Mrs B's Baking

Happy New Year and Farewell!

2010-01-01T09:14:00.004Z

Happy new year everyone! Hope you all had a good one! I've decided to give up my baking blog, i've been thinking of it for a while now and as it's a new year and new start etc i think now is the perfect time! Thank you so much to everyone for all your lovely comments and support over the past two years; you've all been lovely - i will of course still be reading your blogs and i will still be baking from time to time but i'm going to focus on my career and i've decided to take up some new hobbies running and knitting! So farewell, so long and see you around! Mrs B!

The wedding cake and other bakes!

2009-12-20T09:53:00.015Z

I haven't blogged for what feels like ages, so i thought i'd just post everything i've been up to in one go! It's been busy, i moved house and absolutely love living outside of London in the countryside, i went to America on holiday, i made a wedding cake and a got a new job all in the space of 4 months! Phew! Well, i promised pictures of the cake and here it is, their wedding day was just so beautiful; making this cake was one of the hardest challenges i've ever done! It was 4 tiers, one fruit, one sponge, one chocolate and one chocolate fudge! All iced in ivory sugarpaste and dotted with purple butterflies and finished with ribbon!
From afar!
All boxed up and ready to go...
All 4 tiers iced and finished...
The bottom tier...
The second largest tier; vanilla sponge cake with buttercream and jam, being covered in buttercream ready for the sugarpaste...
The bottom tier just marizpaned...
Some carrot cakes I made - they look pretty but the recipe I followed wasn't that great...
A delicious banana cake; it tasted like heaven and healthy too...
Energy bars with cranberries and seeds for work...
Some cupcakes I made for a charity fundraiser...
My lovely friend's birthday cake-stars...

Chocolate cupcakes to match

2009-08-05T18:54:00.006+01:00

I made these cupcakes to match the birthday cake that I made for my sister. I adore the little red cupcake papers - they look so effective against the chocolate colours and I know they would be brilliant for Christmas and winter cupcakes!
I hand grated all the chcolate shavings using a cheese grater, it was messy but lots of fun! The cakes are chocolate with chocolate buttercream and then chocolate shavings quickly sprinkled on!
My camera has been broken for some time now but i'm pleased to report that I have just purchased a new one so worry not, I can keep baking and taking photos! I took part in the London Triathlon at the weekend - i entered as a team with work and did the running part dressed as a toilet! It was so much fun! That's it now though for my sporting achievements for this year! I've done the Crisis 6k, Race for Life 5k and LT 5k - what with all this running, I deserve a cake or two! I'm looking forward to spending long Sunday afternoons baking in the kitchen again rather than out running or worrying about my lack of training! Give me baking cakes anyday! x

roll up, roll up, read all about it...

2009-07-25T19:16:00.002+01:00

I have some great news! The first is that my lovely friends are getting married in October and I am making their wedding cake - I am so excited about this and have just been to the Squires shop in Farnham to buy some new cake tins and things, what an honour! They are having a fruit cake as the bottom tier, followed by vanilla sponge, followed by two chocolate cakes, 4 tiers in all!

Secondly, is that (hopefully) in about 6 weeks time my husband and I are moving out of London (woop woop!) further north into the countryside to a town called St. Albans, i can't wait to be packing the boxes but even more exciting is that we are going to be living near a college that does a 20 week sugar flower course for beginners, it's a little pricey but i'll scrimp and save and sign up soon. What exciting times! It was nearly a year ago that I did a 10 week cake class and i had such a great time!

Chocolate Birthday Cake

2009-07-19T19:52:00.005+01:00

This is my sister's birthday cake. It's a 6inch chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and then I bought some lovely dark and white chocolate bars and grated them to create chocolate shreads with I covered the cake in. I think it's looks really effective but to add a touch of love I swirled white melted choolate into heart shapes and stuck them on the top.

It's a small cake but it was the perfect size for my family to have a slice each with two slices for my sis to enjoy the next day!
I entered Race for Life today. It was in Hyde park and even though I've done quite a few charity runs I found this one particulary hard and it was only 5k but boy was it a long way! I was tired after 1k! I've spent all afternoon sat on the sofa drinking tea trying to recover from the pain! I can't work out why I was so exhausted! So I thought I'd post my chocolate cake to cheer myself up, cake always puts a smile on my face! Enjoy! x

Mum's 60th Birthday Cake

2009-07-02T14:43:00.009+01:00

I made this cake for my mum's 60th Birthday. I wasn't sure of a complete design when I started it but I decided on yellow butterflies and roses. It was a fruit cake (10 inch) covered in marizpan and then roll out icing. I made the roses out of sugarpaste and the butterflies out of flower paste.

I'm not sure how I managed to carry this cake all the way from London to Preston on the underground, train and then car but somehow I managed to get it their in one piece with all the butterflies attached.

My mum loved it and i'm so pleased she did! She really deserved a special birthday and we had a lovely 'country living' style outdoor garden party! Happy Birthday mum!

Luscious Lemon Drizzle Cake

2009-06-07T13:21:00.004+01:00

This is perfect sunshine food! Luscious lemon drizzle cake, it's easy to make, doesn't take long to cook and your friends will be swept away by the freshness and lovely deep sweet lemon flavour.

All you need is:
100g/4oz butter
175g/6oz self - raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
175g/6oz golden caster sugar
2 large eggs
6 tbsp milk
finely grated rind of 1 large lemon

For the icing:
juice of one large lemon (3 tbsp)
100g/4oz golden caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 180c and butter and line the base of a shallow oblong tin and line the bottom with baking paper.

Take a large bowl and mix all the ingrediants together for 2 - 3 minutes until the mixture drops easily off the back of a spoon. Pour it into the tin and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon and bake for 30 - 40 minutes until golden and a beautiful smell fills your kitchen. While its cooking, make the icing by beating together the lemon juice and sugar. Once the cake comes out of the oven, pour it over while its sill hot and let it soak into the cake. Leave to cool.

Cut into squares and serve with iced home made lemonade! Summer bliss!

Lemon Cupcakes

2009-05-24T13:33:00.007+01:00

I've been trying to perfect the perfect swirl on a cupcake for ages now and I'm finally happy with my end result! I've been practising with all kinds of tubes big and small! This is going to be my signature swirl (when I one day am able to sell them!).
I've been making loads of cupcakes recently and selling them at work as part of my fundraising so it's been really easy to practice! I made orange cupcakes last week and lemon cupcakes the week before and they were both delicious!
Lemon is the perfect flavour for summer and I can't get enough of it. I love lemon drizzle cake, home made lemonade, lemon sweets, lemon yogurt, slices of lemon in my drinks - the fresh tangy taste is just delicious and I love the strong yellow colour as they brighten up my dark kitchen!
I think this is a good amount of buttercream on a cake, it looks real pretty without being a mountain, some of the cakes I see in London have more buttercream than cake and I think it's important to have a good balance of them both without it being too sickly! I'll be back next week with the lemon drizzle cake recipe!

Butterfly cake

2009-05-10T14:58:00.006+01:00

This is the second cake I made to celebrate the welcome of Spring. I wanted to create a very girly cake that would be perfect for picnics in the countryside! I used very pale pink sugar paste to cover it and then cut out butterflies in different colours and gave them a brush of shimmer to add some sparkle. I 'm learning lots about covering cakes at the moment!
Here's a close up of the butterflies - I love the way you can the wings lift up to give the effect that it's about to fly away!
I tried a pretty pink ribbon around to finish it off!

Once we'd cut into it, it dodn't last long at all! It was great fun to make and I really enjoyed my afternoon of creativity!

Easter Cake

2009-04-18T13:13:00.006+01:00

I baked this Easter/Spring cake for my two friends in London. I didn't want to make a traditional themed cake so I went for a fresh spring countryside look and decorated it in daisies that I made out of flower paste using daisy cutters. I then cut out little blossom flowers and stuck them on too. The cake is a maderia cake with my dad's homemade redcurrant jam spread in the middle.
I'm entering it into the Easter Cake Bake competition over on Julia's 'A slice of Cherry Pie' website. Julia holds it every year and there was some amazing cakes last year.
Here is a close up of the flowers - they are my first sugar flowers so I'm really pleased they turned out so well. I think it's perfect for an Easter party to welcome Spring and Summer!

Chocolate Easter Nests

2009-04-12T15:18:00.004+01:00

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your Easter Sunday and time off work. This is the first batch of chocolate nests I made, i've currently making a second batch right now! I used milk chocolate and shredded wheat but you can also use corn flakes. They are so simple and bring back all the childhood memories of making these as a kid.

More Spring cupcakes

2009-04-04T08:43:00.003+01:00

I bought these cute iced ducks from Lakeland and they are so sweet for Easter/Spring cupcakes!

Cupcakes for spring

2009-03-22T10:23:00.006Z

I am so excited about the arrival of Spring and I love the weather at the moment, it's such a lovely time of year. These are some pictures of the cupcakes I have made in the last few weeks to celebrate the arrival of lighter nights, warmer weather and all things spring like!

I went to the Country Living Spring fair and had a great time, there was some lovely exhibits and people's creativity was just gorgeous. There are so many things I want to buy!

Honey and oat breakfast muffins

2009-03-05T11:24:00.005Z

I made some breakfast muffins that are great to munch on for breakfast. They are made from honey, raisins and oats and are just the perfect way to start your day and to eat on the way if you don't have time for breakfast. Just grab and go!

Vanilla cupcakes with pretty flowers

2009-02-15T14:22:00.007Z

Here are my latest cupcakes I made - they are vanilla flavour with white icing and sugarpaste flowers. Aren't they just the cutest things?

Valentines Shortbread hearts

2009-02-15T14:10:00.004Z

I made these shortbread hearts for my friend who was staying over the weekend, they are so delicious and they really melt in your mouth. They don't take long to bake either and spinkled with red sugar look divine.

All you need is:
150g/6ox plain flour
100g/4oz slighlty salted butter, softened
50g/2oz golden caster sugar
red sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 150c. Put the flour in a mixing bowl and rub in the butter until it forms fine crumbs. (I love this doing this and it's especially easy sat in front of the tv!). Then stir in the sugar. Work the mixture together until it forms a ball and knead it brieflt until smooth. Sprinkle flour onto a work surface and roll out gently, if it starts to split keep pushing it back together. Cut out the desired shapes using a cutter and place them gently on an ungreased baking tray. Keep rolling the mixture out until you have used it all. bake for 35-49 minutes, it should still be pale when you remove from the oven. Cool and then sprinkle with sugar, if you don't have coloured sugar then caster sugar is fine. Perfect to give to your loved ones on Valentine!

Chocolate chip cookies

2009-02-01T16:53:00.005Z

I love lazy sundays and I just seem to have enough of them! This morning I had a huge bowl of warming porridge with a mug of hot coffee and sat in bed reading the sunday morning papers! Bliss.

This afternoon I made cookies with some red and green chocolate chips that came from America.

To make them you need:
250g/9oz butter, softened
50g/2oz caster sugar
100g/3.5oz light brown sugar
300g/10oz self-raising flour
2 tbsp milk
Chocolate chips - I used a large handful

Simply preheat the oven to 180c and line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Take a large bowl and beat together the butter and sugars. (Yes, 250g is a whole packet of butter but it's worth it!). Once the mixture looks nice and fluffy stir in the flour and milk and stir together using a wooden spoon.

Divide the mixture into small balls and place them on the baking tray leaving enough room to spread. Flatten each one with your finger tips. Bake for 20 minutes and leave them on the tray to cool for 5 minutes before transferring onto a wire rack.

Serve on a cold winter's afternoon like today with a big mug of tea. Lovely.

