Easter Nest Fairy Cakes

Yesterday was April Fool's Day, and I had the best time pranking people at home and at work.

I taped party poppers to my son's bedroom door . . .

blocked the sensors on several office meeces . . .

and perhaps cruellest of all, emailed everybody saying there were Brownees in the kitchens . . .

Geddit? Brown 'E's?!

That last prank made some people a bit sad, myself included! We do so love cakes where I work and find any excuse to bring them in, homemade or shopbought.

A birthday? Cake!

A particularly profitable month? Cake!

A Monday? Cake!

So to make up for such a cruel trick, I promised to bring some real proper actual cakes in today.

And I did.

I used the cake recipe from my Hortons Clover Cakes, but made a chocolate buttercream instead by substituting 25g of the icing sugar for cocoa powder and leaving out the green colouring. All you do is coat the top of the cakes with buttercream then pipe a raised swirl around the edge of the cake. Pop in a few mini eggs and you have some delicious little edible nests.

Happy Easter!

Fabulous Fat-Free Fruit Loaf

I've not been doing very well on my diet. Admittedly I've not been trying particularly hard, but I have SUCH a sweet tooth I really struggle. I've been trying to up my exercise levels ~ mainly by walking more, but I also bought a mini-exercise bike for under my desk at work! I get some funny looks when I'm peddling away but hey, I'm used to that ;)

I still need my treats though. And although this cake isn't as low-cal as I would have liked it's packed with fruit and fibre, and absolutely fat-free!

100g dried apricots
100g dried dates / prunes
150g sultanas
60g all-bran cereal
1 cup cold tea (I used earl grey)
3 tbsp. carob syrup (or maple)
1 egg, lightly beaten
150g sr flour
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp mixed spice
110g dark brown soft sugar
1 apple, peeled and grated

 Chop apricots and dates to roughly the same size as the sultanas. Combine fruit, All-Bran, tea and syrup in a large bowl and set aside for about an hour. Preheat oven to 170C / 340F / Gas 4. Line a 21 X 11 cm loaf tin with greased baking paper. Mix the flour, spices & sugar together. Beat the egg lightly and stir into the fruit, then add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir to combine. Add the apple and mix together. You should have a gloopy dropping consistency ~ if the mixture is too thick, add a splash of milk. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 1 - 1 1/2 hours or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Cool in tin for 20 mins or so before removing to a wire rack to cool.

 

 

This is lush as it is, but it's pretty darn good spread with butter too ~ although that kind of defeats the object of a fat-free cake! You can use different kinds of dried fruit if dates and apricots don't float your boat. You can also freeze slices which means there's always some handy for your lunch bag.

 

I've added this to My Fitness Pal for those of you who use it ~ if you cut the loaf into 12 slices there are 196 calories and less than a gram of fat per slice.  

 

Horton's Clover Cakes

Monday 2nd March was Dr Seuss day, and to celebrate we had a charity Bake sale at work. I had a bit of an ambitious idea but luckily it worked (they oh so often don't!) and so I get to share it with you.
These were inspired by my favourite Dr Seuss book ~ Horton Hears a Who.

Luckily there were no Whos living on my Clover Cakes, though they would have had to shout pretty damn loud to stop me from eating them lol!

Here's how you make them:

200g self raising flour
25g cocoa powder
225g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
100g margarine
150ml milk
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

75g butter
150g icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp green food colouring

12 wafer roll biscuits
candy floss

Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas 4

Mix the flour, sugar, salt and cocoa together then rub in the margarine until you have a texture like coarse sand. Beat the eggs, milk and vanilla in a jug then add to the dry ingredients and beat well. Divide into 12 cupcake cases and bake for approx. 25 mins. Allow to cool.

Beat the butter, vanilla and colouring together until softened then gradually add the sifted icing sugar and cream together. Ice your cakes, then add the clovers by gently moulding a chunk of candy floss onto a wafer biscuit and 'planting' it in the centre of your cupcake.

Voila! Easy to make but pretty impressive to look at, and darn tasty too.

Tip: You can make (and ice) these cakes the day before your party or event, but don't add the clovers until you're ready to serve ~ candy floss doesn't last too well in the open air, it will start to shrink and harden back into sugar.

