St Patrick's day Ombre cake

 Tomorrow is St Patrick's day so I decided to make a cake to celebrate.

I wanted to try and do a Ombre style cake and choose green for St Patrick's day. I Also brought some amazing sprinkles which contains tiny shamrock shapes.  I ordered these online from ebay.

I used my 5 tin rainbow cake layer set which includes a recipe for the 8 egg sponge.

I did each layer in a different shade of green ending with a white sponge on top. 

For the buttercream I used Trex which makes it very white. However you do need to add vanilla extract to make it taste nice.

First I sandwiched the sponges together with the white butter icing then did a light crumb coat all over before placing in the fridge overnight. 

In the morning I put the remaining butter cream into 4 bowls and coloured them in 3 shades of green and left one white.

Starting with the darker shade I spread a layer all around bottom on cake, then did the same with the other shades so it had different shades of green all around it. The top layer I did in white and also the top of the cake. 

I then used a pallete knife to smooth the cake over and blend the colours. To finish off the cake I pipped mixed shades of green into a swirl around the edge and topped with sprinkles and also added sprinkles around the bottom of the cake.

I could not wait to cut a slice to see the colour effect inside .........

For a first attempt it has come out OK but I need more practice in getting a smooth finish. 

Mothers day

Been baking for mothers day ......

My first attempt at a giant cupcake and i am very pleased with thefinished look. I even made the flowers and leaves myself from fondant icing.

 

My mum was so surprised when I took the cake round to her and it tasted very nice. I flavored the sponge with lemon and sandwiched it together with vanilla buttercream and lemon curd. The bottom part is covered in white chocolate fingers.

I also baked some cupcakes and decorated them with shades of pink buttercream. My husband took a box round to his mum...I hope she likes them 

I think mothers day should be celebrated as us mums play such an important role in family life. We can  be under appreciated and taken for granted at times!! Our partners don't always realise how hard it can be juggling with bringing up a family and working at the same time. My husband only said a few weeks ago that it is me that holds our family together and keeps everything running smoothly. I take that as a complement and wish he would say it more often!! 

I am so lucky to have my mum nearby as she means so much to me and I would be lost without her. My dad past away over 10 years ago which was hard and since then I feel much closer to my mum. She is always there to listen to me and offer advice and help. I hope my two children feel the same way about me. 

I hope all you mums out there have  lovely day today xxxxxx

Viennese Chocolate Dipped Fingers

 Made these yesterday in order to use up some left over chocolate buttercream i had in the freezer 

Simple to make and melt in the mouth 

Ingredients
200g butter softened
50g iciing sugar
2 tsp vanillia extract
200g plain flour
2 tsp cornflour
½ tsp baking powder
100g milk chocolate , broken into chunks
100g white chocolate , broken into chunks
125g soft butter for buttercream
250g Icing sugar
1tbs cocoa powder



Method

STEP 1


Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment. Put the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk for about 5 mins until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat again until fully incorporated.
STEP 2


Sift in the flour, cornflour and baking powder, and fold into the mixture using a spatula until combined (the dough should have a tacky consistency). Spoon the dough into a piping bag fitted with a large star-shaped nozzle. If all the mixture doesn’t fit, do it in 2 batches.
STEP 3


Pipe 10cm long, 1.5cm wide fingers onto the baking sheets, making sure there are 3cm spaces between each finger. Bake for 8-10 mins, swapping the trays over halfway through the cooking time, until pale golden and cooked through. Leave to cool on the baking sheets for a few mins, then transfer to wire racks.
STEP 4


Melt the chocolate separately over a pan of gently simmering water (making sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water) or in the microwave in short bursts, stirring every 15 secs or so. Dip 1 end of the shortbread fingers into the bowl of milk chocolate and the other end in the white chocolate. Leave to set on baking parchment before filling


Mix the butter , cocoa powder and icing sugar until light and fluffy . Put into a piping bag as pipe along one biscuit making sure the chocolate is on the outside Sandwich the two halves together