Malteser Cake

This time last week Butter Hearts Sugar turned 3! While I've had a lot on my plate at the moment and my posting has been sporadic at best, I'm not one to miss a Birthday or a Birthday Cake!

What better way to celebrate than with this Malteser cake, which just happens to be the richest cake I think I've ever made. I noticed the cake on the front cover of Good Taste magazine and the picture was enough to have me leaving the shop with the magazine and a couple of bags of Maltesers.

The recipe described the cake as amazeballs and I whole-heartedly agree, as well as adopting the word amazeballs as one of my favourite words.

The shinning coat of Maltesers on the outside of the cake is enticing enough, but the malt buttercream filling is where its really at.

In fact if I made this cake again I'd probably skip the outer layer of ganache and fill and cover the cake with the buttercream. I'll leave you with just one one word of advice, have a cold glass of milk handy, this cake is decadent!

You can find the recipe here if you'd like to give it a shot.

Adventure Time Birthday Cake

Its decided, this is my favourite cake yet! Really it was an easy choice with a theme so cute. A friends little girl was having an adventure time birthday party and asked if I could do a cake to match. The birthday girl was dressing as Princess Bubblegum, so with that in mind I used the Princess and her Candy Kingdom as the main features of the cake.

Being an Adventure Time cake, I couldn't leave off Finn and Jake so they're on there too.

As well as Peppermint Butler.

And this candy corn person, because it was too cute not to.

The cake was all vegan, adapted from my favorite chocolate cake and buttercream recipe to make it was egg and dairy free. I covered the cake with fondant and also used it to make the characters. It was so much fun using all the pretty colours, I kinda want to make another one just for myself.

Happy Birthday Stella, I hope you had a lovely birthday!!

Zombie Graveyard Cake

October has gone way too fast!! There were so many more ideas I wanted to try before Halloween, but I am thankful I at least got to share this one because it is my favourite!

Zombie movies have always topped my fav scary film list and funny zombie movies are even better. Now I'm not talking the terrifying run really fast rage zombies, I like my undead slow, stumbling and searching for brains. Think Return of the Living Dead, which I watched again last weekend and laughed my butt off the whole way through! In fact it was the inspiration behind this cake.

Ever since I made the hearts inside valentines cake last year I've been wanting to use this technique again and what could be more fitting for Halloween then a graveyard cake bursting with zombies! Make it past the undead crawling out the top, slice into the cake and you'll find a surprise! Its full of bones (cake bones that is).

Making the cake isn't very difficult and if you often have cake off cuts like I do its a great way to us them up. If you don't have any spare off cuts it's as simple as baking a quick square of vanilla cake cutting out your bone shapes and baking them again inside your chocolate cake. Go as simple or as fancy as you like with the decorations as the real surprise is on the inside. I used chocolate fingers for the fence around the outside and crushed Oreos make a fantastically realistic graveyard dirt on top.

For the zombie graveyard cake you'll need-
Pre-baked white cake- I used half of my favourite vanilla cake recipe.
Chocolate Cake mixture (recipe at end of post)
Chocolate buttercream (recipe at end of post)
1 packet chocolate biscuit fingers
1 packet Oreos (cream filling removed and cookies crushed)
Small amount of green, orange and grey fondant

Making the fondant toppers
To make the zombie arm roll out a small length of light green fondant and slightly flatten one end. Cut off the other end and gently insert a toothpick about halfway up the arm.

Cut four slices into the flattened fondant to form a hand, add on small details like finger nails and cuts and scrapes with a toothpick . Curve the fingers over something round and leave to dry out.

Brush the fondant hands with some cocoa and red luster dust for that real zombie skin look.

To make the Pumpkin, roll a small amount of orange fondant into a ball and press down in the center to flatten slightly.

With a toothpick or lining tool draw on the ridges on the side of the pumpkin. Add a little stem to the top.

 Cut some little gravestone shapes out of grey fondant and insert a toothpick into the base of each.

Making the Graveyard Cake

Cut bones out of white cake with a cookie cutter.

Arrange bones inside your prepared cake tin.

 Scoop chocolate cake mixture over the top of the cake bones and spread evenly.

Bake cake according to recipe. 

Once the cake has cooled transfer to plate or cake board.

Spread a the top and sides of the cake with the chocolate buttercream, it doesn't need to be super neat as its covered up anyway.

Trim some of the chocolate fingers to different lengths to make the fence. Press the chocolate fingers around the outside of the cake.

Spread a layer of Oreo dirt over the top of the cake. If you like you can add some more Oreo dirt around the base of the cake, use some leftover chocolate frosting to stick it down.

Arrange the zombie hands and tombstones on the top of the cake.

Enjoy!!

Easy Chocolate Cake
125 grams butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
2 tablespoons cornflour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
3/4 cup milk

• Grease 6 inch round cake pan and line the base with baking paper.
• Add butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla to bowl of electric mixer, beat until combined.
• Add the flours, cocoa and the milk and beat on medium speed until smooth and lighter in colour.
• Spread into prepared pan and bake for around 40 to 45 minutes or until a skewer into the middle comes out clean.
• Remove cake from oven, allow to cool 5 minutes before tuning out onto a wire rack. Cool top side up.

Chocolate Buttercream
90 grams butter
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons dark cocoa
2-3 tablespoons milk

• Beat the butter with mixer until light and fluffy.
• Add the icing sugar, cocoa and milk, beat until the icing is smooth and spreadable.

