Once again inspired by pinterest I decided to make a hot air balloon cake for my Son’s Welcome Party, I used the pin below to work from.

http://blog.twinkletwinklelittleparty.com/

ICING
200ml double cream
50g butter
3 tbsp clear honey
200g dark chocolate (use 70% cocoa solids if you can), broken into pieces

CAKE
50 g (2 oz) sifted cocoa powder
6 tablespoons boiling water
3 large eggs
50 ml (2 fl oz) milk
175 g (6 oz) self-raising flour
1 rounded teaspoon baking powder
100 g (4 oz) softened butter
275 g (10 oz) caster sugar

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4. Grease two 20 cm (8 in) deep square sandwich tins then line the base of each tin with baking paper.

Blend the cocoa and boiling water in a large bowl then add the remaining cake ingredients and beat until the mixture has become a smooth, thickish batter. Divide the cake mix equally between the prepared tins and level the surface.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 25–30 minutes or until well risen and the tops of the cakes spring back when lightly pressed with a finger. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes then turn out, peel off the parchment and finish cooling on a wire rack.

For the fudge frosting, heat the cream until it just begins to boil. Take off the heat and add butter, honey and chocolate (broken into pieces).
Leave to melt for 5 mins, then stir briefly to combine – don’t over-mix or it will lose its shine. Sandwich the cakes with a third of the just-warm frosting and spread the rest over the top and sides.

Then I decorated the cake with chocolate fingers to make it look like a basket and smarties to add lots of colour! It was sickly delicious!