There’s so much pressure on us mums trying to create the perfect birthday party for our little ones. The cake is often the thing that strikes the most fear into those of us who can’t call ourselves bakers. So, if you do want to give it a try and make your own simple cake, this one looks pretty delicious and is very simple.
Recipe and image courtesy of Mrs Rachel Brady.
A great birthday cake recipe to have in your repertoire.
Makes: 16 slimmer (but perfectly acceptable) slices or 8 larger ones
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Total time: 45 mins
Ingredients:
50g cocoa powder
6 tbsn boiling water
3 eggs
50ml milk
175g self-raising flour
1 tspn baking powder
100g soft butter
275g caster sugar
For the icing:
150g dark chocolate
150ml double cream
3 x tubes of Smarties
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 180C.
- Grease two 20cm sandwich cake tins. Line each one with a circle of baking paper. It is worth doing this as makes it easier to get them out.
- Mix the water and cocoa powder into a paste. Add everything to bowl and whisk with an electric or a hand whisk until smooth.
- Divide into tins and bake for 25-30 mins.
- When cool enough to remove from tins, do so and then set aside and let cool. Once cool, take a bread knife and level off tops of each one. Don’t make icing till cakes are cool. You can make the cakes in advance and freeze, or wrap in cling and store in a bread bin or similar.
- Make the icing by very gently melting the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. DO BE CAREFUL as chocolate will split if you let it get too hot. I take it off heat before it’s all melted as it carries on melting off heat. Stir the cream in and this will cool and thicken it.
- Pop some icing on top of one of the sandwiches. Top that with the other sandwich. Now spoon the icing all over the cake, smoothing as you go.
- Stick the Smarties on whilst the icing is still ‘wet’. Note: if you stick the Smarties on in advance the colour will drain from them a little. I tend to make cakes in advance then ice on the day.