Mario Kart Birthday Cake

Its been one fun cake after another lately and this one was no exception. This is the second time I've got to do a Mario inspired cake and had such a great time making it.

The cake was my favourite chocolate cake sandwiched with chocolate buttercream. I covered the outside of the cake with green vanilla buttercream and used the same again to pipe on the grass. The  kart track and characters are all made of fondant. 

The Mario topper makes me laugh each time I see him.

The track was shaped into an X for Xavier the birthday boy.

I was told Xavier is saving the Mario topper 'until he cant wait any more and then will eat his head off''.

Cute!!

Happy 5th Birthday Xavier!!!

Its been awhile since I've shared any recipes on here and I'm really sorry. Its October now though and that means Halloween!! I'll have lots of yummy Halloween ideas coming very soon, wait and see.

Pink Black and Leopard Print Masquerade Cakes

A few weekends ago I got to make not one but two super awesome fun Birthday cakes. The cakes were for mother and daughter who were having a joint Masquerade themed birthday party.

The colours for the party were pink, black and silver, with some leopard print thrown in on the 21st cake.

I tried to match the shape and size of the cakes, tying them together using the same numbers and bows.

The masks were a great find from spotlight, with a few added feathers they matched the cake perfectly.

The 21st leopard print cake was my favourite vanilla cake with yummy vanilla buttercream.

To give guests more than one option the 50th pink and black cake was my go to chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream.

I loved having another reason to use my favourite new quilting tool.

Happy Birthday to both Birthday girls!

Glad to hear the party was great and everyone loved the cakes.

Xbox Cake

Just checking in with a couple of pictures of the Xbox cake I made a couple of weeks ago For boyfriend's brother's Birthday. Happy Birthday Mike! To any Xbox lovers I'm sorry I know there are a couple inaccuracies, I should have picked them up straight away considering how many hours I've spent playing the Harry Potter Lego games but please don't hold it against me, it was late at night!

I have been so busy making and baking lately that I have been neglecting this blog and feel terrible about it. I have a stack of recipes piling up, some more cakes to show and a bit of fun news that I'll get around to sharing shortly. Until then happy baking!

Awesome Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake

A few weeks ago some friends asked if I could do a birthday cake and some cookies for for their two little boys, with both boys being named after places in Texas the theme was easily decided. I was imagining the cake to be something cute and cowboyish, but Tracy had much better ideas and suggested a Texas sheet cake. After a little mouthwatering research I came to understand why, It seems this particular chocolate cake has a home at most barbecues, birthdays and any other events in need of a dessert capable of feeding a crowd.

There have been a number of occasions when I have used the phase 'best ever' about treats I have posted, there were those recipes and then there is this one. Those older recipes are great they always work out and I love them, but this Texas sheet cake gives a whole new meaning to best ever. Sure its possible that the amazing chocolaty richness is clouding my brain, but if that's the case it has a whole lot of other people hoodwinked too. Every single person I have shared this chocolate sheet cake with swears its the best thing they have ever tasted.

The cake suited the homely themed party perfectly, from the rustic decoartions to the amazing drool-worthy smoked BBQ. In keeping with the spirit people didn't even bother with the cake sever instead opting to serve their own generous size portions with their spoons or forks. I think my favorite part was watching birthday boy Austin removing the candles from the cake, taking care he didn't miss licking the frosting off a single one.

This quick and easy recipe produces a amazingly rich chocolate cake, with a good helping of butter making it lovely and moist while buttermilk ensures it stays nicely fluffy. The fudgey layer formed between the hot cake and the shiny frosting is heavenly, you'll see. The only change I made was to the icing, I adjusted the recipe slightly as the icing was almost a little too runny possibly due to the humidity here at the moment.

Texas Sheet Cake (Original recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks)

For the Cake

2 cups plain flour

2 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 heaped tablespoons cocoa (the cocoa I used is very dark in colour)

226 grams butter (2 sticks)

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 eggs (lighty beaten)

1 teaspoon vanilla

To make the cake- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees c. (350 degrees f.) and grease a 9-13 inch sheet pan (I used my regular lamington pan). Add the flour, sugar, salt and baking soda in a large bowl, give the dry ingredients a little whisk to combine.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan , stir in the cocoa powder and then the boiling water. Allow the cocoa mixture to boil for 30 seconds before setting aside to cool slightly.

Combine the buttermilk eggs and vanilla in a small bowl or jug. Stir the egg mixture into the cooled chocolate mixture.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until smooth. Pour the mixture into the greased pan and place in the oven.

Bake the cake for 20 minutes. While the cake is baking prepare the frosting. Pour the frosting over the top of the hot cake after taking it out of the oven, spread out if necessary.

For the Frosting

170 grams butter (1 1/2 sticks) original recipe uses 198 grams (1 3/4 sticks)

4 heaped tablespoons cocoa

4 tablespoons milk -original recipe uses 6 tablespoons

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 350 grams (1 pound icing sugar less 1/2 cup)

1/2 cup pecans (chopped)

To make the frosting- Finely chop up the pecans.

In a medium saucepan melt the butter then stir in the cocoa powder. Tun off the heat and add the milk, vanilla and icing sugar, stir until smooth. Mix through the chopped pecans and pour over hot cake.

Grab yourself a cold glass of milk and enjoy! You'll love it I promise!

Thanks Tracy for letting me use some of your amazing party photos. For more about the party and the yummiest BBQ I've had check out Tracy's Blog Itty Bitty Bites.