Apple Muesli Slices

2009-01-18T10:32:00.002Z

It's been such a busy couple of months for me, what with Christmas and starting a new job I've really been feeling quite stressed recently. I love weekends so much and really try to make use of every second and make the time last as long as possible. I think one of the reasons I enjoy baking so much is that I find it so relaxing and calming and I really enjoy eating what I've made during the following week at work!

I started the year thinking it's time for the new year diet. Two days later I decided 'baking wanabee' and 'dieter' don't really add up well and decided to stick to running instead. Good plan I think. I have made a few resolutions this year (none of which are anything to do with the word diet). One is to try and source healthier products for myself and my home. I've started with mineral make-up, lush natural face wash and organic shampoo. Good start! The second is to try and spend the year perfecting the perfect cupcake recipes. I found this really cool website: www.cupcakefetish.com which has loads of reviews on cupcake shops and it got me thinking. So, i'm going to taste and sample all different cupcakes from shops around London and spend many an hour in the kitchen trying out different methods and ingrediants.

I know everyone, likes to have a healithy start to the new year and so I started my January baking with these apple muesli slices (see pic above). I didn't really follow a recipe, i just grabbed a bowl and threw in anything I could find: raisins, sunflower seeds, oats, honey, muesli and a bit of butter and baked it in the oven - they are perfect 'pick-me-ups' for the first weeks back at work.

This afternoon I am going to make carrot and orange soup for dinner followed by fruit and marizpan cupcakes. Bliss!

Magnolia Bakery - NYC

2009-01-04T18:17:00.006Z

Happy 2009! I had a great Christmas and New Year and hope you did too.

Before I start my New Year baking, I wanted to show you my pics of Magnolia Bakery in New York. We were lucky enough to visit our friends there in November but I was so busy posting about Christmas baking I never had time.

Magnolia bakery is where Carrie went to buy a cupcake in SATC and that is what started the cupcake trend. It was like a dream, the shop was full of cupcakes and larger cakes and cookies and the choice of flavours was just mouth watering delicious! I had the one above in the right hand corner. It was topped with cream cheese and autumn sprinkles and I honestly have never tasted anything like it. It tasted divine. My friend got the one of the left (the cream one) and it was a red velvet cupcake with traditional whipped vanilla icing. Heaven. I couldn't believe how red the sponge was. Deep, dark, smooth, velvet red.

Other flavours included pumpkin cupcakes with maple cheese frosting, german chocolate with coconut-caramel-pecan icing and coconut cupcakes with meringue icing. I wish I could have tried them all!

And just to make your mouth water a little bit more, other totally gorgeous american offerings in the bakery included: pecan pie, bundt cakes, brownies, blondies, whoopi cookies, pumpkin spice cake and devil's food cake.

They really were the best things I've ever tasted. If you go to NY you must try these cakes! And what a cute interior...

Mince pies

2008-12-21T18:39:00.004Z

I can't believe it's nearly Christmas already! Time has gone so quick. I've been busy baking every weekend nearly but I have found time to watch all the Christmas cooking programmes on TV! I loved 'Nigella's Christmas' especially! Today I have been busy finishing my third Christmas cake, baking ginger cookies and decorating them and making mini rum chocolate puddings!

The other day I had some time to make my first ever Mince Pies, they were delicious! I cheated a little and did it the 'express' way by using shop bought mincemeat but I did make my own pastry! They are so great to get out when people come and visit. Merry Christmas everyone, I hope you all have a fun and festive time!

Christmas Cake - number two

2008-12-17T19:02:00.007Z

Here is the second Christmas cake I have been working on for my two friends. It is another fruit cake covered in marizpan and then covered in black sugarcraft. Black is an unusual colour to choose for a Christmas cake but I thought it would look really effective with the white stars!
I cut out lots of little white sugarpaste stars and used a stamper to mark snowflakes. I dusted the snowflakes with shimmer dust and the effective was all shimmery and sparkly!
I also cut out larger stars and stuck them to the side of the cake.
I also added little silver balls to finish off! I love the stars and snowflakes and the contrast between the black and white. I hope my friends like it too!

Santa came early this year as for my birthday I was given the Nigella Chritmas book that I have been dying to get my hands on! I am so pleased - thanks Saff - I love it! :)

Christmas Cake (Number one)

2008-12-07T18:20:00.008Z

This is the first of the four Christmas cakes I am making this year. This was also my final piece for my baking class (I came third which I was pleased with!). It is a 6inch fruit cake, covered in marizpan and then covered in sugarpaste. I then decorated it with some of the techniques I have learnt over the past few weeks. Below is an example of crimping using a special crimping tool.
I cut this circle out (below) using a scone cutter and then used a patchwork snowflake cutter to create the snowflake pattern and brushed over it with shimmer dust. I then cut out lots of stars, brushed them with shimmer dust and stuck them on using royal icing.
I coloured some marizpan red and green and rolled it together. I then gently placed it around the bottom of the cake and then piped royal icing around the edges of the cake board.
So far I have made 3 out of the 4 cakes - 2 of them are waiting to be marizpaned and iced so watch this space for more christmas cake ideas. Anyone for a slice?

Chocolate Christmas Wreaths

2008-12-03T19:41:00.007Z

I took this idea from the Nigella Christmas book (which I'm hoping get for Christmas from Santa!). In her book she uses cornflakes and a sugar coating I think but I used rice krispies and a chocolate coating! It was so easy to do, I just poured some rice krispies into a bowl, covered them with melted chocolate, placed large spoonfuls onto a piece of tin foil and then made a hole in the middle. To add some extra Christmas charm I sprinkled them with Christmas sprinkles!

I also filled mini cupcake papers with the chocolate rice krispie mixture and added some more sprinkles!

The sprinkles are snowflakes and candy canes - so sweet!

Royal Icing

2008-11-26T19:04:00.010Z

I wanted to do a quick post on royal icing before I commence with the Christmas baking! I love royal iced cakes but if your just starting out it may be easier to cover your cake with sugarpaste. Either way, both look and taste delightful!

I made this cake and iced it at my baking class, it has 4 layers of icing! I finished it off with some piping around the edges. Always make sure your cake is covered in marizpan before starting to cover it in royal icing!

To make royal icing you need:
2 egg whites
1ml lemon juice
500g icing sugar, sieved
5ml of glycerine

Make sure you have an extremely clean bowl. Place the egg whites and lemon juice into the bowl and use a clean wooden spoon to stir the egg whites and break them up so that they mix with the lemon juice. Add some of the icing sugar and use the wooden spoon to mix together. Keep adding more icing sugar and stiring until you get the consistency you want. I usually beat it until it looks smooth and glossy. Then stir in the glycerine. This helps to keep the icing soft once the cake has been cut. Always allow the icing to rest before using it, usually for about an hour and always make sure it is covered in a damp cloth when not using otherwise it will become dry. When you are ready to use it, give it another stir as this will help to dispearse any air bubbles that may have formed!

I will do another post after Christmas about the different consistencies and other points about royal icing such as piping, flavouring and colouring it. I hope this helps you cover your christmas cake! Let the Christmas baking begin...

Christmas Cake - part two

2008-11-19T19:47:00.007Z

Okay, so the next you need to do is make sure your cake tin is covered properly. Using greaseproof paper draw a circle around the bottom of your tin and cut it out. Make sure it fits into the bottom of the tin easily. Cut a strip of paper the length of your tin and cut along the bottom little slits so that you can fold them to fit the inside of the tin perfectly. Place the circle in the bottom. I recommend that you also cover the outside of your tin with brown parcel paper and string but I didn't have any string at the time and had to make do without. I did however place 4 squares of the paper under the cake tin when I put it in the oven (as shown above). This is to make sure that the cake doesn't get overcooked underneath or on the sides as it is going to be in the oven for a long time!
Using another large bowl, place the remaining ingredients into it - sugar, flour, ground almonds, mixed spice, treacle, butter and eggs. Stir everything together until it is well mixed. You should use a wooden spoon to do this.
Beat everything together unitl it is well mixed, smooth and glossy. Next, add the mixed fruit and stir it into the mixture. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top with the back of a wet metal spoon. Give the tin a few sharp bangs to make sure the mixture has spread evenly in the bottom. Place it in the centre of the oven (pre-heated, of course to 140c/275f/gas mark 1) and cook for 2 - 2h 15mins. Use a prong to test to see if it is cooked. Allow it to cool in the tin and then turn it out but do not remove the brown paper as it will help to keep the cake moist. Wrap in it foil twice and store it in a cool dry place. Over the next few weeks you can sprinkle more brandy over it if required!
Next, I will upload ideas for icing and decoration. Watch this space!

Christmas Cake Part one

2008-11-17T18:45:00.003Z

I love fruit cake. It has to be one of my favourite things, i like it even more when it's covered with a lovely soft layer of marizpan and then smeared in royal icing! Heaven. My mum makes the best fruit cakes - I love them - she even made all of my wedding cakes for me! (This was before the days of my obsession with baking began!)

So, no Christmas is complete without a centre-piece for the table, something to offer the guests when they come round to visit - a lovely slice of Christmas fruit cake that has been soaked in alcohol and then a little more drizzled over in the weeks before it gets iced and decorated! It is best to start early with fruit cake. Tonight, I thought I would start with the ingredients, tomorrow I will write up the method and then I will show some decorating ideas!

I only have a 6inch cake tin at the moment and so, this recipe is for a 6inch tin only. It is taken from 'The International school of sugarcraft' and it tastes divine!

You will need:
125g/4oz raisins
125g/4oz sultanas
125g/4oz currants
60g/2oz of dried chopped apricots
90g/3oz glace cherries
30g/1oz cut mixed peel
30g/1oz chopped nuts
5ml/1 teaspoon lemon juice
15ml/1 tablespoon of brandy,whisky,sherry
185g/6oz plain (all purpose) flour
5ml/1 teaspoon ground mixed spice
30g/1oz ground almonds
125g/4oz soft dark brown sugar
125g/4oz butter or margarine
7.5ml black treacle
2 medium eggs

The best thing to do is take a large bowl and add in all the weighed out dried fruits. Add the lemon rind juice and the alcohol (I used brandy and whiskey but you can add all three if you prefer), give everything a good stir and then cover and leave to sit overnight while the fruit soaks up all the juices! Yum!

Sugarcraft exhibition

2008-11-16T18:25:00.002Z

I have been a very busy girl recently, I always seem to be busy and often feel I do not have enough hours in the day to do everything I would like. Yesterday, however I did find time to travel to Birmingham and go to the NEC to visit the Cake decoration exhibition. My, my it was amazing! I had such a great time there and would recommend anyone who likes baking and cakes to go next year. There were lots of stalls selling everything from cake tins, to cookie cutters to modelling tools and sugarpaste. It was great - I had a mini shopping frenzy stocking up on all the tools I need for cake decoration! There was also a vast amount of cakes being entered into the annual competition and the standard was out of this world, I have never seen cakes so exquisitely created with such detail. Some of them must have taken hours! Many of the stalls also had people demonstrating, I learnt how to make some acorns out of flower paste, how to model with sugarpaste and how to use patchwork cutters. I came away totally inspired and excited!

I have made so many cakes over the past few weeks at my course! We've had cake coming out of our ears! Mrs B's Kitchen is about to get even busier with Christmas coming along so fast - I am ever so excited - in the run up to Christmas I will be making many Christmas bakes - starting this week with Christmas Cake - Christmas isn't Christmas without a centre piece of delicious fruit cake covered in marizpan and royal icing! In my opinion of course!

