Today is going to be an easy day for me as I seem to have been exhausted the last few days and under the weather to the point that I haven’t wanted to do any baking. I had to force myself to bake yesterday and I am still plodding on today as it is a recipe writing day so the first one I am sharing is for my Chocolate Birthday Cake which I made for my husband yesterday. This is a basic cake recipe with a water ganache topping and lots of sweeties. It is quite easy to make and is a delicious treat for any special occasion. You don’t have to use numbers on the top of the cake, it could be a picture or even a name if your feeling confident enough but the numbers work well – just cut them big enough that there is plenty of support available for the rest of the cake when you remove the cut outs.
[lt_recipe name=”Chocolate Birthday Cake” servings=”16″ prep_time=”20M” cook_time=”35M” total_time=”55M” difficulty=”Intermediate” summary=”Any flavour/decorations and cut outs can be used to make this cake. Nutritionally, one slice contains 406 calories, 23.9g total fat (31% daily total fat), 42.8g total carbohydrate (16% daily total carbohydrate), 2.1g fibre (7% daily fibre) (based on a 2000 calorie diet).” print=”yes” image=”https://www.love-to-bake.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/chocbirthday.jpg” ingredients=”For the sponge:;12oz soft margarine;10oz self raising flour;2oz cocoa;10oz dark brown soft sugar;6 eggs;For the ganache:;200g dark chocolate;100g water;Lots of decorations” ]For the ganache:;Melt the chocolate with the water in a pan and place in the fridge to thicken.;For the sponge:;Preheat the oven to Gas 4.;Line a deep sided 8 inch square tin.;In a mixing bowl, weigh out the ingredients for the sponge.;Whisk together to form a smooth batter.;Transfer to the tin.;Bake for 35 minutes till firm to the touch.;Allow to cool and remove from the tin.;Using a paper stencil of the numbers place on the sponge and cut around with a sharp knife. Cut right through to the base of the cake.;Lift up the sponge and the pieces will be easier to dislodge along with the help of another pair of hands.;Fill the cut outs with sweets.;Spread the ganache all over the rest of the sponge.;Decorate with more sweets, the wilder the better.[/lt_recipe]
This cake is very rich and will be full with calories but it is for special occasions only so once in a blue moon is okay. Don’t you think? I love my sparkly picture which I shared on Facebook yesterday. Go take a look!!
Tomorrow, I am going to bake the Marzipan and Sweet Mincemeat Muffins which I am sure my husband will enjoy but I am going to half the mixture and make some Chocolate Chip Muffins for the children too. Talk about “killing two birds with one stone” sometimes I feel like I am wonder woman the amount of jobs I am trying to get through in this house of mine. At least I am feeling a bit better tonight but it has taken me all day to pull myself around enough to write something for my blog. I have been exhausted all day and I am putting it down to the amount of jobs I am doing, as well as, the need for a eye test perhaps?? I will book for one next week before I do anything else. Even though I feel a bit better now I won’t be overdoing it tomorrow – just the basics. 🙂 I am off now for a bit of cake and cream with a cup of coffee on the side.
Not too bad for me to bake and decorate a cake when I have been feeling under the weather for a few days now. Hoping that I am over the worst now and I will be back to my old self tomorrow as I have missed being in the kitchen and creating recipes this last week. 🙂
If you like my recipes and want to see more then there are plenty to choose from in my recipe books which are available on Amazon as e-books and paperbacks. Remember the latest book called “A Year of Baking For Family and Friends” is on offer from the 19th of January 2018 for one week.