The Recipe Chefs Cakes

Spooky halloween Ghost Cake

2011-11-26T15:11:00.000-08:00

I was recently asked to make a Halloween themed joint 30th and 29th Birthday cake. I love anything spooky and the chance to make a spooky cake filled me joy and excitement. I jotted down a few ideas and made a few sketches and presented them to see which cake would be made.

I was really pleased when they chose the ghost cake as this was the first idea that came to me and I have always wanted to make a comic style character cake. The idea itself is based on the drawing you make as a child and I think everyone when asked to draw a ghost would probably draw something similar to what I did.

The cake itself is a classic sponge but I added a little more flour so that it could handle the weight of being stacked and also the fondant icing. To begin with I baked five 7" round cakes and stacked them on top of each other with a layer of vanilla buttercream in between.

To get the dome I used my trusty 1 litre Pyrex bowl, the same on I used for my Stormtrooper cake. To get a perfect dome I cut the bottom and placed it on the top of the dome with buttercream and cut it to form a more dome like shape. This then went on top of the stack of 7"ers. It was now beginning to take shape.

Whilst baking the cakes I also baked a few cupcakes and I attached these with skewers to the sides of the cake and sculpted them slightly to form arms/hands.

I then added a crumb layer of buttercream (500g) and allowed to dry for a few hours. I then added another fine layer of buttercream and smoothed over with a wet pallet knife. This then was lightly wet with a pastry brush, ready for the fondant.

Firstly I covered the top two thirds of the cake with black fondant then I just wet the top of the dome with water. I now rolled out 1kg of white fondant icing to about 3-4mm thick and quickly layered it over the cake.

I smoothed down the top half of the cake with a cake paddle to create a smooth finish, but the bottom half of the cake was left. This gave the illusion of draping and floating. All I did extra was trim the excess fondant with a pizza cutter.

To make the eyes and mouth I used a cookie cutter and squeezed it slightly to form the mouth shape, and because I had put the black fondant underneath, once you cut the white fondant away the black was still there. I think this is a better look rather than sticking black on top of the white as it give the cake more depth and a more professional look.

Finally I made the small pumpkin which was basically 2 cupcakes fixed together with buttercream and shaped.

I added a layer of butter cream all over then a layer of chocolate fondant followed by a layer of orange fondant. I created the number by cutting out the numbers with a craft knife and using the end of a wooden spoon to form the grooves of the pumpkin.

I finished i of with a speech bubble, which I made few days earlier so that it had time to dry and go hard. This was fixed with a couple of lollipop sticks.

The only mistake I made was that I bought a 10" cake board especially for it, but when I came to put the cake on the board it didn't fit.....eek. Luckily I had a black thick tray which I turned upside down which fit just right.

I was really chuffed with this cake and I would definitely make it again, maybe even bigger next time.

Mini Mouse cake

2011-10-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

I must admit I was not the biggest fan of Disney and thought that it was over commercial and enticed children into believing that life is one big fairy tale. That is until I had my son, and then I got it.

There is something magical about sitting watching a Disney film with a young one and seeing their little faces as the magic unfolds on the screen in front of them.

So when I was asked to design a Disney themed cake I was full of ideas and wanted to encapsulate the essence of Disney is icing (if there is such a thing).

I first of all drew out a few ideas and passed them by the person I was making it for. They consisted of a castle, a fairy crown (with lots of sparkle) or a mini mouse cake. They settled on a Mini Mouse cake which I was really pleased about as this was the one design that I really wanted to make.

I worked out how much ingredients I would need to make the cake and off to the supermarket I went to stock up on my magic ingredients.

A couple of days before the cake was due I made the ears by cutting out 4 circles out of black sugar paste and sandwiched 2 lolly sticks in between 2 circles. I left them in a cool dry place to harden for a few days so that the would be easier to insert later on.

The main cake was 2x7" cakes (she wanted it a little smaller than my original design) and the head was made using a 1 litre Pyrex bowl that I greased well.

I used my tried and tested Madeira cake recipe that I have used loads and I know that it keeps well and is great as a stacking cake as it can handle a little weight.

I covered the base cake in 2 layers of vanilla butter cream and smoothed really well then covered with red fondant icing and white spots.

The Head was done in a similar way but I used a black fondant and spent a good 20 minutes smoothing out the bubbles and bumps so that a perfect dome was created.

Finally I added the ears and placed a plaque on the front.

I am quite a font freak and love a great font and I wanted to write her birthday message in the Disney font. So I found the font online and worked out a hand written version.

The result was spectacular and she was over the moon with my creation. This is a cake I would love to make time and time again.

Nigellas Chocolate cake

2011-09-07T07:26:00.000-07:00

I have previously blogged about chocolate cake and I must admit I became a bit obsessed for a while finding a great chocolate cake recipe that wasn't too dry and was a great versatile recipe that you could use for a variety of cakes.
I the stumbled upon the goddess of the kitchen, Nigella Lawson's Devils Chocolate Cake recipe.
At first when I read the recipe I was a little intrigued on how so much liquid could be transformed into a cake, but I wasn't put off. I decided that I was just going to make the cake and not the frosting as I wanted to decorate the cake my own way, and too be honest I couldn't make her frosting without dipping my fingers in it and doing a really bad Nigella impersonation.

the first cake I made was 21st biryday cake with choclate fondant icing and a Malteser trim around the base.

