Made With Pink

Green Chocolate Chips for St. Patrick's Day

2013-03-13T21:31:00.000Z

Remember when I made my own homemade pink and red chocolate chips to use in these Valentine's Day Chocolate Chip Cookies? Well I didn't just stop at pink and red chips. I made a couple of shades of green as well. I figured they'd come in handy for St. Patrick's Day, so here they are!

Again, I used my coloured chocolate chips in my favourite triple chocolate chip cookie so the greens would really stand out in the dark chocolate cookie. These still remain my favourite cookie, they're so rich, gooey and chocolatey. My husband who usually doesn't eat much sweet stuff during the week ate five, yes FIVE (that's 5!) of these in one night! I had to give his hand a slap in order to stop him from eating the rest before I could photograph them!

I used a combination of my homemade green chocolate chips and store bought white chocolate chips for these cookies. The dark green chips were made using the standard green Wilton Candy Melts. To make the lime green chips I tinted some white candy melts with some Electric Green Americolor gel food colouring.

For the full set of instructions on how to make your own chocolate chips in any colour you'd like and for the triple chocolate chip cookie recipe, visit my original post here.

Kids Handprint Cookies For Mothers Day

2013-03-10T01:11:00.001Z

I learned to bake when I was a kid, back in the day before there were blogs and celebrity chefs. Like many young girls, I learned to bake from the women in my life - my mom and my mom's mom. I loved helping out in the kitchen whenever I got a chance. I learned how to bake cinnamon buns, donuts, cookies, chocolate truffles, and the most amazing cakes ever. Many of my fondest memories happened (and still do happen) in the kitchen.

I can only hope that Jayden will enjoy helping me out in the kitchen as much as I enjoyed helping my mom out. But for now I've got him practising his "mixing skills" with a wooden spoon and a soup pot. And he's doing a pretty good job if I so say so myself!

Although he can't officially help me out with my baking yet, he did play a crucial role in these funfetti sugar cookies. I used his little hand as a template and then cut out the dough around the template using a sharp knife.

The idea for these cookies actually came from my mom when she forwarded them to me in a Martha Stewart email last week. You see, a couple of weeks ago we were supposed to fly home to Canada to visit our parents. It had been over a year since Jayden last saw his grandparents, but unfortunately some dishonest and manipulating people ended up preventing us from taking our trip home to see them. It still amazes me how certain people can live with themselves despite the promises that were previously made.

In the end my mother in law ended up making the trip over to the UK to see us instead. I figured since my parents couldn't see how much their grandson had grown since they last time they saw him, I'd send his little handprint to them in cookie form. I made these at the last minute, the night before my mother in law left so I only managed to take a few pictures on my iphone. Apologies for the poor photographs.

Seeing as today is Mother's Day in the UK, I figured what better way than to celebrate with these fun and creative cookies that you and your kids can make together.

Although the idea for these cookies came from Martha Stewart, I used Peggy Porschen's trusty sugar cookie recipe which is the only sugar cookie recipe I use. I've had nothing but success with it. I don't even bother trying new recipes, especially when they call for baking powder which causes the cookies to rise and loose their shape.

Mummy's Little Helper Handprint Cookies

1. Start out by tracing the outline of your child's hand on a heavy piece of cardstock - I used the back of an old cereal box. Cut out the handprint and set aside.

2. Make one batch of Peggy Porschen's sugar cookie dough - recipe here. Add in 1 - 2 tablespoons of coloured sprinkles to the cookie dough near the end just as the mixture is forming a dough. Chill for at least an hour.

3. Roll the dough out according to the directions in my original sugar cookie post here. Place your child's handprint template on the dough, and trace around it with a sharp knife, and repeat with the remaining dough.

4. Chill the cookie cutouts in the freezer for 10 minutes, before baking in a 350ºF (180ºC) oven for 8 - 10 minutes.

I packaged Jayden's little handprint cookies in a plastic container with lots of bubble wrap, so I'm hoping they made it home to my parents safely with all 5 fingers present and accounted for!

White Chocolate Speculoos Rice Krispy Treats

2013-02-23T01:36:00.002Z

A few days ago I found my self home alone. Childless. Husbandless. All by my self. And with no one to disturb me I decided to make the most of my time along by relaxing in a luxurious hour long bubble bath. OK, OK I'm totally lying. I did no such thing. I actually found myself cleaning out the fridge and cupboards. Not nearly as relaxing huh? I was going through my cupboards when I came across a jar of leftover Speculoos from the Speculoos Swiss Roll I made a couple of months ago. I also found a few half used boxes of cereal and some white chocolate(ish) bars by Silver Spoon which are very similar to candy melts but with a better consistency. And since I'm trying to use up the contents of my cupboard at the moment, I figured what better way to do so than by combining everything to create some white chocolate Speculoos rice crispy treats.

I guess you could say these are my take on the traditional "crispy cakes" that are so popular here in the UK. Crispy cakes are basically just a mixture of cereal (usually cornflakes or rice krispies) along with melted chocolate, and sometimes marshmallows and/or raisins. They're virtually effortless, but oh so delicious. Essentially they're idiot proof. And they were probably one of my favourite homemade things that my co-workers would bring into the office to share with everyone.

I'll admit right now that I've never made crispy cakes before. I don't know why, but probably because they were just too simple - I'm aways trying to come up with new and exciting desserts, or attempting to re-create ones that I've found online or in recipe books.

These are probably the simplest things I've ever made - aside from Jello. Three ingredients. That's it. White chocolate flavoured cake covering (or candy melts), Speculoos (Biscoff Spread) and Rice Krispies. Really, that's it!

White Chocolate Speculoos Rice Krispy Treats

Ingredients:

300g White Chocolate Cake Covering or Candy Melts

3/4 Cup Speculoos (Biscoff) Spread

4 Cups (120g) Rice Krispies cereal

Instructions:

1. In a heat proof bowl or measuring cup, melt the white chocolate cake covering over a double boiler.

2. Add in the Speculoos spread, and stir until fully incorporated with the melted white chocolate.

3. Add the rice krispies and stir until they are fully mixed in with the speculoos white chocolate mixture. Immediately spoon into small muffin cups, or spread in a flat layer over some foil or a silicone mat. Allow to set for 10 minutes before serving.

I made a combination of the traditional "crispy cakes" in little cupcake cases, as well as some "bark" style treats. After the flat bark style treats had set I just broke them into large pieces, but you could use cookie cutters to make fun shaped treats as well.

Valentine's Day Chocolate Chip Cookies

2013-02-13T22:44:00.002Z

In the UK it always seems like we're a bit cheated when it comes to fun baking ingredients. Whenever I make a trip back to Canada or the US I always go a bit mad by chucking every type of chocolate chip, different flavoured Oreo cookie, and seasonal candy in my shopping cart so I can bring them all back to the UK to restock my baking shelf.

I've brought some pretty cool chocolate chips back from my overseas travels including milk & white chocolate swirls, green mint chips, mini Reese's Pieces, lemon chips, etc. You get the picture.... they have LOTS to choose from. But there's one chocolate chip I've never been able to find - PINK ones! And to be honest, I hadn't even thought of pink chocolate chips until a couple of years ago when I noticed that one of the top search terms that people used to get to my blog was "pink chocolate chips". So it was really all of you guys who gave me the idea for my next project.

After scouring the internet for a mainstream brand of pink chocolate chips, I couldn't find anything. The only thing I could think of even remotely similar were the coloured candy melts I had sitting on my shelf. But they were far too big to be used as chocolate chips in a cookie. I had two options - chop them up into little pieces, or melt them and make my own pink chocolate chips.

Obviously I choose to make my own! And it was so easy! Not only did I make my own pink chocolate chips, but I also made red ones as well as a few other colours which will be revealed in a future post.

Making your own chocolate chips is so easy! Follow my directions below, and you'll soon be able to make chocolate chip cookies with chips in every shade of the rainbow!

How to Make Your Own Coloured Chocolate Chips

Materials:

Candy Melts

Disposable Piping Bag

Silicone Baking Mat

Food Colouring, optional

Directions:

1. Start off by melting some candy melts in your colour of choice over a double boiler. If you don't have the exact colour you want, then you can use some white melts and tint them whatever colour you choose using a gel / paste / powder colouring. (I tinted some of mine this way, and they turned out perfectly fine).

2. Snip off the tip of a disposable piping bag (make sure not to snip too much off, otherwise you're chips will be too big). Transfer the melted candy melts into your piping bag.

3. Hold your piping bag at a 90 degree angle, and gently pipe a dollop of the melted candy melt onto your silicone baking mat. To make a perfect little coloured chip you'll need keep your piping bag pointed straight down towards the mat, and keep the pressure even until a blob starts to form. Then gently pull up, and make a little flicking motion at the end to create the little "drip" top. Repeat until you've finished piping all your coloured chips. Allow the chips to set for at least half an hour before removing them from the silicone mat. I found that the easiest way to remove all my chips form the mat was to slide an offset spatula under them.

I used a combination of the pink and red chips that I made myself, along with some leftover white & milk chocolate chips I had from a previous trip to the states to make some extra special cookies for my Valentine.

I made his favourite double chocolate chip cookies, but switched up the regular chocolate chips for my pretty homemade Valentine's day ones.

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 Cup (227g) Butter, softened

1 1/2 Cups (337g) Sugar

2 Eggs

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 Cups (250g) Flour

2/3 Cup (65g) Cocoa Powder

3/4 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

1/2 Cup Pink Chocolate Chips

1/2 Cup Red Chocolate Chips

1/2 Cup White Chocolate Chips

1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350ºF (175ºC). Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt, and set aside. In a separate bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

2. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture until combined. Add in all of the coloured and chocolate chips and stir until they're combined throughout. Drop the cookie dough by spoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet.

3. Bake for 8-10 minutes depending on your oven. The cookies should still be slightly soft in the middle, but not liquidy or undercooked. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for approximately 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

These cookies have been, and likely always will be my favourite cookie. I made this batch for my special Valentine who's usually a health nut, but these are also his favourite cookie so he ended up eating 5 in one night! They're also the same cookie I used to make my Quadruple Chocolate Lindt Stuffed Cookies, which are even more decadent with the added chocolate pillow inside!

Laduree Religieuse Recipe

2013-02-11T01:30:00.006Z

Shhh, I have a secret..... I fell in love in Paris. But not with my husband. I fell in love with pastries. Perfect little pastries. From the first time I set foot into a Laduree patisserie parlour I knew I was somewhere special. I'd never seen so many gorgeous and unique pastries before, they were like little works of art. But there was one that immediately stood out - a pretty double stacked pink cream puff lined with white ruffles leading up to a silver pearl at the top. It was a thing of beauty. Sadly I never did get to try one that trip because I blew my budget on a box of their signature macarons.

When I got home from Paris I immediately took to Google and discovered that the pretty pink pastry I saw at Laduree was called a religieuse, and was named so because the pastry is said to look like a nuns habit (headpiece).

To this day I've never fallen out of love with the religieuse, and have always wanted to try and make my own. So in preparation for Valentines Day I decided to celebrate love by recreating the religieuse from Laduree. And I kid you not, these were probably the most tastiest things I've ever made. They were to die for, and just as good as the ones from Laduree (which I've had on subsequent trips to Laduree.)

Choux pastry provides the base for the religiuese, which also happens to be the same pastry that is used for profiteroles and eclaires so it's a great recipe to have on hand. This recipe comes from the Laduree Sucre recipe book, so it's as authentic as it'll get.

This was the first time I'd made choux pastry before so I made sure to follow the recipe exactly as described in the book. But to my dismay my choux buns didn't puff up like they should have. They looked more like English Yorkshire puddings than they did choux buns. What had I done wrong? The recipe was very easy to follow and choux pastry is simple to make so I tried again, making sure to follow the instructions very carefully. The recipe states to bake the choux pastry for about 10 minutes until they have fully puffed up, and then open the oven door a crack to let the steam escape, and cook for another 20 minutes. I carefully watched my second batch of choux pastry through the oven door and they looked great. I could see them puffing up nicely, so at the 10 minute mark I opened the door a crack. I immediately watched my choux buns defate before my eyes. How disappointing!

One thing that stood out while I was piping my choux batter onto my baking sheets was that it seemed a lot thinner than I imagined it would be. I decided to try the recipe one last time, but this time I used one less egg in order to make the batter slightly thicker. I also increased the oven temperature and left the door closed the entire time. Success! My choux buns came out perfectly.

A few days later I got talking to my friend Sarah from the blog Maison Cupcake and she thought my failed choux pastry attempts may have been down to the fact that I was using a fan oven. I can't say for certain if it was the fan that was effecting my first two batches of choux pastry or if it was the consistency of the batter, so I'm going to include the original Laduree recipe as well as my adaptations in pink so you can decide on which one you want to try.

