The best cake in a mug recipe

Hey guys! Sorry its been a while since I last wrote a post. Who am I kidding, sorry its been like 3 million years but I am back now and that's all that matters right?

I am sorry I don't have any actual pictures of this recipe but I always seem to eat them just as quickly as I make them, woops! I have spent ages trying to find the perfect recipe that can be made in a mug in the microwave and now I have finally found it and I would like to share it with you so that I feel less guilty about making them all the time.

Chocolate Cake in a Mug

Ingredients:
- 4 tablespoons plain flour
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 3 1/2 tablespoons oil
- 4 1/2 tablespoon milk

Method:

1. Measure the dry ingredients into a mug and mix together.

2. Add the milk and the oil and mix together thoroughly. 'Cook' in the microwave for 3-4 minutes on a medium high heat.

3. Allow to cool slightly so you don't burn your tongue and then enjoy!

The Best Ever American Pancakes

I have had my fair share of pancakes, and why not? Pancakes are probably the best breakfast food ever invented right? Personally, I think the best type of pancakes are American pancakes. For what seems like forever I have been trying to find a recipe that I really like, my go-to recipe if you wish. And now finally I have found it.

You can make these pancakes plain, add blueberries, chocolate chips or even bananas. I prefer them plain, served with a thick summer fruit sauce and maple syrup.

P.S. It might seem like there is a lot of elements to this and a fair few number of ingredients but I promise it is worth the effort.

American Pancakes
Ingredients:

> 230g plain flour
> 40g cornflour
> 1tsp salt
> 4tbsp Caster Sugar
> 1tsp Vanilla essence
> 1tsp baking powder
> 1tsp baking soda
> 2 large eggs
> 4tbsp melted butter
> 160ml milk
> 100ml, 150g plain yougurt
> 2tsp vinegar

Method:
1. Sift the plain flour, cornflour, salt, baking powder and baking soda into a bowl. Add the sugar, vanilla essence and melted butter. Stir slightly.

2. Mix together the milk, plain yogurt and vinegar in a jug and leave to stand for a minute or two, this will make buttermilk.

3. Separate the eggs and add the yolk to the flour mixture. Whisk the whites and place aside.

4. Whisk the buttermilk into the flour mixture. Whisk until smooth.

5. Take one tablespoon of the egg whites and whisk it into the mixture. Fold the rest of the egg whites into the mixture.

6. You can make the pancakes straight away or leave the mixture in the fridges for up to two days.

7. When you want some pancakes, heat a frying pan and melt a knob of butter on a medium low heat. To make the perfect size pancakes add 1/3 of a cup of the mixture. If you are adding additional ingredients, now would be the time to do it before flipping the pancake. Flip the pancake when bubbles have started to form and the underside is golden.

8. Serve the pancakes in stacks of 3 with your choice of toppings.

9. Happy Pancake Eating!

Cheats Chocolate Croissants

It's always nice to impress people with your creations but sometimes its just nice to whip up something quickly that still tastes great and is almost the same  as if you did the real thing. That is exactly what this is, a cheats recipe. With only 3 ingredients, and 10 minutes prep time I really don't think this recipe could get any better.

Cheats Chocolate Croissants

Ingredients:

> 1 pack puff pastry

> Nutella

> Egg yolk

Method:

1. Roll out the puff pastry and then cut the puff pastry into triangles. The base of the triangle will determine the size of your croissant. Make sure the sides are longer than the base. This is hard to explain in words but I found the best way to do this was to cut the pastry first into rectangles and then into triangles. If you look at the pictures then you should understand, I hope....

2. Place somewhere between, a half and a whole teaspoon of nutella at the base of the pastry. The size of your croissant will determine the amount of nutella needed.

3. Starting at the base of your triangle, roll up the triangle and bend the edges slightly so that you get more of a 'croissant' shape.

4. Place the croissants on a baking tray and brush the tops of the croissant with the egg yolk. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 180C, until the croissants are golden and the bottom is cooked. Cool slightly and serve warm.

5. Voila!

Cinnamon Breakfast Loaf

Bread hates me. It's just a fact of life that I have to deal with because every single time that I have made bread it turns out rubbish and then someone else will do the exact same recipe and it will turn out perfect. Enriched dough's, however, seem to work in my favour. I found this recipe really easy to follow and the loaf turned out great. I would advise making this the night before and serving it lightly toasted with lashings of butter and a glass of milk for breakfast the next day.

Recipe taken from The Great British Bakeoff: How to turn everyday bakes into showstoppers.