Sugar biscuits

2008-11-03T19:37:00.006Z

I made these biscuits for Halloween and Bonfire night. We went to watch fireworks last night in London and they are very extragant and sparkly! In fact, sometimes they seemed to fill the whole sky, I love the ones that twinkle and sparkle in the sky and shoot across like shooting stars. My friend even brought along toffe apples (vegan style for our vegan friend).
Some of the exciting things I got up to on Halloween was baking these biscuits and taking them to work, participating in the pumpkin carving competition (I came second) and best of all, watching 'The Women in Black' at the threatre. It was so spooky, I must have jumped out of my seat a dozen times. The acting was amazing and I loved the story. I would recommend this play to anyone, it was great to watch it on Halloween!
I made these biscuits following the 'basic sugar cookie' recipe from Peggy Porschen's 'Pretty Party Cakes' book. I then covered them in a black icing glaze (though it looks more purple!) and covered them in coloured sugar or sprinkles - everyone at work loved them!
I also made cinder toffee - I could give you the recipe if you like but there are no pictures as most of it got stuck to the parchment paper! I missed the bit where it said to pour it onto greased foil - oh well - maybe next year! Happy Bonfire night! Don't forget to make lots of yummy parkin cake too!

Halloween - Scary Pumkin

2008-10-29T19:50:00.005Z

Halloween is drawing near. Apart from baking lots of halloween treats, I also bought a pumpkin and decided to make Pumpkin soup. It was lovely and warming especially on a cold snowy night like yesterday! I then decided to carve out some shapes! My dad always used to make me and my sister a pumpkin on halloween to take trick or treating. I used to love it. He would make us a pumpkin and then we'd dress up in a mask, wiches hat and a bin liner! Oh, the good old years of the 80's :)
Happy Halloween x

Bites of spooky chocolate cake

2008-10-25T18:48:00.007+01:00

I made these for Halloween - little chocolate fairy cakes covered in chocolate icing and then topped with Halloween sprinkles! If you look very closely at the sprinkles you will see little bats and little pumpkins! They are hard to make out but I love the contrast of the orange and black together. Very cool for a dark spooky night!

I made the cakes using the following ingrediants:

85g/3oz self-raising flour
4 tbsp of cocoa powder
110g/4oz caster sugar
110g/4oz margarine
2 medium free range eggs
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp milk

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/gas mark 3 and line a muffin tray with cupcake cases/papers.

I followed this recipe from a new book my lovely sister bought me, I might write a quick book review on it soon, but basically rather than following the usual method of creaming the margarine and sugar together, it said to just put all the ingrediants, all of them, into a bowl and mix away! So easy, so I did just that. Everything went into the mixing bowl all at once (no folding in the flour in this recipe!) and mix until light and fluffly - then place tablespoons into the cupcake papers, into the over, bake for 20 minutes and leave to cool!

It was so simple and easy. Just like that they were done! My only criticism was that the cupcake papers don't stick to the cakes very well. I solved this problem by removing all the papers and serving them as little mini cakes. Once cooled, I covered them in chocolate icing and dipped them in sprinkles. Perfect for halloween, right then, I'm off to carve my pumkin next...

Fairy cakes with buttercream icing

2008-10-25T18:34:00.006+01:00

In celebration of World Arthritis Day I made some fairy cakes to take to work. I work at Arthritis Care, a charity that supports and cares for people with arthritis. Every year World Arthritis Day, which falls on the 12th October, helps to raise awareness of the pain and suffering people living with arthritis can face. This year's theme was 'Think Positive'.

I made these fairy cakes and then decided to make buttercream following the recipe in the post below. I used all the tips I learnt in my baking class and piped the writing with a number 1 nozzle. Pink is the clour of Arthritis Care and everyone at work loved them! One thing I did learn from baking these was that sugarpaste does not fare well on buttercream - in fact it goes rather wet and soggy. (I used sugarpaste for the large 'AC' lettters) The next morning I had to take them off and pipe the letters instead!

I will be back soon with baking treats for Halloween, as the spooky day is drawing closer...

Buttercream

2008-10-12T10:15:00.004+01:00

I am now in my third week of the cake decoration course I have been attending. I feel like I'm learning lots and picking up good tips which I thought I would share with you. Every week we cover a different cake covering and last week was buttercream. Buttercream is a really simple and fast way to cover a cake and it tastes delicious. It is also great for piping with.

To make buttercream you will need:

125g/4oz unsalted butter, softened
250g/9oz icing sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons of boiling water

Flavourings and colourings can then be added as and when you wish. Here are some ideas for different flavours:
Citrus - beat in 2 teaspoons of finely grated lemon, orange or even lime rind and/or juice.
Coffee - dissolve 4 teaspoons instant coffee with 2 teaspoons of boiling water and then beat it in with the buttercream
Almond - beat 1 teaspoon of almond essence into the buttercream

Method:
Beat the butter for about 3 minutes using an electric whisk. You really need to beat it until it looks really light and fluffy and has paled in colour. This helps to take away the strong butter taste.
Add the icing sugar to the bowl, sifting it as you go along. A great tip is to place a tea towel over the top of the bowl and sieve to help eliminate being covered in an icing sugar dust cloud. Gently incorporate the icing sugar with the butter using a wooden spoon, and then whisk it well. If it is too stiff add the boiling water to the mixture. Then colour and flavour as desired.

Tips and Hints:
1. Always use unsalted butter. Unsalted butter keeps its shape better than regular butter. This is especially important when doing piping work as you do not want your design to melt away!
2. If you leave the buttercream to sit for a while always make sure you give it a good beat with a spoon before using, otherwise you will incorporate air bubbles into the mixture.
3. If your cake is a little crumbly then it is a good idea to cover it with jam first before adding the buttercream.
4. You should apply buttercream using a palette knife and apply it in thin layers. Add the first layer and then place it in the fridge for about 15mins, take it out and apply a second thin layer, place it in the fridge for another 15mins and then apply a third thin coat. It should now look quite smooth.
5. If you are struggling to achieve a smooth finish, then dip your plaette knife into hot water and dry it quickly. Smooth your cake with the hot knife and it should help.
6. You could always use a fork or knife balde to add some texture.

Afternoon tea at Claridges

2008-10-04T18:09:00.004+01:00

Last weekend I was lucky enough to go for afternoon tea at Claridges. It was an amazing experience and I will never forget it. I have never seen such a beautiful classical hotel so full of style and elegance. The decor and style have been so beautifully created and I loved imagining what it use to be like in the past when high society took afternoon tea everyday!

If you know me, you would know how much I love drinking tea and eating cake and so having the chance to have afternoon tea in such a beautiful setting was like a dream come true. It really was fantastic. We drank champagne and dined on sandwiches, scones and cakes. The sandwiches were just how I imagined with the crusts cut off and elegantly layed on a long plate. The scones came with cream and jam which I happily dolloped lots more on after every bite. And the cakes, well you can see from the picture above - they were out of this world. I wouldn't even know where to start in creating something so chic and exquiste as these! And finally, I have to mention the tea! Sipping claridges own blend black tea from a china teacup was just heaven. It tasted perfect and the whole evening was like a fairytale.

Oatcakes

2008-09-26T19:17:00.004+01:00

I made my own oatcakes. They were so simple to make and taste delightful with cheese on. I was amazed at how simple they were to make; I am never going to buy another oatcake again they keep for ages in an airtight container and are such a good snack to munch on during the late afternoon.
All you need is:
225g/8oz oats (plus a few more for sprinkling)
75g/3oz plain flour
1.5ml bicarbonate soda
5ml/ 1tsp salt
25g/2tbsp lard
25g/2 tbsp butter
A little boiling water
Preheat the oven to 220c/425f/gas mark 7. Place the oatmeal, flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl and mix together. Melt the lard and the butter together in a small pan over a low heat. Once it has melted add it the dry ingrediants and use a little boiling water to make a dough. Sprinkle some more oats over your chopping board or work surface and roll out the dough thinly. Cut into circles and place on an ungreased baking tray for 15 minutes. Finished!

Blackberry crumble squares

2008-09-09T18:57:00.005+01:00

Have you been watching the Hairy Bikers/Bakers on TV? Last night they created wedding cakes! It was a 4 part series and each week they baked something different. They covered bread, pies, cakes/bakes and celebration cakes! I really enjoyed it; they are so funny to watch!

Anyway, here is my latest bake - blackberry crumble squares! The actual recipe was called 'Blackcurrant Squares' but I didn't have any blackcurrants so made it with blackberries. I think it would work just as well with any kind of berries especially raspberries and blueberries! Yum.

You will need:
115g/4 oz butter, softened
175g/6 oz caster sugar
1 egg
280g/10 oz self-raising flour
125ml/4fl oz milk
200g blackberries

And for the crumble topping:
115g/4 oz caster sugar
85g/3 oz plain flour
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
50g/2 oz butter

Preheat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4. Butter an oblong cake tin or I think a square one would work just as well.

Beat together the sugar and butter in a bowl using an electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Whisk in the egg, then carefully fold in the flour and milk until all the mixture is combined. Spoon into the buttered tin and sprinkle the blackberries over the top.

To make the crumble, mix the sugar, flour and lemon rind together. Rub in the butter until the mixture feels crumbly and then sprinkle this onto of the blackberries.

Bake for 45 mins until the blackberries start bursting through the golden crumble. Once cool, cut into squares and serve. Be warned though, it needs eating fairly quickly as the crumble topping doesn't stay crumbly for long! This recipe was adapted from Goodfood magazine book!

Banana Muffins

2008-09-03T19:04:00.007+01:00

I ran the Nike Human 10k Race last Sunday. It was amazing fun! A million people from 25 different countries took part all on the same day. The race in London started at Wembley Stadium and it poured down with rain! I couldn't believe it! I managed to run the whole 10k in 1h3:55 which I think was quite good considering the weather conditions. It felt so good at the end to have finished; everybody received a t-shirt saying 'Today I raced the world' which I thought was pretty cool! For weeks beforehand I was storing up on my carbs - pasta, bread and of course, the ultimate energy food - bananas! I thought making banana muffins would be a great idea. Bananas give slow releasing energy but sometimes I struggle to eat bananas especially ones that are going off so what better way then to bake them into muffins!

You will need:
200g (7oz) plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of ground nutmeg
50g (2oz) ground almonds
50g (2oz) sugar
2-3 bananas
2 eggs
2 tbs vegetable oil
125ml (4 fl oz) milk
3 tablespoons of honey

They are extremely easy to make. First make sure your oven is preheated to 190c/375f/gas mark 5 and place the muffin cases into the tin. This recipe makes 10.

Mix the flour, baking powder and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in the nutmeg, almonds and sugar.

Mash the bananas together using a fork and mix in the eggs, oil, milk and honey to make a sloppy paste. Add this to the dry ingrediants in the bowl and mix all together.

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes!

The perfect energy food! Delicious!

One year on...

2008-08-20T18:48:00.015+01:00

Wow, today my blog is a year old! I can't believe i've now been baking and blogging for a whole year! And so to celebrate I thought I would post up the birthday cake I have just made! Happy one year Birthday to Mrs B's Baking! Anyone for some cake?

I feel that my baking has vastly improved since a year ago. I can't believe, when I look back at all the photos how many things I have actually baked in a year and how much of it we have eaten! It's been so much fun. There have been times when I have considered giving up blogging but then I'm always baking and messing around in the kitchen so I may as well post about it! Thank you to everyone who has read it and left me comments, it's so really sweet of you all.

One of my favourite moments and highlights of my blogging year was when Channel 4 mentioned it last Christmas on their website. They were talking about christmas baking in the blog world and mentioned my blog which I was amazed at! I told all my family and friends! hehe!

I love baking treats and things for people and everyone who comes to visit hubbie and I in London always arrives to freshly baked goodies of some kind! One of my favourite things is spending time pottering around the kitchen or reading baking books! One day I would love to set up my own little cake business from home making and designing wedding cakes - it would be a dream! Until then I can just enjoy pottering!

