Fudge, Strawberry cream cakes, cocktails and a great onion gravy

Oh hey!!! 
It's been a while my friends and I can only apologize. I've been crazy busy lately what with being an official university graduate!! Oh yes. I had the robes and hat and everything. 

I've been doing lots of cooking though. I've had little birthday cakes to make for a friend at work and I made dark chocolate and walnut fudge for my mum to take into her school for the last day of term. I've also been on a little holiday to Brighton with my bestie where we had some lush cocktails in a place called The Twisted Lemon and had some Caribbean food which was a really lovely revelation of flavours.
So for my friends birthday I made him some strawberry cream cakes - a regular vanilla cupcake, hollowed out, filled with a vanilla cream and sliced strawberries. really simple flavours but a classic summer combination.
200g self raising flour
200g caster sugar
200g soft butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
Using an easy all-in-one method, beat all the ingredients together until well combined. Spoon into cupcake cases in a muffin tin and bake at 180oC for fifteen minutes. Once cooled, whip 200ml of double cream with a tablespoon of icing sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Hollow out the tops of each cake and fill with the cream. Top each cake with fresh (preferably English) strawberries.
It's like Wimbledon in cupcake form only without the pimms (although I am working on that).

My mum is a Teaching Assistant at my old primary school and at the end of term all the staff bring in food for a staff room picnic. With mum at work all day I decided I should make her offering for her. I decided to be a bit different and make a decadent slab of dark chocolate and walnut fudge. 
Now, I say fudge, but I have no time to be getting sugar to exact temperatures so I used condensed milk.
500g dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
398g tin condensed milk
Pinch good sea salt
1 tbs vanilla extract
125g toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
Put the chocolate, condensed milk, vanilla, bicarb and salt in a bowl over a pan of lightly simmering water. Stir constantly until fully melted. The mixture will be very thick, smooth and glossy. Mix in the walnuts and spoon into a foil lined, 20cm square tin. Chill for at least 3 hours and cut into small squares - the fudge is very rich so tiny squares are the ideal portion size and I love seeing the pieces of walnut flecked through. You can leave the nuts out of course but the crunch is gorgeous alongside the smooth chocolate.

Now, onto cocktails. My favourite is always a long island ice tea. The combination of equal parts vodka, gin, rum, tequila and sour mix topped up with coke is really refreshing and also massively alcoholic. When I was in Brighton I came across a summery version that replaces the sour mix and coke with raspberry puree and apple juice. I really loved the fruity twist and the plus side of the large alcoholic content is that you can pay for one cocktail and get just as tipsy as your friends having two or three cosmo's. 

Another decedent foodie adventure we had was afternoon tea at The Royal Pavilion. My nana was evacuated to Brighton during the war and so she likes to go down to visit every so often. She told me that the one thing I had to do was go for tea on the balcony over looking the beautiful gardens so we did!! 
Since you only live once, we decided to go all out on the Queen Adelaide tea which included a fresh scone, clotted cream, jam, three tiny cakes, four finger sandwiches, a pot of tea and a glass of Prosecco.

My final offering for today is a quick and easy recipe for rich, red onion gravy. I got this from one of my best friends who is one of the best cooks I know, yet he's a barman. Go figure. 
So take a red onion and slice it thinly. Melt a knob of butter in a little olive oil to prevent it burning and cook the onion on a low heat. Add a pinch of salt which will bring out the water and stop the onions browning and cook for around 10 minutes until they're soft and a little sticky. Then add a teaspoon of soft brown sugar and a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar. Next (and here's a little cheat) add a teaspoon of beef gravy granules with enough boiling water to make a thick, smooth sauce. Pour over your roast beef, toad in the hole or bangers and mash for a delicious alternative to regular instant gravy.

So there you have it, my most recent culinary creations. Enjoy them and let me know how they turn out for you! 
Much love xxx