Something For The Weekend Chocolate Orange Cake

A few weeks ago, I was asked to make a groom’s cake in his favourite flavours – chocolate orange – as a surprise from his bride on his wedding day.

The chocolate and orange Victoria Sandwich was baked in a large heart shaped spring form tin, sandwiched with orange curd and chocolate ganache, and covered in ganache with chocolate orange sticks around the edge. He loved it.

My family took a bit of a liking to the look of it and asked why they had never had one, so I baked one and thought you may like to have a go as it really is truly scrumptious …. (and doesn’t last long)

For the Choc Orange Cake

6 ounces soft butter or stork
6 ounces golden caster sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon milk
5 ounces self raising flour
1 ounce cocoa powder
Grated rind of 1 orange

Grease and line 2 x 7 inch sandwich tins (or heart shaped tins if you are feeling romantic) and make the cake mixture in the usual way, adding the cocoa and orange rind with the flour. Divide between the two tins and bake for 25 minutes on 150 degrees C, gas 3. Leave to cool on a cooling tray.

For the Ganache

6 ounces dark chocolate
6 ounces double cream
1 teaspoon orange oil/extract

Put the cream into a small saucepan and heat until bubbling but not boiling. Pour onto the broken chocolate in a mixing bowl with the orange extract and leave until the chocolate has melted then beat really well until smooth and glossy. Leave to thicken and cool.

When the ganache is cool, spread one side of a cake with orange curd and the other cake with ganache then sandwich them together. Put the cake on the plate or board on which you will serve it and then, using a palette knife, smooth the rest of the ganache all over the top and the sides and smooth it as best as you can.

Using orange chocolate sticks, cut them to the size of the cake and press them into the ganache, cut edge down.

DELICIOUS ….. enjoy it on Sunday afternoon with a pot of tea and a good film.

Have a lovely rest of the weekend, Daisy Cupcakes x

Cosy Time

Autumn has come upon us all too quickly …. although I relish the cosy winter nights and the hearty soups and casseroles that become our staple diet.

This weekends wedding was themed on autumn colours and it was a delight to create some very pretty cakes for a bride and groom in Lancashire.

The top cutting cake, a very rich fruit cake, nestled in its box to make the journey up north.

Boxed cupcakes ready for the M6.

So now the Christmas baking plans begin. We have already opened our order book for iced Christmas cakes, gingerbread people, our special shortbread and of course our very tasteful and pretty Christmas themed cupcakes. And this year, we will be posting Christmas Cupcakes as special gifts for your family and friends. Book early as when we are full, we are full!

Happy autumn, Daisy Cupcakes x

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake With Ganache (something for the weekend)

Hello to you all on this Jubilee weekend! My recipe for you today is in stark contrast to all the red white and blue paraphernalia around at the moment as I will be baking rather a lot of jubilee inspired cakes on Saturday night for the Blighty Boutique vintage and handmade fair on Sunday.

Before the chocolate fest, here are some patriotic cakes just in case you think I am being rude…

Right, back to our recipe. Many people are gluten intolerant or coeliac, so with you in mind, this cake is made with gluten free flour. The resulting texture is not quite the same as a ‘normal’ cake, but it is still completely delicious and was voted ‘very good’ and ‘scrummy’ in the Daisy household. So give it a go and see what you think. You can buy gluten free flour in most supermarkets now. Make sure you read the labels of all your other ingredients too just to make sure they are gluten free if you are making it for someone with an intolerance.

Ingredients:

Cake -
4 ounces softened unsalted butter
7 ounces soft light brown sugar
2 large eggs
4 ounces plain chocolate
3 and a half ounces natural yoghurt
Half a teaspoon vanilla extract
7 ounces gluten free flour
Half teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

Ganache -
5 ounces plain chocolate
Quarter pint double cream

Chocolate buttons, smarties, marshmallows etc to decorate.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160C or gas 3. Grease and line a 9 inch square tin with baking paper.

2. Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy and fluffy.

