M.A.C Make-up Cake

Oh me oh my, I made this cake a few weeks back and I am only getting around to sharing.

This cake, as you can tell, is for a lady who looooves her make-up. M.A.C make-up to be precise. It was actually a really fun cake to make. All bits and bobs of make-up strewn all over a pink and purple make-up case, which in fact was chocolate biscuit cake.

Chocolate biscuit is by far the most popular requested cake I get. People just go mad for it. I've been quiet busy as of late and it has all been chocolate biscuit cakes. So I really feel the need to bake something spongy and creamy and sumptuous. Luckily berries are in full bloom around these parts so I have great plans for them.

My sister and I took my little nephew on a hunt last week, a hunt for blackberries. We live by an extremely scenic river and low and behold there was bushes upon bushes of blackberries. We got a bucket full, not being too greedy as there was other kids out foraging too. We got stung by nettles, scrapes from thorns, screamed at spiders but my lawd it was worth it. It made the yummiest blackberry jam. I'm usually not a fan but this sweet, gooey blackberry concoction was something! I didn't have a sugar thermometer so it is more of a conserve which I personally favour to jam. Smeared over homemade scones Saturday morning was just heaven.

So hopefully I shall be back with some bakes soon. The evenings are getting darker and theres a slight nip in the air. This seems to be the time my baking mojo kicks in......when I can cover all my indulgences up with a big jumper lol!

Have a great weekend folks.....I'm off to pick more blackberries...

Shirley x

Fondant Fridays: A Little Choo Choo cake

I think this could be one of the simplest cakes I have ever made. No muss, no fuss just a little guy who loves choo choos! I tried to get inventive with some tracks and a "tunnel" and to be honest the picture doesn't even do it justice. It was fabulously cute in real life. It was very much a "I don't want to cut it up situation" lol which I always find is a job well done.

It was a chocolate biscuit cake with the addition of raisins instead my usual malteasers. 

Happy September to ya'll! Got myself some fantastically fresh rhubarb out of my uncles garden which I cannot wait to get baking with. I'm thinking some rhubarb and custard muffins. Of course there will tarts and crumbles too, that's a given!

Fondant Fridays: P-p-p-p-poker Cake

I have played poker I would say about twice in my life and it was basically me watching other people win money. In fairness once was in Vegas so I really had no clue what was going on, it was all happening so quick. The second time my Dad held a poker night at home so I wasnt too awful. I tried to be cunning and really "play" the game but lets just say I lost a few pennies that night also lol!

So when I was asked to make a small cake for someone "who loves his poker", I had some idea of what to make. The cake itself was a gluten-free sponge, raspberry jam and vanilla buttercream. I had never made gluten-free before and read horrendous story how difficult it was to get a good gluten-free sponge but it turned out perfect.....phew lol!

Hope everyones enjoying the last few days of holidays before all the schools are back. I honestly dont know where the summer went!

Happy Friday

Shirley x

Fondant Fridays: Vanilla and Chocolate Giant Cupcake

My Sister's friend has a little girl named Leah and she is my nephews bestest friend in the whole wide world. So when she asked me to do something for Leah's birthday, I was only too happy to do it. She didn't really mind what the cake was so I suggested a giant cupcake. I had recently bought the giant cupcake pan and I was mad to test it out. 

The cake was a vanilla sponge, raspberry jam and vanilla buttercream.

I made the cupcake casing out of chocolate. There are a few videos on YouTube of how to do this but it is basically melting down chocolate and coating the inside of the tin. You need quite a bit of chocolate as it has to be quite thick. When fully dried, give a little tug on the thickest part of the chocolate and it will pop right out. I was veerrry skeptical about this. I was expecting it to shatter in to pieces but it doesn't,trust me! It's such a nice clean finish instead of trying to perfectly buttercream it and who doesn't love chocolate.

While I wasn't too happy with the buttercream piping, I think every baker in Ireland will understand the frustrations with buttercream this last summer. Melty-Mac-Melterson!

