A real, honest Red Velvet Cake

Hello my lovelies!! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write this one but I've been crazy busy applying for jobs and working at the wedding place.
So, a couple of weeks ago it was my friend, Hannah's 21st birthday and since her favourite colour is red, I felt it was time to made a proper red velvet cake and not just add food colouring to chocolate cake. It might just be me here, but I felt it was actually quite a complicated little cake (I say little, it was MASSIVE as you'll see).
Here's my recipe, adapted using recipes from both British and American versions:

150g unsalted butter, softened

300g caster sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

3 large free-range eggs, separated

250g plain flour

25g cornflour

1tsp baking powder

2tbsp cocoa

250ml buttermilk

2tbsp red food colouring

1tsp white wine vinegar

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the frosting:

150 g unsalted butter (don't use spreadable butter)

250 g cream cheese (mascarpone is best)

1 - 2 cups royal icing sugar, sifted (to taste and consistency preferred)

200 g white chocolate (2 large bars)

Heat the oven to 180 C, 160 C fan, 350 F, gas 4.

Cream the butter and sugar together, beating until pale and fluffy.

Add the vanilla extract and the egg yolks one by one, beating well after each addition.

Mix the flour, cornflour, baking powder and cocoa together.

Using the buttermilk tub to avoid excess washing up, mix the buttermilk with the red food colouring.

Sift one third of the dry ingredients into the butter and egg mixture, pour in a third of the buttermilk and mix together until just combined. Repeat this process until you have incorporated all the ingredients.

Whisk the egg whites and a pinch of salt in a large, clean bowl until you have stiff peaks. Add one quarter to the cake mix and fold in. Add the remaining egg whites in stages, folding in gently until just incorporated – leave as much air in the mix as possible.

In a small bowl, mix the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda until it bubbles, then gently fold this into the cake mix.

Quickly pour the cake mix into the tins and smooth the tops. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

When cooked, leave the cakes to cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then tip on to wire racks and allow to cool completely.

Make sure all of your frosting ingredients are at room temperature.

Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over boiling water stirring regularly to ensure it doesn't burn. Once melted remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature

In a mixing bowl, mix butter on medium speed until light and creamy. Add cream cheese and mix until fluffy.

Add the cooled melted white chocolate and mix until combined.

Slowly add the sugar, one cup at a time until you have the consistency and taste that you prefer.

Use one third to fill the cooled cakes.

Use the other two thirds to cover the top and sides.

The icing can get a little soft while using. If so put the iced cakes in the fridge until the icing has set.

Because I was making this for my friends birthday, I decided to decorate it with her favourite chocolate bars so I crushed up a couple of flakes and stuck them round the edges and then I chopped up two double deckers and thee curly-wurly's and arranged them "artfully" on the top. I like to think it looks a bit aztec'y. 

I was really proud of the cake as it rose really high and evenly, it was amazingly moist and it tasted fantastic. Not too chocolate-y but it had a lovely subtle flavour.

I wasn't the only one who'd been baking. Hannah's mum had paid homage to Hannah's obsession with the Disney movie, Cars. She's made cupcakes with the faces of all Hannah's favourite characters.

Right then my lovely Bloggers. I'm off camping this weekend so I'll be back next week with some Australian themed dishes (I'll explain later).

Much love and I hope you enjoy the cake!! XXX

My Reece's Obsession

Just a little one from me today about my latest foodie obsession. I say the latest, it's been going on several months but I feel now is the time to talk about it.
I LOVE REECE'S PEANUT BUTTER CUPS!!!

They are amazing. Chocolate and peanut butter - so simple and yet genius. You could just buy a bar of cheap chocolate and a jar or peanut butter nut oh no. That would not be the same. 
The chocolate is nothing special if I'm honest but it doesn't need to be!
The original cup is a wonder in itself but it has been massively expanded upon. Dark and white chocolate versions are available, mini's, big cups and the Reece's Peanut Butter Egg (a personal favourite) all have their places. 

