Happy New Year.  2014 has been banished.  It was by far the worst year for sad news that I can possibly remember and I hope that this year will be a whole lot better!  In times of desperation, the only thing that can save me is to bake....so here I am saved by cake!

Last week I have been mostly baking.....with the awful weather, it's back to hibernation, so we have had all-sorts of treats.  The Barn Farm Shop in the town has had lots of citrus fruits in over the past month, so we have had lemon meringues, lime meringues and this week the oranges were 8 for a quid which is so cheap and  so Orange Meringue Pies, were baked on Sunday.  

Some of the meringue was a little darker than I wanted.....admittedly I got carried away watching the FA Cup final, so the time in the oven went to about five and half mins, (I forgot to set my timer oops) but they still tasted good and disappeared rather quickly.  I based the  recipe on the lemon meringue ones which I posted a little while ago, but I made a sweet shortcrust pastry for the cases instead of shortbread bases.

Sweet Shortcrust

8 oz plain flour, 4 oz butter, 2 tablespoons icing sugar, 1 beaten egg.  

To get deep cases to fit the muffin tin, I opened out a muffin paper case, and cut around it.....pastry cases as deep as the tin....with a little fitting and trimming!

Its been a while, but so much has happened in the past few weeks.....mostly I was fighting of the dreaded cold and aches that comes with it.  

I had hoped to make a lemon pie of some sort a while ago, and kept buying the lemons, but used them for other things and not getting round to making a pie but on a cold, cold Saturday last weekend, I made Lemon Meringue Shortbread pies....they were delicious.

I didn't use the normal pastry for the bases, but used a shortbread recipe instead (bit of an experiment) which even though it was a little tricky to roll and line the tins with, it tasted fantastic in the pies.  Again I am going to link it to Pamela's Heavenly Treats, the blog to showcase Desserts!

Makes approx 18

Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius, 2 x muffin tins 

Shortbread

2 cups plain flour

1 cup salted butter

1/2 cup icing sugar

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Mix in the flour, then use your hands to make a smooth dough.  Wrap the dough in cling wrap and chill for a minimum of 30 mins. 

To make the pies:

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and using a round circle cutter, cut out circles to line your muffin tins. (Preferably so the pastry is the depth of the cup for deep pies).  Place the tins in the refrigerator for approx 15 mins to chill the dough again.

Bake the pastry shells blind (use pastry weights/rice etc) for approx 8 mins until golden.  Remove the weights and bake for a further three to four mins.  Remove from the oven and leave in the tins.

To make the Lemon Curd

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup lemon juice (about 4 - 5 lemons)

2 tsp grated lemon zest

4 large eggs yolks (keep the whites for the meringue)

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1/2 cup cornflour

2/3 cup cold water.

Place the sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, egg yolks into a saucepan. Mix together then pour in the boiling water and then mix again thoroughly.  Mix together the cornflour and the cold water.  Place the saucepan over a medium heat, and stirring all the time.  Pour in the cornflour mix and continue to stir over the heat until the curd is thick.   Remove from the heat and pour immediately into the shortbread shells.  

Meringue

4 egg whites

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 tablespoon corn flour

1/4 cup boiling water.

Whisk the egg whites in a grease free bowl until thick . (A good tester is if you tilt the bowl, the egg whites shouldn't move).  Gradually beat in the sugar to form a thick glossy meringue.  Mix the corn flour and boiling water together to make a gel.  Spoon into the meringue mixture and mix in thoroughly.

Spoon the Meringue into a piping bag and pipe the meringue over the curd, to cover it completely.  

Place the trays back into the oven for approx 5 mins to give the meringue a golden colour.  You may need to turn the trays and watch it carefully as the meringue can burn quickly.  

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the trays.  Best Eaten on the same day as the shortbread softens overnight, but still tastes just as good!

Half term holidays so there will be time to experiment this week with some baking and cooking.  Valentines was spent with our boys and we had a lovely meal cooked at home followed by some warm chilli chocolate brownies.  They were delicious, with just a mild spicy kick every now and again.  The next day, when the chocolate bits had hardened, they tasted good, but they were better warm.  Still this is the first batch I made, so I am now going to try using other brands of chilli chocolate and see if there is any difference in heat.....any excuse to bake more!

