Coca Cola...not just for drinking...

Twas' as I sipped upon my daily can of Coke dear readers that the idea struck me. I like coke, I really like cake, so what if I made a Coke Cake?

Knowing that surely this kind of genius could not only strike upon me, I searched upon Google to seek out fellow cakey enthusiasts to uncover a Coke Cake recipe, and sure enough my loyal friend Mr. Google did not fail me. Behold, The Coke Cake Recipe.

So after rummaging through my never-failed-me-yet ingredients cupboard, I began to bake the Coke Cake...

First of course, the can of coke (every good fridge should have one). Then your saucepan (which by the way makes me ponder on the thought, why is it called a saucepan? Very rarely do I cook myself a sauce, in a pan, in fact I'm far more likely to melt cocoa powder, butter and coca cola together in a pan than sauce, yet you don't see me buying a 'coke, cocoa and butter concoction pan', I'm aware that may not be the best working title for advertising purposes, but at least It's more accurate...) I'm rambling, I know, but I had to put that thought out there.

So where was I?

Ah, melting things, my favourite past time to the joy of my parents.

So yes, melt your cocoa, butter and coke in a *pan.

And when you add your coke to the cocoa you'll get a lovely unexplainable chemical reaction between the coke and cocoa whereby the coke will expload into cocoa covered bubbles!

Melty melty...

Next, throw all your melty stuff on top of your dry bits (your flour, sugar...) I actually used light brown muscovado sugar in this recipe because that's all I had, but I believe it did give the final result a more dense and rich flavour which I rather like...

Took every ounce of will power I had in my body right down to my toe nails not to eat the gooey chocolatey mix as it was, but I stayed strong for you readers, I had to see my Coke Cake through to the end.

Next up, Buttermilk! Or 30g of plain yoghurt with a dash of milk if you're all out of Buttermilk...

(I have been known to literally add melted butter to milk in a desperate attempt to make buttermilk, but no, of course you add yoghurt to BUTTERmilk to make buttermilk...)

Mixy mixy...

I was sceptical about this make shift Buttermilk, but it didn't seem to have any kind of detremental effects to the final product so I shall endorse it's usage...

And of course, this blog being heavily scientific an' all, I feel I owe it to you lovely people to do a bit of detective work in to this 'Buttermilk' and tell you why it exists and pops up in recipes I wish to make but never have the stuff...

So here you have an explanation from the ever reliable source that is Wikipedia:

'Originially, buttermilk was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cream. It also refers to a range of fermented milk drinks (mmm lovely).

The tartness of buttermilk is due to the presence of acid in the milk. This is primarily due to lactic acid, a byproduct naturally produced by lactic acid bacteria from fermenting lactose (that's 'rotting' lactose to you and I)'

I know, I can hear you running to get your hands on some Buttermilk as I speak...who wouldn't want to add fermenting lactose to their cakes?!

So anyway, there you have it, don't say you never learn anything from my blog...

Back to the important stuff now, making Cake!

So by this point, with half a can of coke left, I felt there was not enough cokey goodness in my cake, so I chucked the rest in of course.

Bubbles!

Mixed it into a smiley face intentionally...

And baked it! I was rather relieved that it baked and rose, because other attempts at very liquidy cakes have left me with a squidgy, unrisen brick of cake, which although very tasty, is always a sad day that a Cake has not fulfilled its cakey duty.

Next I melted some more butter, cocoa and icing sugar together (excuse the attractive lumps of icing sugar...) and poured it over my cake so all the icing goodness seeped into my cake...

It was a delicious cake dear readers! More like hot chocolatey sponge pudding when it were still warm. There were sooo many little bubbles in the cake I'm guessing because of the bubble fest the coke caused.

Admittedly, the cake did not taste of coke as I had hoped, but I do think it lent a big hand in making the texture really light and spongey.

I stuck my cake in the fridge overnight as well and it was even nicer the next day, kinda like fridge cake so very solid but the icing had merged with the cake making it into a lovely chewy cokey chocolatey cake, which is never a bad thing.

Nom nom nom.