These religieuse might look difficult to make, but they're really not. So go on, and try making them for your special Valentine!

Valentines Day Religiuese

The recipes below are from Laduree Sucre, and have been adapted to make the religiuese.

Adaptations are shown in pink.

Creme Patissiere

Ingredients:

1 Vanilla Bean *I used 1 Tbsp Vanilla Paste

1 2/3 Cups (400ml) Whole Milk

4 Egg Yolks

1/2 Cup - 1 Tbsp (80g) Castor Sugar

1/4 Cup (30g) Cornstarch

1 Tbsp (25g) Butter

*300ml double cream, whipped

Directions:

1. Slice the vanilla bean in half lengthwise, and scrape out the seeds. Pour the milk in a saucepan and add the vanilla pod and seeds *or vanilla paste. Bring to a simmer. Remove from heat, and cover immediately. Allow to infuse for 15 minutes.

2. In a large bowl whisk the egg yolk and sugar until slightly pale. Incorporate the cornstarch.

3. Remove the vanilla pod from the milk, and bring to a simmer. Pour 1/3 of the milk over the egg yolk mixture (to temper the egg yolks) , and whisk together. Pour the egg yolk mixture back into the saucepan. Bring to a boil while stirring constantly with a whisk, until thickened.

4. Remove the creme patisserie from the heat and pour into a clean bowl. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, and then incorporate the butter. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool and set.

5. Although the creme patissiere was delicious, I found it a bit too rich and heavy. I had some double cream in the fridge, so I decided to whip it up and fold it into my chilled creme patissiere just to lighten it up a bit. I'm so glad I did because the mixture of the whipped cream and the creme patissiere was absolutely delicious!

Choux Pastry

Ingredients:

1 Cup - 1/2 Tbsp (120g) Cake Flour *I used plain all purpose flour

1/2 Cup - 1 Tbsp (100ml) Whole Milk

1/2 Cup - 1 Tbsp (100ml) Water

1 Tbsp (10g) Caster Sugar

1 pinch salt

5 1/2 Tbsp (80g) Unsalted Butter

4 Eggs *I used 3

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC) *I baked mine at 200ºC. Sift the flour, sugar and salt in a small bowl and set aside. In a medium saucepan add the butter, milk and water and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, and dump the flour mixture into the liquid. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon or spatula until it forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pot. Set aside and allow to cool.

2. Add in the eggs one at a time, stirring until each one is fully incorporated before adding the next. *Here I judged the consistency after adding each egg and decided to only use 3

3. Transfer batter into a piping bag, and pipe into desired shape. *To make the religiuese you will need to pipe an equal number of small and large circles on your baking sheet.

4. Bake in pre-heated oven for 8-10 minutes. When they have started to puff up, open the door very slightly (about 1/8 inch) to allow the steam to escape. Continue to bake the choux pastry for a further 20 - 30 minutes with the door slightly ajar, until the choux buns are golden. *I baked my choux pastry at 200ºC for 25 minutes, and did not open the door.

5. Remove the golden choux pastry buns from the oven immediately and pierce them with a sharp knife or skewer to allow for the steam to escape. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Fondant Topping:

Ingredients:

3oz (80g) White Chocolate, melted

4oz (120g) White Pouring Fondant *I used the Silver Spoon powdered version that you mix with water

Drop of pink food colouring

Directions:

1. In a small bowl (wide enough to dip your chox buns in) prepare the liquid fondant according to the directions on the package. Pour the melted white chocolate into the liquid fondant mixture and stir until fully combined. Add a tiny drop of pink food colouring, and stir until evenly blended.

To Assemble:

In addition to the above recipes, you'll also need:

* Silver dragees

* A small amount of buttercreme, or leftover creme patissiere

1. To fill the choux buns, transfer the creme patissiere into a piping bag fitted with a medium plain tipped nozzle. Insert the nozzle into the hole in the bottom of the choux bun that you made after they came out of the oven. Gently squeeze the piping bag so that the creme patissiere fills the cavity of the choux bun. Repeat until all choux buns are filled. *Do not over fill

2. Prepare the fondant topping according to the directions above. Dip the top half of the smaller choux buns into the coloured fondant, gently tapping off any excess. Add a silver dragee on top, and place the choux buns on a baking sheet or wire rack to allow the fondant to set. These will become the tops of your religiuese.

3. Dip the top halves of the larger choux buns into the coloured fondant, gently tapping off any excess. Let them sit for a minute or two before gently placing the smaller choux bun on top. Hold the top choux bun in place for a few moments to ensure it stays put. Repeat until all of the religiuese are assembled.

4. Fit a piping bag with a small star tipped nozzle, and fill with a small amount of buttercream or leftover creme patissiere. Starting with the bottom choux bun, pipe a line of buttercream that stretches to fondant covering of the top choux bun.

5. Refrigerate until ready to serve. *The religiuese will keep in the fridge for up to two days.

I'm also submitting my Valentine's Religiuese to a blogger link ups / challenges this month: Homemade by Fleur's virtual tea for two Valentine's Bake Off, as well as this month's Tea Time Treats link challenge (Perfect Puddings) hosted by What Kate Baked , and finally the Calendar Cakes challenge hosted by Dolly Bakes and Laura Loves Cake.

Kenwood Chef Classic Review

2013-02-08T01:15:00.003Z

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the launch of the new Classic range of Kenwood Chef stand mixers. I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I'm a huge KitchenAid fan. I would be lost without my shiny pink beauty sitting prominently on my kitchen counter. I'd never really even entertained the idea of having another brand of mixer set foot in my kitchen. That is, until I started seeing the new line of Kenwood KMix stand mixers popping up a few years ago. They looked nice. Really nice! They were nice and streamlined, and with a great selection of colours to choose from. They even ranked second on my 2011 Christmas top 10 list.

So when I got a chance to preview the new Kenwood Chef Classic range, I jumped at the opportunity. I'd never used another mixer other than my pink KitchenAid, so I was really interested to see how the Kenwood performed.

The Kenwood Chef Classic is described as "a fresh take on the beloved Kenwood Chef", and is available in a glossy white, with "nostalgic" metallic coloured accents of calypso orange, astro blue or pinto green, all inspired by the 1970's.

My first impressions of the Kenwood Chef Classic mixer was that in all honesty I really didn't like the boxy design, and two out of the three colours it comes in. What can I say, I'm a pastel person who was born in the 80's. I guess 1970's nostalgic colours just aren't my thing. I did like the white base colour though. Aesthetics aside, the Kenwood Chef Classic was relatively easy to use. We tested out the mixer while making a black forest roulade, and the clear latch covered splash guard which prevented a cloud of flour and icing sugar from rising into my face quickly emerged as my favourite feature of the Chef. Simple, but well thought out. I wish I had one of these on my KitchenAid. I also grew to like the white plastic bowl. Initially I wasn't a fan, but found the light weight plastic came in handy while pouring the roulade batter onto the pan. The other feature I liked was the the adjustable speed dial on the side of the unit. There have been plenty of times that I've idiotically mistaken the speed latch for the latch the lowers the head of my KitchenAid, resulting in a splattering mess of buttercream all over my kitchen cupboards. The simplicity of one dial totally eliminates this.

Overall, I'd give the Kenwood Chef Classic 3.5 out of 5 stars. It's a good base unit that allows you to add over twenty additional attachments, but I still wouldn't trade in my KitchenAid for it. Mainly because I just didn't like the look of it. On the other hand, I'm still very intrigued with how the Kenwood KMix stand mixer and the KMix hand mixer perform, as I've heard great things about them.

The Kenwood Chef Classic KM350 retails for £284.99, and will be available in stores from April 2013.

Speculoos Swiss Roll

2013-02-05T00:32:00.000Z

Speculoos. Speculooooos! You have to admit, it's pretty fun to say. But if all your thinking is "speculoos what?", then you might be more familiar with the American name - Biscoff or Biscoff Spread.

Originally from Belgium, Speculoos biscuits are delicious little crunchy biscuits that are flavoured with a blend of caramalised sugar and a hint of spice. Over the past few years a speculoos hyrbid has emerged in the form of a delicious spread, similar to that of peanut butter or nutella. I first fell in love with Speculoos spread a few years ago while on holiday in Brussels, and have enjoyed encorporating it into recipes ever since. This vanilla swiss roll with speculoos whipped cream is one of my favourites. Speculoos has increased in popularity, and is now readily available in the UK in Waitrose stores and other specialty grocers.

I made some pretty awesome Speculoos Whoopie pies a few months ago, and I often think about them and how delicious they were. I wanted to re-create their flavour, but opted to do so in the form of a swiss roll. I'd never made a swiss roll before, but I knew the flavour I was after, so I set out to create exactly what I had in mind. The result was a delicious sponge with a light vanilla caramel flavour, and a wonderful caramalised speculoos flavoured cream filling.

Ingredients:

Vanilla Sponge:

4 Eggs

160 grams Super-fine Golden Castor Sugar

1 Tbsp + 1/2 tsp Vegetable Oil

2 Tbsp Double Cream +1/4 tsp of vinegar (combine and set aside)

2 tsp Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Bean Paste

110 grams Plain Flour

14 grams Corn Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

Speculoos Cream Filling:

250 milliliters Double Cream

1/3 Cup Speculoos Spread

To Garnesh:

2 Tbsp Speculoos Spread, melted

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC. Grease a 9×13 jelly-roll pan and line with parchment paper. In a large bowl, beat eggs with electric mixer until pale and yellow - about 5 full minutes.

2. Pour in the oil and the sugar while the mixer is still running. Add in cream and vinegar mixture, and the vanilla extract In a separate bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder and salt. Slowly add to the liquid ingredients. Mix until well combined.

3. Pour batter into parchment lined pan, ensuring batter is evenly distributed. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, or until the sponge springs back with the touch of a finger.

4. While the sponge is baking, lightly sprinkle a tea towel with powdered sugar to avoid the sponge from sticking. Once the sponge is done baking, immediately turn it out onto the tea towel and peel away the parchment paper. Starting at one of the short ends, carefully roll up the sponge together with. tea towel. Set the rolled cake on a wire rack and cool completely.

5. To make the speculoos cream filling, combine the double cream and speculoos into a large bowl and beat on high speed with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Carefully unroll the sponge before spreading with a layer of speculoos whipped cream, stopping about 2 centimeters before the end of sponge in order to avoid cream spilling out once rolled.

6. Carefully roll the sponge, and place seam down on a serving platter. Place 2 tablespoons of speculoos spread in a small heat proof dish and melt in the microwave for 10 - 20 seconds. Pour over top of your finished Swiss roll, and let set in the refrigerator before serving.

** This Swiss roll keeps well in the fridge. I find that it improves in flavour over night. If you are going to chill it over night in the fridge, just make sure to carefully cover it in cling film to prevent it from drying out. (Use cocktail sticks to prevent the cling film from sticking to the Speculoos topping)

Oreo Cream Cheese Layer Dessert

2013-01-23T00:41:00.002Z

I don't know about you, but Saturday's are usually my baking days. Does anyone else have a usual day they dedicate to baking or is it just me? I usually bake my husband and I something nice for dessert, but this past Saturday he decided to bake himself a huge rack of ribs. A rack of ribs that required over 2 hours of slow cooking in the oven resulting in moist fall off the bone meat. But those ribs meant my oven was spoken for, and there wasn't enough time to bake the layer cake I'd planned on making that night.

So that meant no layer cake for dessert, and no layer cake to share with you. But - I do have something else to share! And it requires no baking at all. None!

This creamy delight features layers of crumbled Oreo's, cream cheese, chocolate pudding and whipped cream. Now tell me that doesn't sound good. I knew as soon as I found this recipe by House 344 on Pinterest that I had to make it.

The original recipe calls for this Oreo layer dessert to be made in a 13"x9" glass pan, but I choose to use a smaller pan and then a few small parfait glasses as well. I'd also planned on taking some photos of the dessert with my camera on the Sunday morning, only to discover that I'd left it at my cousin's house when we were there earlier. So I'm afraid I had to rely on my trusty iPhone to do the job.

Oreo Layer Dessert

Ingredients:

3 package rolls of Oreos ( or 1 regular American package)

75g (1/3 Cup) Butter

1 Box of Instant Chocolate Pudding (Found here in the UK)

600ml Double Cream, divided (or 2 - 8 oz Tubs of Cool Whip)

230g (8 oz) Cream Cheese, softened

125g + 25g (1 Cup + 2Tbsp) Powdered Sugar

Instructions:

1. Crush the Oreo's with a food processor, or in a bag with a rolling pin. Save 1/2 a cup to sprinkle on top of the dessert when it's done. Pour remaining crumbs in a 13" x 9" pan. Melt the butter and pour into the crumb mixture. Stir the butter and Oreo crumbs until well mixed, and press crumbs in bottom of pan to make a crust.

