Cookie Dough Truffles

Yesterday, we had 13 guests over (20 people in total) for xmas dinner (imagine cooking in a student house for that number of people!!).. Obviously i seized the opportunity and insisted we needed some little sweet things to pass around after dinner as none of us thought we would be able to fit a full dessert in..

I've made these a million times before (okay maybe just 3...) But these are quick to make and turn out delicious everytime :)

Made with condensed milk, i made an eggless cookie dough (nomming obviously all the way through).. chilled the dough for half an hour, rolled out into walnut sized balls, chilled in the freezer for 2 hours, before dunking them (messily, might i add, i'm impatient and lack in skill) in melted chocolate, and decorated with drizzled white chocolate.

my messy tray...

Unfortunately, because i'm a poor student, i constantly run out of ingredients, so traditionally, i didn't have enough chocolate to cover them all.. So what did i do? I melted milk chocolate with white. 

Err.. i dont think i'll be doing that again in a hurry!! especially if i need it just to coat stuff..

It tasted fine, but it became really thick and almost impossible to coat anything with :(.. i used my instinct and added a tsp of vegetable oil, and it made it slightly more workable and still tasted fine..

Still, not enough to cover all the truffles.. and my chocolate drizzling skills suck.

But that's okay because they're still delicious without the coating... 

I like to put the naked ones into vanilla ice cream :) like a cheaper cookie dough ben and jerrys ^_^

Naked or clothed, these truffles went down a treat... my little rustic looking things... 

Cookies & Cream Cake

I always bake my housemates cakes for their birthdays. But i always seem to be running out of time because of uni work and deadlines, so it's always the same.

Victoria sponge with buttercream and raspberry jam.

Don't get me wrong, i LOVE a good vicky sponge. it's just very samey. and it kind of takes the surprise out of the birthday cake. 

So i wanted to get a little creative!!.. i didn't really have a recipe for what i was doing, i just kinda went along with my experimental instincts, since they seem to have all been so good to me recently.

My friend Lizzie has a giant sweet tooth. 

So i thought what could be better than a chocolate cake??

Not just a chocolate cake.

But a chocolate cake with... Crushed oreos??...

And buttercream to be like regular cream...

And i'm soo very glad i baked this delicious dream!.

I basically made a basic rich chocolate cake mix with extra vanilla, and combined 3/4 packet of oreos crushed. (on hindsight, it probably didnt need these in the mix as you couldn't really taste them in there, but still it makes it look more interesting)... and baked..

For the filling, unfortunately, i ran out of butter.. So i made as much buttercream as i could, just a regular one with icing sugar and a dash of vanilla.. 

I added the sugar to taste as i wanted it sweet but not too sweet so that it could be more creamy for the cookies. Right at the last minute, before i frosted it on the cake, i lightly stirred in the remaining crushed oreos (carefully not mixing too much, otherwise the icing would have turned into an unattractive poo colour :(..) 

There was so little buttercream, i couldn't even frost the outside.. 

After standing back and looking at the measly amount of buttercream, i decided, that if I was the birthday girl, I'd want to cry at the stingy amount of frosting.... So i ran and threw open my cupboard and there was my big tub of Marshmallow Fluff winking at me in the face...

"It's so crazy" I thought "...That it might just work..."

I even used it as a glue to stick some white choc drops to the top, creating a loverly 22..

It turned out to be a brilliant last minute addition as it was easily spreadable, Lizzie LOVES marshmallow fluff and it was a fun little surprise in the cake. The only downside was that after an hour or 2 of waiting to be cut, the marshmallow started to melt and run (giant mess).

But again, we didn't care because soon enough, we were all fighting for the last piece.

The only thing i would change, is to possibly sub the chocolate sponge for a richer, more indulgent chocolate cake.. like devil's food cake... or like that AMAZING BRUCE BOGTROTTER CAKE from Matilda... Mmmm...

