Minnie Mouse Cupcakes

So I kinda have a obsession with Disney and last weekend me and my best friend had a baking day including making these cute Minnie Mouse cupcakes.

 Again I used the basic chocolate sponge recipe where all the ingredients weigh the same as the eggs. Please note that the cocoa powder and flour together should also equal the weight of the eggs You can use however much you like, however here is the amount I would roughly use. If the eggs weight 130g then I would do 100g flour and 30g cocoa powder.

We baked the cupcakes and then used the traditional vanilla buttercream icing, which is 250g icing sugar, 80g softened butter, 25ml milk and a drop of vanilla essence all whizzed together in the mixer and then put into a piping bag.

The fun part is the decorating. Minnie's ears are Cadburys Giant Chocolate Buttons and to make the bow we used red fondant icing and white balls (similar to silver balls) for the dots. 

These are very simple and easy cupcakes and ideal if you are hosting a party or to make for someone as a gift.

Disney loving xoxo

Honeycomb Cupcakes

I recently visited Waitrose and spotted in the baking section some little pots of honeycomb, and had a brain wave to make honeycomb cupcakes.

I used a basic chocolate cupcake mix as detailed in previous blog posts.
I then found a recipe for malted chocolate butter cream which used horlicks, and it tasted delicious. I put all the ingredient below in a mixer and whizzed until smooth and fluffy and then piped onto the cakes.

250g icing sugar
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
45g horlicks
125g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons boiling water


The cupcakes were such a success I had to make more the next day!! However the next time I made them we had run out of cocoa powder so I used hot chocolate instead, and I think i preferred them made with hot chocolate as the cakes seemed lighter and fluffier and so did the icing.

Happy baking!! xoxo

Waitrose No Bake Raspberry Cheesecakes

I love going to Waitrose and picking out the recipe cards and getting some inspiration from them, so when I popped into my local Waitrose with my mum we saw these and decided to bake them as soon as we got home.

They are the most simple and quick desserts to make, but taste delicious. Most of the ingredients are from the essential range as well, which makes them relatively cheap too!

The recipe can be found here, however I will give a quick summary below:

The recipe says to crush 6 essential Waitrose Rich Highland Shortie Biscuits, however I wanted to be generous with the biscuits so ended up crushing about 20!! I then crushed the biscuits and divided between 5 tumblers (there are 5 people in my family, the recipe serves 4!). Then you mix 250g of Waitrose Lighter Soft Cheese, with 100g essential Waitrose Greek Style Yoghurt (I did about 150g in the end) and 2tbsp pure clear honey. These go in the fridge whilst the 200g frozen essential Waitrose Raspberries thaw with 2tbsp cordial (I used summer fruits cordial as that was in the cupboard but the recipe recommends blackcurrant cordial or squash). Once ready to eat, divide the thawed raspberries between the beakers and layer on top.

I really loved this as a dessert and will most definitely be serving it in the summer as it is a very summery pudding!

Sweet potato coconut spiced soup

At the weekend I went to visit my friend in Nottingham. For lunch she bought us Sweet potato, coconut chilli soup from Tesco. It was delicious, so I decided I would re create it for half the price.

I googled some recipes online and ended up combining two recipes together.

Ingredients:

400g sweet potato, cubed
200ml coconut milk
500ml stock
2 tsp Thai green curry paste

Cut up the sweet potato into cubes (if you are in a rush you can grate it, as it will soften quicker that way!). Put it in a pan with a little oil and mix. Add 500ml of stock and bring to the boil. Simmer until the sweet potato has softened. Once softened take off the heat and add the coconut milk and curry paste.

Place all into a blended and whiz until smooth. Hey presto you have a delicious soup.

Serve with lovely crusty bread.

Homemade Berry Smoothie

So I am now back at University for my final year and trying my hardest to live healthily. I have been to many a gym class and wake up every morning aching.Last night we did Kick Ass followed by Legs Bums and Tums - wow that was intense! 

This morning I made myself a delicious berry smoothie. I have never made my own smoothie as never had the equipment to do so, so I just had to share it with you.

You basically put what every you want into a smoothie maker/blender. Its fabulous, quick and easy.

As I am a student its all about saving money, so all the ingredients are from my new favourite supermarket - Aldi. The food is so cheap but the fruit and veg does not last very long so you have to use it quickly! 

I used, 1 banana, just under half a punnet of raspberries, a selection of fruit from the frozen berry selection, a glug of apple and raspberry juice and about 3tbsp of low fat greek yoghurt.

I put it all into a blender, whizzed it up until a smoothie consistency and hey presto a healthy smoothie! 

Now I wonder how many of my 5 a day is in that!? xoxo

Easy but delicious Weekend Meal

Last weekend I cooked for my family, for some reason (don't ask!!) my family absolutely love chorizo. So when I came across a recipe for Chicken and Chorizo pie I just had to make it.

