Birthday Month = Cake!

It's been a busy birthday week in our house this week. We had cake on my son's actual birthday, shared with a couple of friends who live in our street and then today he had a small group of his close friends come round for a movie and pizza afternoon.

It was a lovely, relatively calm afternoon, where they watched The Secret Life of Pets - have you seen it? It's quite fun and cleverly made.

They made their own pizzas half way through, choosing their own toppings. They ranged from ham, pepperoni and corn (my son's - he's allergic to cheese, so none for him!) to olives, and anchovies. The kids loved making their own, and certainly gives them a sense of accomplishment.

I always use Jamie Oliver's basic bread recipe for my pizza dough - I made enough for 5 small children's sized pizzas, and two larger adult ones for my husband and I later on. It's so simple to make and because you only have to prove once, it's relatively fast too! After the first prove, you knock it back, divide it, and then roll out for the pizzas and cook straight away.

After dinner the children had a chocolate fondue, dipping in strawberries, raspberries, banana and marshmallows. A huge hit and lots of fun - am I naughty sending them home full of sugar?

And of course, a birthday isn't a birthday without the cake! I used my trusty chocolate bundt cake, our family favourite and the second one I have made this week! You can find the recipe here!

This was my first one of the week - my son chose the tin he wanted - he loves my Nordic Ware ones as much as I do!

He was also lucky enough to be given a fabulous wooden spoon for his birthday too - I won it in a competition through Lanky Cow and was able to choose what I had put on it. They do the most amazing range of wooden products such as chopping boards which can all be personalised.

A view from the top....

And side top.....

Happy 8th Birthday, Thomas!

Chocolate Indulgence Cake

I have loved making this cake. It's an 18th Birthday cake for our neighbour, my son's babysitter, and one of the loveliest boys ...ahem, men, we know!

His mum asked me to make something chocolately, so this is a double layer chocolate cake, with oreo buttercream in between the layers and on the outside, with a chocolate ganache drip and loaded with maltesers and crispy m&ms.

Chocolate Indulgence Cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:
2 cups self raising flour (300g)
2 cups caster sugar (460g)
3/4 cup cocoa (90g)
1 teaspoon bi-carb soda (baking soda)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon coffee powder
1 cup milk (250ml)
1/2 cup sunflower oil (125ml)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (10ml)
1 cup boiling water (250ml)

For the frosting:
250 g softened butter
500g icing sugar
1 pack oreo biscuits - crushed in a food processor
2 Tablespoons milk (30ml)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

For the cake:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) and line the base of two 20cm (8 inch) loose bottomed cake tins.
2. Add flour, sugar, cocoa, bi-carb soda, coffee powder and salt and mix together in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer.
3. Whisk together to combine fully.
4. Add milk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla to the flour mixture. Mix on a medium speed until fully combined. Carefully add the boiling water, and mix on high speed for 1 minute to add air to the mixture.
5. Split the mixture evenly between the two cake tins and bake for 35-40 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.
6. Leave the cakes in the tins for 20 mins and then turn out into wire racks to cool fully.
7. Trim the tops of the cakes to even them up (if necessary).

For the frosting:
1. Mix the butter, vanilla and icing sugar in a large bowl until the buttercream is silky. Add the milk to loosen it up. Mix in the crushed oreos.
2. Use some of the buttercream between the cake layers and then do a layer to crumb coat the cake. Chill in the fridge for 30 mins or until set.
3. Add another layer of the oreo buttercream to the cake, smoothing the sides.
4. Decorate as you wish. I added a ganache drip and then layered maltesers and crispy M&Ms on top and around the bottom.

It's a very indulgent cake, but for a chocolate lover, perfect!

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!

Chocolate Bundt Cake

It's been a while since I blogged some of my recipes properly, so you my be inundated as I have been doing a lot of baking lately. This cake is one I made for my son's 6th birthday yesterday. I wanted something simple, but fun, that I could transport to a restaurant in London (on the train!) So it needed to be robust, but tasty.

This is the second time I have made this cake now, the first being for Halloween last month.

My bundt tins are new, my first from the Nordic Ware range and I've really enjoyed using them. For this type of tin, I think you need a fairly stable cake. This recipe, I have to say, is just delicious. It's a Martha Stewart one, and I know I will use it again and again.

Just a few notes for when you are using this recipe and this style of tin. For the Halloween 'pumpkin' cake, I made two cakes separately, trimmed the tops on both to make them flat and the 'sandwiched' them together with a simple orange buttercream in between. I topped that one with some passionfruit icing. The green 'stalk' is just an icecream cone painted with slightly watered down food colouring - I popped it back into a low temp oven to dry out. This is the 12 cup sized tin.

For the blue birthday cake, I used the smaller tin so I also had spare mixture which I used to make some cupcakes with. I didn't trim the top on this one, just turned it over and let it cool. The icing is just very simple, icing sugar and water and I tried out my new gel colours from ProGel. This was turquoise, although looks sky blue really. Still, it's nice to use the tubes to control the amount you use. You let it dry for a few minutes before sprinkling on the 100s & 1000s. This is the 6 cup sized tin.

This really is a delicious chocolate cake, not too sweet and if making it for a more grown up occasion, drizzling chocolate ganache over the top would be perfect.

Chocolate Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

•  1 cup (220g) unsalted butter, plus more for pan      
• 2 1/4 cups (320g) self-raising flour
• 3/4 cup (75g) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1  1/2c (375mls)  milk (or milk alternative)
• 1 1/2 cups (350g) caster sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:                 

1. Make the cake: Preheat oven to 180degrees C. Butter and flour (or use a cake release) a 12-cup Bundt pan.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, and salt. 
3. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition; add vanilla. If the egg mixture looks like it is having trouble combining properly, you can add a tablespoon of the flour mix to help it come together.
4. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until just combined.
5. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top with an offset spatula.
6. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 50-55 minutes. (40 mins is using the smaller 6 cup tin).
7. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool for about 10 mins in the tin, before tipping the cake onto the cooling rack. (Cake can be stored at room temperature, in an air tight container up to 7 days).

Give it a try and let me know if you make the cake!

Kris

UPDATE - May 2023: I quickly make this with King Charles III Coronation sprinkles tonight. Covered in a delicious chocolate ganache made with dark chocolate and Emlie Plant cream. This is just for my family.