Birthday Cupcakes with Sprinkles

Here is a simple but fun and yummy way of celebrating a birthday!! All you need to add is a birthday candle...



Preheat oven to 180C
CUPCAKES

110g butter
225g caster sugar
2 large eggs
150g self raising flour
125g plain flour
120 ml skimmed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

ICING

110g butter
2tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
grated zest of lemon
500g icing sugar

Cream together butter and sugar, then add the eggs. In a separate bowl combine the two flours shifted, and then in another bowl add the milk and vanilla together.
Slowly add the milk and flour mixture to the creamed butter. And now the fun bit of filling up the cupcake cases, cook for 15 minutes, or longer if you use a larger sized case.

The icing is quite simple, mix the butter and lemon ingredients and then slowly shift in the icing sugar, ta da!

Bad Bad Banana Tarte Tatin

Yum yum yum, this was delicious but very naughty!
It usually serves 6 but was almost consumed entirely by my friend and I along with a bowel of ice cream!
It is so easy to make and takes 25 mins to cook!

You shall need:
375g ready rolled puff pastry
4 ripe bananas (where the badness starts)
and 150g of toffee sauce (waitrose sell it in 300g bags, the second stage of badness when I didn't stop pouring the entire bag of sauce out)

preheat the oven to 200C
and lightly grease a 24cm round tin

peel and cut bananas and lay them on base of tin, pour the sauce over and then place a circle of the pastry over the top, tucking the bananas in. Place in the oven and wait 25 minutes for this delicious treat!

Focaccia and fresh Rosemary

Recipe still to come........

Yum Yum more Vegan delights!

VEGAN CHOCOLATE CHOC CHIP COOKIES



These are very delicious, and for some reason are a lot more chewy than your average cookie!
With all things vegan, you have a choice of greasing with soya butter or coconut oil. So grease the trays and set the oven to 180C, this recipe should make 12 cookies.

25g plain flour, plus 1 tsp baking powder
50g soft brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
4 tsp of coco powder
pinch of salt
100ml soya milk
75ml rapeseed oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp finely grated orange rind
50g dairy-free chocolate (this can also be that delicious vegan chocolate and mint choc to add extra flavour)

mix everything together and using hands roll out 12 balls, smoothing the tops with a wet knife and cook for 10mins!

VEGANALICIOUS!

My brother has been a vegan for bout a year and so I have come to the conclusion I have to look into the scary world of vegan cooking!
So here is the first of a delicious but simple recipe for a sunday afternoon!

VEGAN SCONES



Preheat the oven to 220C
Shift:
8oz self raising flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
Mix:
1 1/2 oz SOYA butter (found in any supermarket)
2 tablespoons of caster sugar
Then pour in 150ml of SOYA milk to make a dough.

Knead it all for 5 minutes, roll out to a thickness of one inch and using a fluted 3inch cutter.
Glaze and pop in the oven for 15minutes!

Nigella's Chocolate Guinness Cake / Fabulous wedding cake!!

Here I took this fantastic recipe from Rosanagh and dressed it up for a friends wedding!!
This is what the cake looked like before it went on its adventurous trip, journey on a few trains and then getting lost in redruth...
Melted but delicious by the end.

Pretty Plum Muffins

These beautiful plum muffins are easy and delicious. Perfect for birthday muffins or fruit lovers!

Heat the oven to 200C
Mix:
225g plain flour
2 Teaspoons baking powder
75g golden caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Then mix:
1 medium egg
200ml milk
30g unsalted butter (melted)

Mix everything together and then add:
4 red or purple plums (180g) stoned and diced
zest of 1 lemon

The icing can be added later, to add the final touch!

Pain d'epice!

Delicious toasted under the grill, quick and easy to make for a tea time snack! And great for finishing off bits in the kitchen cupboards.



loaf ingredients:

125g plain flour
150g icing sugar
1 1/2 teaspoos of ground cinnamon (add a little extra for luck)
2 teaspoons baking powder
175g unsalted butter
4 medium eggs

preheat oven to 190C and mix all ingredients together, baking time 45 minutes and enjoy warm!!

Nigella's Chocolate Guinness Cake

I have been eager to try this recipe for myself after my father baked it last time i was home. I finally got around to it today, it is utterly delicious, easy to make, very dark, rich and moist.



