Chocolate Celebration Cake

I am never one to back down from a challenge and when I realised it was my chocolate loving friends birthday I knew I had to push the boat out and make a real showstopper as bake-off would call it. My OH had recently bought me an icing set complete with all the bells and whistles and I knew this would be the perfect excuse to give it a whirl. This cake is a bit of a labour of love but it's a million percent worth it, delicate and light cake with perfectly chewy cookies and a decadent buttercream coating. What more could you want?

I have since made a 4 layer version of the cake (doubling up the ingredients) without the cookies for a my friends little ones birthday and you've never seen a bigger smile or a kid air punch about a cake so hard! This will take a good chunk of your day but I promise it's worth it. This recipe makes more cookies than are needed for the cake which is obviously such a shame! A real hardship to have to eat afterwards!

Ingredients:

For the cake:
230g plain flour
260g dark brown sugar
80g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract
150ml sunflower oil
360ml soy milk
1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar

For the cookies:
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 bar dark chocolate
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup and 1 tbsp oil
1/4 cup and 1 tbsp water
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the icing:
2 tbsp plant based butter
8 tbsp icing sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 bar dark chocolate
1 box mint chocolate squares (after eights - tesco own brand are vegan)

Method:


Start with the cake... Preheat your oven to 180c and grease two round cake tins (15cm across). Place the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and mix then slowly add in the vanilla extract and oil. In a separate jug, mix the soy milk and vinegar until the milk curdles slightly (trust me) and then add to the batter. Mix well with a beater to remove all the lumps, the batter should be smooth, glossy and relatively liquid. Separate evenly between the 2 cake tins and bake for 30-40 minutes until a skewer or knife comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake. Leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes before turning onto a cooling rack.

While the cakes are baking, make the cookies. Pop the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cocoa powder and salt into a bowl and mix together. Chop the bar of chocolate into small chunks and add to the dry ingredients. Place both sugars into a seperate bowl along with a the vanilla, water and oil and whisk together. Fold in the dry ingredients until everything comes together to form a stiff batter. I took generous teaspoons of the batter for smaller cookies, ideal for topping the cake. Make balls of the batter and place them on baking sheets lined with greaseproof paper then place in the freezer for at least half an hour.

By this time, your cakes should be out of the oven and the temperature can be lowered to 160c to bake the cookies. They will take around 15 minutes and should be soft to the touch but spread out and look puffy when baked. As they cool they will collapse and crack giving them the classic cookie look. Place the cookies onto a cooling tray as soon as you can touch them.

For the icing, place the butter into a blender along with the cocoa powder and the vanilla and blitz until the butter is creamy in consistency. Slowly add the icing sugar to prevent it flying everywhere. The icing should be quite thick but still spreadable, taste it at this stage to ensure it tastes of coca and sugar rather than butter and add more icing sugar if needed. Place in a box in the fridge until the cakes are fully cooled.

Once the cakes are fully cooled, place one on a serving plate or base. Take a mug and fill with hot water to aid the icing. I have a turntable and piping kit but if you don't just try and turn the cake around as often as possible to make the icing as smooth as you can. Place a tablespoon of the icing on top of the cake and smooth towards the edges, using either a palette knife or eating knife. If the icing starts to stick, dip the knife into the hot water to warm up as this helps to ease the icing around. Once the top of the cake is well covered, place the other cake on top. I then piped icing around the sides of the cake and smoothed with a scraper but you could also repeat the technique used for the middle of the cake although the results probably wont be as smooth. Once the sides of the cake are coated with icing, use the remainder on the top of the cake.

Take the remaining bar of chocolate and melt in the microwave in 30 second intervals until fully melted. Spoon over the top of the cake and encourage the melted chocolate to drip down the sides. Allow to set slightly before decorating with the cookies and mint chocolates. Place in the fridge to set fully before serving. Keep an eye on the cookies as one of mine kept making a nosedive off the edge of the cake.

When you make this, please take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife.

Enjoy!

