That Chocolate Cake

Today I turned 23.

A week ago, I started writing a post for my birthday.

I wrote that 22 had started with crushing heartbreak. I described how the past few months have felt like speeding along on rollercoaster in the dark, complete with a feeling of uncertainty and a heady combination of thrilling highs and stomach-churning bad news. Everything I thought I knew has been questioned and every week seems to bring another life changing decision. I feel older - weathered by the wind.

But you know what? It's my birthday. I don't want to dwell on the difficult parts of this year, or how the thought of my future fills me to the brim with a potent mixture of deep excitement spiked with fear and self-doubt.

Today is a day to celebrate.

No celebration is complete without CAKE.

This cake is that chocolate cake, a recipe I'd heard whispers about. In our borrowed Berkeley home, the Scharffenberger chocolate book was left on the kitchen island. It had a sticky note marking that page and five stars etched in pencil at the top. How could I resist?

Mum and I made the cake together. I finished it off with some strawberries and strawberry flowers from the garden. It's a fudgy, dark chocolate cake - and surprisingly not too sweet. I was highly skeptical about the amount of sugar but decided to follow the recipe faithfully. If you can't find the 99% chocolate for the icing, I'd try a different ganache recipe (perhaps double the example here) - a lower percentage would make it too sweet.

Finally, a few days ago I bought myself an early birthday present with the prize money from the Guild award and some savings. I bought a Canon 5D Mk II and a 1.4/50 to replace my old Sony DSLR. I swore I wouldn't upgrade until I really needed to - my lovely friend Erin helped me realize I'd hit that wall. I still feel slightly at sea but I'm really pleased with how things are developing so far.

We ate the cake outside on the decking. It has been a gorgeous, blue-skied day.

(PS. Though it may say June 11th at the top of this post, it's still the 10th and therefore my birthday in California.)

That Chocolate Cake
(Adapted from The Essence of Chocolate by John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg. Also online here in cups.)

For the icing:
275ml double cream
250g granulated sugar
130g 99% unsweetened dark chocolate, finely chopped
100g unsalted butter, cubed
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the cake:
450g granulated sugar
200g plain flour
85g unsweetened cocoa powder
1.5 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp fine sea salt
2 large eggs, beaten
275ml milk
135ml canola oil/another oil with no flavour
275ml boiling water

Start with the icing. Combine the cream and sugar in a large saucepan. Put over a medium heat and bring to the boil. Once it starts to properly bubble, turn the heat down to low and simmer for 6 minutes. It foams up a lot. Take off the heat and leave to cool for one minute then add the butter and chopped chocolate. Stir until smooth then transfer to another bowl and stir in the vanilla. Leave to cool, stirring occasionally.

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Butter, line and flour two 8" cake tins (not ones with removable bases, the batter is too liquid). Place the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer with the beater attached. Stir on the lowest setting until a uniform brown colour. Add the beaten eggs, milk and canola oil then turn the mixer up to medium and beat for 2 minutes. Boil the kettle while it beats then turn off and pour in the water. Mix it on low until smooth - it is very soupy. Divide between the two tins - I think mine were 650g each but I forgot to write it down. Carefully transfer to the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer can be removed from the centre cleanly (mine took 40). Leave to cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes in the tins then turn out and remove the paper.

By the time the cakes are totally cool, the icing should be thick enough to ice - it should hold its own weight. Place one of the cakes onto a serving plate lined with paper strips. Spoon some of the icing into the middle and spread it out. Add the top layer then spoon about half the rest of the icing onto the top. Drag down and over the sides and smooth over. Add the rest as you need it, working fairly quickly. Use a palette knife dipped in a jug of hot water then dried with a towel to get a shiny finish. Watch out as you move it - the layers can slide a little until it sets up. Add any decorations, final flourishes and candles then slice and enjoy.

(Serves 10-12)

EDIT 13/6/12: We've found that the cake got even better the next day, and is still lovely two more days later, though the icing has clouded and is slightly speckled. It'd definitely be the perfect cake to try if you needed to make it the day before a party or event.

