Chocolate Chip Banana Bread (GF)

Hello my lovelies and a Happy Summers Sunday to you all. Summer seems to be officially here which makes me so happy and what a way to celebrate with a spot o baking. For me personally, baking is a way to relax and de-stress; it is very therapeutic. I have recently increased my work hours and finding my self with spare time is a rarity at the moment. However, I find myself with a free Sunday morning so the obvious solution is to bake. When I glanced over at the fruit bowl this morning and caught sight of a couple of over ripe bananas the obvious solution for me is banana bread. I personally love banana bread and I haven't made any this year and it is very quick and easy to make. My excitement further grew by finding a pack of un-opened chocolate chips in the cupboard. I can officially say that the jigsaw puzzle is now complete. I have already posted a blog post with a recipe for a Banana, Fudge and White Chocolate Loaf Cake which you can see by clicking here.  That was a personal favourite of mine; banana, fudge and white chocolate are my favourite flavour combinations at the moment and who could resist the amazing and ultimate flavour combination in cake form? I thought I would try something a bit different this time by making the banana bread gluten free. I find that gluten free cakes are a lot lighter and are also more moist myself.

I love banana bread and it can be enjoyed in so many different ways. You can really make it your own whether you add chocolate, nuts, dried fruit, spices or the whole cherbang. Next time I have left over bananas I might add some pecan nuts. I love experimenting with new flavour combinations. Once you have a basic banana bread recipe the world is your oyster.

Ingredients

125g unsalted butter
120g caster sugar
3 eggs
2 ripe bananas peeled and mashed
225g Gluten Free plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g milk chocolate chips

Method

1) Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin and preheat your oven to 180°C/ 160°Fan/ Gas mark 4

2) Beat your butter and sugar together until pale, light and fluffy. You could do this with an electric whisk but I find the old fashioned method of a wooden spoon more satisfying and a great way to release any tension

3) Whisk your eggs together and add half of the eggs to your cake batter followed by half of the flour which you should sift into the bowl. Fold the ingredients together followed by the remaining eggs and flour once fully incorporated

4) Add your mashed banana, baking powder, xanthan gum, vanilla extract and cinnamon and fold into the cake batter

5) Finally stir in your chocolate chips, it is essential to test a couple first

6) Pour your cake batter into the loaf tin and bake for 50 - 60 minutes until golden brown and a skewer is clean after being inserted into the centre of the cake. If you think the top of the cake is cooking too quick and looking a dark brown before the cake is cooked you could cover the cake with foil to stop it from burning

7) Once cooked leave your cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to cool completely. Once the cake has cooled you can slice the loaf and enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post my lovelies. I won't lie to you but banana bread is a personal favourite of mine. I love the beautiful banana flavour which goes so amazingly with the melted milk chocolate. The cake is so moist and it also keeps for a really long time. Perfect for the cake tin to crack out in times of need of comfort or a pick-me-up. I would love to know in the comments if you tried this recipe or what your favourite flavour combinations are to add to your banana bread. I hope you all enjoy the rest of this amazing Summer's Sunday.

XXX

Peanut Butter And White Chocolate Chip Cookies (GF)

Hello my lovelies and a Happy, Happy Wednesday to you all - otherwise known as a day off for me, nice. There is nothing more that I love to do on a day off other then bake. I find it very comforting and therapeutic listening to the radio or my music. The sun was shinning and it was sheer perfection on this gorgeous Spring morning.

Recently I have been craving white chocolate and peanut butter. I say recently but to be honest these are both foods that I always love to eat. On this rare occasion that I actually had both ingredients fully stocked I thought the obvious solution was to create a beautiful creation in a giant cookie form.

This is an American recipe that I found on a baking blog, hence why the measurements are in cup form. I was originally nervous to bake using cup measurements however I think my confidence has increased and I am enjoying experimenting with new recipes and using the most adorable pastel cup measurers.

The recipe itself is so simple and quick; probably one of the easiest cookie recipes that I have ever baked. There are also very few ingredients which makes life a lot easier. I made 12 giant cookies but you could chose to make more smaller ones but when there's white chocolate and peanut butter involved, the only answer is a giant cookie for me.

Ingredients - makes 12

1 cup of crunchy organic peanut butter
3/4 cup of light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup of white chocolate chips or chunks

Method

1) Preheat your oven to 180°C/ 160°Fan

2) Grease and line two baking trays

3) Whisk the peanut butter, sugar, egg, vanilla extract and baking powder using an electric hand whisk to form a dough like texture and consistency

4) Mix in your white chocolate chips or chunks

5) Flatten golf ball sizes of cookie dough onto your baking sheet evenly spaced, be careful as these do spread and rise

6) Bake in the oven for 10 minutes until golden brown, half way through the bake I rotated the trays in the oven to aim to get an even bake

7) Allow the cookies to fully cool on the baking tray before transferring to a wire wrack to cool

I hope you enjoyed this recipe my lovelies. I would love to know in the comments if you attempt the recipe and what you thought of the cookies. All I know is that the house smells incredible right now and very welcoming and comforting. Warm peanut butter and white chocolate cookies, what more could you ask for? These cookies are amazingly gooey I cannot actually express the gooeyness of these cookies enough right now. The perfect morning snack with a lovely coffee. What more can I say then Happy Wednesday my lovelies and Happy Baking.

XXX

Mocha Cake (GF)

Hello my lovelies and a Happy Good Friday to you. I have a lovely indulgent recipe for you all today that will even satisfy the fellow coffee addicts among you all. It was my Mum's birthday on Monday and I asked her what sort of birthday cake she would like. Just like me she loves coffee and chocolate so we plumped for a mocha cake. I found the recipe from an American blog hence why the ingredients are all in cup sizes. We brought ourselves some really pretty cup measurers to use in baking which I have been dying to use so I have been secretly hoping for a recipe using cup measurements.

The recipe is also gluten free and I have found that gluten free cakes can be gorgeous and lighter then cakes that contain gluten. I am all for gluten free. The mixture itself is more like a batter and very runny and moose like. Once baked the house smells incredible, a big chocolate and coffee factory. I'm not one to float my own trumpet but this was honestly the lightest and moistest cakes that I have ever baked or eaten. I can't believe how much the cakes rose. I thought that they might deflate whilst cooking but they didn't. I recon that's down to the recipe and not me but I am so proud of it. Me and my Mum both loved it and I don't think it will last long in this household.

