How to make a Pinata Cake

What could be better than cake? (That can’t be a serious question surely). Why, a cake with a load of colourful sweets inside of course!

Pinata cakes have taken the cake world by storm. They’re super easy to make and even more fun to slice into. You should always make sure your cake is at least 4 layers for one of these.

Here’s a recipe and instructions on how to assemble your very own colourful creation.

You will need;

9” cake tin

500g colourful sweets of your choice (I popped to the M&Ms store to choose my very specific colours, Jelly Beans are great too)

Ingredients

For the cake

250g unsalted butter, softened

300g unrefined caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs, at room temperature

325g nature friendly self-raising flour

2tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarb of soda

1/2 tsp salt

125ml milk, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease and line 4 9” sandwich cake tins.

Sift the flour with baking powder, bicarb & salt and set aside.

Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and cream together for five minutes.

Mix the vanilla extract into the creamed butter and sugar.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing for 1 minute between each addition.

With the mixer on low speed, add half the flour and then half the milk until fully combined. Repeat with the remaining flour and milk. Don’t overmix.

Evenly divide the batter between each of the tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of each cake layer comes out clean.

Turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool.

For the buttercream

Ingredients

250g butter, softened

500g icing sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp milk

Cream the butter until light and fluffy.

Add the sugar gradually and beat on highest speed. Add the vanilla.

Keep beating until the mixture smooth and creamy.

Add the milk and keep beating for another few minutes.

To assemble

Once the cake has completely cooled, spread a little of the buttercream onto a cake board or serving stand.

Place the bottom layer of the cake onto the board. Spread the buttercream over the cake layer.

Using a bowl or round tin that is at least 3” smaller in diameter than the cake as a template, cut the centre out of the two middle layers of the cake. Discard the centre of each layer as they won’t be needed.

Place one of the cut layers on top of the bottom iced layer. Spread the buttercream over and repeat with the second cut out layer. Once this has been done fill the hole in the centre with sweets of your choice.

Now spread the buttercream ready for the next layer and place the top layer on the cake.

Ice the top of the cake and the sides. Decorate with sprinkles or decorations of your choice.

Pics by Zoe Flammang 

My Favourite Chocolate Cake Recipe

I love chocolate cake. I would eat it every day if I could (no, seriously, I would). There’s a catch though, I don’t just love any old chocolate cake. I love this chocolate cake. Yep this one right here, it’s rich yet light, fluffy and moist and just simply delicious. I’m sharing the recipe with ya’ll because I’m in that kind of mood (and also because google search tells me you guys have been searching for it). So here it is!

Molly Bakes Chocolate Cake Recipe

Ingredients

100g cocoa powder (I like Green & Blacks as it gives off the richest flavour)

400g self raising flour*

2tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

250g unsalted butter, room temperature

400g caster sugar*

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs

350ml buttermilk

*For American & non-UK readers (howdy! **waves**), self raising flour is just cake flour and I don’t think you guys have caster sugar, so just use granulated and obvs bicarbonate of soda is just baking soda.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (356°F). Grease and line x3 or x4 20cm (8″) round cake tins (depending on how many layers you’d like your cake to be). Set aside.

Sift together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a mixer or with a hand held whisk, beat the butter until pale and creamy. Add the sugar gradually and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla extract.

Add the eggs one at a time and drop the speed to medium. Leave a gap of one minute between each before adding the next, remember to scrape down the sides as you go.

Add a third of the flour and mix on low speed until just combined, then add half the buttermilk. Repeat this step, beginning and ending with the flour.

Divide the mixture equally between the prepared cake tins. Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 mins or until a cocktail stick inserted into the centre of each cake comes out clean. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

Once completely cooled, wrap the cakes in cling film (plastic wrap) and place in the fridge to chill. It’s much easier to ice a layer cake that is chilled, just keep it at room temperature until serving time.

