8th Birthday: Strawberry-Chocolate 'The Battle Cats' Tiered Cake

For s's 8th birthday, he requested this as his birthday cake. It is from a computer game called 'The Battle Cats'. He also dressed up as a Battle Cat for Halloween, and we made AI-generated trampolining Battle Cats for his birthday invitations (his birthday party was at a trampoline park, with all the boys from his class)...

I've never made a tiered cake before, so this is definitely a challenge! But at least it looks like an actual cake. And I'm hoping if I get the cat and dog figures right, it'll be a hit...  

I decided to make three tiers - odd numbers are always good, and this seemed like the minimum to make it look legit. Five seemed like a bit much for a first attempt... and would also have been way too much cake! It definitely has to involve two different types of cake (looks like strawberry and chocolate); and two different colours of icing (pink in the chocolate cake and white everywhere else). It looks like there is cream on top of each tier, but (1) I hate cream and (2) it wouldn't keep or travel at all - so I wondered about trying a cream cheese based icing instead, and putting some pink in some of it for the pink icing. The cat and dog shapes and the orange base cake will involve fondant (white, black and orange). And then there are the extras: a gold number 8, a red and gold bow, a gold bell, white candles, strawberries, and white mini meringues.

I only had one round springform cake tin (c. 21 cm in diameter), and I didn't really want to buy more. I also wanted this to be the bottom/biggest tier, as I didn't want to end up with tons of cake. I used foil and string to make a mini (8.5 cm diameter) cake tin from two crumpet rings stacked one on top of the other - for the top tier. And decided the middle tier should be c. 15 cm diameter to look right, and that I would bake it in my 21 cm diameter tin and then cut down to size. The bottom and top tiers are strawberry cake, and the middle tier is chocolate cake.

For the strawberry cake, I remembered that the mango cake I made for s's birthday last year was based on a strawberry cake recipe, and it worked quite well - so I used that one.

For the chocolate cake, my friend H who makes excellent cakes suggested this Ottolenghi cake. Initially I thought it sounded delicious for adults but perhaps a bad idea for kids as it is quite dark and had lots of coffee in it... but then had a double brainwave: (i) I could use decaf! and (2) the kids will already have plenty with the rest of the cake, perhaps I should just make what I like the sound of! Also, it looked like a good colour and texture.

For the icing, I started out with this cream cheese frosting recipe. 

 I made three online orders of specialist items in advance:

1) From a raw food shop: freeze-dried strawberry powder (for the strawberry cake and icing), freeze-dried strawberry slices (for the sliced strawberry decorations - winter strawberries are awful and fresh ones wouldn't have kept). 

2) From a Christmas shop: wide red and gold ribbon with wire in it (to make the bow), a little gold-coloured bell (I also bought some Christmas crackers for Christmastime!). 

3) From a baking shop: orange fondant (which turned out to be hard and no use), pack of 10 white birthday candles with white holders (used 8), a gold glittery number 8 candle, some cake dowels (to assuage my fear of tiers - I think robust plastic straws e.g. bubble tea straws or reusable plastic ones would also have been OK), some cake boards (needed 2, cut to size - for the top and middle tiers).

Then I also did a big Føtex (our nearest big grocery store) shop that included: black fondant, white fondant, orange food colouring, unsalted butter, mini meringues, and the rest of the cake ingredients.

Also in advance of starting to bake, I improvised a base board - I used a round wooden board that was just the right size (approx. 24 cm diameter), and then used four blobs of sticky tack and four Lego pieces to make little cylindrical feet about a centimetre high. This felt like an optional extra at the time, but actually was probably essential as the board was strong enough to carry the cake (which was quite heavy when done); and the feet allowed me to pick it up easily. It also made it look more like the pic! I

I made the cake over 1 1/2 days (nb it also took most of a day before that to work out everything I needed from Føtex and do the grocery shopping). On Day 1, I made the strawberry cakes and baked them in the morning; then took a lunch break, then made the chocolate cake and the icings in the afternoon. On Day 2, I assembled the cake and made the decorations (the cat and dog characters, and the bow).

For the strawberry cake (bottom and top layers):

Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature before you begin.

