Chocolate Chip and Cherry Brownie Cake

8oz Butter (melted)
5 1/2oz Plain chocolate (melted)
8oz Self Raising Flour
1Tsp Baking Powder
4 1/2oz Caster Sugar
4 Eggs (Beaten)
4oz White Chocolate Chips
3oz Glace Cherries (Chopped)




Cooking time - 180c/ Gas Mark 4 for 45 minutes
Serving - 12 depending on size


1. Pre heat Oven
2. Grease a spring bottom 9" baking tin
3. Place a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water
4. Put the butter and plain chocolate in the bowl and melt gently and then leave to cool slightly
5. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and stir in the sugar
6. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs together with an electric whisk
7. Pour the egg mixture into the cooled chocolate mixture
8. Add this mixture to the flour mixture and fold in well with a wooden spoon
9. Add the white chocolate drops and glace cherries
10. Stir so that everything is folded in together
11. Pour the mixture into the grease proofed tin and pop in the oven to bake for 45 minutes, covering with greaseprrof paper half way through so it does not burn

Buttercream Icing

12oz Icing Sugar
4 1/2oz Butter
2 Tsp of milk
1Tsp Vanilla Essence
2Tsp Cocoa Powder
White Chocolate Fingers

1. Put the butter in the bowl and cream with a fork or a whisk
2. Sieve the icing sugar into the mixture a little bit at a time, this makes it easier for it to come together as well as being smooth
3. Add the milk and vanilla essence and whisk for a few minutes with an electric whisk
4. Cover the cake once cooled with the buttercream mixture leaving a little behind to decorate
5. Add the cocoa powder to the buttercream that is left behind and then place in a pipping knozzle
6. Pipe a decoration over the cake
7. Cut the white chocolate fingers in half to place around the sides of the cake
8. Then serve!

N.B. The cake will keep in a air tight tin for a few days if left undecorated

Cherry and White Chocolate Cheesecake

200g Biscuits

100g Butter

250g light Cream Cheese

200g Fromais Fraise

225g White Chocolate

150g Fresh Cherries

A few Cherries to decorate

Chilling time: 20 minutes

Serving: 6

1. Grease a 11" circle flan dish

2. In a saucepan melt the butter over a low heat

3. In a food processor, crush the biscuits into small pieces

4. Add the crushed biscuits to the melted butter and mix together

5. Press firmly into the flan dish and then pop into the freezer while you make the filling

6. In a bowl beat the cream cheese with a metal or wooden spoon until smooth

7. Add the fromais Fraise and beat together until smooth and the mixtures are combined

8. In a heat proof bowl melt the white chocolate either over a saucepan of simmering water or in the microwave but checking it every 30 second intervals so it does not burn

9. Leave the chocolate to cool a little, while this is happening chop the cherries into quarters, removing the stone and stalk

10. Add the white chocolate to the cream cheese mixture and stir in well, it may look lumpy but do not worry

11. Add the cherries and mix in, making sure the cherries are even throughout the mixture

12. Remove the biscuit base from the freezer and dollop the cheesecake mixture on top

13. Spread out evenly overly the biscuit base

14. Put in the fridge to chill

15. Just before serving decorate with cherries!

Hannah and Andrews Engagement Cake

6oz Butter
6oz Caster Sugar
6oz Self Raising Flour
1Tsp Baking Powder
1Tsp Bi Carbonate of Soda
2Tsp Vanilla Essence
3 Eggs
8oz Cherries (Chopped)
4oz Desiccated Coconut
1Tbsp Milk




Cooking time: In a pre heated oven on 160'c / Gas Mark 4 for 45-55 minutes
Serving: 8" round spring bottom tin



1. Grease the cake tin and pre heat the oven
2. In a bowl whisk together the butter and sugar until the mixture has formed together and formed a nice smooth, fluffy consistency
3. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and vanilla essence together for a few minutes until the mixture has doubled in volume
4. Slowly whisk the egg mixture into the creamed butter mixture. Whisk for a good couple of mixture until the mixture is all mixed together and formed a good smooth consistency. Using a wooden spoon to scrape around the edges
5. Sieve the flour, baking powder and bi carbonate of soda into the bowl
6. Using a spoon, fold the mixture in slowly, a figure of eight is good for this
7. Once it is folded in, weigh out the cherries and coconut together and coat the cherries in the coconut
8. Add the cherry mixture and milk to the rest of the ingredients and fold in
9. Once the mixture if all folded in, you should have a nice dropping consistency
10. Put this into the cake tin and level out
11. Put into the oven to bake, half way through cover with greaseproof to prevent it from burning
12. Once done, remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes before removing from the tin and transferring to a wire cooling rack