I am also going to link this to Pamela's Heavenly Treats who runs a blog hop on a Saturday for Desserts.....right up my street!

Recipe

Grease and base line a rectangular baking tin...mine measured 12 x 9 x 1 1/2 inches

Preheat oven to gas mark 4/ 180 degrees Celsius/ 350 F

150g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

200g dark chocolate 

250g butter

300g caster sugar

4 eggs (beaten)

150g chilli chocolate chopped into small pieces

Melt the dark chocolate and the butter in a large bowl together. (I do mine in the microwave in 30 second bursts), but over a pan of hot water is an alternative.  Stir to combine them together then remove from the heat.  Stir in the sugar and the eggs.  Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold into the chocolate mix.  Fold in the chilli chocolate.

Spread the mixture into the tin, then bake on the middle shelf of the oven for exactly 25 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the tin.  Cut into squares and enjoy.

It is snowing yet again, so there is some fresh build up of snow on the ice outside!  The men in the house are watching the snooker finals and I am contemplating if I should bake....but a Sunday roast is currently cooking in the oven!

I thought I would post some pictures of my chocolate cake.  It is the one that I am asked to make the most by friends and family and for charity donations etc etc.  It is four layers of chocolate sponge cake, sandwiched together with vanilla cooked flour buttercream then wrapped in a dark chocolate collar (band) and topped with truffles, maltesers and chocolate buttons....basically it is a chocolate indulgence cake!  Quite simply it is amazing just how a collar of chocolate cake can make a basic chocolate sponge, look classy!

I have this week bought another recipe book (my collection is huge) entitled "Made at Home Preserves" by Dick & James Strawbridge.  It has simple recipes for preserves of all kinds which I will attempt to make over the weeks/months, but as soon as I can get to the supermarkets out of town, I will most definitely get the ingredients to try the chilli chocolate brownies (pg 168).  I love chilli chocolate and the brownies look divine.  

Snow!  School is closed today because of snow.....and it is still coming down where we are!  As we are home today, I thought I would again try and use up some of the coconut stored in the cupboard...hence coconut fingers were made today!  

Being from St Helena, a coconut finger is a traditional celebration cake.  It would be outrageous if there was a wedding, christening, or birthday party, family gathering, day out, picnic, etc.  and there were no coconut fingers!  They are usually iced in pink, or green. I imagine it is because they were the food colours that was widely available when our grandparents, and great grandparents and great - great grandparents made them all those years ago.  

Every family or district on St Helena I am sure has their own family recipe for making the sponge cake and for decorating them, which is a messy business.  Some dip the whole sponge into the icing before rolling them in the coconut, or some do them the way I do (which my mum does) by using a flat blade knife and spreading the icing on each side while holding onto the small ends between thumb and index finger, before rolling in the coconut.  

Nevertheless they are a sweet mix of soft sponge cake, icing and coconut.  My smallest son, asked me if it was "St Helena Day" as I usually only make these on 21st May, when we celebrate St Helena Day.  When I told him it was a treat to have with a cup of hot chocolate after playing in the snow, he was then asking "how soon could we go outside?"

This recipe is how I make them.....there will be numerous St Helenian ways of making them, but this one works for me.  The ingredients are in ounces too......next time I will convert them!  

Coconut Fingers

Makes 18

6 oz self raising flour

6 oz caster sugar

6 oz margarine or butter

3 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla flavouring 

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder.

Icing

8 oz icing sugar

pink or green food colouring

hot water

1 small pack desiccated coconut preferably fine.  (But medium will do)

To Make the Cake:

Preheat the Oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  Grease and baseline a 8 inch square baking tin.  (You may need to double the ingredients if you are using a larger tin).

Whisk all the ingredients together in a large bowl until pale and creamy and there are no traces of sugar.  Pour into the prepared tin, and bake on the middle shelf  for approximately 25 to 30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 10 mins.

Remove from the tin and cool completely.

To decorate:

Cut the cake half and then cut each half into strips (9 fingers from each half).

