Gravity-defying cake

 I was so excited to make a gravity-defying cake as not only do they look amazing but I believe they will be very popular in 2015.

Luckily it was my brother-in-laws birthday this weekend so it was a prefect excuse to make one. Last year I made him a chocolate cake which can be seen in an previous post 'Decorating for a chocolate addict' so this year I wanted to up my game with a chocolate gravity defying cake.

I started with a basic chocolate sponge, the recipe for this can be found here. 

I then covered it in a basic chocolate butter icing it didn't have to be very neat at this stage as it was the first coat.

As the cake was a thick layer the chocolate fingers would be too big so I chopped them in half. 

I placed another layer of chocolate butter cream around the boarder of the cake bit by bit and added the yummy chocolate fingers.

First I started by scattering giant a standard size chocolate buttons on top of the cake make sure to leave a space for the straw.

I used a wooden skewer and a straw to make the mount (illusion shattered, sorry). I used a skewer as well as a straw to make it more stable. I think a cake-pop stick would have been better but you have to work with what you've got.

Another benefit to using a straw is the chocolate butter icing sticks to it.

After I had a few buttons on there I started to dab the butter icing on the back of the buttons to help it stick.

To stick the bag on I dabbed some butter icing to one top corner of the bag and held it for a while. I made sure some buttons were in the bag to give the poring effect more realistic.

After a few more bags of buttons the cake was ready.

I was very happy with my first attempt and couldn't believe how easy it was! I now have Defying Gravity from the musical Wicked stuck in my head...but that's not a bad thing.

There are lots of ideas on the internet you can go for if you have a birthday coming up or know someone who does.

Why not give it a go?

Happy baking,

Ms B 

xx

Marzipan bees

Last November I made a Latvian honey cake for my partner's birthday but this post isn't about that...well kind of. It's about the little bees I made to decorate the cake. After looking in my baking books and the internet I came across this lovely video. For those of you who don't know who Frances Quinn is she the 2013 winner of the little TV baking competition The Great British Bake Off.

Ingredients 

50g orange blossom honey (I only had runny honey)

1 Tablespoon of honey blossom extract (I only had vanilla)

Orange zest and one tablespoon of the juice

One egg yolk (I used free range)

100g icing sugar 

200g ground almonds

10g dark chocolate

50g flaked almonds

Gold leaf (I use edible gold spray)

Method

Pour the honey, extract, orange zest and egg yolk in to a bowl.

Add the orange juice.

Mix until all ingredients and incorporated.

Sift your icing sugar in to the mix.

Add the ground almonds...

...until it looks like this. I popped this in the fringe for about 20/30 minuets.

Shape you mix into little bee bodys. 

Placed the almond flakes on a plate to spray them with edible gold spray to minimize mess.

Get your cake ready to see where your little bee friends can sit.

Use your melted chocolate and a toothpick to add stripes, eyes and a smiley face. use a sharp knife to make a cut either side of the bee and gently push in the almond wings. 

How cute is he?

Place your bees on and around your cake.

Make enough so everyone has their own bee.

I really enjoyed making these little bees and even though I didn't have the exact ingredients I was happy with how they turned out.

Why not give them a go?

Happy baking,

Ms B

xx

Banana and chocolate chip loaf cake

If you are new to baking and just want to throw everything into one bowl this recipe is for you. Last week I baked an easy lemon drizzle loaf cake and I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to bake another loaf cake. I was lucky enough to come across some over ripe bananas which are perfect for baking as it will give the cake strong flavour. I looked at a few recipes but finally decided on this one as it seemed simple.

Ingredients 

• 325g self raising flour

• 100g caster sugar

• 100g soft brow sugar

• A pinch of salt

• 175g chocolate chips

• 3 tablespoons of melted butter

• 80ml milk

• 1 egg (I used a medium free range)

• 280g mashed banana (around 3 medium bananas)

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Method

First mix all your dry ingredients. I sifted the flour and caster sugar, added the brown sugar and last of all the chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate). I only had 100g of chocolate chips however there seemed to be a good balance of banana and chocolate. If you are wondering why you add the chocolate chips at this stage it's because when chocolate chips are coated in flour it prevents them from sinking to the bottom of the mix when baking.  

Add all your wet ingredients a bit at a time. The recipe states to mash the banana however I left it chunky so when you eat it you get a flavour burst.  

It does take a bit of elbow grease if you are using a wooden spoon like I was but be careful not to over mix just mix until all the flour is incorporated

Line a loaf tin with parchment paper by buttering the tin before hand, this acts like a food glue. The parchment paper help you to remove the loaf once baked.