The recipe is as follows;

Ingredients

50g/2oz best-quality cocoa powder, sifted
100g/4oz dark muscovado sugar
250ml/8fl oz boiling water
125g/4½oz soft unsalted butter, plus some for greasing
150g/5oz caster sugar
225g/8oz plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 free-range eggs

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line the bottoms of two 20cm/8in sandwich tins with baking parchment and butter the sides
Put the cocoa and the dark muscovado sugar into a large bowl and pour in the boiling water. Whisk to mix, then set aside.

Cream the butter and caster sugar together in a separate bowl, beating well until pale and fluffy; I find this easiest with a freestanding mixer, but by hand wouldn’t kill you.Stir the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda together in another bowl and set aside for a moment. Dribble the vanilla extract into the creamed butter and sugar – mixing all the while – then crack in one egg, quickly followed by a scoop of the flour mixture, then the second egg. Keep mixing after each addition.

Incorporate the rest of the flour mixture little by little, then finally mix and fold in the cocoa mixture, scraping the bowl well with a spatula.

Divide this fabulously chocolaty

On a scale of 1 to 10 for difficulty (1 being easy, 10 being expert level) this cake is probably a 3 (yes a 3!) it is such a great recipe and I have used it on numerous occasions now for various jobs.

I have made celebration cakes with it and also cupcakes, it truly is a great chocolate cake recipe that I am sure I will be using for many years to come

Voodoo Emo Cake

2011-08-09T13:25:00.000-07:00

My niece was recently 16 and I offered to make her a cake to help celebrate her birthday.

I have watched her grow up over the years from a little girl who liked princesses and pink to a full blown teenager who loves her music, piercings and individuality.

I knew that she would like a cake that was a little off the wall and know that she loved her Nightmare before Christmas inspired cake that I did for her a couple of years ago.

I came up with the idea of an Emo Voodoo cake, even though she IS NOT an Emo, it is just easier to say that the cake is.

The cake itself is a chocolate chip sponge cake with a butter cream filling in between the two layers used to make it. I covered it in white ready to roll icing which I got from the supermarket in the clearance section because it was going out of date at the end of August (this was bought in June)? and some black sugar paste icing which I cut into squares and made a checker board effect over half of the cake (Two Tone Records inspired)

I used the same icing to make the voodoo doll which I was quite proud of and finished him off with real pins and a badge of love, just to show that he isn't that evil.

The detailing was finished off using a great bit of kit in the form of an icing pen. It looks like a felt tip pen and also writes like one. My tip for using it though would be to let the icing dry out as it makes it easier to write on.

Overall I loved making this cake and it gave me a little more experience in making figures out of icing. Something which I hope to do a lot more of in the future.

My niece Aimee blowing out her candles

Stormtrooper Cake

2011-07-13T13:22:00.000-07:00

When I started to make cakes it was initially because I was to tight to buy a birthday cake for my sons 1st birthday. I thought I can make one cheaper and better and so I set about making one. £70 and one stressed out chef later I realised that cake making was no easy (or cheap) feat. But that didn't stop me and so my passion for cake making began.

As you have seen from my blogs over the past year I have become better and better at making cakes and now have the confidence to call myself quite a good cake maker.

That time of year had come around again though when all the family were looking at me and wondering what I was going to do for my sons 3rd birthday.

Being a bit of a geek I have introduced him to one of the most important films ever made.....Star Wars, and he loves it. He asked me few months back if he could have a Stormtrooper cake and immediately my mind went into hyper drive and thoughts of a helmet shaped cake haunted my dreams for weeks. Finally I plucked up the courage to attempt to make it. I didn't tell anyone what I was making as I wanted the unveiling to be spectacular.

I looked at loads of pictures and photos of Stormtroopers and actually found that there are many variations on the classic design but I decided on mine and so I began to bake.

I baked 4 individual cakes which would make up the helmet shape. The base was a 9" square topped with two 7" circles (sandwich style). The dome of the helmet was a 1 litre Pyrex bowl which I just greased so that it wouldn't stick.

I assembled them with a butter cream filling, placing the circles and domes towards the back of the square. Then using a cheese knife, which I found really good to sculpt with, I shaped the base of the helmet and used the off cuts to form the nose cone.After about 15 minutes of some more sculpting I finally had something that resembled the classic helmet shape.

I added a crumb layer of butter cream and let this dry for an hour or so before adding another fine layer of butter cream and smoothed over with a wet palette knife.

To ice the cake I opted for ready to roll icing and used a 1kg block rolled out to about 4mm thick. With one foul swoop it was over the cake and I spent about half and hour moulding it into shape using both my hands then smoothing down with a icing paddle.

The rest was quite simple as all I had to do was cut out the shapes of the eyes and detailing from some black sugar paste.

I hid the cake so that he didn't see it and all of his friends came around for a classic 3 year old birthday party. Complete with a sing song on the guitar from yours truly.

