Making & decorating cakes is just as fun as eating them, don’t you think? This is my fav recipe, adapted from the Hummingbird Bakery. For some reason (perhaps because I haven’t used frosting), they’re not as sickly-sweet as the cupcakes they sell, but I like that. Enjoy!
You will need:
+ 120g plain flour
+ 140g caster sugar
+ 1½ teaspoons baking powder
+ A pinch of salt
+ 40g unsalted butter, at room temperature
+ 120ml whole milk
+ 1 egg
+ icing sugar
+ ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract (although I use flavouring & it’s fine)
+ food colourings of your choice
+ Hundreds and thousands or other edible sprinkles, to decorate
+ A 12-hole cupcake tray, lined with paper cases (or if you’re using silicon cases like me, they’ll fine on a standard, flat baking tray)
Preheat your oven to 170°C / Gas Mark 3
Whisk up the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt & butter together with an electric mixer on a slow speed, until you get a sandy consistency. Be careful here, as I found with my new super-powerful whisk, that when you’re mixing dry ingredients, they will go everywhere if there’s no slow setting on your mixer! If this happens, just use a hand held whisk for a little while.
Gradually pour in half of the milk, until it’s all combined & looking lush! If you has to swap over to a hand held whisk, things should start to combine a little better now, for you & you should see less lumps.
Whisk the egg, vanilla extract / flavouring & remaining milk together in a separate bowl or jug, then pour into the flour mixture & continue beating until all the ingredients are incorporated & the mixture is smooth. Remember to scrape any unmixed flour from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula or spoon.
I always find the consistency a little too runny, so feel free to use some more flour to thicken your cake mix up at this point, remembering that we’ll be adding more food colouring next, that will thin the mixture out a bit, again.
Separate half of the mixture into another bowl & your first food colouring. A little goes a long way! Then add the second colour to the other bowl, so you have two different coloured mixtures. If you want to, you could always add cocoa powder instead of food colouring to make choco-vanilla cupcakes!
Before & After
Put a dollop of the first mixture into each case & then the same with the second mixture. Keep alternating between the two, until all the mixture has gone. I filled my cases to about 2/3 full, as I wanted them to be big! Put them in the oven for 20-25 minutes. It’s hard to tell if they’re done when they’re coloured, so just push a butterknife into a cake & if it comes out clean, they’re good to go!
Leave them to cool down for an hour or so. They might shrink the tiniest bit (this has happened to me both times that I’ve made them, for some reason!), but don’t panic!
Mix together come icing sugar with your fav food colouring & a splash of water & spoon it on to your cakes. I always go with the flow with this part & don’t bother measuring out the sugar & water, as it depends how thick you like your icing to be!
Decorate & then finally, devour!
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Filed under: Food Fix |
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Crunchy Curried Chicken Salad— Yum!
When I’m thinking of what to have for lunch, I hardly ever think ‘salad’. I’m a carb-queen, so the thought of munching on a bunch of leaves doesn’t really excite me that much. Don’t get me wrong, I like the taste of salad, but I usually see it as a bland sidedish to an exquisite meal.
However, with some chicken & salad leaves going out of date yesterday, I decided to muster up a quick light lunch for myself & you know what, it turned out to be delicious (if I do say so myself!), as well as being easy & cheap (see below) to make. You could always rustle some up for yourself the night before & take it to work with you the next day. And here’s how it’s done!
You will need:
+ a few handfuls of your favourite salad leaves, washed
+ mayonnaise
+ paprika powder
+ medium curry powder
+ a tomato
+ half a red onion, raw
+ one egg
+ a handful of pasta
+ one chicken breast, chopped & cooked
Step One: Take your pasta & boil it in a saucepan, along with your egg.
Step Two: While they’re cooking, take a spoonful of mayo & mix it with the paprika & curry powder, & season to your taste! If you don’t like your food spicy, you can always use the mayo on it’s own or add a few mixed herbs instead. Add your chopped & cooked chicken breast to the dressing— it should be enough to just coat the chicken, without drowning it.
Step Three: In a salad bowl, toss the leaves & chicken together.
Step Four: Chop up your tomato & onion, & add that to the mix.
Step Five: Once your pasta’s done, drain it & drop it in the bowl. Your egg should now be hard boiled too, so crack that open, chop it up & toss that in with the rest of the salad, & you’re done!