10 oz / 283.5 g plain flour 

1 oz freeze dried strawberry powder  

1 ½ tsp baking powder 

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 

8 oz unsalted butter, room temp

½ tsp salt 

10 oz granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract 

zest of 1 lemon

1 tsp strawberry extract (did not have - used 1 tsp strawberry-lime juice instead)

6 egg whites, room temp (I bought the pre-separated egg whites for the first time for this, and was glad)

8 oz milk, room temp (used oat milk)

2 oz vegetable oil 

1 drop pink food colouring 

1 drop red food colouring

For the chocolate cake (middle layer):

8.8 oz / 250 g unsalted butter, room temp, cut into 1 cm cubes, plus extra for greasing

7 oz / 200 g dark (70%) chocolate, chopped into 2 cm pieces

1 tsp instant coffee (I used decaf), dissolved in 350 ml boiling water

8.8 oz / 250 g granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temp, lightly beaten

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

8.5 oz / 240 g self-raising flour (used plain flour, including 3 generous tsp baking powder)

1 oz / 30 g cocoa powder

pinch of salt 

For the icing:

8 oz / 227 g 1 cup cream cheese, room temp

4 oz / 114 g / 1/2 cup salted butter, room temp

1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract

12.7 oz / 360 g / 3 cups icing sugar, sifted*

freeze dried strawberry powder

 

*I ended up using more. 

 

For the decoration and assembly:

1 pack black fondant icing

1 pack white fondant icing

1 pack orange fondant icing (nb the orange fondant icing I bought was bad so I coloured some white fondant with orange gel food colouring instead)

freeze-dried strawberry slices

white mini meringues

8 white birthday candles with white holders 

1 number '8' gold glittery birthday candle

Wide red and gold wired ribbon for the bow

Little gold-coloured bell

1 robust base board (the assembled cake was quite heavy) - used a round wooden chopping board with improvised feet - see explanation above.

2 cardboard cake boards (for the middle and top layers) - I drew circles on rectangular boards using the trimmed cake sizes and a compass, then cut down to size - slightly small is good, then they are easier to hide - I also cut a c. 1 cm diameter circular (ish) hole in the middle of each one so I could poke a dowel down the middle for max stability when assembled.

9 cake dowels (these are basically thick plastic straws - bubble tea straws seem to be recommended) - 4 for the bottom layer, 4 for the middle layer, and one longer, more robust one to go all the way down the middle.

To make the strawberry cake: Make sure all ingredients are at room temperature. Prepare your cake tins by greasing and lining with baking paper. I used one 21 cm round springform tin (bottom layer), and one improvised 8.5 cm tin (top layer). Place an oven rack in the middle position and heat the oven to 350ºF/176ºC. Put the butter in a large bowl and beat until smooth and shiny. Gradually sprinkle in the sugar, and beat until the mixture is fluffy and almost white. Add the egg whites approx. two at a time, beating in between. Whisk the flour, strawberry powder, baking powder, bicarb, salt, and lemon zest in a medium bowl. Combine the milk, oil, vanilla extract, strawberry extract (or juice) and food colouring in a separate medium bowl. Add about a third of the dry ingredients to butter mixture, followed immediately by about a third of the milk mixture, then mix until almost incorporated. Repeat two more times. When the batter appears blended, stop and scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Divide the batter between the prepared tins so that it comes up to the same height in both. Smooth the tops with a rubber spatula. Bake cakes until they feel firm in the centre and a skewer comes out clean or with just a few crumbs on it - about 35-40 min for the big cake (or a little bit longer), and about 22 min for the small cake (or a little longer). Transfer tins to a wire rack and let cool for 10 min. Invert cakes onto the rack and pop cakes out of tins. Cool completely before assembling and icing. When completely cool, keep covered in a chiller until ready to assemble.  

To make the chocolate cake:

Heat oven to 170°C/150°C fan-forced. Grease the same 21 cm round springform pan as used for the strawberry cake with butter, and line with baking paper.

Place the butter, chocolate and hot coffee in a large heatproof bowl and mix well until everything is melted, combined and smooth. Whisk in sugar by hand until dissolved. Add eggs and vanilla extract and whisk again until thoroughly combined and smooth. Sift flour, cocoa powder and a pinch of salt together into a medium bowl, then whisk into the melted chocolate mixture until smooth. Batter will be liquid, but don’t think you’ve missed something; this is how it should be.

Pour batter into the prepared tin, tapping the base of the tin to remove air bubbles, and bake for 50-60 min, until cake is cooked and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean or with just a few dry crumbs attached. The top will form a crust and crack a little, but don’t worry, this is expected. Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack for 20 min before removing from tin, then set aside on wire rack until completely cool. 

When completely cool, keep covered in a chiller until ready to assemble. 

To make the icing:

Beat the softened cream cheese and butter together until creamy and well blended, with no lumps. 