Then the time came to unveil my creation, I stuck some indoor sparklers in his head along with a candle and made the entrance to a spectacular rendition of Happy Birthday. The look on his and everyone else's face was priceless and he couldn't believe that it was his cake. At one point after he had blown out his candle he even gave the cake a hug, declaring it was his best friend.

I was quite chuffed with myself but can't help but think how do I beat that next year?

Alf's Shed Cake

2011-06-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

I have become quite good at baking cakes and wanted to move to the next stage of baking a novelty shaped one. I was then approached by a friend of mine who wanted a cake for her dads 60th birthday. Having met her dad quite a few times I knew that one of his favourite things was to sit in his shed (which by the way is the size of a small house), so I instantly thought of a shed cake. I accepted the challenge and began designing and planning the creation.

I knew that a Madeira based cake would be best as it holds itself better when carved and can take the weight of other layers and icing.

I decide to make a traditional looking shed rather than a copy of his own as that would involve me having a degree in structural engineering, which I didn't really have time to get.

On the day of baking I set work by baking 2 large rectangular Madeira sponges, cut them in half and stacked them on top of each other, fusing the layers with mixed fruit jam and vanilla butter cream.

I then carved the roof which was a bit tricky, but with the help of my ruler and a steady hand I was able to achieve a good looking roof.

Now the fun bit could begin so I began by adding a crumb layer of vanilla butter cream all over the cake and smoothed over using a wet palette knife. I allowed this to dry for and hour or so then added another thin layer of butter cream making the surface as smooth as possible. This then went in the fridge over night to harden.

The next morning I set to work in covering the cake in ready made sugar paste icing. I bought this online which I would highly recommend if you don't have a good cake supplier nearby.

I chose to use chocolate flavoured sugar paste as this matched a wood look the best and normal coloured sugar paste for the rest. Rolling out a large amount of chocolate sugar paste is not as easy as it looks especially on a warm day as it starts to stick and melt. I got there in the end and managed to get a large enough disc to cover the cake. I then smoothed the edges with a cake smoother, which is a little like a plasterers tool.

I made the roof by mixing a little black and white sugar paste together to make a grey coloured icing, something which I had never done before and was quite surprised on how easy it was.

I then added all the other little details such as the windows and doors and drew on planks of wood with my new swanky icing pen, which was fab.

I place the whole cake on a rolled out piece of green icing and added little flowers using a flower shaped punch.

I then remembered that he had a tractor and decided to add one of my sons toy tractors (which he cried about, even though he had not played with it in over a year), and some sugar paste tools.

Voila, my creation was complete. That afternoon my friend came and picked up the cake. Her dad was over the moon and the best thing is that everyone agreed that it tasted delicious.

(Alf cutting his cake)

Yo Gabba Gabba Birthday cake

2011-03-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

This not really a blog but more of a chance to show off my handy work.

I recently made this for my niece who was 3 years old and her favourite TV show is Yo Gabba Gabba.

It was a basic sponge cake which I flavoured with lemon. The icing and decorations are sugar paste which I bought from a local cake supply shop.

She absolutely loved the cake and the adults couldn't get enough of it.

Working with sugar paste is not easy. You think that it would be the same as using Play-Doh but it it is completely different. You don't anticipate it stating to melt in your hands, so I advise that you have cold hands and the ability to work quite fast.

Maybe with a little more practice I will get better, but for a first attempt I was quite chuffed with myself.

Honey and Oat Biscuits made by my 2 year old son

2011-02-09T07:56:00.000-08:00

I recently taught a 5 week course on family cooking to a group of fantastic people in my area. The course was a huge success and everybody went away with nearly twenty new meals to make for themselves, family and friends. The feedback I got from the course (which was the first one I had taught) was really fantastic and humbling and I was asked shortly afterwards if I fancied teaching a group of toddlers and to get them involved and interested in food. I jumped at the chance straight away without hesitation and had loads of ideas straight away.

I myself have a two and a half year son who I love cooking with. He won't try everything, but he loves touching and handling the food , which in my eyes is a great place to start if you are going to get kids interested in fresh ingredients.

The other day I decided that I was going to have a practice run with one of the lessons which I was going to be doing. The recipe was going to be just general biscuits and I was going to get the kids to decorate them with icing and other goodies, but I decided to drop this idea as I thought that it may be too many sugary ingredients and my whole aim of the lessons was to show them fresh ingredients that are healthier than the processed foods in the supermarkets.

Instead I changed the recipe slightly and decided to make Honey and Oat Biscuits. This cut out the Golden syrup that I was originally going to use and replaced it with a more natural sugar, Honey. This is a more natural product and not a refined sugar. I also loved the idea of incorporating Oats into the recipe as these can be a great source of fibre, something which is lacking in some kids diets.

The ingredients were measured out in cups (the American measure) so that when I teach the little angels, all they have to do is tip out the cups into a mixing bowl. This also make life a little easier for the adults when trying to recreate it at home and I haven't met a toddler yet that is bothered about grams and ounces.

