Mickey Rice Krispie Treats

Recently, I have been desperately craving Disney snacks, but of course, we can’t get them as readily as usual, so I have been having to make them myself. I’ve only attempted two: the dole whip and the Mickey Rice Krispie treats, so I thought, as this was the easier one of the two (not that the dole whip was hard) I’d share the recipe for it, so you too can have magical snacks to brighten up your days.

You will need: 

200g of marshmallows (I just used a full bag)

Rice Krispies (I kind of just poured them until I thought I had enough)

2 tablespoons of butter

100g Dairy Milk

Mickey shaped biscuit cutter

Smarties to decorate

To make:

1. Melt the butter on a low heat, then add the marshmallows and melt until you have a fluffy white texture.

2. Add the Rice Krispies and stir until they are all covered in marshmallow. Place on a greased tin (I used butter) and put in the fridge for about half an hour.

3. Take out of the fridge and cut into Mickey shapes. Melt the chocolate and dip the treats in to it/spread it out over them.

4. Add the Smarties and put them back in the fridge for around 20 minutes, just to set the chocolate.

5. Take out of the fridge and enjoy!

And there you have it. I’m pretty sure most people know how to make Rice Krispie cakes anyway, but this is a must for anyone missing the magic.

Nic

xx

GBBO Botanical Week

It's botanical week on the Great British Bake off this week, so, in celebration of that, I thought I'd whip up some cupcakes and pipe icing on them to make them look a little bit like roses. So I thought I'd share the recipe on here, even though they're just bog standard vanilla cupcakes and buttercream.

You will need:

For the cake:

115g softened butter

115g Caster sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

115g self-raising flour

1 tablespoon milk

For the icing:

75g softened butter

175g Icing sugar

splash of vanilla

splash of red food colouring

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4. Line a cupcake tray with 12 paper cases.

2. Beat together the butter and caster sugar until combined. Add the eggs gradually, same with the vanilla and milk. 

3. Fold in the flour until well combined. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and give them a shake so they're all the same size. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until they pass the knife test.

4. transfer to a wire rack to cool and start on the icing.

5. For the icing, beat together the butter and icing sugar until combined, then add the vanilla and food colouring and combine all of that.

6. When the cakes are cool, pipe the icing onto the cakes and voila.

Next week's recipe will be a bit more complex, I promise.

Nic

xx

GBBO: White Chocolate Biscotti

Week two of the Great British Bake Off is one area which I don't have massive amounts of experience in: biscuits. I've actually only ever made biscuits three times including this one, so I think I need some more practice. This time around, I decided to make biscotti. And I put white chocolate in because I love it, and you can barely get white chocolate flavoured things without gross cranberry. Anyway, on to the recipe.

You will need: 

300g flour

300g caster sugar

1/2 a teaspoon of baking powder

3 eggs

200g White chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/gas 3.

2. Put the flour, sugar and baking powder into a bowl and mix. Slowly add the eggs and beat to form a firm dough. Sprinkle the chocolate chips into the dough and mix until combined.

3. Turn out the dough onto a floured top, knead for about a minute and then cut the dough into two. Shape each piece into a log. Set apart on a tray covered with baking paper, and bake for 25 minutes. Leave to cool slightly.

4. Take one of the logs and slice on a slight diagonal. Place the slices face down and bake for a further 5 minutes. Turn the slices over and do the same on the other side. Leave to cool and then repeat on the other log.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe, see you next week.

Nic

xx

The Return of the GBBO: Red Velvet Cake

Tonight marks the return of everyone's favourite tv programme: The Great British Bake Off. I am an avid watcher of this, and love baking myself, but it has taken a bit of a back seat recently, so this year, I have decided to bring back my love of baking by baking along with the show. Yay.

So we all know week one is cake, and for this I have decided to make a red velvet cake. For this cake, you will need:

Cake:

140g flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

115g softened unsalted butter

140g caster sugar

2 eggs

125ml buttermilk (I finally found some, yay)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon red food colouring

Frosting:

140g full fat cream cheese

85g softened unsalted butter

280g icing sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180c/ Gas Mark 4.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder into one bowl and place to one side. In another bowl, place the butter and caster sugar and whisk until light and fluffy. Add the egg and half the flour mixture and mix that. Beat in the buttermilk, vanilla and red food colouring, then the rest of the flour mixture.

3. Spoon into two lines cake tins, and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Transfer in a wire rack to cool.

4. For the frosting, mix the cheese and butter together, then add the sugar and mix until soft and creamy. Add a splash of vanilla to make it extra yummy. Refrigerate for 5 minutes. Spread the frosting on the cake and decorate how you wish.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe, join me next week for another.

