Flourless Chocolate Cake

I thought it was about time I made something gluten free and this was the perfect dessert to start with.

If you love chocolate (like I do) then this is the dessert for you.

Rich and decadent, I served it with a white chocolate and raspberry cream from tesco, but you can serve it with whatever you like!

Ingredients-

• 200g milk chocolate
• 120g unsalted butter
• 150g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• white chocolate, melted

Firstly preheat your oven to 150c and grease a cake tin with butter and dust with cocoa powder.

In a bowl over simmering water, place the chocolate and butter until melted, leave to cool slightly.
In a separate bowl whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla until light in colour.

Pour a small about of the chocolate mixture in and stir, so as to not curdle the eggs.

Once combined add the rest of the chocolate mixture.
Pour into your tin and place into the oven for 40 minutes.

When baked, leave to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

I drizzled over the white chocolate and then dusted with icing sugar and served with the white chocolate and raspberry cream.

Snowman Cupcakes

This really is my favourite time of the year, specially because you can bake things like this!  I actually cant help myself.

I doubt here in Kent we will be making real snowman any time soon, as it's pouring it down as I write this,so I decided to make cupcake ones instead! (No getting cold and falling over in the snow, instead stuffing my face with cake, which is always the winner ;).

Ingredients:

Cupcakes-

• 150g unsalted butter, softened
• 150g caster sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 150g self- raising flour

Buttercream-

• 150g unsalted butter softened
• 300g icing sugar
• 1 tbsp milk

Decoration-

• Marshmallows
• Cadbury chocolate fingers
• Coloured fondant icing

Preheat your oven to 180c and line a muffin tin with 12 cases.

In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy.

Gradually add the eggs and vanilla and beat well.

Sift in the flour and fold in gently with a large wooden spoon until incorporated.

Divide between the muffin cases and place into the oven for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick

inserted comes out clean.

Once baked, leave to cool completely on a cooling rack before decorating.

For the butter cream, beat the butter until really light and fluffy (this is the key to great butter cream.)

Gradually mix in the icing sugar, and milk until a thick consistency.

Spread a mound of butter cream onto each cupcake.

Place a marshmallow on top, and break a chocolate finger in two for the arms.

Then decorate how you like with the fondant icing! 

Reindeer Cookies

After decorating the Christmas cake I had a ton of white fondant icing left, as I wanted to bake some Christmas cookies anyway, this is what I did. How cute are they?!

Almost too good to eat. I say almost as they went very quickly.

These are the type of thing everyone likes, so don't expect them to last long! They're soft sugar cookies so, even my little niece could enjoy them.

Ingredients:

• 225g unsalted butter, softened
• 150g caster caster
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 320g vanilla plain flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

Decorations:

• white fondant icing
• milk chocolate, melted
• red sweets

Preheat your oven to 180c, and line two baking trays with baking paper.

In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy, then beat in the egg and vanilla.

Gradually add the flour and baking soda until a dough forms.

Leave the dough in the fridge for at least an hour to chill.

Once chilled, scoop out spoonfuls onto your baking tray, I managed to roll them into balls then flatten them but the dough is very sticky.

Bake them for 10 minutes until light golden in colour.
Once baked leave to cool on a cooling rack before decorating.

For the decorations, roll one bigger ball of fondant for the mouth, and two small balls for the eyes, then lightly flatten onto the cookies. Then add the chocolate eyes, antlers and sweetie nose! (I used a piping bag with a small round tip for the chocolate.)

Cherry Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes

After having hardly any time to bake the past couple of months, I am back with a new recipe and will have many more over the Christmas period, yay!

These are my cherry filled cupcakes with a chocolate truffle topping, they didn't last long in my household so they must of been good.

The topping is actually a chocolate truffle mixture that I made, which may or may not have gone wrong and ended up too soft to make actual truffles... buuuut it was perfect for cupcakes!

Ingredients:

Truffle Topping-

• .120g milk chocolate
• 30g butter, chopped
• 100ml double cream
• 25g caster sugar

Cupcakes-

• 100g unsalted butter, softened
• 100g caster sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g self raising flour
• 100g glace cherries, rinsed and dried

Optional-

• chopped pistachios
• white chocolate chips

First of all make your truffle topping.

