Chocolate and Raspberry Layer Cake

Last week I asked J what cake he would like to have. He said chocolate so I asked him to pair it with a fruit so I could enter it to the Love Cake challenge which has the theme of Feeling Fruity.  He chose cherries but I'd only recently made a chocolate and cherry black forest cake so he chose raspberries. I love the combination of chocolate and raspberries so I immediately did a google search for 'chocolate and raspberry cake'. On the image search, we both pointed to this cake and said wow. Mine does not look as good as the picture on the blog but it's close enough and more importantly it tasted really good. 

The cake turned out to be humongous. I knew it was a 3 layer cake but I didn't expect it to be this tall. There was a good height to each of the sponges and with the addition of the icing it made for a very impressive looking cake. The chocolate sponge was really moist and chocolatey and still tasted fresh a week after baking. Yes it took us more than a week to eat the cake despite giving away almost half the cake! The icing was our favourite. I've not made icing using jam before and I'll definitely be using this idea again. I was worried it was going to be too sweet but it wasn't and it gave such a lovely pink colour to the icing. No artificial colouring required. The best bit of course is the chocolate ganache dripping down the cake. I was also rather pleased at finding some super large raspberries to decorate the cake with. 

I'm sending this to a few blogging challenges...

AlphaBakes hosted by myself this month and co hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes. The letter is L and this is definitely a Layer cake. I have to thank Kate from the Gluten Free Alchemist for the idea of a layer cake for L for Alphabakes as she submitted a very gorgeous Layered Dark & White Chocolate Raspberry Cake for the challenge. 

Love Cake hosted by Ness from Jibber Jabber Uk. As mentioned this was the original inspiration for the fruit element of the cake as the theme this month is Feeling Fruity. This cake has fresh raspberries on top and raspberry jam in the icing. 

Bake of the Week hosted by Casa Costello 

 Cook Blog Share hosted by Supergolden Bakes

 making the raspberry icing - I love the bright pink colour 

 slightly messy icing but look at the size of that cake! 

 I love how the ganache drips down the side 

 with chocolate ganache and fresh raspberries on top 

 

 Look at the size of those raspberries! 

 A gigantic slice of cake 

Recipe adapted slightly from GrandBaby Cakes (which was adapted from Country Living) 

For the cake 

475g plain flour

160g cocoa powder

450g caster sugar

1.5 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

1.5 teaspoons baking powder

3 eggs

180mls vevgetable oil

300mls sour cream

250mls hot water

For the icing

450g butter

490g seedless raspberry jam

380g icing sugar, sifted

For the chocolate ganache

150g dark chocolate

150mls double cream

To decorate

Fresh raspberries

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Spray 3 x 18cm sandwich tins with non stick spray and line with greaseproof paper.
• Sift the flour and cocoa powder in to a large bowl.
• Add in the bicarbonate or soda, baking powder and sugar.
• Place these ingredients in your mixing bowl (if using an electric mixer; otherwise mix by hand)
• Add in the remaining ingredients and mix until you get a smooth batter.
• Divide the batter evenly between the 3 tins - I usually weigh mine so they are all the same size.
• Bake in the preheated oven for about 35 - 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow to cool completely on a wire rack. 
• To make the icing, beat the butter and icing sugar until smooth. Then add in the raspberry jam and continue beating until it's smooth.
• Spread the icing between each layer of cake and cover the cake on the top and sides with the icing.
• To make the chocolate ganache, heat the cream in a small saucepan until just boiling.
• Remove from the heat and allow to stand for a few minutes. 
• Add in the chocolate and stir continuously until smooth. 
• Pour the chocolate ganache in the centre of the cake and allow it to drip over the sides. 
• Decorate with fresh raspberries. 

Happy 5th Blog Birthday & Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all. Hope 2015 brings you everything you wish for and more. It's been an amazing 2014 for me and I hope 2015 will be even better. Today is my blog's 5th birthday which is really hard to believe as time has just flown by. I honestly never thought that my blog would be what it is now when I first started writing it on 2nd Jan 5 years ago. 

I had an afternoon tea party on 1st Jan to celebrate the new year. I baked everything myself and I will be sharing some of the recipes over the next few posts. 2 of my guests had birthdays in the next few days so I baked a birthday cake which is also to celebrate my blog's birthday. One of my guests is gluten intolerant so I made a gluten free cake so everyone could enjoy the birthday cake. It's a take on a black forest gateau which is one of my favourite childhood desserts. 

I made Nigella's Chocolate Olive Oil Cake which is one of my favourite gluten free cakes. There is morello cherry jam and a generous helping of freshly whipped cream followed by canned cherries in the middle. It's topped with a chocolate ganache and fresh cherries. The cake is wonderfully moist and chocolatey and the cherries pair well with the chocolate. The fresh cream in the middle helps to cut through the rich chocolate and the jam added extra sweetness. 