Bread Pudding

I don't often have a lot of stale bread around the house, but this week I happened to be in the supermarket when they were reducing sell-by-date loaves to 12p to clear them! I'm not a huge fan of defrosted bread, and besides I don't have a lot of space in my freezer at the moment, but none of that matters, because my favourite way of using up stale bread is, of course, cake-related . . .

 

Bread Pudding 

 

450g stale bread
225g sultanas
100g Demerara sugar
2tsp mixed spice
2 eggs
milk
granulated sugar for topping

Tear the stale bread (crusts and all!) into roughly inch squared pieces, put them in a bowl and cover with cold water. Leave to soak for about an hour.

Preheat oven to 170C / 325F / Gas3
Grease a 8" square tin

Drain the bread and squeeze the excess water out. Don't worry too much about getting every last drop out, just do your best ~ I tip the whole lot into a sieve and squeeze handfuls as I transfer the bread back into the bowl. Add the sultanas, sugar, spice and eggs and give it a good mix to ensure the ingredients are evenly distributed. Add just enough milk to make a soft dropping consistency, then turn into your tin and bake for about an hour to an hour and a half.
Allow to cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out onto a rack to cool. Sprinkle generously with granulated sugar and serve cut into thick slabs, either warm with custard or cold with a nice cup of tea.

You can use any kind of bread for this. If you never have much bread left when your loaf is going stale, simply save the slices you do have in the freezer until you get the amount you need.

Neapolitan Core Cupcakes

Last week I hurt my shoulder in a minor DIY mishap involving a bag of sand which turned out to be a lot heavier than expected. As I slumped on the sofa, merrily medicated on co-codamol, a wondrous idea came to me ~ I would make cupcakes the like of which the world has never seen before.

Well, the world may have seen something like this before, but I've certainly never made them. I tweaked and twisted an old tried-and-true recipe and came up with these . . .

 

Neapolitan Core Cupcakes

 

Wanna know how to make these lush babies? Here's how:

185g self raising flour
225g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
40g cocoa
100g margarine
2 eggs
150ml milk
few drops vanilla essence

125g cream cheese
25g butter
325g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp strawberry flavouring
few drops red food colouring

Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas 4

Sieve flour, sugar, salt and cocoa into a bowl then rub in the margarine. Beat the eggs and milk together in a jug with a few drops of vanilla essence. Pour liquids into dry mixture and beat well. Fill each cupcake case two-thirds full and bake for approx. 25 mins until risen and springy to the touch.
Allow cakes to cool completely then remove a core using an apple-corer or small knife, don't cut all the way to the bottom but make a nice deep well.

Cream together the butter and cream cheese. Sieve the icing sugar and beat in a bit at a time ~ this quantity makes a fairly loose icing so if you'd prefer it a bit firmer add a little more icing sugar until you get the consistency you like.
Put approx. one third of the icing into a separate bowl, add the strawberry flavouring and the food colouring. Mix well and pipe into the cores of the cupcakes, leaving a small blob peeping out.
Add the vanilla essence to the remaining two thirds of the icing and mix well. Pipe swirls around the top of each cake, surrounding the pink strawberry core. I then piped an extra strawberry rosette on top of the core blob to top it off nicely.

 

Sadly, red food colouring these days is pretty lame (I don't know what they've done to it, but it ain't very red) but it still provides a nice contrast to the white vanilla. If you can't find strawberry flavouring (another thing that seems to have disappeared lately) you can always make a batch of icing from my strawberry clouds recipe. 

 



BeeBee Loaf

Today's recipe was conjured up specifically to use up some bits and bobs of fruit I had knocking around. I do so love bananas, but in this weather it's not long before they start attracting fruit flies ~ and I do not love fruit flies. Not. At. All.
So, how about a banana loaf?
Meh . . .
Don't get me wrong, cake is cake, but I always feel banana loaf needs a little something. Then I remembered I had some blueberries in the freezer! Not enough for jam, or a pie, but just enough to jazz up a banana loaf and turn it into a BeeBee loaf (Bits and Bobs, Banana and Blueberry ~ geddit?!)
Blueberries are awesome. Not just because they're good for you, but who doesn't love the inky swirl you get when you stir them through a cake batter? Or the melty little pop when you bite into one? No one, that's who!