2. Make the chocolate pudding according to package directions and let it set in the fridge.

3. In a mixing bowl blend cream cheese until nice and smooth and then mix in 125g of the powdered sugar. In a separate bowl whip 300ml of the double cream (if using). Fold the whipped double cream, or one of the 8 oz tubs of cool whip into the cream cheese mixture.

4. Spread the whipped cream / cream cheese mixture in an even layer over the top of the Oreo crust. Next spread the pudding in an even layer over top of the cream cheese layer.

5. Whip the remaining 300ml of Double Cream (if using) together with 25g of icing sugar. Spread the sweetened whipped cream, or your second 8 oz tub of cool whip on top of the chocolate pudding layer, and then sprinkle with the remaining Oreo's. Cover and refridgerate until ready to serve.

I'd suggest refrigerating the Oreo layer dessert for at least 4 hours prior to serving. My husband and I couldn't wait that long before we tried the one I made, and it was a bit hard to slice and was quite crumbly. We had some more the next day and I could actually cut the dessert into slices and lift them out with a spatula.

Mission Style Stained Glass Cake

2013-01-08T01:33:00.000Z

Last week was my dad's 65th birthday. It's quite a milestone you know - I've been informed that in Canada once you hit 65 you're entitled to a bunch of free stuff including free weekday rides on the BC Ferries, free coffee at various restaurants, no fee bank accounts and free flu shots. Pretty exciting stuff huh!?

I felt that turning 65 deserved some kind of celebration and acknowledgement, and I wanted to get my dad a gift, but he always seems to have everything. And besides, he's always saying that he has too much "stuff", so has been trying to de-clutter their house for ages. So instead, I decided to bake him a cake. But since I wasn't able to fly home to Canada to bake my dad a birthday cake, I decided to bake him one here in England. The only downside is he won't be able to taste it, but I'm including the recipe below, so hopefully my mom will make it for him instead (hint hint).

I wasn't sure what type of cake to bake, but I figured something more visually appealing would be better given the fact that he wouldn't be able to taste it. So I thought about the things my dad liked (espresso, arts and crafts style stained glass, and wood), and then combined them into a cake. OK, I actually just set the cake on a wooden cutting board - you didn't actually expect me to bake wood in my cake did you?

I decided to bake a Cappuccino Chiffon Cake, and it was delicious. I'd never made a chiffon cake before, but it turned out great! So light and fluffy. And very similar to an Angel Food Cake, except it included egg yolks. Each layer of cake was doused with espresso syrup and then topped with a layer of vanilla whipped cream and a sprinkling of cocoa and cinnamon to simulate a cappuccino.

Baking the cake was the easy thing. The stained glass panels.... those are a whole other story.

I had originally tried to make the stained glass panels out of fondant, but after trying to cut out only 3 of the small rectangles I decided that fondant wasn't the way to go and opted to make the panels out of royal icing transfers instead. I found a design that I liked online (from here) and drew out a template on some paper. Then I placed some plastic page protectors over top of my template and piped the outlines with black royal icing. After allowing the outlines to dry overnight I filled each section with coloured royal icing and left them again to dry for 24 hours.

Unfortunately they still weren't totally dry, and I lost one of the panels because it cracked in several spots when I tried to remove it from the plastic. I googled what the best way to dry royal icing quickly was, and came across several sources that recommended I leave the panels in an oven with only the light on. I did that, but unfortunately I don't think that was the best decision because the black ink really bled into the some of the coloured panels over the coarse of the day while they were in the oven. --> Insert frowny face here :-(

The next day when the icing was fully dry I was able to carefully peel the plastic backing away from the icing transfers and place them around the cake using some leftover icing as glue.

In order for the royal icing panels to dry before I put them on the cake I had to pipe them several days before I actually baked the cake. This meant I had to take a guess at the height my cake would be. I guessed wrong. My panels were a bit taller than the cake (although I do think my cake shrunk down when it settled overnight), but I actually didn't mind it at all. My husband on the other hand thinks it looked awful and that it was poor planning on my part. I think he's lucky I even let him have a slice of it after he voiced his concerns :-|

The recipe for this cake comes from the book Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes. This is the third recipe I've made from Sky High Cakes and they've all been fabulous, so I highly recommend this book.

Cappuccino Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:

Chiffon Cake:

1/4 Cup (60ml) Vegetable Oil
6 Eggs, separated
6 Tbsp (90ml) Espresso, freshly brewed and cooled to room temperature
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 1/3 Cups (167g) Cake Flour (or cake flour substitute - see here)
1 1/2 Cups (340g) Castor Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cream of Tarter

Espresso Syrup (recipe below)
Vanilla Whipped Cream (recipe below)
Cocoa powder or ground cinnamon, for dusting

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line the bottoms of three 8-inch round cake pans with rounds of parchment or waxed paper but do not grease.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the oil, egg yolks, espresso and vanilla; whisk lightly to blend. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, 1 cup of the sugar, the baking powder, cinnamon, and salt; set the dry ingredients aside.

3. In a large mixer bowl with an electric mixer, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar on medium-low speed until frothy. Raise the mixer speed to medium-high and gradually add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Continue to beat until soft peaks form; do not whip until stiff or the cake will shrink excessively upon cooking.

4. Add the espresso-egg yolk mixture to the dry ingredients and fold together just enough to combine. Add one-fourth of the beaten egg whites and fold them in to lighten the batter. Fold in the remainder of the whites just until no streaks remain. Divide the batter among the 3 prepared pans.

5. Bake the cakes for about 18 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool upside down completely in the pans. When cooled, run a blunt knife around the edge of the pans to release the cakes. Invert onto wire racks and remove the paper liners.

6. To assemble the cake, place one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or serving plate. Soak the cake with 1/3 cup of the Espresso Syrup. Spread about 1-1/3 cups of the whipped cream evenly over the top of the layer. Repeat with the next layer and more syrup and whipped cream. Finally, top with the third layer. Soak it with the remaining syrup and frost the top and sides with the remaining whipped cream. (I didn't use nearly the whole amount)

7. To decorate the cake, smooth out the cream as much as possible on thop with an offset spatula. Lay a paper lace doily over the top of the cake and sift cocoa or cinnamon over the doily. Carefully lift off the doily to reveal the lacy stencil on top of the cake.

Espresso Syrup:

1/3 Cup (78ml) Espresso, hot & freshly brewed
1/3 Cup Dark Rum (I used plain water instead)
1/3 Cup (83g) Sugar

Instructions:

In a bowl, stir together the espresso and sugar until the sugar dissolves. Add the rum and let cool to room temperature.

Vanilla Whipped Cream: (I only used half the recipe for a 6 inch cake)

3 Cups (750ml) Double Cream or Whipping Cream
1/3 Cup (83g) Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Instructions: Put the cream, sugar, and vanilla in a large chilled mixing bowl with chilled beaters. With the whip attachment, whip the cream until stiff peaks form.

This cake was so nice and spongy I'd definitely make it again, but the stained glass panels took forever to do. To be honest, I probably wouldn't make them again if you paid me. I would however suggest trying the royal icing transfer technique for something smaller - I will!

Happy 65th Birthday Dad

2013-01-04T00:30:00.001Z

A long distance birthday cake for your 65th birthday!

Full post and recipe to follow shortly....

Chocolate Gingerbread Houses - a Twist on a Christmas Tradition

2012-12-22T03:13:00.000Z

Christmas traditions - we all have them. My earliest memory of our Christmas traditions was when I was only about 3 years old. My mom would make the most amazing gingerbread houses ever. We would sit and watch the beginning stages of the house being built, with the rest of the decorating being carried out while we were in bed sleeping. We would wake up the next morning in amazement at the sugary creation decked out with royal icing snow and icicles, spearmint leaf trees and candy cane sleds. We always knew that we weren't allowed to touch or eat the house until after Christmas. But I guess my parents never told our babysitter that, because one night they came home from a party and she'd torn off the gingerbread shutters, and eaten a spearmint tree or two. And guess who got the blame.......

It seems like over the past few years gingerbread houses have become increasingly popular in the UK. The first time I made one in the UK four years ago most of my friends had never even seen one before and they all just asked me why I made it. Um, because it's fun! And it's tradition! Gingerbread kits have been increasing in popularity each year here, and there's some really good ones out this year. By far the coolest one I've seen isn't even really a kit. It's a mould. A chocolate mould! This year Lakeland has released a super cool mould that allows you to make a gingerbread house entirely out of chocolate. No baking required. Just melt your chocolate, pour and wait until it's set before "gluing" your house together with some more melted chocolate.

Next comes the best part - the decorating! My favourite part of building any gingerbread house (chocolate or the cookie kind) is the decorating. I love shopping for all the different types of candy, and although I do prefer my old favourites from North America (traditional ribbon candy, spearmint trees and life savers), I have also discovered some wonderful traditional UK sweets that have made my house look amazing. I especially loved the pink and white marshmallow twists called Flumps, which I used for the peak of the roof, chimney and window boxes.

I'm so pleased with the way my chocolate house turned out. I used pieces of strawberry Moam for the roof tiles, Jelly Tots for the christmas lights, Flumps for the roof peak, chimeny and window boxes, Dolly Mix for the fence and light posts, Millions for the pathwaym and also some mini Chuppa Chups for an extra bit of decoration. The icicles and snow are made from white chocolate.

My only word of caution with this gingerbread house mould is that it does require a lot of chocolate. 1.2kg to be exact. But the good thing is that the mould can also be used to bake your traditional gingerbread cookies in as well. So if you'd rather not have a house made of chocolate, then you can always go the more traditional route using your favourite gingerbread recipe.

Thanks to Lakeland for providing this fabulous gingerbread mould.

Also, thanks to Jude's (from A Trifle Rushed) comment below I'm adding my chocolate gingerbread house to the Seasonal Gingerbread House link up via the Turquoise Lemons blog. If you've made a gingerbread house this year, then why not share yours too!

Coincidentally the gingerbread house in the picture above is traditional gingerbread baked in the same Lakeland mould I used for my chocolate house.

Mini Chocolate Malt Cupcakes

2012-11-30T22:53:00.001Z

Christmas Tried and Tested: Mini Cupcake Maker Review

It's official, Christmas is only a month away, and I'm pleased to say I've got almost all of my Christmas shopping done - or at least planned. I'm on fire this year! I used to love Christmas shopping. I still do, but it seems like the shopping malls are so much more chaotic over here in the UK (especially the parking lots!), so I've resorted to doing most of my shopping online this year. There's loads of great online shops in the UK that sell some really unique things - something I don't really remember having when I lived in Canada (yes we had online store, just not very good ones - at the time). So if you're like me and don't feel like braving the masses this year, then you're in luck because I've got some great reviews coming your way that should hopefully help ease the shopping process for you!

First up is something I would have killed for when I was younger, and even though I'm a bit older now I still think it's pretty cool. This awesome mini pink cupcake maker was sent to me by the fabulous folks over at Find Me A Gift. It bakes 7 mini cupcakes in a matter of minutes. No need to heat up the oven!

I loved the fact that I could use our oven to cook dinner, and at the same time bake dessert using this mini cupcake maker on our countertop. I ended up making some chocolate malt cupcakes that have been on my "to bake list" for at least two years now. They baked up great in this little machine - nice and moist with perfectly domed tops (which I'm sure also has a lot to do with the recipe). I think my only point of criticism is that the cupcakes were small - I prefer regular sized cupcakes unless I'm at a party or somewhere where there'll be multiple desserts. But I can totally see this cupcake maker becoming the centre of attention at a girls slumber party where everyone could get a chance to bake and decorate a few cupcakes.

Chocolate Malt Cupcakes
Recipe from That Winsome Girl

Cupcake Ingredients:

2 1/4 Cups Flour
3/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 Cup Castor Sugar
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar, packed
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 Cup Whole Milk
1 1/2 Cups Malted Milk Powder
1 Cup Oil
3 Eggs, room temperature
1 Cup Sour Cream, room temperature
1 tspVanilla Extract

Buttercream Ingredients:

1 Cup Butter,room temperature
1 Cup Vegetable Shortening (Crisco or Trex), room temperature
1/2 Cup Malted Milk Powder
4 Tbsp Cocoa Powder
5 Cups Icing Sugar, sifted

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins (or mini cupcake maker) with paper liners. Whisk together the flour, cocoa, brown and white sugars, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

2. In another bowl, whisk the milk and malted milk powder together until the powder is dissolved. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the flour mixture, milk mixture and oil until combined.

3. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Add in sour cream and vanilla, and beat just until combined.

