Baileys and Guinness Layer Cake

I wanted to make a special cake for a friend's birthday so I decided to use my new checkerboard cake pan set that I bought from America. My friend is not really a dessert or cake person so I struggled to choose the perfect cake to celebrate. However, he does like a drink (or two) so I decided to make a boozy cake with Baileys and Guinness. The final cake was delicious and very boozy indeed (I was too liberal with the alcohol!) and everyone enjoyed it.

Unfortunately it was more a layer cake than a checkerboard cake. The cakes spread quite a lot during baking therefore obliterating the checkerboard effect. Plus the cake batters cooked at different times so the Baileys cake was slightly overdone and the Guinness cake was slightly under. Next time, I'll make a sponge recipe and add flavour and colour so that the cakes will cook evenly and hopefully I'll get the checkerboard effect as seen on the box. For now, let's just pretend that I intended to make a layer cake from the beginning :) 

I'm submitting this to AlphaBakes hosted by me and co-hosted by Caroline from Caroline_Makes. It's a monthly challenge where we bake from a random letter each month. This month, the letter is "B" which is perfect as I used a whole bottle of Baileys! Have you made your AlphaBakes entry yet? 

 I used a whole (small) bottle of Baileys! oops!

 checkerboard pan set 

 It has a nifty separator which you place on the cake tin then fill the cake batters in alternating colours 

 I had leftover batter so I made some cupcakes 

 As you can see the Baileys cake spread out a lot so you can't really see the ring effect with the Guinness cake 

 This layer is even worse! 

 Cover with frosting and add candles. 

 Layer cake as it was always meant to be ;) 

I made 2 recipes of each cake as 1 recipe was not quite enough - the checkerboard cake pans are quite large. I did have leftover batter to make 11 cupcakes (Recipes below are for 1 recipe)

For the Baileys cake

125g butter
200g caster sugar
2 eggs
250g plain flour (I used self raising flour which in hindsight was not a good idea!)
1 cup or more of Baileys (adjust to taste)

• Cream the butter and sugar.
• Add the eggs, sugar and flour.
• Finally stir in the Baileys.
• Alternatively, you can mix all the ingredients together in a mixer.

For the Guinness cake

I used Nigella's chocolate Guinness Cake recipe which is available on her website.

For the chocolate ganache

200g dark chocolate, chopped
250mls double cream
25g butter (optional)

• Heat double cream in a small saucepan and bring it to the boil.
• Remove from the heat and add chopped chocolate and butter and whisk until smooth.

Spring Cake Pops

I hope everyone is having a good Easter weekend! A quick post from me today - no baking involved. Just cake and buttercream and sprinkles on a stick otherwise known as cake pops. I had quite a bit of cake leftover from making my easter eggs with a twist. The cakes overflowed over the egg shells and I kept the cake crumbs with the intention of just eating them but then I thought why not make some cake pops? I thought about making cute easter chicks/bunnies or easter eggs but in the end decided to just use some sprinkles as it was much easier and less time consuming! 

I'm sending this to Frugal Food Fridays run by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours and hosted by Utterly Scrummy this month. Cake pops are a great way to use up leftover/stale cake and is a fun project to do with the kids. You can make it as fancy or simple as you like. Here I've used leftover cake, candy melts and sprinkles (I had an odd assortment of sprinkles which had just a small amount in each box).

I'm also sending this to Bunny hop, an Easter link party hosted by Mrs Fox's Sweets 

 cake crumbs, candy melts, buttercream

 shape cake pops, then chill in the fridge for approximately 15 minutes or until firm

 dip the cake balls in candy melts and pour sprinkles over them before the candy melt sets. Allow to dry completely. 

Easter Eggs with a twist!