175g butter or margarine
175g sugar
3 eggs
225g self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 large or 3 small ripe bananas
130g (about 1 cup) blueberries

Preheat oven to 180C / 350F / Gas4
Grease a 1lb loaf tin.

Peel the bananas, crush with a fork then sprinkle with the cinnamon and vanilla.
Beat together the butter or margarine and sugar, then add the eggs one at a time alternately with the flour. Stir the banana mixture through the batter until evenly distributed but not well blended ~ chunks and blobs are good ~ then gently stir in the blueberries, again barely enough to mix them through.
Pour batter into loaf tin, sprinkle with a spoon or two of sugar, and bake for about 45-55 mins. Allow to cool in tin for a while before turning out onto a rack.

Beware!!! If you use frozen blueberries like I did, your cake will take a lot longer to cook! After it had been in for an hour I turned the heat down to about 160C and gave it another 45 mins. Test it by sticking a skewer into the centre ~ if it comes out clean, it's done!

Maybe next time I will use fresh berries . . . .

Procrastination Cakes

You guys are sooo lucky I'm a helluva procrastinator, that's all I can say! I got home from work this afternoon, bubbling with the news that my heel-dragging mortgage company are finally arranging the survey on the house I'm trying to buy. I'm supposed to be out of my current house in less than 3 weeks, so packing is a priority. I wandered around, wondering where to start ~ all the rarely-used stuff is already packed and stashed in a friend's garage, which leaves me with the horrible-messy-drawers-that-need-a-good-sort-out, and the stuff I use regularly.

So I made cakes instead.

I've wanted to do something with pineapple for ages, so I did a bit of tweaking and experimenting, and came up with these li'l beauties:

225g self-raising flour
pinch salt
100g margarine
100g sugar
50g desiccated coconut
1 egg
2tbsp milk
125g tinned pineapple chunks in juice, drained
100ml pineapple juice (from tin)

for the topping:
150g icing sugar
3-4 tbsp. pineapple juice
15g desiccated coconut

Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas 4. Grease an 18cm cake tin, or line a cupcake tray with 12 paper cases.
Drain the tinned pineapple, saving the juice.
Sieve flour and salt together and rub in margarine. Mix in sugar and coconut. In a jug, beat together the egg, milk and 100ml of the juice. Mix the liquids into the dry mixture, then stir in the pineapple chunks.
Fill cupcake cases about 2/3 full, or pour batter into the tin if you are making one big cake.
Bake for about 25 mins for cupcakes, or an hour for a big cake, until golden brown.
While cakes are cooling, gently toast the 15g dessicated coconut in a dry pan until golden brown.

** ending**

When the cakes are completely cold, make the icing. Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl, warm about 3 or 4 tablespoons of pineapple juice and add a little at a time, mixing until smooth. Top each cake with the icing, then sprinkle the toasted coconut on top.

**alternate ending**

Mix about 70-80ml of warmed pineapple juice with about 80g of sugar and spoon over warm cakes.

There you are ~ Procrastination Cakes. So the next time you have something important to do, forget it all and make these instead!

Simnel Cupcakes

It's the Easter Holidays in the UK! And here in the Cheery Chicken household things have been a bit hectic ~ we are moving house soon (exciting!) so boxes, newspapers and bubblewrap have dominated. But today I took time out for a little baking. I've always fancied making Simnel Cake, but for some reason I never got round to it . . . until now that is! Simnel Cake is a type of fruit cake which is traditionally served around Mother's Day or Easter. It's lighter than most fruit cakes, and has two layers of marzipan, one of which is baked into the centre of the cake. It is traditionally baked as a large cake, and topped with a disc of marzipan and 12 marzipan balls to represent the 12 apostles, but little cakes suit us better so I made Simnel Cupcakes instead! And this recipe makes 12 cupcakes, so symbolism is maintained :)

 

100g butter or margarine
100g soft brown sugar
2 eggs
175g self-raising flour
pinch salt
1 tsp mixed spice
50ml milk
1 tsp golden syrup
450g dried mixed fruit
25g glace cherries, chopped
400g marzipan

Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas 4

Line a muffin tin with paper cases.

