Birthday Cake: Chocolate Cake for Dad!

It was my dads birthday yesterday and we had a lovely day! I offered to make a cake (my mum is very happy now i 'do cakes') and thought you can't go wrong with a chocolate cake. My dad was diagnosed with diabetes a few months ago so i should have made a no sugar/no fat/no taste cake, but i thought he could have a little slice...what harm can it do (apart from make him sneeze...i have no idea why but he now sneezes every time he has sugar! Weird!)

Here's the recipe:

6oz Butter

6oz sugar

6oz Self Raising Flour

3 Eggs (beaten)

Dash of milk

2 Tbsp Cocoa

Small bar of Dairy Milk

1. Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy

2. Gradually stir in the flour, cocoa and eggs

3. Stir in the milk

4. Melt the bar of chocolate, keeping one piece to one side, and stir into the cake mixture

5. Grease two round tins and pour in the mixture, spread out with a knife

6. Cook on Gas Mark 5 for 20 minutes

7. Take out of the tins and place on a wire rack until cool

You can then decorate however you like! I made a butter cream icing and added cocoa to make it nice and chocolatey, then spread it all around the cake. I then grated my remaining piece of chocolate and some Milky Bar over the top and then gave it a little sprinkling of edible glitter!

Birthday Cake: Carrot and Orange Cake

Another day, another cake order! ( i wish...don't have any pending at the minute, eeek!)

I made my friend Gabrielle's dad a carrot and orange cake for his birthday.

If you want the recipe it's exactly the same as the cupcakes i made (see previous post). I just made it in two round tins and then decorated with butter cream, orange zest, grated white chocolate white chocolate. Turned out well and was enjoyed by all the family!

Look how professional the boxes look with my business card on!! Wooo!

Business Cards

I finally got round to doing some business cards. My dad is going to print some for me, but i thought i should do some arts and crafts in the meantime...and they turned out really well! I did have a slight nervous breakdown though after realising i had put the wrong blog address on all the business cards i had done! Argh! Luckily managed to fix the problem with my swanky new gold pen! At least it was only half of them...

Check them out, i'm rather proud!

Birthday Cake: 30th Birthday

Another cake order yey!! This time is was a friend who's husband was turning 30. The spec this time was that she wanted it in the shape of a 3 and an 0 (which did panic me slightly) and she wanted it chocolate flavour. It turned out really well, another happy customer. I was more nervous doing this one with it being the first one for an adult...but she loved it, yippeee!

I made it by making a basic cake mix, but adding a couple of tablespoons of cocoa and a small bar of melted chocolate to the mix. This was distributed into one rectangular greased tin and two circular greased tins.

I made a buttercream, but again added cocoa and then got on with the decoration. The rectangular cake was cut into two and sandwiched together with some of the icing, then cut into the shape of a three. The circular cakes were also sandwiched together with some of the icing, a hole was cut in the middle and then it was trimmed so it was a similar size to the three.

Then I covered each cake completely in the chocolate icing and decorated it with Caramel Nibbles (have you tried these? Amazing), chocolate buttons, grated white chocolate and a touch if edible glitter.

Voilà!!

Apologies about the attractive presentation of the cake i.e. the oven dish...none of my cake tins have been returned yet...need to get myself some cake boxes.

Tiffin Recipe!

My tiffin recipe was inspired by the yummy piece I had at Kendal Calling last weekend. I feel a bit weird calling it tiffin though as it I know it as Chocolate Biscuit Cake. I used to make it all the time with my mum when I was younger and it was one of my favourite things to eat...turns out it still is. It's a really easy recipe as it doesn't involve any oven time, which is also why it's known as 'no bake chocolate cake.' I wonder why it has so many names??

Here's the recipe for you to try out...please do...you won't regret it.

100g Butter

25g Soft Brown Sugar

3 Tbsp Cocoa

4 Tbsp Golden Syrup

225 Crushed Digestives

150g Raisins or your dried fruit of choice (optional, I didn't use it...might add to your five a day though!)

Big bar of Dairy Milk (to melt on the top)

1. Put all your ingredients apart from the chocolate and biscuits in a pan and heat gently until all melted

2. Crush your biscuits (I did it with by putting them in a plastic bag and bashing them frantically with a rolling bin...and yes, I did split the bag!)