Ingredients

1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup of hot coffee
1 cup of milk
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup caster sugar
3/4 cup light brown muscovado sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/3 cup corn starch
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1 tsp xantham gum
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Mocha Buttercream:
30ml of coffee
30g unsalted butter
30g cocoa powder
500g icing sugar

dark chocolate coffee beans for decoration

Method

1) Preheat your oven to 180°C/ 160°Fan and grease and line two 20cm cake tins

2) Mix together your cocoa powder and coffee

3) In a separate bowl sift together your remaining dry ingredients of the white rice flour, potato starch, corn starch, sorghum flour, xantham powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda

3) In another bowl, beat together your butter and sugars until light, pale and fluffy

4) Gradually beat in your eggs one at a time to the sugar and butter mixture alongside the vanilla extract

5) Add your milk to your cocoa and coffee mixture

6) Add half of your sifted ingredients to the butter mixture and fold the ingredients into your mixture using a metal spoon

7) Stir in your cocoa, coffee and milk followed by the remaining dry ingredients

8) Once all of the ingredients have been fully incorporated, evenly divide the cake mix between your two cake tins

9) Bake the cakes for 30 mins, you know the cakes are cooked when a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of each cake. The sponges will also spring back if you press lightly in the centre of each cake

10) Leave the cakes to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to finish cooling completely

11) Whilst the cakes are cooling you can start to make your mocha butter cream

12) Beat your butter with a wooden spoon to soften it

13) Sift in your cocoa powder and a portion of icing sugar along with a drop of coffee. I don't believe in set instructions for buttercream I believe it's more of a case of judging it by eye. You should continue to beat in your icing sugar and coffee to the mixture until you are happy with the quantity and consistency. Be prepared to be flexible

14) Use half of the buttercream to sandwich the cakes together and the remaining half for icing the top of the cake

15) To finish the cake I used coffee flavoured dark chocolate in the shape of coffee beans for a sleek finish

I hope you enjoyed reading this recipe my lovelies. I would love to know in the comments if you have ago at making this cake. I hope you all have a magical Easter weekend. I hope chocolate also features heavily in your weekend as well!

XXX

Ginger And Lemon Polenta Mothers Day Cake

Good evening my lovelies and a Happy Mothers Day to you all! I hope that you are all spoiling your Mother's rotten with lot's of lovely treats and goodies. I have had an absolutely perfect weekend with my gorgeous Mum it has been total heaven to have Mother and Daughter time together.

I love to bake. Fact. So I thought I would bake my Mum a cake for Mother's Day. I have recently been really enjoying experimenting with polenta. Last year I made a Lemon, Honey and Pistachio Polenta cake which my Mum really enjoyed so I thought I would treat her to a polenta cake for Mother's Day. My Mum absolutely adores ginger so I thought I would try incorporating it into the cake. The cake is essentially ginger and polenta with a refreshing lemon buttercream icing in the filling and lemon glace icing on top. I think lemon is bright, refreshing and very spring like. The cake is overflowing with ginger spices, packed full of stem ginger and oozing in ginger syrup; I don't think I could have packed more ginger into this little beauty if I tried. I baked the cake as a sandwich cake so I could make a buttercream filling but you could bake the cake as one cake with just a simple glace icing on top. The world is your oyster. I loved baking this cake and the house smelt really refreshing whilst the cake was baking.

Ingredients

125g unsalted butter
65g caster sugar
70g golden syrup
3 large eggs
125g ground almonds
90g polenta
1/2tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground ginger
150g stem ginger - plus some of the ginger syrup

Buttercream:
25g unsalted butter
250g icing sugar
lemon juice of 1 lemon
lemon rind of 1 lemon

Glace icing:
lemon juice of 1 lemon
250g icing sugar

Method

1) Grease and line two 20cm sandwich cake tins and preheat your oven to 180°C/160°Fan

2) Cream your butter, sugar and syrups together

3) Beat in your eggs one at a time - the mixture may curdle but this will all be resurrected when you add the dry ingredients

4) Fold in your ground almonds, polenta, baking powder and ground ginger using a large metal spoon

5) Dice your gorgeous stem ginger chunks, this doesn't need to be precise but I recon mine may have been about 0.5cm cubes. Once chopped, fold your stem ginger cubes into the mixture

6) Evenly divide your cake mixture into the two cake tins and bake for 25 minutes. Once baked a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake will be removed clean and the cake will also spring back when you gently press the centre. If you baked the cake as one large cake it will take longer to bake. As I have never baked the cake as one before I don't know exactly how long this would take but I would recommend trying around 45 minutes. I'm a home baker and I never use a timer I try to judge by eye when bakes are baked

7) Leave the cakes to cool for approximately 10 minutes in the tin before removing the cakes from the tin and leaving on a wire wrack to cool

8) Once cool, prick both of the cakes all over approximately 3/4 of the way through the cake with a skewer. I then used a teaspoon to drizzle ginger syrup all over each cake. You can use as much syrup as you like here, I think the amount I used was in proportion to the stem ginger that was removed from the jar. This will help to keep the cakes moist whilst infusing the cakes with the warmth of the ginger

9) Whilst the cakes are cooling you can start to make a buttercream filling. Beat your butter and lemon rind together using a wooden spoon

10) Add half of the lemon juice and gradually beat in your icing sugar. Once you have used half of the icing sugar add the remaining lemon juice and continue to beat in the remaining icing sugar

11) Evenly spread the buttercream over one of the cakes using a level spatula and sandwich the two cakes together

12) You can then make your glace icing which is a similar process to the buttercream icing. Gradually beat in your icing sugar to your lemon juice - easy

13) Using a spatula evenly spread the glace icing over the top of the cake. I then decorated the cake with some sugar decorations of daisies and a butterfly but you can get as creative as you like or just keep it simple and sophisticated

Thank you for reading this blog post. Although I made this cake for Mother's Day the cake doesn't have to be restricted just for Mother's Day. I would love to know in the comments how you have spoilt your lovely Mummies. I have had a lovely weekend with mine - soppy post warning - but I honestly couldn't get by without mine she has always been my rock so I hope she has felt special and treated this weekend as she really deserves it.

XXX

Lemon, Polenta and Almond Cookies

Hello my lovelies and a Happy Leap Year Day to you all! It's strange when ever I think of it to be a leap year the first thing that pops into my head is the fact that the Olympics will be running this year. I personally love watching the Olympics it seems to take over my life in the summer. It's the only type of sport I enjoy watching other then Wimbledon.

Ramble aside I have a new recipe for you all today. Recently it has started to feel a little more Spring like. Hallelujah. The spring bulbs are thriving and are full of colour and hope. I don't know why but I thing of lemons to be a spring like ingredient. Maybe because they are bright, colourful and refreshing. I love polenta cake and I recently saw a recipe combining lemon, polenta and almonds which are some of my favourite ingredients so I thought why not try a twist on the staple cake and try turning it into a cookie.

These cookies are really quick and easy to make and they also taste really light and refreshing. They have that staple cookie characteristic of a crisp edge and a lovely gooey centre. These are great to have in the biscuit tin and something that all of the family could enjoy baking together.