I am off on a short holiday and will be back next week with more recipes. Happy New Year again!  

Shabby Chic Hampton 7 piece Cake Set Review and a Giveaway

5 more sleeps to Christmas! I can't believe that it's the last weekend before Christmas, where has the time gone? Luckily there's always time for cake and tea in my house and it's a real welcome for this busy weekend. I've made a classic Victoria sponge as it's J's favourite cake and we do love a good Victoria Sponge. Fortunately I have a beautiful Shabby Chic Hampton 7 Piece Cake Set to help me serve the cake. It's a traditional design cutlery gift set from House of Fraser. It's beautifully packaged in a gift box and the set includes 1 cake slice and 6 cake forks. It's made of stainless steel and it's also dishwasher safe. I really like the presentation of this set and it would make a great engagement or wedding gift. It's also perfect for tea parties at home or just a treat for yourself :) 

If you like the look of this set then here's your chance to win one for yourself. House of Fraser have kindly sponsored 1 Shabby Chic Hampton 7 Piece Cake Set for one of my lucky readers.


Terms and Conditions

Entry is via the rafflecopter widget below.

You have to answer the question which is a mandatory option to unlock further entries to the giveway.
This giveaway is open to all readers over 18 with a postal address in the UK.
Closing date is 1st January 2015 at 12 midnight GMT.
The winner will be chosen at random via Rafflecopter and will be contacted by email. If no response is received within 48 hours, another winner will be selected at random.
I am running this competition on behalf of House of Fraser who will be sending out the prize directly. By entering you are giving me permission to pass your email address on to them so they can contact you for delivery of the prize.
All entries will be checked and verified.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I was sent a Shabby Chic Hampton 7 Piece Cake set by House of Fraser for review purposes. A positive review was not required and all opinions expressed are my own. This is not a sponsored post. 

Spooky Ghost Cake Pops

Halloween is almost here - are you ready? I try to bake a few things for Halloween each year but this year has been exceptionally busy so I've not been able to bake as much as I would have liked to. I am going to bake some muffins and cookies if I have time for the trick or treaters. As I've just moved house, I have no idea how many trick or treaters to expect. There may be none in which case there will be a lot of leftover goodies! Do you buy candy or make something for the trick or treaters or do you avoid them altogether? 

Dr Oetker sent me some goodies to create these Ghost Cake Pops. The recipe is in collaboration with Juliet Sears and she has a very clear, detailed video showing you how to make them. I forget how fiddly cake pops are and these don't look as good as Juliet's but luckily at Halloween ugly and scary is good!! They are actually really simple to make but quite time consuming as there are several steps involved and required chilling time and drying time.

 Dr Oetker ingredients for this recipe

I followed the recipe exactly apart from using jam instead of icing to stick the fondant to the cake pop. I also added a little buttercream to the mix as it was really crumbly and I found it difficult to roll into a ball. Luckily I had some leftover coffee buttercream to hand and I quite like the chocolateand coffee flavour combination.

I'm entering this to Treat Petite hosted by Kat from the Baking Explorer and Stuart from Cakeyboi. The theme this month is Trick or Treat. These are perfect for Halloween and I'm grateful to Kat for including my extremely late entry.

I am also entering it to Let's Cook for Halloween hosted by Nayna from Simply Food. 

 luckily I'm crumbling this up for cake pops as a bit of it stuck to the pan. 

 melted white chocolate, crumbled brownie and lollipop sticks

 ready to go in the freezer

 My rather large and ugly looking cake pops. I bought the cake pop stand at the BBC Bake and Cake show 

 starting to look like ghosts 

 spooky ghosts especially with the shadows! 

Recipe from Dr Oetker Even Better Baking

SPOOKY GHOST CAKE POPS

Preparation time: 2 hours plus cooling and chilling
Cooking time: 40 minutes plus 10 minutes to melt 2 lots of chocolate

​Ingredients:
For the cake balls:
120g Dr. Oetker 72% Cocoa Extra Dark Fine Cooks Chocolate
150g soft unsalted butter at room temp
200g Light Muscovado Sugar
3 medium free range eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp Dr. Oetker Madagascan Vanilla extract
125g Plain FlourFor the cake pops:
2 X 100g bags of Dr. Oetker White Chocolate Chips melted for sticking the balls onto the sticks & coating the cake pops
Teaspoon of vegetable oil

To decorate the ghosts:
1 x pack of Dr. Oetker White Regal Ice
Icing sugar for rolling out
Dr. Oetker White Designer Icing for sticking the regal ice to the cake pops
Dr. Oetker Jet Black Gel Food Colour