Hope you all have a fantabulous weekend!

Shirley x

Fondant Fridays: Little Baby Booties Christening Cake

Look at these little booties, how fantastically cute are they?!

While I've made booties many time before, I have never put the addition of socks. I think they complete the little bootie. Can't understand why I would have never thought to do this before but sure, it's all a learning process.

This cake was a vanilla sponge, strawberry jam and vanilla cream. It was very popular and went down a treat. I heard it even got the stamp of approval of the grandmother. You know if the elders approve of cake then you're on to a winner!

The older kids went nuts for the booties and eventually the dad gave in and let them eat them....sugarbuzzzzz!!

Hope everyones having a good Friday! There seems to be a bit of change in the weather, I feel Autumn blowing in so get out and soak up any last rays of sun!

Have a good weekend.

Shirley x

Fondant Fridays: Flower Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes many a blue moon ago and completely forgot to share. I stumbled upon them last night as I was deleting some of the two bijillion photos I have of bakes. And as today is Friday, it worked out very well indeed.

I made this batch for a friend who's mom was celebrating (obviously) the big 6 0! Like the baby shower cupcakes, I think they make a cute accompaniment to a prezzie. I love making fondant flowers, there is something I find strangely relaxing about it and they always look super pretty, especially in abundance.

They were lemon sponge with lemon buttercream frosting and went down a treat!

Short but sweet on this beautiful sunny day.

Hope you are all out enjoying it and it lasts for the weekend!

Shirley x

Fondant Friday: Two tiered 18th Birthday Cake

Happy Fondant Friday!

I made this a few weeks ago and embarrassingly, I am only getting around to posting it now. But as its fondant Friday, it worked out pretty well.

This two-tiered cake is a chocoholics dream. The top layer was a chocolate fudge cake and the bottom layer was chocolate biscuit cake. The birthday girl had seen something similar online and wanted it in her favourite colours~purple and pink. It also had some purple and pink stars on the top layer, almost like a stars bursting out of the cake. It was quite breezy that day so I assembled them on delivery for fear of them bending in some crazy way.

I'd never done those stars before but they are super effective. The cake seems almost 'unfinished' without them. Of course did I bring my camera, or even my phone to show you all. No! Because that would actually require me to be organised and have a brain...ugh lol!

Anyway hope everyones Friday is going well and the weekend is even better!

Shirley x

Fondant Friday: Baby Shower Cupcakes

A while back, a friend of mine was invited to a baby shower. We having the usual chit-chat of what to bring, already knowing the mommy to-be had almost everything already. She had already bought a small gift, So I suggested why not bring along some cupcakes? They were super cute and a real nice touch if I may say so myself.

The mommy-to-be didnt know the sex of the baby so I did a mix 'n' match batch. I loved making each individual topper and although the were a bit time consuming, I adored the end result. I could honestly whittle away cupcake toppers each evening and die a happy woman. The went down an absolute storm at the baby shower. Sometimes the smallest little details can make the biggest impact...I was beyond delighted.

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!

Shirley x

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Hello you lovely people!

Where has time gone?! I have been M.I.A lately and hopefully will get back into some sort of blogging routine soon. I don't really know what it is about summer but blogging seems to go out the window for me. It probably has a lot to do with the bright long evenings and the fact we are actually having a summer. It has been a fantastic summer so far. You can wear shorts,vests and dresses without getting the 'I hope we get the weather shes expecting look' lol! I've been baking here and there but not half as regular as I would...I'm clearly a seasonal baker.

Last week I got an urge...I just HAD to have cake. I was in work and was itching for home time just so I could start baking. The last few weeks of bakes have been for other people so I had great plans to sit and eat cake all to myself until I couldn't breathe.....and that's exactly what I did!