I have also found that the plastic kids cups that you get from Ikea are just short of a cup measure, so are a great alternative if you don't have measuring cups.

Ingredients

1 cup of Self raising flour

1/2 cup of Oats

1/2 cup of artificial sweetener

1 tablespoon of runny honey

100g of butter (I know I said all in cups but most packs of butter have guides on for weight in 50g)

I set up a little table in the kitchen so that we working at his height, and not mine, and donned him in his little chefs outfit or his bakerman outfit as he likes to call it. Then the fun began.

We tipped out the sugar and butter (which was really soft) and beat it with our magic wooden spoons until all the butter and sugar was combined. This is a lot easier with artificial sweetener than caster sugar as the granules are a lot finer. We then added the flour and oats and gave that a good mix and finally squeezed in our runny honey.

The mixture is a bit like a pastry mix, and at this stage we had to get our hands in and press the mixture together to form a soft dough. We then cut the dough in half and rolled out two sausage shape approx. 2cm in thickness. Then with a plastic knife we cut out 1cm thick discs and placed them on a baking sheet that had been lined with greaseproof paper and gently pushed them down. Leave a couple of centimetres inbetween each biscuits as they do spread slightly.

Off they went into a pre heated oven gas mark 4/170 for 10 minutes until they just started to turn golden brown. They were cooled on a wire rack whilst we cleaned up, which he also loved and I thought was a great way to get kids involved with the day to day chores around the house.

We both sat down with a hot drink and a biscuit each and watched his favourite TV show, Peppa Pig, and he absolutely loved them. He was even calling them his own special biscuits and proclaimed that they were his favourite.

I know that biscuits are not the healthiest of foods, but I think that if you make them yourself and you are in control of the ingredients that go into them, then you can treat your kids to a little naughtiness without the risk of them digesting hundreds of unnecessary calories and sugars.

Wheat Free Banana Flapjacks

2011-02-08T04:02:00.000-08:00

I always have bananas In the house as they are a great healthy snack to have and can give you a little boost of energy when you need it most, generally in the afternoon.

From time to time though they go a bit too ripe for me and I usually end up throwing them away, which I hate doing as I like to use everything that I buy. So I thought is there anything I can use them for. Obviously cakes sprung to mind straight away but I didn't really want to start going down that route, but did fancy making something that was a little more healthy. My wife then came home one day and told me how she had a had a great lunch at one of those new trendy Tea bars that are springing up everywhere at the moment. She is a sucker for kitch tearooms that are a little different from the norm and told me how she had had a great lunch followed by a wheat free banana flapjack. She then produced a little for me to try which she had saved.

I was really surprised at how tasty and moist it was and wondered if I could recreate it with my over ripe Bananas?

The next day off I popped to the shops to buy myself some oats so I could try to recreate those lovely flapjacks. As soon as I got home I started straight away.

I had made flapjacks before so had a slight idea of quantities, weights and measures but was a little sceptical as to what to do with wheat free ones. There was only one thing for it. Bang it all in a bowl and hope for the best.

My ingredients were

350g of Oats

200g Peanut Butter

2 very ripe bananas

4 Tablespoons of Golden syrup

4 tablespoons of Artificial sweetener

I used Peanut butter for two reasons, I love peanut butter and bananas and secondly I didn't have enough butter. The decision to use artificial sweetener was a last minute one as I was trying to make them as healthy as I could.

I mashed the bananas with the peanut butter then added all the other ingredients and mixed until all the ingredients were combined. At this stage it did actually look like flapjack mixture and I was quite optimistic at how they would turn out.

I then poured the mixture into a 7"x7" cake tin that had been lightly greased and placed in a pre heated oven gas mark 5/180c for 25 minutes.

A quick brew later, the tantalising smell of peanut butter and bananas filled the room and my flapjacks were ready. So I took them out of the oven and sliced them into rectangles, keeping them in the tin. Half an hour later they had cooled down and could be tipped out. The suspense was killing me, were they moist enough, had I got the recipe right..........One big bite later and I wasn't disappointed. It is rare I get things right on the first attempt but they were fantastic. I would even say they were batter than the one my wife gave me.

I think these will be a regular make in my house from now on , although I think I may have to hide them from my wife as I kept catching her sneaking into the kitchen and having sneaky bites of them.

Banana and Weetabix cake

2011-01-13T03:30:00.000-08:00

I recently tried a chocolate cake which was made used bran flakes. At first I was a little sceptical and thought that It would never live up to a good old fashioned chocolate cake, but I was pleasantly surprised. The cake was moist and light and you could taste the bran at all. There was a slightly different texture but it wasn't unpleasant and after the second bite you sort of forgot about it.

This got me thinking could you make cake with other cereals such as oats or wheat based cereals. To my surprise I did a little research on the good old world wide web to find that there is a whole new world of cake baking using cereals. This made me want to don my pinny straight away and start baking.

I decided to make a banana and Weetabix cake as I had a couple of ripe bananas and a few weetabix that were looking all lonely on their own amongst my other cereals.

Most of the recipes I do used metric measurements but for a change i was going to tackle this cake with the American way of baking by doing my measurements in cups. I am lucky to have a set of measuring cups but if you don't then most jugs these days have cup measurements on the side.

