Cadbury's Headgehog Cake

One of my stand-out memories from my childhood is my mother making a chocolate hedgehog cake. Not only was it delicious but I was convinced she was some sort of genius kitchen witch. It seemed only fitting that when Ned turned one he should have hedgehog cake and I persuaded my mum to not only make one but three (he had two birthday parties obvs) and they were just as delicious as I remembered and perfect for a birthday because you end up cutting small slices so it goes a very long way.

When it was my nephew's first birthday a few weeks later it was I was in charge of making the cake so my mum sent me the recipe and I learnt the witchcraft for myself. The recipe is actually from Cadbury's and familiar to mum's everywhere but for those of you still convinced there are other forces involved here it is in it's easiest to follow form.

I would like to point out that my mum uses raisins for eyes, I didn't have raisins so I used marshmallows as suggested in the recipe. As you can see below my hedgehog looks a little scary but possibly suitable for those children with glasses...

Cadbury's Harriet Hedgehog

Serves a childrens party of 20-25 people

The cake:
175g margarine
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
150g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
25g cocoa powder

Icing:
100g butter
175g icing sugar, sieved
1 tbsp cocoa powder

Decoration:
2 large packets of chocolate buttons
1 glace cherry
2 mini marshmallows, raisins or coffee beans

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. You will need an oven-proof basin, greased, that can hold 1.2litres/2 pints.

1. Cream the margarine and sugar together really well. Gradually beat in the eggs with a flour.

2. Sieve the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together and fold in. Add a little milk to the mixture if it's too dry.

3. Turn into a prepared basin, smooth the top with a spatula and bake for about an hour. Test with a warm skewer to see if the cake is cooked in the center. Leave in the basin to cool and then turn it out.

4. Make the icing by beating the butter with the icing sugar. Dissolve the cocoa with a tiny amount of boiling water and mix into the butter icing.

5. Spread the flat top side of the cake with icing, then cut it in half down the middle and sandwich the two iced halves together.

6. Spread the icing all over the rest of the cake leaving a small amount to make the nose, lift onto a plate and use icing to form the snout at one end. Cut the chocolate buttons in half and arrange them as the hedgehog prickles. Make the face by dragging a fork along the icing, using the glace cherry as a nose and the raisins, marshmallows or coffee beans for eyes.

My chocolate hedgehog (pre-candles) with the 'glasses'

My mother's version for Ned