Decoration
Ready to Roll Fondant Icing
3oz Butter
1Tbsp Milk
9oz Icing Sugar
1Tsp Vanilla Essence
Strawberry Jam
Blue Food Colouring
Silver ball balls
Writing Icing Pen
Red ribbon (held in place by a pin)



1. Once the cake has cooled, cut it in half (horizontally). Do not worry if it is not perfect
2. Make up the buttercream icing, by putting the butter into a bowl and whisking with a whisk
3. Slowly sieve in the icing sugar and with a whisk bring it to a smooth fluffy consistency with the butter
4. Add the milk and vanilla essence and whisk for a further few minutes
5. Spread approx. 1/2 of the buttercream icing onto one of the cakes (which will form the middle)
6. Place the over half of the cake on top of this
7. Spread the sides and top of the cake with a thin layer of jam
8. Roll out the fondant icing till it is the correct size (Big enough to cover the top and sides of the cake)
9. Using a rolling pin to help you, put this under the fondant icing to lift from the surface to transfer over the cake
10. Slowly put it over the cake
11. Press the fondant icing gently down on top and around the sides of the cake and using a sharp knife cut off any excess icing
12. With the rest of the buttercream icing add 1.5 Tsp of blue food colouring
13. Mix this in with a fork and then put the icing into a piping knozzle / bag
14. Around the edge of the cake, pipe swirls
15. With the icing pen, write the letters you wish, in this case A and H
16. I then piped 3 bigger swirls at the bottom and top and put silver ball balls in the middle
17. There you are you have one lovely yummy cake! We then put red ribbion around and sparkles in to make it even more special!

N.B. You can use chocolate chips instead of cherries
N.B. You can colour the icing what ever colour you wish, you can also use buttercream to write the letters
N.B. With the left over fondant icing you can make little models for the cake

80th Birthday Cake

6oz Butter

6oz Caster Sugar

8oz Self Raising Flour

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1 Tsp Bi Carbonate of Soda

3 Eggs

12oz Glace Cherries (Halved)

2 Tsp Vanilla Essence

1 Tbsp Milk

Cooking Time: 35 minutes on a pre heated oven of 150c / Gas mark 3. Make sure half way through you cover the cake with greaseproof paper

Serving: 8" deep Spring round cake tin

1. Pre heat the oven and grease proof the baking tin

2.Cream together the butter and sugar with the whisk for a few minutes

3. In a separate bowl whisk together the vanilla essence and eggs together for a few minutes

4. Slowly whisk the eggs into the creamed mixture a bit at a time until the mixture becomes soft and fluffy in consistency and has increased in volume

5. Use a wooden spoon to scrape around the edges to ensure all the mixture is mixed in

6. Into a separate bowl sieve the baking powder, bi carbonate of soda and flour

7. Chop the cherries in half and put into the bowl with the flour and coat the cherries in the flour

8. Fold the flour mixture slowly into the creamed butter mixture a bit at a time with the milk, do this until all the mixture if mixed in thoroughly and forms a good consistency

9. Pour the mixture into the tin and put into the oven to bake

10. Half way through the baking, cover the cake with greaseproof paper

11. Remove the cake from the oven and leave in the tin for a few minutes before transferring the cake to a wire cooling rack to cool

12. While it is cooling you can make the buttercream icing

Buttercream Icing

3oz Butter

8oz Icing Sugar

1 Tsp Vanilla Essence

1/2 Tbsp milk

1. Cream the butter in a bowl with a whisk until soft

2. Sieve the icing sugar into the bowl a bit at a time

3. Use a fork and then a whisk to whisk the icing sugar in with the butter

4. Add the vanilla essence and milk to the icing and mix in well but not too much that it becomes runny

5. When the cake is cool, cut the cake horizontally in half and spread the buttercream on to one of the sponges

6. Then place one sponge on top of the other with the buttercream icing in the middle and place on to a plate or board

Decoration

1 packet of Fondanct Icing

1 quantity of Buttercream icing as above divided in two

Yellow and red food colouring

Ribbon

Silver ball balls

Strawberry jam

1. Cover the top and side of the cake with a smooth thin layer of jam, this helps the icing to stick to the cake

2.Roll out the fondant icing onto a level surface sprinkled with a bit of icing sugar so it does not stick to the surface

3. Once the icing is rolled out, using a rolling pin, cover the rolled icing onto the rolling pin (this makes it easier to then cover the cake)

