Even more busy!

I'm really sorry for the lack of posts here! I've been busy with uni work and also rehearsing for a production of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' where I am part of the chorus. I still need to upload more photos and the recipe for the cookies, but here is a peak at a 3d dinosaur cake I made for my friend's 21st!

I tried to make him a standing up dinosaur but it just wasn't happening, so I had to make do with a lying down one. I'll be back shortly with the rest of the White Chocolate and Pecan cookies post, and, along with how I made this dinosaur, an insight into a dino-disaster!

Dinosaur Cake!

Around about a year ago, my friends and I gathered at our flat to watch Dinosaur movies on a Monday, hence the name 'Dinosaur Monday!' This Monday movie night turned into a tradition and now every Monday we gather at someone's flat and watch movies along with some baked goods. Last year the plan was to carve a Dinosaur out of brownies but as usual, the brownies were a complete fail due to our oven. So this year I decided to try again but with cake!

I used this recipe from The Caked Crusader and it was delicious! The sponge kept moist for days which was good because I had loads of cake left!

Ingredients:

225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
225g caster sugar
4 eggs
225g self raising flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
150ml milk

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees.

2. Line two 20cm cake tins with greaseproof paper.

3. Cream together the sugar and butter until pale and fluffy.

4. Slowly add in the eggs one at a time.

5. Add in the flour, cocoa and the milk.

6. Spoon the batter into the cake tins.

7. Bake the cakes for around 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the sponge comes out clean.

8. Leave the cakes to cool slightly in their tins before turning out onto a wire rack.

It's a delicious chocolate cake recipe, so if you just want a simple chocolate cake whip this up and add some buttercream to sandwich in the middle. Or, use it as a basis for a dinosaur as I did!

I got my template here! I think it's from Betty Crocker but I could also be imagining that! Simply print out and cut out the templates, and after your cake is cooled we're ready to go!

Now I must admit here that my cake was a little small for the template, so I just trimmed the template a little in order to make it fit. Then I placed the template on top of the sponge and with a sharp knife cut out my template.

I then made some green tinged vanilla buttercream to stick the head and tail to the body and also to the board before doing a crumb coat! A crumb coat is basically a thin coat of buttercream to seal in the crumbs. It was my first go at this so I was quite pleased! From my research on the web, most reccomend putting the cake in the freezer so the crumb coat sets but I didn't have enough room in my freezer and not a lot of time either, so I cleared a shelf in the fridge and left him in there for half an hour.

I then made some darker green vanilla buttercream and slathered it all other my dinosaur. I then used chocolate drops and chocolate and white buttons to decorate. 

I was really sad to cut up my dinosaur! I thought he looked quite cute! But, he had to go join his other dinosaurs in extinction...

Banana and Chocolate Marble Cake.

The last time I made Marble Cake it turned out to be pretty dry. Was it my recipe, my oven or just cooked too long, who knows? We still ate it, but with some custard so it wasn't a complete disaster!

My friend requested a Marble Cake for movie night so I knew I had to adapt the recipe to make sure that it was moist. And what cake is always moist? Banana bread of course! So, a Banana and Chocolate Marble Cake it was.

 

  

Banana and Chocolate Marble Cake (serves 8)

 125g butter
125g caster sugar
125g self-raising flour
2 medium eggs
2 slightly mushy bananas
5-10g of cocoa powder

 

1. Cream butter and sugar together.
2. Add one egg and about half the flour, stirring until fully incorporated. Repeat with the other egg and remaining flour.
3. Peel and break the bananas into rough pieces. Place in bowl and then mash with a fork until more of a liquid consitency.
4. Place around a third of the cake mixture into a seperate bowl and add the cocoa powder. Mix until combined.
5. Add the bananas to the plain cake mixture and combine.
6. Grease and flour two 20cm cake tins.
7. Dollop alternative spoonfuls of the banana and chocolate cake mixture between the pans and then, using the handle of a spoon or a skewer, swirl around to create the marble effect.
8. Place in a preheated oven of around 180 degrees celsius for around 25-30 minutes. Remove when either the sponge bounces when pressed or when a skewer comes out clean.

You could always do this in a loaf tin but I wanted to make to cake with filling and all. I used my usual vanilla frosting recipe from Hummingbird to sandwich this together as it isn't too sickly and again, just adds some moisture.

Wondering what happened to the dinosaur biscuits I said I'd make a couple of weeks back? Here's a sneak preview!

Check back next week for the full post!

Dinosaur Sprinkles!

I've been dying to use these sprinkles ever since I bought them and today was the day! Whipped up some plain cupcakes and frosted them with the vanilla frosting recipe from Hummingbird - fast becoming a firm favourite!

Action icing shots!




Some plain vanilla frosted cakes!


After adding some sprinkles!


The finished product!

Purchases.

After browsing the internet the other day I found a couple of cute things I had to purchase. First of all I ordered a starter icing set with 6 various nozzles and a couple of icing bags. My next project is going to be learning how to ice cakes. Until now my method has been to dump a spoonful of buttercream on the cake and pronounce them finished, so it might be a bit of a challenge!

The second purchase is more of a silly one. We're awfully fond of dinosaurs and when I saw these sprinkles I just had to get them.
[Image from www.cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk]

So, fingers crossed, soon my lovely iced cakes will be littered with dinosaurs!