Chocolate Fruit Basket Cake Food

ONE BOWL CHOCOLATE CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare two 8-inch round cake pans with grease and flour.
• In a bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl with a handheld mixer), add cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix on low speed until just combined.
• Slowly add eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.
• Divide the batter between pans. Bake until set and a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out with a few crumbs (but not wet batter), about 25-30 minutes.
• Let cool for 15 minutes. Turn out from pans. Transfer to wire racks. Let cool completely as you make the whipped cream.
• In a large bowl, whip cream until soft peaks are just about to form. Add in vanilla and confectioners' sugar until stiff peaks form, making sure not to overbeat.
• Set one of the 8-inch round cakes on a cake stand.
• Spread about 1 cup of whipped cream over the cake with an offset spatula.
• Set the second cake on top of the first cake. Cover the second cake in whipped cream.
• Place the fruit on the lower edge of the cake. Then, place more fruit on top of the second cake. Garnish with baby's breath (optional, but remove before eating the cake).

CHOCOLATE FRUITCAKE

Steps:

• Put the butter, sugar, chocolate, brandy, vanilla and dried fruits into a large saucepan. Heat gently, stirring occasionally until everything has melted together. Remove from the heat.
• Heat oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2. Line a deep cake tin, 20cm round or 18cm square, with a double layer of baking parchment. Wrap a few layers of newspaper around the outside and secure with string.
• Mix the flour, almonds, cocoa and spice together. Stir the eggs into the slightly cooled chocolate mixture in the saucepan, followed by the flour mixture. Scrape into your prepared tin and bake for 1½ hrs- 1 hr 45 mins or until a skewer poked in comes out clean. Cool in the tin, then decorate (see 'Goes well with', right, for decoration ideas). Greaseproof-wrapped cake will keep for 2 months in an airtight container.

WATERMELON FRUIT BASKET CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Coat a 4-quart ovenproof bowl with cooking spray. Prepare the cake mixes as directed; fold in 2 teaspoons red food coloring and the chocolate chips.
• Transfer the batter to the prepared bowl; bake until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Let cool slightly, then invert onto a rack to cool completely.
• Put the cake flat-side down on a small cardboard circle. Trim 2 opposite sides with a serrated knife to make an oval shape.
• Cover the sides of the cake with a thick layer of frosting; cover the top with a thin layer (this will be the bottom of the cake). Reserve about 1/2 cup frosting for the inside of the cake. Freeze until the frosting is firm, at least 20 minutes.
• Gently pat the sides of the cake with a smooth paper towel to even out any bumps in the frosting.
• Mix 1/2 teaspoon yellow food coloring with a drop of green food coloring and a splash of lemon juice in a small bowl. Paint the yellow-green food coloring all over the side of the cake with a pastry brush.
• Mix 1/2 teaspoon green food coloring with a splash of lemon juice in another bowl. Paint green stripes on the cake, then blend the edges of the stripes with the tip of the pastry brush.
• Put another small cardboard circle on the cake and flip it over. Carve out the center of the cake, about 1 inch deep, leaving a 1-inch border. Cover the center with frosting, leaving the border unfrosted. Freeze the cake 20 minutes.
• Use a paring knife to make zigzag cuts around the rim of the cake. Mound the fruit in the center, covering the frosting completely.

CHOCOLATE FRUIT CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
• Line the sides and bottom of an 8 by 3 1/2-inch deep, round loose-bottomed cake tin with a layer of reusable silicon baking parchment. When lining the tin with the parchment, cut the material into strips that are twice as high as the tin itself (it is easier to use two shorter strips of parchment, than one long strip); the height of the strips protects the cake from catching on the outside of the cake tin.
• Place the fruit, butter, sugar, honey, coffee liqueur, orange zest and juice, mixed spice and cocoa into a large wide saucepan. Heat the mixture until it reaches a gentle boil, stirring the mixture as the butter melts. Let the mixture simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and leave to stand for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, the mixture will have cooled a little. Add the eggs, flour, ground almonds, baking powder and baking soda, and mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula until the ingredients have combined.
• Carefully pour the fruitcake mixture into the lined cake tin. Transfer the cake tin to the oven and bake for 1 3/4 to 2 hours, or until the top of the cake is firm but will has a shiny and sticky look. At this point, if you insert a sharp knife into the middle of the cake, the cake should still be a little uncooked in the middle.
• Place the cake on a cooling rack. Once the cake has cooled, remove it from the tin.
• To decorate, place the chocolate-covered coffee beans in the centre of the cake and arrange the gold stars around the perimeter of the top of the cake. Then sprinkle some gold mini-balls over the whole cake and sprinkle the top with edible glitter.