Baking My Sister's Birthday Cake

Although my sister's birthday was a few days before Christmas, I've only just got round to posting this recipe after all of the festive posts I've done. This cakes involve three layers of brownie cakes which is what my sister requested, however, if you don;t like rich cakes then you won't like this. Also, if you're on a diet, look away now. 

Ingredients!

340g butter

170g dark chocolate

600g sugar

5 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

195g self raising flour

3/4 tsp salt

Method!

Melt the chocolate and butter. 

Stir in the sugar.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating each time.

Stir in the vanilla.

Stir in the flour. 

Pour into 3 greased round tins and bake at gas mark 4 for 30 minutes (depending on your oven).

Write out  message to put on your birthday cake on some paper, put it on a tray and then put baking paper on top of it.

Melt some chocolate.

Using a piping bag, go over the message with the chocolate and then pop into the fridge. I repeated this again with white chocolate on top but with a thinner line to make it stand out on the cake.

When they're done the brownies will be firm to touch. Leave them to cool in the time for 10 minutes, remove and put on a baking rack.

I used Betty Crocker Chocolate icing to stick the layers together and then covered the sides using a flat knife.

Using the Dr Oetker Chocolate Easy Swirl Icing I created lots of swirls on top the cake.

To finish with, I used sprinkles to decorate and popped the message onto the cake.

I hope you liked this baking post, be sure to stick around for another next week! :) 
Becky x

Gingerbread Latte Cupcakes

Merry Christmas! So it's finally Christmas and therefore this is the last chance I can squeeze in another festive baking post for you all! This last Christmas post is a Gingerbread Latte Cupcake recipe.

The Ingredients for the cupcakes!

160g self raising flour

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp allspice

55g butter

100g brown sugar

160g treacle

1 large egg

125ml strong, hot coffee

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

The ingredients for the frosting!

160g icing sugar

90g soft butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp ground ginger

Sieve the flour and spices into a bowl.

Add the butter and sugar and beat until fluffy.

Pour the treacle and egg into the mix and beat together.

In a mug add the bicarbonate of soda and coffee and stir.

Stir this into the mixture.

Divide between the cases and bake at gas mark 4 for 25 minutes until firm to touch.

Sieve the icing into a bowl.

Mix all of the ingredients together.

Pipe onto the cakes and place gingerbread shapes on top to decorate. My gingerbread recipe can be found here.

I hope you liked this final christmas post, be sure to stick around for another post next week! :) 

Becky x

Gingerbread

Gingerbread is a must for Christmas. It's not officially Christmas until I've baked some and filled the house with the scent of cinnamon and ginger. Therefore I thought it would be necessary to share this recipe with you so you can join in on the festivity.

The ingredients...

500g plain flour

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp allspice

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

125g butter

60g light soft brown sugar

60g caster sugar

90g black treacle

60g golden syrup

1 beaten egg

The method...

Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4 and line several baking trays.

Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl.

Put the butter, treacle and syrup into a saucepan and stir over a medium heat until melted.

Pour the treacle mix into the flour and add the egg. Mix to form a dough.

Wrap the dough in some cling film and pop in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough until smooth. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to about 0.3cm thick.

Using cutters, cut out the gingerbread shapes and put them onto a baking tray.

Repeat this until you've used up all the dough.

Bake for about 20 minutes until lightly brown. Allow to cool on the tray, then move to wire racks.

I made holes in a few of the gingerbread and thread ribbon through them so that I could hang them on the tree.

I hope you liked this festive baking post and be sure to stick around for another post soon! :) 

Becky x