Everyone's a fruit and nut case!

Perhaps controversially, my Dad has always been a major fan of Cadbury's Fruit and Nut. Probably not the most popular of the Cadbury's range (I'm a fan of their Turkish delight, myself), but there's certainly a time and a place for it. And given that he will be celebrating his birthday this year with a trans-Atlantic adventure, we had a pre-birthday celebration before he left, for which this themed cake was created. Anyway, this week is his actual birthday, so it seems an appropriate time to post the recipe.

The best thing about it is the texture. It's so fluffy and light, you'd almost think I had cheated by injecting it with some of the more disgusting fats and gelatines favoured by many of today's cake manufacturers. But rest easy, this cake is made of all good stuff. In fact, my Dad's verdict was that "This is the best birthday cake I've ever had". Not bad, given that it's his 80th!

Trip layered chocolate, fruit and nut cake

Serves 6-8

You need 3 x 8" sandwich tins (I only have two so I reused one, mixing a third of the mixture after the first two were in the oven!)

Ingredients:

4.5oz/125g caster sugar

1.5oz/40g muscovado sugar

6oz/170g baking margarine (Stork)

3 eggs, beaten

4.5oz/125g caster sugar

1.5oz/40g cocoa powder

1.5oz/40g ground almonds

a splash of milk (I used Alpro)

For the Buttercream:

2oz/55g baking margarine (Stork)

2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sieved

2 tablespoons icing sugar, sieved

To decorate:

raisins, chocolate chips, chopped nuts

Method:

1. Cream together the sugar and the margarine until light and fluffy.

2. Stir in the beaten egg, a little at a time, mixing thoroughly.

3. Stir in the flour, cocoa and almonds, and add a splash of milk if the mixture isn't wet enough.

4. Divide the mixture equally between your tins and bake at 180 degrees celcius for about 15-25 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

5. For the buttercream, cream together all of the ingredientsroughly, then whisk with and electric whisk until light and fluffy.

6. When the cakes are totally cool, sandwich together with the buttercream, spread a layer of buttercream on the top and decprate with fruit, nuts and chocolate.

Everyone's fruit and nut case... triple layered chocolate, fruit and nut cake

7. Scatter it with as many candles as it can safely hold, sing the birthday song at the top of your voice, and enjoy!

How does your garden grow?

Today is a day for feasting and celebration!

There are several reasons for this. Firstly, I am having the day off in anticipation of jetting off on my holidays this weekend, hurrah!

But mostly, a very lovely lady has a birthday today. And as well as being the birthday girl, she has recently purchased her very first house. Since I'll be away for the housewarming, I thought the least I could do would be to make some kind of cosy-making contribution. And given that the garden's always the last thing on a long line of new home chores...

P's Praline Plant Pots

Dairy-free

100% edible

Makes 6-8 'plant pot' cakes or 8-10 cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the cakes:

100g caster sugar

40g light muscovado sugar

150g dairy-free margarine (I used vegan Vitalite)

2 eggs, beaten

100g self raising flour

40g cocoa powder

10g ground almonds

splash of hazelnut milk (any non-dairy milk will work though)

For the edible 'soil':

15g plain flour

15g light muscovado sugar

dessert spoon cocoa powder

15g dairy-free margarine

(or if you're feeling lazy you could crush up some Bourbon biscuits instead)

For the frosting:

50g dairy-free margarine

15g cocoa powder

35g icing sugar

splash of hazelnut milk

Method:

1. If making the edible soil from scratch, prepare that first. Mix together the dry ingredients, then rub in the fat until you achieve a crumble consistency. Spread the mixture out on a baking tray covered in baking parchment. (For a dairy version of the recipe, you can substitute the dairy-free margarine for ordinary chilled butter, in cubes, throw everything into a food processor and pulse. However, if you try that with a margarine you will get a paste instead of a crumble texture, so you'll need to rub the fat in by hand).

2. For the cakes, mix together the sugars, then cream together with the margarine until fully mixed and light in colour.

3. Gradually add in a little of the beaten egg, stirring well. Continue until you have added half the egg, then add half the flour and stir in well. Gradually stir in the remainder of the egg, then add the rest of the flour, cocoa, and almonds and stir until completely mixed. Stir in a splash of the milk at the end to loosen the mixture slightly.

4. Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases or silicone plant pot moulds. Bake the cakes and the 'soil' at 180 degrees celcius. Ordinary cupcakes will take 10-15 minutes, but the deeper 'plant pots' will take around 25 minutes. The soil will be ready in 10-15 minutes.

5. Allow to cool thoroughly on a cooling rack. Meanwhile, prepare the frosting. Stir together all of the ingredients except the milk until they are roughly mixed. Then use an electric whisk and beat well for around 5 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add in a splash of milk and beat for another minute or two.

6. Finishing: If you  have used silicone plant pot moulds, you can serve in them. If you prefer, to make a fully edible plant pot, remove the cakes from their moulds when cool, level off the top and cover the outside in a thin layer of terracotta-coloured sugarpaste. Make the rim of the pot by adding a thin stip of sugarpaste at the top edge. Make sure that this is higher than the top edge of the cake. Cut a well in the centre of each cake, fill with buttercream, then replace the cut-away piece of cake in the centre. Spread a thin layer of buttercream over the top of the cake to enable the 'soil' to stay in place. Sprinkle with the edible soil, and finish with sugarpaste flowers of vegetables. I made my carrot leaves using sprigs of coriander.

So, Miss T... let me take this opportunity to wish you Very Many Happy Returns of the Day:

Happy Birthday!

Happy New Home!

Happy New Garden!