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

Banana Jelly

You may remember that in my giant chili sweet potato skins post I was gushing a bit about my love for Morrisons. Well... That love has just gotten a whole lot stronger, because a few days ago I found something a bit exciting. Vegetarian jelly!!! And not only is it animal free, it also comes in banana flavour... AMAZING.

So I thought it would be my blogging duty to let you know how it was. First of all it's not like traditional jelly, as you can see it comes in florescent green crystals. And because it's not made with gelatine you've got carrageen (a type of seaweed) instead, pretty weird right! But it doesn't affect the flavour at all, it tastes like just like yummy synthetic banana.

Making it is just as simple as regular jelly and this one sets in about half an hour so you don't have to wait to eat it! I found this scary fish mold when I was cleaning out my dads house and decided to steal it incase I ever made jelly again. Obviously a great decision, because now I have a whole banana flavoured jelly fish sitting in my fridge :) There were loads of other flavours too, I can't remember them all but I want to try out mango and pineapple next.

So if you're a veggie or vegan and you're missing the wobbly stuff, I definitely recommend a trip down the world foods isle in Morrisons! Happy jellying. 

Read More

Vegan Marshmallow Mix

Last Christmas I was lucky enough to receive not 1, not 2, but 3 packets of angel food vegan marshmallow mix from my lovely nan and vegan Emma. It's taken me over a month to get around to making them, mainly because I couldn't find/John Lewis were sold out of candy thermometers. I finally got one last week, so put it to good use and made my first ever vegan marshmallows.

I'm not going to lie, the first time I read the instructions for the mixture it made my head hurt a bit. It seemed very confusing, but when I actually did it, it was pretty simple. It just felt a bit more like I was doing a science experiment rather than baking. First of all you whisk packet A with some water which makes a big fluffy mixture, almost like egg whites. Then you mix B with some more water which made brown water (ew). Then you have to make a sugar syrup (hence why I needed a candy thermometer), which you mix the brown water in to. Lastly you pour the syrup in to the fluffy white mixture, which melts it! I don't know if this is quite right as it felt like all of my good mixing had just been destroyed. Then you whisk for what seems like an eternity until it becomes white and fluffy again. So, yeah, very simple! Mine turned out slightly (that's an understatement) squishy, in fact you can't really pick them up, but I don't know whether this is down to over mixing, under mixing or just getting it a bit wrong. The instructions are a bit vague on how much to mix, so the only way to find out is to make them again. I spied some strawberry icing sugar in Morrisons so I'm going to make pink ones next! I definitely recommend trying these if you're a vegan/vegetarian sweetie fan. Lot's of marshmallowy fun to be had!

If you want to make some too, you can find them here :)

UPDATE: So I feel I may have definitely made them wrong, they just got more and more squishy until they imploded in to a weird pile of goo!

Read More

Hotel Chocolat - The Classic Christmas Gift Basket

Like it or not Christmas fever is in full swing and I couldn't have felt more festive when this Christmas hamper from Hotel Chocolat popped through my door. 

Every year Hotel Chocolat bring out a magical Christmas range with exciting new flavours, so I was more than happy to try some of the new products they've created. This hamper is £35 and has a huge range of festive flavored chocolates, so it's perfect if you're buying for a family, a chocaholic or someone you really love! Inside the hamper you'll find cinnamon almonds, tiddly reindeer, orange nice spice puddles, chocolate mince pies (I was most excited by these!) and winter liquid chocolat. The whole hamper worked really well together with lot's of different Christmas flavours like cinnamon, orange and mixed spice. The best thing about these chocolates is that you know they're all vegetarian (everything is labeled) and the chocolate is sourced and made ethically (They even have their own cocoa plantation!). They also have some AMAZING vegan chocolates which I'll put in another post.

Cinnamon Almonds:

These are just perfect for christmas, they reminded me of getting hot caramlised nuts from christmas markets, but even better because they're covered in chocolate. They're wrapped in a 40% cocoa coating which makes them not too sweet but full of flavour. Be warned they are very addictive, mine disappeared very fast!

Tiddly Reindeer:

These cute little reindeer are just your standard 40% milk chocolate Christmas shapes, but they make a nice break from the spices in the other products. If you are buying this for a family, then these are the ones to give to the kids while the grown ups eat all the exciting chocolates.


Orange Nice Spice Puddles:

People are always so put off by chocolate and chili, but these are the perfect remedy for a cold wintery day. The main flavour that comes through is the orange with just a hint of warming spice. I slyly fed them to my boyfriend the other day and even he liked them (he doesn't like spice, fruit or strange flavours so thats saying something).

Winter Liquid Chocolat:

This has pretty much the same flavour notes as the orange nice spice puddles but in a delicious hot chocolate. I love the liquid chocolat range because it's made with 100% yummy chocolate, no weird powder here. It does take a little bit longer to make than conventional hot chocolate (and by that I mean about 5 minutes) but it is so worth it for the proper chocolate taste. Perfect after a long cold day!


Alternative Mince Pies:

I thought I'd save the best till last here! When I saw these on the website I got a bit over excited, but in all fairness they are praline and salted caramel chocolate mince pies (what's not to like there). They lived up to all my expectations, the salted caramel was smooth and topped with a lovely soft praline. Just right for a little christmas treat.



If you've decided that you want to buy someone this wonderful hamper you can buy it here!

And if you want to search for even more lovely chocolate gifts you can find them here!

P.s although I was sent this hamper it didn't affect my review! I heart Hotel Chocolat anyway :)

Read More

Sweet Vegan Marshmallows

I got my vegan marshmallows ages ago and totally forgot to review them on here! So here you go.

Perfect in hot chocolate! 

Before I got these, I hadn't eaten marshmallows since I'd turned veggie (a very long time ago) so they were welcomed into my diet with open arms. I got a try me box for eating and a box of plain vanilla for hot chocolate and baking. Obviously I can't really remember what non veggie marshmallows are like, but I'm going to put it out there and say that these are even better. They're so everything about them screams home made, from the unusual flavours to the perfect fluffy texture. I also put them to the BBQ test and can happily say that they toast just like I remember. As you can probably tell, I bloody LOVE these. If you have any veggie or vegan friends, get them a box for christmas. I promise they will love you forever (hint hint).

Go to www.sweetvegan.co.uk and try them for yourself!

Read More

Veggie Percy Pigs

As I've said before, in the last 7 years of my vegetarianism I have been on a quest to find nice veggie sweets! When Goody Good Stuff launched their range I was finally satisfied and gave up the search. But this week Marks and Spencers launched the geletine free Veggie Percy Pig, and obviously I was dying to try them.

The appearance is exactly the same, except for the green ear, which is great as it gives you peace of mind that a non veggie one hasn't slipped in to the pack. From what I can remember of Percy Pigs (I probably haven't had them in at least 10 years) they taste the same, and the texture is the perfectly chewy for a sweet with out geletine. Overall I am very impressed and the fact that they are so readily available is amazing! Hopefully they bring out more in the future (I'm looking at you Colin the Caterpillar).

Read More