Avocado Chocolate Cake!

I was intrigued when this cake inspiration popped up on my Facebook page.  An avocado chocolate cake?!  Beetroot yes, carrot yes, even courgette, but I'd never heard of avocado in a cake before!  I wanted to give it a go as I have several friends who are vegan and I always find vegan cakes struggle to rise due to the lack of eggs and, as a result, I find the texture very dense.  I try every vegan cake recipe I stumble across, searching for that rare treasure, a light, fluffy vegan cake.  This one was a stunner!  Absolutely delicious, you cannot taste even the hint of avocado, rich, decadent and light as air - I definitely recommend.

Full recipe here - https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chocolate-avocado-cake

Ingredients

• a little dairy-free sunflower spread, for greasing
• 1 large, ripe avocado
  
  

  
  

  
  
  

  
   (about 150g)
• 300g light muscovado sugar
• 350g gluten-free plain flour
• 50g good quality cocoa powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  
  

  
  

  
  
  

  
• 2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
• 400ml unsweetened soya milk
• 150ml vegetable oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 160C or 140C fan.  Grease and line 2 x 20cm sandwich tins.  (Side note - you can now get 40 ready cut round cake liners of various sizes from Poundland!  I think £1 is a bargain for not having to fuss around cutting greaseproof paper up!)
2. Whizz the avocado and sugar in a food processor until smooth.  Add the rest of the cake ingredients (plus 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt) whizz again.
3. Divide equally between the tins and bake for 25 minutes (or until fully risen and a skewer comes out clean.)

Easy peasy simple pimple!

Now, I deviated from the recipe when it came to decoration.  As usual, I didn't have all the ingredients for the ganache and couldn't be bothered to go to the shops!  I used my favourite buttercream recipe.  I'm afaid I can't tell you the exact amount I used as I kept adding more until I had the right amount, but it was roughly these ratios...

• 1 cup vegan butter (I used Pure sunflower spread)
• 2 1/2 cups of icing sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• salt (to taste)

I always use salted butter in my non-vegan bakes, to offset the sweetness of the icing sugar.  I couldn't find salted vegan butter, so I added salt until it tasted right!

I didn't really have a plan in my head for decoration, I just made it up as I went along!

1. Put a little buttercream on your presentation plate to keep the cake still.  Set one cake on top of the buttercream and spread with a thicker layer of buttercream.  Top with the other cake.
2. Cover the whole cake in a thin layer of buttercream.  This is often called the 'crumb coat' as it sticks down all the crumbs and gives you a really smooth finish.  Chill the cake in the fridge (or the freezer if you're in a rush) until the crumb layer has firmed.  (This step is a little harder with vegan butter as it doesn't go as firm as dairy butter.  Maybe try the freezer to make it a little firmer!)
3. When the crumb coat is firm, remove the cake from the fridge.  Decorate with a thicker layer of buttercream (using a palette knife for a smoother finish).  Again, I reccommend chilling the cake before the next step.
4. There are several options for covering the cake with hundreds and thousands.  Some methods reccommend just pressing them against the cake but I found this very inefficient.  The most efficient method I found was to fill a tray with hundreds and thousands and roll the cake in them!  You want the cake to be really cold if you're trying this method.  Mine wasn't quite cold enough which is why it looks a little squashed!  Again, might be easier with dairy butter.
5. To make the chocolate decorations, I melted white vegan chocolate and milk vegan chocolate seperately and poured into piping bags,  It's very tricky to judge as you want the chocolate to cool down enough so it doesn't just run everywhere but you also want it viscous enough that you can actually pipe with it and that it doesn't block up the piping bag!  I piped the outlines first then squirted a load of chocoalte into the outline and used a skewer to spread it around.  I only made one at a time because they set quite quickly!  You want to let them set completely at room temperature, then put in the fridge to harden further.  Never put them in the fridge before they've set, you'll get white marks all over them and they'll look awful.
6. Arrange your chosen shapes in any way you want!  I did large at the back reducing in size to small at the front which I think looked quite effective!

My score: 4/5  Super easy to make but the vegan butter does make decorating a little more difficult.

Julia's Top Tips

• Be patient!  Let the cake cool and the chocolate cool as much as possible - they'll be much easier to work with!
• Experiment with decoration techniques - I originally piped rosettes over mine but decided it looked too 70s and spread it all out flat again!  Icing is very forgiving so don't be afraid to try different styles out before choosing your final finish.
• Always use salt in your icing - it balances the flavours and stops your teeth from aching!

Keeeeeeeeeeep baking!

My Go-To Never-Fail Cookie Recipe!

My brother and I first stumbled across these delicious cookies on one of our many trips to New York.  We'd booked a food tour in Greenwich Village and our final stop was Milk and Cookies.  We had our first taste of cookie heaven, still warm from the oven.  My brother insisted on going back the next day for more and bought me the cookbook so I could make more when we returned to England!  

They are super easy to make and I really recommend buying the book as it has so many different recipes and they are all super easy but mouth-wateringly good!  I mostly use the classic chocolate chip recipe and adapt the extras to whatever I feel like.  My two most common are double chocolate chip or white chocolate chip with cranberries and sour cherries.  

