to do everything on the same day would have been exhausting.

I did have a bit of a disaster when it came to decorating the outside of the cake. Originally I wanted to create this big complicated cake bunting thing by threading jelly beans together but I am so not a crafty person and it turned into a huge ugly mess of wasted jelly beans and string. So I went to plan B and just topped the cake with rainbow jelly beans. You can't really go wrong with that, especially when there is so much going on inside of the cake. I made sure that the colours really popped in the cake layers, I wasn't looking for a half-arsed pale/pastel rainbow, I wanted it to be really intense (It's so intense!) in colour. I used gel colouring because I know you get a really bold colour without having to use huge amounts. If you have a problem with using food colouring then this obviously isn't the cake for you. There's always natural food colouring options but I wanted the full-blown crazy rainbow effect and you can't get that with natural food colouring.

I get a lot of questions about how I get my layers neat and even and icing smooth. I learnt from some great tutorials from other great baking blogs (here, here and here) and it's taken a bit of practice to get better at it. As I said, patience is the key. You need to give your cakes time to chill, they are so much easier to cut neatly if you chill them first. I always turn my cake layers upside down (at the very least the top layer) as it tends to help keep them level when you stack them. An offset spatula will make your life so much easier when you are smoothing your icing. Crumb coating. All these little things make a big difference. I still can't get the edges perfectly straight and even but I've always been a messy baker.

Doesn't it make you happy just looking at it? I was expecting it to be nothing special to eat but I was actually really pleased with the taste. I used my trusty yellow cake recipe, the same as I've used for most of my vanilla layer cakes. The icing is just regular salted butter icing but with lots of lemon juice to help cut through all that sugar. I took extra care this time to make sure I didn't overbake my cakes at all, I took them out as soon as the skewer came out clean. The result was 6 layers of soft vanilla cake that wasn't the least bit tough or dry, even after all the mixing and chilling in the fridge. It was a little tricky to serve the cake as full-sized six-layer slices, so we ended up cutting it up into two layer slices. Obviously I went for a purple-blue piece.

Rainbow Layer Cake with Jelly Bellys

(makes a six-layer 18-20cm cake, serves approx 40)

For the six layers of cake: (divide by 6 if you want to bake each layer individually)

530g (about 4 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour

6 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

340ml (about 1 1/3 cups) milk

4 tsp pure vanilla extract (if using essence reduce to 3 tsp)

600g (about 2 1/2 cups) sugar (I use caster/superfine but white/granulated is fine too)

340g (3 sticks) butter, softened

6 eggs, at room temperature

Food colouring (I used Wilton gel icing colouring, about 1/4-1/2 tsp per layer)

Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease whatever 18cm (or if you prefer, 20cm) round cake tins you have (I have 3 so I split the amounts listed above in half and did three cakes at a time. If you only have 1-2 tins you can prepare all the batter ahead of time and bake them one after another but the last cakes might not rise as much. You can also mix and bake one layer at a time, but this is very time consuming.). Line the base of tins with baking paper and grease paper. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. Mix milk and vanilla together in a measuring jug or bowl.

Using an electric mixer on low speed, beat sugar and butter in a large bowl until blended. Increase speed to high and beat until pale and creamy, at least 5 minutes. Reduce speed to medium low, add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add flour mix and milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture (I did it by adding 1/4 of of the dry mixture followed by 1/3 of the wet mixture at a time). Beat until smooth, occasionaly scraping bowl with a spatula. Divide mixture evenly into 6 medium bowls (I did this by weighing the batter on kitchen scales to ensure consistency). Gradually mix in colouring until you are satisfied with the colour (gel colours will be more vibrant after baking). Try to avoid over mixing the batter, but it is quite forgiving. Pour batter into prepared tins and bake each layer for about 20-22 minutes or until a skewer into the centre comes out clean and the outside is golden, take care not to overbake or cakes will be tough. Cool in tin for 5 mins and then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely. Wrap in clingfilm and chill overnight.

For the lemon icing:

(Note: I am only guessing at the right amounts here as I had to make extra icing to cover this cake. You may need to adjust the amounts/ratio to get the right icing consistency and volume)

800g (about 6 1/2 cups) icing (powdered) sugar, sifted (or blitzed in the food processor)

400g (about 3.5 sticks) butter (I use salted, add about 1 tsp of salt if you use unsalted)

1-4 tbsp lemon juice (or milk mixed with vanilla extract if you want vanilla icing), adjusted to taste/consistency

Prepare the icing; remove butter from fridge 30 mins before starting and chop into small cubes. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter on high with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium-low and gradually add icing sugar until combined, then increase speed to high and beat until very pale and fluffy. Gradually add lemon juice to taste, you may need to add more icing sugar if your mixture is too runny, or more lemon juice or milk if you mixture is too stiff. The icing should be smooth and easily spreadable, but stiff enough to hold its shape.

