Happy, healthy New Year! Kind of contradictory that this post about cake follows my wellness series on nutrition and fitness but it's all about balance and what would life be without cake, right?! I adore making cakes but in the past have had a number of disasters when making proper tiered Birthday cakes. Traybakes/brownies and things like that are easy and almost never fail. But I remember the times where I just wanted to cry after getting sponges out of the oven that haven't risen enough or end up falling apart. I think of myself as a fairly good baker but even the best bakers will have failures. The cakes that have come out well have been time consuming and you have to follow the recipe scrupulously, making sure you have the right tin etc. But then I found a cheat, and have been making Birthday cakes fast and fail-proof ever since. The one that I made for my Mother in Law's Birthday a couple of weeks back got declared 'the best chocolate cake ever'. So I'll let you into my little secret...