 Ingredients

• 7 1/2 ounces rolled oats
• 8 ounces plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 12 ounces unsalted butter
• 7 ounces granulated sugar
• 7 ounces light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

Method

Step One: Make the Dough
Preheat the oven to 350F/180C/160C fan.  Whizz the oats in a food processor.  When they are finely ground, pour them into a mixing bowl and stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In a separate bowl, beat the butter on a low speed until soft.  Beat on a medium speed until light and creamy.  Keep beating continuously as you add the granulated sugar followed by the brown sugar.  When it is really light and creamy, add the eggs one at a time.  If the mixture looks like it's going to curdle, add a spoonful of the dry ingredients as you mix.  Fold in the vanilla and the rest of the dry ingredients - do not overmix!

Step Two: Add the flavours
Now's the time to add whatever cookie flavours you prefer most.  

• Double chocolate chip - add 2 cups of semisweet chocolate chunks and 2 cups of bittersweet chocolate curls and fold in
• White chocolate, cranberry and sour cherry - add 2 cups of white chocolate chips, 1 cup sour cherries and 1 cup dried cranberries and fold in
• M and M's - add 3 cups of M and M's and fold in
• Peanut butter and chocolate chip - beat in 1 cup peanut butter before you add the eggs, then fold in 2 cups dark chocolate chips at the end

Experiment and see what works for you!

Step Three: Bake the Cookies
Roll tablespoons of the mixture between your hands and place them widely spaced on a lined baking sheet.  Press down with the back of a spoon, then bake for about 15 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack and then eat them warm!

I often make a double batch and freeze some for later - just place in a freezer-safe bowl, cover in parchment and foil and freeze for up to three months.  Get the dough out of the freezer the night before you want to bake and follow Step Three as above.

 My score: 5/5 Super easy!  Delicious on their own or white ice cream and chocolate sauce! 

Julia's Top Tips

• Don't over mix the dough - it doesn't matter if it's a little streaky.
• Try different flavour combinations and see what works - go crazy! :)
• Oven times vary so watch your cookies carefully - mine are sometimes done after 12 minutes

Happy Birthday Hedgehog Cake!

Every year, I make my husband an elaborate birthday cake.  Last year, for his 29th birthday, I made him an R2D2 cake.  I really wasn't sure how to top that this year for his 30th.  Some of the ideas I thought of were a Millenium Falcon cake or a tank cake, but Dan decided he wanted a chocolatey chocolate cake covered with chocolate :)  His favourite animal is a hedgehog, and his favourite chocolate is flake, so, after seeing a hedgehog cake on instagram, I knew that's what I had to make.

This is my go-to chocolate cake recipe for shaped cakes.  It's made with egg whites so it's very strong and easy to cut and shape.  It's from this book, Contemporary Cake Decorating Bible.  I find it really useful because it has ratios for different cake shapes and sizes, so you can adjust it to suit your own cake tins.  

These ratios are for a 7inch cake tin (greased and lined):

• 225g plain chocolate
• 175g unsalted butter
• 115g caster sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 40g icing sugar
• 175g self-raising flour

Step One: Make the Cake

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan).  Melt the chocolate and set aside to cool a little.  Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy.  Separate the eggs and add the yolks to the creamed butter and sugar.  Now that the chocolate has cooled slightly, add the melted chocolate to the egg yolks, butter and sugar.  In a separate glass bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks.  (Glass is best for whisking egg whites in).  Gradually add the icing sugar to the egg whites.

Sift the flour into another bowl.  Slowly fold in a spoonful of egg whites into the chocolate mixture (using a large metal spoon) followed by a spoonful of flour.  Repeat until everything is folded in.  Gently pour into the prepared tin and bake for about an hour.  Test with a skewer - if there is still cake mix sticking to it, bake for another 15 minutes.  Once a skewer comes out clean, allow the cake to cool completely in the tin, then wrap in foil and rest overnight before cutting and shaping.

Step Two:  Cut and Assemble the Cake 

Cut the cake in half and fill with chocolate buttercream.  I always use 1 cup salted butter to 3 cups icing sugar for buttercream, plus 2 tsp vanilla extract.  For chocolate, swap one tbsp of icing sugar for cocoa powder.  Beat the butter until very creamy, then slowly add the icing sugar and cocoa powder until you have a spreadable buttercream.  

Go to this website for a full tutorial for assembling the hedgehog cake.  

Once you have filled the cake, cut the cake into sections like this:

The little parts can be frozen for another time (or eaten whilst you are decorating the cake!) Place the rounded parts on top of the cake to make the hedgehog shape:

Step Three: Decorate the Cake

Cover the entire cake with buttercream, then cover with flakes.  You will need to cut them to the correct length, so the shorter 'spines' are at the front of the cake, and the longer 'spines' are towards the back.  Make the hedgehog face using giant chocolate buttons and a glace cherry!

I used leftover flake crumbs to cover the area between the spines, and to create the 'forest floor' effect.  I also made some cupcakes and decorated them green for 'grass'.

My score: 4/5 Reasonably tricky but well worth it :) A very Happy Birthday cake!

Julia's Top Tips

• DON'T make your hedgehog too tall - I did and it looked a bit bizarre (another reason for the cupcakes was to hide its height!)  Trim a bit off your cake if it is looking too tall.
• You want a stiff buttercream so that the whole creation holds it shape - use a bit of extra icing sugar and store the finished cake in the fridge so the flakes don't fall out if soft icing!
• Don't worry if it looks a bit messy, it adds to the overall rustic woodland effect! ;)

Keeeeeep baking!