4. Put the edge of the rolled icing onto one side of the cake and using the rolling pin flip the icing over the cake

5. Once it is over the cake, gently press the icing around the cake

6. Using a sharp knife cut off any excess icing and press the icing in firmly around the bottom of the cake

7. With the buttercream, divided into 2 bowls, add a few drops of yellow food colouring to one and red to the other

8. Using a fork mix the food colouring into the buttercream until it has coloured the icing and is one colour throughout

9. Fill a piping tube / bag with the yellor food colouring and a medium size twirl nozzle

10. On too the cake pipe swirls around the edge of the cake and near the bottom of the cake pipe 4 swirls and then 1 underneath. Do these swirls slightly bigger and place a silver ball ball in the middle of them

11. With the red food colouring, put in the pipping bag / tube with a small swirl knozzle at the bottom and write 80th on to the cake

12. I used red food colouring to match the red ribbon I used and I chose yellow as it is a colour of spring.

13. Then when the cake is done, you can tuck in!

14. You can eat these on the day or make in advance by up to 2 days

Giant Flower Cupcake

Sponge Recipe from the Large cupcake Christmas Tree

A batch of Chocolate buttercream icing from the christmas tree recipe

A batch of Vanilla buttercream icing from the christmas tree recipe but omitting the green food colouring.

Glace Cherries (chopped)

1. Make the cake mixture as described for the large christmas tree.

2. You can add cherries, chocolate drops or leave the mixture plain.

3. When the cake is baked leave it too cool before decorating.

4. Make up the batches of buttercream icing as decribed in the christmas tree cupcake recipe.

5. Decorate the bottom of the cupcake first with the chocolate buttercream

6. Use a thin piping knozzle to pipe verticle lines up and down to form the cupcake casing for the cake.

7. Please the top sponge layer on top of the bottom.

8. For the top of the cake, fill a large piping bag with the vanilla buttercream and a twirl (large) knozzle onto the piping bag.

9. Squirt a dob of buttercream icing all over the top of the cake making a good decorative flower design.

10. Chop the cherries in half and place over the cupcake

11. Tuck in and enjoy!

N.B. you can also use smarties, chocolate drops or silver ball balls to decorate the top of the cupcakes

Cherry and Almond Bake

4oz Butter

5oz Caster Sugar

3 Large Eggs

3.5oz Ground Almonds

1.5oz Self Raising Flour

6oz Cherries

1Tsp Vanilla Essence

Cooking Time: 180c / gas mark 4 for 30-40 minutes

Serving: 8" Sqaure tin / 9 square pieces

1. Pre heat the oven and grease the tin

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until combined and smooth

3. Add the eggs one at a time with a spoonful of almonds and whisk or use a spoon to mix in

4. Fold in the vanilla, flour, cherries and the rest of the almonds until it is well combined

5. Pour into the tin and level out

6. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or so or until golden

7. Remove and leave in the tin to cool before cutting into pieces and transferring to a wire cooling rack

Cherry Bakewell Cupcakes

4oz Butter

4oz Caster / Granulated Sugar

4oz Self Raising Flour

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1 Tsp Almond Extract

2 Eggs

2oz Ground Almonds

3oz Glace Cherries (Chopped)

Cooking time: 170c Fan / Gas mark 5 for 15 minutes in preheated oven

Serving: 12 Cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven and put cupcake cases in the cupcake tin

2. Chop the cherries and put to one side

3. Cream together the butter and sugar with a whisk for 2 minutes, until well combined, use a wooden spoon to scrape around the edge of the bowl and mix together

4. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and almond extract together for a couple of minutes

5. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the butter mixture and whisk together for a good few minutes until well combined and it provides a good consistency

6. In to a separate bowl sieve the flour and baking powder

7. Add the chopped cherries and ground almonds to this mixture and stir

8. Mix flour mixture into the egg mixture and fold in slowly but until well combined

9. Divide the mixture evenly between the cupcake cases and put in the oven

10. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden, once done remove and leave in the tin for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack

Icing

1 Tbs Custard Powder

200ml Milk

2oz Butter

9oz Icing Sugar

6 Cherries (Halved)

1 Tsp Almond Extract

1. Put the custard powder into a jub and a little milk to make a smooth paste

2. Put the remaining milk in a saucepan and bring to the boil slowly

3. Pour the hot milk onto the custard and stir until combined

4. Return the mixture to the pan and heat gently for 1-2 minutes untill it thickens

5. Remove from the heat and cover with some damp greaseproof paper to prevent a skin forming and let it cool (you can put it in the fridge to speed this process up)

6. Once cooled put the custard into a bowl and whisk in the butter and almond extract and chill for a further 20-30 minutes

