Hold your horses now, sleep until the sun goes down

Yesterday was my best buddy's birthday. We celebrated with an absolute mammoth feast at Cielo Blanco in Leeds Trinity, and when I say feast I mean morefoodthanI'veeverseeninmylifebefore. Wow. Not only was there absolutely tonnes of food, but it was all incredibly tasty too- I'm a big fan of Mexican (and cocktails...) and definitely was not disappointed! If you're ever in Leeds, definitely pay them a visit and get one of the sharing boards if you're feeling hungry- the pork belly was a definite highlight! It wasn't the cheapest place I've ever been but it was great for a celebration, if you want something a bit more budget then I've road tested Neon Cactus (their more relaxed sister restaurant on Call Lane) which is a bit more budget friendly. 

Anyway, now I've made myself want to eat that all over again, the meal was followed by a cake made by yours truly. I felt as though I was under quite a lot of pressure making a cake for someone who's such an expert baker, but knew I was off to a good start when her boyfriend and I both simultaneously decided that the perfect cake for Charlie should be pig themed. Clearly we both know her too well. I'm not particularly good with icing cakes so when I found this cake after googling 'pig cakes' I managed to come up with the perfect solution to my far from perfect presentation skills.

The chocolate cake is my Granny's old tried and tested recipe. I spent many happy days with her in the kitchen as a child making lovely chocolate cakes with her. Its the only chocolate cake I ever make- nothing else compares to the taste of this and the memories I have attached to the taste.

And guess what, lucky people... I'm going to share Granny Betty's recipe for you all to try. (Piggy decorations optional...)

You will need:
For the cake:
8oz butter
8oz caster sugar
4 eggs
12oz self raising flour
2oz cocoa powder
2tbsp milk
2 tbsp golden syrup

For the icing 
(this isn't part of my Gran's recipe, she used to just melt chocolate but I decided I wanted something a little more 'mud-like'... also explains why this part is in grams... I didn't want to risk messing the quantities up by converting it!)
150g icing sugar
150g butter
125g melted dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 190C.

Cream together the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a bowl until light and fluffy. 

Once combined, add each egg one at a time, mixing after adding each egg.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder into the mixture gradually, stirring as you go. 

Then add the milk and mix together until you have a smooth consistency. I ran out of milk, having just guessed and bought a little home from work (not being a tea drinker or cereal eater I never buy milk so thought I might aswell just grab a little from the work canteen to save wasting a whole bottle!). 

Pour the mixture into a lightly greased cake tin and bake for 40-45 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

Once the cake has cooled a little, remove from the cake tin and leave to fully cool. 

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate for your icing. Begin to cream together the butter and icing sugar and then add the melted chocolate and mix until it is all combined.

Cover your cake with the buttercream icing and then if you're making a nice little mud bath then grab some pink icing and roll into little pig shapes (this was by far the most fun bit, and they were surprisingly easy to make thanks to the help of my lovely assistant Coral) and cover the edges of the cake with crumbled up flakes.

Enjoy! 

Let me know if you try this- I'd love to hear if you like my Granny's old faithful recipe as much as I do. 

Mountain Sound- Of Monsters and Men