Shaun the sheep cake

Out of all my bakes from last year this was hands down my favourite. Just look how flipping cute it turned out!

I made this cake for my youngest nephew's birthday last May and although it looks fancy it was surprisingly simple to put together (compared to previous years anyway!) 

The main cake is a stack of victoria sponges stuck together with jam, with a minimal amount of carving to create a body shape. Once carved it was covered in butter icing and large marshmallows were stuck on top. A smaller piece of cake was covered in black fondant and set on top for the head. The limbs and ears were also moulded from black fondant icing. All pretty simple.

The little accompanying characters were a bit more fiddly to mould but admittedly I didn't make them, they're my mum's handiwork. They definitely add to the overall fun look of the cake.

It turns out that it's difficult to buy a pack of white marshmallows as everything I came across was a mixture of pink and white. In the end I bought loads of packs and carefully picked out all the white marshmallows, leaving me with a hilariously large tub of pink marshmallows.

In addition to the cake I made a flock of cupcake sheep. They're possibly even cuter looking than the cake. Making these in addition to the cake meant buying mini marshmallows and, you guessed it, I ended up with a a tub full of pink mini marshmallows.

Now I am caretaker of ALL THE PINK MARSHMALLOWS. 11 months later I still have a plentiful stash in my kitchen. Hot chocolate, anyone?

all the cream cheese icing

Cream cheese icing appeared to be a running theme when I looked through last year's baking photos on my phone. All of these bakes have been blogged previously in some form but I felt they were worth mentioning again since they're all good recipes.

First up, ALL THE CARROT CAKES.

I made this particular carrot cake *a lot* last year (also, sneaky peek at my pretty baking area in the kitchen complete with splashback tiles.) I'm aware I need to update the recipe link as I've made revisions to the original recipe. I'll get around to it some time as I'm guaranteed to bake this again.

Mum's birthday cake. I think I used the recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery's first Cookbook, although the obvious difference is that I've only baked two layers instead of three. I'm guessing I divided the mixture between two 8" round tins to create deeper layers and left them in the oven longer to bake although I have no notes to confirm this, sorry.

My brother's birthday carrot cake bundt. I love how jazzy this looks with all the walnuts, sprinkles and candles. This is the same recipe as above but baked as one giant bundt. I've made this cake previously, both as a triple layer cake and a bundt. Either way, it's awesome. This recipe works so well as a big bundt and is a lot less faff to make than assembling and decorating layer cakes. Bear in mind it needs longer to bake in the oven (1 hour) since it is one big cake instead of 3 thinner layers.

Apple and walnut cupcakes, recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery's Cake Days book. I was clearly on a Hummingbird bender last year. I fancied revisiting this recipe as I hadn't made it for years (first blogged here.) It makes such soft, juicy cupcakes. They didn't hang around for very long.

Hummingbird cake (spiced banana and pineapple cake for those not familiar with it.) Surprise surprise, another Hummingbird Bakery triple layer cake baked as one big bundt. I've also made it as a layer cake before. This was baked for my parents' wedding anniversary so I made it look prettier by piping rose swirls all around the cake. Cream cheese icing isn't ideal for this since it tends to be soft, but it still worked ok... providing you don't look at the cake too closely.

Bonus photo where you get to see a glimpse of my garden. It's mostly full of weeds but look at my beautiful blue fence!

I'm always on the lookout for fun ways to use or pimp up cream cheese icing. My favourite flavour additions are vanilla extract or cinnamon although honey and lemon is also lovely. I think I've even added fruity curds to it before. I've bookmarked a recipe somewhere which involves browning the butter before adding it to the icing. I've used browned previously in baking (these blondies in particular were awesome) so I think this would be worth trying out. Perhaps on a banana bread.

What's your favourite cream cheese icing or way to use it?

chocolate and vanilla marble cupcakes

This was my first bake in my new home in my shiny new oven a year ago. My best friend came to visit me about a week after I moved in which gave me the perfect opportunity to test my oven's baking abilities.

I went with marble cupcakes as I fancied trying two toned piped icing, something I've wanted to try for absolutely years. I absolutely love how the piped swirls turned out and intend to try the technique on a cake some time. I've actually seen some Easter versions online recently where bakers have marbled pastel coloured icing to match Cadbury Mini Eggs and it looks so pretty.

There's something very satisfying about marbled bakes. I always think they look fun, with or without icing.