 Beyond the cup, the genius behind the combination of chocolate and peanut butter have expanded into bars and jars of the peanut butter itself as well as many other products like the breakfast cereal and Reece's Pieces (little Skittle sized bits of sugar coated peanut butter).

The versatility of the peanut butter cup is also extraordinary. 
Whilst at uni I discovered the brilliance of the microwavable brownie in a mug:
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
4 tablespoons caster sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
4 tablespoons plain flour
In a large mug, whisk the butter, vanilla, salt and water together. Add the cocoa and whisk in. Add the sugar and whisk in. Add the flour and whisk in. Ensure all the flour is incorporated.
Microwave for 60 to 90 seconds.
I decided that whilst this in itself was a triumph, it could be added to. So, being the greedy pig (otherwise known as a foodie) that I am, I chopped up a couple of regular peanut butter cups, mixed them into my brownie mix and out of the microwave came a glorious symphony of peanut buttery-brownie. 
I'm not the only one to experiment with these goodies. All over the internet there are recipes for cakes, cheesecakes, cookies, brownies and ice creams. Ben and Jerry's even do an ice cream called Peanut Butter Me Up which contains mini cups.

In the UK is's been difficult for me to feed my addiction. Some major supermarkets sell regular cups but where am I to go to find all the other goodies I want to fill my piggie (foodie) face with? 
The answer is of course, Amazon. They have it all.http://www.amazon.co.uk/s?ie=UTF8&field-keywords=Reeses&index=grocery&search-type=ss
My latest purchase was Nutrageous bars and packets of the mini cups. Not exactly healthy eating but I'm limiting myself to one bar or packet a day .

So there we go. My current foodie obsession. Let me know if you share my passion for all things peanut.
Much love xxxx

The ultimate bacon sandwich and Toffee and Banana Muffins

Hey there blogosphere!! Me again!!

I'm currently outside in my glorious garden looking at a perfectly blue sky and enjoying a burning sensation on my shoulders.

I've been doing some experimental baking and I've also got a little tutorial for you.

It's come to my attention that the bacon sandwich is being massacred around the country and I feel it's now my job to rectify the situation. Now, I'm pretty sure you guys don’t need a recipe for a bacon sarnie but what I do feel you need is the proper instruction in building your creations. Nobody wants soggy bread now, do they?

Now, for my ultimate bacon sandwich there needs to be 5 things: 4 rashers of bacon,  3 closed cup chestnut mushrooms, ketchup, brown sauce and bread.

Now here is the first issue - the bread. Yes, sliced is easier and takes no slicing but for the ultimate sandwich I feel a roll/cob/bap (delete as applicable)is required.  And for extra indulgence, a cheesy topped roll/cob/bap.

So, cut your chosen vessel open and on one side squirt a spiral of ketchup, and the brown sauce on the other.

 Now fry your bacon (I prefer un-smoked but that's just personal preference) to crispy perfection. Set on a warmed plate in the oven to keep it hot. Next, thinly slice your mushrooms and fry them in the bacony juices. Once they're crisp it's time to assemble.

Mushrooms contain a lot of water and so putting them directly onto your bread is sandwich suicide. So, start with a piece of bacon, then half the mushrooms and then the other piece of bacon. Squish the brown sauced lid on top and voila!! Repeat with a second roll/cob/bap and BAM - breakfast is served.

So now, to baking. I had a bit on an epiphany when I was in bed last night that what I really wanted to eat was banoffee pie but without all the whipped cream (it feels less fattening without all that on it) and so I did a bit of poking around till I came up with this gem of a recipe for banana toffee muffins.

You'll need:

3 very ripe bananas

1 tin of carnation caramel

Pinch of sea salt

125ml sunflower/vegetable oil

2 large eggs

250g plain flour

100g caster sugar

1/2 tsb bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp baking powder

100g chopped pecan nuts (optional but they add a nice crunch. you could use chocolate chips if you want)

Pre-heat the oven to 180oC (160oC fan assisted) and line your muffin tins with paper cases.