I wish I could send everyone who reads my blog a big slice of this cake! It is a madeira cake with home made black currant jam and then I covered it in swirls of buttercream and finished it with a sugar pink rose! Can I tempt anyone for a slice? Can I? Can I? :)

Thank you once again everyone for your kind comments and all the tips. I love reading all your blogs and comments and blogging wouldn't be half as much fun without you all! Here's to the next year... x x x

Raspberry and Pine Nut bars

2008-08-17T14:13:00.005+01:00

These are a delicious treat for summer picnics and outings! I think many people have been baking these recently as I have seen them pop up on many people's blogs! They are quick and easy to make and perfect to take with you on country walks throughout the holidays.

You need:

200g/8oz plain flour
200g/8oz porridge oats
250g pack butter, softened
175g/6oz light muscovado sugar
finely grated zest of one lemon
100g pine nuts
250g/9oz raspberries
Preheat the oven to 190c/gas mark 5 and butter a shallow square tin.

Place the oats, flour and butter into a mixing bowl and rub together until it forms coarse crumbs. Mix in the sugar, lemon zest and three quaters of the pine nuts and once mixed well compress the mixture together so that it forms large sticky clumps.

Place about 3 quaters of the mixture into the tin and press it down lightly. Sprinkle the raspberries over the top and then the rest of the mixture over the top of the rapsberries. Finally scatter the remaining pine nuts over the top and press down lightly.

Bake for about 35-40 minutes until it looks a pale golden colour. Cut into 12 slices while still warm and then leave to cool in the tray! Finished!

I'm very excited today as a few days ago I signed up for a sugarcraft course at the college near where I live. I start in September! So watch this space for some lovely sugarcraft creations! :)

Chocolate Madeira Cake

2008-08-04T19:01:00.008+01:00

For my husband's birthday I made a chocolate madeira cake. It was delicious. I used chocolate buttercream for the filling and then covered the outside with chocolate icing! It was gone in no time!

To make the chocolate icing you will need: 30g/1oz of melted butter, 2 tablespoons of hot water, 2 tablesponns of sifted cocoa powder and 125g/4oz of sifted icing sugar.

Combine the melted butter with the 2 tablespoons of hot water and 2 tablespoons of sifted cocoa powder and stir it until it forms a smooth paste. Add the icing sugar and stir until well combined and smooth! I then used a palette knife and dolloped the icing on the top and sides and then swirled it around. It tastes divine and I really recommend this icing as a quick and easy way to cover a chocolate cake. My husband loved it!

Anyone for a slice?!

Pavlova

2008-07-26T12:17:00.005+01:00

The perfect summer pudding. Pavlova. Light, crunchy, chewy and just delicious with whipped cream and summer fruits. I didn't take very good pictures; sometimes I feel a bit silly taking photos when everyone is waiting to eat! hehe! I made the meringue the night before and then added the cream and fruits just before we were about to eat it.

It is really easy to make and tastes so better than bought ones! You will need:

4 egg whites
225g (80z) caster sugar
300ml double cream
Summer fruits - I used strawberries, raspberries and red and blackcurrants

Preheat the oven to 140c and place a large circle of baking parchment paper on a baking tray.

Take a large bowl and make sure it is spotlessly clean! Also be extremely careful when separating your eggs. Place the egg whites in a bowl and then using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites until they are very stiff. Add the caster sugar gradually, whisking the mixture after each addition.

When the mixture is quite stiff, spoon it onto the baking parchment paper, spread in around with the back of a spoon and swirl in around into a lovley pattern. Make sure you leave a dip in the centre so the sides are slightly higher. This is so that you can fill it with fruit later on.

Bake the meringue for about 1 and a half hours. I then turned the oven off and left it in the oven over night.
The next day I whisked the cream, spooned dollops of it into the meringue and then poured over the fruits. The meringue was just delicious, crunchy on the outside and all goey and lovely on the inside! Yum!

Mini cupcakes

2008-07-08T19:29:00.010+01:00

I am a little behind in posting all my recent yummy cakes and bakes so here are lots of pictures of some very mini fairy cakes I made a few weeks ago! They are vanilla sponge covered with white icing and then decorated with different sugarpaste creations! I made buttons, roses, flowers, mushrooms and a little pig! Enjoy!

Scones

2008-06-22T12:59:00.008+01:00

I love english summer time. It's such a lovely time of year. I don't mind whether it's raining or shining I love the feeling of being outside in the fresh air. I love how the whole country looks like a blanket of green, all the trees and flowers are blushing in the fields and the air smells fresh. Yesterday me and my hubbie got up and thought let's get out of London and so we went to Guildford on the train. It was such a lovely little place, we had a great time. We wandered around the shops and sat by the castle for a bit and had tea and scones in a little cafe.

So when I got home I thought I would make some scones. I love tea and scones in summer especially with heaps of jam and cream. Mmmm, delicious! I followed another recipe from my nan's Be-ro recipe book.

You will need:
8oz self raising flour
half a teaspoon of salt
1.5 ozs lard
1oz caster sugar
milk about 1-2 tablespoons
two tablespoons of currants or sultanas (i used sultanas)
one egg

Preheat the oven, it's needs to be fairly hot so about 425 - 450 f gas mark 7 - 8 and grease a baking tray with some margarine or butter.

Using a large bowl mix together the flour and salt. Rub in the lard. Then mix in the sugar and fruit. In a samll bowl beat the egg and then add it to the other ingrediants with a little of the milk until you have a soft dough. Roll it out so it is about a half inch thick and cut in rounds with a scone cutter. I only own a small one so mine were mini scones! Brush the tops with a little of the beaten egg mixture that is left in the bowl, place on the baking tray and bake for 10 mins! Simple!

There's no better english summer time treat than scones with jam and cream. Only we had no cream in at the time so it was just jam for us! :)

Madeira cake

2008-06-15T08:24:00.012+01:00

When my nan died a few years ago I asked if I could have her cookery books to be able to remember her by. I love reading through them, some of them are old be-ro cookery books and others are note books that she had written her favourite recipes in.

My nan was an amazing cook and baker, she lived in Dent in Cumbria. Dent is a tiny village amongst the rolling hills with a village church where the church bells still dong every 15 mins and a coal man still drives around delivering coal. You wake up up the sound of the animals (cows, chickens, sheep) and birds every morning and life is simple. My nan used to work on a farm and then later in life she would sew jumpers for the local village shop. Every church event or summer fair my nan would bake cakes and more cakes and anytime you went round there was always an array of desserts, tins and tins of homemade biscuits and buns and all things nice to eat.

I loved going to see her. We would drive up every month and go for walks in the countryside, try and catch fish with our little nets in the river, walk round the village and chat to all the village people. I think my love of baking comes from my nan and my mum and everytime I bake I think of her. I made this madeira cake following an old recipe from her be-ro cookbook.

You need:
5oz butter or margarine
5oz caster sugar
3 eggs
8oz self raising flour
I used plum jam for the filling.

This makes enough for a deep 6inch cake tin.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 3-4, 325-350 F and line the bottom and sides of your tin with greaseproof paper. Cream the butter and sugar and gradually add the lightly whisked eggs with a little flour as you go.

Fold in the rest of the flour and I always add a tablespoon of hot water as it makes a lighter sponge. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 and a quarter hours. Once removed from the oven leave it to stand in the tin for about 5 miutes before transferring to a wire rack. Once completly cooled you can cut it in half and add a filling. I used homemade plum jam!

Chocolate fairy cakes with buttercream swirls

2008-06-08T09:36:00.006+01:00

I made these little chocolate gems last weekend. I keep seeing fairy cakes and cupcakes in the shops in London with lots of swirly buttercream swirled around on top of the cakes in an array of colours! Peyton and Byrne cakes in St. Pancras station have them! So I thought I would try doing the same on my cupcakes.

I used chocolate buttercream and sprinkled in some bits of dark and milk chocolate flakes I had left over. I then used my piping bag with a giant star shaped nozzle and piped lucious swirls around and around! The only thing I would say is that the little chcolate flakes sometimes got stuck in the tube and caused air bubbles so I think it is better to have a smooth buttercream.

My husband asked me what the difference between a cupcake and a fairy cake was? I said fairy cakes were english and cupcakes were american and slightly bigger! Is that correct? If anyone has any thoughts on this please do let me know as I'm never quite sure! :)

Biscuit recipe

2008-06-01T16:17:00.004+01:00

Here is the recipe for the biscuits I made. I followed the recipe from a vegetarian cookbook that I bought a few summers ago and at the back are some delicious recipes for home made lemonade, apple strudel as well as cakes and biscuits.

So to make these delicious melting moments with jam and buttercream you will need:

125g / 4oz unsalted butter
125g / 4oz caster sugar
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla essense
30g / 1oz custard powder
90g / 3oz self-raising flour
90g/3oz plain flour
Jam (I used plum but strawberry would be just as delightful)
Buttercream or thick whipped cream

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4 and line two baking sheets with greese-proof paper.

Place the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat together using an electric hand whisk. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition. Then add the vanilla essence and beat again until combined.

Sieve together the flours and custard powder and and then add to the mixture. Uisng a metal tablespoon mix until combined and then gather evrything together using your finger tips to form a soft dough.

Roll one level teaspoon of mixture into a ball and flatten slightly with a fork. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes until they look lovely and golden. Remove from the oven and leave to stand for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Once the biscuits are completly cool spread half the biscuits with jam and the other half with buttercream or whipped cream and sandwich together. Delicious!

Beautiful biscuits

2008-05-28T18:28:00.008+01:00

I have to say these biscuits taste delightful! They melt in your mouth and once you have had one you will definitely want another. I think they would just be perfect for an afternoon tea party or picnic. The filling is vanilla buttercream with homemade (by my father-in-law) plum jam! They taste divine and are one of the nicest biscuits I think I have ever made. Every time I eat one I would have to have two or three...

Victoria sponge cake

2008-05-19T18:30:00.006+01:00

Not all baking days go to plan. Mistakes and mishaps happen. I was trying to make a lovely summer victoria sponge cake the other day but unfortunately it kind of sunk a little in the middle! Fear not though I simply chopped out the middle (I think American's call this a bundt cake!) . Cakes may sink in the middle for two reasons (1) Your oven may not be hot enough or (2) you didn't leave it in the oven for long enough. I think my oven wasn't hot enough! Still I decorated it with buttercream and silver balls and sliced it into little cake bites and no one knew any different! I simply said I had decided to make it into bite size pieces! Perfect for an afternoon tea party!

Lemon sponge cake

2008-05-13T18:45:00.002+01:00

Nobody can come and visit me these days without being greeted by some kind of baking welcome! I always try and make sure there are some lovely home baked cakes or biscuits in the house when people come around. I made this cake for my parents who came to stay at the weekend. We had a great weekend together wandering around London and St. Albans in the hot sunshine!

I made this using 4oz margarine, 4oz of caster sugar, 4oz of self raising flour, 2 eggs and a tablespoon of lemon juice to add some zesty goodness. I then added lime juice to the icing sugar so it was a bit of ting and a bit of tang! I love the freshness of lemon and lime and they are perfect such such sunny weather!

You make my day!

2008-05-12T18:12:00.004+01:00

I was tagged by the lovely Rosie for a 'You make my day' award! What a lovely thing to recieve. I've decided to pass this tag onto three of my favourite blogs who I read as much as possible.

They are Claire @ Make and Do (Claire was my first friend in the blog world and I love reading about her life in Brighton and all the amazing things she makes).

Marie @ A year at Oak cottage (I dream of escaping to the countryside and love looking at Marie's pictures and the amazing food she cooks).

Anamika @ Sugarcraft-india (Anamika makes the most beautiful cakes)

You all make my day!

No cook chocolate bites

2008-05-05T09:41:00.008+01:00

I made these for my friend. She can't eat eggs and this was the only recipe I could find at the time that I thought she would love and would be easy to carry with me on the train. They taste delightful and I would recommend them to anyone who may not know a lot about baking but's wants to make something that is easy and tastes divine.

