The Farmer's Daughter

I wasn't going to join in with this month's Cake Slice Bakers. Not only do we seem to have had rather a lot of cake at home lately, I couldn't get excited about the choices, as usual taken from Maida Heatter's Cakes. There was one flourless chocolate cake, named The Queen Mother's cake which was virtually identical to my go to gluten free chocolate cake... So not much of a challenge. And the other three cakes were all very plain and a couple of them seemed to use so many eggs.... Separated eggs no less, that I really couldn't be bothered. But after seeing what a couple of people had made and a little bit of banter on Facebook, I decided to stop being so churlish and opted to make The Farmers's Daughter's Cake which is made with cream rather than butter... obviously the Dairy Farmer's Daughter's Cake!

 

It was exceptionally easy and quick to put together... just a single layer baked in a square pan.

Maida tops hers with an "Old fashioned Chocolate icing"... I'm not sure what makes it old fashioned but it involved egg yolks and beating for 15 minutes. Needless to say I didn't do that! In fact the night before, due to some other Facebook banter I made churros (inspired by the Great British Bake Off last week) for friends who popped in for supper... I shall digress to tell you they were exceptional good and well worth the effort... but I also made some chocolate dipping sauce. ( 150g plain chocolate, 100ml double cream, 50 ml milk and a dollop of golden syrup) As there was lots left over and it had set solid in the fridge I decided to use this to top the cake.... but I thought you might want to see my churros first!

The chocolate sauce made an excellent topping with the addition of some icing sugar and butter (small amounts of each... I was making it up as I went along)

The sprinkles were optional!

And the cake... not bad! Light and tasty although mine was a little dry. Not the best cake I've ever made but considering how little effort it took probably worth having in your repetoire for when you want to turn out something quick, easy but tasty too!

So should you wish to try this yourself  here is my version of the recipe:

The Farmer's Daughter Cake (adapted from Maida Heatter's Cakes)

You will need a 8" (20 cm) square pan. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C (160 fan), 350 deg F

Ingredients:

• 280g sifted plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• quarter teaspoon almond extract
• 200g caster sugar
• 250 ml double cream

Method:

• Sift the flour baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
• In a large bowl and using a hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together with the vanilla and almond extracts until pale and creamy. Beat in the cream and then fold in the flour and mix gently until smooth..
• Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 35 - 40 mins. Mine was done after 30 mins and I think it would have been better if it had only had 25, so keep an eye on it!
• Cool for 5 minutes in the tin and then turn out onto a rack to cool
• Top with a  chocolate frosting of your choice! 

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