lucy's black and white 30th birthday chocolate mud cake

Recipe courtesy of Cupid's Delight; icing courtesy of Martha Stewart

375g butter
375g dark chocolate
3 tbsp instant espresso coffee powder
185ml hot water
225g self-raising flour
225g plain flour
90g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
825g caster sugar
6 eggs
3 tbsp oil
185 ml buttermilk

Preheat oven to 160C. Prepare 23cm square cake tin.

Put the butter, chocolate and coffee in a pan with 185ml hot water. Stir over low heat until smooth. Remove from heat.

Sift the flours, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Stir in sugar and make a well in the centre. Add the combined eggs, oil and buttermilk. Using a large spoon, slowly stir to start incorporating the ingredients. Gradually stir in the melted chocolate mixture. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Stack cakes, sandwich with swiss meringue buttercream, and decorate with fondant icing.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Icing

450g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 egg whites
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Beat butter with electric mixer until fluffy and pale. Transfer to small bowl.

In double boiler over simmering water, whisk sugar and egg whites until warm and sugar is dissolved, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to clean bowl of electric mixer; beat on high with whisk attachment until fluffy and cooled, about 10 minutes.

Reduce mixer to medium-low; add butter a scant 1/4 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla.

Switch to paddle attachment; beat on lowest speed 3 to 5 minutes. Leave at room temperature if using same day.

emma's rainbow birthday cake!

Recipe courtesy of Martha Stewart

Ingredients

3 cups self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
226g softened unsalted butter
2 1/3 cups sugar
5 large egg whites
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk
Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple food coloring

Buttercream or meringue icing

1.Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease six 9 inch round cake pans. Line bottoms with parchment paper; brush again and set aside.

2.In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar. Slowly add egg whites and mix until well combined. Add vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. Add flour mixture and milk in two alternating additions, beginning with the flour and ending with the milk. Mix until well combined.

3.Divide batter evenly between six bowls. Add enough of each color of food coloring to each bowl, whisking, until desired shade is reached. Transfer each color to an individual cake pan. Transfer to oven and bake about 15-20 minutes.

4.Remove cakes from oven and transfer to a wire rack; let cool for 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto a wire rack; re-invert and let cool completely.

5.Using a serrated knife, trim tops of cakes to make level. Place four strips of parchment paper around perimeter of a serving plate or lazy Susan. Place the purple layer on the cake plate. Spread a scant 1 cup buttercream filling over the first layer with a small offset spatula so it extends just beyond edges. Repeat process with blue, green, yellow, and orange layers.

6.Place the remaining red layer on top, bottom-side up. Gently sweep away any loose crumbs with a pastry brush. Using an offset spatula, cover the top and sides with a thin layer of icing. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.

7.Using an offset spatula, cover cake again with remaining frosting.

maude's 80th birthday cake

Recipe courtesy of exclusivelyfood.com.au

300g white chocolate
200g butter
250ml (1 cup) milk
165g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
2 teaspoons (10ml) vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
100g (2/3 cup) self-raising flour
150g (1 cup) plain flour

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius (145 degrees Celsius fan-forced).

Grease a 20cm square cake pan and line the base and sides of the pan with baking paper.

Place chocolate, butter, milk and sugar in a large saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently. Remove from heat when chocolate and butter have melted, and stir mixture until completely smooth. Allow mixture to cool at room temperature for 15 minutes.

Add vanilla and eggs to chocolate mixture and stir until well combined.

Stir flours together in a large bowl. Add one cup of chocolate mixture to the flour and stir until a smooth paste forms.
Repeat with another cup of the chocolate mixture.
Add remaining chocolate mixture and stir until mixture is smooth. This gradual method of combining the wet and dry ingredients helps prevent lumps.

Pour mixture into prepared pan.
Bake for about 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes. When the cake is ready, a fine-bladed knife inserted into the centre of the cake should come out without any batter attached.

Loosely cover cake with greaseproof paper or a clean tea towel and allow it to cool to room temperature in pan.

The cooled cake can be iced immediately, or stored and then iced on the day of serving.

Store cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving. The cake is suitable to freeze iced or uniced.

brioche x 2

hot cross buns 2011

manu feildel's pear and almond tart