Semi naked chocolate buttermilk cake with salted caramel buttercream

My first attempt at a naked cake, or rather semi naked! Made for a lovely lady's 50th birthday (in case you didn't suss that from the sparklers!). It's chocolate buttermilk sponge with salted caramel buttercream. I also added some edible silver leaf to bring together the silver cake board and sparklers.

The recipe for the sponge is another Magnolia Bakery one. This time I didn't convert into grams, for no reason other than pure laziness!

Ingredients:-

2 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar - I used caster however, does granulated make any difference here?

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:-

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Grease, lightly flour and line the bottoms of 2 9 inch cake tins with greaseproof paper.

Melt the chocolate,  either over a  double boiler, in the microwave or on the hob and leave to cool.

In a bowl, sift the flour and baking powder together and set aside. Cream together the butter and sugar for about 3 minutes or until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour in the chocolate, mixing the batter until well incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients, in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until ingredients are incorporated.

Pour the batter into the 2 cake tins and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Leave the cakes to cool in the tins for about 10 minutes, before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

To make the buttercream I use my fail safe recipe, adding a couple of tablespoons of salted caramel to taste.

Ingredients:-

250g unsalted butter

500g icing sugar

2 tbs salted caramel ( I used this one)

Assemble your cake, smothering the middle with a generous dollop of the buttercream and a further tablespoon of the salted caramel. Insert all the heart eye emojis!

Frosting this cake couldn't be easier. There's just one layer of buttercream, scraped down thinly. Decorate how you please, I used fresh flowers (the ends of which I covered in cling film) and some edible silver leaf. Then scoff!

Fondant Christmas puddings

I've been taking a Sugarcraft course for the last 5 weeks now. I'm now really into incorporating fondant into my bakes whenever I can.

I made these cute little Christmas pudding fondant cupcake toppers using Renshaw fondant. The pudding part is made using Renshaw's chocolate fondant (tastes delicious!), then all you need is white, green and red. I made the icing blobs on top using a flower cutter and then the holly and berries are simply small balls rolled and molded to shape. I used a cocktail stick pressed into the holly to give a little dimension.

Comment below if you'd like me to do a step by step post, showing all the stages!

Spooky Halloween cupcakes

I had SUCH a blast making these little guys for a friends' little boys' Halloween themed first birthday party!

They are a mix of vanilla, chocolate and red velvet sponges topped with vanilla buttercream. I made all the little fondant toppers by hand, putting my Sugarcraft course into practice! Cute little spiders, ghosts, Frankenstein heads and pumpkins

One of the simplest toppers (bar the sprinkles) was the gravestone. 

It is simply half of a Biscoff biscuit and I wrote RIP on each using Wilton's black decorating icing squeezed into a piping bag fitted with a fine writing tip. Luckily I had both a piping bag and tip to hand because I had thought that the icing would actually come with something to write with - apparently not! You could alternatively use Royal Icing or melted chocolate. I then crumbed some biscuit crumbs on top to act as the "dirt".

The sprinkles are a mixture of some I picked up back in September from TK Maxx, some black sugar sprinkles from Hobbycraft, some chocolate vermicelli sprinkles and popping candy sprinkles both from Sainsburys.

To colour the buttercream and fondant I used the Wilton food colouring gels. 

I hope that this has given you a bit of inspiration to get baking this Halloween!

Mini Nutella baked donuts

Ingredients:-

150g plain flour 

1tsp baking powder

½tsp salt

110g caster sugar

120ml milk

2 large eggs

20g unsalted butter (melted)

1tsp vanilla extract

Frosting:-

2tbs Nutella

12 squares of dark chocolate (sorry this isn't very precise, it was a bit of an experiment!)

Makes 24 mini donuts

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees. You'll need a mini donut pan for these, like this and grease it like your life depends on it otherwise you'll never get these little buggers out of it when baked! I used sunflower oil and brushed it on and particularly in the centers of the donut pan.

