Chocolate Easter Cake

Can you believe it's a week till Easter? I know it's early this year but it still seems to have come out of nowhere. I have great plans for Easter baking but I'm not sure if I'll get round to all of it! Thankfully I have an Easter themed cake to share with you today and will definitely be baking a few more in the next week! This cake is a chocaholic's dream and is sure to impress both adults and children. It has a light chocolate sponge sandwiched with chocolate buttercream, surrounded by Kit Kats and is topped with mini eggs and a chocolate bunny and a chocolate duck made from Belgian chocolate. I bought the chocolate figures from my recent trip to Belgium and they taste as good as they look. For my cakes next week I'm going to use Lindt chocolate bunnies, Cabdury milk bunny and a Cadbury Chick. 

I'm sending this to several blog challenges this month.

AlphaBakes hosted by myself and Caroline from Caroline Makes. The letter this month is C for Chocolate. 

We Should Cocoa guest hosted by Linzi from Lancashire Food on behalf of Choclette from Tin and Thyme. The theme this month is eggs. There's real eggs in the cake and chocolate mini eggs in the decoration! 

Simply Eggcellent hosted by Dom from Belleau Kitchen. As mentioned there are real eggs in the cake and lots of mini eggs on top! 

Tea Time Treats hosted by Janie from The Hedgecombers and Karen from Lavender and Lovage. The theme this month is Easter.

#FoodYearLinkUp hosted by Charlotte from Charlotte's Lively Kitchen. This cake is definitely for Easter!

  Chocolate cakes, chocolate frosting, Kit Kats, mini eggs and chocolate figures 

 Spread a thick layer of frosting on top of the cake 

 Add another layer of cake on top and cover the cake - top and sides with frosting. Don't worry if it look messy as it will all be covered in chocolate candy. 

 I love these Chocolate figures I bought from Belgium - so cute! 

 Add Kit Kat Bars around the edge to form a fence. Place the chocolate figures in the centre then scatter mini eggs on top making sure to cover all the gaps and finish with a ribbon round the cake! 

 delicious! 

For the cake

220g plain flour

300g caster sugar

85g cocoa powder

1.5 teaspoon baking powder

1.5 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 eggs

1 cup/250mls milk

1/2 cup/ 125mls vegetable oil 

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water, slightly cooled 

For the icing

150g butter
160g icing sugar
25g cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
115g dark chocolate, melted
2 tablespoons double cream (optional)

For the decorations
Approximately 38 Kit Kat fingers
250g mini eggs
Chocolate figures

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Grease and line 2 x 18cm sandwich tins. 
• Mix all thedry ingeredients for the cake in an electric mixer. 
• Add in the eggs, milk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract.
• Beat well then add in the boiled water. The batter will be very liquid - don't worry!
• Divide the batter evenly between the 2 cake tins and bake in the pre heated oven for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool for 5 mins in the tin before turning out to a wire rack to cool completely.
• To make the frosting, beat the butter and icing sugar until smooth. 
• Add the cocoa powder and mix well.
• Add vanilla extract and melted chocolate and beat until smooth.
• Finally add in the cream if using. 
• To decorate the cake, place a small dab of frosting in the centre of a cake board.
• Place one cake bottom side up on the cake board.
• Spread a generous layer of frosting and even the top with a palette knife.
• Place the second cake on top and spread frosting on the top and sides of the cake.
• Don't worry if its a little messy and you get cake crumbs in the frosting.
• Use the Kit Kats to create a fence around the cake as shown. 
• Place the chocolate figures in the centre or wherever your choose and press down gently.
• Scatter the mini eggs on top, pressing lightly to secure them to the cake. 
• Finish the look by tying a large ribbon around the cake. 

Ham and Cheese Pizza Pinweels

It's British Pie Week this week 7- 13 March and I've teamed up with Jus Rol Pastry who are the founders of British Pie Week to create a simple recipe. The inspiration for this idea came from wanting to use up some Serrano ham as we got a whole leg of Serrano Ham for Christmas and only unwrapped it late in January. There's a lot of ham to use up so I've been creating different recipes incorporating Serrano ham. We were invited to a get together at our neighbours and wanted to bring party food to the table. These pizza pinwheels are perfect as they are quick and easy to make and tastes delicious! All you need is a sheet of Jus Rol puff pastry, tomato puree, dried herbs, slices of ham and grated cheese. You can make this vegetarian by omitting the ham and adding in slices of courgette or have it with cheese, tomato and herbs. 

