Poppy Seed Butterfly Cakes

When I was little, one of my favourite things to bake and eat were orange and lemon butterfly cakes, with curd in the middle. Butterfly cakes are such a British thing - and definitely pre-date the cupcake craze. I particularly like them because they're very homemade and rustic. Also, you don't have to use mountains of frosting and can use curd or, as in this case, pastry cream instead. 

I thought it would be a nice idea to do a bit of an adult update on these. I still kept a citrus note in both the cake and pastry cream with a touch of lemon zest. I decided that poppy seeds would look quite visually striking when the cake is opened out for the butterfly.

I've never really worked with poppy seeds before but they're gorgeous and lend such a lovely subtle crunch to the cake. 

A lot of my inspiration for these comes from a wonderful post over at Cooking for Seven. It's a wonderful documentation in photos and words of a cooking lesson her Grandma gave her and her sisters on how to make Poppy Seed Torte.  The photos are incredibly touching and made me miss my late Grandma, who I used to cook with when I was little. 

Her Grandma didn't want to share her recipe (fair enough) but I really wanted to make something along those lines. The most striking element to me was the custard filling. I couldn't quite work out how to replicate it exactly, so I decided to make a simple pastry cream and see how that worked. Unfortunately I wasn't really concentrating and took it off the heat before it had totally cooled, so it was a bit drippy. 

Despite the drippiness, they tasted great. I've reduced the sugar in the pastry cream recipe below to even less than I used for mine, as it was still a bit too sweet. The pastry cream gave moisture to the cakes and played off the crunchiness perfectly. The lemon note didn't really come through, but I didn't want it to be too obvious anyway.  

Apologies for the lighting in these photos - it got a bit dark before I managed to take photos. 

Poppy Seed Butterfly Cakes

Edit: I've removed the recipe as I'm not happy with it and don't want you to try it and be disappointed.

Triple Layer Chocolate Tarts

A few days ago, I was pondering a gift for my friend's birthday. I wanted to make her something special to go with some lovely narcissi and an amusing card we had bought for her. 

I had some spare chocolate pastry cream from the Gooey Chocolate Meringue Stack so I was contemplating how I could incorporate this into my gift. I didn't want to give her a big cake but a few smaller things, like cupcakes. The pastry cream is quite runny so I felt it would be a bit annoying on top of cupcakes, and I didn't think it would bake well as a filling inside cakes and it seemed a shame to not do something special with it.

In the end, I decided that little tarts were just the thing.  I could make little chocolate pastry cases, paint them with melted chocolate to stop the pastry cream making them soggy, and fill them with that delicious   cream. It almost reminds me of very very thick yummy hot chocolate.  

On top of this, I decided to put some white chocolate ganache, for a bit of a colour change and a different flavour. I was a little worried it would sink but when I piped it on and then smoothed it over it was fine. On top of this, to seal it all in, I poured melted chocolate and then let them set in the fridge. 

The result was yummy, if a little messy to eat (as one of my friends found out, when trying to eat one standing up in my kitchen - needless to say, the floor needed mopping afterwards). They're not too sweet - the pastry and dark chocolate counteract the sweeter pastry cream and ganache. Still, the small portion size is good as it comes together to be really quite rich. 

Happy Birthday to B - you'll always be my bow!

Triple Layer Chocolate Tarts

(Chocolate Pastry Cream from Nigella Lawson's Domestic Goddess)

For the pastry cases:

85g plain flour

15g cocoa powder

50g cold butter

1 tbsp caster sugar

cold water to bind

20g dark chocolate

Place the butter in the freezer while weighing out the flour, cocoa and sugar into a food processor, then chop it roughly and add it too. Blend until totally incorporated. Slowly add a very small amounts of cold water into the processor until it comes together into a ball. Wrap the ball in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. Roll out on a floured surface into a rectangle then cut out circles that fit into a muffin tin. Press these circles into the tin and scrape off the tops so they are even. Insert a cupcake/muffin case into the pastry cases and fill with baking beans. Bake blind for 20 minutes then remove the cases and beans and bake for a further 5 minutes. Melt the dark chocolate then brush the cases with it once they have cooled slightly. Then take out of the cases and let them cool out on a wire rack. 

For the chocolate pastry cream:

3 egg yolks 

50g golden caster sugar

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tbsp plain flour

150ml milk

150ml double cream

50g good quality dark chocolate

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Beat the egg yolks and sugar together, then add the flour and cocoa and beat well to incorporate. Warm the cream and milk in a small saucepan then add half to the egg mixture, beating well with a whisk as you go.  Return to the rest of the milk/cream mixture in the pan and whisk again. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly until it thickens. Take off the heat and remove to a bowl to cool, topping with greased baking parchment to stop a skin forming. Don't put it in the fridge.

For the white chocolate ganache:

50g white chocolate 

75 ml double cream

Chop up the white chocolate and put it into a small bowl. Heat the cream until nearly boiling and then pour over the chocolate. Leave for a few minutes then beat in until smooth and leave to cool slightly.

To assemble:

50g dark chocolate

Spoon the pastry cream into the painted pastry cases until they are about half full. Pipe or spread the white chocolate ganache over this and place in the fridge for five minutes. Melt the dark chocolate then pour it over each case, making sure it reaches every edge. Put into the fridge for 20 minutes or so until the chocolate sets on top. 

(Makes six)

Roasted Rhubarb Tarts

Rhubarb and custard. How could you possibly resist? It's just one of those combinations.

This idea came from wanting to elaborate on the traditional stewed rhubarb and custard. Crumble seemed too obvious. Then vanilla custard mutated into vanilla pastry cream, a pastry tart case appeared, and I learned to roast rhubarb...

I found these sticks of rhubarb in our local supermarket and couldn't help but buy some. They looked so fresh and had that wonderful iridescent pink glow. 

My grandma used to grow rhubarb in her fruit cage - on the left as you walked in you could see the great green umbrellas sprouting out of the glass cupboard with little snippets of red peaking through. We always used to lightly stew rhubarb and eat it with homemade custard. Simple but quite lovely. 

I had never roasted rhubarb before. It's wonderful - it keeps its shape and the flavour is incredible. As you don't add any water, the taste isn't muted or diluted. You just add sugar, which caramelises slightly and creates a wonderful bright pink syrupy sauce. I used soft brown sugar to add to that intense flavour (and because, in case you haven't noticed, I have a penchant for using soft brown sugar in just about anything).

Another recent supermarket cannot-resist buy was this pâte de vanille. Apparently each coffee spoon is the equivalent to a vanilla bean - and it certainly adds plenty of speckly vanilla seeds. I tried tasting some and it seems quite sugar-heavy but that wasn't a problem here. I'm looking forward to trying it in other things as it performed so well here.

And so these little tarts came together - a plain but lovely tart case, a thick vanilla pastry cream and a pile of the glorious roasted rhubarb. The syrupy juices intermingle with the cream. I almost can't describe - it's just glorious. Do try making them for yourselves - or at least try roasting rhubarb. I can't believe I never had before. 

Roasted Rhubarb

250g rhubarb (approx two sticks)
50g soft brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 190C. Chop the rhubarb up into 1 cm pieces. Tip into a roasting tray with the sugar and toss until evenly coated and in a single layer. Cover with foil and pop into the oven for 10-15 minutes. Remove the foil and put back into the oven for another five minutes. Leave to cool. Can be kept in the fridge for a few days.