You can adapt the recipe to include things from your own kitchen cupboard that may not be included in the recipe. I added cherries and seeds to mine.

To make these you will need:
200g/8oz rich tea biscuits (or digestive biscuits if you prefer)
75g/3oz of butter
3 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp cocoa powder
50g/2oz raisins
100g/40z dark chocolate
I also used about 30g of seeds and about 10 glaze cherries chopped up into bits.

Butter a tin, I used a 7 inch sandwich tin. The next step is to crush the biscuits. Place the biscuits in a strong bag, preferably one with a ziplock! Then use a rolling pin to crush the biscuits. This is a great stress reliever and I really recommend it after a day's work! You want the biscuits to look crumbly while some of the them should be in little bits.

Melt the butter and syrup over a low heat and then remove and stir in the cocoa powder, raisins, seeds and cherries if using and then add all the biscuit crumbs. Use a wooden spoon mix it all well together and then spoon it ino the tin and press down.

Melt the chocolate and then pour it over the biscuit mixture and chill in the fridge for about an hour. Chop into little squares and eat. Be warned it is very morish!

Sugar flowers

2008-05-01T18:26:00.005+01:00

I made these sugarcraft flowers to decorate my cupcakes and practice my piping bag skills. They are so easy to make but you will need a piping bag with a star nozzle (sizes 12, 8 and 5 should all work well). When creating any patterns with an icing bag you need to make sure that your icing is thick enough so that it will hold its shape when piped. Bear in mind though that if it's too thick it won't squeeze through the tube properly.

To make royal icing you need:

2 egg whites

1ml (1/4 teaspoon) lemon juice

500g icing sugar, sieved

5ml (1 teaspoon) glycerine

First measure out the lemon juice and add it into a bowl with the egg whites. Sift some of the icing sugar into the bowl and mix using a wooden spoon. Stir in more icing sugar until it is of a thick consistency and then beat well. Keep adding more icing sugar until the mixture is thick and will create a sharp peak when you lift the wooden spoon out of the bowl. Then simply add any colouring you wish and spoon it into your piping bag and away you go!

More cupcakes

2008-04-29T19:05:00.006+01:00

I thought I would post up the rest of my cupcakes for you to look at. I made these when I made the flower ones below. These i decorated with silver balls and home-made icing flowers. I've been practising with my piping bag lots recently and I made them by simply using a flower nozzle tube and leaving them to dry over night. They are so easy to make! The difficulty is removing them from the grease-proof paper without breaking them as you can imagine they are extremely delicate!

I just can't express my joy at finally getting the intenet, i've been wanting it for so long now and it's makes life so much simpler and easy. I can log-in whenever I like now! It does mean that i'm slowly getting addicted to facebook but oh well!

I also sprinkled some coloured sugar on them too to add extra effect. Yum yum! I just can't resist a nice cupcake! Pure childish bliss!

Cupcakes for a princess

2008-04-26T10:59:00.007+01:00

I'm so happy because as of this morning I now have the internet! Which means I can keep up to date with my blog more and read everyone's blogs that I so love on a daily basis! Woo-hoo! Since I moved here I've beeen going to the library to use the internet (we live next door to one!) but this is so much better! We've even got a brand new spanking desk to work from too so I'm very happy today! Ages ago I bought this beautiful cupcake book called 'The Crabapple bakery cupcake book' but once I had got it home I realized that all the measurements were indeed in Austrailian cups. So I thougt I couldn't use it but now I have a cup I finally got around to trying it out. The recipes are not very simple but I have got the hang of it now! And I've learnt two really great tips for cake baking! One is that is your butter is too hard (i.e. you forgot to take it out of the fridge!) then put it in the microwave for 5 seconds at a time to warm it up. Secondly, if the recipe requires milk (which it did) warm that up in the microwave too as cold milk will cause the mixture to shrink and may result in a tough cake!

I've also been busy trying out the art of sugarcraft. I have found some great sugarcraft books in charity shops and made the roses for the cupcakes using pink sugarpaste. I will try and put a step by step guide on how to make them on my blog soon!

Flapjacks and muesli bars

2008-04-08T18:13:00.008+01:00

The last two things I baked I didn't follow any recipes! I made flapjacks and muesli bars. First, the flapjacks. I took a large mixing bowl and rather than weighing everything out, I just poured in lots of oats, added some caster sugar, a few tablespoons of syrup, a touch of honey and then poured some melted butter over the top and mixed it all together and popped it into the oven. I was convinced that the mixture wouldn't stick together but amazingly it did! It also tasted delightful so I was very plesaed with my throw it all in recipe!

Next was the muesli bars (I made these on the same day using the same technique). Out came a large mixing bowl, in went a large amount of rice krispies, followed by some some pumkin seeds, some chopped nuts, a few chopped dried dates, shredded coconut, more syrup and honey, a little more melted butter and I mixed it all together, squashed it down into the tin and left it in the fridge! Wow, I couldn't believe how well they turned out!

The first baking rule my mum taught was 'when baking always measure out the exact ingrediants first!' This is definitely true for all cakes and most biscuits but not flapjack and muesli bars it seems...

Easter biscuits

2008-03-29T15:05:00.009Z

I have been away in Atlanta so I never got chance to do much Easter baking apart from these cookies! I had such a great time in America and got lots of fab baking bits and bobs, they have such an amazing selection over there! One of the grreat things I bought was a proper icing bag with lots of different shaped nozzles so I just need to get practicing now! I hope you all had a really lovely Easter weekend!

I've made these biscuits before and you can find the recipe by following this link: http://ickystickypudding.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html#6812812568545088556

To ice the biscuits I used a piping bag fitted with nozzle number 1 and piped around the edge of the biscuit. To do this you will need quite thick icing so make sure you do not add too much water to your icing sugar. Leave it to dry for a few minutes.

Next spoon in some icing and spread it around the biscuit using a wooden stick ot toothpick.

It should look like this! Try and pop all the air bubbles that raise to the top.

And decorate! I used pink and yellow food colouring to make pretty easter biscuits in the shape of eggs! I also made an easter bunny, a flower and a butterfly! I added some sliver balls to create a bit of sparkle!

I took them around to my friends house and they loved them! Happy Easter everybody!

Golden Biscuits

2008-03-10T18:24:00.005Z

I can no longer find the recipe for these biscuits I made, I'm always putting things down and losing them again. Maybe it's in one of my cookbooks, mmm! Who knows! Anyway I thought I would post the pictures and show you how lovely they are! I'm really excited as we are FINALLY getting the internet installed in two weeks time, woo hoo! I'll be able to read your blogs all the more soon! Now I just need a laptop... mmm...

Cinnamon balls

2008-03-10T18:17:00.004Z

Here are some pictures of my baking from the other day, we had friends coming over for dinner so I made lots of yummy treats including these cinnamon balls. They tasted just like little marizpan balls as they were made mainly from egg whites and ground almonds! They were really nice to eat but they only last a few days in an airtight container before going hard! I can't believe how close it is to easter now, I can't wait to start eating chocolate again and bake some lovely easter cakes!

Butterfly Cakes

2008-03-08T14:02:00.009Z

I made these butterfly cakes by following the recipe in Nigella Express. They are lovely and moist and have a really lovely soft sponge! I was reading Delia's cheat book and I can't believe she has baked a cake containing potato flakes, it sounds totally crazy to me, I can just hear Peter Kay now 'Potato flakes in a cake!' Well, i never! I'm not sure I will ever get around to making cakes with potato flakes or frozen mash or whatever it was but as the saying goes 'Try anything once' so we will see!

I love butterfly cakes, I remember seeing them on cake stalls as a child and I used to think they were so cute! I used my new electric whick to beat together the butter and caster sugar and it was amazing, not only was it really quick and pain free it made the sponnge so light and fluffy, I think they are the best I have made so far! My only tip is to make sure you take the butter out of the fridge a few hours before to make sure it is soft!

You will need the following:

125g soft butter
125g caster sugar
2 eggs (i use medium free-range)
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
1tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180c and place 12 paper cases in the cake tray so that it's all prepared!

Using an electric mixer cream together the butter and sugar in a medium sized bowl. The mixture should look light and fluffy. Add one egg and beat again. Add the second egg with a tablespoon of flour and beat again. Using a metal spoon fold in the flour, the bicarbonate of soda and baking powder. Finally add the vanilla and I always add one tablespoon of warm water to the mixer as it makes the cakes even more yummy!

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden and then remove them and leave them to cool out of the tray. Using a sharp knife or spoon, dig out a little mound of cake and spoon in a good helping of buttercream. Slice the extra bit of cake into two and arrange on the buttercream so that they look like wings. I added yellow colouring to my buttercream to make it yellow but you can choose whatever coulour you prefer!

Rock Buns

2008-03-06T18:23:00.006Z

I haven't eaten rock cakes in a long time, probably since school. I think I may have even made them in cooking class at school but I can't remember exactly! My very good friend Barbara gave this recipe to my sister-in-law who passed it on to me and I finally got around to making them. My own sisters came to visit the bright city lights of London last weekend and we had a great time munching through these when they arrived! I hope you all enjoy them as much as I did! Thanks Barbara!

To make these you will need the following from your kitchen cupboard:
8oz flour
2 level tsp's baking powder
3-4oz butter
3-4oz sugar
3-4oz currants, raisins and sultanas
1 egg
2 tablespoons of milk (i used semi skimmed)
1/2 tsp mixed spice

Preheat the oven to 200c/gas mark 6 and grease a baking tray.

Sieve together the flour, salt, baking powder and mixed spice. Add the sugar and stir. Using your finger tips only lightly rub in the butter. When it looks all crumbly mix in the raisins, sultanas and currants. Mix in the beaten egg and milk and then arrange in rough heaps on a well greased baking sheet. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 15-17 minutes. It's that simple!

Melting Moments

2008-03-01T15:36:00.005Z

These biscuits are lovely and really easy to make. They are not too sweet either and the oats give them a great texture and they really do melt in your mouth! I love the added cherry on top, the perfect finish to a perfect biscuit!

The recipe makes about 20 biscuits and I followed it from a book called 'cookies' that I found in a charity shop!

You will need the following ingrediants:
40g/1.5oz butter (plus a little extra for greasing)
65g/2.5oz lard
75g/3oz caster sugar
1/2 beaten egg
a few drops of vanilla essence
150g/5oz self raising flour
rolled oats for coating
glace cherries about 10

Preheat the oven 180c/350f/gas mark 4. Grease two or three baking trays with butter or you can use margarine if you wish. Using a large mixing bowl cream the butter, lard and sugar together and then gradually beat in the egg and vanilla essence.

Slowly sift in the self raising flour and roll the mixture into small bowls using the palms of your hands. Sprinkle the oats onto a board and roll the balls in them so they are evenly coated and then place them on the baking tray, spaced apart and place half or a quarter of the chopped cherry on top. They require about 15-20 minutes to bake. You will be able to tell when they are cooked as the kitchen will be filled with a gorgeous biscuit aroma. Allow them to cool and then serve to all your family and friends! Easy!

Muesli bars

2008-02-26T18:18:00.007Z

After making Nigella's breakfast bars and them being delicious I tried a similar recipe, this time from '101 cakes & bakes'. These are called sunshine bars in the book. They contain butter so I wouldn't exactly eat them for breakfast but they are the perfect snack on long country walks or during a busy working afternoon or to take along to a picnic (when the weather gets warmer). They will provide you with lots of energy and are also quite filling and they take no cooking!

All you need is:
100g/4oz mixed dried fruits
100g/4oz porridge oats
50g/3oz Rice Krispies
85g/2oz chopped nuts
50g/2oz sunflower and pumpkin seeds
100g/4oz light muscovado sugar
125ml/4fl oz golden syrup
100g/4oz butter

Using a large mixing bowl mix the oats, cereal, coconut, seeds and dried fruit together until they are well mixed.