How to bake a... Birthday Cake

The lovely Fiona Beckett recently asked me to write for her site Beyond Baked Beans. It's a wonderful resource full of cheap and easy recipes for students and anyone else on a budget. I'm going to be writing a series of posts on simple baking that can be done with a minimum of equipment. You read the little introduction here.

For this first post I decided to write about simple, crowd-pleasing birthday cakes. I want to make baking a cake for a friend or loved one possible for as many people as I can. There are four recipes - vanilla cake, chocolate cake, a cream cheese icing and a ganache.

You can read it here.

No-Icing Birthday Cake

For the past few weeks, my three little cousins have been staying with us in Verbier. As I think I've mentioned before, my uncle has been staying here for several months, partly due to the fact that he broke a vertebrae in his neck recently while mountain biking (he's recovering well, though stuck in a big neck brace). So my cousins came out to see him and enjoy the mountains. 

It just so happened that my cousin Sam turned six yesterday. So I made cake. Obviously. 

Sam's mum told me that he wanted a motorbike cake. I asked my uncle exactly what sort of motorbike we were talking about. I don't know anything about motorbikes and I didn't want to get the wrong type.  So we found a photo of his favourite (this Honda, to be precise) and I used that as my base. 

Sam also doesn't like icing, especially the fondant or royal icing used for so many novelty birthday cakes. I don't blame him - I'm don't really like them either. So instead I filled his chocolate cake with whipped cream and homemade raspberry jam and topped it with more whipped cream. Unfortunately my cream over whipped a bit in the second I looked away, but it still tasted good. 

We hosted a little party for family and a few friends. There were balloons and the biggest birthday card I've ever seen:

I haven't written out a recipe as this was simply the cake recipe from this post made twice (once for each layer) and baked a 9" tin, soaked with a little vanilla syrup and then sandwiched together with whipped cream and raspberry jam. I made the decoration made in the same way as the Beautiful and Damned cake but kept it flat. 

Guinness Chocolate Cake

A few weeks ago, my friend Dave had his 21st birthday. As it was during exam period, it was left semi-uncelebrated. So on Saturday we decided to do a bit of a belated celebration. So I made cake. Obviously.

Dave is Northern Irish. Dave likes Guinness. So when I saw this cake while browsing the archives of Design*Sponge made by the fabulous Katie of What Katie Ate it reminded me of the Nigella original and I had to make it for him.



On Friday night we all went to a white tie ball - the Trinity College Commemeration Ball. It was my last ball at Oxford and I have to say it was by far the best. The food was great (we had oysters, eton mess, falafel wraps, noodles, hog roast, breakfast baps at 4am etc etc), the champagne and cocktails were flowing all night, the music and fairground rides gave constant entertainment and we didn't get home until 6am when the sun had fully risen. I slept for four hours (after taking my vintage 1950's full length red velvet gown with proper petticoats off) and then started making this cake. The smell of the Guinness made me feel a bit nauseous as the cocktails started to wear off, but it was worth it.

Despite my lack of sleep, the cake came together easily. It's very rich and dense but doesn't have an overwhelming taste of Guinness. The fluffy and slightly tangy icing contrasts beautifully. All in all, it's a great recipe.

*

UPDATE 9/05/15: I made this again last week for another birthday and ended up changing a few things - reducing the vanilla, switching to baking powder and using less sugar and more cream in the icing - I've updated the recipe below to reflect this. As my cake hadn't cooled fully, I took the icing in a separate box to the cake (with a cooler) and then iced it perched on a bit of the bar at the pub. It worked brilliantly - the middle of the cake was still a touch warm and the cool icing was a lovely contrast. The icing was a bit foamier than in the pictures, but the cake looks much the same.



Chocolate Guinness Cake
(adapted from Nigella Lawson's Feast)

For the cake:
250ml Guinness
250g unsalted butter
75g best quality cocoa powder
400g caster sugar
140ml sour cream/greek yogurt
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
275g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

For the icing:
180g cream cheese
60g icing sugar
100ml double cream

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Fully line and grease a 23cm/9" springform tin (or a angel food cake tin of about 10"). Pour the Guinness into a large pan and put over a medium heat. Add the butter and cocoa and whisk until the butter has melted and the mixture is combined. Turn off the heat then whisk in the sugar. Beat the eggs, sour cream and vanilla together in a medium bowl then whisk them into the mixture. Finally whisk in the flour, baking powder and salt.