The recipe is very simple, but soo delicious. It also looks great so is perfect to serve at a dinner party.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
10 chicken thighs, skin and bone removed
2 onions, chopped
200g chiroiza, skin removed and slices into discs
50g plain flour, plus a little for dusting
100ml dry sherry, or white wine
600ml chicken stock
150ml single cream
large pack parsley, chopped
500g pack puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

Method:

1 - Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole dish. Brown the chicken thighs until golden, then transfer to a place.
2 - Add the onions to the dish and cook for 5 mins until soft, then add the chorizo and cook for 2 mins until the orangey oils are released into the pan.
3 - Stir in the flour for 1 min, then add the alcohol and bubble for 2 mins until most has evaporated.
4 - Return the chicken to the pan, add the stock, cover with a lid and simmer for 40 mins, or until tender.
5 - Using a slotted spoon, scoop the chicken pieces out of the pan and transfer to a place. Use two forks to shred the meat into chunk bite-sized pieces.
6 - Meanwhile, add the cream to the pan, increase the heat and bubble for 10-15 mins until the liquid has reduced to a white sauce consistence.
7 - Add seasoning and return the chicken to the pan along with the parsley.
8 - Transfer to a pie dish (roughly 20cm x25cm) and place a pie funnel in the centre.
9 - Set this aside to cool whilst you prepare the pastry
10 - Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to the thickness of a £1 coin.
11 - Brush a little beaten egg around the rim of the pie dish, then using your rolling pin to help lift the pastry over the dish.
12 - Trim away and excess pastry, then pinch the edges with your forefingers and thumb to crimp.
13 - Brush with a thin layer of beaten egg, and use the left over pastry to decorate.
14 - Bake for 45 mins or until golden brown and the filling is piping hot.

For dessert I make the easiest ever shortbread!

Ingredients:
Plain flour, 200g
Butter, 200g
Golden caster sugar, 50g plus extra for dusting

Method:

1 - Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4
2 - Whizz the flour ad butter in a food processor
3 - Add the suagr and whizz until the mixture is crumbly
4 - Press the mixture into a buttered fluted 22cm round tart tin with the back of the spoon
5 - Bake for 30-35 min until golden brown
6 - While still warm, cut into wedges, prick with a fork and dust with caster sugar
7 - Leave to cool completely in the tin

Enjoy baking both of these at the weekend, especially on a cold winters day! I often serve the shortbread with a mousse, such as lemon posset or passionfruit mousse.




*both recipes from BBC Good Food

American Farewell Dinner

Sorry I have not posted in a while, I have been super super busy. Finishing my last week at placement and preparing myself to fly to America for 3 months on Tuesday!

Tonight I made my family a farewell American themed dinner. Of course we had burgers for main! I made the beef burgers myself and served them with melted cheddar cheese and bacon. The burgers were served with curly fries - yum!

For pudding we had chocolate brownies and Oreo milkshakes - both of which recipes feature on previous blog posts.

I decorated the table with American flags and gave everyone place names with famous Americans!

I am getting super excited to fly out to America and want to be there now! I am working at Walt Disney World Florida for 2 months, before travelling the West Coast and ending in New York. Going to be the best Summer ever! I have started a separate blog solely for posts about my travels which you can see here!

Good night! xoxo

Cake Pops

My dear friend bought me a belated present of Cake Pop's starter kit. The two kits were from Lakeland, the first being the mould/tray the cake mixture is cooked in. The second being a pack that included a stand, sticks and presentation bags.

I had never made cake pops, and took the rainy afternoon as the opportunity to make them.
Firstly I made the mixture and halved the recipe on the back of the packaging (as the recipe made 40 and I didn't need that many!)

Recipe

60g butter, sofened

75g caster sugar

90g self raising flour, sifted

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

1.5 tbsp milk

1) Cream the butter and sugar together until well mixed and fluffy.

2) Add the vanilla and eggs, and mix well

3) Add the flour and milk and mix until well combined

4) Place the mould onto a baking tray then spoon the mixture into the cake mould, ensuring each cavity is full. Close the mould.

5) Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 180 degrees. 

6) Once cooked, and a skewer comes out clean leave the cake pops to cool

7) Once cooled push a stick into each of the pops

8) Dip the cake pops into icing or chocolate and decorate as desired

The silicone tray and presentation kit can be bought from Lakeland :)

Happy Baking :) xoxo

Oreo Milkshakes

As you can probably tell by now, I am addicted to Oreo's. At the weekend I decided to attempt Oreo Milkshakes. Whenever I go for a drink at a cafe that sells milkshakes I will without a doubt choose the Oreo Milkshake. So I decided to try and make them myself - they are quite expensive to buy in the shops, and don't cost much to make at all, especially as Oreo's always seem to be half price at the supermarkets. 64p for a packed, would be rude not to!!

The recipe too be honest is all about guessing and depends on how 'Oreoy' you would like you milkshake.
For example the first batch I made my mum said was too Oreo flavoured, but I loved it, and the second batch I made I used less Oreo's and mum loved it!

You will need good quality ice cream for this, not the fake super white stuff you can buy. I used Kelly's of Cornwall Clotted Cream Ice Cream.

I used 4 generous scoops of ice cream and 7 Oreo's broken up with a dash of milk, whizzed up with a blender until smooth. Then gradually added 100 ml of milk until a smooth milkshake was formed.
However you may use more or less Oreo's depending on the strength you would like and more or less milk, depending on how thick of thin you like your milkshakes. For me this was perfect, however for my mum she preferred only 4 Oreo's.

I then poured the mixture into a glass, topped with squirty cream and a sprinkling of crushed Oreo's. I finished the milkshake with a mini Oreo.