Girls Morning

This morning I went with my mum to a creative activity morning hosted by one of the local Churches and the first activity I took part in was a fondant icing workshop. It was the first time that I'd ever tried this type of cake decorating and it was very fun, effortless and effective. It's definitely something that I'm going to stick at! We used pre-bought fondant that was already coloured for usage, a host of fondant stamps and stencils.

These are the three I made;

A red swirled pattern topped with two white snow flakes and decorated with simple edible baubarians

A Christmas pudding - brown, chocolate icing with a white flower and green punched holly leaves topped with red berries

A chocolate fondant dusted with gold edible glitter created by brushing it over a stencil pattern

Plus, the ones I won in the raffle!!!

OH YEAH Brownies!

These brownies are from a recipe I picked up on the internet but they are the best that I've ever had the pleasure of making!

Brownies
Ingredients:
100g butter in chunks
200g milk chocolate in chunks
4 eggs
250g caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
30g cocoa powder
100g plain flour

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C

1. Individually place each chunk of chocolate with one of butter in a heat proof bowl over a pan of boiling water until melted. Then add the next pair of chunks
2. Continue until all is melted then leave to cool until room temperature
3. In this time, grease and line a square or round medium cake tin
4. Separately, whisk the eggs with the caster sugar until very pale and marginally thicker
5. Fold the chocolate into the above mixture until completely combined, taking care not to remove the air 
6. Sift together the baking powder, cocoa and plain flour in a separate bowl and the fold into the wet mixture
7. Spread into your tin and bake for 30 minutes
8. Remove from the oven and leave to cool - the top should be a light orange/brown colour and slightly cracked. (N.B. If it is like this but a skewer reveals that the inside in still wet, do not return to the oven/ or panic - this is normal. Leave it to cool.)

Slap Dash Cheesecake

My dad would probably know me best for the way I always want to hurry some of the most important things. Needless to say I often regret it. But such as guilty pleasure as my very own strawberry cheesecake are calories that I never regret :P
With knowledge of making cheesecakes previously, I made this recipe blindly but it was a great success.

The recipe served 5 and this is what I did;

Crushed 10 digestives and mixed with about 1 tbsp of melted butter. Placed in the clean ramekins/serving cups.
Then, I mixed approximately 125g philidelphia cream cheese, 50g icing sugar and 1tsp vanilla extract in a separate bowl and mixed until smooth. Then, added 3tbsp double cream and topped up with more icing sugar until it became more solid and less runny, so as it wouldn't soak into the biscuits. I then, spooned the mixed on top of the biscuit base and placed in the fridge STRAIGHTAWAY. I then washed enough strawberries to cover the cheese and chopped them into quarters. I washed them and left them to the side whilst I ate dinner. After finishing, I removed the biscuit and cheese desserts and placed the strawberries on top with 2tsp of strawberry jam in each cup.

They tasted gorgeous and very velvety so do not, by any means, be afraid to try this recipe and it may just be one of your favourites! :)

First Friends Dinner

Next Thursday I'm having people round and I'm cooking a meal for them so, before I go shopping over the weekend, I've planned what to cook them. This task, as with anything that I cook, put me under a lot of pressure as it is the first time I've PROPERLY cooked anything for anyone outside of my family and this is all I have been thinking about for a while. But now I finally have it, my dinner party meal! Let me know what you think!

STARTER:
Pea and mint soup with Parma ham

MAIN COURSE:
Breaded Parmesan chicken cutlets with a mixed vegetable couscous, garlic potato salad and an Italian salad served with either lemon mayo or crème fraîche

DESSERT:
Lemon Meringue pie

Banana, Blueberry and Chocolate Muffins

I made these today as a take on the classic banana muffin. As is usual in my household, we had blueberries left over that weren't going to be used anytime soon, bananas that were very over-ripe and an abundance of chocolate, so this recipe seemed to make sense. It is one I've put together myself so I hope that you enjoy!

Banana, Blueberry and Chocolate Muffins
Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas
75g blueberries
50g milk chocolate chips
1 egg
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda                                                                        
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1/4 cup brown sugar

Method:

 Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees C

1. Mash the bananas with a fork
2. Add to this the chocolate and blueberries
3. Now, gently stir in the caster sugar and the egg
4. Once combined, add the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and plain flour and mix, ensuring that you are not too vigorous when you do so
5. Spoon the mixture into a muffin tray lined with muffin cases, filling them 1/2 way
6. Sprinkle evenly about 1 tsp of brown sugar on the top (In total, for all muffins, this should equate to 1/4 cup)
7. Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins
8. Once cooked, leave to cool in the tray for 10 mins until removing
9. Store in a cool place    

My Banoffee Pie

This my own revised banoffee pie and it is a favourite of mine. It is particularly calorific and just perfect for those lazy weekend evenings.

Banoffee Pie
Ingredients:
150g digestive biscuits
175g melted butter
2 tbsp mixed spice
3 ripe bananas
397g can of sweetened condensed milk
75g soft brown sugar
2 tbsp honey
200ml double cream

Method:

1. Crush the digestives and mix with 50g melted butter
2. Add the mixed spice and spread on the bottom of a tart tin
3. Cut the bananas diagonally and place evenly, in one layer, on top of the biscuit base
4. Set aside this and place 397g condensed milk with 125g butter, soft brown sugar and honey in a deep pan
5. Place over a low heat and stir occasionally until the sugar has dissolved
6.  Then bring to the boil and stir continuously for 10-12 mins
7. Pour over biscuit base and bananas in the tart tin
8. Set aside and when cool place in the fridge until chilled 
9. Whip 200ml cream and spread over the top
10. Lightly toast a handful of sliced almonds and sprinkle over the cream