Vegan Rose and Lemon Cupcakes

There's been a few recipes that I've found in the past that will stick with me forever, the fudge recipe from my Nan's 1950's Good Housekeeping book, the brownies from the Hotel Chocolat 101 book and this vegan cake recipe. I found it on The Guardian's readers recipe swap and never looked at another vegan cupcake recipe again. I've made some awful vegan cakes in my time, (the first involved cider vinegar and apple sauce, needless to say, they were gross) but these are truly amazing, soft and spongy with a proper cupcake taste. So this is basically adapted from that recipe and when I say adapted I mean I added a bit of rose and lemon and a bit of vegan frosting. I also brought some kind of fancy duo icing kit from Lakeland so that I could have 2 tone icing, but immediately broke it with my heavy hands so had to improvise.

Makes around 8 cupcakes:

Cakes:

250g vanilla soya yoghurt
80ml sunflower oil
1 tsp lemon extract
2 tsp vanilla extract
150g caster sugar
150g self-raising flour
¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp baking powder

Butter cream icing:
200g vegan margarine
400g icing sugar
1 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp rose extract
1 tsp lemon food colouring
1 tsp pink food colouring

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, and fill your cupcake tin with cupcake cases.
2. Whisk together all of the wet ingredients, including the lemon extract then sieve the dry ingredients in to the mixture and whisk it all together until well combined.
3. Spoon mixture in to the cases until they are 3/4 full (any more and it will 'explode' over the sides) and pop in to the oven for 20-25 minutes until lovely and golden brown all over.
4. Remove from the oven, pop on to a wire rack and leave to cool completely before icing them.
5. Cream together the margarine and icing sugar until light and fluffy and then split the mixture between 2 bowls.
6. Add the lemon extract and yellow food colouring in to one bowl and mix well, then add the rose extract and pink food colouring to the other bowl and mix well.
7. Either use a fancy duo piping bag and add each colour to one side and pipe the icing on to the cakes to your hearts content or if you don't have one or broke yours like I did, just stick alternate spoonfuls in to a piping bag and pipe on to the cakes which still gives you pink and yellow swirls.
8. Put in your mouth.

Read More

Cashew Butter, Honey and Chocolate Cookies

Mr Hef and I have been living in our house for over 2 months now, which seems insane as I feel like I've lived here for ever and only just moved in yesterday all at the same time. It's been hard to find time to bake around removing wall paper, painting (these are the two jobs I can do) and all the other stuff Mr Hef has been doing. But the lovely people at Meridian Foods sent me some of their nut butters to try and it was just the thing I needed to get me on the baking train again. First I used their almond butter to make some vegan salted caramel popcorn, I don't have a recipe because it was a bit of a chuck lots of ingredients in a pan and hope it works job, but you can see a picture here and find an amazing looking recipe for almond butter popcorn on Meridian Foods website. I do however have a recipe for cookies, soft gooey cashew butter, honey and chocolate chip cookies. Once again they were a chuck lots of ingredients in a bowl and hope it works job, but this time I actually remembered to write down the recipe before they all got eaten and forgot how they were made. 

Ingredients:

125g butter, softened

100g Meridian cashew butter
200g light brown sugar
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp cold water
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
300g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
200g milk chocolate chopped in to chunks

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and line some baking sheets with grease proof paper.

2. Cream together the sugars, butter and cashew butter until fluffy.

3. Beat in the eggs, water, honey and vanilla paste until smooth.

4. Sift in the flour and baking soda, adding a bit at a time and fold the flour in. 

5. Fold the chocolate chips in and make sure they are distributed well, then using a regular spoon (I think they're called a desert spoon) drop 4 spoonfuls of mixture on to the trays, with loads of space in between. You may have to do them in batches if like me you only own 2 trays. 

6. Bake for 12 minutes, until golden all over and leave to cool on the trays, otherwise they might implode (they're very soft). 