In a medium sauce pan gently heat the sugar, syrup and butter using a wooden spoon to stir the mixture until it has melted. Simmer for 2 minutes and then quickly pour it over the other ingrediants and mix it all together making sure everything is covered.

Pour into a square tin and press down then leave it to cool and set. I put mine in the fridge. Chop into sqaures and eat! It should make about 18 squares! Enjoy!

Sunshine fruit cake

2008-02-25T18:14:00.005Z

My parents came to stay for the weekend so on Friday I was up at 6:30am ready to start baking some treats for them! I made this cake which is called a 'sunshine fruit cake' in the recipe book and is a quick and simple way to make a fruit cake if your pushed for time. I followed the recipe from an Asda cookbook I own. The cake is lovely with or without a smidgen of margerine and accompanies a cup of tea very nicely!

All you need is:

1 earl grey teabag

250g dried chopped luxury fruit

225g/8oz self-raising flour

55g/2oz dark brown sugar

1 tbsp marmalade

1 egg, beaten

30g/1oz chopped nuts

1/2 tsp mixed spice

butter for greasing the tin

30 minutes before you want to start baking, boil the kettle and pour 150ml/5fl oz of boiling water over the earl grey tea bag and leave for 3 minutes. Remove the tea bag and then pour the tea over the dried fruit and leave for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4 and grease your loaf tin.

In a large mixing bowl mix the fruit together with its liquid with all the other ingrediants. Spoon into a the loaf tin and cook in the middle of the oven for about 45 minutes. To see if the inside of the cake is done test it with a skewer; if it comes out clean then it's ready.

Leave to cool before slicing.

Cherry Cookies

2008-02-15T18:18:00.012Z

I made these heart shaped cookies for Valentines day as I thought the red cherries looked lovely for such an occasion! I followed the recipe out of the BBC Good food magazine book called '101 cakes & bakes'. They are very tasty cookies with a lovely buttery taste but be warned these are definitely not for the faint hearted as the recipe includes a whole pack of butter, eek! Still if you can't treat your loved one to a heart shaped cookie on St. Valentines day when can you?

For this recipe you need:

250g / 9oz butter softened

50g / 2oz caster sugar

100g / 3.5 oz light muscovado sugar

150g / 5.5 oz self-raising flour

225g / 8oz porridge oats

200g / 7oz glace cherries

50g/ 2oz rasins

Preheat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4 and line a few baking trays with grease proof paper. In a bowl beat the butter and sugars together unlight the mixture looks light and fluffy. Stir in the flour and oats and mix together. Chop the cherries into small pieces and then stir them in with the rasins. Make sure the mixture is well mixed.

Use a small tablespoon to spoon small balls of mixture onto the tray and flatten them slightly. Make sure you leave plenty of space for spreading. Bake them for 15 minutes until they look lovely and golden but are still soft in the middle. If you want to shape them as hearts like I did then you will need to work quickly. As soon as you remove them from the oven use a heart shaped cutter to shape them. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool.
The book says the mixture makes about 18; I made mine quite small and the mixture made loads about 30!

Happy Valentines everyone!

Pancakes

2008-02-09T11:40:00.002Z

I love pancake day! We celebrate it once a year to signify that lent is about to start and I always over indulge! As a child there was always the competition as to who could eat the most pancakes and as an adult I still do pretty well! (I ate 5 if you'd like to know and they weren't all small!) I love visiting the city of Paris and eating chocolate crepes. We went once just before christmas and as we were walking up the Montmarte it started snowing and we sat in a little cafe drinking real hot chocolate and eating nutella crepes that overflowing with warm chocolate sauce! Yum Yum!

So panackes are extremely easy to make, even easier now that I have an electric whisk! All you need is:
125g/4oz plain flour
pinch of salt
1 egg, lighly beaten
300ml (1/2 pint) of milk (I used semi skimmed)
vegetable oil for greasing the pan

Simply put the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl and make a hole in the centre. Pour the egg into the hole and a little milk and whisk, slowly adding more milk. Whisk well until you have a smooth mixture and then pour into a jug and leave to stand for 15 minutes if possible!

I used vegetable oil to grease the pan as butter can burn easily, you don't want to use a lot of oil just a few drops. Pour in some mixture and swirl around until you have covered the pan. Wait until the pancake comes away from the pan before flipping over!

This mixture makes about 4 large pancakes or about 8 medium ones. Our friends came round and we went through 4 batches of mixture, eek! They tasted so great though, we had a mixture of toppings. I love the traditional syrup, sugar and lemon juice on pancakes and even better is nutella! Some other great combinations include nutella, banana and chopped nuts or strawberries and vanilla icecream or honey, blueberries and oats!
As it's nearly Valentines day I made some heart shaped ones with a little dab of nutella in the middle!

Carrot, Apple and Raisin Cake

2008-02-04T18:45:00.001Z

I made this cake on saturday evening after my trip around Nottinghill markets! Wow, Nottinghill is really amazing and two things made it especially great. One was that I had the chance to see the famous Nottinghill cupcake shop called 'Hummingbird bakery' it's looked so cute but people were queuing out of the door and I couldn't be bothered to wait but the cupcakes looked really pretty and lovely. The second great thing was the cook book shop called 'Books for cooks', it was like heaven! Shelfs and shelfs filled to the top with cooking books, baking books, every kind of cuisine you could think of. My husband had to literally drag me away! I love book shops and even more so when there all about food! It has a great baking section containing lots of lovely cake decorating, baking, desserts; I would recommend it to anyone!
And so, yes, i got home and decided to make this cake from a little book i own from the Good Food magazine! The cake tastes really good and is quite easy to make but be warned it does require quite a bit of grating which can be time consuming! It has a lovely fruity texture though and I'd say it's quite healthy for a cake!

All you need to make it is:

225g/8oz self raising flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

5 tbsp vegetable oil

grated zest of 1 orange

4 tbsp Orange juice

140g/5oz finely grated carrot

1 medium apple, grated

85g/30z of raisins

50g/2oz pumpkin seeds

icing sugar for dusting

Don't say I didn't warn you about the grating! So you will nedd to preheat your oven to 180C/Gas mark 4. Butter a cake tin about 7-8inch round.

Take a large bowl and mix the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together. Take a smaller bowl and mix together the oil, orange juice and sugar. Pour the orange mixture into the bowl containing the flour and add the grated carrot and apple, orange zest, raisins and pumpkin seeds and mix well together. Spoon into the tin and place into the preheated oven for about 50minutes to an hour. Cool in the tin for 15 minutes and then leave it to fully cool on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar! Simple!

It's market day!

2008-02-02T13:38:00.002Z

I have to say that one of the best things about living in London is the markets at the weekend! I love borough market, it's amazing! And brick lane market on a sunday morning! Well this morning on my way to Waitrose there was a little street market on Whitecross street with about 15 stalls selling everything from fresh meat and olive oils to cakes and cheese! Some of the stalls sell the most beautiful food, i love looking at all the cake stalls and the cupcakes they make are stunning! I really like the way the country is turning back round to home cooked food and fresh and organic produce! One day this summer I might try baking loads and cakes and having my own stall for the day, it would be so much fun! Well, i'm off to Nottinghill, i've never been there before (and yes i have lived in London for 7 months now!) and there is suppose to be this little shop that sells every cookbook available! Wow! Sounds like heaven to me....

I've been memed!

2008-01-31T18:33:00.001Z

So, i've been tagged by http://rosiebakesapeaceofcake.blogspot.com/ and the rules are that I have to give 5 facts about me and then tag 5 other foodies!

The rules you have to follow are: 1) Link to your tagger and post these rules! (Done and doing so!) 2) Share 5 facts about yourself 3) Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them) 4) Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a message on their blog! Phew so here goes:

1) Well, I got married a year ago to my husband Dan and we had the most beautiful winter wedding and then went on a 3 month honeymoon travelling around Asia.

2) One day I would really like to be a wedding cake designer (I've still got to practice the sugarcraft skills for this, haha!)

3) I currently work in fundraising for Arthritis Care and I love it! I think it's the best job in the world as everyday I get to raise awareness and issues for people with arthritis and help to raise money to provide support and care for them.

4) I'm originally from Preston (a true northern lass at heart) but I moved to London in May. I'm still struggling to cope with the thousands of people here and everytime I go anywhere near Oxford street I get a headache! and why does no one ever smile in London hey?

5) I love cooking as well as baking and like to read cook books in bed. I love food and eat loads and loads, sometimes, in fact, lots of times I struggle to stop, I like to graze all day long.... :)

So that's me done! Now who shall I tag?! Well:

Claire at http://clairesmakeanddo%20.blogspot.com/

my favourite singapore blog http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com/

http://flour-arrangements.blogspot.com/

http://skepseidotcom.blogspot.com/

and last but not least the lovely http://brambleramble.blogspot.com/

That's all folks! and thanks again Rosie!

Breakfast Bars

2008-01-29T18:10:00.001Z

There is nothing like rushing out of the house in a morning trying to get to work with all the other millions of Londoners. Well, these muesli bars that I made using a recipe from Nigella Express will save you a good few minutes as they are homemade breakfast bars that you can eat on the way! They are so simple to make and relatively healthy if you add in lots of nuts and seeds. The main ingredients are oats and condensed milk and then it's pretty much up to you what you add!

All you need is:
1 x 375g can condensed milk
250g rolled oats
75g shredded coconut
50g raisins
50g dried cranberries
125g mixed seeds (I used pumpkin and sunsflower seeds)
100g mixed nuts (I used chopped hazelnuts and almonds)
I also added chopped dried apricots

Preheat the oven to 130c and lighty butter a medium sized baking tin.

Heat the condensed milk in a pan over a low heat (ooh I do love the taste of condensed milk, it's so sweet and sticky). In a bowl mix together all the ingredients and then pour over the condensed milk. Stir well until all the mixture is covered and then pour into your baking tin.

Bake for 1 hour (which means these are best to be made on a weekend!) and then remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tray. Cut into squares after about 15 minutes. Enjoy them on the way to work or at that time of day when your feeling sluggish!

Chunky nutty choccy cookies

2008-01-24T18:04:00.002Z

This is one of the best biscuit recipes I have tried. The biscuit is crunchy and delicious and I would recommend this recipe to anyone wanting to bake some lovely biscuits! I made two different kinds, one with raisins and one with dark bitter chocolate and tasted just irrestible! You could add all kinds of things to these biscuits and I'm sure they would taste great, white chocolate, milk chocolate, cranberries, seeds.....

All you need is the following ingrediants:
125g/4oz butter
125g/4oz light muscovado sugar
1 egg lightly beaten
150g/5oz plain flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
75g/3oz porridge oats
200g/7oz chocolate (if using dark like me use a little less!)
50g/2oz unsalted nuts (I used almonds and hazlenuts but anykind will do)

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4 and take two large baking trays and cover them with baking paper.

Take a large mixing bowl and beat together the butter and sugar. Add the egg, flour, baking powder and oats and beat until the mixture is well combined. I then spilt the mixture into two bowls and in one bowl I added the roughly chopped dark chocolate pieces. In the other bowl I added the raisins. Again, mix well. It's as simple as that!

All you need to do now is to spoon small balls of the mixture on the baking tray and flatten slighly. Bake them for 15-20 minutes until they have spread out and are a lovely golden brown colour. Leave the biscuits on the tray for a few minutes before transfering them to a wire rack to cool.

Eat. Delicious. The pictures below show the raisin cookies and the dark chocolate ones just out of the oven!

