The theme for cake club this month was cocktails and mocktails. I’ve not attended a cake club so far this year, and wasn’t sure about this one as I was struggling to be inspired for an idea, and despite my love of both cake and cocktails, I’m not really a massive fan of boozy desserts. Many of the other participants had already chosen their cocktail or mocktail cake and emails were sent around to encourage different members to come up with new ideas. Gin and tonic, my favourite drink (is it a cocktail?) was already taken, as were some close runners up: Pimms, amaretto, and woowoo.
Eventually I found my inspiration and managed to book myself a last minute place for cake club. Back in my younger years I was a big of of the Evil Eye cocktail lounge in York. My absolute favourite cocktail was called an Evil Smoothie. It’s basically Baileys, vodka, banana, chocolate and a whole load of cream. It’s already a dessert. One of those bad boys and that’s pretty much the end of your night out as it’s so filling.
Despite it being a good ten years since I’ve had one, it’s still on the menu so I could check all the ingredients online. I decided to ditch the vodka. I put myself off vodka at university, alongside cider and those orange Reef alcopops. *shudder*
It’s based on a standard 8″ / 20cm sponge cake with buttercream icing.
Ingredients
for the cake
- 200g caster sugar
- 100g unsalted butter
- 100g stork
- 3 large eggs
- 200g flour
- 5 tablespoons of Baileys (or other Irish Cream liqueur)
for the icing
- 150g unsalted butter
- 300g icing sugar
- 1 banana
- dash of Baileys
decoration
- 100g plain chocolate
Method
- Grease and line two 8″ / 20cm shallow cake tins. Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees.
- Cream together the sugar, butter and stork until pale and fluffy.
- Gently whisk the eggs and add to the mixture a bit at a time, mixing well between each addition.
- Fold in the flour with a large spoon or spatula until combined.
- Gently stir in the Baileys. (I used 5 tablespoons, but I think it could take a bit more).
- Divide the mixture between the two tins and place on the middle oven shelf for about 25 minutes.
- The cakes are done when they start to come away from the edge of the tin, and the sponge springs back when you press it lightly with your finger.
- Leave the sponges in the tins for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
While the cakes are in the oven, make the icing:
- Beat the butter until light and fluffy.
- In a separate bowl, blend a ripe banana with a stick blender or mash well with a fork.
- Gradually add the icing sugar to the butter a spoon at a time and beat well. If it becomes too stiff, start adding the blended banana to it.
- Beat in the rest of the banana and icing sugar. Be warned – it’s really sticky!
- Add a dash of Baileys to loosen the buttercream so it will spread on to the cake more easily. I used about a tablespoon. You can also add milk instead.
- Using a spoon, put blobs of the icing all over the tops of the sponges. Use a palette knife to join the blobs together. (If you try to spread it straight on it will pick up the cake crumbs or try to stay on the knife! – Do the bottom sponge first as it doesn’t matter so much if you get the cake crumbs in the icing)
- Decide on the neatest sponge and place it on top of the other.
To decorate:
- Grate 25g of the chocolate and sprinkle over the top of the cake.
- Melt the remaining chocolate in the microwave, or in a bowl over a pan of hot water.
- Take a sheet of greaseproof paper and place on a baking sheet. With a teaspoon drizzle squiggles of chocolate on the the greaseproof paper. Put in the fridge to set. Once hard, gently remove them from the greaseproof paper and decorate the top of the cake.
I hope you enjoy this as much as I did! 🙂
runcookdrink 