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: