Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

Ok, breathe a sigh of relief everyone. I have found the perfect chocolate cake for you all. A perfect, no mixer required, one tin wonder. It was Chub's birthday last week and I had to pander to his every request. Nothing but a chocolate and peanut butter cake would do and of course it then had to be produced. I had a quick look through my many, many recipe books and settled on the chocolate cake from Gizzi's Kitchen Magic, which is actually an Earl Grey chocolate fudge cake. I omitted the tea when I made it and was seriously dubious of the melt and mix method but soldiered on nonetheless. The cake came out of the oven perfectly flat on top, which would make it great for using for cakes that are going to be iced with sugar paste. This one however was destined to be covered with a peanut butter cream cheese icing with a peanut butter chocolate ganache inspired by Smitten Kitchen (completely in love with this lady!)

Even with the icing, I found the cake to be not too rich and it was incredibly more-ish. If you are a peanut butter fan, this one is for you....

Ps - For birthday lunch we went to The Residence Restaurant Forty One on Stephen's Green and did the tasting menu. The dining room was beautiful, the staff delightfully well trained and the food completely faultless and absolutely delicious. I'm already looking forward to our next trip!

Chocolate Fudge Cake - adapted from 'Gizzi's Kitchen Magic' Gizzi Erskine
150ml boiling water, cooled a little
100g butter, melted and cooled
3 large eggs
150g soft dark brown sugar
100g light brown sugar
250g self-raising flour
120g plain chocolate (70% cocoa solids) melted and cooled
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
3 tbs greek yogurt or natural yogurt

Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees or 160 degrees fan assisted.
Grease and line 20cm round deep cake springform tin with butter and greaseproof paper.
Place all ingredients into a mixing bowl or food processor and mix until you have a smooth batter.
Pour the batter into the tin and level the surface.
Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Leave in the tin to cool in its tin, covered by a clean tea-towel for 2 hours.

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Icing - Smitten Kitchen, but previously from 'Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes'
I've slightly changed the ingredients as I can't deal with cups! It's also important to have the ingredients at room temperature
Ingredients
250g full-fat cream cheese
110g butter
500g icing sugar
2/3 cup smooth peanut butter

Method
Cream the cream cheese and butter together until well combined.
Add the icing sugar, 1 cup at a time and mix well after each addition.
Add the peanut butter and mix until well combined.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache - Smitten Kitchen, but previously from 'Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes'
225g dark chocolate (70% solids)
3 tbs smooth peanut butter
2tbs corn syrup (I was able to find this in the Asia Market randomly, but if you can't find it maybe add golden syrup or just leave it out)
1/2 cup double cream

Method
Combine the chocolate, corn syrup (if using) and peanut butter into a double boiler until melted. Slowly add the cream and stir well between each addition. If you do this too quickly, the mixture may freeze.

Assembly
I wrap the cake in cling film and put in the freezer for about an hour, before cutting in two layers with a large serrated knife. This stops the cake crumbling too much when cutting in half.
Once the cake is cut in half, add some of the cream cheese mixture to the centre and spread. Add the top half and then spread the remaining mixture over the cake. You will have enough icing to have a fairly thick layer. This is a very good thing.
Spread the chocolate ganache on top of the cream cheese mixture. To get a smooth finish, dip a long palette knife in hot water, dry it and then using it to smooth the icing.

Done!

Some Instagram pictures

Chocolate Orange Cake

It's that time of year again. January. Boo. Dark nights and cold days. It was alright before Christmas when we knew we had a feast to look forward to and days away from the desk. But now it feels a little sad. Going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark is no fun. Sometimes I feel like the worst part of my day is standing in the cold waiting on the train to arrive. If I were to look on the brightside at least that means that the worst part of my day is over terribly early and I can get on with the rest of the day with nothing so bad to dread (except the gym, I will dread the gym for a few weeks yet 'til I get back in the spin swing of it again)

But dark nights mean lighting cosy candles, snuggling down on the sofa, reading a book, drinking red wine or baking a cake. Not too shabby in my opinion.

I was gifted Lilly Higgins 'Make Bake Love' for Christmas, a signed copy nonetheless! It's a lovely book and there are many things which I have picked out to bake already. This recipe was picked out by sister, who celebrates the first birthday of the year which falls on the third. Not a good day for celebrating a birthday as it's when everyone normally goes back to work with a heavy heart and hips.

The cake is a simple two layer sponge cake. I've changed it around a little from Lillys. I've added extra cocoa, chocolate, zest and juice to the cake.  I've changed the icing a bit too and instead of Lily's suggested white buttercream and chocolate ganache I've made an extra chocolate-y buttercream with pimped up orange flavouring. Below is my adaption.

Chocolate Orange Cake - Adapted from Lilly Higgin's 'Make Bake Love'

Cake Ingredients
225g softened butter
225g caster sugar
4 eggs
50ml milk
1 orange, zest and juice
225g flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp cocoa
50g dark chocolate orange, melted


Buttercream Ingredients
200g icing sugar
60g cocoa
1 orange, zest and juice
1 tbsp milk


Decoration Ideas
Dark chocolate orange, grated or orangettes (yum), Terry's chocolate orange segments (double treble yum)


For the cake...
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees or fan 160 degrees.
Grease 2 x 20 cm round sandwich pans and line the bottoms with greaseproof paper.
Sift the cocoa, flour and baking powder together into a bowl.
Cream the butter and sugar in a freestanding mixer until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs one by one, adding a tablespoon of the dry ingredients after each egg to stop the mix curdling. 
Once the eggs are fully mixed in, add the orange zest, orange juice, milk and melted chocolate. Mix well again.
Fold in the remaining dry ingredients gently.
Split between the two prepared tins and bake for about 25-30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly on a rack.
Remove the cakes from the tins and allow to cool completely on a rack.


For the icing...
Sift the icing sugar, milk, cocoa, orange zest and juice in a freestanding mixer until well combined.


Assembly....
Sandwich the two layers together with a generous helping of icing.
Spread the remaining icing over the top and around the sides. A long flexible palette knife is useful here!
Decorate to your hearts content.

Baileys and Hazelnut Meringue Cake

I am an addict.  I am addicted to buying cookery books and magazines. I have spent a fortune on them, I'm trying to stop but it's so hard. I rarely buy in bookstores anymore and go straight to the internet to feed my habit (like what I did there?) There's nothing nicer than getting nice post through the letterbox. I turned to the library and borrowed a book I liked the look of but that only made me want it for my own all the more. Santa granted my wish and brought it for Christmas. Nicely gift wrapped under a tree beats nice post any day. I love the thrill of a new book and deciding what I'm going to cook first. I love magazines too for seasonal ideas. I've also tried cutting them out too but I don't always win. I pass through Heuston Station on the way home every evening, when I'm at my weakest, tired and hungry and  Easons is always there trying to to tempt me with a magazine to make my soul feel better. My purse doesn't feel the same. Me and the purse are on a diet now.... sigh.

I had a huge collection of food magazines collecting dust on my shelves so during the summer I was particularly ruthless and did a clear out. I went through each of them and ripped out the recipes I wanted planning to file them all properly with an index. As usual, the novelty wore off this project pretty quickly, so while I have them in a folder, they are not indexed or in any sort of order. So I will probably never look at them again. I did keep all of my Christmas magazines though and flicked through them in December for some inspiration. I came across this meringue cake and thought it would make a perfect Christmas Day dessert, but really it would be a great dessert any day.

We were kindly gifted a bottle of Hazelnut Baileys by some friends which I took as a sign. Some Ferrero Rocher also mysteriously turned up (I took this as another sign), chocolate, hazelnuts and Baileys - a match made in heaven. I chopped up the Ferrero Rocher and layered them on top of the softly whipped cream. If you would like to make it more seasonal during the Summer, some raspberries or strawberries would be amazing too, I think.