This year, I'm giving out Easter eggs with at twist.  Not your traditional chocolate egg but a cake baked in an eggshell. Yes you read that right - it really is a cake in there. Just crack the egg and eat the cake :) 

I'm really excited to finally share this Easter treat with you. I got this idea more than 6 months ago from the cupcake project and thought how cool, I really must try that! Of course I had to wait very patiently for Easter to come around and finally got a chance to bake these last night.  I've been diligently saving eggshells for the last few weeks and managed a total of 34. Most have been used in baking which is a shocking amount of eggs or baking depending on how you look at it! 

The idea is very simple which is baking a sponge in an egg-shell. I decided to jazz it up a little and make my cake multi-coloured, very similar to my rainbow cupcakes.  I wanted pastel colours to fit in with spring so used a very tiny amount of food colouring and am really pleased with the final result. I used a basic vanilla sponge although I debated about carrot cake, lemon sponge and chocolate sponge. 

I'm sending these cute Easter egg cakes to Tea Time Treats hosted by Kate from What Kate Baked and co-hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage.  The theme for this month is Easter so these are perfect for the occasion! 

I'm also sending these to Bookmarked recipes hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes as I've had this bookmarked since last year.

And to show your stuff hosted by Julie from Just winging it 

And Sweets for a Saturday over at Sweet as Sugar Cookies 

And Cast Party Wednesday at Lady Behind the Curtain

 my collection of egg-shells. I found the easiest way to save the egg shells was to poke a hole at the top with a sharp knife then slowly peel the edges back and pour the egg out. I worked out later that this is a great way to separate eggs. You need a skewer or something similar to get the egg yolks out. Rinse the egg-shells and soak in salted water for at least 30 minutes. Rinse again and dry on paper towels. Store in an airtight container until required. Click here for step-by-step photo instructions. 

 My selection of 'spring' colours 

 I know its not environmentally friendly but it really saves the washing up (and extra piping bags) I use ziplock bags to put a portion of sponge mix and food colouring. Seal and massage the bag gently until the colour is evenly spread. Cut a small hole at the end of the bag and use it to pipe the mixture into the egg-shells. 

 I used some foil to help prop up the egg shells. Pipe the mixture directly into the egg shells. 

 I got some cute Easter stickers to put on the eggs. 

 The 'egg cake' 

 I love the colours!! 

 packed into little gift bags with a baby chick and a spring themed ribbon. Who wants one? :) 

For the vanilla sponge

(I made 1.5 recipe to fill 34 eggshells and 1 cupcake)

For 1 recipe: 

250g butter

250g caster sugar

250g flour, sifted

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

• Preheat the oven to 170C.
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
• Add the eggs, one at a time until well mixed.
• Add the vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste.
• Finally, add the flour and mix well.
• Divide into portions and colour each portion. 
• Pipe the mixture in layers to create a rainbow effect. 
• Alternatively you can just pipe the vanilla sponge directly into the eggshells. 
• Fill the egg-shells about 3/4 full or the mixture will overflow. 
• If it overflows (mine did), just peel off the excess cake and wipe the egg-shells with a damp cloth.
• If you underfill the eggshells, you won't get a proper egg shape.
• Bake for approximately 16-18 minutes depending on size of egg-shells. 

Tips and variations: 

• You can make a different flavoured sponge - lemon, orange or chocolate are perfect for Easter
• You can make a white sponge mix, fill the egg-shells about 1/4 way then push a small oval of yellow marzipan. Top with more batter until 3/4 full. This will create an "egg effect" with the marzipan resembling the egg yolk.  Thank you mum for this brilliant idea! She also tried a piece of mango which worked well but the marzipan tasted better!
• You can paint and decorate the eggshells (or be lazy and add stickers like me!)

~ Happy Easter ~

Chocolate Espresso Pots de Creme

I had lots of egg yolks leftover from my first disastrous attempts at macarons (I am pleased to report that I have since had great success).  I googgled egg yolk recipes and came across this recipe from epicurious.com. I'm not a coffee drinker but I love coffee in desserts. Last time I made mini custard pots with different flavours, the coffee one was my favourite. These were relatively simple to make and tasted absolutely amazing!! It's really rich, creamy and decadent. You really only need a few spoonfuls as it's too rich to have the whole portion in 1 sitting. If you like coffee, chocolate and creamy desserts then do give this a try. 