4. Divide batter evenly among the lined cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in centres comes out clean. Cool before icing.

5. While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the frosting. In a large mixer bowl, cream the butter and shorting together for several minutes until very light and fluffy. Sprinkle in the malted milk powder and cocoa powder. Whip for 1 minute. Add the powdered sugar a few spoonfuls at a time, letting it incorporate until the frosting becomes thick and stiff before piping onto your cooled cupcakes.

Overall I was really impressed with the this little gadget. I can totally see it on the top of many girls Christmas lists this year, especially those aged about 8 - 14, but really anyone can use it. And at only £16.99 it's not going to break the bank. As for the recipe, while I thought it was good it wasn't my favourite. The flavours were quite subtle, and I prefer a richer more chocolately flavour. My Malteser (aka Whoppers) loving friends thought they were great though.

Thanks to Find Me A Gift for providing me with the mini cupcake maker for review.

Chocolate and Vanilla Layer Cake

2012-11-15T21:32:00.001Z

Firstly let me just say I totally get that Halloween has passed, and that we're now quickly approaching Christmas but I just had to post the Halloween cake I made a few weeks ago. I know it's late, but please don't let the black and orange scare you! You can totally customise this cake for Christmas, and I'd recommend doing so by switching the orange coloured icing to a milk chocolate one, and then sprinkling on some edible gold flakes on top of the ganache instead of the Halloween sprinkles.

That being said, I've wanted to make a big tall layer cake like this for a really long time now but I never really had a good excuse to make one until the other week. The thing with cakes like this is that they're big. Like really BIG. So when I found out my cousin was having a little get together at her place, I knew there would be plenty of mouths there to help eat it.

I knew I wanted to make an orange and black triple layer cake for Halloween, but I'd need to use a recipe that produced a cake dense enough to stack and support all three tiers. I turned to my copy of Sky High Cakes in order to find a suitable recipe since triple layer cakes feature prominently in the book. I settled on the Vanilla Buttermilk Cake which I dyed orange, and the Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake which I died black. I had originally wanted to swirl the two cakes together, but since I was using two different recipes I figured it was best to cook them separately just incase they required different baking times.

Since I was baking the two cakes separately I decided to try something else new in order to try and avoid having to level off my cakes. I hate levelling cakes! I can never seem to get them level or all the same height. BUT - I found a solution to this, and best of all it'll only cost you pennies! At first I thought about buying these Wilton Cake Strips, but I didn't want to fork out £10 for them, and then wait for them to ship. So I had a bit of a search on google and discovered that I could make my own using an old towel and some safety pins. All you need to do is take an old towel and cut it into strips that are long enough to wrap around the outside of your pan. You also want the strips to be about double the height of the pan so you can fold them in half length ways so they become the same height as the pan. One you have your towels cut to the proper length and width, then simply soak them in cold water for a minute or so and gently wring them out so they're still quite wet, but not dripping wet. Put them in the fridge to chill until you're ready to pour your batter in the pans. At that point, take the towels out of the fridge and wrap them around the outside of the cake pans. Secure the towel with a safety pin, and then pour your batter in and cook as you normally would. Your cakes will likely need to stay in the oven longer than they would normally since the wet towels slow down the cooking process, allowing the cakes to cook more evenly.

After I prepared my towels and got them chilling in the fridge I set out to make my cakes. The first one I made was the Vanilla Buttermilk cake which I tinted orange. I was really impressed with this recipe. The cake had a nice tight crumb, and was perfect for stacking one on top of the other. I scaled down this recipe so that it made two cakes instead of three since I was making a 3rd layer from a different recipe. And that different recipe used mayonnaise. YUCK! I hate mayonnaise with a passion. It's my nemesis, and the main reason why I don't eat the store bought sandwiches that are so popular here in the UK. Almost every single one contains mayonnaise. Thankfully the chocolate in the cake camouflaged any mayonnaise flavour that may have come through. I do have to say that the mayonnaise in this cake really helped to keep it incredibly moist, because in reality mayonnaise is mainly eggs and oil.

The wet towels really helped to keep my cakes nice and level so I didn't have to flatten them at all before layering them and assembling my cake. Once my cake was ready to ice, I covered it in a layer or orange buttercream. In situations like this most people would use an Italian Buttercream which is something I probably should have done, but I didn't want to mess around with the egg whites. So in order to get my buttercream perfectly smooth I used a large flat edged metal cake lifter that I'd heated in warm water to help achieve a really smooth finish on my cake. Lastly I made a chocolate ganache that I poured directly on top of my iced cake, pushed it towards the edges and really just hoped for the best. I was really pleased with the way my ganache "drips" turned out. I added some Halloween sprinkles using my fabulous new sprinkle shakers courtesy of Brabantia, which I blogged about here. I'm really picky about stuff like that, and admit to placing sprinkles on one at a time in order to get them just right, so I was pleased with the fact that these shakers really distributed my sprinkles so evenly.

I loved the way this cake turned out, so do yourself a favour and bake it for your friends and family this Christmas. Leave out the orange and black food colouring, add on some golden glitter and you're set!

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake

Slightly adapted from Sky High Cakes

Ingredients:

4 Eggs + 2 Yolks, room temperature

1 1/4 Cups (295ml) Buttermilk, room temperature

2 tsp (10 ml) Vanilla Extract

3 Cups (360 g) Cake Flour, sifted

2 Cups (475 g) Sugar

4 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1 cup (227 g) Butter, room temperature

Orange Food Colouring (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175ºC). Grease two 8 inch (9 inch will work as well) round cake pans, and line bottoms with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the whole eggs and yolks, along with 1/4 cup of the buttermilk, the vanilla and the food colouring and mix until well combined. Set aside.

3. In a separate large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixer bowl and whisk to blend.

3. Add the butter and the remaining 1 cup of buttermilk to the dry ingredients and mix on low until just combined. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy. Pour the egg mixture in 3 equal parts until thoroughly incorporated.

4. Divide the batter evenly among the two prepared pans, and bake the cakes for 30-40 mins for the 8 inch cakes, or 28-34 minutes for the 9 inch cakes. If you wrapped your cake pans in the wet towels like I did, then they may take longer to bake so just make sure your cake tester or wooden toothpick comes out clean and that the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let the cakes cool completely in the pans before you remove them.

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

Halved from the original recipe in Sky High Cakes

Ingredients:

1 Cup + 2 Tbsp (150g) Flour

1/2 Cup (60g) Cocoa Powder

1 1/8 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 + 1/8 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

1 1/4 oz (36g) Dark Chocolate, chopped

1/2 Cup (125ml) Whole Milk

1/2 Cup + 2 Tbsp (185ml) Hot Strongly Brewed Coffee

1 Egg

1/2 Cup (110g) Mayonnaise* (NOT low fat or fat free)

3/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 Cup + 2 Tbsp (255g) Sugar

Black Food Colouring (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (175ºC). Grease one** 8 inch (9 inch will work as well) round cake pan, and line bottoms with parchment paper.

2. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together and set aside.

3. Put the chopped chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Bring the milk to a simmer. Pour the hot milk and coffee over the chocolate and let it stand for a minute, then whisk until smooth. Let the mixture cool slightly.

4. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, mayonnaise, vanilla and black colouring together until well blended. Gradually beat in the sugar. Then add the dry ingredients and mocha liquid alternating in 2 or 3 additions, beating until smooth and well blended. Pour into your prepared pan(s)

5. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely in the pans before you remove them.

Notes: *Do not use Miracle Whip or low fat mayo - you must only use full fat mayo due to the oil content. ** I cut the original recipe for this cake in half - the full recipe made three 8 inch cakes, but I used all of the recipe above to fill one 8 inch pan so it was quite thick. I would recommend wrapping the pan in a wet towel as I explained in the previous Buttermilk Cake recipe to help the cake bake evenly. If you decide not to wrap the pan in wet towels then I would suggest either dividing the batter between two 8 inch pans, or using some of the batter to make six cupcakes so that the 8 inch cake isn't too thick. If you look at the pictures you can see that the middle chocolate layer of the cake has sunk down in the middle slightly. This happened after the cake was done baking because it was so moist.

Vanilla Buttercream

Ingredients:

1 Cup (250g) Butter, room temperature

5 3/4 Cups (700g) Icing Sugar, sifted

2 - 4 Tbsp Milk

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla

Orange Food Colouring

Instructions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter on high until creamy (approx 1 - 2 mins).

2. Add the icing sugar one cup at a time, beating on medium speed until each cup of icing sugar is fully incorporated before adding the next. When the icing starts to stiffen, add in the orange colouring, vanilla and half of the milk, continue to mix. Continue adding the remainder of the icing sugar bit by bit, alternating with the remainder of the milk as necessary. If you find that the icing is still too stiff, add an additional tablespoon(s) of milk until the icing is a nice soft and fluffy consistency.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:

6 oz (170g) Dark Chocolate, finely chopped

4 oz (120ml) Whipping Cream

1/2 oz (14g) Castor Sugar

1 tsp Butter

Instructions:

1. Place the finely chopped chocolate in a medium heat proof bowl and set aside.

2. Combine the whipping cream and sugar in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until it has reached a simmer. Remove from the heat, add in the butter and stir to combine.

3. Pour the hot cream mixture directly on top of the chopped chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir from the centre until completely smooth. Let the ganache sit at room temperature for 30-60 minutes, or until it reaches a thick but pourable consistency.

While the ganache is setting, follow the directions below to assemble the cake.

To Assemble The Cake:

Tools:

8 inch cake drum (or drum the exact size of your cake)

Small offset metal spatula

Wilton Cake Lifter (or large metal scraper)

Large bowl of very hot water (wide enough to fit the edge of your cake lifter)

Decorating turntable

Sprinkles of your choice

1. Once cool, remove your cakes from the pan and set aside. Place the cake drum in the center of your turntable. Smear a dollop of buttercream across the top of your cake drum (this will ensure your cake does not slip off of the drum). Then place the first layer of your cake on top of the buttercreamed drum ensuring that the flattest side of the cake is facing upwards.

2. Spread a layer of buttercream across the top of your first cake making sure that the icing is pushed all the way to the top edge of the cake. Place the second layer of the cake on top of first so the buttercream is sandwiched in between. Follow the same steps above until you’ve got all three layers nicely stacked on top of each other.

3. Start covering the cake in buttercream by using your offset spatula to coat the top and sides of the cake. Use quite a thick coating on the sides, and don’t worry about it being messy – we’ll fix that later. I found the best technique for coating my cake was to start with the top and spread the icing across the top of the cake, and out past the edges. Then do the sides by taking a big dollop of icing on the top of your offset spatula and coat small side sections before going back for another dollop of icing (make sure to scrape off your spatula each time you go back for more icing to avoid getting crumbs mixed in). Repeat this until the cake is fully covered, making sure to also cover the edges of the silver cake drum.

4. Once your cake is fully covered, smooth out the top so it’s nice and level by holding a clean offset spatula in place on top of the cake at a 45 degree angle, and rotate the turntable so the cake is turning but your spatula is not. This should get the top of your cake fairly smooth, but don’t worry If it’s not perfect.

5. To get the sides of your cake nice and smooth you’ll need to use the metal cake lifter or scraper. Start off by dipping the end of the lifter in a bowl of hot water. Remove the cake lifter from the water and quickly dry it with a towel. Hold the scraper with the bottom edge resting against the turntable, and the widest end edge against the side of the cake at a 45 degree angle. Slowly rotate the turntable a full 360 degrees. The heat from the metal scraper should warm the icing enough to give a smooth finish. Do not stop rotating the turntable until you’ve made one full turn in order to avoid messing up your smooth finish. If you’re not happy with the finish you can always go back and repeat the process until your happy with it.

6. To finish off the top of the cake use a clean offset spatula held at a 45 degree angle to smooth down any edges around the top. Start from the outside edge and work in towards the center ensuring that your top is now as smooth as possible. Your cake should be very smooth, but don’t worry if the top or edges aren’t perfect because they’ll be covered with the chocolate ganache. Place the cake in the fridge and chill for 30 minutes, or until the icing is firm.

7. If you plan on displaying your cake on a cake stand, use a clean cake lifter to carefully slide the chilled cake onto the stand. Now you’re ready to decorate the top! Make sure your chocolate ganache is a thick, but flowing consistency. Carefully pour about 1/2 – 3/4 cup of the ganache directly in the center of the top of your cake. Use a clean offset spatula to help spread the ganache to the very edges, and then corss your fingers and hope for the best as it drips it’s way down the cake. The key here is to use just enough ganache so that the drips stop within the top half of the cake. If you use too much ganache you risk having it drip down and pool at the bottom of your cake.