Mash the bananas and add half the tin of caramel and the sea salt. Mix well and set aside.

Beat the eggs into the vegetable oil until frothy.

Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarb of soda into a bowl, add in the oil and egg mix with another table spoon of the caramel and the mashed banana mixture. Fold in the pecans. Ensure all the flour is incorporated into the mixture.

Spoon desert spoons if the mixture into the paper cases. Top each cake with half a teaspoon of caramel and using the end of a teaspoon, swirl the caramel into the top of the batter. Bake for 15-20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

As soon as they're out the oven, coat the back of a teaspoon with caramel and spread lightly over the tops of each muffin. This will melt and sink in leaving the cakes sticky and moist.

Pretty gorgeous right? I'm planning on giving these cakes to my mum to take to work with her for her colleagues ( and my old primary school teachers) to taste and hopefully they'll come and leave some comments on this post so you can all see how delicious they are!

I'll be back soon with more recipes!!

Much love, Bloggers!! xx

Hog roast, sugar paste flowers, Graze boxes and (sort of) red velvet cupcakes.

Howdy friends!!!
Hope you're all well and enjoying the deluge of rain we've been getting the last few days in Blighty.
I've had a busy few days with work, job hunting and on Tuesday one of my best friends had a car accident and so I've been visiting her (hence the red velvet cupcakes).
Bank holiday Monday saw a rare beautiful day and a classic village party. We were celebrating the birthdays of two of our residents, both vets, and for the occasion we whacked out the village spit roaster (yep, we have one. Along with a barbecue, a bar and many marquees. We're always up for a party). We had a pig going in circles while many, many jugs of Pimms went round.







There was about eight or nine different pasta salads that different villagers had made (I did my pesto and tomato mix) along with some really tasty sausages and lots of rolls. It was a really lovely afternoon/evening. Then the deserts were wheeled out. Two of everything - chocolate and amaretto torte, Turkish flan (the one that looks like creme caramel) and a gorgeous sponge layered with fresh strawberries and cream. Someone had also made a really dense, chocolaty fudge cake. Being the dedicated foodie I am, I tried them all, but only so I could tell you all how amazing they were.



So that was Monday. Tuesday was a pretty slow day. I'd been to a cake decorating demonstration where I'd seen how to make a rose out of sugar paste and I've been itching to have a go since. I picked up some red sugar paste from Sainsbury's for a reasonable price. What you do is take a lump of sugar paste and roll it into a sausage. Then cut this sausage into 12 equal sections (easiest way is to fold it in half to get two, then each of those in half to make 4 and then cut those 4 into 3). Roll each little section into a ball. Take a plastic wallet and cut off the side and the bottom so that it flaps open like a book. Put your little paste balls onto one side of the folder and bring over the other side. Using the side of your thumb, gently press down on the first ball about half way down, stretching the paste until it looks like a petal - don't make it too thin on the edges though. As you can see, my first attempts were a smidge wonky and way too thin as you'll see on my finished rose.



So flatten out all your petals. Next take a small lump of paste, similar to the ones used for the petals, roll it into a ball and then place it into the palm of your hand and using your finger, roll a cone onto one side of the ball (it should resemble an ice cream cone with a scoop inside).
Now to build the rose. Take a petal and hold it half way up the cone, leaving the scoop exposed. Wrap it around and cone and admire the beginnings of a rose bud. Put the next petal over the join on the first petal, and the third petal over the join of the second, leaving one side of the petal open. Slide the fourth petal into the third, the fifth into the fourth and so on. After six or so petals have been added, start to fold back the tips of the petals so it looks like it's opening up as once you've completed the rose it's difficult to get at the inner petals. Keep adding more petals, folding out and pinching as you go to create little folds in the flower. And there you are, a sugar paste rose.



