Valentine's Chocolate Cake Recipe

Mark and I don't usually do anything for Valentine's Day, we buy each other a card and he usually buys me flowers but that's about it. This year I decided to make him a heart shaped chocolate cake, so I thought I would share the recipe I used with you all. It's really quick and easy, and a cheap alternative for those who can't afford to spend a lot of money on Valentine's presents. I also feel that it is a lot more personal when it's home made :)

I used a recipe by Dr. Oetker, you can find the full recipe here.

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

225g (8oz) butter

225g (8oz) castor sugar

4 medium eggs

175g (6oz) self raising flour, sieved

50g (2oz) cocoa powder

For the Icing:

75g (3oz) unsalted butter

175g (6oz) icing sugar

45g (3tbsp) cocoa powder

about 10ml of milk or warm water

This is actually a recipe for a chocolate Victoria Sponge Cake but I just put the whole mixture into my heart shaped tin instead of separating it into two circle tins. I think I got my heart shaped tin from B&M's and I'm pretty sure it was only about £3. I can't remember exactly as I've had it for quite a while. I used strawberries and sugar decorations to decorate the cake but you can be as creative as you like with this :)

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (gas mark 4). Grease and line your tin.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs and if the mixture starts to curdle, add a little flour.

3. Fold in the remaining flour and cocoa powder with a metal spoon.

4. Transfer the mixture into the tin and bake for approx 25 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch. (Helpful tip: insert a skewer or cocktail stick into the centre of the cake, if the skewer comes out clean the cake is cooked.) Remove from the oven and leave to cool before turning out onto a wire rack.

5. To make the butter icing, place the butter in a bowl and beat until soft. Gradually sift and beat in the icing sugar and then add enough milk/water to make the icing fluffy and spreadable. Sift and beat the cocoa powder in to the icing and spread over the top of the cake. 

6. Leave the cake as it is or get creative and decorate!

I found that this recipe was really quick and easy to follow and I'm sure Mark will say it tastes delicious :) I hope everyone has a lovely Valentine's Day, let me know in the comments if you try out this cake! 

Double Trouble | Recipes

And by double trouble, I mean double trouble for my hips! I've been baking again and I never think of the effects it has on my waistline I just love baking! I've made a three tier chocolate cake (PHWOAR!) and what were supposed to be cookies but look more like big blobs of chocolate (or more like something naughty a dog does). Maybe I will leave it for other people to eat.....maybe! 

As always, I thought I would share the recipes with you so you can give them a go if you like :) 

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

For the sponge:

225g self-raising flour, sifted

225g margarine, softened

225g castor sugar

55g cocoa powder

4 large eggs

55ml whole milk (I'm a rebel and used semi-skimmed)

a pinch of salt

For the icing:

350g unsalted butter

250g icing sugar

200g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped (I used cocoa powder)

1 tsp vanilla essence

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius (150 for fan oven). Grease and line three 7" cake tins with greaseproof paper. Prepare and measure all the ingredients.

2. Combine all the ingredients for the sponge and beat together for 2-3 minutes until smooth.

3. Divide the batter evenly between the 3 tins and bake for 20 minutes until risen. Remove from the oven and let the sponges cool in their tins for 10 minutes. 

4. Turn out onto wire racks to finish cooling; peel away any paper that is stuck to their bases.

5. Melt the icing chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until melted, then remove from the heat and let it cool for 10 minutes.

6. Beat the ingredients for the icing in a bowl until fluffy. Add the chocolate and stir until smooth. Place one sponge on a plate and spread a third of the icing on top. Sandwich the second sponge on top and spread the top with half the remaining icing. Sit the final sponge on top and spread the remaining icing on top.

I then decorated mine with heart haribos and because I had baked this cake for my husband I used fondant balls to write I Love You because I do love my husband :) 

DELICIOUS!

Cookies (Lumps of chocolate)

Ingredients:

110g plain flour, sifted

75g unsalted butter, chilled

55g icing sugar

55g cocoa powder, sifted

110g dark chocolate chips (Asda was sold out so I used chocolate buttons)

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

1. Measure and prepare all of the ingredients. Combine together the icing sugar, cocoa powder, flour and salt in a large mixing bowl.

2. Rub the butter into this mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. 

3. Add the egg, dark chocolate chips and vanilla extract and mix until a stiff dough forms.

4. Gather up and roll into a sausage shape with a diameter of 8-10cm. Wrap in greaseproof paper and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. (I completely missed out this step so maybe that's why my cookies didn't really work haha)

5. Grease and line 2 trays with greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (160 for fan oven). Use a cutter to cut out 1cm thick cookies from the dough. Arrange on the trays and bake for 12-14 minutes. Remove and allow to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool further.