Chocolate Candy Cane Cup Cakes

Hello,

I'm back with a recipe for Chocolate Candy Cane Cup Cakes that I made for the Christmas Fayre at my daughter's school a few weeks back.  My husband helped me put these together - this was his venture into baking but he thoroughly enjoyed it!  The recipe started life as a Mint chocolate cupcakes recipe at goodtoknow.co.uk and I've tweaked it slightly.  I found the mini candy canes in my local branch of Home Bargains but if you can't find them you could use something else suitably festive, a sprinkling of crushed Mint Aero chocolate or chopped Mint Matchmakers would work well too!

Chocolate Candy Cane Cup Cakes

Makes 12

Ingredients

For the cakes:

• 150g butter, softened
• 150g light muscovado sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 115g self-raising flour, sifted
• 35g cocoa powder, sifted
• 1/2tsp baking powder

For the icing:

• 50g butter, softened
• 200g icing sugar
• Few drops peppermint extract
• Mini candy canes, to decorate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C Fan/Gas Mark 4. Line a cupcake tin with large paper cupcake cases.
2. Place the butter and muscovado sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
3. Gradually add the beaten egg, a little at a time, until smooth. Using a large metal spoon fold in the flour, cocoa, and baking powder. Divide the mixture between the cake cases.
4. Bake for 20-25 mins until risen and just firm to the touch. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
5. To make the icing; Beat the butter with 1-2 tsp boiling water and the icing sugar to make a smooth soft consistency. Add peppermint extract to taste. Pipe or swirl onto the cupcakes and decorate with the mini candy canes.

These cup cakes look pretty impressive but they really aren't much work.  I think I'm starting to get a bit of a cup cake obsession and hubby bought me a fab Tala piping set as part of my Christmas present so he obviously enjoyed making them too!

Hugs,

Shona xx

Salted Chocolate Fudge

Hello!

Wow it's been a really busy weekend!  Daughter Iona came back from Glasgow early Saturday afternoon then we did a bit shopping and since my Zumba night out was cancelled we just had a nice chillaxed evening.  Today Iona had extra cheer practice in the morning followed by carol singing with her performing arts school, lunch out, Christmas shopping and then 3 hours of dancing.  I'm exhausted and I was just the taxi!

Ok, my recipe today is another I made for the Children in Need bake sale - Salted Chocolate Fudge!  I'm usually a bit wary of making anything like this as another similar experiment trying to make Baileys Fudge in the microwave went horribly wrong lol.  Anyway, this recipe from Tesco magazine seemed to be more or less foolproof so I decided to give it a go!  I took some to work too and everyone loved it so confectionary success at last!

Salted Chocolate Fudge

Makes 60 cubes

Ingredients:
400g milk chocolate, chopped
1 x 397g tin Carnation Caramel
25g salted butter
1/2 tsp sea-salt flakes, crushed
100g icing sugar, sifted

Method:
Line a 20x20 cm square tin with non-stick baking paper. Put all the ingredients except for the icing sugar into a pan.  Heat gently, stirring often, until the mixture is smooth.  Do not allow to boil.  Remove from the heat and beat in the icing sugar.

Pour into the prepared tin, level the surface and cool.  Chill for at least one hour, or overnight, until set.

Cut into 60 cubes.  Keep chilled in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.


Ah well back to work again tomorrow, it's been a blast!

Hugs, Shona xx

Vanilla Cupcakes

Hello,

A late post from me tonight to share some cupcakes I made for the Children in Need bake sale at my daughter's school yesterday!  Rather excitingly she is in Glasgow tonight having taken part in the children's choir in the live show.  Here she is at rehearsal earlier which was shown on Reporting Scotland, she is wearing the number 36 top!

So back to my cupcakes - I have used a Mary Berry Vanilla Cupcake Recipe you can find the original here and given them a Pudsey Bear makeover with yellow buttercream and coloured chocolate bean spots!