8. While the ganache on top of your cake is still melted, add on your sprinkles of choice. I used a selection of mini white bones and some orange and black sprinkles that I shook on using my new sprinkle jars. The jars were brilliant at evenly distributing just the right amount of sprinkles on top of my cake.

Like I mentioned above, I think this cake would look amazing if the orange icing was replaced with a milk chocolate icing, and chunky gold fakes were used on top rather than the Halloween sprinkles I used. A perfect treat for Christmas!

Mini Orange Cakes for Bonfire Night

2012-11-05T13:03:00.001Z

Remember remember the 5th of November...........

Well, tonight is officially bonfire night in the UK, although the majority of bonfires were probably over the weeekend, there will still be quite a few going on tonight.

I’ve made up a cute little treat for bonfire night, and best of all they can actually be cooked right in the bonfire! I had made these look like little "carved pumpkins" for Halloween, but wasn’t able to get this post up before then, but ultimately they’re best for bonfire night.

I’d first mentioned these cakes way back in the spring when I made some similar mini cakes baked in Easter eggs. I’d gotten the idea for my Easter egg cakes way back when I was a kid in Girl Guides. We’d all gather around the camp fire and hollow out our oranges before our guide leader came by to pour the cake batter into them. We’d then wrap them in foil and place them in the fire and wait patiently for them to cook before sitting around our toasty warm campfire eating a nice warm little cake.

What fun!

What you’ll need:

- Some large oranges

- Cake batter of your choice – I just used ½ a boxed mix. Vanilla or chocolate will taste the best once combined with the flavour of the orange.

- Nutella or Icing of your choice (optional)

There isn’t really a recipe for these – they’re super easy. Simply cut the top part of a large orange off to create a little lid, and then set that part aside. Next you’ll need to hollow out your orange with a spoon. I used a knife to cut down the insides of my orange in order to help separate the flesh from the peel. Then use the spoon to scoop out the fleshy bit which you can eat. To get your orange really “clean and tidy” inside, use the sharp edge of a spoon to scrape away all the left over fleshy bits from the inside of the peel. I got my oranges perfectly cleaned out so that no fleshy remains were inside, but it really doesn’t matter that much. The less orangey bits left inside, the more room for cake! I also scooped the flesh out of the tops I cut off.

Next fill the cakes about 2/3 full with your prepared cake batter. Use any left over cake batter to make some regular cupcakes. Place the little orange tops back on the oranges and wrap them rightly in foil.

Carefully place the foil covered cakes around the outer edge of your bonfire, making sure that they are surrounded by hot coals, but still easily accessible because you’ll eventually need to get them out!

Alternatively you can cook these at 180ºC (350ºF) in the oven like I did (I couldn’t have a bonfire on the patio of my flat!). I set the foil covered oranges on a cupcake pan to prevent them from rolling around my oven.

The cakes took about 20 minutes to cook in my oven, and they should take about the same in the bonfire. You can check to see if they’re done baking the same way you would a normal cake, but just unwrapping them and sticking a toothpick in to see if it comes out clean.

Once they’re baked and cooled you can take a permanent black marker and draw little faces on them like I did. If you wish, you can top them off with some icing or nutella, but they taste just as good plain.

Enjoy, and have a fabulous bonfire night!

Sprinkle Storage

2012-10-28T01:17:00.000+01:00

I have a confession to make - I lost my mojo. My baking mojo. That kind of explains the lack of posts over the past month. I got caught up in other stuff that was far less fun and exciting (aka: work), but I'm pleased to say that I've picked myself up, dusted off my trusty pink KitchenAid and got back into the kitchen and baking again. It felt good. All I needed was a a little nudge to get me back in there.

And that nudge came in the form of some awesome spice jars sent to me by Brabantia. To be honest I didn't know a whole lot about Brabantia before they sent me the spice jars, except for the fact that they made really swanky garbage bins. I even thought I had one (my husband bought it before I moved here to the UK from Canada), but when I looked online to see about getting a replacement bin for ours which is now broken I quickly (and disappointedly) realised that I in fact did not have one. I still needed a replacement so had a play with Brabantia's really cool online tool that allows you to completely customise the colour of your bin from over 200 colours. I've been trying to find a light pink bin that matched all of my pink KitchenAid stuff for ages, but every one I've seen so far has been really tacky. Not these! But when I saw the £325 price tag that went along with them, I realised I was going to have to continue my search. Don't worry though, their bins aren't all that expensive

The good news is, the spice jars are much more affordable and they're still super stylish as well. They come in a set with 5 jars and a nice matt stainless steel rack that can be fixed directly onto the wall or hung on a specially designed rail that can also accommodate several of Brabantia's other kitchen products. But I had no intention of using these spice jars for spices. You see, on a recent trip back home to Canada I discovered a bulk food store that I quickly became obsessed with. It was called Bulk Barn, and I made at least 5 visits there in 3 days. This place has everything you'd need to decorate a birthday cake or kit out a party. And best of all, it was all in BULK! Sprinkles, Merckens Candy Melts, Royal Icing Roses, Callebaut Chocolate, even piping tips and buttercream! I was in heaven. I made sure to stock up on every colour of sprinkle my heart desired. But unfortunately this has left me with at least a dozen plastic bags filled with sprinkles that I've had to tuck in a drawer.

So last weekend instead of going out to dinner or a movie, I stayed at home and organised my sprinkles in my new spice jars like a total dork. And I loved it! So now rather than bags and bags of sprinkles that sit tucked away in a drawer or cupboard, I can proudly hang them in the jars on the mounted display rail above my kitchen counter. I had so many different colours and types of sprinkles that I didn't even have enough jars. I had a rainbow of colours to suit every season, so that meant I had both black and orange sprinkles. And you know what that means..... a Halloween cake was beckoning to be made!

I ended up making a 3 tiered chocolate and vanilla cake covered in orange buttercream and dripping in chocolate ganache. And of course, it was topped with lots and lots of sprinkles.

The spice jars came with two different inserts that worked great for sprinkling just the right amount of sprinkles onto my cake.

The entire cake was an experiment - I'd never made anything like it before. There was two different cake recipes involved, neither of which I'd tried before. I also tried wrapping my cake tins in cold wet towels which really helped to keep my cakes perfectly flat and level. Then I iced the whole cake in buttercream with a super smooth finish, rather than using fondant. And finally I covered the top of the cake with a dark chocolate ganache, pushed it right to the edges and hoped for the best. I was really pleased with the results of this cake. But because there are so many different elements that were involved in making it, I've decided to post the recipe and instructions in another post. So if you're interested to find out how I made this cake, then please check back for the full post and recipe tomorrow.

Cherry Almond Clafoutis

2012-09-28T01:04:00.000+01:00

Ahhh cherry clafoutis..... Sigh. Why have I not made you before? This post is somewhat embarrassing to write. I've been wanting to make a cherry clafoutis for years. Literally. I'd seen them time and time again on foodie sites like Food Gawker and Taste Spotting, and always thought they looked so good. I don't know what on earth took me so long to make one, but it probably had a lot to do with the fact that I'd have to pit a gazillion cherries. Plus, I was under the impression they were extremely time consuming and difficult to make. My bad. They're super easy. In fact, it's probably one of the easiest things I've made in ages. I think I'll make this my default dessert for when company comes around.

Like I mentioned before, part of what was really holding me back from making a cherry clafoutis was pitting all those cherries. I'd been buying cherries all summer for Jayden and I to eat. I was pitting them in a couple of different ways - by scoring an "x" on the top and bottom with a knife, and then pushing out the pit with a straw or chopstick, or by simply cutting them in half and picking the pits out with my fingers which was horribly messy and forced me to get my hands dirty. I hate getting my hands dirty.

Just when I thought I was going to have to resort to trying out another DIY cherry pitter method (there's a bunch of suggestions here on my Pinterest board), I was contacted by the folks over at OXO Good Grips to see if I'd like to try out their new version. So thank goodness for my new OXO Cherry pitter which made the whole pitting process quick and easy.

The cherry pitter made doing the job so much easier! And I was really impressed with how well it was designed - there's a little switch at the back that locks the pitter into a closed position so that the spikey bit doesn't get caught on everything in my gadget drawer. It's also got a splash guard on it, which I think should be essential on every cherry pitter no matter what brand it is. The splash guard was amazing and confined all the splatter and mess which meant that my Julia Child recipe book I had sitting near by was spared from any straying cherry juice. And rather than taking 20 minutes to pit all the cherries, it only took about 2 minutes.

Splat!

Even though I'd been wanting to make a cherry clafoutis for ages, I'd never really settled on a recipe. Sure all the clafoutis photos on Food Gawker and Taste Spotting looked delicious and I'd probably "favourited" about 50 different pictures, but I couldn't decide on which recipe I should try. So, I went back to basics and decided to go with Julia. You really can't go wrong with a Julia Child recipe can you?

I had done a tiny bit of research on cherry clafoutis before I made mine, and the one thing that stood out was that the really authentic French recipes told you NOT to pit your cherries. Why? Because supposedly once baked, the cherry pits release a subtle almond flavour that gives the clafoutis a really nice flavour. I opted to pit my cherries, and then add a bit of almond extract to compensate. The result was absolutely delicious. The almond flavouring really complemented the sweet juicy cherries and syrupy clafoutis. I was amazed. Why on earth had I not made this before? It's seriously easy to make. Pit your cherries, throw the rest of the ingredients a blender for a couple minutes, pour and bake. That's pretty much it.

Cherry Almond Clafoutis

(Slightly adapted from Julia Child's Mastering The Art of French Cooking)

Ingredients:

1 1/4 Cups (295ml) milk

2/3 Cup (150g) Sugar, divided

3 eggs

1Tbsp Vanilla Extract

1/4 tsp Almond Extract

1/8 tsp salt

2/3 Cup (83) Flour

Butter for greasing

3 Cups Pitted Cherries

Powdered sugar for sprinkling

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350ºF (175ºC), and lightly butter a 7- to 8-cup baking dish or pie plate. Wash and pit your cherries. Set aside.

2. Place milk, 1/3 cup (75g) sugar, eggs, vanilla, almond extract, salt, and flour in a blender and blend at high speed for 1 minute. Pour a 1/4-inch layer of batter into the greased baking dish. Place the dish in the hot oven for about 7-10 minutes until a film of batter has set in the bottom of the dish. Remove from heat.

3. Place the cherries evenly over the batter and sprinkle the remaining sugar over top. Slowly pour the rest of the batter over the cherries and smooth the surface with the back of a spoon if needed. Place the dish in the middle of the oven and bake for about 45 - 60 minutes until done. The clafouti is done when it has puffed with a golden brown top, and when a toothpick or knife is inserted into its center and comes out clean.

Let the clafoutis cool slightly (about 5-10 minutes) before sprinkling top with powdered sugar just before serving.

The clafoutis is best served warm, but I'll admit to eating a left over slice straight out of the fridge and it being equally delicious as it was warm.

I realise that cherry season is nearing an end, but if you can get your hands on some I would definitely suggest making this dessert. I plan on making it once more before all the cherries have completely disappeared from my local supermarket. But if you're too late you can also substitute the cherries for pretty much any other fruit such as pears, plums, apples etc and make a different version of clafoutis.

With thanks to OXO Good Grips for the cherry pitter, which will now double as an olive pitter during the winter months!

The Cake and Bake Show - What I Really Thought

2012-09-26T00:57:00.001+01:00

This past weekend finally saw the highly anticipated Cake and Bake Show come to London. The Cake and Bake Show was labeled as "the first live event dedicated to the world of cakes, breads and the art of baking."

The show had a star studded line up of demonstrators and guest speakers set to appear including British baking royalty Marry Berry, Paul Hollywood, Mitch Turner, Eric Lanlard, Peggy Porschen and more.

I hadn't actually planned on attending The Cake and Bake Show as I'd already attended two cake and sugarcraft shows (Squires & Cake International) earlier in the year, and acquired enough new equipment, lustre dusts and colourings to last me at least a year.

The two day Cake and Bake Show had been sold out for weeks. As I hadn't intended on going I didn't arrange for a press ticket, but then didn't want to appear cheeky by requesting one at the last minute. So when I got an email two weeks before the event stating that additional tickets for the Sunday show had been released, I bought one and decided that attending another cake show couldn't hurt. In addition to my entry ticket I also bought a "classroom" ticket to the Hand Painted Cakes session. I'd missed out on some of the free classes at the Cake International show that allowed you to decorate cupcakes, and learn new cookie decorating techniques amongst others. I thought that by booking a space in the classroom I would be guaranteed a seat and also be supplied with some materials to practice on during the class. I was wrong, but I'll come back to that part later.