Pour into the prepared tin and bake in the preheated oven for 45-60 minutes - you want a skewer to come out with damp crumbs, not totally clean but not with raw mixture. Place onto a cooling rack and leave to cool (it can take quite a while to cool).

In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the icing sugar in two goes and keep going until it is smooth. Whip the cream to just past soft peaks. Fold a third of the cream into the mixture to loosen it, then gently fold the rest in. Smooth over the top of the cooled cake, leaving the sides free to create the idea of a pint of guinness.

(Makes about 14-16 slices)



Three more chocolate recipes:
Coconut Milk Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Cardamon Cookies
Choco-Caramel Sundae Sauce

Mint Chocolate Ruffle Cake

Readers who have been around for a while may remember that last summer I posted about cooking with my little friend Isabella. She's a big fan of this blog - you'll find lots of her sweet comments around, especially on older posts.  Over Christmas Isabella's mum asked me if I would be able to make her 10th birthday cake.

At first I thought I might have to make an ice cream cake that could be kept in the freezer as I wasn't sure I'd still be in Verbier. Thankfully things rearranged and I could make her a fresh cake. 

When I was thinking about a design for the cake the first thing that came to my mind was a ruffle cake. I previously made one for a launch party in Oxford (unfortunately I didn't get good photos, so there's no post) but piped much thinner ruffles than normal. I sent Isabella and her parents a photo of one of Melody's ruffle cakes and asked if she liked the idea and for any flavour preferences. 

Isabella came back with a vote for ruffles and a very clear idea of flavours: light green, mint flavoured icing and a dark chocolate cake. 

To create this I decided to use the light and easy chocolate cake I used for my Chocolate Simnel Cake combined with a lightly sweetened gooey ganache. I chose a swiss meringue buttercream for the icing because it's delicious and light and works well piped like this. Finally, I added a surprise between each layer of After Eight mints to add texture and a stronger mint flavour. 

I had a nightmare trying to source mint flavouring of any type in Verbier - none of the supermarkets sell it. I then thought of creme de menthe but couldn't buy that either. In the end I asked in one of the bars and got two shots worth in a takeaway coffee cup. I quickly boiled it to evaporate some of the alcohol. 

To decorate the cake I made some cake bunting out of two wooden skewers, some plain white paper, pale green thread, glue, scissors and a pen. So much fun. 

I had two small crises. First the cake appeared to be falling apart when I layered it up. A cling film corset and a stint in the freezer soon sorted it out (see below). Then I started re-whipping my icing, which had been in the fridge overnight and then warmed up to room temp. It curdled and looked disgusting. I knew it did this during the making process but hadn't thought it would at this point. Thankfully the swiss meringue buttercream mantra of Just Keep Whipping worked as always. 

My ruffles were a bit wobbly - next time I might lightly mark straight lines into the crumb coat. I also didn't have long to take photos and didn't realise until after that the bottom background sort of clashes with the green (hence black and white at the top - colour below).  

Though things ended up a little rushed at the end (I had to leave to catch my flight back to the UK just a few hours afterwards) I was pleased with the result. Isabella seemed pleased when she saw it and they reported that it was delicious and very rich. 

*

On another note, photobucket had a long downtime in the past two days - apologies for the state of chaos this site was in. Thankfully everything seems to be back to normal now. 

Mint Chocolate Ruffle Cake

(buttercream adapted from Whisk Kid's tutorial, cake adapted from Nigella Lawson's Feast, icing technique from My Sweet & Saucy's video)

For the cake:

200g plain flour

200g caster sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp instant espresso powder

40g good quality cocoa powder

180g butter (at room temp)

2 large egg

2 tsp hot water

150ml sour cream

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Grease and line two tins - I used 6" but Nigella uses 8" - either is fine. Place all the ingredients into a food processor and run until combined. Scrape down the sides and pulse again. Divide the mixture between the two tins and spread evenly.  Bake for 25-35 minutes - a skewer should come out of the middle cleanly. Leave to cool for a few minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. 