3. Gradually beat in the eggs, melted chocolate, yogurt and vanilla.

4. Gently stir in the sieved flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda until evenly mixed.

5. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, smooth the top and then bake for 45 minutes until springy to the touch. (don’t worry about the cracked appearance on the top, this is normal)

6. Turn it out of the tin onto a cooling tray and leave to cool completely.
7. Meanwhile, make the yummy scrummy chocolate ganache.
8. Heat the cream in a small saucepan until almost boiling.
9. Break the chocolate into squares into a heatproof bowl and pour the cream over it.

10. Leave for 5 minutes then beat with a spoon until totally blended and glossy.

11. Leave the ganache to cool and it will thicken to an icing consistency suitable for covering your cake. It’s ok to eat a bit ….
12. Place the cooled cake onto a board or a tray covered with baking paper.

13. And then using your cool and thickened ganache …

14. Cover the cake, using a palette knife to get as smooth a surface as you can, on the top and the sides.

15. And finally ….. decorate the top with whatever you fancy, cut into wedges, I mean slices, and enjoy.

Have a very happy chocolatey jubilee weekend with your special people, I hope to see you on Sunday at the fair.
Daisy Cupcakes x

Something For The Weekend Number Ten

I have been making quite a lot of these recently …. they seem to hit the spot with most people. They make a perfect gift when decorated with favourite sweeties and can be made in a variety of sizes for all appetites!

To those of you who say you are unable to bake a cake successfully ….

Invest in two things and I promise you will have brilliant cakes evermore.

Kitchen scales
Oven Thermometer

That’s it, they are the secret you have been waiting for!

You cannot bake successfully without weighing your ingredients accurately. Baking is a science, you can be creative and intuitive with casseroles, curries, soups, salads et all, but you cannot guess the measurements for a cake. I particularly like my scales to have a flat top so that I can weigh in the bowl that I am mixing in.

And a successful bake depends on the correct oven temperature and you won’t know this without an oven thermometer. It needs to hang in the oven and the cakes must not go in the oven until it has reached the correct temperature and this is very very variable from oven to oven. The internal temperature of the oven is not always what it says on the dial. Mine is taken everywhere I go where I will be cooking, even on holiday!

Do you want to make this?

First, buy a family bag of your chosen sweeties, actually buy 2 because you will eat one of them while you are making the cake.

Or of course, you can make it without the sweeties

So, here we go.

SWEETIE CAKE (a 6 inch cake)

Ingredients

For the chocolate cake -

4 ounces soft butter or stork
4 ounces caster sugar
3 ounces self raising flour
1 ounce cocoa powder
Half a teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 medium eggs
1 tablespoon milk

For the buttercream icing -

4 ounces soft butter
8 ounces icing sugar
4 ounces chocolate (plain, milk or white, your preference but it should be nice chocolate)

For the decoration -

A huge bag of sweeties, your choice – maltesers, smarties, m and m’s, buttons
Pretty ribbon
Edible glitter

Method

Preheat oven to 160C on your oven thermometer, gas 3.
Grease and base line 2 x 6 inch sandwich tins (see previous recipes for instructions on this), always use baking paper and either oil or butter to wipe round the edges of the tin.

With either a stand mixer, a hand held electric whisk or a wooden spoon and a strong arm, beat the butter until soft and light and creamy. Beat in the caster sugar. (I use my fabulous raspberry pink Kenwood Kmix that I love very much)

One by one, beat in the eggs, and add the milk and vanilla extract.

And then beat until smooth and luscious!

Now sieve the flour, cocoa and baking powder into the bowl and gently mix it into the mixture. Not too hard at this stage or you will end up with tough cakes.

When it’s all amalgamated nicely, share between the two prepared tins and spread gently with a knife to the edges.

Set your timer for 25 minutes.

The cakes should now be beautifully risen and if you touch the top, your fingerprint should bounce straight back up again. Place the tins on a baking tray to cool for 5 minutes before removing them gently from the tins.

Meanwhile ….. it’s time to make the buttercream icing.
Melt the chocolate in a basin resting over a pan of water, on defrost in the microwave or using a chocolate melter (I love mine and use it regularly)

Beat together the soft butter and icing sugar till really creamy and fluffy, a hand whisk is great for this, then stir in the melted chocolate.

