Chocolate Hazelnut Crêpe Cake

You think it sounds wrong, but its not. This cake is so right. My sister lives off of nutella crêpes every time we go to on holiday, I thought it would be fitting to make her one for her birthday this year. I layered each crêpe with three fillings- a dark chocolate ganache, a hazelnut milk chocolate cream and sprinkling of chopped hazelnuts.

This was amazing with chopped strawberries piled on top and vanilla ice cream or fresh double cream poured over. Needless to say, it didn't last long in my house full of chocolate lovers.

Red Velvet Valentines Cupcakes

Okay, so I hate romantic crap, but I had such a craving to bake, and all the valentines baking is so pretty that I thought I would bake these for valentines day this year. Its another recipe with amazing cream cheese frosting (this time vanilla) and I got to test chocolate piping which was, interesting! Red velvet cupcakes are so tasty; the slightly chocolately vanilla flavour is made more intense by the buttermilk in the recipe and the best thing is that because it's an American recipe, the cake mix is more of a batter, so you can literally put it in a jug and pour it into the cases- SO much easier!

Cupcake Ingredients:

125g sifted flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoons (10 g) good quality cocoa powder

57 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

150g granulated sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

120 ml buttermilk (milk, with 1tsp lemon added, left for 10 minutes so it begins to curdle; sounds gross, makes good cakes)

1 tablespoon liquid red food coloring

1/2 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting:

227g cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

60 grams icing sugar, sifted

160 ml whipping cream (make sure its cold, as this can turn very runny)

Method
(Preheat oven to 175 degrees C and have a 12 hold muffin tin lined)

1. In large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
2. Mix in egg and then vanilla
3. In a cup, add food colouring to buttermilk, and in a separate bowl sift together flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa
4. Slowly alternate adding the flour and buttermilk to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour
5. In an eggcup, combine vinegar and baking soda, let it fizz and fold it into the cake batter quickly
6. Then quickly pour the batter into cases and smooth the tops
7. Bake for around 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean
8. For the frosting, beat the cream cheese till smooth
9. Add vanilla and sugar and beat until incorporated
10. Gradually add the cream and whisk till thick
11. You can then either pipe or spoon the frosting on to cakes

While my cupcakes were baking, I melted chocolate and added a little oil, put it into a piping bag and piped some valentine-y words and hearts onto my icing mat, put it in the fridge to set and then used them to decorate my cakes, but you can decorate them however you like.

Enjoy! x

White Chocolate Pannacotta with Raspberry Coulis

This is one of my favourite ever desserts. It sounds and looks way more complicated than it actually is and I was put off making it for ages because of the gelatine in it, but if you can overcome that- make these!

Ingredients
For the Pannacotta
500ml double cream
150ml milk
100g white chocolate
4 sheets gelatine
25g sugar


For the coulis and decoration
1 packet of raspberries
sugar
+ extra raspberries for decoration


Method

1. Heat cream and milk until it is almost simmering then turn the heat down low and add the sugar and chocolate, stirring (you can add vanilla here if you like, too)
2. Soak the gelatine in a bowl of warm water till it is soft (it almost looks like it has disappeared- but it hasn't!) then, by hand, take each sheet out of the water, squeezing out excess water and stir them into the mixture
3. Take off the heat and stir until completely smooth
4. Leave for a few minutes to cool then pour into ramekins and put into the fridge for a minimum of 5 hours
5. The coulis is really easy to make; either blend or break up the raspberries with a fork and add just enough sugar to take away the tartness of the raspberries

When the coulis are set and you are ready to serve, place the ramekins in warm water and loosen with a knife if needed. I think they look best with coulis served round the bottom and a few whole raspberries and a mint leaf on top.

Enjoy! x

Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies

The Hummingbird Bakery is my sisters ultimate favourite bakery. She has the cookbooks and made these amazing brownies once before and loved them so I decided to make a 21 out of them for her 21st birthday! They turned out really well, I made about 3 batches, using loaf tins to get smaller, longer brownies rather than the big trays most people would make!
The recipe I have included is for one batch, as it makes more than enough for an average batch!

Brownie ingredients:

200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

200g unsalted butter

250g icing sugar

3 eggs

110g plain flour

Cheesecake ingredients:

400g cream cheese
150g icing sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

Cream topping

300 ml whipping cream
100g icing sugar

150g raspberries, plus extra to decorate

33 x 23 x 5-cm baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper

• Method

For the brownie: 

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F) Gas 3.
2. Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water (do not let the base of the bowl touch the water). Leave until melted and smooth. 
3. Put the butter and sugar in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat until all the ingredients are well incorporated. 
4. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition. 
5. Gradually beat in the flour, mixing well after each addition, then turn the mixer up to high speed and beat for a little longer until you get a smooth mixture. 
6. Slowly pour in the melted chocolate and mix thoroughly. Pour into the prepared baking tray and smooth over with a palette knife.

For the cheesecake: 

1. Put the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat on slow speed until smooth and thick. Add one egg at a time, while still mixing. Scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition. The mixture should be very smooth and creamy.
2. The mixer can be turned up to a higher speed at the end to make the mix a little lighter and fluffier, but be careful not to overmix, otherwise the cheese will split. Spoon on top of the brownie and smooth over with a palette knife. 
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 30–40 minutes, or until the cheesecake is firm to the touch and light golden around the edges. The centre should still be pale. Leave to cool completely, then cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, or overnight if possible.

For the cream topping:

1. Put the cream, sugar and raspberries in a freestanding electric mixer with a whisk attachment and beat until firm but not stiff.
2. Turn the brownie out onto a board and turn the right way up.
3. Spread the topping evenly over the brownie and decorate with more raspberries.

Enjoy! x

This recipe is taken from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook by Tarek Malouf and The Hummingbird Bakers

Mario Galaxy Luigi Birthday Cake

This cake I made as a 4th birthday present to my best friends nephew. I wont post the recipe, as it really was just a double layer chocolate cake which I found in a recipe book at home. The icing took me a long time but I did it over a few days; sitting with a laptop for the pictures of mario galaxy and all my icing colours! I was so pleased with it for my first 'professional' looking cake, and he loved it!

Round the outside and lots of goomba's coins, rockets etc etc and the stars are held up by wire from an art shop!

I get all of my baking supplies from Cake Craft World- its pretty good :)