Showing posts with label bloghop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bloghop. Show all posts

Sunday, 5 February 2012

Chocolatelove - Chocolate Malteser Nutella Cake


February is #chocolatelove month! As you know I LOVE chocolate so I was really excited to co-host this bloghop with lots of other fantastic bloggers (check them out below). Plus it's February which is the month associated with love and chocolate so it was a tough choice deciding what to make. I have countless chocolate recipes but when I saw this in a book that I recently borrowed from my local library I knew that this was the perfect recipe. Coincidentally February 5th is World Nutella Day. I also LOVE nutella and have been known to eat it straight from the jar! (I'm sure I'm not the only one even if you don't want to admit it!)


For all the nutella recipes you can possibly imagine, check out Ms Adventures in Italy and Bleeding Espresso who are the co-hosts of World Nutella Day 

This recipe is really quick and easy to make. It's a mix everything together recipe (you don't even have to get your mixer out for this but it helps). Spread some nutella, fill with crushed maltesers then frost with a chocolate ganache and decorate! I followed the recipe exactly and was really pleased with the results. The cake was light and moist and you can taste the nutella and maltesers. In hindsight, I would add some nutella to the cake batter and frosting next time but perhaps it would be overkill :) 

Please join in on the #chocolatelove fun by linking up any chocolate recipe from the month of February 2012. Don't forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #chocolatelove event! The twitter hashtag is #chocolatelove :).


 my giant jar of nutella :) 

 spread nutella over the cake 

 add crushed maltesers

 love the ganache dripping down the side... 


 enjoy :) 

Recipe from Cake Magic by Kate Shirazi

For the cake
200g self raising flour
25g cocoa powder
225g caster sugar
225g butter
4 eggs

For the filling
Approx 4-6 tablespoons nutella (I just spread it on, no need to measure!)
135g maltesers, roughly crushed

For the ganache
200g milk chocolate
100ml double or whipping cream

  • Preheat the oven to 180C.
  • Grease and line 2 x 20cm sandwich tins
  • Mix all the ingredients for the cake together and pour into the tins.
  • Bake for 15-20 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
  • Allow to cool on a wire rack.
  • Roughly crush the maltesers (I put them in a ziplock bag and roughly bashed with a rolling pin).
  • Spread the nutella on top of one cake.
  • Add the crushed maltesers on top.
  • Place other cake on top and press down gently.
  • To make the ganache, heat all the ingredients for the ganache in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. 
  • When it's melted, remove from the heat and whisk it for a few minutes.
  • Pour over the top of the cake.
  • Decorate as desired - I used maltesers and star sprinkles here. 


Make sure you visit the following co-hosts for more #chocolatelove: 


Saturday, 7 January 2012

Citruslove - Lemon Whoopie pies




January is #citruslove month! I'm excited to be co-hosting this fabulous event and I hope you will join in too. I couldn't decide what to make as I love citrus fruits and flavours. I thought about tackling macarons but I've just signed up for a macaron class so I think I'll wait till after.  It was therefore a choice between cakes, cupcakes or cookies.  I was looking through my brand new copy of Dan Lepard's Short and Sweet and when I saw the whoopie pies, the choice was made.  


I know everyone has been raving about this book.  It's the first recipe I'm trying and I have to say I'm impressed. I made whoopie pies once before and thought they were a little too 'cakey' and dense but these are really something else. It's quite light and spongy and even though I'm not a huge fan of marshmallow, I love the marshmallow filling here. I've added in quite a bit of zest and juice as I love the lemon zing. Definitely making this recipe again (Dan has provided recipes for different flavour variations) and trying other recipes from his book. The previous whoopie pie recipes I've seen use shortening but this has sour cream which I'm sure makes the sponge lighter. 


Please join in on the #citruslove fun by linking up *any citrus recipe *from the *month of January 2012*. Don't forget to link back to this post, so  that your readers know to come stop by the #citruslove event! The twitter hashtag is #citruslove. 

Here's a list of all the co-hosts for this event, please visit them if you have time and check out what they've made. 

A little bit of everything - http://www.roxanagreengirl.com/
Astig Vegan - http://astigvegan.com/
Baker Street - http://bakerstreet.tv/
Big Fat Bake - http://bigfatbaker.com/blog/
Cafe Terra Blog - http://www.cafeterrablog.com/
Cake Duchess - http://www.cakeduchess.com/
Cakeballs, cookies and more - http://cakeballscookiesandmore.blogspot.com/
Elephant Eats - http://elephanteats.com/
Georgieacakes - http://georgiecakes.com/
Mis Pensamientos - http://juniakk.blogspot.com/
No One Likes Crumbley Cookies - http://tcrumbley.blogspot.com/
Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives - http://lisamichele.wordpress.com/
Smart Food and Fit - http://smartfoodandfit.com/
Soni's Food For Thought - http://sonisfoodforthought.blogspot.com/
That Skinny Chick Can Bake - http://thatskinnychickcanbake.blogspot.com/
The Art of Cooking Real Food - http://theartofcookingrealfood.blogspot.com/
The Wimpy Vegetarian - http://thewimpyvegetarian.com/
Vegan Yack Attack - http://veganyackattack.com/
You Made that? - http://www.you-made-that.com/



 adding lots of lemon zest to the batter :) 

 terrible piping! 

 making the marshmallow filling 

 oops... giant whoopie pies! 



Recipe is from Dan Lepard Short and Sweet page 201-203