I'm sending this to Javelin Warrior's Made with Love Mondays  where the aim is to make something from scratch ie no prepared ingredients and I think this fits the bill. 

and also to Frugal Food Fridays run by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours and hosted by Utterly Scrummy this month as this is uses up leftovers and is quick and easy to make. 

 I got to use my new Russian Doll measuring cups. 

 finely chop the chocolate 

 measure out the cream and milk 

 adding lots of espresso powder as I love the coffee kick! 

 whisk the egg yolks and sugar 

 almost ready.. 

 bake in a water bath 

 cover with foil - remember to poke holes in them 

 can you see how silky smooth the texture is? 

Recipe adapted from epicurious.com

170g chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/3 cups double cream (~305mls)
2/3 cup milk (~550mls)
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder (adjust to taste)
6 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons sugar

• Preheat the oven to 170C. 
• Finely chop the chocolate and place in a heatproof bowl.
• Place the cream, milk and espresso powder (optional: you can add in Baileys or Kahlua here to taste) in a small saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. 
• Pour this hot mixture over the chopped chocolate, whisking as you pour until the mixture is smooth. 
• Whisk the egg yolks and sugar in another bowl. 
• Add the warm chocolate mixture to the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly. 
• Pour the final mixture through a fine mesh sieve and cool completely. 
• Divide the mixture into ramekin bowls. 
• Place the ramekins in a large roasting tray. 
• Prepare a water bath by filling the roasting tray with hot water until it's approximately half full then carefully place the ramekins inside. Top up with extra water if necessary. 
• Cover with a large sheet of foil. 
• Poke holes through the foil with a fork or knife. 
• Bake for approximately 30-35 minutes until they are set around the edges but still wobbly in the centre. 
• Allow to cool on a wire rack then refrigerate for best results.
• Serve with some chocolate covered coffee beans or a sprinkle of cocoa powder. 

AlphaBakes April 2012: "B"

Thank you to everyone who entered in last month's AlphaBakes. You can see the round up of magnificient "M" entries on Caroline's blog. I can't believe it's now the 3rd AlphaBakes challenge, time really does fly when you are having fun :) I hope you are all ready to join in as the random letter generator has been kind to us this month and we are baking with...

 B 

I know I'm definitely making banana bread... you wouldn't expect any less of me, right? :) Look forward to all your beautiful, bountiful, brilliant "B" entries this month.  You have until the 25th April to submit them.

Just a quick reminder of the rules....

1. Post your recipe on your blog and link it to The More than Occasional Baker and Caroline Makes, stating the relevant month's host. If you do not have a blog, email us a picture and a brief description of your entry which we will include in the round-up at the end of the month.

2. You can use your own recipe or someone else's recipe. The recipe can be sweet, savoury or a mixture! Anything goes as long as the random letter is predominantly featured in the recipe as one of the main ingredients or flavours or in the name of the bake itself (i .e . not as a garnish , or using 'flour' for the letter F!) You can also republish old posts/recipes but you must include the information for this challenge as stated in these rules.

3. Add the logo to your post and add 'alphabakes' as a label to your post.

4. Email your entries to alphabakes@gmail.com by midnight (GMT) 25th of each month. Please include:

• Your name (that you want included in the round up or we will use the name of your blog)
• Your blog post URL
• Recipe title
• Photo of recipe (to be included in the round up)

5. You can submit as many entries as you like.

6. You do not have to participate every month to join in.

7. You may submit your entry to other challenges as long as it complies with their rules.

8. If you use twitter, please use the tag #alphabakes and mention @bakingaddict and @Caroline_Makes. We will retweet all those that we see.

9. Have fun! :)