Break up the chocolate in a bowl with the butter and set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the cream and sugar until the sugar has melted and until just boiling.

Pour over the chocolate and butter, and mix well.

Cover and place into the freezer for an hour to set.

Now for the cakes, preheat the oven to 180c and fill a muffin tin with 8 cases.

In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Gradually add the eggs, then the vanilla and beat well.

Sift in the flour and gently fold in with a metal spoon until incorporated.

Chop up the cherries and mix into the cake batter.

Divide between the cases, and place into the oven for 18-20 minutes, until a knife inserted

comes out clean.

Leave to cool completely on a cooling rack, before decorating.

When your ready to decorate, whip the truffle mixture lightly to soften, and place into a piping bag.
Pipe a blob onto each cake, and sprinkle on your choice of topping, then enjoy!

Caramel Blackberry Cake

Since its been nearly 4 weeks (where has the time gone!?) since my last blog post, I really thought I must bake something blog worthy to feast your eyes on.

Bit of a strange combo, but they go oh so well.

I wanted to use some autumn ingredients and I had no apples, so this was it!
The blackberries give a sharp tang against the sweet caramel, which makes the perfect combination.

Ingredients:
For the cake-

• 180g unsalted butter
• 100g caster sugar
• 80g brown sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 180g self raising flour

Icing-

• 200g unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons caramel
• 100g icing sugar
• 150ml double/whipping cream

Blackberry coulis-

• 200g fresh blackberries
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar

Extras-

• chocolate shavings
• crushed amaretti biscuits.

Preheat your oven to 180c then grease and line two sandwich tins.

In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugars until creamy.

Slowly add in the beaten eggs.

Sift in the flour and gently fold in with a large metal spoon until incorporated.

Divide between the tins and place into the oven for 18-20 minutes, or until a knife poked into the centre comes out clean.

While they're baking make the icing and coulis 

Place a saucepan on a low heat and add half the blackberries and the sugar, mix until the sugar has dissolved.

Put into a bowl to cool.

Beat the butter until light and creamy then add in the caramel and icing sugar.

In a separate bowl, whip the cream until soft peaks and fold in the buttercream.

Once the cakes are baked, leave to cool completely on a cooling rack before decorating.

Spread the coulis on one half of the cake and pop on the leftover blackberries.

Sandwich the other cake on top and cover the whole cake with the buttercream, I just used a spatula to do this.

Sprinkle over the chocolate shavings and crushed amaretti biscuits to finish. I also warmed up some extra caramel to drizzle on top, as, you can never have enough caramel.

Rolo Oat Bars

Tubes of rolos were on offer in Tesco, so obviously this is what happened.

Also I feel like I havnt baked something in agessss, or blogged about it, so I of course I had too.
We could pretend this is a healthy bake as its almost like a flapjack with the oats, but with the addition of the rolos and chocolate chips I think we can safely say its not!

Ingredients:

• 200g flour
• 90g rolled oats
• 170g brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 170g butter, melted
• 80g rolos
• 80g milk chocolate chips
• 80g white chocolate chips
• handful of chopped hazelnuts (optional)

Preheat your oven to 200c and and line a 20 x 20cm square tin.

In a large bowl add everything before the butter and mix together well.

Pour in the melted butter and mix to combine everything.

Place half of the mixture in the base of your tin and press down so its flat with your fingers.

Bake in the oven for 12 minutes.

Once done, take back out of the oven and scatter over the rolos and chocolate chips.

Then crumble the leftover half of your oat mixture on top. Now sprinkle over the chopped hazelnuts if using.

Turn the oven down to 180c and place back into the oven for about 30 minutes.

You want the top to go a nice golden colour.

Once baked, leave to cool completely, before taking out of the tin and cutting into squares.

Cashew Nut and White Chocolate Cookies

Another rainy, miserable day in Kent, proceeds to another bake. This time, it was cookie time!
I knew I wanted to make thick, chewy cookies but what flavour...

My family don't really like anything too chocolatey or rich in cookies so, with them in mind, I searched around in my cupboards and came across salted cashews and a bar of white chocolate. Perfect.