7. Once cooled, shove in your mouth and enjoy! 

Read More

Maple and Pecan Cinnamon Rolls

When you've been with someone for 7 Christmases (I just googled that to see if it's a real life word, but it still doesn't look right) it's hard to know what to get them. This year I took the easy option and brought Mr Hef Book of Mormon tickets. We're both massive South Park fans so it seemed like an easy gift. The tickets turned in to tickets and a hotel, which then turned in to tickets, a hotel and some gift vouchers for The Breakfast Club (thank you mummy Allford). The Book of Mormon was incredible, I would thoroughly recommend it, unless you are easily offended, a couple walked out about 10 minutes in (they were oldies though, they don't like the swears so much). The whole trip was just lovely, we checked in to our hotel and had a quick trip to Hummus Bros, avoided the rain by having a nap and then took ourselves off to Patty & Bun. Because this was Mr Hef's Christmas present, I wanted to find somewhere that he would like (I would prefer a vegetarian restaurant, obviously, but I save those for my romantic trips with vegan Emma). He loves a good burger, so it seemed like the obvious choice. After my giant portobello mushroom burger, I couldn't fit in a peanut butter choc ice, which left me craving some kind of sweet treat when my burger had gone down. I remembered seeing a Cinnabon somewhere near the hotel, so after the show myself and Mr Hef ran through the rain trying to find it, by the time we found it, ordered and got back to the hotel I was soaked through (the Cinnabon was fine, I carried it under my coat as if it was a small child), but it was totally worth it. Warm cinnamony goodness covered with maple frosting and pecans. Mmmmmm. So basically, the story goes, one wasn't enough, so I made myself a whole batch. Here's the recipe... Enjoy!

Makes around 16

For the dough

1 packet of dry yeast
230 ml warm milk
75g golden caster sugar
110g butter
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
550g plain white flour

For the filling

75g melted butter
225g brown sugar
2 tbsp ground cinnamon

125g pecans

For the frosting

100g icing sugar

25g softened butter
50ml milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp maple syrup 

25g pecans to decorate

1. Start by tipping the dry yeast in to the warm milk in a large bowl, add a tea spoon of the golden caster sugar and leave for around 10 minutes until it's all bubbly. 
2. Then pop the rest of the caster sugar, butter, salt and eggs and mix together with the yeasty milk with and electric mixer until well combined. 
3. Add the flour and fold it, mixing until it forms a dough. 
4. Tip the dough out on to a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, until you have a lovely smooth dough. 
5. Pop the dough back in to the bowl, cover it with a tea towel and leave it in a warm place to rise for at least an hour (it should double in size).
6. Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees then tip to dough on to a floured surface and roll out in to one large rectangle! (21 inches by 16 inches).
7. Smash up your pecans quite small in a pestle and mortar/food processor/bag with a rolling pin.
8. Once it's rolled out brush the butter all over it, then mix the cinnamon, sugar and crushed pecans together and sprinkle it all over!
9. Cut up in to around 16 even sized slices, then pop them in to a greased 8inch baking pan (I put 7 around the outside and 1 in the middle, which fit perfectly!)
10. Then pop them in to the oven for 15-20 minutes.
11. While they're baking, make up the icing by creaming the butter and icing sugar together until smooth, then add the milk, vanilla extract and maple syrup and whisk up until smooth. 
12. When the rolls are golden brown, remove from the oven, cover them in icing and the rest of the pecans and enjoy! 

Read More

Vegan Apple and Blackberry Crumble Muffins

Last week wasn't the best week in Hef history. I lost my domain name to a horrible man who is trying to sell it back to me for a ridiculous price (which is why it's back to its old blogspot name). My car broke down after I told a story about my old car, and how it never broke down and it was only finally defeated by a tree in the road (even then it kept on going, it was just time for me to get a new car). After the car breakage I got home at 3.30am and tried to console myself with a pug cuddle, only to be wee'd on (but I can't really be too upset about that because I still got to cuddle a pug). Then after talking about how I'd never had any problems with my wisdom teeth, I got a wisdom tooth infection, which is pretty much the most painful thing ever (probably). So I was feeling a bit miserable and the only thing that could cheer me up is some good old baking. So that's exactly what I did. It's the time of year where apples and blackberries are literally falling off of the trees. And after picking some blackberries with my mum, I popped to my local community orchard and got some beautiful apples as well. I combined them with vegan muffin mixture and topped with crumble and ended up with these. Pretty, autumnal, fruity muffins.  

What you need for 12 muffins:

For the crumble:

15g vegan margarine

25g plain white flour

20g light brown sugar 

For the muffin

250g apples
100g blackberries

225g plain white flour

200g Billingtons golden caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder
100ml soya milk
100ml vegetable oil
1 large ripe banana squished

1. Start by pre-heating the oven to 200 degrees and lining your muffin tins (I used lakelands parchment lined foil, it's amazing)
2. Then make the crumble topping by sticking all of the ingredients in a bowl and rubbing the butter and flour together to make a light crumb mixture. Pop to one side until needed. 
3. Then peel, core and chop your apples in to little chunks, mix with the black berries in a bowl and pop to one side. 
4. Put all of the other ingredients in to a separate bowl and mix until well combined, then fold the fruit in. 
5. Spoon the mixture in to the cases, filling it all the way to the top. Then sprinkle the crumble mixture over the top. 
6. Pop in to the oven for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. 
7. Leave to cool (if you can wait) then enjoy! 