Pour the coconut onto a plate.  Place the icing sugar and a small amount of food colouring in a bowl and add hot water by the tablespoon and stir until the icing is of a thick glossy consistency.  Add more water if it is too thick to spread.

Spread the long sides of a finger of cake with the icing, then roll in the coconut.  Set aside for the icing to dry.  Repeat with the remaining cake.  

When the weather is cold, nothing beats some good ole tasty home-made food!!  It's January and theoretically we should all be counting calories etc etc, so to cut back on some the calories in these individual beef and vegetable pies, I have just made a herby shortcrust pastry lid for them...trying to bling up a boring shortcrust lid!  The family really enjoyed them......there was no complaints!

The filling is cooked ahead, before the pies are baked in the oven.  It is all a little time consuming, but the end  result is worth it.  

Beef and Vegetable Pies with a Herby Shortcrust Pastry Lid

Makes six individual pies (deep filled)

For the filling:

1 kg beef shin
1 large onion diced
2 large carrots sliced
3 large flat mushrooms diced
1 medium red chilli (optional)
3 sticks celery sliced finely
3 garlic cloves crushed
4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 beef oxo's
1 litre hot water
Fry light Spray

Remove any visible fat from the beef and then dice into 1 1/2 cm cubes.  Spray some fry light into the bottom of a medium saucepan (which has a lid).  Place over a medium heat source and add the beef.  Stir the beef over the heat until it is browned on all sides.  Add the diced onion, garlic and chilli if using and the balsamic vinegar, and stir. Dissolve the oxo's in the hot water and add to the meat in the saucepan.   Stir, then add salt and pepper to taste.  Cover the saucepan with the lid and allow to simmer for approximately one and half hours until the meat is tender, stirring from time to time.  Add the carrots, mushrooms and celery to the meat and cook for a further ten until the carrots are cooked.  Remove from the heat. 

Shortcrust pastry: 

400g plain flour

200g butter cubed

2 tablespoon mixed herbs (dried or fresh)

1/2 tsp salt

4 - 6 tablespoons very cold water

Rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the salt and the herbs.  Add the water and combine to make a dough.  Add some more water if the mixture is too dry.

Wrap in clingwrap and chill for up to half and hour.

Making the Pies

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.    Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface.  Place one of the pie dishes upside down on the pastry and cut around it, slightly larger to make the pastry lids.

Fill the pie dishes with the beef filling.  Place a lid on the top of each pie, ensure that it touches the meat and press the pastry into the sides of the pie dish.  Use a knife to make a few slits in the pastry to allow the steam to escape so the pastry will become crisp.

Brush the pastry with some beaten egg and bake in the oven for approximately 25 minutes until the pastry is golden and crisp.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.

New Year is upon us and once again we reflect on how fast the last year has gone.  As parents we have watched our children grow up so much in the past year.... our older sons have develop into young street wise men,  and our youngest son has won the battle with ear complications and has started to make some major progression in guitar and piano playing.  Of course there has been lows mixed with the highs, but we have managed to stay positive and now look forward to reaching newer goals in 2013!

Christmas for us is always a family affair, and I for one, enjoy preparing our Christmas meal and making sure everyone gets there requests filled at least on this day.  Having said that I wouldn't be making a cheesecake this year, as we do one almost every year and we would have a trifle instead (I know just a bit boring) I was persuaded by the middle son, on Christmas Eve to make one.....hence the baking of a Baileys Cheesecake!

Having researched several options, I couldn't quite find one that had enough Baileys (if you're going to use it you might as well be able to taste it).....so I winged it....and boy did it taste good!!

Baileys Cheesecake

12 Generous Servings: - Thousands of Calories

Base

300g ginger nut biscuits (crushed into fine crumbs)

50g butter melted

Cheesecake

4 x 250g tubs cream cheese (1000g total)

250ml Baileys 

250ml Double Cream

4 eggs

5 tablespoons icing sugar
50g plain flour

Mixed the melted butter and the biscuit crumbs together and press into the base of a 9 inch round loose bottom tin.  (Deep one preferable)

Bake at 175 degrees celsius for 10 minutes.