Add the vanilla. Then add one cup of icing sugar at a time, beating gently at first, until each addition is completely incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to incorporate it all. Then beat hard to combine. 

At this point I realised that it was way less firm than normal buttercream, looked up a normal buttercream recipe and realised what it needed was a lot more icing sugar...

Split the mixture - most of it should stay white (for sandwiching the strawberry cake and making the white cream-looking stuff, but a bit should be pink for sandwiching the chocolate cake. To the white mix, I added about one more cup of icing sugar to make a sufficiently firm texture. To the pink mix, I added some freeze dried strawberry powder, a few drops pink food colouring, and some icing sugar, until it reached a similar texture to the white icing.

Store in the fridge until ready to assemble. 

To assemble and decorate:  

Trim all three cakes so that they are flat on top and about the same height. Trim around the edge of the top one so you can see the contents. Trim the middle (chocolate) one until it is a circle approx. 15 cm diameter. Cut the bottom cake horizontally through the middle and sandwich with white icing. Cut the chocolate cake horizontally through the middle and sandwich with pink icing. Cut the top cake horizontally through the middle twice, and sandwich with white icing.

Smear some icing on the base board and then stick the big cake on it. Put some icing around the edges to help stick on the fondant around the outside. Roll out the orange fondant to about 2 mm thick, and wrap it as neatly and smoothly around the base cake as you can, trimming as needed.. I need to work on smooth fondant application!

Push 4 cake dowels into the cake within the area where the next layer will sit, then trim them so their height is just below the top of the cake. Cover the top of the bottom tier with a generous layer of white icing, so it looks a bit like the cream in the pic.

Put some icing on the medium sized cake board, then stick down the middle (chocolate) cake. Place it carefully in the centre of the bottom tier. Push 4 cake dowels into the cake within the area where the next tier will sit, then trim them so their height is just below the top of the cake. Cover the top of the middle tier with a generous layer of white icing, so it looks a bit like the cream in the pic.

Put the top cake on its cake board, sticking it down with icing as for the other two. Place it carefully in the centre of the middle tier. Push a long cake dowel down the middle of all the tiers until it hits the bottom board, then trim. Cover the top of the top tier with a generous layer of white icing, so it looks a bit like the cream in the pic.

Now make the cat and dog figures. I waited until now so I could see how big they needed to be to fit properly on the assembled cake. Roll out white fondant on a clean surface until c. 2 mm thick, then cut out the shapes with a sharp knife. Make their features with black fondant and press into place. Apply the shapes to the cake in the right places, using icing as glue. 

Make the bow with the wired ribbon and tie it around the stalk of the '8' candle along with the bell, to look like the picture.

Stick the bow+8 assembly in place on top, then put white mini meringues, freeze dried strawberry slices, and white candles in place around the cake to resemble the picture.

For transport, I found a transparent plastic storage box with a flat, separate lid. I put the cake on the lid, taped on a cushion out of bubble wrap to keep it in place, then covered with the box and taped that in place with gaffa tape. It worked - the cake survived the journey to the trampoline park in good shape!

Notes: If making the strawberry cake again, put more food colouring in - the batter was nice and pink, but after baking the cake wasn’t pink enough. I need to work out how to apply fondant so it comes out nice and smooth (I think a crumb coat and a flat-edged tool?). The chocolate cake was yum and I kind of want to try the whole Ottolenghi recipe with ganache and all. Probably the most delicious part of the whole cake was the improvised strawberry icing! The kids did not like the chocolate cake but the strawberry cake went down quite well (despite the cake looking a mess once sliced). I am not sure whether all the boards and dowels were necessary, but the cake did survive two rounds of birthday singing and transport beautifully, and it would have been a mega bummer if it didn’t after all that work…

S's birthday: chocolate hazelnut (nutella) cake

With all the moving and then the moving again, S's birthday kind of crept up on me this year. I remembered about making a cake middle of this last week and cast around for inspiration... He likes nuts... Decided on chocolate hazelnut, partly inspired by seeing this recipe - she has the same squirrel biscuit cutter as we do! Partly, I just realised, by a nutella-filled croissant I ate (and loved, when usually I can take or leave croissants) at brunch the other day.

I followed that same recipe for the cake part - we had milk and eggs left over from making pancakes so it seemed like an excellent use of them (especially wanted to use up the milk, we never get through milk, even when it is in European size cartons).

