Its been a while……

Weeeeell, hello there stranger!

How are you?

I know, I know, it’s been a while, but you wouldn’t believe how busy I’ve been. Let me give you a quick run-down of what’s been happening since I spoke to you last.

My dream of owning my own tea-room and cake shop was screaming louder and louder at me, so on December 4th I handed in my notice from a full-time career, to take a part-time job, which would allow me to spend more time making and selling cakes. I had a month before starting the new job, so as it was coming up to Christmas I thought I’d get some shopping and planning done.

Hmmmm, well that plan quickly went out of the window, when within hours of handing in my notice I had been offered a commission by Good To Know to write 100 recipes!!! How fab is that?!!!!! But the deadline was just 3 weeks away  - not so fab – Christmas was cancelled as the baking began.

With a little help from my Mum, I got in the kitchen and wrote, baked and photographed 100 unique recipes, many of which can now be found on the Good to Know website, and some of which you will find links too below. Everyone that came within 100 metres of the house left with a baked good of some description, as one point I was baking 10 different recipes a day…..it was tough, but someone had to do it!!

I then started my new job in the New Year, which although part time is still amazing. It involves Shoes, Dancing, Shoes, Strictly Come Dancing, Sparkly Dresses….did I mention shoes? Oh, how I looooove shoes!!!

I’ve also been baking every week! So what with shoes and baking I am now what you call a very very busy girl!!

I’m sorry if I’ve neglected you, but I hope the links below make up for it a little bit, and then next week we’ll get back to being proper friends again eh?

Have a catch up, maybe a cake or biscuit or two?…

Looking forward to it already!!!

If you want a list of all my recipes, click here, but here are a few I’ve selected to share with you:

Granary Flatbreads

 

Rosewater Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

Homemade Twix

Cranberry and Orange Upside Down Cake

Cream Cheese Sweetie Biscuits

Chocolate Crackle Cookies

 

Victoria Sandwich for One

Last year I entered a Victoria Sandwich into a local horticultural competition and was disqualified!!

Yep, you read right…..disqualified!!

And what was the awful deed I did to be disqualified……..I put buttercream between my layers of sponge and dusted icing sugar on the top.

Shock!

Horror!!!!

The competition was being run according to the Women’s Institute rules, and they don’t allow buttercream or icing sugar…..can you believe that?!!

Surely it says in the British constitution that a Victoria Sandwich must have a thick layer of Buttercream between two layers of cake!!!

What was particularly gutting was the comments on the cards were all great “lovely moist sponge” ” “nice and light” etc etc until you read at the end *no buttercream or icing sugar allowed* pfft!!

Now I know you’re probably thinking ‘but you should have read the rules’, but there wasn’t any printed. All it said was ‘to WI regulations’ and I tried, but I couldn’t find the regulations anywhere!

Anyway, this year will be different! This year I will make a stunning Victoria Sandwich and fill it with JUST jam, and this year I hope to win!!!!!!

Before entering last years competition I did a bit of research on how to make the best Victoria Sponge, and this is my perfected recipe. Of course you can make one big sandwich (a 3 egg recipe, will make a 6-7″ sandwich), or you can do as I did on this occasion, make individual portions by baking a sheet cake and using a round cutter to make Victoria Sandwiches for one.

Victoria Sandwich for One

This recipe is really easy to make either lots of, or a little of. It’s all to do with how many eggs you use. I’m going to use 3 eggs.

Weigh your eggs in their shells, and note their weight.
Use the same weight as your eggs of each of the following;
Self Raising Flour – sifted
Butter
Caster Sugar

And for every 3 eggs, use .5tspn Vanilla Essence.

Pre-heat your oven to 160c, 140c fan or Gas Mark 3.
Grease and line either 2 sandwich tins, or one sheet tin. This recipe can also be used for cupcakes.

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla essence until light and fluffy.

Break one egg into a small bowl then add it to the mix and beat thoroughly. The reason I always break my eggs into a small bowl first is to ensure they are not bad, and because I have a bad habit of dropping bits of shell.

Add one table spoon of flour to the mix and beat thoroughly. This can all be done with an electric mixer.

Repeat until all the eggs are used.

Add the remainder of the flour and mix by hand with a large spoon until just combined.