Admittedly I didn't eat the whole thing alone. G and Mr. T were only too happy to indulge with me. It was light and fluffy with a smooth chocolatey buttercream. I adapted a recipe from god knows because I am clearly the most unorganised person EVER. But I do remember adding maple syrup to the cake batter and my, my! I will definitely be doing it again. It gave the richest,deepest flavour.....superb!

Happy Tuesday guys and I hope everyones enjoying their summer!

Shirley x

Guitar Cake

Hello...remember me..lol!

No I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, time has just not been my friend as of late. I honestly don't have a clue where February went and then I feel like I blinked and missed March. I mean how in gods name is it the first of April already!!!

I haven't even dabbled in much bakes. I went off bread for lent (like a crazy person) and my whole family went off sweet things so all that was left to make was more savoury dishes.....which I'm considering sharing as it does class as baked goods....right?!

I did, however, get an order for this guitar cake. I can't tell you how happy a new cake challenge makes me. It was something I had never done before and I've certainly never made something so large. I loved every minute of it.

I baked five sheets of chocolate cake and used a template I cut out of cake boards. I then "glued" them all together with buttercream and crumb coated. I think I've finally got my crumb coating down so that it crusts perfectly for the fondant. I then covered it in fondant and added the extra bits 'n' bobs with a little bit of edible glue.

I was pretty chuffed with the results......super fun project!

Hope you are keeping well out there in blogland!

Shirley x

Strawberry and Vanilla Viennese Whirls

Firstly I just want to say a Happy Pancake Tuesday to one and all! I love pancakes, I would be more of a lover of the sweet pancakes (shocker!) than the savoury. I can usually manage 3,maybe 4 and then die of pancake overload.

I used always be a jam gal until a trip to Paris with G. We were strolling up the Champs-Elysées and saw this huge crowd. I genuinely thought there was a celebrity or something near by, there was such a buzz. But no it was for crepes.....aka a thinner pancake! I had to see what all the fuss was about so we got one stuffed with nutella and oh maa lawwwd! A love affair was born.

Anyways to get back to these dainty bite-sized biscuits. As you all know by now I have a serious sweet tooth, that strikes at anytime. Whether it is waking up in the morning craving a muffin or staying up until 1a.m. baking Pecan Cinnamon Rolls, My sweetooth has it's own body clock. This time was no different. These were baked about 10p.m one night. Luckily they are beyond easy to make and bake within minutes.

These biscuits are buttery and melt almost instantly in your mouth. I chose to fill mine with strawberry conserve and vanilla buttercream which was dreamy to say the least. My sister thought they were shop bought which was a super compliment to get!

Recipe for Strawberry and Vanilla Viennese Whirls

Makes 12 bite-sized biscuits (24 biscuits sandwiched)

Ingredients

• 160g really soft butter
• 25g icing sugar
• 125g plain flour
• 25g cornflour
• 3/4 tsp  vanilla extract
• Vanilla Buttercream
• Strawberry Conserve

Instructions

 

1. Preheat the oven to 170C (fan-assisted oven). Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
   
2. Put the butter, icing sugar, plain flour, cornflour and vanilla extract in a mixer and beat until well combined and smooth. Making sure to scrape down the sides.
   
3. Spoon the dough into your piping bag fitted with star tip. I made mine bite-sized. So I piped them quite small just using enough pressure on the the bag that a dollop piped out. They were about a 2 euro coin sized round. Make sure you pipe them with a good amount of space apart, they may spread ever so slightly.
   
4. Bake in the centre of the oven for 10-12 minutes or until pale golden-brown and firm. Cool on the baking tray for five minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.Leave cool completely.
   
5. Smother one biscuit with strawberry conserve and a generous dollop of the vanilla buttercream and sandwich together with another biscuit.

Hope everyone enjoys their pancake Tuesday!

Shirley x

P.s. Can you believe it's March already? Honestly where does time go?!

Robot Cake

One robot cake for one very special little man in my life.