For the buttercream

Ingredients

250g unsalted butter, room temperature

500g icing sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

200g dark chocolate, melted (I always use at least 70% cocoa solids)

Beat the butter on high speed until pale and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar and beat until well combined and the mixture is smooth and creamy. Mix in the vanilla extract then the melted chocolate. Once the mixture well combined with the chocolate you can use straight away to ice your cake.

We’ll do a step by step tutorial on how to ice a layer cake with buttercream really soon!

Pics by Zoe Flammang

Handmade Flower Bouquet Workshop with Rebel Rebel

When it comes to neighbours, you really get the luck of the draw, don’t you? I’m so lucky to count reknowned florists Rebel Rebel as my neighbours in Hackney. I get lots of daily inspiration from all the flowers outside their workshop and occasionally I get a free bunch that’s going spare (in turn they get lots of cake but that might be seen as too much of a good thing) and I’m the first to hear about their brilliant workshops.

Seeing all their gorgeous flowers every day made me want to learn how to tie a gorgeous bouquet. I visit Columbia Road Flower Market often and find that when I get the flowers home I don’t really know what to do with them other than plonk them in a vase, which always looks a bit “blah”.

So when I heard about the “Make a Spring Bouquet, Rebel Style” workshop I jumped at the chance to go. The Rebels have a unique, wild and rustic style of flower arranging that has seen them win awards as well as counting the BAFTAs as prestigious events under their belt. They use mainly British suppliers and only seasonal blooms, making use of lots of foliage and varying types rather than going for the overly polished look.

We started the class with a glass of prosecco – why, what else are you meant to drink on a Thursday night? And each picked a bucket a flowers to work with. The Rebels prefer a clash of colours and combining flowers in unexpected ways, living up to their name. We had a vast and very large mix of wild flowers and foliage all in season and all British. Using seasonal flowers means the flowers will last longer.

The most important thing to remember is to make sure that the flowers and foliage used are of the best quality. After all your bouquet can only be as good as the flowers you pick. The Rebels source all their flowers from New Covent Garden Flower Market as well as small growers in the West Country.

All flowers within a bouquet should be conditioned. This means cutting their stems on a slant at a 45 degree angle and removing all the leaves that would sit below the water level. The leaves cause bacteria to form in the water which cause your flowers to die.

When making a hand tied bouquet, the stems should all spiral. Start with a piece of foliage or a large flower in the centre and spiral the rest of the stems around it. This helps when you need to add extra flowers into the bouquet and also looks neater in a glass vase. The Rebels use a stem of foliage for every three stems of flowers. Try to use varying types of foliage for texture.

Choose a focal flower to go in the centre of the bouquet, something big and bold and smaller flowers around the outer bouquet. Each flower stem should sit just beneath the tips of the foliage leaves. Make sure all the stems spiral round the same way. If you’re right handed hold the bunch at the binding point with your left hand and vice versa if you’re left handed. I found holding the bouquet the toughest part as my arm started to ache quite quickly (I really need to work out my arms more, it seems kneading and rolling fondant isn’t quite enough after all). This was probably also because I was holding them too tight and some of my flowers suffered casualties as a result. Lesson learnt there.

Insert stems at the point at which your thumb rests and at an angle so that the stem points towards you and the flower head is angled away from you. After adding each flower remember to turn the bunch to add the next, turning in the same direction each time. This is harder than it sounds and takes some getting used to especially as your bunch gets bigger and your arm aches more.

View the bouquet from the top occasionally to check the position and balance of the flowers, don’t be afraid to add things and take them away if it’s not working. The spiral of the stems makes this easier to do. If you’d like a domed shape start arranging the flowers lower at the sides. The last remaining outer stems and foliage should sit even lower.

When you’re ready to tie the bouquet, wrap a length of twine or raffia twice around the binding point and tie the end firmly in a knot until the bouquet is secure. If you’re just placing the flowers straight into a vase you can skip this step.

Trim the ends of the stems so that they’re all the same length. The bouquet should now be able to stand up unaided. Your flowers are now ready to be placed in a vase or wrapped in tissue and gifted to a lucky someone.