Read More

Vegan Cherry Bakewell Tarts

Last week one of my recipes was in the Guardian. I was very, very excited about it. So excited that I got up ridiculously early and was quite possibly the first person in the shop in the morning to buy it. Not only was it super awesome that my recipe was in it, but it also had loads of other awesome vegan recipes in it. Including this recipe for vanilla cupcakes, which I was dying to try out. There's a few vegans at work and I wanted to make them something yummy, but we also have a nut free girl at work so I decided to make almond and dairy free cherry bakewell tarts. The sponge recipe is incredible and especially yummy with proper cherry jam and pastry. They went down well with vegans and non vegans alike and are perfect for a little summer treat!

For 24 you will need:

A little bit of vegan marg
All of the ingredients for the vanilla cupcakes
1 pack of vegan shortcrust pastry
a jar of cherry jam
100g icing sugar
12 glace cherries chopped in half

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and prepare 2 cupcake tins by greasing them with vegan margarine.
2. Roll out the pastry and use a cutter a little bigger than the cake tin holes to cut out 24 circles, then press them in to the cake tin holes.  
3. Put a teaspoon of cherry jam in to each case and pop to one side.
4. Make up the vanilla cupcake mixture, then pop 1-2 teaspoons for the mixture on top of the jam in the pastry cases. 
5. Pop them in to the oven for 15-20 minutes, until they are golden brown and springy to the touch, then remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin. 
6. Once cool, add a little water to the icing sugar and ice all of the tarts, topping them all with half a cherry. 
7. And enjoy! 

Read More

Summer Baking

I swear the weather is never nice on my days off, it will be sunny all week and then when I have a day off, bam, it's raining. It's just not fair! This week was no exception! I am forever optimistic, so even though it was pouring down on the Tuesday, I still managed to fit in some summer baking in anticipation of a beautiful summer picnic on the Wednesday. I checked out some delicious picnic recipes and decided to make some caramelised onion and feta tarts (what's more summery than a lovely tart!) and some good old scones, I made some simple buttermilk scones and there are more scone recipes at bakingmad.com. 

     

Unfortunately Wednesday wasn't as optimistic as me and the weather didn't turn out too well. None the less, I decided not to let it dampen my spirits and enjoy my picnic from the comfort of my own home, with my glamourous assistant mike. A homemade picnic is the best kind of picnic and I can't wait to have a day off in the sun and bake even more picnic goodies! 

If you're feeling bad for my lack of sunshine, don't worry too much, the weather was nice enough for me to take Monty (my mum's friends tiny baby pug) out for a walk.

Read More

Cookie Dough Cheesecake

Mr Hef and I have now been together for 7 years, yes SEVEN. I can't quite believe it myself, especially as he does ridiculous things on a daily basis, (yesterday he pulled me backwards off the end of my bed, for no reason, resulting in my back hitting his bony knees with quite a lot of force. And at the weekend he drunkly hunted me with a BB gun) but his ridiculous ways are why I love him and I really wouldn't have it any other way. So it was his birthday and our anniversary last week and I've made him a cake every year. This year I was debating it, as he wanted to throw the Slutty Brownie cake I made him last year away (I think my baking embarrasses him) so I asked him if he wanted a cake. 

He said no, but sounded a little hurt that I had even asked. So I ended up making him one any way. As I have previously mentioned, Mr Hef doesn't actually like cake, so it's a bit tricky. He does however love cookies (as you can see from the previous birthday cakes) and cheesecake. So this is how this cheesecake was born. It was born in to a world where Mr Hef was too drunk to eat and I was quite sure it would be destroyed before he even got to it (this was cemented by the fact that Mike, of kitchen assistant fame woke me up at 2am to tell me it had already been eaten). Anyway cheesecake + cookie dough = good, the end.

Makes around 12 slices

For the cookie dough:

110g butter
110g caster sugar
65g light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
275g flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
100g milk chocolate chips

For the cheesecake:

175g unsalted butter, melted
300g digestive biscuits, crushed in to tiny pieces
130g vanilla infused sugar from Sainsburys
3 tbsp cornflour
800g cream cheese
2 free range eggs
100ml double cream

1. Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees, then start by making up the cookie dough. 
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until soft and fluffy, then beat in the egg and the vanilla extract. 
3. Tip all of the dry ingredients in and beat until you have cookie dough and leave to one side for now. 
4. Take your crushed digestives and the melted butter and mix well until it is all combined, then pop the mixture in to a well greased (high sided) 8 inch cake tin and flatten down with the back of a spoon. 
5. Pop it in to the oven for 15 minutes, then leave to cool fully. 
6. Pop the cream cheese, corn flour and sugar in to a bowl and beat with an electric whisk until smooth, add the eggs and keep mixing until all combined, finally gradually add the cream and keep beating until lovely and smooth. 
7. Spoon the mixture on to the digestive base, then take the cookie dough and roll it in to small balls, and squidge them in to the top of the cheese cake, so that only a little bit of dough is showing. Use as much cookie dough as you like and put it where ever you like! (if you have some left over roll it in to balls, squish them down a little and cook for 1 minute for fresh cookies)
8. Cover the top of the cake pan with foil and bake for 35 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for a further 10 to brown the top. 
9. Remove from the oven, let it cool completely then pop it in the fridge for a couple of hours before getting stuck in. 