Vanilla Cupcakes

Makes 12

Ingredients

• 175 g butter (at room temperature), cut into large pieces
• 175 g self-raising flour
• 175 g caster sugar
• 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 175 g butter (at room temperature), cut into lare pieces
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2-3 tbsp milk
• 350 g icing sugar, sifted
• Yellow gel edible colouring
• 3 large eggs
• Chocolate beans, to decorate

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cupcake or muffin cases.
• Put all the cake ingredients into a large bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk or a wooden spoon until smooth and evenly mixed. Divide the mixture evenly between the paper cases.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and firm on top. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
• Meanwhile, make the icing. Put the butter, vanilla extract, two tablespoons of the milk, and half the icing sugar in a large bowl and beat until smooth. Beat in the remaining icing sugar, and pour in the rest of the milk if needed to make the icing the right consistency.
• Colour the icing yellow with the edible colouring. Carefully spoon this into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle.  Twist the end of the bag to seal the icing in.
• Pipe swirls of the icing on top of each cupcake. Scatter with the chocolate beans, to decorate.

More information

Recipe, Mary Berry’s Cookery Course by Mary Berry (DK)

That's all from me tonight it's been a long day!

Hugs, Shona xx

Eton Mess Cake

Good morning,

Just sharing a cake I made a few months back.  It was absolutely delicious one of the best cakes I've ever made and best of all it wasn't too tricky.  I made it to serve at the Strawberry Tea held at a nearby sheltered housing complex and I'm happy to say everyone really enjoyed it.  The recipe is another winner from BBC Good Food!

Eton Mess Cake 

Ingredients

• 175g unsalted butter
• 5 tbsp double cream, from a 300ml pot
• 1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
• 225g plain flour
• 100g ground almonds
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature
• 400g strawberries,½ roughly chopped, ½ finely sliced
• 4 meringues nests (50g/2oz), very roughly broken up
• a little icing sugar, to serve

Method

1. Grease a deep, 20 x 30cm traybake or roasting tin, then line with parchment. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Melt the butter, take off the heat and stir in the cream and thevanilla. Mix the flour, almonds, baking powderand ¼ tsp fine salt and set aside for later.
2. Put the caster sugar and eggs into a large bowl, and whisk with electric beaters until very thick and foamy, about 5 mins. Pour in the butter mix, whisk briefly, then add the flour mix and whisk briefly again until even. Stir in the chopped strawberries, then pour the batter into the tin and level the top.
3. Scatter the sliced strawberries and meringue over the cake, then bake for 40-45 mins until risen, golden and a skewer comes out clean. Cool for 20 mins in the tin, then transfer the cake to a rack. Just before serving, dust with a little icing sugar. Enjoy with the rest of the double cream, whipped if you like.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, June 2011

Blueberry & Pretzel Cookies

Hello again,

Here's another bluberry recipe I road tested to use up some of our crop.  This time it's a cookie recipe and I have to say they were delicious, especailly when still warm!  The recipe is from BBC Good Food.

Blueberry & Pretzel Cookies

Ingredients

• 175g butter, softened
• 200g light soft brown sugar
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 250g plain flour
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 200g blueberries
• 50g small salted pretzels, broken into chunky pieces
• 100g white chocolate chunks

Method

1. Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Line 2 baking trays with baking parchment. Tip the butter, sugars and vanilla into a bowl. Beat with a hand-held electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Add the egg and beat again. Tip the flour, bicarb and a pinch of salt into the bowl, and use a spatula to mix together. Add the blueberries, pretzel pieces and chocolate chunks, and mix again until everything is combined.
2. Scoop golf-ball-sized mounds of cookie dough onto the baking trays, making sure you leave plenty of space between each one. (You should fit 4-6 cookies on each tray, so you’ll have to bake in batches to make the total 20 cookies.) Can be frozen at this point – simply defrost in the fridge before baking. Bake for 18 mins, swapping the trays around halfway through.
3. Remove the trays from the oven and leave to cool for 10 mins before transferring to a wire rack, then bake the second batch. Continue until all the cookies are baked. Will keep in a cookie jar for up to 1 week.