Combine all your dry ingredients. Then combine all your wet. Then using a stand mixer (because I'm lazy) pop the dry ingredients in and gradually add the wet while mixing slowly. I found that I didn't need all of the wet to give a good batter, you don't want it too runny, More the consistency of pancake batter.

Then pour or using a teaspoon fill each of the holes, about 3/4 full and pop them in the oven for 8-10 minutes until light golden and coming away from the edges. As soon as you've removed them from the oven, slide a sharp knife around the edges to loosen them, otherwise they will be really awkward to remove, then pop them out using the knife and leave to cool on a rack. They wont take long.

Then add both the Nutella and dark chocolate squares to a small pan and heat gentle on the hob until it resembles a ganache like consistencey. Remove from the heat and dip your mini donuts into the Nutella goodness, pop them back on the cooling rack and then sprinkle on your desired sprinkle and leave to set.

These are best eaten on the day of making. Thankfully that isn't hard because they are so yummy!

Oaty breakfast bars

I can go from one extreme to the other for breakfasts. One day it can be overnight oats with berries, almond milk and a sprinkling of cinnamon or superfood powder, the next it can be a slice of cake! These are the perfect in between for me, they satisfy my sweet tooth, yet have no refined sugar, no butter and the addition of a nut butter gives them a protein boost.

Ingredients:-
225g  porridge oats
50g almonds, skin on
60g mixed seeds
60g raisins
50g Rice Krispies
100g maple syrup
100g peanut or almond butter
125g  honey

Method:-

Lightly grease a 13x9in baking tray and line with cling film.

Pop the oats and almonds in a food processor and blend until fairly well broken down. They wont stick together if they're too chunky.

Then tip into a large bowl then add the seeds, raisins and Rice Krispies and mix.

Heat the maple syrup, peanut/almond butter and honey in a small saucepan over a medium heat until melted together. 

Then pour this over the oat mixture then stir well making sure that all the oats are coated in the syrupy peanut buttery mixture.

Tip into the tin and spread out evenly using a spatula. Lay a sheet of cling film over the top, then press down firmly (I like to use the bottom of a glass to do this) to squash the mixture flat. Leave in the freezer for about an hour to harden.

Remove the top layer of cling film, then tip out onto a board and cut into bars or squares, whichever takes your fancy.

To keep, layer them up between sheets of greaseproof paper and store in a sealed box in the fridge, they get super sticky so the greaseproof paper is a must!

I cant guarantee that these will last for a whole 5 days of breakfasts - that's all I'm saying!

Playing with Russian piping tips

I ordered a bundle of Russian piping tips from eBay and they arrived this week,. Cue much excitement! Honestly I was like a child on Christmas Day! If you've never heard of these, you're not alone, I don't remember how and why I stumbled across them... sometime during my YouTube research on buttercream flowers no doubt, but I am really pleased that I did.

You need to ensure that your buttercream is a little on the stiffer side, otherwise the flowers will just flop, and wont hold their shape. Practice is key with these babies as well. My first attempt of roses on cupcakes a couple of weeks ago went undocumented on here for good reason! Can't wait to play with these some more.

The actual cake here is vanilla sponge sandwiched together with raspberry jam - recipe to follow!

Let me know if you've tried these Russian tips and your thoughts.

Lemon layer Birthday cake

I had such fun making this cake for a work colleagues birthday. The recipe is adapted from a Magnolia Bakery book, which is American and the measurements were in cups, so I have converted them as best I can into grams as I've never been able to get on with cup measures in baking. This cake is lovely and moist. The mix of flours giving a denser consistency that still manages to stay light and airy.

Ingredients:-

For the cake (all ingredients should be at room temperature)

227g unsalted butter, softened (I now prefer to use "Stork with butter" it keeps the cake moist and also lasts for longer)

400g caster sugar

4 large free range organic eggs

190g self-raising flour

160g plain flour

180ml milk

60ml freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tsp grated lemon zest

For the frosting

250g unsalted butter (actual butter is best here)

550g icing sugar

2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp grated lemon zest

A tiny bit of yellow food colouring

I also sandwiched the cake together with (shop bought) lemon curd. And I added a generous handful of sprinkles and mini party rings.

