Eggless apple cake

The recipe for this cake was eggless, and would have been dairy free, but instead of using coconut milk (which I didn't have) I used regular milk.  I also filled it with cream which is not specifically dairy free... the recipe book recommended some branded dairy free whip stuff which really didn't sound very nice at all.  The recipe for the cake made three layers in the tins that I had, but given the depth it would have looked out of proportion and been very difficult to cut.  The cake was very appley, nice and spicey and I had sprinkled some granulated brown sugar on the top which made it reminiscent of the country slices made by a certain Mr K which we used to have on train journeys when I was little.

Cheesecake

Tempted as I was by the Nigella cheesecake recipe, I made the recipe out of the new cake book - it worked very well and the cheesecake was delicious.

I tried to find a link to the cheesecake song, which is hilarious, but I couldn't find it - I'll dig it out and see if I can get the details as it's well worth a listen (it's here! ignore the video though - I don't know what that's about).

The cake stand that the cheesecake was on was a recent aquisition from everyones favourite swedish furniture supplier...
You can also glimpse the crispie cakes I made aswell - these aren't getting a separate mention as they were very simple and not overly glamorous, but did provide another dairy free alternative.

The guest slot...

For my own cake-fest I have to confess I didn't do all of the baking - special mention goes to my Mum who is the Queen of Scones, and who also provided an enormous lemon meringue pie (made with real lemons and NOT the lemon-bath-pearl thing from the packet mixes...), and the swirly topped chocolate cake.  We didn't manage to get a picture of the lemon meringue pie as it was put out last and eaten first before we could snap it with the camera, but we did get the scones and the cake!

Russian Tea Cake - Different, interesting, but not entirely successful...

This cake had a lot going for it in terms of ingredients and make-up - it had cake in many many layers, custard and somewhat bizarrely, TEA.  The recipe said rooibos, but on the basis I don't like it I substituted Earl Grey (which I do like, I like very much!).  So, the idea was simple, bake the cakes (I managed to do two batches of four at a time in the oven, rather than the two at a time suggested by the recipe), make the tea flavoured custard filling, and sandwich the lot together.  So I did this, it looks pretty impressive in a kind of leaning tower of cake kind of way.  But, I have to say it was overall disappointing - the cake layers were dry, it was a nightmare to cut, and the custard, which actually tasted really nice, was like rubber.  For future reference I think I will cook the cakes for less time, consider soaking them with some of the tea, and omit the additional cornflour from the custard mixture, as I think this will help it all to 'sog' together a bit better.  This version didn't even make it to being the next day's dessert with custard it was so bad!  I knew I should have stuck to my original plan and made the Nigella Autumn Cake!

Custard Creams

This is Nigella's recipe and copied exactly in the Nigella style - even down to making the little pin prick pattern round the outside with a skewer (which does take ages...) if I had a smaller heart shaped cutter I would have just used that to make an impression in the larger heart shaped biscuit, but I don't, so pin prick it was!  These are my husbands favourite and this was the main reason why I made them - although I am a huge fan of custard and my small child clearly enjoyed them as he managed to pinch one or two from the table while we were setting up!

Meringues!

These started off as a way to use up left over egg whites when I had used multiple yolks to make a very rich chocolate cake, I then got a little bit addicted to forming the snowy peaks and experimenting with the crunchy-on-

the-outside-and-soft-in-the-middle (like an aardvark) texture and it just went from there.  I have made them previously in little petit four cases, but I think freestyle is much more beautiful.  I thought they looked lovely piled up in the vintage pink bowls I bought from a little independent vintage shop in the South - where I also managed to find a cake plate to match my tea set, so that was a good day!

Rose scented macaroons

I have talked about these before - they are the memory of a friends lovely wedding, and of a day spent in Laduree (!) with friends drinking tea, eating cakes and catching up.  In addition, these are ridiculously easy to make, and are also gluten free! The pink and rose flavour cream are optional, although I personally feel they are essential...

The glass comport was my birthday present from my husband - it is vintage and locally produced and suited us as a piece of social history.  The man we bought it from was also very interesting and was more than happy to discuss the history and the factory, which we found really interesting.  It also happens to look stunning with cakes in it...