Chocolate
How to Make an Easter Chick
How cute is this little chickie?
Grasshopper Cake
With Mother’s Day on the horizon I thought it was time for a big old celebration cake.
When my Save the Children trip was being arranged I was told that in Rwanda they eat grasshoppers as a snack. I went fully prepared to munch on a grasshopper (all in the name of research you understand).
Valentines Chocolate Hearts
(and a flaming strawberry!)
A Valentines treat that’s definitely got some wow factor!
There’s only one thing Mr C. loves more than cake and that’s ice cream so I’ve rustled up these Chocolate Valentines hearts especially. The cake and icecream is simple to do, the flaming strawberry bit is a bit faffy so think about having a practice ‘flaming strawberry’ run in advance.
Chocolate Frosted Traybake
Super quick, make it faster than you can say Jack Robinson, no mixer required chocolate traybake. Tastes blooming lovely which is a shame – I promise it will be gone in next to no time too!
I suppose this is a strange one for me to be posting, I’ll hold my hands up, it’s not my recipe, it’s an old American classic that I converted many moons ago.
Spooky Spectacular Halloween Cake
I thought I’d throw in a decorated Halloween cake to the projects pot this year using a really simple but effective cake decorating technique – brushed royal icing.
If you’d like to have a go at this cake at home (and it’s not half as tricky as it looks) you will need:
Pumpkin Cake Pops
For cake pops you need a little bit of patience, they’re not tricky but they do have a fair few steps to them. For me that means they need to be made for a special occasion! Halloween in our house comes a close to Christmas in the fun stakes – costumes, face painting, scary house decorating and generally having fun it what it’s all about for me (nevermind the boys!)
Chocolate Biscuits – Breast Cancer Awareness Month
If you bake then I’m sure at some point you’ll have baked for a good cause! Whatever the charity, baking is a great way to raise some well needed funds – and we all love a bake sale or coffee morning.
Blueberry and Hazelnut Chocolate Florentines
Florentines are notoriously tricky blighters, seemingly simple but accurate measurements are needed (Ruth are you paying attention, no really paying attention? Okay out come the digital scales).
Florentines also need to go on the tray well spaced apart, another instruction in recipes I fail to ‘get’ and frequently end up chiselling a sheet of florentines from a baking tray, add to that the messy affair of coating the monkeys in chocolate and we’re talking baking disaster tantrums.
Are you ready for these…? Smoky Choc Cherry Cupcakes
I developed these last year as an option for the final of The Great British Bake Off. In the end I went with Mint, Ginger and Blackberry (recipe here) so before the weather gets truly summery here’s my recipe for Smoky Chocolate and Cherry Cake.
Afternoon Tea – Eclairs – Two ways! Vanilla Choc & Coffee
Now I’ve done the Choux pastry how to (here) lets see what we can do with them.
Vanilla Chocolate and Coffee Eclairs
Before I give you the low down on the eclairs I thought I’d share a couple of my other tea party essentials.