Method:- 

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and grease and line 3 8 inch round cake tins.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. This is always longer than you think, I'd say a good 5-7 minutes. I usually set a timer for this because you'd be surprised at just how long 5 minutes really is, especially when you're impatient like me!

Next alternate adding your dry and wet ingredients to the butter sugar mix so a spoonful of flour, a egg and milk, lemon juice and zest etc. It's always best to start with flour and end with flour. Your mix may at this point look a little curdled (that's milk and lemon mixed together for you) but don't worry.

When everything is combined mix the batter for a few minutes longer and then distribute evenly between the 3 cake tins. I like to weigh mine to make sure that they have a pretty similar amount of batter in each but you can absolutely just eyeball this if you'd prefer.

Then pop the tins into the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until the cakes are light golden in colour, have come away from the sides of the tins and bounce back in the centers.

Leave to cool in the tins for 10 minutes and then transfer to cooling racks until completely cooled.

While the cakes are cooling you can make the frosting, which is super easy. Add the already room temperature butter to your mixer and whip this up for a little bit just to aerate it ever so slightly. Then add the icing sugar in small amounts unless you want your kitchen covered in the stuff! Again mix this for quite some time to ensure that the frosting is as silky as possible. I don't think I mixed mine for quite as long as I should have today (I was too impatient to frost it!). 

Then sandwich the layers together with lemon curd, chill the cake for 10 minutes and then do the first crumb coat of frosting, chill again for 20-30 minutes and then do the final coat of frosting. If you want any tips on frosting a layer cake, I highly recommend heading over to YouTube and CupcakeJemma's channel. She is my absolute idol and I'd like to be her please! She has a bakery in Soho called Crumbs and Doilies and really knows her stuff when it comes to cakes.

Decorate the cake however you wish, I piped swirls all around mine with a Wilton 1M tip, popped mini party rings on top of each swirl and finished with a shower of confetti sprinkles and ta-da!

Cookie Monster cupcakes

I can't get over the sheer cuteness of these little guys! 

Ingredients:-

For the cupcakes:-

6oz self raising flour

6oz caster sugar

6oz butter

3 medium eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbs milk

All room temperature.

(I generally use grams when baking however, this a tried and tested sponge recipe and super easy to remember as 666! If you want to convert it I think it works out at 170g but just check to make sure.)

For the frosting:-

Blue food colouring (I use Wilton gel in Royal Blue)

Wilton large candy eyeballs (link here)

Wilton 233 grass tip (link here)

Disposable piping bag

1 pack of Maryland cookies

250g unsalted butter

500g icing sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

Method:-

Line a 12 pan muffin tin with muffin/cupcake cases.

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.

Cream the butter and caster sugar together using a stand mixer, for a good 5 minutes. You want the mixture to become quite light and fluffy.

Next add 1 of the eggs, followed by a spoonful of flour, mixing until combined. Continue adding each egg with a spoonful of flour after each addition until everything is fully combined.

This is where I add some vanilla extract and a tablespoon of milk, just to loosen the mixture ever so slightly.

Then using an ice cream scoop, add the batter to the cupcake cases and bake in a preheated oven for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting. Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter for a few minutes, then add about 1/3 of the icing sugar (merely to prevent an icing sugar cloud in the kitchen!) and beat until combined, continue to add the rest of the icing sugar in stages and then add the vanilla extract. You want your frosting silky, light and whipped so really go for it with mixing this, Then add enough blue food colouring to get your desired Cookie Monster hue.

When your cupcakes are fully cooled, load up your piping bag with grass tip already in place and start piping Cookie Monster's fur on all of your cupcakes.

Next place Cookie Monster's eyeballs and cut your Maryland cookies in half and stick them in the frosting to make his mouth (it's worth noting here that the Maryland cookies go soft very quickly so it might be best to do the mouths just before you're about to serve the cupcakes).

Enjoy!

Strawberry vanilla layer ombre watercolour cake

My latest foray into layer cakes sees this gorgeous 4 layer strawberry vanilla cake with ombre watercolour frosting.