 spread tomato puree on top of the puff pastry 

 add a sprinkling of dried herbs if using 

 add a generous amount of grated cheese, followed by slices of ham. Roll into a sausage and slice with a sharp knife

 Brush with eggwash before baking 

Ham and Cheese Pizza Pinwheels

1 box Jus Rol Puff pastry
1 tube tomato puree
150g grated cheese
dried herbs (optional)
Ham slices - enough to cover the pastry
1 egg for egg wash

• Preheat the oven to 200C. 
• Roll out the puff pastry sheet on a non stick surface.
• Spread a generous layer of tomato puree and smooth with a palette knife. 
• Add a sprinkling of dried herbs if using.
• Add the grated cheese then the ham slices, covering the whole pastry sheet. 
• Starting from the shorter end of the pastry, roll into a sausage. 
• Cut into slices and place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.
• Beat the egg in a bowl and add 1 tablespoon of water. 
• Brush the pastry with the eggwash.
• Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes but watch closely after 18 minutes or so to make sure it's not burnt. 
• Serve warm or cold.

Disclaimer : I was sent vouchers from Jus Rol to buy the pastry. I provided all the other ingredients. All opinions expressed are my own. 

AlphaBakes March 2016

Welcome to March AlphaBakes. It's officially the start of spring and Easter is in March this year so lots to look forward to. If you haven't already seen the Yummy "Y" Roundup on Caroline's blog then do head on over and check it out. For this month the random letter generator has been kind to us and we have a really easy letter which will fit in nicely for Easter as the letter is ... C 

As Easter is at the end of March and you may well want to enter your chocolatey Easter creations, we are extending the deadline for March until 30th March 2016. The roundup will be posted a few days later and Caroline will start the next challenge on 1st April 2016.  Entry is via the linky tool below and if for some reason it's not working then please email alphabakes@gmail.com by 30th March 2016.

Quick reminder of the rules....

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. Entry is via the linky tool below. Alternatively, you can email your entries to alphabakes@gmail.com by midnight (GMT) 30th March 2016. 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! :)

3 ingredient Nutella Brownies

I'm a little late to the game but better late than never. It was World Nutella day on Feb 5th so I baked some Nutella brownies but have not gotten round to blogging about them. This recipe has been going round the blogosphere and I finally got to try it. Only 3 ingredients for amazing chocolatey, gooey brownies. It does make you realise how much fat and sugar Nutella contains but I'll just ignore that for now and munch on these brownies! These are really quick to prepare and would be perfect to impress last minute guests especially if like me you always have a spare jar of Nutella in the house.

I've baked these 3 times now as they are just so good and everyone keeps asking for the recipe. If you've tried it or are planning to try it, do let me know. I think it would taste great with some added chopped nuts or chocolate chips for extra decadence. 

I'm sending this to a few blog challenges this month.

Treat Petite which is guest hosted by Lisa from United Cakedom on behalf of Kat from The Baking Explorer and Stuart from Cakeyboi. The theme this month is Like It, Love It, Gotta Have It. I love Nutella and can (sometimes) be found eating Nutella straight from the jar. 

Simply Eggcellent hosted by Dom from Belleau Kitchen. The theme this month is anything goes and this recipe uses 2 large free range eggs. 

#FoodYearLinkUp hosted by Charlotte from Charlotte's Lively Kitchen for World Nutella Day. 

Cook Blog Share hosted by Kirsty from Hijacked by Twins

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

 3 ingredients - Nutella, eggs, plain flour 

 

 Lovely gooey brownies 

(You need a double recipe for a 8.5inch x 8.5inch square tin, otherwise use a 18cm sandwich tin for 1 recipe)

Ingredients for ONE recipe

2 large free range eggs

370g Nutella

65g plain flour, sifted

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together until smooth.
• Pour into a greased and lined tin and bake for approximately 20-25 minutes depending on the size of your tin.
• The brownies should be cooked round the edges but still soft in the middle.
• Allow to cool in the tin before slicing into squares.

Plum and Blueberry Yoghurt Cake

When Caroline announced that this month's AlphaBakes letter is 'Y',I immediately thought of yoghurt. I love baking with yoghurt and tend to use it in muffins and banana bread. I found this great recipe online for a Peach and Blueberry Greek Yoghurt Cake so I decided to give it a go. Plums were on sale in the supermarket so I used plums instead of peaches and it worked beautifully. I'm sure nectarines or even pears would work well too. The cake is really colourful and visually appealing. The sponge is light and the added fruit on top makes it feel almost healthy. 

I'm sending this to AlphaBakes hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes this month and myself on alternate months. The letter is Y for yoghurt. 

