Banana & Raisin Loaf cake

I'm starting to get excited over thriftiness, this for anyone who knows me, will come as a shock. Yes, the girl who throws food away before it reaches its sell-by date and who normally can't resist buying new shoes every week is finally growing up!

Inspired by my ever-thrifty friend, who made a loaf cake with banana's left over at the office, i decided to follow suit. Using the browning banana's that had sat on my desk all week, i made a versatile banana & raisin loaf cake.

Ingredients - Serves 4
115g self-raising flour
50g butter
75g caster sugar
1 medium egg (seperated)
2 over-ripe banana's
1/4 tsp salt
90g raisins

Firstly pre-heat the oven to 180c (non-fan)

Next prepare your loaf tin by greasing with some butter, taking care to smooth the butter right up to the top of the tin.

Mix the butter and sugar together until creamy, then add the sifted flour, salt and egg yolk.

Now time for the messy bit, peel the two bananas and mash in a bowl till they have the consistency of baby food - lovely! Add the mushy nana's to the mixture and whisk into the mixture. Fold in the well whipped egg whites and finally add the raisins.

Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for approximately 45 minutes or until golden. To check if the loaf is cooked, stick a tooth-pick into the centre, if it comes out clean then the cake is done!

Leave to cool for 10-15 minutes in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack.

Once cooked, you can use the loaf in loads of different ways. Hubby and I had it with some natural yogurt and honey as a dessert and we toasted it for breakfast. You could also have the loaf with some delicious organic vanilla ice-cream or even eat it on its lonesome!

Classic Cupcakes

When my twin (not actual, but we are v.similar) and her lovely boyfriend came to stay i thought it was only right to bake some cupcakes. A heavy night of drinking lay ahead and something sweet always goes down a treat. Now, i was pondering on making yummy pistachio or rosewater cupcakes, but in light of the 'credit crunch,' which i'm sure your all sick of hearing about, i decided to make use of the ingredients i had in my store cupboard.

Using my recent purchase of 'More from Magnolia' as inspiration i decided to make vanilla cupcakes and mini chocolate cupcakes topped with yummy vanilla buttercream.





Base - 12 standard size vanilla cupcakes
125g soft butter
125g vanilla caster sugar
2 medium eggs
125g self-raising flour
2 tbsp milk

Base- 24 mini chocolate cupcakes
125g softened butter
125 g caster sugar
2 medium eggs
2 tbsp milk
100g self-raising flour
3 tbsp cocoa

For the buttercream topping (this should be enough for both batches)
175g softened butter
350g icing sugar
3 tbsp boiling water
Vanilla extract
Pink food colouring
Butterfly sprinkles

As always start with pre-heating the oven till 190c, whether you choose to do both batches or either. Purely because of space issues in my teeny-weeny kitchen i chose to do one batch at a time, but both batches only require 12-15 minutes baking time.

Add the butter and sugar together mixing till nice and fluffy. Depending on which base you choose add the reminding ingredients one at a time mixing until light and smooth in appearance. One tip i really recommend is to always use organic ingredients if you can, whether it be Green & Blacks chocolate or M&S organic vanilla. Another gem is to seperate the egg yolk and whites, adding the yolk first and adding the well whipped egg whites once the other ingredients have been mixed together. This creates a lighter sponge once the cupcakes have been baked.

Once your cupcakes have been seperated into cases and baked, its time for my all time favourite bit... the vanilla buttercream icing! I love buttercream, i could eat it on its own and I all too frequently do in my more 'Nigella' moments, it really is the best kind of cupcake topping.

For the buttercream, i really do think its best to use either unsalted or lightly salted butter, otherwise the cakes can end up far too salty! All you need to do is mix the icing sugar, butter, food colouring and boiling water together and you're done. Finally, add some pretty sprinkles, on top and you're done!

Gluten Free white chocolate & hazlenut cookies

Yet more birthdays in the month of September... My best friend's birthday is today and to add to the baking challenge, she doesn't eat wheat!!

Now i have never used gluten free flour before and was a little concerned that with cupcakes, the sponge wouldn't rise well, so i decided upon some cookies adapted from Nigella Lawson's 'How to be a Domestic Goddess'

The actual recipe is for White Chocolate & Pistachio Biscuits (page 205 of Domestic Goddess) which does sound completely yummy, but as i'm a little short on pennies i decided to go for hazlenuts instead.

