Baked With Love

 Ingredients ½ cup shortening 1 ½ cups white sugar 2 eggs 2 tablespoons cocoa 4 tablespoons red food coloring 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup buttermilk 2 ½ cups sifted all-purpose flour 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar Icing: 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 cup milk 1 cup white sugar 1 cup butter, room temperature 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Recipe Beat shortening and 1 1/2 cups sugar until very light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat well Make a paste of cocoa and red food coloring; add to creamed mixture. Mix salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and buttermilk together. Add the flour to the batter, alternating with the buttermilk mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Mix soda and vinegar and gently fold into cake batter. Don't beat or stir the batter after this point. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake in preheated oven until a tester inserted into the cake comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool cakes completely on wire rack. To Make Icing:

 Ingredients Ginger powder 2 teaspoons Refined flour 460 gms + for dusting Castor sugar 160 grams Maple syrup 4 tablespoons Treacle 2 tablespoons Cinnamon powder 2 teaspoons Butter 200 grams Baking powder 1/4 teaspoon Chocolate sauce as required Royal icing for decorating Chocolate sprinklers for decorating Chocolate wafer sticks for decorating Colourful candies for decorating Gummy toffees for decorating Colourful chocolate candies for decorating Icing sugar for dusting Method Preheat oven at 180°C. Heat a non-stick pan. Add castor sugar, maple syrup, treacle and 4 tbsps water. Mix well and bring the mixture to a boil. Add ginger powder, cinnamon powder and mix well. Switch off the heat, add butter and mix well till the butter melts completely. Transfer into a bowl. Add refined flour and baking powder, mix and knead into a stiff dough. Dust the worktop with little flour and roll out the dough into a 6 mm thick sheet. Using a knife cut out pieces from the sheet for the house and prick

Ingredients 735 grams white chocolate (26 ounces), over 30% cocoa butter 300 grams water (5.25 ounces, ~1/2 cups) 300 grams sugar (11.5 ounces, ~1 1/2 cups) 395 grams condensed milk (14 ounces, ~1 Can) 15 gelatin sheets 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 tablespoon gel food coloring, of choice unglazed frozen cake   Preparation   Boil the water, sugar, and condensed milk in a pot for 1 minute, then remove from heat. Bloom the gelatin sheets in 8 cups (2 liters) of cold water for 5 minutes, then wring the gelatin sheets of excess water and mix into the sugar mixture. Pour the liquid over the chocolate, letting it sit for 2-3 minutes to allow the chocolate to soften. Using an immersion blender, carefully blend the chocolate and the liquid, making sure that you are not blending in air bubbles by lifting up the blender too high. It’s okay to go slow, just make sure it’s all blended with as little bubbles as possible, which will show up in the final product. Sieve the mix into a large jug or ve

    Ingredients   85 gm's butter, at room temperature, cut into pieces (6 tb,sps) 150 gm's dark cooking chocolate, 70% to 75%, finely chopped (see notes) 1/4 cup cocoa powder (21 gm's) 1 cup caster sugar (190 gm's) 1/3 cup freshly boiled water (70 ml) 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/4 cup thick, plain yoghurt or curd (55 gm's) 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (90 gm's , see notes) 2 tb,sps cornflour/cornstarch 1/4 tsp salt if using unsalted butter Recipe Preheat the oven to 175 C. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with non-stick baking paper, leaving a little overhang. If using a 'not non-stick baking paper', you will need to lightly  grease it. Add the butter, chocolate and cocoa to a heat-proof bowl placed over a pot of simmering water, taking care that the bowl isn't touching the water. Stir often till melted and smooth. If a few small lumps of chocolate remain, take the bowl off the heat and stir to melt them completely. Set aside to cool for a few minutes. In a