Read More

Cinnamon Rolls

I spend too much time on the internet (I am a blogger after all), I'm addicted to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, you name it, I'm on it. So, as you can imagine I also love Pinterest, I spend absolutely ages on there looking at pictures of other peoples food. One thing that comes up all the time is cinnamon rolls, god knows how many times I've 'pinned' them, looked at the recipe and decided I am too lazy to make them. But this weekend my uni friend Laura came to stay, and after a long list of things I suggested doing, I suddenly realised we could bake. After a not so long internet research trip we decided on cinnamon rolls. I wish I hadn't waited so long to make them! They're so easy, taste delicious and make your house smell like actual heaven (really, if I die and heaven doesn't smell like freshly baked cinnamon rolls, God has some explaining to do). I have absolutely no idea about anything to do with 'bread' baking (it always goes wrong) so I used this recipe and have since fallen in love with her blog, it's full of amazing recipes. So I've popped the recipe on here in metric measurements for all of us in the UK to enjoy and made a few little changes to the method! So... Enjoy!

Makes around 16

For the dough

1 packet of dry yeast
230 ml warm milk
75g golden caster sugar
110g butter
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
550g plain white flour

For the filling

75g melted butter
225g brown sugar
2 tbsp ground cinnamon

For the frosting

100g icing sugar
Enough water to make it in to a thick mixture (I never measure)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Start by tipping the dry yeast in to the warm milk in a large bowl, add a tea spoon of the golden caster sugar and leave for around 10 minutes until it's all bubbly. 
2. Then pop the rest of the caster sugar, butter, salt and eggs and mix together with the yeasty milk with and electric mixer until well combined. 
3. Add the flour and fold it, mixing until it forms a dough. 
4. Tip the dough out on to a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, until you have a lovely smooth dough. 
5. Pop the dough back in to the bowl, cover it with a tea towel and leave it in a warm place to rise for at least an hour (it should double in size).
6. Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees then tip to dough on to a floured surface and roll out in to one large rectangle! (21 inches by 16 inches).
7. Once it's rolled out brush the butter all over it, then mix the cinnamon and sugar together and sprinkle it all over!
8. Cut up in to around 16 even sized slices, then pop them in to a greased 8inch baking pan (I put 7 around the outside and 1 in the middle, which fit perfectly!)
9. Then pop them in to the oven for 15-20 minutes.
10. While they're baking, make up the icing by mixing the icing sugar with water and adding the vanilla extract. 
11. When the rolls are golden brown, remove from the oven, cover them in icing and eat (they taste best fresh from the oven)

Read More

The Cake and Bake Show, Manchester 2013

So, this is my 200th blog post! When I started this blog I didn't even consider getting to 100 posts let alone 200, so today I feel proud. I think the best way to celebrate anything is with cake (or at least some kind of food) and luckily I was invited to the Cake and Bake show in Manchester last weekend. I really do have a massive soft spot for cake, so I've been excited about this for a while. I took my fabulous assistant Mike and we enjoyed a day of cake eating, chef watching, gingerbread decorating and a lot of shopping! There was a massive variety of stalls from cake accessories, pies, breads, brownies... really anything you can think of to do with baking!

Giant gingerbread house

There was also loads of stages with various demonstrations going on, so you can literally indulge in all things cake and baking all day long. Mike and I watched Paul A Young (I think he's amazing!) making mayan chocolate cakes and caught a bit of John Whaite talking on the Lakeland stage. Unfortunately Paul Hollywood wasn't doing any demos on the Sunday otherwise I would have been in the front row (what a silver fox).

The Ginger Bakers Stand

The show highlights for me were Paul A Young (obvs), Ginger Bakers Brownies, oh my god were they good, so good Mr Hef only left me a quarter of each!

More Ginger Bakers brownies, they deserve a second picture

The giant gingerbread house and the amazing pop corn from Joe and Seph's, all of the flavours I tried at the show were delicious, but I ended up buying some caramel and peanut butter and caramel and sea salt to take home. If you missed it, good news, the next show is in London in September and you can buy tickets here! If you like cake or baking I seriously recommend going.