Then I spotted nutella in the supermarket (another thing I've always had a soft spot for but couldn't have when being vegan^, and decided to go rogue and nutella-based for the icing. Goodness knows I've had sooo many icing disasters, but still always seem to think I can just chuck stuff in a bowl and make it up as I go along...
DR
Our current apartment has all these mod cons, like microwave and food processor - so I could grind nuts in processor, melt choc in microwave etc. Got to admit it felt quite labour saving!

(makes a rather massive 2 layer, ~8 in round cake)

For the cake:
3/4 cup hazelnuts
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
good pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup veg oil
1 heaping tsp coffee granules dissolves in 3/4 cup boiling water

For the icing / decoration:
1/4 cup hazelnuts, plus 3
~25 g butter, softened
~1/4 cup icing sugar
1/2 jar nutella
75 g 70% chocolate, melted
1/2 tsp coffee granules
~2 tbsp plain yoghurt

Heat the oven to 175C / 350F. Grease and line a high-sided 8 in cake tin with removable base*. Grind 3/4 cup hazelnuts in a food processor until quite fine, then transfer into a large mixing bowl. Put the 1/4 cup hazelnuts for the decoration on a baking sheet and toast for about 10 min in the oven as it warms up, then set aside to cool. Add sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb and salt to the ground hazelnuts and whisk together. In a separate, medium-sized bowl, beat together the eggs, milk and oil. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Add the hot coffee and mix again. It is a pretty runny cake mixture. Pour into the prepared tin and transfer to the oven. Bake for about 60 min (start checking at 45 min)*. It is done when a skewer comes out clean. Take out of the oven and let sit for 10-15 min before turning out onto a cooling rack and leaving until completely cool.

While the cake is baking prepare the icing and decoration. Beat the butter and icing sugar together until smooth, then add the nutella. Add the melted chocolate and coffee, beat some more, add the yoghurt and beat until well combined. At room temperature it is quite soft but it goes hard in the fridge, so you can try and optimise the consistency for when you assemble the cake. Keep it in the fridge while the cake cools. Rub most of the skins off the toasted hazelnuts, then transfer them to the food processor and process just a little, until roughly chopped. Transfer to a bowl and keep until ready to assemble.

To assemble the cake, first trim and even out the top (mine was pretty craggy and high)*. Then cut through the middle parallel to the base to make two layers. Put the bottom layer on a plate, then spread half of the icing onto it (if the icing is too solid you can heat it a little in the microwave but be careful not to overheat). Put the other half of the cake on top and spread the rest of the icing over that. This is enough icing for the middle and top but not to go down the sides - I don't like too much icing and quite like to see the layers. Place the squirrel cutter gently in the middle of the cake and carefully sprinkle the chopped toasted hazelnuts all around it, so that the top of the cake is covered in chopped nuts except for the silhouette of the squirrel. Pack the nuts down around the edges of the cutter then carefully remove the cutter. You should be left with a neat squirrel silhouette. I put an appropriately sized and shaped piece of nut to be his eye, and then arranged three whole hazelnuts as if he might be holding / chasing them.

^Actually, I just noticed the Fotex brand nutella (which tastes just like the real thing to me) is actually vegan. Go Denmark! So it would be dead easy to make this icing vegan. In fact, I think it would be just fine to use straight nutella as the icing...
*Original recipe called for two tins, but I had one so that's what I used. Using two would be preferable as it would significantly reduce baking time (to more like 30 min) and give more even rising.


Actually, the icing worked really well. I wanted the yoghurt and coffee to lighten the nutella and add some sour / bitter. And the chocolate to deepen and richen, and also add some bitterness and thickness. Think it worked. And mmm nutella. It was kind of a conscious decision to cover the top with nuts as I always think chocolate icing can look a bit like poo. But also I just ended up with quite a lot of chopped nuts and felt the need to use them all. I'd kind of intended to just use them to fill in the squirrel shape originally. Or without a squirrel cutter could have made a paper template or just covered the whole top with chopped nuts. S said it's like Ferrero Rocher. This is true, although it hadn't occurred to me until he said it. Perhaps unwrapped Ferrero Rochers would make good decorations if you didn't want to go the squirrel route.

Note: I wanted to make a proper cakey cake this time, but for a flourless style nutella cake this Nigella one looks delicious.

Kahlua cakes

It's baking season now. Nights are getting cold and dark. The urge to switch on the oven is here. Also trying to use things up: in this case it's kahlua and cocoa powder. I tried this recipe.

(makes 12)

1/4 cup fake milk
2 tsp cider vinegar
1/4 cup cold coffee (used an extra 1/4 cup kahlua instead)
1/2 cup kahlua
1 tbsp ground linseed
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup veg oil
3 tbsp coconut oil (softened)
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Heat oven to 350F and prepare a muffin tin.

