Christmas Cupcakes

Candy can cupcakes from Cake Days by Hummingbird Bakery though with cherry syrup instead of peppermint essence (yuk!) and LOTS of red food colouring!

 

Gingerbread cupcakes from the LOLA cupcake book, much spicier than the Hummingbird recipe but very well received.  

Pancake Cake

 

Thick layers of sultana buttermilk pancakes with spiced apple butter in each layer with maple syrup sweetened mascarpone with lemon juice and chopped caramelised hazelnuts, yum!

Christmas Cake 2013 for the Davies's

 

This is same but with a Mexican nativity scene as requested due to the upcoming Mexico trip in 2014!

Christmas Cake 2013 for the Whittaker's

 

 

 

This year I used crystallised ginger, figs, dates, sultanas and tropical fruit with allspice and I used spiced rum, I'm looking forward to trying it. 

S'mores Bars

I used ginger nuts and digestives instead of graham crackers and I used coco pops instead of coco pebbles (the English version) and added 3 heaped tablespoons of Nutella.

http://www.bakersroyale.com/bars-and-cookie-bars/smore-bars/

Blueberry Pancake Under The Sea Birthday Cake

Ziggy's 2nd Birthday

Cake from:

http://thecakeblog.com/2013/04/blueberry-breakfast-cake.html

In the layers I used blueberry jam and mascarpone mixed with lime juice and maple syrup. I used blue colouring on the frosting which was just humming bird vanilla buttercream.

 

Blueberry Flavouring Frosting

I wanted to try out some blueberry flavouring so I made some vanilla cupcakes and some vanilla buttercream and added some to the frosting with a bit of blue colouring. The feedback was that it tasted processed/chemical so not to use it.

Spiced Blondies With Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from Raspberricupcakes:
 http://www.raspberricupcakes.com/2012/08/spiced-blondies-with-chai-infused.html

Spiced Blondies with Cream Cheese Frosting

 

225g unsalted butter, melted 

275g packed light/dark-brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

2 tbsp Maple Syrup

250g plain flour

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground coriander seed

½ tsp ground nutmeg

100g Pecans chopped

1/2 tsp salt for flour mixture

 For the Frosting:

100g Unsalted butter at room temperature

100g icing sugar

100g Philadelphia

1 tbsp Maple Syrup

2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

½ tsp ginger

Pinch coca  

Preheat oven to 180°C, Brush a 8 inc square brownie tin with butter; line pan with a piece of baking paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides. Butter paper. Sift flour and ground spices together in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk butter and sugar until smooth. Whisk in egg and vanilla. Add flour and spice mixture; stir together just until moistened (do not overmix) add pecans. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top. Bake until top is golden brown and a knife is inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 minutes. Set pan on a wire rack, and let cool completely.

Wisk butter and icing sugar together until smoth, add vanilla, maple and spices and mix again. Add Philadelphia and mix again then refridgerate for 30 minutes. Spread thickly over the top of blondies, smoothing with a spatula. Line with a fork then dust with cocoa. Cut into 16 squares. Can be stored in an airtight container for several days.

Maple Pecan Flapjacks & Honey Sultana Flapjacks

Flapjacks
River Cottage
http://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/flapjacks/p:1/

These were really good except I used grease proof paper and not baking paper and they stuck! Managed to rescue most of them though.

Chocolate & Candied Orange Puff Pastry Swirls

After I made the cheese twisties I had some puff pastry left over so I spread chocolate spread on it, grated dark chocolate and sprinkled diced candied orange peel, rolled them up cut them into rounds and backed them for 20 minutes. Yummy!

Bacon & Mature Cheddar Cheese Twisties

Bacon & Mature Cheddar Cheese Twisties
Lorraine Pascale - Home Cooking Made Easy

I had to take a ready made starter round to a friends for the 6 of us for diner so I decided on 2 cheese twists each (wish I had made a dip too!). I followed the recipe for a few but then I decided to make a few variations and did some with pesto and mozzarella and some with chilli pesto and red Leicester with chorizo which were the ones I likes the most.

