Olympic-themed cake recipes

Massive thanks to Claire, for sending us this guest post with some delicious sporty recipes.

It’s official, everybody is about to go Olympics mad. I can’t seem to walk down the street without seeing a Union Jack in some shape or form. But hey, why not? It is after all a time to celebrate and, of course an excuse to get baking!

As this is a very British occasion, I decided to stick to making some traditional cakes - Battenberg, cupcakes and shortbread- all with a distinctly British twist!

 

Olympic Battenberg

The Battenberg is a moist sponge cake cut into four rectangle shapes, sandwiched together with apricot jam and covered in almond marzipan. It is easily recognised by its two-by-two check pattern coloured pink and yellow, which makes it a rather attractive looking cake.

I covered my Battenberg in white marzipan instead of golden, and to make it fit in with the Olympic theme I cut out strips of pink icing and triangles of blue icing to make a union jack pattern on top, which I think looks rather effective! There are many great recipes out there, but I quite like the one by the hairy bikers, which you can find here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/battenburg_cake_60878

 

 

 

 

 

Rose Shortbread

Now let’s move onto the shortbread, which is one of my favourite types of biscuit- rich, buttery and melt in the mouth- delicious! I like mine to be crumbly, sprinkled with a generous helping of sugar and served with a nice cup of coffee. I normally roll out my shortbread dough and use cookie cutters to cut out different shapes, but this time I thought I’d try something new and bake them in this beautiful rose mould, courtesy of Dotcomgiftshop.

Although designed as a chocolate mould, it is also oven stable and so can be used for baking which I think is brilliant. I admit that at first I was unsure as to whether baking my shortbread in this intricate mould would work, but once baked the biscuits popped out like a dream and I think they make pretty little bite size treats perfect for an Olympics party!

 

Ingredients

100g unsalted butter, softened

50g caster sugar

150g plain flour

Extra caster sugar, for sprinkling

 

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 170C/gas mark 3.

In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until combined.

Sift in the plain flour and stir until you have a smooth paste (you may have to use your hands at this point!)

Press small balls of the dough into the rose moulds, or into a 6 inch flan ring lined with greaseproof paper.

Alternatively, you can roll out the dough and cut into shapes of your choice.

Chill until firm.

 

 

 

 

Olympic Bake Cupcakes

And now, my final Olympic bake-cupcakes! Cupcakes are a great treat to bake for special celebrations as the possibilities for different flavours and designs are endless. I decided to stick to two classic flavour combinations- strawberry and vanilla, and double chocolate as I find that these always go down well with everybody.

I made my own Olympic decorations from roll-out icing, marzipan and a little food colouring which I think look rather effective. However, if you don’t have the time to make your own, there are plenty of ready-made Olympic themed decorations you can buy- red white and blue sprinkles, edible diamonds and edible glitter to name a few!

I used a basic Victoria sponge cake recipe for my cupcakes, but swirled through a little strawberry jam into the batter- why not have a go yourself?

 

Ingredients

Strawberry and Vanilla Cupcakes (makes 12)

115g butter

Softened 115g caster sugar

2 large eggs, beaten

115g self-raising flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp strawberry jam

 

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy with an electric whisk or a good ol’ wooden spoon!

Gradually beat in the eggs, then stir in the vanilla extract.

Carefully fold in the sifted flour, then spoon the batter into 12 paper cupcake cases.

Finally, swirl through 1 teaspoon on strawberry jam into each cupcake.

Bake the cupcakes for 25-30 minutes until well risen and golden on top.

Allow to cool before decorating with vanilla butter icing and your choice of Olympic themed decorations.

For double chocolate cupcakes, substitute 2 tablespoons of the flour for cocoa powder and add 100g of milk chocolate chips instead of the strawberry jam for extra chocolatiness-yummy!