There are 4 layers of vanilla sponge, sandwiched together with strawberry jam, then frosted with a vanilla buttercream with freeze dried strawberries on top.

The PERFECT brownies (Rolo)

Behind the scenes I've been lusting after shiny topped brownies. You know, the kind that have that meringue like crust on top? Well I've sussed it! There's no change in the ingredients to my old brownie recipe, BUT there is a change in the method. Lets begin...

Ingredients:- 

85g unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for greasing baking tin 

40g cornflour 

30g unsweetened cocoa powder 

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon fine salt 

340g dark chocolate 

170g caster sugar 

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 

3 medium eggs

Optional handful of Rolos

Method:- 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Lightly butter a 20cm by 30cm rectangular baking tin and line with grease-proof paper, leaving a 1 inch overhang on all sides. 

Combine the cornflour, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. On the hob, gently melt the chocolate and butter. 

When the chocolate and butter have melted, leave to one side to cool.

In a stand mixer, whisk the eggs and sugar until is resembles a frothy milkshake like consistency. Then add the cooled chocolate mix, but pour it in gently, you don't want to knock any of the air out of the egg and sugar mixture that you've just whipped into oblivion! Then gently fold the chocolate and eggy sugar mix together.

Once combined, sieve the cornflour, cocoa, cinnamon and salt mixture over the top of the brownie mix and again GENTLY fold the mix together until combined . 

Pour the batter into your pre-greased and lined brownie tin and smooth over the top with a spatula.

At this point I added a massive handful of Rolos - it was a happy day!

Pop the brownies in to bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 30-35 minutes, rotating the tin halfway through.

Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

It turns out (after some good old Google research) that it's the method of mixing the sugar with the eggs that gives the brownies their infamous shiny tops, who knew! Well I do know, and so do all of you :)

Peanut butter swirl Oreo brownies

Oreos and brownies are a match made in heaven in my humble opinion. Imagine my sheer excitement when I realised that you could get strawberry cheesecake and peanut butter flavoured Oreos!! Honestly if you could have seen my face and heard my excited squeal, it would have made your day I promise! While I'm a huge fan of my previous brownie recipe. It is super rich and chocolatey due to the dark chocolate. So this time I tried a split with milk chocolate and it turned out really well.

Ingredients:- 

85g unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for greasing baking tin 

40g cornflour 

30g unsweetened cocoa powder 

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon fine salt 

340g chocolate (broken into squares) (150g dark and 190g of milk)

170g caster sugar 

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 

3 medium eggs 

For topping... 

3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter 

A handful of broken Oreos 

Method:- 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Lightly butter a 20cm by 30cm rectangular baking tin and line with grease-proof paper, leaving a 1 inch overhang on all sides. 

Combine the cornflour, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. On the hob, gently melt the chocolate and butter. 

When the chocolate and butter have melted, remove pan from the heat and stir in sugar and vanilla. 

Making sure that the mixture has cooled ever so slightly (so as not to cook the eggs) stir in eggs, one at a time, until combined. 

Add cornflour, cocoa, cinnamon and salt mixture and stir until the luscious brownie batter is smooth and begins to pull away from sides. 

Pour the batter into your pre-greased and lined brownie tin and smooth over the top with a spatula. In a small microwaveable bowl heat the peanut butter for say 10 seconds in the microwave to loosen it up and enable a better blob and swirl action. 

You might need to keep testing the consistency of the spread, you want it slightly runny but not like water. Then blob using a teaspoon onto the brownie batter, and use a knife to swirl through. Then dot on top the Oreo biscuits and bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 30-35 minutes, rotating the tin halfway through.

Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Using paper overhang, lift brownie out of pan and cut into squares and enjoy warm with some vanilla ice cream - mmmmm!

Bounty bar cookies

Someone once said to me (Katie from work - I am looking at you!) that coconut is a bit like Marmite. You either love it or you hate it. Now I am firmly in the love it camp, which makes these cookies like little bites of coconutty heaven. It's a take on my usual cookie recipe but obviously with the addition of Bounty bars! 