Ingredients - makes 18

75g polenta
25g rice flour
25g ground almonds
1/2 tsp baking powder
75g icing sugar
50g butter
1 egg yolk
grated rind of one lemon
25g flaked almonds

Method

1) Add the polenta, flour, ground almonds, baking powder and icing sugar into a large bowl

2) Cube the butter into small pieces and add to the large bowl. Rub the ingredients together in between your fingertips gently to form fine breadcrumbs

3) Add a beaten egg yolk and lemon rind to the bowl. Combine the ingredients together using your hands to form a dough

4) Wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes

5) Preheat your oven to 180°C/ 160°Fan and grease and line two baking trays

6) Roll out your biscuit dough on a lightly floured surface and use a cookie cutter to cut out your biscuits. These could be any shape and size you like but I went for a traditional round cutter

7) Top your cookies with flaked almonds and bake in the oven for 8 minutes

8) Once golden and crisp remove the cookies from the oven and allow to crisp on the baking trays for 5 minutes before transferring the cookies to a wire wrack to cool completely

I hope you enjoyed this quick and easy baking recipe my lovelies. Let me know in the comments if you chose to give these a try. These could be a great biscuit to have in the house for Mother's Day if you feel inspired to bake.

XXX

Valentines Day Vanilla Cupcakes

Good morning my lovelies, I hope you are all embracing that Monday morning feeling and the caffeine intakes are being topped up. As I'm sure you all know yesterday was Valentine's Day so I thought I would make some Valentines inspired cupcakes. Yet again any excuse to bake. I chose to bake vanilla cupcakes which I then coloured either pink or red. These are then topped with a vanilla buttercream and pink sugar sprinkles. I just think that these are a bit of fun and that they look really cute. They also taste really yummy which is an added bonus.

Ingredients - makes 12

110g unsalted butter
110g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
110g self-raising flour
red food colouring
pink food colouring

Buttercream:
140g unsalted butter
280g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
pink sprinkles


Method

1) Preheat your oven to 180°C/ 160°Fan/ Gas mark 4 and line a muffin tin with cupcake paper cases. I used a combination of red and pink for Valentines Day (pink for the pink cupcakes and red for the red cupcakes)

2) Cream the butter and sugar together until light, pale and fluffy

3) Gradually beat in the eggs and stir in the vanilla extract

4) Fold in the flour using a large metal spoon

5) Divide the cake mixture in half amongst two separate bowls

6) In one bowl stir in red food colouring to the mixture and pink into the other bowl. These can be as bright or pale as you like it's just a bit of fun for Valentines Day

7) I then poured my pink mixture into the pink cases and the red mixture into the red cases

8) Bake the cupcakes in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cupcakes. The top of the cake should feel springy when you lightly press on top of the cakes

9) Allow the cakes to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to cool completely

10) For the buttercream icing, beat your butter and vanilla extract together

11) Sift in the icing sugar in stages and beat this into the butter, you may find you need to add a splash of water if the mixture is too firm

I find that icing is quite a personal preference. I really don't like overly buttery icing, I prefer buttercream with a greater sugar to butter ratio. The sugar gives the icing that added sweetness and you then don't have the buttery taste or yellow colour that I don't like. I didn't actually use this recipe for the buttercream. I used the same method although the quantities and ratios of each ingredient will have varied. For me the icing is a bit of trial and error. I started off with a really small amount of butter maybe around 25g. I then gradually beated in more and more icing sugar along with splashes of water until I had made enough icing. If you are a bit unsure on icing I included the quantities above as a rough guide to making a buttercream. 

12) Once the cakes are completely cool you can pipe the icing onto the cakes using a piping bag and nozzle. I then decorated the cupcakes with some pretty pink sprinkles but you can be really creative with your decorations

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post my lovelies. I know Valentine's Day is now over for another year but you could make these all year round. You don't even have to colour the sponges. You could use this as a standard vanilla cupcake recipe which I have a strong belief that a good vanilla cupcake recipe should be a staple in every household. I hope you enjoy the rest of your days my lovelies.

XXX

Creme Egg Brownies

Good evening my lovelies and a big fat mahoosive Happy Saturday and weekend to you all. I know it's only February and it's actually closer to Valentines Day and Mother's Day then Easter but I couldn't resist this one. The shops are starting to get choco-bloc with Easter treats and goodies and seeing the return of the classic Creme Egg I thought some baking was in order. Yesterday I visited a friend from school who is at University near by. Knowing that she loves Creme Eggs I thought this would be the perfect thing to bake for her. Any excuse to bake. I have seen so many pictures of these and I have always wanted to try baking these myself. Even though Cadbury's is my favourite type of chocolate I don't really like Creme Eggs I find them a bit too sickly with the fondant. Saying that I adore the caramel versions so I might have to try this recipe using caramel eggs instead. Caramel is incredibly sweet so there is absolutely no logic in what I have just said but there you go.

These brownies were so quick and easy to bake and the house smelt incredible. Full of chocolaty yummy goodness. I love how these brownies get that classic chocolate crack on top. They have a thin crisp layer on and they are really gooey and squidgy inside. The perfect brownie in my eyes. If you love chocolate, love cake, love creme eggs and love Easter then these are the perfect creation to bake. Not only that they are really fun so I would highly recommend that you give these ago.

Ingredients- makes 12

185g unsalted butter

185g dark chocolate

85g plain flour

40g cocoa powder

3 eggs

275g golden caster sugar 

6 Creme Eggs 

Method

1) Preheat your oven to 180°C/ 160°Fan/ Gas mark 4 and grease a 20 cm square baking tin. At this stage you want to place your creme eggs in the fridge

2) Melt the butter and chocolate together, I did this by placing the ingredients in a bowl over a saucepan of hot water but you could also do this in the microwave

3) Once melted set to the side to cool

4) In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until you have a light mouse like consistency . The mixture should look pale and have almost doubled in size

5) Fold in your sugar and egg mixture into the chocolate bowl using a metal spoon. First beat in a small amount to slacken the mixture before folding in the remaining mixture

6) Sift in the flour and cocoa powder and fold into the mixture, again using a metal spoon

7) Pour the brownie mixture into your tin and bake for 30 minutes

8) Whilst baking you want to cut your creme eggs in half using a sharp knife. Lay the eggs flat on a plate and return to the fridge so they don't ooze out. The eggs will retain their filling and 'egg like' appearance

9) After the brownies have had their first bake press the creme eggs into the brownie mixture spacing the creme eggs evenly. Return your brownies to the oven for a further 5 minutes

10) Once baked allow the brownies to completely cool in the tin

I hope you enjoyed this recipe post my lovelies. Let me know in the comments if you chose to give these ago. I also want to try creme egg cupcakes but I wasn't sure how well these would travel on a train. Brownies seemed a safer bet. I think these will now become a staple of mine and I am planning on baking these again next week for another friend so they are in high demand. You could also try making these for Halloween using the scream egg versions that Cadbury's release. These are exactly the same yet green inside and would look really effective and spooky with the green fondant oozing out.