3. Stir the biscuits into the melted mixture

4. Press the mixture into a greased tin

5. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of hot water and then spread over the cake

6. Put in the fridge until set, slice into big or small pieces (maybe small, it's very sweet) and eat eat eat.

It's best to leave it in the fridge rather than take it out and put it in a tin as the nice thick layer of chocolate stays all yummy and solid!

Kendal Calling!!

We went to Kendal Calling last weekend so didn't get any chance to do any baking. It was a fab festival, near Penrith in the Lakes District and me and the other half had a great time. With it being quite small there weren't that many 'big acts' playing so it was great just wandering between the different stages and finding out about some new music...not to mention eating AMAZING food. I know this is a cake blog....so i do feel a bit naughty, but we sampled some food from the Seychelles (yeah, not what i expected at a festival either) and it was sooooo good. I had the coconut chicken curry all three days for my tea and am still desperately trawling the internet to find a recipe! Enough about the savouries anyway....

What really got me through the weekend was a lovely little organic 'cafe' which sold coffee/cakes/cereals...all organic and all solar powered...i felt so very green! the hazelnut lattes were to die for and they had a great little selection of cakes.

The staff were so lovely and didn't look at me too strangely as i rocked up in my wellies, hair all over the place, sunglasses on (it was early...do people not sleep at festivals?).

I didn't get much cake eaten though (probably too full from all the curry) although i did have a delicious slice of tiffin which inspired me to make some when i got home (will put the recipe up next)

All in all we had a great weekend and I'm looking forward to going back next year...unless I've moved to the Seychelles. :)

Birthday Cake: Peppa Pig Cake

It's my friends daughters 2nd birthday on Saturday so i got another cake order...yey! Another one for the portfolio! I've been worried about it all week, especially we're off to a festival tomorrow and thought i'd be ridiculously short for time!

I've done it though and to be completely honest...it's not bad!! Didn't take me that long either!!

Here's a pic for you to enjoy (try not to laugh...Peppa pig is ridiculous looking to begin with! Two eyes on one side of her head? Really?)

Super Chocolatey Marble Cake

The other half was doing overtime this weekend so I was suitably bored! It was only 2pm and I'd already been to the park with the dog so thought instead of cleaning/napping/doing some other amazingly fun weekend activity, I should bake a cake. He likes marble cake too so with him doing lots of busy work I decided to make him (and myself) a yummy cake.

With marble cake it's normally half plain cake mixture and half with cocoa powder added...but this isn't chocolatey enough for my liking....i like to go that one step further! Here's the recipe....

4oz Sugar

4oz Margarine

4oz Self Raising Flour

2 eggs

1 tbsp Cocoa Powder

1 small bar of Milky Bar

1 small bar of Dairy Milk

1. Beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy

2. Gradually beat in the eggs and flour bit by bit

3. Separate the mixture into two bowls

4. Break up your Dairy Milk (go on, have a piece for yourself) and melt either in a bowl over a pan of hot water or for a couple of minutes in the microwave (keep an eye on it if doing it in the microwave though as it can burn quite easily)...add the melted chocolate to one half of your mixture and stir in the cocoa powder

5. Melt the Milky Bar in the same way and mix into the other half of the mixture

6. Grease a round cake tin and add blobs of both the mixture in a random pattern until all the tin is filled

7. Even out the mixture with a knife and then take a kebab stick (is that the technical term?) and from the outside in do a big swirl round of the mixture

8. Cook on Gas Mark 4 for about 20 minutes or until cooked through

9. Take the cake out of the tin and allow to cook on a wire rack

10. If you like you can buy and extra bar of chocolate, melt it, and cover the top of the cake in it! Yum! I had this intention, but we just couldn't wait...and started on the cake!

A depressing Cake Friday!

No cake today...very upsetting. I can see the disappointment in the eyes of my colleagues...I'm so sorry peeps!

I'm a bit skint and to be honest i was quite comfy on the sofa last night...under my dressing gown (where has summer gone) watching Mock The Week. Feel bad about it...and to be honest would like some cake...but never mind!

Very exciting news though...drum roll please...I've got my second cake order...yippee!

I'm not sure if I'm being a bit too brave though...she wants one in the shape of Peppa Pig..eeek!