Ingredients:
100g unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
100g soft brown sugar (i used the light brown variety)
1 teaspoon of organic vanilla extract
1 large egg
150g gluten free plain flour (you can get this from Doves Farm)
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
100g ground hazlenuts
125g whole hazlenuts
125g organic white chocolate

You will also need 2 lined baking sheets

Note on the ingredients - i always choose organic ingredients where i can as i believe makes the result much tastier. You can get some really lovely organic white chocolate with Madagascan vanilla extract from Green & Blacks and organic vanilla extract from M&S. Lastly, i did use gluten free plain flour for the recipe, but the original recipe is made with normal plain flour.

Now the recipe does state that it makes for around 36 cookies, HOWEVER...i found this to be too much and despite using less mixture the cookies did get a little squashed together.

Anyway, with that in mind, preheat the oven to 180c

Firstly mix the butter, caster sugar and soft brown sugar together until soft and creamy. Next you need to add the vanilla extract along with the egg, then the bicarb and gluten free flour. Whip these ingredients until you get a smooth dough.

Finally, add the ground hazlenuts, whole hazlenuts and chopped white chocolate and stir in well to get an even mix. Here, i think its best to use halved hazlenuts rather the whole as i think it would make the cookies look much prettier.

Then to make the cookies you need to pinch off the dough and create walnut sized balls with your hands. Nigella certainly isn't lying when she says they need to be well spaced and i think this is the most important part of the recipe to follow loyaly!!

When you have between 24-36 cookies (depending on the size of your baking trays) pop in the oven for 10-12 minutes. The cookies will be done when they are a pale golden colour, slightly darker around the edges.

Once baked, leave to cool on the baking tray for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

As these were for a birthday i used a cheapish cake tin from Tesco and wrapped the cookies in tissue paper to make them more present-like.

Apple and cinnamon cupcakes

As mentioned in the Red Velvet post, quite a few of my friends are September babies, so i've turned to cupcakes as the ideal present solution!

My friend is totally obsessed with cinnamon so i made her Apple and Cinnamon cupcakes with pretty purple icing, which went down a treat.

This recipe makes 12 standard size cupcakes:

Base:
125g soft light brown sugar
125g lightly salted butter
125g sifted self raising flour
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 bramley cooking apple
2 medium eggs

Topping:
350g fondant icing sugar
3-4 tbsp of boiling water
Aubergine food colouring
Purple sprinkles

Firstly pre-heat the oven to 190c

Its best to core, peel and grate the bramley cooking apple first before getting down to the business of baking, that way if your in a teensy kitchen like me, you wont get in a muddle later in the process!

Ok so, pop the light soft brown sugar and butter into a bowl and whip until creamy. Then seperate the eggs and add the yolks to the mixture. Next add the sifted self-raising flour and cinnamon to the mix together and mix until smooth. You can now add the grated bramley cooking apple and again mix in well. Finally, fold in your whipped egg whites.

Place the cupcakes in the oven for approximately 12-15 minutes, but please be aware that the mix will be slightly 'wetter' than normal because of the addition of bramley apple. But seriously, the delicious smells coming out of the oven are something else...almost worth baking as a type of room scent!!

Ordinarily, you could go for a muffin-vibe with these cakes but as these were for a birthday i decided to go with traditional glace icing to decorate.

Glace icing is just too easy for words, just add around 350g fondant icing sugar to boiling water and then chuck in the desired amount of food colouring. My new cupcake friend, fondant icing sugar gives an extra glossy shine, so buy, buy, buy!!!

As it was an extra special occassion i used my Momiji bake set and decorated the cupcakes with purple sprinkles and 'Happy Birthday' flags - brilliant!

Red Velvet cupcakes

Ah September! What a month for Birthdays....we're only a week in and i already have very few pennies in my purse! Which brings me to the point of this weeks first cupcake recipe...Red Velvet cupcakes with vanilla buttercream for hubby's friend.

