Jubilee Cakebabs

♬ '1' by The Beatles

When the sun comes out in London, everything changes. Music bursts from every street corner, builders take their t-shirts off and tis the season for ice cream. Whereas I was plumped in the kitchen and gutted I didn't own an ice cream maker - so this meant a bit of baking! While emptying the dishwasher, I was prancing around to 'Yellow Submarine' and saw some skewers under the cutlery. That's when a little light switched on in my cake tin of a brain. Why not cut up the cake and make kebabs - with cake?! A simple sponge with fruit on a skewer, and perfect for any party, especially for the Diamond Jubilee event in June. I grabbed the whisk, flicked the album to 'Eight Days A Week' and started constructing this fantastic concept.

Recipe for 16-20 skewers, each cake tin yields 8 -10 mini sponges, and it also depends on the size of the cutter and how many you want on a skewer. I used *one sponge, and used 10 skewers.

Ingredients:

225g soft organic butter

225g golden caster sugar

225g self raising flour, sieved.

1 vanilla pod with seeds scraped out or 1 tsp vanilla essence.

4 medium eggs at room temperature.

200ml double cream

Raspberry jam

Desiccated coconut

Icing sugar for dusting the tops

Fresh strawberries

Fresh blueberries

Fresh blackberries

Method:

:Preheat oven to 180°c

: Cream the butter until soft and then add the sugar. Whisk until pale and fluffy.

: Add 2 eggs at a time and keep on whisking.

: Fold in the flour.

: Pour in two 20cm sandwich tins which have been greased lightly with butter. I tend not to use baking parchment on the base. Really depends on the quality of the tin.

: Bake for 25 minutes, once springy to the touch, leave both out to cool for half an hour, then put in the fridge.

: Once completely cold, whisk the cream and give the jam a stir in the jar to loosen it up a bit more.

: Use a cutter which is a size down from medium and not too big (see below).

: Cut 10 circles from each sponge. 

: Like I mentioned earlier, I only used one sponge and cut sandwiches from these. By doing this there was less chance of the sponge breaking.

: Cut the circle as you would a normal sponge if you were to fill it. Spread cream on one circle and jam on the other. Sprinkle desiccated coconut on top of the cream if you wish.

: Design your skewers with one or two sandwiches with fresh fruit. Try using your favourite jam or other fruits.
This is a creative moment for children to get involved.

As a test I gave a few out and they stayed on the skewer, didn't break and were easy to handle.

Here is one more shot and a Viddy because they looked and tasted so damn good.

Favourite Song:

ê 'A Hard Day's Night'

*With the other sponge, spread the rest of the cream on top and scatter remaining fruit.


I think the late nights of stopping off at a kebab shop are now over, I'm diving straight into my cake tin for a Cakebab!