Butternut & Sweet Potato Lasagne With Sage, Toasted Pine Nuts & Nutmeg

Butternut & Sweet Potato Lasagne With Sage, Toasted Pine Nuts & Nutmeg
Lorraine Pascale - Fast fresh & Easy Food

I'm trying to eat meat free about 50% of the time now (saving money, good for you, good for the earth etc) and I'm really enjoying it. This was a big hit with the two vegetarians in my house and was again very easy.

Prawn Ceaser Salad With Olive Oil Croutons & Pomegranates

Prawn Ceaser Salad With Olive Oil Croutons & Pomegranates
Lorraine Pascale - Fast, Fresh & Easy Food

Another big success, this is going to be a regular next summer for my tea. 

Courgette 'Pappardelle' With Asparagus, Avocado Salad & Rocket

Courgette 'Pappardelle' With Asparagus, Avocado Salad & Rocket
Lorraine Pascale - Fast, Fresh & Easy Food

Was easy but definitely not as popular as the other two salads, maybe not a salad for a man - they missed the protein too much.

Mango, Feta & Avocado Salad With Fresh Lime Juice

Mango, Feta & Avocado Salad With Fresh Lime Juice 
Lorraine Pascale - Fast, Fresh & Easy Food

This was a big hit! Really quick, easy, tasty, good for you and diet friendly! Definitely will be making this one again when the sunshine returns!

Triple Chocolate Cookies

The Boy who Bakes - Ed Kimber

I added 200g of vanilla white chocolate chunks and they were amazing!!! My favourite, I can't wait to make them again!

Mini Pina Colada Cupcakes

From Hummingbird Bakery's Cake Days cookbook

These were really nice and coconutty but if I was to make them again I would skip the rum in the frosting and add some of the rum syrup from the pineapple.

I love this cookbook though, the recipes always come out really well.

Chocolate Courgette Cake

www.cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.com/chocolate-zucchini-cake-with-sour-cream-frosting/

I did 1.5 times the recipe to make a 3 layer cake and it took 1 hour 45 to bake. I added chocolate ganache with Kahlua over the top of the finished cake and then sprinkles for that birthday extra!

Banoffee Brownies & Blueberry Lime Blondies

One More Slice - Leila Lindhom

The book does not mention anywhere about what size tin to use so I used a standard UK brownie tin. The recipe would not cook and took 1.5 hours in the end with burnt top. bottom and sides and only just cooked middle!!!!! I had to cut off the sides and the top and bottom and then half like a layer cake and cut into squares. Next time I will have the quantities in this brownie section of the book! 

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies
I replaced the Peanut butter with banoffee spread (Asda) and skipped the salted peanuts as I was catering for someone with a nut allergy. The banana worked really well and I would use again.

Raspberry Blondies
I swapped the raspberries for blueberries and added 150g chopped vanilla white chocolate. Everyone said the lime was quite strong so would reduce to 2 limes in future.

Oatmeal, Sultana, Pecan & Vanilla White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2 Cups Mixed Oats (Jumbo, Rolled etc)
1.5 Cups Flour
0.5tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
0.5 tsp Salt
2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Ginger
0.5 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1 Cup Unsalted Butter at Room Temperature
0.5 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
0.5 Cup Light Brown sugar
1 Large Egg
0.25 Cup Whole Milk
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Chopped Pecans
0.5 Cup Sultanas
0.5 Cup Chopped Vanilla White Chocolate

Heat oven to 180 c and mix oats, flour, soda, baking powder, salt and spices together.

In a separate bowl cream the butter and sugars until fluffy then add egg, milk and vanilla.

Add creamed butter to the oats and mix then add nuts, sultanas and chocolate and mix.

Roll into small golf balls and place on lined baking tray with 5cm gaps and bake for 13 minutes.

