Sunday, March 1, 2009

Bakewell Cake

So this month's Sweet and Simple Bakes' recipe was a Cherry Bakewell Cake. Maria and Rosie really do their homework and give us the most tried and tested easy bake recipes. And every single time, the recipe is a winner.

This time, though, it just didn't work for me and I have no idea why! Maybe one of you could tell me where I went wrong. I'm still posting it here because everyone loved the flavor of the cake - it just didn't look all that hot. See the S+SB website to see how this cake is supposed to look!

And another thing - I'm not a huge cherry person, actually I dislike cherries. So I went with the raspberry option that Rosie had given us. So I'm just going to call it a Bakewell Cake!


Bakewell Cake
(recipe from Sweet and Simple Bakes)

For the Cake:
8 oz Butter, well softened, + extra for greasing
8 oz Caster Sugar
4 oz ground Almonds
4 oz self-raising Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp almond extract or essence
4 large eggs
Pinch of salt

For The Filling & Top
:
12 oz Cherry Jam/ Conserve (I used Raspberry Jam)
6 oz Icing Sugar
5-6 tsp Water or Lemon Juice (I used Lemon Juice)
1 tbsp flaked Almonds, lightly toasted

Mix all the ingredients for the cake together. Pour it into two 8 inch round sandwich tins.

Bake at 180 deg C for 30 minutes. It's done when a skewer comes out clean. Spread the jam on top of one of the cakes and sandwich them together.

Stir together the lemon juice and icing sugar until thick and creamy and pour over the cake. Top with the toasted almonds.


So everyone loved the cake, but I'll tell you what went wrong for me. The height of the cake was half what it was supposed to be. But the quantity of batter was so little that I realized that the two cakes would be really small.

And the icing just didn't become white and translucent - it kinda just blended into the cake. You could taste the icing but couldn't see it.


Thanks, Rosie and Maria!

31 comments:

amna said...

interesting. i think i would have gone for the cherries though :D

Chitra said...

nice,,looks mouthwatreing..want to have a bite,shall i;)

Maria♥ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Maria♥ said...

I'm sorry to hear you had problems with the cake. I too realised that my sponges were not big in height and I had to use more icing sugar. Maybe we should have used smaller tins to acheive that high look! Regardless your cake will still taste delicious and as hubby would say, its all in the eating.

Thanks for taking part and hope you will join us again.

Maria
x

♥Rosie♥ said...

Hi Arundathi,

Oh no I am sorry to read this because Maria and I bake each recipe before posting to hopefully overcome this problem. My thoughts... could it be the baking powder used or the oven door opened to early which would make the sponges sink? I am pleased to hear it tasted good and like Maria says its all in the eating.

My apologies for not calling by in a while due to gastric influenza.

Many thanks for joining in this months bake and I do hope you will join us in our bake next month :0)

Rosie x

natalia said...

Ciao ! I had your exact problems ! Bur for the glaze probably is my fault because I used less icing sugar for the cake I think we should have doubled the recipe !!

Deeba PAB said...

I'm glad it tasted well in the end Arundathi. I saw it on Rosie's blog too. I've never made a bakewell tart! looks fun to me.

Arundathi said...


Nags - oh i'm sure it would taste great with cherries too...

Chithra - sure, here you go!

Maria - Yup, my husband also says it's all in the eating! lol! we loved it - just didn't look anything like it was supposed to!

Rosie - oh, no problem. we loved the taste of the cake. i think i'll just double it next time. and use more caster sugar! thanks. looking fwd to next month's bake. i hope you're feeling better now.

natalia - thanks for your comment! i feel better knowing it wasn't just me who had these problems!

Deeba - yup, it was fun! do try it.

Rachel said...

I would have opted for raspberry too...looks yummy though..

Normally when you don't beat the batter enough, the cake does not rise well..

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

Raspberries were a good way to go, I would much prefer this version :)

Unknown said...

Hey dont worry gal! At least it tasted well!

Bharti said...

win some, lose some ;-)
Glad it tasted good.

Arundathi said...


Rachel - Thanks. I did beat the batter very well! Oh well.

Holler - Thanks :-) Yup - the raspberry jam was delicious!

Divya Vikram - Yup, it tasted really good.

Bharti - :-) Yup, it did!

Unknown said...

in the end it was delicious..thats tthe most important part..looks nice though it didn't rise..

Jin Hooi said...

My cake didn't rise well either .. ohh well, at least it was delicious ;-))

Manju said...

heyy..all that matters is that it tasted well..looking at the cake, im sure it did!! :)

Arundathi said...


Sowmya - Thanks - yes the taste was the most important part!

Jin Hooi - Oh I'm glad I wasn't the only one!

Superchef - Yup, it tasted great!

Bimmer said...

I'm sorry to hear it did not rise, but good to hear that the taste made up for it!

Arundathi said...


Bimmer - Thanks - yup the taste was great!

A_and_N said...

Heard so much about you from Ranj. I visit your other blog quite often. And this one too. But never got round to commenting :)

The cake looks great in the pic!

Arundathi said...


A & N - Thanks for dropping by and for the comment. How cool that you and Ranjani know each other! :-)

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

I am looking back at this again and wanting a slice right now! *sigh*

Arundathi said...


Oh, Holler, wish I could make and send some across!

Ranjani said...

it's cool that you improvised!
I'll be in India in a month...we have to meet up!

Anonymous said...

It seems delicious and it doesnt look all that bad! Maybe it didnt rise cos of baking pwder???

Irene said...

It looks pretty yummy to me!!! I would not say no to a slice of this cake... :)

Arundathi said...


Ranjani - oh yes definitely. it'll be great to finally see you.

homecooked - not sure why. but my baking powder was fresh and works with other stuff.

Irene - :-) do try it!

Anonymous said...

Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!

Anonymous said...

new guys! survey the latest unbind [url=http://www.casinolasvegass.com]casino[/url] games like roulette and slots !break manifest the all strange loosen [url=http://www.casinolasvegass.com]online casino[/url] games at the all with it www.casinolasvegass.com, the most trusted [url=http://www.casinolasvegass.com]online casinos[/url] on the lace-work! upon superiority of our [url=http://www.casinolasvegass.com/download.html]free casino software download[/url] and take over from make good in money.
you can also rein other [url=http://sites.google.com/site/onlinecasinogames2010/]online casinos bonus[/url] . check out this new [url=http://www.place-a-bet.net/]online casino[/url].

Anonymous said...

new guys! equal the latest untrammelled [url=http://www.casinolasvegass.com]casino[/url] games like roulette and slots !authenticate manifest the all trendy unburden [url=http://www.casinolasvegass.com]online casino[/url] games at the all redone www.casinolasvegass.com, the most trusted [url=http://www.casinolasvegass.com]online casinos[/url] on the net! profit from our [url=http://www.casinolasvegass.com/download.html]free casino software download[/url] and advance in money.
you can also authenticate other [url=http://sites.google.com/site/onlinecasinogames2010/]online casinos bonus[/url] . check out this new [url=http://www.place-a-bet.net/]online casino[/url].

Aditi said...

I just made this cake...havent tasted it yet bt it rose quite well...i didnt hav ne probs wid that...i think it was coz i used a pretty small diameter cake tin...