Really Chocolatey Birthday Cake

Our house smelled AMAZING while this cake was sitting on the worktop. The icing is chocolate, as are the roses, fans and other decorations. The only bits that I didn't make from chocolate were the hearts.

I designed this for my sister-in-law's 30th birthday instead of a gift. I'm never quite sure what to buy for people, hopefully this was a good substitute. The top tier was Baileys chocolate, the bottom was just chocolate mud cake with white chocolate frosting.

I loved making this cake - it was finished earlier than usual too which means I'm working faster. Typically though it's been really warm here for the past few days and all the chocolate + heat Do. Not. Mix. I was cutting out petals, putting them in the fridge. Thinning petals, putting them in the fridge. Rolling the centres, putting them in the fridge. You get the picture - there was a lot of waiting for things to chill! Next time I do a chocolate cake it will (hopefully) be in December.

I should be back next week with something else. Apologies for the sporadic posting - I only post when I have something pretty to talk about.

Golden Rose Cake

So, it's been a while... We've had chickenpox and been away for a large amount of the past couple of months, but the spots are gone & I'm back to the cakes.

This one was for a coeliac lady so it was all gluten free, lemon on the top and vanilla for the bottom tier.
She requested golden yellow roses - actually I think it was golden showers roses but googling that made all sorts of horrible things come up!

I hope the colour was OK for her, it's so difficult to get an exact replica in icing & there's a lot of shades of yellow!

I baked this cake the other day

With my girls, it was delicious - so dense and moist, I followed this recipe http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3092/ultimate-chocolate-cake You should totally try it - it was really fab. I won't bother with the recipe for the frosting, even my six year old wouldn't eat much of it, it was so sweet! Stick to a ganache instead.

What's your favourite cake recipe? I'm always looking for new ones to try!

Profiteroles

I love profiteroles, even though they are a bit of a stereotypical 80's dessert - anyway everything goes in cycles and comes back in fashion, right?! So, I'm bringing profiteroles back, here's my recipe.

For the choux pastry
60g unsalted butter
2 tsp caster sugar
80g plain flour
small pinch of salt
2 eggs, beaten
135ml water

For the chocolate sauce
50g unsalted butter
200g good quality dark chocolate
1/2 cup of cream
1tbsp golden syrup

For the filling
400ml Double cream
Vanilla pod seeds, or good quality vanilla extract
1 dessertspoon of icing sugar (optional)

Preheat your oven to 200°C.
Line a baking tray with non stick baking parchment.
Place the water, butter and sugar in a good sized pan and heat until the butter is melted and the water is just beginning to boil.

Remove the pan from the heat and tip in the flour and salt, stirring immediately, don't worry if the pastry looks like a gloopy mess, it will all come together if you keep beating. Once the pastry has come together as a smooth dough, return to the heat for a whiles, no more than a minute, until the pastry begins to shrink away from the sides of the pan.

Remove from the heat once more and gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition. You will end up with a smooth, glossy mixture that is dropping consistency.

Spoon or pipe small mounds of the mixture onto your baking tray, about 1 1/2 teaspoons per bun.

Sprinkle the tray with water to help create steam in the oven. Bake for 10-20 minutes until well golden brown, if you take them out too soon they will be too soft.
On removing the profiteroles from the oven, pierce each one on the underside with a skewer to let the steam escape. Leave to dry upside down on a cooling rack.

To make your chocolate sauce, put all the ingredients in a pan and melt together over a low heat, stirring continuously.

Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks, then whisk in the vanilla and if using, icing sugar.

Using a piping bag, fill the profiteroles with cream then serve with a spoonful of chocolate sauce.

This recipe made me 12 profiteroles so would generously serve 4.

Have you got any nice plans for the weekend? I think my girls want to write to Father Christmas, they're so excited and he likes to get a head start on the wrapping! xx

Chocolate Birthday Cake and Fairy Toadstools

So, recently I made my first cake to be iced in chocolate fondant, I made chocolate plastic and mixed it with regular fondant to make my paste. It was fab to work with although it seemed to get little hairline cracks in the icing much easier than normal fondant but the warmth of my hands smoothed them out so easily. What I loved about the chocolate paste was that the cake smelled amazing even when covered, my family were all desperate to eat it, unfortunately it wasn't for us!

Between all the baking we've been on some beautiful family walks recently, we're so lucky to live in such a beautiful place and in autumn it really comes to life. The leaves are starting to transform into a million shades of brown, while crunching through the fallen ones my daughter found a fairy toadstool, she was enchanted by it. The proper name for it is a Fly Agaric, they really are so vibrant and pretty.

Hope you're enjoying the autumn sunshine too xx