First things first. I arrived at Earls Court around 10:30am, and was cheerfully ushered inside by a venue staff member. I was really excited to see there weren't any long lines to get in, and assumed I would be able to walk straight into the show. Nope. Upon walking down a small flight of stairs and turning the corner my heart sank when I saw the excessively long line to enter the show. In fact I couldn't see then beginning of the line and I couldn't see the end either. I ended up waiting in line in the dimly lit basement corridors of Earls Court for nearly half an hour before I got into the show.

The crowd to see Marry Berry. Don't worry - you're not the only one who can't spot her!

When I did finally get in, I wasn't prepared for just how busy the show would be. It was packed. Marry Berry was on stage doing a demonstration, but the crowds were so thick I couldn't even see the stage. I had no idea where to go or what to see, so I tried to find a printed map of the show I could take with me, only to discover that I would have to pay £3 for a show guide and map. I didn't buy it incase I needed the cash later in the day. I walked past the stage to explore the and ventured into the classroom area, which was quite bare and quiet compared to the main part of the show. It was here that discovered the class I booked, wasn't in fact an interactive class, but just a seat I'd secured in a demonstration area. I was beyond disappointed, and genuinely felt that I'd been "had". Especially when I noticed non-paying onlookers watching the exact same demonstrations while standing just outside the classroom paid "VIP" area.

To avoid paying £3 for a show guide I had to take a photo of the map on my phone. Notice the confusing floor layout

I made my way back to the main room to explore what was on show, but found the layout to be extremely confusing. I ended up wasting a lot of time wandering around looking for specific booths, and even ended up needing directions via twitter on where the book store and signing area was. In the end I ended up taking pictures of the classroom schedules and show layout on my iphone from one of the 3 large display boards that were scattered around the show so I'd have something to refer to because I didn't fork over the £3 for the show guide.

Marry Berry (a tad blurry) seconds before she was escorted away by security

Apologies for the horrific quality and lack of photos from the show, but it was so crowded I didn't take many.

One of the "classroom" areas - £8 to sit down inside the "VIP" area, Free to stand and watch outside

I really can't comment on the rest of the show because it was so ridiculously crowded and poorly laid out that I couldn't muster up the energy to push my way through the crowds. In the end I spent the majority of my time waiting for and watching a couple of the smaller demonstrations, which also allowed me to sit down. I did explore the retail stalls nearer to the end of the show once the crowds had thinned out. The retails stalls were a lot of the same ones I'd seen at Cake International earlier in the year, but with a much smaller selection of products and mainly geared to cupcakes, and a bit of sugarcraft. Aside from a few specialty flour sellers, I saw very little in the way of baking anything other than cupcakes. I will say that I was very impressed with the colour range of the Squires Kitchen cupcake cases though.

I sat in on Peggy's hand moulded rose demonstrations which was excellent

Peggy demonstrating how to make her signature "vintage bloom" sugar flowers

Negatives aside, I accomplished what I wanted to get out of the show. I managed to purchase Edd Kimber's new book, and have him sign it. I even got to see Marry Berry up close before she was whisked away by her team of security (15 minutes prior to the scheduled end of her book signing I might add). I got to sit in on two excellent flower demonstrations by Peggy Porschen and her team - both free, and in a more private setting with better lighting than the rest of the paid classrooms. And I really did enjoy the hand painted cakes class instructed by Natasha Collins of Nevie-Pie Cakes. I came away with a clear understanding of what materials and techniques are involved in order to create gorgeous hand painted cakes and cookies, but I only wish we would have had a chance to put some of those techniques to use on a fondant covered cookie.

Natasha's hand painted cakes demo - she made it look sooo easy!

The Goods:

- If you're willing to brave the crowds, you had the chance to get up close and personal with your favourite celebrity bakers.

- There looked like there was a lot to keep kids occupied (cupcake decorating, demo watching, etc)

- If you were looking for funky cupcake cases there were TONS available

- There were some excellent free demonstrations, although seating was very limited

- The retail stalls allowed you to see and purchase physical products rather than ordering them online.

- The Book People were selling a great range of recipe books at online prices - I was thrilled that I was able to purchase Edd's book for £10 rather than the £19 cover price

The Bads:

- Tired venue and very confusing layout. It was also very poorly lit.

- Too much focus on cupcakes

- The lines for the bathrooms were crazy long. I had my first drink of the day at 3pm in order to avoid having to go to the bathroom

- Ticketed demonstrations were easily watched by onlookers for free & we weren't given the opportunity to practice what we learnt.

- The crowds. I'd recommend the organisers look to extend future shows to 3 days

- There was a lack of actual cake & snacks that were available to purchase and eat on the spot. The venue cafe actually ran out of sandwiches, so all the was available to eat were crisps and brownies that weren't even supplied by any of the independent businesses involved with the show. I ended up spending £4.10 on a small glass bottle of pepsi and a bag of crisps.

Top Tips:

- Bring cash - a lot of the independent stalls only accept cash

- If your making larger purchases, ask the stalls to keep them behind the counter for you (with your name firmly secured on them to ensure they're not re-sold!) until you're ready to leave

- Wear comfortable shoes and light clothing

- Bring your own water bottle, and a light snack in your handbag

- Arrive early (and I mean early!) to ensure you bag a good seat for any of the free demonstrations

- Go with a plan of what you want to see, and when & where they'll be appearing in order to avoid wandering around aimlessly

I really hope the organisers of the Cake and Bake Show will take all of the reviews that are being discussed and blogged about at the moment into consideration in preparation of the next Cake and Bake Show this April Manchester.

So what about you guys? Did you go to the Cake and Bake Show? What did you think?

Peggy Porschen's Heavenly Chocolate Cupcakes

2012-09-23T02:11:00.002+01:00

First things first. It's national cupcake week. So obviously you know what that means. Cupcakes. Cupcakes, and more cupcakes. They've been everywhere this week. On Twitter, on TV, and online - even more than they already were before.

So as we near the end of cupcake week I figured it was only right that I provide you all with some cupcakes for your viewing (and baking!) pleasure.

But I do have a confession to make. I actually made these cupcakes for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. I just never managed to post them until now.

Both the recipe and the decorating idea for these chocolate cupcakes comes from Peggy Porschen's latest book Boutique Baking. I'm a huge fan of this book - it's got a load of great recipes and decorating ideas, and it's one of the prettiest books I've come across lately. If you're interested, you can read my review of Boutique Baking here.

As is the case with every recipe of Peggy's that I've tried, these cupcakes were delicious. The chocolate cake was so soft and fluffy, and the chocolate cream cheese icing was as well.

I've found that all of the icings on the cupcakes I've purchased from Peggy's parlour are so soft and fluffy that they don't fair that well in the heat or while being transported home on the train. While the icing is absolutely delicious, it is very soft and tends to slide off the cupcakes while I carry them around London in their box.

The icing on these cupcakes was so yummy, but it was very soft. You can see it in my pictures here - the icing started out stiffer, but softened up and started "drooping" a bit while I was taking the pictures because it was so hot in our living room. But don't let that detour you from making these - they're really delicious, so just make sure you keep them in a cool place and don't bounce them around if you need to transport them anywhere. Besides, you'll probably want to keep them all to yourself anyway!

The other thing I loved about these cupcakes was their little decorations. Aren't they cute! And guess what - I made them! Well, kind of. They're made out of sheets of candy paper (rice paper) which is widely available here in the UK. I picked up a big package of multi coloured sheets in Top Shop of all places.

I sprayed the candy sheets with a coating of silver lustre spray, and then used a craft punch to punch out the little crowns (in honour of the Diamond Jubilee - although I've always been a big fan of crowns in general which is why I had the punch).

I do have a few words of caution before you make these cupcakes - see my notes at the bottom of the recipe.

Peggy Porschen's Heavenly Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the Frosting:

140ml whipping cream

160g plain chocolate, chopped (min. 53% cocoa)

1 tbsp glucose

200g full-fat cream cheese (I used the new Cadbury Chocolate Cream Cheese instead)

200g salted butter, softened

450g icing sugar, sifted

For the Cake:

125g plain chocolate, chopped (min. 53% cocoa)

165ml milk

285g light brown sugar

105g unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs

180g plain flour

pinch of salt

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking of soda

8g cocoa powder

For the Decorations:

2-3 Sheets of rice paper

Edible Pearlised Lustre Spray

Craft Punch

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven 320ºF (160ºC) and prepare your cupcake pans. Set aside and make the icing.

To Make the Icing:

1. Heat the cream in a small sauce pan until barely simmering. Place the chocolate and glucose into a bowl and pour the hot cream over the top. Whisk carefully until smooth, shiny, and all the chocolate is melted. Leave to set at room temp. The ganache should have the consistency of soft chocolate butter.

2. Place the cream cheese in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth and creamy, set aside.

3. Cream the butter and icing sugar together until very pale and fluffy. Add the ganache, a little at a time, to the buttercream mixture, and mix on medium-high speed until combined. Gently stir 1/3 of the chocolate buttercream into the cream cheese. Slowly whisk the remainder of the buttercream, and add the chocolate cream cheese in two batches. Make sure not to overwork the frosting, or it will split. Chill until set!

To Make the Cake:

1. Place the chocolate, milk, and half the sugar in a saucepan and gently bring to a boil while stirring.

2. Cream the butter and the remaining sugar until pale and fluffy (at least 5 minutes). Lightly beat the eggs together then slowly mix into the butter mixture, making sure they don't curdle.

3. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa together, and then add them to the butter mixture in two batches. Mix slowly until just combined.

4. Slowly add the hot chocolate mixture into the batter and mix. Scrape the bowl down with a spatula to make sure it’s well combined. The batter should be liquidy.

Pour into the cases so they're 2/3 full. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cupcakes fully cool before icing and decorating.

To Decorate:

1. Spay the smooth side of your rice paper sheets with a thin, but even coating of lustre spray. It might help to weigh the ends of your paper sheets down with butter knives so they don't curl up because of the moisture.

2. Let the rice paper sheets dry, and then use your craft punch (mine was from Martha Stewart) to punch out shapes from the edible paper like you would a normal piece of paper. Set your punched decorations aside.

3. Pipe the chilled frosting onto your cupcakes using a piping bag and a large star tip, or simply spread it on top with a knife or off set spatula. Place your edible paper decorations on top.

These decorations are the funnest, and easiest things to make. What a clever idea - I love that you can make so many different designs!

** A few notes: The book says this recipe will make approximately 24 cupcakes, but I only got 16, and I made them the exact same size I make all of my cupcakes. I can also confirm they were almost identical in size to the ones sold in Peggy's Parlour, so I'm not sure why the recipe estimated they make 24.

Also, I'm pretty sure I had to bake my cupcakes for closer to 20 minutes before they were fully cooked.

Other than that, I wouldn't change a thing. They're delicious, and I highly recommend making them.

If you do make Peggy's Heavenly Chocolate Cupcakes and decorate them with a rice paper punch out, I'd love to see a picture of them. Feel free to leave a comment below with the link, or you can also post them onto my Facebook page here so I can see them!

Shimmery Pink Bow Sugar Cookies

2012-09-14T08:00:00.000+01:00

It's amazing how much your life can change in a year. It wasn't long ago that I was able to bake whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I had time to roll out sugar paste and make fiddly little flowers. And I didn't have to worry about leaving them on the table to dry for a day or two. I could take my time playing around creating new recipes, and then take pictures of the finished product for you all to see. I could make pretty things. I had the time.

Things aren't like that anymore. As most of you probably know, I'm now mum to a one year old little boy. He's perfect in every way, but he does take up a lot of my time. But it's time that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world.

So now if I want to have a little time to my self experimenting in the kitchen I have to do so between the hours of 7:30pm and 11:30pm. And then I have to find some available space in our little flat to store my creations, otherwise a pair of little prying hands will quickly demolish my handiwork.

As a result of my lack of time I've been sticking to relatively simple projects, and have found myself resorting to using boxed mixes as the base for some of recipes in order to save a bit of time. I don't have anything wrong with boxed mixes. Quite the contrary actually, but I just prefer to bake things from scratch in an attempt to tick off another recipe from my ever growing "to bake list".

But as much as I enjoy whipping up quick and delicious desserts, I enjoy making pretty things even more. But making pretty things can be time consuming, so I've had to learn to adapt and make them over a few nights, rather than on a Saturday afternoon.

I've been on a bit of a cookie decorating kick lately, so I wanted to use one of the new cookie cutters I'd bought during a recent trip home to Canada. I'd also been wanting to experiment with some of the decorating techniques that I've seen online, and at cake shows.

I thought these bow cookies would be the perfect project. I made the cookies on the first day, iced them the next and let them dry over night. Then, on the third day I painted them with a mixture of lustre dust and alcohol. If you don't have small kids running around demanding your attention, you could probably combine all the steps into one day. I actually liked coming home from work knowing that after I finished the daily bath, bottle and bed routine that I could sit down and relax and just focus on decorating my cookies. Some people may find the whole process extremely tedious, but I find it really relaxing. Is that weird?

