Pink Cupcakes

My sexy sister-in-law and boyfriend came to stay with us (they just got engaged! woo-hoo!) so I made some pink cupcakes to celebrate! I used pink buttercream and silver edible balls to decorate them with and used to a knife to give the buttercream a frosted effect! Check out the pictures below!

Florentines

I'm so excited about christmas. I love the run up to christmas, all the decorations in the shops and the lights that brighten up dark streets and I just lurve christmas food! Mince pies, Christmas cake, stollen, frosted ginger cake.... the list goes on! I decided to start of the christmas baking with florentines.

You will need:

75g (2.75oz) butter

75g (2.75oz) caster sugar

25g (1oz) sultanas

25g (1oz) raisins

25g (1oz) chopped nuts

25g (1oz) glace cherries

25g (1oz) sunflower and pumpkin seeds

100g (3.5oz) flaked almonds

2 tbsp of double cream

175g (6oz) dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4 and line two baking trays with grease proof paper. Heat the butter over a low heat until melted and then add the sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil, take of the heat and stir in the sultanas, raisins, nuts, cherries, seeds, almonds and mix well. Finally beat in the cream.

Using a teaspoon place small amounts onto one of the baking trays, allowing space for the mixture to spread and place in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Make sure you keep an eye on them as you do not want them to burn-they should look golden!

While they are cooling use a circle cookie cutter to make them into perfect circles and leave to cool. Meanwhile heat the dark chocolate and spread in over the other baking tray. When the chocolate is about to set place the cooled biscuits onto the chocolate, press them down and leave them to harden.

Cut around the florentines and remove the grease proof baking paper. Use a little more melted chocolate to create swirls on the back of them by dipping a fork into the chocolate and swirling it around!

They would make lovely christmas presents or look lovely on a festive spread and they taste divine!

Chocolate shortbread

My husband pointed out to me the other night that I bake lots of things that he likes but then he only gets to try them the once because I don't bake them again! I replied by telling him I like baking different things so I can put them on my blog and he said this wasn't fair! So I asked him what he would like and he said shortbread biscuits so I compromised with him by being allowed to cover them in dark chocolate! :)

I followed the same recipe as before and once they had cooled covered them in chocolate and stuck some together. There are currently none left in the biscuit tin (I made them on thursday night!)

I'm off food shopping now to Sainsbury's and then when I get back I'm going to make apple crumble and maybe some rocky roads or florentines! Yum!

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Happy thanksgivings to everyone in America, I do hope you all have a lovely time and eat lots of tasty food!

I have been so busy over the past month it's been hard to keep up with my blog but worry not dear friends as I am back and ready to bake! :) On sunday evening I made some more cupcakes, I love baking cupcakes it reminds me of being a kid again, this time I made orange flavoured ones with orange flavoured icing, mmm I love the freashness and clean taste of oranges, it added a lovely taste to the sponge! I decorated them using sprinkles and coloured sugar that I bought in America when I was over there, I used a leaf shaped cutter and sprinkled orange sugar over it to make the shape of a leaf!

Chocolate fruit and nut

I had some chocolate left over from making the chocolate apples and so I decided to make my own fruit and nut chocolate. I chopped up walnuts, hazelnuts, glazed cherries and mixed them with dried cranberries and raisins and then mixed them in melted chocolate! I scooped the mixture into tiny paper cases and placed them in the fridge to set overnight. The next morning I had my very own fruit and nut bites!

Chocolate Apples

It's not Bonfire night without chocolate and toffee apples. I didn't have much time as I was missing the fireworks so I simply melted some chocolate, dipped in the washed apples until they were covered in chocolate and dipped them in some sprinkles. They were delicious to eat while watching the sky light up! Check out the pictures above!

Happy Halloween and Bonfire night!

I hope you have all had a lovely halloween and bonfire night. I can hear millions of fireworks going off as I am writing this. I love bonfire night. Standing and keeping warm by the bonfire, waving sparklers around watching them glitter in the air, the cold misty night, all the colours that fill the dark sky, the atmosphere as everyone stands around eating burgers, hotdogs and of course toffee and chocolate apples which I am off to make! Have a spingly sparkly noisy crazy night everyone and remember, remember the 5th of November....