7. Gradually whisk in the icing sugar into the chilled mixture until it is smooth, but thick

8. Using a knife spread onto the cupcakes

9. Cut the cherries in half and place a half on each of the cupcake

10. Tuck in and enjoy

Car Shaped Birthday Surprise

8oz Butter

8oz Granulated Sugar

10oz Self Raising Flour

1.5Tsp Baking Powder

4 Eggs

2Tsp Vanilla Essence

6oz Cherries (Chopped)

1-2Tbs Milk

Cooking time: Gas mark 4/170c for 45 minutes

Serving: 15cm by 30cm cake tin

1. Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl with a whisk for 2-3 minutes

2. In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs and vanilla essence for 2 minutes

3. Whisk the egg mixture into the butter mixture for a further 2-3 minutes until the mixture is well combined and a smooth consistency

4. In a separate bowl sieve the flour and baking powder togeth

5. Mix the chopped cherries into the flour mixture

6. Fold the cherry mixture into the egg mixture and mix well until it is well combined and a nice smooth dropping consistency

7. Add the milk and mix well

8. Pour the mixture into the grease proof paper tin and spread out with a knife so it is even

9. Pop in the oven to bake, half way through the baking time, open the door and check the cake and cover with greaseproof paper this prevents the cake from burning and from it being cooked through

10. Once done leave in the tin to cool for a while and then using the greaseproof paper to help you turn out onto a chopping board to cool

Making the Shape

1. Turn the cake so its the right way up

2. At each corner cut a triangle off, so you should be left with a roundish point at each end

3. You then will have 4 triangle pieces, 2 of these will be spare and on the other 2 you need to curve the top so it is not pointie and a nice curved shaped

4. You then place these at one end of the rest of the cake e.g. the right hand side with the longer edge at the front of the car and the taller side in the middle (This will be the front of the cake)

5. You then need to cut along the sides to make it narrow, these will be fairly easy as it will be from where the triangle pieces were cut

6. With these two pieces, do the same and curve the top and place at the other end e.g. left. Again the longer, sloping side at the front and the taller in the middle. (This will be the back of the cake)

Icing and Decoration

2 Batches of the 'perfect icing' from this blog

4 Jammy Dodgers

Sweet shoe laces / strawberry laces

3 Cherries

Jam

Silver Ball Balls

1. Cover the whole cake with the icing, Use the icing to help you hold the sponges inplace, I also used Jam as well as it adds more flavour and is a nice surprise for when the person takes a bite

2. Do not leave to set as you need to put the other decorations on

3. Cover the back of the jammy dodges with jam and press onto the side of the cake

4. Cut the cherries in half and use 2 halves at each end of the lights and one half for the stirring wheel

5. Cut the shoe laces and place them on the car as shown in the picture or how you desired

6. I then made the number 17 as it was my brothers 17th Birthday, but you can do what ever you desire

7. Tuck in and enjoy as much as you want! This cake went in one go!!

White Amaretto and Cherry Cupcakes

4oz Caster Sugar

4oz Butter

4oz Self Raising Flour

1Tsp Baking Powder

2 Eggs

1Tsp Almond Essence

1oz Ground Almonds

3oz Cherries (Chopped)

Cooking time: 180c / Gas mark 4 for 15 minutes on a pre-heated oven

Serving: 12 Cupcakes

1. Cream together the butter and sugar for a few minutes until well combined and creamy

2. In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs and almond essence

3. Whisk the egg mixture into the butter mixture until well combined and a good consistency

4. Sieve the Flour and baking powder into the mixture

5. Chop the cherries and then coat them in the ground almonds and put this into the mixture

6. Fold in gently the flour and cherry mixture into the butter mixture

7. It should form a nice smooth dropping consistency

8. Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases and pop in the oven for 15 minutes or until risen and golden

9. Remove and leave in the tin for 10 minutes to cool before transferring to a wire cooling rack

Amaretto Syrup

1Tsp Almond Essence

70oz Caster Sugar

70ml Water

1. Combine the ingredients in a jug

2. Put this in the microwave and heat until the sugar has dissolved and it forms a syrup

3. Pour the syrup on to each of the cupcakes and leave to cool

Almond Buttercream and Decoration

40z butter

12oz Icing Sugar

1Tsp Almond Essence

Ground Almonds

Flaked Almonds

Cherries

1. Put the butter into a bowl along with the sieved icing sugar

2. Whisk this mixture together for a good few minutes

3. Add the almond essence (this may very depending how strong you like it)

4. Whisk until it is combined, be careful not to over whisk otherwise it will make it difficult to pipe

5. Put the icing into a pipping bag / knozzle and pipe onto the cupcakes in a swirl

6. Place 4 flaked almonds upright at the peak of the icing and a quarter of a cherry in the middle

7. Sieve some ground almonds on top and you are done!