Chocolate Flowerpot Cake

Thursday was mum's birthday and of course I couldn't let the occasion past without making a cake. The only problem was, I had about two hours over two days to make it happen so I would need to come up with a game plan. I decided to bake the cake the first day and then decorate it the second. Somehow, I managed to get it all done with about 30 minutes to spare.

 

The cake itself is a pretty simple one. I baked it in a giant cupcake tin (similar to this one) to help with the shape of the flowerpot which definitely helped with the timing issue, even if it wasn't quite as tall as I would have like. I then covered the cake in a thin layer of buttercream, before decorating with fondant, crushed up Oreos for soil and finally some buttercream grass to hide any messy edges.

Chocolate Cake

175g unsalted butter, softened

175g golden caster sugar

3 eggs, beaten

3 tbsp golden syrup

40g ground almonds

175g self-raising flour

Pinch of salt

40g cocoa powder

2 tbsp water

Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line your cupcake tin. Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and fluffy Gradually, add in the eggs. Stir in the golden syrup and ground almonds. Sift the flour, salt and cocoa powder in a separate bowl, before folding into the mixture. If needed, add in the water to make a dropping consistency. Spoon three quarters of the mixture into the base section of the cupcake tin. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and add the remaining mixture to the top part of the cupcake tin and bake for a further 15 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack. 

Chocolate Buttercream

2 tbsp hot water

2 tbsp cocoa powder

150g unsalted butter, softened

225g icing sugar

Blend the water and cocoa powder together to make a paste. Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add in half the icing sugar and the cocoa powder paste an beat. Add in the remaining sugar and beat until smooth. 

You will also need

About 6-8 Oreos

Different coloured fondant

A little bit of extra buttercream

When the cake has cooled completely, sandwich the two sections together with some buttercream. Cover the whole cake in a thin layer of buttercream. Break up some oreos (just the biscuit part) and press into the top of the cake to create the soil. Cover the side of the cake in brown fondant to create the flowerpot. Then add whatever leaves and flowers you want, using either leftover buttercream or edible glue to secure. I used a little bit of yellow buttercream to create the centre of the flowers, but you could use extra fondant instead. I also wanted to cover up the rough edges at the bottom of the cake so piped on some grass. A ribbon would also do the trick.

Wizard of Oz Rainbow Cake

This week was my cousin's 30th birthday. Ever since I remember, she has been obsessed with the Wizard of Oz. So, of course it was the first thing I thought of when I was planning her cake.

When it came to the actual cake, there was only one option. It had to be a (somewhere over the) rainbow cake! This was my first ever seven layered rainbow cake. I wanted to keep the layers nice and thin, so used a five layer recipe and then divided it into seven colours. I then used a very thin layer of buttercream to cover the cake. I loved how it turned out.

For the decoration, I decided to give fondant another go. I know it is not my strong point, but practice makes perfect, right? Well I've a lot of practice to go, but some strategically placed yellow brick roads and poppy fields covered any holes and made this cake look pretty presentable.

But the most important part is, the birthday girl loved it! And she sent me this snap of when she cut it open. It looks pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.

Seven Layer Rainbow Cake

(adapted from Raspberri Cupcakes)

355g plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

225ml milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

400g caster sugar

225g butter, softened

4 eggs

Food colouring

Preheat oven to 180ºC and grease and line your tins. I only had 2 round tins, so had to bake this in batches. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside. Mix milk and vanilla together in a measuring jug and set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in a large bowl until pale and creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mix and milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture (Add 1/4 of the dry mixture followed by 1/3 of the wet mixture at a time). Beat until smooth, occasionally scraping bowl with a spatula. Divide mixture evenly into 7 bowls and add a different colour of the rainbow to each bowl. Pour batter into prepared tins and bake each layer for about 10 minutes or until a skewer into the centre comes out clean. They're very thin layers so keep a careful eye on them. Cool on a wire rack. 

Vanilla Buttercream
150g unsalted butter, softened

225g icing sugar

2 tbsp hot water

1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add in half the icing sugar, half the water and the vanilla. Beat until combined. Add in the remaining icing sugar and water (if needed). Beat until combined.

1st Birthday Cake and Cupcakes

Another commissioned cake this week. Without sounding completely cheesy, it feels really great when someone asks me to make an cake for a special occasion of theirs, and I always jump at the opportunity. This week is another 1st birthday cake, for one of the girls in work's son. 