Chickpea Cake...no really

Ok I know, I'm a lil' late on this one...my sincerest apologies! BUT! I've been a lil' busy, and I have a lil' news...Next week my friends, I'm having some of my more unusual designs (See Plant Cake, Cup Noodle etc.) In a gallery in Leicester Square! It's part of an event called The Mad Artists' Tea Party sponsored by Tate and Lyle promoting their fair trade sugars and it should be a lil' bit good...

SO! 'Yes that all sounds rather swell but where's this week's post?!' I hear you cry, well, worry no more, tis' here! Chickpea Cake!

No I havn't gone all crazy and healthy on you, I wouldn't be that cruel. I did in fact stumble across a weird and wonderful recipe for this Chickpea Cake whilst typing in 'unusual cake recipes' into Google on a wet and windy day and, having a can of chickpeas 'spare' in my emergency cupboard of cans of nameless things I will never eat but will probably put in a cake one day, I ventured forth to concoct this mystical sounding cake...

First thing I noticed about the recipe is its lack of butter. Now, either chickpeas are actually little pods of butter, or there's something magical about them that renders them a successful, and healthy (sorry) substitute to butter...but I'm not guaranteeing it'll be a tasty alternative...

So! First things first, chuck a load of chick peas (just thought I'd add, I don't think they're peas farmed by little chicks, unless they're genius chicks...I don't actually know why they're called chickpeas, but no doubt the mine of 'facts' that is Wikipedia will know...or guess...)

Then blitz the lil' guys into a smooth puree. This does take like, 5 minutes. So I suggest finding out where chickpeas come from during this valuable time...Unless you really love staring at chickpeas being blended...which I have to admit is one of my past times...

Drop a rather appropriate egg into the mix. Egg...being of the chick origin...adding it to chick peas...It's a stretch but yeah, chicks...eggs...moving on.

Then for the best part of any recipe, add a load of cocoa powder! Guaranteed to cover up any foul, or delicious tasting pureed chickpeas!

Blitzy blitzy...

Fortunatley, or unfortunately...the mix at this stage isn't exactly appetising, so at least you'll be left with a lot of it to actually make the cake

Plop into a pan...

Ok, it's not one of those sink your face into it and just eat your way through to the bottom kind of cakes, because it doesn't rise a hell of a lot. Who'd have thought chickpeas wern't a natural raising agent? But a ton of chocolate cream cheese topping soon makes up for this humble cakes lack of height, or 'vertical challenges' in life...

Ok, I'll be honest. This cake didn't taste amazing, but then I do think it's down to eater preference. It's quite a bitter cake, not really 'chocolatey' as such. BUT! Fear not, cover it in enough chocolate cream cheese and all thoughts of 'ew, of course this cake doesn't taste good, it's full of chickpeas. I hated chickpeas before and now, not only do I still hate them, but I've wasted what could have been a delicious chocolate cake...'

It's a Marmite cake. You love it or you hate it. Personally, at least I need no longer wonder what Chickpea Cake tastes like...Now to ponder over mashed potato cake...

Why stick to cupcake pans?!

So I was thinking...why do all cupcakes fundamentally look exactly the same? All round with a flat bottom and some kind of delicious spectacle on top...

What if you could make them look a lil' different?

So out came my brioche pan!

Admittedly, I've never actually baked brioche in it, I just thought the shapes were pretty...which is always a good excuse to buy baking equipment.

And I thought to myself dear friends! Surely if you can bake brioche in it, baking cakes in it isn't such a crazy idea...

So I did.

It were rather simple really, just greased it up and plopped about 4 tsp of mixture in. But as you can see my cakes got a little cooking happy and blew up over the edges, so maybe just 2-3 tsp next time...

And they look so sweet! Perfect to be served individually on a plate with a lil' bit of frosting swirled on top (mine were eaten by my trusty 'cake tester' aka The Dad before I could frost them...but the idea was there!)

I also tried out a multi-layered one for visual effect although it is a little in the chocolate's favour...but is that a bad thing?!

The grooves were begging to have lemon icing poured down them...

And then a little more icing...

OK a lot more...

And then! I figured, why stop at cake? Why not attempt making a cheesecake in it...

So behold the, 'What is that?!'...

...'Ooooh it's a cheesecake!'

