Triple Chocolate Mug Cake

Delicious triple chocolate mug cake

This week I didn't have as much time for baking as I would have liked, but I still wanted to share a recipe with you, so I chose to make a mug cake. Mug cakes are quick and easy to make, and can usually be made with a few simple ingredients that you should have in your cupboard.

Bloggers Bake Along to GBBO: Black Forest Gateau

Welcome back to the Bloggers Bake along to GBBO, this week featuring cakes! The first episode of the new series of GBBO was certainly exciting, and it saw the bakers taking on Madiera cakes, A frosted walnut cake and the showstopping Black Forest Gateau. As it is Tim's Birthday BBQ today I let him decide what cake I would make for him, and he of course settled on the Black Forest, one of his favourite flavours!

Thankfully last week I bought myself the brand new GBBO recipe book, so I found an amazing recipe for a Black Forest in there...

I started with the chocolate cake, by whisking 6 eggs and sugar together until they reach ribbon stage, then folding in the flour and cocoa powder. Before dividing the mixture into the tins, and baking for 25 minutes.

Whilst that was baking I moved onto the cherry mixture, which started with draining the cherries and chopping them into quarters, which honestly took me forever! Then I placed some cornflour in a saucepan, mixing in a little of the syrup until it was like a paste, then I adding the rest of the syrup, bringing it to the boil, stirring constantly until it thickened... It seemed to thicken almost instantly so it's definitely something you'd want to watch! Then you stir in the chopped cherries, waiting for it to cool before putting it in the fridge to chill!

Then it was time for the chocolate work! So I melted white and dark chocolate, which I prefer to do in the microwave as I feel like it happens much quicker! All you need to do is put the chocolate in on 10 second bursts, stirring in between until it is melted. Then I had to dunk 20 cherries in the two different kinds of chocolate, once that was set I placed the remaining chocolate into two piping bags and carefully zig-zagged it over the cherries. Then using the rest of the Dark chocolate I piped some trees for decoration!

Then all that was left to do was to cut my two sponges in half, and whisk the cream, then putting it all together following the instructions in the book!

This recipe was SO tiring, I don't know why, but it was still great fun to make, and it turned out really well! I cannot wait to see people's reactions to it later on today... Don't forget to check out the bakes by the other bloggers below!

Hosted by the Lovely Jenny of Mummy Mishaps

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Halloween Pumpkin Patch Cake

I decided that I wanted to make a cake for Halloween and this is what I came up with, a chocolate orange cake, with a pumpkin patch decoration. This is the first recipe I have ever made up myself, so I thought I would share it with you all!

For the cake you will need:

• 225g Plain Flour
• 350g Caster Sugar
• 85g Cocoa Powder
• 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
• 2 Eggs
• 250ml Milk
• 125ml Vegetable Oil
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 250ml Boiling Water

For the Butter Cream Icing you will need:

• 280g Unsalted Butter
• 560g Icing Sugar
• 4 tbsp Milk
• Orange Food Colouring
• Orange Extract (to taste)

For the Chocolate Ganache you will need:

• 150ml Double Cream
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 tsp Unsalted Butter
• 150g Plain Chocolate

For the Pumpkins you will need:

• Fondant Icing
• Black Fondant Icing
• Orange Food Colouring

You will also need:

• 2 x 20cm Cake Tins 
• Hand Mixer
• Baking Paper
• Bamboo Skewer (optional)

Start by Pre-heating your oven to 180 degrees (fan)

Trace around the base of your cake tin onto some baking paper, then grease both of your tins with butter, placing the baking paper discs in the bottom of the tins.

Combine all of the cake ingredients, excluding the boiling water, and mix together until combined.

Gradually add the boiling water bit by bit, mixing well in between. Don't worry if your mixture seems runny, this is exactly what we want so that we get a moist cake.

Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins, and then place in the oven for 25-35 minutes, you will know they are done once you can insert a knife and pull it out clean. Then leave the cakes to cool slightly, before turning them out onto a wire rack and leaving to cool completely.