Nic

xx

Lemon Drizzle Cupcakes

It's been far too long since I've done any baking, so, for my mum's birthday, I thought I'd make something from scratch. I usually make a carrot cake from a mix, because no one else in my family other than my mum really likes carrot cake, but this year I decided to attempt a lemon drizzle cake. Then I settled on lemon drizzle cupcakes because they're just easier to divide up, and so I went for them. Anyway, here's the recipe:

You will need:

250g softened butter

250g self-raising flour

400g caster sugar

3 eggs

Zest and juice of 3 lemons

1. Preheat the oven to Gas 3/160C

2. Mix the butter, flour, eggs, 250g of the sugar, zest of two lemons and the juice of one lemon until just combined.

3. Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases and bake for 30 minutes. Cool cakes.

4. Whilst the cakes are cooling, poke some holes in them with a skewer/tip of a knife. Mix together the juice and zest of one lemon and the remaining 150g of sugar, and drizzle over the cakes.

5. Enjoy your lemony goodness!

Nic

xx

Briar Rose's Easter Nest Cupcakes

Time for a bit of Easter baking! I saw these Easter nests on Megan's blog two years ago, and have wanted to try them since. I think, in the last year, I've really gotten in to my baking, and so, this year I decided to try them. They were a really quick and easy treat to make, so hats off to Megan for the original recipe.

You will need:

For the cakes: 110g self-raising flour

110g Caster sugar

110g butter

2 large eggs

4 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

A splash of vanilla

A splash of milk

For the icing: 75g milk chocolate

200g icing sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

A splash of milk

For the nests: 5 Shredded Wheats

300g chocolate

Mini Eggs for decoration

1. Preheat the oven to 160C/Gas Mark 3. 

2. Put all of the cake ingredients into a large bowl and mix until fluffy. If it is stodgy, add a bit more milk. Place the mix into cupcake cases and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Leave to cool.

3. To make the icing, melt the chocolate and mix with the icing sugar, cocoa powder and milk whilst still hot to create quite a thick icing.

4. Crush up the Shredded Wheat in the packets. Melt the chocolate for the nests in the microwave, add the Shredded Wheat and mix together. Spoon onto the cakes and create a little hollow at the top for the mini eggs.

And there you have it, perfect little Easter treats.

Nic

xx

Credit to Briar Rose for the original recipe.

Mini Desserts

I am a massive baking fan, as you may know. I took part in The Great Blogger Bake Off last year, and since then I've been hooked. So when this Valentine's came around, I knew I wanted to bake something. I originally wanted to make a trio of mini desserts: key lime pie, chocolate fudge cake and red velvet cake, but I could not for the life of me find any buttermilk for the red velvet cake. So now I'm just making two and cheating and using a mix for thered velvet cake. I am baking the other two though, so I thought I'd post the recipes on here.

Mini Key Lime Pies

You will need: 

75g condensed milk

50ml double cream

1 lime

25g butter

100g digestives

1. For the base, melt the butter in a pan. Put the biscuits in a plastic bag and bash them until they're the texture of breadcrumbs, and mix in a bowl with the butter. Leave to cool.

2. Mix the condensed milk and cream together until soft peaks form. Squeeze the lime juice into the mix and continue to whisk until the mixture gets thicker. Spread on top of the biscuit base and place in the fridge for 2-3 hours to set. Decorate how you wish and serve.

Mini Chocolate Fudge Cakes

You will need:

For the cake- 1 egg

                             25g butter

                                                  25g golden caster sugar

                                              25g self- raising flour

                                         1 tablespoon cocoa

For the frosting- 25g butter

                                 25g chocolate

                                   25g icing sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 190c/ Gas Mark 5. Mix together the cake ingredients until the mixture is smooth. Divide into two cases and cook for 20 minutes. Leave to cool.

2. Melt the chocolate in the microwave for about 2 minutes. Mix together the butter and icing sugar and add the melted butter. Leave to cool. Spread on the cakes and refrigerate. When ready to serve, heat up in the microwave.

Obviously I've just used ingredients enough for two, but you could easily make some of these for a dinner party or having people round.

Nic
xx

Gingerbread House Recipe

This year I've really gotten into my baking, so I thought I'd try the time old classic- the gingerbread house. I got my friend Sam round last night and we swapped presents, had some food and made our house. So I thought I'd share the recipe (which I got from bbc) on here.

You will need: 

250g unsalted butter

200g ark muscavado sugar (it smells like tobacco)

7 tablespoons golden syrup

600g plain flour

2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

4 teaspoons ground ginger

Royal icing to stick the pieces together

Sweets to decorate

1. Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup. Leave to cool

2. In a bowl, mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger, then add the cooled butter mixture, and mix to form a stiff dough. Put in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas Mark 6. Roll out the dough and cut out the sections of the house (a front and back panel, 2 side panels and 2 roof panels. Bake for 12 minutes then leave to cool.