Baileys & Hazelnut Meringue Cake - BBC Good Food Magazine December 2009
Serves 6

Notes - I picked up a bag of slightly roasted hazelnuts in the Asia Market on Drury Street very reasonably. The added bonus was the skins were already removed, which meant I didn't have to roast or toast the hazelnuts and then rub them like mad in a tea towel trying to remove the skins. I still gave them a light toast in dry pan to add extra flavour.
Do ahead, the meringues can be made up to 3 days in advance if stored in an airtight tin.
I always use vanilla caster sugar.
Please don't throw away the egg yolks, use them for custard or ice-cream or lemon curd or extra luxurious scrambled eggs. I hate wasting them.

Ingredients
150g toasted hazelnuts
5 egg whites
280g caster sugar
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
300ml double cream
3 tbsp Baileys or more to taste
Icing sugar to dust


Method
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees, fan assisted 170 degrees. Line 2 x 20cm round tins with foil, then lightly oil the foil. 
In a food processor, whizz the hazelnuts until finely ground. 
Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Whisk in most of the sugar a spoonful at a time, until the mixture is stiff and glossy. Stir in the remaining sugar into the nuts and fold into the meringue with the vinegar. 
Divide the mixture between the two tins and level the tops. 
Bake for 40-45 minutes until firm, then cool in the oven 
When the meringues are cold, carefully peel off the foil. 
To serve, whisk the cream, icing sugar and Baileys together until softly whipped. 
Put one of the meringues, top side down on a plate, then spread with the cream. Put the other meringue layer on top and dust generously with icing sugar. 

2011 - A Year in Cake

January - my sister's birthday cake. Yes it's a cat's head. Chocolate orange sponge with buttercream. 

January - Chub's Birthday Cake. Coconut, lime and raspberry. 

February - Keeva's 3rd birthday cake. Chocolate and more chocolate. 

March - Karen's birthday cake - carrot cake with fresh orange buttercream. 

April - a wedding cake. Fruit cake, chocolate biscuit cake and tiffin. 

May - Adam's 6th birthday cake - chocolate and fresh cream.

June - Boston Cream Cupcakes. 

July - just doing some practice. 

August - my birthday! Drinking a margarita instead of baking a cake is good on one's birthday. 

September - Lemon Drizzle Cakes. 

October - Chocolate Cola Cupcakes & Vanilla '99s' for the Great Irish Bake for Temple St Children's Hospital. 

November - Frangipane Mince Pies. 

December - Traditional Fruit Christmas Cake. 

Happy New Year! x

Chocolate Cola Cupcakes

I think Nigella likes to put Cola in everything, hams, cakes you name it! These cakes really entice children as the thought of cake, cola and icing all together sounds too good to be true.

I used the Odlums recipe for these cakes, but instead of a two layered cake I made cupcakes instead. I didn't use the recommended icing either and instead made a chocolate buttercream from the Hummingbird Bakery as I thought it would be better for piping with. Together they are a match made in heaven. Rich, chocolately and very more-ish.

I made these for the Bake Sale I helped with a few weeks ago and decorated in a few different ways....

Smarter than the average bear

Fizzy cola bottles

Add some antlers and the bears magically turn into reindeer

Or how about some sugar paste flowers?

Chocolate Cola Cake - Adapted from Odlums 
I love the Odlums website, it so definitely retro but perfect for being so.


Ingredients
350g Odlums Self Raising Flour 
300g Caster Sugar 
3 heaped tablespoons Cocoa (sieved) 
Good pinch of Bread Soda 
225g Butter 
225ml Cola 
125ml Milk 
2 Eggs (beaten) 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees or 160 degrees fan.

Sieve flour, cocoa and bread soda into a bowl. 

Slowly melt butter in a saucepan with the cola. 

In a jug mix the eggs, milk and vanilla extract. 

Add the cola and milk mixtures to the dry ingredients. Mix throughly but gently. 

Use an ice-cream scoop to evenly distribute the batter between the bun cases. 

Bake for about 15 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. 

Allow to cool on a wire rack. 

Decorate to your hearts content. 

Chocolate Buttercream Icing - Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days

400g icing sugar

100g cocoa powder

160g unsalted butter

80ml whole milk

In the freestanding mixer, combine the butter, icing sugar and cocoa until and mix until sandy in texture. Add the milk and mix until smooth.