While the biscuit base is baking, whisk together all the cheesecake ingredients until thick and creamy,  about 5 minutes.  

Pour the cheesecake mixture over the biscuit base, and bake for approximately 45 minutes on the middle shelf of the oven until firm on the outside and still wobbly on the inside.  Remove from the oven.  Allow to cool, then chill for several hours, preferably overnight.  

The weeks have flown!  Work has been busy, home life has been busy and the weather - that is debatable!! The half term holidays have been so relaxing and we even managed a visit to Choccywoccydoodah in Brighton!!  It was a dream of our 8 year old son, to go there, so during a visit to see our older son, who is at Uni in Brighton, it seemed only fitting to visit, the famous cake place!!

 The cake displays were amazing in the shop, the interior decoration in the Bar Du Chocolat was brilliant, and a slice of Tiffin decorated with melted Belgian chocolate was so huge, our boys had to have half of their slice in a takeaway box.  My hubby and I shared a slice of the Choccywoccy chocolate cake - it was huge, great chocolate taste but slightly dry, not sweet, served with lots of melted Belgian chocolate, berry sauce and a huge dollop of vanilla ice-cream made it so delicious.   (Could have gone for another shot of this on the second day......oh but the calories).  I will keep it on my tick list for a visit again.....it isn't a place, you should do just once!!  The coffees and the hot chocolates are served in the biggest cups, I have seen.....and they take some finishing!!

Baking is my down time.....my time to relax and to escape into a little world of my own.....it saves me from the stresses of life!!  These fresh strawberry and coconut cupcakes, with vanilla swiss meringue, a dollop of cream and summer berries were delicious!  They were perfect for the warm day that I made them and they disappeared quickly too!

Fresh Strawberry and Coconut cupcake with Swiss meringue and summer berries

Makes 12

Topping - 150g frozen summer berries defrosted.

 Cake

6oz self raising flour

6 oz caster sugar

6 oz butter or margarine

3 eggs

100g fresh strawberries – washed and chopped into small pieces

1 tsp vanilla

1oz dessicated coconut

3 tablespoons milk

Mix the eggs, flour, sugar, margarine and vanilla together until the mixture is thick and pale and creamy.  Stir in the fresh strawberries, coconut and milk, then divide between 12 large cupcake cases.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius until well risen, golden and springy to the touch

Swiss meringue buttercream

2 egg whites

100g caster sugar

175g softened butter

Whisk the egg whites at high speed in a clean bowl over a pan of simmering water until soft peaks form.  Gradually whisk in the sugar, until the sugar is dissolved.  Carefully remove the bowl from the simmering water and whisk for approximately 10 minutes.  Allow the meringue mixture to cool completely.  When cooled, whisk in the softened butter, whisking until the meringue is of a consistency suitable for piping.

To Assemble.

Pipe the swiss meringue butter cream onto the cakes.  Spoon over a tablespoon of defrosted summer berries and serve immediately.

Jubilee Cupcakes  (For the Local Hairdressing Salon)

We are on a run of family birthdays at the moment - Sister in Law's (40th) on Friday 13th April, so chocolate cake and cupcakes, my hubby's on Saturday 21st April so Lime and Coconut Cake with White Chocolate and this coming weekend our son's 17th birthday......so another cake...... yet to come!!

I have also made the apple and caramel cake which I posted a few weeks back, two weekends in a row for the birthday's dessert!   I used half of the mixture to make a lower cake which we served with cream the first week and with a home-made whisky sauce the second week (as the kids had already eaten).  I would definitely recommend the apple cake, served warm with the whisky sauce!!

Coconut and Lime cake with White Chocolate

7 inch round cake tin, greased and lined (I have three so can cook my 3 layers at one go)

Oven temperature 180 degrees C

Cake

8 oz self raising flour

8 oz soften butter or margarine

8 oz caster sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp baking powder

1 large lime 

1 oz dessicated coconut

Topping

1 oz  dessicated coconut

Chocolate band

300g white chocolate melted

Frosting - I used lime flavoured cooked flour buttercream (recipe found lower down on my blog)

Whisk together the eggs, butter and caster sugar until pale and creamy.  Stir in the flour and baking powder (so it doesn't splash up in your face) then whisk until the flour is fully incorporated.  Stir in the coconut and the rind and juice of the lime.

