Cappuccino Cake

So, it was my birthday this past week and Shane told me he found a great recipe to make for me but wouldn't tell me what it was. I had no idea what he was going to make, the only clue I had was that it had brown sugar in it. Now, Shane doesn't really do recipes, when he does cook he likes to throw things together but he said he was going to follow this one exactly. I could see he wanted to ask me questions but he wanted to still keep it a surprise. On the day of my birthday, I was locked out of the kitchen and he got busy baking. It smelled great and I couldn't wait to find out what it was! He came out to grab the camera to take some pictures and then he came out with my cake, candles lit and sang happy birthday to me. It was very sweet and I finally got to see this lovely cake, a CAPPUCCINO CAKE! I couldn't wait to get a slice of it and it was so good!! It was perfect for me! I'm not a huge cake fan but this one was just right, lovely flavors. I have had a slice everyday since my birthday! I'm so proud of Shane because I think he was a bit scared of how this would turn out but he did great and it was a great treat for my birthday. I'm glad he took pictures so I can share this lovely recipe with you. Give this one a try, you won't be disappointed!

Recipe
courtesy of BBC GoodFood
Ingredients:

• 250g pack butter, softened
• 250g light soft brown sugar plus 2-3 tbsp
• 300g self-raising flour
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 50g walnuts, toasted and finely chopped (a food processor is easiest), optional
• 200ml very strong coffee (made fresh or with instant), cooled 
• 500g tub mascarpone
• 2 tbsp light soft brown sugar
• cocoa powder or drinking chocolate to decorate

Steps:

1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Butter 2 x 20cm sandwich tins and line the bottoms with greaseproof paper. Beat butter and sugar together with electric beaters until pale and creamy. Add the flour and eggs in one go and keep beating until evenly mixed. Fold in the walnuts (if using) and half of the coffee. Spoon the mix into the prepared tins and bake for 25-30 mins or until golden and well risen.
2. Leave the cakes in their tins for 5 mins before turning onto a wire rack. Sweeten the remaining coffee with the extra sugar and sprinkle 4 tbsp over the sponges. Leave to cool completely.
3. While the cakes cool, make the frosting. Tip the mascarpone into a large bowl and beat in the sugar and remaining coffee until smooth and creamy. Use about half of the frosting to sandwich the sponges together then, using a palette or cutlery knife, spread the rest of the frosting over the top of the cake. Decorate with a dusting of cocoa powder or drinking chocolate. If you're making this cake to eat at home, it will keep covered in the fridge for 2-3 days. 

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Shane's 26th Birthday - Grape Poke Cake

So the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to figure what I was going to make for Shane's birthday. I was searching the net for something unique and came across the Poke Cake. I knew he would love it and I wanted to do it in his favorite flavor Grape. Luckily we had brought back some Jell-o from our recent trip to the States. The only item I couldn't find was White Cake Mix, which was fine, so I searched for a homemade version. There are so many out there and I didn't have time to test it out with the Poke Cake recipe so I decided on this White Butter Cake. The White Butter Cake was lovely but not the right cake for the Poke Cake recipe, you will see below in the pictures. The Jello just soaked right through the cake rather then staying in the poke holes. So it had the great flavor just not the the same streaky line effect. Does anyone have a recipe that replicates the Betty Crocker White Cake? Guess I will just have to do some more experimenting! Shane didn't seem to care as he loved the cake and has already had 3 big squares of cake! At the end of the day, that's all that matters!

Recipe  
Courtesy of KraftRecipes with my little tweaks
Ingredients:

1 pkg. white cake mix or use a homemade cake

1 US cup boiling water

1 pkg. (3 oz.) JELL-O Grape Flavor Gelatin

1/2 US cup cold water

300ml Whipping Cream

1 Tbs Icing Sugar

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Handful of red grapes, chopped

Purple Glimmer Sugar

Steps: 

1. PREPARE cake batter and bake as directed on package for 13x9-inch pan. Cool cake in pan 15 min. Pierce cake with large fork at 1/2-inch intervals. 
2. ADD boiling water to gelatin mix in small bowl; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Stir in cold water; pour over cake. Refrigerate 3 hours. 
3. WHIP the cream together with the icing sugar and vanilla extract. Frost the cake. 
4. CHOP the grapes into quarters and put into a sandwich bag. Pour some purple glimmer sugar in the bag. Shake the bag up so the sugar sticks to the grapes. Scatter the covered grapes all over the frosted cake. 

Happy 26th Birthday, Shane!

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