Read More

Chocolate and Marshmallow Whoopie Pies

I've been with Mr Hef for nearly 7 years now, which means we've had quite a few Valentines days together. I'm pretty sure he's had something homemade every year, because lets face it, buying Valentines gifts is hard. Last year it was brownies, the year before I made him a 3 course meal, the year before that I think I made him a really terrible handmade card. He's not here this year, so I'm pretty much off scott free, but I decided to do some pre Valentines baking, just 'cause. If you're looking for something that is simple to make, looks cute and doesn't cost a lot of money, these are perfect! I always think homemade gifts make the best gifts. I used a stencil and a piping bag to make the heart shapes, you can download the stencil I used here and place it under baking paper to pipe over. 

Makes around 12:

90g unsalted butter
100g caster sugar
150g plain white flour
25g cocoa powder
A large pinch of baking powder
A large pinch of baking soda
A pinch of salt
1 small egg
100 ml buttermilk

Marshmallow butter cream:

75g softened butter
150g icing sugar
Half a tub of marshmallow fluff
A few drops of Milk to loosen

1. Start by heating up the oven to 180 degrees and prepare your baking trays by either printing lots of stencils and placing them under baking paper on a baking tray. Or trace the hearts on to the paper with a pencil, flip it over and place on a baking tray.
2. Pop the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat it together with an electric mixture until its nice and fluffy.
3. Beat in the egg until it's nice and smooth, then add the buttermilk and keep mixing. 
4. Sieve the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt gradually and mix well until it's all combined. 
5. Spoon the mixture in to a piping bag, then pipe heart shapes, using your stencil on to the baking paper (you need 24 hearts all together)
6. Pop them in to the oven for 8-9 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack while you make the marshmallow frosting. 
7. To make the frosting, cream the butter and icing sugar together until thick and creamy, add a little milk if you think it needs loosening, then add the Marshmallow fluff and mix up well. 
8. Once the cookies are cool pipe the marshmallow mixture on to one side then squish another cookie on top. 
9. Whoopie pie done! Enjoy or put in to a fancy box and present to your lover. 

Read More

Gingerbread Popcorn

While I was trekking through the internet trying to find a good recipe for candy cane popcorn, I managed to stumble across another one for gingerbread popcorn and knew I was going to be making it as soon as possible. I've tried making actual gingerbread a few times and it always goes horribly wrong, so I was a bit worried about attempting this. Luckily it turned out perfectly, it's crunchy like toffee popcorn, but with a hint of gingerbready spice. I will definitely be making more for actual Christmas (not just the fake one that I appear to be having on my own at the moment). We based it on this recipe, but again changed a few bits and made it metric. 

Makes a lot of popcorn!

75g Popcorn kernels
110g butter
175g brown sugar
45g black treacle
45g golden syrup
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
A pinch of ground cloves
A pinch of ground nutmeg
A pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

1. Prepare 2 large baking trays by covering them in tin foil and spraying with cooking spray (I used good old fry light) and preheat the oven to 120 degrees. 
2. Pop your popcorn according to the instructions on the packet and leave it in a really large bowl (you need loads of space for mixing, if you only have small bowls do it in batches)
3. Then pop the treacle, golden syrup, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt in to a sauce pan and melt the mixture on a low heat until well combined. 
4. Bring to the boil and boil for 5 minutes, after 5 minutes remove from the heat and add the baking soda. The mixture will foam up a bit so make sure you stir it in well. 
5. Pour the mixture over the popcorn in the bowl and mix it up really well, making sure it's well covered. 
6. Spread the popcorn on to the baking trays and pop in to the oven for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes, when cooked, give it an extra stir then leave to cool completely. 
7. Once cool break up any large chunks and enjoy! (If you don't eat it all straight away, it should last up to a week)

Read More

Candy Cane Popcorn

I am so ridiculously excited about Christmas, it's not even funny! I know it's only September, but Christmas is in full swing for me! We've had Christmas training in my shop this week, which is one of the most magical times of the year. We sit around, in our jammies and Christmas jumpers and unveil the new christmas range. We also tell people to bring food that reminds them of Christmas, I took mulled cider last year (I know that's not technically food, but who doesn't love mulled cider).

So this year I wanted to bring something super christmasy, but a bit different to mince pies and Christmas cake. Then I remembered I'd seen candy cane popcorn on Pinterest (I have a serious addiction to that site). I love popcorn, I had an addiction to popcorn last year similar to the avocado one I went through this year and even asked Mr Hef just to get me a tone of gourmet popcorn kernels last Christmas (which is exactly what I got, I still haven't eaten them all!). So my kitchen assistant Mike made a long due appearance, we donned our floral aprons and based our popcorn on this recipe. I've tweaked it a bit to make it even yummier and easier for my metric brain to understand!