Ingredients

4 Weetabix

2 ripe bananas

2 cups of self raising flour

1/2 cup of milk

1/2 cup of brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of ground Cinnamon

To start with I soaked the Weetabix in the milk for a minute then mashed with a fork. I then chopped up the banana and began mashing this is into the Weetabix, but I gave up with the fork and just got my hands in so that the banana was well incorporated, much fun was had.

I then broke all my rules when it comes to baking and basically put all the other ingredients into the bowl and mixed with a wooden spoon until all the ingredients were incorporated. I didn't even sieve the flour!

This mixture looked as if it would fit nicely into a 1lb loaf tin, so I lightly greased my trusty old tin and gently poured in the mixture. Admittedly at this stage it didn't look very appetising but my fingers were crossed (and sticky) and off it went into a hot oven gas mark 5/180c for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes the cake was lovely and brown and I checked to see if it was cooked by inserting a skewer. The skewer came out sticky which normally would mean that the cake needed longer. In this case though I remembered that bananas don't set when cooked and will remain sticky, so I used my cake baking experience to say......."your done"

I let the cake have half an hour to cool down and my mouth was watering. I couldn't wait to see if my creation had worked, and to my surprise it did. It tasted absolutely fabulous and adding the Cinnamon really gave the cake a depth of flavour.

My only criticism is that it is slightly doughy and could of possibly done with 5-10 minutes longer and I think next time I would add a good handful of raisins to give little pockets of sweetness.

The exploding looking Birthday Cake project (Part 2)

2011-01-06T13:46:00.000-08:00

So here is part deux to my Exploding looking cake creation, which was one of the most enjoyable cakes I have made so far.

After making the two Madeira cakes I needed to let them cool down before I began the filling and icing part. I filled the centre of the cakes with a simple butter cream and raspberry jam. The buttercream was simply made by mixing together 300g of softened unsalted butter with 600g of icing sugar, a splash of water and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. My only tip here would be to sieve the icing sugar, that way you won't get any lumps in your frosting.

I used about 3 tablespoons of the frosting to fill the cake and the rest I used to ice the outside of the cake. This is known as the crumb layer, and gives the cake a smooth finish and also stops any stray crumbs getting onto your finished icing layer.

I let this dry and harden in the fridge for an hour before putting on a final thin layer of frosting. I smoothed it out by dipping a pallet knife into warm water and smoothing the frosting to make a smooth and perfectly square cake. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures at this stage as I got a bit over excited on how perfect I had made it. I was even considering having a career change to a plasterer after seeing the final product.

For the final layer I used ready to roll sugar paste icing, which I bought online in bulk so that it was cheaper, but I have noticed that a few supermarkets are now starting to stock it at a reasonable price if you are making a one of cake.

I added two layers firstly a thin black layer just on the top then the white layer all over. The black layer was so that when the icing was cut later, the black would be exposed as the under layer.

You have to work quite fast as the icing gets warm and can tear easily, but I managed to get it done on the first attempt. Once the icing is on, you need to smooth out the icing with an icing smoothing paddle which can be bought from any good cake shop and are a great investment if you are going to make lots of cakes this way.

Once smoothed out I used a craft knife to cut a criss cross on the top of the cake and carefully peeled back to make it look like the cake had exploded from within. The only thing I wished I had done at this point was not to put butter cream on this part of the cake, as I had to carefully wipe of the cream from the underside of the icing. Not a very easy job, let me tell you.

Finally I had loads of off cuts of icing that I had from other cakes so I chose a couple of colours that went together and rolled them out. I cut long triangular shapes of various sizes and placed them on the cake, thin end towards the centre. I also cut out a few stars and and stuck them on too.This is a great way of covering any slight imperfections that you on the icing.

I added a banner and wrote the message on using an icing pen and topped the cake off with my 21 sparklers and fountain candle. Oh and I filled in the hole with some hundreds and thousands sprinkles that I had.

Overall I was really happy with the cake and also learned a few new tips along the way. I am now contemplating making a shaped cake and my goal is to make a Buzz Lightyear cake for my son's 3rd Birthday later on in the year.

The exploding looking Birthday Cake project (Part 1)

2011-01-04T13:00:00.000-08:00

I would love to be able to do fancy sculptures out of cake but I am not that experienced yet and quite frankly it petrifies me. After watching programs such as Cake Boss and Ace of Cakes, I have a lot of admiration for those guys and completely understand why they are at the top of their game.

I was recently asked if I could do a birthday cake for a 21st, there was no spec, just that it had to be a 9" square Madeira cake, something that I was quite comfortable doing. So I put my thinking cap on and came up with a few ideas. I finally settled on a cake that looked like it was exploding from the inside out and having a fountain candle and sparklers to add to the drama.

I have made Madeira cake quite a few times before, and I think that it is the best type of cake for icing as it is firmer and holds it's shape more. It also doesn't tend to dry out as fast, especially once it has been iced.

Everyone makes Madeira differently, but I have my own tried and tested recipe.

