Vegan Chocolate Cake & Icing!

I was recently in a position where I had to make a cake for someone who is lactose intolerant & another who is vegan. It goes without saying, I was pretty stumped on what to make. All the vegan cakes I have tried before were quite shocking with a flavour that resembled cardboard! So I started googling & found these recipes on Best Recipes. The reviews were decent so I thought I'd give it a shot - I figured if it was truly terrible I could simply blame the recipe!

Needless to say, I was quite surprised when people started complimenting me on my baking prowess (figuring at first they were simply being kind) but once I took a bite it all became terribly clear - IT WAS DELICIOUS! One of the best chocolate cakes I have ever had - for those in Australia, a good example would be that it tastes very similar to the Sara Lee chocolate sheet cakes.

The below recipes are adapted versions of those that I found on Best Recipes.

Cake Ingredients:

3 cups self raising flour
2/3 cups cocoa
2 cups caster sugar
2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup coffee (I used espresso from our coffee machine, but you could use strong instant coffee)
2/3 cups canola oil (you can use vegetable oil)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 180C (375F).
2. Sift flour, cocoa, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
3. Add all remaining ingredients & combine well.
4. Pour mixture into a greased cake tin - this cake pops out of the tin so easily once its cooked!
5. Bake until cooked through - I believe mine took about 40 minutes.

Icing Ingredients:

1 cup icing sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa, level
2 teaspoons nutelex (nutelex is a non-dairy spread made from canola oil. If your not a vegan or lactose intolerant you could use soft regular butter)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon boiling water

1. Sift icing sugar and cocoa.
2. Add nutelex (or soft butter) and vanilla. Pour in boiling water and beat well until combined.
3. Spread over cooled cake and refrigerate until needed (I made mine late at night whilst the cake was still warm & it ended up dipping all over the edges!).

You could also make this recipe into cupcakes, just divide the mixture into patty cases & cook for about 15 minutes. Either way, its super delicious so give it a try!

Sunny xx

Soosan's Birthday Cake

One of my best friends Soosan had a Masquerade Ball for her party this year & asked me to make her cake. As she is one of the most wonderful women alive on this planet, I naturally said yes. I made her a two tiered vanilla cake covered in delicious vanilla buttercream. Everyone loved it & it was completely gone by the end of the night!


Soosan was the picture of elegance in her gorgeous black birthday dress & a fantastic red & gold mask. I'm so glad she enjoyed her cake & her party!

Last year I had a 'Prom Night' themed party that took hours & hours of preparation. I am very fortunate to have a friend like Soosan who gave up her Friday night to come over & help me cook (& bring me dinner)! Having a friend like Soosan makes me feel terribly lucky!

Love,

x Sunny x

Tres Leches Cake (the cheats version!)

Picture source

Tres Leches cake (or ‘Three Milks’ Cake) is a Spanish cake usually made by soaking a sponge or butter cake in three kinds of milk – evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and heavy cream. It’s super yummy and completely addictive. My boyfriend who hates cake LOVES it!

Now whilst I am all for the authentic taste of starting from scratch, I prefer the shortcut for this recipe. And let’s face it, why make yourself slave in the kitchen all day if you don’t have to?

Ingredients:
1 box of vanilla butter or sponge cake
1 can evaporated milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 tub thickened cream

Method:
1. Make the sponge or butter cake as per instructions on the box. I like to leave some of the butter out (if not all of it) to keep it dry.

2. Once the cake has cooled completely, get a skewer and poke some holes throughout the cake.

3. Pour the three milks into a container that is bigger than the cake – I like to use a large Tupperware container. Leave the cake to sit in the fridge for about 6 hours.

Depending on the size of the container you may need to either weigh down your cake in the liquid or baste it every hour or so. When the cake is done serve it as is, or ice it & top with strawberries. Just make sure you take into account the sweetness of the cake before icing!

Love Sunny x

Pokemon Cupcakes!

This month was one of my best friend's birthdays. So in celebration I made her some pokeball cupcakes! Please excuse my crappy middle-of-the-night-phone-camera photography!

They were very simple to make. Here's how:

1. Make some regular vanilla cupcakes
2. Whip up some buttercream icing and colour half red, leaving the other half white. Gel colours are nest as a liquid will make your icing runny.
3. Ice half the cupcake with the white icing. If you have time, put in the fridge for 20 minutes.
4. Ice the other half of the cupcakes red. Leave in the fridge for another 20 minutes.
5. Melt some dark chocolate in the microwave. Put into a piping bag and pipe a straight line down the cupcake where the colours meet.
6. Place a round white lolly (I used koolmints) on top and pipe melted chocolate around it to keep it secure.

This recipe also works really well with BIG cupcakes, so when making the cupcakes try to fill the patty cases 3/4 of the way up before baking.

x Sunny x

Georgie's Nanna's 80th

I did these cupcakes last year for Georgie's Nanna's 80th.

The theme she gave me to work with was an antique/old world look with a light pink/brown/pearl theme. She also ordered a mini cake so her Nanna would have something to cut. I did a mix of chocolate & vanilla cupcakes & a chocolate mini-cake.

Thanks to Georgie for taking some pictures for me as i forgot to take some myself before sending them to her! These cupcakes were decorated with buttercream & fondant.

Thanks again Georgie & I hope your Nanna had an awesome birthday! xx

Pam's Birthday Cake #2

Here is cake number two. Its a Chocolate Mud Cake (my specialty) and its covered in vanilla buttercream.



For this cake Pam said she wanted the icing Lilac and i was free to use my imagination for the rest! It has white chocolate writing and decoration.



I used the extra baileys cream for the white swirls and covered them in silver cachous.
Pam was very happy with both her cakes and i hope she had a wonderful birthday!!!

Pam's Birthday Cake #1

Pam has asked me to do 2 cakes for her 35th birthday (for two parties the lucky thing!!) and i was so delighted! I'm really glad she likes my stuff! And i love the opportunity to unleash myself on a cupboard of ingredients :)



The flavour is Vanilla with a baileys cream in the middle all smothered in a vanilla buttercream.



Pam told me she liked the colours Mint, Fuchsia and Aqua so i worked off the colours in this cute ribbon i found.



The writing is done in white chocolate.
Once again sorry for the dodgy photos!