Ingredients:-

150g salted butter, softened

80g light brown muscovado sugar

80g granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

225g plain flour

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

¼ tsp salt

4 bars of Bounty (big bars so you have 8 of the half bars)

Method:-

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

Add the butter and both sugars to a bowl and beat until creamy. I use a standalone mixer for this and beat, using the paddle attachment, for a good 2-3 minutes.

While waiting, chop the Bounty bars into small chunks and set aside.

Next add to the butter and sugar mix the vanilla extract and egg, and mix until combined.

Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt over the mixture and beat until the mixture magically becomes cookie dough. Add the chopped Bounty bars and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Using a ice cream scoop (life changing in baking I tell you!), dollop mounds of the mixture, spaced well apart on the baking trays. 

Bake in the oven for 8–10 mins until golden brown on the edges and still slightly soft in the center.

Leave on the trays for a couple of minutes to firm up and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Depending on how scoopy I'm feeling, I tend to get on average 8-10 cookies from this recipe, they're quite the cookie, if you know what I mean! So if you prefer something smaller then absolutely go for it and use a teaspoon to scoop.

Enjoy!

Raspberry lemon crumb muffins

Tis the season for fruit picking! Specifically, strawberries and raspberries. These muffins made good use of the sweet raspberries I picked last weekend and they went down a treat. The lemon crumb topping really brought out the raspberriness (is that even a word?!) so if you also have a pile of berries and know not what to do with them... read on.

Ingredients:-

For the muffins:

245g self raising flour

200g caster sugar

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

3 eggs

285g greek yogurt (none of this 0% malarky!)

1¼ tsp vanilla extract

250g fresh raspberries

For the topping:-

140g plain flour

130g light brown sugar

zest of 1 lemon

110g butter (melted)

Method:-

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. 

Line a muffin tin with paper liners (mix makes 12 muffins).

First make the crumb topping. Combine the flour, sugar and lemon zest. Then gradually add the melted butter and using a fork, rough up the mixture until you have a few big crumbs, and some little crumbs. You might not need all the butter here so don't pour it all in! 

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 

Then in a larger bowl mix the eggs, greek yogurt, and vanilla. 

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until incorporated, being careful not to over mix..

Fill muffin liners ¾ full with batter (I use my trusty ice cream scoop here). 

Top with raspberries (about 4-5 raspberries each to cover the batter) and then add the crumb topping over the raspberries.

Bake for 25 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. 

Allow to cool in muffin tins for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. 

Enjoy!

Oreo Rocky Road

This is such a quick and easy sweet treat to whip up, especially with kids because it requires no baking. Simply patience, while it sets in the fridge (easier said than done)! In case you had not gathered by now, I am a huge fan of a traybake'esque creation. Brownies or Flapjacks and now Rocky Road; there's just something so simple (and yummy) about them.

Ingredients:-
100g unsalted butter
225g milk chocolate
2tbsp golden syrup
2tbsp cocoa powder
50g white chocolate chunks
50g mini marshmallows
1 pack of Oreo biscuits

Method:-

Line a brownie tin with grease-proof paper.

Using heavy bottomed pan on the hob melt the milk chocolate and butter together. Then add cocoa powder and the golden syrup.Mix together thoroughly. Then leave until slightly cool.

Break the Oreo biscuits into smaller pieces (reserving a few whole biscuits for decoration) and add to the chocolate mix.

Next, add the marshmallows and the white chocolate chunks and stir until everything is covered in chocolate.

Pour into your lined tin and pat it down with a spatula until even.

Press some whole Oreo biscuits onto the top.

Leave to set in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours then cut into squares and scoff!

Malteser Blondies

Sorry for the short hiatus. I've been on my holibobs, but I'm home now and eager to get back in the kitchen, baking again. Nothing pleases me more than a brownie...except for maybe a blondie! The white chocolate version of a brownie - what could be wrong with that? Nothing I tell you, nothing! These are SO good. You absolutely must make them. You'll thank me I promise!

