In honour of Her Majesty The Queen’s 90th birthday, we are supporting our heritage and bringing you the Best of British brands at up to 90% off for the Bank Holiday Weekend.
Rule BrandAlley, BrandAlley rules the sales…
Too much? Sometimes it’s hard not to get carried away at BA HQ…
Anyway, moving swiftly on. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for Nicole Farhi, French Connection (yes it’s a British brand), French Sole (its British too), Elemis, Chinti and Parker, Aspinal of London, Cowshed, Cath Kidston, Kilner and more with up to 90% off.
Plus, to make your Bank Holiday even better, why not enter our BrandAlley Pinterest competition for the chance to win a Kenwood K mix in white?
To get your taste buds tickled, we had our very own BrandAlley Baker, Luis Ferreira whisk up a storm in the kitchen.
Drum roll please! Here we introduce: the most mouth-wateringly delicious Red Velvet Cake in the world. As you can imagine, it didn’t last long.
So, if like Luis, you’re a dab hand in the kitchen, this is your chance to enter. All you need to do is Pin the recipe or image of your favourite cake to bake.
Please see competition details below:
- Follow BrandAlley UK Pinterest
- Pin your ‘Best Bank Holiday Bake’
- Submit your entry by commenting on one of our pins on the ‘BrandAlley Bake Off’ Pinterest board with the link to your pin!
How to bake the ‘Red Velvet Cake’ with Luis Ferreira
Luis Ferreira’s Top Tip:
‘Use gel/paste based red food colour to give the rich deep velvety red. Something like Sugarflair Red Extra paste otherwise the end results after baking will be more brown than red.
I adapted the recipe for a 9”/22.5cm round cake tin and will make two sponges with an end result of about 6” in height. These can be made at the same time or split the sponge measurements in half and do two separate bakes.’
Sponge
240g/8.5oz/ unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
600g/1lb 3oz/ caster sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
4 tbsp cocoa powder
2 heaped tsp sugarflair red extra food colouring
2 tsp vanilla extract
670 g/1lb 5oz/ plain flour
1½ tsp salt
455ml/16fl oz buttermilk
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp cider vinegar
Cream cheese frosting
250g/9oz Unsalted butter, at room temperature
1kg/2lb 4oz icing sugar
Sponge
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Grease 2 x 20cm/9in diameter cake tins and line with baking parchment.
- Beat the butter for a minute or so, until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the bowl to ensure all the ingredients are combined. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the cocoa, food colouring and vanilla extract.
- Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, then add to the butter mixture in three stages, alternating with the buttermilk and scraping down after each addition.
- Put the bicarbonate of soda and cider vinegar in a small bowl and whisk until it bubbles up. Add this to the cake batter and give it one last quick beat. The addition of the vinegar and bicarbonate will make the colour of the cake develop and stay red when cooked. Spoon the mixture into the tins and level the top of the batter.
- Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. After 30 minutes, cover the top of the cake with foil to prevent it from browning too much. Test the cake after 45 minutes; when it is cooked, a knife or skewer inserted in the centre will come out clean. Remove the foil and leave to cool on a wire rack for around 30 minutes. Remove from the tin and leave until completely cool before decorating.
Frosting
- To make the frosting, beat the butter until softened, then add the soft cheese and beat for a few seconds to combine. Scrape down the bowl to make sure everything is mixed, then add the icing sugar and beat again. The longer you beat, the creamier the icing will be. Set aside at room temperature until you’re ready to use it. If it’s a warm day, put it in the fridge but take it out 10 minutes before you want to use it.
- To decorate the cakes, you first need to level them. Use a bread knife to slice a small section off the top and make it as flat as possible. (Keep the sliced-off section to decorate the cake.)
- Next you have to cut each cake in half horizontally; again, use a bread knife. Now you have four layers of cake. Put the bottom layer of cake on your cake plate. Spread with the icing, making sure it’s not too thick; about 1cm/½in is perfect. Repeat with all the layers.
- Next, cover the outside of the cake with icing; I use a palette knife or a butter knife. Finally, place finely chopped blueberries and strawberries in the form of a Union Jack, slice and serve.
