The Supportive Fellow Mum (SFM) had a birthday this week. She got flowers and chocolates and an evening out sans enfants, which is not to be sniffed at when you have 17-month-old twins. I scored a PD- free morning later in the week and the Giant Chocolate Buttons I picked up in Waitrose led me down a Retro path to birthday-cakes-past. I figured it might be worth getting some practice in, with only 5 months until PD has her next birthday, and created this:
SFM came over in the week to blow out the candles, though I wasn’t entirely sure where to put them.
For One Super Hedgehog Cake
Ingredients:
200g cooking chocolate, melted
200g/8oz butter, softened
200g/8oz caster sugar
3 medium eggs
200g/8oz self raising flour
1 generous tsp baking powder
1 tub Betty Crocker Chocolate Frosting
1 large packet Giant Chocolate Buttons
1 packet white buttons
1. Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F or gas mark 4. Lightly grease a 2.4 litre/4 pint heatproof pudding basin/bowl.
2. Throw butter and sugar in Magimix (other food processors are available) until smooth then add eggs, one at a time*. Follow with flour and baking powder, then melted chocolate.
4. Place the cake mixture into the heatproof pudding bowl. Level the mixture then push a slight dip into the centre. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 55 minutes or until springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool in the bowl for 5 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.
4. Place the cake mixture into the heatproof pudding bowl. Level the mixture then push a slight dip into the centre. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 55 minutes or until springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool in the bowl for 5 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.
6. Once cool, place on plate (slice knobbly bit from top so it sits flat) with flat side down.
7. Slightly trim left and right hand side to create a more oval shape, and use leftovers to make triangular nose which you stick to body with frosting (I used two triangles sandwiched together with frosting). Sculpt from oval sides towards triangle to crea te face.
8. Smear entire thing in frosting. Don’t worry about what it looks like, just smother the beast!
9. Mark out a loose face around the triangle with a fork (a sort of inverted capital B) and score with fork to create face.
10. Break chocolate buttons in half and arrange in rows across the back starting at the edge of the face. Wedge them into the frosting and angle slightly backwards so as not to injure anyone!!
11. Use one white button for the nose and two for the eyes.
If you are cutting in front of small children, I suggest starting at the back-end, as it were. Apparently seeing the face cut upsets them. Oh, and you should have quite a few buttons left over….what should be done with them? 😉
Fabulous. I have a soft spot for hedgehogs, having rescued a baby in the summer. Sadly, chocolate buttons are quite hard to come by in the US!
That is one funky hedgehog – candles around the edge of the plate ?
Oh my! I'd like to say it looks too good to eat, but I'm afraid it'd be eaten before I could say it…!
CJ xx