Whisk together the fake milk, vinegar and coffee. Add kahlua and ground linseed and whisk some more. Let sit for 5-10 min. Add the sugar, oils and vanilla, and beat with a fork.

In a separate bowl, sift together all dry ingredients. Add dry to wet and mix until combined. Fill prepared muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake for 18-20 min, until a skewer comes out clean.


These were OK. Not great. Perhaps using the coffee instead of extra kahlua would have been better.

Coffee and walnut cake (S's birthday)

I had been saving these coffee granules ready for a cake for S for ages. It's his birthday tomorrow, coffee and nuts for his cake is perfect (I hope) - I wanted to make a classic coffee and walnut cake and make it as good as I could. For the cake part I used approximately this recipe (ramping up the coffee but no other real changes), then I added syrup.

I thought I'd try a cream cheese icing, inspired by Delia's coffee and walnut cake and by the icing Seb made for my birthday cake (at which time I discovered that Trader Joe's carries vegan cream cheese and it really isn't that bad - doesn't even have palm oil in it).

For the cake:
1 cup fake milk
1 tsp cider vinegar
1¼ cups plain flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
⅓ cup veg oil
¾ cup sugar
2 tsp coffee granules dissolved in 2 tsp hot water
¼ tsp vanilla essence
¼ cup walnut pieces

For the syrup:
1 tsp coffee granules
2/3 oz demerara sugar
28 ml boiling water

For the icing:
2 packages (~500g total) vegan cream cheese
2 heaped tbsp icing sugar
1 tbsp powdered coffee granules
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp cider vinegar

To decorate:
More walnut pieces plus 10 walnut halves, toasted

Heat oven to 350F. Line the bases of two cake tins. Mix the fake milk and vinegar and set aside to curdle.

In a medium bowl, beat together the fake milk mixture, oil, sugar, coffee and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, bicarb, and salt with a fork. Add wet to dry and mix until no large lumps remain, adding the walnut pieces in the final few strokes. Divide the mixture between the cake tins and bake for ~30 min.

While the cakes bake you can make the syrup - put the sugar and coffee in a small bowl or mug, pour the boiling water over and mix until the sugar and coffee are dissolved. When the cakes come out of the oven, while they are still hot, prick all over with a skewer and then spoon the syrup evenly over the surface. Leave to cool.

While the cakes cool you can make the icing. Put the cream cheese, powdered coffee granules (I crushed them in small pestle and mortar) and sugar in a bowl and beat together. Taste and add maple syrup, cider vinegar and/or some fake milk if you feel like it needs more sweetness or acidity, and until a good spreading texture is obtained. Refrigerate until needed (if you're not planning to assemble as soon as the cakes are cool).

Bring the icing to room temperature before assembling the cake. Take the cooled cakes out of the tins and strip off the backing papers. Place one on a plate, spread with ~ half the icing and sprinkle with some toasted walnut pieces. Then put the other cake on top, spread the rest of the icing over it, and arrange the walnut halves on top. I used the finer walnut crumbs to make the letter S on top too. Keep refrigerated if not eating right away.


At first I thought the cake layers were a bit thin, but by the time I'd piled them up with the icing and toasted nuts it ended up as a good total cake thickness, so perhaps not (although, final word, would probably increase cake recipe by half as much again if making again). The icing I thought was very successful - nice soft brown colour, good creamy consistency that sat up well by itself, not too sweet. So I was happy using more than usual to layer up the cake as it didn't overpower with sweetness or drip off the edges. Instead, it provided a definite coffee hit to mix in with the toasty walnut flavour. All in all, a pretty successful birthday cake - definitely suitable for breakfast (when we always end up eating birthday cake) as it is loaded with coffee and not very sweet! One thing: I think both the syrup and the addition of walnuts to the cake batter are perhaps not really necessary and the cake would probably be just as good without.

St. Patrick's Day: Potato-Stout Cake

When I realised St. Patrick's Day was today I got this idea into my head, and I couldn't stop thinking about it until I made it. I couldn't find Guinness sold singly, so ended up with chocolate stout, which was perhaps even better for the job. The mashed potato sounds weird, but less so the more you think about it - it's just another starch really, with the added advantage of moistness, and I think it worked brilliantly. I've had Guinness-chocolate cake before (I'd consider it a classic, originally introduced to me by my former colleague Des), and I'd seen potato in cake here and stored the idea away (this recipe is loosely based on that one).

