Great British Bake Off cake

So the new series of the Great British Bake Off is starting tonight and there was only one way to prepare for this event... Do some baking! The next question, what should I bake? After a look through the official GBBO recipe book I found a delicious devil's food cake:

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 175ml boiling water
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 100g dark chocolate
• 125g butter
• 350g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 150g plain flour
• 150g self raising flour
• 125ml milk

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Then mix the cocoa and boiling water together in a small bowl until smooth, stir in the bicarbonate of soda and then leave to cool.  Now heat the dark chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water (or in the microwave if you want to be quicker!) and then, once melted, leave to cool as well.

Now in a large bowl, cream the butter with an electric whisk. Then beat in the sugar, a small bit at a time, until all combined, after which the beaten eggs and vanilla should also be mixed in.

Sift and fold the flour and milk alternately into the cake mixture. At this point I changed the recipe slightly as I was supposed to use 300g plain flour and 125ml soured cream. I decided to use half self raising flour as I was worried that the cake would be too flat. My choice to use milk instead of soured cream was purely as I didn't have any in the house! It's up to you whether you stick to the original recipe or use my alterations.

Finally stir together the melted chocolate and cocoa liquid and then mix into the cake mixture until it is all thoroughly combined. Now divide the mixture between 2 greased cake tins and bake in the oven for about 30 mins or until a knife  comes out clean after being inserted in the middle. Once cooked take out of the oven and leave to cool.

For the filling I just melted 50g of milk chocolate and spread it in the over the top of one of the cakes before sandwiching the other on top. Then for the topping I made some chocolate buttercream, which I added another 50g of melted milk chocolate to so that its extra chocolatey, and covered the cake with it. To finish I melted some white chocolate and piped GBBO on top.

Now I'm ready to cut myself and my friends as slice and enjoy whilst I watch the new series begin. On your marks, get set, bake!

Mars Bar Crispie

This is a favourite with friends and family at any party... And is always the first to go from the buffet! It's really easy to make, tastes amazing and requires no baking in the oven

Ingredients

• 3 mars bars
• 120g butter
• 3 cups rice crispies
• 200g chocolate

Chop the mars bars and 90g butter into small squares and then melt in a large saucepan. Constantly stir so that the chocolate doesn't burn and the melted nougat thoroughly combines with the chocolate and butter. Now stir in the rice crispies (one cup at a time) and make sure that all of the crispies are covered in chocolate. 

Now spread the chocolate covered crispies into a baking tin (approximately 20cm x 30cm) and smooth out with a metal spoon. To make the chocolate topping, melt the chocolate and remaining 30g butter (in small chunks) in the microwave. Make sure to do this in small blasts of 30 seconds, stirring in between. Now spread this on top of the crispies in the baking tin until it is all evenly covered.

All that's left now is to put it in the fridge for a few hours or until set. Then leave it out of the fridge just long enough for it to slightly soften enough so that you can cut it into biteable pieces (I'll leave the sizing up to you!). Keep it in the fridge until you're ready to serve it up and then bask in the baking glory!