When i did my nephews 2nd birthday cake at least he was a member of my family and has to love me unconditionally...i don't want to ruin a poor child's birthday...oh the nerves!!

Should be fine though...I'm feeling pretty confident...how hard can it be? Tune in next Thursday to find out....

Cake Friday: Chocolate Orange Fudge Cake

Even though I had been asked to make another carrot cake (a really big one this time), I decided to go for a chocolate fudge cake. I wanted to do something a bit different so decided to try a zesty orange one...delicious! Went down soooo well! Apart from a customer coming into the office as I was desperately scraping the plate for left over icing. The only change I would make would be to use a better quality chocolate. I used a supermarkets own dark chocolate and it was a bit bitter. I'd probably recommend (i will defo do this next time) using actual orange chocolate...not sure if you can get it in a large bar, but you could always melt down an actual Chocolate Orange, or the Green & Blacks with orange and spices might also be pretty good...my mouth is watering at the thought!!

Here's the recipe so you can try it out for yourself...

Cake:

6oz Margarine or butter

6oz Caster Sugar

3 Eggs

3 tbs Golden Syrup

6oz Self Raising Flour

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 oz Cocoa Powder

Zest of an orange

Icing:

8oz Plain Chocolate

2oz Dark Brown Sugar

8oz Butter

5 tbs Milk

1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence

A big squeeze of orange juice (if you are just using plain chocolate)

Icing:

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and heat gently until melted. Transfer into a bowl and cool in the fridge until set (mine took about an hour and a half)

Cake:

1. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy

2. Beat in the eggs and golden syrup

3. Gradually mix in the flour, salt and cocoa powder

4. Stir in the orange zest and a few squeezes of orange juice

5. Grease two round tins and distribute the mixture evenly between them, spreading out with a knife

6. Bake on Gas Mark 4 for 30-35 minutes

7. Turn out onto a wire rack and leave until completely cool

8. Sandwich the cakes together with half the icing and spread the other half over the cake and round the sides.

9. Put the kettle on, make a nice cup of tea and treat yourself to a big slice! Well, you've earned it!!

Nutty Flapjacks

After about 5 minutes discussing which muesli to buy in the supermarket yesterday I looked down to see the oats...hmm...not made flapjacks for a while...cracking idea! Even the other half likes them so I don't have to feel like a pig eating them on my own.

I have no idea why they are called 'nutty' flapjacks as they don't have nuts in them...odd! Used to make them with my mum though and loved them as a child so thought I'd make them as a football snack (come on Spain!)

Really easy to make and the cornflakes make them really nice and crunchy...unless like me you don't actually eat cornflakes so are using the ones left over from making the Easter nests which have lots their crunch a little!

6oz Butter

5 Tablespoons of Golden Syrup

2oz Dark Brown Sugar

3oz Cornflakes

6oz Oats

1. Put the butter, syrup and sugar in a pan and heat gently until melted

2. Stir in the oats and cornflakes

3. Line a 9" square cake tin with baking paper and pour the mixture in, smooth out until even

4. Cook on Gas Mark 4 for about 20-25 minutes - don't worry if it doesn't seem cooked when you take it out, it hardens up when cool

5. Mark into squares to it's easier to cut when cool

6. Leave in the tin, on a cooling rack, until completely cool

7. Eat with a nice cup of tea or coffee...or milk if you're feeling a bit sleepy...i am!

Weekend Review: Gilcrest

I was a bit hungover this morning after staying on at Seven (see previous post) and putting away a few glasses of wine...oopsy! We thought a bacon sandwich would do the trick so popped up to Gilcrest to get a butty. As I walked in I was greeted with a huge selection of home made cakes...how can a girl refuse. I spotted a bakewell slice and asked the girl behind the counter for this...unfortunately she told me this wasn't a bakewell but an 'almondy type cake with jam in the middle.' It took all my might not to get on my cake filled high horse and tell her that this, in fact, was what a bakewell was...I kept my mouth shut though and agreed to have one of her almondy slices! She was not actually that wrong, it wasn't strictly a bakewell. Instead of the cake topping it was...wait for it...marzipan! It still had the pastry base and raspberry jam, but this marzipan topped with crispy chopped almonds was a delight! Oh my word...what an amazing thing this was. I desperately need sugar after a night of drinking (my other half swears by iron bru but I can't stomach it) so this was pure heaven.