XXX

Apricot, Ginger And Cashew Energy Balls

Good morning my lovelies. How are you all? I hope the Monday morning caffeine intake is being topped up as we speak. Today I have another healthy recipe for you all for some delicious and nutritious snacks. I got this recipe from Jamie Oliver's Everyday Super Food recipe book; I tried these yesterday with my Mum and we both loved them so I thought I would share them with you all. These are super healthy and good for you yet very delicious. Perfect for little snacks to keep you going. Think Naked Bars and Bounce Balls. Nutritious and Delicious. There are loads and loads of recipes for energy balls available in recipe books and online; the amount of different flavour combinations that you could try is endless. Once you have a basic recipe you can tweak it however you like whether thats using different nuts or flavours. These are so quick and easy to make and no baking or chilling is involved.

Ingredients - makes 12

100g unsalted cashew nuts
20g sesame seeds
80g dried apricots
20g puffed brown rice
a 4cm piece of ginger
1/2 tsp of mixed spice
2 tbsp honey

Method

1) Toast the cashew nuts in a saucepan over a medium heat string occasionally to stop the nuts from burning. Once the nuts are starting to appear golden add in the sesame seeds as these will toast faster. When golden tip the nuts and seeds onto a plate to cool

2) Blitz 40g of the toasted cashew nuts to a fine powder in a food processor and pour onto a plate to use as a dusting and coating at the final stage

3) Then blitz the sesame seeds, apricots, puffed brown rice and remaining cashew nuts in the food processor until finely chopped. Next time i make these I might try incorporating the puffed brown rice by hand rather then blitzing for a bit of crunch but it is totally up to you at this stage

4) Peel and finely grate your ginger into the mixture alongside the mixed spice and quickly mix so that both ingredients are incorporated

5) Add the honey and blitz for 1 - 2 minutes so that all of the ingredients are combined together

6) Divide your mixture into 12 balls and roll each ball in your cashew dust

You can store these little gems in an airtight container for up to two weeks if you can somehow find a way to make them last that long.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe my lovelies and let me know how you get on with these if you try making these. I would also love to know any of your own recipes for making energy balls and snacks similar to these. Enjoy the rest of your day.

XXX

Homemade Nut Butters

Good morning my lovelies, I have a new recipe for you all today yet shock horror it's not an indulgent sweet treat. Instead it's something from the God's that is super healthy and very delicious. What more could you ask for? I'm really into healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle, of course including the occasional sweet treat or two. However, I am a firm believer of you are what you eat.

Ever since I was a little girl I have always loved peanut butter. We always used to buy the traditional one from the supermarket when doing the weekly food shop that has quite a solid and creamy texture. Last year me and my Mum discovered a new variety of nut butters from the brand Meridan. They have a huge variety of different butters to try including peanut, almond, hazelnut, cashew and even pumpkin seed butter. There are many more which also vary in texture as you can get some that are smooth or some that are crunchy. The thing that I like about this brand is that their butters are 100% nuts although some include the occasional pinch of salt but I think we can let them off that one. The ones that we were so use to buying contained palm oil. I'm not sure what palm oil is but I think it gives the firmer butters the more solid consistency that can sometimes stick to the top of your mouth and leave you with a funny after taste. In contrast these butters are much smoother and have no strange after taste in them. What is good to know is that they are 100% nuts.

To cut a very long and rambling story about peanut butter short; me and my Mum thought well if they are 100% nuts surely we can make our own.

Any excuse to bake or cook for me is a winner. I did a bit of research and cracked out our Jamie Oliver and Deliciously Ella recipe books who both include recipes on making your own nut butters. As well as being more cost effective as it's cheaper to buy a bag of nuts as supposed to a glass jar of the nut butter; it is a lot more rewarding and enjoyable making the butter taste that even bit more delicious. It is so quick and easy to make and it also leaves the house smelling incredible. I would definitely recommend at least trying it once as you will definitely be converted.

Ingredients:

Nuts

Simple, all you need is a packet of nuts. These could be any type and any quantity. You could even use a combination of different types. For my first attempt I made brazil nut butter. I found that 200g of nuts fills an empty Meridan glass jar.

Method

1) Pre-heat your oven to 200°C/ 180°Fan

You don't have to roast the nuts but I think it helps to release the oils for the butter. Not only that it gives the nuts a gorgeous golden colour and will therefore give some colour to your butter. It also leaves the house smelling amazing and homely. We toast seeds every Sunday to use throughout the week so the smell of toasted nuts and seeds smells like home to me; very comforting. 

2) Lay your nuts out flat on a baking tray and roast for 5-10 minutes until golden and brown. The smaller the variety of nut that you use the quicker this will be

3) Once golden remove the nuts from the oven and leave to cool down for 5-10 minutes

4) Place the nuts in a blender and give them a good blitz. You will see the nuts go from course to crumbs and then into a smooth butter paste. Once you have your desired consistency, add the butter to a glass jar.

There are so many different options that you can have with your butters. You could go for a smooth or a textured butter. For a textured butter you could add half of you nuts and blend to a smooth butter and then add the second half only blending until coarse. Alternatively you could add all the nuts at once and stop blending as soon as it goes from crumbs to a butter leaving you with a more solid texture. If you wanted to make a Healthy alternative to chocolate spread you could add a couple of teaspoons of cacao powder to your roasted hazelnuts when blitzing. The list of possibilities is endless.

Nut butters are delicious and healthy and there are so many varieties that you can make with so many uses. My current obsession is having nut butter inside a warm toasted wholemeal pitta bread. Once toasted you get a pocket of steam that just melts the butter it is incredible. You could also enjoy your nut butter on toast, in a sandwich, on top of a crumpet or waffle, on top of an oat cake or spread on top of fruit such as apples or pears as a fruit and nut snack. Alternatively you could also do what I like to do and curl up in your pyjamas on the sofa and eat the butter out of the jar with a spoon, what a perfect evening.

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog post my lovelies and that you give this a try. It is so quick and easy I hope I am able to convert at least one of you into trying these. Nuts are so delicious but they're also incredibly good for you. They are good for your hair, skin and nails and general well being. I have seeds and nuts every single day and I wouldn't be without them. I hope you have a good day my lovelies.

XXX

Peanut Butter Cookies

Good evening my lovelies, I hope your Monday was almost bearable. This morning I was in a baking mood and seeing as we have two very empty and sad looking cake tins in the house I thought it was about time that they were topped up. I haven't uploaded a baking blog post for a while now so I thought it was only time that I cracked on and got going again. This is my first baking post for 2016 so that's quite special.