Mine looks a bit square and my petals were too thin so I couldn't get them to hold much shape but for a first ever attempt I'm pretty happy with it! I'll do more practicing and I'll show you all my new efforts so you can see how I get on.
I just want to make a quick pit-stop here to mention my latest foodie experience  I've been getting Graze boxes for a few months now and I still haven't tried all of the available snacks. I thought now would be a good time to mention them though as they've just launched their guilt free high tea! A little square of cakey deliciousness and a tea bag!! They are so good I had to talk about them. (you get your first box for free!! You get four different little punnets of snacks which slide easily into your bag if you're on the go or will sit patiently in the cupboard for when the hunger pangs strike. Go to graze.com to get yours!!) My personal favorites are the summer berry compote with wholemeal shortbread dunkers, Boston baguettes with smokey BBQ relish and I have a whole lotta love for the chilli and lime pistachios.
I got the call from my friend's dad to say she'd been in an accident while I was eating dinner. I've never really been in a crisis before so I don't know how I'd handle it, and to be honest this wasn't really a crisis (for me anyway). All I had to do was call our other friend, who Abs had been on her way to see, to tell her Abs had been in a crash. Nikki already had a feeling something had happened as Abs had told her she's be twenty minutes an hour and a half ago.
The crash made the local papers and so in an effort to cheer her up, I made Abs some red velvet cupcakes. Now, I say they're red velvet but in actual fact it was just a standard chocolate sponge mix with some red food colouring (Dr Oetker Natural Red) - real red velvet cakes contain buttermilk and a bubbling mix of bicarbonate of soda and cider vinegar which helps the cake rise as well as keep its glorious red colour.
So I made my cake mix and I added a small bag of chocolate chips. Spoon a desert spoon of batter into each of your cupcake cases and back for twenty minutes at 180oC (160oC fan assisted) and check them with the old skewer test.
Leave them to cool for five or ten minutes before taking them out of the tin to cool completely.
Now again, real red velvet cakes are topped with cream cheese frosting (one of my favourite things ever.) but I didn't have any cream cheese and I needed to get these cakes done. I made a chocolate buttercream with a squirt of Dr Oetker Natural Red and, with no time for piping, I spooned and spread over the icing.

I got text from Abs later in the evening once I'd got back from hers saying how tasty they were so I can assume the lack of proper ingredients didn't matter so much.So that's that. Now as you can see I've had a few days off the Slim Fast but I assure you that today I'm back on it (I had a blissful banana shake this morning) and I'm still on my mission to lose two stone by my graduation in July.
I'll be back blogging soon, hopefully bringing more low-fat, family friendly breakfasts, lunches and dinners but for now, enjoy having a go at the sugar roses, whip up some cupcakes and please, please, please give me some comments so I can see how you're getting on!!
Much love, bloggers!! xxx

Grad Ball and its food

Hello my beauties, or as my new Russian friends say, Здравствуйте мои красотки!! 

I told you I'd just finished university in my very first blog and I had my graduation ball last weekend. It was held at Silverstone Race track, home of the British Grand Prix, and as a die hard F1 fan it was a brilliant experience. There were pictures of drivers and cars from times gone by all over the place which was really lovely and I loved getting my hair done and getting all dressed up for the occasion.
My course (Creative Writing) was the only course to get 100% positive feedback in the National Student Survey and as a reward we were given three bottles of G.H. Mumm Champagne for free but since there's a few non-drinkers on our course, there was only four of us drinking it which led to some crazy dancing.

We arrived to a champagne reception and a professional photographer so we had some photos taken together.
We were then led down to the banqueting hall which looked out over the race track.

The theme of the evening was 'around the world' and so each table was a country - we were Morocco. The centerpieces were giant martini glasses with a intricate colourful umberella on top, which we all posed with for photos.

The meal was really nice. We started off with a smoked ham hock and chicken terrine with wild mushrooms with a golden raisin puree, beetroot relish and caper and truffle drizzle, followed by chicken breast served with rosemary gnocchi, sweetcorn puree, onion and cabbage cassulet and a red wine sauce. For desert we had a cherry and chocolate bomb - a hard chocolate casing filled with cherry ice cream, cherry compote and whole cherries, served with vanilla ice cream.

