baby bundts

these delightful little cakes are what got me started in the first place.  after going to a cooking shop in Cardiff where we bought the most amazing bundt tin ever, i made them, while staying at my grandmothers. i like to decorate them with little red flowers when i can, but they look great with a bit of lemon zest sprinkled on the top too, or even on there own they still look yummy!

Ingredients:

For the cakes:

·         125ml of non-bio natural yogurt

·         75g butter, melted

·         2 eggs

·         Zest of 1 lemon

·         150g plain flour

·         ½ tsp bicarb

·         Pinch of salt

·         125g caster sugar

For the icing:

·          200g icing sugar

·         Juice of 1 lemon

Method for the cakes:

Preheat the oven to 170°c and grease your bundts tin well

Mix the yogurt, butter, eggs and lemon zest in a measuring jug. Mix together the flour, bicarb, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Mix the wet ingredients into the bowl, making sure everything is combined well. Spoon some of the mixture into each tin. Bake for 25-30 mins. Wait 3 mins before taking them out of the, if you take them out too early, they’ll brake, but if they cool completely they will stick.

Method for the icing:

Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl, then mix in the lemon, but be sure not to make it too runny. Put a small amount onto each cake so that it runs down indent.

Variation:

To make st. Clementine’s version replace ½ of the lemon with Clementine’s. 

Recipe by nigella Lawson

chocodoodle chocolate chip birthday cake!

i made this for my sisters birthday last year, it all went and certainly was scrummy!

Ingredients:

For the chocodoodles:

·         265g plain flour

·         25g coco powder

·         ½ tsp nutmeg

·         ¾ tsp baking powder

·         125g butter

·         100g + 2 tbsp caster sugar

·         1 egg

·         1 tsp vanilla essence

·         1 tbsp cinnamon

·         Editable glitter

·         Editable glue

For the cake

·         225g unsalted butter

·         225g caster sugar

·         1 tsp vanilla essence

·         4 eggs

·         225g self-raising flour

·         1 tsp baking powder

·         3-4 tbsp milk

·         100g chocolate chips (or simply 100g chocolate smashed up into chunks)

Method for chocodoodles:

Follow method for the variation for snickerdoodles.

snikerdoodles

i remember making these when i was really little with my dad on saturday mornings. i've loved them ever since and i always find an exuse to make them (:




Ingredients:

·         280g plain flour ( the origanal recipe says 150g, but i find that too sticky)

·         ½ tsp ground nutmeg

·         ¾ tsp baking powder

·         ½ tsp salt

·         125g butter

·         100g + 2 tbsp caster sugar

·         1 egg

·         1 tsp vanilla essence

·         1 tbsp cinnamon

Method

Preheat oven to 180°c

Mix together the flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt and set aside for the moment. Cream together the sugar and the butter. When pale and fluffy add the egg and vanilla. Now add the dry ingredients until you have a dough like mixture. With the cinnamon and the leftover sugar, mix them together.  Make the mix into small balls. Roll each ball in the sugar, and place onto your baking tray. Bake for 15 mins. Eat!

Variation:

Replace 25g of the flour for coco powder to make chocodoodles (:

Recipe by nigella Lawson (adapted by me)

chocolate loaf cake

Ingredients:

·         225g softened unsalted butter

·         375g dark muscovado sugar

·         2 eggs

·         1 tsp vanilla essence

·         100g quality chocolate, melted

·         200g plain flour

·         1 tsp bicarb

·         250ml boiling water

·         Loaf tin, lined

Method

Preheat oven to 190°c and line tin

Cream the butter and sugar. When pale and fluffy add the eggs and vanilla, beat well. Then fold in the chocolate, blending not over beating. Next add the flour and bicarb, tbsp at a time alternately with the water. Pour the liquid mix into the tin. Bake for 30 mins and then turn down the heat to 170°c and bake for a further 15 mins.  Leave to cool and then eat!

Recipe by nigella lawson

blue vanilla meringue

Ingredients:

·         3 egg whites

·         265g caster sugar

·         1 tsp blue food colouring

·         ½ tsp vanilla essence

·         vinegar

Method

Preheat oven to 110°c

If using an electric whisk or mixer, rub a bit of vinegar on the whisk and the bowl, this will help the egg whites to peak. Next whisk the egg in till it forms medium/soft peaks.  Being careful not to suffocate the egg whites, add the sugar and whip. When medium/hard peaks are formed add the vanilla and food colouring. Mix until combined. Put the meringue mix into a piping bag and make little discs on the greaseproof paper. Bake in the oven for 1 ½ - 2 hours.  

Variation:

Of course you could change the colour, but if you want you could replace the vanilla with rose water and use red to make pink rose meringues.   You could also whip up 200ml of double cream with 150g raspberries and sandwich 2 together with the cream. Yum! 

Recipe by me!