Chocolate and Aero Bundt Cake!

As a surprise for my brother's birthday I thought I would make him a Chocolate cake, he loves chocolate cake and could probably eat a whole cake to himself! When he was little he used to eat the chocolate fudge cakes basically to himself so I'm sure this cake will be no problem for him! 

I followed a recipe I found online at all recipes. I amended the recipe a little bit and it seemed to work, all I changed really was the amount of milk I added, as the mixture seemed to be very runny anyways before I added the milk so I added 200ml instead of 250ml. 

Ingredients: 

• 375g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 60g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 225g butter, softened
• 110g margarine

• 600g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 medium sized eggs
• 200ml milk

1. Preheat the oven to 170 C / Gas 3. 
2. Grease and flour a Bundt cake tin. 
3. Sift plain flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder together. Set aside for the time being.
4. In a large bowl, cream the butter, margarine, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. 
5. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. 
6. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk. Mix well.
7. Pour into the prepared Bundt tin. 
8. Bake in the preheated oven for 70 minutes or until a skewer inserted into cake comes out clean. My cake took almost 90 minutes to fully cook as mine was in a giant bundt tin. I just turned the oven down slighty and moved it down in the oven. 
9. Let cool for 10 minutes in the tin, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

The cake took a looooooong time to cool! I left it on the side for about 1 hour and it was still warm in the centre. So I had to wait a long time before I could ice it and put the aero balls on top. 

The icing on top is chocolate butter icing, and is made up of cocoa, icing sugar and butter. To make just cream the butter till it is light and fluffy and slowly add the icing sugar and cocoa to the butter. Keep creaming the butter so it is still light and fluffy. Then just decorate as you like, I just added mint aero balls because my brother loves mint too. 

Also to note that the cake is absolutely massive! It serves about 15 people with generous servings! So this cake would be excellent for birthdays or parties! :)

Hope you enjoy the recipe and it is definitely easier to make if you have a magi mixer or kitchen aid. 

Here is the mixture in the bundt cake tin before cooking, it was so delicious and rich! 

The cake is yummy before putting icing on it too, the cake is definitely sweet enough without the icing sugar on too. 

If I was going to make the cake again I think I would decorate the cake with even more chocolate! :) 

Saturday treats: Homemade Cinnamon Rolls.

I was in the mood to do some baking today and I have been craving cinnamon rolls all week so figured I would spend my afternoon baking. I found the recipe online and thought I would give them a try. The recipe makes 8 rolls. 

Ingredients:

Rolls: 

350g Self Raising flour (with some extra to dust the worktop surface)

Pinch of salt

2 tbsp caster sugar

1 tsp (heaped) ground cinnamon 

100g melted butter, extra for greasing

2 egg yolks 

200ml of milk, extra for glazing. 

Filling:

1tsp (heaped) ground cinnamon

55g brown sugar

2 tbsp caster sugar

2 tbsp melted butter

Icing:

125g icing sugar

2 tbsp cream cheese

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsp boiling water

1 tsp vanilla essence

You will also need: Mixing bowls, rolling pin, baking tin. 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. Grease a round baking tin with plenty of butter and line the bottom with baking paper.

3. Mix the flour, salt, caster sugar and cinnamon together in a large mixing bowl. 

4. Whisk the butter, egg yolks and milk together (ensure the butter is melted beforehand). 

5. Combine the dry and wet ingredients together to make a soft dough. 

6. Knead the dough to form a smooth dough. Roll the dough out onto a surface which has been lightly sprinkled with flour. Roll the dough into a large rectangle.

7. To make the filling mix the ingredients together, spread evenly over the dough and roll up (like you would for a Swiss-roll) to form a log. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 8 even-sized slices and place into the prepared tin. Glaze the rolls with the extra milk. 

8. Bake the rolls in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. 

9. Remove the rolls from the oven and cool for 5 minutes before removing the rolls from the tin. 

10. For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Place the cream cheese and butter in the centre, pour over the hot water and stir the mixture to form a paste. Add extra water, a few drops at a time, until the icing is a slightly runny consistency. Stir in the vanilla essence, then drizzle the icing over the rolls. 

