Chocolate Birthday Cake ...by Radek :-)

Get a lovely cake for your women. The easiest recipe ever!
Thank you..dear ;-)

Easy Chocolate Birthday Cake.

Cake (recipe adapted from Nigella Feasts, Old-fashioned chocolate cake)
Ingredients:200g plain flour
200g caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
40g best-quality cocoa
175g soft unsalted butter
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
150ml sour cream

Method:1. Take everything out of the fridge so that all the ingredients can come to room temperature.
2. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line and butter two 20cm sandwich tins with removable bases. 3. Now all you have to do is put all the cake ingredients – flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarb, cocoa, butter, eggs, vanilla and sour cream – into a food processor and process until you have a smooth, thick batter. If you want to go the long way around, just mix the flour, sugar and leavening agents in a large bowl and beat in the soft butter until you have a combined and creamy mixture. Now whisk together the cocoa, sour cream, vanilla and eggs and beat this into your bowl of mixture.
4. Divide this batter, using a rubber spatula to help you scrape and spread, into the prepared tins and bake until a cake tester, or a thin skewer, comes out clean, which should be about 35 minutes, but it is wise to start checking at 25. Also, it might make sense to switch the two cakes around in the oven halfway through cooking time.
5. Remove the cakes, in their tins, to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes before turning out of their tins. Don’t worry about any cracks as they will easily be covered by the icing later.


White Icing:100g white chocolate
20g unsalted butter

Melt the white chocolate and butter in a good-sized bowl either in the microwave or suspended over a pan of simmering water. Go slowly either way: you don’t want any burning or seizing.

Dark chocolate Filling:Ingredients:250ml double cream, cooled
100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
30g butter
50ml Baileys or favourite liqueur
2-3 tablespoons icing sugar

Method:

1. Melt the butter and chocolate in a good-sized bowl either in the microwave or suspended over a pan of simmering water. Go slowly either way: you don’t want any burning or seizing.
2. While the chocolate and butter cooling a little, whip double cream until soft peak*, slowly add icing sugar and liqueur and gently stir. Add the chocolate mixture and gently stir again.

* How to whip a cream :-)


To assemble birthday cake:
• Choose your cake stand or plate. Then sit one of the cakes, uppermost side down.
• Spoon about a third of the dark chocolate filling on to the centre of the cake half and spread with a knife or spatula until you cover the top of it evenly. Sit the other cake on top, normal way up, pressing gently to sandwich the two together.
• Spread the sides of the cake with the remaining icing and leave a few minutes till set.
• Spread top with white icing
• Store cake in the refrigerator

ENJOY

Coconut-chocolate muffins. The simpliest birthday cake.

If you don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen during your birthday day why not to prepare something simple and delicious?! Why not to prepare divine coconut-chocolate muffins?

These little muffins are as gourmet as birthday cake except you spend less time for baking and decorating.
Yes, It’s so nice to bake a BIG birthday cake but I do this only for my family and friends. For my own birthday I want something fast, tasty and different than traditional cakes.
If you have 35 minutes, love coconut, chocolate, muffins and want to prepare something special I would love to share with you my own recipe :).

Coconut-chocolate muffins as a birthday cake

Makes 4 birthday cakes*
Ingredients:Dry ingredients:
110g (3/4 cup) plain flour
100g (1/2 cup) brown sugar
30g (1/3 cup) desiccated coconut
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Wet ingredients100ml milk
100ml coconut milk**
6 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 egg, lightly beaten

Filling:100g mascarpone cheese
200ml double cream
4 teaspoons icing sugar
8 tablespoons rum with coconut (I used Malibu)***
3 tablespoons coffee liqueur or Baileys liqueur (I used Sheridan liqueur)***
3 teaspoons cocoa powder

* I used 4 ramekins (8cm in diameter) but you can also use traditional muffins cases (5cm in diameter, makes 6)
** do not shake can prior opening and use only liquid coconut milk (in this recipe we don’t use coconut cream)
*** adding some liqueur and rum makes filling less insipid
Method:
To make muffins:1. Preheat oven, 180C. Grease a 6-hole muffin pan (do not use muffin paper cases) or grease 4 ramekins.
2. Put flour, sugar, desiccated coconut, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl and stir together.
3. Combine milk, coconut milk, sunflower oil and egg together in a separate bowl.
4. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients. Stir until just combined; do not over-mix.
5. Divide the mixture between the muffin pan/ramekins, filling each no more than three-quarters full.
6. Bake in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes (muffin pan), 30-35(ramekins) or until well risen and firm to the touch.
7. Remove muffins from the oven. Stand in the muffin pan/ramekins 5 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool.

To make filling:1. Place double cream in a bowl and whip until it holds soft peaks. Add the mascarpone cheese and the icing sugar and beat together until smooth.
2. (Coconut filling).Put two-third of the filling in a separate bowl and gradually add the coconut rum. Stir until just combined.
3. (Chocolate filling). Rest of the filling stir gently with cocoa powder and liqueur.

To assemble birthday cake:1. Cut each muffin horizontally into three even layers.
2. Place base layer on serving plate. Spread base with the coconut filling.
3. Top with second layer of cake and repeat layering with coconut filling.
4. Top with last layer of cake. Spread top with chocolate filling.
5. Decorate with flaked coconut. Store in the refrigerator.

Enjoy :)