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

From Humminbird Bakery's Cake Days cookbook

I swapped the orange zest for orange essence in the cake and the frosting and it worked really well, they are really light and tasty and very child friendly. I skipped the candied orange decoration and use an orange chocolate button and edible gold glitter as this batch was for children (and some very big kids!).

Chilli, Cheese & Sweetcorn Muffins

from Hummingbird Bakery's Cake Days cookbook

I swapped the chilli paste for a sliced red chilli without the seeds. They are a bit dry, if I was to make a gain I would use more cheese (sprinkle some on top at the end before baking), more sweetcorn and more onion. Very nice accompaniment to soup.

Orange Pistachio & Dark Chocolate Cookies

This one was a combination a few recipes to make something a bit middle eastern in flavour which was what I fancied that day!

220g Unsalted Butter
145g Caster Sugar
1 Egg Yolk
2 tsp's Orange Essence
1 tsp Ground Ginger
275g Plain Flour
Pinch Salt
150g Chopped Pistachios
250g 60% Dark Chocolate
1 tbsp Honey

Cream butter and sugar then beat in egg yolk and orange essence. Sift flour, salt and ginger and mix in with the creamed butter until they form a dough and mix in 100g of the chopped pistachios. Put into a ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.     

Heat oven to 180 c and line baking sheet. Roll dough out between baking paper until 1cm thick and use a cookie cutter as desired. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden.

Chop the dark chocolate and put in a microwavable jug with the honey for 30 second bursts until melted. Dip a corner of the cookies in then sprinkle with the rest of the chopped pistachios and leave to set in the fridge for 20 minutes.  

Everybody said these were fantastic and have asked me to make these again and pass the recipe on - well here it is!

Strawberry Brule Cheesecake Squares

I crumbled 150g of Nice biscuits and 150g of Gingernut biscuits and mixed with 100g of melted unsalted butter and 200g melted vanilla white chocolate and pressed into a loose bottom tin with a fork and refridgerated for 30 minutes.

I preheated the oven to 150c, mixed 200g Philadelphia and 250g Mascapone with 2 large eggs, 150g caster sugar, 2 tsp's of vanilla paste, 1 tbsp. of lime juice and 1 tbsp of honey put into the prepared tin and baked for 18 minutes.

I pushed halved strawberries in as soon as I took it out of the oven and dusted the entire thing with icing sugar then used the blow torch to caramelise the sugar.

Everyone said they loved it, it was gone really quick and I have had requests to make it again already so I think it went down well!

Caramelised Banana & Snickers Mini Cupcakes

Making Cupcakes With Lola

I made the peanut butter cakes but for the topping I just whipped up Nutella, Biscoff and some butter and it was really really good (peanut, chocolate and caramel - all the snickers requirements)! I ran out of the frosting though (possibly because I kept tasting it to check it was ok?!) so used sliced snickers for the rest which looked good but didn't taste as good.

I made the banana cakes which were really easy, I added an extra banana as well for a bit more of a banana hit. I made the cream cheese frosting but put half in a separate bowl and added vanilla paste, cinnamon and yellow food colouring then put them both in a two colour piping bag which was much messier than I thought it would be! For more of a banana flavour, I caramelised sliced banana in sugar and butter (I used salted butter here) and used to decorate the cakes. The caramel really held the banana flavour.

Mexican Feast - Wahaca Cook Book

Wahaca Mexican Food At Home - Tinga de Pollo with Guacamole, Fresh Tomato Salsa, Mexican Rice, Refried Beans, Feta, Sour Cream and Blue Corn Tortilla's

The Tinga de Pollo was easy to make though had to order the chipotles online and it took about 20 minutes just to shred the chicken but it was worth it.

The recipe for the Fresh Tomato Salasa said 1tbsp!!! of salt which nearly ruined the salsa so I had to make up more of it to calm down the salsa!

The guacamole was really good, I will definitely make my own again, the same with the tortilla's, it does take a while but it gives a lot more flavour.

Great Saturday night feast!