My nephew turned 3 over the weekend and had requested a robot cake. He loves robots. I have had many conversations in robot language the last few months......I.   AM.  A.  ROBOT.... You know how it goes!

The cake was a sponge with a raspberry and blueberry buttercream. I wouldn't say it was my favourite berry buttercream ever but it was tasty none the less. I don't think you can beat strawberry buttercream...it's just too good in my opinion.

The "body" was made up of four layers of sponge squared while the "head" was a three layer smaller square. Actually quite an easy cake to make. He was super happy with it and ate all the fondant "buttons and dials" within minutes of blowing out the candles.

I can't believe we are on to robots already, where does time go?! It seems like only yesterday I was whippin up "Iggle-Piggle" and Thomas the tank engine. I look forward to his birthday requests every year as you really don't know what he'll come up with. I thought for sure I would be making a Monsters inc. or Jungle Book cake this year but nope a robot cake.

So what my fav little man wants, My fav little man gets :)

Happy Birthday Callum!

Shirley x

Warm Rolo Stuffed Brownies

I have been wanting to stuff rolos into baked goods for quite some time. I dabbled around with cupcakes, cookies but eventually decided on brownies. I had seen a pin of a stuffed brownies and it just sealed the deal....I wanted them and I wanted them nooooow! (Enter Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka lol)

I mean just look at them. Drool worthy....perfect for my weekend treat! Warm brownies out of the oven are one of my biggest downfalls.... I HAVE to taste them while they are still warm, I just loooooove the warm chocolate gooeyness.

I used the same recipe as I did for my White Chocolate Chip Brownies and added some frozen rolos. I did not bake them as long as I usually would and I froze my rolos first. I did not want the rolo caramelly goodness to spread just everywhere. I wanted them to remain in one spot so there was globs ( that a word?!) of caramel here and there. Admittedly the chocolate on the rolos melted so the golden caramel colour was lost but all was forgiven after one bite.

They were beyond super moist but just baked enough that there was still a slight bite to it. The minute these hit your lips they just melt in a warm chocolatey goo. Then you get a hit of the sweet gooey caramel that can only be described as moreish. We ate these warm (which was a pain in the ass to photograph!) but they are just a tasty cool. I had two this morning, the second one I gave about 5 seconds in the microwave and it was like it was straight out of the oven :)

Recipe for Rolo Stuffed Brownies

 

Ingredients

• 175g good-quality dark chocolate (70-80% cocoa solids)
• 175g butter,cubed
• 25g good-quality cocoa powder,sifted
• 3 eggs
• 125g caster sugar
• 100g demerara sugar} alternatively use 225g light brown sugar instead of caster and demerara sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g plain flour
• 2 tubes of Rolos (15 Rolos and one or two leftover for you)

20 x 20cm (8 x 8in) square tin

Instructions

1. Stick the two packs of rolos into the freezer for a half hour or more. Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan-assisted oven). Line the base and sides of the tin with parchment paper. 
2. Melt the chocolate, butter and cocoa powder together in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Do not let the base of the bowl touch the water. Remove from the heat.
3. In a separate large bowl, whisk the eggs, both sugars and vanilla extract for 2-3 minutes on high speed until the mixture looks thicker almost whipped like. Continuing to whisk, add the chocolate mixture until well combined. Sift in the flour and add your chocolate chips. Fold through with a spatula. 
4. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and push your rolos lightly into your mixture. I did 5 across and 3 down but fit as many or as little as you wish. Do not put them all the way down to the bottom of the mixture as the mixture will rise up over them while baking. This make the rolos perfectly centered. 
5. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes. When cooked, it should be dry on top but very 'gooey' inside. If you wish to leave them in longer do so just be sure not to leave it too long or it will become cake and not moist,gooey brownies. Leave cool in tin for 5 mins,then 5 minutes on wire rack and cut, which is difficult if serving warm. I cut them length ways first. Leave them cool for another 5 Minutes and then square them off. Another idea would be to leave them cool entirely, cut and then heat up. 