For the ganache:

100g 70% dark chocolate

100ml double cream

2 tsp brown sugar

Chop the chocolate and place in a medium bowl. Mix the sugar and cream in a small saucepan and heat until it reaches a strong simmer. Pour the cream over the chocolate. Leave for 2 minutes then start to stir until glossy and smooth. Put aside to cool. 

For the mint swiss meringue buttercream:

150g egg whites (about 5)

225 granulated sugar

250g butter (must be at room temperature)

4 tsp creme de menthe (or to taste)

2 drops liquid green food colouring

If you're nervous about making this, look at Whisk Kid's tutorial first. When you're ready and have all your ingredients set out, combine the whites and sugar in a medium heatproof bowl and place it over a pan of simmering water. Whisk until the temperature hits 160F and the mixture is smooth (check by rubbing a little between your fingers). Transfer to a stand mixer (or just use a hand whisk with the same bowl) and start whipping on medium-high. Whip for about 8 minutes - it should be really thick and glossy and gorgeous. Check that it is room temperature - if not leave it for another minute or two slowly whisking. Turn the speed back up to medium/high and add a piece of butter (should be about tbsp sized pieces). Whisk until totally incorporated, then add another. Repeat until all the butter is used. At this point if it looks soupy and thin, pop it in the fridge. If not, keep whipping until it is thick and luxurious again - this can take quite a while. When ready, whip in the creme de menthe teaspoon by teaspoon, checking after each addition for taste. Finally add the food colouring (if desired). 

For the simple syrup:

50ml water

45g caster sugar

Combine in a small saucepan and heat until the sugar is dissolved. Leave to cool. 

To assemble:

1 box After Eight mints (optional)

1 piping bag fitted with a Wilton 104 tip (or similar)

Slice each of the cakes into two, creating the four layers. Line your serving plate with strips of parchment then place one of the cakes in the centre. Brush with some of the syrup. Spoon over 1/3 of the ganache. Top with the mints if desired. Add the next cake layer and repeat. Wrap with cling film and place in the freezer while you make the buttercream. 

Use the buttercream to cover the cake with a slightly thicker than usual crumb coat. I also thickly covered the top as I wasn't ruffling the top. Fill the piping bag with the buttercream and secure it with an elastic. With the piping bag upright next to the cake with the thin side of the tip pointing out, start piping the ruffles up towards the top (see Melody's video if confused). When finished, pipe a final set of ruffles around the top. Finally, add any candles etc. 

(Serves 10-12)

Coconut Cream Cake

Yesterday was my mum's birthday. For the past three years she's had a massive party. The massive parties meant that I made massive cakes (see number one - a giant chocolate raspberry job, number two - four tiers of double chocolate, number three - ginger and blueberry). It's fun looking over them and seeing how much my baking has changed and grown.

This year mum had decided to just have a few people over for tea and have a quiet day (including both of our first-ever facials and manicures - hilarious). I'd been meaning to make this recipe for ages. I've got a bit of a thing for coconut at the moment. The cake recipe is the one I adapted for my Chocolate Swiss Roll with Peanut Butter Mousse - it's unusual but produces incredibly light and delicious results.

About a week ago we went on a lovely little walk in this bit of woodland in the valley. Mum found these beautiful twigs with little cones on them. I thought that they would round out my 'snowy scene' coconut cake perfectly so I carefully transported them home (Arthur wanted to eat them). To keep things hygienic I cleaned the twigs and then tightly wrapped the ends that would come in contact with the cake in clingfilm.  Mum also had two candles placed slightly to the side to blow out. 

I decided to make the cake in a 6" tin to get some height. It shrank a bit when it came out of the oven but still tasted great and the whipped cream filled in the gaps anyway. It's not a particularly neat cake but that's part of the snow-drift charm. I wanted to toast the coconut for flavour but didn't want to ruin the pure white look. Another time I might try and source some coconut shavings - the grated stuff here is pretty fine and so a bit gritty. 