Divide the mixture between the pans or if just using one pan, divide the mixture so there is enough to make three layers.  

Bake for approximate 20 minutes until golden and when a cake tester is inserted in the middle of the cake it comes out clean.  Remove from the oven.  Allow the cakes to cool for a few minutes in the tin, before removing them from the tin to cool completely. 

While the cakes are in the oven, toast the remaining coconut by placing in a small saucepan over a heat source, and stirring until just coloured.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.

Layer the cake with the frosting.  Also frost the sides and the top of the cake.  Sprinkle over the cooled toasted coconut.

For the White Chocolate band.  Measure the circumference of  the cake and the height of the sides (I use a strip of baking paper).  Cut a piece of baking paper just over the length and height of the cake measurements.  Spread the melted chocolate over the baking paper, covering all of the paper.  When the chocolate is just set (too hard it will crack, too soft it will pour of the paper when you lift it up), lift up the paper and wrap the chocolate band around the cake.  You may need to used a bit of melted chocolate to hold the edges together.  

Allow the chocolate to fully harden before removing the band of baking paper.  

ahh Blogger has a new look - so a bit confused over the whole posting set up (pray it comes out right)!  Anyway in the house of PapersandCakes.....there has been lots of cakes....but no paper!!  I intend to get the paper out over these holidays and do a bit of crafting but I am also thinking of getting rid of a lot of my craft stuff that I just simply don't use.....decisions!  

Anyway we are still on the Pumpkin goodies.  I love pumpkin and so does my family so this week its Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins with Coconut Streusel.  These were soft, moist and so delicious.  I was trying to persuade my guys to wait for them to cool so the cheesecake would set, but the smell was just circulating through the house and I found myself on repeat saying "wait for them to cool."  In the end....guy number 1 took a cake outside in the garden and held it until it kind of cooled!!!!!!

A little work is required ahead, to freeze the filling for and hour before baking - but worth the effort!

Recipe:

Makes 24  

Oven temperature 180 degrees Celcius

Muffin tin lined with paper cases

Muffins

3 cups plain flour

3 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground mixed spice

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 eggs

1 1/4 cups sunflower oil

2 cups granulated sugar

2 cups pumpkin purée (1 lb cooked weight pumpkin mashed)

Filling

4 oz cream cheese

4 oz mascarpone cheese   (or use 8 oz cheese cheese instead of 4oz of each)

3 tablespoons icing sugar

Coconut Streusel

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup plain flour

4 tablespoons cold butter

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 cup coconut

Prepare the filling by mixing together the cream cheese and the icing sugar until smooth.  Spread into a long roll onto clingwrap or baking paper, roll up and freeze for about and hour.  It should be hard enough to cut into pieces to fit into the muffin tin.

To make the muffin batter - Mix the flour, spices, salt and baking soda together.  Whisk the eggs, oil, sugar and pumpkin together until light and creamy.  Add the dry ingredients and mix until the flour is just moistened.  The mixture will be quite lumpy.

To make the Streusel - rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.  Then stir in the coconut and the sugar.  

Half fill each muffin case with the batter.  Remove the cheesecake roll from the freezer and divide into 24 pieces.  Place a piece in each muffin case on top of the batter.  Divide the remaining batter among the 24 muffin cases to cover the cheesecake pieces.  Sprinkle the coconut streusel over each one and bake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden or until a cake tester  comes out clean.  (insert the cake tester just of the middle of the cake as the cheesecake will be in the middle).

Cool completely before serving so the cheesecake can set.  

A little baking and a little crafting....the way it should be......with some pumpkin in hand....baking was definitely on the cards!!!

First the Crafting - This week over at The Secret Crafters Saturday Challenge is Doilies are not just for cakes! I have had this stamp from Caron Vinson for ages but never used it....but she is perfect for the person I want to give this card to. All the pieces for this card have come from scraps in my stash, promarkers for the colouring and some glamour dust on the wings, and a fiskars edge punch for the border.

