Chocolate Crunchie Cake

My dad used to eat the same breakfast cereal everyday for years. Always cornflakes. And when it comes to chocolate bars, its a mars bar or a crunchie. For his birthday a few years ago I made a mars bar based cake so I was left with little options to turn to this year....it had to be a crunchie.

Not that I'm complaining, I'll eat any kind of chocolate and you can quote me on that. This year I used the same chocolate cake recipe as before, but used a smaller tin. Its from the Primrose Bakery cookbook and it is without doubt the best chocolate cake ever. It uses dark chocolate not cocoa powder which accounts for a stronger chocolate taste, plus the light soft brown sugar adds a caramel-y taste.

The icing and filling for the cake came from The Art of Baking. The site, run by a couple from Melbourne, Australia, is packed with delicious recipes and beautifully shot images showing the process and final product. I literally spent hours lost in the pages, wishing the images were edible, and that I was back in Australia.

Rani of The Art of Baking says that the idea for her crunchie cake came about when they had 5kg of leftover crunchie chocolate bars...if there was that amount of chocolate in this house I suspect it wouldn't last long enough to be used in a cake.

The chunks of crushed up crunchie in the filling were my favourite part, closely followed by the icing - having two different elements to the cake meant it was like eating an enormous cake-y crunchie bar. Safe to say, if you couldn't tell, I loved this cake!

Chocolate Cake (makes 2 x 9" rounds)
230g dark chocolate
170g unsalted butter
350g soft light brown sugar
3 large eggs separated
370g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
500ml semi-skimmed milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

1) Preheat the oven to 170C and grease and line two 9" cake tins.
2) Break the chocolate into chunks and melt gently on the hob or in the microwave checking every 30 seconds. Once melted, set aside and allow to cool.
3) Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4) Beat in the egg yolks, followed by the cooled chocolate.
5) Combine the dry ingredients together and sieve.
6) Combine the milk and vanilla extract in a jug.
7) Add 1/3 of the dry mix and beat, followed by 1/3 of the wet. Continue to do this until all the flour and milk have been added - be aware not to overbeat the mix.
8) In a clean bowl whisk the the egg whites to form soft peaks - make sure the whisk you use is clean and free from grease or your whites will not whip!
9) Carefully fold the beaten egg whites into the cake batter using a metal spoon in a figure of 8 until just incorporated. Being overzealous and over folding will knock the air out of the egg whites and you won't get such a mammoth cake!
10) Bake for 30 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
11) Allow to cool inside the tins for 10 minutes before removing and cooling on a wire rack.

Crunchie Filling & Chocolate Icing (makes enough to ice & fill a 9" cake)
Butter Filling:
125 g butter
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 tbsp milk
4 crushed up crunchie bars

1) Beat the butter with half the icing sugar until well mixed. Add in the milk and remaining sugar and beat again until the mix is smooth.
2) Stir through the smashed up crunchies.

Chocolate Ganache Icing:
375ml single cream
340g dark chocolate, broken up

1) Gently heat the cream and chocolate on the hob until the chocolate has melted.
* Do not allow the cream to boil and be aware the chocolate doesn't burn.*
2) Allow the icing to cool and thicken before use.

No-bake Chocolate, Walnut & Avocado Cake

Are you struggling to stick to your New Year diet plan? Do you find yourself dreaming in cake? Is it taking all your strength to overcome that desperate craving for chocolate?

Then look no further, for I have found........A CHOCOLATE CAKE THAT IS (kind of ) GOOD FOR YOU!

Yes folks, you heard me, this once-in-a-lifetime no-bake chocolate, walnut & avocado cake is your ticket to the end of your cravings. Care of Australian Women's Health Magazine (I think), you can now make you cake, and eat it, whilst staying true to your New Year plans.

And it actually tastes awesome.

There it is, in all its' crumbly glory. When I first saw this recipe way back in September I was desperate to try it out, but with none of the tools required, I took a photo of the recipe and continued to think longingly of the cake. Cut to being home and trying to 'eat clean' and follow a Paleo diet, I was pretty keen to try this cake out as it fits almost all criteria, but cavemen ate cocoa powder right? We're all friends here.....

The cake itself was super sweet as it uses dates to bind the ground nuts and chocolate, but this is complimented beautifully by the bitter taste of the icing. It really tastes best cool, so I'd recommend refrigerating it before serving. The avocado adds the great texture and creaminess to the icing, and although the flavour is very mild, I found I could still taste it. This doesn't bother me, but see my notes below if you're trying to trick children/suspicious adults into trying your healthy concoction! The orange zest and juice added to the cake lends a strong and welcome zing, stopping the cake from tasting overwhelmingly like chocolate or walnuts.

It's definitely a cake I'd make again, I went back for thirds, I can't put my finger on what exactly kept me coming back but the flavours combined deliciously and I felt rather virtuous afterwards which was novel.

I've popped in the original photo I took of the recipe below, but there are a few things to note:

• to freeze it instead of putting it in the fridge - it really is a very crumbly and delicate cake so freezing it helped hold it together for a little longer.
• taste test the icing as you make it - I added extra vanilla and extra cocoa powder to cover the mild taste of the avocado so I could trick my mother into eating it, and the icing should taste bitter.
• keep it in the fridge!!! Avocados taste HORRID if you leave them out, trust me, I know.

