Diet Coke Chocolate Cake

I've been wanting to make a cake with cola for ages. I found a recipe from the coca cola website and it made the most delicious, moist cake!

You can view the full recipe on the Coca Cola website.

I made a couple of changes to the recipe using 150g Stork Baking Liquid rather than butter, this was much easier as I then didn't have to go to the trouble of melting the butter. I also cut the cake in half and filled it with butter icing, making it extra indulgent.

This cake is delicious, really moist and it keeps really well.

Olympic Team GB Cake

I love a themed cake and I could resist making a special Team GB cake to celebrate our success in the Olympics and the general great atmosphere at the moment.

For the cake:

225g margarine

225g sugar

4 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

200g self-raising flour

1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
30g cocoa powder
2 tbsp milk
100g dark chocolate

Cream the margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix again. Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and milk and mix until combined. Finally melt the chocolate in the microwave add to the mixture and stir until combined.

Pour the mixture into a square cake pan (greased and lined) and put into a pre-heated oven. Cook on Gas Mark 4 / 180°C for 22-25 minutes.

When you think it might be ready take it out of the oven and insert a cocktail stick into the centre to check whether is it cooked through or not. If the cocktail stick comes out clean it is cooked, if not put it back in the oven for a few more minutes.

When the cake is cooked through, leave it on the side to cool for 5 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For the icing:

200g white chocolate

250g Elmlea double / double cream

Melt the white chocolate in the microwave on a low heat and stirring regularly to avoid burning. Lightly whisk the cream for a minute, add the melted chocolate and whist for another minute.

Smother the icing across the cake and decorate with sweets - I used red and blue smarties and white chocolate buttons.

Giant Doughnut Cake

I made this giant doughnut cake for a friend's birthday. You can buy a silicone doughnut cake mould from Amazon for about £5 and I used a simple Victoria Sponge recipe with a special strawberry icing on top.


Ingredients you will need:


4 eggs
Margarine
Caster sugar
Self-raising flour
Icing sugar
Unsalted butter
Strawberry jam


Grease the doughnut moulds well and sprinkle some flour on the inside. Preheat the oven to 170°C.


Weigh the eggs (still in their shells) and then measure out the same weight of the rest of the ingredients.


Beat the sugar and margarine together in a bowl for approx 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time adding a heaped teaspoon of the flour with each egg. Mix well after each addition. Once all of the eggs have been added and are well incorporated add the rest of the flour and mix until combined but do not over-mix.


Pour the mixture equally across the two moulds and put in the oven for 35-40 mins. When you remove the cake from the oven leave them in the moulds until they have completely cooled to ensure they come out in one piece.


When the cakes have completely cooled and you have removed them from their moulds spread strawberry jam across one side and vanilla buttercream across the other and carefully sandwich them together.


For the buttercream simply mix equal amounts of icing sugar and unsalted butter, you can adjust the ratio depending on your taste. Make plenty of buttercream as half will go inside the sponge and half on top.


Put three heaped teaspoons of strawberry into a jam into a bowl and using a hand mixer blend the jam until it is runny. Add the jam to the remaining buttercream and spread over the top of the doughnut. Finish off with some sprinkles.