It’s definitely not easy but so satisfying making something this pretty. I think I need quite a bit more practise before I can confidently say I could create a bouquet as good as the one I made at the workshop (luckily I had the amazing Rebel Lucy around to guide me with that one). And although I’ll definitely be sticking to my day job, my new found bouquet arranging skills can be put to good use when cake decorating.

Rebel Rebel have lots of workshops coming up throughout the year. If you’d like a book a place on one you can check them out here or follow their instagram.

Red Velvet Cake Recipe

 Ahh the Red Velvet cake, it started as a traditional American cocoa/buttermilk based cake from the Deep South with it’s exact origins long disputed. Little did they know this cake would become an international sensation with baking and cake fans. Many thought this was a fad but year after year the trusty ol’ Red Velvet has proved it has staying power. It’s inspired many spin offs (red velvet cookies, red velvet donuts, Oreos, truffles, milkshakes) and it’s even crossed over into the world of trainers – Red Velvet Air Max anyone? Yup, Red Velvet ain’t going away.

Such is it’s popularity, I’ve been making red velvet cake almost daily for over five years. There are lots of variations of recipes, all use pretty much the same ingredients while methods can differ slightly. This is the recipe we use in the bakery, it’s one I have adapted over the years and it’s bloody amazing – even if I do say so myself.

Red Velvet Cake

This recipe makes a tall 9″ cake.

Ingredients

500g self raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

2Tbsp cocoa powder

6tsp red food colouring, we find powder is best mixed with a little water to form a paste

240g unsalted butter, softened

500g caster sugar

2tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs

350ml buttermilk

2tsp bicarbonate of soda (or baking soda if you’re from the US)

2tsp cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C/ gas mark 4. Grease and line 3 round 9″ cake tins.

Sift together the flour and salt. Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix the red food colouring paste with the cocoa powder and set aside.

Using a mixer, cream the butter until pale and add the sugar gradually. When making cakes I always beat the butter first before adding the sugar, it gives a much fluffier cake. Beat until pale and fluffy – about 5 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract.

Add the eggs one at a time, leaving a minute between each. Scraping down the sides as you go. Mix in the red food colouring. You can add more colouring if you feel it’s not red enough but take care not to add too much liquid.

Now add a third of the flour to the mixer and mix it in on a low speed, add half the buttermilk then repeat with the next third of flour and remaining buttermilk. Add the final third of flour and mix until just combined. Take care not to overmix.

In a small cup, combine the bicarbonate of soda with the vinegar. Allow it to fizz, then quickly fold into the mixture.

Transfer a third of the mixture into each cake tin. Bake for 20-30 minutes (depending on your oven) or until a cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Once cooled, refrigerate for one or two hours before icing.

Cream Cheese Frosting

There are many ways to make cream cheese frosting, here I add the cream cheese at the end. After years of trying to perfect my method, I found beating the cream cheese and butter together could be problematic. Sometimes you’d get lumps of butter that you just couldn’t get rid of, other times the mixture would go sloppy as soon as you started adding icing sugar. Adding the cream cheese at the end just avoids all these problems and is pretty fail safe. I don’t add any vanilla to this recipe as I find it masks the flavour of the cream cheese.

Ingredients

500g unsalted butter, softened

800g icing sugar, sifted

200g full fat cream cheese, softened

Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add the icing sugar a little at a time and beat on medium/high speed until smooth. Mix in the cream cheese on low speed.

Once the cake is completely cool, level each layer using a serrated knife. Keep the trimmings for decoration. Place the bottom layer on a cake stand or board and spread a dollop of cream cheese frosting evenly using a palette knife. Do this with each layer then ice the top and sides. To decorate we crumble the trimmings either by hand or in a food processor and sprinkle over the top of the cake.

You can also use this recipe for cupcakes. This recipe makes 24-30 red velvet cupcakes, half the mixture if you only want to make 12.

Enjoy!

Pic credit: Zoe Flammang

Summery Tea Time Mini Cakes

They say the mercury will reach 28 degrees this week and although that yet remains to be seen, what better way to relax when the lovely warm weather does arrive than with edible florals and miniature layer cakes?