As usual, I went straight to Pinterst for ideas, and in the end we decided upon a giant number 1 covered in Smarties. I turned to my favourite chocolate cake recipe (previously seen here and here), printed off a giant number 1 template and set to work.

I loved working on this cake and even though sorting and placing the millions of Smarties was quite time consuming, I actually found it really relaxing. I finished off the cake board with the birthday boy's name in fondant letters.

I also whipped up my all-in-one chocolate cupcakes and topped them with chocolate buttercream and some mini smarties. I made three batches of the buttercream to cover the cake and all the cupcakes.

1st Birthday Cake and Cupcakes

Chocolate Fudge Cake

(adapted from Donal Skehan)

350g self-raising flour

5 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

300g caster sugar

300ml vegetable oil

300ml semi-skimmed milk

4 large eggs, beaten

4 tbsp golden syrup

Preheat your oven to 180ºC and line two square baking tins. Sieve the flour, cocoa powder and bicarb into the biggest bowl you have. (Or if you're lazy, like me, put them into the bowl and give it a good whisk). Add in the sugar and mix well. In a jug, measure in the oil, milk, eggs, syrup and mix. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and gradually add in the wet ingredients until you have a smooth (and quite wet) mixture. Pour evenly between your baking tins and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool slightly, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes

(Makes 12 cupcakes)

150g butter, softened

150g soft light brown sugar sugar

3 medium eggs, beaten

125g self-raising flour

25g cocoa powder 

1 tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line the cupcake tin. Place all ingredients in a bowl and beat until smooth. Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, about two thirds full. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Chocolate Buttercream

2 tbsp cocoa powder

2tbsp boiling water

150g unsalted butter, softened

225g icing sugar

Blend the cocoa powder and water to a paste and leave to cool slightly. Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add in the icing sugar until well combined. Add in the cocoa powder paste and beat once more. Spoon mixture into a piping bag and pipe onto your cooled cupcakes.

When your cakes have cooled completely, trim the edges and place side by side. Using cocktail sticks, pin a paper template to the cake, and carefully cut around it. Spread a thin layer of buttercream on top and gently place on the Smarties.

When the cupcakes have cooled, pipe on the chocolate buttercream and sprinkle over some mini Smarties. 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Cupcake Cake

Move over Rainbow Cake, I've a new favourite cake. This was my first 'commissioned' cake that I was asked to make for a friend's son's first birthday. The party was 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' themed, so we searched Pinterest, and decided on a cupcake cake. I then added some fruit cookies to jazz up the cake board.

The cake is a four-layer vanilla rainbow cake, covered in a thin layer of vanilla buttercream and red fondant. The cupcakes are also vanilla with the same vanilla buttercream coloured various shades of green. And the cookies are brown sugar cookies covered in fondant.

I wasn't taking any chances on this cake, so I turned to old favourite recipes. The cake and cookie recipes have featured on the blog before. The cupcakes haven't, but I left my recipe book at mum's house so I'll pop up the recipe during the week.

Chocolate Pinata Cake

I made this cake a couple of weeks ago for a few of my friends in work! I wanted to make something that was a little bit crazy so pretty much just put as much chocolate as I could in one cake.

I  adjusted Donal Skehan's Ultimate cake to make a three layer cake. Then I sandwiched and filled it with chocolate buttercream. I surrounded the cake with lots of Kit Kats and topped it with Malteesers. There's also some M&Ms hidden inside the cake. Seriously, you will probably need the dentist after this one!!

To make the Pinata part of the cake, I cut a circle out of the middle layer and filled it with M&Ms before stacking. I was hoping they'd fall out when the cake was cut, but they kinda just sat there. Maybe there was too much buttercream? But the element of surprise was still there! And the cake was demolished quicker than any cake I've ever made!

Chocolate Pinata Cake

Chocolate Fudge Cake

(adapted from Donal Skehan)

265g self-raising flour

3 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

225g caster sugar

225ml sunflower oil

3 large eggs, beaten

3 tbsp golden syrup

Preheat your oven to 180ºC and line three baking tins. Sieve the flour, cocoa powder and bicarb into the biggest bowl you have. (Or if you're lazy, like me, put them into the bowl and give it a good whisk). Add in the sugar and mix well. In a jug, measure in the wet ingredients (oil, milk, eggs, syrup) and mix. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and gradually add in the wet ingredients until you have a smooth (and quite wet) mixture. Pour evenly between your baking tins and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool slightly in the tins, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Buttercream

2 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp boiling water

150g unsalted butter, softened

225g icing sugar

 

Blend the cocoa powder and water to a paste and leave to cool slightly. Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add in the icing sugar until well combined. Add in the cocoa powder paste and beat once more.