11. Serve the rolls warm or wait for them to cool. 

I would give the rolls a bit longer time to bake in the oven, more like 40 minutes to ensure that they are cooked all the way through so keep your eye on them whilst they are in the oven. 

One other thing to note with this recipe is that the rolls are also very doughy and are more like a cake than a roll. So one roll is definitely enough and is extremely filling! 

I also found that there was a lot of icing left over, so reduce the amounts for the icing if you would prefer less icing on the top of the rolls. Though the icing is super delicious and compliments the rolls very well! In fact the icing is that yummy I had to stop my boyfriend from eating it all on its on.  

I found the recipe online here, and adapted the recipe a little bit for example adding a bit more sugar/butter. I am sure you can make the recipe a little less fattening by exchanging the sugar for sweetener or by using less. This recipe is definitely not good for anyone on a diet! 

Hope you enjoy the recipe too! 

My week on Instagram #3

 

 

 

 

 

 

So some of the photos I've posted above are from slightly over a week ago, but I was fairly busy at the weekend so please excuse the lateness.

Most the photos are once again of my cocker spaniel Pennie, a couple of the photos also show her on a couple of different walks last week. I recently bought her a new soft toy which is the doughnut in the photos so that featured on my Instagram a fair bit too last week. The photo of her with the doughnut in her mouth makes me laugh so much as you can see her little teeth at the bottom. I also managed to get her to sit with the doughnut balanced on her head for a while as the photo shows. 

The second photo out of the lot is of Salford Quays the other friday night. My brother lives in Salford and the other friday my parents, boyfriend and I went to visit my brother and his girlfriend and had  a lovely tea and a walk round the Quays. 

Last week I also watched Princess Mononokee for the first time and really loved it, got to love a good movie night.

On my blog last week I also did a post about some new home items I bought, which feature the typography mugs here. The other night I treated my boyfriend to delicious hot chocolate and lemon cupcakes. I also made some amazing peanut butter and chocolate cookies last week (as shown in the photo) and the recipe can be found here. 

I have just begun training for my new job today too, which involved a lot of paper work. The last photo shows my happiness at my first day being over... haha. 

 My instagram is _katyjayne, and I follow back! 

Banana & Peanut Butter Ice Cream Recipe

I was in the mood for baking but didn't want to spend too much on ingredients, then I came across this brilliant two ingredient recipe for banana peanut butter ice cream. The Two Peas and Their Pod website has many fantastic recipes and are definitely worth checking out! I know I will be trying some more of their amazing recipes! 

All the ice cream needs is bananas and peanut butter (however I decided to use a small amount of single cream in mine too). So it can't really get much cheaper! The recipe is so simple and easy, and is definitely a must if you're a huge fan of bananas and peanut butter like myself! 

I was a little skeptical at first as I didn't think it was possible to make ice cream with so little ingredients but it definitely works! It is even possible to just make Banana ice cream using only bananas. This recipe has definitely opened my eyes to a new way to make various different ice creams! 

All you need is:

- 4 ripe bananas (or more if you want more ice cream).

- 2 tablespoons of peanut butter (up to you how much you use, and also its up to you whether you use crunchy or smooth).

- 1 tablespoon of single cream (this is optional! You can also add more if you want the ice cream to be creamier). 

1. Slice the bananas into small chunks/slices and place on to a freezable plate/dish.

2. Freeze the bananas for approximately 2 hours. 

3. Once the bananas are frozen place them all in a mixer/blender and blend until the bananas form a smooth, creamy puree consistency. This may take a while but they will turn to a smooth puree. I found this easier to achieve with a hand held electronic mixer than my blender, however this may just be due to my blender being old.

4. Once the bananas have turned into a smooth puree then add  the peanut butter. I added 2 tablespoons worth but it is completely up to you how much you add. If you want just a small hint of peanut butter then only had a small amount, or if you want a strong taste add more. 

5. Blend/mix the peanut butter evenly into the bananas.  

6. I then added a small amount of single cream to the banana and peanut butter mixture, but this is optional and can be done without for a more healthy alternative. 

