Easy Hallowe'en Cake

My daughter decided that this Monster Eye Cake from The Cake Blog would be the perfect cake for a recent school project. It was in keeping with the time of year and a cake that she could make with a little help from me! :)

Easy Chocolate Cake

This chocolate cake looks good and it tastes great too, guess what...it is really easy to make!! This is so easy to make and decorate that I made two of them for my childrens teacher, the perfect end of year thank you!!

The sponge mix is an all in one - put everything into a bowl, mix it up - and the chocolate buttercream is a doddle to make.

Little Miss Sunshine Cake Tutorial

The Mr. Men and Little Miss. books have a very special place in our home, they were my childrens first bedtime stories. The type of stories that are "laugh out loud" funny but also have a moral lesson. These books saw my children from giggling toddlers to grown school goers, sounding out the words.

My children grew up with these books always within reach and that transformed them from having the stories read to them, to slowly reading them and eventually reading them fluently to eachother.  My daughter takes great pleasure telling us that she has all fifty Mr. Men books read....twice!

Simple Vanilla Buttercream Recipe

It's tempting isn't it, wouldn't it be wonderful if you could make a batch of light and fluffy buttercream at home instead of always buying it. Well now is your chance, this is unlike anything you will buy, it is silky smooth and full of pure vanilla goodness. Better still you can tailor this recipe as you please with different flavours and colours! 

Rose Swirl Cake Tutorial

I thought it would be really nice to do something special for Valentine's day. It occurred to me that the best gift anyone could receive is an edible one, especially if that gift was made by the one you love. 

My daughter and I thought that it would be extra special if we made a cake that we could share with our friends and family. This is the most romantic cake out there at the moment and what better than an edible roses! 

Over the past week it has become very apparent to me that family and friends are the most important people in our lives and we should celebrate that every day and more so on Valentines day! 

Lego Movie Cake (Design Creative Cakes by Sharon)

This is just a short post to let you know about a brilliant YouTube channel I found while searching for some inspiration for my son's birthday cake.

I stumbled upon this very detailed tutorial on YouTube from the very talented  Creative Cakes by Sharon. Sharon made it look so doable (that's a word... right!!!) That I just couldn't resist.

How to Make a Merida Doll Cake

My daughter fell in love with the film Brave -since that the book has been read over and over again -so much so that she can rhyme it off by heart. It was the feisty Merida that really caught her attention -the bow and arrow wielding princess that rides bareback through the wilds of Scotland shooting at targets and climbing sheer rock faces!

Chocolate Beetroot Cake

I have been working on my photography recently, trying to improve my composition and the overall feel of the title shots. Tricky work and like any food blogger I wanted a certain look for my blog and most importantly do the food justice.  

Last last year I joined my local camera club with the sole intention of getting a better understanding of how my camera worked. It had that nasty habit of doing exactly as it pleased - I wanted to have more control of the finished image. I had these great ideas in my head about how the finished shot should look, but I couldn't translate them into workable photos- very frustrating.  

Some Simple Christmas Cake Decorating Ideas

Don't be stuck for cake decorating inspiration this year, try some of my simple but classy cake ideas. Your cake can be a simple or as detailed as you wish but don't spend ages in the kitchen slaving over your masterpiece. 

One Year Older (but not wiser!!)

It is a funny thing getting older, people look to you for advice, expecting a pearl of wisdom to drop from your lips. I'm not sure that I am any older or wiser than I was ten years ago! My birth certificate says one thing but my mind says another, to be honest I feel like a teenager inside, a slightly giddy one at that.

After Eight Chocolate Cake

There are times when you have to bake a cake for a very special occasion, this is one such cake. I feel that this should be served after a lavish dinner party with a string quartet playing in the background! Okay maybe that is taking it a bit too far but it is definitely the type of cake that spells posh (to me, anyway). After Eight's were always the sweets that you mother kept for the grown up's or for special occasions like Birthdays, they have a certain elusiveness to them. So this cake is for grown up's only, no sharing with the little ones ;)

Serves 9

Recipe slightly adapted from Rachel Allen Cake

Ingredients
125g Dark chocolate, broken into pieces
50ml Milk
150g Butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

150g Caster sugar
3 Eggs
200g Plain flour, sifted
2 tsp Baking powder
100g After Eight mints

For the icing
15g Grated dark chocolate
250g Icing sugar, sifted
100g Butter, softened
1 tbsp Lemon juice
A few drops of peppermint essence, optional

A few drops of green food colouring, optional

Decorating

20g Dark chocolate, melted

Piping bag

Baking paper

Method

Preheat the oven to 180ºC or 160ºC Fan/ 350ºF /Gas 4. Grease and line both the base and sides of a 20cm square cake tin, I used a greased and floured silicone cake tin instead.