 

To assemble the cake, cut a circle out of one of the cakes. I used a plate and cut around it. Place one cake on a cake board and spread a thin layer of buttercream on top. Place the cake with the hole on top spread a thin layer of buttercream on top. Fill the hole with M&Ms and place the final cake on top. Cover the whole cake with buttercream. Gently place the Kit Kats around the side and the Malteesers on top. Tie with a bow to help keep the Kit Kats in place.

 

Chocolate Orange Checkerboard Cake

Let me introduce you to Cake Thursday. It happens once a month. We have a rota in work, and the last Thursday of every month four or five people bring in cake and we stuff our faces until we can't eat any more. It's a very special day.

This month was my turn. I've been dying to try out a checkerboard cake for ages, so thought that this was the perfect time to experiment! I found a great recipe online, that just happened to include my two favourite flavours: chocolate and orange. I've never been so nervous about a cake, but I'm actually really pleased with how it turned out. And the GIANT cake disappeared by the end of the day, which is always a good sign!!

Chocolate Orange Checkerboard Cake

(adapted from The Great Australian Bake Off)

Orange Cake

2 1/2 cup self-raising flour

1 3/4 cup caster sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/4 cup milk

100g butter, melted

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Zest and juice of 1 orange

Preheat the oven to 170ºC and line two round cake tins. Place all ingredients in a bowl and beat until smooth. Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins. Bake for approximately 40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out soon. Leave to cool in the tins for about 10 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Cake

2 1/4 cup self-raising flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 3/4 cup caster sugar

3 large eggs

1 1/4 cup milk

100g butter, melted

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Zest and juice of 1 orange

Preheat the oven to 170ºC and line two round cake tins. Place all ingredients in a bowl and beat until smooth. Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins. Bake for approximately 40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out soon. Leave to cool in the tins for about 10 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Frosting

375g butter

45g brown sugar

3/4 cup boiling water

600g dark chocolate, chopped

Combine the butter, sugar and water in a large saucepan and cook until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate is melted. Chill until spreadable.

To assemble the cake, you can use this template. I actually used a saucer and a cutter and found it surprisingly simple. From your four cakes, you should have four large circles, 4 medium circles and 4 small circles. Then you need to slot them together. Have a look at this tutorial. Take a large chocolate circle and spread chocolate frosting on the inside. Place a medium orange circle inside and spread on more chocolate frosting. Then place a small orange circle inside that. Repeat with all cakes, alternating the colours. Stack the cakes on top of each other, sandwiching with chocolate frosting and alternating the colours. Cover the top and sides with chocolate frosting.

Carrot Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting and Caramelised Walnuts

Until this week, I had never made a carrot cake before. I had never even tasted a carrot cake before! I don't know why, but the idea of vegetables in a cake just seemed completely wrong to me. I'm off work this week, so was in a mood to do something different, something I'd never tried before. I was going to visit my friend in her new house and, for some reason, carrot cake just seemed like the 'homely' cake to make.

I searched through my baking books and found a few different options, but in the end I went with a recipe from Donal Skehan's Kitchen Hero: Great Food for Less. I'm a huge fan of Donal's, both of his books and his tv shows, and have made both sweet (check out his 'Ultimate' cake) and savoury recipes of his to great success, so knew that I wouldn't go too wrong with this one!

 I was pleasantly surprised with the end results, although I had to rely solely on my friends to let me know if it actually tasted like carrot cake should. They said it did, so guess I'll just have to trust them!!

Carrot Cake

(adapted from Donal Skehan)

275g self-raising flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

275g caster sugar

4 large eggs

250ml rapeseed oil

1 tbsp vanilla extract

400g carrots, peeled and grated

Preheat your oven to 180ºC and grease and line two cake tins. In a large bowl, sift in the flour, bicarb and cinnamon (or just give it a good whisk). In another bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar, until light and fluffy. Slowly pour in the oil, until completely incorporated and then add in the vanilla. Fold in the dry ingredients, until just mixed through. Finally, fold through the grated carrots. Divide the batter between your two lined tins and bake for 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Remove cakes from the oven and leave to cool for about 10 minutes on a wire rack. Remove the cakes from the tins and leave to cool completely.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

(adapted from Donal Skehan)

200g cream cheese, softened

50g unsalted butter, softened

450g icing sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

Beat together the cream cheese and butter, until light and fluffy. Gradually add in the icing sugar and cinnamon until well combined.

