Karen Wright cooking up a storm - Let them eat cake – or gateaux – whatever the exact difference is!

Now and then I do get the urge to make cake.

Not as often as most people think, as my taste buds veer towards the savoury.

Last week I made two cakes and they both turned out well.

I bought some cake bands to place around my tins, the idea being that they allow the cake to bake more evenly.

Without a dome and keeping the sides nice and soft rather than brown and crunchy.

They worked with the first cake and, just to be sure it was not a fluke, I baked another one!

The first one started out as a simple Victoria sponge cake, beloved by everyone.

I had a pack of strawberries in the fridge, so one thing led to another, and it evolved into a gateaux,

I am not sure what the difference is between cake and gateaux.

Except it sounds more glamorous and this cake was super fancy, quite plain but very stunning!

First, I made the sponges using equal quantities of butter, sugar, eggs and flour with a splash of vanilla.

Then I made the strawberry jam to sandwich the cakes together along with some vanilla buttercream.

I made too much buttercream so then I used it up by covering the sides and the top.

I made some grooves all around it by dragging a cake comb through it.

This is what gave its appearance the wow factor along with a glossy topping of strawberry glaze.

My second cake was a Sachertorte, intense chocolate cake originating in Vienna.

I made a mistake with the way I decorated it and was not happy with its appearance.

To distance myself from it I took myself off for a walk around Newmillerdam.

When I returned, I had a rush of inspiration, so I stripped off all the decorations from the cake and re did it, using woodland and bluebells as my theme.

Now, a word of caution here, bluebells are a bit toxic, so I placed them on the cake but on top of a square of clear acetate to protect the frosting!