1 cup plus 2 tbsp mashed potatoes (unseasoned)
1 1/4 cup chocolate stout (or any kind of stout)
1/4 tsp coffee granules
2 cups flour (incl ~2-3 tbsp cornstarch)
1 cup cocoa powder
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup veg oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 tbsp cider vinegar
1/4 cup fake milk

icing sugar to finish

Heat oven to 350F. Prepare a 9 inch cake tin with removable base. Mix mashed potatoes, stout and coffee in a bowl. In another bowl, mix the flour and cornstarch, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb and salt. In a third, large bowl, beat together the oil, sugar, vanilla, vinegar and milk. Add the flour mix and the potato mix alternately to the sugar mix, starting and finishing with the flour. Check consistency and add a little more milk if too thick. Pour mixture into the tin and put in the oven. Bake for 60-90 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove and allow to cool until touchable (about 10 min), then pop off the outer ring and leave until completely cool.

To serve, I cut a shamrock shape (um, perhaps it was more like a 4 leaved clover) out of paper to make a stencil, laid it on the cake, then dusted icing sugar over the top before carefully removing the template.


This cake is moist and intense with chocolate and stout flavour. I was really happy with both texture and taste. It rose nicely and didn't sink. Only thing is, it's huge! I mean, a good size for a cake, but huge for S and I to eat alone. I'll be giving some away...

I am tweaking an idea for a thick icing with mashed potato in it - used as a thickener the same way you would cornstarch, also Irish Moss / carrageenan. So then you could ice the cake with a fluffy, vanilla-y icing to make it look a bit like a pint of Guinness (which would perhaps work better with cupcakes - it'd cook quicker in that form too). But I wasn't quite happy with the icing. Also, the cake is so rich and dense that I actually prefer the simplicity of the shamrock patterned icing sugar dusting.

Hedgehog cake (orange, carrot and pistachio cake with mocha-sunflower icing)

This is S's birthday cake. He mentioned carrot cake at some point, also mentioned cake in the shape of a hedgehog at some point, he likes nuts and coffee, and I'm still trying to find the perfect carrot-coffee-nut combination after he requested it a few years ago.

Cake recipe adapted from this one (my quantities are weird because I scaled it down to make two layers instead of three).

For the cake:
50g tahini
83ml sunflower oil
2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
zest of 2 oranges, and 67ml juice (juice of approx 1 orange)
150g soft light brown sugar
2 tbsp ground linseed mixed with 5 tbsp boiling water
133g carrot, grated finely
67g chopped pistachios
117g plain flour
1 2/3 tsp baking powder
1 1/3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/3 tsp grated nutmeg

For the icing:
(this made too much - half or two thirds this quantity would have been sufficient)
16 oz firm silken tofu, drained
1 tbsp veg oil
1 tbsp very strong coffee
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup smooth sunflower seed butter

To finish:
~1 cup slivered toasted almonds
3 raisins (1 big one for the nose and two smaller, equal-sized ones for the eyes)

Heat the oven to 360F / 180C. Grease two 8 inch round cake tins and line the bases. In a large bowl, whisk together tahini, pomegranate molasses, orange zest and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in linseed mixture, then stir in the grated carrot, pistachios and orange juice. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and spices with a fork. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and fold together until just combined. Divide the mixture between the prepared tins and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in tins.

While the cake is baking, make the icing. Crumble the drained tofu into a blender jug, add the oil and coffee and blend until smooth. Add the icing sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, salt and vanilla and blend until smooth. Add the sunflower seed butter and blend until consistent. Transfer the icing into a bowl, cover and refrigerate for an hour, until thickened.

When the cakes are cool and the icing chilled, you can assemble the cake. For a normal cake, just layer it up and stop here.

I wanted to make a curved, bilaterally symmetrical hedgehog shape. I made 4 layers (plus a little bit more on top, using almost all of the two circular cakes. I took one of the circular base papers (cleaned of cake bits) and cut out a template for the bottom layer (approx egg shaped; long side length equal to diameter of circle), then cut this shape out of one of the cakes with a sharp knife (save the offcuts for the upper layers), cutting at an angle of ~45 degrees. I then trimmed about 1 cm around all the edges of the template and cut this shape out of the other cake (working at the edge). Stack them so you can see how it is looking. Trim another centimetre off the template and cut the shape out of a combination of offcuts. Repeat. Use remaining offcuts to create a rounded top. Hopefully the stacked shape will look OK, if not you can do some rearrangement / trimming.