Caramelised Walnuts

1 cup walnuts

1/2 cup light brown sugar

Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Add the nuts and sugar to a non-stick pan and stir constantly until all the sugar has melted and the walnuts are covered in a golden caramel. Pour the nuts onto the baking tray and leave to cool. 

Assemble the cakes by spreading half of the cream cheese frosting onto one of the cakes with a large palette knife. Gently place the second cake on top and cover with the remaining frosting. Top with the caramelised walnuts.

Hidden Heart Cake

I wasn't going to show you this cake. Everything that could go wrong with this cake, went wrong. It was not a great day in the kitchen. But I decided to show it to you all anyway, because everything in life doesn't always go exactly as you plan!!

It started off okay. I baked the first cake, the pink one, which turned out lovely. Left it to cool, sliced it up and cut out my hearts. And then it all went downhill. I poured some of the white mixture into the tin, and added the hearts. But they started moving all over the place, and wouldn't line up straight. Then as I poured over the remaining mixture and tried to smooth it out, I just knew it wasn't going to turn out right.

I'm pretty sure I've said it before, but my oven is seriously out to get me!! The top of the cake started to burn, and the inside was still completely raw.  I left it to cook through and then cried taking it out of the oven. I tried to scrape off as much of the burnt top as I could and then covered it with neon glacé icing to try and hide the mess!!

 

Then came the moment of truth: the slicing. One side didn't work at all!! But the other side actually looked alright. The inside was just slightly underdone. I was planning on bringing it in to work for the staff, but I just couldn't bring myself to serve it to grown ups. So instead, I gave it to my class of 4 and 5 years olds. And they loved it!! I love how easily impressed kids are...

Has anyone else out there tried this before? If you have, please let me know where I went wrong!! I am determined to remake this cake. I promise to let you know how it goes!!

Hidden Heart Cake

6 large eggs

340g self-raising flour

340g caster sugar

340g unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp baking powder

Red food colouring

Preheat oven to 180ºC and line two loaf tins. Put cake ingredients in a bowl and beat until smooth. Split mixture into two bowls and add a drop of red food colouring to one. Pour the pink mixture into a cake tin and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool completely.  When cooled, slice the cake into 1cm slices. Use a heart shaped cutter to cut a heart out of each slice. Pour 1/3 of the white mixture into the second loaf tin. Place the pink cake hearts into the tin, standing upright. Pour over the remaining mixture. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool.

Glacé Icing

220g icing sugar

2 tbsp hot water

Red food colouring

Mix together the icing sugar, hot water and a drop of red food colouring to make the icing. Poor over the cooled cake.

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day

So as it was Valentine's Weekend, it was a busy week in the kitchen. I had three recipes to share: one each for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I was super organised (for once) and scheduled the posts on Thursday. But, instead of clicking the 'publish' button, I hit 'save'. Rookie mistake. So here are all three recipes at once!

The first is one of my favourite cake recipes of all time, and it's featured on the blog before. My go-to red velvet cake. This time I halved the cake recipe and quartered the cream cheese icing recipe to make a smaller cake. And as it was for Valentine's Day, I baked it in my new heart shaped tin and covered it in heart sprinkles.

Red Velvet Cake

(adapted from Food Network)

280g plain flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp cocoa powder

170g granulated sugar

1 large eggs

170ml vegetable oil

1/2 tsp vinegar

15ml red food coloring

1 tsp vanilla extract

115ml buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Line your cake tin. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa together. Beat the sugar and egg together in a separate large bowl. In another bowl mix together the oil, vinegar, food colouring and vanilla and then add to the bowl of egg and sugar and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture in batches to the sugar/egg mixture, alternating with the buttermilk. Always start and end with the flour. Pour the batter into the prepared tin. Tap it on the table to level out the batter and release air bubbles. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Let the cake to cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before turning out of the tin and allowing to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Icing

(adapted from Raspberri Cupcakes)

65g cream cheese, softened

65g unsalted butter, softened

Juice of 1/2
lemon

190g icing sugar

Beat cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl until smooth and fluffy. Add lemon juice and icing sugar gradually, and beat until smooth.

