Cakes continue
Jan 30th, 2008 by Jenny
My three ethical wedding cakes are now coming on fast. The carrot cake (recipe posted here back in the autumn) is finished. My chocolate cake, after several draft versions, will be made next week! The recipe for that was posted here back in the autumn too.
I have also now made the fruit cake with help from my Grandmother who has been making fruitcakes for all the family for about sixty years. She uses Delia’s classic fruitcake recipe and she soaks the fruit in brandy for at least a week before making the cake.
(She also said the brandy-soaked fruit is great for putting on your muesli in the morning, but I think I would have a bit of a wobbly bike-ride to work if I did that!
)
For the ethical fruit cake I bought Fairtrade fruit, Fairtrade nuts, Fairtrade sugar, Fairtrade mixed spice and Fairtrade oranges and lemons. I also used organic butter, organic free range eggs and local flour. (Wessex Mill flour was the most local flour I could find – I live in Berkshire).
After soaking the fruit for a week I took it to my Gran’s and made the mixture in her mixing machine. I would not recommend making the mixture by hand as it would take AGES. It took quite a long time by machine! The cooking takes a long time too – four and a half hours.
However, I can recommend this cake as I’ve had it at Christmas before and it is lovely. The carrot cake is now in the freezer. I know it freezes well as I have frozen my practise versions and they are still yummy afterwards!
The fruit cake will not need to be frozen as apparently it tastes better after time spent ‘maturing’. I will simply ice it with roll-out icing and keep it in a tin. Just before the big day I will get the carrot cake and the chocolate cake out of the freezer and ice them too.
For the carrot cake I have been practising cream-cheese frosting and I have found that one part cream cheese to three parts icing sugar makes a good stiff mixture. You need a lot of frosting to get a nice smooth finish though. I haven’t worked out how to ice the chocolate cake yet – maybe I’ll use Fairtrade white chocolate.
Other brides that plan to make their own ethical wedding cakes may also be interested to know that you can buy little packets of sugar flowers and sugar swirls in Tescos for about £3 if you want to decorate the cake. Or you could always use Fairtrade chocolates and nuts!