This was only because when i added the biscuits to the cake mix, it made it look like a fruit cake. Hm.

But what it lacked in presentation, it totally made up for in taste..  :)

Brown Sugar Shortbread

After rooting through a few blogs that i usually cry over (as my talent is not nearly anywhere near as amazing)... i found this awesome recipe from Bakergirl and started drooling over the keyboard and clawing at the screen...

i'm cool.

So yeah, anyway, i felt determined that those sugary buttery treats HAD to be mine. So after converting all the cups to grams (nightmare! why is it that the americans always have the best recipes?!!)... i had a good old stab..

Let's not compare now shall we :(..

Anywaysssss, what i noticed about the dough when i was preparing it was that it was MEGA CRUMBLY. 

Like, almost too crumbly to deal with- and i thought "Crap. Done it wrong already and there's only like 3 ingredients. Worst Baker Ever." And then had a look at the recipe blog again... She stated that her dad helped her out of this sitch... BUT HOW?! I don't have a Dad on call to help me solve a crumble crisis!

I got round it by being very gentle and moulding and rolling the dough out in small batches (hence, i had many round edged, rustic-looking pieces) and using the warmth of my hands to try and melt the butter in the dough to make it stick a bit better...

Ready for the oven...

 Here's one straight out of the oven... Nice and golden... I thought..

So i tried to be very nurturing over my shortbread and tried not to over-bake it or under-bake... I think I caught them just in time.. well, they looked that way...

But once the biscuits cooled down, they were actually a little hard.. Might have needed them in the oven a little less time then... Oh well. But nonetheless, still edible and lovely with a hot cuppa.

I got a little indulgent and decided to dunk them all half in milk chocolate... OMERNOMNOM.

Chilli Chocolate Fondant Cupcakes

This week, i had a slight adventurous streak... I was deciding what type of cupcake to supply the coffee cup with this Tuesday... when i thought of chilli and chocolate. I've never tried it- but i thought, what could be more warming on a cold day than a rich chocolate sponge with a spicy heat??... With this in mind, i searched high and low on the internet to find a recipe... but i couldn't find anything that really satisfied what i was looking for.

In the end, i chose the simple Chocolate Fondant Cupcake recipe from the famous Hummingbird Bakery Book and decided i would replaced the dark chocolate used for the ganache with some chilli chocolate.

i trecked to Selfridges where i spent a whole 7 STERLING POUNDS (boohoo!!) on just 300g of Lindt Dark Chilli Chocolate. This was more of a bawling my eyes out while scoffing delicious posh chocolate moment.

I LURVE LINDT CHOCOLATE. Endof. so i KNEW this couldn't go wrong... Right?

I took an obscene amount of pictures today- just so you could all see what i do...

butter and caster sugar (before)...

(after...)

flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt added

eggs and milk added...

before baking... (in hindsight, i should have filled them a little less)..

...coz they kinda came out huge... Just LOOK at no. 3 on the 3rd row!! O_O

my babies coolin

hollowing out the cakes and filling with the chilli chocolate filling (i added a few extra chilli flakes into the mix just to heat it up a little more..)

cake top popped back on and covered with the chilli chocolate ganache

sprinkled with grated Lindt Chilli Chocolate...

a single cupcake in all it's glory ^_^

a very messy cross section... chocolate sponge, chilli chocolate filling and frosting

These little minor experimental cupcakes are turning out a treat so far for me. The boyf said they were the best ones i've done so far. The chocolate was velvety and extremely rich and indulgent.. Mmmm... The chilli wasn't too spicy either, it just gave the chocolate a really nice heat- even with the extra chilli flakes i added. The spice was felt at the back of the mouth and not on the tongue so it was bearable even for the milder mouths. Watching the ganache turn glossy to matte was pretty cool :) it made the process all look very profess(ional) which is something im still not used to... It's given me more confidence to be more experimental with recipes- even if it's just replacing one ingredient with another..