NOTE: If you recognise the recipe and it isn't from Australian Women's Health then please do let me know so I can amend the post!

Chocolate Kiwi Cake

I was complaining about people always wanting boring flavoured cakes the other day when a friend told me to make a kiwi cake because I was bored of normal ones, so I decided to make a kiwi mascarpone frosting to use with a chocolate sponge.

Originally I made mini cupcakes, but I didn't get a photo of them and I had a LOT of icing left as the 2 kiwis I used meant the icing went very runny so I ended up using half the amount and loading it with icing sugar (rookie error) to give it some strength.

The icing tastes sweet, but with the zing of kiwi as an after taste so its not as bitter as I expected it to be.  Mind you, I was fairly liberal with the icing sugar.


I ate this bit, and then some more, and then a bit more just to check that the rest of the cake tasted as good.  It does.

Chocolate Layer Cake
6oz self-raising flour
1tbsp cocoa powder.
6oz sugar
6oz butter
3 eggs
dash of milk

1) Preheat the oven to 180C and prepare two 8-inch baking pans.
2) Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3) Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
4) Sift in the flour and cocoa powder - when measuring the flour, remove 1 tbsp worth and replace with 1 tbsp cocoa powder. Fold gently until just combined.
5) Pour into the prepared tins and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Allow to cool before drowning in icing.

Kiwi Icing
1 kiwi
mascarpone cheese
icing sugar

1) Crush the kiwis into the mascarpone and mix through.
2) Add the icing sugar, a small amount at a time, to thicken the mixture up.

Procrastination....

It turns out that spending an entire day (3 hours) in the library is conducive to hard work....just perhaps not the kind relevant to my degree...I baked an experimental cake when I got home.

I had a chocolate and apple cake at a little cafe near the house during the summer and have wanted to replicate the flavours since – but, it being a late evening in January, the fruit bowl was barren, all but a pear.  I now know that using super moist fruit in a cake makes it dense, delicious, but a heavy sponge, so what I made was closer to a brownie in texture.

The substitution of 2oz of caster sugar for 2ox of soft brown sugar aided in the caramel taste, but heavier texture.  I think I thought I was being more healthy/clever by using the brown sugar.

Served in squares, the cake was lovely warm with vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate pear brownie cake
6oz self-raising flour - 1tbsp
1tbsp cocoa powder
4oz caster sugar
2oz soft brown sugar
3 eggs
dash of milk
juicy pear

1) Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line an 8" square cake tin.
2) Cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
3) Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
4) Fold in the flour and cocoa powder - remember to replace 1 tbsp flour for the tbsp of cocoa powder.
5) Add the milk and pear and fold until combined.
6) Pour into the tin and bake for 20-25 minutes.
7) Allow to cool before serving otherwise you will burn your mouth.

Little chocolate horse!!

I’ve never been a massive fan of New Year’s Eve, but when a friend invited me to stay in Edinburgh and go to the big event they have on, I couldn’t say no!  Hogmanay was so much fun – so busy and so cold but so many pretty lights and delicious traditional Scottish food and the city of Edinburgh is beautiful.

Whilst feeling a little sorry for ourselves on New Year’s Day I made a little cake to have with our cups of tea.  Lindsay has a tin shaped like a little horse so I couldn’t not make a cake, it was too cute!!  Lack of a whisk left me to cream the butter and sugar by hand, not something I’ve done before, or want to do again!

Cute isn't he!

Chocolate Horse

4oz self-raising flour - minus 1 tbsp

1tbsp cocoa powder

4oz caster sugar

4oz butter

2 eggs

dash of milk

Continue as for chocolate cake here, but without the pear!

My sister's birthday

I couldn't make it up to see my younger sister on her birthday this year so naturally I sent my parents up with a cake precariously balanced under a Tupperware box on my mother’s knee in the car.  When we were little and got chocolate from the supermarket as a ‘treat’ my sister almost always had maltesers and nobody can say no to a chocolate cake so I wanted to combine the two for her birthday.

I've made cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery book and the recipes say if you double quantities you will have enough batter to make a 3-layer cake.  Obviously I had to try this to see if the rumours are true.

Whilst the sponge was very moist and light it was too light for a layer cake and every time I tried to move it, the cake almost fell apart - not ideal!  It did taste delicious though!

I don’t like sugary American frostings too much and have just learnt to make swiss meringue buttercream so I flavoured it chocolate and went to town icing the cake.  

Hummingbird chocolate cupcakes (makes 12 cupcakes; double quantities for layer cake)

100g plain flour
20g cocoa powder
140g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
pinch of salt
40g unsalted butter
120ml whole milk
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1) Preheat the oven to 170C
2) Combine flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter and beat on slow speed until everything is combined.
3) Whisk together the egg, milk and vanilla extract and slowly pour into the flour mixture, beating to combine - do not overmix.
4) Spoon the mix into the cases and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Allow to cool before icing.

*To make a layer cake double the quantities and use three 20 cm cake pans.*