Chocolate & vanilla marble bundt

Whats a bundt you might ask? In my opinion its the bees knees of baking.See picture of my bundt pan below. I very much entered this bake blind.With no clue what I was doing. After finding the pan in TKMAXX ( aka heaven) I was mad to give it a try. I spotted some easy release cake spray which in fairness judging by the name is every bakers dream so for €3.99 that went in the basket too. 

Ingredients

2 cups Plain flour

2 Tsp Baking powder

1/2Tsp Salt

3/4 Cup Unsalted butter

1 1/2Cups + 3Tbsp Caster sugar

4 large eggs

1 Tsp Vanilla essence

1/3 Cup Cocoa 

1/3 Cup Hot water

1 Tbsp Instant coffee. I used Maxwell house.

1/4 Tsp Almond Extract

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees.

2. Spray the living daylights out of the bundt pan ensuring you get all the hidden dips. 

3. In a jug mix hot water,coffee, cocoa and 3 tbsp sugar. Mix thoroughly until smooth. Check for lumps.

4. Add the almond to the mixture and allow to cool. 

5. In a bowl sift flour, baking powder and salt.

6. In a seperate bowl put butter and beat for 2 minutes, gradually add the sugar and beat for 3 minutes. Add vanilla and beat. 

7. Gradually add the eggs and beat slowly.

8. Slowly add the flour mix. 

9. Transfer half the cake mix into the cool cocoa mix and stir. 

10.Alternatively spoon the cocoa mix and the vanilla mix into the pan. Then using a skewer swirl the stick through the mix creating a marble effect.

11. Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hr.

12. Allow to cool and shrink a little. Then turn the tin upside down and tap.

13. Stand back and admire the view :).

Chocolate custard cake

Boy do I love custard! So when I discovered the custard cake my mind was blown. All made from scratch even though the temptation to grab a tin from the shop was very strong.

Ingredients
4 Eggs -room temperature
1 Tsp Vanilla essence
1 & 1/4 cups of caster sugar
110g Melted butter
1/2cup of plain flour
1/3cup of cocoa
2 cups of lukewarm milk
1 Tbsp icing sugar

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees.
2. Grease & line a loaf tin. Well at least thats what I used ;).
3. Seperate the egg yolks from the whites. This is always great fun... not a great one for the nerves.
4. Beat the whites until stiff and put aside.
5. Whisk the egg yolks, vanilla and sugar until creamy.
6. Add melted butter & mix for 30 sec.
7. Add flour and cocoa and mix well.
8. Pour in milk gradually and beat .
9. Add the whites in one third at the time.
10. Pour into the tin and bake for 60 min.
11. Allow to cool and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Strawberry scones

Whats better than a freshly baked scone in the morning! Usually I make sultana scones but for a change I fancied trying strawberries.

Ingredients
Make 6 scones
225g Self raising flour
150ml Buttermilk
Pinch of salt
25g Caster sugar
25g Margarine
1 egg

Method
1. Sift flour and salt into a bowl and mix adding the sugar.
2. Rub in the margarine using your fingers.
3. Add buttermilk and strawberries.
4. Mix and add the egg.
5. Turn out the dough and lightly knead. Then roll out the dough and using a cookie cutter cut out like below.
6. Glaze with milk and bake in a preheated 220 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Rasberry crumb bars

Rasberry crumb bars. Certainly one of the healthier options on my blog so far. They resemble a breakfast bar so without further a do lets rock and roll.

Ingredients
1 cup Plain flour
1/4 Tsp Baking powder
1/4 Tsp Salt
1 cup of  rolled oats.
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup of seedless rasberry jam.

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees.
2. In a bowl whisk flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in the rolled oats (porridge oats) and sugar. Using your fingertips break up the lumps.
3. Add 2 cups of the oat mixture to a greased and lined baking tray. I used a rectangle one. Flatten the mixture.
4. Spread the rasberry jam ontop then top with the last of the oat mixture.
5. Bake for 34 -38 minutes.

Chocolate strawberry barrell

On one of my shopping sprees I spotted baby strawberry's. They are ridiculously cute. I desperately wanted to bake something using them. I came up with the idea of a chocolate strawberry barrel. The weather was a bit of a problem when it came to assembling everything but I was still fairly happy with the result.

Ingredients
200g Plain flour
40g Cocoa
240g Caster sugar
3 Tsp Baking powder
80g Unsalted butter
2 eggs
200ml Milk
2 Tsp Vanilla essence
Kitkats 6
Baby strawberry's

Icing
226g butter
600g icing sugar
50g Cocoa
2 Tsp Vanilla essence
4 Tbsp Milk

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Grease and line a 8 inch baking tin.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt into a bowl and whisk.
3. In another bowl whisk the butter and sugar until fluffy then add vanilla and eggs. Whisking slowly.
4. Add milk and the flour mix alternatively. 
5. Bake for 20 - 25 min.
6. Allow to cool.
7. Using a large round cookie cutter cut out 3 circles of sponge.
8. For the icing whisk butter for 3 min. Add icing sugar and cocoa and whisk slow for 1 min. Add vanilla and milk and whisk for 3 min.
9. Sandwiche the 3 layars of cake together using the chocolate buttercream. Then cover the sides in buttercream.
10. Break up the kitkats into fingers and stick around the cake onto the buttercream.
11. In the top of the barrell place the mini strawberries.

Ice cream cupcakes

Thanks to my good friend Corrina who introduced me to the idea of ice cream cupcakes for the first time. Ideal for kids and big kids too! Finding the correct wafers can be tricky as a lot of shops only stock the long narrow ones.

Ingredients
To make 12
200g Plain flour
40g Cocoa
240g Caster sugar
3 Tsp Baking powder
80g Unsalted butter
2 eggs
200ml Milk
2 Tsp Vanilla essence
Box of wafer cones
Flakes to decorate

Icing
226g Butter softened
600g Icing sugar
2 Tsp Vanilla essence
4Tbsp Milk

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees.
2. In a large bowl mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt and whisk.
3. In another bowl whisk butter and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs abit at a time whisking slow.
4. Add milk and flour mix alternatively.
5. Place the wafer in a bun tray puttin one wafer everywhere a bun case should be. Spoon the mix into the wafers. Only fill each wafer to half way or they will overflow.
6. Bake for 18 -20 min. Allow to cool.
7. For the icing whisk the butter for 3 minutes. Sift in the icing sugar, and beat on low speed for 1 min. Add vanilla and milk beat for 3 minutes. 
8. Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes like you would see on an ice cream cone. Place a flake ontop and cover in sprinkles.

Reeses chocolate chip peanut butter cups

I dunno what possessed me to try and make these but the idea came to me and I said shur how hard can it be! Plus the peanut butter cups were half price in the shop :).

Ingredients
Unsalted butter for greasing
175g Plain flour sifted
1 Tsp Baking powder
125g Margarine melted
85g Light muscovado sugar
55g Caster sugar
1/2Tsp Vanilla essence
1 egg
125g Plain chocolate chips
Reeses peanut butter cups 12

Method
Pop the peanut butter cups in the freezer 5 min before you start.
1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees and put bun cases into a bun baking tray. Stay with me here I'm not mad I swear!
2. Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat until well combined. It feels so good to chuck everything in together.
3. Spoon tablespoons of the cookie dough into the bun cases. Don't overfill the cases maybe put 2 tablespoons or a little less into each.
4. Bake for 15 - 20 min keep an eye on them.
5. When they come out of the oven take the peanut butter cups from the freezer and with your hand press them down into the top of each cookie cup. The fact they are slightly frozen keeps them from melting and breaking.