Melt the chocolate and milk in a heatproof bowl  on high in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each session until melted or set the bowl over a pan of simmering water. When melted remove from the heat and set aside. 

Cream the butter until soft in a large bowl or in an electric food mixer. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Continuing to beat, pour in the melted chocolate, then add the eggs, one at time, beating continuously. 

Add the flour, baking powder and mints and gently fold in just until mixed (lowest setting on your mixer).  

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, level off and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean (although there may still be traces of mint or chocolate). The mints did sink slightly in the mix but it only added to the finished cake.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tin before carefully removing the cake and leaving on a wire rack to cool down completely. If you ice before the cake is completely cool, the icing will melt right off in a puddle on your serving plate!!

Meanwhile make up the icing as follows. Grate the dark chocolate with a vegetable peeler or grated, set aside. Beat together the softened butter, icing sugar, lemon juice, green food colouring and peppermint essence together until light and fluffy.  

 Carefully fold in the grated chocolate until just combined.

Spread the icing over the cooled cake with a butter knife or a pallet knife if you have one handy.

I piped 20g of melted dark chocolate directly onto baking paper into the shape of leaves (although some look more like chocolate goldfish!!), allowed them to set and then used them to decorate the top of the cake. The original recipe called for fresh mint leaves to be dipped (on one side only) in melted dark chocolate. Allow the chocolate to set, then peel off the mint leaves and use the chocolate leaves to decorate the cake. I didn't have any fresh mint so I improvised.   

How to Make a Shirt and Tie Cake

I made this cake recently for Father's Day (we made matching cards too), it could also be a very thoughtful birthday cake. Birthday cakes for men can be a tricky thing, as a result I am constantly looking for inspiration for the men in my life. To compound the thing it is even more of a task if they don't support a football team. This on the other hand is what I call a neutral cake, it could be made for a birthday, thank you teacher or a retirement cake without any problem.

Thank You Teacher Smarties and Kit Kat Cake

We are on the final count down to turning off the alarm clock...woo hoo!! Yep as of the close of business on Wednesday school is out for summer. I personally can't wait, no school lunches, ironing uniforms and above all falling outta bed in what seems like the middle of the night :)

I imagine that the teachers are relieved too. We were very lucky to have two brilliant teachers again this year, so with that in mind, I couldn't resist making these choc-a-holic cakes!

The concept is fairly straightforward, take a cake, slather it in chocolate buttercream and then decorate it with even more chocolaty delights. (Clock against you? I suggest you cheat and buy a ready made sponge, ready made chocolate buttercream and decorate).
If you would prefer just one large cake, then make this cake, but substitute 3 tbsp of self raising flour with cocoa powder, bake and cover with the quantity chocolate buttercream stated below.

Whatever you decide, the finished cake will wow the recipient (even if that's you) and impress all those looking on. Enjoy!!    

Makes 2 Cakes

Ingredients
Chocolate Buttercream
250g Butter at room temperature
500g Icing Sugar
4 tbsp Cocoa Powder
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp Water

Chocolate Sponges
255g Self raising flour
45g or 3 tbsp Cocoa powder
300g Soft margarine

300g Caster sugar
1½ tsp Baking powder
6 Eggs

Decorations
40-44 Kit Kat 2 finger bars
750g  Smarties (or M&M's)
3m Ribbon of your choice
Cake board (optional)

Method
Preheat the oven to 190º/375ºF/Gas Mark 5. Grease and line the base and sides of two 20cm sandwich tins with baking paper. Set aside.

Chocolate Buttercream:

In a large bowl beat the butter with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer, until smooth. Add the icing sugar, salt and cocoa powder, beat in slowly at first.

Mix on high until the ingredients are combined, add the water and mix again until the buttercream is soft and creamy. Set aside (if refrigerating, allow to come to room temperature before using).

Chocolate Sponges:

Place all the chocolate sponge ingredients into a large bowl, combine using either a wooden spoon or on high speed in an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes.

Divide the sponge mixture between the two sandwich pans, level off. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until the centre of the sponge springs back when gently pressed with your finger.

Allow the sponges to cool slightly before turning out on a wire cooling rack. Allow to cool completely.

