those large cupcake moulds

[JaxTellerIsMyFriend]

DD wants one of these as her birthday party cake this year, so have ordered a mould, but what cake do I bake? A standard madeira or chocolate cake? or a mixture of both - madeira for bottom and choc for top?

I also have another question - last week I doubled my recipe for madeira cake, split into two tins, baked for required time, tested with skewer all lovely. Removed from oven and the cake shrank back, just totally deflated. I left it to cool, it looked OK on outside, iced (butter frosting) next day and put in my cake box. When I cut into it that evening it looked awful inside, like it wasnt cooked properly and very dense - like when bread isnt quite cooked properly.

What went wrong? I have made this a few times and all went well, I am usually quite a decent baker but I have no idea.

Have chucked out the flour - although it was quite new and in airtight container as that was all I could think of that may have been 'wrong'

madame would also love the chocolate orange recipe, sounds lovely.

mike I havent used the middle part either. I did split the bottom bit and put some buttercream in there so it wasnt too cakey.

mmmm chocolate orange with some chocolate frosting.

This is really not good for my low carbing!

Fab giant cupcake Mike!

I never bother with the hole part either, just split the bottom half and fill and then use some filling to 'stick' the top part on.

I chickened out on making one for Sil today

The last two have really knocked my confidence and I can't face all that baking, waiting and icing just for it to be a complete disaster.

Both eldest dc have asked for one each for their jubilee parties and my grampy wants one for his birthday. I think I better get practising.

This Martha Stewart site has Pound cake recipes that are trustworthy-

www.marthastewart.com/274847/pound-cake-recipes/@center/276954/great-cake-recipes

This site has a lovely Grapefruit Pound cake recipe-

www.myrecipes.com/recipe/grapefruit-pound-cake-50400000118562/

I also like this-

Banana Coconut Pound cake-

340 g butter, unsalted
550 g sugar
6 large eggs
6 large bananas, ripe
350 g flour
1 tsp baking soda
250 g chocolate chips or chopped chocolate, dark
125 g coconut flakes, dried

Method

Bring all ingredients to room temperature. Mash bananas in a bowl.

In a second bowl, combine chocolate and coconut, add 2 tbsp of the flour and mix. This will keep the chocolate from sinking to the bottom of the cake pan.

In a large mixing bowl, combine butter and sugar and mix until creamy. Add one egg at a time, incorporating it into the batter before adding the next one.

Sift the flour and baking soda and add it to the batter, alternating with the mashed bananas. Finally, fold in chocolate and coconut.

Grease the bottom and sides of a large pan. Pour batter into the pan and bake in a pre-heated oven at 165 C for approx. 90 minutes. You may choose to use less sugar, as the bananas add plenty of sweetness to the cake.

Here's another good, British recipe site for them-

allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/18408/buttermilk-pound-cake.aspx

Using Buttermilk in the cake really increases moistness and is necessary to activate the raising agent in recipes using it so don't substitute it.

Here's a fun Nutella Swirl Pound Cake that is good for parties-

www.foodandwine.com/recipes/nutella-swirl-pound-cake

And a slightly more unusual Clementine and Cardomom version-

food52.com/recipes/9322_clementine_pound_cake

atree some of those look great. Thank you.

I may have another attempt this weekend.

atree some of those look great. Thank you.

I may have another attempt this weekend.