If you want to know how I made these pretty pink bow cookies, then follow the steps below. If you don't care, then scroll down quickly and just look at the pictures. I won't be offended.

Shimmery Sugar Cookies Bows

You will need:

Bow Cookie Cutter
Pink Lustre Dust
Purple Lustre Dust
Craft Paintbrushes
Piping Bags - fitted with no. 2 & 3 tips

Sugar Cookie Dough - recipe is in this post
Pink Royal Icing - recipe in this post, although I used a boxed mix to save time

Instructions:

1. Prepare your dough according to the recipe in the link above. Roll out the dough, cut out, and bake your cookies according to the directions in my sugar cookie post here. Let your cookies cool fully (or over night) before you start decorating them using royal icing.

2. To decorate the bows, use a number 3 decorating tip to pipe around the edges in pink royal icing that's thick enough to hold it's shape, but not too dry. You should be able to tell if your icing consistency is right if you run a knife through your bowl of icing and it comes back together in about 10 - 15 seconds.

3. Next it's time to flood your cookies using the same number 3 tip - you can do this in two ways: fill them immediately after you've piped the outline, or allow the outline to dry for several hours and then fill. I prefer it when the outline blends in with the rest of the icing, so I flood my cookies immediately after I pipe the outline. Give the cookie a gentle shake from side to side a few times to help smooth out the icing. Set the flooded cookies aside to dry for an hour or two so they're dry to the touch, and then use a number 2 tip to pipe the outlines of the bows. Leave the cookies to dry fully over night.

Let your flooded cookies dry before painting them with lustre dust

4. Mix approximately 1/4 teaspoon of pink lustre dust together with 1.5 teaspoons of vodka, or other clear alcohol in a little dish (I use alcohol because it evaporates quickly). Using a paintbrush of an appropriate size, dip the brush into the pink lustre dust mixture and brush over top of the royal icing to give it a pearlised finish. Let dry for 15 - 30 minutes.

Once painted your cookies will be darker in colour

While your cookies are drying, mix together 1/8 teaspoon of purple lustre dust and 1/8 teaspoon of pink lustre dust together with 1.5 teaspoons of vodka or other clear liquid. Use your paintbrush to coat the lustre dust mixture around the piped edges, and then set aside another half hour until fully dry.

Aren't they pretty?

So next time you feel like it's been a while since you've taken some out time for yourself, do what I did and choose a project that you can make over a few days. Unlike cakes, cookies are fine to sit out for days, and they won't go bad.

You can even divide the dough in half and use one half straight away, and freeze the other half to use later for another project.

Baker Days Letterbox Cake Review

2012-09-06T08:30:00.000+01:00

These days we all lead pretty busy lives. It seems like the topic of every conversation I have with friends and co-workers some how involves just how busy we all are. Even finding a suitable date in the calendar for two friends to get together for a cup of coffee can seem like a challenge. And don't even get me started on trying to find the time to purchase a birthday gift, or flowers to celebrate the birth of a new baby. If you're like me, you can often find yourself scrambling a few days after the big event, and then trying to come up with some excuse as to why the present is so late.

I know. I hang my head in shame....

Sooo, for all of us procrastinators out there I think I've found the answer to avoiding the last minute gift buying run around.

I was recently contacted by Baker Days to see if I would be interested in sampling one of their celebration cakes. How could I say no to that?

The cake wasn't just any old cake, it was a cute little cake that could be completely personalised by me and then delivered in the post straight through the letter slot in my door.

Baker Days have created a range of cakes specifically designed to be sent through the mail and delivered into your post box or letter slot. Each madeira cake sells for £14.99 (specialty flavours are available at an extra cost) and can be personalised from hundreds of different designs, many of which include the option to upload a photo of your choice. A cute little party package consisting of ballons, candles, a party horn and a card are also included with each cake. Shipping is included with the price, so when you consider that everything is included with the price, I think it's a really unique gift at a fair price.

Every element of the cake can be personalised. There are literally hundreds of designs to choose from, and you can even upload a photo of your choice on some of them. There's designs for every occasion, from birthdays and anniversaries to new babies and weddings.

You start out by choosing a cake design. I was really curious to see how the designs on the website actually looked once transferred onto the cake so I choose a more complicated design rather than one of the simpler ones. Next you'll get to choose your cake flavour - I choose lemon because that's my husband's favourite and I was going to be nice and share it with him :-) For some reason the lemon flavour is no longer available on the website, but they still have 3 or 4 others to choose from. Finally it's time to choose the message you'd like printed on the cake before approving the final cake design. Click the button, process your payment and your personalised cake will be delivered through the post to the lucky recipient in a matter of days.

The online preview of what your cake will look like.

So what did I think of the whole process? Well, I had a great time choosing my design and flavour. I ended up having it delivered to my office because my 5 pound Yorkshire Terrier is known for violently attacking the post as soon as it touches the slot, but I can assure you that it definitely did fit through just fine - I made sure.

The cake is delivered in an unassuming plain white box, so you can just imagine the look on your friends face when they realise they've been sent a cake through the mail! Inside the box is a nice little yellow tin that contains the cake. The cake was extremely well packaged, and I was genuinely impressed that it wasn't damaged at all during the shipping process.

The cake is also quite a good size - enough for 2 - 4 people depending on how hungry you are. As for the cake it self, it was moist and the flavour was really nice. It didn't have an overwhelming lemon flavour, but you could definitely tell it was lemon.

My only point of criticism was that the design colours (which is printed on edible paper that covers the cake) were much darker than the picture shown online, and seemed to somewhat blur a tiny bit, but the person receiving it would be none the wiser.

The final verdict: would I recommend the Baker Days Cakes? Yes! I'd definitely re-purchase one in the future to surprise a friend for a special occasion. I really do think they're a fun and novel product . And if I had to rate them, I'd give them an 8/10.

Raspberry Ripple Fudgesicles

2012-09-02T04:01:00.002+01:00

Have I mentioned before that the summer weather in the UK has been relatively non-existant? I'm not lying, it's been dreadful. Thankfully I managed to escape the clouds and rain with a few holidays to sunnier destinations (unfortunately not the ones with palm trees).

Most recently I returned home from my annual birthday trip to Paris, which just happens to be my favourite city in the world. I just love it. We go every year and spend the entire time just wandering around through all the different neighbourhoods, stopping every few minutes to press our noses up against the window of yet another patisserie shop to admire the beautiful cakes and pastries on display. Paris pastries are a thing of beauty. I love them, and plan to try and recreate a few that really caught my eye while we were there.

We've been lucky enough to have a few hot days in the UK recently, so I thought I'd break out my Zoku Quick Pop Maker while I had the chance. For those of you not familiar with the Zoku, it's a popsicle (ice lolly) maker that allows you to make your own frozen pops in under 10 minutes. The flavour combinations you can make with the Zoku are endless. And because they freeze so quickly, you're able to layer them and even make filled ones like the creamsicles that were my favourite when I was a kid.

Another of my favourites were fudgesicles - a dense and chocolatey frozen pop, chock full of deliciousness. They don't have fudgesicles in the UK, and I'd been dying for one every summer since I moved here. I'd also been dying for a slice of a raspberry and chocolate tart that I'd seen in one of the patisserie windows while I was in Paris. Except I'd only been "dying" for a slice of that for a week, not four years like the fudgesicle. With all that dying going on it's amazing I'm still alive. I'm so dramatic.

In the end I combined my two death wishes into one, and came up with something pretty amazing. I'm calling it the raspberry ripple fudgesicle. It's the perfect combination of slightly tart raspberries and fudgey chocolate.

The only thing I have to caution you about with these raspberry ripple fudgesicles is that they don't freeze as quickly as most other popsicle recipes, but that's what makes them fudgey.

To make these you'll need to freeze your Zoku pop maker for at least 24hrs as recommended by the manufacturer, and then follow the recipe below:

Raspberry Ripple Fudgesicles

Makes 6 Zoku Pops

Ingredients:

20g Dark Chocolate

1 1/4 Cups Chocolate Milk

2 Tbsp Cocoa Powder

1 Tbsp Corn Syrup (or Golden Syrup)

6 Tbsp Sugar

1/8 tsp Vanilla

1 1/2 Cups Raspberries (fresh or thawed from frozen)

3-4 Tbsp Sugar

Instructions:

1. Chill Zoku Pop Maker for a minimum of 24hrs in the freezer

2. Melt the dark chocolate over medium heat in a small saucepan, and then add the chocolate milk, cocoa powder, corn syrup, sugar and vanilla. Stir until well combined and continue to heat until all the ingredients are well dissolved. Do not bring to a boil. Pour into a sealable container and refrigerate until cold - approximately 3 hours (this will speed up the freezing process).

3. While your chocolate mixture is chilling, combine the raspberries and sugar (feel free to adjust the amount of sugar to suit your taste) together and puree using a blender. Set aside.

4. Once your chocolate mixture is fully cool, get your two mixtures ready and take your Zoku pop maker out of the fridge and place the sticks in as your normally would. Pour approximately 2-3 tablespoons of the chocolate mixture directly into the bottom of each cavity of the Zoku maker. Wait several minutes until the chocolate mixture is thoroughly frozen. Next your 1-2 tablespoons of the raspberry mixture into each cavity and wait for them the freeze. Repeat the same steps as your did previously in order to create the frozen layered pops. Make sure your pops are thoroughly frozen before attempting to remove them. If they're not frozen enough the pops will not release from the Zoku pop maker properly. Repeat above steps with the remainder of your ingredients.

*If you are impatient like I was and don't wait for each layer to freeze fully before pouring the next, you'll get the wonky pattern that's shown in the photos. The first time I made these, I waited longer in between pouring each of the layers which resulted in perfectly flat and level layers.

So there you have it - my own twist on a French and a Canadian classic, both blended together to make one delicious frozen treat. Now all we have to do is wish for the sun to find it's way back to the UK!

Waitrose Summer Cupcake Mix Review

2012-08-03T21:27:00.001+01:00

With the London 2012 Olympics well underway now, we're right in the midst of the Great British Summer. 2012 has given us the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, the Euro Cup Football, and now the Olympics. What it hasn't given us is good weather (insert sad face here). Even though this summer's weather has been absolutely dismal, it's been great to see how the residents of the UK have really come together to celebrate everything British.

Over the past few months I've seen loads of new British themed products released. Some were traditional favourites, some were never seen before, and others were a perfect blend of old and new.

Waitrose has released two new cupcake mixes to help celebrate this years festivities. They mixes are a fun twist on two British summertime classics - Eton Mess, and Bucks Fizz. If you're not from the UK, then you may not be familiar with either of those, so let me clarify. Eton Mess is a delicious dessert that takes fresh cut strawberries and crushed meringues and blends them together with sweetened whipping cream. It's delicious! I made my own version of Eton Mess a few years ago, and you can get the recipe here. And as for Bucks Fizz, it's just the British version of what North American's call a Mimosa - aka: Champagne and Orange Juice.

These cupcake mixes are a similar concept to the cake mix bags Waitrose released last summer (you can see my review of them here). They're a bit different than a regular Betty Crocker mix. With these, the ingredients are already pre-measured for you which is great if you're short on time, or preparing for a party and want to keep the mess to a minimum. Also included in the box were the cupcake cases (as pictured on the box) which was a nice surprise, because they were actually very good quality and a nice design. Unfortunately when the cake mix was sent to me the boxes arrived quite badly squished, and so did the cupcake cases. The cases that came with the Eton Mess cupcakes were too badly squished for me to use them, but I managed to find some similar ones in my "collection", although they weren't as nice a quality as the ones that were included with the mix.

Both cupcake mixes do require you to add in a few ingredients of your own, just as you would a regular cake mix.

The Bucks Fizz cupcakes called for the addition of the juice and zest of an orange, as well as an egg and some butter. Also included in the mix was the icing sugar needed to make the icing, some candied orange peel and some popping candy to simulate the bubble in the champagne. Unfortunately the popping candy in my mix must have had some moisture leak into it because it was just 2 big solid lumps of candy fused together.

The final result was a very moist cupcake with chunks of candied orange peel, and a lightly orange flavoured icing with additional chunks of candied peel and freshly grated zest. I really liked these cupcakes, and I think with the addition of the popping candy they would really would have been excellent. I was a little skeptical that there wouldn't be enough icing for the cupcakes, but it made just the right amount.

The Eton Mess cupcakes were a strawberry cupcake with real bits of dried strawberry in them - no fakeness or artificial flavours - bonus! The addition of an egg and some butter turned the strawberry mix into a very moist and delicious sponge that really allowed for the strawberry flavour to shine through. Also included with the mix was a small packet of raspberry jam and some mini meringue pieces to sprinkle on the cupcakes that are topped with freshly whipped cream that you supply yourself.

