Hello lovelies,
ITS THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!
Well guys, it’s that time of year again! Can you believe how quickly December has come around? Only feels like yesterday I was preparing for Blogmas 2018, now I’m back writing Christmassy posts again. Crazy!
Every week leading up to the 25th, I’ll be uploading Christmas inspired posts to get you into the Christmas spirit. From baking to stocking fillers, I’ve got it all and I’m here to help & inspire you in every way possible.
To kick start the festive season, of course I had to start with a festive bake… it wouldn’t be me otherwise, would it?
This year I’ve gone all out with the Christmassy ideas, trying to constantly improve on the year before and improve my skills as a baker! How else better to do it than practicing at home then sharing with you guys?
Every year I look forward to sharing my festive bakes with you guys, it’s my favourite thing about doing my blog if I’m honest! I just love pushing myself harder and harder, even if I get frustrated and turn into Gordon Ramsay (I’m not joking either, I can be evil in the kitchen haha). It just gets me into the festive spirit everytime.
But before I ramble on any longer, let’s get into the first bake of season shall we?!
- 8oz Of Butter
- 8oz Of Caster Sugar
- 8oz Of Self-Raising Flour
- 4 Large Eggs
- 2oz Of Cocoa Powder
Ingredients You Need To Decorate:
- 250g Of Unsalted Butter
- 500g Of Icing Sugar
- 2 Teaspoons Of Almond Extract
- 2 Packets Of Red Fondant Icing
- Green And Yellow Fondant Icing For Decorations
How To Make The Chocolate Sponge:
- Firstly, gather together all your equipment and ingredients, line a 6 inch baking tray with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 180oC / 160F / Gas Mark 4.
- Secondly, in a large bowl beat together the 8oz of butter and 8oz of caster sugar until it’s creamy, fluffy and light in colour.
- Next, add in your 4 large eggs and mix through.
- Then, add in the 8oz of self-raising flour and fold through until the cake mixture forms.
- Add in the 2oz of cocoa powder and fold through the mixture.
- Now you’ve done all the above, pour your mixture into your cake tin (this mixture will probably make two cakes) and place in the oven for around 30 minutes or until it springs back when touched.
- Once the cake is cooked through, all to cool in the tin before turning onto the wire rack to allow further cooling.
How To Decorate:
- Once your cakes have fully cooled it’s time to decorate!
- Instead of cutting each cake in half, I decided to put the two cakes together as it’s much bigger in size and looks more like a present.
- Now let’s move onto buttercream. Beat the 250g of butter for around two minutes or until it’s much lighter in colour and supple.
- Then, add in the 500g of icing sugar a little at a time and fully beat after each incorporation.
- Add in the 2 teaspoons of almond extract and beat for around 2/3 minutes or until it’s light and fluffy in texture.
- Once the buttercream has been made, pipe the buttercream onto each of the cakes including the sides.
- Then the cakes together.
- Next, on a lightly floured surface, add together the two red fondants as much as you possibly can (try not to roll it two thin as it tears VERY easily), this is to ensure it covers the entire present.
- Once you’ve rolled the icing out, carefully place your arm under the middle of the fondant, pick it up carefully and lightly place over the cake.
- Smooth out the fondant so it’s neatly covering the cake.
- To make the ribbon, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the green fondant as long as you possibly can and using a ruler, cut out two long strips of fondant and place over the cake.
- Yet again, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the yellow fondant and with a star cutter, cut out 12 stars.
- Using a small amount of buttercream placed on the back of each of the stars, dot the stars around the present.
- Finally, roll out the green fondant into thin strips and mould into tear drops. Once you’ve made around 8 tear drop shapes, place on the cake. 4 on the bottom, 4 on top of them. This should make the ribbon shape.
That’s your chocolate almond present cake prepared, baked and decorated!
I really hope you enjoyed today’s blogpost and it inspired you to get creative with your festive bakes.
This bake is much easier than it looks, fondant can be a little tricky at times but once you get the hang of it – you’ll be flying through bakes like todays!
Let me know in the comments below if you’ll be baking this festive season, if so, tell me what you’ll be baking. I absolutely love seeing your bakes, it always inspires me to continue doing what I do and stay focused.
Sending you all my love and hugs as always,
Elle xo
