Lazy Banana Nut Cupcakes

The last few days have been a blur of boredom for me, not gonna lie, but today I suddenly felt the urge to bake a cake. So I did.
But as I was still feeling pretty lazy, I used a cake mix (eeek! - don't kill me).

The cake mix was quite plain - just your average Victoria Sponge mix, so to jazz it up (as you do), I added banana and almonds (we were all out of walnuts), and made cupcakes instead of one big cake - iced with chocolate buttercream.

Here's a (kinda) recipe:

Ingredients:
1 packet of Victoria Sponge Cake mix (with the egg and water needed)
1 small/medium banana, mashed
10 or so walnuts (or almonds), roughly chopped

For the buttercream -
55g unsalted softened butter
85g icing sugar
20g cocoa powder
2-3 tablespoons milk

Method:
1) Follow the instructions to make the cake batter, and add in the banana and chopped nuts - you'll probably want to use slightly more water than the cake mix instructs.

2) And that's about it - fill up your cupcake cases in the bun tin - my cake mix made 11 cupcakes, but you might get 12 if you didn't eat as much of the batter as I did ;)

3) Bake them for 15-20 minutes 200°C in a regular oven, or 180°C in a fan oven, or until golden-brown, risen and springy to the touch (that's such an over-used phrase :))

4)While the cupcakes are cooling, make your buttercream! Just mix the butter, sugar and cocoa powder together, and pour in the milk little by little, until you're happy with the consistency.

5) Pipe, spread or dollop the buttercream onto your cupcakes, et voila! Enjoy!

 

yes I am aware of how...odd...those 'brown piles' look :') - don't worry, they tasted delicious!

 

 



ah - this was me getting interesting with the piping - haha.

 

 

So, there you have it - that's how I made my average Victoria Sponge cake mix a little more interesting, and it's possible to do this with lots of flavours, like cinnamon and peeled, chopped apple in the batter, and a cinnamon-y caramel icing (I made this with some friends, and it was DELICIOUS), or lemon zest in the batter with a lemony icing...anything you have lying around the kitchen, really.

 



xx

Pancake Day Ideas

With Pancake Day quickly approaching this Tuesday, I thought it'd be helpful to share some ideas on how to dress up your pancakes.
These are some of my favourite pancake flavours:

• Banana and Walnut

Just add quarter of a teaspoon cinnamon, 3 ripe mashed bananas and a handful of chopped walnuts into the batter!

• Spinach and Mushroom

Boil some spinach and mushrooms in a pan, with cheddar cheese and some salt and pepper to taste. Then serve your crepes with this yummy mixture!

(this is my personal favourite!)

• Mixed Berries

When you spoon the pancake batter into the pan, simply, sprinkle your favourite berries over it. Serve with maple/golden syrup and more delicious berries!

• Apple

Peel and thinly slice 3 Granny Smith apples, and cook these with some butter, brown sugar and cinnamon until they are softened (but not mushy).

Then mix these into the batter, and make your pancakes as normal. Serve with some maple/golden syrup and a glass of apple juice! Deee-licious...

(images from: skinnytaste.com, uktv.co.uk, taste.com.au, and iadorefood.com)

I really do love my pancakes, after all, who doesn't, but to make the best pancakes, you must find the best batter recipe, otherwise, your delicious flavours, won't be quite as perfect.

Here's a link to my favourite batter recipes:

Scotch pancakes (the smaller thicker kind):

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/22467/traditional-scotch-pancake.aspx 

Crepes (the larger thinner kind):

http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/1249/claire-s-cr-pes.aspx

Et voila! I hope you liked the pancake ideas, and I wish you a very scrumptious Tuesday! ;)

xx

First Attempt at Profiteroles

After much procrastination, I decided I finally needed to attempt (the notoriously difficult) profiteroles.
Many foodie blogs tell stories of how the first attempt was always a bit of a fail...so, as you can imagine, I wasn't very hopeful. But to my surprise, it wasn't a complete disaster ;)
I used a very classic recipe with nothing fancy...

Here are some photos I managed to take while precariously balancing a hand-mixer in one hand, and a piping bag in the other:

 piped onto the baking parchment (a bit higgledy-piggledy, I know ;) )

         

out of the oven!

