Halloween Bakes

Have you started planning your Halloween bakes yet? Check out the links below for some inspiration. 

1. Dios de los Muertos Cupcakes- Ok not really Halloween but great hit at parties.

2.Pumpkin Pecan Bars- Because pumpkin. And its October. 

3.Orange Juice Cupcakes-Juicy and bursting full of citrus flavour.

4.Pumpkin Chocolate Brownie-See number 2

5. Ginger and Treacle Cupcakes

6.Chocolate Cola Cake-Beautifully chocolaty and a little fizzy with the cola. 

7.Horror Film Gory Cupcakes- Ahh that poor sour patch kid!!

8.Gluten Free Zombie Cookies-Well we needed zombies in this list! It IS Halloween after all! 

So what will you be making for Halloween?

Fat Friday #33 Chocolate Guinness Mini Cupcakes

 "Top of the morning to you laddies!" Next week Tuesday it will be St Patricks Day and do you think of when you think St Patricks Day? In honour of this we're making Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes.Green, Guinness, leprechauns... all of which describes a good St Paddy's day celebration to me. But if you aren't keen on drinking Guinness, give these cupcakes a try because it isn't a strong overpowering flavour of the drink.(Even though its meant to be good for you. They used to give hospital patients, apparently. Well that's what my grandad said. But then again he is Irish, so he would say that!) So sit back, eat a cupcake and watch a little of Father Ted.

(Edit: I was going to do a Mothers Day FF post but I'm sadly not spending it with my mum this year. However, I will be sending her something nice to make up for it.)
(Edit the second: I also would recommend making 12 normal sized cupcakes as well. You can use the same amount of ingredients)

Cake Ingredients (makes 30 mini cupcakes. Recipe Adapted from The Cake Book by Jemma Wilson):

·       125ml Guinness Stout
·       125g unsalted butter
·       37g cocoa powder
·       200g golden caster sugar
·       1 large eggs
·       ½  teaspoon vanilla extract
·       70ml soured cream
·       112g plain flour
·       1 ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Cream Cheese Frosting

·       75g unsalted butter
·       120g cream cheese
·       420g icing sugar

Equipment:

·       Bowl x 2
·       Mini muffin tin lined with mini muffin cases
·       Saucepan
·       Whisk
·       Sieve
·       Jug

Cake Method

1.Pre-heat oven to 160c/350f/Gas Mark 4.
2.Put the Guinness and butter in a pan. Allow the butter to melt but not boil. Whisk in the cocoa powder and sugar until dissolved. Remove from heat.
3.To the egg, add the vanilla extract and soured cream, the beat until well combined.
4.Gradually pour in the Guinness mixture, whisking continuously.
5.Mix the flour and bicarbonate of soda together in a separate bowl, then add to the wet mixture, beating until smooth.

6.Transfer the mixture to a jug, as it will be very liquid and carefully fill the papercases until 2/3 full.
7.Bake for 20 minutes or until they spring back when touched. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Cream cheese icing method

1.Beat the butter and cream cheese until pale and smooth.
2.Sift the icing sugar into a different bowl, then add to the butter mixture in two stages and mix thoroughly to combine.

Don't forget it is Mothers Day on Sunday. So grab her a bunch of flowers and a cupcake!
Have a great weekend!

Penny Reviews: Restaurants-The Aqua Hotel Restaurant

Remember a while back I said I'd be doing restaurant reviews? I didn't? Well I'm sure I did a Top Ten Tips regarding writing them. Here's the review on the Aqua Hotel in Shanklin, on the Isle of Wight. I'll leave a link to their website at the bottom of the review. Let me know what you think!

Approaching the Aqua Hotel, I was excited to see a sign outside with some seafood specials. I love all seafood, so was keen to try one of these seafood meals. 

When walking up on the stone steps to the hotel, the general look is clean and modern. The outdoor seating area was full of holiday makers who were happily sipping drinks and eating meals. The atmosphere in the bar area and the outside seating area was relaxed and casual. The views here are also fantastic. Your practically sitting on the beach! Seriously, the views are amazing (but I'm not clever enough to take a picture erg..). 

My party decided to chill out in the bar area for a drink (lemonade, pint of Guinness and a glass of chardonnay), and again the friendly bar staff made the ordering process like a breeze.

When entering the restaurant, the whole place was buzzing with customers. Its clearly a popular place! I was very pleased to find that the tables, chairs, cutlery and everything was spotless. Seriously, this place did not have a speck of dust or dirt on anything. I think the modern minimal décor enhances how clean the place is, as well as giving off the illusion of more space in the restaurant.