Overall, a very easy bake with tasty results :)

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

What better to warm up in the cold weather than with a bold chocolate orange cupcake? These cakes were probably my best bake so far. When i made the sponge mix it was nearly the same consistency as when i make victoria sponge, less runny than the other cupcake mixes i've made, more robust and stable. This resulted in a really soft sponge with that slight firm crust on the outside :)

fancy instagram photos always makes them look better ^_^

1 tbsp of orange zest was just enough to get that tang running through- absolutely delicious!

It was a nice surprise when i opened the oven door and all my cupcakes had risen to a pretty consistent size! that's never happened before for me- and they hardly sunk either! Brilliant!

fresh out the oven- check out that consistency!... and err... mind the mess... *cough*

cooling on my make-shift cooling rack (an upside down utensil divider)

For the frosting, i had a look at the recipe and once again, i was pretty unsure about the measurements... so i took a bold move and made it myself, using the same ingredients but tasting and adding as i went along. I've done this before with plenty of buttercreams, but never with a frosting. It worked out to be quite easy, just enough icing sugar to take away the bitterness of the zest and the cocoa, and just enough butter to mellow down the sugar, and cream cheese to give it the right consistency.

frosting on the left, cake-mix on the right

I reckon i should just do all the frosting by eye from now on, this is THE BEST cream cheese frosting i've EVER made.

The only thing i was debating was whether to decorate with a sprinkle of orange zest (pretty but i think, bitter) or just a little orange jelly wedge (easy but looks a little lost.. and a bit like a piece of lego pizza)... i chose the latter, but on reflection- i should really have chosen the zest. D'oh!!!!

Oh well, they came out pretty impressive by my standard anyway. I even took more pictures in hope it would make my blog slightly more interesting :P

Need to work on that rustic smear of frosting with the palette knife...

Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies

This is my very first attempt at making any sort of Whoopie Pies- please be gentle with me!
So word on the street is that whoopie pies are the new cupcake. I was a bit curious as to what they were like, texture and taste wise... I've never had one so i'm not even sure if mine turned out right! But all i know is that they were pretty damn tasty, very sweet and such an adorable size. Just enough :) mmm...

I thought i'd start with a basic chocolate chip one (if i had even got the right amount of chocolate chips -_-"- definitely need a whole 'nother packet next time).. the process is pretty easy, it's definitely something i'd enjoy making when there are mates around just watching you (which there was). Blitzing ingredients one after the other, chilling the mix in the fridge, dolloping on a baking tray and whackin in the oven for 10-15 mins. They just looked so innocent and light :)

I don't know how dense the cake is meant to be, mine had a nice thin crunch on the outside and were soft and buttery on the inside. I've never used yoghurt in a cake recipe before, i was a bit skeptical whether it would make the mix runny or sour... but i found that it gave a really nice creaminess to it, and the four stiffened up the mixture quite a bit anyway. A very nice surprise.

I sandwiched the sponges with a chocolate marshmallow filling, comprising of that real American Marshmallow Fluff stuff that tastes deeeeee-lish, but my god, it's not kind to the student pocket. I ended up using half of the MASSIVE pots you get (400g?) and that cost me nearly a fiver. Not a happy bunny- but for my love of baking, i guess i'll let it slide.

But on the other hand, some of my housemates found these a little too sweet... which is weird, since they can drink melted chocolate by the gallon! and for a girl that loves baking, i confess that i don't have a very big sweet tooth AT ALL, and i didn't find these very sweet... how very odd... in fact i scoffed 2, one after the other.

The chocolate marshmallow wasn't very chocolatey... this may have been because i used drinking chocolate powder instead of actual cocoa powder.. but nonetheless, it tasted pretty awesome. And may i add, i WAS going to pipe the filling so that it all looked a bit more presentable.. but i grew impatient and wanted them MY OM FRIGGIN NOM. So i just did a palette knife shmear. Forgiveness.

