A Savarin cake was the technical challenge for The Great British Bake Off Series 7, Patisserie Week. I have adapted the original recipe from Paul Hollywood to come up with this alcohol free Savarin cake recipe. The original recipe did not have the egg sizes so I have added the egg size.

A Savarin is a ring shaped cake made with yeast and soaked in syrup. The Savarin cake can the be decorated with whipped cream, fruit, caramel shards and a disc of chocolate with the name Savarin written on it. I used a Nordic ware U.K Fleur de lis bundt pan.

The original Paul Hollywood recipe calls for one to bring the sugar for the caramel shards to 170C (caramel) on a sugar thermometer. Please do not do this because it will burn the caramel and the pan you are using. The caramel stage is way too high on the sugar thermometer.

In fact you do not even need to use a sugar thermometer, keep an eye on the sugar and when it starts to caramelise remove it from the heat and put it on your paper. You have to work quickly because caramel hardens quickly.

You can read a bit more about the cake tin used for this recipe here 

Makes 1

• 350g plain flour
• 50g caster sugar
• 10g instant yeast
• ½ tsp salt
• 3 tbsp milk
• 6 medium eggs
• 180g melted unsalted butter
• zest of 1 large orange
• zest of 1 large lemon

For the syrup

• 300g caster sugar
• juice of 1 large lemon
• 150ml water
• 100ml orange juice
• few drops of orange flavouring

For the chocolate disc

• 100g plain chocolate, 70% cocoa solids
• 50g white chocolate, melted

For the caramel chards

• 150g caster sugar
• 60ml water

For the chantilly

• 300ml double cream
• 15g icing sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla paste

To decorate
pieces of fruit to decorate

Method

• Put your eggs and milk in a bowl and whisk, add melted butter and whisk, add in the yeast and sugar and whisk together. Add in your orange and lemon zests and whisk. Finally add in the salt and flour and whisk until smooth.
• Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to rise for 1 hour.
• For the syrup, put the sugar into a pan, add the lemon juice and water, stir until the sugar dissolves and bring to the boil.Reduce the heat and simmer until it starts to thicken slightly and turn into a syrup. Remove from the heat, stir in the orange juice and orange flavour drops and put to one side to cool.
• For the chocolate disc, temper the plain chocolate by melting three quarters (75g) over a pan of simmering water. Stir until the chocolate reaches a melting temperature of 50-55C. Remove the bowl from the heat, add the remaining chocolate and stir until it’s cooled to 31C. Spoon into a piping bag and pipe a 5cm oval disc onto a sheet of acetate or greaseproof paper and leave to set. Spoon the melted white chocolate into a piping bag and pipe the word ‘Savarin’ onto the plain chocolate disc.
• For the caramel shards, tip the sugar into a pan with the water, stir until the sugar dissolves and then leave to boil until it turns to a caramel colour. Keep a close watch because it burns quickly. Immediately pour out onto a sheet of greaseproof paper and leave to harden. Crack with a spoon or break it apart with your hands.
• Grease a 23cm, Nordic ware U.K fleur de lis or Savarin mould with butter and flour it. When the batter has risen, spoon it into the mould. Cover with oiled clingfilm and leave to rise until it reaches three-quarters of the way up the tin.
• Heat oven to 180C/fan, 160C/gas 4, remove the cling film and bake for 20 – 25 mins until the Savarin is risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for 5-10 minutes. Make some holes on the top with a toothpick and spoon the syrup on top and let it soak through.
• When cool enough to handle, remove the Savarin from the mould and make holes on it with a toothpick and put a plate under the cake and spoon the syrup onto the cake and leave to cool completely.
• Using a sharp knife, segment the zested orange. Carefully slice off the top and bottom of the orange. slice the skin away from the flesh and discard. Remove any remaining white pith.
• For the chantilly, whip the cream, icing sugar and vanilla together to soft peaks. Spoon one third of the chantilly into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle.
• Turn the Savarin out onto a serving plate. Pipe the chantilly cream around the top of the Savarin and arrange the orange slices over the cream. Fill the Savarin with the remaining chantilly and decorate with your fruit. Top with the chocolate piped disc and caramel shards.