Pour into your cake tins and bake. It will depend on how many eggs you’ve used and whether you are baking a sandwich, sheet cake or cupcakes as to how long they bake for. Generally speaking a 3 egg, 2 layer sandwich will take between 20 – 25 minutes.

You can tell when its done, when its well risen, golden on top, and a cocktail stick stuck in the centre comes out clean.

When its baked, remove from the oven and transfer to a rack to cool.

When completely cool, the WI says you should fill with just Strawberry Jam (preferably home made).

I very naughtily added both jam (not home made) and buttercream and then dusted my individual sandwiches with icing sugar ……..but thats because I’m a rebel!!!

Salted Caramel with White Chocolate…..was meant to be Salted Caramac

There was a series of events that happened this week, which lead to this post:

1. I was home alone with full control of the TV remote
2. This meant I could watch The Brits without any tutting from the hubster
3. This made me feel intensely old…..for 2 reasons. Firstly I didn’t know half the artists because they are bright young things, and secondly the Lifetime Achievement Award went to one of my all time fave bands, Blur. They were first in the charts whilst I was at college – thus I am old!!
Aside: I also fell in love with Adele – the woman girl is awesome!!
4. This got me talking to a friend, who is a similar age to me, where we started to reminisce about listening to the top 40 Music Chart and Annie Nightingale on Radio 1 on a Sunday night and reading Smash Hits magazine.
5. Thus nostalgia set in………
6. Strangely, during this time of nostalgia, I really wanted a bar of Caramac!!
7. I set about trying to reproduce the delights of Caramac, but…….
8. The planned recipe didn’t really set as I’d hoped, so I revisited it

You know how sometimes things don’t work out and you end up with an inedible disaster? Well this, I am pleased to say has become a happy accident, and the result is a scrummy alternative to my original plans……..

So, Caramac….. the rather dodgy coloured chocolate bar that tastes of……..well caramel.

But is it even chocolate? Apparently the ingredients don’t include even a hint of cocoa butter, so probably not.

My recipe has got chocolate in it, but then it isn’t Caramac, but it is inspired by the colour and the flavour of my childhood sweet craving……..and then after the initial recipe didn’t set as I’d hoped, I took it a further step to produce Caramac inspired Salted White Chocolate Caramel.

Salted Caramel with White Chocolate

250gms white chocolate
1 can of condensed milk (397gms)
2 teaspoons of rock salt
200gms Granulated Sugar
50gms Butter

Put your UNopened can of condensed milk in a deep saucepan, which you have lid for.

Fill the saucepan with water, until the can is submerged

Bring the water to the boil, cover, and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer for 3 hours.

YEP, you did read that right….3 hours!

Check every hour or so to make sure you dont need to top up the water.

When the 3 hours are up, carefully remove the can from the saucepan (watch out its hot!) and open with a tin opener. Inside, your white condensed milk will have turned an amazing caramel colour and gone very gloopy.

(This is actually one of the easiest ways to make caramel sauce, but it’s not a last minute sauce……it’s a take your time, take it slowly sauce. If you want a runny caramel sauce only boil the can for 2 hours.)

Break the chocolate into a heat proof bowl and cover with your 3 hour caramel gloop.

Mix until all the chocolate is melted and you have a smooth mix. At this point your mix looks like Caramac, and if you want it can be poured into a tin and be left to set to a rather gooey fudge…….which I have to say, in itself is pretty yummy.

Or alternatively……..

Put the sugar in a heavy bottom saucepan, and melt on a low heat. Do not stir the sugar, as strange chemical reactions happen and you end up with a lumpy mess. Just gently swish it around occasionally to get an even heat.

If you have a confectionery thermometer you want it to get to ‘caramel’ stage (170c). If you don’t have a thermometer, simmer for about 3 or 4 minutes, but watch out there is a fine line between melted caramel sugar and burnt sugar!

Now I know I always say this, but I’d feel incredibly guilty if I heard one of you had ended up with 3rd degree burns – watch out, molten sugar is ridiculously hot!!!!!

When your sugar has reached the right temperature, pour your white chocolate and caramel gloop into the sugar. It will bubble and react, but don’t worry. Just gentle stir the gloopy mess into the sugar to get a nice smooth mix.

Lastly mix in the butter until everything is melted and combined to a shiny silky mix.