To make 12 standard size cupcakes you will need:

Base
125g softened butter
125g caster sugar
100g self-raising flour
3 tbsp organic cocoa powder
2 tbsp milk
2 medium eggs (seperated)
2-3 tbsp red food colouring

For the buttercream topping
175g softened butter
350g fondant icing sugar
3 tbsp boiling water
Organic vanilla extract
Red sprinkles

Firstly pre-heat that oven to 190c (cooking times will vary depending on model etc)

Mix the caster sugar and butter until softened before adding the sifted self-raising flour, 2 egg yolks, sifted cocoa powder, 2 tbsp milk. Once these ingredients have been well mixed, fold in the whipped egg whites. Finally, for the magic of red velvet, add a few drops of red food colouring.

Bake in the oven for around 12-15 minutes until the sponge is springy. A good way to check if the cupcakes are done is to place a cocktail stick in the centre, if it comes away clean then they're perfect!

After you have cooled the cupcakes on a rack for around 30mins to an hour, its time for the yummy vanilla buttercream icing. Seriously, i excelled myself this time...the buttercream was amazing and as i'd 'accidently' made far too much, hubby and i thought it was only right to finish off the leftovers. More a case of licking the bowl and not the spatula...oh dear!

I think the main difference this time was using posh organic vanilla extract from M&S, this is a world away from the cheapy vanilla flavouring from the supermarket. Secondly, Silver Spoon have started doing a new range of icing sugars and the super glossy fondant variety seemed to work wonders!

So, Vanilla buttercream is super easy to do, simply pop the sifted icing sugar, vanilla extract, boiling water and butter into a large mixing bowl and whip until lovely a creamy. You can then pop the buttercream into an icing tube (i chose the star nozzle) or even use a knife if you don't have an icing kit, to decorate the cupcakes. This whole pro-icing lark is quite new to me and having recently received an amazing icing kit from Pampered Chef, i'm having quite a bit of fun practising!!

Finally decorate with red sprinkles to make it look all pretty!

I love Nigella

Nigella is literally my idea of the perfect wife, i was watching the repeat of her Nigella Express show on BBC 2 on Tuesday and i almost felt like taking notes!

Every little detail is thought of, like laying the table and creating quick and easy table decorations. Couldn't believe how quickly the woman can put together a 3 course meal...30 minutes for those of you who haven't seen it!

I am now begging hubby for a walk-in pantry, although in our teensy flat i think i may have to make do with one small cupboard for now.

I have her book 'How to be a domestic goddess' and have just bought Nigella Express off Amazon, so watch this space for some Nigella-esque recipes very soon....

Mansfield Park

Now i love a good period novel, but I just finished reading Jane Austen's Mansfield Park last night and i have to say, i was more than a little disappointed with the ending.

Of course, taking into consideration the time it was written, it was published in 1814, Mansfield seemed too restrained and serious. The plot never really picks up momentum and the main character, Fanny, is too timid and judgemental.

I almost wished that Fanny had married Mr Crawford, at least she could of have a bit of fun and lived a little! It was frustrating that Edmund hadn't paid any attention to Fanny until the very ending of the book. In my opinion, Edmund was a selfish character who would have married Miss Crawford had it not been for the scandal towards the end of Mansfield Park. Fanny was almost an afterthought to him, there was never anything but brotherly regard for her throughout.

A modern version of Fanny would have given up on Edmund, or at the very least given him a good old shake and told him exactly how she felt!But that, i guess, is the difference between modern woman versus Regency period woman. At the time women were seen as delicate creatures, who were expected to be accomplished in needlework and music, not speak their own mind openly.

Mansfield Park was published after Sense & Sensibility and Pride & Prejudice and at the time was highly praised for its moral theme. It is seen as her first 'grown-up novel' which she wrote after the death of her father. Jane Austen even wrote to her brother Frank in 1813 'I have something in hand - which i hope on the credit of P&P will sell well, tho' not half so entertaining.'

On a more positive note i did like the description of day-to-day Regency life. The custom of afternoon tea and the descriptions of how women spent their evenings (Mainly playing cribbage and doing needlework) made it easy to imagine what it was like to live a wealthy existence in Regency England.

Red Sprinkle mini Cupcakes

Sometimes, its good to go back to basics, after visiting Selfridges on Friday i got some inspiration from the Primrose counter and decided to make some crowd pleasing mini vanilla cupcakes.

Primrose cupcakes are beautiful in a simplistic way, so the flavours really speak for themselves. After 'testing' some out with hubby (chocolate gananche with vanilla sponge and vanilla buttercream with vanilla sponge) i recreated my own versions for our guests this weekend.