I just used the items I had available in my fridge, but you could always add sweetcorn, mixed pulses, cucumber, avocado & anything else that you fancy! It’s easily adaptable to suit all tastes.
And remember how I said it was cheap?
Based on the fact that you’d have pasta, eggs, mayo & seasonings in your store cupboard, this works out at just £1.68 a head (!!!), using the following fresh ingredients from Sainsburys, to serve four people:+ Basics young leaf salad – £1.17
+ 4x chicken breast pack – £4
+ single beef tomato – 54p
+ 3 pack red onions – £1
Let me know if you make (& enjoy!) this recipe— & if you adapt it, even better! I love to try new things. Yum!
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Filed under: Food Fix, Life On A Shoestring, Regular Features |
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Pancakes are my second guilty-food-pleasure; whether they’re covered in syrup, sprinkled with berries, slathered with Nutella or filled with a traditional squeeze of lemon & a sprinkling of sugar— I love them! Which is why today, Shrove Tuesday (the day before Lent), is my one of my favourite days of the year– besides my birthday & Christmas!– as it’s an excuse to pig-out on them. Yum! We eat pancakes today to use up the ingredients that were given up for Lent– milk, butter & eggs– which may not be eaten again until Easter. I used this basic recipe & just ate some of the most delicious pancakes I’ve ever made!
So tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, is the beginning of Lent & while I’m not even vaguely religious, I’m going to give up my ultimate guilty pleasure– chocolate & biscuits!– for 40 days. Forty Days. This is going to be like torture for someone with a sweet tooth like me, but I’m determined to do it (& should do it, for the sake of my health!) & it’ll hopefully help me achieve a few goals & train for the run I’m doing in June. And at the end of it, I’m going to make this gorgeous cake. I’m literally drooling at the thought of it. Wish me luck!
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Filed under: Food Fix |
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Good news for chocolate fans everywhere– today, February 5th, is National Chocolate Fondue Day! Yum.
That photo above is from last month when I indulged in chocolate fondue with my girlfriends at Harrods Chocolate Bar. It was amazing! But if you can’t make it to Harrods then don’t worry! Fondue Mondays at Club Bar & Dining, London, looks tasty as does The Melting Pot in locations across America & those of you near Brisbane can enjoy Hazelnut & Frangelico chocolate fondue with Queensland Strawberries at the Kabuki Japanese Restaurant.
Of course, probably the best way to revel in this celebration, is to create your own fondue at home!
Ingredients:
400g dark chocolate
85g unsalted butter
284ml carton double cream
300ml milk
Put the chocolate, butter, cream & milk into a saucepan, then heat gently, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is melted & the sauce is smooth, & you’re done!
Stock up on these for dipping into your luxurious fondue:
strawberries & blackberries
bananas & grapes
lemon madeira cake
marshmallows (even better if they’re toasted!)
mini donuts
gingerbread men
malted milk biscuits
Enjoy!
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Filed under: Food Fix, Life and Love |
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Something to perk you up right now — 5 minute chocolate cake! (Although, perhaps I should’ve used a bigger cup.)
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Filed under: Food Fix |
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I’m giving up my milk and two sugars for Lent and replacing it with herbal and fruit teas instead. It was a close toss up between giving up tea or chocolate, but I decided chocolate was simply too hard to deny myself of (which may completely defeat the point of the fast, but it’s something I’m quite willing to ignore.)
I’m not doing it for any religious reason, but instead just in a vain attempt to give myself a kick up the arse with my health. The less milky tea I drink, the less biscuits I have, the more green tea I drink, the more anti-oxidants I have, the healthier I am. Or something…
Goodbye old friend.
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Filed under: Food Fix, Life and Love |
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I don’t know what’s come over me, but I’m extra-specially festive this year! I’ve bought so many presents, wrapped them, written my cards and I’ve been baking Christmas goodies. I made the Chocolate Fudge Cake with beetroot from the Cook Yourself Thin ladies, and it’s the gooiest, yummiest thing in the world. I say ‘thing’, because it’s so gooey, you simply can’t cut it like a cake. I’m going to make mini muffin-sized ones for friends & family, although without coffee this time. There’s just too much!
On a slightly less festive and fun note, Same Difference make me want to cut my face off.
Same Difference? SAME PARENTS.
I hope they remember that.
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Filed under: Food Fix |
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