Chocolate Fudge Cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

There wasn't going to be a blog post today. It's been a crazy week and I haven't been in the kitchen for more than 10 minutes each day. My friend was having a few people over to her house last night and at about 6.30 I decided that I just had to make a cake. A monster cake at that.

This cake is one of Donal Skehan's recipes from his Kitchen Hero: Great Food For Less book. He calls it the 'Ultimate' cake, and it really is. Four layers of moist chocolate fudge cake, sandwiched with creamy white chocolate cream cheese icing.

And the best part? It is ridiculously easy to make!! Dry ingredients in one bowl. Wet ingredients in a jug. Combine. Simple as. My kind of cake!!

It is an absolutely GIANT of a cake, but the quantities can be easily halved if you want to make a smaller cake. But really, who wants a smaller cake?!?!

Chocolate Fudge Cake

(adapted from Donal Skehan)

350g self-raising flour

5 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

300g caster sugar

300ml sunflower oil

300ml semi-skimmed milk

4 large eggs, beaten

4 tbsp golden syrup

Preheat your oven to 180ºC and line two baking tins. Sieve the flour, cocoa powder and bicarb into the biggest bowl you have. (Or if you're lazy, like me, put them into the bowl and give it a good whisk). Add in the sugar and mix well. In a jug, measure in the wet ingredients (oil, milk, eggs, syrup) and mix. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and gradually add in the wet ingredients until you have a smooth (and quite wet) mixture. Pour evenly between your baking tins and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool slightly, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

220g unsalted butter, softened

450g cream cheese 

400g white chocolate, melted

440g icing sugar

Beat your butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy. Mix through the white chocolate and then gradually add in the icing sugar until smooth.

When your cake has cooled completely, carefully split your cakes. Sandwich with thick layers of the icing. It 's up to you whether you cover the sides or not. I wasn't planning to, but my cake was still warm when I cut it so it didn't look too pretty and there was plenty of icing left so decided to go for it. For a finishing touch, grate some dark chocolate over the top.

Artist's Cake

Another Pinterest inspired cake from me today. This one was for my friend's birthday. He's an amazing painter, so I thought a paint palette, along with buttercream paint splotches, would be perfect!

The inside is a cinnamon cake with vanilla bean buttercream, but I'm not going to post the recipe because I totally forgot to take pictures before I covered it in fondant (bad blogger, I know!) But it was delicious, so I promise I will remake it and post it another time!

Christmas Cake 2013

I had all the intentions of making a proper mammy's Christmas cake this year. I even bought all the ingredients, but somehow it was Christmas Eve and there was still no cake! (Plus the rum may have 'disappeared', but we'll not mention that!!) So, in a bit of a panic, I turned to Google for a quicker recipe. I'm not too pushed on fruit cake, but wanted to use at least some of the ingredients I had bought. And my favourite part of Christmas cake is the marzipan and icing so I definitely wanted to include that. I came across this simple recipe for a Cherry and Almond cake and loved the sound of it! I had the cherries and ground almonds and thought it would taste lovely covered in marzipan.

For the decoration, I turned to Pinterest. I have a Christmas board that I've been adding to throughout the year and chose an insanely cute snowman from it. I'm not actually sure why I chose a fondant design. I rarely use fondant and when I do it's generally only to add little decorations. It turned out pretty good for my second ever fully fondant cake, if I do say so myself!!

Cherry and Almond Cake

(adapted from Odlums)

200g butter, softened

225g golden caster sugar

3 large eggs

225g plain flour

100g ground almonds

1/2 tsp almond extract

220g glacé cherries, halved

Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line a circular cake tin. Beat the butter and sugar together until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, adding a little bit of the flour with each egg. Stir in the remaining flour and ground almonds. Fold in the almond extract and cherries. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

You will also need:

Ready-to-roll fondant

Ready-to-roll marzipan

Honey

Red food colouring

Green food colouring

Orange food colouring

Malteesers

Wait until your cake has cooled complete before decorating. Roll out the marzipan and white fondant as  thin as you can. Brush some honey onto the cake. Cover with marzipan. Brush with a little bit more honey and cover with the white fondant. Make the hat, scarf and carrot nose from fondant. Add malteeser eyes and mouth. 

Red Velvet Cake

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. I NEVER go this long without baking but somehow life just got in the way!! But, Christmas time means lots of baking! We swapped our Secret Santa gifts in work today and everyone always brings in something sweet or savoury to make a party of it! Of course, I chose to make something sweet. 