I absolutely adore peanut butter. I always have done ever since I was a little girl. Me and my Mum have been a little bit obsessed with trying all of the different ranges of organic nut butters. Previously I had only tried peanut butter but we have now also discovered things like almond, hazelnut, cashew, macadamia, brazil nut and even pumpkin seed butter. The list is endless and there are dozens of others we are still yet to try all ranging from smooth to crunchy. We might even try making our own. We love toasting seeds and nuts so we might as well try making our own butters. Gradually I have been converting Mum to peanut butter in sweets such as chocolates and cookies. Over Christmas we had some amazing white chocolate and peanut butter chocolate truffles which were sensational. I am obsessed with peanut butter at the moment I want to try and incorporate it into biscuits, cakes, cheesecakes, whoopie pies and so many more.

Yes I realise I have written an entire paragraph just about peanut butter.

I thought I would start off simple and bake some peanut butter cookies. These aren't the prettiest of cookies but they honestly taste delicious. I'm not one to blow my own trumpet but this was a new recipe and I was dead chuffed with these. The cookies are golden and crisp yet they are really gooey in the middle. Just how a cookie should be. You could use either smooth or crunchy peanut butter but I opted for crunchy. Two reasons: A) I have never tried crunchy peanut butter before and I wanted to test it out and B) I thought it would give the cookies a bit of texture. Crunchy worked really well although I would still be intrigued to try smooth as well. For the cookies you will need to use a firm peanut butter, not the gorgeous Meridan organic peanut butters that you can find in health food shops with a more oily consistency which I adore in a toasted pitta bread. I still found a firm really nice organic peanut butter that didn't have the artificial taste that some can have. The one I used was from a brand called Whole Earth.

These are best enjoyed whilst warm and freshly baked from the oven. I know this for a fact as I enjoyed two of these today with a Nespresso coffee. I would recommend a couple of these with a warm cup of coffee it is a very good match. They are so quick and easy to make with very few ingredients. I know if need be such as guests or an empty biscuit tin I could knock a batch up instantly and feel like a supreme domestic goddess.

Ingredients - makes 10

200g crunchy or smooth peanut butter
150g golden caster sugar
1 egg

Method

1) Preheat your oven to 180°C/ 160°Fan/ Gas mark 4 and grease and line two baking trays with baking paper

2) Mix the peanut butter and sugar together in a large bowl

3) Mix in the egg to your peanut butter mixture to form a dough

4) Place cherry tomato sized dough balls evenly on a baking tray. Press each ball a little to form a flat surface

5) Bake in the oven for 12 minutes until golden

6) Allow the cookies to cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to cool completely

If you are a peanut butter freak like me then you will love these simple sweet treats. Let me know in the comments if you try these and how you found them. I think my next experiment might be some peanut butter chocolate brownies.

XXX

Blogmas Day 23 - Baking Mince Pies

2 sleeps to go now my lovelies, I can't believe it we are nearly there. It's so nice both me and my Mum have finished work now and we have 12 days together now which we are calling our 12 days of Christmas - very fitting indeed. I'm so excited, it's been so hectic and go,go,go recently I can't wait to stop over Christmas and have a whole lot of indulgence.

I have had a very festive day today. I went round to my friend's house to exchange presents and we made some mince pies together. I won't lie but I don't actually like mince pies but I love the smell of them baking in the oven. I also really enjoy making them, I used to bake them with my Mum for my Dad when I was little so it's always a special and festive occasion in our household. I find it very therapeutic making pastry. Even though I don't usually like mince pies I did try one of these once they were freshly baked from the oven as I couldn't resist the smell and I actually enjoyed it - I know shocking I was surprised as well. It's always traditional to make mince pies every year. I felt so festive these baking these with Christmas music playing. I thought I would share the recipe with you all my lovelies incase any of you fancy giving these ago to get you in the festive spirit. They would make a great family bake to do on Christmas Eve and they are so quick and easy to do, even making your own pastry. Even those of you who like me passionately say every year that they don't like mince pies as like me you may be pleasantly surprised.

Ingredients - makes 12
250g plain flour
75g icing sugar
150g cold unsalted butter
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp water
350g mincemeat
50g dried cranberries
50g dried cherries
1 egg

Method

1) To make the pastry add the flour, icing sugar, butter and egg yolk to a bowl and make breadcrumbs. This is the most therapeutic thing to do in the whole wide world. Simply rub the butter lightly in-between your fingertips incorporating the butter with the remaining ingredients. Be patient, the lighter you are the better your pastry will be

2) Once you have your breadcrumbs add the water and combine the mixture all together using your hands to form a pastry ball

3) Once you have a pastry ball, kneed it between your hands and then wrap in cling film to chill in the fridge for half an hour

4) Pre-heat your oven to 200°C/ 180°Fan and very lightly grease a cupcake tin

5) Add the mincemeat, cranberries and cherries into a bowl and mix together

6) Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll to about the size of a £1 coin on a lightly floured surface using a rolling pin. Using a cutter, cut out 12 discs to form the cups of the pies and add one to each cupcake holder

7) Fill each case to 3/4 full with the mincemeat mixture, I think I used about a heaped teaspoon for each pie

8) I then used a smaller cutter to make the pie lids. I used one from lakeland where you can cut out different festive shapes such as snowflakes, gingerbread men, christmas trees and candy canes. I looked on the Lakeland website but unfortunately they seem to be sold out now. You could instead cut stars for lids or stick to tradition with a simple smaller lid

9) Top each pie with a lid and lightly brush your pies with a beaten egg for a golden finish

10) Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Once golden and crisp remove the pies from the oven and allow to cool on a wire wrack and indulge on the festive scent wafting throughout the house

I used an alternative recipe for mince pies last year which you could see by clicking here.

I indulged on coffee and mince pies for the rest of the morning before meeting my Mum in Starbucks for lunch. She had picked up the Duck, sausages and bacon from the local farm shop ready for Christmas day as well as picking holly, ivy, berries and greenery ready to finish decorating the house with tomorrow which I'm really excited to do as that is a little family tradition of ours. We had butternut squash, mushroom and chestnut stuffing flatbreads for lunch and ginger loaf cake both of which are from their Christmas range and something else we can tick of our coffee shop list. After lunch we went for a gorgeous winter walk on the downs and were lucky enough to miss the rain. I was going to have a bath and use one of my Lush products but the water hadn't heated up fully which I only realised after I had run the bath. So I gave up as I physically have no patience. Intensely irritating. So I'm currently curled up on the sofa typing away with the candle, fairy lights and Christmas tree lights all lit watching Hairspray - bliss. It's little things like this I cannot wait to do over Christmas that you don't usually have time to appreciate or enjoy when you're working. I might even do my Christmas nails tonight who knows.

I hope you enjoy you're evening's my lovelies and I shall see you tomorrow for Christmas Eve.