As a side note I love my cooker, a cream coloured Richmond Stoves. I managed to buy a decent one as I saved a good chunk of money by sourcing second hand kitchen units (£200 from Ebay.) It has a bit of old fashioned charm as the lid makes it look like an old Aga (and handily the lid doubles up as extra worktop space) and the look suits my quirky, retro styled kitchen. I can also confirm after a year's testing that the oven bakes good cakes.

 (Here's a peek at my baking station. This was before I put up my kitchen tiles behind the worktop. It looks even prettier now.)

I also want to say I hope everyone is staying as safe as possible at the moment amidst the Coronovirus mayhem sweeping the world. It's all incredibly scary and unsettling on so many levels. Take care of yourselves and look after loved ones. x

Recipe was just a bog standard victoria sponge mixture divided in half with cocoa powder added to one half and 1/2tsp vanilla extract to the other. For the icings I followed the vanilla and chocolate butter icing from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. My butter icing swirls were created with a Wilton 1M piping tip.... I think!

chocolate and hazelnut cake

Well hello there. A lot has happened in a year. I didn't intend to abandon blogging but crap happened and I didn't deal with it very well, I certainly didn't want to talk about it and I pretty much spiralled into a pit of negativity and sadness. I still don't want to talk about it but I feel ready to dip my toes back in here now that I've vaguely touched on it. I've missed using this space and having a handy creative archive to refer to.

However, I have come to the decision that I want to return this blog to just baking and crockery as it has got to a stage where I'm not happy posting my sewing and knitting projects here anymore. I'm aware I've mentioned moving them to a separate space for at least 4 years, but this is the year where I feel I need to make the change. If/when the move happens, I'll let you know here.

In the meantime you can still find my knitting projects on Ravelry and I recently joined The Foldline where I've reviewed a few sewing projects from the last year.

So without further ado, CAKE. We're still here for cake, right?

This particular cake, inspired by Ferrero Rochers, was baked for my sister-in-law's birthday last April. I'd definitely describe it as a "grown up" cake. The hazelnut sponges were rich and textured and the chocolate ganache coating was rich and luxuriously cocoa-y. I'm glad I sandwiched the sponges together with a chocolate butter icing and used it to pipe decorative swirls on top as the sweetness of the butter icing really lifted the cake.

On the whole there was a lovely balance of textures and flavours. You certainly didn't need a large slice to feel full and satisfied either.

Somewhat amazingly, I appear to have kept a physical note of what I used for the sponges. The rest of the details however are a hazy memory, but this is roughly what I did:

Chocolate and hazelnut cake

sponges:

250g softened butter

250g soft light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs

150g plain flour

1 heaped tsp baking powder

150g hazelnuts (roasted, skinned and ground.) I bought a couple of bags of already roasted, skinned and chopped hazelnuts then whizzed them up in my small food processor to ground them up further. 

chocolate ganache:

I have no idea what recipe I used for this, but I definitely used double cream with a combination of good quality milk and dark chocolate with high cocoa percentages. I have a funny feeling I may have incorporated melted butter into the ganache at the end...? Who knows. If you want to recreate this cake I recommend referring to a favourite chocolate ganache recipe or picking one of the many kicking about on the internet. It's safer than following my vague memory.

chocolate butter icing:

I likely mixed this up without following a recipe, so I recommend following whatever chocolate butter icing you like best. I personally really like the one in the Hummingbird Bakery's Cookbook.

topping:

another bag of roasted, skinned and chopped hazelnuts

a box of Ferrero Rocher

Preheat the oven to Gas 4/180C/ Fan 160C. Grease two 20cm/8 inch round cake tins and line the bases with baking parchment. 

In a large bowl beat together the margarine and sugar for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl mix together the ground hazelnuts, flour and baking powder. Add the eggs to the butter and sugar mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add a tablespoon of the flour mixture with the last egg to prevent the mixture from splitting. Tip in the rest of the flour mixture along with the vanilla extract and mix until everything is combined.

Divide the mixture between the cake tins and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for approx. 25-30 minutes until well risen and springs back when touched. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

For the icing beat the butter, cocoa powder and icing sugar until light and fluffy, for about 5 minutes. Use to fill the cake and put the remaining icing in a piping bag with a 1M nozzle to use later.

After sandwiching the sponges together with butter icing, coat the sides and top with the ganache. It doesn't matter if it isn't smooth. Press chopped hazelnuts onto the side of the cake (this is messy, admittedly) and scatter them across the top. Finally, pipe 12 decorative swirls of the leftover butter icing on top of the cake and press a Ferrero Rocher chocolate on top of each swirl.