Pour into an oiled tray and allow to cool. I poured mine into the bottom of 2 x 1lb loaf tins in order to get 2 chunky bars.

When it has reached room temperature, its time for the grown up bit – sprinkle with the rock salt.

Now leave to set for as long as possible – at least 12 to 24 hours is best, as the caramel will loose its stickiness (I read that somewhere)

Once set, turn out and cut into chunks

Note: you can still buy Caramac, and as I failed in making it, I’ve just put an order in online, with Amazon!

Pancake Stack with Lemon Sugar Syrup

Today is a very important day…..very important!!

Last week, on February 14th, I saw a Facebook status from one of my good friends saying “forget Valentines Day, this time next week it’s Pancake Day!!” and here it is!!

For readers in America, you’re probably thinking, so what, we have pancakes every day for breakfast. Well here in England, we save our pancakes for a very special day, and today is it – Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, where tradition (and the Christian religion) states you abstain for Lent, which is the 47 days until Easter Sunday. Over the years I have given up many things for Lent: Sweets, Alcohol (which wasn’t hard as I’m not much of a drinker), Chocolate (which I failed at) and caffeine. This year I’ve thought of going the sweets route again, but we’ll see how good my will power is tomorrow. What will you be giving up?

Traditionally you should abstain from eating milk, butter and eggs during lent, which just so happen to be most of the ingredients in pancakes, hence today is Pancake Day!

English pancakes are usually crepe type affairs. And as a child we would enjoy ours sprinkled with sugar and a squirt of lemon juice, and rolled up like a swiss roll.

So to invoke childhood memories, but be a bit more gluttonous about it, I have made a huge pancake stack drizzled with Lemon and Sugar Syrup.

Pancake Stack with Lemon Sugar Syrup

For the syrup
70gms Caster Sugar
100ml Water
1 lemon, sliced

For the pancakes
200gms Self Raising Flour
1 tspn Baking Powder
300ml Milk
Pinch of salt
1 egg
Butter to fry

Start the syrup by putting the sugar and water in a heavy bottom saucepan over a low heat. Do not stir, just swish around the pan.
Once the sugar has melted, add the slices of lemon and leave to simmer gently
Be careful, molten sugar is very very hot and can burn you

Now onto the pancakes: sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl
In a jug whisk the milk and the egg until full combined
Make a well (a big dent) in the centre of the flour mix, and pour the egg and milk into it.
Whisk until its all combined into a thick batter

In a frying pan melt a nob of butter until sizzling.
Pour a couple of tablespoons of batter into the centre of the pan, which will spread to about 10cm.
Cook for about 3 minutes, or until small bubbles start to appear on the surface
Carefully turn the pancake, and cook the other side for approx 2 minutes
Remove from the pan, and put to one side on a sheet of kitchen paper
Repeat the process until you have about 6 or 7 pancakes, or until all the batter is used.

Now back to your syrup. This should have been bubbling away. The longer you leave it, the sharper and more lemony the taste will become. So if you just want a hint of lemon, simmer for just 5 minutes, for a stronger taste, maybe about 10 minutes.
Again, I can’t stress this enough – molten sugar is very hot – be careful!!

Time to stack your pancakes:
On a clean plate, place one pancake.
Drizzle with a teaspoon of syrup
Top with another pancake and repeat until you’re all out of pancakes
Drizzle the remaining syrup over the top
For extra sweetness, douse with a cloud of icing sugar or for extra sharpness use the lemon slices between the pancakes.

What you should have is a large stack of pancakes which can be sliced like a cake.

Enjoy Pancake Day, and good luck with whatever you’re giving up for Lent!!

The Epic Cookie

Inspiration and ideas come in many varied ways.

My preferred time to come up with amazing ideas is when I’m walking the dogs – something to do with endorphines and oxygen to the brain I’d imagine.

But occasionally I come up with some belters just in day to day life….like when I don’t want to get out of bed because it’s all warm and snuggly, why not make a cape out of the duvet – that kind of thing, and ok, I’m not saying they’re all great ideas, but they still pop into my head!

Mostly I don’t act on these ideas, because they are just stooooopid, but……..

The other day we had pizza for dinner, which I baked on my clever round baking tray made specially for pizzas. As I was taking the pizza out of the oven I thought “How good would it be to have a cookie this size?”.

