Happy 3rd Birthday, Sweetie Pie Bakes Stuff!

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday, my dear blog,

Happy birthday to you!

For my blog's second birthday, I made a pretty cake: a coffee layer sponge with mint white chocolate icing. 'Twas decent.

This year I thought I'd try something a bit different:

That's right! It's my face! I don't think I've ever done a blog post where you have seen what I look like (unless you follow me on Facebook, where you see me often enough). But I thought I'd take the opportunity to dress up nice and take a pichur!

This year, I made a lovely chocolate and strawberry cake, and it turned out very well. I have a lovely mini cake tin (which is actually a re-purposed tin from a shop bought steamed pudding) and it works perfectly for a cake mixture made with one egg.

So, to round up the past year, these were the most popular recipes:

1. Cheat Croissants (Wheat and Yeast Free)
2. Battenberg Birthday Cake (Wheat and Dairy Free)
3. Vanilla Fondant Fancies (Wheat Free; Dairy Substitute)
4. Turkish Delight (Naturally Free From Everything)
5. Zingy Lemon Gateau (Wheat Free)
6. Something Different: Koeksisters (Wheat- and Dairy Free)
7. Tiramisù Mini Cheesecakes (Wheat Free)
8. Danish Pastries: Dinosaur Paws (Wheat Free with DairyFree Option)
9. Recipe Revision: Doughnuts (Wheat-Free with Dairy Free Option)
10. Treacle Tarts, without Breadcrumbs (Wheat Free)

2015 was a good year for trying new things, and I had a lot of great successes. I was very pleased with myself for learning how to do puff pastry, marzipan, and Turkish delight, and also I noticed how far I've come with my icing technique.


The combination of chocolate cake and strawberry icing was absolutely delicious, I'll definitely be making it again!

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Nuts

CONTAINS
☒ Eggs
☒ Dairy (dairy substitutes can be found in italics)
☒ Gluten
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS

For the sponge cake:

• 1½ ounces (40 grammes) white spelt flour
• ½ ounce (15 grammes) cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 medium egg
• 1½ ounces (40 grammes) caster sugar
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) sunflower oil
• 1 fluid ounce (30 millilitres) milk, or milk alternative
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence

For the icing:

• 4 ounces (115 grammes) butter, soft
• 8 ounces (225 grammes) icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons (30 millilitres) milk
• 4 tablespoons (60 millilitres) strawberry milkshake powder
• Sprinkles, for decorating

HOW-TO

• Make the cake mixture according to this recipe, using a greased and floured 4 inch round cake tin. I use a tin from a shop-bought steamed pudding. Bake at the recommended temperature for about 25 to 30 minutes.
• Bake according to the recipe, then once it is out of the oven immediately drop onto the work surface from a height of roughly a foot (30 centimetres); that will reduce the chances of it shrinking. Allow to cool completely.
• Make the buttercream according to this recipe, if you don't know how to make buttercream already, making sure to mix the milkshake powder with the milk before adding to the icing.
• Cut the dome off the cake, cut it in half, then place upside down on the serving platter so the base is now the top. Fill and crumb coat then chill for an hour, then coat with a second coat, leaving about 3 ounces (85 grammes) of icing to pipe the rosettes around the top and bottom.
• Before you pipe the rosettes, cover the top of the cake with the sprinkles, leaving about half an inch of a border (about a centimetre), then pipe the rosettes on top.
• Allow to set completely, either in the fridge for up to an hour, or on the work surface for up to 3 hours.