XXX

Banana, Fudge and White Chocolate Loaf Cake

Hello my lovelies and a Happy Bonfire Night to you all! I have the mother of all loaf cakes to share with you all today. When sat doing my uni notes the smell of bananas has been growing stronger and stronger around me when I realised that there were three very sorry looking bananas sitting in the fruit bowl. What can you do with three very over ripe bananas? Well the obvious solution to me every time is banana cake. Yum! I sort of came up with this recipe whilst rummaging through the baking cupboards for flavour combinations so rather then going down the classic spicy, fruity, nutty option; I opted for the indulgent sugary option. This loaf cake reminds me of a twist on the all time classic Banoffee Pie which is one of my favourites. What's not to love about bananas, fudge and white chocolate? All three are up there in my favourite foods. It was actually my Mum who gave me the idea and inspired me to make this creation and I am so glad that she did. It is so light and moist and I love the combination of the banana with the fudge and white chocolate. I have a real weakness for white chocolate it's my favourite type of chocolate. This is a really easy recipe to make and a real crowd pleaser. Even if your not a massive banana fan I'm sure you will still love this creation. I made this on Wednesday evening and let me tell you when it's poring with rain outside and your inside baking with the lights on, candles lit and curtains drawn with the smell of banana, fudge and chocolate drifting through the house it's a real Autumn/Winter comforting moment. Especially as loaf cakes require a long bake this gives you plenty of time to indulge in a Lush bath whilst you're waiting; that's what I did and I would highly recommend it.

Ingredients

125g salted butter
300g plain flour
175g light brown muscovado sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
150ml semi-skimmed milk
3 ripe bananas
65g fudge cut into small cubes/chunks
75g white chocolate chips

Method

1) Preheat your oven to 180°C/ 160°Fan and grease a 2 litre loaf tin and lightly dust with flour. I also lined the tin with a strip of baking paper with handles running along the base and up the two shorter sides to help remove the cake from the tin once cooled

2) Beat your butter and sugar together until smooth, pale and creamy

3) In a separate bowl, beat your eggs together before adding and mixing these into your butter mixture

4) Sift in your flour and bicarbonate of soda and mix

5) Add approximately half of your milk and stir followed by the remaining half which you also need to stir in

6) In a separate bowl, de-skin and mash your bananas with a fork

7) Fold in the bananas, fudge and white chocolate to the remaining ingredients using a metal spoon

8) Pour the cake mixture into your loaf tin and bake for 60 minutes. After 30 minutes cover the cake with foil to stop the top from burning whilst the remainder of the cake cooks. Once golden brown and a skewer comes out clean once inserted into the middle of the cake, remove the cake from the oven and allow to completely cool in the tin

9) Once cooled remove the cake from the tin and indulge yourself

Like I said previously this is a really easy and comforting cake to make. All the family will love this creation and it is perfect for an Autumnal day. I love this cake so I hope you will all give it a try. Let me know in the comments if you do and how you got on with it. I hope you all have a lovely weekend my lovelies. If in doubt of what to do, why not do some baking? I hope you all enjoy fireworks night, this cake would be perfect for a snack to take with you to a display, very festive. Unfortunately it's chucking it down with rain so I have just enjoyed a Lush bath bomb and I'm snuggled in my blanket in front of the TV, just your typical 19 year old.

XXX

Halloween Goodies

Hello my lovelies and a mahousive Happy Halloween to you all! I hope that you had/having a magical and spooky day and evening. I have a special baking blog post for you all to try to inspire you all for some fun Halloween bakes that you and all the family can try. I have included a range of different recipes from biscuits to cakes that the whole family can get involved in. Whether there to make for a Halloween party or just to indulge on over the festive season I hope you will try some of these bakes as they are great fun and super tasty too.

Iced Chocolate Halloween Shaped Biscuits

The first selection of baking ideas are some fun chocolate biscuits. These are great to make with all the family, very simple yet effective. We made these thinking that they would be good for trick or treaters and did we get any? No. All the more for us then, what a shame. These biscuits are smooth, chocolaty and light you could definitely having multiple of these. I have never been a fan of wrong dough mixture I think it's the thought of eating raw egg that messes with my mind. However, I was feeling spontaneous and tried some and oh my I have been converted to cookie dough mixture. Yum. Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough Ice Cream is one of my favourites so I suppose it isn't that much of a surprise but it was an exciting revelation for me. All the family can get involved making these and they are great fun to decorate.  They are so quick and easy to make, perfect for a Halloween party when you're rushing making 10,000 different dishes at once. You can really let your imagination go wild. I used ghost, bat and pumpkin cutters and decorated the biscuits using a mixture of chocolate, fondant and glacier icing. This is just a rough guide to give you a bit of inspiration but you could really go to town on the decoration if you wished to but these are just some simple yet very effective ideas for you all. I baked these this evening with Mum and now the house smells like a chocolate factory - bliss.

Ingredients - makes 20

125g unsalted butter
90g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp milk
175g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
small handful of white chocolate chips

Decoration:
orange fondant icing
icing sugar
black food colouring pen

Method

1) Pre-heat your oven to 180°C/ 160°Fan and grease and line two baking trays ready to bake your biscuits of chocolaty heaven

2) Cream your butter and sugar together until smooth, pale and creamy

3) Mix in your egg yolk, milk and vanilla extract to the mixture

4) Sift in your flour and cocoa powder into the mixture and mix together

5) Once mixed here comes the fun part where you can get your hands in and get messy. Gradually squidge (I love that word) your mixture together to form a dough

6) Lightly dust your work surface and rolling pin with flour and roll out your dough, I made mine to about the thickness of a £1 coin but I've never been one for precisely measuring dough thickness

7) Using your cookie cutters cut out your biscuits. You can use ever shapes you wish, you could make them all the same shape or use a variety the world's your oyster

8) Transfer the biscuits to your baking tray and bake for 10 minutes they really don't take long. For the bat cookies I lightly pressed two white chocolate chips to make eyes

9) Once baked remove the trays from the oven and leave the biscuits to firm on the trays for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to cool completely before icing

10) To finish the bats, I used a black icing pen to make two small dots at the centre of the chocolate chips to finish the eyes. You could make some quirky expressions doing this such as cross-eyed bats

11) For the ghosts I used a white glacier icing which I thought looked quite effective against the chocolate cookie. To make the icing it's a bit of trial and error. Sift around 100g of icing sugar into a bowl and add approximately a tablespoon of water and mix together with a wooden spoon. I know this isn't precise but you want to mix until you form a runny consistency that will allow you to spread the icing and get a smooth finish without leaking off the biscuit. To firm the icing simply add more icing sugar and to make it runnier add more water. Spread the icing onto the biscuits using a knife

