Nigella's Malteaser Cake

Chocolate Malteaser Cake!! Nigella Lawson

This is one of my favourite cakes to make because it looks so lovely and tastes amazing! I love Nigella's cookbook called Feast where this recipt is from because there are lots of yummy cakes in there (the chocolate guiness cake is also in there) and they always turn out perfectly! Definitely give this a go.... For the cake 150g soft brown sugar, 100g caster sugar, 3 large eggs, 175ml milk, 15g unsalted butter, 2 tablespoons Horlicks powder, 175g plain flour, 25g cocoa, sieved, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, For the icing and decoration 250g icing sugar, 1 teaspoon cocoa, 45g Horlicks, 125g soft unsalted butter, 2 tablespoons boiling water, 2 x 37g packets Maltesers, Take whatever you need out of the fridge so that all the ingredients can come to room temperature (though it's not so crucial here, since you're heating the milk and butter and whisking the eggs.) Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 3/170C. Butter and line two 20cm loose-bottomed sandwich cake tins with baking parchment. I usually use silicone tins which I don't need to line. Whisk together the sugars and eggs until light and frothy. Heat the milk, butter and Horlicks powder in a small saucepan until the butter has melted and the mixture is hot but not boiling. Beat the milk mixture into the eggs a little at a time. Fold in the dry ingredients thoroughly. Divide the cake batter evenly between the two tins and bake in the oven for 25 minutes, by which time the cakes should have risen and will spring back when pressed gently. Let them cool on a rack for about 5-10 minutes and then turn them out of their tins. Once the cakes are cold, you can get on with the icing. I use a processor just because it makes life easier: you don't need to sieve the icing sugar. So: put the icing sugar, cocoa and Horlicks in the processor and blitz to remove all lumps. Add the butter and process again. Stop, scrape down, and start again, pouring the boiling water down the funnel with the motor running until you have a smooth buttercream. Sandwich the cold sponges with half of the buttercream, and then ice the top with what is left, creating a swirly pattern rather than a smooth surface. Stud the outside edge, about 1cm in, with a ring of Maltesers or use them to decorate the top in which-ever way pleases you, I added some sparkles to mine! :) Makes 8-10 slices.

Yummy Courgette Cake!

Yummy Courgette Cake!

Well I got some courgettes which were on offer which really needed using as soon as possible. Usually I would use courgettes in pasta dishes but I was looking for something different and then I stumbled across a recipe for courgette cake! I remember a colleague of mine making Zucchini Bread a while ago and although I wasn't too sure about it I found that it tasted lovely.

I know the thought of cougettes in a cake doesn't sound too great but I thought I would try it out anyway and I was more than happy with this easy recipe and the end result!

Because I was feeling too lazy to pop down to Tesco I left out the cream cheese topping but I imagine this would go with the cake perfectly. The cake was amazing and very moist. Perfect.

Ingredients:

250g courgettes (grated)
2 large eggs
125ml vegetable oil
150g caster sugar
225g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarb
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Cream Cheese topping:
200g full fat cream cheese
juice of 1 lime
100g sieved icing sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas Mark 4
2. Grate the courgettes with the coarse side of a grater, then turn them into a sieve over the sink to remove excess water
3. Beat the eggs, oil and sugar in bowl until nice and creamy
4. Sieve in flour, bicarb and baking powder and beat until well combined
5. Stir in courgette
6. Pour into tins and bake for 30 minutes until slightly browned and firm to touch
7. To make the cream cheese icing - mix the ingredients in a bowl, placing in the fridge if you like to firm up then spread over the cake

..The cake was super moist and freezes very well wrapped tightly in clingfilm, then a freezer bag or two

The above picture is mixing the ingredients together - steps 3 and 4.

Hope the pictures help and I do hope you try it out :) let me know what you think! And have you made any other unusual vegetable cakes before?

Simple Shortbread Recipe

Simple Shortbread Recipe
Hey guys! So this is my first post and im not sure what im actually doing but hopefully there should be a picture of some sparkly shortbread somewhere on here if I have managed to do it right!

I found these lovely cookie cutters in poundland and I couldn't resist getting them to make some lovely Easter shortbread :)

The recipe I used is below and it was very yummy!

The Ingredients:

225g Plain Flour
75g Caster Sugar
1 Vanilla Pod
150g Unsalted butter, at room temperature
Icing sugar - for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4

2. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the caster sugar. Using a sharp knife, slit the vanilla pod open lengthways and scrape out the seeds with the tip of the knife. Add the seeds to the bowl along with the butter.

3. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the dry ingredients. As the mixture begins to come together, use your hand to help it form a dough (alternatively, you could use an electric mixer with the paddle attachment on a low speed to make the dough).

4. Shape the dough into a ball and flatten it slightly. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to about 1cm thick.
Now you can either cut these into approx 15 oblongs or use a cookie cutter to make desired shapes and place them on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment.

5. Bake for 15 minutes, then turn the baking sheet and continue to bake for 10 minutes, until the shortbread is golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave on a baking tray to cool. When cooled use a tea strainer or sieve to dust the biscuits with icing sugar.



*I added some edible pink glitter to make them look even prettier!

*Cutting the biscuits into oblongs (or squares) will prevent wastage and unnecessary trimmings.


Im not even sure if anyone will ever read or even find my blog so if you have seen it please do comment below! Even better try out the biscuits and let me know how it went, if you added anything and which shapes you went with! :)