Monday September 21, 2020

The luxury of duck eggs

This past weekend we got our first duck eggs. Since we weren’t really expecting them, because only the Saxony ducks are old enough reaching the age to lay, we hadn’t really addressed the nesting situation yet. I guess it’s time to get going, because muddy eggs rolling around on the ground aren’t very appealing. A bit of a wash, though, and I was ready to use our first eggs for some regal cooking.

My favorite TV show is the Great British Baking Show, so I picked a recipe from one of the judges, Mary Berry, who is a pastry chef. The recipe is called Chocoate Victoria Sandwich Cake. Beautiful! It tastes great too! I have never cooked with duck eggs, so I honestly couldn’t tell the difference. These particular eggs come from a breed of duck that doesn’t produce the huge eggs you often see on TV, so we’ll see in the future what we get from the other breeds when they begin laying.

Here’ s the recipe if you want to try it. Regular eggs are fine. Happy baking!

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 3 tablespoons boiling water
  • 8 oz softened butter
  • 8 oz caster sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 8 oz self rising flower
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder

For filling and topping

  • 2 oz softended butter
  • 6 oz sifted icing sugar
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • Coarsely grated plain chocolate (or chocolate chips) to decorate

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease two 8in cake pans then line the base with parchment paper.
  2. Blend the cocoa and water in a mixing bowl then leave to cool slightly. Measure all remaining ingredients into the bowl and beat until thoroughly blended. Divide the mixture evenly between the pans and level out.
  3. Bake in the pre-heate over for about 25 minutes or until well risen and the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly pressed with finger. Leave to cool in the pans for few minutes then turn out. Peel off the parchment paper and finish cooling on a wire rack.
  4. To make the butter cream filling and topping, blend together the butter, icing sugar and milk until smooth. When the cake is completely cold, use half the butter cream to sandwich the cakes together, then spread the remaining butter cream on top and decorate with chocolate chips.
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