Decorations - 
I used sugarpaste for the reindeer / bear snouts, stamped out with the lid from the vodka bottle (the only reason I keep a bottle of vodka around!) Coloured with chesnut. The ears are a piece of chesnut fondant with a smaller piece of pink inside, shaped with boning tool. The eyes are also made from sugarpaste. I made the antlers with melted chocolate freehand, melt the chocolate, leave to cool slightly, pop into a freezer bag or piping bag and pipe out shapes onto a sheet of greaseproof paper. 
For the flowers, I stamped out coloured sugarpaste with a PME flower stamper. I then left them to harden in an egg box to give them shape. The leaves are cut free hand and shaped with a boning tool. 

Lemon Drizzle Cakes with Lemon Curd - 'Curdzles'

If I were to magically become a UK resident (again!) and could enter The Great British Bake Off, this would be my signature bake. I make this cake more often than any other. Sometimes in squares, or loaves or cupcakes. Whatever form it comes in, it's amazing!

I've made this recipe so many times, I could nearly do it with my eyes closed. Until Friday. I baked two dozen cupcakes for the cake sale with the plain flour I had out on the counter and not the self raising the recipe calls for. I only noticed when I peeped in through the glass door of the oven and alarm bells started ringing. 'Why aren't they rising?' I was shouting at everyone in the house. The cat didn't care. Chub didn't care. I flamin' well cared though and started a sit down protest by the oven willing them to rise, until I realised what I had done. There wasn't a chance in hell they were going to rise. They were still edible. I ate two of them. Probably more to take them out of my sight than anything else. I'm not sure what to do with them now, they are asleep in the freezer now until I can figure out a plan as I just can not make myself throw them out.

The second time around, I added a little home-made lemon curd to the centre before baking, which was delicious. But I think anything with a lemon curd inside would be delicious really.

The recipe I use comes from an old baking book that my Mam found for me in a second hand shop (in fact the local Fred's Fashions as it used to be known back then!) many years ago when I first started taking an interest in baking.

Lemon Drizzle Cakes - Practical Cooking Baking
Makes about a dozen cupcakes or 1 loaf or 7inch square cake


Ingredients
125g butter
175g caster sugar, I usually use vanilla caster sugar
2 large eggs
175g self-raising flour
2 lemons, preferably unwaxed - otherwise wash really well in warm water
50g granulated sugar


Method
Preheat the oven to 180 or 160 fan assisted. 
In a freestanding mixer, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy and pale in colour. 
Beat the eggs and gradually add them to the butter and sugar mix. 
Add the flour, I do this in the freestanding mixer and it works perfectly without making the sponge dense. 
Add the zest and the juice from one lemon to the mixture. 
Spoon into the prepared tins. (If you would like to add the lemon curd, spoon a little of the cake mixture into the base of the tin, add a teaspoon of curd and then top with more cake, until the case is two thirds full - pic above)
Bake in the preheated oven until a skewer comes out clean, checking after 15 minutes. 
Remove from oven but leave the cakes in the tin. 
Meanwhile, zest the remaining lemon and mix with 25g of the granulated sugar. Reserve. 
Squeeze the lemon juice into a small saucepan with the remaining sugar. Heat gently, stirring occasionally. When the sugar has dissolved simmer gently for 3-4 minutes until syrupy. 
Skewer the cakes all over. 
Sprinkle the lemon zest and sugar over the top of the cake and then drizzle over the syrup and leave to cool.

Lemon Curd - Adapted from Rachel Allen Bake
Makes 250ml


Ingredients
75g butter
150g caster sugar
Finely grated zest and juice of 3 lemons
2 eggs
1 egg yolk


Method
Place the butter, sugar, lemon zest and juice into a medium size saucepan. 
Sieve the eggs and egg yolk into the saucepan, this breaks up the egg white and prevents long strands of cooked eggs through the mix. 
Put the saucepan onto a low heat and stir until the mixture has thickened and will coat the back of a spoon. 
Remove the pan from the heat and pour into a sterilised jar. 

In case you're wondering - this is how stressed the cat was about the non-rising cakes.....

