This is what we enjoyed on Shrove Tuesday earlier in the week; stacked buttermilk pancakes with chocolate mascarpone, chopped hazelnuts, fresh raspberries, whipped cream… finished with grated dark chocolate. Perhaps a posh version of the ever-popular Nutella pancakes.
Using buttermilk instead of plain milk lends a tasty tang. It also reacts with the baking powder and bicarb giving a light airy texture to the pancakes.
Once you’ve created your pile, leave it to cool. This is an opportunity to steal a couple of the delicious warm pancakes (for quality control purposes, of course!).
Then, it’s simply a case of building layers – in whatever configuration you prefer.
You don’t have to use raspberries – strawberries, blueberries or cherries would work equally well. Justin enjoyed the creation – and he thought that it could be improved even further if they were given a final drizzle of sweet chocolate sauce.
Click here to save our recipe to Pinterest
- 110g/4oz plain flour
- 1tsp baking powder
- ½tsp bicarbonate of soda
- ½tsp salt
- 1 tbs sugar
- 1 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 300ml/10 fl oz buttermilk
- 15g/½oz butter, melted, for the griddle/frying pan
- 250g/9oz mascarpone
- 1½tbsp cocoa powder
- 1½tbsp caster sugar
- 50g/1¾oz hazelnuts, roughly chop half of them and leave the others whole
- 300ml/10 fl oz whipping cream
- 1tsp caster sugar
- 150g/5oz fresh raspberries
- A little grated chocolate
- Combine the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar in a medium-sized mixing bowl
- Add the eggs and buttermilk and whisk to combine. Don't over-mix, the batter should be a little lumpy
- Pre-heat a small crêpe/blini pan on the stove top and, using a pastry brush, brush a little butter into the pan
- Using a serving spoon, pour a couple of spoonfuls of pancake batter into the pan and swirl around the pan to level out and form a perfect round shape
- When the pancake has bubbles on top and is slightly dry around the edges (about 2 minutes) carefully flip it over
- Cook until golden on the bottom (about another 1 minute)
- Repeat with the remainder of the batter
- Allow the pancakes to cool completely before forming the stacks
- Add the caster sugar and cocoa powder to the mascarpone and mix until well combined
- Whip the whipping cream with the teaspoon of caster sugar until it forms stiff peaks
- Take one of the pancakes, place it on a dessert plate and smear it with some of the chocolate mascarpone. Sprinkle over some of the chopped hazelnuts and cover with a 2nd pancake
- Generously smear the 2nd pancake with some of the whipped cream and softly press 5 raspberries into it and cover with a 3rd pancake
- Continue steps 3 & 4 until you have a stack of 6 pancakes with the last one topped with whipped cream and raspberries
- Sprinkle a little of the grated chocolate over the top
- Repeat until all the pancakes have been used up
Cakes & Bakes: White velvet cake with creamy mascarpone frosting
My chicken-sitting ended yesterday, I really enjoyed looking after them, they’re all such characters. During my 10 days of fostering, we must have got almost 100 eggs! We gave a few away and ate loads of omelettes, French toast and plenty of fried/boiled/poached eggs.
Last week, I made a delicious all-yolk layer cake and, as promised, this week it’s an all whites one. It’s Rose Levy Beranbaum’s white velvet cake. Sometimes with this type of recipe, what you’re trying to achieve is a cake as white as pure, fresh snow. If that’s the case, you can make a few minor adjustments to the original cake recipe below.
Instead of using vanilla extract, use white caster sugar that has been stored in an airtight jar along with a split vanilla pod for a few weeks so that the flavour infuses. Some people swear by the use of shortening such as Stork which gives less colour than butter. Other people who care more about the taste than the colour say that butter is far superior.
Have a look at the pair of YouTube videos below the recipe where Rose herself shows us how it’s done!
Click here to pin the recipe for later!