The latter would be a great idea for a quick dessert at a dinner party with a big dollop of ice-cream.

My sweet tooth just couldn't wait :)

Happy Tuesday!

Shirley x

Two Tone Vanilla Buttercream

Yaaay! I'm finally back online.

Our poor little city was battered with a storm yesterday and we had a major power outage. We sat by the fire and candlelight all reading our books. It was actually quite a surreal experience. I started to re-read the twilight saga as I felt we were in for the long haul but thankfully it came back just a little while ago. I yahoooed and did a happy dance much to my family's amusement.

We actually had to laugh. You would think what we would miss the most would be lighting or heating or the fact we couldn't cook anything but no. It was tea! We all suffered major withdrawals. The kettle was the first thing to be put on even before the heating....We are tea people!

Luckily some baking had been done already this week. It was my Dad's birthday Tuesday so I made a traditional Strawberry Victoria Sponge. G had also been giving out he didn't get any cupcakes last week so I whipped some up.

A few posts back I showed you How I do my two toned buttercream but I spotted another method on pinterest so I said I'd give it a whirl. This method consisted of filling your piping bag with two different coloured buttercreams.

While this method did look pretty, it was a lot messier. And it used up more dishes. Anything with less wash up is better in my books. I used a light pink and dark pink and it did still give a beautiful effect. I just think next time more striking colours would be better.

How to make two toned buttercream? #2

 

What you need

• piping bag
• piping tip of choice
• gel food colouring of choice
• two bowls
• buttercream

Instructions

1. Whip up your favourite frosting ( a neutral colour, I used a vanilla frosting ).
2. Divide your frosting into two separate bowls. I used a red (poinsettia). Add a drop or two of the colouring to your frosting. Add a few extra drops to the second bowl. Play around with the colouring until you achieve the colours you want.
3. Put tip into your icing bag. Using a spatula scoop one frosting into one side of your piping bag. Scoop the other frosting to the other side of the bag. It is slightly messy so don't be too annoyed if the colours mix. Push from the top of your bag and twist. Squeeze out a small bit from your piping bag until you see the two different colours. And pipe!

Hope everyone has a lover-ly (ya see what I did there!) Valentines.

Shirley x

A little slice of real life.......

What a weekend! 

As I told you on Friday I was off to Skibbereen, West Cork with G for a taste of cottage life. G had given me this weekend away as a Christmas gift and let me tell you the boy done well. I actually did not want to leave!

I never really saw myself as a 'cottage-y kinda gal' but oh my! I actually heard myself saying the words "look at these beams". I often watch TV shows where people are searching for their dream cottage and they are all about the beams. I never really 'got' it but now I am well and truly converted!

I mean seriously look at those beams, don't ya just love?!

It's a good thing I loved it so much too as the weather was beyond atrocious. All the walks and exploring our surroundings were put by the way side. Our fab little cottage had an outside jacuzzi which was never even opened. G attempted it once but the wind was beyond crazy. I felt like we were actually in a hurricane at one stage.

We did venture into the town for a bite to eat a few times and what I saw (through the car window lol!) looked like a nice town. It would have been great to have been able to walk around and have a look but sure, next time.

I love the people of west Cork in general, they are so friendly and welcoming. It's like you've known them your whole life.

Of course when it was time to leave, the storm let up and the sun came out to say hello.

I didn't really mind to be honest, I was quiet happy pottering around the cottage, drinking tea in my pj's :)

If cottages are your thing, you should check them out at Cottages for couples.ie. They have these amazing treehouses that were closed for the winter but G and I are definately going back to check them out in the summer. They looked so cool and if our cottage was anything to go by I'm sure it will be amazing!

Shirley x

Princess Castle Cake

Happy Fondant Friday folks!

I was asked to make this cake for a little princess who was turning 3!

But this cake ended up being the disaster I was talking about in Tuesday's post. And what annoys me the most is I still can't figure out what went wrong. You see those lovely towers? Well the one on the left decided to snap whilst being transported.

