One of the great things about working at Altogether is being part of The Engine Group. Not only does it mean that we get to collaborate with other award winning agencies on cross-discipline campaigns covering PR, direct marketing, ATL advertising & much, much more, it also means that we get to join in some of the fun and games that the company organises to keep us amused.

The most recent one of these was The Engine Cake Off, where staff were invited to bake a cake, with all cakes then being judged by a panel on everything from taste & texture to style & succulence. The cakes were all sold throughout the day to raise money for Help Our Heroes and the winners were announced in a highly anticipated ceremony at the end of the day. And, fantastically, the team at Altogether swept the board with account managers Heather Charnock & Dan Williams winning the awards for Best Kid’s Cake (below) & Best Chocolate Cake (above) respectively whilst Dan’s was also the fastest selling on the day.

In a decision that must rank with the ref dismissing Chelsea’s many calls for a penalty in the Champion’s League semi-final on Wednesday, the winner of the best overall cake went to a cheese cake, which barely qualifies as a cake at all. I guess that it should be taken as proof of the professional skills of our colleagues as the winning baker works for Mandate, specialists in corporate PR, public affairs &, tellingly, lobbying. Let them eat cake indeed.

For those wishing to improve their weekend by recreating Dan’s award winning cake, we reproduce the recipe below, whilst for those of you on a diet, you can feast your eyes on all the entrants here:

Chocolate, Fudge and Malteser Cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 400g plain flour
• 250g golden caster sugar
• 100g light muscovado sugar
• 50g best quality cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 175g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 125ml corn oil
• 300ml chilled water

For the fudge icing:

• 175g dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids
• 250g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 Box of Lightly Crushed Maltesers
• 275g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Recipe

• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4
• Butter and line the bottom of two 20cm sandwich tins
• In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, cocoa, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
• In another bowl whisk together the eggs, sour cream and vanilla until blended
• Using an electric mixer, beat together the melted butter and corn oil until just blended
• Beat in the water
• Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix together on a slow speed
• Add the egg mixture, and mix again until everything is blended
• Pour into the prepared tins
• Bake the cakes for 50-55 minutes, or until a cake-tester comes out clean
• Cool the cakes in their tins on a wire rack for 15 minutes
• Turn the cakes out onto the rack to cool completely
• To make the icing, melt the chocolate in the microwave – 2-3 minutes on medium / or in a bowl sitting over a pan of simmering water, and let cool slightly
• In another bowl, beat the butter until it’s soft and creamy
• Add the sieved icing sugar and beat again until everything’s light and fluffy
• Gently add the vanilla, chocolate and Maltesers and mix together until everything is glossy and smooth
• Sandwich the middle of the cake with about a quarter of the icing, and then ice the top and sides, too, spreading and smoothing with a rubber spatula

Enjoy!

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