jett's birthday cake

our fave little dude next door turned four today - and seeing as we are all living in isolation - we tried to make his birthday a little bit better by making him a birthday cake!

i have never had a good chocolate cake recipe and hoped to be able to change that, so i did some googling and then decided to try the first one that came up because it looked so good. it's called the best fudgy chocolate cake and you can find it here

ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose or plain flour

1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 large egg

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup (190 ml) boiling water mixed with 2 teaspoons substitue (caro/natures cuppa)

instructions:

preheat oven to 175°C. lightly grease 2 x 8-inch round cake pan with non stick cooking oil spraying.

combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, soda and salt in a large bowl. whisk thoroughly to combine well.

add oil, egg, vanilla and milk to the flour mixture and beat well to combine. pour in the boiling water (with the coffee substitute), and mix until glossy.

pour the cake batter split between 2 x prepared pans. bake for about 40 - 45 minutes, until a tester inserted in the centre of the chocolate cake comes out semi-clean with small amount of cake (not runny batter) on it due to the fudgy texture.

remove from oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes. transfer cake from the pan to a wire rack and cool completely before frosting. 

i'm not a huge fan of ganache, which this recipe suggests but i did have some cream cheese in the fridge so i decided chocolate cream cheese icing was a go... googled again and this one came up.

ingredients

335g full fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature

175g butter, softened to room temperature

3 1/2 cups icing sugar

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1–2 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

pinch salt

instructions

in a large bowl using a mixer, beat the cream cheese for 1 minute on high speed until completely smooth and creamy. beat in the butter until combined. add the icing sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon milk, and salt and beat on medium-high speed until combined and creamy. add 1 more tablespoon of milk to slightly thin out, if desired. 

i halved this recipe for my cake and it was more than enough to fill between the two cakes, thickly ice the top and cover the sides. hot tip from the website the icing was on, if you want to pipe onto cupcakes, cool in the fridge for half an hour first.

it gave us a pretty good looking cake, so i was very pleased... 

we decorated with sprinkles and some candles and then popped over next door to deliver!

best bit was, half of it came back not longer after for us to share! woo. i can now confirm it was absolutely delicious and i am filing this recipe away for next time!