The storm did not help in any way, shape or form. It was fine until I was taking it from my house, shielded under an umbrella from the wind. I was in the car about two minutes when I noticed a tear in the fondant and it just went all down hill from there!

When I arrived with the cake I did my best to repair the damage but the tower didn't exactly have the same height or structure it had previously. I was absolutely gutted, like extremely close to tears. It is my first ever disaster and I must admit it knocked my confidence a bit.

Hmmmmm.......Who knows, maybe it was just one of those days.

.............................................................................................................

What is everyone up to for the weekend?

G and I are headed off to a cottage in 'wesht' Cork for the weekend which should be interesting with the forthcoming storm.......

Wish us luck :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Shirley x

Two Tone Valentine Cupcakes

Awhile back I dabbled in this two toned cupcake craze that I'm sure you've all spotted on pinterest. It's pretty simple really and I absolutely love the effect it gives. With Valentines coming up I thought I'd try a red and white contrast. But actually when I look at the photos it reminds me more of an ice-cream and syrup topped cupcake, which I reckon wouldn't taste too bad either :)

I tried it out for some Christmas cupcakes and said I'd be back when I had the technique down. Well here I am folks and here's the technique I use...

They say a picture says a thousand words but seriously....That's it! Simple right?!

But just incase here's the breakdown...

How to make two toned buttercream?

 

What you need

• piping bag
• piping tip of choice
• gel food colouring of choice
• fine tipped paint brush
• buttercream

Instructions

1. Put tip in icing bag, I used my Wilton 1M tip. With an artists brush, paint two thin lines of gel food colouring on opposite sides inside the bag. 
2. Fill your piping bag with vanilla buttercream (recipe is below). 
3. Twist your piping bag at the top and push from the top of the bag to get rid of any air bubbles. You do not want to squeeze from the sides. It will smudge your colour and you could lose the clean two toned look. And that's it...ready for piping!

Recipe for Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

 

Ingredients

• 225g unsalted butter,softened
• 400g icing sugar
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp full fat milk, room temperature

Instructions

 

1. In a large bowl, beat butter until extremely softened and almost fluffy.
2. Add icing sugar and slowly beat working up to full speed. If you go full speed straight away you will end up with an icing sugar cloud and it goes everywhere......been there!
3. Add milk and vanilla extract and beat mixture until light and fluffy.
4. Scoop into your prepared icing bag and pipe!

Isn't this such a great and easy technique? I'm sure you could dabble around with all different colours. Maybe two or three different colours in the icing bag. A rainbow of colours topping your cupcakes..how fab!

I topped mine with small heart shaped iced sugar cookies. With it being Valentines around the corner it seemed only fitting :)

Happy Thursday!

Shirley x

White Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake

This past weekend was quiet a whirlwind in the cakey bakey department. I had a disaster on delivery of one of my cakes, I nearly cried (seriously!). I had a truimph over my Lemon Poppy seed Loaf (Soo happy....Stay tuned) and the festivities had to be tended to.....

It was my Mothers birthday this weekend and she requested a cheesecake. Yay No Bake....I did a little happy dance inside. But when she told me she wanted a white chocolate one, I nearly went into full blown rave mode :)

I think my love of white chocolate is pretty well documented by now. And get this, I have NEVER tried a white chocolate cheesecake....I almost shocked myself!

I was pretty knackered after all the baking so I went in search of a fabulous no bake cheesecake recipe. I stumbled across Nigellas recipe and adapted it from there. First thing I did was make the base chunkier. I love the base as much I love the filling. I always aim for 1/3 biscuit and 2/3 filling. I just think it's a much nicer balance. I added more white chocolate and I layered the biscuit base with strawberries that I had chopped in half.

