Black Forest Cupcakes

This is a sponsored post

Last week I was lucky enough to receive this in the post from Green & Blacks and was overcome with excitement!

The chocolate also came with a tasting guide, which I will go into in a separate post, but suffice to say it differs from my usual ‘open bar of chocolate and cram as much in your mouth as you can’ approach!

I was fairly restrained though and decided I’d do something a little different with some of my chocolate, and what better to do than a little baking? One of my all time favourite flavour combinations is chocolate and cherry so I started with the cherry bar and concocted a recipe for black forest cupcakes.

Ingredients – makes 12 cupcakes

120g caster sugar

120g stork/baking margarine

120g self raising flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

100g bar G&Bs Organic cherry dark chocolate

1 tablespoon cherry brandy (optional)

pot whipping cream

cherries to decorate

good quality dark chocolate to grate over the top (G&Bs 70% organic dark chocolate is ideal)

As Green & Blacks chocolate is organic I chose to use good quality organic and fair trade ingredients too.

1. Preheat the over to about 170°C and put 12 cupcake cakes in a muffin tin.

2. Cream together the margarine and sugar. The easiest way to do this is in a mixer but you can do it by hand.

3. Add the eggs and sift in the flour and baking powder. Mix until they are well incorported.

4. Melt the chocolate. The easiest way is to heat it for 10-20 seconds at a time in the microwave. You can also melt it in a bowl over a pan of boiling water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water.

5. Add the melted chocolate and cherry brandy to the cake mix and stir to combine them. The mixture may firm up quite a bit but don’t panic, it will cook fine!

6. Spoon equal amounts into each cupcake case and bake for around 15-20 mins until the cakes spring back to the touch. Leave them to cool completely.

7. Whip up the cream and pipe onto the cakes. Sprinkle with grated dark chocolate and add a cherry to each one.

If you leave the stones in the cherries, don’t forget to warn the recipients and remove the cherry before you give them to children!

The cupcakes are best eaten the same day and leftovers should be stored in the fridge to keep the cream fresh.

Valentine’s cupcakes and cookies

It’s not too late to order your Valentine’s Day cupcakes and cookies! They are the ideal gift to show how much you care about someone, can be personalised and taste much better than flowers

A box of 6 cupcakes in a red gift box tied with ribbon and your personal message is £10 and can be collected or delivered to the Eastleigh/Southampton/Winchester area.

A box of 12 cookies (6 large and 6 small) is £10. The cookies are presented in a red gift box with matching tissue paper and ribbon and your personal message. Cookies can also be posted to anywhere in the UK (£3 for 1st class, £3.75 for 1st class recorded).

Email me on cakeshopcorner@googlemail.com to order yours now.

Wordless Wednesday – I can bake too!

Looks like Grace has inherited the love of baking that runs in our family

Bloggers for Haiti

Like everyone else out there, I have been shocked by the terrible earthquake in Haiti and the dreadful death toll which, according to the BBC, looks to be close to 20,000. We often forget just how lucky we are sat in our warm homes so I’m asking that if you haven’t already, you might consider donating whatever you can afford to the aid effort.

I have been bowled over by the support amongst the blogging community, who have been writing numerous posts to spread the word and donating too. English Mum and some fellow bloggers have set up a Justgiving page to raise money to buy Shelter Boxes. They have already raised £2000, which is enough to buy 4 of these boxes.

Each box contains:

• A ten-person tent with privacy partitions that allow its occupants to divide the space as they see fit
• A range of other survival equipment including thermal blankets and insulated ground sheets, essential in areas where temperatures plummet at nightfall
• Life-saving means of water purification. Water supplies often become contaminated after a major disaster, as infrastructure and sanitation systems are destroyed, this presents a secondary but no less dangerous threat to survivors than the initial disaster itself.
• A basic tool kit containing a hammer, axe, saw, trenching shovel, hoe head, pliers and wire cutters.  These items enable people to improve their immediate environment, by chopping firewood or digging a latrine, for example. Then, when it is possible, to start repairing or rebuilding the home they were forced to leave.
• A wood burning or multi-fuel stove that can burn anything from diesel to old paint.  This provides the heart of the new home where water is boiled, food is cooked and families congregate. In addition, there are pans, utensils, bowls, mugs and water storage containers.
• Each box can be adapted to the individual needs of the disaster area, for example, following the Javanese earthquake in 2006, when some resources were available locally or could be salvaged from one storey buildings, the overwhelming need was for shelter – so ShelterBox just sent tents, packing two in each box.  The box itself is lightweight and waterproof and has been used for a variety of purposes in the past – from water and food storage containers to a cot for a newly born baby.
• And lastly, but I think just as importantly, each box contains a children’s pack containing drawing books, crayons and pens.  For children who have lost most, if not all, of their possessions, these small gifts are treasured.

You can also donate via Save the Children or British Red Cross. So please do what you can, whether it is writing a blog post to spread the word or making a donation.

Thank you, x

Leek and pancetta tray bread

I have had a bread machine for many years now and for several months at a time, it sits in the cupboard. However, this week it has emerged from the cupboard and I have been making all sorts of yummy bread based products! The first was the cinnamon rolls – yes I cheated and used the machine to make the dough!

Today I saw a recipe in my Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook for a leek and pancetta tray bread, which looked delicious and ideal as I had some leeks to use up and bought some pancetta yesterday. After putting a picture on twitter I had lots of requests for the recipe!