So……….ta da…….the pizza sized Epic Cookie!!!

I have had another idea – for another day when I haven’t eaten a big chunk of my Epic Cookie – why not cover it in melted chocolate and various sweets for a full sweet pizza experience?!!!!! But for now, just marvel at the wonder of this humungous biscuity delight………

The Epic Cookie

170 gms Light Brown Sugar (or 100gms light brown and 70gms dark brown for a chewier texture)
125 gms Unsalted butter at room temperature
1 egg
200 gms Plain Flour
1/4 tspn salt
1 1/4tspn Bicarbonate of Soda
100 gms Chocolate Chips (I used Smarties)

Pre-heat you oven to 120c (100c fan), gas mark 2

Prepare a baking sheet (or round pizza baking tray) with a large piece of greasproof paper

Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl

Add the egg and mix in fully

Sieve together the flour, Bicarbonate of Soda and Salt and add to the butter, sugar and egg mix. Beat until well combined and a dough is formed.

Mix in the chocolate chips

Then pile it all up in the middle of your baking sheet. Pat it down till its about 1 to 1.5 inches thick and bake for 30 minutes.

It will spread on the sheet, so don’t push it right to the edges, or you’ll be cleaning your oven.

When its baked, it will have crispy edges, be crunchy on top, but with a slight bounce to the middle. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minute before transfering it (paper and all) onto a wire rack.

As it’s baked slowly it should be crunchy on top and still gooey in the middle, which means in cuts perfectly into slices.

TV Treat – Sausage and Fried Onion Rolls

TV makes me feel old!

More specifically, game shows on TV make me feel old.

Many children in the family may say I’m old! And when I was their age I also thought that your late 30′s was old – ok, ok, so I only have 3 months left of my late 30′s but I’m clinging onto them for dear life – but in the grand scheme of things, I still have over 25 working years left, more than I’ve already done, so clearly I’m not old……..

However, watching TV game shows, where contestants look like adults, are married and have homes but were only born in the late 80′s or early 90′s, and who don’t always know answers from my childhood, make me feel positively ancient!!

For example, The other evening I was watching Million Pound Drop with the lovely Davina McColl on Channel 4. The contestants were a married couple, who has sunk all their savings into their house and wanted to win money to start a family (so therefore were responsible ADULTS). They were given a question asking who played Captain Jack Sparrows father in the last 2 Pirates of the Caribbean films. The 3 choices they were given were: Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood or Keith Richards.

Now I’m guessing 99.9% of you have all ticked that answer off in your head, and the fact that the contestants ummed and arred about the answer wasn’t what made me feel my age.

The comment the microphone picked up of ‘isn’t Ronnie Wood a comedian?’ is what did it for me!!

Ronnie Wood……comedian?…….really???

The fact that Ronnie Wood was sandwiched between 2 other of his band members totally past them by!!! And I genuinely don’t believe it was a ‘thick’ moment, but that they were just too young to know any better!

Even I’m too young to remember them in the charts, but clearly I’m old enough to be able to name the members of one of Britain’s most amazing and epic bands, The Beatles….JOKE!! Of course they are The Rolling Stones!

When settling down to endure this ageing process, me and The Hubster often have a little snackett to hand. This weekend it was Ruff Puff Sausage and Fried Onion Rolls.

Ruff Puff Sausage and Fried Onion Rolls

For the Ruff Puff Pastry
250gms Butter left at room temperature for about an hour, so it’s not too soft
250gms Plain Flour
125ml (approx) cold water
Pinch of salt

For the filling
6 Good Quality Sausages. Ideally with over 80% meat content
2 White Onions, diced
1tbsn sunflower oil
1 egg

First prepare your pastry. If you don’t want to make your own, then buy a good quality Puff Pastry from the chiller cabinet of your supermarket. But if you want the best flavour, it’s best to make an easy Ruff Puff.

Sift your flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.

Cut the butter into 1cm cubes and add to the butter

Use your finger tips to roughly rub the butter and flour together until you have a very course breadcrumb texture. Don’t overwork your butter or it will become greasy. Having big lumps of butter left in your breadcrumb mixture is ok!!

Make a well in the middle of your pastry and pour in half the water

Use a metal knife to cut and mix the flour, butter and water. Keep adding the water a drop at a time until you can get your hands in and bring it together as a dough. You may not need all the water, as different flours absorb water differently. I had about 50ml left.