4. Pipe some icing (we cheated and bought some ready made, sorry) along the edges of the front, back and side panels and then stick together on a plate (use a small bowl to hold it up). Leave to stick together for at least an hour. 

5. Repeat the process with the roof sections.

6. Here's the fun bit: decoration! We used chocolate buttons for the roof, marshmallows for the chimney, chocolate fingers for the sides, laces for the door, and millions and jelly tots for the decoration. Leave to set then enjoy.

Nic

xx

The Great Blogger Bake Off Christmas Special: Mince Pies

It's that time again: The Great Blogger Bake Off time! Doing this week's Christmas special has made me realise I've really missed baking, so I'm going to get back in to the swing of it. For this week's festive special, we've done mince pies, but mine have an added ingredient- chocolate chips! So here's the recipe:

(originally from BBC Good Food)

You will need:

200g mincemeat

50g chocolate chips

400g plain flour

250g butter

150g golden caster sugar

Half a teaspoon of mixed spice

1. Mix some chocolate chips into the mincemeat and put to one side.

2. Mix the flour and butter until combined and like breadcrumbs. Add the mixed spice and sugar and combine to form a dough.

3. Knead for about 5 minutes and roll out.

4. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6/200C.  Cut the dough in two; one section about 2/3 of the dough and the other 1/3. Roll out the big piece and cut into 12 using a round cutter (I used my medium measuring cup). Place them in a cupcake tray and add the filling.

5. Roll out the smaller piece of dough and cut into 12 again. Place them on top of the filled dough and press the edges together. Bake for 25 minutes.

6. Leave to cool then dust with icing sugar.

And there you have it: chocolate chip mince pies. 

Nic

xx

Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes

I don't know about anyone else, but to me, Autumn feels like the perfect time for baking. There's just something about the time of year that just makes me want to bake. With this in mind, I thought d show you the recipe for a perfect Autumn bake: spiced pumpkin cupcakes. I got this recipe from Laura, and I'm quite happy with how they turned out (despite not knowing whether or not I liked cinnamon)

For this you will need:

200g flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

250g caster sugar 

100ml vegetable oil 

2 eggs

100ml milk

150g pumpkin blended to a purée 

Chocolate chips

1. Scoop out the inside of the pumpkin, and measure out 150g. Blend until puréed.

2. Mix together the flour, sugar, eggs, cinnamon, milk, baking powder. Add the pumpkin and stir until just blended.

3. Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases and add the chocolate chips, poking them down into the cake.

4. Bake for 20 minutes in a preheated oven of 175c/gas mark 4.

5. Cool on a rack.

The Great Blogger Bake Off: The Ending

The Great Blogger Bake Off is now over, sob. I joined in every single week except one (patisserie week), and I loved every minute of it. From coming up with a new recipe each week to seeing some spectacular recipes from other bloggers, every week has been enjoyable, and I've found out I'm actually pretty good at baking. 

Like a dope, I deleted my old blog half way through, so I don't have all of the recipes anymore, but you can find all the recipes I've done on this blog here. 

This was hands-down my most popular recipe- Key Lime Pie.

I thought I'd share with you all some of my favourite recipes from the other bloggers too, because, they have inspired me to keep on baking.

Briar Rose's Religieuse

I Love Crafty's Unicorn Biscuits

I Love Crafty's Kitten Eclairs

The Good Owl's Pink Layer Macaron Cake

Briar Rose's Japanese Cheesecake

Thank you so much to Laura for organising The Great Blogger Bake Off, I'm already looking forward to the Christmas special and next year.

Nic

xx

The Great Blogger Bake Off- The Final

Sob, sob, it's the final week of The Great Blogger Bake Off. This week, I've decided to go full circle and make a cake. It's basically the same as a Victoria Sponge, but a bit bigger.

For this cake you will need:

200g caster sugar

200g butter

200g flour

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons milk

Jam

Icing sugar (for buttercream)

1. Mix together the caster sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, milk, baking powder and flour in a big bowl. Divide into two, and add pink food colouring to one half of it.

2. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5/190C, bake for 20 minutes and leave to cool. While it's cooling, whip up a quick batch of buttercream.

3. Once the sponges are cool, cut them in half. Add some buttercream to the bottom layer of one sponge, then add another layer. Put some jam on there and add another layer. Then buttercream, then add the final layer. Top with buttercream, or dust with icing sugar, and enjoy.

I've had so much fun joining in The Great Blogger Bake Off, thank you so much to Laura for arranging it. I'm going to miss it. 

Nic

xx