Heylow my lovelies.. January seems to have been a busy one, has it been for you lot also? I kind of can't wait to see the back of it. However one thing that has been good about it is that over the Christmas period I was gifted plentiful reading material and for this I am truly grateful, it has seriously kept me going. I have just finished The Boy with the Topknot by Sathnam Sanghera and surprisingly took away alot from the book as previously perceived. Sathnam Sanghera relates his story about being a British born Sikh boy in Wolverhampton, how his parents shaped his life, how being immigrants shaped theirs and what a Topknot meant to his faith. Bought by my mother in law due to the ' topknot ' reference I found this recollection of an Asian upbringing, honest, heart warming, gutting and insightful. Being able to sympathise and relate to most of it, I feel the need to suggest this book to the masses. Get yourself a little copy!
As noted in my second last post, I was up late at night baking my brothers birthday cake and I had extreme anxieties about it not working as I hadn't used the recipe before and worried I would simply EFF it up ( my mum hadn't bought a replacement ) I had visions of it exploding (??!!??) no idea why and or falling apart in my hands even though there would be no need for it to be IN my hands in the first place. Anyway, it worked, it tasted how it was meant to, so I am going to share it. I ( of course ) found this recipe on Pinterest, the apple of my eye. If you know a chocolate mentalist, this recipe is for you!
Ingredient's
3 ounces dark chocolate
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
Heat the oven to 190 degrees.
Get the chocolate and chop it up.
Melt the chopped up chocolate in the hot coffee until it is completely dissolved and set aside.
Whisk together your dry ingredients.
Beat your eggs for 2-3 minutes, until they are thick and lemon coloured. Time to add the oil, buttermilk and vanilla.
Once those are in, add the coffee/chocolate mixture slowly.
Then it’s time for the dry ingredients, dump them in and mix at a moderate speed until they are combined completely.
Grease and parchment line your cake pan.
Bake at 190 degrees, check after 30 minutes with skewer bake further if needed until done.
Once out, leave to cool and then remove to wire rack and set aside for later.
Ganache
Take 1 1/2 cups of double cream and pop it in a pot.
Add around 125g of dark and milk chocolate to the pot and stick on a medium heat.
Keeping an eye on it melt the chocolate until the liquid turns into melted chocolate completely.
Once cream and chocolate have combined keep stirring for at least another 20 minutes until the ganache thickens.
Once thickened pour into bowl and refrigerate and every so often mix to allow it to cool faster.
Now I decorated it with kitkats and M&M's however you can do whatever you like! I cut the two sponge sandwiches until i had two flat pieces and then on one half using my ganache to fill then placed the other sponge on top. I then covered the whole cake with the chocolate ganache, placed my kits kats around the edge as evenly spaced as I could then secured them with a ribbon. The best bit was covering the top with the colourful M&M's!!! Done!!
Also this week I have been pretty pleased with the progress of my plants! either I kill something I buy already potted and growing, or, what I plant just does not grow! I've been playing peaceful and tranquil music qhilst whispering sweet nothings to these babies so that they bloom and grow and brighten up my wee living room!
In love with this D.I.Y tutorial and I am SO going to try it out! <3