Pour you yummy mix into the tin, give it a little tap on the top to get rid of any air bubbles and smooth the top with the back of a spoon or a spatula. 

Pop it in the oven at 180 for about an hour. I have a fan oven so I baked it at 160 and turned it round half way through.

Test the cake by using a skewer or a knife, if it comes out with a few crumbs it's ready. Take it out the tin and place it on a cooling rack. Serve warm with ice cream or once cooled just as it is.

With chunky banana pieces and less chocolate than expected I was surprised that this turned out so well. So well in fact that my partner didn't want to share with anyone else!

If you want to try an easy bake why not give this a go?

Happy baking,

Ms B

xx

Easy lemon drizzle loaf cake

Lemon cake is one of my favorite cakes, so on the weekend I decided to bake a lemon drizzle loaf. I was keen to find a recipe that meant I could bake with what I all ready had in the house and came across this one which can be found here.    

Ingredients

175g self-raising flour1 teaspoon baking powder175g soft butter 175g caster sugar3 medium eggs (I used free range)2 tablespoons milkRind of 2 lemons

For the syrup

Juice of 2 lemons

115g  caster sugar

Method

Sift all your dry ingredients into a large bowl and give it a quick stir.

Add all your wet ingredients into the same bowl a bit at a time, being careful not to over mix.

Great two lemons until they are fully 'naked'.

Add the zest to your mix and give it one fine stir.

Line your loaf tine with parchment paper. It's a bit easier if you butter the tin first as it acts like a glue.

Pour your yummy lemony mix into the tin, tap on the work surface a few times to get rid of air bubbles and smooth the top with the back of a spoon or a spatula.

Pop it in the oven for about an hour. I put it in for a shorter time because my oven gets ridiculously hot but as long as the top isn't wiggling when you lightly shake it and the knife comes out clean it will be ready. 

While it was baking I measured out my sugar and squeezed the naked lemons ready to make the syrup.

Once I took the loaf cake out the oven I put the sugar and lemon juice in to a pan and put it on a low heat until all the sugar was dissolved.

Pour the syrup over the loaf and serve while still warm or wait until fully cooled.

I had a slice warm and a slice cold the next day. I thought it tasted more yummy the next day as the syrup was soaked up by the cake.

It was very easy to make, so if you love cake and love a citrus kick why not give it a go?

Happy baking,

Ms B

xx

My baking resolutions

Hello 2015! I am very excited for the year ahead. I have so many ideas and things I want to do. So today I will share with you some of my baking resolutions.

1. Blog more - my one priority this year. I started writing this blog in 2013 and I believe I know more about how I want to write. So my aims are to plan more and make it more diverse.

2. Go to more events - Last year I attended Cake International and my review can be found here. This year I'd like to attend this again and also try The Cake and Bake Show.

3. Experiment more - I want to take myself out my comfort zone and try unusual bakes and also make some films for the blog.

Do you have any baking resolutions for 2015? I'd love to hear them! 

Ms B

xx

A Cakie Christmas

Well that's it. Another Christmas over and what a lovely one it was. I wasn't in a very festive mood last year but after a trip to Winter Wonderland and seeing lots of old friends I was all for it this time round.  
Now it wouldn't be Christmas without a bit of baking and I tried a few bakes I haven't tried before and some didn't go to plan. The one I was happy about was the stained glass window cookies, I found this recipe on BBC Good Food and can be found here. I loved the concept but I was skeptical about it working. I found the mixture sticky which made cutting out the middle difficult. 

I was very happy with my first attempt but i think next time I might find a sightly different recipe and use bigger cutters. These looked lovely on my first real Christmas tree.

I had a lot of the mix left over but instead of making more I made this giant heart! If you can't be soppy at Christmas then when can you be?

   Being a recreational baker I had some lovely Christmas presents from family and friends.

I can't wait to use all the above!

 One of my best friends gave me a jar of fruit cake ingredients she found at Ludlow Food Festival. When I bake this and invite the girls round for games and cake!

Another one of my best friends gave me this personalised stamp which I will be using every time a bake.

 Above are some reindeer cookie cutters which I had as my secret Santa present this year. The person who gave them really thought about me and also baked some gingerbread cookies to go with them.

I am so grateful for all the gifts I received this year ans the time I got to spend with family and friends. 

I would love to know if you had any baking gifts for Christmas and what your favorite Christmas bakes were.

Ms B

    xx