Piñata Cake With Surprises Inside!

This Piñata cake is packed with surprises, brightly decorated with multi coloured sponge layers to match and filled with yummy sweets. Kids love them!

I made this one for my 29 year old big kid and she and her friends loved it! Filled with their favourite sweets it's a great surprise, in my daughters case it was Dolly Mixtures, Skittles and M&Ms, but you can use any. It's more effective if they are out of the packet so that they tumble out of the cake as the first slice is cut!

For this cake I used a basic sponge recipe as gel colours needed to be added to the mixture which would require a good bit of mixing, if you use something like a genoese recipe you will end up beating all the air out.

Ingredients

225g (8oz) Self Raising Flour
225g (8oz) Butter, at room temperature
225g (8oz) Caster Sugar
4 Eggs
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Method

Mix all the ingredients together in one bowl, divide into 2 and colour each one differently.

I used Pink, Yellow, Green, Blue, Orange and Purple. You can fill two 8" lined and greased sandwich pans out of each batch so you will need to make 3 batches in total for 6 brightly coloured layers.

Make sure you use bake stable food colour to achieve a bright baked finish, in a gel or paste so it will not alter the consistency of the cake mixture.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180°c/ Gas mark 4 for approximately 15-25 minutes.

When cooled cut out the centre of 5 of the cakes and stack using butter cream, fill with you chosen sweets and add the last layer. Thinly coat the outside with butter cream.

Using your food colours from the sponge make 6 different coloured batches of butter cream and with a frill tube pipe from the bottom of the cake to the top and then into the centre, alternating colours as you go.
We got about 30 portions from this cake and they were generous! So you could get more!

If you would prefer to watch how this Piñata cake is made and decorated there will be a video following shortly.

Hope you enjoy making this cake, it's well worth the effort for the surprised and happy faces!
Let me know how you get on and what you filled yours with?

Best Chocolate Brownie Ever!

I've tried a number of chocolate brownie recipes in the past but none come close to this one, it's crunchy on the top and gooey in the middle with chunks of chocolate in every mouth full, fabulous!

You gotta try this, let me know what you think, it could be your best ever brownie too!

Ingredients

275g/10oz plain chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

275g/10oz unsalted butter

85g/3oz milk chocolate, cut into large chunks

85g/3oz white chocolate, cut into large chunks

175g/6oz plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

325g/12oz caster sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas3. Line a 30x20x3.5cm tin with buttered greaseproof paper.

Put plain chocolate and butter in a bowl over boiling water until melted.

Sieve flour and baking powder into a bowl. Remove melted chocolate from heat and stir in the sugar.

Add the eggs and vanilla essence, then fold in the flour and chocolate chunks.

Pour into prepared tin and spread out evenly. Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes.

The top should be firm but the inside should be soft when baked.

Allow to cool in the tin before carefully removing and cutting into small squares, cos it's very rich!

Easy Butter Icing Recipe

A popular and well known icing that is quickly made, using half the weight of butter to icing sugar. The flavour and colour may be altered by adding different flavourings and colours.

• 2 tsp milk
• 240g icing (confectioners) sugar, sifted
• 120g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1) Place the butter in a bowl. Using a wooden spoon or an electric mixer, beat until light and fluffy.

2) Stir in the icing sugar, milk and vanilla extract until evenly mixed. Then beat the icing well until light and smooth.

Flavourings: Replace the milk and vanilla extract with orange, lemon or lime juice and 2 tsp finely grated orange, lemon or lime zest. Alternatively you could add 1 tbsp of cocoa powder blended with 1 tbsp of boiling water.

Colourings: We recommend using a paste colour as it won't alter the consistency of the icing. Dust or liquid colours can be used but you may need to add more or less icing sugar to keep the same consistency.

To note: Strong or pure vanilla extract can alter the colour of your butter icing.

Moist Carrot & Raisin Cake Recipe

Carrot & Raisin Cake:

Makes 2 x 1lb loaves.

• 250g carrot; peeled & grated
• 110g raisins
• 170g light muscovado sugar; sifted
• 170g vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs; beaten
• 140g self-raising flour
• 1½ level teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 good grating of nutmeg
• 1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Optional Topping:

• lemon juice
• 100g icing sugar
  
  

Want to make less? Simply half the ingredients for a single loaf.

Step 1:
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F/ Gas 4).
Whisk together the sugar & oil, then whisk in the eggs.

Step 2:
Sift together the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg & bicarbonate of soda.
Fold this into the mixture using a wooden spoon.

Step 3:
Stir in the carrots and raisins and combine thoroughly.

Step 4:
Tip equal quantities of the mixture into parchment lined 1lb loaf tins and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 30-40 mins, or until well risen and firm to the touch.

Step 5:
Place the tin on a wire rack to cool for 30mins, then carefully invert the cakes on the wire rack to cool completely.

Topping Suggestion:

To make the frosting, sift the icing sugar into a bowl add the lemon juice and beat until smooth.

Pour over the cooled cakes and allow to drizzle down the sides.