I'm warming more and more to mini cupcakes, there is something less guilt inducing about them. The teeny morsels make for a dainty treat that almost appear to contain no calories at all... The downside of course, is that as a result you tend to consume more!

Following the recipe from Very Vanilla cupcakes, i made 24 Red Sprinkle mini cupcakes. For the ingredients you will need:

Base
125g soft butter
125g vanilla caster sugar
2 medium eggs
125g self-raising flour
2 tbsp milk

Topping
vanilla extract
icing sugar
red food colouring
1/2 tbsp boiling water
Multi-coloured sprinkles

Pink Shrimp Cupcakes

Hubby was away climbing again this weekend, so off I went up the M1 to have a girly weekend of shopping, gossip and most importantly tea and cupcakes! The Northampton Bicycle Bazaar was on this weekend, so off we headed in search of vintage treasures.

Seeing this as a perfect excuse to bake something, i decided upon vanilla sponge cupcakes with pink foam shrimp for decoration.....

Base
125g soft butter
125g vanilla caster sugar
2 medium eggs
125g self-raising flour
2 tbsp milk

Topping
vanilla extract
icing sugar
pink food colouring
1/2 tbsp boiling water
12 Pink shrimp (available at M&S)

Mix the vanilla sugar in a large mixing bowl along with the butter. Then crack open the eggs and seperate the whites and yolk, whisking the whites until stiff. Add the self-raising flour, egg yolk and milk into the bowl and whisk until creamy. Finally, fold the stiffened whites into the mixture. Place the mixture into the cupcake tin, spreading evenly with the back of a teaspoon. Bake the cupcakes for 12-15 minutes until the sponge is firm and golden.

Put the cupcakes onto a cooling rack and leave for approximately one hour.

To create the icing, mix the icing sugar and food colouring in a mixing bowl along with teeny amounts of boiling water. Its best to add tablespoon by tablespoon in order to get the correct consistency. Spread the icing onto the cupcakes with a butter knife, adding the pink shrimp decoration before the icing sets.

Finally, get all your best girlfriends over for an afternoon of tea, cupcakes and gossip!

Momiji Vanilla Cupcakes

Sundays are Momiji bake days, its an unofficial law, and as i'd just received the cutest Momiji cupcake set i thought i may aswell honour the occassion with some cupcakes! You all need to check out the kit on the Momiji site, the cupcake cases are so sweet that i was almost reluctant to use them!

Armed with possibly the most retro equipment (I was using my Mum's Kitchen) i set about making vanilla sponge cupcakes with purple vanilla buttercream icing. This should have been a simple task, however a different oven and 30 year-old equipment resulted in me having to start over after the first batch ended in disaster!

I yet again learned the important lesson that Mother is always right, she had warned me that 190c was too hot in her swanky fan oven, yet i ploughed on regardless resulting in 'burned on the outside, gooey on the inside' cupcakes.

As this obviously wasn't the intended result, i set about making another batch, this time with Mother fussing over the temperature and timings. It was second time lucky and so Mum had an air of smugness for the rest of the evening!

This Momiji Vanilla Cupcake recipe makes 12 standard sized cupcakes...


Base
125g soft butter
125g vanilla caster sugar
2 medium eggs
125g self-raising flour
2 tbsp milk

Icing
175g softened butter
350g icing sugar
3 tbsp boiling water
Vanilla extract
Aubergine food colouring
White chocolate buttons


Preheat the oven to 190c OR if you also have a swanky fan oven, 160c!

Mix the vanilla sugar in a large mixing bowl along with the butter. Then crack open the eggs and seperate the whites and yolk, whisking the whites until stiff. Add the self-raising flour, egg yolk and milk into the bowl and whisk until creamy. Then fold the stiffened whites into the mixture - this will make a lovely light sponge.

Evenly place the mixture into the cupcake tin and bake for 12-15 minutes until the sponge is firm and golden. (swanky fan - 20 mins approx)Remove the cupcakes and leave to cool on a rack.

Now onto my second important lesson of the day, salted butter gives a much better flavour than the unsalted variety! I feel its important to try out different ingredients and after experimenting with unsalted butter this time around there definately felt as though something was missing!!

So, onto the buttercream icing... Beat the butter in a mixing bowl to soften and add the icing sugar, boiling water and vanilla extract into a bowl. Mix until smooth and add the aubergine food colouring and mix until desired colouring is achieved. Add the white chocolate buttons before the icing sets.

