I found a bar of dark chocolate and orange languishing at the back of the fridge so thought I would try making some chocolate orange cupcakes. I used a basic cupcake recipe but added 50g of the melted dark chocolate. When they were cooked and cooled I then decorated them with a simple buttercream icing but added 50g of melted white chocolate which I coloured with orange food colouring. I finished off the cupcakes with a mixture of white chocolate buttons and dark chocolate sprinkles.
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It’s getting spookily close to Halloween so I thought it was time to make a batch of gingerbread men all dressed up for Halloween. I used my favourite gingerbread recipe and whipped up a load. When they had cooled down I decorated them as skeletons with an icing pen. Yummy, but not very scary! Perhaps I will have to get some inspiration from my Halloween board on Pinterest. I’ve seen some amazing carved pumpkins in the shape of Hello Kitty and Bert & Ernie from Sesame Street. Going on last year’s pumpkin efforts I think we had better get started…
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Mmmm, gingerbread pancakes! I’ve been meaning to try these for a while but have been waiting to find a jar of molasses so I could make them the American way. I finally tracked down a jar in my local independent health food shop. Gingerbread pancake recipe The ingredients are simple: 12oz plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp dried ginger 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 egg 1/2 vanilla extract pinch of salt 60ml molasses 375ml water Whisk the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl beat the egg with the vanilla and molasses and add the water. Combine the…
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When I was in Waitrose at the weekend I saw some whoopie pies which reminded me I wanted to try a recipe for gingerbread whoopie pies. Apparently late last year, The New York Times proclaimed whoopie pies to be the new cupcake. The cupcake is dead, long live the whoopie pie? I don’t think so, but I’m always happy to try a new baking project. Gingerbread whoopie pie recipe Ingredients 16oz plain flour 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp ground cloves 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 6oz unsalted…
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What was I thinking?! When I saw a picture of a Union Jack battenburg cake I was thinking “I can make that”. So I did. Ok, so it doesn’t quite look like the one in the photograph but at least I tried. The sponge cake turned out rather greener than the blue I hoped for and it was quite tricky to slice the cake diagonally! It’s a time consuming project as you need to leave the cake to chill in the fridge through various stages of construction. It’s sandwiched together with layers of buttercream and strawberry jam and wrapped in…
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It’s a shame I can’t use the excuse of pregnancy but I have a sweet tooth. Yesterday I whipped up a batch of honey cupcakes and added some honeycomb for some extra crunch. They taste delicious so if you fancy trying them yourself here’s the recipe. Ingredients: 115g butter 115g caster sugar 115g self-raising flour 2 eggs 1 tbsp honey 2 tbsp honeycomb pieces Icing: 20g butter 150g icing sugar 2 tbsp water 1 tbsp vanilla essence Method: Heat the oven to 170 degrees (if using a fan oven) and place your cake wrappers in a cake tin.…
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I just adore the taste of mint chocolate ice cream and wondered if this could be translated to cupcakes!? Yes, it can! Here’s a simple but tasty recipe for 12 mint choc cupcakes. Ingredients: 225g self raising flour 4 tbsp cocoa powder 1 tsp baking powder 225g caster sugar 225g unsalted butter 4 eggs 1 tsp mint essence 100g chocolate chips Method: Preheat oven to 160. Sieve the flour, cocoa and baking powder in a bowl. In a separate bowl beat the sugar and butter, then add the eggs. Add the dry mixture to the bowl with the mint essence…
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So I realised my blog is a bit short of gingerbread recipes so yesterday I whipped up a quick batch using my favourite never-fail recipe. My favourite gingerbread recipe This recipe makes 20 biscuits Preparation takes approx 25 mins Cook in 10-12 mins Ingredients: Plain flour 350g Bicarbonate of soda 1tsp Ground ginger 2 tsp Butter 100g Light muscovado sugar 175g Golden syrup 4 tbsp Large egg, 1 Optional – Currants 25g for decorating Preheat the oven to 190/gas 5 and lightly grease three baking trays Measure the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger into a bowl. Rub in the…