Happy Birthday! - tea & toast & tapas

Friends threw an impromptu belated birthday party for my husband and their son who had celebrated 54 and 8 years respectively earlier in the month when they were away in Ireland with family. My lovely friend, Noelia, made a selection of the most authentic curries and accompaniments I have had since I lived in the UK! Everything cooked from scratch, naans, pickles, poppadums, onion bhajis, flavour packed basmati, king prawn tikka massala, chicken madras and a lamb rogan josh. Oh to die for! As a wee treat she sent us home with some pickles in cute jars so husband was very happy!

My contribution was a Devils Food Cake decorated with a rich chocolate buttercream, chocolate and rainbow sprinkles and salted caramel M&Ms. Now I had meant to take a photo of the cake and the birthday boys blowing out the candles but I was caught up in the moment and completely forgot! Take my word for it it was very nice. Devils Food cake is a not too sweet but moist chocolate cake, the sweetness coming from the light and airy buttercream frosting and any sweety treats you add for decor. To make up for not taking any photos I’ve selected a few of my favourite variations on the theme. You will find the recipe links for each one at the end of the post. I used Nigella’s recipe, click her name below to go to her recipe blog.

My favourite recipe is Nigella’s (click on the highlighted link for the recipe) but there are lots of variations. I don’t put coffee in mine and I use vegetable oil instead of butter in the cake batter (use mls instead of grms). I also bake it in one 20inch cake tin rather than two separate pans, I think it keeps it more moist but it means I cook it at a lower temperature 160C for 50 mins rather than 170/80 for 25 mins. I thin slice it into two once its cooled. You can also do it as a tray bake and just frost the top and cut it into squares. You can use Nigella’s frosting recipe, or, buy it to save time, or, make traditional chocolate buttercream, I made the latter because I didn’t have any cooking chocolate or any chocolate in the house so used chocolate powder, icing sugar, butter and a bit of double cream I had in, whisked it until it was light a fluffy. On other occasions I might make a light jam from frozen berries and spread that with a layer of fresh cream in the centre and make a chocolate glaze to pour over with shards of dark chocolate on the sides for a more sophisticated dinner party dessert. I promise to take photos next time! As I said earlier to make up for no photos here are a few of my favourites, its such a versatile cake you can make into cupcakes, or add fruit and any number of different topping finishes. Links for each of the recipes below.