The young lady who was our waitress for the evening, was thoroughly pleasant and gave us nachos and a sweet chilli dip to nibble on while reading the menus. I scanned the menu and found that it was very limited so, I looked over at the specials board and found one seafood dish: Baked Salmon. To be frank, I could make that at home. The seafood specials which I had seen on the board outside of the restaurant was no-where to be seen. One may assume that the specials were not available that evening.

Many of the dishes on the menu were simple and un-complex, which is refreshing to see once and a while. There was something for everyone, however I argued to my dining party, that I could make some of the dishes at home. I was promptly told that I was being too fussy and pick something! (Which can sometimes be true, coming from a hospitality background and all). The dishes were reasonably priced and inexpensive for the quality and service of the food. (Again had a stupid moment for not keeping the receipt to work out how expensive the meal was. Won't happen again!)  

The waitress was polite, well-spoken and very helpful when I couldn't decide on what to have. I settled on Farmhouse Pate with Melba Toast for a starter and for my main, Mushroom and Spinach Penne Pasta with Chicken and Bacon.
The waitress topped up our drinks and gave us some chilled water, and popped our order straight through.

We didn't need to wait very long (6 minutes approx.) for our starters to arrive! I was a little surprised that I got doorstop sized bread instead of melba toast with my starter. Pate itself was course rather than smooth which added lots of texture and I think it was a pork pate but was a little unsure. The pate was a little rich for me and tasted like a standard pork pate but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it.

The waitress again was on the ball, and waited a few moments before taking away our starter plates and asking us if we needed any more drinks. Much like the starters, the main course came out swiftly.

I was shocked at how large my main course was! The pasta was piled on and there must have been at least one chicken breast and quite a lot of bacon too. The pasta was ladled with a creamy white wine sauce which was a little watery but did not lack in taste. I felt that it that more spinach could have been added, rocket was used as a substitute, but that's just my taste. Popeye had the right idea. As I was consuming the main course, the bulk of the dish bet me and I had a "shouldn't of had a starter moment". If you like big main courses, this is the place for you! I just could not finish it. It was that big. After that, dessert was out of the question and we got the bill.

Overall the service and friendliness of the staff really made the evening complete. I have to say that the food menu didn't stand out for me but its a popular place and the food was simple but good and with stunning views of the beach, it really makes a dining experience more special when you've got great scenery to stare at.  

If you'd like to visit the restaurant here is the link to the website.
This review was not sponsored in any way and is my 100% my own opinion.

This is my first review and I know it wasn't as good as I would like but I'm going to do much better next time.

Monday Catch-Up:Back to Reality

Sorry about missing last weeks Monday Catch-Up. There was a good reason for it. I was sunning myself up in Tenerife with my boyfriend and he (and I) both wanted a tech break for the week. I was lucky that I had pre-written some of the blog posts in the week before 1,2,3 so all I needed to do was hit publish. 

The holiday was great by the way, thanks for asking. We packed lots in for a short space of time including Loro Parque, Siam Park, Royal Delphin Cruise and lots of walks by the beach. I came back lightly tanned and a bit burnt. I guess that's the price you pay when you have an 'English rose' complexion.

Getting back from holiday is very exciting too. Not because I have fun getting questioned by customs or anything like that, but because I've got 2 more adventures to look forward too. Firstly, I've moved in with my boyfriend of 3 and 1/2 years, which is exciting and scary at the same time. What strange habits does he have? Does he get freaked out by the many, many, many sauces I have? Who's going to do the washing up?! I'm sure its going to be hard but also fun, for both of us. I'll have to keep you posted on how we get on. 


The second adventure is that I'm starting a new pastry course at college. As most of you know I've graduated uni now so, for me, going BACK to college, is kind of a step backwards. I should be going into a graduate job or full time job like many other of my uni peers, but I decided to take the chance, improve my patisserie skills further and follow my dream. Even if its kind of scary, meeting new people and starting from fresh in a new area. 

I always like to think everything happens for a reason and it all works out in the end. Hopefully our oven works so I can still bake and post some tasty treats on here.

Are you going on any adventures? 

Easy Peanut-Butter and Jelly Brownies

Happy 4th July to all my American readers! I hope your having a fab day and to celebrate this occasion we've got an all time U.S.A favourite: peanut butter and jelly. I hope these brownies do this combo justice. Lets get started.
Peanut Butter and Jelly, that's jam to us British, is a fail-safe sandwich filling that has been made popular by the USA (thanks for that). Who knew it could work! When I first heard of the term PB and J I thought it was a type of pyjama. But times have moved on, I think for the better. 
These brownies take about 15-20 minutes to make as they are quite easy to make. What takes the biggest amount is the baking, which is 50 minutes. The reason for this is to slow bake the brownies to gooey perfection.