Last year the Naked Cake was everywhere and we’re sure it’s not going away anytime soon. So I’ve come up with a lovelier smaller version of it. The Mini Naked Cake. Yum.

There are many ways you can bake mini layer cakes, some of which involve costly mini layer cake tins. We like our easy and convenient way which makes such pretty shaped cakes. They’re essentially two small cupcakes baked without their liners and sandwiched together with buttercream. Pretty much any cupcake recipe will work for this depending on which flavour tickles your fancy. Decorate with a small dollop of buttercream and pretty pearls or edible flowers or simply dust with icing sugar.

Here’s a recipe for our Victoria Sponge mini cakes;

Makes 12 mini cakes

You will need two 12 hole cupcake tins

Ingredients

For the sponges:

375g self raising flour

2tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

250g unsalted butter, softened

300g caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs

250ml milk

For the buttercream:

125g unsalted butter, softened

250g icing sugar, sifted

4 tbsp milk, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

Raspberry or strawberry jam

Decorations of your choice

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Grease the muffin tins and dust with flour. Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

Beat the butter until pale, add the sugar and beat on high speed until mixture light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla.

Add each egg one by one on medium speed, beating until fully incorporated. Leave a minute between each addition.

Add half the flour and stir gently until fully combined, add half the milk then repeat with the remaining flour and milk.

Using an ice cream scoop fill each hole halfway and bake in the oven for about 14-18 minutes until a cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Once fully cooled place in the fridge to chill this will make removing them and levelling them easier.

To make the buttercream, beat the butter until pale, then add the sugar gradually and beat until light and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla then add the milk until fully combined. Transfer the buttercream into a small bowl, cover and set aside while you prepare the cakes.

Remove the cakes from the tins and cut any domed tops off with a knife to level them. Pipe the buttercream onto half the cakes and spread jam onto the remaining half. Sandwich together.

To decorate you can blob the top of the cakes with buttercream and add edible flowers, pearls, sprinkles or simply dust with icing sugar.

Note: when making chocolate mini layer cakes dust the tins with cocoa powder instead of flour.

To serve place them on a pretty cake stand. We love our Beatrix cake stand from Oliver Bonas.

Photo credit: Zoe Flammang

How to Make Professional Looking Chocolates Using Moulds

Moulded Chocolates

For the shiniest chocolates in town, you need to get learning some moulding techniques. The process is simple enough but it can be tricky to get right first time round and takes practice. Polycarbonate moulds are the best type of mould to use and a worthy investment if you want your chocolates to look as good as the ones that are gift boxed.

You will need;

450g chocolate of your choice, callets or chopped

Ladle or large spoon

Spatula

Scraper

Large plastic bowl

Sheet of parchment paper

Praline mould

Ganache filling of your choice

Melt and temper the chocolate following this method. Lay down a sheet of parchment paper on a work surface or table ready to catch drips. Using a ladle or a large spoon to pour the chocolate liberally into the mould.

Scrape the spill over of chocolate off the top and sides of the mould. Bang the mould on the work surface to remove air bubbles. Turn the chocolate filled mould upside down over the plastic bowl and allow the chocolate to pour out. When the pouring slows down, use the scraper to to tap the side of the mould to make more chocolate pour out.

Once all of the excess chocolate has poured out of the mould it will leave a thin coating of chocolate around each cavity. Scrape the mould clean with the scraper working towards you and set the mould aside for the chocolate to set.

Once set, pipe ganache or filling of your choice into each mould filling almost to the top and leave to set.

Pour a new layer of chocolate over the mould, scrape the mould again to remove the excess chocolate and tap the side of the mould to release any air bubbles. Scrape the top of the mould clean and set aside for the chocolate to set.

Once set check that the chocolate has retracted from the mould, if you look on the underneath of the mould it should have turned a silvery colour where the chocolate has set. Turn the mould upside down and tap gently on the work surface so the chocolates fall out.