Mars cupcakes

"A Mars a day helps you work rest and play" so when hubby announced his best friend was visiting for a weekend of rock climbing and beer i thought i'd bake Mars cupcakes to keep their strength up!

Now cupcakes have something of a reputation of being airy fairy, delicate and generally a feminine love, so to make them more manly i chose red velvet sponge with black glace icing.

This recipe makes 12 Mars cupcakes:

Base
125g softened butter
125g caster sugar
100g self-raising flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp milk
2 medium eggs (seperated)
2-3 tbsp red food colouring

Topping
350g icing sugar
black food colouring
2 mars bars (cooled in fridge)
gold lustre dust
2-3 tbsp boiling water


First pre-heat the oven to 190c

Mix the caster sugar and butter until softened before adding the sifted self-raising flour, 2 egg yolks, sifted cocoa powder, 2 tbsp milk. Once these ingredients have been well mixed, fold in the whipped egg whites - i've found that this creates a lighter sponge. To make the red velvet, just add 2-3 drops of red food colouring...simple!

Once the Mars cupcakes have been baked for 12-15 minutes, they should look like this:

Cool the cupcakes on a rack for at least an hour, then get started on the black icing. I decided upon glace icing, purely because hubby prefers it to buttercream, which in my opinion would have been a better choice!!

Its best to make the icing as thick as possible for easy spreadability, so this is approximately 1 tbsp of water to every 100g of sifted icing sugar. Add the black food colouring, you need quite a bit so it doesn't look grey, then mix until smooth.

Spread the icing with a butter knife, adding the slices of cooled Mars bar before it sets. Finally, sprinkle with gold lustre dust.

Very Vanilla Cupcakes

What present do you get when you haven't a bean to rub together? Very Vanilla cupcakes!!

Since hubby and I got back from honeymoon the purse strings have been extremely tight, so cupcakes were the perfect present solution for my Aunt & Uncle's recent 50th Wedding Anniversary.

To play it safe, i opted for cupcakes with a vanilla base and topping. To make 12 standard Very Vanilla cupcakes you will need:

Base
125g soft butter
125g vanilla caster sugar
2 medium eggs
125g self-raising flour
2 tbsp milk

Topping
vanilla extract
icing sugar
blue food colouring
1/2 tbsp boiling water

First-off if you want to make the vanilla caster sugar, put one vanilla pod into a jar of caster sugar for at least 2 weeks before using. If you don't have the time or the inclination to do this, you can easily use ordinary caster sugar with a tablespoon of vanilla extract.

Now down to the business of baking! Preheat the oven to 190c and prepare the ingredients.

Mix the vanilla sugar in a large mixing bowl along with the butter. Then crack open the eggs and seperate the whites and yolk, whisking the whites until stiff. Add the self-raising flour, egg yolk and milk into the bowl and whisk until creamy. Then fold the stiffened whites into the mixture - this will make a lovely light sponge.

Evenly place the mixture into the cupcake tin and bake for 12-15 minutes until the sponge is firm and golden.



Once the cupcakes have cooled you can start on the thick glace icing.


Mix the caster sugar along with the powder blue food colouring and a teeny bit of water. To make the cupcakes extra vanilla-y i used some posh vanilla extract from M&S' new basics range.

I find it much easier to decorate the cupcakes if the icing is almost cement like in texture, so use as little water as possible. Smooth the icing on with a knife to get an even topping, then to prettify place a sugared flower decoration in the centre.
As these Very Vanilla Cupcakes were a present, i choose a cheap but pretty cake tin from Tesco rather than dull old tupperware.

Super Sherbet Lemon Cupcakes

Lemon cupcakes are my all time favourite and so for my latest cupcake challenge i decided to make zesty mini lemon cupcakes complete with sherbet lemon topping. These were an instant hit with the hubby, who was supposed to be taking them into work, but instead scoffed most for himself!!

This recipe makes 24 Super Sherbet lemon cupcakes:
Ingredients:
Base:
125g self-raising flour
125g caster sugar
125 g softened butter
2 medium eggs
zest & rind of 1 lemon
2tsp milk

Topping:
250g icing sugar
2/3 tsp water
yellow food colouring
24 Sherbet lemons
zest of 1 lemon


To start with preheat the oven to 190c and get all the ingredients up to room temperature.