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 140°C (275°F, gas mark 1). 
• Grease and line an 18cm (7 inch) square cake tin
• To make the fudge brownie mix melt the extra dark chocolate in a microwave on medium power for 30 seconds at a time, stirring each time until melted, or in a heat proof bowl on a gentle heat over a bain marie. Leave to cool.
• Beat the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer with paddle attachment or electric hand beater for approx. 2 minutes until pale and fluffy. If you haven’t got an electric mixer you can do this with a wooden spoon in a bowl .
• TIP: if you are in a rush or the butter is quite cold, the addition of a couple of tablespoons of boiling water at this stage, beaten on slow until mixed will speed up this process.
• Add your eggs on a slow speed about a third at a time, mixing until combined.
• Add your cooled chocolate stirring continuously. Add the vanilla Extract and stir. On slow speed mix in the flour until just combined. Do not over beat. Alternatively fold in by hand.
• Pour the mix into your cake tin and bake for approx 40 mins. Check it with a sharp knife or metal skewer. You want this to be slightly under baked, so the knife should come out pasty, with a nice paste on the knife.
• Leave to cool, then turn out into a bowl and crumble with your hands to fine fudgy crumb.
• To make the cake balls, take a handful of fudge cake mix and squeeze together tightly - you are aiming for little balls about the size of a large walnut, approx. 30g each. If the mixture is dry, the addition of a little chocolate or vanilla butter cream will help the mixture stick
• Once you have all of your balls ready, dip the end of your stick into the melted chocolate chips and push the stick into each ball, about half way in. Hold the ball to stop it splitting open when the stick goes in
• Once all the cake pops are ready, refrigerate them for 1-2 hours before dipping them, or pop into the freezer for 30 mins, so the balls are firm enough to hold when dipping in the coating
• To coat the cake pops melt Dr. Oetker Fine Cooks White Chocolate on low power in a microwave bowl until just melted - stirring occasionally or over a bain marie on a gentle heat
• Plunge each cake pop into the chocolate coating until completely covered. Tap the cake pop gently on the side of the bowl to shake off the excess. Once all are covered, dip each cake pop again
• To decorate the ghosts roll out half the white regal icing into a large rectangle using plenty of icing sugar and a large plastic rolling pin. Roll fairly thinly – 2 to 3mm thick. Squeeze a little Dr. Oetker White Designer Icing onto the tops of the cake pops or brush with some melted white chocolate, to aid sticking of the sugar paste
• Using a cake cutter or small bowl, cut out circles of regal icing and place on each of the pops, smoothing down with your fingers to create the white sheet effect. Allow a little wavy movement by using your fingers to create smooth creases around the sides. Leave to set for a few hours to dry.
• To add the ghostly expression take some Dr. Oetker black gel colour and squeeze out the eyes and mouth shapes. Leave these to dry overnight.
• TIP: if you want these to look very neat and more painted on rather than squeezed onto the ghost, you can squeeze some gel out on to your surface and use a brush with a tiny bit of water.

Disclaimer: I was sent ingredients from Dr Oetker to create this recipe. A positive review was not required and all opinions expressed are my own. This is not a sponsored post and I paid for the remaining ingredients myself. 

Cherry and Coconut Bundt Cake

Back in Feb this year, I was invited to attend a French Glace Cherries Masterclass. It was great fun and I discovered new recipes using French glace cherries. They contacted me recently to ask if I was interested in entering their competition by creating a recipe using French Glace Cherries as the star ingredient. It takes about 10 days to make French Glace Cherries where the fruit's natural water content is replaced by sugar. They use natural fruit and vegetable juices to give the cherries different colours. These cherries retain their flavour, shape and texture throughout the baking process. 

I started thinking about flavours that pair well with cherries. Almond and chocolate immediately sprung to mind but I wanted something a little different. I decided on a cherry and coconut combination even though I'm not a huge fan of coconut. I was going to add chocolate to the mix but decided less is more and I really wanted to highlight the cherries in this bake. After lots of thinking and experimenting, I came up with this cherry and coconut bundt cake with a cherry jam filling and a cherry glaze on top. 

The bundt cake looks stunning on its own and this particular shape called for a glaze. My glaze was quite thick  but I think it still achieved the desired effect. The cake was moist and you get a real hit of coconut. The cherries were evenly spaced throughout the cake which ensured that each slice had some cherries in it. I particularly liked the jam layer in between which was supposed to be in the middle but ended up near the top during the baking process. I gave J the cake to take to work and the feedback I received was 

• Very moist sponge
• Jam and cherries work well 
• Not too sweet which is nice, not overpowering 
• Nice to have a good cake that's not reliant on butter cream or icing 
• Tastes just as good the day after 

The lovely people at French Glace cherries have kindly agreed to offer one of my readers a selection of French Glace Cherry goodies which includes a branded timer, kitchen scale, an apron and samples of French Glacé Cherries. For your chance to win, just leave a comment saying what you will use the cherry samples for and a winner will be selected at random. Prize is only available to UK residents. I will contact you via the comment section on this blog and announce the winner after the closing date so please remember to check back on 3rd September to see if you are the lucky winner. Another winner will be selected if the first winner is not contactable after 72 hours. 