After dinner we were led through to the evening room which was laid out with different areas representing different countries. Where was a Indian market area with lots of baskets filled with vegetables and things, a Chinese garden area with red paper lanterns hanging in trees and then a Middle-Eastern area with long, low couches and ornamental shisha pipes.

We had some pretty good musical acts - Tinchy Stryder, Miss Dynamite, Jaguar Skillz and some DJ's from MTV. We danced for hours, between champagne top-ups.

I'd like to thank Northampton University's Student Union for putting the whole night together as it was a huge success and I doubt they'll get much thanks for it. 

I'll post a new blog sometime this week, possibly more baking and some family-friendly dinners. See you then!!

Provencal Pasta Bake

This little gem is half taken from an old magazine clipping my mum has in her weight watchers folder and half my own adaptation. Whilst it's called Provencal pasta bake, it's flavours come from all over Europe - Spanish chorizo, Italian mozzarella and the whole dish has the colours of an Italian flag but I feel it's still a french dish and it's my blog so what I say goes.
Make up a double amount of my basic pasta sauce - three carrots, three sticks of celery whizzed up in a mini chopper with a red onion and two cloves of garlic. Put this all in a pan with a slug of oil, a tin of chopped tomatoes and a sprinkle of dried oregano. Half a teaspoon of salt will counterbalance the acidity of the tomatoes. Cook on a medium heat for five minutes. 
Add a tablespoon on tomato puree and the same of ketchup. A heaped teaspoon of green pesto in the absence of fresh basil and a vegetable stock cube finish the sauce. Leave it to simmer for twenty minutes with the lid on, stirring every so often. For this pasta bake I also add in about two tablespoons of finely chopped chorizo (if using a whole sausage, about a 2 inch piece), a sprinkle of cayenne pepper and a half a teaspoon of herbs de Provence. 
The original recipe called for chicken thighs which I swapped for turkey breast. I diced my turkey breast into small, bite size chunks and then added them to a pan with a teaspoon of basil pesto and fried them on a medium heat till cooked through. Add the meat to the simmering sauce to let the sauce permeate the turkey.
Cook enough pasta for 4 people in boiling salted water (always, always salt your water. You're not actually eating all that salt but without it your pasta, regardless of the sauce, will be bland).
Once the pasta is cooked, reserve a cup of the cooking water, drain the rest and put it back in the pan. Add the sauce and turkey and give it all a good stir, adding some of the pasta water if it all looks a bit thick.
Tip this whole lot into an oven proof dish and top with a scattering of black olives, globs of mozzarella and dot with little blobs of basil pesto.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until it's golden and bubbling. Serve with a salad and try to imagine yourself sitting on a sun drenched veranda, sipping an ice cold glass of rose wine looking out over a vineyard. Bliss.

Baking!! Classic sponges and a healthy flapjack.

Howdy Bloggers!
Apologies for the wait on this one - I was supposed to write this yesterday since it was national baking day (oh yes) but I had an appalling migraine and the idea of looking at a screen for an hour was horrific.  
But here we are on my favorite of all cooking related topics: Baking.
I adore baking. Always have done. When I was a child my Nana (a baking Goddess) taught me the basics of sponges, shortbread, pastry and meringues, culminating in a classic, Lemon meringue pie. A desert nobody in my family, including me, can replicate to her standards. 
As I got older I used to do my own experiments. After a trip to our local Ben's Cookies, I perfected my own version of a white chocolate and cherry cookie and after many, many failed attempts I turned out a perfect chocolate fondant. 
I have my little specialties - my carrot cake is second to none and also I make a damn good Christmas cake but since it's only Dad and I that eat fruit cake, it's only really his opinion that I've gathered there.
Today I'm going to share my classic sponge mix and give you variations on it to jazz up any occasion.
A Victoria Sponge is a skill you can take right to the bank. EVERYBODY loves cake. This is a fact. Anybody that says they don't like cake is either lying to themselves or they have only ever eaten shop-bought plastic, rubbish cake. 
The key to a good sponge mix is your ratio. In my cake mix I have 150g of butter,  self raising flour and sugar to three eggs. Therefore it's easy to work out that every egg is worth 50g of the other three ingredients. 
So there's your basic 4 ingredients. To make 2 18cm round sponge cakes you'll need:
150g self raising flour
150g caster sugar
150g soft butter/margarine
3 free range eggs
1tsp baking powder
A few drops vanilla extract.
Pre-heat your oven to 180oC (160oC fan assisted)
Grease and line your tins - I use loose bottomed tins as it's much easier to get the cakes out afterwards.
Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl, holding the sieve up high to get lots of air into the flour. Then simply add in all the other ingredients and beat well together. 