Cream the fat and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time with a spoonful of flour, beating well between each addition. Mix in the salt, spice, milk and syrup with another spoonful of the flour and beat well. Mix the remaining flour with the dried fruit to coat it, then fold it all into the creamy mixture.

Sprinkle work surface with a little icing sugar and roll out the marzipan to about the thickness of a £1 coin, approx. 3mm. Cut out 12 two inch circles and 12 two and a half inch circles.

Spoon about a dessertspoonful of the cake mixture into each cupcake case, add one of the smaller discs of marzipan, then top with another spoonful of cake mix.

Bake for about 10 minutes then reduce the heat to 140C / 275F / Gas 1 for a further 20 minutes. Top each cake with one of the larger marzipan discs then put back in the oven on a high heat for a further 5 minutes, or until the marzipan is golden.

 

These make a lovely alternative to the more usual fruit cake. The marzipan in the centre gives a layer of melt-in-the-mouth sweetness, while the layer on top cooks to a crisp and sweet topping. And there's so much fruit in them I'm pretty sure they count as one of your five-a-day*

 

*DISCLAIMER ~ they probably don't

Valentine's Confetti Cake

Every couple of months or so, we hold some sort of charity fundraiser at work. I am on the committee that organises them, and so they often involve cake! This month we held a heart-themed cake sale to raise money for the British Heart Foundation.

There was a splendid turnout, so many beautiful and delicious cakes! I wasn't the only person who took in a large Tupperware container to bring home samples, and I confess to ending the day with a deep and sincere craving for lettuce! (mmmm . . . iceberg!)

 

I made a Confetti Cake, a bit of a risk as I'd never made one before, only seen a picture on t'interweb, and didn't have a recipe. They say baking is an exact science, I say Phooey! With a little common sense you can tweak, tailor, and refine any recipe you like.

I took my Strawberry Clouds cupcake recipe and tweaked that to make this pretty sandwich cake. And this is it:

Confetti Cake

For the cake:

 

200g self raising flour

225g sugar

1/4 tsp salt

100g margarine

2 eggs

150ml milk

few drops vanilla essence

50g multi-coloured sprinkles

For the icing:

 

100g cream cheese

40g butter

375g icing sugar

35g strawberry nesquik powder

hundreds and thousands to decorate

 

Preheat the oven to 150C / 300F / Gas 2

Grease, line and grease two 17-20cm cake tins really well, springform tins would be best.

 

Sieve the flour and mix together with the sugar and salt. Rub in the margarine. Beat the eggs and milk together with vanilla essence. Stir the wet mixture into the dry and beat well until light and creamy. Fold in the sprinkles. Divide mixture evenly between two cake tins and bake for approx. 55 mins until just golden brown and springy to the touch. While they cool on a rack, make the icing.

Beat together the cream cheese and butter until well blended and creamy, then beat in the nesquik. Add the icing sugar about a third at a time and beat until thoroughly mixed. Sandwich and coat your cake. Decorate with hundreds and thousands. 

This cake would work better with really bright sugar sprinkles that you don't seem to be able to find in the supermarket anymore (bloody health regulations!) but you can still see the little flashes of colour they leave inside the cake, and it really does taste fab.

Ok, I got one slice left, might as well go deal with it now. Screw the iceberg . . .

Orange Inspiration

While browsing Pinterest this morning I came across a picture of a gorgeous looking cake ~ Orange and Poppy Seed cake from Megann's Kitchen.

This happens to me a lot, finding lush cakes on Pinterest, but today I just couldn't it out of my head and by midday I gave up and started baking. 

Mine hasn't come out as beautifully as Megann's, due in no small part to me being a stress muppet whilst baking and confusing myself several times, but oh my it is good! I won't retell the recipe here as for once I didn't change a thing, but I do heartily suggest you pop by her blog for this and many other delicious recipes.

Healthy Muffins

I've not been doing very well on my diet. To be honest, I fell off it ages ago. I lost about half a stone, then put it all back on again.