Spice biscuits

2008-01-19T10:52:00.002Z

My dad made me these biscuits when I went home for the weekend and I told him I would put the pictures on my blog so here they are. I don't have the actual recipe but I know they were made using self raising flour, mixed peel, mixed spice and ground ginger. They were a cross between a cookie and a cake but they tasted just delicious! Thanks dad for the lovely biscuits! Check out the pictures below!

Happy New Year Everyone

2008-01-03T18:23:00.001Z

Happy 2008! I can't believe how quickly the year has past and now it's the start of a new year. I had a lovely christmas and new year full of lovely home cooked food by my mum! Some of the delicious things I ate over the christmas period included christmas cake (my favourite!), mince pies, my mum's trifle, lots of chocolate and candy canes! It really is my favourite time of year!

For New Year's Eve, my husband and I, with our two friends went to Brussels the land of chocolate! I have never seen so many chocolate shops, they were everywhere, filled with all kinds of gorgeous treats, it reminded me of the book 'Chocolat' by Joanne Harris.

I've now made all my resolutions for the year and am looking foward to spring baking! For christmas I received Nigella's Lawson's 'Express' book, a BBC baking book and a book about how to make home made ice-cream! Someone must know how much time I like to spend in the kitchen!

So a Big Happy New Year everyone, I hope it's going to be a great year! And thanks to everyone for reading my blog, it's been so much fun! x

Christmas Gingerbread Biscuits

2007-12-17T18:54:00.002Z

Only 8 more days to go! 'Holidays are coming...'

My sister-in-laws came to stay over the weekend and wanted to make gingerbread biscuits to hand out as favours at her christmas party so I used a slightly different recipe from last time. We had great fun making them and a great weekend catching up together.

I found this recipe easier to follow than the first one I tried. I found the recipe in the bbcgoodfood magazine that Saff gave me (thanks!). It really is quite simple to follow and doesn't take up to much christmas shopping time!

All you need is:

125g/4.5oz unsalted butter

100g/4oz dark muscovado sugar

3.5tbsp golden syrup

300g plain flour

2 tsp ground ginger

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

icing sugar, silver balls and sprinkles to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4. Take a small pan and slowly melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan over a low heat. Take a medium bowl and sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger, mix all together and then pour the melted butter mixture in with it and stir until all the flour is covered. It should form a stiff dough but if it doesn't quite come together add a small splash of water.

Roll out the mixture on a clean surface using a rolling pin and use christmas shapes to cut out shapes. I used a star, a snowman and a tree. Place them onto a large tray covered in baking paper and place them into the oven for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave them to cool before decorating!
I used plain icing sugar mixed with water to make thick white icing and used a knife to smarten up the edges. My sisters then decorated them with sprinkles, silver balls and coloured icing!

Christmas Countdown

2007-12-15T12:31:00.000Z

I can't believe how close it is to christmas, i've still got so many presents to buy, cards to write, things left to bake! I love this time of year when it's bitter cold outside and everyone hurries around the shops all wrapped up warm in coats, hats and scarfs. I love the feel of christmas and the excitment and I'm so excited to home and visit all my friends and family! Ooooh the countdowns on....

Christmas Cupcakes

2007-12-10T18:58:00.002Z

You all know how much I love baking cupcakes, well i couldn't resist the urge to make christmas cupcakes. My sister in law bought me these amazing christmas red, white and green sprinkles. Some are shaped like mini candy canes and the other ones are snowflakes! I love the red and green colour against the clean crisp white of the icing, the contrast is great! I used a normal victoria sponge recipe for the sponge (see previous post) and vanilla icing. While the icing was still wet I dipped them into the sprinkles that I had poured onto different plates. I'm thinking of trying to make mini fruit cake cupcakes next week but with all these christmas partys and nights out will have the time?! I'm of to make mince pies now, yum!

White chocolate and cranberry cookies

2007-12-06T18:12:00.002Z

These christmas cookies taste like christmas heaven! They are just so sweet and the hint of white and red make these the perfect christmas treat! You can easily munch your way through 5 or 6 while watching christmas films by the fire (if only I had a fire, mmm!)

All you need is:
110g/4oz unsalted butter
110g/4oz golden sugar
110g/4oz light muscovado sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
170g/6oz plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
150g/5oz white chocolate cut into small pieces
85g/3oz dried cranberries

Make sure (as always) you preheat the oven to 190c/375f/gas mark 5. In a medium bowl beat the butter together with the caster sugar and the muscovado sugar. In a seperate bowl beat the egg together with the vanilla extract using a fork. Pour this into the other bowl and mix it together. Add the flour, baking powder and saltand blend all the ingrediants together. Finally add in the cranberries and white chocolate and mix again!

Line 2 large baking trays with grease proof paper and use your hands to shape the dough into little balls and place them on the tray leaving plenty of space for them spread. Bake for about 10 minutes in the oven and then leave them to cool. After a few minutes transfer them to a wire rack!

The recipe is taken from the BBC food website and it should make about 35 cookies. They should be crisp around the outside and chewy and gooey on the inside. Ooooh I can't believe it's nearly christmas; my husband has gone out to buy a tree.....

Christmas Ginger Biscuits

2007-12-04T18:03:00.000Z

I love making christmas biscuits and as I was attending my friends dinner party I decided to make some to take along with me! They are great to make with kids over the festive season!

You will need:
65g/2oz butter
50g/2oz soft brown sugar
4tbsp golden syrup
150g/5.25oz plain flour (sieved) and extra for dusting
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

ready made icing from a tube or you can use icing made from icing sugar
edible silver balls to decorate

Preheat the oven before you start to 180c/350f/Gas Mark 4. Take a medium bowl and beat the sugar and the butter together, you can do this using an electric whisk but I used a wooden spoon! Once the mixture looks pale and fluffly add the golden syrup, flour, ginger and bicarbonate of soda and beat together. You may want to use your hands once you've mixed everything in to form a dough. Wrap it in clingfilm and place it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Dust the surface with a little flour and roll out the dough. Use christmas cutters to cut out shapes and place on a baking tray covered with grease proof paper. Do this until all the dough is used up and then place them in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow them to cool for a few minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack.

Once they are completly cooled you can begin to decorate them with whatever you like! I used icing made from icing sugar, water and vanilla extract, tube icing in white, green and red and silver balls to give them a real christmas effect!

I think these would make lovely christmas presents wrapped up in boxes tied with lots of ribbon! My friends enjoyed eating them and I think you will to! I followed this recipe from one I found on the BBC food website, there are some great ideas on there for cooking christmas dinner and other great christmas food!

Apple and pear Crumble

2007-12-01T10:06:00.002Z

This isn't really part of my christmas baking but I thought I would do a quick post about one of my favourite puddings - apple and pear crumble! It makes a lovely warm hearty dessert on a cold winter's afternoon and is great to serve when the family are round especially with dollops of custard or cream!

I used:

2 large cooking apples

1 jar of home grown pears in syrup

125-150g (4-5oz) sugar

200g (7oz) plain Flour

1 tsp baking powder

100g (3.5oz) butter, chopped into small squares

25-50g (1-2oz) porridge oats

Heat the oven to 180c/350f/gas mark 4.

Wash, peel and core the baking apples and slice them thinly with a sharp knife. Lay them in an over proof dish overlapping each other and them place the pears and syrup on top.

Sieve the flour and baking powder together into a bowl and then rub in the butter until it looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and the oats and mix well. Spread this mixture over the top of the fruit and even it out.

Place it into the oven for about 30 minutes until it is a lovely brown colour and a gorgeous smell is filling your kitchen. Serve it into bowls while it is still hot and cover with custard, cream or if you dare ice cream!

You could add a bit of christmas cheer to this dish by adding sultanas or cranberries and sprinking some cinammon over.

Today I am of to make christmas cookies using white chocolate and cranberries. Then I am off out into the cold day to start christmas shopping. Oxford street here I come....

Pink Cupcakes

2007-11-29T18:31:00.001Z

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

2007-11-27T18:54:00.002Z

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

2007-11-24T11:06:00.001Z

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!

2007-11-22T19:09:00.002Z

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

2007-11-09T18:39:00.002Z

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

2007-11-08T18:41:00.004Z

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!

2007-11-05T19:14:00.003Z

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....

Nutty Flapjack

2007-10-27T14:59:00.001+01:00

I found this recipe in one of my nan's old cook books and as my sister was coming to stay I decided to make some for her. It went down really well and disapeared out of the biscuit tin like gold dust!

All you need is:

125g (4oz) margarine
1 tablespoon syrup
125g (40z) caster sugar
60g (2oz) oats
60g (2oz) Self raising flour
90g (3oz) crushed cornflakes

Heat the oven to 190C, 375F, Gas Mark 5 and grease a sqaure baking tray with a little margarine or butter.

Simply melt the margarine and syrup in a pan over a low heat. Meanwhile, mix the sugar, oats, flour and crushed cornflakes in a bowl and once the margarine has melted pour it into the bowl and mix until all the dry ingrediants are covered. Pour the mixture into the baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes until just firm.

Remove from the oven and leave it to cool in the tin. Cut into sqaures while it is still hot! The flapjack is a lovely golden colour that matches the colours of autumn! Enjoy!

Shortbread

2007-10-20T14:03:00.002+01:00

Shortbread is made using only 3 ingrediants and doesn't take long to make at all. It makes me think of traditional things and naturally of scotland! Shortbread has a lovely melt in your flavour!

All you need is:

275g (9oz) plain flour

75g (3oz) caster sugar

175g (6oz) butter

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C/Gas mark 4 and gently grease a baking tray.

Mix the flour in a large bowl with the sugar and then fub in the butter. Once the mixture looks quite crumbly begin to knead it until all the crumbs have stuck together and it forms a soft smooth paste. Roll it out using a rolling pin and use cutters to cut out shapes. I used stars, circles, pumpkins and witches!

Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes and leave to cool. Do you like the pictures?

Halloween Cupcakes

2007-10-15T18:41:00.003+01:00

On saturday afternoon I made some delicious cupcakes for some friends that were coming over to dinner. I used the same recipe as I did for the victoria sponge cake and then covered then in yellow icing and dipped them in sprinkles. A good tip for using colouring with icing is to use a cocktail stick and dip that into the bottle of colouring and add it slowly to the icing. This means that you get the colour you require rather than a really deep yellow! Another good idea for treats on Halloween don't you think?! Check out the pictures below-Do you like my autumn themed cupcake cases?!

Chocolate Brownies

2007-10-08T18:32:00.002+01:00

After spending a week in America I just had to come home and make chocolate brownies. The gooey rich soft texture is just irrestiable. I love brownies and I think autumn is the perfect time to eat them. There is nothing better than coming in from a wet chilly dark evening to a freshly cooked chocolate brownie with a large mug of hot english tea.

All you need is:
300g (10oz) plain chocolate (broken up)
225g (7.5oz) butter, softened
3 eggs
225g (7.5oz) sugar
75g (3oz) self-rasising flour (sieved)
175g (6oz) walnuts (broken up)
200g (7oz) milk chocolate

Make sure you preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas mark 5 and grease a shallow baking tin; you need one about 11 x 8inch.

Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat and add the broken up chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted throughly. In a separate bowl beat the eggs and the sugar and then add in the chocolate and the butter mixture. Stir in the flour, walnuts and the broken-up milk chocolate pieces.

Pour the mixture into the tin, level the surface with the back of a metal spoon and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes. You want your brownies to have a firm crust but you want them to be soft and gooey underneath so make sure you do not overcook them. Remove from the oven and leave the brownies to cool in the tray. Once they are cooled chop them into squares and eat!

Sorry it has taken me so long to upload the photos, what can i say apart from it's been such a busy week. I thought these would make great treats to give out on halloweeen wrapped in tissue paper and ribbon!

