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Lucy Lean

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in Baking· Birthday· birthday cake· cake· Holidays· RECIPES

Happy Hedgehog Birthday Elsie!

My niece turns seven today – I love this picture of her little beaming face with the crazy hedgehog birthday cake made by my sister Hettie.

My sister, Hettie, reminded me that I had made the cake for her 21st – a large hedgehog cake with lots of little baby hedgehogs in a line behind. I have no recollection of this cake or making it – so she sent me a photograph – still no memory!

Can you see all the baby hedgehogs behind? Were there really 21 babies? From the candles in each one I would say yes! July 11 1991 – and I really made this cake for my sister? Love the English roses scattered along the giant cake board. I have made many cakes – from birthday bunnies, dinosaurs and Harajuku Lovers to pink hearts and rose bud cupcake wedding cakes – and now I can add hedgehogs to my repertoire!

How to make a Hedgehog Cake

8 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate melted and then cooled to room temperature.
8 eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 cup sugar, divided

[Makes two round cakes]

1. Preheat the over to 350 F. Grease two cake tins.
2. Whisk the egg whites until you get soft peaks. Add half the sugar (1/2 cup) and beat until you get stiff silky peaks. Set aside.
3. Beat the egg yolks with remaining half of the sugar until thick and pale, about 5 minutes.
4.  Add the melted chocolate and stir until incorporated.
5. Fold in one third of the beaten egg whites to lighten mixture then fold in the remaining two thirds being extremely gentle.
6. Divide cake batter into the two cake tins and bake in the middle of the oven for 15 – 20 minutes, until the cakes have puffed up and the tops are dry.
7. Transfer to a rack and cool completely.

For the frosting and decorations

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
4 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

Chocolate prickles: You will need  Cadbury Flake Chocolate Bars for the prickles on the big cake and smaller chocolate covered sticks for the babies – Glico Chocolate Pocky would work well or these Chocolate Sticks would also work but are a little pricey – although you do get 80 – so enough for lots and lots of baby hedgehogs! For Hettie’s 21st cake it looks like I used chocolate mint matchsticks for the babies – these are hard to find in America but easily obtainable in the UK.

Chocolate buttons or chocolate chips for eyes and nose.

1. Cream the butter until white and fluffy in the electric mixer.
2. Sift together the powdered sugar and the cocoa powder and slowly add to the butter.
3. Add the cream and the vanilla and beat until light and fluffy.
4. Spread across the top of the body of the hedgehog cake in a thin layer and carefully work to the edges and down the sides and over the nose.
5. Place the prickles into the frosting leaving the nose to pock out prickle free and add the chocolate buttons for the eyes and nose.

Make up two round chocolate cakes for the big hedgehog – sandwich together with a smaller layer of buttercream frosting. With a large knife shape them into a mound for the body and use a triangle for the nose at the front. Cover the whole hog – sorry couldn’t resist! – with chocolate butter-cream frosting and then insert the flakes or chocolate sticks all over for prickles. Use chocolate buttons for the eyes and nose – or as Hettie did for Elsie’s cake little round cookies – I rather like his expression – matches Elsie’s!

For the babies

Make up however many batches of cupcakes you require for babies – there are 12 babies a batch – when cooled, remove cupcake case, slice off the top, invert cake on the cakeboard and use cake top to form the nose. Cover with buttercream and add prickles and eyes and nose. The video ‘Lick the Drip’ that we made is an example of how not to decorate your hedgehogs!

Filed Under: Baking, Birthday, birthday cake, cake, Holidays, RECIPES Tagged With: Best Birthday Cake, Cadbury Flake, Chocolate Birthday Cake, Chocolate Buttercream Frosting, Chocolate sticks, Elsie, Fun Hedgehog Cake, Hedgehog Birthday Cake, Hedgehog Cake, Hedgehog Cake with Chocolate Prickles, How to Make a Hedgehog cake, Pocky

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I lingered round them, under that benign sky; watc I lingered round them, under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers, for the sleepers in that quiet earth.  #WutheringHeights #EmilyBronte the in between - How it started How it ended - bedroom monochromatic light at 7am this morning to 7pm tonight and cocktail time with Tink gin and @david_austin_roses post parents evening and then in the middle I went on a walk with @chloescotland - actually it was an adventure to find the prettiest 13th century church with a moat and a graveyard filled with snowdrops and the tiniest grave - a child? And headstones that were leaning over - I thought tipsy Chloe thought giving up and I was reminded of the Brontë passage about #unquietslumbers #ghostsinmygarden swop harebells for snowdrops - the peace and quiet of a tiny graveyard with a moat and lopsided headstones and peace and quiet - a moment of calm and hope as the #inauguration looms large and as we keep to the rules of lockdown #stayhome #staysafe
Anxiety levels have been high these last few weeks Anxiety levels have been high these last few weeks and just when you think it can’t get any worse it does - Covid levels rising and hospitals dealing with record numbers of very unwell patients, a third lockdown and schools going online and exams cancelled, then there was the runoff in Georgia 💙 overshadowed by the insurrection in D.C. which led to the swift impeachment (again), there’s the excitement of Joe Biden’s inauguration that is being sucked away by the pandemic, the rise of white supremacy with troops guarding the Capitol and ever present fear.  But through it all we have to have hope - for the vaccine, for the teachers helping our kids learn online, for the nurses and doctors working against the odds, for M&S and Ocado deliveries,for a new administration, for arrests of violent rioters, for congress doing its job and for decency to be about to be sworn in.  It’s a lot and we all struggle daily to keep our heads above water.  On a personal level I find painting helps, as do walks in nature and family suppers, I’m wearing pretty dresses, silk underwear and wrapping myself in soft cashmere and yes I’m consuming more champagne than I usually do - if not now then when?  #Lockdown #Stayhome #staysafe #EnglishCountryHouse #EnglishCountryside
#snowdrops went for a walk to search for snowdrops #snowdrops went for a walk to search for snowdrops today - last year the lawn was carpeted in white, this year nothing.  Maybe they are late? Painted a small bunch #oilpaint #flowerpainting #snowdroppainting a sign of #spring I chickened out of painting the tiny glass jug that was a Christmas present - not sure I know how to paint that aqua colour - help!  #EnglishCountryhouse #EnglishCountryGarden #englishcountryside #Lockdown #Staysafe #stayhome
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