Sigh.

But I really must shed some weight. I'm not comfortable being this size, and I've gone and put my name down to do the Great South Run again, so I

really

MUST

diet!

But I can't do without cake, I simply can't! Luckily I have a recipe that will help, a healthy muffin packed full of goodness that will satisfy my cake cravings without doing too much damage.

 

 

Ingredients

 

100g Plain Flour

100g Wholemeal Flour

170g Demerara Sugar

100g chopped Walnuts

100g Sultanas

250g Carrots (approx. 3 medium)

1 Apple

2 large Eggs

125ml Low-fat Yoghurt (I just use whatever flavour I have in the fridge ~ today was apricot!)

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Salt

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

 

Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas 4

 

Line a tin with fairy cake cases.

 

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into a bowl. Grate the carrot and mix it well into the dry ingredients, then add the walnuts and sultanas.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, yoghurt, and vanilla extract. Peel and core the apple then grate it into the egg mixture and give it a good stir.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until combined, it doesn't look like it will ever mix properly but don't worry, it will!

Fill each cake case with approx. 1 heaped tablespoonful of mixture and bake for approx. 25 mins.

 

This recipe makes 24 small muffins that are packed full of healthy ingredients and give a really satisfying bite, and they're only 119 calories each. If you want to make larger muffin-sized muffins then by all means do so, you'll need to increase the cooking time by about 5 minutes and obviously the calorie count will be doubled.

 

These muffins freeze well, and defrost in the microwave in about a minute on full power. Due to the incredibly low fat content (most of the fat is contained within the walnuts!) they do tend to stick to the paper cases but careful peeling deals with that nicely.

 

As with all my recipes, I've added the info to My Fitness Pal for those of you who like to count their calories.

 

Don't forget to comment on my blogiversary giveaway post to be in with a chance of winning a surprise goodie pack!

A, B, C . . . is for cake!

September appears to be recipe month! I don't know if it's the wonderful blustery dark storms sweeping in, drawing the nights in earlier, or if it's just being on a diet (8lbs gone so far!), but lately I'm even more obsessed with food than usual.  So a little later on I'm going to share another recipe with you, Good Housekeeping's Pear and Almond cake. Can you say lush?

But before we have cake I thought I would share a little blogging feature that's going around at the moment ~ the ABC of me. It's a neat thing I've seen on a few of the crafty / foodie blogs I visit and I think it's a great way to share a little about myself with you: 

A} Age: 40

B} Bed Size: Double, with a King-size feather duvet on top. I ♥ my bed!

C} Chore you dislike: Oh dear, all of them! I guess I least despise ironing, because at least I can set the ironing board up in front of the tv and do two things at once! Possibly dusting / polishing is my biggest yurk ~ my house is composed of layers of clutter upon stuff surmounting bits and bobs, so dusting really means tidying too. Sadface.

D} Dogs: Nellie-egg, our rescued Podenco cross from Spain. She is sweet, timid, and when she’s been asleep in her bed for a little while she smells somewhat like a biscuit!?!

E} Essential start to your day: Coffee. No idea why as I drink decaf anyway, but the day doesn’t feel right if I haven’t had a small cup of coffee laced with hazlenut syrup.

F} Favorite Colors: Hmmm, I love all colours, all shades, depending on the where when and why, but I think perhaps emerald green tips the scales for me.

G} Gold or Silver: Gold. I do like silver’s clarity and clean look in some situations but generally I like the soft warmth of gold.

H} Height: Five foot nine.

I} Instruments you play (past/present): Remember at school they used to make you play recorder? Well, that’s my limit I’m afraid. I can’t remember how to read music but if you give me a few minutes practice I can play the themes from Star Wars and Harry Potter. What more do you need ;)

J} Job Title: Part-time office admin, full-time mother, crafter in the gaps between.

K} Kids: One son, aged eleven going on fourteen! He alternates between an angel and a nightmare, and puts the smile in my heart.