Ingredients

Makes 1x9" square (or 2x7" rounds)

175g Butter

175g Caster sugar

250g Self raising flour

3 eggs

1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

Zest of 1/2 a lemon

3 tablespoons of Whole milk

I had to make 2x9" squares, but the only problem was that I only had 1 9" cake tin so had to bake twice. I wasn't really that fussed about doing this as my oven has hot spots and cold spots and when I have baked 2 cakes in the past together they have cooked differently, even though they are the same mixture.

Firstly I creamed together the butter and the sugar until it was ultra smooth. Leaving the butter out the night before so that it gets to room temperature is a great tip. Not only does it make life easier for you with the creaming but the cakes tend to be lighter and moister with warmer butter.

I then added the eggs one at a time mixing them thoroughly in between adding them. Just before I added the 3rd egg I sprinkled in one table spoon of the flour. This stops the mixture from splitting which can be a nightmare if it happens.

Add the vanilla extract and lemon zest and give it a final good mix. I think at the this stage there is no harm in over mixing as you are adding air into the mixture, which in the end, is all good.

Sieve in half of the self raising flour and with a balloon whisk fold into the mixture using a figure of eight movement. Stop when the flour has just been incorporated, then sieve in the remaining flour along with the milk and repeat the figure of eight motion. It is really important to stop as soon as the flour has been incorporated as you don't want to overwork the gluten's in the flour, which can lead to a heavy and dense cake.

You may be thinking why do I use self raising flour instead of plain flour? Well the answer is quite simple, I am lazy and find that self raising works just as well without the need of measuring precise teaspoons of baking powder.

Anyway back to the cake, I lined the tin with greaseproof paper and gently poured in the mixture and smoothed out evenly.

The oven had been pre heated to gas mark 5/180c and in the went the cake on the middle shelf and baked for 45 minutes. after 40 minutes I quickly check to see if the cake was cooked by inserting a skewer and seeing if it comes out clean. It didn't on this occasion (but the second cake did) so I popped it back in for a further 5 minutes.

Once I had removed it from the oven I let it stand for a minute or so in the tin then tipped it out onto a wire rack to cool. Begin cake cake number 2.

To see how I iced the cake then see the second part to my blog.....coming very soon!

Carrot Cake Muffins

2010-10-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

In recent years the American style muffin has become a staple in coffee shops and cafes across the world.
There are the basic Chocolate chip or Blueberry varieties but there some exciting and tasty combinations out there and ideas from everyday foods have been transferred to the muffin repertoire.
I love the idea of taking something and giving it a new twist and blowing peoples heads off with flavours and textures. This was my inspiration for my latest experiment, Carrot cake muffins.
I love carrot cake and would go as far to say that it is probably my favourite cake. I don't know if it is the cream cheese frosting or the hint of cinnamon but there is something warming and satisfying about the tea shop classic that makes me want more.
So I took my own recipe for carrot cake and transferred some of the elements to my basic muffin recipe. The result was astounding and turned out better than I could have ever imagined. Not only were the muffins lovely and moist but they were light, spicy and packed full of flavour.
Want to know how I made them, well here is how I did it.

Ingredients.
(makes approx 12)

2 eggs
250ml Whole milk
125ml Vegetable oil
100g Caster sugar
100g Demerera sugar
400g Self raising flour
2 heaped teaspoons of raisins
2 large carrots
1/2 an Apple
1 teaspoon of Cinnamon
1 teaspoon of salt

Method

First of all peel and grate the carrots and apple into a bowl and mix in the raisins
Mix together the eggs, oil, sugars and milk in a jug until frothy. An electric whisk is great for this.
Sieve the flour, salt and cinnamon into a separate a large bowl. Stir in the carrot and apple mixture with a fork.
Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the egg and sugar mixture and gradually mix. STOP as soon as all the flour has been incorporated with the egg mixture and a batter has been formed. This is the key to great muffins as you don't want to over work the flour.
Equally spoon the mixture into muffin cases and place on the middle shelf in a pre heated oven for 20 minutes Gas mark 6/200C
Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack before frosting.

For the frosting

250g Full fat cream cheese
125g icing sugar
50g butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Beat all the ingredients together until smooth and creamy. Top the cool muffins with the cream cheese frosting.

I topped my muffin with some carrots that I made from some orange sugar paste that I had left over from another recipe, but they are not essential, I was just showing off.

I hope you enjoy making and eating these muffins as much as I enjoyed them, I think I am going to have to go and make another batch after writing this.

Chocolate cake

2010-10-14T07:02:00.000-07:00

After making quite a few chocolate cakes I have come to the conclusion that chocolate cakes are the hardest to get right.
With so many recipes out there you have to think about whether to use cocoa powder or melted chocolate, self raising flour or a combination of raising agents and plain flour. What fats to use, and what other ingredients can I add that makes my cake extra special. I think I have come up with a winning combination that tastes superb.
In the past I found that some cake recipes produce cakes that are either too dense and heavy or are really dry. I like my chocolate cake to be both moist and light. Chocolate fudge cake is another matter as this is a different type of cake altogether and should have a dense structure, but still have some creaminess.
I recently made a 50th Birthday cake and decided that this was going to be my winning recipe, so hear goes.