I decided to split the sponges, if that puts the fear of God in you then leave it, they will be just as tasty left whole.

Although not necessary, I flipped the sponges so that the completely level base is facing upwards, handy tip for decorating any cake. Smear a generous amount of the buttercream onto the bottom of your serving plate and position the cake centrally. Cover the entire cake with half of the buttercream.

Cover the sides of the cake with a thick layer of the buttercream (so as to give the Kit Kat fingers something to dig into!). Level off the top and straighten the sides.

Stick 20 of Kit Kat bars to the outside of the cake, secure with the ribbon.

Tip 375g of the Smarties (or M&M's) into the center on the cake and you're done! Repeat with the other sponge.

I baked this cake some weeks later and it was my Classic Victoria Sponge with 3 tbsp of self raising flour substituted for 3tbsp of cocoa powder and with half the stated amount of the chocolate buttercream above.

How I transported all my cakes, very handy!

This is the second cake. I ran out to buy 1 meter of ribbon thinking that would be enough, it wasn't! If you want a more lavish bow then I suggest you purchase 1½ meters of ribbon per cake.

Both cakes were presented to teacher in semi-disposable cake carriers. The built in handle in each lid made carrying much easier for little hands!

Lemon-Blueberry Yogurt Cake

I am totally addicted to Pinterest, it is where I found the recipe for this beautiful cake! I pinned this recipe a while ago, meaning to try it, so when I eventually bought blueberries this was my go to recipe. Now I have slightly adapted the recipe from it's original source Sweet Pea's Kitchen, firstly I converted the measurements from American cup sizes to metric, then I tweaked (ever so slightly) the amount of vanilla extract and lemon zest. The link to the original recipe is below, so feel free to check it out. 

This to me is the perfect tea time cake, it has a light and delicate crumb and the combination of blueberry and lemon are classic. It is not a difficult cake to make, just make sure that you test it with a skewer to ensure it is cooked the whole way through. Enjoy!

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

For the Cake
210g + 1 tbsp Plain flour, divided
2 tsp Baking powder
¼ tsp salt
250ml Plain yogurt (I used buttermilk instead)
220g Caster Sugar
3 large Eggs
1 Lemon, juice and zest
1 tsp Vanilla extract
125ml Vegetable oil
200g Blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed and rinsed (important that the berries are thawed)

For the Lemon Syrup (Optional):
80ml  Freshly squeezed lemon juice
70g Caster sugar

For the Lemon Glaze:
120g Icing sugar, sifted
2 to 3 tbsp Fresh lemon juice

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 180ºF/350ºF/Gas Mark 4. Grease bottom and sides of one 9 x 5-inch loaf tin/ 8 inch round cake tin; dust with flour, tapping out excess.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt/buttermilk, sugar, eggs, 1 tsp lemon zest, vanilla and oil. 

Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

In a separate bowl, mix the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour, and fold them very gently into the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake 50 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. (It is really important to test the cake, my first attempt in a 9x5 inch loaf tin, took much longer to cook than the 50 minutes, more like 70 minutes!)

Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing loaf to a wire rack on top of a baking sheet. (I have made this cake with and without the lemon syrup, I think it's gilding the lily slightly, the cake is so moist without it, however it will add that extra sparkle for a very special occasion.) While the cake is cooling, make the lemon syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. 

Stir together the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once dissolved, continue to cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat; set aside. 

Use a toothpick to poke holes in the tops and sides of the warm loaf. Brush the top and sides of the loaf with the lemon syrup. Let the syrup soak into the cake and brush again. Let the cake cool completely. 

To make the lemon glaze, in a small bowl, whisk together the icing sugar and 2-3 tablespoons of the lemon juice. The mixture should be thick but pourable.

Add up to another tablespoon of lemon juice if the mixture is too stiff. Pour the lemon glaze over the top of each loaf and let it drip down the sides. (I grated a small amount of lemon zest directly onto the wet lemon glaze and topped with three juicy blueberries). Let the lemon glaze harden, about 15 minutes, before serving.

Recipe Notes:
This recipe will also yield about 12 standard muffins or 36 miniature muffins, baking time adjusted. It could be doubled and baked in a well-greased and floured bundt pan, baking time adjusted. This recipe could also be baked in an 8-inch square or 9-inch round, to create a thin cake (approx. 1 1/2 inches tall), baking time adjusted.

Source: adapted slightly from Sweet Pea's Kitchen originally viewed on Pinterest