To assemble cake; remove cake layers from the fridge and use a long shape knife (preferably serrated) to carefully trim the tops of the cake to ensure they are level. Flip your cake layers upside down before assembling. Place the purple layer on your cake plate/stand, spread a thin layer of icing over the top with an offset spatula (I used an ice cream scoop to ensure equal amounts between each layer, about 1 generous scoop for each layer). Repeat with the blue, green, yellow, orange and red layers. Crumb coat the cake and chill for about 15 minutes, then cover the cake with more icing and smooth out surface with an offset spatula. For a smoother finish, run your offset spatula under hot water and dry with a paper towel regularly.

Optional: To decorate; cover the top with rainbow jelly beans, or m&ms or skittles. Or you can cover the entire cake in rainbow sprinkles like this.

Mint Chocolate Chip Macarons

The fun thing about working with an unfamiliar oven is having an excuse to go back to basics. I was super scared to try macarons in the oven in my new place since it took me many, many failed batches to get used to my last oven. But I decided bite the bullet and try a pretty uncomplicated recipe. It's essentially the macaron version of my Mint Chocolate Chip Cake, which included the icing version of the ice cream flavour. It's like dessert inception!

I used the same mint chocolate chip icing from the cake recipe, with a slightly stronger peppermint flavour since you're not going to be eating a whole slice worth of icing. I made some plain macaron shells tinted with a bit of green and blue colouring and sprinkled with cocoa nibs. I love using cocoa nibs and they are perfect for this macaron flavour. I know they're not that easy to get a hold of so you can always substitute it with a dusting of cocoa powder instead.

Thankfully the my first batch of macaron shells turned out pretty good. A little bumpy, but the shells had good feet and weren't hollow inside. But I have learnt that my oven is much hotter than the previous oven, so I pretty much have to lower the temperature about 20 degrees from what is stated in most recipes. It's an important thing to learn; every oven is totally different and you need to get to know how hot or cool your oven operates and adjust the oven temperature accordingly. It's handy to get an oven thermometer but I tend to get a feel for it over time.

You might end up with some extra icing after filling your macarons. You could throw it out, or ice some cupcakes, or go totally nuts and bake some Salted & Malted Chocolate Chip Cookies and sandwich it with a bucketload of icing. Oh yeahhhh.

I know this macaron flavour has totally been done before, but it was fun to try out anyway. I knew that the macaron would probably look a lot more elegant with a simple mint flavoured chocolate ganache, but I wanted to get the full mint chocolate chip experience by using the fabulous icing that looks just like the ice cream flavour. Of course I couldn't resist picking up some mini ice cream cones to play with too!

Mint Chocolate Chip Macarons

(makes about 15-16 macarons)

For the macarons: (if you are a beginner with macarons, read up and practice plain macarons first. BraveTart has lots of useful advice and info on the subject)
100g aged egg whites (you can use fresh eggs too, just make sure they are room temperature. I always use fresh these days, and zap it in the microwave on defrost for 10 seconds)
110g almond meal, at room temperature and well sifted
200g icing sugar
50g caster sugar
Optional: 1 tsp powdered egg whites (available from The Essential Ingredient), helps to stabilise egg whites but is not necessary

Blue/green food colouring (powdered or gel)
To decorate: cocoa nibs (also available from The Essential Ingredient)

Line two baking sheets with baking paper. Place icing sugar in food processor and pulse for a minute to remove any lumps. Stir in almond meal and pulse for about 30 seconds to combine. Sift into a large mixing bowl and set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and egg white powder in a medium mixing bowl until the egg white powder dissolves and it reaches soft peaks. With the mixer on high speed, gradually add sugar and beat until it reaches stiff peaks. (You can add the food colouring to the meringue as you are beating it to stiff peaks, it makes it easier to adjust how much colouring to add. Otherwise add it in the next step. I used a green gel colouring with a hint of aqua gel as well.)

