Barbie Cake

This is another cake order from work for a Barbie cake. I've never made one before but I've been wanting an opportunity to make one especially after my AlphaBakes co-host Caroline made one for my birthday last year. Unfortunately all didn't go to plan and I had to improvise and hope for the best. Luckily the birthday girl was pleased and on reflection, it really doesn't look too bad. I used Nigella's old fashioned chocolate cake recipe which is my go to chocolate cake recipe. 

 I used a cutter to cut out little flowers 2 days ahead so that it had time to dry. 

 I baked 2 sponges - 1 in a glass bowl and another round cake for the base 

 This is the 'glass bowl' cake 

 I used the bowl as a guide to trim the round cake to the same size

 I used a cookie cutter to cut out a hole in the centre for Barbie's legs 

 I made some pink vanilla buttercream icing and used it to sandwich the layers together

 My first mistake was not using a smaller cookie cutter to cut out the middle of the top layer which is why my Barbie is leaning. I also realised too late that Barbie has really long legs! The cake only came up to her thighs instead of her waist as planned so I had to put extra icing on her body. 

 I cut out a triangle shaped piece of white fondant to create her underskirt

 I used the same flower cutter which I gently pressed into the fondant to create an impression 

 I stuck lots of flowers all over her dress including a row on either side of her skirt. I also used a scallop tool to create a pattern on the bottom of her skirt

 Remember to wrap Barbie's legs in cling film before placing her in the cake 

 Here's the finished version 

 The birthday girl wanted a '6' on her cake so I placed it on the front of her dress 

 I placed a row of white flowers to create a waistline and added more flowers to her dress to create a pattern

 You can see how Barbie is leaning back here 

 View from the back 

 another side view 

 finished cake 

Baked Stuffed French Toast

For J's birthday brunch, I made these baked stuffed french toast. It's a proper meal on it's own as it contains bread, ham, cheese, tomato, spinach, eggs and milk. We also added a drizzle of maple syrup for decadence and it works really well with the french toast as it gives the perfect balance of sweet and salty. You can prepare the french toast in advance and bake them when required which is ideal if you have guests staying over or just for a lazy weekend brunch. 

I'm sending it to Calendar Cakes hosted by Rachel from Dolly Bakes. The theme is Bank Holiday Bakes and we are asked to share what we make to relax, share with friends or take on picnics.

 

 Make a slit in the bread 

 fill it with ham, cheese, spinach and tomato or fillings of your choice 

 let it soak in the egg/milk mixture for about 30 minutes 

 turn it over and soak again or place in the fridge overnight 

 For extra decadence, I added a slice of ham and cheese on top before baking 

 Fresh from the oven - the cheese melted beautifully on the outside  

 With a drizzle of maple syrup 

Makes 2 large servings (enough to feed 4 or 2 very hungry people)

2 large slices of bread from a large loaf (I used a poppyseed bloomer)

4 slices of ham

2 slices of cheese

2 tomatoes, sliced

handful of spinach

4 eggs

2/3 cup milk 

salt and pepper to taste 

Maple syrup to serve (optional) 

• Whisk the eggs in a bowl and add the milk and stir.
• Pour into a large shallow dish.
• Prepare the bread by making a slit in each slide of bread - you need quite a thick slice of bread to fit the fillings
• Fill your sandwich with fillings of your choice -  used a slice of ham and a slice of cheese, some sliced tomatoes and a few spinach leaves
• Place the bread in the egg/milk mixture and let it soak for about 30 minutes.
• Turn the bread over and soak for a further 30 minutes. You can wrap it in clingfilm and place in the fridge overnight at this point if required. 
• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Place a slice of ham and cheese on top of the sandwich (optional)
• Bake in the oven for approximately 20-25 minutes until the cheese has melted and the egg mixture is set. 
• Slice and enjoy with a drizzle of maple syrup. 

Eton Mess

How was your bank holiday weekend? We had a lovely weekend away celebrating J's birthday. The day before we left I cooked a 3 course pre-birthday dinner but as it was a working day, I chose a quick and easy menu including this really simple dessert. I layered fresh strawberries, strawberry jam, cream swirled with strawberry jam and crushed meringue nests to create this British classic. We thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a really nice and refreshing dessert. 

I'm sending this to AlphaBakes hosted by myself this month and co hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes. The letter is E for Eton Mess. 

