Kimberley’s Birthday Cake Recipe…

January 13, 2016
by Trisha Our Cooking tools

    HelloFresh Birthday Cake

    At the Fresh Farm, we celebrate home cooking of all kinds (especially on our birthday)! Whether you’re sauteeing, roasting or baking, we’re happy that it’s from scratch. So, when Kimberley from the Great British Bake Off said she’d bake our 4th birthday cake we went slightly bonkers. Bonkers in the best way possible – the kind of bonkers where you’re all giggling to yourselves.

    While Kimberley was baking this epic cherry and coconut sandwich cake, there was a fair bit of loitering going on by the cake fans in the team. So… everyone!

    Kimberley Wilson & HelloFresh

    So, Kimberley what’s your earliest birthday memory and was there cake involved?

    I still remember the birthday cake my mum made for my brother’s birthday. He’s a few years older than me, so I must have been tiny but I remember that she made him a toadstool cake that was decorated with jelly sweets. I thought it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen! It was that cake that was the inspiration for the one that I made for the novelty cake challenge in Bake Off.

    What inspired this cherry and coconut cake recipe?

    Well, I always start with the flavours in mind and cherry and coconut are two flavours that work really well together. The coconut is very rich and earthy and the sharp fruitiness of the cherries complements that very well. I’m also experimenting with using coconut oil in baking recipes. There are some interesting studies of the anti-stress and antioxidant (and potentially neuroprotective) effects of virgin coconut oil and whilst I avoid using ingredients solely for their health benefits if it a) tastes good and b) makes sense in the recipe then I’m more than happy to.

    We heard you’ve got a new supperclub called Eat with Your Mindful? We’re intrigued…

    It was borne out of a desire to get back to a more meaningful appreciation of food. I think there is a trend now for food being broken down into its constituent parts and looking at ingredients as simply nutrients to be arranged on a plate, which I think is sad and dangerous. As a psychologist I know that our relationship with food goes much deeper than that; food and eating connect us to family, culture, celebration, memories and so much more. The Eat with Your Mindful supper club invites diners to turn off their phones so that they can engage with the interesting people around the dinner table with them and we throw in a few conversation starters to help that process along. The dinners are centred on a relevant theme, so our launch dinner in December 2015 was all about memories and nostalgia and we’re seeing if we can fit one in in February all about how food is linked to love, affection and relationships.

    What is your favourite HelloFresh recipe and why?

    I really like Patrick’s Tandoori Take-Down with Brown Rice. It’s the kind of food I love to eat; warming, nutritious and satisfying.

     

    And… drum roll please for OUR 4th Birthday CAKE

    HelloFresh Birthday Cake

    Coconut & Cherry Layer Cake

    Ingredients

    • For the cake

      • 200g unsalted butter
      • 200g caster sugar
      • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
      • 1 tsp vanilla extract
      • 4 large free-range eggs, lightly beaten
      • 200g self-raising flour
      • 60g desiccated coconut mixed with 3 tbsp hot water

      For the buttercream

      • 100g coconut oil* at room temperature
      • 100g unsalted butter, softened
      • 400g icing sugar, sifted
      • ½ tsp vanilla extract
      • (*if you don’t have any coconut oil just use all butter)
      • 3 tbsp dried sour cherries, roughly chopped
      • 6 tbsp good quality morello cherry jam
      • 1 tbsp Kirsch (if you have any lying about)

      Garnish

      • 12 fresh cherries

    Instructions:

    1. Heat the oven to 180C/160 fan/Gas 4
    2. Grease and line the base of a 22cm round cake tin.
    3. Simmer the dried cherries in about ½ cup of water. Remove from the heat, cover with a lid and leave to cool while you get on with the cake.
    4. In a mixer set with a whisk or paddle beat the butter, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla until pale and fluffy.
    5. On a medium-low speed add the eggs in three additions, alternating with the flour. Be sure to scrape down the side of the bowl to make sure the mixture is well combined.
    6. Spoon into your prepared tin, level the surface of the batter with the back of a metal spoon. Bake in the centre of the oven, until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean, about 45-50 minutes. Allow to cool in the tin for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Drain the cherries.
    7. Make the buttercream by whipping the coconut oil (if using), butter, vanilla and icing sugar until fluffy. Start out on a low speed otherwise the icing sugar will go all over the place. Spoon about 6 tbsp of the buttercream into a small bowl and set aside for later. In a separate bowl combine the cherry jam, kirsch and drained cherries.
    8. When the cake is cool, split in half and spread the base with half the buttercream and the cherry filling. Spread the remaining buttercream on top of the other half of the cake and sandwich them. Using the reserved buttercream spoon or pipe 12 balls of icing around the top edge of the cake. Top with the cherries and dive in.

    Enjoy! And if you bake this beauty, don’t forget to share it with us on social media with the hashtag #HelloFreshSnaps

    Happy Baking!

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