Although I really liked both of these cupcakes, I did prefer the Eton Mess ones but would have preferred for the jam that was included to be strawberry rather than raspberry. I actually thought the raspberry jam tasted a bit chemically.

Overall I thought the new Eton Mess and Bucks Fizz cupcake mixes from Waitrose were excellent. My only points of criticism (aside from the raspberry jam) would be a) that each mix only makes 6 cupcakes, and b) the price - at £3 per mix, these cupcake mixes are fairly expensive when compared to the other boxed mixes that make 18 - 24 cupcakes. On the other hand, the £3 price tag (equivalent to £0.50 per cupcake) seems like a bargain when you compare it to the tins of Williams and Sonoma and Sprinkles cupcake mixes that I saw while on holiday in Canada which sold for $22 CDN + tax for a 12 cupcake mix (equivalent to more than $1.83 CDN (£1.18) per cupcake!).

So, would I buy these mixes again? Probably. They're great if you're in a time crunch and are looking for a unique cupcake flavour to impress your friends and family. You also don't need to buy a large amount of ingredients that you might not use again (like the candied orange peel or meringue pieces). I'd also recommend them to friends and family that aren't really in to baking much. If you really enjoy baking and experimenting with new recipes like I do, then you may just prefer to come up with your own Eton Mess or Bucks Fizz cupcake recipe from scratch.

If I was ranking these out of 5 stars, I'd give these 4.5

Edible Olympic Torch Cone Cakes

2012-07-27T11:29:00.000+01:00

There's been a great deal of excitement building up around the world, and here in the UK - especially in the London area as the city and it's residents get ready to host the 2012 Olympic Games.

I've always been a big fan of the Olympics. There's just something about them that allows me to get sucked into the hype and watch sports that I would never normally watch, and get really genuinely excited about them. Like the Triple Jump or the Canoe Slalom. I mean really - who watches those on a regular basis? It seemed like the hype and excitement around the Olympics in the past few weeks leading up to today wasn't as high as I had anticipated it to be, but as the Olympic torch made it's way closer and closer to London the excitement did seem to build.

Last Friday the torch relay past through the town where I live (a 30 minute train ride outside of London). Although I was working and not able to watch it in person, my husband and son were front and centre while it made it's way down a street near our home. My husband took the photo above as the torch bearer ran past them.

I think it's pretty cool to know that the Olympic flame above is the same flame that was originally lit way back in May in Athens Greece, and that it has past from torch to torch without ever going out.

I created some fun little edible torches in honour of the Olympic flame making it's way through Greece and the UK, and into the Opening Ceremonies tonight where it will burn brightly above the city of London for all the world to see for the duration of the Olympics.

These edible torches are made with mini ice cream cones that I picked up a couple weeks ago while on holiday in Canada. I filled them with cake ball mixture and sprayed them with edible gold lustre spray before topping them off with a buttercream flame. Pretty cute huh!?

Edible Olympic Torches

20 mini ice cream cones

9 inch round cake (baked), chocolate or flavour of your choice (equivalent to half of a boxed cake mix)

3 - 4 Tbsp chocolate icing (I like to use pre-made icing because it holds up better in the summer heat)

Edible Gold Lustre Spray

1 1/2 cups white buttercream icing

Red, orange and yellow food colourings
Piping bag
Large star tip nozzle

1. Crumble your cake into a large bowl, and add in 3-4 tablespoons of icing. Mix together until they're well combined, and form a dough like consistency.

2. Form a small amount of the cake dough into a cone shape, and push it inside the mini ice cream cone so that it's flush with the top of the cone. Repeat until all of the cake dough and cones are used.

3. Line the cones up on a cutting board, cake side down and spray with edible gold lustre spray making sure to coat the entire cone so that it's nice and golden. Set aside and let dry.

4. Divide your white buttercream in half. Tint the first half orange, and divide the second half into two. Tint half of the second half yellow, and the other half red. Imagine that the inside of your piping bag has 4 sides. Coat 2 opposite sides with the orange icing, and coat the other sides with the red and yellow icing. The majority of your piping bag will be filled with orange icing, while one quarter will be filled with red, and the other with yellow.

Pipe the multi-coloured buttercream swirls onto the tops of your cake filled cones to create mini torches.

I used an black food marker to write 2012 on some of my cones.

If you're planning on having an Olympic viewing party these torch cones would make the perfect addition. If you're not able to find the mini ice cream cones, you can make similar golden torch cupcake cones by baking the cake directly in a regular size flat bottom ice cream cone. When they're done baking simply spray the cones gold and ice them using the same steps as above.

I'll be watching tonight's Opening ceremonies and celebrating with a few of these edible torches. I can't wait to see what the next two weeks have in store for us, and I'll be cheering on both team Canada and team GB. We're going to try and get out tomorrow to watch the road cycling race which will pass the area near we live. How exciting!

How will you be celebrating the games? Do you have any viewing parties planned? Have you been lucky enough to get tickets to an event?

I've got another Olympic themed dessert in the works, so keep watching for it!

Gourmet S'mores

2012-07-19T21:27:00.002+01:00

The weather here in the UK has been positively dismal. Having just returned to soggy ol' England from holiday in Toronto where the weather was 38°C (100°F) has only reinforced the fact that our summer so far has been absolutely crappy.

It was so nice to get away and spend some time in a tropical climate - even if it was on the beaches and streets of Toronto, and not the Caribbean. No visit back home to Canada is complete without some serious food (ingredient) shopping. I always return to the UK with a suitcase full of North American treats that are hard to find in UK stores. I made numerous visits to a fantastic bulk food shop where I stocked up on sprinkles and candy melts - almost an entire carry on suitcase full! I also visited Golda's Kitchen - the most amazing cake supply store, thanks to a recommendation from Jodie Whitley via the Made With Pink Facebook page (I'll be posting pictures of the cake shop and my holiday purchase on my facebook page shortly!)

A few days before I left on holiday I decided to perk myself up and get into the summer spirit by making some gourmet s'mores (sans campfire) using some of the ingredients I'd picked up from my previous holiday to the States.

I'd had a few bags of speciality marshmallows and a couple boxes of graham crackers sitting on my baking shelf for the past few months, I'd always intended to use them for gourmet s'mores, but I just never got around to it until now. Plus I needed to make room for my new impending purchases!

I made four different s'more combinations:

Pina Colada: Original graham crackers sandwiched together with white chocolate, pineapple & toasted coconut marshmallows, and a slice of freshly grilled pineapple.

Chocolate Mint: Chocolate graham crackers sandwiched together with mint chocolate marshmallows and dark mint chocolate.

Peanut Butter Cup: Chocolate graham crackers sandwiched together with flat vanilla marshmallows and a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.

Salted Caramel: Chocolate graham crackers sandwiched together with caramel flavoured chocolate callets, flat vanilla marshmallows and a spoon full french salted butter caramel (not pictured).

Don't think you can't make these if you don't live in the US, or don't have the graham crackers or fancy marshmallows. I've seen toasted coconut marshmallows in the UK before in several stores, and most recently I've been able to find them in the South African grocery stores near my home. Regular marshmallows will work just as well in all of these s'mores, but my tip is to cut them in half so they lay flat instead of standing tall like they normally would. All of the chocolate I used is from the UK, and is available in any major grocery store with the exception of the caramel callets which were a gift from my March Foodie Penpal who bought them in a local shop in Manchester. If you don't have the caramel callets or the salted butter caramel, then you can use the new flat Rolo chocolate bars that have just been launched for sale in the UK.

As for the graham crackers, you can make your own at home by following the recipe here that I used to make my mini s'more pops a couple of years ago.

To make the s'mores you'll need the above ingredients and an oven. If the UK weather ever gets better then you can make them the way they were originally intended - with a camp fire. But until then you'll need to pre-heat your oven to 200°C (400°F).

Assemble your s'mores together and wrap them in a square of aluminum foil (this will ensure your chocolate and marshmallow don't melt and ooze out the sides of your graham crackers and into the oven.) Place them in the hot oven for 3-5 minutes before removing. Carefully unwrap each s'more and enjoy - just make sure you don't burn yourself on the hot gooey marshmallow and chocolate!

I think that the salted caramel s'mores were my favourite out of the bunch. They were so so soooo good, but also very rich. I couldn't have eaten more than one. I also really liked the Pina Colada ones, they were so different from any other s'more I'd made. I only got to try a small bite of the chocolate mint s'more before my husband gobbled it up. As for the Reese's s'more, while it was good, it wasn't my favourite. I'd still prefer to eat the Reese's cup by it self.

What other unique flavours of s'mores have you made? Do you have any other suggestions for me??

Surprise Foodie Packages

2012-07-04T08:30:00.000+01:00

I've had the pleasure of receiving two great foodie packages in the post recently. The first package was my June Foodie Penpals package (I usually post about these on the first of each month) and was sent to me by Fay from the blog Food Fables. I was Fay's first Foodie Penpal, and she did a great job choosing the things in my package. She sent me some pink strawberry flavoured candy melts that I'll most definitely be using for some kind of cake pop or other creation. Also included was some of my most favourite gummy candies that you can get at Asian supermarkets - the ones Fay sent me were Mango flavoured, but they come in loads of other flavours. I used to get these all the time when I lived in Canada where they were more widely available. How did Fay know I liked these??? Fay also included some other Asian foods - an instant noodle pouch - great for a last minute meal, and some chilli paste which I have to admit scares the crap out of me because it looks so potent. I'll definitely be using it in some stir frys and sauces, but I must make sure to use it sparingly! Fay also sent some Strawberry and pepper vinegar that her mum's friend made. I haven't used it yet, but I'm sure it would be delicious on salads. Not sure what else it might be good for - any suggestions?

I sent my Foodie penpal package to Emily who runs the Bristol Bites website. Emily said she preferred savoury things rather than sweet so I sent her one of my favourite finds. It's a packaged Pad Thai kit that comes with noodles, sauce and spices, and just requires you to add your meat of choice and an egg. I discovered these Pad Thai kits recently and I think they're great and can taste quite authentic with the addition of a tablespoon or two of peanut butter mixed in. I also sent Emily a mini tub of roasted garlic sea salt (I also bought one for me because it looked so good - my husband's tried it already and says it's great on steak), and some sweet chilli Ryvita mini's for snacking. Finally I felt that I had to include one sweet thing, so I sent Emily some Jules Destrooper chocolate coated cookies that looked really good. I haven't tried them, but I wish I had bought myself a package as well!

The second foodie package I received were some delightful little hand decorated cookies in the shape of cupcakes. These cookies were made for me by Rachel of the blog Blissfully Scrumptious, and were part of a bake swap organised by my friend Sarah of Maison Cupcake to celebrate the launch of her new book titled Bake Me I'm Yours, Sweet Bitesize Bakes. I love the idea of swapping baked goods centred around a common theme (mini bakes) and seeing what everyone comes up with. The cookies that Rachel baked for me were a vanilla butter cookie that were decorated with white chocolate as the cupcake icing and then fondant bases, with perfect tiny cupcakes added on top which I think were made with royal icing. The cookies are delicious, and I was so excited when I got home from work and noticed the box in the hallway that I couldn't wait to unpack it. Seriously - if you saw me trying to unwrap it you'd think I'd received a Gucci handbag or something! I was so pleased to see that all the cookies arrived perfectly in tact - not a crumb/crumble to be seen!

As for my baked item, I sent Rachel some mini cupcakes I decorated with pastel fondant and mini sugar paste flowers and pearls. It was the first time I made fondant covered cupcakes, and I was really pleased with the way they turned out. I'll be posting a tutorial on them soon, so check back for that. Never in my life have I been so worried about sending something through the post. At least with my foodie penpal packages, things are generally far less fragile, and I haven't put a whole lot of time and effort into personal making each individual item. I was dying to know if my cupcakes survived their journey to Dorset through the mail, and sent a tweet out to everyone on Twitter to see if they knew a potential food blogger by the name of Rachel who lived in Dorset - (we weren't told if our bake swap mate was also a blogger). Sure enough within a few minutes a response was tweeted to me, and Rachel and I were united via Twitter where we thanked each other for our baked treats and I was assured that my cupcakes did indeed arrive in tact. Phew! My packaging job had worked!

I really hope that the Bake Swap continues on a regular basis, as I had a great time making and receiving my mini bakes. Keep an eye out on the Maison Cupcake blog to see if there is another instalment of bake swap.

And if you're interested in becoming a Foodie Penpal you can find more information and sign up through the Rock Salt Blog here if you're in the UK & Europe, or through the Lean Green Bean Blog here is your in the US & Canada.