Overall, whoopie pies are fun and simple to make (the basic recipe anyway!), they're pretty yummy and very cute, but the marshmallow isn't kind to my purse, so i'll probably only make them on occasion.

Or when i feel rich.

...and famous.

Banoffee Cupcakes

So these are the first i've ever made of this flavour (as are most of them). Now, im not a huge fan of bananas, but i bake to please and i know a lot of people are a fan of the banoffee flavour. Using a recipe from the hummingbird bakery book "Cake Days", i followed their recipe for a light vanilla sponge with mashed banana and a light, creamy caramel custard topping.

But wait-

Isn't banoffee, banana and toffee?? ...and... and not, well, caramel??

Oh well.

The recipe was pretty standard to follow, with a basic vanilla sponge mix but with the mashed banana, it managed to bulk up the mixture quite a bit, so i was able to squeeze out 20 cupcakes, as opposed to my usual 14.

I watched like a hawk over my sponges in the oven, careful not to over-bake and not under-do like i did with my last batch of cupcakes (see boston creams II).. i also carefully followed the recipe for the cream caramel topping which was similar to the custard filling for the boston creams, except this topping had whipped double cream in it (yum!) so it turned out not quite as sweet and sickly as i thought and was actually quite light and airy with a hint of caramel sweetness running through. Very nice.

However, there was only just, JUST, enough topping to cover the 20 cupcakes. Since usually when i follow the recipe for frosting, i always have MASSES left (even when piping), so this time i made 3/5 (3 fifths) of the amount stated and managed to pipe 13 and then used a palette knife to smear the others with the little i had left. I always have trouble eyeing how much frosting to make... maybe 4/5ths is the magic number/division.

I piped the topping on with a homemade piping bag made out of a sandwich bag (first time!) just so that i could have the right size round hole i wanted. I think, for the consistency of this topping, it wasn't stable enough for a fancy star style pipe, so i thought a round pipe would be fine to give it the right touch. I then just decorated with a light sprinkling of chocolate pieces (i would have preferred grated chocolate but i dont have any *bigsadface*) to give it that "banana and something naughty" feel. (oo-err!!)..

So yeah, anyway, these turned out quite nicely. 3 of my housemates said it was their favourite so far (they say that every time so i dont know whether to believe them), as they weren't sickly so they could happily eat the whole cupcake and not feel so guilty, and there was enough banana in there to keep all the little monkeys happy :)

Have a look:

Boston Cream Cupcakes II

I decided to try and make boston creams again, since they went well last time but there were just a few small adjustments i needed to make before they were spot on.

So this time round, i put a quarter tsp more of vanilla essence into the custard filling and for the frosting, i put in half cocoa and half drinking chocolate powder (the type you add milk to), just so that the taste was slightly milder and shaved off the bitter after taste you got last time. However, besides the fact that i made these adjustments to make THE PERFECT BOSTON CREAM, turns out the oven was a little too hot, so the outside looked done but the inside could have done with another 3 minutes, but nonetheless still edible (i promise!!). And for the frosting, i noticed i didn't have to use all the whole milk stated in the recipe (after i chucked it all in of course -_-')... the amount of whole milk to be added would be if using the proper hard butter, but since i was using softer butter, i didn't need it all.

It's getting frustrating when i'm learning- just when i think im going to get the perfect bake, there's always something else i need to learn, improve or didn't do that i should have. *sigh*... oh well i guess that's the learning process...

ONE DAY!!

This ranting all originates from my genetic overly pessimistic and perfectionist trait... These cupcakes weren't actually all that bad, but not good enough by my standards!

Caramel Cupcakes

These definitely were not for the faint hearted, or those interested in keeping their teeth. These were sooo sweet!! but nevertheless still tasty.