Flour a surface, and turn out your pastry

Roll into a long thin rectangle, about 30cm x 60cm. You may see lumps of butter, don’t worry, thats fine!

Fold one of the shorter edges across by one third, then the other edge, to create an envelope type parcel

Turn the pastry by 90 degrees, roll out again to the same dimensions, and fold again. Repeat 2 or 3 times.

Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 mins

While the pastry is chilling you can prepare the filling:

Heat the oil in a frying pan, and quick fry the onions until they are clear and smell amazing

Take off the heat and put to one side

Next remove the meat from the skins of the sausages and squelch it all together in a bowl. You can use ‘sausage meat’, but I find meat from sausages is much better.

Now preheat your oven to 170c, 150c fan or gas mark 5, and prepare 2 baking sheets by oiling with sunflower oil

Take the pastry from the fridge and roll out into a long strip about 20cm by 70cm, about .5cm thick

Lay your sausage meat in one continuous line, just off centre, long ways along the strip

Lay the fried onions next to the sausage meat

Beat your egg and brush a line of the egg on the pastry along the edge of the sausage meat

Bring the long back edge over to the front and press with a fork along the entire edge to seal together

Cut along the length of the pastry to make it neat and then cut into 6 equal size sausage rolls

Put three each on your 2 baking sheets, score the top of each three or four times with a knife and brush with the remaining egg wash

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until risen and golden brown.

Serve hot or cold. We had ours with home-made Sweet Courgette Relish

This recipe was inspired by the sausage rolls baked on The Great Sport Relief Bake Off, however it is not the Paul Hollywood recipe the contestants made, it’s one of my own. I’m not saying its better than Paul Hollywood’s. He’s a god of baking, so that would be stupid and wrong of me!!! The Great Sport Relief Bake Off has inspired me, and I’m currently organising my own Bake Sale…..will it inspire you?

P.S. the answer, for the .1% of you that didn’t know was, Keith Richards played Captain Jack Sparrows Father.

A Very British Cake – Tea Loaf

Well, today I have been officially told I have a clean kitchen. As I sell cakes, I have to register my kitchen with the local council. And this lunchtime was the moment I’ve been holding my breathe waiting to happen – the Environmental Health Officer was due to call!! Da da daaaaaa!!!!

I know my kitchen is clean. Every cupboard is spotless, the fan in the oven doesn’t dare breathe too heavily through fear of making a mess and the fridge practically squeaks by itself its so clean, but still I’ve had nightmares about today!!

The possible scenarios I have thought of:
- A rogue cat wanders in when I (and the dogs) are not looking and does a steaming poo in the corner
- A giant rat takes a wander past the window (note: I have never seen a rat even near my garden)
- The children from 3 doors down come round for the first time EVER, and have a food fight
- One of the dogs decides to raid the cupboards and pull out bags of flour and sugar (our Welsh Springer, Barney, is perfectly capable of this feat!)
- The gas boiler explodes leaving rubble to clear up (forget the hole in the side of the house)
- The water tank burst……but then at least everything will have a good wash

Anyway, none of that happened….phew!!

In fact my squeaky clean fridge was the only place he really looked. Clearly standing in my gleaming kitchen was enough for him!!

So, it’s time to celebrate in a very very British way!

A cup of tea and a slice of Tea Loaf anyone?? And maybe a nice curry later…….

Teal Loaf

Makes enough to fill a 1lb loaf tin.

150g Mixed Dried Fruit
200ml Tepid Tea. You can use any you like, but for the sake of Britishness I used Yorkshire.
170gms Self Raising Flour, sifted
140gms Light Brown Sugar
1 Beaten Egg
.5tspn Ground Cinnamon
.5tspn Ground Nutmeg

Pour the tea over the fruit and leave overnight, covered with a tea towel to soak

The next day, when you are ready to start baking, heat your oven to 170c, 150c fan or gas mark 3

Prepare you loaf by greasing and lining with grease proof paper

Pour your sifted flour over the fruit and tea mix, and stir until well combined.