Next, put the bottom layer on a plate. Cover it with icing then add the next layer, Repeat until all the layers are done, also using the icing to stick the pieces together where the layers comprise more than one piece. Once the pieces are all layered up, cover the outside with icing. Make sure to fill in all the cracks and to go right down to the plate; you can use the icing to correct minor irregularities in shape. Smooth it out when done. Starting about 1/4 of the way back from the pointed end, stick slivered almonds into the icing to make spines. Cover the entire back part of the cake with these. On the part without almonds, make striations with a fork to look a bit like fur. Finally, choose your raisins, squish them into shape, and press into position on the cake.


This looks really fun - the almonds and raisins are quite effective, as good as I might have hoped. The cake is delicious - bit of a faff with all the chopping and grating and zesting and juicing and so forth, but tasty enough to warrant it on a special occasion. They didn't rise much but they did hold together very well as I cut and layered them. Carrot cake should be dense anyway, so I don't think the lack of eggs mattered much.

The icing is very soft but does stay in position. I wondered if the seed (or nut) butter was a necessary addition or if it would have been just as good without. Same with the cocoa - I added it mainly for colour but it might have been brown enough without. It definitely doesn't taste of tofu at all. Does taste of sunflower butter though, and with that plus the cocoa once again I have managed to drown out the coffee flavour. Tastes fine in combination with the cake though: the flavours work together well. (note: I may have been eating the leftover icing out of the tub with a spoon like pudding, this was kind of good - it's fairly light)

Rye and black pepper loaf

I bought some rye flour the other day and got excited about bread baking prospects. I browsed Dan Lepard's recipes on the Guardian webpage (I am in love with his recipes: they are just the right mix of adventurous, interesting, simple and downright tasty) until I came across this one. The mixture of rye, black pepper, caraway and poppy seeds sounded like something I should love 100%, and the use of coffee intrigued me.

325ml regular black coffee, warm or cold
150g rye flour
2 tsp crushed black pepper
2 tsp anise, fennel or caraway seeds (used caraway)
1 tsp dry instant yeast
1½ tsp salt
325g strong white bread flour, plus extra for shaping
fake milk and poppy seeds, to finish

Put the coffee in a saucepan along with half the rye flour, the pepper and your seeds of choice. Whisk, heat until thick and just boiling, then spoon into a mixing bowl and set aside to cool until warm. Add the yeast, mix well, add the salt, the remaining rye flour and the white flour, then mix to a smooth dough. Cover, leave for 10 minutes, then knead for 10 seconds. Cover, repeat twice more at 10-minute intervals, then leave for 30 minutes.

Line a baking tray with nonstick baking parchment. Using a little flour, pat out the dough into a 20cm square, then roll up tightly. Place the dough seam side down on the tray, cover with a cloth and leave to rise for 45 minutes. Brush the top with soy milk, sprinkle with poppy seeds, cut six diagonal slashes across the top and bake at 220C/425F/gas mark 7 for 40-45 minutes.


I had a brain freeze and got utterly confused about how long it had been proving for - there's a good chance it had not been long enough. It is still lovely though: the black pepper, caraway, poppy seeds and darkness go very well together, and very well with the celeriac and porcini soup I made at the same time.

Seb cake (walnut and coffee cake with salted caramel and banana)

I woke up before S, and decided to make him a cake because I like him.  It should contain many of his favourite things: coffee, walnuts, salt, banana...

Cake mix based on this recipe.

For the cake:
1 cup fake milk
1 tsp cider vinegar
1¼ cups plain flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
⅓ cup veg oil
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp coffee granules dissolved in 2 tsp hot water
¼ tsp vanilla essence
¼ cup walnut pieces

For the caramel:
1 cup white sugar
¼ cup water
2-3 drops lemon juice
¼ cup coconut milk
1 tbsp marg
1 tsp sea salt

For finishing:
1 banana
~2 tbsp chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350F. Line the bases of two cake tins.

Mix the fake milk and vinegar and set aside to curdle.

Beat together the fake milk mixture, oil, sugar, coffee and vanilla in a large bowl. Separately sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and salt. Add wet to dry and mix until no large lumps remain, adding the walnut pieces in the final few strokes.

Divide between the cake tins and bake for ~30 min. Allow to cool.

