Recipe: DHR Birthday Cake

Some time ago, our wonderful editor and overlord Elle challenged me to make a cake for DHR’s birthday month.

I am a novice baker but I enjoy it, so what follows is me having a crack at it with the sort of creativity that you would find on GBBO. This is also how I learned making a showstopper is even harder than it looks.

First, I had to consider what flavours are most fitting for us as a group and a website. When I think of my colleagues, I think they are super sweet, with a dark surprise being their love of horror.

Sour Cherry and Ginger Jam

As the base for this jam, I used this recipe from BBC Good Food.

However, I made some personal amendments. As I was experimenting, I didn’t want to make such a large volume of jam only for it to be a waste, so I halved the amount of cherries and sugar involved. To make it a little more sour, I kept the lemon the same, and for a little fiery kick I also threw in about a thumb’s worth of fresh ginger, grated.

I very quickly regretted choosing such a labour-intensive fruit for my jam. Halving and pitting the cherries became tedious very quickly, and my kitchen countertop resembled a crime scene by the time I was done. I also forgot to wear my apron at first, and remembered upon that first squirt of cherry juice that I was wearing a light-coloured t-shirt.

Despite my complaints, I’m thrilled with how the jam came out. It is just a little sour and just a little spicy, and very, very cherry.

Victoria Sandwich and White Chocolate Buttercream

I used recipes from The Great British Book of Baking by Linda Collister, the cookbook released back in 2010 as a companion to the first series of The Great British Bake Off. I highly recommend this book to anyone getting into baking, especially if you’ve got an interest in the traditions from all over the UK.

My specific choices were the Victoria Sandwich (everyone loves a Victoria Sandwich) and buttercream, with white chocolate as the flavour.

Victoria sponge, fairly basic, right? Pretty foolproof?

Apparently not, because it did not go according to plan. I followed the recipe diligently, expecting my usual happy results. Alas, when I opened the oven, I found that my sponges had not risen as I had hoped, and not evenly.

Now, I take a lot of pride in my kitchen skills, though I am admittedly a pretty novice baker, so I was disappointed. I told myself with the jam and buttercream it would be a lot more presentable.

The white chocolate buttercream thankfully went off without a hitch. The flavours suggested by the book were vanilla, dark chocolate, or coffee, but I already had my mind set on white chocolate with the hope that the tartness of my jam would offset the sweetness a little.

Decoration

I just smeared the buttercream everywhere. I’ll be the first to admit I have no artistic talent and, in my experience, trying usually makes it worse.

My sponges looked much less sad stacked up, which was something.

Results

First taste testers were myself and my mother, and I made sure we ate the flattest bit. Honestly, it wasn’t my best work but it wasn’t that bad. The buttercream made up for any dryness, and I made sure to apply the jam generously. The other thing that bothered me was the ginger fibres in the jam looked a lot like hair when the cake was cut, so I had to give a disclaimer to anyone who might cut a slice.

I took the rest of the cake into my day job the next day where it was received very positively, by happy coincidence someone there had just had a birthday so it worked out.

I’m putting this down to a learning experience, next year’s DHR birthday will be bigger and better, with a much improved cake.

By Dai Baddley