I took these first few photos on Christmas Day – we managed to head out just as the sun was coming out! I love the Christmas flag that we spotted in someone’s garden.[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”6582,6583,6584,6585,6604,6605″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1420025641502{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]We celebrated Tom’s 30th birthday whilst we were there – I made a special smarties cake (which was quite big, but I was pleased with how it turned out!).[/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”6607″ alignment=”center” border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_self” img_size=”large” css=”.vc_custom_1420027047916{padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”6608″ alignment=”center” border_color=”grey” img_link_target=”_self” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1420027166152{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]These final photos were taken on our last day in Maryport. The light was amazing, and the colours were so beautiful –  we could even seen snow on the peaks in Scotland as well as snow on the Lakeland fells![/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” interval=”3″ images=”6589,6590,6588,6591,6592,6593,6595,6596,6611,6597,6598,6599″ onclick=”link_image” custom_links_target=”_self” column_number=”2″ grayscale=”no” choose_frame=”default” img_size=”large”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1420027524801{padding-top: 30px !important;padding-bottom: 30px !important;}”]I hope you have enjoyed these photos, and that you had a wonderful Christmas break! :-)[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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It was quite a challenge, so this was a definite team effort! We knew that it would have to feed quite a few people, but that I’d be bringing it into work on my own (because Thursday is one of my craft days) so it needed to be transportable too. By making it over two cake boards we could place them in position once it was at work, and I could get them there in a taxi!

We decided to make a lemon sponge for the cake, because it’s a tried-and-tested recipe that always goes down well and I also had a jar of homemade lemon curd to go with it! Click here for our cake recipe – we made two 12 inch square cakes using 5 eggs and 10oz/280g of butter, sugar and flour. Once baked and cooled, we cut around a ukulele template that we had printed out to fit the size of the tin.

Then we spread buttercream and lemon curd on the bottom layer, before placing on the top layer – we turned the top layer upside down so that the top is flat. We placed the cake on a 14 inch cake board, covered in white royal icing.

The next step was to cover the whole thing in icing!

To make the neck of the ukulele, we made a large gingerbread biscuit – we cut around a pre-printed template to get the right shape. We did a little test run with the sound hole to check how much the biscuits would spread when cooking, but they didn’t spread too much which was very helpful! We also made the bridge out of gingerbread, but cut a rectangle after baking. Click here for the recipe!

We used white and brown water icing for the frets and the strings, and I also iced ‘Kala’ on the top, which is the make of ukulele that Jackie has. The last step was to cut out the words ‘Happy Birthday Ukulele Lady’ out of the coloured icing. In order to support the gingerbread neck, Tom made a white card support that looked a bit like a Toblerone – but it worked amazingly well! You can’t see that on the photo above because that was placed underneath once I had taken it into work. The neck sat on the cake a little and because the card was white it blended in really well with the board – you can see it on the next photo!

I was so worried about actually getting the cake to work in one piece, but it made it ok! Only one slight blip was on the bridge, but it still looked fine so I was so relieved!

Tom was teaching when we had our little get together this afternoon, so I took lots of photos!

Here’s one of the ukulele lady herself! Happy Birthday, Jackie!

The post Ukulele Celebration Cake appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Last week we had a pre-birthday celebration for our lovely friend Hannah, and everyone brought something along to contribute to the meal. We were set the challenge of making a birthday cake – but what sort of cake do you make for the person who made you the most amazing wedding cake?! So we decided to go for a super-chocolatey cake, but found two recipes that we liked. Tom was in charge of cake making and went for a combination of the two recipes: the first was by Rachel Allen and the second was from The Cooking Ninja blog. I was in charge of the frosting, and this originally comes from a Mary Berry recipe that we also found on the BBC Food website. You’ll need to use a 21cm loose bottomed cake tin, lined on the bottom and buttered on the sides – best to get this ready before you start!

Ingredients

250g good quality dark chocolate (we used Green & Black’s 70%)
210g butter
250g caster sugar
5 eggs
75g ground almonds
50g flaked almonds
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt

For the frosting
200g white chocolate (the Green and Black’s white chocolate works really well!)
150ml double cream
125g whole fat cream cheese

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Toast the flaked almonds a little in a pan.

2. Melt the dark chocolate and the butter in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Separate the eggs; beat the yolks together with the sugar and the cinnamon in a large bowl.

3. Beat the egg whites in another bowl, together with a pinch of salt, until you have stiff peaks.

4. Once the chocolate and butter have melted, add them to the yolks, sugar and cinnamon mixture, along with the ground and toasted flaked almonds. Mix well before folding in the egg whites.

5. Bake for around 45 minutes and then leave to cool in the tin.

6. For the icing, break the white chocolate into a bowl. Heat the double cream in a pan, until very hot but not boiling and pour the hot cream over the white chocolate to melt it. Stir until melted and set aside to cool for a few minutes.

7. Spoon the cream cheese into a bowl then gradually add the white chocolate mixture and stir until combined. Set aside to cool a little, until thick enough to ice.

8. Spread the icing over the top and sides of the cake. I sprinkled some white chocolate stars over the top to make it look extra special.

This is a really rich and indulgent cake – if you’ve got a sweet tooth like me then you’ll love it! Enjoy!

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