Lately I’ve been asked to make several cakes for events and I love playing about with cake so was delighted to help. I thought I would share some of my more recent creations.
In our family we had a 90th and a 70th birthday to celebrate all in one weekend a few weeks back and I made two large chocolate cakes with yummy ganache for both celebrations. Unfortunately a bad photo as my camera’s lense kept fogging up. I had to hand paint the gold on the 90 candles (they were baby blue) apparently in the world of cake decorating no one ever gets older than 80. I was happy with how they turned out and the recipe I used was an absolute winner, kept moist for ages. Have shared the recipe below.
Large moist chocolate cake
3.5c flour
3.5 cups sugar
3tsp baking powder
1.5c cocoa
1 cup oil
2cups milk
3tsp baking soda
1tsp salt
4 eggs
1tsp vanilla
2 cups of boiling water
Put all ingredients (except water) in a large bowl, mix well to a batter, add boiling water and mix till smooth. Pour into a greased tin and bake in a pre-heated oven at 160 for 1hr or until cooked in the centre. (temp and timing will vary depending on your oven.) I used a square tin approx 25cmx25cm and approx 9cm deep and can still make a little cake with excess cake batter.
It gets moister by the day and can be made and iced safely 3-4 days before an event. This recipe was from a kind trader on Trade me forums, name unknown.
Then I whipped up these bright and cheerful vanilla cupcakes for Grace’s actual birthday.
The big round teddy bear chocolate cake I made for Grace’s second birthday party. I used the above recipe and it was lovely and moist even though I made and iced it on the Thursday prior to her Sunday birthday.
A friend of mine’s little boy has also recently turned two and I offered to make the cake for her to help out. She found a design in a book and I did my best to pull it all together. It disappeared at the party and I got some lovely comments about it. I loved the challenge of a boy cake, can’t imagine Grace will ever request bulldozers and cranes 
Lastly some cupcakes I made for a friend.
While we are talking about cakes I was sent this link the other day. Hilarious site about how cakes can go wrong, I’m relieved I’ve not ended up on that blog!