I ran a Macmillan coffee morning at my work on Friday. We ran it last year and Mitzy Wilson, ex editor of Delicious Magazine came into the office to judge the winner. It was such a lovely morning – everyone brought in their cake and paid £2 to enter. The overall winner won a bottle of Laurent Perrier Champagne and she was absolutely thrilled as she didn’t consider herself as much of a baker.

So, when the information pack landed on my desk this year, I decided that it would be good to do it again, especially since most of the people in the office now weren’t around this time last year.

I have met Sig from Scandilicious a couple of times and I am a massive fan of her blog – so I asked if she would be willing to come in and judge. To my delight she wanted to come in.

We had a total of 13 entries and I baked a Maltesers cake. My inspiration came from Poires au Chocolat, who just won a My Dish competition to bake a cake using Maltesers. I liked the fact that it was a mini cake as I knew that there would be a LOT of cake going spare on the day.

I baked the sponge the night before and awoke early to decorate with yummy chocolate ganache and white and milk chocolate Maltesers.

I came third in the competition, which I was thrilled about. The winning cake was a delicious ginger bread cake that had been made on the morning – it was still warm when it arrived in the office! That recipe came from the Leiths Baking Bible, which I’m glad about as I have it!

Recipe

Ingredients
130g self raising flour
130g room temperature butter
130g golden caster sugar
70g Horlicks
2/3 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
3 tbsp milk
1 tbsp boiling water

I used 4 mini sponge tins but you could use two normal sized ones if you are making a larger cake. This batter is enough to fill 6 mini tins.

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line the bottom of your tins
Cream the softened butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy
Add the eggs and beat in
Sieve the flour, baking powder and Horlicks into the bowl and then fold in until nearly combined
Add the milk and fold again, then finally add the boiling water
Quickly spoon into the tin and put in the oven
Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until deep gold and a skewer comes out clean

For the ganache:
150g dark chocolate
150ml cream

Break the chocolate up into small pieces and put into a bowl
Heat the cream then pour over the chocolate
Leave for a few minutes and then beat in.

To assemble:
1 family pack of Milk Chocolate Maltesers
1 family pack of White Chocolate Maltesers

Spread some of the ganache over the top of one cake, place the next cake on top and spread again, repeat until you have finished all layers

Put it the fridge to set slightly
While it is cooling, chop the maltesers
Remove the cake from the fridge and use the remaining ganache to cover the cake
Starting from the top, arrange the maltesers in the desired pattern, then go down the sides, being careful when placing the pale-side-out halves
Put in the fridge to set, then serve. Make sure you arrange the Maltesers on the day, otherwise the malt will melt

Enjoy with a nice cuppa!