Traditional Fruit Cake

I already have my Christmas cake made. Yes, I feel smug and a bit domesticy-goddessy! The cake is wrapped up tightly in brown paper and safely stowed upstairs in the spare room out of danger. It's drinking more alcohol than I did when I was in college on a regular basis. We're skint feeding the cake brandy.

I've been using the same recipe for fruit cake as long as I have been making it. This year is our (the recipe and me's) third anniversary. My cousin gave it to me and her friend gave it to her, I hope they won't mind me sharing with you. I think it's a recipe that was probably passed down through the family and it's nice to think how many Christmases, weddings and other special occasions it has been baked for in the past.

I normally ice in marzipan and then fondant before decorating. I want to do a bit of step-by-step here closer to the time on these bits so don't forget to check back.....

If you want to see something that will make you giggle, I will show you my first attempt at cake decorating, three long years ago, my first Christmas cake. I spotted a picture of three reindeer panned out  on a beach in a book. Not real reindeer obviously but sugarpaste ones. And I found it suitably amusing so I thought I would do that. I underestimated how long it would take and lost the will to complete the antlers before calling it a day. So my reindeer actually look like three sunbathing pigs. I hadn't noticed this, until I presented the cake to someone who called over for admiration and they were like 'oh lovely, sunbathing pigs' I turned to drink to help me think that comment was funny and then we ended up posing the pigs in strange locations.

But to make myself feel better 'cos your all laughing at me now. I also used this fruit cake recipe for the 10" layer of my wedding cake.... and here's a picture of that.....  I did it all myself, baking, icing, decorating and delivering *takes a bow*

The recipe was given with a strange list of ingredients, all a mixture of nothing exact, grammes and ounces. I will put both the original and what I make it out as.

Adrienne's Cousin Anne-Marie's Friend's Fruit Cake


Line an 8" circular tin with a double layer of greased parchment paper & place a layer of brown paper around the outside of the tin.


Original List of Ingredients
60z of brown sugar
8oz of flour
60z of butter
100g of chopped almonds
100g of ground almonds
1 packet of sultanas
1 packer of mixed fruit
1 tsp of nutmeg
2 tubs of cherries
1 tsp of mixed spice
1 tub of mixed peel
3 eggs
1 large orange
50ml of brandy + 40ml for pouring over the cake when cooked.


OR


My List of Ingredients
170g soft brown sugar
170g butter
375g sultanas
375g mixed fruit
300g glace cherries, chopped
200g mixed peel
1 large orange
227g plain flour
100g chopped almonds
100g ground almonds
1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1 tsp mixed spice
3 eggs
50ml brandy + a whole lot more.


Method
Preheat the oven to 140 degrees (fan assisted)
Place the sugar, butter, sultanas, mixed fruit, cherries, mixed peel, 50ml brandy, zest and juice of the orange into a saucepan. Put the saucepan on a low heat until the sugar and butter have completely dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.
Mix the eggs together in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, almonds and spices.
Add half the flour mixture and half the beaten eggs to the ingredients in the saucepan and mix well. Add the remaining flour mixture and eggs and again mix well.
Pour into the lined cake tin and place on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 2 hours 15 minutes. If you feel the cake is getting too brown on top, cover with a circle of greaseproof paper (this is called a cartouche to those in the know!)
After 2 hrs 15 mins, begin testing the cake with a dry skewer. Insert the skewer into the centre of the cake for 5 seconds, if the skewer comes out clean, the cake is cooked, if not leave in the oven for a further 10-15 minutes and check again.
When the cake is done, remove from the oven.
After 10-15 minutes pour a few tablespoons of brandy over the top of the warm cake.
Allow the cake to cool completely cold before removing from the tin.
Wrap the cake in parchment paper and then tin foil until feeding time.

To feed the cake
I don't know if this is right or wrong, but it's what I do. I use a clean skewer to poke a few holes through the cake and pour a couple of tablespoons of brandy over it. Then I just wrap it up again until the next time. For the next feeding, I turn the cake over and poke it in the bottom (snigger!) and pour another couple of tablespoons of the good stuff over it. I would probably give it about 3 or 4 feedings before Christmas, if I think of it.