Baby Guinness Cake!

To clarify things this is not made with guinness! After a crazy night out last Friday night at the Relaunch of Upstairs at The Roundy , I decided to make a cake in honour of the shot we were drinking for the whole night :) I must have had 12 of the things and I was working haha. The shot is Tia Maria with a Bailey's head on it, so I made a Coffee cake with Bailey's Buttercream Icing... preeeetty good if I say so myself :)

6oz butter, 6oz caster sugar, 3 eggs, 1tsp vanilla, 2tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 3tbsp warm water, 7oz self raise flour, 2tbsp cocoa

Dissolve the coffee and leave to cool. Beat the butter vanilla and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift in the flour & cocoa and pour in the coffee mix, then beat gently in. Transfer to a greased and lined tin (20cm) and bake @ 180C for 20-25mins

Ice with Baileys Buttercream
200g soft butter, 100g icing sugar, tsp baileys and tbsp cream/milk.
Beat all ingredients together well, until smooth and no sugar lumps

Lemon QueenCake :)

Considering it is the name of my blog I decided I'd better make some lemon queencakes :) They are delicious! These particular ones are made with ricotta cheese, they are light and fluffy, melt in your mouth cupcakes .... damn new yr resolutions gone out the window again! I cant resist lol

Recipe for a large batch of regular size cakes (yields about 30):

2eggs, 300g caster sugar, 240g butter*melted*, 300g ricotta, 2lemons zested and juiced, 2tsp vanilla extract, 3tsp baking powder, 400g plain flour

*****if using self raising flour, still add 1tsp baking powder
******substitute one lemon for one orange, it makes a nice mixed citrus cupcake

Method:
Beat the eggs and sugar together for 3 mins on medium to high speed until light and creamy, mix in the melted butter , ricotta, juice and zest of fruit and the vanilla. Beat well for another minute or two. Fold in the flour and baking powder and mix well. Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases in a tray, fill 3/4 of the way. Bake in a moderate oven at 180C for 20 to 25 mins

When cooled thoroughly, ice with a creamy lemon butter icing
400g icing sugar, 200g soft butter, 2tbsp milk, lemon juice to your taste (i love it almost bitter!) Beat together well!

Lemon Iced Gingerbread

Another holiday favourite.... actual gingerbread either on it's own or I decided to shake it up a bit and pop a bit of lemon butter icing on top... delicious :) Ask Orla!! x

Recipe
150g butter, 200g golden syrup, 200g treacle, 125g dark muscovado sugar, 2tsp grated ginger, 1tsp ground ginger, 1tsp ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, 1tsp bicarb of soda(dissolved in 2tbsp warm water), 250ml full fat milk, 2beaten eggs, 300g plain flour
GAS 3 or 170C
Grease sides and line a dish 30X20X5 Cm

• In a saucepan over a low heat(it burns quickly!), melt butter, sugar, syrup, treacle, gingers, cinnamon and cloves.
• Take off heat and cool slightly, mix in the milk, beaten eggs, and dissolved bicarb
• Sift the flour into a large bowl and pour over the liquid ingredients, beating until well mixed.**It'll be a very liquid batter.
• Pour into tin and bake for 50-60mins, keep an eye. Until it is risen and firm
• Cool in the tin! Ice if you like or don't ice if you don't like :)

Lemon Butter Icing
200g icing sugar, 100g butter, grated lemon zest and 1tbsp lemon juice
Beat together

Christmas Cake!

Now every year I debate about whether to make a christmas cake or not, generally it's left there 'til March!! It's just one of those things thats forgotten about what with every other type of sweet and cake around the place :) But this year I made a cake (recipe adapted from Rachel Allens Bake) and it was a hit. The cake itself was light and moist, really full of fruit and whisky obviously! I'd say you'd get drunk after a few slices.. happy days! I'm not going to type the recipe as it involves many many ingredients but it's very simple to make. E-mail @ jennifer.omahony@gmail.com if you'd like it. I decorated the cake using almond paste and a ready to roll white fondant icing. I made holly cutouts and stuck them on, iced it and placed silver baubles around the outline.. it was loverly! And half of it was gone before Christmas Day... Madness!

Mums Birthday

Revenge of the Death By chocolate!! The chocolate ganache cake has fast become a staple favourite in my hosue :) I altered the topping slightly for this version by putting mini smarties on top and had sparkler candles on it as a finishing touch. It was again devoured, cakes really do not last long around here!

Follow the same recipe as Pams Birthday cake find it here and decorate whatever way you want, use your favourite chocolates or sweets. Another sweet I've used would be white maltesers or white buttons etc.