Monday Ta-da! - Triple Chocolate Caramel Cake

Last Tuesday Minibakebakegirl turned 12. Here's a picture of her when she was three - she loved her picnic garden set - so many lovely teddy tea parties in the sunshine.  The past few years I have decorated her birthday cakes with fondant icing (here and here) - but I don't like it - I usually end up eating only the sponge - having spent ages in the kitchen making the cake, I feel a bit hard done by!! This year I decided to make a chocolate cake covered with chocolate ganache. The recipe I used was a Lulu Grimes one from Olive magazine's 10th birthday issue, last year.

I love rainbow cakes, when the surprise is when you cut into it - like my jubilee cake.  But sometimes the amount of food colouring required to get a decent colour is scary!!  This layers in this cake are - vanilla, caramel, caramel chocolate and chocolate.  Then there are three ganaches - dark chocolate, milk chocolate and caramel.  I sprinkled the top with "bronze crunch" from Waitrose.

I am really pleased how it turned out, the layers look great.  We had family round to share it with on Saturday.  With four tiers this is a definite special occasion cake.   The sponge was really easy to make and I could adapt it for a smaller cake with two layers for another time. 

Minibakebakegirl had a lovely birthday - she got her braces fitted on Friday so she is still getting used to them.

Thanks for visiting,
Bakebakegirl

Today's top three Spotify songs:

1. You've Got Time - Regina Spektor
2. I Can't Stand The Rain - Eruption
3. Daydream in Blue - I Monster

Monday Ta-da! - M&M birthday cake

We have had a very busy week which included Minibakebakegirl starting secondary school.  She has settled in quickly, making lots of new friends and looking very smart in her new uniform.  On Friday we went to a celebration evening of what the new students had been doing in their first week of getting to know the school and each other.  There was also a "freshers fair" in the gym showing you what clubs are on at lunchtime and after school.  So many good ones - the knitting club looked great!  Today is the first day of her new timetable and probably the start of homework...

Friday was also Hubby's birthday, so when we got home I went straight into the kitchen to make his cake. I made a chocolate cake and covered it in chocolate buttercream and M&M's.  Every year Hubby gets a box filled with M&M's from his Mum and Dad as part of his presents - this year it was a seed tin - which will come in handy at the allotment.  We enjoyed the cake with family on Saturday afternoon.    

When on holiday in Devon last month we visited Plymouth.  We learnt that the Mayflower set sail on Hubby's birthday on the 6 September 1620.   There is a plaque by the Mayflower steps that was unveiled 350 years later on the day Hubby was born.  

Thanks for visiting, see you next week,
Bakebakegirl

Today's top three Spotify songs:

1. Swords of a Thousand Men - Tenpole Tudor
2. The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum - Fun Boy Three
3. Brilliant Mind - Furniture

Monday Ta-da! - Moustache Cake

Minibakebakegirl is 11 today.  She only has 3 weeks left at Primary School - and what a jam packed three weeks it's going to be -  with dance displays and a school play among other things.

Yesterday, we had family round for coffee and cake.  The past three years I have made a Hello Kitty themed cake, last year's instructions were "that it wasn't allowed to be girly"!  Well, as Hello Kitty is so last year and Minibakebakegirl is Moustache obsessed, I didn't have to think too hard what to do.  I made a chocolate victoria sponge by adding two tablespoons of cocoa powder to the flour, covered it in buttercream and white fondant and then used the "Munchtashe" biscuit cutters to cut out black fondant moustaches.  Simple but (I think!) effective.

I also made a batch of vanilla cupcakes and made some chocolate moustaches for the top.  Dark chocolate, white chocolate and salted caramel milk chocolate ones!

Thanks for visiting,

Bakebakegirl

Todays top three Spotify Songs:

1. A Little Less Conversation - Elvis vs JXL
2. Love At First Sight - Kylie Minogue
3. Get Over You - Sophie Ellis Bextor

Monday Ta-da! - Hello Kitty Cake

Yesterday was Minibakebakegirls birthday, I can't believe she is 10!   This photo is from her second birthday, it was cold that day.  Her main present was a sand/water table and she played with it all day, her little hands were bright red but she wouldn't come indoors!

For the past three years I have made her a chocolate birthday cake and used fondant for a Hello Kitty design on the top, it has now become a bit of a tradition, which she may not want when she is a teenager, but I enjoy making it.

I make a standard victoria sponge cake for each layer, adding a tablespoon of cocoa to make it chocolatey. I made three layers this time, I was catering for 11 people, sandwiched together with chocolate buttercream.   This year though I made my buttercream so so so so quickly. How? I hear you ask. Well look.......

I have drooled over a Kitchenaid for a long time.  Minibakebakegirl gets embarrassed when I make a bee-line for them in John Lewis and then spend the next hour stroking them until I am asked to leave.  There come in so many pretty colours but I have always wanted a cream one and it looks sooo good in my kitchen. Ahhhh, happy Bakebakegirl, sad I know. Anyhoo this is amazing for making buttercream. I just put all the ingredients in the mahooosive bowl, covered with a teatowel, switched it on and ta-da buttercream! 

Minibakebakegirls only request for her cake was that it wasn't girly so I tried my best. The Kitty whiskers were a nightmare - I bought black writing icing and it just seemed to slide off. I went to bed hoping that there wouldn't be a lot of bald Kittys in the morning. Luckily just a couple needed touching up. 

Minibakebakegirl was very pleased with it and I think the rest of the family enjoyed it too.

Minibakebakegirl had a lovely birthday, lots of lovely presents, including some crafty ones.  The three of us went out for tea last night, she even managed to make room for a chocolatey pudding.

Thanks for visiting,
Bakebakegirl

Minibakebakegirl's top three random ipod songs:

1. Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5
2. I Gotta Feeling - The Black Eyed Peas
3. Yellow Submarine - The Beatles