Fruity Flag Traybake for the Jubilee

The nation is awash with patriotism this weekend...it's great to see all the decorations, celebrations and everyone enjoying themselves!!

Even if you're not a Royalist, it really is an excuse for a get together and a party. On Friday afternoon it was great to have Jubilee picnic at work. There was celebratory food, egg and spoon and sack races and even a visit from Wenlock the Olympic mascot...a great time was had by all.

I made this Union Jack traybake for the occasion. I think quite a few people might have baked this one for the Jubilee as it's so simple but stunningly effective...and if you haven't seen it, it's on the cover of this month's BBC GoodFood Magazine! I just couldn't resist. It's a special recipe by Mary Berry for the Jubilee.

The sponge itself has the zest of two lemons along with Greek yoghurt and ground almonds. It was deliciously moist and light and when combined with the succulent berries and buttercream, it amounted to the perfect combination!

I hope you're enjoying the Jubilee celebrations...roll on Euro 2012 and the Olympics...more excuses to fly the flag and have a party! :-)

Ingredients
100g butter
175g self-raising flour
50g ground almonds
2tsp baking powder
4 large eggs
225g caster sugar
125ml full-fat Greek yogurt
Zest of 2 lemons

Buttercream

175g butter
350g icing sugar

300g raspberries
175g blueberries

 Preheat your oven to 180c/160c fan/gas 4. Then butter and line a 30 x 20cm tin. I only had a 21 x 28cm tin and it worked just as well, so if you've got something of a similar size, it would be fine to use that.

It really is simple to make, literally tip all the sponge ingredients into a large bowl and mix using smooth. It's best to use an electric hand whisk. The sponge then needs to be baked for 25-30 minutes until it is springy and a skewer comes out clean. You should then cool your cake on a wire rack out of the tin.

To decorate, whisk up the butter and icing sugar (preferable sifted) until lovely and fluffy. This can then be spread over the cold cake. For the crowning glory (sorry bad joke) top the cake with the raspberries and blueberries. Place a double row of raspberries from top to bottom and side to side, and then a single row diagonally out to each corner. Then just fill in the gaps with blueberries. Enjoy whilst singing 'God Save the Queen' :-)

Regal Jubilee Crown Cake

Well it's only two weeks until the Queen's Jubilee and I for one can't wait for a right royal knees up! Even if you're not a Royalist, it's a good opportunity for a get together. So to celebrate Her Majesty's 60 years on the throne I thought it would be appropriate to celebrate with a Jubilee themed cake.

The cake design is by Fiona Cairns, who made the Royal wedding cake no less. I just happened to see it online a couple of weeks ago and decided that I'd like to give it a go...possibly a bit gungho at that point!

So how is was it made? Well firstly the cake inside is made up of four 8" Victoria sponge layers, sandwiched together with buttercream and raspberry jam. The stack was then chilled to make it a bit firmer for carving. The top edges were carved to give a smooth curve and then the cake was tapered down to a 6" cake drum.

I love the colour of the sugarpaste for this cake,  Renshaw's amethyst paste...and it's the perfect colour to add a regal touch to the crown. To create the gold strips, it is just sugarpaste painted with a mixture of edible gold dust and dipping solution (alcohol). However, to make the ball and cross, I mixed the sugarpaste with some CMC the night before to make it really firm, otherwise the cross wouldn't stay up there on it's own.

To add the finishing touches, a 'fur' trim was created around the base...this is made out of priceless Fox's glacier mints, which were given an almight bash with a rolling pin...it's actually harder than you think to break a Fox's glacier mint! Then the little pearls were stuck on with royal icing, as were the jelly diamonds...I may have been a little cross-eyed after all that sticking! But the result...a crown fit for the Queen!

This month Homemade by Fleur is hosting a Blogging Jubilee Baking Competition so I think this is the perfect entry, what says Jubilee better than a Coronation crown. The competition is sponsored by Appliances Online.

Today is also World Baking Day and I couldn't resist joining in with a little 'Caking'. Check out the World Baking Day website if you want to find out more but it involved me taking my cake for a little walk and taking a picture of it in an unusual place! Here is the result, it drew more than a couple of strange looks from passersbys but the Royal Mail postbox goes perfectly with the Royal cake!

I hope you enjoy your Jubilee celebrations...God Save the Queen!