Serving it upside down is of course optional, but I can't resist producing things in front of people and having them look at it quizzically, only to flip it up the right way and have them sigh with relief that it is indeed edible. Life would be boring if we always served food the right way up...

Lovely little individual cheesecakes!


And I guess you could do jellies...I did another mousse but again, eaten before photographed.
Eeerm what else...ice cream! Ooor massive ice cubes, ooor...well anything you can think of!

So basically, don't use a baking pan for the purpose the label tells you to, there's all kind of stuff you can do with pans to make weirdly shaped and unusual things. Why just the other week I baked a cake in a pint glass...so get creative with the stuff in your kitchen! (With the things that are oven proof of course or things could get a lil' messy...)

Ice Cream Cakes...

Continuing with the chilly theme...I have for you...Ice cream cakes! No, not the cake baked in a cone we all know and love. Actual cakes made with ice cream.

Observe...

Ice cream my friends, is simply a combination of eggs, sugar and some kinda fat.


Cake, is simply a combination of eggs, sugar, some kinda fat and flour. So how does one make a cake using ice cream? Simply add some self-raising flour to your favourite ice cream of course :D




I chose Hagen-Daz Dulce de Leche ice cream because it's rather tasty.

Simply let it melt, scooped out 6 tablespoons of the lovely stuff, added 6 tablespoons of self-raising flour, mixed it all together (ate a bit) scooped it into cases, baked for 15 minutes and tudaah! Cupcakes made from ice cream :D The easiest cupcakes to bake, ever. No creaming, no egg cracking, just a tub of ice cream and a bag o' flour.














And the best part is you get to lick the bowl and the ice cream tub...

Iced with a tasty honey flavoured buttercream

Enjoy!

Cake as far as the eye can see...

I done a fair! I had me my little cupcake stall at my local fair and I baked a ton of cakes; over 200 to be precise...i think. 1 day solid cake baking, 1 day and night solid icing (who knew swirling buttercream on to cakes could take so long?!) Admittedly, I did bake way too many cakes after my optimistic estimation of how many people would be lured to my cakes like moths to flames. Unfortunatley everyone these days is 'watching their figure' despite my cries of 'they're low calorie!' and 'you only live once so eat as much cake as you can, when you can'.

However! Do not despair dear cake lovers, my little children/cakes did not end up in cakey heaven (the bin) I held my head high and marched off to some car boot sales to send my left overs to other homes and also pitched up down by the river to lure runners and children to my cakes for where children run to cakes, parents follow with lots of money to spend on cake :D That's why I love children. (Except for when they shout 'CAKE!' and proceed to plunge their little fists into my perfect buttercream swirls...at which point I smile sweetly and pray the mother is decent enough to pay for the injured cake, I don't have the goolies to demand payment upon enthusiastic child's actions, I just hand the bruised cake to my cake depository (my dad) where it vanishes in seconds to go to a better place. (I'll leave the image of what that 'better place' might be up to you...)

SO! 'PICTURES!!!' I hear you cry! Well, I was so swamped with all that is cake this weekend that I must admit I didn't take many of the cakes actually being sold, but I do have a couple of 'in the making shots' for your enjoyment, so enjoy...

Dark chocolate melting into butter for my delicious brownies.

And I don't know what's wrong with me readers, but I didn't lick the spoon...

I think something's wrong with me.

Tudaaah! The cakes of my labours!

Blood sweat and tears went into making them (not literally, although...I'm thinking there could be an interesting flavour sensation in that...shall report back when I've drunk enough to think making cakes using my own blood, sweat and tears would be a fantastic idea)

The Pint of Beer Cake

Tudaah!

The Pint cake is pretty self explanatory really :p A vanilla spongey cake topped with a buttercream head = The Pint of Beer for the non alcoholics among us so now you can eat your pint!

Cake Plant!

It's finally Spring! Which means things are growing, and that includes cakes...

Behold the rare and beautiful plant rumoured to be named 'Cake Plant'. Some experts say it grows from a special type of edible earth, whilst others just say it's chocolate cake...The fact is, it's a cake...that looks like a plant, what more could you want!