For Easter egg moulds, apply the same technique but repeat with two or three coats of chocolate for a nice thick shell. Each mould will make half a shell. Fill one side of each shell with your chosen filling (optional) and leave to set. Once set pour some remaining melted chocolate into a piping bag, pipe round the outline of one shell half and place the two shells together. Leave to set before removing the egg from the moulds.

Taken from my book Chocolate (Square Peg, 2014)

Chocolate Scented: I Love… Cosmetics

Who would have thought cakes and chocolates would be so popular with beauty brands? When I started my business almost six years ago I expected I’d be forever making cupcakes for kid’s parties. Nothing wrong with that I might add but there’s only so many Spongebob or Peppa Pig cupcakes a girl can make.

So it’s lovely that we have built a loyal client base of beauty and fashion brands over the years. One of the best things about working with beauty brands is that we get asked to concoct unusual recipes and flavours based on their products. That’s where we can get really creative!

A few weeks ago our client I Love… Cosmetics asked us to create some chocolates inspired by their new chocolate scented products – Minty Choco Chip and Choca Moca Lala. I’m sure you can guess what these were. The products are equally as delicious as our chocolates and not at all sickly as you might expect from chocolate scented bath products. And what’s not to like about bathing in chocolate? If you can’t afford an £80k chocolate bath surely these are the next best thing?

Scroll down for a couple of recipes for the Mint Chocolate and Mocha ganache that we used to fill these divine chocolates.

Mint Chocolate Ganache Recipe

Makes enough to fill a 28 cavity chocolate mould or for 40 hand rolled truffles

Ingredients

200g white chocolate, chopped or callets

180ml double cream

1tsp peppermint extract (or more to taste)

mint green food colouring paste (optional)

Weigh the white chocolate into a medium sized heatproof bowl and set aside.

Place the cream in a small jug or bowl, add the peppermint extract to the cream in and leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours to infuse.

In a small saucepan, bring the cream to the boil. Let the cream cool for a few minutes then pour over the chocolate and mix together until the chocolate has fully melted and combined with the cream. If using add the food colouring using a cocktail stick. Start with a tiny amount – less is more – until you achieve your desired shade of mint.

Transfer the mixture to a piping bag, the refrigerate until firm and ready to use.

You can use this ganache to pipe into chocolate moulds or make hand rolled truffles, techniques for both coming soon so keep following. You can also use this ganache recipe as icing for a cake and as a topping for cheesecakes or ice cream.

Scroll down for Mocha Ganache Recipe

Mocha Ganache Recipe

Using milk chocolate in this recipe gives the ganache a creamier and sweeter taste just like your favourite mocha.

Ingredients

Makes enough to fill a 28 cavity chocolate mould or for 40 hand rolled truffles

200g milk chocolate, chopped or callets

180ml double cream

1tsp coffee extract

1tsp instant espresso powder

Weigh the white chocolate into a medium sized heatproof bowl and set aside.

Place the cream in a small jug or bowl, add the coffee extract to the cream in and leave in the fridge for at least 2 hours to infuse.

In a small saucepan, bring the cream and the coffee powder to the boil. Let the cream cool for a few minutes then pour over the chocolate and mix together until the chocolate has fully melted and combined with the cream.

Transfer the mixture to a piping bag, the refrigerate until firm and ready to use.

You can use this ganache to pipe into chocolate moulds or make hand rolled truffles, techniques for both coming soon so keep following. You can also use this ganache recipe as icing for a cake and as a topping for cheesecakes or ice cream.

These recipes have been adapted from my second book Chocolate (Square Peg, 2014)

Gorgeous images by Zoe Flammang

Tutorial: How to make a Fondant Pineapple Cake

I was asked to make this cake a couple of weeks ago and was pretty much jumping up and down with excitement as I’ve waited for someone to order a 3D pineapple cake for so long. I just can’t get enough of pineapples. I wouldn’t say I’m obsessed (believe me I have enough obsessions already) but I do own quite a few pineapple objects. I have a pineapple lamp, pineapple ornaments, pineapple spoons, pineapple bottle stops, you get the picture. Ok maybe just a little obsessed? Even in the bakery we’ve made pineapple shaped chocolates, cupcakes with pineapple toppers (I see a pattern emerging, ok I’ll stop right there).