The original plan was to make these salted caramel cupcakes with a matching frosting, sprinkled with mini honeycomb shards. The problem was, i've only made honeycomb twice, both in primary school. I cannot for the life of me, remember how to make it. So i pulled out a recipe and tried to follow it. Twice. Both were wrong. I was so scared about burning my sugar and syrup that i probably added the bicarb in too early, resulting in a chewy, soft honeycomb, and not the sharp, brittle shards i wanted. I would have made it a third time, had i not run out of golden syrup!! I think i really needed a thermometer, that would have been good for saving the syrup and a bit more accurate than guessing...

So to save the rather plain looking frosting, i found some fudge pieces my housemate gave me for my birthday in the cupboard and popped them on top. It was quite nice for a substitute but i still want to learn how to perfect honeycomb. (perfect?!! do it anyway.)

These cupcakes turned out to have a nice, light, spongey crumb and a very sweet frosting. Everytime i follow recipes for frosting, it always turns out too sweet (for me), maybe i'll do it myself next time and add more sugar as i go along...

Not So Red Velvet Cupcakes II

So there i was, ready to set off with my pennies to finally get my hands on some of that red food colouring paste for some delicious red velvet cupcakes when i was told by (the very moody lady at the shop) that they were all out and they've only just sent out a new order for some -_-'... so i bought the next best colour- Melon- which is like some orangey colour. why?!! (yess well i ask myself that now) because i was desperate.

So the story goes a little like this. I was happily making my cupcakes the next day when i reached the stage to put in the food colouring. How much do i put in?? well, i thought as much as i wanted until i reached the right colour. I dont think it was ever going to reach the right colour since i put in half the pot (bad mistake) and my lovely cake mix was looking a little like a giant baby accidently ate a bad curry the night before. Gritting my teeth, i ventured onwards and it turns out the cakes were a pretty good bake. they looked good, the sponge was incredibly light and well err, spongey. but there was definitely some sort of chemically after-taste and a kind of sugary film that coated your teeth. Oh well.. my cake's were not a glorious red colour, not even an orange i'd settle for. when they came out, they didnt actually look that different to normal cakes which was a bit annoying, since i could have gone without it and not have gotten all those nasty results.

Anyway, they're all frosted now with cream cheese frosting.. and ive forgotten to put them in the fridge so the icing is probably all sliding off. great. they'll be off to the shop tomorrow after another 7am treck.

With a bit of luck, they'll be red next time. stay tuned for part III!!

Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies

These are an old favourite of mine to make. Perfect with a cold glass of milk (whole if you're prone to being a fatty like me)... Crunchy edge, soft buttery centre and warm gooey raisins... these innocent treats have never, ever failed me. 

Mocha Cupcakes

These were the first batch of cupcakes i sent off to be sold at the coffee cup shop outside my uni campus. I was selling 10 of them at £1.50.... After selling only 4, i realised i should probably push the price down since we're all only students after all..

These came out surprisingly well for a first try, The sponge was light and airy with an espresso and chocolate hint, and for once my frosting was stable enough to pipe. Please forgive the piping too, it was my first time, so they look a bit like brown swirly fairy poos. I think i'll need to invest in some better nozzles since this was actually my biggest one...

Unfortunately, my luck kinda ran out there... Since there was some miscommunication when i thought the coffee cup was going to be providing me something to display my cakes on and they thought vice versa. Whoops. So in such short notice, the night before i was faffing around. once again. looking for anything i could find to store some cakes on. I found a cake stand my housemate got me for my 21st and then just put an upside down pyrex casserole dish ontop as a cover :P... it looked a bit rustic but one can't complain when you're about to breakdown and throw every utensil you own at innocent cowering friends. The only problem with this set-up was that i could only store 4 cupcakes at a time due to the tapering shape of the casserole dish, so i had to rely on the staff to restock it. 

So before bed, i made my little sign and popped it in my little photoframe i got from IKEA for 79p ^_^ and got my crap together, before setting off at 7am, to get my cakes to the shop before 8... ugghh, my face was NOT pretty sight.