It's also going to Recipe of the Week hosted by Emily from A Mummy Too

 sponge base 

 adding lovely fresh fruit on top 

 

 look at all the lovely colours 

Recipe from Julia's Album
The only changes I made was to reduce the amount of sugar, replace the peaches with plums and adding in some brown sugar before baking.

185g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
56g butter, softened
180g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
125mls Greek yogurt
4 plum, sliced
170g blueberries

3-4 teaspoons light brown sugar (optional) 

• Preheat oven to 180C. 
• Grease and line a 23cm diameter springform tin.
• Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl. 
• In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter and sugar together for a few minutes.
• Add in the eggs, one at a time and mix well.
• Add in the yoghurt and vanilla extract.
• Stir in the flour mixture and continue mixing. 
• Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin.
• Arrange the plum slices in a circular fashion on top.
• Sprinkle the bluberries on top.
• If using, sprinkle a few teaspoons of light brown sugar on top before baking. 
• Bake for approximately 45 - 50 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool completely in the tin before releasing and serving. 

Chcocolate Peanut Butter Monkey Cake

Happy Chinese New Year! Today is the first day of the lunar calendar and it's the year of the Monkey. Wishing all my readers good health, prosperity and happiness. We had a little party at the weekend to celebrate the occasion. As it's a monkey year, I decided to make a monkey cake. Unfortunately I didn't deocrate it in time for the party so J has taken it to work today to share with his colleagues. It's a chocolate cake filled with peanut butter frosting. The decoration is simple yet effective albeit a bit messy to decorate! If you have kids, they will definitely enjoy decorating this cake with you. Chinese New Year goes on for 15 days so you have plenty of time to impress your family and friends with this cake. 

I'm sending this to #FoodYearLinkUp hosted by Charlotte from Charlotte's Lively Kitchen for Chinese New Year. 

It's also going to Love Cake hosted by Ness from Jibber Jabber UK. The theme this month is The Month Of Cake as it's the anniversary of the challenge. 

Finally to Simply Eggcellent hosted by Dom from Belleau Kitchen as the theme this month is Anything Goes. There's 2 large free range eggs in this cake.

 The cake batter is very liquid - don't worry it bakes beautifully. 

 spread peanut butter frosting on top of the first layer of cake 

 Add second layer of cake. I used a cocktail stick to roughly draw an outline of a monkey face. I'm terrible at drawing!! 

 Spread the peanut butter frosting where the monkey face will be 

 

 Carefully spread the chocolate ganache over the rest of the cake including the sides

 Press chocolate rice cereal on to the chocolate ganache. I used 2 white candy melts for the eyes and piped some chocolate ganache for the eye balls, nose and mouth (which was a littlewonky!) The ears are tiny as I didn't have any ginger biscuits at home and used golden Oreo cookies instead. 

Recipe from Bird on A Cake 

I reduced the sugar amount, substituted chocolate extract for vanilla extract and used more milk in the frosting 

For the cakes 

1 cup (250mls) boiling water

350g caster sugar

220g plain flour  

85 cocoa powder, sifted

2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 large, free range eggs

1 cup (250mls) buttermilk

1/2 cup (125mls) vegetable oil

1 teaspoon chocolate extract 

Peanut butter frosting

250g smooth peanut butter

113g butter

250g icing sugar

40-50 mls milk

Chocolate Ganache

175g dark chocolate 

80mls double cream

20g butter

To decorate

2 white candy melts

2 large cookies for the ears - I used golden oreos but they are too small, recommend ginger biscuits or digestive biscuit

Choco rice cereal 

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder in a bowl.
• Place the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and add in the eggs, buttermilk, oil and chocolate extract.
• Mix well.
• Slowly pour in the water and continue mixing at a low speed until you have a smooth mixture. 
• The batter will be very liquid, this is normal.
• Divide the batter evenly between 2 sandwich tins and bake for approximately 30 - 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow the cakes to cool for 5 minutes in the tin before turning out to a wire rack to cool completely.
• To make the peanut butter frosting, beat the peanut butter and butter until smooth.
• Add in the icing sugar and continue beating.
• Slowly add in the milk with the mixer running.
• You  may need to add a little more or a little less of the milk depending on the consistency of your icing. You want a smooth, spreadable paste. 
• To make the chocolate ganache, place the cream in a small saucepan and heat gently until bubbles are just visible. 
• Add in the chocolate and whisk until smooth.
• Remove from the heat.
• Add in the butter and continue whisking until smooth.
• Allow to cool and set a little before using.
• Decorate the cake as shown above.