As with most new cakes I make, I search for tutorials or instructions on how to do certain parts of it. Usually there’s plenty of instructions online but I really struggled to find a pineapple tutorial. That’s when I decided to do one myself. This cake was so much fun to make I could make it again and again and never get bored. Besides it means I can get my airbrush out and that is always fun. You may not have an airbrush at home but if you’re serious about cake decorating or do it often it’s definitely a must have item and a worthy investment. I honestly don’t remember what life was like before I got my Dinkydoodle one. I use it for everything but more on that at a later date.

Making the leaves.

First up, you’ll want to make the leaves in advance – at least the day before. I made approximately 40 leaves in different sizes, you may want to make a few extras as my cake used every single leaf apart from one which broke when I dropped it. I cut them all out freehand with a sharp knife and then draped them over a paper coffee cup to dry out. This helps them hold their shape. I pre-cut the coffee cups in half and lay them on the table cut side down so they don’t move around. You can use plastic cups or paper cups which can easily be found in most supermarkets or general stores.

Instead of buying modelling paste I use a 50/50 mix of sugarpaste and flower paste to make my own.  Doing it this way works out way cheaper. I used about 200g of Squires Kitchen Florist Paste in Ivy Green and 200g Sattina White Sugarpaste for this (Sattina is my absolute favourite sugarpaste). Knead them together until the colours are completely combined and the modelling paste is pliable.

You want to roll it out about the thickness of a 50 pence piece and cut out the leaf shapes. I made sure some leaves were quite tall and skinny while others were shorter. I found there was no need to put wires in them so just drape them over the paper cups and leave aside to dry.

Carving the cake.

You can use any cake recipe for this. I prefer chocolate and vanilla sponges for carved cakes as they’re much easier to work with than say a softer red velvet or carrot cake. For this I used an 8″ chocolate cake with 4 layers. You can go taller if you want. I wouldn’t go too much bigger than 8″, as the bigger the cake the taller it will have to be. I kept most of the sides I just carved a little into the top and bottom. Crumb coat the cake as usual and chill for at least 30 minutes before covering with fondant.

Covering the cake. 

I used 1.5 kg Sattina Yellow Sugarpaste. Knead the sugarpaste until it’s warmed up and pliable. Remove the cake from the fridge and brush with water. Roll out the sugarpaste to about 1/2 cm thickness and drape over the cake. Use fondant smoothers to smooth the sugarpaste and secure the bottom before cutting it away.

Next up I actually airbrushed my cake to give it a more vibrant yellow colour. I use Kroma Airbrush Colours as you can buy them in a set of 12 for quite good value. Told you I love my airbrush!

I then made a little mound out of green sugarpaste for the leaves to go into, as an added bonus this also gives the leaves and cake some more height. I used about 400g of green sugarpaste, any green that is similar to your leaf colours will work. You’ll want to dowel your cake before adding the mound as the weight of both this and the leaves will make your cake sink otherwise.

At this stage the cake looks like a giant squeezy lemon bottle.

Adding the pineapple texture

There are probably many ways you could add the texture to your pineapple but I found the simplest was just to use a diamond cutter and imprint in a diagonal pattern all the way round the cake. This might require some patience if your cake is large. I actually didn’t have a diamond cutter so I bent a 1″ by 1″ square cutter into shape. You could also use a diamond impression mat if you have one but this would have to be rolled into the fondant before it goes on the cake. I preferred to do it this way as you have more control. I start at the top and work my way down. As you reach the bottom you may find the cutter doesn’t fit but don’t worry as the airbrushing will reach where your cutter won’t.

Airbrushing the cake

I used brown Kroma Airbrush Colour and a steady hand to follow the lines imprinted by the diamond cutter around the cake. Don’t worry if some areas are darker than others, this would be completely natural on a real pineapple.

