Ginger Cake

6oz Butter

6oz Caster Sugar

3 Eggs

7oz Self Raising Flour

1Tsp Groun Ginger

1Tsp Bi carbonate of soda

1Tsp Baking Powder

3oz Preserved Ginger (Chopped)

2Tbsp Ginger Syrup

Cooking time: Pre heat oven to Gas Mark 4/180c and bake for 1 hour

Serving: 8" Sping bottom cake tin

1. Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl with a whisk for a few minutes until smooth. Use a wooden spoon to scrape around the edge to ensure it is all mixed in well

2. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs together for a few minutes until it has doubled in volumte

3. Whisk the egg mixture slowly into the creamed butter mixture until it is combined and forms a nice consistincy

4. Weigh out the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and ground ginger and sieve into a bowl

5. Add the chopped ginger to the flour mixture and stir in, so that it is coated in flour

6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredient mixture and stir in well, using a figure of eight is best, be careful not to over mix

7. Once the mixture if stirred in, add the ginger syrup and stir in well to the mixture is all mixed in together and you have a nice smooth dropping consistency

8. Grease the cake tin and pour the mixture into the tin and smooth out with a knife

9. Put in the oven and bake (Half way through baking, cover the cake with greaseproof paper to prevent the top of the cake from burning)

10. Once the cake is done, remove from the oven

11. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes (10) before removing it from the tin and transferring it to a wire cooling rack to cool

Ginger Icing

8oz Icing Sugar

2oz Butter

2Tbsp Ginger syrup

1. In a bowl cream the butter into soft

2. Sieve in the icing sugar a bit at a time and mix in with a fork and then a whisk

3. Once you have added all over the icing sugar, whisk the mixture together for a couple of minutes, this makes the icing nice and fluffy and light

4. When nearly done, add the ginger syrup and whisk for a further few minutes

5. Once the cake is cool, dollop the icing on top of the cake and smooth over

6. Decorate with ginger slices and glace cherries

7. Tuck in with a nice cuppa!

Chocolate Tiffin (Williams and Catherines Alternative Cake)

8oz Digestive Biscuits (Or any)

40z Butter

3 Tbsp Golden Syrup

2oz Cocoa Powder

4oz Mixed fruit including glace cherries

60z White Chocolate (Melted)

Spinkle of coconut

Chilling time: 30 minutes then 1 hour

Serving: 8" square tin cut into 9 good size pieces

1. Grease the tin

2. Crush the biscuits in a food processor or in a bag with a rolling pin

3. In a saucepan over a low heat melt the butter and golden syrup

4. Once melted, remove from the heat and sieve in the cocoa powder

5. Add the mixed fruit and stir in well

6. Add the crushed biscuits a bit at the time, mixing in well

7. Tip the mixture into the tin and press firmly down and smooth out

8. Place in the fridge / freezer and chill for 30 minutes

9. Once chilled, in a heat proof bowl place the white chocolate broken up and place over a pan of simmering water

10. Slowly melt the chocolate and stir so as to prevent it from burning

11. Pour the white chocolate mixture onto the chilled biscuit mix and spread out

12. Sprinkle with coconut

13. Chill again for at least a further hour

14. Remove and cut into 9 good size pieces and tuck in

N.B. Be aware, these will go as soon as they are finished because they are delightful!

N.B. You can use any kind of chocolate to melt on top, but I love white chocolate!

Chocolate Hedgehog Cake

6oz Butter

6oz Caster Sugar

8oz Self Raising Flour

3 Eggs

4oz / 100g Dark Chocolate

2oz Cocoa Powder

4oz Chocolate chips

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1 Tsp Bi Carbonate of Soda

2 Tbsp Milk

Cooking time: 45 minutes on a pre heated oven of 180c. Half way through cooking you need to cover the sponge with greaseprrof paper

Serving: 8" square spring tin

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

2. Place a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and break the chocolate into the bowl and slowly melt on a low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent it from burning

3. In a bowl cream together the butter and sugar, do this until the mixture if fully combined

4. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs together for a few minutes

5. Slowly whisk the egg mixture into the creamed mixture, using a wooden spoon to scrape around the edges to ensure the mixture is fully combined together

6. Sieve in the flour, baking powder and bi carbonate of soda. Fold this in slowly

7. Once this nearly done, add the melted chocolate, chocolate drops and milk and fold in slowly but firmly so the mixture forms a good chocolately consistency and it is all combined

8. Pour the mixture into the tin and smooth out

9. Put into the oven, about 20 minutes through the baking time, place some greaseproof paper over it and continue to bake.

10. Once done, remove from the oven and remove the sides of the tin, leave to cool before moving the bottom and transferring to a wire cooling rack

Buttercream Icing

1 quantity of the 'perfect buttercream icing' from this website

3oz Cocoa Powder and 1 Tbsp milk

2 Ripple Chocolate Bars

3 Flake Chocolate Bars

Glace Cherries

1. Make the icing as described on this wesbite, but adding 3oz Cocoa powder and 1 Tbsp milk to the mixture.

2. To prepare the cake, cut the cake vertically in half and using a little of the icing, put some on one side of the cake and then stand both of the cakes up on to the flat sides and stick together

3. You will now have a narrow but tall cake

4. At the front you need to cut a slight diagonal shape for the face, slicing a bit of the cake from both sides, to form a point at the end

5. Now cover the whole cake in icing!!!

6. Cut the flake and ripple bars up into strips of chocolate, and then stick them into the icing

7. I put chocolate flake on top of the hedgehog and ripple bars down the sides

8. For the nose, I used a bit of the sponge that was cut from the side and cut it into a square shape

9. For the eyes, cut a cherry in half and place them at the front but more towards the side

10. There you have it one, very chocolately hedgehog cake!!

N.B. This cake went in one sitting as it is so yum!

