Cake forty - Easter basket and decorations

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Appearance in baking is of top importance, cakes look different but recipe maybe the same! Shape and decoration deceive our sight and sometimes a different shape may also result in a different taste. 

I particularly like the idea of an edible basket and I’ve tried several recipes, over the years, I made it using same recipe as for a stand up bunny, which is another must on my table, but this is the one which gives the best result. It’s more like a sweet bread than a real cake. 

You can try them both and see which one you like best!

Easter Basket 

500g flour 

25g yeast

1 glass warm water

1/4 luke warm milk

50g almonds

100 g diced orange and lemon peel 

150g raisins

1cl rhum

100g butter (melted)

50g sugar 

1 egg

1 pinch salt

grated lemon rind

Combine yeast, sugar and warm water in small bowl, whisk until yeast is dissolved. Cover bowl, stand in warm place about 10 minutes or until mixture is frothy.

Combine fruit and almond with rhum in small bowl. Cover stand 30 minutes.

Place flour in large bowl, make well in the centre and add yeast mixture. Make a small dough. Cover and stand about 15 minutes. Add melted butter salt, egg, salt and lemon rind. Beat dough vigourously. Stand about 20 minutes. Stir in almonds and fruit. Cover and stand further 15 minutes. Grease a round shaped pan. Place dough. Put a small round saucepan in centre. Bake at 180° about 40 minutes. Remove saucepan after 20 minutes.

When basket is still hot melt 25g butter, brush top of basket and sprinkle with 25g sugar. 

I’ve found it difficult to find the right mould for the basket and even more difficult to make it hollow inside! After many trials I got it right!

I made a small Easter wreath with some leftover dough! 

Stand up Bunny

1 egg

70 g butter or margarine

70 g sugar

a pinch of salt

90 g flour 

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

for procedure please see: 

http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2013/05/cake-twenty-four-bunnies-bunnies-bunnies.html

also visit http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2014/06/easter-baking-cake-forty.html

Easter baking - Cake thirty eight Hot Cross Buns

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Like other Easter specialties they’re half way between bread and cake. I love the taste of the raisins and orange peel inside! They’re not too sweet and are good hot at breakfast with a cup of coffee or tea and why not some jam on top. They need some resting time so I find it impossible to bake them the same day for breakfast! So I make them the day before and heat them up, but they lose some of their fragrancy. 

14g dry yeast

55g sugar

250ml warm milk

600g flour

1 tsp cinnamon

60g butter

1 egg, lightly beaten

125ml warm water

250g dried currants or raisins

80g orange peel

1 tbs apricot jam

Combine yeast, sugar and milk in small bowl, whisk until yeast is dissolved. Cover bowl, stand in warm place about 10 minutes or until mixture is frothy. Sift flour and cinnamon into larghe bowl, rub in butter, then stir in yeast mixture,egg, water and fruit. Cover and stand in warm place about one hour or until mixture has doubled in size. Turn dough onto floured surface, knead about 5 minutes or unitl smooth and elastic. divide dough in 16 portions and knead into balls. Place buns into greased 23cm square slab cake pan, stand in warm place about 20 minutes or until dough has risen to top of pan.

Flour paste

75g flour

1tbs sugar

80ml water

Combine flour and sugar in small bowl, gradually blend in water, stir until smooth.

Place flour paste into piping bag fitted with small plain tube and pipe crosses onto buns.

Bake at 200° 10 minutes, reduce heat to 180° and bake about a further 15 minutes. Turn buns onto a serving plate and brush with warm apricot jam. 


Flour paste was too much for the Hot Cross Buns and I've used it to make a Bunny. Bunnies are never enough at Easter!

Also visit: http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2014/05/easter-baking-cake-thirty-seven_31.html

Cake thirty-seven Easter baking: Smart Bunnies

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Simple ingredients - butter, flour, sugar eggs and raisins - easy to make: simply delicious! 

It’s actually surprising how many different cakes and cookies you can make with the same ingredients.  

I’m sure that if you try them they’ll be among your favourite cookies.

100g butter

75g sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

1 egg

225g flour

1/2 tsp mixed spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

80g raisins, plus 12 extra for eyes

2 tbsp milk

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, until the egg and whisk again. Add the flour, spices and raisins  and mix well. Lightly knead, then roll out to a 5mm thickness. Use bunny cutters to press out about 12 cookies, rerolling the dough if necessary. 

Line 2 baking trays with baking paper, arrange the cookies there and brush with milk. Make eyes with extra raisins and sprinkle over the extra sugar. Bake at 200° C for 12-15 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes until transferring to a wire rack to cool. Tie ribbons around the necks of bunnies. 

Also visit: http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2014/05/easter-baking-cake-thirty-seven.html

Cake seventeen - Xmas Fruit cake - 2013

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This cake’s undoubtedly another Xmas must have! It’s quite easy to make, but pay attention to the right baking time, Anyway it’s better to bake a little bit longer so that flavours can blend together well. Then the longer you store it the nicer it smells and tastes - one month is a good period of time, in my opinion Storing time does make the difference! I think you should try it yourself. I do love this cake, you can make it in any shape: my favourite moulds for Xmas are trees or stars, whether smaller or bigger, but if you use a square or round pan it looks traditional and if you put a ribbon around it and a decoration in the middle, something like a Xmas tree candle holder it looks quite elegant and original. 

But this cake hides another secret! You can change some of the ingredients and there you have another cake! The original recipe is with candied fruit, raisins and almonds, but I never put almonds - we don’t like them much - and use chocolate instead! And for chocolate lovers use white and dark chocolate without candied fruit or raisins. It taste delicious, believe me!

for recipe see cake seventeen 

http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2012/12/cake-seventeen-christmas-fruit-cake.html

As you see, this year, I decorated the big Xmas tree in green with little red Xmas balls using cream cheese frosting and tiny chocolate rounds. 

Cream cheese frosting

green food colouring 

300 g cream cheese or mascarpone

200 g icing sugar

Mix cream cheese and icing sugar together until they’re well blended together. Add as much green colouring as to reach the shade you like. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

Red Xmas balls

100 g White chocolate

red food colouring.

Melt white chocolate over a bain maire. Cool it. Add some red colouring until you get the shade you want. Pipe small rounds on baking paper or better on a silicon baking mat. Refrigerate.

also visit: http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2013/12/xmas-fruit-cake-2013.html