Candy Cane Popcorn

70g popcorn kernels 

200g candy canes

350g white chocolate

1. Pop your kernels according to the directions and put to one side, then prepare a large greaseproof sheet to put your popcorn on when it's coated.
2. Stick the candy canes in to a food processor and blitz until you have candy cane dust (this makes the scariest noise ever).
3. Melt the chocolate in a bain marie, then add 2/3 of the candy cane dust and mix well. 
4. Put your popcorn in a very large bowl (you need lots of space to mix) then pour the melted chocolate candy cane mixture over to popcorn and stir it really well until its evenly covered. 
5. Spread the coated popcorn over the greaseproof paper and leave it to cool until completely set. 
6. If you don't eat it straight away it will keep in an airtight container for about a week. 

We made gingerbread popcorn too! Post to follow soon :) 

Read More

Almond and Coconut Biscotti

This month is going to be awesome, I'm going on lots of adventures (which will hopefully all involve amazing veggie food) and the first is coming up this week. Vegan Emma and I are going glamping/staying in what has been named by my co-workers as the Creepy Death Cabin. Despite its terrifying name it looks amazing, it's a little cabin in Wiltshire with a wood burner, a pizza oven, a boat and a lake. We're planning on both having an evening of cooking a vegan meal for each other then playing with the pizza oven (posts to follow hopefully). I decided that this cabin seems like the kind of place I should take up tea drinking and you can't have tea without biscuits, so I decided to whip up some vegan biscotti to take. It's a very simple recipe, but it does take a bit of cooking time. It's totally worth it though, I can't wait to sit by the lake and dunk them in my green tea. 

For around 30 you'll need:

150g plain white flour

200g brown flour

100g desiccated coconut

50g ground almonds

1 tbsp baking powder

280g smooth apple sauce 

4 tbsp vegetable oil

200g light brown unrefined sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

150g blanched almonds halved  

1. Start by pre heating the oven to 200 degrees and lining two baking trays with greaseproof paper.
2. Mix the flours, coconut, ground almonds and baking powder in a bowl and set aside. 
3. Whisk together the apple sauce, vegetable oil, sugar and vanilla essence in a separate bowl until smooth and then add to the dry mixture.
4. Add the halved almonds then mix together with your hands until well combined, a spoon wont do here!
5. Once combined split the dough in to two balls and roll them in to logs (I didn't measure the size, guesstimation is needed here, they will rise!) and place them on to a greaseproof paper lined baking tray. 
6. Pop in to the oven for 25 minutes until golden brown, then transfer them on to a cooling rack for 15 minutes. 
7. Once cooled slightly chop the logs up in to biscotti sized pieces and place your biscottis on to another greaseproof paper lined tray.
8. Pop them back in to the oven for 10 minutes, then flip the over and give them another 10 minutes on the other side. They should be golden brown all over.
9. Leave on a cooling rack until completely cool, then make yourself a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy!

Read More

Emotional Brilliance Cupcakes

Lush is having a massive and VERY exciting launch on Saturday (seriously it feels like Christmas) and tomorrow we're having a special V.I.P night in our store to unveil the new range. It's called Emotional Brilliance and is an absolutely AMAZING vegan, animal friendly range of colour cosmetics. So I wanted to make some cupcakes for the launch based on the fantastic colours, then I saw this post on our staff room and had the idea of turning the polkadot cake in to Emotional Brilliance cupcakes. I can't really give you a recipe for this one as my lovely assistant Mike and I were making it up as we were going along. But we made them by baking small batches of colourful (I'd use gel colours) cupcake mix in a cake pop tray. Then popping a bit of plain cake mix in the bottom of a cake case, placing the colourful cake ball on top and covering with more plain cake mix. If you want to make them, I'd just say to experiment and play, it's the best way in the kitchen! If you're near a Lush shop on 21st July pop in to check out the new range, you won't be disappointed!! 

P.s I've just noticed that there's a tiny piece of cake missing in the picture above, this is because I couldn't wait to eat a bit before I put the icing on and thought I could cover it up. Obviously I was wrong :)

P.p.s That's Mike wearing a flowery apron, not me ;)

Read More

The Infamous Slutty Brownie

Loads of people have sent me these brownies telling me to make them. The genius creator The Londoner claimed that they are the best brownies ever (my friend Laura backed up this claim after making them) and to be honest the look delicious so of course I had to see what all the fuss was about. The original recipe calls for box mixes (the lovely Betty Crocker of course!), but I thought I'd be bold and try to make it all from scratch using my favourite cookie and brownie recipes. Luckily I had my baking assistant Mike on hand who pretty much did all the work, while I fannied about with my camera and got told off for not keeping an eye on the melting chocolate. I can honestly say they are the best I've tried so far! 

Recipe adapted from The Londoner:


For the cookie base:

110g butter

110g caster sugar

65g light brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

275g flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

100g milk chocolate chips

2 packs veggie oreos 

For the brownie:

115g Dark chocolate 

225g butter

350g caster sugar 

4 eggs 

50g plain flour

50g cocoa powder

A few drops of vanilla extract.