(I used to faff around creaming the butter and sugar together first, then adding the eggs and then folding in the flour, but in all honesty it makes no real difference to the finished cake.)
Spoon the mixture evenly between your two greased tins and smooth the tops.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20 minutes until you can put a skewer in the center of the cake and it comes out clean (no raw mixture on it) or until you can lightly press the center of the cake and it comes bouncing back up.
Leave the cakes to cool slightly before removing them from their tins. When they're completely cold, sandwich them together with a glue of your choice (I went for jam) and dust with icing sugar.

BAM!! Sponge cake - done. 
Now the fun part. You can flavour this cake with pretty much anything you want. Vanilla is your basic. You could use other extracts like almond or you can add fruity zests like orange or lemon. Chocolate cake just needs 50g of cocoa powder in the mix while coffee cake needs a few table spoons of very, very strong, cold, black coffee added to the mixture (three or four good teaspoons of instant coffee dissolved in a small amount boiling water and left to go cold).This is the coffee loaf cake I made for my mum to take to the fete. I topped it with a coffee buttercream - standard buttercream with a few tablespoons of the cold strong coffee added:

I made a really lush orange cake for a friend - three layers of sponge cake with orange zest sandwiched together with orange buttercream and topped with orange glace icing which I allowed to drip artfully down the sides. Needless to say after this triumph I was called upon many times to bake for friends birthdays.
My friend Abbie and I have baked cupcakes for our villages many summer parties - for the Royal Wedding we made a Union Jack out of red, white and blue cakes and for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee we made a crown of cakes, creating jewels using edible glitters and luster dust.

Now, I can hear you all yelling, "Becca! You're on a diet! How can you eat cake?" 
Well, truth be told, my dear bloggers, I can't. However, I have discovered a way of making a delicious flapjack without the use of golden syrup. Yes, the whole reason flapjack is so tasty is because of that gorgeous golden gloop (channeling my inner Nigella there), and I won't lie to you, it's not as good as the real thing. But then again, when is anything low fat as good as it's full fat counterpart? Never, that's when. But this is still pretty good, and it even has a little bit of chocolate in it. 
The secret here is..... wait for it ..... dates. Yep, those dried up fruits that are used to make sticky toffee puddings so damn tasty.
For these flapjacks you'll need:
150g reduced fat butter (I used Lurpak lightest)
150g soft, stoned, ready to eat dates
3 tbs apple juice
30g pecan nuts
50g dark chocolate chips plus extra to scatter
225g porridge oats
Pre-heat the oven to 180oC (160oC fan assisted)
Grease an 18cm square tin with butter.
In a food processor, whiz together the dates and the apple juice until pureed.
Melt the butter. Add in the oats, nuts, chocolate and the date puree and mix well. The chocolate should melt in the heat of the butter.
Press the mixture into your greased tin, scatter over the reserved chocolate chips and bake for 20 minutes.

These don't have as much of a chewy texture as regular flapjacks but you can eat a couple of squares of this without feeling like a big fat fatty.
There you go my lovelies. Beginners baking. I think you'll soon be able to handle my Soggy Belly Chocolate Fudge cake but while I'm on this diet I can't bring myself to make one only to give it away. I'll see what I can do for you though.
I hope you've enjoyed my recipes and please send me any comments or questions you might have!! 
Much love!!