Mocha Cupcakes

I've never really been a fan of chocolate cake but surprised myself with this one. I was asked to bake a cake for a friends birthday and she loves both chocolate and coffee so I had to try combining these classic flavours with a me-style twist to make the perfect cake. These cakes are light and fluffy on the inside and topped with a soft disc of chocolate coffee heaven. You could skip the coffee if your not keen but I love the depth of flavour it adds to these cakes.

Ingredients:
400g self-raising flour
250g brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp coffee extract
4 tbsp cocoa powder
3 tbsp golden syrup
400ml soy milk
115ml sunflower oil
1 tsp cinnamon

3 bars dark chocolate
6 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp coffee extract

Method:
Preheat your oven to 160c and lay out 24 muffin cases in trays. Place the flour, brown sugar, bicarb, cocoa powder and cinnamon in a bowl and whisk together then add the vanilla, coffee, milk, oil and golden syrup and mix until everything is well combined and the mixture is glossy and smooth.

Spoon even amounts of the mixture into the cases - I like to use an ice cream scoop for more even amounts. Make sure to scrape the bowl well as this batter likes to cling on.

Place the trays in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until springy to the touch and a skewer comes out clean. Remove from the trays and place on baking racks to cool.

Once the cakes are cool, melt the chocolate in a large bowl, do not use a soup bowl like I did as you end up with icing all over the place! I melted the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second blasts but you could also use a bain-marie if you have one.

Mix the coffee extract with the chocolate and sift in the icing sugar a little at a time until the chocolate starts to stiffen but remains glossy. Either spoon onto the cupcakes or place in a piping bag and swirl onto the cakes.

I had one of the cakes before the icing was set and it was gorgeous and oozy and a total mess to eat but they are equally lovely once set.

Please make these and take a picture, tagging me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife

Thank you

Chocolate Orange Heaven

I was never a huge fan of chocolate cake but this... this recipe has me converted. One of my chief cake testers texted me to say they had to hide the cake to prevent themselves from just mashing through the whole thing in a manner reminiscent of Bruce in Matilda! The classic blend of chocolate and orange is always going to be a winner while the addition of a marmalade filling has this tasting like someone blended a chocolate orange with jaffa cakes... Bliss. Try it out, you know you want to.

Ingredients:

For the cake:
6oz self raising flour
6oz caster sugar
6oz butter
3 eggs
1tsp baking powder
3 overly heaped tbsp cocoa powder
zest of 1 large orange

For the icing: 
Juice of half an orange
6oz icing sugar
2oz butter

Added extras:
Marmalade for the filling - I used thin cut
bar of dark chocolate to grate over the top

Method:

Preheat your oven to 160 fan (180 non fan) for around 15 minutes. While the oven heats up place all the cake ingredients in a large bowl or mixer and beat until it becomes smooth, glossy and light to the touch. Liberally grease a couple of 20cm round cake tins and spoon half the cake mix into each. Smooth the mixture down with a spatula and pop in the oven. Bake for around 15-20 minutes until a knife comes out clean and the cakes are starting to pull away from the sides of the tins. Place on a cooling rack and leave in the tins for a few minutes before carefully turning the cakes out. I like to run a spatula round the edge of the tin to ensure the cake is free the carefully jiggle the tin to loosen the cake from the base. If the cake is fully baked and the tin was well greased, the cake should easily come free with very little residue left making washing up very easy!

Leave the cakes to cool completely if possible (I know the smell is almost irresistible) then make up the icing by mixing all the ingredients until they reach the consistency of loosely whipped cream.

Place one of the cakes on your choice of display stand and slather generously with marmalade. Carefully pop the other cake on top and coat liberally with the icing. I then grated dark chocolate over the top to decorate and to counterbalance the sweetness of the icing.

The use of only natural orange in this recipe ensures its not an overpowering flavour but if your oranges are a bit lacklustre a drop of orange extract could easily be used to help.

I know everyone will love this cake so please give it a try and let me know what you think. I also made this entirely dairy free with Pure 'butter' and I am sure this recipe would work well using gluten free flour and baking powder.