Ingredients:-

100g white chocolate, chopped, plus 50g extra for the topping

125g unsalted butter, diced

225g light soft brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

3 large eggs, beaten

100g plain flour

50g self-raising flour

4 tbsp Horlicks

1 x 135g bag Maltesers

60g milk chocolate, chopped

Method:-

Preheat the oven to 170°C, fan 150°C, gas 3. Lightly grease a 20cm square baking tin and then line it with baking paper.

Place the 100g white chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Add the butter and melt gently together over a pan of simmering water. Remove from the heat, stir until smooth and combined, and leave to cool slightly.

Add the sugar, vanilla extract and beaten eggs to the slightly cooled melted white chocolate and butter. Stir well to combine.

Sift both of the flours and Horlicks powder into the chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Fold in 100g Maltesers and the milk chocolate and spoon into the prepared tin. Bake on the middle shelf for 35-40 minutes.

Leave to cool in the tin. Melt the remaining white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Meanwhile, lightly crush the rest of the Maltesers. Drizzle over a little of the the melted white chocolate. Then scatter over the crushed Maltesers, and finish with the remaining melted chocolate. Cool, then cut into squares.

Trust me on this, they wont last long!

Cheese scones

No I haven't lost my mind - this really is a savoury bake! I could eat cheese scones all day every day, I kid you not. These rarely (who am I kidding, they never) make it into anyone else's tummies.

Ingredients:-

225g self raising flour

Pinch salt

Pinch cayenne pepper

1 tsp baking powder

55g butter

100g cheddar cheese

80-90 ml milk, plus extra for glazing

Extra cheese for topping the scones (and lots of it!)

Method:-

Preheat oven with the baking tray inside, lined with baking paper, to 180 degrees.

In a medium to large bowl sift together the flour, salt, cayenne pepper and baking powder.

Cut the butter into cubes, place in the bowl and then using a mixer with a paddle attachment, slowly mix until the flour and butter resemble something akin to breadcrumbs. You can of course rub the mixture together with your fingers if you would prefer but I am a slightly lazy baker and a mixer wins every time!

Sprinkle the grated cheese into the breadcrumb mixture and rub in until the cheese is evenly distributed. 

With the mixer still running on the slowest setting, add the milk little by little until the dough comes together. You're looking for a soft firm dough that's not too wet. You may not need all of the milk to get the desired consistency here.

Lightly flour a surface tip the dough out onto it. Now I am not a fan of a rolling pin, so using the palms of my hands I press the dough out until it is approximately 3cm thick and then using a medium sized cutter, press out the rounds, reshape and keep cutting out scones until I've used all of the dough.

Brush the tops of the scones with the extra milk and sprinkle a little lot of cheese on the top of each scone before popping in the oven.

Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown, cheese deliciously melted and yummy!

Rolo Cookies

You might not love anyone enough to give them your last rolo, but a rolo cookie?! Hell yes! These are a take on my chocolate chip cookie recipe but with a caramely rolo centre. Enjoy!

Ingredients:-
150g salted butter, softened
80g light brown muscovado sugar
80g granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
225g plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp salt
200g plain chocolate chip or chunk
1 pack of Rolos

Method:-
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

Add the butter and both sugars to a bowl and beat until creamy. I use a standalone mixer for this and beat, using the paddle attachment, for a good 2-3 minutes.

Next add in the vanilla extract and egg, and mix until combined.

Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt over the mixture and beat until the mixture magically becomes cookie dough. Add the chocolate chips and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Using a trusty ice cream scoop, dollop mounds of the mixture, spaced well apart on the baking trays, then push a Rolo into the center of each mound of cookie dough.

Bake in the oven for 8–10 mins until golden brown on the edges.

Leave on the trays for a couple of minutes to firm up and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Raspberry Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

This recipe is one of many variations on my basic brownie. You can find my first post on this recipe here, but I will go over it again in this post just to make things super simple.

There are so many options with brownies, I doubt that I could find every single possible ingredient combination in my lifetime! Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad challenge, maybe I'll try!