Overall this is a great recipe - it's very light but still packs in flavour. I'll definitely make it again. 

Coconut Cream Cake

(Adapted from David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert)

For the coconut filling:

155ml +30ml whole milk

50g sugar

1/4 vanilla bean, split

1 tbsp cornflour

3 medium egg yolks

35g shredded coconut

Combine the 155ml milk with the sugar and vanilla bean in a medium saucepan. Warm over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved and the milk is hot. Meanwhile whisk the cornflour into the 30ml milk in a small bowl. When the milk is ready, scrape the cornflour mix into the pan and whisk together. Heat until the mixture thickens, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom. When thick, start whisking the egg yolks together in a medium bowl and pour the thickened mixture in, keeping whisking. Transfer back to the pan and heat until the mixture starts to boil and is very thick. Pour into a medium bowl and stir in the shredded coconut. Leave to cool and then chill in the fridge for several hours (I did this overnight). 

For the rum syrup:

80ml water

50g caster sugar

1 1/2 tbsp dark rum

Place the water and sigar in a small saucepan and heat gently until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the rum and leave to cool. I boiled the rum first for a moment to remove most of the alcohol for mum. 

For the sponge:

80g plain flour

30g cornflour

1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

3 eggs, separated

35ml cold water

120g caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Grease and line a 6" tin, making sure the parchment reaches up to about 6". Sift the flour, cornflour, baking powder and salt together three times. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whip attached, whisk the egg yolks and water together on high speed for 1 minute. Turn down and add the caster sugar, then whip on high until the mixture is pale and thick and leaves a trail when the whisk is lifted - about 5 mins. Put to one side. In another clean, dry bowl (I transferred the first mix to another bowl then washed my mixer bowl as I only have one) whisk the eggs whites until stiff peaks.

Place the yolk mix bowl on a damp cloth to stop it moving. With your non-dominant hand, slowly start sifting the flour mixture into the bowl while your dominant hand folds in with a whisk. When the flour is totally incorporated, add 1/3 of the whites and fold in with a rubber spatula to lighten the mix. Finally add the rest of the whites and fold in until uniform. Pour into the lined tin and smooth the top gently. Place into the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes until the middle springs back when touched. Leave to cool in the tin for 15 minutes then remove to a wire rack.

For the whipped cream:

155ml double cream

1 tsp sugar

Whip the cream until soft peaks then sprinkle in the sugar. Whisk in the sugar but be careful to not overwhisk - it should be soft and pillowy. 

To assemble:

handful grated or shaved coconut

Slice the sponge into three layers and place one piece on the serving plate. Sprinke 1/3 of the rum syrup over the sponge.  Spread half of the filling over the sponge. Repeat with the next layer. Add the final sponge and sprinkle the remaining 1/3 syrup over the top. Leave to chill in the fridge for 4 hours. When ready to serve, whip the cream and spread it over the cake. Sprinkle the coconut over the top. I then had to sort of throw coconut at the sides - if I'd tried to press it I would have had a handful of cream. When covered add any candles/decorations and serve. Best eaten on the day. 

(Serves 8-10)

Kit Kat Cake

Yesterday I made a cake for my lovely housemate, Sylvia. She turned 21 over the Christmas holidays and we finally got everyone together to celebrate with add-your-own-toppings pizza and cake.

Sylvia loves Kit Kats and simple flavours so I made a vanilla sponge filled with vanilla cream cheese icing and surrounded in Kit Kat fingers and topped with a swirl of chocolate in the cream cheese icing. 

It was pretty awesome buying all these Kit Kats, though unfortunately I had exactly the right number so no nibbling for me. I had some plans for a fancier design but the fingers were too heavy and the icing too soft. 

We served the cake with homemade French vanilla ice cream (recipe here) and David Lebovitz's classic hot fudge sauce from The Perfect Scoop. Incredibly rich but delicious. 