1. First make the cookie base by creaming together the butter and sugars until soft, then add the egg and mix well.
2. Add the flour, baking powder and chocolate chips and fold in well.
3. Spread the cookie dough along the bottom of a grease proof paper covered brownie tin and top with oreos.
4. Then to make the brownie mixture, melt the chocolate and butter in a bain marie.
5. Whisk the sugar and eggs together in a large bowl until they have trebled in volume.
6. Sieve the flour and cocoa powder in to the mixture, then pour in the melted chocolate and butter mixture and mix together.
7. Pour the brownie mixture over the cookies, pop in the oven for 40 minutes at 180 degrees.
8. Enjoy!

Read More

Slutty Brownie: Cake Edition

I think I mentioned a year ago that my boyfriend doesn't really like cake, which makes it a bit challenging trying to come up with something to make him on his Birthday. Last year I made him this cookie cake, so this year I needed to come up with something bigger and better. My thought process went like this, he likes brownies, he likes cookies, he likes slutty brownies... SLUTTY BROWNIE CAKE.

So to make it deliciously bad I wanted it to have two layers of brownie cake, a giant cookie layer and Oreo frosting. The only problem is that Oreo's aren't vegetarian, but never fear! One of my lovely twitter followers has found a veggie version in Tesco! 

For the cake:

125g dark chocolate (over 70% cocoa solids)

225g butter 

4 large eggs

375g caster sugar

50g flour

50g cocoa powder

1 pack/500g of Betty Crocker cookie mix (or you can make your own cookie dough if you're not lazy like me)

For the frosting:

200g butter

280g icing sugar

2-3 tbsp milk 

1 pack of veggie oreos (save 4 for the top)

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees, and prepare 3 8 inch cake tins by lining the bottoms with greaseproof paper. 
2. To make the brownie layers, melt the chocolate and butter in a bain marie. 
3. While the chocolate and butter mixture is melting whisk the eggs and sugar together until it trebles in volume, sieve the flour and cocoa powder in and then pour the melted chocolate and butter in and give it a good old mix until it's all combined. 
4. Spread the brownie mixture evenly between 2 tins and pop in to the oven for 30 minutes. 
5. While that's in the oven make up your cookie dough according to the instructions, flatten it in to the third tin and pop in to the oven for 15 minutes or until it's golden brown on top.
6. When all the layers are done pop them on the side and leave them to cool completely in their tins.
7. Make the frosting by creaming the butter, icing sugar and milk together, then smash up the veggie Oreos in a bag with a rolling pin, (leaving 4 for the top) add them to the frosting mixture and mix well.
8. Build your cake starting with one of the brownies, then frosting, then cookie, more frosting, then the other brownie and more frosting on the top just for good measure. 
9. Smash the last of the veggie Oreos up in to tiny pieces and sprinkle on top. 

Read More

Earl Grey Victoria Sponge

I love the Queen, I love her beautiful smiley face, I love her incredibly bright fashion sense and I love the fact she embodies everything British. So when I was asked to come up with a recipe that I would make for the Queen's Jubilee by Appliances Online, I wanted to make something that would embody this amazing woman. So I got thinking, what is more British than a Victoria Sponge? Well... An Earl Grey Victoria Sponge with bergamot jam.

I really wanted to find a real bergamot to use in some way, but this proved ridiculously hard and after a lot of searching I finally found citrus fruit with bergamot jam. It turned out to be great and carried the flavours of the Earl Grey cake really well, making it delightfully fresh and floral. For me it's the perfect cake to present to the queen, there's nothing more British than a Victoria Sponge! 

Serves 10 (or 1 very hungry Queen)

For the cake:

200g softened butter

200g caster sugar 

4 large eggs

200g self raising flour

3 tbsp well brewed Earl Grey tea

For the filling:

1 tsp well brewed Earl Grey tea 

Half a jar of bergamot jam (or citrus jam if you can't find it) 

100g softened butter

140g icing sugar (plus a little more for dusting)

1. Switch your oven on to 180 degrees and grease two 8 inch baking tins.
2. Pop your butter in to a large bowl, add the caster sugar and cream them together until light and fluffy. 
3. Mix in the eggs, one by one until well combined.
4. Sieve the flour into the mixture and fold in well, then fold the well brewed Earl Grey tea in. 
5. Spoon the mixture evenly into the two tins, and pop into the oven for 25 minutes. 
6. When the cake is looking beautiful and golden brown on top and is springy to the touch, take them out of the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes, then transfer on to a wire rack to fully cool down.
7. Make the butter cream by creaming the butter, icing sugar and Earl Grey tea together.
8. Spread a nice thick layer of bergamot jam over the top of the first layer of the cake, then top with the butter cream. 
9. Top it off with the second layer of cake, then give the cake a good dusting with icing sugar.
10. Make yourself a cup of tea, cut a large slice of cake and enjoy!