Waitrose sells cans of pumpkin puree (in the tin fruit section). It is a 400g tin jammed packed with pumpkin puree - no water etc, just pumpkin! I usually make a pumpkin cheesecake, but thought I would do something a little different this time......hence a pumpkin roll.

I made two of these.....because I was curious to see how they would turn out using different sugar and also after opening the can of pumpkin.....I didn't want to waste it!! In take 1, I followed the original recipe for the cake from here (minus the salt and using caster sugar) and did my own frosting.......as I don't like over sweet cream cheese frosting.

Pumpkin Roll - Take 1 - Using Caster Sugar

Dense texture......but very tasty.

The cake in take1 was rather dense with the caster sugar so I then had another go using granulated sugar but I twigged the recipe as below:

Pumpkin and Coconut Roll - Take 2 Using Granulated Sugar

Definitely better in taste and texture.

INGREDIENTS:
Cake:

1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 eggs
2/3 cup mashed pumpkin
4 heaped tablespoons coconut

Filling:

200g cream cheese, softened

2 level tablespoons icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Grease a 15 X 10-inch swiss roll pan and line with baking paper which is just a bit longer and wider than the pan.

Mix the sugar, flour, salt, soda, cinnamon, and eggs in a large bowl for about 5 minutes until pale and creamy. Use a large metal spoon to mix in the pumpkin and the coconut. Pour the mixture in the prepared pan and tilt from side to side so the mixture evenly covers the pan including the corners. Bake for 14-15 minutes until springy to the touch.

While the cake is cooking, lay a large piece of baking paper out and sprinkle over some sugar. (This helps to stop the cake from sticking to the paper while it cools). When the cake comes out of the oven, turn the pan upside down on the sugared paper. Gently peel off the baking paper from the cake. Working quickly, cut a shallow groove about one inch in on the short side of the cake closet to you. (this helps to roll the cake up better). Roll the pumpkin cake up with the baking paper, and leave to completely cool.

While the roll is cooling, mix the cream cheese, and powdered sugar together until it is light and creamy. Once the roll is cool, unroll carefully and spread the filling over the cake. Roll the cake up once again. If there is time allow to chill....it does taste better if left to chill!!

Cake pops - little balls of cake on a stick, enrobed in chocolate and smothered in sprinkles!! I love making these. They are a fantastic way of using up left over cake, or cake trimming.....or in my case I made a sponge in the microwave to make these!! You will need to break the cake into fine crumbs (a fork does the job) and then mix in some buttercream or ganache to make a cake dough.

These ones have coconut and lemon cake inside and are covered in white chocolate and glitter sugar....but the flavours for these are endless.....use any cake and enough buttercream, just to bind the cake together!

To make mine I used:

Cake

2 oz self raising flour

2 oz caster sugar

1 egg

2 oz butter or margarine

1 oz coconut

grated rind of a small lemon

juice from the same lemon

Ganache

3 oz white chocolate melted

five tablespoons double cream

Covering:

200g white chocolate (melted)

sprinkles

lollipop/cake pop sticks (made of paper)

To make the cake:

Mix all the ingredients together in a microwave proof bowl. Cook in the microwave on High for approximately 5 minutes or until well risen and springy to the touch. Leave to cool for a few minutes before removing from the microwave. Remove the cake and empty on to a plate. Using a fork, break the cake to form cake crumbs. Leave to cool.

When the cake is cool, make the ganache by mixing together the melted chocolate and the cream in a large bowl. Empty in the cooled cake and mix together. It should form a ball of cake dough. Wrap the cake in clipwrap and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight until firm.

To Make the cake pops:

Break of small pieces of the chilled cake and roll into balls. Place the balls onto a tray/plate.

Melt the chocolate and then dip the end (about 1 cm) of the sticks into the chocolate. Place a stick in each cake ball....the chocolate will help to secure the stick in the cake.

Chill the cake pops again for about an hour......or you have kids nagging at you....."are they done yet?"......... Stick them in the freezer until they are firm!!!