The closing date is 12 midnight GMT 2nd September 2014. 

I hope this cake will qualify for a few blog challenges this month.

Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and co hosted by Jane from Hedgecombers. The theme this month is Picnic Food and Picnic Treats. This cake will be perfect for a picnic as it's easily transportable and can be eaten with your fingers. Plus it will impress everyone at the picnic :) 

Celebration Cakes & Bakes hosted by Mummy Makes Cakes as this is a stunning cake worthy of any celebration. 

 Recipe of the Week hosted by Emily from A Mummy Too.

Cook Blog Share hosted by Lucy from Super Golden Bakes

 lovely french glace cherries - red and purple variety 

 I tossed the cherries in the dessicated coconut 

 add a layer of batter 

 followed by a thick layer of jam - be careful not to touch the sides of the tin with the jam 

 cover with remaining cake batter 

 making the cherry glaze 

 fresh from the oven 

 you can see all the cherries dotted around 

 with the glaze 

 you can clearly see the jam layer 

An original recipe by bakingaddict

For the cake
250g butter
400g plain flour
330g caster sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
250mls coconut cream
100g dessicated coconut
4 eggs
192g french glace cherries
370g (1 jar) berry & cherry jam

For the glaze
100g glace cherries
1/2 - 3/4 cup of water
2 tablespoons of caster sugar (or to taste)

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
• Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition. 
• Mix in the flour and baking powder.
• Add the coconut cream and dessicated coconut. 
• Cut the glace cherries in half, rinse in cold water and dry thoroughly. 
• Place the dessicated coconut in a small bowl and toss the cherries through the coconut.
• Add this to the cake mixture and stir by hand. 
• Pour 1/3 of the batter into the bundt tin.
• Place a thick layer of jam on top making sure not to touch the sides.
• Top with the remaining cake batter.
• Bake for approximately 50 -60 minutes (it's a large cake!) or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool completely before decorating. 
• To make the glaze, place the cherries, water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer gently until the sauce thickens and the cherries soften. You may need to add more water or more sugar depending on consistency and sweetness required. 
• Place the mixture in a blender and blitz until smooth.
• Sieve the mixture through a medium sized drainer to get a smoother glaze. 

Addendum 3/9/14
The lucky winner selected at random is Kate from the Gluten Free Alchemist - Congratulations!

Raspberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes

Recently I was asked to make some cupcakes for a brain tumour support group. They provided the cake toppers which was edible wafer paper with a grey ribbon on top. I started thinking about colour combinations and liked the idea of grey and pink which led to raspberries and white chocolate. I made up the recipe slightly mainly because I wanted to use up my milk and yoghurt and thought it would add a nice moistness to the cake. The burst of fresh raspberry in the cake was delicious and the white chocolate chips added sweetness and a slight crunch.

I'm entering this to Treat Petite hosted by Kat from The Baking Explorer and Stuart from Cakeyboi. The theme this month is 'Who will you bake for?' in conjunction with World Baking Day on May 18th. I baked these for a brain tumour support group so I hope it qualifies!

I'm also sending it to the Biscuit Barrel Challenge hosted by Laura from I'd Much Rather Bake Than... The theme this  month is favourites. Raspberry and white chocolate is one of my favourite flavour combinations even though I don't generally like white chocolate. However, it works perfectly with raspberries and it's also a summer favourite which we are heading into (hopefully!).

 adding fresh raspberries to the mix 

 ready to go in the oven 

 ready to be iced 

 I decided to pipe a rose on top so that it would be flat

 I added some sprinkles and the cake topper 

Makes 12 cupcakes
For the cupcake
113g butter
120g caster sugar
140g self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 eggs
60g yoghurt
100g white chocolate chips
150g fresh raspberries
60mls milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the icing 
100g butter
200g icing sugar
2 tablespoons smooth, seedless raspberry jam
few drops of pink food colouring
few drops of milk, depending on consistency required

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
• Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition. 
• Mix in the yoghurt,vanilla extract and milk and then the flour and bicarbonate of soda.
• Finally stir in the fresh raspberries and white chocolate chips by hand. 
• Divide evenly into 12 cupcake cases and bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool completely before decorating. 
• To make the icing, beat the butter and icing sugar until smooth. 
• Add in the food colouring and continue mixing.
• Finally add in the raspberry jam and beat until smooth. You may need a few drops of milk depending on the consistency of the frosting. 
• Pipe on top of cupcakes and decorate as desired.