Once your cakes are cooled you can move on to the Butter Cream, so beat the butter with a hand mixer, until it is smooth. Then add 1/2 of the icing sugar, beating with a hand mixer until it is combined.

Add the other half of the icing sugar, along with the milk, and then beat together until smooth.

Add your colouring and flavouring until you are happy with the colour and the taste.

Sandwich your cake together, placing a layer of the Butter Cream in between the two cakes. Then roughly cover the cake with some of the butter cream, don't worry if this looks rough, as this is only the base for the rest of the butter cream. Let this first layer set in the fridge, and then add your second layer, making sure your cake is as smooth as possible. The let this chill in the fridge.

Whilst your cake is chilling you can move on to the Chocolate Ganache, by placing all of the ingredients into a saucepan and heating over a low heat. Once the chocolate begins to melt, remove from the heat and continue stirring until all the chocolate has melted and the mixture thickens slightly.

Remove your cake from the fridge and place the Ganache in the centre of the cake, then using a palette knife, gently ease the Ganache over the sides of the cake and let it drip down. Once you are happy with the way this looks, place it back in the fridge to set.

Whilst your cake is setting, colour your white fondant with the food colouring, and make mini pumpkins to go on top of your cake. You can decorate these however you like, I decided to do some with faces, and some plain ones.

All that's left is to place the decorations on your cake just how you like! I also decided to make a fence using some chocolate fudge and fondant for the ropes. I hope you've enjoy my cake, and please let me know in the comments if you give this recipe a go!

Baking Lately...

Recently my love of baking has be reignited, what with The Great British Bake Off being on TV, and me reading a couple of baking related novels, I couldn't wait to get stuck in. I thought I would share with you a few of the things that I have made over the last few weeks.

First up I made this Chocolate and Vanilla chessboard cake with Caramel feathered icing. This cake was pretty challenging, as I had to pipe rings of each mixture into the tins, and the mixture was quite runny and my piping bags were not working in my favour. When I took the cakes out of the oven, I was sure this cake was going to look ridiculous. Nevertheless I iced it and crossed my fingers, thankfully when I cut into it, it was pretty good, not perfect, but pretty good!

My brother came over to stay last weekend, and we decided that we wanted to bake something together. After thumbing through every single baking book I owned we settled on a recipe from the BBC website for peanut butter brownies, they turned out brilliantly, and they were certainly fun to make. 

These are something I make a lot, as they are so easy and yummy, and they are chocolate covered cake bites. All you do is make a basic cake, pop it in a food processor, mix the crumbs with icing, roll into balls, and cover in chocolate. These were actually made with the left over cake mix from the Chessboard cake. I took these over to my Boyfriend's brothers house when we visited last weekend, and they went down a storm!

I actually only finished this cake this morning, as it's for my nan's birthday today. It's a coffee and walnut cake, which is her favourite, and the recipe is by the one and only Mary Berry, and you can check that out here. This cake was pretty straightforward, apart from my layers didn't rise enough, so I had to make a sneaky third one, but I won't be telling my nan that the recipe didn't work out as it should have! The icing on this cake is amazing, with a very subtle coffee flavour. I'm taking this over to her later, so I can't wait to see if she likes it!

This recipe caught my eye when I was catching up with the GBBO Masterclass Episode Three yesterday morning and I just knew I had to give it a go. These are Paul Hollywood's Mini Sausage Plaits, or as he called them on the programme, 'Either a posh sausage roll, or a poor man's wellington'. This was probably one of the most difficult recipe's I have ever undertaken, considering the four different components, and having to make a shortcrust puff pastry, which I have never done before. These were also only made today (well I made the pastry yesterday), and they turned out much better then I expected, and the taste is like nothing I've ever eaten. I can't wait to see my families faces later when they tuck into these!

Let me know in the comments what your favourite is of all my bakes, and also let me know what your favourite GBBO recipe was from this season, and I might give it a go!