Read More

Lemon and Blueberry Pancakes

I have something to admit... On Mother's Day I was a bad vegetarian and I brought bacon for my Mum. I made sure I brought 'Happy Pig' (it probably wasn't called that) RSPCA standard bacon to ease the guilt, but then I researched the bacon and discovered it wasn't all that happy and it made me feel sad. Anyway I'm getting off point, I made my mum some big fat American pancakes with bacon inside for her special Mothers Day breakfast and everyone got some, but I obviously couldn't/didn't want to eat any and it's left me with TERRIBLE pancake cravings ever since. These have also been made immensely worse by my discovery of Pinterest, seriously, it's going to make me fat! So after looking at pictures of pancakes for too long I decided on lemon and blueberry, because I <3 fruit. 

So today, both Mumsey and I were off work and as she was going to the hospital in the morning I thought I would make her a delicious breakfast for when she returned. Unfortunately I'm a terrible daughter and was still in bed when she returned, so we ended up having them for brunch :D

Makes 6-8 Pancakes

250g flour
2 tbsp baking powder
5 tbsp sugar
A pinch of salt
250ml milk
2 eggs
50g melted butter
200g blueberries
The zest and half the juice of 1 lemon
More butter for frying

1. Sieve the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in to a bowl. 
2. Whisk the milk and eggs together in a separate bowl, then add it to the flour and whisk up well!
3. Then add the melted butter and whisk it up again making sure that there's no lumps (electric mixers are your best friend here). The batter should be nice and thick!
4. Fold the lemon zest, lemon juice and blueberries in to the mixture.
5. Melt some proper butter in a small frying pan and pour a ladle of the mixture in, fry the pancake on a mediumish heat until the top starts to cook, then flip it over and cook until browned on the other side. 
6. You can eat the straight away or place them on heated plates in a 50 degree oven to stack them up as high as you wish.
7. Cover with maple syrup and enjoy! 

Read More

Creme Egg Brownies

Any one who knows me know that I like making brownies a lot, which subsequently means I have eaten a lot of brownies. Every now and then I like to change it up a bit and chuck some extras in (you may remember the s'more and slutty brownies) and as Easter is coming up I had the perfect thing in mind.

I've had creme egg baking on the brain ever since I saw these cupcakes and since it was my Birthday this weekend, I needed to fit some special baking in. Obviously I was thinking of putting creme eggs inside the brownies, but I thought it needed something extra to make it look and taste even more exciting. So that's where the white and yellow patches came in, they're actually made from cream cheese mixture, so these are more of a creme egg, cheesecake brownie. I froze the eggs for 2 hours prior to baking so that the didn't explode. They did, of course but it means that there's a nice layer of cream egg goo distributed making them taste super delicious! These were a total experiment so if you make your own version let me know how they turn out!

For 18 brownies:

For the cream cheese egg goo:

400g plain cream cheese
2 eggs
125g caster sugar
1 tsp yellow food colouring

For the brownies:

18 mini creme eggs (frozen)
120g good quality dark chocolate
225g butter

4 large eggs

375g caster sugar

75g plain flour 

75g cocoa powder

1. Start by making the cream cheese egg goo, whisk the cream cheese, caster sugar and eggs together until smooth and creamy and put to one side. 
2. Then to make the brownies, melt the chocolate and butter together in a bain marie and leave to melt down completely. 
3. While the chocolate/butter is melting, whisk the eggs and caster sugar together together until they have trebled in volume, then add the flour, cocoa powder and melted butter/chocolate mix and whisk together until well combined. 
4. Pour a 3/4 of your brownie mix into a greaseproof paper lined tin and place the frozen creme eggs on top, then blob half of the cream cheese mixture on top.
5. Add the yellow food colouring to the rest of the cream cheese mix and then blob that on as well. 
6. Then spoon the rest of the brownie mix on and swish it around with a skewer until you have a marbled effect. 
7. Pop the brownie mix in to a preheated oven for 40 minutes, until firm and springy. 
8. Leave them to cool, then chop up and enjoy! 

Read More

Fudge Nut Banana Bread

Last week I came in to possession of a lot of bananas and what do you do if you have lots of bananas? Make banana bread of course! I've made some plain stuff before and was looking for something a bit different. I came across this recipe and was sold, nuts, fudge and banana bread... amazing! I made a few substitutions, I used plain fudge from Morrisons because they didn't have squidy werthers originals and I used walnuts because they're cheaper than pecans because although I'm no longer a student, I'm still poor! Even with the substitutions it was seriously yummy, my favourite part was the melted fudge! I definitely recommend it!  

Read More