Mix the butter and sugar together until soft and then add the eggs, milk, sifted self-raising flour and lemon (zest & rind)

Divide the mixture into 24 mini cupcake cases (or 12 bigger ones if you wish) and pop into the oven for approximately 12 minutes.

Once cooked, let the cupcakes cool for an hour or so before going on to my favourite bit, the decoration!

As these were supposed to be transported, i chose thick glace icing for the topping but i think a lemony buttercream would work well too.My moto with glace icing is, the less water the better, the icing tends to get too runny otherwise which makes it more difficult to get right!

Add a few drops of yellow food colouring, along with the zest of 1 lemon to the icing sugar and then add in the water - it should end up difficult to stir! Once the desired yellowness is achieved pop on the Sherbet Lemons for decoration, these are available from retro sweet websites such as A Quarter Of and GoodiGumDrops

Easy peasey lemon squeezy! (sorry, couldn't resist!!)

Super Jammy Bakewell cupcakes

I adapted these from Sue McMahon's recipe in her Cupcakes book...

This recipe works best on 12 standard cupcakes:

Ingredients
Base:
125g softened butter
125g caster sugar
almond extract
2 medium eggs
2 tbsp milk
100g self raising flour
30g ground almonds
2-3 tbsp flaked almonds

Topping:
Raspberry jam
Icing sugar


Get the oven up to 190c/375f whilst you prepare your ingredients. First pop the butter, sugar and almond extract together in a bowl until you get a lovely light, fluffy mixture. You then need to add the two eggs ( i find it best to mix the yolk and whites seperately) milk, flour and ground almonds and mix until smooth.

To get the toasted almond topping, place the almond flakes onto the mixture once you have divided it into the cupcake cases. Don't worry about how many you use, but make sure you press down so they stick during the baking process.

Bake the cupcakes for 12-15 minutes until firm - the flaked almonds should be a golden colour.



Once the cupcakes have cooled, its time to turn them into proper Bakewells. As i grew up on Mr Kiplings Cherry Bakewells, I always thought cherry conserve would be the key ingredient, but it turns out to be raspberry jam.

With an ordinary butter knife, make an incision in the top of the cupcake (but don't slice fully) then pop in some raspberry jam. I would advise using the poshest jam you can afford, i used one from the local farm shop in Battlers Green, near Watford. To finish sieve over some icing sugar...trust me, these Super Jammy Bakewell cupcakes are much better than Mr Kiplings version!

Retro stuff its cool to like again

Just recently i've noticed an influx of retro bits and bobs that have once again made their way into our daily lives...

1. BARR'S Dandelion & Burdock pop is now sold in Tesco
2. Hair bows a la the ones you last popped into your hair aged six - Temporary Secretary has a good selection
3. Cowboy boots, these were EVERYWHERE at the Innocent Village fete
4. Nostalgia cookbooks, most recently Jane Brocket's Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer: A Golden Treasury of Classic Treats which uses recipes from childrens classics such as The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe and the Milly Molly Mandy stories
5. Traditional British grub like Pie&Mash from Canteen at Spitalfields market
6. The magazines are going crazy for the 'Edge of Love' look (and thus stealing my look) with chunky fair isle knit cardies

Milkybar kid cupcakes

It was a Friday night, the hubby was at le pub and i was bored - the solution? cupcake experimenting, my favourite activity!!

And so, after a trip to the Coop i decided upon milkybar cupcakes, complete with milkybar centre and pillar-box red buttercream icing...yummy! This recipe makes 12 standard size cupcakes:

Ingredients
For the base:
125g softened butter
125 g caster sugar
2 medium eggs
2 tbsp milk
100g self-raising flour
3 tbsp cocoa
12 milkybar segments

For the buttercream topping
175g softened butter
350g icing sugar
3 tbsp boiling water
Vanilla extract
Red food colouring
Milkybar buttons

Firstly for the base...i chose to make chocolate cupcakes, but i think it would work just as well with traditional plain with a splash of vanilla.

Pre-heat the oven to 190c/375f and make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature.

Place the butter and sugar into a large mixing bowl and mix until lovely and fluffy. Next add the eggs and milk then sift in the self-raising flour and cocoa powder (i prefer to splash out on organic Green & Blacks) Whip up all the ingredients until smooth.