Ingredients:
Makes 8-

• 55g unsalted butter
• 90g caster sugar
• 90g light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 180g plain flour
• 60g salted cashew nuts, roughly chopped
• 8 squares of white chocolate

Preheat your oven to 180c and line two baking trays with baking paper.

Melt your butter in the microwave and add to a large bowl.

To the butter, add your sugars and egg, mix well.

Next add the baking powder and flour, mix to combine.

Fold in your cashews.

Take 8 teaspoons of the dough, roll into balls and place onto the baking sheet.

Push a square of white chocolate into each.

Take another teaspoon of dough, flatten and place over the top of the white chocolate.

Place into the oven for about 10-12 minutes.

They may not look done when you remove them but they will continue to cook outside of the oven.

Leave on a cooling rack to cool, or enjoy warm!

Apple Souffle With Homemade Custard

As its coming into autumn, apples are also coming into season, so what better time to make a dessert using them.

Now I LOVE apple crumble, and would quite happily of made that, but my dad doesn't like it! (I know right, crazy) anyway, I wanted to try something new also, like I usually do, and this is what I made!

I was slightly worried as the only other thing I have tried to make like a soufflé was a chocolate lava cake, and well, that was a disaster. So I have shied away from this sorta thing usually, but this time I was triumphant!

They came out UH-mazing, seriously my parents couldn't believe how nice they were and neither could I!
Really the ingredients are so simple, but make such a delicious dessert. (Sorry again for the photos, it was evening so bad lighting.)

With two of the leftover egg yolks I made some custard (for the first time I might add) and it was the perfect accompaniment.

Ingredients:
Serves 3.

For the souffle-

• 2 tbsp butter
• 3 apples, peeled and chopped small
• 100g caster sugar
• 3 egg whites

For the custard-

• 2 egg yolks
• 3 tsp corn flour
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 30g caster sugar
• 350ml milk (I used semi skimmed)
• 150ml double/whipping cream

Start off by melting the 1 tbsp of butter in a medium saucepan.

Once melted, add in the apples and 50g of the sugar and stir to coat.

Cook on a low heat until the apples turn to a puree.

Place into a large bowl to cool.

Preheat your oven to 200c and melt the leftover tbsp of butter and brush your ramekins with it.

Then sprinkle in some caster sugar to coat the sides.

In a medium bowl beat your egg whites until almost stiff peaks.

Slowly add in the leftover 50g of sugar and beat together.

Fold a tablespoon of the egg whites into the cooled apple purée, then add the rest of the egg whites, a third at a time, whilst gently folding to combine.

Next divide the apple mixture into your ramekins and place into the oven on a baking tray for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, turn the temperature down to 180c and cook for another 7 minutes.

For the custard, place the egg yolks, cornflour, vanilla and sugar into a medium saucepan and whisk to combine.

Turn the hob to a medium-low heat and slowly pour in the milk and cream, and whisk well.

Cook for about 10 minutes, until the custard has thickened. It should not boil.

Once the soufflés have baked, dust with icing sugar and serve immediately with the custard.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

This is my dads favourite cake. If you ask him what to bake he will say this.

My nan usually bakes a couple every month, for him to work his way through (quickly) so I thought why not make one for him myself. Especially as I came across this post on 'The Londoners' blog when looking at recipes. Her photographs made it look so delicious I just had to make it.

I made it slightly differently but used the same ingredients and it tasted delicious! Just the right amount of lemon and lovely and moist.

I apologise for the naff quality of the photos, the weather is dark and dreary today and upon lightening the photos up it seems to have made them blurry!

Ingredients:
For the cake-

• 170g unsalted butter
• 170g caster sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• zest of 2 lemons
• 170g self raising flour

For the glaze-

• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tbsp icing sugar (its supposed to be very runny so it seeps into the cake)

For the drizzle-

• juice of half a lemon
• 5 tbsp icing sugar (will vary on how juicy your lemon is, it should be quite thick and almost white)

Preheat your oven to 180c, and grease and line a loaf tin with baking paper.

In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Slowely add in the beaten eggs and beat together.

Add the lemon zest and mix well.

Sift in your flour and gently fold in with a metal spoon until combined.

Pour the batter into your loaf tin and place into the oven for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes turn down your oven to 150c, and leave for another 10 minutes.