- 4½ large egg whites
- 240ml/8½ fl oz milk
- 2¼tsp vanilla extract
- 300g/10½oz bleached cake flour*, sifted
- 300g/10½oz caster sugar
- 1tbsp + 1tsp baking powder
- ¼tsp salt
- 170g/6oz butter, softened
- 275ml/9¾ fl oz whipping cream
- 225g/8oz mascarpone
- 125g/4½oz icing sugar
- Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350°F/Gas mark 4
- Grease two 23cm x 4cm (9-in x 1½-in) cake tins, line the bottoms with parchment paper, then grease again and flour
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, lightly combine the egg whites, ¼ of the milk and vanilla extract
- In a large mixing bowl combine all the dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 30 seconds to blend
- Add the butter and remaining ¾ of the milk. Mix on a low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened
- Increase to medium speed (high speed if using a hand mixer) and beat for 1½ minutes to aerate and develop the cake's structure
- Scrape down the sides
- Gradually add the egg mixture in 3 batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure
- Scrape down the sides again
- Scrape the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the surface with a spatula. The pans should be about half full
- Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted near the centre comes away clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in the centre. The cakes should start to shrink from the sides of the pans only after removal from the oven
- Allow the cakes cool in the pans on wire racks for 10 minutes
- Loosen the sides with a small metal spatula and invert onto two other greased wire racks. To prevent splitting, flip over again so that the tops face up. Allow to cool completely before frosting
- With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk the whipping cream until stiff peaks form (be careful not to overbeat, or the cream will become grainy)
- In another bowl, whisk together the mascarpone and icing sugar until smooth
- Gently fold the whipped cream into mascarpone mixture until completely incorporated
- Use immediately to frost the top of one cake
- Place the other cake on top of the first and frost the top & sides
- *If like me you're based in the UK and find it hard to find bleached cake flour in the shops, have a look at Kate Coldrick's meticulous method to make your own version
part II
Cakes & Bakes: Sponge cake with raspberry and mascarpone cream
A Victoria sandwich is a quintessentially British cake and this sponge cake with raspberry and mascarpone cream is a little twist on that. It follows the Delia Smith all-in-one sponge recipe that I use as the base of many of my sponge cakes.
I spread a few large dollops of the wild raspberry jelly I made in the summer between the layers and used a mascarpone/fromage frais mix instead of whipped cream. I like that little bit of acidity it gives to counter the sweetness of the jelly. This is a lovely cake to have for afternoon tea!
Sponge cake with raspberry and mascarpone cream
Ingredients
- For the sponge
- 8 oz/220g self raising flour sifted
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 8 oz/220g caster sugar
- 8 oz/220g butter or margarine at room temperature
- 4 large eggs
- 4-6 drops vanilla essence
- For the filling
- 8 tbs raspberry jam or jelly
- 250 g mascarpone
- 200 g fromage frais
- 1 tbs castar sugar
- 3 drops vanilla essence
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC325ºF/Gas mark 3
- Lightly grease two 20cm/8" loose-based cake tins
- Into a large mixing bowl, sift the flour and baking powder, holding the sieve high to give the flour a good airing. Then simply add all the other ingredients to the bowl, and whisk - preferably with an electric hand whisk - until thoroughly combined
- If the mixture doesn’t drop off a wooden spoon easily when tapped on the side of the bowl, add 1 or 2 teaspoonfuls of tap-warm water and whisk again
- Add equal amounts of the mixture to the 2 prepared tins, level off and bake on the centre shelf of the oven for about 30 minutes
- When cooked leave in the tins for only about 30 seconds, then loosen their edges by sliding a palette knife all round and turning them out onto a wire cooling rack
- For the filling, combine the mascarpone and fromage frais in a bowl; a balloon whisk will amalgamate them more quickly
- Stir in the sugar and vanilla extract
- Spread 4 tablespoons of jam/jelly over one of the sponge sandwiched, do the same with the other Spread the cream mixture over one of the sandwiches then put the other one, jam side down, on top
- Press down carefully to sandwich everything together and finish off with a light dusting of icing or caster sugar