I've finally sorted out a good place to photograph and bought some nice mounting card for a background. I like the thick Jersey cream colour of it. 

I'm not including a recipe as the vanilla cake is slightly adapted from this recipe. The cream cheese icing recipe isn't right yet - there's a flaw in the method that I'm going to change next time. Otherwise you just need to arrange the Kit Kats!

Lemon Rainbow Cake

I've been planning this cake ever since I saw this fabulous rainbow cake on Whisk Kid. It was the perfect 20th birthday cake for my housemate Sarah. She's been hanging around in the wings of this blog as 'my housemate' for ages but I think it's high time she was introduced as herself. 

Sarah is my housemate who doesn't like chocolate cake (but loves anything else chocolate, including chocolate fondants and brownies). She is a big fan of Emma biscuits. Sarah could survive on cheesecake alone (it's her fork that's attacking this Raspberry and Caramel Cheesecake). She is the one who would have killed me if I didn't make profiteroles for this challenge (and may still do so if I don't make eclairs soon...).

Sarah also loves lots of bright colours and rainbows. Hence this cake. She was also the best bet for a fabulous reaction (see below)!

As I've said before, I'm not a massive fan of piles and piles of super sweet icing and really like my cakes of taste of more than sugar with a faint vanilla tinge. Whisk Kid already had some lemon in her icing but I wanted to take this further to really give the cake a good tang. So I added some rind to a different cake batter recipe and soaked the cakes in a lemon syrup. I also made a tangy cream cheese icing and used a lot less of it. 

I might have to rechristen this 'The E-number cake', as it's full of them from the food colourings. It's definitely a special occasion cake and not one I'd want to make all the time. Beating the colour into the batter took a lot of the air out of it, so the cake itself wasn't as light as I would of liked, but it still tasted and looked good. Room for improvement - but half the fun would be taken out if there wasn't!

P.S. I'm really sorry for the awfully lit photography - it was basically dark by the time we cut the cake and I didn't take proper ones before. I didn't want to not post about it so they'll have to do!

Lemon Rainbow Cake

Edit: I've removed the recipe as I wasn't especially pleased with the flavour, even though it looked dramatic.

Blueberry and Ginger Layer Cake

Every year for the past three years my mum has had a big birthday party. Every year I've made a big cake to match - the past two years it needed to feed about 200-300 people. Previously I've made the traditional family chocolate cake - as you can see on the sidebar or here. This year she changed the theme and venue to blue and white and to a smaller bar...

...and so this year I needed to create a smaller cake for about 100 along the theme of blue and white. It's not an easy colour scheme for a cake, I found - it seemed far too easy to stray into wedding cake territory.  I had a few ideas about blue macarons first but in the end I settled for blueberries to add the colour. I wanted to pair the blueberries with another flavour and hit on fresh ginger.

After some musing, I decided that the best way to showcase the blueberry and ginger combination was as such: fresh ginger syrup soaking the plain sponge, sandwiched together with a blueberry compote, slicked with a fresh ginger flavoured cream cheese icing and decorated with fresh blueberries.

The ginger sugar syrup was one of the best things I discovered while making this cake - it truly was so delicious. I'll have to make it again.

I wanted the icing to have that cream cheese tang but not be overpowering. To do this I decided to add nearly the same weight of mascarpone to even it out and add creaminess. To add the ginger flavour I made a concentrated syrup and some ground ginger to add an extra kick.

I made the blueberry compote to sandwich the layers with two packets of frozen blueberries - I was surprised at how well it worked and how tasty they were.

I found a new plain vanilla cake recipe in Good Food as I didn't really like the cake mixture I tried with my big Summer Fruits and White Chocolate Layer Cake. It turned out really well - I was very pleased. It was easy to put together and tasted fabulous. I didn't add the vanilla to the mix as I didn't want to add another flavour to the mix - and once it was soaked with the ginger syrup it was so tasty anyway.

I was very worried I wouldn't find the blueberries in the supermarket as they don't have them everyday. Thankfully I turned up when they opened and a big crate was sitting there waiting for me. I'm not totally pleased with the arrangement of the berries - particularly the way they photograph - but it meant every slice had the right number of berries and it did look quite striking.