Once baked (put a skewer in the middle, if it comes out clean its done.) leave to cool for 5 minutes before taking out of the tin and leaving to cool on a cooling rack.

For the glaze , mix together the lemon juice and icing sugar until smooth. 

Poke holes with a skewer into the cooled cake, and pour the glaze over the top, so that it runs down into the holes. Then for the drizzle, again, mix together the lemon juice and icing sugar (it should be a lot thicker then the glaze) and using this to drizzle back and forth over the cake. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I have been wanting to bake something with peanut butter in for aaaaages, and have never got round to it, so today whilst I had nothing to do, obviously was the day!

This was an experiment really, I didn't know how they would come out or what I was aiming for, as long as they were edible I thought, but somehow they come out yummy! (yay)

Ingredients:
Makes 7-8 large cupcakes/muffins-

For the chocolate batter-

• 100g unsalted butter
• 100g light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 100g self raising flour 
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder

For the peanut butter batter-

• 80g peanut butter - I used crunchy
• 40g icing sugar
• 40g self raising flour
• 2 tsp natural yoghurt - I don't even know why I added this, I was just hunting around in my fridge really, but it seemed to work haha!

• handful of chocolate chips for the topping

Preheat your oven to 180c and line a muffin tin with 8 cases.

In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time beating after each addition.

Sift in the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder and gently fold in.

In a separate medium bowl, add the peanut butter, icing sugar, flour and yoghurt and beat to combine.

Now to fill the muffin cases, put in a tablespoon of the chocolate mixture then top with a teaspoon of the peanut butter mixture, then top with a teaspoon of chocolate and another teaspoon of peanut butter. 

Then swirl together with a toothpick. (the cases should be three quarters full.)

Sprinkle on some chocolate chips on each, and place into the oven for 18-20 minutes.

Once baked leave to cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely. (Or like me, eat one warm, they're delicious!)

If you like you could also melt some chocolate to drizzle on top! 

Melting Moments

I simple adore the name of these little treats and its true they do melt in your mouth.
Lovely crumbly biscuits filled with jam and buttercream.

I came across the recipe for these on Edd Kimbers Blog, winner of the first series of the The Great British Bake Off (my favourite programme, I love it!.)

The recipe looked easy and the results delicious so I thought id give them a go. The only difference is I halved the recipe so it only makes 6 not 12, obviously double if you want more!

They came out light, crumbly, buttery and yummy.

Ingredients:
For the biscuits-

• 125g unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 125g plain flour
• 40g icing sugar
• 20g custard powder
• pinch of salt

For the filling-

• 50g unsalted butter
• 100g icing sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• dash of milk
• 6 tsp raspberry jam

Preheat your oven to 160c and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

In a large bowl cream the butter with the vanilla until light and creamy.

Sift in all the dry ingredients, mix with a spoon to start with then finish with your hands to form a dough.

Take little balls of the dough, roll into balls with your hands and place 2 inches apart on the baking tray.

I weighed each one, like Edd, so they were all the same and they were 20g each.

Press down lightly on each with a floured fork.

Place both trays in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

They should be light golden in colour once baked.

Leave to cool for 5 minutes on the tray and then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely before filling.

For the filling, beat the butter until it is very light in colour then mix in the icing sugar, vanilla extract and milk.

Fill a piping bag with the buttercream and pipe around the edge of half the biscuits, then fill the middle with the teaspoon of jam. Then sandwich on the other biscuits and dust with icing sugar!

Raspberry Cheesecake With White Chocolate Ganache

In my last post I mentioned we had family visiting, so I (obviously) took it upon myself to make dessert.
You're welcome mum.

This is a no bake cheesecake filled with raspberries and topped with a divine white chocolate ganache. I love chocolate ganache...so delicious.

 Its great for frostings, fillings, toppings and drizzling's. (yes I know that's not a word.)

Edit: This was the best cheesecake I have made so you have definitely got to try it! (cue mmms and ahhs from fellow dinner guests and everyone asking for seconds.)

I only just managed to take photos of the cheesecake before my family was eyeing it up,so I do apologise for the poor quality! (once its been spotted, i'm afraid its devoured quickly in my house!)

