Buckwheat Cake with Berry Compote & 'Love, Aimee x' Giveaway
If you are a fan of sweet bakes and food styling, you will almost certainly have come across Aimee Twigger and her blog Twigg Studios. Twigger started blogging in 2011 sharing craft tutorials, but her blog soon became more food focused, showcasing her love of baking. She is now known for experimenting with different ingredients and introducing her reader to world of new flavour combinations. A girl after my own heart, she has the most covetable collection of beautiful styling props and has just started a pottery course to create her own.
Today she is celebrating the publication of her first cookbook, Love, Aimee x, a collection of favourite recipes from Twigg Studios. When Aimee asked me to review her book I knew there would be plenty of lovely recipes to chose from, but when it arrived, it took several cups of tea and much deliberation to decide which recipe to make. This book is full of treats including Coconut Brownie Cookies, Candy-Striped Meringues, Bakewell Tart Ice Cream and Camomile & Lemon Baked Alaska. There is something for every sweet tooth here, all beautifully photographed in Twigger's inimitable style, with step by step photos of any complicated techniques.
Torn between such delights as Violet & Lemon Eclairs and intriguingly named London Fog Millefeuilles, I eventually settle on a Buckwheat Cake with Berry Compote. Not only because it looks gorgeous, filled with whipped cream and topped with tumbling berries and sugared petals, but mostly because I have never baked a cake with buckwheat flour before. I have my reservations, I thought it might be a touch heavy in a sponge cake. After tasting a slice, I am more happy to eat my words. The buckwheat gives the sponge a nutty flavour and slightly closer texture, but it is by no means heavy. If you would like to try some of Aimee's lovely recipes, Murdoch Books have kindly given me two copies of Love, Aimee x to give away to two lucky readers, so do not forget to enter via the form below the recipe.
Buckwheat Cake with Berry Compote
Slightly adapted 'Love Aimee, x' by Aimee Twigger
Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 45 mins
Total time: 1 hour 15 mins
Serves: 8
Ingredients
250g unsalted butter, at room temperature
220g caster sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
220g buckwheat flour (I used Doves Farm Buckwheat Flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2-3 tablespoons milk
For the berry compote
10 blackberries
10 raspberries
5 strawberries, chopped
50g caster sugar
1 tablespoon water
To decorate
200ml double cream
1 1/2 tablespoons icing sugar plus extra for dusting
fresh berries and flowers to decorate
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/Gas 4.
Grease and line two deep, loose bottom 6 inch cake tins with non stick baking paper.
In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and caster sugar together until pale and creamy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition to ensure they are combined.
Add the vanilla extract and sift in the flour and baking powder. Fold gently to combine, adding the milk to loosen the mixture a little.
Split the mixture equally between the two lined tins.
Place both tins on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Remove from the oven, place the tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing the cakes from the tins and allowing to cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the compote. Put the blackberries, raspberries and strawberries in a small pan with the caster sugar and water. Simmer for around ten minutes until the compote is a jam like consistency. Allow to cool.
When the cakes are cool, whisk the cream until thick but not too stiff. You can either spread half the cream, followed by half the compote on the top of one of the cakes and place the other on top, or cut through each cake as I have done and make layers of compote and cream.
Top the remainder of the cream on top of the cake and decorate with berries and flowers,. I used strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and flowering rosemary sprigs.
Dust with icing sugar and serve. The cake is best eaten on the day it is made.
Love, Aimee x by Aimee Twigger – GIVEAWAYMurdoch Books have kindly given me two copies of Love, Aimee x to give away to two lucky readers. All you have to do is log in via the form below and make sure you leave a comment telling me your favourite cake or sweet bake in the comments section of the post. There are also additional chances to win by following Cygnet Kitchen on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest via the form below (don’t worry if you are already following, you can still get the extra entries by clicking the button!). Don’t forget to sign up for Cygnet Kitchen’s newsletter for recipes and future giveaways. The winner will be picked by Random Number Generator when the giveaway ends and midnight GMT on Thursday 25th February 2016 and is only open to UK and European residents. Terms and conditions apply.Love, Aimee x by Aimee Twigger is published by Murdoch Books UK ISBN: 978-1-74336-593-9. RRP £16.99. It is available on Amazon for £14.88.a Rafflecopter giveaway