The occasion was my mother's birthday, so the first item on the list was of course a birthday cake. Given that chocolate is her favourite flavour of cake, not to mention mine, that was the obvious choice. For previous birthdays, I had already done an enormous Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (more commonly known as Black Forest Gateau) and a Chocolate and Vanilla Tiger Cake (involving the piping of 2 different coloured mixtures to create a striped effect), so thought I would go a little simpler this year. After a bit of searching, I eventually decided to go for the Celebration Chocolate Cake by Mary Berry (available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/celebration_chocolate_18175). This is essentially a fairly basic chocolate sandwich, but using a combination of sunflower oil and milk instead of butter and therefore producing a fairly liquid mixture which rises a lot in the oven thanks to self-raising flour, baking powder AND bicarb. It is then topped and filled with a white chocolate, cream and cream cheese icing.
However, I adapted the recipe ever so slightly. Instead of putting the icing in between the layers, I instead used the more classic combination of raspberry jam and whipped cream. Plus, instead of leaving the topping flat, I decorated with extra raspberries. Without wishing to cast any doubt on Mary Berry, who is in my mind without fault when it comes to baking, I personally think my version was better. The icing, being made entirely of chocolate, cream and cream cheese, is extremely rich, and I think everyone agreed the jam and plain whipped cream in the middle was a nice contrast. The cake rose well, and was really very light - so a complete success.
The next item on the list was our desert for that evening, for which I had decided to do Floating Islands (more commonly known, in France at least, as Iles Flottantes). Again it was one of Mary Berry's recipes (available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/floating_islands_with_03517) but on this occasion I combined it with another recipe from Raymond Blanc (at http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/ilesflottantefaconma_93228) in that, rather than spinning the caramel into sugary balls, to save time I just dribbled the caramel over at the end. I had already practised this a week earlier, and I'm pleased to say it was again a big success. The meringues were light and fluffy, and the creme anglaise thickened perfectly with no (or at least minimal) risk of scrambled eggs. The hot caramel obviously cooled as soon as it touched the chilled desert, becoming hard and creating a nice texture difference to the soft and creamy meringues.
The last item was the main course, chosen to be a Salmon en Croute and courtesy of Gordon Ramsay (available at http://www.redonline.co.uk/food/recipes/salmon-en-croute). This was essentially a large side of salmon, covered in a stuffing made from butter, mustard, basil and dill, and then wrapped in short-crust pastry and baked. However, I again deviated slightly from the recipe, in that Ramsay advises to cut the salmon in half and then make a sandwich from the 2 pieces with the stuffing in between. You therefore end up with a layer of the herbs in between the fish. I decided against this, however, given that our salmon was already quite large in the vertical so sandwiching 2 pieces together would have made a very tall pie. Instead, I simply covered the fish with the stuffing and then wrapped in pastry. Unfortunately I don't have a photo of this, but it was really quite impressive and tasted fantastic.
So, all in all, a very good birthday meal - which I think was well received. Full menu as follows:
Teatime: Celebration Chocolate Cake
Starter: Sweet and sour prawns, with chorizo and chilli
Main: Salmon en Croute, with steamed vegetables and new potatoes
Desert: Iles Flottantes
