It has become something of a tradition that Maxi always has a chocolate smartie cake for his birthday. This year I decided to try and do something a little more eye catching. I love baking, but find icing larger cakes something of a chore. So this cake is very forgiving.

Cake Ingredients

6 oz of butter or marg
6 oz caster sugar
5 oz of self raising flour
1 oz of coco powder
1 teaspoon of baking powder
2 eggs
half teaspoon of vanilla extract
3 tablespoons of milk

Method.

Cream together the marg/butter and sugar. Then add the rest of the ingredients in and mix well!

Put in two 7 inch cake tins (I line the tins with parchment and grease) and place in to a preheated oven of 180 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. You can tell if the cakes are cooked if when you press the top it gives slightly but springs back.

Remove from oven and leave for 2 minutes before removing from tins and placing on to a wire rack to cool.

Icing Ingredients:

1 block of butter (250gm of 10 oz)
450 grams icing sugar
50 gms of coco powder
half teaspoon of vanilla extract
4 tablespoons of milk
Method

Soften the butter in a mixer before adding the other ingredients. Make sure you start mixing very slowly so you do not get icing sugar everywhere. If your mixer does not have a splatter guard then cover with a tea towel.

Assembling the cake

Sandwich together your two cakes with icing and then apply the remaining icing around and on top of the cake. You are going to use the using around the cake to stick the chocolate fingers to the cake, so make sure you have enough at the sides.

I applied the fingers and then refrigerated the cake overnight, before covering the top with smarties the following day.

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I along with 9 other bloggers are taking part in The Great Blogger Bake Off challenge. Each of the bloggers involved has been allocated a letter to put on top of their cakes, you can see Cass’s and her Cherry Bakewell Cupcakes. There will be a letter a week over the ten weeks of the series, at the end you can unjumble them to find a word.

These cupcakes were pretty easy to bake and went down a treat at home. They look much more impressive than they are to make and I will be baking them again with different fillings and toppings.

We received most of the ingredients to make the cupcakes, a complimentary copy of the Great British Bake Off Book and the app.

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Cool on a wire rack.

Hints and tips from the first time maker.
I put far too much sauce in and it bubbled out making the muffins rather sticky to eat, but they are delicious. Next time I will put less batter in the bottom and then less sauce and more batter on top.

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Whenever I make Spagetti Carbonara, I am always left with 4 egg whites, so I have been looking for a receipe, other than meranges (as MadDad doesnt like then) for quite a while.

Finally whilst looking through some old books came across one that I wrote down an age ago (when I used to rip out pages of magazines and buy food magazines, which means it was pre children). I do not know the source of this recipe, so can not quote it , sorry.

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The boys have gone to school today decked out in red, white and blue clothes (right down to their underwear) to celebrate the royal wedding tomorrow. The school is hosting a party for all the children and parents this afternoon and sent our a request for food for the party. So as we had been sent lots of things for baking over the Easter Holidays by Kellogg’s and Disney, which we hadn’t used as we were making the most of the fine weather, we decided to make patriotic Club Penguin Rice Krispy Puffle nests.

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Last year we decorated gingerbread houses, but the boys do not like the taste of gingerbread so it was a waste in the long run, although it was fun. So this year we decided to make our own gingerbread men and decorate them instead, so I set about finding a not so gingery gingerbread recipe.  more »

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I love cooking and baking with the boys and for me the secret is letting go and dealing with the mess afterwards, plus good planning, making sure all the ingredients are out and the equipment etc.  I think that by empowering the boys to cook and bake it will stand them in good stead as more »

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I think the sun forgot our little park of the North East today. So we have spent the day baking. Maxi did all the weighing and measuring Mini did most of the stirring and tasting We have had a lot of fun and made lots of cakes Oat and raisin cooks and mince pies (mini’s favorites) more »

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I dont say it lightly, but these cookies are amazing and never last in our house.  They truly are the best.  This is an American Recipe (it came on the back of some sunmaid raisins from the US), but that said is super easy for the boys, as I have some plastic cup measures that more »

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We have been busy in the kitchen this weekend, making and baking and bring in new traditions to TheMadHouse. Hot Cross Buns “Hot cross buns, Hot cross buns, One a penny, two a penny, Hot cross buns.” “If you have no daughters,  give them to your sons, One a penny, two a penny, Hot cross more »

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