.

Ingredients:

For the cheesecake-

• 300g digestive biscuits
• 150g unsalted butter, melted
• 200ml double/whipping cream
• 500g full fat cream cheese - at room temperature 
• 4 tbsp icing sugar
• juice of half a lemon (the acidity thickens the cream cheese)
• 1 punnet fresh raspberries 

For the ganache-

• 150g white chocolate
• 80ml double cream

Put the biscuits in a zip lock bag and bash to crumbs with a rolling pin.

Pour into a medium bowl and mix in the melted butter. Coat well, it should look like wet sand.

Now pour the mixture into a spring form pan and place into the fridge.

In a large bowl, beat the cream until soft peaks form.

Add in the cream cheese, icing sugar and lemon juice and mix well.

Mix in the raspberries (save a few for decor) they will break up a bit and the mixture will look a bit pink, lovely.

Now pour onto of the biscuit base and place back into the fridge for an hour before doing the ganache.

For the ganache, break up the white chocolate and place into a medium bowl.

Pour cream into a saucepan on medium heat until it starts to bubble.

Now take of the heat and pour over the chocolate. Leave to sit for 5 minutes. Stir together.

If the chocolate still hasn't melted properly, put in the microwave for 30 second intervals until melted. (took mine 60 seconds to melt completely.)

Once melted and mixed together, leave to cool down for 15 minutes.

Now get the cheesecake out of the fridge and pour oven the ganache. 

Swirl the pan around so there's an even coating.

Place back into the fridge to set, at least 4 hours.

Take it out about 20 minutes before serving, and decorate with leftover raspberries!

Vanilla Cupcakes

This weekend we have family visiting, including two 7 year old boys. I wanted to make sure id bake something that I know they will like... vanilla cupcakes obviously! and decorated with sweets. What kid doesn't like sweets?

(Lets hope they arnt really fussy, otherwise im just going to have to eat them all - what a shame that would be ;)

Anyway, these are nothing snazzy just a plain vanilla cupcake with vanilla buttercream, simple but delicious.

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes (makes 6 large) -

• 110g unsalted butter
• 110g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 110g self raising flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

For the buttercream-

• 100g unsalted butter
• 200g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or you could use vanilla extract)

Preheat your oven to 180c and line 6 muffin tray holes with cases.

In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add in the eggs one at a time, beating after each, and add the vanilla with the last.

Sieve in the flour and baking powder and gently fold in with a metal spoon.

Divide the batter between the cases and bake for 18-20 minutes.

Once baked leave to cool completely on a cooling rack.

To make the butter cream, in a medium bowl beat the butter with an electric whisk until it turns light in colour (this makes the best buttercream.)

Slowly add in the icing sugar by the tablespoon and add the vanilla extract. Mix well.

Spread onto each (cooled) cupcake and decorate with any sweets you like, I chose jelly tots!

Victoria Sponge

Victoria sponge is a classic, and probably featured in most baking blogs due to it being so damn delicious and simple.

I have memories from childhood of my nan baking one every year for my birthday, she would tint the sponge with food colouring so it was pink when I cut into it! (how thoughtful, bless her!)

So I thought it was about time I made one, but with a little twist. (Because I cant help it.)

I think of the traditional victoria sponge as having raspberry jam and/or buttercream or cream. For a little change I filled it with a delicious berries and cherries jam by Bonne Maman and this amazing two ingredient white chocolate buttercream, which I came across here on Cookies and Cups by Shelly - check out her blog if you haven't already, genius!

Ingredients:
For the cake-

• 180g unsalted butter
• 180g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 180g self raising flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

For the filling- 

• 4 tbsp jam (any you like!)
• 150g white chocolate
• 150g unsalted butter

Start with the buttercream as it needs to cool for at least 3 hours.

Melt together the butter and white chocolate, in a pan over a low heat, it will split but that's what its supposed to do!

Let it cool down slightly for 10 minutes and then pour into a medium bowl and place into the fridge.

Preheat your oven to 180c and grease and line two sandwich tins.

In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Next add in the eggs one at a time and beat after each addition, with the last beat in the vanilla extract.

Sift in the flour and baking powder then gently fold in with a metal spoon until combined.