Best served toasted and with butter

Cinnamon Breakfast Loaf

Ingredients:

For the loaf:
> 500g strong white bread flour
> 1tsp sea salt flakes crushed
> 2tbsp caster sugar
> 7g dried yeast
> 125ml milk
> 50g unsalted butter
> 1 large egg, at room temperature

For the filling:
> 50g caster sugar
> 1tsp plain flour
> 1tbsp ground cinnamon
> Milk for brushing

To finish:
> Milk, for brushing
> small knob of butter

Method:

1. Mix together the flour, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the dried yeast.

2. Gently warm the milk with 125ml water and the butter until lukewarm and the butter has melted. Remove from the heat. Add the egg and beat with a fork until combined. Add this to the flour mixture and slowly stir to make a soft but not sticky dough. If the dough seems too dry then add more milk, one tablespoon at a time. If the dough is too sticky then add more strong flour, one tablespoon at a time.

3. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured worktop and knead thoroughly for about 10 minutes by hand. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1 hour until doubled in size.

4. Meanwhile grease and line a 900g loaf tin.

5. In a small bowl mix the sugar, flour and cinnamon together.

6. Punch down the risen dough to deflate and turn out onto a lightly floured worktop and pat out into a rough rectangle. Cover lightly with a sheet of clingfilm and leave to relax for about 5 minutes- this will make it easier to roll out the dough.

7. Lightly flour the rolling pin and roll out the dough to a rectangle as wide as the length of the tin and 48cm long, keeping the sides straight and neat. Brush the dough liberally with milk, then sprinkle over the sugar mixture in an even layer, leaving a 1cm border clear at one short end. Roll up the dough, neatly and tightly, from the other short end and pinch the seam together to seal it firmly.

8. Lift the rolled dough into the tin, gently tucking the ends under to make a neat shape. Slip the tin into a large plastic bag and slightly inflate it so the plastic doesn't stick to the dough, then tie the ends. Leave to rise as before until just doubled in size, (don't let the loaf become too big or it will lose its shape). Towards the end of the rising time preheat the oven to 180C.

9. Uncover the dough and brush lightly with milk. Bake for about 35minutes until a good golden brown and the turned-out loaf sounds hollow when it is tapped on the underside.

10. Transfer the loaf to a wire rack and rub the butter over the top to give a glossy finish. Leave until completely cold before slicing. Eat with 5 days or freeze.

Moving on

My sister finished primary school last week and it was quite emotional if I am honest with you. Her and all her friends started to cry because they were going to miss each other and it was very sweet and cute. But it made me think about just how old I am and how time goes by so quickly. Yes, my sister may still have a while to go but for me, I only have two years of school left. It scares me just to type that! In two years time I am going to be an adult! Arggh!! Although most of the time I like to pretend that I am mature enough the truth is that I am far from grown up enough. And I don't mind, I like being young and carefree, for however long that may last. But, I think that's enough of my ranting for one post don't you?

Anyways, back to my original point, my sister had a sort of 'party' and I made a cake for the occasion. The icing said 'Class of 13' but if you made this cake then it is completely up to you what you write. I really like this recipe and I got good feedback from others. In the middle I added strawberries for a fruity and summery touch, this is optional and the fruit can be changed to suit your needs.

This recipe may seem quite big but it did cut up into 30 slices on the day.

Celebration cake

Ingredients:

For the cake: (ingredients for 1 layer)
> 225g butter/stork softened
> 225g caster sugar
> 1/2tsp vanilla essence
> 4 large eggs
> 225g self-raising flour
> 2tsp baking powder

For the filling and icing:
> 250g strawberries
> 350g butter, softened
> 200g icing sugar
> 1tsp vanilla essence
> 60ml double cream
> 100g small sweets
> 1 tube of Sliver Spoon Designer Icing

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line a traybake tin.

2. In a bowl whisk the butter, vanilla essence and sugar together until light and fluffy.

3. Add an egg to the mixture one at a time, beating after each addition. Before the first addition add a tablespoon of flour to the mixture from the 250g to stop the eggs from curdling. If the mixture looks like it is about to curdle then you can add another tablespoon  of flour.

4. Sift the flour and baking powder into the mixture and beat the mixture for another 3-4minutes until the mixture is light and airy. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean and the cake is golden brown.

5. Now that you have the first layer of your cake you need to make the second one so repeat steps 1-4.

6. To make the butter icing beat the butter, icing sugar, and vanilla essence together until light and fluffy. Add the double cream and continue to beat for another 5 minutes.

7. On the top of one of the cakes, ice the top only. Slice the strawberries and place them side by side on top of the butter icing. Add the second layer on top and ice the top and sides of the cake.