Recipe: Peanut Butter and Jelly (Jam) Brownie (Adapted from The Little Book of Lunch) 

·      350g dark chocolate (I used leftover chocolate for this so use good quality chocolate)

·      200g unsalted butter, softened (plus a little extra for greasing the tin)

·      450g golden caster sugar

·      4 eggs

·      100g plain flour, sifted 

·      5 tbsp Smooth Peanut Butter

·      5 tbsp Strawberry Jam
·      1 small pack of salted peanuts 

 Equipment:

·       23cm square cake tin, greased and line with greaseproof paper

·       Electric mixer/hand-held electric whisk

·       Sieve

·       Heatproof Bowl

·       Saucepan

·       Bowl

·       Knife

·       Tablespoon

·       Teaspoon

1.    Pre heat the oven to 170c/325c/ Gas mark 3. Grease and line the tin.

2. In a heatproof bowl placed over a small amount of boiling water in a saucepan, to melt the chocolate and butter. Set aside to cool a little. 

3. In a bowl beat the eggs and sugar until shiny. Gently mix in the melted chocolate and butter mixture and fold in the sifted flour.

4. Roughly mix in 2 tablespoons of the peanut butter into the brownie batter.  

5. Pour the brownie mix into the lined tin. 
6.Drop the last 3 tablespoons of peanut butter into the brownie mix and swirl though roughly.
7. Drop the 5 tablespoons of jam into the mix and roughly swirl. This will create a marbled effect throughout and will taste fab!

8. Bake for 45-50 minutes until shiny and crispy on top. To make sure the brownies are cooked, stick a sharp knife in. If it comes out clean-ish then it’s ready (I'm sure you know that already right? You've read that enough times on the many blogs you've read before to know when a cake is done? Well... good for you!)Leave to cool in the tin.

9. Cut into small squares and moonch until you are full of peanut butter goodness.

I hope you all have a great weekend. How are you celebrating 4th of July? 

Happy Halloween 2013 Bakers

Reading all the lively and seasonal recipes and posts based on one of my favourite holidays. Thats halloween of course! Dios de los muertos is another favourite... and there's Christmas.... do birthdays count then?
Back to the subject at hand, sadly this year I havent had the chance to bake for Halloween. I know its bakery blasphemy but I've been bogged down with university work. Being the last year, its the toughest I've had to face. Super fun coursework includes:
*Business Research Product on female chefs
*Stragetic Management Report on Starbucks
*Stragetic Marketing Report on Tesco
* Working on the Slow Food society

So its pretty hectic at the moment. I have no outside life at the moment. But on the plus side I did do enough baking last year to make up for it. Heres the links for last years Halloween baking:
*Orange juice Cupcakes
* Day of the dead cupcakes
* Ginger Cupcakes with a Ginger frosting

Theres also this years baking as well:
*Pumpkin Pecan bars
*Pumpkin Coffee Syrup
*Horror Film Gory Pumpkin Cupcakes

So whats happening to the student who's not really that into boozing it up in her adult life and is too old for trick or treating (too many people asking where the kid is and I reply oh I guess that me. They give you a sad look), I'll be watching horror films back to back and scare myself stupid or go on a ghost walk. It depends on how cold it is outside!
Happy Halloween and... dont have nightmares....
Bake On!

Earl Grey Mickey Cookies Inspired by Disneyland

Well it's been a week since I came back from my amazing holiday to *DRUMROLL* Disneyland Paris!

I'm gutted to come back to real life. It was like walking into a dream. I'm sure that many Disney fans know about the magic rush they get from going to a Disney Park.

It's a delirium of magic and stepping back in time and being a princess. 

(Note: I was not allowed to prance around in a big Lottie style dress, pushing children out of the way, to get to a ride declaring: "It's ok I live here!")

In any case, I was heartbroken to leave and so was my friend Sofia.

Heartbroken and very sore from all the walking. I loved it, none the less. So, I'm planning the next trip! I think next time my friend and I are going to drag our boyfriends by the hair and demand to go. Yes that is how obsessed we are.

In any case, since this is a baking blog I should tell to about my Disney adventures that are kind of related to baking.
To do some baking with I bought some of these:

Aren't they so cool?! I've never seen Disney cookie cutters before. So now I just needed an excuse to use them. I don't need an excuse to bake really, but it's nice to justify it. And I like nothing better then tea and biscuits so why not combine the two? 
These Earl Grey tea biscuits (or cookies whatever, as long as they taste good) are easy to make as well as being great as a sweet something before lunch or just something to dunk in tea. If you can handle the double dose of tea. 
Also, you can freeze this dough overnight, if you haven't got time to bake it. 