Divide the batter between the two sandwich tins and place into the oven for 18-20 minutes. 

Once baked leave to cool for a few minutes and then lift out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Take the buttercream out of the fridge at this point to warm up slightly.

Spread the jam on one half of the cake and then with a electric whisk, beat the buttercream until light and fluffy. Then spread onto the other half of the cake, sandwich together and sprinkle the top with icing sugar!

Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes

Yum, Yummy, yum.

That is what I think when I hear the pairing of chocolate and caramel. Just divine.
I had a pot of carnation caramel in my cupboard, so I thought what better way to use it up then cupcakes!
The caramel is not only in the frosting but also hidden inside the cupcake, what a great suprise?

The frosting itself is so creamy, from the addition of double cream and mascarpone, this is definately not one for an everyday snack, lets just say that!

Ingredients:
Makes 8-10 large cupcakes.

Cupcakes-

• 150g unsalted butter, softened
• 150g caster sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 150g self raising flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• splash of milk

Frosting-

• 50ml double/whipping cream
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp mascarpone
• 4 tbsp icing/powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp caramel 
• 8-10 tsp of caramel for the centre

-A quick note, the frosting is slightly softer then usual buttercream so if you want a thicker one skip the mascarpone and double the butter.

Preheat your oven to 180c and line a muffin tin with cases.

In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy then beat in the eggs slowly with the vanilla extract.

Sift in the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder and a splash of milk, then gently fold in with a metal spoon until combined.

Divide the mixture into each muffin case (I made 10, but depends how large you make them.)

Then place into the oven for 15-18 minutes, mine took 15.

Once baked, take out of the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

For the frosting, beat the cream until soft peaks form then add the rest of the ingredients, and slowly beat until combined. 

Now with a sharp knife cut a hole in the centre of each cupcake, keep the bit you cut out to place back on top.

Fill each hole with a teaspoon of caramel then place the 'lid' you cut off back on.

Then pipe or spread the frosting over the top! (I just decorated with a few chocolate shavings.)

Buttery Shortbread

The first time I ever made shortbread was awful. Really I do no know what I did but it was just awful (this was over a year ago when I first started trying my hand at baking and failed a lot haha) hence why I haven't attempted it since, even though it seems simple, until now.

To my avail it come out perfect! Light and buttery and just crumbly and delicious. So I decided to share my recipe with you.

Ingredients:

• 150g plain flour
• 80g icing sugar
• 125g unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp caster sugar

Preheat your oven to 170c and line a baking tin with greaseproof paper, I used a 20cm x 20cm tin.

In a large bowl mix together the flour and sugar, and then rub in the butter with your fingers until a dough forms. (it gets a bit sticky but its worth it!) 

Now the trick is to not over work it, so as soon as its turned into a dough press it into your prepared tin straight away and prick all over with a fork.

Place into the oven for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 150c and bake for another 10 minutes.

Keep an eye on it, you're after a nice light golden colour.

Once baked, take out of the oven and while its still hot, sprinkle over the caster sugar then leave to cool completely in the tin.

When its cool you can then take it out, tap off the excess sugar and cut it up!

Jam 'Doughnut' Muffins

I had heard of doughnut style muffins or 'duffins' for a while now and thought they sounded absolutely delicious, so when I came across this recipe for 'Nutella Stuffed Cinnamon Sugar Muffins' by Sally on 'Sallys Baking Addiction' (if you haven't already, you must check out her blog!) I thought I must have a go!

Instead of filling them with nutella though, I decided on strawberry jam, as jam doughnuts are my fav!
I also tweaked the recipe a bit to fit what ingredients I had, measurements and what not, but they still came out yummy!

Ingredients:
Makes 8.
For the muffins-

• 75g unsalted butter, softened
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 120ml milk (I used semi-skimmed)
• 190g plain flour
• 1 and a half tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
• 8 tsp strawberry (or your choice) jam

For the topping-

• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 3 tbsp caster sugar

Preheat your oven to 200c and grease a muffin tin.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar, then beat in the egg, vanilla extract and milk.
Gently fold in the flour, baking powder and salt until just combined.