And now lovely people, it’s play time!
Spread half the buttercream on top of one of the cakes and place the other cake on top. Now is a good time to put the cake on a plate or cake stand or cake board.

And spread a little more on the top. If you fancy a bit of piping, keep a little buttercream and put it into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle.

Pipe around the edge or pile the buttercream over the top and then decorate as you wish with your sweeties. Tie some ribbon round for extra special occasions and then celebrate with some edible glitter sprinkled delicately to give a little sparkle!

Or just fill the centre and enjoy the sweeties on the side!

Let me know how you get on …. I would love to see your creative sweetie cakes! It’s time now to enjoy licking all the bowls and spoons, you will adore the buttercream.

Till next week … have a fabby dabby cakey weekend, Daisy Cupcakes x

Blighty Boutique Vintage and Handmade Fair

It was an early start for me considering it was a Sunday. Despite the terrible weather urging me to stay snuggly in bed, I had an important date.

Today was the day of the Blighty Boutique Vintage and Handmade Fair at Hatton Park Village Hall. Mother and daughter team, Carolyn and Amy, have organised several of these fairs now, always with a large donation to their chosen charity, and they attract stall holders and visitors from miles around. The last fair had over 800 visitors.

In addition to lots of fabulous stalls selling gorgeous vintage and handmade collectables, there is always a vintage styled tea room which is very popular, as all the delicious cakes are handmade.

My friend Ali from Felicitations Vintage had a table laden with her gorgeous china and homewares ..

and the next stand was a huge temptation with these lovelies ….

It was tough, but I resisted the urge to buy, hearing Mr Daisy’s voice in my ear ‘another old tin dear?’.

The lovely Lyndsey, owner and very talented creator of ElsieSparrow had an utterly gorgeous stand formed from an old bicycle, a fabulous old painted kitchen table and some wooden crates … such creative style showcasing her beautiful handmade items.

I already have a lovely Elsie Sparrow large purse that I use to store my Sat Nav, modelled on Betty, Vintage Scoops ice cream van and I love it …

So today I had to get a little companion for her … just had to buy one of these cute purses, so perfect for my phone, or for make up in my handbag or just for looking at and admiring and stroking!

The cake stall and tea room was bulging with the most gorgeous cakes including my favourite millionaire shortbread …

(recipe coming soon on ‘Something For The Weekend’)

and this moist gooey chocolate cake (must get the recipe from Carolyn!)

Very very nearly came home with this teapot and mirror (love), next time eh?!

But I did come home with this sweet little cup posing as a pin cushion! The pin cushion is no more, but the little cup will be used in my photographs – can you imagine a beautiful pink and gold cake sitting in it?!

The next Blighty Boutique Fair is on Sunday 3rd June 2012 so put it in your diary as Daisy Cupcakes will be having a stand exhibiting and selling our gorgeous cakes.

Hope you have had a lovely weekend, I certainly have, Daisy Cupcakes

Let’s Bake!

Today was our first Travelling Teacher visit and what fun we had! And look at what Ella made! How amazing and how magnificent and how delighted she was!
Ella was convinced she couldn’t bake, claiming her brother got all the baking genes!

Enter Daisy with her Travelling Teacher bag of essential equipment and step by step instructions and the perfect chocolate cake seems possible! A lovely cup of earl grey also helped of course.

Everything was very carefully weighed, creamed, sieved and folded before baking in two 7 inch sandwich tins.

Ella can’t quite believe her cakes are rising!

And here they are, cooling ready for decorating. Gorgeous, light, fluffy and PERFECT!

Delicious creamy vanilla buttercream sandwiches the layers together and makes a nest for the maltesers on the top! Genius!

And Maisie patiently waited for a crumb, a lick, a spill, anything!

Fancy learning to bake? Give me a ring, I would be delighted to spend a couple of hours with you!
Anyone needing baking equipment? There is only one place, go and visit Toni

HAPPY BAKING! (Ella will be making a Victoria Sandwich every weekend from now on, in all sorts of different flavour combinations!)