School Holidays Special: KitKat and M&Ms Chocolate Cake

It's the March school holidays this week. I baked this KitKat and M&Ms Chocolate Cake yesterday to 'celebrate' the break. (Actually I prefer no school holidays, less noise at home, haha!) Well, the real reason is, I wanted to try making this cake so badly after seeing this cake everywhere online and at some bakery shops too. And I'm sure the chocoholics at home, including me, will love this cake very much. In fact, this cake is so easy to make that I will encourage you to bake and decorate it with your kids (if u have) during this school holidays!

Step 1: Make a chocolate cake

You can use any recipes that you prefer. I'm using a chocolate chiffon cake recipe from Carol.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake

4 egg yolks
15g sugar
25g vegetable oil
45ml milk
50g cake flour
25g cocoa powder

4 egg whites
65g sugar
5ml lemon juice

Bake 160 deg C, 35-40 minutes

This cake is baked in a 8 inch round pan in the book. But I recommend a 7 inch or even 6 inch cake pan to make the cake taller, as the kitkat chocolate is quite long. Use a removable-base pan. Invert immediately after removing from the oven (just like baking a chiffon cake) and let it cool completely before slicing the cake into 3 even layers.

Adapted from：烘焙新手必备的第一本书

Step 2: Make chocolate ganache

100g dark chocolate
100g dairy cream

Chop the chocolate into small pieces and put in a bowl.
Heat dairy cream in a saucepan until just about to boil (when you start seeing some bubbles).
Pour the cream into the bowl of chocolate, set aside for a few minutes. Then stir the mixture until chocolate dissolves and a smooth ganache is formed. Leave it to cool and slightly thicken.

Spread the ganache between the cake slices and all around the cake.

Step 3: Decorate the cake

Place KitKat all around the cake and then pour as much M&M's as you want on top of the cake. Chill in the fridge for a few hours for the ganache to set.

Step 4: Slice and eat!

Slice, serve and eat!

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Guest post: Cartoon Butter Cookies

I have been invited by Dee of PruneNurture to write a guest post for her blog. Dee was my secondary school classmate and we were very good friends then. We lost touch for a few years and found each other on Facebook. She is now married with a very cheerful and active little girl, Dot. She now blogs about her parenting experience and the growing journey of her girl. Her blog is also one of the finalist for the Nuffnang Asia-Pacific Blog Awards 2011 for the Best Parenting Blog.

When she invited me to do a guest post for her, I agreed immediately. Since her blog is about children and parenting, I decide to share a recipe that parent and child can bake and bond together. Baking is a wonderful activity for children. Baking gives children the opportunity to pick up lots of skills, such as identifying ingredients, concept of math - like measuring weight and volume, temperature and time. Different ages of children can also perform simple motor skills like sifting, stirring, pouring, cutting and decorating. What's more they can enjoy the product of their hardwork!

Here's a simple butter cookie recipe. I use natural ingredients to make different coloured doughs. You can use any cookie cutters you like or use your own creativity to make any cookies that you can imagine.

Hop over to the Cartoon Butter Cookies recipe here.

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