Fill 8 muffin holes with a tablespoon of batter, then top each with a teaspoon of jam. Then add another tablespoon of batter on top of that.
Now place into the oven for 10 minutes, after 10 reduce the heat to 180c, then bake for another 8-10 minutes.

Once baked, leave to cool for a few minutes whilst you melt the butter for the topping.
Put the caster sugar in a bowl and using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the muffins with the melted butter.
Then dip each muffin into the sugar so they're nicely coated, just like a doughnut!

Lemon and Blueberry Baked Cheesecake

I have made many cheesecakes in the past, but never have I ever baked one.
Honestly I have always been a bit scared too, as it sounded a bit tricky to me to get right.

What if it cracks/sinks/leaks/overcooks and so on and so forth, but I decided to give it a bash, as another unbaked cheesecake recipe sounded a bit of a cop out, as really they're so easy to do! (but still delicious) so anyway, this was my attempt.

It looks a bit dark as I may have left it in a bit too long (trial and error) but overall when you cut into it, its creamy and light in colour. (Btw it actually tasted delicious!)

Ingredients:
For the blueberry syrup-

• 150g blueberries
• 3 tbsp caster sugar

For the cheesecake-

• 300g digestive biscuits
• 150g unsalted butter, melted
• 500g cream cheese, softened (full fat)
• 140g caster sugar
• rind of 2 lemons
• 3 eggs
• juice of 2 lemons

Firstly make the blueberry syrup. In a small pan on medium heat add the blueberries and sugar until they start to become a syrup. (you can leave some blueberries hole or mash them) take off the heat and set aside to cool.

Preheat your oven to 180c and grease the pan you're using (I used a spring form pan.)

Either put the biscuits in a food processor to make fine crumbs or place into a bag and bash with a rolling pin (I chose the latter) Now pour into a large bowl and add the melted butter, stir to coat the biscuits until it looks like wet sand.

Place into the fridge for at least 15 minutes while you get on with the filling.

In a large bowl beat the cream cheese to loosen and then beat in the caster sugar, and lemon rind.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition and pour in the lemon juice with the last.

Pour half the mixture into your prepared tin and then take spoonfuls of half of the blueberry syrup and dot them around. Take a knife and gently swirl it through to mix slightly. Pour in the rest of the cream cheese mixture and do the same on the top with the syrup.

Place into the oven, for 30-35 minutes. (Keep an eye on it, I left mine in for about 40 minutes as it was supposed to be for 45 but I noticed it was turning brown.) It should still wobble a little in the centre but will firm up on cooling.

Turn off the oven and open the door slightly, leave the cheesecake in their for about an hour.
Now refrigerate for at least four hours, I decorated mine with a few blueberries!

Strawberry Cupcakes With Condensed Milk Buttercream

There's nothing like fresh strawberries in the summer in Britain, you can never get them the same any other time of the year, you just cant!
So I like to make the most of this, I have been eating them so much just with ice cream or cream, or actually just by themselves! Obviously I wanted to bake them into cupcakes (I want to bake everything into cupcakes) and I have been waiting to try out condensed milk butter cream for a while so what better time then now!

Ingredients:

(Makes roughly 10 large cupcakes)

For the cake-

• 180g unsalted butter
• 180g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 180g self raising flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 punnet of strawberries chopped (save some strawberries for decoration)

For the butter cream-

• 150g unsalted butter, softened
• 300g icing sugar
• 4 tbsp condensed milk

Preheat your oven to 180c and line a muffin tray with 10 cases.

In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in eggs one at a time and add the vanilla with the last one.

Sift in the flour and baking powder, then gently fold in with a metal spoon until just combined.

Add the chopped strawberries and fold in.

Divide the batter between the muffin cases and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes. (They will take longer to bake because of the strawberries) Once baked leave to cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Now for the icing, beat the butter until it starts to go pale in colour, then slowly add in the icing sugar, and then the condensed milk until combined and you have a nice fluffy icing.

If you think its too stiff add some milk.

Pipe your buttercream onto each cupcake and decorate with your leftover strawberries.

I used a wilton 1M tip to decorate mine with, always makes whatever I bake look 'pro'.

I got mine here- 

Wilton 1M Nozzle Cupcake Decorating Tip Swirl