United Cakedom: prosecco

After being at home with my girls for the last 7 years, I have jumped back into the working world. At the moment I currently have 2 ½ jobs. It seems like I have found myself with a lot on my plate.

I am finding out what it really means to time manage. So, I was pretty proud of myself for making these jellies’s in the morning so they would be set for after dinner!

It’s pretty impressive if I even have dinner on the table on time these days!

Jelly is one of those things that everyone loves. It doesn't matter how old you are. As we get older our tastes buds change and sometimes our favorite childhood treats just don't taste the same. This Taste the Difference range of jellies from Sainsbury's is full of flavor and has fun flavor combinations!

These jellies can be made according to the instructions and therefore will be suitable for the whole family, but making it with the suggestions I listed below make it a bit more adult.... then again maybe not?

I was sent Orange, Passion Fruit, and Champagne Jelly and Blackcurrant, Elderflower, and Cassis Jelly to try out.

First I made the Orange, Passion Fruit, and Champagne Jelly with half orange juice and half prosecco. I added in some canned mandarin’s for texture and topped with whipped cream and passion fruit seeds/juice.

Then I made the Blackcurrant one in champagne flutes to add a bit of festive fun and topped that one with some whipped cream as well.

There are so many ways to be creative with this range, such as:

Use prosecco in place of water, as suggested on the bottle
Use your favorite fizzy drink, lemonade or an orange soda
Different juices to match the flavors of the chosen jelly (ex: elderflower juice in the blackcurrent or orange juice in the orange etc…) if you do use half water half juice sometimes it is a little too soft when setting if you use just juice.
Add in matching fruits, canned usually works best because the fruit will be soft.
Make it a jelly terrine!
Make it in a flat baking tray and once it’s set use cookie cutters to cut out fun shapes
Make it in a trifle (my husband wanted me to do this and I just don’t like trifles that much…. I know I know we’ll talk about this later!)
Make it in fun shapes using jelly moulds
Top with whipped cream or meringues or ice cream
Drizzle with all sorts of fruit syrups

Jelly is fun for all ages and these Taste the Difference ones from Sainsbury’s were super easy to make and they make a great treat for any time of the day! Especially during the holiday season that is full of rich and heavy foods. Why not lighten the load a bit with a jelly dessert! My favorite part is that they are made in advance and takes some of the stress away from the big day! See my time management is already getting better!

notes: in association with Sainsbury's they sent me the jelly to try all opinions are my own please see my contact/policy tab above.

I call it the “Should Have Been” Peach Bellini Cake because it didn't really taste like peaches or champagne (aka Prosecco.)

I didn't want to deceive anyone in calling it a 'Peach Bellini Cake' when it's not really one.

I started with a vanilla sponge and had a Prosecco sugar syrup soaked in. Then I layered it with peach curd and a whipped cream dyed a peach color for effect

It so would have been a peach bellini cake if 1.) it tasted like peaches and 2.) one got a bit tipsy from the alcohol.

Which I guess I failed on both accounts.

In the end it was just a vanilla cake with whipped cream frosting and in that I totally succeeded.

There is always tomorrow. Or the next day to make this cake again, there is just a few things I will need to do differently.

Here is how I made it and in italics are my notes on how I will change it next time.

Should Have Been Peach Bellini Cake:

330g plain flour

320g caster sugar

1 ½ tbsp baking powder

pinch of salt

175g unsalted butter, softened

3 medium eggs

190ml whole milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Heat the oven to 180C and grease and line two 8in/23cm cake tins. Briskly whisk the dry ingredients together, before adding the butter and beating for a few minutes until it’s crumby. Throw the eggs in and beat until just incorporated. Last but not least add the milk and vanilla extract and beat on high for a couple of minutes until lighter in color and smooth.

Fill both prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes. Do the skewer test to make sure it’s cooked. Right away poke some holes in the top and using a pastry brush, brush the Bubbly Sugar Syrup (recipe below) over both cakes. Leave to cool in the tins for about 10 minutes before turning out to cool completely.

Bubbly Sugar Syrup

60ml water

60g caster sugar

1-2 tbsp bubbly

Melt the sugar in the water before adding the prosecco to taste. If I were to do this again I would double it. To make sure the cakes were really soaked.

to finish:

Peach Curd recipe needs to be adjusted to taste more peachy

300 ml whipping cream

1 tsp of sugar

peach food color paste

Whip the cream with the sugar and coloring until it’s fluffy and can hold its shape. Place the first cake on a serving plate and layer the peach curd on it. Then layer about half of the whipped cream before topping with the second layer of cake and putting the rest of the whipped cream on top! Decorate with sprinkles or anything else.

I should have added peaches into the cake or the whipped cream to make it peachier or I should have added bubbly to the whipped cream? There are a few ways I could adjust this to get the results I set out to get.