Ingredients

150g butter
150g Demerera Sugar
3 eggs
200g Self raising flour
125g melted Dark 70% chocolate
1 heaped tablespoon of Cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of instant coffee
2 tablespoons of soured cream
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Frosting

150g butter
250g icing sugar
75g melted 70% melted dark chocolate
1 tablespoon of cocoa powder

(This make 2 x 8" cakes)

Method

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and smooth then add the eggs gradually one at a time until combined.
Pour in the melted chocolate and vanilla extract and mix, then add the instant coffee and soured cream.
Mix together the Flour and cocoa powder and sieve half into the wet mixture and fold in with a whisk until just combined. Next sieve in the remaining flour and again fold in with a whisk until just combined.
Divide the mixture between to 8" cake tins that have been lined and greased and bake in the middle of a pre heated oven gas make 4/160C for 28-30 minutes.
The cake is done when you insert a metal skewer into the centre of the cake and it come out clean.
Remove from the oven and rest for 2 minutes before removing from the tins and allowing to cool on a wire rack.
To make the frosting combine all the ingredients until smooth.

I used approx 1/4 of the frosting to sandwich the two cakes together and cover the cake in the remaining frosting.
Use a wet palette knife to smooth the frosting to give a neater finish.

With this cake I decorated it with chocolate fingers around the border and made sugar paste flowers to sit on the top as a decoration, then finished it off with a bronze ribbon to add a touch of class.

Even though there is coffee in the mixture you can't really taste it but what it does is enhance the chocolate flavour and the sour cream compliments the bitterness of the chocolate and helps keep the cake moist.

I may even be a little more adventurous next time and add a pinch of chilli............mmmmm, maybe.

Ginger Kiss biscuits

2010-10-10T14:04:00.000-07:00

As well as cakes I have also become interested in other aspects of baking and recently thought I would give biscuit making a go.
I love gingerbread men and wanted to bake with my son so that he could cut out the biscuits with a cutter. Unfortunately the only cutter I had was a love heart one at the back of the drawer.
So we donned aprons and set to work. After washing our hands we gathered the ingredients measuring them out carefully.

350g plain flour
100g butter
150g demerera sugar
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
1 egg
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
2 tablespoons of golden syrup

We made our biscuits in the food processor as my son loves to press the button and watch the mixture whizz round. So we placed the flour, bicarb, ginger and sugar into the processor and gave it a quick whizz. This acts like sifting and breaks up any lumps that may be in the flour.
Next we melted the butter and golden syrup in a pan and poured the mixture into the flour along with one whole egg (cracked of course) and let my son whizz away until the mixture formed a dough.
At this point the dough is quite warm and not very east to roll, so we wrapped it in cling film and placed it in the fridge to cool whilst we washed up.
After about 20 minutes the dough was ready to roll so on a lightly floured surface we rolled out the dough to approx 5mm thick and dipped the cutter in four and began cutting out hearts. I then had the idea of cutting out the holes with a thin glass to form negatives of the hearts.
We placed them on a baking tray and cooked them in a pre heated oven gas mark 5/180C for approx 12 minutes until they were golden brown. Once removed from the oven we allowed them to cool on a wire rack, which was quite difficult as he wanted to eat them right away.
The whole mixture made 15 hearts and 15 negatives which I thought was great value for money and they tasted fantastic.
Move over Mcvities, there is a new biscuit boy in town.

Guide Dogs For The Blind Cupcakes

2010-10-06T09:58:00.000-07:00

I was recently asked if I would bake some cupcakes for a charity bake sale. The charity in question was guide dogs for the blind which is a superb charity that does a lot of great and life changing work, so how could I say no.

My mind went into overdrive with ideas and immediately I started to pen them down. After a while I managed to thin the ideas down to four specific designs, Dog biscuits, doggie faces, paw prints and dog bowls with kibble.

The dog biscuits are simple gingerbread biscuits cut into the shape of dog bones. I did this by hand as I couldn't find a bone cutter in time, but in future I will buy a cutter as it was a little tricky. They were placed on a vanilla butter cream along with a few chocolate sprinkles.

The doggie faces are made using chocolate butter cream icing and a small star shaped piping nozzle. The eyes and tongue are chocolate buttons and a chocolate chip nose to finish.

The paw print cupcakes were the easiest ones to make and a lemon butter cream with 3 small chocolate buttons and one large button used to form a paw print.

Finally are the dog bowls, which were pink strawberry flavoured butter cream icing, piped in a ring and filled with dark and white chocolate chips.

Needless to say all the cakes sold out in record time and quite a lot of money was raised for charity.

A simple and basic cupcake recipe

2010-09-25T04:19:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Carrie Bradshaw the Cupcake has become the trendy food of the noughties and it seems that if you don't have cupcakes at your party or get together then you are simply not in vogue.
With cupcake shops popping up all over the place and charging the earth for what is basically a kids tea party food, you can understand why I felt the need to learn how to make them for myself, and save a few pounds.
I tried lots of different recipes but in the end found that this was the easiest and most consistent way to make cupcakes.
Instead of using plain flour and baking powder I opted for Self raising flour as I always had different results using baking powder. Maybe it was the various spoons I used?
I also do my cupcakes in a food processor. With that comment I hear a thousand purest scream in anger, but I can't be bothered standing there creaming butter and sugar, plus I am not that fit.
So hear is my recipe for basic cupcakes.