When i arrived, just before opening time, i was informed that the shop had run out of coffee (that's right) and no delivery had arrived to replenish so they wouldnt be able to open until it had. So i'm hoping the reason i didn't sell too many was because they only opened around 10am... i hope anyway. Either that, or they were just too darn pricey. Maybe a big drop to £1 next week, only because i love my studentkind.

Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes & Millionaire Shortbread

I made these for a BBQ gathering we were having at our house during the amazing indian summer, along with some millionaire shortbread. I thought these would make decent bitesize summery treats for the peckish. 

I made an insane amount of millionaire shortbread as this happens to be quite a few favourites in the house. Unfortunately, due to me being stressed out and flapping around like a headless chicken at the fact there wasnt enough sugar, I made a HUGE layer of toffee caramel, a thick magnumesque marbled dark and milk chocolate layer and a very sorry layer of shortbread. Next time, next time.

The dark chocolate and the overload of caramel was just far too rich, my teeth nearly melted. Obviously the boyfriend will tell you otherwise since he has no teeth now.

As for the cupcakes, surprisingly, these were more of a love it or a hate it. Some loved it so much they bought 5 and eat them one after the other. Some didn't like the squishy texture the strawberries gave the sponge. I personally found them a little difficult to eat but it was worth it in the end. It did made me question whether i'd cooked them long enough by how squishy they were. However, there were no reports of food poisoning so that's always a plus.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Argh!! Remembering these buggers drives me nuts!! I couldnt figure out what was going on half the time, the consistencies were unfamiliar and everything looked a bit of a mess... the chocolate cake base was extremely dense, whilst the "cheesecakey" bit was soo runny, it resembled yoghurt and i was skeptical if it was EVER going to rise. But rise it did. And they looked pretty (well, err..) pretty... for now.

okay well, maybe instagram helped a bit.

Once cooled, i topped them all off with some cream cheese frosting. Mine always seems to be a bit too runny, i'm still trying to figure out how to rectify this. 

I suppose these were edible, but these were definitely harder to bribe my housemates with. The dense cake really stuck the top of your mouth, it reminded me of brownies and next time i may use less cocoa. It was quite strong and even slightly bitter. It needed something sharp to cut through all that rich gooey goodness, maybe some raspberries??

Basically, a bit of a disaster. If at first you don't succeed...

Boston Cream Cupcakes

I made these as a "Welcome back" treat for my housemate who had been travelling around America all summer. So i thought, what could be better than a cupcake that youve probably been surrounded by for the past 4 months?! Boston cream a light vanilla sponge filled with custard (her fave) and topped with a rich dark chocolate frosting. and the stuff that looks a bit like brown pencil shavings was chocolate shavings.

I was quite happy with these actually, they were the first cupcakes i've made with a filling, and therefore the first stab i've had at using the "cone method" of hulling out the middle of the cupcake, filling and then popping the "cone" back ontop. The sponge was light, the frosting was heavy and the custard could have been slightly more vanilla(ry). Feedback from the critical housemates was "We need more frosting!!" and "Can i lick your wrapper?"... well. you can't complain with that can you?

      Boyfee and a boston cream                                                                   .

Green Velvet Cupcakes

Green??! I hear you cry! Yes green, because i couldn't find red and i'm a poor student who couldnt afford red food colouring paste. I was hoping my cupcakes would come out like mini edible Hulks but disappointingly, a 40ml bottle of food colouring did nothing so next time i thnk i might invest in some of that paste. it might mean i wouldnt eat for the next week but at least i'll have a dozen cupcakes to live off of :)

Besides that minor mishap, these cakes didn't stay around for long. Om friggin nom.

Excuse the poor picture. My camera and my phone both ran out of battery so my housemate took it on her blackberry >.<... it was also in the night. Apologies.