The balance of each slice needed to be exactly right and thankfully I think I got it - the sharpness of the berries against the icing, the ginger and the blueberry compote, the right amount of cake. My mum always has great luck in whatever she does and so I'm entirely surprised that this cake turned out so well! I think it's the best thing I've made so far taste-wise.

It was a lovely party and I was so glad this cake came together so well. Lots of people came up to me saying how much they had enjoyed it and that really made my night. Every crumb was eaten up before we came home, which has never happened before. I don't feel like my photos really do this one justice - I was a bit hurried to finish and get ready as I did everything on the day of the party so didn't have lots of time to play with them.

The next four photos were taken by the photographer at the party, Thomas. The inside of the cake:

Me cutting the cake:

My mum (left) enjoying her third slice...

Shaggy, below, very kindly helped me with cutting the slices and handing them out.  I always like getting a thumbs up for my work!

Blueberry and Ginger Layer Cake

(Cake batter recipe from June 2009 Good Food Magazine, the rest is mine)

For this big cake, I made 2 batches of the mix for the 10" bottom layer in two tins, then 1 mix in a tall 8" tin and a half mix in another 8" tin.  This batter itself works in a single 20 cm tin or two tall smaller tins (like 7"). If making a 20 cm cake, halve the following icing etc recipes.

For the cakes (single mix):
250g unsalted butter, softened
250g caster sugar
5 large eggs
335g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
100g full-fat greek yogurt
3 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 160C/140C for fan ovens. Grease and fully line the tin. Put the butter and sugar in a mixer and cream till very pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. You may need to add a tbsp or two of flour to stop it getting slimy. Fold in the yogurt. Sift the flours over the batter and fold in - when nearly done, add the milk. Spoon into a tin and bake for about 1 hour - 1 hr 20 or until risen, golden and a skewer comes out clean (when split into two, 45-50 minutes). Leave to cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before spiking the cake all over and pouring some syrup over, letting it sink in as evenly as possible. Leave to cool completely before removing from the tin.

For the ginger syrup:
200g caster sugar
200 ml water
4 slices of fresh ginger

Take the root of ginger and cut small discs from it about 3 or 4 mm thick. Put the sugar, water and ginger discs into a small sauce pan and heat gently till the sugar is dissolved. Remove to a bowl and leave to infuse and cool.

For the blueberry compote:
500g frozen blueberries
zest and juice of 1 lemon
200g caster sugar
2 tbsp water

Put all the ingredients into a small saucepan and over a medium heat bring to the boil and then remove - you don't want it to be mushy, so try not to stir all the time or overcook it. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool.

For the ginger cream cheese icing:
150g room temperature unsalted butter
400g icing sugar
300g cream cheese
200g mascarpone
1 tsp ground ginger
3 cm fresh root ginger
20 ml water
30g caster sugar

Cut the ginger root up into small pieces then put in a small pan with the water and caster sugar. Wait till the sugar is dissolved them bring to the boil - you want this syrup to have a much more concentrated ginger flavour than the ginger syrup to soak the cakes in.  Leave to cool. Beat the butter and icing sugar together - this might be easier in a food processor as it won't come together and will be quite dusty. When the butter is evenly dispersed, add the cream cheese, mascarpone and ground ginger. Beat until smooth and increased in volume. Pour in the concentrated ginger syrup and beat again to incorporate. Put into the fridge to firm slightly.

To assemble:
fresh blueberries (I used four small packets).

Split the layers into the desired number. Sandwich them up on a board covered with four strips of baking parchment with the blueberry compote. Fix this in place with some wooden kebab sticks or similar for dowels - I used four from the top right through to the bottom. Trim as desired. Use a palette knife to cover the cake with a crumb coat - careful with the blueberry compote coming through. Put in the fridge/a cold place for 15 mins or so to firm up slightly. Carefully cover the cake with a thicker layer of icing, again being careful to not let the blueberry come through.  Starting from the top, start placing blueberries in the desired pattern, working downwards and then around. They should stay in the icing if pushed in slightly.  Remove the baking parchment and make any final touches. Put in a cool place till served (you don't want it too cold - it could be kept in the fridge and then taken out 15 mins or so before eating.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing and Birthday Cakes

I love making birthday cakes. There's something really lovely about bringing a smile to a friend's face on their special day. It's beginning to be a bit of a tradition among my friends at university that I provide the cake as a present - yesterday I made my forth of this (academic) year.