So feeling rough, I sat down by the lake at Golden Acre Park (dog still needs walking, even if all I want to do is lie on my sofa and watch Come Dine With Me) and ate my cake...my exact words afterwards were: 'that cake made me soooo happy!'

EJ Gilcrest

4 Stainburn Parade

Moortown

Leeds

LS17 6NA

0113 2684255

Weekend Review: Seven

Finally a review for you...obviously been too busy baking this week! We went to Seven in Chapel Allerton yesterday and it would have been rude of me not to do a cake review. There was a small selection of home made cakes, some cherry muffins, carrot cake (had enough of that this week) and a lemon and ginger cake...so I went for the lemon and ginger cake.

It was very nice. It contained large pieces of stem ginger so was quite strong in that sense, but you were still able to get a taste of the lemon through...nice and moist...very good! This was all washed down with an organic cider (got to on the weekend).

Seven itself is one of my favourite bars in Leeds and definitely my favourite in Chapel Allerton. The drinks and cakes are reasonably priced and the atmosphere is great. They put on events (it was Flamenco dancing last night accompanied by live music but we decided to stay out in the sun) and also serve hot food daily. We didn't take advantage of the food, but the people around us did and i have to say i was pretty jealous...it looked and smelled amazing! This being a 'cake blog' though i won't go into detail and should stick with the matter in hand...

I'd definitely recommend this place...cake yummy, staff friendly, atmosphere great, beer cheap! Perfecto!

Seven Arts Space

31a Harrogate Road

Chapel Allerton

Leeds

LS7 3PD

http://www.sevenleeds.co.uk/shared/cms/interface/view.aspx?id=22

Cake Friday Review!

3:15pm came around and time for the cupcakes to make an appearance. They were soooo yummy and a really good Friday treat...glad i've got about 15 left! :)

Cake Friday: Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I've never made carrot cake before (shocking) so thought i should give it a go in the shape of a cupcake! Not tasted them yet (apart from the uncooked batter, can never resist) but they look delicious and i'm feeling rather proud!

Here's the recipe! I managed to make over 20 so just half the mixture if you don't want to make enough to see you through the summer (or maybe just the weekend).

6oz Margarine
6oz Sugar
6oz Self Raising Flour
3 Eggs
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
3oz Grated Carrots
1 Orange worth of zest...i almost bought a grapefruit...thought it was a big orange!

1. Beat together the margarine, sugar and eggs
2. Stir in the carrots
3. Add the flour, baking powder and spices
4. Stir in the orange zest (smells sooooo yummy!)
5. Half fill cupcake cases with the mixture and cook on Gas Mark 4 for about 15 mins.
6. Place on a wire rack until cool

To ice them i made a butter icing with butter (obviously), icing sugar and butter. I squeezed some orange juice in too to make it a bit zesty and a tiny bit of yellow food colouring.
This icing was then piped onto the little blighters, and topped with yet more orange zest and grated white chocolate...

Enjoy!

Birthday Cake: 20th Birthday

The birthday cake was a success! My first 'client' was very impressed...said it was much better than anything you could get at [insert own overpriced supermarket here]. Very pink and sparkly, but you know what, she loved it...and that's all that matters! Other people in the office are now starting to put in potential orders...i'll have to get some business cards soon and an official looking apron :)

Birthday Cake: 2nd Birthday Snake Cake

It's my nephew's 2nd birthday tomorrow and i offered to make the cake! My sister made no. 1 for his 1st birthday...but a number two is slightly more difficult..why did i offer? So I've been worrying about it all day, mainly worrying that I'd cut it wrong and end up with loads of off cuts and no cake. But....I DID IT!!! Soooo happy!

Just made a normal sponge cake in a rectangular tin (not going to put the recipe on...it's very simple...six oz of everything and 3 eggs!)

Then I took it every so carefully out of the tin and cut the two out after much deliberation about the best way to do it. Used a bowl to cut the top and free styled the rest...luckily it worked.

The decoration was next. Made a simple butter cream with icing sugar, butter and milk (hmm...healthy) and mixed, adding more of what i needed until it was nice and creamy and tasted yummy...added some green food colouring...and got going!

