Chocolate Birthday Cake and Gingerbread Cupcakes

I love having an excuse to bake, especially when I have the time and a friends birthday at work is always a good opportunity. I know everyones loves Nigella's chocolate and Guinness cake and is the fail safe recipe I always turn too but I wanted to see if I could create something that would be as well loved.

I wanted a show stopper so turned again to a Dan Lepard recipe and this time his easy chocolate cake - the recipe is from the BBC food website and looked like it would be impressive but not stressful to make. He was not wrong either - springy chocolate sponge cut in two filled with nice raspberry jam and whipped double cream and loads of cocoa frosting on top, it was easy to make and went down a treat, as chocolate cake usually does.

I also wanted to try a bit of an unusual flavour combination and so with my new found love of salted caramel I choose to make gingerbread cupcakes with a salted caramel buttercream. Again the recipe was from BBC Food.

These were a little tricker as I need to make the caramel and couldn't remember whether you should stir the sugar or not, it turns out you shouldn't otherwise you end up with a lump of crystallised sugar in a pan. The second attempt was more successful (after watching a couple of online tutorials) - let the sugar melt and when it has, occasionally move the pan gently from side to side, once melted you can stir gently over a low heat until it takes on a golden colour, this will take 5 - 10 minutes so no need to rush. I also took the pan off the heat as soon as it went golden so not to burn it (it will continue to cook in the pan whilst it cools).

These were definitely worth the effort as I think the black treacle makes them very spongy and moist so would keep for a couple of days, if they had not been demolished within five minutes of the final chord of 'Happy Birthday' finishing. The overly sweet topping was delicious and worked well with the slightly spicy sponge.

Easy chocolate birthday cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 100g unsalted butter

• 250g caster or brown sugar

• 50ml sunflower oil

• 25g cocoa powder

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• 4 medium free-range eggs

• 80ml milk

• 100ml double cream

• 300g plain flour

• 3 tsp baking powder

For the cocoa frosting:

• 25g cocoa powder

• 300g icing sugar

• 50g butter

• 50ml double cream

For the filling:

• 250ml double cream, whipped until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed

• 150g jam

Preparation method:

• For the cake, line the base of a deep 20cm/9in cake tin with non-stick paper and preheat the oven to180C/350F/Gas 4.

• Melt the butter over a low heat in a small pan, pour it into a bowl with the sugar, oil, cocoa powder and vanilla. Beat well until smooth, then whisk in the eggs followed by the milk and cream.

• Sift the flour and baking powder into the butter mixture and beat until smooth, then spoon into the prepared tin and cover the top of the tin with aluminium foil.

• Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for a further 20 minutes, or the top is springy and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean

• Remove the cake from the oven and set aside to cool completely.

• Meanwhile make the cocoa frosting, mix the cocoa powder and icing sugar in a bowl. Melt the butter for a few seconds in the microwave, or in a small pan over a low heat. Mix the melted butter and the cream into the sugar and cocoa, and stir until smooth.

• To assemble the cake, remove the cake from the tin, trim the top of the cake to make it flat, then cut the cake in half horizontally. Put the bottom half of the cake onto a serving plate and spread with the whipped cream. Top with the jam.

• Spread the cocoa frosting onto the top of the cake and swirl it with a spoon, then carefully place it onto the bottom half of the cake.

Gingerbread cupcakes with salted caramel icing

Ingredients:

• 140g unsalted butter

• 200g golden caster sugar

• 60g black treacle

• 60g golden syrup

• 2 free-range eggs, plus 2 free-range egg yolks

• 300g plain flour

• 1 tsp ground ginger

• 1 tsp ground nutmeg

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp salt

• 240ml milk, warmed

For the salted caramel buttercream:

• 125g white caster sugar

• 80ml double cream

• 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 160g salted butter, softened

• 200g icing sugar

Preparation method:

• Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Line two 12-hole muffin tray with 15 paper cases.

• Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and creamy. Beat in the treacle, syrup, eggs and egg yolks until well combined.

• Sift together the flour, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder and salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then beat in half of the warm milk. Add the remaining flour mixture and the remaining milk and beat until well combined.

• Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until well risen and lightly firm to the touch. Remove the cakes from the tin and set aside to cool on a cooling rack.

• For the salted caramel buttercream, heat the caster sugar and four tablespoons of water in a saucepan over a gentle heat until the sugar has dissolved, then increase the heat and cook the caramel for 2-3 minutes, or until golden and slightly thickened. Remove the pan from the heat immediately and stir in the cream. (CAUTION: the caramel may splutter a little when you add the cream.)

• Stir in the salt and vanilla and set aside to cool completely.

• Cream the butter and icing sugar together for at least 4- 5 minutes, then beat in the caramel. When combined pipe or spread the icing over the cup cakes and sprinkle with a little extra sea salt.

• Decorate the cupcakes with the buttercream.