CADBURY GANASH CUPCAKES

Ingredients

170g unsalted butter

170g soft brown sugar

110g self raising flour

85g chocolate powder (I used Cadbury's Bournville coco powder) 

3 eggs

hot water

Ganash

140g chocolate (I used Cadbury's Dairymilk and if you buy a big bar there is enough to make the frosting and pinch a bit to) 

150ml double cream

Method 

Cream together the butter and sugar, in a separate bowl measure out the flour and coco powder. Add the flour/coco mixture to the butter/sugar mixture slowly with the egg  a table spoon or two at a time stirring well  in between adding. This is a super easy sponge mixture to make it is very quick, add a little hot (not boiling) water to moisten depending how stick and wet you like your cake i would recommend  3 table spoons. You can add chocolate chips if you want that extra chocolate but it really doesn't need it. Also you can add orange juice instead of water or camp coffee or even peppermint for that something a little bit different. 

Put finished mixture into cupcake cases and tin then bake for 20-30 mins at 180 or gas mark 4

Stab with sharp pointy thing to make sure they are cooked all the way through and leave to cool (covering for cooling helps keep in the moisture) 

Whilst your waiting for your cupcakes to cool you can make the frosting break up the chocolate and melt in a bowl over a saucepan with just a little water in. (you don't want the water in the pan to touch the bowl) stir continuously and don't over heat (you want to melt not cook burnt chocolate is bad) once you have a smooth mixture you can take the chocolate off the heat and stir in the cream. DON'T PANIC the mixture will go a bit funny this is because you have added cold cream to hot chocolate just keep stirring the frosting will go creamy and smooth. This mixture is pretty much good to use but I like to put mine in the fridge for an hour or so to firm it back up a little (this makes it easier to use with a pipping bag or if your decorating a bigger cake it stays where you put it) For the cupcakes I used disposable pipping bags working from the center of the cake and spiraled outwards then finished with gold decorating sugar and edible silver balls. 

Special Note - Happy Birthday Sirlene. 

Cake 4 CADS

Cake for CADS is a motivational tool used to encourage staff members to complete tasks.
The Staff member that completed the most tasks won a cake made by me.
The first Cake for CADS winner requested a chocolate cake.... here's what I came up with.




Four layer chocolate Caramel cake.

It is a monster, at least 1000 cals per slice and should most defiantly be shared for special occasion

For Vanilla and Chocolate sponge

225g very soft butter , plus extra for greasing
225g golden caster sugar
175g self-raising flour
85g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
150ml pot natural yohgurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 tbsp cocoa powder

For Caramel and Caramel-choc sponge

225g very soft butter , plus extra for greasing
175g light muscovado sugar
50g dark muscovado sugar
175g self-raising flour
85g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
150ml pot natural yohgurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp coco powder

To Assemble

397g can caramel (stocked near the condensed milk in stores)
140g dark chocolate

140g milk chocolate

300ml double cream

Instructions 

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line bases of 2 x 20cm sandwich tins with baking parchment.
1. For the Vanilla & chocolate sponges, mix all the ingredients, apart from the cocoa. Scrape half the mix into a second bowl and add the cocoa. Scrape into the tins and bake for 20-25 mins until a skewer poked in comes out clean.
2.Repeat step 1 for the Caramel & caramel-choc sponges, again leaving cocoa out of the first mixing, then splitting the mix in half and adding the cocoa into one batch. Cook as above.
3.While sponges are cooling, melt the dark and milk chocolate together in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Remove from the heat, stir in the cream and cool or chill until spreadable.
4.When the sponges are cool, spread a third of the caramel over the Vanilla sponge and top with the Caramel sponge. Spread over another third of the caramel and top with the Caramel-choc sponge, then the final third of caramel and top with the Chocolate sponge (don't panic if you mix up the layers, the cake will still look great when you cut in). Spread the chocolate icing over the whole cake to serve. It will keep in a cool place in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Special Mention (recipe taken from BBC GoodFood website)

To finish I also added shaved chocolate and a couple of edible silver balls to make it look extra pretty. This is a great cake and I hope to make it again soon, I was concerned that adding yoghurt to a sponge mix would be a disaster as I've never heard of this before but it creates an awesome texture and if you keep to the tin measurements bakes perfectly.