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

Princess Fairy Castle Cake

You need two batches of cake mixture;

1 x 3 egg cake mixture in a 10" square cake tin

1 x 2 egg cake mixture in a 7" square cake tin

I used a vanilla sponge mixture with cherries in for this mixture which can be found on this website.

But, you could use any kind of sponge cake mixture e.g. chocolate, orange, lemon, chocolate chip, what ever your hearts desire!

For the decoration I used the 'perfect buttercream recipe' on this website to decorate the cake.

Decorate the sponges with the buttercream icing, spreading evenly and smoothly on both sponges. When done place the larger sponge on cake board and the smaller sponge on top of the large sponge and press down lightly.

For the turetts I used ice cream cones, I dipped them in 200g of melted chocolate (any flavour) and then left to set before placing on to the cake.

I used the the silver ball balls to decorate on top of the cone and to place around the cake to make a decoration.

I used dolly mixtures to place around the top of the castle, this made it stand out!

You can use anything to decorate the cake, be imaginative as you wish!

Vanilla Cake Pops

4oz Butter

4oz Caster Sugar

4oz Self Raising Flour

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1 Tsp Bi Carbonate Soda

2 Eggs

1 Tbsp Vanilla Essence

Cooking Time: 180c/Gas mark 5 for 12 minutes

Serving: 12 Cake pops (2 x 7" cake tins / 1 x 12" cake tin)

Chilling time: 30 minutes

1. Pre heat the oven and grease a baking tin

2. In a bowl cream the butter with the sugar with a whisk for a few minutes until it is well combined and fluffy

3. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs with the vanilla for a few minutes until it has increased in volume

4. Add the egg mixture to the creamed mixture and whisk together for a few minutes

5. Sieve the flour, baking powder and bi carbonate of soda into the creamed mixture

6. Fold the flour in slowly so that the mixture does not loose its air

7. Once the mixture is all combined put the mixture into the tins and level

8. Put in the oven and bake for 12 minutes or until golden

9. Once done, remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 5 minutes to cool before transferring to a wire cooling rack

Buttercream Icing

3oz Butter

10oz Icing Sugar

1 Tbsp Milk

1 Tbsp Vanilla Essence

1. Cream the butter in a bowl

2. Sieve the icing sugar into the bowl and with a fork mix the butter and icing sugar together

3. Add the milk and vanilla and whisk the mixture with a fork or a whisk for a few minutes until the buttercream is soft, light and fluffy

Making the Cake Pops

75g Dark chocolate melted

75g White chocolate melted

Coconut / hundred and thousands

1. Once the cake is cool crumble it into cake crumbs using a food processor

2. Add the buttercream icing to the food processor and mix it with the cake crumbs until the mixture forms a nice dough

3. Put this dough into the fridge and leave to set for 20 minutes

4. Once it has chilled a bit, remove from the oven and make until little ball / cake pops and stick a lolly pop or another form of stick into each one

5. Place back into the fridge and leave to chill

6. Once done dip into melted chocolate, any flavour and then dip into coconut / hundred and thousands of any other desired goodie!

Red Velvet Valentines Cake

6oz Self Raising Flour

6oz Caster Sugar

6oz Butter

3 Eggs

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1 Tsp Bi Carbonate of Soda

2oz Cocoa Powder

3/4 Bottle of Red Food Colouring

2 Tbsp milk

Cooking time: 180c / Gas Mark 5 on preheated oven for 15 minutes

Serving: 2 x 7" tins / double layer cake

1. Pre-heat the oven and greaseproof to the two baking tins

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth

3. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs together until they are combined

4. Whisk the eggs into the creamed mixture until the mixtures are well combined and it has formed a nice smooth fluffy consistency

5. Sieve the flour, baking powder, bi carbonate of soda and cocoa powder in to the mixture, fold this flour mixture into the creamed mixture slowly but firmly so that it becomes combined and a smooth consistency

6. Add the milk and red food colouring and fold in, till the mixture has formed a nice red consistency

7. Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and bake in the oven for 15 minute

8. Once the cake is done leave in the tin to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack

Cream Cheese Icing

3oz Butter

3oz Cream Cheese

14oz Icing Sugar

2 Tsp Vanilla essence

Tbsp Jam

Chocolate Flake Bar

1. Cream the butter and cream cheese in a bowl until smooth

2. Sieve in the icing sugar into the buttered mixture a bit at a time mixing the mixture together

3. Add the vanilla essence and then whisk the mixture together for a few minutes until it is a soft smooth fluffy consistency

4. Divide the mixture between the two layers of sponge, putting jam on one layer and the chocolate bar on the other and then eat!