Cocktail Birthday Cake

This is a birthday cake for one of my fabber dabber friends for her 30th birthday. She is a massive lover of cocktails sooo the theme was easy peasy. She is also "obsessed with her dog (who has her own facebook page,I kid you not!!) so I popped a little "dora" on the side.

The cake was Chocolate Biscuit Cake (which seems to be EXTREMELY popular lately) and topped with a cocktail glass. For some reason I never remember to take photos of my cakes, my bakes yes......the cakes no! Its not the clearest photo in the world but I loved the cake.It was fun and girlie which describes the birthday gal to a tee!

Happy Birthday Aoife x

Shirley x

Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Cookies

 

I'm a huuuuge fan of peanut butter. At school I used to get in so much trouble with my friends who are clearly not peanut butter lovers ( aliens, I know), for bringing peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. Ill eat it on pretty much anything bread,crackers,celery but to be fair its usual off a spoon :)

Peanut butter and chocolate belong together in my opinion. Instead of adding chocolate chips, I went right in with chunks. These cookies are soft and chewy and insanely moreish.They were really quick to whip up and bake within a few minutes. Absolute winner in my peanut butter lover book!

Recipe for Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chunk Cookies

 

Makes 12 giant cookies

Ingredients

• 70g butter, softened
• 125g smooth peanut butter
• 60g light brown sugar
• 55g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 125g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 90g chocolate, chopped into chunks or use chips if you wish.

 

Instructions

 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
2. Place the butter,peanut butter and sugars into a large bowl and beat until light and fluffy.Gradually add the egg until it is fully incorporated in the mixture.
3. Sift together the flour and baking powder together and fold it into your mixture. You can do this by hand or on the lowest speed on a mixer.Add your chocolate chunks/chips and combine.Your mixture should be pretty much a firmish dough and easy to handle. 
4. Roll the mixture between your hands to create balls which can then be placed onto the baking sheet. The cookies can be as big or as small as you like but remember that the mixture will spread out when cooking so do not put them too close together.
5. Bake for 15-20mins or until lightly brown and the centre still gooey. Leave cool (if you can, I couldn't) on a wire rack.

 Finito! Whip up to impress any peanut butter lovers you know :)


 Shirley x

Cadbury's Creme Egg Stuffed Cupcakes

If you are creme egg obsessed then this cupcake is for you! I know its probably hard to get your hands on the mini creme eggs now but if you do......

These babies are not just topped with the little egg of gooiness, there is also one inside the cupcake..SURPRISE! "Ooooooo" seemed to be the main reaction. Don't you just love biting into a cupcake or muffin to find something delicious stuffed in?

I decided to go for the Mini eggs as I didn't want it to overwhelm the cupcake but it didn't, so if you you feel the urge to stick a full sized Cadburys creme egg in there, go for it!

 

"How to put Cadbury's Creme Egg inside a Cupcake?"

 

 

What you need

 

• Your favourite chocolate cupcake batter. You could use a box mix just as easy whatever works for you!
• Cadbury's Creme Eggs minis or be a rebel and go original size:)
• A freezer

Instructions

1. Place your Creme Eggs in the freezer for 10 mins. You want them to be chilled, not frozen. This way the egg doesn't loose its thick chocolatey shell and the gooey consistency of the egg remains the same.
2. Preheat oven & whip up your cupcake batter.
3. Fill your Cupcake cases 1/3 of the way with your batter.
4. Remove your eggs from the freezer and place onto your batter. This way the egg is in smack bam in the middle of your cupcakes.
5. Spoon over your remaining cupcake batter until 2/3 full.
6. Into the oven for the required cooking time and cool.

You'll be left with a delicious cupcake with a chocolatey gooey surprise inside! I topped mine with Swiss Meringue buttercream and half a creme egg. The eggs cut perfectly in half the fact they were chilled. Would love to get my hands on some caramel eggs.....


Shirley x

Rhubarb Tart

My uncle Joe came up trumps once again this year with a big stash of Rhubarb. We had a little rhubarb cook-off between myself, my Dad and Aishling. Dad made stewed rhubarb and Aishling went with the classic crumble. My contribution was a Rhubarb Tart.

I don't know about you fine folks but I always have issues getting the correct sweetness to cut through the rhubarbs sourness, so I do mine a little differently!

 

Recipe for Rhubarb Tart

 

Makes 1  9" pie

Ingredients

• 400g shortcrust pastry
• 500g chopped rhubarb
• 250g caster sugar (approx)
• 6 tbsps plain flour
• good knob butter

 

Instructions

1. Make (or buy!) the shortcrust Pastry and leave chill in the fridge for 30mins. Preheat oven to 180°C. When chilled, Roll out 2/3 of your pastry and line your greased tin. Place some greaseproof paper over your pastry and fill with baking beans or dried pulses (I have used lentils before and they worked a treat). In to the oven and bake "blind" for 15 mins and leave on cooling rack.
2. While the pastry is baking, put your rhubarb and 1 or 2 tablespoons of water into a large pot and add 1/2 of your caster sugar. You want your rhubarb to stew ever so slightly but not break down completely. I like to do this so you can control the sweetness/sourness ratio. Add more or less sugar according to taste.
3. Combine remaining sugar and flour. Sprinkle 1/2 the mixture onto pie base. Heap rhubarb over the mixture and sprinkle with remaining half. Dot small knobs of butter randomly throughout. Cover the top with remaining pastry and pinch the sides with a fork to seal. Cut some holes or prick with a fork to leave steam escape. Brush with beaten egg for that "shiny look".
4. Reduce oven to 160°C and bake for 20-25mins.

We ate this warm right out of the oven with some vanilla ice-cream. Its not the usual way to make a rhubarb tart but it works. The addition of the flour and butter makes the filling so much nicer. It absorbs all that rhubarby sweet syrup and with the crunch of the pastry crust ,it really is rhubarb heaven!

Hope everyone has a good week!

Shirley x