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Toffee Apples
This year was the first time we’d ever made toffee apples and I have to say it was great fun (and sticky, very sticky!) We learnt the hard way that the secret to making good toffee apples is actually a thinner rather than thicker layer of toffee. I’ve popped what we used and how we made them below. But first, a few more tips. Tips If the toffee starts to harden and set, simply heat the bowl up in the microwave in 10 second bursts. The apples need to be at room temperature. We keep ours in the fridge and this caused the toffee to set almost instantly on our…
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Mini Ghost Cakes
Bruce is a huge fan of Halloween at the moment but I do have to admit that I’m just not all that into it. I mean, it is weird because horror is probably my favourite film genre so you’d think I’d be all up for decorating the house in spooky stuff. I think that’s just it though, I’d rather keep all the spooky stuff in the TV or on the cinema screen! Mini ghost cakes were my answer to a mum who likes creating cute little bakes and a 7 year boy who wants to make me jump at every given opportunity! They were actually made from a gluten free…
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Simple Chocolate Cake
This is a super simple chocolate cake recipe. The amount will create 6 cupcakes or 1 x 8 inch cake. If you would like to create more cake layers or cupcakes, simply double the quantities in the recipe. Once your cakes are cooked, you can decorate with buttercream. For ideas of how you might want to decorate your cakes, or for more chocolate cake recipes, have a look at the links below: Mini Ghost Cakes Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes Chocolate Cupcake Suprises Mini Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes Super Chocolatey Chocolate Cake
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Chocolate Buttercream
Chocolate buttercream is simple to make but just takes a little time. To make sure that the buttercream is light and fluffy, you need to whisk the butter for at least 5 minutes before adding the icing sugar and cocoa powder. This buttercream recipe makes enough for 6 cupcakes or enough to coat 1 x 8 inch cake. To make more, simply double or triple the quantities. You can use the buttercream alongside my simple chocolate cake recipe. If you’d like some further baking inspiration, you can view all of my recipes here.
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Chocolate Orange Cheesecake
After creating my first ever no bake cheesecake (I can’t believe I didn’t actually do this sooner!), my husband requested that orange be added to the recipe. Well, in my eyes, you can’t have orange without chocolate right? It seemed that my baking (and none baking) friends also agreed, so over the past couple of weeks, I’ve set to work to create my ideal chocolate orange cheesecake recipe. All the ingredients were sourced from my local Asda supermarket so no specialized cake shop visits needed. It took a few attempts but the Chief Taster (7 year old child), husband and I all agree that this is the chocolate orange cheesecake…
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Back to School List
Intro If you’re reading this in late August (in the UK) and you’ve not already been out and bought this year’s school uniform then you might want to keep reading. It’s no secret that school uniforms can cost an absolute fortune and I for one, spent way too much when my son first started school. It was only later in the year (when he’d ruined 3 £15 jumpers and a £45 pair of shoes) that I discovered that you could gain the same quality for a fraction of the price at the local supermarket. Where to Shop For me George at Asda wins for the school uniform essentials for it’s…
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Byhappyme Name Tag Review
*The product in this review was gifted. The Problem Every year I search the internet, ebay and amazon for the best name labels for my son’s new school clothes. By the best I mean, the easiest and quickest to use, and the ones that will last the longest. I’ve moved away from spending hours trying to get my pen to work on the shiny plastic clothes labels and last year discovered iron on labels. There was still a problem though, the time! It took forever! Well, not actually forever but what felt like never ending hours spent carefully separating each label followed by an often failed attempt to iron them…
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Snuggle Seat Beanbag Review
*The Snuggle Seat Beanbag in this review was gifted to us The (Seat) Struggle is Real! After having a little wooden chair since he was about 1 year old, it’s safe to say that Bruce had well and truly ‘grown out’ of using it for anything other than a ‘random stuff’ shelf. I was hoping that it might have lasted a little longer, especially after he started to really enjoy reading and writing and so needed somewhere to sit. His favourite position had become the classic sprawled out child on the floor. Not necessarily my favourite, as in doing so he would incidently knock every toy over in his path.…
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Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream
We always have some Nutella or similar chocolate spread in our house but it occurred to me that I’d never actually used it in my baking! Considering how much we like it, that did come as quite a shock. As I love the actual texture of Nutella, I didn’t want to simply stir it into the mixture but rather have it in the cake as a little suprise as you eat it. The result…fantastic! So I couldn’t not share the recipe (it makes 12 by the way). Why not give them a try? Ingredients – Cake 200g butter 200g caster sugar 4 eggs 2 tsp baking powder 40g cocoa powder…
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Leopard Print Cookies
Why just wear leopard print when you can decorate treats with it! As well as looking great, these cookies are tasty and crumbly. The recipe makes between 8 and 12 (depending on the size of your cookie cutter) and can be used for party table additions or in packed lunches. Why not give them a try? Ingredients – Cookies 100g butter 75g demerara sugar 1 small egg 1 tsp vanilla bean extract 200g plain flour Ingredients – Icing and Decoration 3 egg whites 400g icing sugar 1 tsp liquid glucose 2 tsp lemon juice Gold and black edible paint / gel colouring Step 1 Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees…