The strawberries were an absolute winner to compliment the filling. But to be honest it wasnt the greatest cheesecake I've ever tasted. Simple yes! but it lacked the creamy sweet flavour of the white chocolate. I would, however, recommend any novice cheesecake bakers out there to try it, it really is very easy to make and it sets perfectly.

It has set the wheels in motion, for this white chocolate lover, to come up with the ultimate white chocolate cheesecake. I have a few really good ideas :)


I hope everyone is having a lovely Tuesday!

Shirley x

American Style Soft Baked White Chocolate Chip Cookies

My love of cookies has been car-eh-zeeee lately! I'm blaming the sheer simplicity and speed at which I can whip this cookie dough up. I call these cookies 'American style' because its not often you can get these soft baked cookies this side of the pond but they are fast becoming my fave cookies. The chewy centre and they way they melt in your mouth with a cuppa is beyond scrumptious.

This cookie dough is so versatile. It is the exact same cookie dough as my Chocolate Chip Cookies but with white chocolate chips. It is like a whole different cookie. It was sweet,creamy, crumbly on the outside, chewy in the inside. And the greatest thing about these is I baked some straight from freezer. So you always have homemade cookies on hand!

Recipe for Soft Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 30

Ingredients

• 170g butter
• 150g demerara sugar
• 50g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 250g plain flour
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 200g White chocolate chips

Instructions

 

1. In a large bowl, beat your butter for 1 or 2 minutes to soften the butter. Add both sugars and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. The demerara is quite a large grain so do not be alarmed if this does not cream to a smooth texture. Add your egg and vanilla extract and beat.
2. In a separate bowl, sift your flour, cornflour and bicarbonate of soda together. Add to wet ingredients and mix. Add your chocolate chip and mix slowly for a 30 seconds until evenly dispersed.
3. Wrap dough in cling film and put in freezer for 1 hour. These bake great from frozen.You can alternatively chill it in the fridge for 2-3 hours. But YOU MUST chill your dough. The key to a good cookie is to keep the dough chilled. Ever wondered why you put lovely round balls in the oven and they come out a crispy thin cookie? Well the taller and more chilled you have your dough the less "melting" time it has.
4. Pre-heat oven to 180°C (fan assisted). Roll a ball (tbsp approx) of your dough and place on baking sheet. Leaving space for each cookie to spread. Then pinch them with your fingers into a more triangular shape. This will make the cookies chunkier. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before moving to wired rack.

Hope everyone is having a great Thursday! I have a quiet a few cakes to do in the next few days so I'll see you all Tuesday with my weekend bakes :)

Shirley x

A recipe-less Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf

Today I come to you fine folk as one annoyed blogger.....

A few days ago I had a half day from work. I came home and decided to make something nice for after the dinner. I was on the verge of making my Madeira Cake when I realised I only had one egg. So it was either go out in the torrential rain for two eggs or get inventive with what I had.

And man, oh man am I happy I was super lazy that day because this is one of THE nicest cakes I have ever tasted. And that dear friends says A LOT!

The reason for the one measly photo is this is all I could squabble away from my family. I was losing daylight and there was no way I was going to be able to keep this in its perfect loaf state to photograph in the morning. How I wish you could all see how drool-worthy it looked. It had a rich brown colour and was smothered in a thin lemon glaze.

As you all probably know now from here, here and here. I have a slight love (slash full blown obsession) with poppy seeds. And lemons and poppy seeds are, well, a match made in heaven! I was completely expecting this cake to go wrong. Either taste like complete and utter cardboard or to bubble over in the oven...just something had to! But no. It was crumbly,moist,lemony and almost melted in your mouth. My Dad who is probably my biggest critic said it was the nicest cake he had tasted in a long while.

Ughh here's the kicker...

I never wrote my recipe down!! (I am annoyed with myself to even type that)

I have an idea what it was, well I know it had one egg anyway ha :) I just hope I can get it bang on perfect again and come back to you all with the recipe.

So stay tuned.......and all you fellow lemon and poppy seed lovers say a lil' prayer ha :)

Shirley x