M&M Basket Cake

M&M Chocolate Finger Basket Cake

Now I didn't make this cake. My housemates did and it was yummy. It was for our other housemate who loves chocolate M&Ms. I'd seen a basket cake made with Kit Kats on the internet that my sister showed me. The cake is a overcooked chocolate pudding which gives a gorgeous moist hybrid between a chocolate fudge cake and a chocolate pudding. I am a big fan of them. Then they iced the cake in chocolate fudge icing, stuck the chocolate fingers on and then covered it in M&Ms. Simple and awesome looking. Probably one of the tastiest cakes I've ever had. Here are some examples of Kitkat basket cakes; Miss Oven Mitts, College Baker. 

Cookie Monster Cake!

Simple Cookie Monster Cake

My friends and I like making novelty cakes for eachother's birthdays that have some connection with that person. The themes can be quite obvious or totally obscure. One of my friends loves the Cookie Monster so it was easy to sort his cake out since there are plenty of examples on-line of Cookie Monster cakes and cupcakes, such as this site Coolest Birthday Cakes which has loads of examples of novelty cakes. You might see a few of mine there. The cake is simply a normal chocolate sponge which had been allowed to cool. 

Firstly, we poured melted chocolate onto the top of the cake and let it set a bit. The eyes are Jacobs Coconut Creams which are a marshmallow biscuit. They were stuck onto the cake with melted chocolate. Then to complete the eyes Cadbury's Chocolate Buttons were stuck on with a bit of melted chocolate. Note that his eyes are wonky on purpose. Then with a knife the shape of the mouth was outlined in the chocolate. 

The icing is buttercream icing with alot of blue food colouring and more icing sugar than usual to get the stiff peaks. Possibly half a bottle of colouring maybe more. In order to get the fur like texture a piping syringe with a star cap was used. I started at the bottom and worked around in layers so that the icing wouldn't slide downwards. Just after I'd squeezed the icing on I'd push the syringe into the icing and then pull away. This stopped the icing from being pulled off the cake as the syringe was pulled away. This resulted in neat peaks. 

Finally to finish it off we placed a cookie and some crumbled cookie in his mouth. Due to the large amount of food colouring in the icing no one could stomach it! The icing was very bitter so be warned sometimes it is better to buy colouring paste in order to get the right colour or it won't taste great. 

Chocolate Rose!

Bouquet of Chocolate Roses Wrappers

I had a great idea to dress up as a sweet like the purple one for a box of Quality Street for Halloween 2009. But despite finding coloured cellophane in a local florist and wrapping myself in it, the costume was a complete fail! I started to panic at this point because it lunchtime and I was having a Halloween party that night but no awesome costume. However I had a plan! 

Close-up of Costume

I rushed off to the local shop and bought 4 tins of Cadbury's Chocolate Roses! I knew I'd never get it done on my own so I roped a few of my male friends in with the promise of dinner. So while I cooked a load of spagetti bolognese the guys started unwrapping the chocolates and organising the wrappers. By the time I had served the dinner you'd think they'd be stuffed with all the chocolates they'd been sneaking but no they gobbled it up. Fortunately my housemates turned up to help with the finer details of making an outfit aka sellotaping me into it.

What was left of the 4 Tins of Roses..

We began sellotaping the wrappers together and then made them into a top and a skirt. I combined my outfit with a few silver accessories including a tiara and a sash that said 'Chocolate Rose' and off I went with my bouquet of Rose wrappers as the Chocolate Rose of Tralee. The Rose of Tralee is a beauty pageant held in Ireland each year where the contestants are known as say the Dublin Rose or the Sydney Rose. I was the Chocolate Rose in my shiny dress. I was happy! Not my best costume but my far my most colourful well maybe my Pokemon costume was more colourful but it is debatable. Least I didn't make my boyfriend wear a matching vest: Starburst Wrapper Prom Dress!

Chocolate Rose of Tralee Costume