12) For the pumpkins, dust your workspace and rolling pin with icing sugar and roll out a handful of orange fondant icing. Using the same pumpkin cutter, cut out pumpkin shapes. To stick the fondant icing to the biscuits I just added a small amount of the left over glacier icing and sandwiched the fondant icing on top

Oozing Caramel Monster Cupcakes 

The next Halloween baking selection I have lined up for you all are a group of characterful cupcakes. One of the main flavours I think of when it comes to Autumn is caramel. In fact I think of caramel all year round yet particularly during the Autumn/Winter months. These light and buttery caramel flavoured cupcakes have fun monster neon caramel buttercream faces painted on top, not forgetting the secret surprise of a salted caramel filling that will ooze out as you work your way through these tasty cupcakes. Monsters and oozing centres seem to go together quite well I thought. These cupcakes are really quick and easy to make. They are a great family bake to do as the whole family can get creative decorating the cupcakes with different monster faces. You can get really creative with these making every monster slightly different. I had great fun making these with my Mum we got really into it. I think these would be perfect for a Halloween party and it will definitely bring out the inner child within you all.

Ingredients - makes 11

150g unsalted butter
150g light muscovado sugar
3 eggs
150g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp caramel extract
3 heaped tsp salted caramel sauce

Icing:
100g unsalted butter
180g icing sugar
1/2 tsp caramel extract
Food colouring of your choice, I used yellow, green, orange and pink
Handful of white chocolate chips
Black icing pen

Method

1) Pre-heat your oven to 180°C/ 160°Fan and fill a 12 hole muffin tin with 12 cupcake cases

2) Cream your butter and sugar together in a large bowl using a wooden spoon or whisk until light, creamy and fluffy

3) Beat your eggs together in a separate bowl using a fork and gradually beat in the eggs don't worry if your mixture curdles this will be resolved when you add the flour

4) Stir in your caramel extract

5) Sift the flour and baking powder into the cupcake batter and stir using a wooden spoon until smooth

6) Fill each cupcake case to around 3/4 of the way full and bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown. A skewer should come out clean when inserted into the centre of the cupcakes

7) Leave your cupcakes in the muffin tins for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to cool

8) Whilst cooling you can prepare your buttercream, beat the butter and icing sugar together in a large bowl until smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract

9) You can use as many different icing colours as you like, divide your mixture evenly into enough bowls so you have one for each different colour that you use

10) Add a drop of food colouring for each bowl enough to get your desired colour. I went for neon monsters so I needed a couple of drops but be careful as food colouring can go from pretty pastel colours to fluorescent in one drop. Beat in the food colouring so that it is evenly mixed into the icing

11) Make a whole into the centre of each cupcake using a doughnut filler and insert your caramel sauce for a gorgeous oozing caramel centre using a piping bag

12) Now it's the fun part of icing your monster faces by piping your different coloured icing using a star shaped piping nozzle. Use white chocolate chips for eyes and a black icing pen for features



Crispy Chocolate Bat Cakes

These little spooky treats are great fun to make. No matter how old you are I will guarantee you will enjoy making these. Making these brings back many a happy memory making rice crispy cakes with my Mum when I was little. They are so simple yet very effective. The whole family can get involved. In fact I made these with my Mum and I'm now 19 so no excuses people I want the whole family to help with these and trust me you will find it very rewarding. The perfect treat to make on Halloween for trick or treaters, or for a Halloween party. There is something very satisfying about breaking up chocolate bars and then melting butter, marshmallows and chocolate together. Then stirring in rice crispy's is also very rewarding but I'm not really sure why. Everyone can also help with the decorating and especially the eating. They are chocolaty and gooey what's not to love? Theres no need to even turn the oven on. So no excuses not to give these ago they are so quick and easy, very little skill is involved.

Ingredients - makes 35

150g milk chocolate
50g unsalted butter
340g mini marshmallows
240g rice krispies
100g dark chocolate
50g white chocolate chips
black icing pen

Method

1) Line two baking trays with greaseproof paper, a good tip is to extend the paper beyond the tray leaving you with handles to lift out the crispy cake mixture

2) In a bowl melt your milk chocolate over a saucepan of hot water on a low temperature

3) In a large saucepan melt your butter followed by the marshmallows until melted stirring constantly

4) Stir in your melted chocolate into the melted butter and marshmallows and stir until combined. Add the rice crispy's and mix together

5) Pour the mixture into the lined tin and press down firmly

6) Allow the mixture to cool until firm for 5 - 10 minutes at room temperature

7) Using a bat shaped cutter, cut out your crispy cakes. Don't waste any mixture you can make use of every last piece of puffed rice by pressing trimmings together

8) Once completely cool and firm you can decorate your cakes. In a bowl over a saucepan of water on a gentle heat melt your dark chocolate

9) Spread the dark chocolate over the top of your bat cakes

10) Top each cake with two white chocolate buttons for eyes. Using your black icing pen, draw two small dots in the centre of each eye


Chocolate Toffee Apple Biscuit Boulders 

I like to think of these biscuits as a fun camp fire treat, incorporating three top and very important Autumnal flavours: chocolate, caramel and apple - it's a classic. I'll be the first one to admit that these look very homemade but they sure do taste delicious. I'm a home baker and I always think home food tastes better then shop brought food as you put all of your time and love into it. I named these biscuits boulder biscuits as they are round domed little creatures which don't tend to flatten or spread. I quite like these as most biscuits are small and dinky so it's quite nice to have a substantial cookie for when it's cold and wintery. These apple flavoured biscuits contain a hidden gem in the centre of a Rolo chocolate, oozing with chocolate and caramel it is simply a magical combination. The smell you get when you lift the lid of the biscuit tin is just heavenly. These are a really fun family bake to do where everyone can get stuck in. A little bit of taste testing along the way is also essential in my eyes. My Mum took some of these into her work and they went down a real trick and were gone in a flash.

Ingredients - makes 25

175g unsalted butter
140g golden caster sugar
2 egg yolks
50g ground almonds
125g Rolo chocolates
85g dried apple chunks
225g self-raising flour
3 tbsp milk

Method

1) Pre-heat your oven to 190°C/170°Fan/ Gas mark 5. You also need to grease and line your baking trays, I used three in total

2) Cream your butter and sugar together using an electric hand whisk until pale, light and fluffy

3) Add your egg yolks, ground almonds, dried apple chunks, flour, milk and chocolate and mix together to form a dough. You will probably find it easier to use your hands for this and enjoy getting messy

4) Roll the mixture into large walnut sized balls and place on your baking tray. Gently flatten the surface using a fork. I find these biscuits work best with one Rolo per biscuit which you should conceal in the centre of your dough ball for a gorgeous caramel centre once baked.