I then turned it into a snake with ready made writing icing and Smarties (bought some more today and managed not to eat them at my desk this afternoon)

...and hey presto...a 'number two snake cake'

Let's just hope it tastes yummy and doesn't scare the kids...I'll give you an update tomorrow!

Smartie Cookies...a late night delight!

It got to about 10pm last night when my other half asked: 'do we have any chocolate?'

'No' I lied knowing full well I'd bought a tube of Smarties to decorate my nephews birthday cake.

'What about those Smarties? I could well eat some Smarties cookies' he replied...so his wish was my command! They were AMAZING!! I use the same recipe all the time, but they always seem to come out different...and this time they were perfect. Don't look like much but they were so delicious i though i should share the recipe with you....and then go out and buy some more Smarties for the other cake!

You can use other sweets, i have used a mixture of milk and white chocolate buttons before, so use anything you like really...the Smarties worked very well though.

6oz Plain Flour (i didn't have any so used self raising and it turned out ok!)

1tsp Baking Powder

4 1/2oz Butter (melted)

3oz Soft Dark Brown Sugar

2oz Caster Sugar

1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence

1 egg

1 or 2 tubes of Smarties depending on how chocolately you want them

1. The recipe is easy peasy really...just mix all your ingredients together in the bowl until they are combined

2. Blob tablespoons of the mixture on a tray covered in baking paper so they don't stick...they will spread out so don't put them too close together or you'll end up with one massive super cookie!

3. Bake on Gas Mark 5 for 10-12 minutes

4. Transfer onto a cooling rack and allow to cool...although the chocolate is nice and melted if you eat them when they are still warm! Still wait about 10 mins before you eat them though otherwise they'll still be a bit soft and might burn your tongue...and then you won't be able to taste the rest of them...what a waste!

So there you go...make them tonight as your Sunday night treat...

Cake Friday: Lemon Drizzle Cake

Lemon drizzle cake was the 'cake de jour'...back by popular demand! It's an easy one, but everyone at work raves about it...so always one to keep the people happy...it was made!

Went down a treat again! Also enough to save some at home for me to eat (yippee)...and the other half doesn't like cake (i know, it's nuts) so even more for me! Dog does look longingly at me though when i eat it. I have to lock her out of the kitchen when I'm baking, she gets so excited she tries to get into the oven!

Anywhoooooo....here's the recipe:

6oz Sugar

6oz margarine

6oz Self Raising Flour

2 eggs

1 lemon

Dash of milk

4 fl oz lemon juice

5oz icing sugar

1. Cream together the sugar and margarine until fluffy and light, then beat in the eggs

2. Add the flour and stir in the milk

3. Finely grate the lemon and mix the peel into the mixture

4. Grease and line your cake tin (I used a nice rectangular one...haven't measured it, I'd say the size of an A4 piece of paper...nice and specific for you there)

5. Pop your cake in the oven at gas mark 4 for about 40 mins or until golden on top

6. Leave the cake in the tin and make loads of holes all over the top with a fork

7. Put your lemon juice and icing sugar in a pan and heat until the icing sugar has dissolved

8. Pour the mixture over the cake so it gets absorbed into all the little holes then leave until cool before taking out of the pan, sprinkling with icing sugar, chopping it into pieces and then eating it...yum!

Hello Cake Lovers!!

Welcome to my new cake blog!! I should start with a bit more detail about why I'm always banging on about cakes really...

I all started as a child, baking with my mum and my Grannie. Peppermint creams where my obsession...probably with them being the easiest thing ever to make and could do this almost alone (for a bit)! This all ended rather abruptly when after getting on a chair to reach up into the top cupboard to get the peppermint essence, i knocked the red food colouring all over my mums new cream carpet...I was I trouble :(

So the baking eased off...as i was very clumsy and couldn't be trusted...and it just became a birthday/Christmas event.

Baking took a back seat for many years...not cool to bring a bloomin' baked alaska to a teenage party...and I forgot about those yummy times...until CAKE FRIDAYS came along!

Started my new job a year ago and quickly we decided that on Fridays, around 3:30pm, we needed cake. After sampling the many ones from the supermarket next door, i thought 'hang on...hang on one minute there cake lovers...I can bake' so since then I've been trying to provide my lovely co-workers with a delicious cakey treat every week...and also for every birthday (generally birthdays are on a pink and sparkly theme though...luckily a female dominated office)

So there we go...that's me!