RECTANGLE CAKE TIN RECIPES

Steps:

• 1. Season the beef with black pepper. Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the beef, and cook over a high heat until browned all over.

  2. Put the beef fillet in a roasting tin and cook in a preheated oven at 220C (200C fan, Gas 7) for 25 minutes for rare beef, 35 minutes for medium, or 40 minutes for well-done. Leave to cool completely.

  3. Meanwhile, melt the butter in the frying pan, add the onion and the mushrooms, and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until softened. Increase the heat to high, and cook until the excess moisture has evaporated. Turn into a bowl and leave to cool completely.

  4. Add the liver pâté to the mushroom and onion mixture, season with salt and pepper, and stir well to combine.

  5. To wrap the beef and pâté mixture in the pastry, roll out 300g (10 oz) of the pastry to a 30 x 40 cm (12 x 16 in) rectangle. Spread half of the pate mixture down the middle, leaving a 10 cm (4 in) border on each side. 

  Then, remove the string from the beef and place the beef on the pâté mixture. Cover the beef with the remaining pâté mixture.

  Brush the pastry border with beaten egg. Fold the short sides of the pastry over the beef.

  Fold over the long ends and turn the pastry over. Brush with beaten egg. Roll out the remaining pastry, and cut into strips, 5 mm (¼ in) wide. Arrange in a lattice pattern on top of the pastry, then glaze the strips with the beaten egg.

  6. Bake at 220C (200C fan, Gas 7) for 45 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and golden. Cover with foil after 30 minutes to prevent the pastry becoming too brown. Leave to stand for about 10 minutes, then slice and serve with gravy.

   

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4. Lightly grease two 23cm/9in cake tins and line the base with greased non-stick baking parchment.
• Break the eggs into a mixing bowl, add the sugar and whisk until the mixture is pale and thick enough to leave a trail when the whisk is lifted out of the bowl. Carefully fold in the sifted flour and cocoa powder. Turn the mixture into the prepared tins.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the sponges are well risen and beginning to shrink away from the sides of the tin. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool and peel off the parchment.
• For the filling, drain the jars of cherries, reserving the juice. Chop the cherries roughly into quarters. Measure the cornflour into a small saucepan, make a paste with a small amount of the reserved juice, then stir in the remaining juice. Place over a medium heat and bring slowly to the boil, stirring until thickened, then simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the cherries and leave to cool. Refrigerate until quite firm.
• For the decoration, melt the white and plain chocolate in 2 separate bowls set over 2 pans of gently simmering water. Dip 12 of the fresh cherries into the plain chocolate and leave to set on a sheet of non-stick baking parchment. Dip the remaining 12 fresh cherries into the white chocolate and leave to set. Spoon the remaining melted chocolate into 2 separate disposable piping bags.
• Draw a credit card size rectangle on a piece of paper and position it vertically. Draw a tree within the rectangle to use as a template. Lay a sheet of non-stick parchment paper over the template. Snip off the tip of the plain chocolate piping bag (start with a very small tip). Pipe 12 (plus a few spare in case they break) chocolate tree shapes onto the non-stick parchment. Leave to harden and set.
• When the chocolate on the cherries has set, snip the end of the white chocolate piping bag and pipe thin lines of white chocolate over the plain chocolate dipped cherries. Pipe thin lines of plain chocolate over the white chocolate dipped cherries. Leave to set.
• Whip the cream to soft peaks. Divide the cream in half, setting aside one half for the sides and top of the cake.
• Cut each sponge into 2 layers using a long sharp knife. Divide the cherry mixture into thirds. Spread one third of the cherry mix over the sliced sponge. Divide one half of the cream into thirds and spread one third over the cherry mix. Top with another sponge layer and continue until you have three layers of cherries and cream. Top with the final sponge layer.
• Spread half of the reserved whipped cream around the sides of the cake and cover with the chocolate trees. With the remaining reserved cream, pipe rosettes of cream around the top edge of the cake and decorate with the chocolate dipped cherries.