Lemon zest cake

2007-10-06T15:21:00.000+01:00

I arrived back from my holiday yesterday and couldn't wait to get back in the kitchen and get baking! I decided the first thing I would bake would be a lemon cake as I put a little poll on my blog a few weeks ago asking what I should bake next and the lemon cake won, so here it is! I've just eaten a slice and I have to say lemon cake is so delicious with a real tangy kick.

You will need:

125g (8oz) margarine

125g (8oz) caster sugar

125g (4oz) self-raising flour (sieved)

2 medium eggs

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 unwaxed lemon

For the lemon icing:

250g (8oz) of icing sugar (sieved)

2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4. Take a 7 inch cake tin and line it with grease proof paper and grease the sides with a little margarine or butter.

In a large bowl cream the sugar and the butter together until it looks light and fluffy. Add in one beaten egg and mix together. Add the second egg with a tablespoon of flour and mix again. Add the rest of the flour and fold it into the mixture, followed by two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice. Using an unwaxed lemon grate in some lemon peel to really set the flavour alive with lemon zestiness! Make sure everything in mixed in and pour into the cake tin. Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

Once the cake looks golden and your kitchen is filled with a lovely lemon smell remove it from the oven and leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes remove it from the tin and leave it to cool.

To make the icing sieve 250g (8oz) of icing sugar into a bowl and mix it with 2-3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice. You want your icing to be quite thick; if it is too runny add more icing sugar. Once your cake has had time to cool, pour the icing onto the cake and use a metal spoon to spread it around, let the icing drizzle down the sides and decorate how you wish. I used some liitle autumn leaves that I bought in america!

Autumn

2007-10-03T14:01:00.001+01:00

The reason that I have not been baking much this week is because I am on holiday over in America visiting family. I have been totally inspired while here by all the autumn (or should I say fall!) decorations, the beautiful colours, pumpkins outside all the shops, halloween decorations hanging up everywhere, there is a real sense of magic in the air that I think is sometimes missed in England. So, I've decided to dedicate this month's blog to the lovely autumn month of October to bring all things related to this season. I'll be making pumpkin cookies, caramel apples, gingerbreads, cinnamon toast and other delicious treats to celebrate the change of season with. Ooh, I can't wait to get home and get started! The curtains are closing on those long summer breezy nights (not that we had many!) as the fresh chilly autumn air takes over and the leaves change to the rusty golden colours of orange, yellow and brown. Autumn has arrived!

Baking Tips - Making Cakes

2007-10-02T18:54:00.001+01:00

Here are some tips for making the perfect cake that the cookbooks never tell you.

1. Buy an oven therometer (they are not expensive) to ensure that your oven is cooking at the right temperature. If your oven is too hot then your cake may form a dome.

2. Always preheat the oven before you begin doing anything else. It takes about 10-15 minutes for an oven to reach the required temperature. Grease your baking trays or cake tins at this point too to ensure the cake mixture is not sitting around in the open air for too long as your cake may begin to rise.

3. Always use ingrediants at room temperature.

4.For a lighter cake, fold in one tablespoon of hot water to the mixture after you have added the flour.

5. NEVER open the oven door within the first ten minutes of baking as the cake will not rise properly.

6. Always allow the cake to cool on a wire tray. Only when the cake is cooled should you begin to add the frosting, buttercream or icing otherwise it will fall straight of the cake.

Hope you find them useful!

Baking Tips - Eggs

2007-10-01T12:58:00.001+01:00

I thought it would be useful to write down some tips every now and then that I have found helpful when baking. Eggs are used so much in cooking and baking and are a delicious and healthy food. I always buy free-range eggs no matter what and sometimes organic eggs depending on what I am making. I think that you can really tell the difference between free-range eggs and non-free range by the colour of the yolk. My husband's father keeps his own chickens and waking up to fresh eggs that have just been laid is something special. The colour of the yolk is a deep yellow orange like a sunset. I usually cook with medium sized eggs unless I specify otherwise.

1. Eggs should be stored at a constant temperature below 8oC/46.5F in the refrigerature and should be stored away from any strong smells that may effect them.

2. About an hour before you begin baking remove the number of eggs required from the refrigerature. Eggs that are used at room temperature make better cakes.

3. Always make sure your eggs are fresh. You can test this by placing the egg in a glass of cold water. If the egg is fresh it will sink to the bottom of the glass. An old egg may settle part way up the glass or if it is really old will rise and float at the top. This shows that the egg is bad and should never be used in baking.

4. When cracking eggs into the cake mixture make sure that you crack them into a small bowl first. This is to prevent any bits of shell falling into the mixture.

5. When adding eggs to cakes always add a spoonful of flour with the second egg to prevent the mixture from curdling. If you are making a large cake that uses many eggs it may be good to add a sponnful of flour after every second egg.

That's all folks!

Bread and Butter Pudding

2007-09-28T19:19:00.002+01:00

This is my husband's favourite pudding. It reminds me of being a child and eating it swamped in custard however he prefers his with dollops of vanilla ice-cream melting beside the warmth of the pudding. It makes a great dessert on a chilly autumn evening when the nights are drawing in and darkness is falling. The hot pudding covered in lovely hot custard will warm you through and through.

I made it using 1 1/2 pints of milk, granulated sugar, 2 eggs, butter, raisins and 4-5 large slices of bread (depending on the size of the dish you are using!).

Preheat the oven to a medium heat. Gently heat the milk and 3 tablespoons of sugar in a medium pan until just before boiling point. Take of the heat and whisk in the eggs. Take the bread, butter it and then slice into triangles. Layer it along the bottom of the dish and sprinkle over some sugar and raisins, place another layer of bread on top and again sprinkle on some sugar and raisins. You may add another layer depending on the size of the dish. Pour over the heated milk and sugar and then place in the oven for approximately 20 minutes. Serve with custard, vanilla ice-cream or double cream. Delicious!

Very Cherry Biscuits

2007-09-24T17:25:00.001+01:00

This recipe must be the simplest and quickest recipe i've made so far. You'll love these cherry biscuits and they are lovely to eat on a lazy sunday afternoon while watching old black and white films. To make these, you will need:

100g/4oz unsalted butter
50g/2oz caster sugar
a few drops of vanilla extract
150g/6oz self-raising flour (sieved)
10-20 glace cherries

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and grease two baking trays. Slice the butter into cubes and melt it over a low heat. Pour into a bowl and add the caster sugar, vanilla extract and then the flour. Use your hands to mix the mixture until it forms a firm dough.

Roll half the mixture into little balls and squash down with a spoon. Place a few chopped cherries onto the top of the biscuits and place them onto the baking tray and into the oven for 10-15 minutes. While the first tray of biscuits is cooking take the rest of the mixture and mix it with all the chopped cherries. Again, roll into little balls and bake for 10-15 minutes until they are golden. Transfer to a wire rack and try to wait until they are cooled before eating them!

This recipe is supposed to make 15 biscuits but mine were quite small so it might be better to make 10 larger bicuits. Enjoy!

Cranberry Muffins

2007-09-22T11:29:00.003+01:00

I don't usually make low fat cakes but I found this recipe in a weight watchers cookbook and the picture made them look so good. They do taste good and apparently each mufin only has 200 calories! I like them but I don not think they are quite as good as normal muffins made with butter. Try them for yourself and let me know waht you thought of them. This receipe makes about 12 muffins.

You will need:

300g (10.5oz) plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

150g (5.5oz) light muscovado sugar

60g (2oz) craisins (dried cranberries)

1 egg

225ml (8 fl oz) skimmed or semi-skimmed milk

50ml (2fl oz) sunflower oil

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas mark 6. Line the muffin tray with paper cases.

Take a large bowl and sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon together. Stir in the sugar and the craisins. In a small bowl lightly beat the egg and then add the milk and the oil and beat the ingrediants together. Fold them together with the dry ingrediants until they are mixed well to a dropping consistency.

Using a tablespoon drop the mixture into the paper cases. Place them into the the middle of the oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes. Mine took 20 minutes but ovens tend to vary so keep an eye on them. Once you have removed them from the oven place them onto a wire rack to cool. You could change this recipe by adding sulatanas to it or maybe chopped up glazed cherries.

Autumn Plums

2007-09-21T18:39:00.002+01:00

Last night I made a really quick pudding by heating up some plums in the oven. Before I put them in the oven I squeezed over some orange juice and sprinkled on some brown sugar and some ground cinnamon. When they were piping hot I removed them and served them with some organic vanilla yogurt and a mixture of nuts, seeds, sultanas and raisins mixed in honey! They were great as a quick dessert after a days work!

Chocolate and nut biscuits

2007-09-20T08:41:00.001+01:00

You will need:

175g/6oz plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
125g/4.5oz soft margarine
90g/3oz light muscovado sugar
60g/2oz caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
125g/4.5 dark chocolate chips
30g chopped nuts

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5 and lightly grease two baking trays. This recipe makes about 18 biscuits.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the margarine, caster sugar and light muscovado sugar and then add the egg, flour and baking powder and the vanilla extract. When all the mixture is combined add in the chocolate chips and nuts. I used chopped up dark chocolate squares and hazelnuts.

Place tablespoons of mixture onto the baking trays allowing about 4cm between each for them to spread. Place in the middle of the oven and cook for aboout 10-12 minutes until they look golden brown. Remove them from the oven and leave them on the baking tray for a few short minutes before transferring to a wire rack! Delicious at any time of day! I'm sure this recipe will work well with a variety of different chocolate, nuts or even chopped cherries. Let me know how you get on!

The foodie Blogroll

2007-09-19T09:28:00.002+01:00

I just wanted to say that I have joined the foodie blog roll that is a list of links to amazing food blogs set up by Queen over at http://www.leftoverqueen.com/. Be sure to check it out and if you write a food blog be sure to join the foodie community!

Chocolate biscuit squares

2007-09-17T08:45:00.002+01:00

This recipe is just delicious. I found it in one of my nan's old cook books and it tasted so good I had three slices last night!

You will need:

6oz plain chocolate (broken up)
2oz butter
8oz digestive biscuits (crushed)
grated orange peel
4oz sultanas
2oz chopped cherries

Melt the butter in a saucepan and once melted add the chocolate. This should be done over a low heat. Stir in the crushed biscuits, chopped cherries, sultanas and grated orange peel and mix until everything is covered in chocolate. Pour the mixture into a tray (with a sheet of grease proof paper on the bottom) and leave it in the fridge to set. Cut into squares.

Chocolate Cake

2007-09-15T14:11:00.001+01:00

This mixture is enough for one cake tin only. Double the quantity for a double chocolate cake like the one I made.

125g soft margarine

125g caster sugar

2 eggs

1 tbsp golden syrup

125g self-raising flour (sieved)

2 tbsp cocoa powder (sieved)

Heat the oven to 190C (325f/Gas Mark 5) and line a 7inch/18cm cake tin with grease proof paper. Lightly grease the edges of the tin.

Cream together the margarine and the sugar and then add the eggs one at a time to the mixture. If the eggs start to curdle add one tablespoon of sieved self-raising flour. Add the rest of the flour and the cocoa powder and fold into the mixture. Stir in the the syrup and one tablespoon of hot water and mix together. Pour into the cake tin.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the cake is nice and springy. Cool for a few minutes in the tin before transferring to a wire rack. Remember to peel away the grease proof paper from the bottom of the cake!

To make the filling or to ice the top of one cake you will need:

30g butter

2 tbsp of hot water

2tbsp of sifted cocoa powder

125g of sifted icing sugar

Melt the butter in a pan or in the microwave if you like and pour into a bowl. Add the hot water and the cocoa powder and stir until the ingrediants form a paste. Add the icing sugar until all the mixture is combined. I used this chocolate icing to sandwich the cakes together and then sprinkled on some more icing sugar. If you really want death by chocolate then you could make a large quantity of the chocoalte icing and cover the whole cake!