Divide the cupcake mixture into the paper cases and squish the milkybar segments into the centre of the mixture, with the chocolate just peeping out like so...



Bake in the oven for approximately 12-15 minutes until the cupcakes have risen, because of the milkybar centre its best to check if the cupcakes are done by slipping in a cocktail stick just off the centre (if its clean, its done)

Remove the cupcakes from the tray and cool on a rack for a couple of hours before attempting to do the topping. A word of warning about buttercream icing...its best to make it just before its going to be used to get the best super soft finish, otherwise it goes slightly hard but is nevertheless still tasty!

Anyway, beat the butter in a mixing bowl to soften and add the icing sugar, boiling water and vanilla extract into a bowl. Mix until very smooth and add the red food colouring and mix until desired colouring is achieved.


Place the pillar-box red buttercream onto the cupcakes and pile it high! Use milkybar buttons to decorate..

Innocent Village Fete

I visited the super cute Innocent Village Fete at Regents Park on the weekend and ate myself silly with the lovely cupcakes, fudge, and organic yumminess that was on offer!

This was the second fete from the chilled out peeps from Innocent who fully embraced the village fete vibe with activities dog agility, duck herding and welly wanging (!)

As i am ridiculously obsessed with cupcakes my favourite food stand was the fabulous van from The Swallow Bakery who hail from Chichester, West Sussex. I had one of their Lemon Drop cupcakes and it was absolutely worth queing in the pooring rain for! I'm already trying to think of reasons why i need to take a trip to Chichester! Check out the website www.swallowbakery.com

The Swallow Bakery Van at The Innocent Village Fete

After arriving around 11ish i made a beeline straight for the Pimms Bus, however Pimms O'Clock it would seem, does not occur until midday!

The Pimms Bus at the Innocent Village Fete

Check out the Innocent website www.innocentdrinks.co.uk for more details on upcoming events.

Bubble Tea

I may be a little bit slow on the uptake, but here in the UK Bubble Tea is still something of an enigma. After stumbling upon a fan group on facebook i decided to check it out to see what all the fuss was about!

China Town is on my doorstep, so locating a Bubble Tea outlet wasn't too hard (check on the Hong Kong Diner on Charing Cross Road. My current tipple of choice is Green Apple, however i'm pretty excited about checking out the miriad of flavours on offer!!

For those of you who haven't got a clue what i'm talking about, Bubble Tea was invented in Taiwan in the 1980's and is pretty much the equivilant to Starbucks (and unfortunately just as expensive!) There are two types - either bubble milk tea or bubble fruit tea, but both contain the magic ingredient of tapioca balls. These little gelatine balls are sucked up through a big fat straw et voila you get the magic creation of Bubble Tea!

Dolly cupcakes

I made these simple little cupcakes for mums birthday as she's crazy about Dolly Mixtures. They are so easy to make and look really cute. This recipe makes 12 standard cupcakes:

Dolly Cupcakes
Ingredients:
125g self raising flour
125g butter
125g caster sugar
2 medium eggs
2tsp milk
tbsp vanilla essence

For Topping:
Pink food colouring
Yellow food colouring
Icing sugar
Boiling water
Assortment of Dolly Mixtures

Firstly pre-heat the oven to 190c/375f and get all the ingredients up to room temperature.

Put the butter and sugar into a large mixing bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Then add the eggs, flour, vanilla essence and milk into the bowl and beat until you get a lovely smooth mixture. To get a lovely soft sponge i prefer to beat the egg whites and yolk seperately adding the yolk first and then folding the whipped egg whites into the mixture after.

Divide the mixture into paper cases (i love the ones from www.cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk) and bake in the oven for approximately 12-15 minutes - a good rule of thumb is to stick a small knife or cocktail stick into the centre of the cake and then if it comes out clean its done.

Remove the cupcakes from the oven and place them on a wire rack. Once the cupcakes have had plenty of time to cool (about an hour) you can start with the fun bit of making the topping!


I needed to transport the cupcakes so the best icing option was thick glace icing, the amount of icing sugar to water used is entirely up to you, however i like mine lovely and thick. I also used plenty of food colouring to achieve a bright, glossy finish.

Place the dolly mixtures before the icing sets and leave overnight before placing in a cake tin