Ingredients
Makes Approx 12

150g Butter
150g Cater Sugar
175g Self raising flour
3 medium eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Method

Make sure that your butter is at room temperature and place in a food processor along with the sugar. Blitz for 1 minute until smooth.
Add 1 egg at a time whist the motor is still running and just before you add the last egg sprinkle in a tablespoon of self raising flour. This will help prevent the mixture from splitting.
Add a teaspoon of vanilla extract and stop. Transfer to a mixing bowl.
Sieve in half of the self raising flour and mix with a balloon whisk. Then sieve in the remaining flour and stop mixing when all the flour has been incorporated.
Line a muffin tin with cupcake cases and fill each one half way. I use an ice cream scoop as it gives you an even mix and rise.
Place in the middle of a pre heated oven gas mark 4/160C for exactly 18 minutes.
Remove and allow to cool for a minute then transfer to a wire rack.

That's is your basic cupcake done, but how to make the soft and yummy topping I hear you ask.
I use butter cream for my topping which may sound complicated but is one of the most simples things in the world.
Again using a food processor add 250g of butter and 500g of icing sugar. (basically 1 part butter, 2 parts icing sugar). Blitz for a minute to form your butter cream.
At this stage you can add any flavourings such as lemon or vanilla and any colouring, then just whizz for a couple of seconds to blend.

99 cupcakes

2010-09-16T13:54:00.000-07:00

Cupcakes are a blank canvass that can be decorated any which way you choose. I think that is what attracts me to baking. The process of taking basically flour, butter,eggs and sugar and creating masterpiece.
Sometimes though, instead of elaborate decorations the simplest ideas are the ones that people like the best . This was true with my ice cream inspired cakes.
I came up with idea when I was practicing my icing skills and I thought they looked like the old style Mr. Whippy ice creams that I loved as a child so much. Getting a flake in one was a real treat, and just like cupcake I had to make them look like a special treat, just like from my childhood.
The cupcakes themselves were a basic cupcake recipe but I made the butter cream frosting with a touch of good quality vanilla extract. Topped with chocolate sprinkles and of course a chunk of crumbly chocolate they really looked the part.
Just like an ice cream van on a sunny afternoon, people were queueing to try my creations and everyone said that they were a fantastic idea. Maybe next time I will even top them with a little Raspberry sauce for that extra authenticity.

My sons 2nd Birthday cake

2010-09-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

After making a few simple cakes I felt like I could take the next step and create a theme based cake.

My son loves animals and we regularly take him to the local farm to see the animals, so an animal themed cake seemed like the obvious answer.

After looking for inspiration on the web I finally found an idea from the Disney website and decided to make a farm yard with cupcake animals.

The base for the cake is a lemon Madeira cake and the animals are cupcakes using a basic recipe but instead of using the traditional butter cream frosting I decided to try something new, meringue frosting. It is basically an icing based frosting but instead of using butter I used egg whites. The mixture does take a lot of mixing and I think that I could have made the mixture thicker, but the end result was great as it gave a crisp clear white frosting that wasn't as sweet as butter cream icing, which I though was great for a kids cake.

The roof of the cake is Shreddies and the icing is a basic coloured sugar paste. For the animals I used mini marshmallows for the sheep and mixed desiccated coconut with the frosting and some yellow food colouring to make the chicken look fluffy. The rest is all sweets that I trimmed to look like ears, noses and mouths.

The look on my my sons face was priceless and everyone loved the cake. Now I have to think of his next birthday cake and how I can better it.

Cup Cakes Tips n Tricks

2010-09-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

I started making cupcakes about a year ago and ever since then I am always asked by people to make them. I have made lots of various flavours and styles but my Easter cupcakes have been the most popular.

There are a couple of tips that I have found useful when it come to making cupcakes which are as follows;

1. Cream your butter and sugar together as much as you can. The mixture should have no sugar grains visable and it should be a smooth and creamy texture.

2. Just before you add you last egg add one teaspoon of flour. This will help to stop the mixture from splitting.

3 Plain Flour or Self raising flour? Some recipes use plain flour with baking powder others use self raising flour. I prefer to use a good quality self raising flour and like to double sieve the flour, helping to make a lighter and fluffier cupcake.

4. Once you have filled the cupcake cases (only fill them half way), give the tray a quick shake. This will level out the mixture and hopefully all your cakes will rise the same.

5. Icing. buy a good quality icing bag with a selection of nozzles. This will prove invaluable when it comes to icing your cupcakes. Disposable bags just don't step up to the job. Buying a good icing bag can take you cupcakes from O.K. to WOW!!!!!.
Remember though that practice does make perfect and the more you ice the better you will become. There are tons of icing technique videos online which will show you the basics.