Ingredients:-

85g unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for greasing baking tin

40g cornflour

30g unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

340g dark chocolate (broken into squares)

170g caster sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

3 medium eggs 

For raspberry cream cheese swirl:-

4 tablespoons of cream cheese

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Handful of fresh raspberries

Method:-

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. 

Lightly butter a 20cm by 30cm rectangular baking tin and line with grease-proof paper, leaving a 1 inch overhang on all sides. 

Combine the cornflour, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. 

On the hob, gently melt the chocolate and butter*. You can use a double boiler for this if you'd prefer but I like to live life on the edge, rebel, and just bung (technical term there!) it in and go for it. Just be careful not to overheat the chocolate, gentle is the key word here. Otherwise the chocolate could go grainy and that's not what we're going for.

*note - I use a medium sized pan for this. The reason being, that I then use the same pan to mix in all of the remaining ingredients. One pot = minimal washing up - yay! 

When the chocolate and butter have melted, remove pan from the heat and stir in sugar and vanilla. 

Making sure that the mixture has cooled ever so slightly (so as not to cook the eggs) stir in eggs, one at a time, until combined. 

Add cornflour, cocoa, cinnamon and salt mixture and stir until the luscious brownie batter is smooth and begins to pull away from sides, about 2 minutes, but if your arm can't take it, don't worry. 

Pour the batter into your pre-greased and lined brownie tin and smooth over the top with a spatula. 

Combine in a small bowl the cream cheese and vanilla extract and stir to loosen up the mixture so it's a blobby consistency. Then using a teaspoon, blob into the brownie mixture and then swirl with a sharp knife. Dot the raspberries over the top, either haphazardly or neatly - whichever floats your boat!

Then  bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 30-35 minutes, rotating the tin halfway through. 

Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Using paper overhang, lift brownie out of pan and cut into 16 squares and enjoy!

Will report back with further brownie combos - don't worry! ;)

Oreo Fudge

I don't know what's could be more exciting than homemade fudge...answers on a postcard please! I think it's a bit like brownies / blondies for me in that as soon as you've got your basic recipe down, you can add any combination of ingredients to the mix and it completely changes it up.

There's pretty much no skill required for making fudge. I was apprehensive but you literally stir the mix until it becomes a fudgey consistency and it's done! The only thing that put me off slightly here was the amount of white chocolate that this recipe required. It's A LOT. But don't let that put you off because it's such a fun (and yummy) thing to make.

Ingredients:-

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

510g white chocolate 

1 pack of Oreos

Method:-

I recommend using a disposable traybake tin (like here) because I won't lie to you, fudge is an absolute pain to cut and this way you can absolutely murder the tray and feel no remorse.

Melt the white chocolate with the sweetened condensed milk in a heavy bottomed medium sized saucepan over medium to low heat, until it reaches that fudgey consistency I talked about.

Stir in the chopped Oreo cookies, saving a few pieces to press into the top.

Pour mixture into your handy dandy throw-away tin and quickly spread fudge evenly with a spatula. 

Press extra chopped Oreo cookies on top. You can either leave to set at room temperature or if you're super impatient like me, pop it in the fridge to set.

This is when the tin comes into it's own. Using scissors, cut the down into each corner of the tin to flap the sides down and then using a sharp knife, cut into squares. You can peel the fudge away from the tin also if it's being a little uncooperative.

I prefer to store this in an airtight tin in the fridge but you can keep it at room temperature if you'd prefer. I would like to tell you how long it keeps for, but lets face it, it wont be around for long!

Flapjacks

I'm not sure I could be friends with someone who didn't like a flapjack. I mean, really...what's not to like about these deliciously sweet, chewy oaty bars of goodness?! I also love it when, as soon as you offer a dieter a flapjack, they suddenly jump at the chance, because they're healthy right! ;)

Ingredients:-
250g porridge oats
125g unsalted butter
125g soft light brown sugar
3 tbsps Golden Syrup
Optional:
Handful of raisins

Method:-

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Lightly butter a 20cm by 30cm rectangular baking tin and line with grease-proof paper, leaving a 1 inch overhang on all sides, for ease of transferring the flapjacks to a board to cut when baked.