7. Blend/mix the cream evenly through the mixture. 

8. Pour the mixture into a tupperware tub or and old ice cream container and place back in the freezer. 

9. Freeze the ice cream for approximately 4 hours before serving. 

10. Wait until the ice cream is frozen to your desired consistency. Then enjoy! 

What is also great about this recipe is that you can change the ingredients to achieve different tastes. For instance this recipe would also work fantastically with nutella instead of peanut butter, I will definitely be trying that alternative in future! Another fantastic point about this simple recipe is that it doesn't even require an ice cream maker! Also this recipe is pretty healthy too which is always a plus!

The original recipe I used can be found here. 

I hope you all enjoyed the recipe! 

Please let me know if you have any questions! 

Summer Recipe: Apple, Rhubarb and Strawberry Crumble.

 
I thought I would do my own little recipe for a delicious crumble I made the other day! I’m sorry I don’t have pictures to accompany the recipe as I didn’t think to take any whilst I was making the crumble, so I only got one photo at the end when I’d dished the dessert up. It’s a really simple recipe so if you’re not a confident baker or cook then this recipe will be really easy for anyone to do. Another great point with this dessert is that it doesn’t require a lot of ingredients, so it is fairly cheap to make too!
 It’s a really fruity (so feels healthy) pudding and is great to have in summer time! Or simply adding a few ingredients (e.g. cinnamon) or removing the strawberries (as these are a summer fruit really) will make the pudding delicious to have in autumn or winter too! When I first had it I had it with ice cream, but the following morning I had it cold and on its own and it was just as yummy! In fact, I preferred it on its own, as you could really taste the three different fruits, and it was juicy enough that it did not need cream or anything.
  What you will need:
 The fruit bottom;
3 sticks of rhubarb
2 Pink Lady apples
Two handfuls of strawberries
Caster Sugar
Water
 Crumble topping;
50g Butter
80g Plain Flour
50g Caster Sugar
(Add chopped almonds or oats if desired)



Heat oven to 220 degrees. Wash all the fruit.

First of all I cut the apple into fairly thin slices/segments, to allow it to roast quicker. Also make sure the core is removed and that there are no pips. I kept the skin of the apple on, simply because I’ve heard that most the nutrients are in the skin of the fruit, but if you’re not a fan of apple skin then simply peel the apple before cutting.

Then I cut the rhubarb into small chunks, again to roast faster.

Put the apple and the rhubarb into a large ceramic cooking dish, one that can withstand the high temperature of the oven. Lay the fruit out to cover the bottom of the dish and to make sure the fruit is evenly distributed across the dish.

Then sprinkle the fruit with some cold water (tap water will do fine); this is just to prevent the fruit from completely drying out.

Then sprinkle caster sugar over the top of the fruit in the dish. I put a lot of sugar over the fruit, because I like my crumble to be sweeter. But if you prefer your crumble (especially the rhubarb) then only sprinkle a little over the top of the fruit.

Put this dish into the oven for the fruit to roast. You want the fruit to go soft, but not mushy, this can take approximately 30 minutes, but I would keep my eye on the fruit and keep checking it every 15 minutes.

Whilst that fruit is in you can prepare the strawberries. These only need to be added to the fruit later because these go softer a lot quicker than the apple and rhubarb. Remove the tops of the strawberries. Then simply cut the strawberries into small cuts; small strawberries can be halved and larger strawberries into quarters.

Once the rhubarb and apple has begun to soften; remove the dish from the oven and then add the strawberries to the top of the other two fruits. Put back in the oven for another 15 minutes.

Whilst the fruit is finishing roasting, prepare the crumble topping.

Mix the flour and caster sugar together in a mixing bowl. Then add the butter and mix the butter into the flour and sugar. This is best done using your hands and fingers. Make sure all the butter is mixed in, the crumble should end up looking like breadcrumbs.

Wait for the fruit to be completely roasted then take it out the oven.

Add the crumble to the top of the fruit. Make sure the crumble topping is evenly distributed across the top of the fruit.

Put the dish back into the oven and bake the crumble for 25 minutes. Crumble topping should turn a golden brown.

Serve the crumble with either custard, cream or ice cream; and enjoy!
  

If anyone has any questions about the recipe feel free to ask!