Also check out this nifty Alice in Wonderland teacup! A little gift to myself from Disneyland, there was an awesome teapot which I couldn't afford but hopefully will grab it on the next visit. (Makes a good excuse to go back no?)

Recipe Name: Mickey Earl Grey Tea Biscuits

Recipe: Makes 18-20 biscuits (recipe adapted from Cookies Galore)

·       80g unsalted butter, at room temperature

·       50g soft light brown sugar

·       1 tablespoon of teapigs Earl Grey tea leaves

·       1 egg white

·       150g plain flour, plus a little extra

·       Extra Demerara sugar to top each biscuit

Equipment:

·       Wire rack  

·       Electric hand whisk/ wooden spoon

·       Bowl

·       Sieve

·       Baking sheet lined with baking parchment x 2

·       Rolling pin

·       Mickey Mouse Cookie cutter

1.    Preheat oven to Gas Mark 5/ 190c/375f. Line the baking sheets with the baking parchment. (Don't preheat oven if your freezing this mixture overnight)

Step2. Cream the butter and sugar together

2.    Mix together the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat with a wooden spoon or an electric hand whisk until creamy.

Step 3. Stir in the tea leaves

3.    Stir in the tea leaves.

Step 4. Beat in the egg white

Step 4. Fold in the flour to make the dough

4.    Beat in the egg white. Fold in the flour to make, a soft but not sticky dough.

5.    Wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for as long as you can possibly can (I left it about an hour).

Step 6. Roll out and start cookie cutting!

6.    Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about 3 mm thick and cut out mickey head and transfer to the prepared baking sheets and sprinkle each one with demerara sugar.

7.    Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned.

Moonch with some tea

You can omit the demerara sugar if you like, but it will result in a pale colour. 
Have an excellent weekend fellow Disney/baking peoples!

(Yes I'm still using the princess siggie.)

Harry Potter fans,don't get jealous

I know its got nothing to do with baking or desserts or anything. But I'm off to Disneyland right now. As I'm typing his onto my phone at the eurostar station! I'm so excited.
On our travels me and my friend found Platform 9 3/4's. Yes the official platform, which we found so funny and a good photo op.
But we do look like lunatics. 
Bake on!
Penny x

What I Did For My Birthday

Even though I thought on my birthday week that I could take it easy and not lift a single palette knife. Of course, I got drafted and I made two chocolate cola cakes. One for my cousins birthday, which was handed out at work.

and then I made another chocolate cola cake for my boyfriends parents and of course, 'my cake tester' boyfriend.

Oh doesn't that scream chocolately goodness? 

I wanted so badly to make my own birthday cake but I was strictly warned that that wasn't going to happen as I do so much baking all the time, so I needed a break from it. Instead my lovely nan had a cake made for me and my mums birthday.

How cool is that? My mums loves bingo, (she's at that age), so she got a bingo card and I got a cute little cupcake, of course!

I was greeted on my birthday morning with a bunch of awesome presents! 

 I wasn't thrilled with all of my presents... I got some anti-wrinkle eye cream...I'm twenty-something but I think someone was trying to give me a hint there.

 However, one of my coolest cards was a beautiful Snow White card from my friend Sofia, who I made a birthday cake for. I love Disney so this was the best card! My present was inside the card...and the surprise was when I opened the card...

 Yups I'm totally going on a Ghost Bus Tour! OMG!! Thank-you Sof!!!
One of my other passions is anything scary, anything horror and ghosty. So it's not just all about cakes. 

Another one of the most beautiful cards I got, nearly moved me to tears. It was from my friend Naomi, all the way in Dubai, who I miss terribly. (Check out the Good luck cupcakes I made for Naomi here!)

 It really shocked me to see my face plastered all over the card! It looks wonderful but what made me smile was the message:

 Even the back was personalised! Thank-you Naomi, this card moved me to tears. Please come back soon!! We all really miss you here!

I was also lucky enough to spend time with my family and my boyfriend. We went out for a meal and even went out for bingo! I didn't win however. But I had an excellent birthday. 

I would like to thank everyone for my gifts, cards and for the wonderful memories. Closing this post here's a picture of one of my favourite foods, which I had the day after my birthday: Crab on Fries from Ventnor Haven Fishery on the Isle of Wight. 

These are some amazingly tasty chips!
Bake On!