   

after a LOT of mixing, the cream finally peaked! :)

and...the final product! mmm...just look at that chocolatey gooey-ness...

Et, voila! Although I had to be pretty meticulous about the measurements (make sure you are very exact!!), it really paid off, and the profiteroles tasted quite nice, if I say so myself...piped with sweetened whipping cream, smothered in melted chocolate and then topped off with another dollop of cream :)

I'll definitely be making them again, and soon too...so, do let me know any special tips you have to make them even better...

xx

Valentines Day Inspiration

So.

It was Valentine's Day two days ago, and more than a few of us celebrated alone. Haha...

Well, nothing cheers me up better than a bit of comfort food, eh? (or maybe that's just my excuse to eat junk food): brownies, biscuits, cake, you know the drill... 

But why not put an extra bit of 'pizzazz' into your sweet treats, just for the occasion, you know... ;)

Here's some inspiration for next Valentine's...with or without your someone special:

(images from weheartit.com, bbc.co.uk/food, and uktv.co.uk ) 

• Raspberry Brownies 

Jazz up your regular chocolatey delights, with a filling of butter, icing sugar, a handful of puréed raspberries, (and optional pink food colouring). Top off with a dusting of icing sugar and one juicy fresh raspberry on each!

• Bakewell Cupcakes

Love the tart? Then you'll love these...

Just add ground almonds into the cupcake batter and when the cupcakes come out of the oven and cool, use an apple corer to remove the centre. Fill this with raspberry jam, and spread on a layer of 'icing sugar and lemon juice' frosting. Top it off with a glacé cherry! Yum...

• Stained Glass Window Biscuits

Nothing more comforting than gingerbread cookies, eh? Well, make them twice as nice by cutting them out in heart shapes, and using a smaller heart cutter to hollow out the middle, before baking. Then crush some red, pink or purple boiled sweets, and sprinkle the pieces into the hollows. Bake in the oven for 9-10 minutes, and after taking them out and cooling, you'll have pretty stained glass window biscuits...

Hope you liked these easy ways of transforming your comfort food...

xx

Herby Home-made Pizza Base

(makes 2 pizzas)

Well, we all love the idea of home-made pizza, (well, at least I do ;) ), but so many pizza base recipes are rather, well, boring...and since I'm an italian herbs ADDICT, I thought, why not toss a few bits and bobs in here and there and see what happened...so, this is my little twist on the classic pizza base.

(yummy!)

 I topped mine with peppers, mushrooms, olives and oak-smoked cheddar cheese, by the way.

Ingredients

·         7 grams quick-rise yeast (1 sachet)

·         250ml  warm water 

·         1 teaspoon sugar

·         1-1/2 teaspoons salt, 

·         750g all-purpose flour

·         2 tablespoons cornmeal

·         1 tablespoon olive oil

·         2-3 tablespoons dried herbs

Directions

·         Preheat the oven to 220°C or 200°C for a fan oven. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 500g flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.

·         Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes, adding 2-3 tablespoons of any dried herbs throughout the kneading. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest in a warm spot for 10 minutes.

·         Sprinkle cornmeal over two 12-in. pizza pans coated with cooking spray. Divide dough in half. On a floured surface, roll each portion into a 13-in. circle. Transfer to prepared pans. Build up edges slightly. Prick dough thoroughly with a fork; brush with oil. Bake at 220°C (200°C for a fan oven) for 5-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

·         Spread over crusts, toppings. Bake 15-20 minutes longer at the same temperature or until crusts are lightly browned and any cheese is melted. 

·         Yield: 2 pizzas (6 slices per pizza).

 Et voila!

xx

Hello there!

Hi there.

My name's Anni and I'm new to this whole blogging business.

I've kinda wanted to do it for a while, because I have ideas and bits and bobs that I want to share, but I'm not the best at 'putting myself out there', as they would say. :)

So I thought I could start up this little space of my own on the web to, well, share things.

I do love my baking - sweet and savoury...and I enjoy experimenting with ingredients, and writing my own recipes from the occasional happy accidents that occur with my experimenting.

So, on this shiny new blog of mine, I thought I'd share some of my happy accidents...

xx