Pannacotta Lamington Cake with Kitchencraft's Cutting Wire

A Pair of Perfect Halves

I don’t know about you but I’m hopeless at evenly cutting a cake into two. I’ve used tooth picks as a knife guide and cotton drawn tightly to slice the cake and no matter which method I’ve tried I always end up with 2 wonky halves. So, when I saw the Kitchencraft Sweetly Does It Cake Cutting Wire 40cm I wanted to give it a try. The cutting wire is made from carbon steel wire. It has stabilizing feet and it’s also height adjustable. You simply slide the wire to the height that suits which makes it perfect for splitting cakes evenly. I put the cake wire to the test when I made this Pannacotta Lamington Cake. I wrote the recipe then failed to follow my own instructions. Instead of baking the cake, splitting it in two then pouring over the buttermilk pannacotta I did the reverse. Trying to cut a cake that’s been infused with set pannacotta with a piece of wire is a bit of an ask. Instead I used the wire to ringbark the cake and finished off the job with the help of a bread knife. Next time I’ll follow my own instructions! Here’s the recipe for you. For all my recipes I use a 250ml cup and a 20ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20ºC.

Lamington Cake – inspired by Flour and Stone.

Ingredients:

Pannacotta

1 tablespoon cold water
1¼ teaspoons gelatine
½ cup full cream milk
Scant ¼ cup caster sugar
½ vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
1 cup buttermilk or cream

Butter Cake

125 grams (4 oz) unsalted butter
100 grams (½ cup) caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1¾ cups self-raising flour, sifted
¼ cup plain flour
¾ cup milk or buttermilk

Chocolate glaze

150 gm dark chocolate (56%-60% cocoa solids), finely chopped
50 gm butter, diced
50 gm icing sugar, sieved
1-2 tbsp cream or milk

To finish

Raspberry jam, for spreading
50 gm coconut flakes or shredded coconut or a mix of both

Instructions:

Buttermilk Pannacotta Place the water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatine over the water. Set aside until the gelatine has softened, 5 minutes. Place the milk, the sugar and the vanilla bean and seeds in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and stir in the gelatine. Cool to room temperature, and then remove the vanilla bean from the milk mixture. Gradually whisk the milk into the cream or buttermilk and stir together gently. Pour the mixture through a sieve into a jug and leave to one side while you make the cake. Cake Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease and line the base and sides of two 20cm round tins with baking paper. You’ll use one tin for baking the cake and the second one for the pannacotta soak. Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and mix until combined well. Sift the flours together into a small bowl. Add the flour alternately with the milk to make a soft batter. Spread the mixture into the prepared tin; smooth the surface and bake for about 45 minutes, or until golden and the cake springs back when lightly touched.

Cool in tin. When cool turn out the cake but don’t discard the baking paper. Trim the top flush if necessary and slice horizontally. Place the bottom half back into the cake tin still in the baking paper. Place the other half in the second lined cake tin. Pierce the cakes all over at small intervals with a skewer. Gradually pour the pannacotta mixture over cakes, letting the liquid soak in, and refrigerate until set (4-5 hours or overnight).

Glaze Stir chocolate, butter and icing sugar in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water until smooth and glossy. Remove from heat and stir in milk. You can also melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave before adding the icing sugar and milk or cream. Cool briefly. To assemble, remove the cakes from the tins. Place one cake half on a wire rack on a tray. Spread the bottom half with jam and sandwich together with the remaining half.