Add meringue to your dry mixture and mix, quickly at first to break down the bubbles in the egg white (you really want to beat all the large bubbles out of the mixture, be rough!), then mix carefully as the dry mixture becomes incorporated and it starts to become shiny again. Take care not to overmix, the mixture should flow like lava and a streak of mixture spread over the surface of the rest of the mixture should disappear after about 30 seconds. Place mixture in a piping bag with a 1cm round piping tip. Pipe rounds about 3cm diameter, leaving at least 2cm space around each one. Tap baking sheets carefully and firmly on the benchtop a couple times to remove any large bubbles. If you wish, you can decorate the shells with cocoa nibs or a dusting of cocoa powder.

Leave to dry for about an hour, so that when you press the surface of one gently it does not break. This will help prevent any cracking and help the feet to form on the macs. Preheat your oven to 130-150°C (265-300°F), depending on your oven. You can place the sheet of piped shells on top of an overturned roasting tray or another baking sheet if your sheets are not professional grade, for better heat distribution. Bake for 20-25 minutes, depending on the size of your shells. Carefully test if the base of the shell is ready by gently lifting one and if it's still soft and sticking to the baking paper, then it needs to bake for a few minutes longer. Remove from the oven and cool on the tray for a few minutes, then gently remove from the sheet and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the mint chocolate chip icing:

125g salted butter, softened (or use unsalted and add 1/2 tsp salt)

1 1/2 cups icing sugar (about 190g)

3 tsp peppermint essence

75g semi-sweet dark chocolate, either very, very finely chopped (I pulsed mine down in a food processor, sifting away the finer powder) or mini chocolate chips

Optional: green/blue food colouring

Place butter in a large mixing bowl and beat on high using an electric mixer until the butter is smooth and fluffy. Gradually beat in icing sugar until smooth. Add peppermint essence and food colouring, try to match the colour of the shells. Stir in chocolate bits gradually, you want to make sure you don't add too much and that your chocolate isn't too fine or it will turn the icing brown. Spoon or pipe into the macaron shells, sandwiching them together. Store in an airtight container overnight to allow them to mature. Serve at room temperature.

Candy Cane White Chocolate Mousse

More Christmas baking! This is a super, super easy recipe that requires no actual baking, just a little bit of heating, stirring, whipping and folding. I love candy canes. I have always been a peppermint fan, and they always look so pretty when they are crushed up and used in a dessert of some sort. This dessert is a fantastic one that is not too heavy (perfect as a refreshing dessert after a big Christmas lunch), and can be prepared well ahead of time.

I used a simple white chocolate mousse recipe flavoured with peppermint; just enough to give it a nice hint of minty-ness against the white chocolate flavour, but not enough to make it taste like toothpaste. To make it a little prettier, I added a bit of pink food colouring to half of the mixture and layered the two colours. It looks super cute, especially in narrow glasses or small jars. I always keep any glass jar or container that I can get my hands on because they make fantastic serving glasses.

Top them off with a bit more whipped cream, and a sprinkling of crushed candy canes and you have a very pretty dessert. I know not everyone is a peppermint fan, so you can always change it up and use non-mint flavoured candy canes and flavour the mousse however you want.

It's going to be a very busy Christmas season this year. Along with all the usual Christmas chaos, I'm looking forward to welcoming my niece into the world around the same time! I'm already determined to make a baker out of her :) Hopefully I'll have time to try out a few more Christmas-related recipes before then.

So I may have gotten a little carried away with the photos, can you blame me?

Candy Cane White Chocolate Mousse

(serves 6, adapted from this recipe)

250g (about 9oz) white chocolate

60ml (1/4 cup) milk

1 1/2 tsp peppermint essence

3 large eggs, separated

350ml (1.5 cups) pure/pouring cream (or heavy cream in the US, min 35% fat unthickened)

To decorate: red/pink food colouring, extra whipped cream, crushed peppermint candy canes

Place white chocolate, milk and peppermint essence in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water. Heat until the chocolate is just melted, stirring regularly. Cool for 5 minutes, then beat in egg yolks one at a time until well combined. Whip cream to soft peaks in a separate bowl, and then gently fold into warm mixture until just combined. In a separate clean large mixing bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Gently fold in the rest of the mixture into the egg whites until just combined.

If making the pink and white layers, place half the mixture in a separate mixing bowl and fold in food colouring until just combined. Spoon alternating amounts of pink and white mousse into six 1/2-cup capacity serving glasses. Chill for 3-4 hours or overnight in the fridge. To serve, top with extra whipped cream and a sprinkle of crushed candy canes.

P.S. Go HERE to check out all my Christmas recipes!