The Picnic Part 4: Victoria Sandwich-es!

So here we are, last but not least; The Victoria Sandwich-es! No Picnic is complete without sandwiches OR cake, so here they both are in one handy combo!

Cappuccino Cake!

Tudaah!

Before your very eyes is a Coffee Cake baked in an earthenware mug topped with a

meringuey icing, a light dusting of Cocoa for that classic

Cappuccino look with Chocolate Steam!

Pre-decoration snaps

Couple of trial and error cup-cakes in the animal themed cups in the background; I don't think I'll ever get the amount of mixture right in a cupcake because no matter how many times I bake cakes, I always underestimate how much they rise...

But the point is cooking cake in your mum's best coffee cups works! I did wait nervously for an ear splitting crack as one by one my cups exploded under the extreme 160' heat, but as some wise person pointed out, the kiln in which the cups were originally glazed would be waaay hotter than my humble oven, so not to fear! Stick 'em in the oven all day and they'll just be a little toasty when you remove them filled with cake. Splendid.

Not content with simply creating a coffee flavoured cake I felt I must actually make it perfectly clear what the flavour of the cake is by actually sticking it in a coffee cup so there could be no confusion. And what with my obsession with making things appear not as they are, I thought it would be hilarious to make the cake actually look like a cappuccino, when in fact is is a delicious coffee cake. Genius.

In the case of creating my coffee cake I simply skimmed the top off which sadly meant I had to eat it, and proceeded to cover it in meringuey foam, cocoa and chocolate steam!

Coffee Cake in Coffee Cup? Done.

The Poop Cake.

Call me childish, infantile, or pure genius, but it had to be done. The Poop Cake; with edible fly.

I know this may disappoint some of you who thought I was an upstanding, well mannered member of society, and now I have come to reveal myself as the type who would make a Poop cake. But I have to be honest with myself, and above all you. I have made a Poop cake, and I am not ashamed. So look away in disgust, or embrace the cake with laughter and joy! After all, it is only really a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream...and an edible fly.

Cake for Breakfast or Breakfast Cake?

Or both even?! That's right folks, the Fried Egg Cake has arrived! Now you can have your cake for breakfast but have it cunningly disguised as an egg so the world need never know...

Cakes in Fruit: Success or Epic Fail? You decide...

Now, depening on how you look at these babies, they're either very successful, or an epic failure. I'm on the fence.
These were an experiment: Can you bake cakes in fruit? Answer: Yes...and no. The no depends on how much of a presentation nutter you are.
The idea was to bake a nice little cake in the hollowed out fruit, pop the top back on, so when your curious father comes along to eat his daily apple, what does he find lurking in his apple a day? a CAKE! What better surprise could one hope for?!
So off I went, got me an apple, hollowed it out, made my magical cake mix, wrapped my fruit in foil! a) to prevent possible burning of fruity skin and b) I thought there might be a really clever, scientific logic behind doing it, and it made the whole thing look more experimenty...
So yes, fruit hollowed, mix in, fruit in oven, wait patiently, but nervously...
To my great surprise the cakes did actually start to cook and rise...and rise...and rise...right above their little tops. THUS preventing the genius behind the original design which was to pop the top back on for the grand cake-in-fruit reveal. But alas, it was not meant to be.

The good to be taken from this little experiment: As a cake in fruit, the apple skin went a little wrinkly, which doesn't exactly look appetising. The orange however did work rather well...except unless you're a little strange and love orange skin, you can't simply bite into and eat the entire thing; which you could do with the apple!
Cake in apple: I added cinammon for that classic apple n' cinnamon combo so that all tasted lovely. I could also pull the cake right out the apple which on the inside was a weird but nice mushy appley-cinnamony-cakey pudding with a nice warm, mushy apple skin SO, as a dessert with a lil' custard on the side could all taste rather lovely...

SO my friends, cake cooked in fruit? Technically: Brilliant. Aesthetically: Horrible. Taste: Rather nice.
Cake in fruit as a dessert: Stroke of Genius

(Possibilities: Cake in fruit could work better in a baking apple...Do feel free to try other fruits! I'm currently mulling over the idea of caked cooked in a raisin...shall report back soon...)