Dip each cake pop into the melted chocolate. Rotate the cake pop quickly a few times while holding upside down so any excess chocolate will drop off. Cover immediately with the sprinkles as the chocolate will set really quickly. A short glass will make the ideal stand for them to completely dry.

Wow Spring is just around the corner and the sunshine on the weekend was a nice treat! I decided to get some of the craft stuff out on the weekend and made a card......while everyone else was playing music!! I didn't have a design in mind, just went with the colours and bits and pieces I had left lying around (some from some recent wedding invitations). The background paper came free in PC Essentials magazine from Crafters Companion, the ribbons, lace, cardstocks, flowers and gems from my stash and the image is a Manga Stamp from Sugar Nellie. The heart is a stamp from Stampin Up (forgotten the name of the set) and I have handwritten the sentiment.

I am going to enter this card at the Dream Valley Challenges Blog as they have a female themed creation for their current challenge - although some of the cards from their design team is just amazing!!

Now on Saturday afternoon, after cardmaking and music session had ended...... we decided to go and get new school shoes for small son as it would be a bit wrong of us to make him wait until the term ended for new ones (poor feet). Having been out for about two hours, I get a call from our neighbour, asking if we were in. Having explained to her that we were out, she calmly told me that she had just noticed that our house keys were hanging out of the lock in the front door!!! Oh dear......I am glad that I was in the car, with the kids first.......so it wasn't to hard to work out who had left the keys in the door!!! Anyway our kind neighbour, walked across and removed the keys from the door, and kept them until we made a rather speedy journey home!

To thank her for her vigilance and because I was so relieved that everything was still left in the house......I baked her a dozen chocolate cupcakes which were iced and delivered to her door, as soon as they had cooled out of the oven!!!

These are the darkest moistest chocolate cakes, topped with a generous dollop of dark chocolate ganache and then a swirl of cooked flour vanilla butter cream!!

Cooked Flour Buttercream

8 oz granulated sugar

2 oz plain flour

250ml milk

175g butter softened

In a saucepan, mix together the sugar and the flour. Stir in the milk and then heat over a gentle heat, stirring all the time, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens to a thick sauce. (around 7 - 10 mins).

Pour the sauce into a large bowl, add any flavouring and colouring and allow to cool completely. When the sauce is cool, whisk in the butter, until the butter cream is thick and creamy.

Those who actually read my posts will know I always go on about the weather!! I can't help it...I am an island girl after all!! The weather has been excellent over the past few days......I love seeing my washing drying on the clothes line with the smell of washing powder and comfort filling the air. I love the longer evenings, and that we can maybe be just about brave enough to go out in a t-shirt! (that doesn't include me - I'm still wearing a scarf indoors).

But dark, cold evenings does mean more time to look at Pinterest to find more ideas and things to bake, so Hmm how about these below........probably about two thousand calories per slice - I wouldn't even try to work it out!!

Chocolate Cookie, Oreo, Brownies - a layer of chocolate chip cookie dough, covered in oreo's, smothered in brownie mix and baked to perfection!!

Oven temperature 180 degrees Celcius, greased and lined 9 x 13 inch pan

Cookie Dough

1 cup butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 cup chocolate chips

2 pkts oreos

Brownie Mix

350g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces

250g butter

3 eggs

250g dark brown sugar

100g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder.

Method

To make the cookie dough - Cream the butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Mix in the eggs and vanilla extract. Add the flour and bicarbonate of soda and mix together until all the flour disappears. Mix in the chocolate chips. Press the cookie dough into the prepared pan.

Lay the oreos over the cookie dough and then set aside.

To make the brownie Mix - Melt the chocolate and butter together in a heat proof bowl ( I use the microwave). In another bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until pale and fluffy. fold the chocolate into the egg mixture with a large metal spoon. Fold in the flour and baking powder.

Pour the mixture over the oreos and cookie dough and spread out. Bake for approximate 40 minutes until the surface is set and slightly cracked on the top. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin.

For extra calories - add ice cream or cream and serve while the brownie bars are still warm.......then eat nothing but carrot sticks for the rest of the week!!!