Ingredients for the bread base:

6 tbsp water
1 egg
225g strong white bread flour
1 tsp salt
25g butter
1 tsp fast action dried yeast

Ingredients for the filling

3 leeks
75g pancetta
140ml soured cream
5 tbsp milk
2 eggs
salt and pepper

Put the bread base ingredients in your machine in the order specified by your machine’s manufacturer and put it on the dough setting.

Slice the leeks quite finely and fry in a little oil on a low heat until they are soft, then leave them to cool.

When the dough is ready, turn it out onto a floured surface and roll it out into a rectangle about 23 by 35 cm (or the size of the try you want to use). Press it into a tray, making sure there is dough up the sides to contain the filling. I use my Pampered Chef Medium Bar Pan, which was a perfect size. Preheat the oven to 190°C.

Spread the leeks over the base then add the pancetta. Mix the soured cream, milk and eggs together and pour over the leeks and pancetta. Add some seasoning and bake for about 30 minutes until the edges look golden and the filling is set.

Serve warm.

I found the dough to be a little salty for my liking so I will put less in next time.

Cinnamon rolls

After reading the mouth-watering blog post and recipe on Meridian Ariel I just had to make these cinnamon rolls. Cinnamon is a big favourite in our house and these just seem perfect to have in this chilly weather.

You can find the recipe here and I won’t copy it across as Apryl explains it perfectly with photos and everything! I made a brown butter icing instead of the one in Apryl’s recipe as, despite sending Dale to Sainsbury’s for ingredients, I forgot to ask him to get cream cheese. He was already pretty fed up as he had to wait for 20 minutes in the queue as people panic bought their dozens of loaves and pints of milk, so I thought it best not to ask him to go back.

Several were devoured warm before I even got the chance to pour the icing on but here are the ones that were around long enough to be iced.

These were delicious – you MUST try them!

Resolutions

I’m not really one for making new years resolutions, but there are a few things I want to do this year. I thought if I put them up on my blog for all to see maybe I might stand a slim chance of sticking to some of them!

Firstly, I MUST lose weight this year. At the end of 2008 I did really well, losing nearly 3 stone. Sadly, I’ve put all this and more back on last year so I’m back to square 1. I’ve lost count how many times in the last few months people have assumed I am pregnant and I can’t take the embarrassment anymore! I have about 4 stone to lose

Secondly, I am only going to craft from my stash of fabric, yarn, ribbon, paper etc. As I’ve mentioned previously, I am lucky enough to stay at home and look after my children and am using all my spare money to get my business off the ground. I must not spend any more on craft goodies. I saw a great Craft Neutral Challenge by Vonnie over at adventures of a lady in training, which I’m going to join in with.

A very small part of my fabric stash.

Thirdly, I want to try out more recipes for family mealtimes. I sometimes get stuck in a rut doing the same meals over and over again and whilst we enjoy them, it would be good to try a new recipe each week. I shall dig out my cookbooks and blog some of my favourites.

Lastly, I want to get more organised. I can’t see this ever happening but I am going to give it my best shot! My first task is to tackle the dining room, which has turned into the dumping ground. We used to hide all my crafting stuff and extra junk in the spare room but as that is now Grace’s bedroom, it has all migrated to the dining room. I have started sorting through the fabric and must not get distracted and start making things!

I’d love to hear if you’ve made any resolutions this year and whether you stick to them. Any tips would be greatly received

Dolls’ House Project

For a long time now I’ve been desperate to get a lovely traditional dolls’ house for Grace and I to do up together. Ok, I’ve been desperate to get one for myself but now Grace is older, she’s the perfect excuse to get one! So for Christmas we got Grace this:

It is second hand, but they hadn’t done anything with it so we can start from scratch. My Mum and I also got a variety of carpets and accessories to go in it and some paint pot samples to paint the rooms with. I shall also make some little curtains from my stash of fabric offcuts.

A couple of days after Christmas we started painting and papering the rooms ready for the electrics to go in.

Unfortunately, the house is so big we couldn’t get it in the car with all our other stuff when we came back from my Mum’s! I’ll collect it next week and update with more photos as and when we get round to it.

Happy New Year!

Just a quick post to wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2010! I hope it brings with it happiness and good health to you all.

A big thank you to everyone who has supported me both with my new business and by reading and commenting on my blog in the past year.

Amy x

Homemade Christmas – Part 3

As you’ve probably guessed, it’s my job to bring a Christmas Cake to the family gathering every year. This year I was a bit rushed as I had several orders to complete before we went away, but I found time to make some little penguins out of gumpaste and some sugarpaste Christmas trees covered in edible glitter. I used Nigella’s Christmas Cake recipe this year and covered it in marzipan and royal icing.

I also decided to have a go at making a yule log this year. I’ve made swiss rolls before but never a yule log. I filled and covered this one in dark chocolate ganache.

Some of you may know from Twitter that in August I went on a cruise to Norway and Iceland with my Dad and Stepmum. It was her first big holiday since her brain aneurysm and was quite a milestone. I took some of the photos and mementos from the holiday and made them into a scrapbook album for their Christmas present. My Dad was delighted (he even shed a tear or too). Please excuse the dreadful photos – it wasn’t easy to photograph!