5) Bake in the oven for 12 - 15 minuted until golden brown. Aim to try and remove the biscuits before any caramel leakage occurs, you want to savour that gooey centre

6) Leave to cool on the tray before transferring to a wire wrack to finish cooling. A top tip would be that if you find your biscuits stuck to your tray, return the biscuits to the oven for 2 -3 minutes to heat the caramel before removing and quickly transferring to the wrack before the caramel sets

Chocolate and Lime Whoopie pies 

The final recipe is a special one for you all my spooky lovelies. We have a hybrid. Introducing the whoopie pie to you all. It is a cross between a cake and a biscuit taking the best of both worlds to create a magical and indulgent creation. Whoopie pies are new to me I have never tried or baked one before but I have definitely been converted. They are delicious and really easy to make. For Halloween I have created rich and chocolaty whoopie pies packed full of light and refreshing lime buttercream. I thought the pale green colour gave these a spooky edge perfect for Halloween parties. The batter of a whoopie pie is what I would describe as a thick cake batter. You then pipe these babies onto a baking sheet. They don't take long to bake and when they emerge they appear like biscuits yet they have a cake like texture to them. They look heavy yet they are so light you could easily justify treating yourself to multiple pies. If you are a fellow chocolate lover you will love these as they are rich and chocolaty yet the lime icing is so light and refreshing stopping these from being silly sweet. There are so many different chocolate variations you could do: strawberry, orange, raspberry, coconut, coffee, peanut butter or 'cookies and cream' the list of possibilities is endless depending on what your tipple is. I just love the name whoopie pie theres just something fun about saying it.

Ingredients - makes 15

175g plain flour
100g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
125g unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
1 egg
225ml buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

100g unsalted butter
225g icing sugar
zest of 3 limes
green food colouring

Method

1) Pre-heat your oven to 180°C/ 160°Fan and line three bang trays with baking paper. You then need to draw circles on your baking paper which have a 2 inch diameter leaving about 3 cm between each circle, these will be the templates for your whoopee pies. Once drawn, grease your sheets of baking paper

2) Sift your flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into a bowl

3) In another large bowl, cream together your butter and sugar until pale, light and fluffy

4) Beat in your egg followed by your buttermilk and vanilla extract

5) Slowly fold in half of your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients using a metal spoon. Repeat with the remaining half of the dry ingredients

6) Use a pipping bag pipe circles onto your baking paper

7) Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Once baked leave on the baking tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire wrack to cool

8) Whilst the cakes cool you can make your buttercream filling. Beat together your butter and icing sugar until soft

9) Add in your lime zest and a small drop of food colouring for a pretty pale green colour

10) Once the cakes are cooled, spread buttercream onto the bottom of half of your biscuits using a knife. Sandwich each of the iced biscuits together with a non-iced biscuit to create your whoopee pies and enjoy!

Thank you for reading this blog post my lovelies, I hope you enjoyed reading it I certainly had fun creating it. Let me know in the comments if you tried any of the recipes. I hope it's given you a little bit of inspiration. I have had a magical Halloween from carving the pumpkin, decorating the house, baking and much more I feel like the inner child in me has really gone to town today. On a final note,

Happy Halloween!

XXX

Chocolate And Honeycomb Refrigerator Cake

I would suggest that non-chocolate lovers just skip this post as it is designed especially for fellow chocolate lovers. This is a highly indulgent chocolate treat that I got just as much pleasure from baking it to eating it. I say 'baking' it, there isn't actually any baking involved that's the beauty of refrigerator cakes. For individuals who struggle with baking this is the perfect type of cake to make as it is so easy. All the skills that are required are a bit of chopping, stirring, pouring and of course eating. This is another take on the ultimate classic rocky road which you cannot beat in my eyes. This is very similar just with a bit of variation on the biscuits, fruit and nuts and with the edition of honeycomb over marshmallows. The principle in making the cake is still the same: chop your ingredients, melt the chocolate, stir it all up and as the name suggests refrigerate the cake for a couple of hours.

I don't know why I found this such a satisfying cake to make. I find it very therapeutic breaking up chocolate bars I mean the smell you get when you open a fresh bar is just gorgeous. I also love melting the chocolate and just stirring the ingredients all together. I know I probably sound a bit psycho to some of you right now but I'm sure I'm not alone, someone please back me up on this one. I know I'm going to over use the word 'satisfying' in this post, let's play a little game and see how many times I mention it.

This is the perfect indulgent treat to enjoy over Autumn/Winter when it's cold and yucky outside and you're tucked up in your warm house with your pyjamas on, films, blankets and candles - pure bliss.

Ingredients - serves 12

200g dark chocolate (I used 70%)
50g salted butter
4 tbsp golden syrup
150g all butter shortbread fingers
100g macadamia nuts
45g honeycomb
150g glace cherries (I used French morello cherries as I prefer the taste to the usual cherries as I find them less artificial but any type would do)
100g honeycomb chocolate bar (I used Galaxy honeycomb but you could also use a bar of Cadbury's Crunchie as Cadbury's is my favourite type of chocolate)

Method

The main element of this chocolate treat is the preparation with all your chopping and measuring then it's just a bung it all together kind of bake.

1) First line and grease a baking tray with grease proof paper

2) Start by weighing and chopping the non-heated elements which include: macadamia nuts, honeycomb, the glace cherries and the shortbread and place these in a large bowl. The size at which you cut these is entirely up to you but it doesn't have to be perfect and symmetrical. In fact the more variation the better. I found macadamia nuts already cut into halves which was the perfect size for me so they went in whole along with the honeycomb which saved a lot of time

3) Next break up the 200g of dark chocolate into a saucepan - I find breaking up chocolate bars way too satisfying

4) Add the butter and golden syrup and heat over a gentle heat whilst stirring occasionally. I also added the left over glace cherry juice to enhance the cherry flavour throughout the chocolate. Once smooth, glossy and all combined remove the pan from the heat

5) Pour the melted chocolate mixture into your large mixing bowl and stir all of the ingredients together - again highly satisfying

6) Transfer your mixture into your baking tray and flatten evenly pressing down with a wooden spoon so the mixture reaches all of the corners

7) Break up your honeycomb chocolate bar into chunks and randomly press chunks into the tray. I stirred mine into the mixture before pouring the mixture into the tray. This gave a really pretty marbled effect as it melted some of the chocolate but I think next time I would add it after pouring the mixture into the tray leaving you with chocolate chunks running throughout the mixture

8) Place the cake in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours and once ready to serve cut the cake into 12 portions

Then simply indulge and pray thank you to the chocolate God's. You could enjoy this on it's own or if you wanted to go all out you could enjoy it alongside some chocolate, vanilla, caramel or honeycomb flavoured ice-cream. Heaven! It is really quick and easy to make and the perfect pick-me-up if you are in need of a little bit of comfort. Let me know in the comments if you chose to give this a whirl. Thank you for reading my lovelies.

XXX