I'm also sending this to Dead Easy Desserts hosted by Tina from The Spicy Pear and co hosted by Sarah from Maison Cupcake. This was ready in under 10 minutes and is ideal when you have unexpected guests especially when strawberries are in season.

 strawberry jam, meringue nests, double cream, fresh strawberries 

 I added some strawberry jam to the whipped cream instead of sugar and to get some extra strawberry flavour

 I layered the dessert with some cream, strawberry jam, fresh strawberries, crushed meringues

 

Mini Victoria Sponge

Today is J's birthday. I made a special birthday brunch which I will blog about soon. I asked him what his favourite cake is and he said Victoria Sponge. We are going away for the weekend to celebrate so I decided to make a mini Victoria sponge as it's only the 2 of us eating it. I used the tried and tested method of weighing the eggs in their shells and adding in the same weight in flour, butter and sugar. I also added in a some vanilla bean paste. As I was pressed for time, I sandwiched the sponge with clotted cream (his favourite) and fresh strawberries. It made for a very impressive mini cake as I managed to get 4 layers out of 2 cakes. The cake was absolutely delicious and J is very happy :) 

Happy Birthday J!! 

I'm sending this to the Biscuit Barrel Challenge hosted by Laura from I'd Much Rather Bake Than... The theme this month is favourites which is perfect as this is J's favourite cake and it's one of my all time favourites too as you just can't beat a good Victoria Sponge. It's a mini cake so it should fit in a large biscuit barrel!

I'm also sending it 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 18th May 2014. Well I've baked this specially for J's birthday so I hope it will count! It's a very large individual portion but it's definitely a mini cake.

Finally to Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior. The cake is made from scratch and with lots of love!

 My new mini springform tin 

 I used my food processor to make the cake batter 

 Looks good! 

 ready to bake 

 fresh from the oven

 place some clotted cream on one layer 

 add a layer of fresh strawberries 

 continue until you have a 4 layer cake! 

 I got some cute smiley face candles 

 we had to cut it 2 layers at a time as it's too tall! 

2 eggs - mine weighed 135g

135g butter

135g self raising flour

135g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

clotted cream

fresh strawberries

2 x mini springform tin - 12cm or 4.5inches in diameter 

• Preheat oven to 180C
• Place the eggs, butter, sugar, flour and vanilla bean paste in a food processor and mix until you get a smooth batter.
• Divide into 2 mini springform tins (or bake one at a time if you only have 1 tin like me) and bake for about 18-22 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool completely before decorating.
• Divide each cake into 2 even layers and add clotted cream and fresh strawberries between each layer. 

AlphaBakes May 2014

We kicked off round 2 of AlphaBakes with a bit of a twist by collaborating with Random Recipes hosted by Dom from Belleau Kitchen. It was a huge success but don't just take my word for it, check out the round ups on Caroline's blog and on Dom's blog and see for yourself. So it's back to business as usual this month and I used our trusty random letter generator to pick the letter for May which is ... 

E

If you are stuck for ideas, do have a look at the previous roundup of 'E' entries. I've already had an idea for one which was not in the last round up so I'm quite excited about it! Usual rules apply as listed below. Please make sure you email alphabakes@gmail.com by 25th May 2014 to enter. 

1. Post your recipe on your blog and link it to The More than Occasional Baker and Caroline Makes, stating the relevant month's host. If you do not have a blog, email us a picture and a brief description of your entry which we will include in the round-up at the end of the month.

2. You can use your own recipe or someone else's recipe. The recipe can be sweet, savoury or a mixture! Anything goes as long as the random letter is predominantly featured in the recipe as one of the main ingredients or flavours or in the name of the bake itself (i .e . not as a garnish , or using 'flour' for the letter F!) You can also republish old posts/recipes but you must include the information for this challenge as stated in these rules.

3. Add the logo to your post and add 'alphabakes' as a label to your post.

4. Email your entries to alphabakes@gmail.com by midnight (GMT) 25th of each month. Please include:

• Your name (that you want included in the round up or we will use the name of your blog)
• Your blog post URL
• Recipe title
• Photo of recipe (to be included in the round up)

5. You can submit as many entries as you like.

6. You do not have to participate every month to join in.

7. You may submit your entry to other challenges as long as it complies with their rules.

8. If you use twitter, please use the tag #alphabakes and mention @bakingaddict and @Caroline_Makes. We will retweet all those that we see.

9. Have fun! :)