Crowning the cake

Now you can start adding the leaves. Lightly brush the fondant mound with water. Start at the top of the mound with the tallest leaves and gently insert them into the still soft fondant. Now work your way round with the leaves and once you reach the bottom of the mound you can hide it completely with a row of leaves so remember to leave plenty for this.

Finishing touches.

I think it’s really important to ice your cake board. I see so many cakes online that are beautifully made but then just plonked on an ‘orrible silver drum. It’s like running a race and giving up a metre before the finishing line. It only takes a minute and is really easy to do. Will add a tutorial on how to cover a cake board at a later date.

Ta-da.

And here you have it a beautiful pineapple cake. Kind of reminds me of those plastic vintage pineapple lamps. You may be relieved to know that I don’t have one of those. Yet.

Any comments or questions, leave them below and I’ll get right back at ya.

Pic credits: Zoe Flammang

Tutorial: It’s an Emoji cake pop party!

 These have got to be the most popular cake pops we’ve ever made at Molly Bakes. They were created a few weeks ago for amazing fashion designer Mira Mikati and already we’ve been asked to remake them a gazillion times by our super cool customers.

Here’s how to make them at home, this recipe is assuming you have made cake pops before or know how to make them. A basic cake pop recipe and tutorial will be added shortly.

You will need;

10 ready prepared cake balls, chilled

One pack yellow candy melts

A cake pop stand or cake dummy with holes

Large red heart sprinkles

10 Cake pop sticks

Dusting powders – black, white, blue, pink

Confectioners glaze

Selection of paint brushes and palette

Method;

It’s a good idea to have a picture of emojis or your iphone handy to look at.

Melt the candy melts as per the pack instructions and insert a stick into the each cake ball.

Dip each cake pop into the candy melts and place on a cake pop stand or polystyrene dummy to dry.

While the cake pops are still drying take two of them and place two of the heart sprinkles on one cake pop where eyes should be and place one heart sprinkle on the other where the mouth should be.

To use the dusts as cake pop paint, cover the palette with cling film. This will ensure the confectioners glaze doesn’t stain your palette as it’s a real bugger to remove – same goes for furniture, best to try not to get it on there. Mix a little of each dust with a tiny amount of glaze to create a fluid paste. It shouldn’t be too thick or too liquidy. Prepare each colour as you go as this stuff dries really quick.

Next, paint all the white bits – any whites of eyes, teeth etc. Then paint the black bits such as eyes, mouths, sunglasses and expressions. Paint the tears on the crying with laughter cake pop with the blue. I actually mixed eucalyptus with ocean blue to get the right colour. Then using a thick brush use dry pink powder to make blush marks.

And there you have it – the most fun cake pops ever! You can literally try out so many of the different emojis, these were just my personal faves.

Pics by Zoe Flammang

Easter Simnel Cupcakes Recipe

A recipe I created for Ella Valentine Baking Eggs.

This is a modern take on the traditional Easter cake – these Simnel cupcakes won’t disappoint. With a creamy, yet fluffy texture and delicious marzipan topping they’re the perfect cupcake for Easter.

Ingredients

500g marzipan

300g caster sugar

155ml sunflower oil

50g honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

80g full fat cream cheese

4 large eggs

125g raisins

100g currants

200g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp mixed spice

To decorate (optional)

Edible gold balls

Edible gold leaf

Edible glue

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with liners.

Sift together the flour and mixed spice. Set aside.

Beat the sugar, oil, honey, vanilla, cream cheese until smooth. Then, add the eggs and mix until well combined. Stir in the raisins and currents. Fold in the flour.

Spoon the mixture equally into the liners. Fill them just over halfway. Bake for 20-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

While the cakes are in the oven, roll out the marzipan and cut out 12 discs with a fluted 5cm pastry cutter. Stack them on a plate.

As soon as the cakes are out of the oven place a marzipan disc on top of each cake and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To decorate: Use the remaining marzipan to make 12 balls for the centre of each cupcake.

Use edible glue to attach the gold balls round the outside of the discs. Use edible gold leaf to add extra sparkle.