Mini Schokogugelhupf (Austrian Chocolate Cake)

A gugelhupf is an Austrian ring-shaped tea time cake. I've been wanting to bake a schokogugelhupf (all together now - shock-o-google-hoff!) ever since I saw the Hairy Bikers make one in a car park in Austria, high up on the Glossglockner High Alpine Road, during their mammoth Bakeation. When I popped into Lakeland and came across these silicone mini bund moulds I knew just what to make in them - mini schokogugelhupf of course! I adapted the Hairy Bikers' recipe for schokogugelhupf to make a smaller quantity as I only had 8 moulds.

Mini Schokogugelhupf (makes 8)

75g butter, plus extra for greasing

75g dark chocolate

25g ground almonds, plus extra for moulds

75g icing sugar

2 eggs, separated

65g self raising flour

¼ tsp baking powder

For the icing:

65g dark chocolate

20g butter

½ tbsp golden syrup

1. First of all grease the moulds with butter and coat with ground almonds. Then melt the chocolate and leave to cool for 15-20 minutes.
2. Preheat your oven to 190°C (170°C fan).
3. Cream the butter and icing sugar until light and smooth. Beat in the egg yolks and then the cooled chocolate, ground almonds, flour and baking powder.
4. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Then, using a metal spoon, carefully stir into the chocolate mixture.

5. Spoon into the prepared moulds and bake for 12-15 minutes.

6. For the icing melt the chocolate, butter and golden syrup and leave to cool for around 10 minutes until it has thickened slightly. Spoon on the cooled cakes.

Viennese Whirls

Viennese whirls are now offically my favourite biscuits. I think of them as a clever combination of shortbread and butterfly fairy cakes - rich buttery biscuits with a lovely light texture sandwiched together with raspberry jam and buttercream. Best of all, they're dead easy to make!

Viennese Whirls (makes 10)

125g unsalted butter, softened

25g icing sugar

25g cornflour

125g plain flour

couple drops vanilla extract

For the filling:

50g unsalted butter, softened

100g icing sugar

couple drops vanilla extract

5 tsp raspberry jam

1. Pre heat oven to 190° (fan 170°) and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
2. Put the butter, icing sugar, cornflour, plain flour and vanilla extract into a food processor and pulse until you have a smooth mixture.

  

3. Pop it into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe 20 whirls around 4-5cm in size.

4. Bake for 10-14 minutes until they start to turn a light golden colour.

5. To make the filling beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spread half a teaspoon or so of jam onto half of the biscuits and pipe or spread buttercream onto the other half. Gently press together and finish with a light dusting of icing sugar.

Crochet Daisy Cushion

This week I finally finished my crocheted cushion cover. If you follow me on Instagram you'll know I've been working on this for a fair few weeks now. Well, here it is...

I love the pretty little daisy granny squares and how they've brightened up the living room. I found some great instructions for making them here on Bunny Mummy. They're dead easy to make and - I'm sure my fellow crochet lovers will agree - super addictive!

I made 50 daisy grannies in total, 25 for each side of the cushion. I joined them together with an invisible stitch (see this helpful tutorial) and added a border before stitching around the sides. My cushion is now sitting pretty on the sofa.