8. Place the small sweets around the edges of the cake and cool the cake in the fridge overnight. This way the butter icing will harden and it will be easier to pipe on it the next day.

9. Pipe what you wish to say on the cake and then chill the cake for another couple of hours so that this icing hardens.

10. Slice and serve!

P.S. What do you think of my new header?

Iced Biscuits

I have made these biscuits time and time again and they come out perfect each time. My piping on the other hand is a different story... The icing itself was of a good consistency it is just my piping that needs more practice. If I am honest with you this is the first time that I have done this sort of piping so when I look at the biscuits in that light, I feel relatively happy with them.

I went for pastel colours

Iced Biscuits

Ingredients:

For the Biscuits:
>125g Butter softened
>3/4 cup sugar
>1tsp vanilla essence
>1 egg
>2 cups plain flour
>1tsp baking powder

For the icing
>250g icing sugar
>The white of 1 large egg
>Drops of lemon juice
>Food colouring (optional)

Method:
1. Preheat the oven and line a baking sheet.

2. Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla essence together until light and fluffy.

3. Add the egg and beat well.

4. Sift the flour and baking powder together and mix into the creamy mixture.

5. Roll out the biscuit dough to about 1/2cm thick and cut out biscuits using cookie cutters. Transfer the biscuits to the baking sheet.

6. Bake for about 9 minutes, slightly longer if your biscuits are bigger or thicker. Bake until the biscuits are golden brown.

7. Take the tray out and leave the biscuits to cool on the tray for a couple of minutes and then transfer the biscuits to a cooling rack.

8. In a bowl add the icing sugar, egg white and lemon juice together. If your egg white is not enough then you may have to crack open another egg and use part of that egg white. Beat the egg white and sugar  together for about 5 minutes until you have stiff peaks.

9. Add a couple of drops of water to the icing so that it is easier to pipe. Split the icing into as many colours as you would like and stir in the food colouring.

10. Transfer the icing into piping bags and pipe decorations onto the cookies. Leave the cookies on a cooling rack so that the icing hardens.

11. Serve and enjoy!

~Bloglovin~

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Just a quick reminder before I start, in a couple of days Google Friends Connect is closing down and if you would still like to follow this blog then the way to do so would be through Bloglovin. The link to my page is here.

I found it too hard to stop myself from eating the cookie dough. It was just too good! If I am completely honest with you, I probably ate somewhere around 2 cookies worth. Shhhhh!

Cookies and milk, perfect!

Now, onto the recipe. I have been dying to share this recipe with you since the start of this blog and I cannot believe it has taken me so long to get around to it! I finally found some time yesterday and this is the result! These cookies can be made days in advance and stored in a air-tight container.

This recipe is so simple and I have made it several times and each time this recipe has not failed me. the thing that I love about this recipe is that you do not have to chill the mix so this recipe is super quick.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

> 250g self-raising flour
> 1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
> 1/2tsp salt
> 170g unsalted butter
> 170g soft, light brown sugar
> 70g caster sugar
> 1tbsp vanilla extract
> 1 egg
> 1 egg yolk
> 300g chocolate chips (plain, milk, dark, white, whichever you wish!)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

2. In a bowl sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Set the bowl aside.

3. Melt the butter. The best way to do this is in the microwave. Watch the butter like a hawk and make sure the butter is just melted and not boiling.

4. In a medium bowl, using a wooden spoon, cream together the melted butter and sugars. Beat in the vanilla and the eggs until light and creamy.

5. Mix in the sifted ingredients and stir in the chocolate chips. Place 1 tablespoon of the cookie mixture onto the baking tray. The cookies spread a lot in the oven so leave a fair amount of space between the cookies.

6. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes. The cookies should be lightly golden but still soft. Take the tray out and leave the cookies on the tray for 1-2 minutes to harden slightly and then move the cookies onto a cooling rack. You will find that you will have to bake several batches and end up with about 36 cookies, that is if you don't eat any!

7. Serve the cookies with a glass of milk and if you do not wish tho consume the cookies on the same day then simply store them in an airtight container until you are ready to serve them.

8. Heaven!

~Bloglovin~

Puff Pastry Apple Tart

This week has been extremely eventful for me but my highlight has been finishing my exams! I feel so happy about this and this is great news for the blog because it means that I will have more time to post!

So onto this weeks recipe. This weeks bake was spontaneous which is unusual for me because I normally plan bakes far ahead. But, we had a lot of apples at home and we had puff pastry so I thought, why not make a puff pastry apple tart?

This recipe is so simple and so quick and I would advise making this recipe if you are just starting to bake. I used ready made puff pastry as it is much cheaper and much easier but you could make your own if you wish.