Using a heavy bottomed medium sized pan, melt the butter, sugar and Golden Syrup until there are no sugar granules.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the oats, stirring to coat them in the buttery sugary mixture. At this point I will then add some raisins if I want to, or you could use any other dried fruit, apricots, cherries, blueberries. I tend to just eyeball it, but I would say probably a good handful.

Tip the mixture into your pre lined tin and press it down firmly with the back of a spatula or wooden spoon, This really helps the flapjacks to stick together.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool slightly in the tin, then using a sharp knife, mark out where you will cut the flapjacks and then leave them to cool completely before cutting.

Enjoy with a nice cup of tea!

Chai Spiced Carrot Cake

I feel the need to premise this post with a caveat - this is not my recipe! It's one of Jamie Oliver's gems from a recent issue of Jamie magazine. The reason I'm featuring it here (well one of the reasons!), is that it tastes AMAZING, so I just had to share it with you all. Secondly... my Instagram post of my cake was featured in the most recent issue of Jamie magazine, cue major excitement and flinging said magazine in the face of anyone and everyone to show them! Eeeeee!

You can find the link to the original recipe here. You can follow my Instagram account here. 

Ingredients:-

250ml vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing

4 large carrots

1 large lemon

100g currants or sultanas

100g pecans

280g plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground cardamom

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon ground anise

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

4 tablespoons candied ginger in syrup

1 black tea bag (I used Tea Pigs Chai tea)

2 large free-range eggs

200g caster sugar

200g light brown sugar

30g flaked coconut

For the cream cheese buttercream:-

200g unsalted butter (at room temperature)

200g cream cheese

15g icing sugar

Method:-

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease a 30 x 20cm traybake tin with veg oil and line with baking paper. 

Peel and grate the carrots (praise the lord for food processors with grater attachments!) and lemon zest into a large bowl, mix in the currants or sultanas, then roughly chop and add the pecans, then set aside. 

In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, ½ a teaspoon of sea salt, and the spices, Dice and add the ginger, then add the leaves from the tea bag and mix well. 

Add the eggs, both sugars and the veg oil to a mixing jug, then pour the mixture over the carrots, mixing to combine. Add the dry ingredients and mix briefly or until just combined. 

Pour the batter into your pan and bake in the oven for 55 minutes to 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

For the buttercream, place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until creamy, about 5 minutes. 

Add the cream cheese and beat until just combined. Next, add the icing sugar and beat again until smooth (don’t over-mix it as your icing will be runny.) Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes, then spoon the buttercream over the cake and spread out evenly. 

Place the coconut into a dry frying pan over a medium heat and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until lightly toasted, tossing occasionally. Scatter it over the iced cake, then serve.

This makes a really delicious, moist cake. Even people who were not massive carrot cake lovers said that they enjoyed this. The spices really bring everything together, and it just - works!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are by far the best chocolate chip cookies known to man... Okay well I am slightly biased I know, but they are crispy on the outside, courtesy of granulated sugar, with gorgeously chewy centers. What more could you ask for in a cookie?!

Ingredients:-
150g salted butter, softened
80g light brown muscovado sugar
80g granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
225g plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp salt
200g plain chocolate chip or chunks (or M&M's as I prefer to use)

Method:-

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

Add the butter and both sugars to a bowl and beat until creamy. I use a standalone mixer for this and beat, using the paddle attachment, for a good 2-3 minutes.

Next add in the vanilla extract and egg, and mix until combined.

Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt over the mixture and beat until the mixture magically becomes cookie dough. Add the chocolate chips or M&M's and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Using a ice cream scoop (life changing in baking I tell you!), dollop mounds of the mixture, spaced well apart on the baking trays. 

Bake in the oven for 8–10 mins until golden brown on the edges and still slightly soft in the center.

Leave on the trays for a couple of minutes to firm up and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Depending on how scoopy I'm feeling, I tend to get on average 8-10 cookies from this recipe, they're quite the cookie, if you know what I mean! So if you prefer something smaller then absolutely go for it and use a teaspoon to scoop.

Enjoy!