Recipe from Good Food magazine, July 2013

Chocolate Brownies

Good morning,

This recipe is another one I made for Iona's birthday party and was one a work colleague gave to me.  Making these felt a bit like being on Great British Bake Off as there was no method just a list of ingredients so I had to wing it and I'm pleased to say I pulled it off!  They are really lovely and squidgy just like brownies should be!

Chocolate Brownies

Makes approx 30

Ingredients:

125 ml vegetable oil
3 large eggs, beaten
200 g dark molasses sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
30 g cocoa or drinking chocolate
75 g self raising flour
200 g mix of dark and milk chocolate, melted
150 g white chocolate, chopped

Method:

Mix together flour, cocoa or drinking chocolate, sugar and white chocolate in a large bowl.  Mix the oil, eggs and vanilla together and gradually fold into the flour mix.  Finally, add the slightly cooled melted chocolate and fold in.  Turn the mixture into a 9 inch square greased and lined tin.  And bake at 170C (Fan Assisted) for approximately 45 mins or until the top 'cracks' but the cake still feels like it has a bit of give.  Leave to cool in the tin for 5 mins then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.  Cut into small squares to serve.

Malteser Crunch

Hello,

This is the first of two recipes that I made for my daughter's birthday party yesterday.  I've made this recipe lots of times since I first discovered it as it's so quick and easy but also really tasty - who doesn't like Maltesers!!!  The recipe is from the BBC Good Food website.

Ingredients

• 100g Milk Chocolate
• 100g Butter
• 200g Crushed Digestive Biscuits
• 200g Maltesers ( Leave a dozen aside for the top )
• 3 tbsp Syrup
• 200g White Chocolate

Method

1. Grease and line a swiss roll tin (approx 8"x10")
2. Melt together the milk chocolate, butter and syrup.
3. Add crushed biscuits and whole maltesers to chocolate mix.
4. Press into tin and place in fridge to chill.
5. When mix is firm, melt the white chocolate and pour on top. Finally crush up the left over maltesers and sprinkle on top.

Blueberry & White Chocolate Muffins

Good Evening,

Tonight's recipe is one I cut out of a local newspaper recently and was keen to try.  The recipe is by one of the chefs from the renowned Three Chimneys Restaurant on the Isle of Skye and uses blaeberries (also known as bilberries) which grow wild around the countryside.  Here I've used some of our own blueberries from the garden which are a very close relation.

Blueberry & White Chocolate Muffins

Makes 12

Ingredients:

10oz self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

6oz caster sugar

200ml milk

1 large egg

3oz melted butter

3oz white chocolate, chopped, plus 1oz

200g blueberries

Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and white chocolate in a large pan.  Beat the egg and milk together, add slightly cooled melted butter.  Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the liquid ingredients.  Mix very lightly for about 30 seconds.  Do not over-mix.

Half fill muffin cases then place 5 or 6 blueberries in each then add more mixture to 3/4 fill the cases.  Add a few more blueberries and some of the remaining white chocolate to each.

Bake at 200C/190C fan assisted for approx 25 mins.  Sprinkle with vanilla sugar or icing sugar as I have done here.

Raspberry & Blueberry Cake

Hi there,

Welcome to my very first post on my new cooking and baking blog.  Tonight's recipe is one I found in the current (August 2014) Asda Magazine.  I thought it would be a perfect recipe to use some of the blueberries my husband has been growing in the garden.  The raspberries were grown locally at Wester Hardmuir and the eggs are also from a local farm.  I love using local produce when it's available.

Raspberry & Blueberry Cake

Serves 10 approx 

Ingredients:

175g butter

175g caster sugar

3 large eggs

225g self raising flour

Finely grated zest 1 orange

75g fresh raspberries

75g fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4.  Line a 2lb  loaf tin with baking paper.  Beat the butter and sugar until soft and creamy.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and adding a little flour if the mixture begins to split.  Fold in remaining flour and the orange zest.  Wash and pat dry the fruit with kitchen towel to absorb as much moisture as possible.  Gently fold in the berries.  Turn into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.  Leave to cool on a wire rack.  This will keep for a few days in an airtight tin.

Please come back and visit soon, I hope to keep adding to my blog as I make and photograph some of my favourite recipes.

Shona xx