SOMETHING JOLLY FOR THE JUBILEE?

The Ideal Home Show held the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee cake competition & the very talented Stephan Liew of Stef’s Brownies created this beauty which we are featuring!

Hope you all enjoyed the Jubilee Celebrations.  I have updated these recipes as some other ideas came in after the event. A very memorable and joyous Jubilee was had by all of us, I believe.  Rather than crowding into The Mall to catch a glimpse of the Royal Family, I think many tuned in to watch events on the television and many more of us celebrated with our own street parties – I hope you all enjoyed your platinum, patriotic party fare on the day?

Till created the lovely Jubilee Trifle from our recipe on the website & said “nobody can claim I haven’t made a decent regal jubilatory effort – guided by Wright’s. I’ve made the Lemon Swiss Roll and Amaretti pudding. Turns out, neatly portioning a trifle is near impossible – but it is lovely with a little sip of Sauternes dessert wine.” Cheers Till – it really is a beauty!

Obvously Stef @Stefsbrownies commemorated The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with these trio of cakesicles. Created in the colours of the British flag, each cakesicle is surrounded with hand painted motifs & adorned with a crown. Created with our Plain flour, Stef has been trying out a new technique by encasing them in sugar paste rather than chocolate. This made it possible for him to airbrush them with a final coating of non-powdered colours or lustre. Perfect for the Platinum Jubilee – even the lolly sticks look lovely! 

Wonderful Jubilee bakes & thanks to Karen @2teaornot2teaa on Instagram who used our Madeira cake mix to make a four layer 6 inch cake.  Filled with homemade jam and white chocolate ganache. Then it was covered in more ganache before placing the special jubilee printed icing sheet around it. It was a bit tricky but she was happy with her first attempt. Karen loves trying out new ideas and designs & needs to plan what cake to make for Fathers Day next – time to revisit her page I think!

I thought Terry’s Victoria Sponge was lovely & cheerful – made with our Madeira mix, jammed & creamed and adorned with paper ornaments – thank you.

Ever since Sarah came across our recipe for Gâteaux Alexandra she was keen to make it.  The Jubilee weekend seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out!  Made using half a packet of our Chocolate Fudge cake mix (already having plans in place for the other half), 25g of ground almonds, 100ml water and 2tbsp oil, baked at 180 for 30 minutes and decorated with piped rich chocolate buttercream, white chocolate hearts and glacé cherries and cut into portions.  Thanks Sarah – it’s a cake fit for a Queen!

A Lemon Swiss Roll, Amaretti Trifle is to be the official pudding for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee after winning a competition to find a new dessert.  Jemma Melvin created the dessert, inspired by the lemon posset served at the Queen’s wedding to Prince Philip. We have recreated this recipe with the use of our Madeira cake mix – lining the base of Richard’s lovely glass trifle dish with slices of Madeira spread with lemon curd. Thanks so much to Richard for creating this for us – Richard is our demonstrator and can be seen on stage at the Cake & Bake Show at London’s ExCel Centre.

Nice that we celebrate the time of this Platinum Jubilee which is a first in British history. So lets look at a Battenberg. A lovely royal recipe, made with our Madeira Cake Mix. Originally, this cake was created in honour of the marriage in 1884 of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter to Prince Louis of Battenberg with the four squares representing the four Battenberg princes: Louis, Alexander, Henry and Francis Joseph. As our cake mixes are just a great base for your ideas, established variations are for coconut flavouring to the sponge cake and lemon curd or raspberry jam in place of apricot jam for you to try. Great recipe here – do have a go! 

These lush Lemon & Elderflower cupcakes are a great way to celebrate the Jubilee in style as they are great to pass around for any street parties. They go down terrifically well with a cup of tea & are even perfect with a Prosecco!

A nice cheery message has been received from Shelley who has been using our cake mixes for a while to bake and decorate some seriously special looking cakes, which I am sharing with you all.  Some very favourable reports have been received about our Madeira, which is her Dad’s favourite as Shelley can create a Cherry & Coconut Madeira cake and is “proud to say my cherries still don’t sink, even when made in the bread machine”!  Round of applause for your lovely message and your beautiful cakes Shelley – a most fitting cake for a jolly Jubilee celebration.

A Charlotte is a type of dessert or trifle with either stale bread, sponge fingers or biscuits which are used to line a mould, which is then filled with a fruit or custard. It can also be made using layers of breadcrumbs.  The Charlotte russe uses a mould lined with ladyfingers and is filled with cream. Originally, stale bread dipped in butter was used as the lining, but sponge fingers are more often used today. Said to be named of Czar Alexander and others say it came from Queen Charlotte, wife of George III – the jury is out – but it such a lovely royal dessert to serve.

Thanks Mike – a classic Victoria Sponge, seasonally layered with strawberries & cream has been created here with our Madeira cake mix. Sponge cakes became the cakes we recognise today when bakers started using beaten eggs as a rising agent in the mid-18th century. The Victorian creation of baking powder was by Alfred Bird (Bird’s Custard) and the addition of butter was given to the traditional sponge recipe, resulting in the creation of the Victoria Sponge which was named after Queen Victoria, who was known to enjoy cakes with afternoon tea.

Pizza Margherita was probably created around 1890 to honour the then Queen, Margherita of Savoy. The red tomato, white mozzarella & green basil toppings represent the Italian flag! Nice to know it is still a favourite today. If you are looking for something a little more savoury click the link here so I can take you to making the Perfect Pizza with our bread mixes.

Alexandra was chosen as the future wife of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the heir apparent of Queen Victoria, when she was just 16. She was Queen from 1901–1910 & was honoured by an assortment of foods named after her, but Gâteaux Alexandra is a delicious chocolate cake made with almonds & apricot jam.

This is the Jubilee cake which Linda made with two packs of our Madeira cake mix for display at her work! Created in one of Lakeland’s medium sized hemisphere cake pans it is absolutely beautifully decorated with the relevant dates marked in the fondant bunting – thanks so much.

Thanks go to Diane for showing off the lovely Eve’s Puddings that she created with our Toffee cake mix.  Using stewed apples and caramel as a base, you pop the Toffee cake mix on top and it has been a favourite with her family & especially her parents in law.  Interestingly, Eve’s pudding, is also known as Mother Eve’s pudding, a type of traditional British pudding made from apples baked under a sponge cake mixture. The name is a reference to the biblical Eve, who ate the forbidden fruit. It is also version of a pudding, named after Prince William, Duke of Cumberland 1721-1765 but the first known recipe in publication was from 1824 using grated bread & suet.  I think Diane’s recipe is best – but then I am just biased!

Deb the Bread