Next add the sugar and mix

Finally mix in the egg and transfer to your loaf tin

Bake for 40 minutes

After 40 minutes, cover with tin foil, to stop the top from burning, and bake for a further 20 minutes or until a cocktail stick stuck in the middle comes out clean of mixture

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

In my opinion this is best served, sliced thickly, slathered in butter and with a brew of your favourite tea!!!

No Regrets Oreo Brownies

Regrets….I’ve had a few…..but then again too few to mention……

But I’m going to mention them anyway, so here they are:
- I regret the second bubble perm of the eighties (the first one should have been a lesson)
- I regret not buying a winning Roll-over Lottery ticket
- I regret not going to performing arts college and becoming Ruthie Henshall
- I regret being too young to see The Smiths live
- I regret not living on a farm (or in a beach house) so I can spend all day mooching about in the great outdoors with my lovely dogs
- I regret not embracing the sparkly side of myself sooner

AND I regret not making Brownies before this weekend!

Whilst wandering the aisles of the supermarket on Saturday I spotted a packet of Oreos, which I slipped into the basked with the vague thought ‘I’ll bake with them later’. But bake what??

My first stop for ideas, is probably the same as most people, the internet. So I put into Google ‘recipes with Oreo cookies’ and got 2,740,000 results!! Too many for me to even begin to comprehend. So my next option was to ask my Twitter buddies. Suggestions were cheesecake, truffles and brownies. In fact Alison was quite insistent about Brownies!!

Brownies? What better to do with Americas favourite cookie, than put them into Americas favourite cake. However, shockingly, I’d never made Brownies before, so I had to get the help from one of my most trusted books The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook (bought for me by Anna, who I met through WeightWatchers – oh the irony!)

So here are my take on The Traditional American Brownie, which I will of course be making every weekend, just to make for lost time!

Oreo Brownies

1 packet of Oreos (minus the 2 eaten before making it into the bowl)
150 gms Dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
130 gms Unsalted Butter
220 gms Caster Sugar
130 gms Plain Flour
2 Eggs

Approx 20cm x 20cm baking tray at least 4cm deep

Preheat you oven to 170c, 150c fan or gas mark 3

Prepare you tray by greasing, and lining the bottom with grease proof paper or baking parchment

Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Ensure the base of the bowl does not touch the water or the chocolate will burn.

Allow the butter and chocolate to melt, stirring occasionally until you get a silky fluid consistency.

Try to avoid just drinking this straight down, it really is worth putting the other ingredients in….honest!

Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the caster sugar

Next mix in the flour until well combined

Break in the eggs and mix until you have a smooth, thick mixture

Break each Oreo Cookie into quarters (or there abouts)

And lastly, mix through the Oreos. Don’t be too heavy handed or they will break apart

Pour the mix into your prepared tray and smooth out to the edges

Bake for 20 – 30 minutes, or until the top is crunchy and flaky, but the inside is still soft when you gently press it with your finger

Remove from the oven and allow to cool before removing from the tray and cutting into pieces.

Allowing it to cool completely is, to be honest, optimistic, because when you smell it you will want to eat it NOW!!!!

Naturally Pink Cupcakes

Valentines is on its way….the more sceptical amongst you may think its just another way the card and gift manufacturers get you to part with your hard earned cash, and in many ways I agree. However, I also feel that its a way of making you stop and truly appreciate the loved ones in your lives, and I don’t just mean your significant others.

For many many years, before he was sadly taken from us, I would send my Great Uncle, or as we all knew him, Unc, a Valentines card. And I would always get one back.

My Unc was better than any grandfather. He was a personality bigger than anyone I’ve known since. He was a salty old sea dog with tales from his time as a sailor and when he worked in Southampton Docks. He build stuff, he helped us move, he put up our shelves (at times slightly wonky, but we always forgave that because he put them up). He was generally the grandfather you read about in story books.

After my Aunt died he moved in with my parents and became one of the most important members of our family. He was never a blood relative as he married into our family, but I would never consider him anything other than family. And it is at Valentines I remember him most because I miss his card, and the thought taken to send him one. He was always there for me and it was an opportunity for me to remember to tell him how much he meant to me.

Also, he liked his food and he would try ANYTHING! Therefore, I am dedicating, these slightly unusual cupcakes to him.

Now…….don’t instantly go YAK when I break the news to you of what makes these cupcakes pink.