Puff Pastry Apple Tart

Ingredients:
> 1 pack ready made puff pastry
> 6-8 eating apples
> 40g unsalted butter
> Sprinkling of caster sugar
> Icing sugar to dust

Method:

1. Roll out your pastry until you have a large, thin, rectangle. Put baking paper on a baking sheet and put the pastry on top.

2. Preheat the oven to 200C.

3. Half the apples and cut the apples into super thin slices, the thinner the better. When you come across a slice that has part of a core in it just slice it off. I find that 'coring' the apple like this is easier and you get straight slices of apple. If you want you can peel the apples but I left the peel on as I like the texture and also I find that it looks more attractive like this.

4. Layer the apples on top of each other in rows. Start at the top of the pastry and then just layer all the way to the end. To get an good amount of apple in each slice, layer the slices really close together. Put more than you think you should because the apples will shrink in the oven. Layer the apples so that there is a small border around the edge of the pastry.

5. Melt the butter and brush over the top of the apples. Sprinkle caster sugar over the top of the apples, lightly and evenly.

6. Bake the tart for 20-25mins until the apples are lightly golden and the pastry is cooked.

7. Slice the tart and dust with icing sugar, this is perfect served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

8. Enjoy!

Update!

I wasn't planing on doing this but a lot has happened or is going to happen and I feel the need to let you know, so here is my update.

Firstly, I am 16! I counted down like 60 days before my birthday and so I was really excited when it finally came. In the UK I now have some responsibilities and I find this really weird. For example, I went to the dentist the other day and I had to fill out my own form and I found this a lot scarier then it should have been, I mean I was stressing over my name! I also managed to spell my dad's name incorrectly but I think I managed to recover well... (Photos in this post are from my birthday)

Secondly, I would like to apologise for not having a post up last week. Initially I wanted to stop posting during my exam period but then I decided not to and last week the workload just got too much. I have three more exams left and then the a joyful 2 month period of waiting for the results. Just last night I had a nightmare dream that I opened the letter and I failed all my exams. Finger crossed this will not be the case *crosses fingers* After next week, by which time my exams have finished, I will try and post more.

Thirdly, Google for some reason has decided to not continue with Google Friend Connect, the box on the side with the faces of people who follow this blog. If you read other blogs then you have most likely already heard of this and the majority of bloggers have said that Bloglovin is the next best thing. I already have a Bloglovin account here and I use Bloglovin to follow blogs myself. It is a really good platform and you can discover all sorts of new blogs through it. If you only follow me on Google Friend Connect and still wish to follow me then Bloglovin is the way to do so.

Fourthly, (is that even a thing?) in roughly a weeks time I plan on creating a Facebook page and a Twitter for the blog. I will post all new blog updates to these social networks so you can always just check these if you do not wish to create a Bloglovin account.

Lastly, is there any type of regular post that you would like to see on this blog? I am planning on doing a 'Words of Wisdom Wednesdays' where I write about inspirational quotes or stories. Would this be something you are interested in reading?

For now that is all I think... I hope you found this post bearable liked this post and unless I have a lot of updates in the future, I do not plan on doing a similar post like this again but instead continue with my usual content.

~Bloglovin~

Birthday Cake!

My 16th birthday was just over two weeks ago and I had a really great day. I spent most of the day revising but it was a good day anyway.

My mum made my cake and I really loved it. It was nice to have something that was different from the standard chocolate cake. The cake is really light and fluffy and perfect for a summer party. The recipe is taken from the June 2012 issue of the BBC Good Food magazine. Yes, the magazine is a year old but the recipes in it are really good and so I kept it...

Fruity Traybake

Ingredients:
>100g butter
>175g self-raising
>50g ground almonds
>2 tsp baking powder
>4 large eggs
>225g caster sugar
>125ml full fat greek yogurt
>zest of two lemons

For the butter icing:
>175g butter softened
>200g icing sugar
> 1/2tsp vanilla essence

To decorate:
>300g raspberries
>175g blueberries

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180C. Butter and line a 30 x 20cm traybake tin.

2. Add all the sponge ingredients into a mixing bowl and using an electric mixer, mix until all the ingredients are fully combined and the mixture is light.

3, Spoon the mixture into the tin and bale for 25-30mins until the top is lightly golden and the sides of the sponge have started to shrink away from the paper. Carefully lift the sponge out of the tine and transfer the sponge onto a cooling rack. Leave the cake to cool completely.

4. To make the icing whisk the butter, icing sugar and vanilla essence together until light and fluffy. This should take about 5 minutes.

5. Spread the icing over the top of the cake and decorate with the raspberries and blueberries.

Enjoy!

~Bloglovin~