I got the idea for this cake from my favourite baking blog: Raspberri Cupcakes. I loved the idea of using Red Velvet for Christmas. The colours of the cake are just so festive and the desiccated coconut looks just like snow! I chose to top it with simple candy canes, put together to make hearts. I love the simplicity of this cake. It looks and tastes delicious and is perfect for the Christmas season.

Red Velvet Cake

(adapted from Food Network)

560g plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp cocoa powder

340g granulated sugar

2 large eggs

340ml vegetable oil

1 tsp vinegar

25ml red food coloring

1 tsp vanilla extract

225ml buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Line 2 round cake tins. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa together. Beat the sugar and eggs together in a separate large bowl. In another bowl mix together the oil, vinegar, food colouring and vanilla and then add to the bowl of eggs and sugar and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture in batches to the sugar/egg mixture, alternating with the buttermilk. Always start and end with the flour. Pour the batter into the prepared tins. Tap them on the table to level out the batter and release air bubbles. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Let the cakes cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before turning out of the tin and allow to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Icing

(adapted from Raspberri Cupcakes)

250g cream cheese, softened

250g unsalted butter, softened

Juice of 1 lemon

750g icing sugar

Beat cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl until smooth and fluffy. Add lemon juice and icing sugar gradually, and beat until smooth.

You will also need:

125g desiccated coconut

6 mini candy canes

Using a spatula, cover the cake with the cream cheese icing. Sprinkle coconut all over the top and sides of the cake. Place the candy cane hearts on the top of the cake.

Australia Cake

This was my first ever fondant cake. I made it last year for my friend who was moving to Australia for a year. I spent ages searching Google and Pinterest to come up with ideas and merged them all together to create this little cake. The main cake is the Australian flag (minus two stars) and then there's a boomerang, surfboard and flipflops on the sand (which is just brown sugar). I then printed out a banner and stuck it into the cake with two cake pop sticks. I was so excited with how it turned out, even though the fondant needed some patchwork repairs!!

Vanilla Sponge Cake

125g self-raising flour

125g butter, softened

125g golden caster sugar

2 medium eggs, beaten

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 180ºC and line a cake tin. Put all ingredients into a bowl and beat until smooth. Poor into lined cake tin and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Vanilla Buttercream

150g unsalted butter, softened

225g icing sugar

2 tbsp hot water

1 tsp vanilla

Beat butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add icing sugar and water in two batches. Add vanilla.

You will also need:

Blue fondant

Red fondant

Yellow Fondant

White Fondant

Brown Sugar

Cake Pop Sticks

Banner

When the cake has cooled completely, cover it with a thin layer of buttercream. Roll out the blue fondant as thinly as possible and lay over the cake. Pull out the edges as you are smoothing down the sides and trim to fit. Make and add whatever decorations are required!

Chocolate Fudge Cake

One of my work colleagues asked me to make a cake for her and her family. Her kids love chocolate so I made Nigella's chocolate fudge cake with chocolate fudge icing. This cake is so rich and chocolatey, I almost couldn't give it away.

 Chocolate Fudge Cake

(adapted from Nigella Lawson)

400g plain flour

250g golden caster sugar

100g light brown muscovado sugar

50g cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

½ tsp salt

3 large eggs

142ml sour cream

1 tbsp vanilla extract

175g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

125ml sunflower oil

300ml cold water

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Butter and line the bottom of two cake tins. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb and salt. In another bowl whisk together the eggs, sour cream and vanilla until blended. Beat together the melted butter and oil until just blended, then beat in the water. Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix together on a slow speed. Add the egg mixture, and mix again until everything is blended and then pour into the prepared tins. Bake the cakes for 50-55 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their tins on a wire rack for 15 minutes, and then turn the cakes out onto the rack to cool completely.

Chocoate Fudge Icing

(from Nigella Lawson)

175g dark chocolate (70%)

250g unsalted butter, softened
275g icing sugar, sifted
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate in the microwave for approximately 2-3 minutes on medium. In another bowl beat the butter until it's soft and creamy and then add the sieved icing sugar and beat again until everything's light and fluffy. Then gently add the vanilla and chocolate and mix together until everything is glossy and smooth. 

Sandwich the middle of the cake with about a quarter of the icing, and then ice the top and sides. Decorate with grated white chocolate.