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.

Malteser Layer Cake

I've been wanting to make a Malteser cake for ages. I'm not entirely sure why it has been on my mind - but I'm glad it was as this cake is a little bit awesome.

Malt is one of those flavours I was never entirely sure I liked, but I've finally been convinced. The cake batter tasted fantastic, and I even had Horlicks in a cup of hot milk to help me sleep the other night.



While contemplating this cake, I thought about making Nigella's recipe for Chocolate Malteser Cake from her book 'Feast'. I decided against it because I wanted to have a pale cake to match the inside of the Maltesers and to showcase the malted flavour without the chocolate getting in the way. I didn't want the malted flavour to be very strong, but I wanted it to be just noticeable and not fade into just another chocolate cake.

I decided that the best recipe to adapt would be our family favourite Chocolate Birthday Cake, as it uses hot chocolate powder and I thought the Horlicks would work best in a similar recipe. The milk and boiling water added at the end seems to sort of activate the flavour in both of them.



Although Maltesers are really about milk chocolate, I decided to make a dark chocolate ganache to ice the cake as I didn't want it to be too sweet. I also made it in my lovely little 5" tin, so I could get height without making a massive cake. I found that the crispy centres of the Maltesers will go soft and sort of disappear overnight as the moisture gets to them, so try and eat it the day you make it if you want the texture contrast.

I was very pleased with this - the malted taste was subtle but there, the dark ganache complemented the sweet light cake and the crispy Maltesers. Each bite had a lovely balance to it.


NOTE: This cake recipe won the Maltesers Recipe Competition!

Malteser Layer Cake

For the cakes:
130g room temperature butter
130g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
130g self raising flour
70g Horlicks
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp boiling water

Note: As I wanted a tall cake, I used a 5" tin. I only had one so I made a half batch of the above, baked it, and then repeated the process. If you want to use normal 7-8" sandwich tins, just make the above and split between the two tins as usual (it'll make a shorter cake than the one in the pictures but will taste the same).

Preheat the oven to 180C. Butter and line the bottom of the tin(s). Cream the softened butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add an egg, beat in, then add the other and beat again. Sieve the flour, Horlicks and baking powder into the bowl and then fold in until nearly combined. Add the milk and fold again, then finally add the boiling water. Quickly spoon into the tin(s) and put in the oven. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until deep gold and a skewer comes out clean.

For the ganache:
150g dark chocolate
150 ml double cream

Break the chocolate up into small pieces and put into a bowl. Heat the cream until it starts to steam then pour over the chocolate. Leave for a few minutes and then stir in until you have a smooth, glossy ganache.

To assemble:
2 packets of maltesers

Split the cakes carefully into two. Sandwich them with some of the ganache, then cover with a crumb coat (a thin layer of icing to trap the crumbs and make it easier to ice). Put it the fridge to set slightly. While it is cooling, chop the maltesers - I found using a sharp knife in a quick decisive motion worked best. Remove the cake from the fridge and use the remaining ganache to cover the cake. Starting from the top, arrange the maltesers in the desired pattern, then go down the sides, being careful when placing the pale-side-out halves. Put in the fridge for ten minutes or so, then serve. Best eaten on the day, due to the malteser insides getting damp and disintegrating!

Three more chocolate recipes:
Salted Caramel Brownies
Two Ingredient Chocolate Mousse
Super Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls