Animal Print 21st Cake

Well, this was a bit of an adventure outside my comfort zone - decorative icing! Worth it though for the finished result and it was Mollies 21st ('baby' sister!!). You'll need apricot jam to brush over each cake to help the icing stick :)

• Tiger cake - for this layer we need around 1.5 boxes of fondant and plenty of orange food colouring. It took a long time to incorporate it evenly throughout the icing but we got there in the end (the same goes for the black icing). Paint the sides with water to help the black icing stick. It really was just guess work for the black - we started with straight lines using a pizza cutter. Then we just did random curvy lines - short, medium, long etc and stuck them on. 

• Leopard cake (1 box) - this layer was painted using a mix of food colouring and vodka. The main icing was white fondant with a little bit of brown food colouring to create a 'tan' colour. Then it was a case of painting circles in brown and half circles on the outside with black.....or something like that.

• Zebra cake (3/4 box) - this followed the same 'method' as the tiger cake but with white and black. Good Luck! haha. 

I didn't actually use cake boards between each layer but I would the next time as dismantling the cake was a bit of a disaster...who cares though, it all got eaten in the end. 

Chocolate Biscuit Cake (12 inch) - Tiger

550g butter

300ml golden syrup

450g chocolate

400g digestive biscuits 

400g rich tea biscuits

1 large packet of maltesers

• line the tin with greaseproof paper before you start.
• melt the butter, golden syrup and chocolate in a large bowl over a pan of simmering water.
• to a very large bowl add the biscuits and maltesers.
• once the chocolate mix is ready, pour it over the biscuits and mix to combine.
• I recommend eating 5 or so biscuits from each packet... there was a LOT of biscuits in this cake.

Chocolate Cake (9 inch) - Leopard

185g butter

330g caster sugar

2½ tsp. vanilla essence

3 eggs

75g self-raising flour

225g plain flour

1½ tsp. bicarbonate of soda

80g cocoa powder

280ml buttermilk

Chocolate Cake (7 inch) - Zebra 

165g butter

300g caster sugar

2 tsp. vanilla essence

3 eggs

65g self-raising flour

200g plain flour

1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda

70g cocoa powder

250ml buttermilk

Chocolate Cake Method

• preheat the oven to 180°C and line each baking tin with greasproof paper. 
• beat the butter, sugar and vanilla with a paddle attachment until light and fluffy.
• add the eggs one by one, ensuring they are incorporated each time. 
• transfer to a large bowl.
• alternatively fold in the flours, cocoa powder and bicarb with the buttermilk.
• transfer to the prepared tins - bake th 9 inch for 1¼ hours and the 7 inch for 1 hr 10 minutes.
• always test the centre of your cakes with a skewer, if it comes out clean - its baked! 

Happy 21st Birthday Mollie!
19/092013

♥ ♥

Wendy

XO

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Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes

On the 2nd of September I finally graduated from University College Dublin with a Bachelors Degree in Human Nutrition - *Insert Happy Dance*. 

With this in mind, I was asked to make the class a graduation cake. My first choice was 'my' sweet and salty chocolate cake. You can follow the recipe here. If you read that post, you will know that I froze half of the icing for future use. Big fail, it split and turned to goo. So I replaced that icing with the chocolate ganache below and it worked! 

Anyway, on to this post... gluten free cupcakes! Unfortunately the entire cake is not gluten free but I did recreate the cake into a cupcake for a couple of the girls in my class. They worked out way better than I expected and I'm excited to try out more gluten free recipes!

For the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 180°C and line a 12 hole bun tin with paper cases.

Graduation Cake 

Waiting for Salted Caramel..

 Chocolate Cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients

50g butter

115g soft light brown sugar

2 eggs

115g gluten free flour

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

25g cocoa powder

125ml soured cream 

• add the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, bicarb and cocoa powder to a large bowl and whisk until smooth.
• fold in the soured cream and spoon the mixture into the cases. 
• bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes.
• leave them to completely on a wire rack before icing them. 

Chocolate Icing

225g butter 

285g plain chocolate

2 tbsp golden syrup

240ml double cream 

• melt the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a glass bowl over a pot of shimmering water.
• once melted, add the cream and mix to combine. 
• remove from the heat and allow to cool. it takes about 20-30 minutes for the icing to set and thicken.

Decorate

• to decorate the cake - follow the steps as per the sweet and salty chocolate cake!
• for the cupcakes - remove a small middle from each cupcake (I use an apple corer) and spoon in some salted caramel.
• finally, top with the chocolate icing and enjoy :) 

♥ ♥

Wendy

XO

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Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread

Mmmm who doesn't love Nutella and toast! So I attempted to make some myself. I liked this, Kevin loved it but I thought it was a little sweet. 

Next time I'll try it out with some cocoa powder and extra hazelnuts :) 

Ingredients

200g hazelnuts

150g white chocolate

150g milk chocolate

397g condensed milk  

4 tbsp sunflower oil

Salt

6 tbsp hot water 

• toast the hazelnuts in the oven at 180°C for 10 minutes, once cooled slightly remove the skins from the hazelnuts and whizz in a food processor.
• divide the hazelnuts, condensed milk, sunflower oil and water into two pots.
• add the white and milk chocolate into each pot and add a pinch of salt.
• melt the chocolate and stir until everything is well combined. 
• transfer each spread into 200ml, sterilized jars.

♥ ♥

Wendy

XO

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Happy Birthday Chocolate Cake

You don’t always need an excuse for baking but I love to have one all the same. On the 19^th of August it was Kevin’s Birthday so we made a delicious chocolate fudge cake.  It was ridiculously simple, yet very very tasty! Preheat the oven to 170^°C and line two 8 inch tins – I actually used one baking tin this time but I much prefer to use two, it takes an age to bake in one!

White Chocolate Pre-Microwave

Chocolate icing

White Chocolate Something....

Cake Ready for Cutting

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Sponge

50g cocoa powder

6 tbsp boiling water

3 eggs

50ml milk

175g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

100g butter

275g caster sugar 

• In a large bowl mix the cocoa powder and boiling water until smooth.
•  Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk with a hand held mixer until all the ingredients are combined.
•  Divide the mixture between your two tins and bake in the oven for 20 minutes (it took nearly 40 minutes with one tin)

Icing

150g plain chocolate

150g double cream

• While your cake is baking prepare your icing so it has plenty of time to cool and thicken.
• All you do is put the cream in a pot, drop in the chocolate and melt over a low heat for approximately 10 minutes.
•  Once the cake is baked and cooled decorate with the cooled ganache icing.

PS – I melted white chocolate and spread it on a baking sheet to be broken up and thrown on the cake at the end ha-ha. 

♥ ♥

Wendy

XO

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February - Choc and Cheesecake Cupcakes

These went down a treat! They were a lovely balance between sweet and savoury. Preheat the oven to 150^°C and line a muffin tin with 12 bun cases, or make mini ones as per the magazine image. 

Chocolate Layer

125g plain flour
150g caster sugar
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
40g cocoa powder
25g vegetable oil
1.5 tsp white wine vinegar
Pinch of salt
125ml water
25g white chocolate, grated

•  add the flour, caster sugar, bicarb, cocoa powder, vegetable oil, vinegar, pinch of salt and water - mix until smooth and then stir in the chocolate. Add a tablespoon of the mixture to each bun case.

Cheesecake Layer

200g light cream cheese

50g caster sugar

1 large egg

½ tsp vanilla extract

25g dark chocolate, grated

• add the cream cheese, caster sugar, egg and vanilla extract - mix until smooth and stir in the chocolate. Add a tablespoon of the mixture to each bun case.
• bake for 10 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean - leave to cool then decorate.
• the magazine used Dr.Oetker Designer Icing - I just used icing sugar and some cream cheese :) 

Sweet & Salty Chocolate Cake

The Hummingbird Bakery sweet and salty chocolate cake - the perfect 'celebration' chocolate cake! I have only made it once and it felt like there was a gazillion steps... however, it was worth it! I may attempt to make this again in September for my graduation. Hopefully it will be cooler then too, the icing kept melting as I iced the cake haha. :)

10 Minutes Later....

Salty Caramel (make me first)

200g caster sugar

2 tbsp golden syrup

60ml water

120ml double cream

60ml soured cream 

1 tsp sea salt

• Bring the sugar, golden syrup and water to the boil - boil for 10 minutes until its a golden colour. 
• In a separate pan, bring the double cream, soured cream and salt - remove from the heat.
• When the caramel is ready, pour the cream mixture into the caramel and stir away while it bubbles. Set it aside in a clean bowl. 

Chocolate Frosting (make me second) 

200g caster sugar

2 tbsp golden syrup

60ml water 

360ml double cream

450g dark chocolate

450g butter 

• Bring the sugar, golden syrup and water to the boil - boil for 10 minutes until its a golden colour. 
• In a separate pan, bring the double cream, soured cream and salt to the boil -  remove from the heat.
• When the caramel is ready, pour the cream mixture into the caramel and stir away while it bubbles. Set aside to cool.
• Once cooled, add the chocolate and stir to melt. Using a mixer, whisk the frosting for 10 minutes  and then add the butter and whisk until it looks nice and whipped.
• Set aside while you heat the oven and make the actual cake.

Sponge (last but not least..)

300g butter

300g caster sugar

140g soft light brown sugar

3 eggs

100g cocoa powder

160ml buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla essence

60ml water

330g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp salt 

• Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, and then add the eggs one at a time.
• In a jug stir the cocoa powder, buttermilk, water and vanilla essence into a thick paste. 
• Sift together the remaining ingredients and add this in batches to the butter and sugar, alternating with the cocoa paste until everything is fully incorporated.
• Divide the mixture between the three tins and bake for 25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
• Once the cakes are baked and cooled - decorate!
• Top each layer with the salted caramel, follow with the chocolate frosting and add a thin layer of frosting before doing the final layer.

Oven temperature - 170 ^°C

PS - I used lots of frosting on the cake and I still had half left over, so I put it in the freezer for future use. 

PPS - The leftover salted caramel is delicious over ice-cream!