My baking blog - Thandi - Orange and lemon curd sponge and peri peri cholla loaf

I have a baking therapy blog which I would really like to share with you.   When we first went into lockdown basic things like flour were hard to come by.  Things are a lot better now. 

More recipes are to come soon.

Orange and lemon curd sponge

Work pressures in the last year have meant I lost my passion for baking and this summer I am trying to regain the confidence to be as passionate as I was. The past year has taught me not to give up on doing something you love just because you get knocked down by people. It is amazing how hobbies and careers interplay and therefore a difficult time at work affects your hobbies adversely. Learning to maintain a work life balance is key and re- evaluating why you are doing what you do and finding a place of work that appreciates your skills helps with that balance.

So here’s to more baking recipes which I love writing and designing and more reading!

Orange and Lemon curd sponge

A very easy recipe that uses the all in one method to achieve the best sponge! The key to the all in one method of cake batter mixing is ensuring enough air goes into the cake mixture and this is observable by the light colour of the batter.

Ingredients

600g self raising flour

500g golden caster sugar

500g Stork margarine

9 Large eggs

2tsp Madagascan vanilla extract

Juice of one large orange

1 full tsp baking powder

2 tbsp lemon curd

Method

Grease two 10″ or 11″ tins and line with baking parchment and set oven to 170 degrees.

Measure out the flour, sugar and baking powder into your cake mixer bowl. If you are using a hand whisk, ensure you use the largest bowl or halve the ingredients to make two separate cake mixes. In theory, every 175g of flour needs 3 eggs and between 50-75g less sugar and margarine.

Add margarine to dry ingredients. I use stork instead of butter as the cake has a lovely yellow tint and is not too dense when baked.

Add all remaining ingredients (you can delete the lemon curd if you wish)

Whisk on medium power for 5 minutes until mixture looks consistently light and smooth as shown below:

Split mixture evenly between the two cake tins and bake on middle shelf for 1hr 45 minutes. I use a lower temperature to allow as much rise to the sponges but different ovens work differently so anything in the range of 160-180 degrees will do.

Cakes should go golden brown when almost ready and use a clean table knife to check if cake is cooked through by piercing through at the highest peak.

Once ready, remove from oven and leave to cool for 30- 40 minutes before carefully tipping onto a cooling rack. As the cakes are still warm, this allows you to press them down gently to get a flat top if you had domes on your cakes.

Once completely cool, cling film cakes and store ready for decoration. Alternatively store in airtight cake tins to lock in moisture.

      oooOooo

Thandi’s peri peri cholla loaf

Teaching takes over your life so much that you forget about your hobbies…. hoping I can reserve Sundays for recipe design and food blogging. This Cholla loaf is a great twist on the traditional recipe. There are only a couple of changes: Peri Peri seasoning added to flavour the breads and dough has been proven in a bread tin for the loaf effect which I thought adds a neater finish. 

Prep and bake time: 2-3hrs

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

500g strong white bread flour ( I used Allison’s bread flour)

10g salt

15g caster sugar

10g instant yeast( again I used Allison’s instant yeast sachets)

30g unsalted butter softened

2 medium eggs lightly beaten

25ml warm semi skimmed milk

200ml cool water 

Peri peri salt or seasoning

Black pepper (coarse)

Method

Put flour into a large bowl and add the yeast in one corner, salt in another corner and sugar in a separate corner.

Add butter, eggs, half the water and mix with a spoon or using hands.

Keeping adding water and picking up all the flour from the sides until you form a rough dough. Tip the dough onto a floured surface.

Using the palm off your hand, knead the dough by folding the edges into the middle for 10 minutes until gluten is stretched and dough feels smooth and light.​​

Place dough into an oiled bowl and cover with a slightly damp tea towel and leave to prove somewhere warm for an hour. If it is winter I always turn oven on before making dough so kitchen is warm enough for proving.

After an hour, check dough to see if it has risen to more than double its original size. If not leave for another 30-40 minutes.

Once dough has proven, tip into a floured surface and knead again to knock any air out. At this point, season with peri peri salt and blend in by kneading.

Divide dough into 3 equal pieces and roll each piece into a long sausage shape. Join the pieces at one end and plait tightly into a braid. Place braid carefully into an oiled standard loaf tin and season with black pepper. 

Leave to prove for another hour. Meanwhile set oven to 200 degrees Celsius and place a small tray of hot water on the bottom shelf to steam the oven.

Once proven, bake for 20-25 minutes on the middle shelf until golden brown. Remove from oven and tip onto wire rack and place back in oven for another 5-10 minutes. To check if bread is cooked through tap the bottom with your knuckles and you should hear a hollow sound and not a “thud”

Cool completely and serve …. 

Author:  Thandi