INGREDIENTS

FOR THE CAKE
250ml Guinness
250g unsalted butter
75g cocoa
400g caster sugar
1 x 142ml pot sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
275g plain flour
2 1/2teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

FOR THE TOPPING
300g Philadelphia cream cheese
150g icing sugar
125ml double or whipping cream
Serving Size : Makes about 12 slices

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C, and butter and line a 23cm springform tin.
2. Pour the Guinness into a large wide saucepan, add the butter – in spoons or slices – and heat until the butter’s melted, at which time you should whisk in the cocoa and sugar. Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla and then pour into the brown, buttery, beery pan and finally whisk in the flour and bicarb.
3. Pour the cake batter into the greased and lined tin and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. Leave to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.
4. When the cake’s cold, sit it on a flat platter or cake stand and get on with the icing. Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth, sieve over the icing sugar and then beat them both together. Or do this in a processor, putting the unsieved icing sugar in first and blitz to remove lumps before adding the cheese.
5. Add the cream and beat again until it makes a spreadable consistency. Ice the top of the black cake so that it resembles the frothy top of the famous pint.

Best Ever Banana Muffins

These delicious muffins are perfect for any time of day. They freeze very well and are scrumptious re heated with butter or plain. They are very versatile and provide a tasty platform for creating many different variations of muffins by simply adding ingredients such as chocolate chunks, walnuts or blueberries to the mixture.



Recipe

3 Large Bananas
3/4 Cup of Caster Sugar
1 Egg
1/3 Cup of Melted Butter
1 tsp of Baking Powder
1 tsp of Baking Soda
1/2 tsp of Salt
1 1/2 Cups of Plain Flour

1. Mash the bananas with the sugar then add the egg (slightly beaten)
2. Add the butter
3. Mix all the dry ingredients together then add the wet to the dry, only stirring gently.
4. Spoon into muffin cases and bake in a pre heated oven at 190c for 20 minuets.

Breakfast Brownie

Start your morning in the sunshine, traveling fast, on an adventure, accompanied by a rich chocolate cherry brownie!
These delicious brownies are full of rich chocolate goo and perfectly placed cherries.

300g unsalted butter
300g dark chocolate (60% plus)
5 large eggs
450g granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
200g plain flour
250g cherries

It makes at least 28 brownies so I used two baking tins! Mix together butter, chocolate by melting. While that is on the stove beat together eggs, vanilla and sugar. Finally mix all the ingredients and cook for 25mins.
Make sure the texture on top is rustic and cracked before removing from the oven!

Health and Happiness

In some places these are called chunky monkeys(urban dictionary enlightened us to the truth of this term). I prefer to see them as great ways of saying thank you, or a quick chocolate fix!

200g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
125g sugar
125g butter
1 egg
1 tablespoon of milk
150g dark chocolate (50% plus)
50g White chocolate
2 tablespoons coco powder

Just mix it all together and bake for 15 mins!

Flourless but not French

Here is a delicious chocolate gateau, but if you look closely at the recipe we have replaced the flour for ground almonds. It gives the cake an incredible texture very much like a soft chocolate brownie.




We dusted it with the magic of a doily and icing sugar.

150g dark chocolate (50% solids or more)
75g golden caster sugar
150g unsalted butter
1 tablespoon of runny honey
4 large eggs separated
200g ground almonds
75ml milk

The trick with this cake is all in the whisking of the separated eggs!

Let them know you care!

The best way to show someone you are thinking of them is by making something delicious. Rosanagh left me for a entire week to visit the Scottish highlands and on her return I presented her with White Chocolate and Pistachio Muffins. Love me do!

Recipe:

Cake

110g unsalted butter

110g golden caster sugar

finely grated zest of 1 orange

2 medium eggs, separated

75ml milk (remember the milk its a small amount that really matters)

140g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

25g raw pistachio nuts

25g white chocolate chips

Topping

1 tablespoon raw pistachio nuts

75g apricot jam

Hope you liked them darling!x

Fancy a G and T?

Gin and Tonic cupcakes are a perfect way to relax on a sunday afternoon, especially in the warmer months!

Recipe:

Cupcake
2 medium egg whites
Pinch of sea salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tablespoons tonic water

Gin Icing
1/2 cup mascarpone
1 tablespoon gin
2 tablespoons corn syrup
Green food coloring
Lime slices covered in sugar or jellied lime or lemon slices, for garnish

Added to much gin, get someone who doesn't drink to try the icing before serving... x

Delia's Squidgy Chocolate Log

Recipe:

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/entertaining/squidgy-chocolate-log.html

We rolled the log lengthways and it turned out great. x