Birthday cakes and other bakes... recipes

My pal Naomi, her other half Mark & their little boy Josh all moved to Devon yesterday :(

It hasn't really sunk in yet that they've gone... I expect that will happen over the next few weeks... More cake was needed to ease the sorrows so a variation of the chocolate cake was created. We all had a piece cut with a spoon as I forgot to take a knife out with me! Shortly after Lisa noticed I was coming out in horrendous hives... they look and itch like nettle rash. Unfortunately it seems I have developed an allergy to chocolate... arrgh! I had suspected it for a while (due to the regular appearance of hives) but was resistant to accepting it... So I went cold turkey on the chocolate only to discover that chocolate wasn't the only culprit... and have had to stop eating cheese and citrus fruit as well. What's going on?!?! until a few months ago I ate all of them without a problem... sigh... no more cheesecake either... sob...! Right I feel a bit better to get that out of my system... so onto the recipes :)



Chocolate cake/ Chocolate orange cake...

(my personalised/ammended version of the chocolate mud cake recipe found in Jane Price's guide to cake decorating)


Ingredients will make a 7 inch square or a 8 inch round cake

• 190g/6oz unsalted butter


• 190g/6oz dark chocolate/orange dark chocolate


• 140ml/5fl oz water


• 110g/3 1/2oz self raising flour


• 110g/3 1/2oz plain (all purpose) flour


• 40g/1 1/2oz cocoa powder


• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda


• 420g/14oz caster sugar


• 3 very large eggs


• 6 tsp vegetable oil


• 95mls/3fl oz buttermilk

Method

• Put the chocolate, butter & water in a pan over a low heat and stir gently until everything is melted... being careful not overheat it & remove the pan from heat as soon as everything is combined.


• Sift flours, cocoa powder & bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Stir in the caster sugar & make a well in the middle. Add the melted chocolate/butter/water, buttermilk, eggs & oil to the flours etc and stir until completely combined.


• Pour into your desired greased/baking parchment lined tin and pop into a pre heated oven at 160C/315F/gas mark 2~3 for about 1hr 40mins. My oven cooked it about 10mins quicker as my cake tin has very thin walls and cooks very fast. You can test whether the cake is done... towards the end of the baking time.. by inserting a skewer into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean... not with gloopy mix on it... it is most likely ready!

Leave your chocolate cake to cool completely then generously fill and top with either the.....

The White chocolate & sour cream icing from her cappuccino cupcakes in How to be a domestic goddess by Nigella Lawson & after applying icing to cake... dust it with a tiny bit of cocoa powder.

Or go for serious chocolate overload with dark chocolate ganache in Nigella Lawson's Feast

Pancakes anyone?

This morning I decided it was a pancake day.... but not just for any old pancakes. It had to be the American thick style ones with a bit of golden syrup and my secret addition of vanilla extract in the batter.

I may have made a touch few too many... the stack kept falling over as I was photographing it! No one is complaining though.... even the dog is being on his best behaviour in the hope of some stray crumbs.

If you fancy making some yourself :) here's my recipe...



Ingredients

• 150g (5 1/2oz) Milk


• 2 Large eggs


• 40g (2tbsp) Melted butter


• 20g (1tbsp) Golden syrup


• 20g (1tbsp) Caster sugar


• 200g (7oz) Plain flour, sifted


• 14g (2tsp) Baking powder


• 14g (2tsp) Vanilla extract

Method

Put all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together until smooth. The batter should run from the whisk like a thick ribbon. Cover the bowl and leave to rest for a minimum of 2hrs (or overnight in the fridge if you want them for breakfast).

Heat a non-stick frying pan or griddle until medium hot. Test temperature if you want by dropping some batter into pan... holes should start to appear on the surface of the batter after a minute. When you are happy with the temperature start making your pancakes by dolloping/ladling up to 2 heaped tbsp of batter onto the griddle. Carefully flip them over with a spatula when you see the surface of the pancakes starts to go holey. Then repeat until all your mix is turned into pancakes...

The pictures above show the amount of pancakes made with a double quantity of this batter :)

Enjoy & please let me know how yours turn out :)

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