Caramel consistency - thick, sticky, not hard

While the cake is baking, make the caramel.  Clean a saucepan thoroughly and spread evenly across the base of the pan.  Add the water and make sure all the sugar is wet.  Bring the sugar-water mix to a steady boil (be very careful, it will be super hot).  Add a couple of drops of lemon juice to inhibit crystallisation.  Boil until it starts to change colour (to brown).  Do not stir - swirl occasionally to make sure it is cooking evenly, but stirring may set off crystallisation and that would not be good.  When it reaches a rich brown colour and starts to smoke a little, take it off the heat.  Prepare yourself for potential spitting hot sugar danger, then add in the coconut milk, marg and salt.  Stir gently, while avoiding getting hot sugar on you.  Allow to cool.

When cake and caramel are both well-cooled, sandwich the cake with half the caramel (and some sliced banana, if you like), and drizzle the rest of the caramel on top.  Decorate the top with some chopped walnuts.

It's half gone already, so I think it was a success!  He said it might have been his favourite ever cake.  The cake mix was very runny and I thought I might have forgotten something / it might come out all wrong, but it baked up fine.  This was my first real caramel (previous problems with over-stirring, not boiling for long enough...), and it was good.  This tutorial was useful.  I'm thinking about variations on it now - thickness, intensity of colour etc...  The banana and nuts worked really well in combination, and offset the sugary caramel.  Those three together drowned out the coffee a bit though - could perhaps be tweaked somewhat to let the coffee through more.

Chocolate coffee muffins

A Sunday afternoon of intense humidity and thundershowers stopping play with regard to getting outside for long - gave it over to baking and phoning grandma instead.  Decided to go for classic chocolate muffins.

Chocolate-coffee-chocolate chip muffins

Makes 12 muffins.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups plain flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup strong coffee
1/2 cup soy milk
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chopped into chunks

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.
In a large bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and mix til just mixed. Fold in chocolate chips. Fill muffin tins almost to the top. Bake 18 – 20 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Came out as good basic chocolate muffins.  Coffee taste quite subtle - would probably be more intense if I had / used coffee powder.  Based on this recipe @ PPK.

Sebastian's Birthday: Pecan Caramel Cake

I took this recipe as a jumping-off point.

(uses two 6 inch cake pans)

Cake:

1 1/2 cups wholemeal flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 cup (less 2tbsp) fake milk

3 tbsp coffee

1 tbsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp cider vinegar

handful (~50g) toasted pecan pieces

Salted Maple Caramel (note, for caramel that worked see this recipe):

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup coffee

3/8 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup tinned coconut milk

1 tbsp fake butter

1/2 tbsp vanilla essence

1 tsp sea salt

handful toasted pecan pieces; about 12 whole pecan halves

Oven to 375 degrees. Line two six-inch-diameter cake tins with with baking parchment. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.

Melt coconut oil.  When just melted whisk in fake milk, maple syrup, coffee and vanilla extract.

Add wet to dry and whisk until well blended. Lastly whisk in cider vinegar and stir quickly.

Split cake batter between tins and bake until skewer comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes.  Cool cake completely in pan on rack, about 1 hour. Let cool completely, then refrigerate.

To make caramel, in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the sugar, maple syrup and coffee to a boil, stirring well at first to dissolve the sugar. Turn down the heat to low and cook until the liquid is deep amber in color, about 15-20 minutes, swirling the pan occasionally to ensure even cooking (don't stir). Remove the pan from heat. Very carefully (the mixture will bubble), stir in the coconut milk, fake butter, vanilla and sea salt until smooth. Let cool until it is a thicker constency before using on cake (it gets thicker as it cools).  Ideally chill for an hour or so before icing cake to make sure it is as thick as possible.

Layer the cake with half the caramel and all the pecan pieces in the middle.  Put the rest of the caramel on top and decorate with the half pecans.


This was a big hit - he loved it!  It combines loads of his favourite things - salt, pecans, coffee...  It was quite sweet with the caramel (and there was quite a lot of caramel - more frosting would have been way too much), but the denseness of the cake and the nuts kinda balanced it out.  The caramel was quite runny - good to wait until it is absolutely cold.  Also I stirred the sugar a bit as it bubbled and it kinda thickened / crystallised - the caramel came out OK in the end (a wee bit lumpy) - think it's better not to stir.  As it was just for us at home presentation wasn't such a big deal but the caramel was hard to make look good.  It would have been great as a brownie with the caramel sauce on the side to pour.  Not sure you could really taste the maple the way I did it - might have been just as good with just sugar.  Also was perhaps a bit shy with the coffee - would consider using coffee instead of fake milk and maybe using more flour instead of cocoa another time to make a more coffee-y cake.  I liked the wholewheat flour - a good way of giving texture (which I feel like vegan cakes really need) without adding extra stuff.