You’d happily eat carrot cake, so why not try Beetroot? Yep!!! Beetroot! And just think of the amazing colour! Pink cakes without any hint of artificial colouring.

I tried these cakes, straight from the oven when still warm, and would recommend you don’t. These cakes are definitely next day cakes! The earthy Beetroot flavour subsides with time, three days in they were at their best!

Beetroot and Vanilla Cupcakes

The recipe is based on one from here adapted to make slightly fewer and with a different buttercream icing.

120gms Caster Sugar
120gms Unsalted Butter at room temperature
120gms Self Raising Flour sifted
2 eggs (separated)
120gms Cooked Beetroot (if using vacuum packed DO NOT use the one in vinegar) Puréed. (save some juice for the buttercream)
2tspn Good Vanilla Essence

Pre-heat your oven to 160c, 140c fan or gas mark 3

Line a cupcake tin with 10 cupcake cases

In a bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy

Add the egg yolks, pureed Beetroot and Vanilla and mix

Next mix in the Self Raising Flour until combined

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until you get stiff peaks

Add one spoonful of the whisked egg whites to the other mixture and mix vigorously

Add the remainder of the egg whites and carefully fold in until fully combined and no white streaks can be seen

Stand in awe whilst looking at the colour of your cake batter!

Spoon your mix into your cupcake cases

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a cocktail stick comes out clean of mixture when stuck in the middle of one of the cakes. They may take slightly longer to bake depending on how much moisture your Beetroot has in it.

Remove the cakes from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack

Just look at the colour of the cake before they are iced!

Beetroot Coloured Buttercream

100gms Unsalted Butter at room temperature
400gms Icing sugar
3tspn Beetroot Juice saved from the Beetroot when making the cakes
2tbspn Milk

Beat all the ingredients together until light and fluffy.

If you want a stronger colour, just add more Beetroot juice. Beware however, the more you add, the more likely you are to be able to taste it! Just add a drop at a time, until you get exactly the colour you want.

Pipe or smooth the buttercream with a knife onto your cakes and enjoy!

Diet Coke Chicken

We’re now a few weeks into the ‘diet’ New Year resolutions, and the excitement and adventure of eating healthily is beginning to wear off. The problem with the New Year in the UK, is that it happens in the Winter, and all you really want is comfort food -stodge not salad!

A few years ago I lost 4 stone (which was about a quarter of my body weight) following WeightWatchers. I never went to a meeting, but did it all online with the help of many lovely members on the Message Boards.

My time following WeightWatchers is a very happy period in my life. I made many very good friends from all around the country through the Message Boards, many of who I am still in daily contact with, some of whom I have met and have had many happy times with, and all of whom are still the most supportive friends I have. I even became a Leader, but had to give it up because due to other commitments.

Anyone who has followed a diet will know how difficult it is to not get bored with the same food, day in day out, and because of this the WeightWatchers message boards are always awash with shared recipes. This is a recipe I picked up from the Boards, and I have adapted over the years to suit my tastes. It tastes like true comfort food, but because the main ingredients are lean chicken and diet Coke, it’s really not bad at all!!!

Diet Coke Chicken

2 Skinless Chicken Breasts, sliced into 1 cm slices
1 Can (330ml) Diet Cola
1 Onion, diced
2 tbspn Tomato Ketchup
.5 tspn Marmite or Veggiemite
1 tbspn Brown Sauce (I used HP, but Daddy’s is just as good)

Stir-fry your chicken and onion in a non-stick pan, for which you have a lid, for about 2 minutes, until the meat is sealed.

Add the tomato ketchup, Marmite, brown sauce, and diet cola and stir until all incorporated.

Bring to a boil

Turn the heat right down and cover. Leave to cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally

After an hour remove the lid.

As the chicken has cooked slowly, for so long it should be very tender. So tender in fact that when you press down on it with the back of a spoon it will fall apart. Do this with all the slices so the chicken has a shredded consistency.

Increase the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated leaving a light, sweet barbecue sauce.

At this point I season with salt. Don’t be afraid of salt!! We all know that excessive salt is bad for you, but in moderation it will bring out the flavour in a dish.

This chicken is great served on a jacket potato, used as a sandwich filler, in a tortilla wrap or pitta bread or with some of these as I had this evening. It’s also great cold, so why not make too much and then have it in a packet lunch or picnic in the summer