L} Live: In Portsmouth, an historic naval port on the south coast of England 

M} Mum’s name: Anne

N} Nicknames: I don’t think I have any, not that people use to my face anyway! Sometimes people call me “Fi” but not often. One guy at work calls me “Madame Fi-Fi” but I do wish he wouldn’t. I am not a poodle.

O} Overnight hospital stays: None so far, touch wood!

P} Pet Peeves: There are sooooo many! It would be quicker to list the things that don’t hack me off! But I guess most of them can be boiled down to arrogance, and a lack of consideration for others.

Q} Quote from a Movie: Oooh, again, how to pick only one! I am a big movie buff, and part of me wants to choose something obscure and/or artsy but in the end all that kept popping into my head was this Python quote: “Lord, I am affected by a bald patch”. The timing and delivery are just brilliant. Can you name the film it’s from?

R} Righty or Lefty: Right-handed for everything except cutlery, weird huh?

S} Siblings: My little baby sister is 38 now, how did that happen?!

T} Time you wake up: Just lately it seems to be around 5 – 5.30am. I’ve always been an early bird rather than a night owl, but this is getting a little early even for me!

U} URL favorite these days: The usual suspects: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, but I'm Loving My Fitness Pal lately, and IMDb is always extremely useful

V} Vegetables you don’t like: Tomatoes. They are the devil’s fruit.

W} What makes you run late: I’m usually pretty punctual, but “I’ll just quickly check my emails / facebook / twitter” pushes me close to the limit.

X} X-Rays: Only dental x-rays.

Y} Yesterday memory: Chopping apples!

Z} Zoo Animal Favorite: Not really keen on zoos, but I do love animals. Maybe a giraffe? Or a tapir? Tigers are awesome but whenever I’ve seen one in a zoo I’ve just felt sad for them. They should be prowling the jungle, not lying in a cage.


Ok, enough about me. Cake time. 

Pear and Almond Cake

225g (8oz) butter
250g (9oz) caster sugar
3 medium eggs
125g (4oz) SR flour, sifted
1/2 tsp almond essence
75g (3oz) ground almonds

For the Topping:
2 medium pears
2 tbsp demerara sugar
15g (1/2 oz) flaked almonds

Preheat oven to 180C / 350F / Gas 4

Line base and sides of a 8" (20cm) round tin with baking parchment.
Beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Gradually add the eggs one at a time, add 1tbsp if the mixture looks like curdling. Beat in almond essence.
Using a large metal spoon, fold in the flour and ground almonds. Scrape the mixture into the prepared tin and level the surface. Bake for 20mins.
Meanwhile, peel and core the pears then slice into approx 5mm slices. When the cake has baked for approx 20 mins, carefully take it out of the oven and arrange the pear slices prettily on top (they should sink slightly. Mine didn't, so I gave them a helping prod) Sprinkle over the demerara sugar and flaked almonds. Return the cake to the oven for a further 55 mins, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the tin for 10 mins then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Serve still slightly warm or at room temperature.

I really like this cake, and it's a perfect autumnal treat. The edges had a fabulous crunch, while the centre was soft and moist. I thought the pears could have had more impact, and might try an extra pear next time I make it, but it was delicious nonetheless.
Despite the fruity element, this is not a healthy option! But I have added the nutritional info provided by the Good Housekeeping recipe to My Fitness Pal for those of you interested in calorie-counting.

Midsummer Elderflower Cake

Can you believe it, Midsummer is almost upon us! Tomorrow is the Summer Solstice, or Litha as it is also known ~ the longest day of the year, and a time for faeries and flowers. This year I am celebrating with cake!

I'm terrible for tweaking recipes. I know you should never mess with baking recipes but I do it all the time and they mostly work. This time I took my favourite basic vanilla cake recipe and substituted the vanilla for a double dose of elderflower cordial (from the recipe I posted here). I also added lemon zest and juice to the mix before baking in a silicon flower-shaped mould. As soon as the cake was done (it always takes a lot longer in a silicon mould) I turned it out onto a plate and drizzled on a mixture of elderflower cordial, lemon juice and sugar. This cake is quite dense and takes a drizzle really well, plus all the ridges in the petals get a nice crunch. The original plan was to cut the cake tomorrow, but we couldn't even wait for it to cool!