I've posted about birthday cakes before - such as with the trusty Double Chocolate Birthday Cake recipe for my Mum and when I made a Summer Fruit and White Chocolate Layer Cake for my mum's friend.  This summer I used the double chocolate recipe again to make my Grandfather's 90th birthday cake. I had to use rectangular roasting tins to make it as that was all I could find big enough in his kitchen -  I hadn't brought my tins over from home.  Still, it turned out well in the end - with some trimming!

I try not to branch out too much with birthday cakes.  It would be so disappointing if the birthday boy/girl didn't like it - let alone anyone else excited for a slice.  I try not to get too over enthusiastic about very dark chocolate ganaches and cutting sugar and steer towards something a bit sweeter and crowd-pleasing. For a similar reason, the past three have been vanilla sponge - especially as one of my lovely flat mates doesn't like chocolate cake for some unfathomable reason .

However, I have experimented a little with icings and decoration. The first (above) was covered with a drippy milk chocolate ganache. Then I sandwiched the second (below)with fresh raspberries and raspberry jam and covered it with vanilla buttercream, decorated with marshmallows, Smarties and chocolate buttons. The third (no pictures, unfortunately) was a square cake cut into an 'M' shape and covered in a Snickers icing - I melted milk chocolate, a Snickers bar, a spoonful of peanut butter and some butter together then beat in double cream when it had cooled - which was seriously good!

This time I decided I wanted to make a chocolate cake. Inevitably I reached for the family recipe, as above. I wanted to do something a little different with the icing.

In September last year, my Mum and I went into London the day before a family funeral. Neither of us were very well and we were feeling quite miserable. We were driving along in South Kensington when I noticed a bakery - and not just any bakery, but The Hummingbird Bakery. And so we stopped, found a parking space and went in. I had hot chocolate (very yummy and rich) and a red velvet cupcake (I had to try one, having never before) - Mum had a carrot cake cupcake.  It was all lovely - though I have to admit, I did find them slightly too sweet after a few bites. Still, they brought a smile to our faces on that difficult day.

We stayed for about an hour chatting to a mother and son who were sat at the next table about life and baking - and how good the bakery's cookbook was. I bought Mum a copy for christmas but I obviously couldn't separate her from it when I came here, so I was very pleased to hear my flat mate also was given a copy.

It was to this book that I came back to when I was searching for a cream cheese icing like the one I had tasted. I doubled the recipe to cover the cake, cut a large amount of the icing sugar out and added a bit more cream cheese. I used this plain icing to sandwich the four layers. Then I melted some dark chocolate and let it cool before folding it into the remaining icing. This I used to crumb-coat and then ice the cake - I had quite a bit leftover in the end. I used a little melted dark chocolate to decorate.

It's iced with the 'Harbour Master' because the birthday boy created a Port Night (Monday Night is Port Night, don't you know) at college and is styled as the Harbour Master. Don't ask.

Cream Cheese Icing/Frosting
(Origins in The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook)

400g icing sugar
100g butter, at room temperature
300g cream cheese
big pinch of salt

Beat the butter until smooth, then add the icing sugar and beat on a very low setting (or you'll suddenly find yourself in a cloud of sugar!) until it is evenly dispersed. It didn't come together - just turned it a pale yellow. Tip in the cream cheese and salt and mix in at a low speed until it comes together, then turn the speed up and beat until light and fluffyish.

50g dark chocolate

To make the remainder chocolate flavoured (to turn the whole mix, use maybe 75-100g depending on how much of a chocolate flavour you want) melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. Allow to cool till it's room temperature but still liquid, then pour into the icing and fold in evenly.