Cake/ Cookie

Another recipe from Kay’s collection over at Kayotic. I think I’ll cover most of her recipes by the end of summer, they are great:-)

Again I’ve changed this recipe a bit only because I know based on previous experience that too much flour in a brownie doesn’t work well for me so I replaced the flour with more chocolate.Another change was to use mixed berries which I had some in the freezer rather than Raspberries recommended in the original recipe.   This cake tastes as good as it looks and I will definitely make it again.

Enjoy:-)

Ingredients:

• 200 g Self raising Flour
• 400 g Caster Sugar
• 200 g unsalted Butter, softened
• 300 g Dark Chocolate
• 140 g frozen mixed Berries(Blueberry, Blackberry, Raspberry)
• 400 g soft Cheese
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 5 Eggs

As you probably know by now, I love love love butternut squash:-) Its tasty, versatile, readily available all year around and cheap too. My Mum makes the best butternut squash cookies ever and I will put up the recipe and photos for them some time soon. Meanwhile these tasty cupcakes adapted from VanillaGarlic recipe will do fine:-)

Enjoy:-)

Ingredients:

• 230 g Butternut squash
• 2 Eggs
• 100 g unsalted Butter, melted
• 100 g caster Sugar
• 100 g brown Sugar
• 100 self-raising Flour
• 30 g Walnuts, chopped roughly
• 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp Ginger

I am not a big fan of lemon cakes, I must admit but this recipe from GoodFood web site sounded so easy that I couldn't resist. Ricotta in this recipe makes the cake really soft and creamy but not too rich. The sweetness of sugar and tartness of lemon zest work well together, making this cake a must bake:-)

Enjoy

Ingredients:

• 175 g Butter, softened
• 175 g Caster Sugar
• 125 g self- raising Flour
• 250 g Ricotta
• 3 Lemons, zest only
• 3 Eggs, separated
• 1 tsp Baking powder

This is another one of The Pioneer Woman's recipes, again some changes were made simply because I didn't have all the ingredients at home. It was an easy and enjoyable Sunday afternoon baking mainly because I knew I would be eating this sugary and buttery delight in less than 40 minutes:-) Enjoy.

Ps: You can use half the amount of butter and a bit less sugar but I was pretty desperate for something fatty and sweet at the time:-)

Ingredients: 

• 1 large apple, peeled, cored and cut into thick slices
• 3 medium plums, stoned and cut into halves
• 100 g/3.5 ounce Butter
• 200 g/7 ounce ready rolled Puff Pastry
• 100 g/3.5 ounce Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

This is another recipe from Stephanie at Joy of Baking. I must admit this is the first site I go to whenever I crave something sweet. Her recipes are very detailed and the cakes or cookies always turn out great so I am one happy costumer:-)

The only change I made to this recipe was to use some caster sugar in cupcake batter because I didn't have enough light brown sugar, I don't think it changed the taste that much. Brown sugar definitely gave it more texture.

 Ingredients:

Chocolate cupcakes:

• 210 g (1.5 cup) plain Flour
• 100 g (1/2 cup) Caster Sugar
• 100 g (1/2 cup) light brown Sugar
• 2 tbsp unsweetened Cocoa powder
• 1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 6 tbsp Vegetable Oil
• 240 ml (1 cup) water
• 1 tbsp white Vinegar
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract

Cream cheese topping:

• 227 g (8 ounce) Cream cheese
• 4 tbsp Caster Sugar
• 1 large Egg
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Simple Cinnamon Cake with Creamy Icing and Fresh Strawberries

We celebrated my gorgeous Hubby's birthday last week and I wanted to bake him a cake as I do every year. Now if you ask him what type of cake he wants he would have said chocolate but since he had a Nutella cake last year, I decided to bake a different cake. The recipe for the main cake is very simple, your usual "equal parts sugar, flour and butter cake" as my Mum calls it:-). I topped it up with some icing not because E is a big fan of cream but mainly because I've been trying to lose some weight (this is the story of my life really) so I really fancied something sweet and creamy. Add some fresh and frankly giant strawberries to it and you have strawberry and cream cake:-)

The whole thing turned out well and E really liked it and that is what matters most especially on his birthday:-)

Ps: I am going to try and use ounce and cup in my measurements as much as possible but bear with me as this is all new to me and I am not good with numbers anyway:-)

Ingredients:

• 175 g (6.1 ounce) self-rising Flour
• 175 g (6.1 ounce) Caster Sugar
• 175 g (6.1 ounce) Butter, room temperature
• 3 Eggs
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder
• a pinch of Salt

For Icing:

• 250 ml Double Cream
• 1 tbsp Icing Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Chocolate and Banana Cake with Chocolate Moose and Blackberries

This recipe is based on the Chocolate Banana Cake from Joy of Baking. I've cheated a bit and used ready-made chocolate moose for topping:-). Banana in this cake gives it a better texture so it does not taste just like another sponge cake.

The combination of sour blackberries with sweet almost sticky cake is perfect. Thanks again to Stephanie at Joy of Baking for recipes that always inspires and never disappoints:-)

Ingredients:

• 200 g caster Sugar
• 125 g plain Flour
• 35 g Cocoa powder
• 3/4 tsp Baking powder
• 3/4 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 3/4 tsp Vanilla
• 1 large Egg
• 1 medium Banana
• 120 ml warm Water
• 60 ml Milk
• 60 ml Canola oil
• 200 ml chocolate Moose
• 150 g Blackberries