So my beautiful niece turned 3 last week! As part of my new trying to blog about different subjects and things I enjoy doing I have done a little blog post about my week of making and baking........, making and baking a Chuggington Birthday cake for Scarlett as she is obsessed with TRAINS!!!
.JPG) |
| Scarlett at The National Railway Museum |
First of all I had to look at the characters as to be honest I was a bit unsure of who Chuggington was! Scarlett made sure I knew all the characters and the names after a lovely afternoon of playing choo choos and saving them from the wibbly wobbly bridge.... I think I may have enjoyed that game more than she did.
So first of all I drew up a plan of how I wanted the cake to look, I set about the week before the party modelling the different train charcters for the cake! This part was much easier and more enjoyable than I thought it would be! The worst part which is normally the easiest part was the baking of the cake.... sadly the first cake crumbled and had to bake a whole new one.
For the cake I used my all time favourite chocolate cake recipe from Primrose bakery cook book... I have to say half way into melting 600g of 70% coco chocolate I did think this cake is far too good for small children!
If you are stuck for a recipe for chocolate cake try this one from Primrose bakery! it is scrummy!
Recipe
Ingredients
230g 70% chocolate
170g unsalted butter, at room temp
350g light soft brown sugar
3 large eggs, separated
370g plain sifted flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp bicarb
1/2 tsp salt
500ml semi-skimmed milk, at room temp
2 tsp good quality vanilla extract
Method
Pre heat oven to 170c (fan),190c/375f/gas mark 5. Grease and line two 20cm cake tins with greaseproof paper.
Break the chocolate into pieces and place in a microwave-safe bowl, melt on a medium setting in 30-second bursts until completely melted, stirring well in between.
In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar until its pale and smooth, which should take 3-5 mins using a electric hand mixer. Put the egg yolks in a separate bowl and beat for several mins, slowly add the egg yolks to the butter mixture and beat well. Add the chocolate to this mix and beat again.
combine the flour,baking powder, bicarb and salt in a separate bowl. Combine the milk and vanilla in a jug, add one third of the flour to the creamed mix and beat well, pour in one third of the milk mix and beat again, repeating these steps until all the flour and milk has been added.
In a clean bowl whisk the egg whites,with clean beaters, until soft peaks start to form. Carefully fold in the egg whites to the batter using a metal spoon.(do not beat as this will take out all the air). divide between tins and bake for 30 mins. Insert a skewer in the middle if it comes out clean its done.
Leave in the tins for a few minutes and then empty out on to a cooling rack.
As Scarlett is just like her mummy and daddy and a chocolate monster of cause the cake had to have chocolate butter cream as well!
Leave the cake to cool completely before adding your chocolate butter cream.
Recipe
350g 70% dark chocolate
225g unsalted butter, at room temp
1tbsp semi-skimmed milk
1tsp vanilla extract, good quality
250g icing sugar, sifted
Method
Melt the chocolate in a bowl in the microwave until smooth and a thick pouring consistency. Keep stirring in between to avoid burning the chocolate. Leave to cool slightly.
Beat the butter, sugar, milk and vanilla with an electric hand beater in a bowl until smooth. Add the melted chocolate and beat until thick and creamy.
So here are a few images of the process and the end product!
I made her a little cake topper with the Chuggington logo and her name on Photoshop, I just printed this out onto card cut it out and stuck it to some cocktail sticks.
Here are some lovely pictures taken by Paul
The party was brilliant and Scarlett had a lovely time! it's fair to say after this experience.... I won't be baking a cake for a while! of this size anyway.
She is very beautiful! And the cake looks delicious. Thanks a lot for sharing the recipe as well. Very few people share the recipe like this on a birthday post. I really want to bake the cake for my kid on his birthday. I have booked a beautiful LA venue that also has a swimming pool for his birthday celebration.
ReplyDelete