Chocolate Bourbons

Selection tins of tea-time biscuits are a dangerous thing for awful decision makers such as myself, most often resulting in one of every type being greedily gobbled up. Whether your biccie of choice is the delightful custard cream, a jammy dodger, digestives, chocolate chip, 'Nice', or good old traditional shortbread there is one that is the childhood favourite of many, and that is the bladdy brilliant chocolate bourbon

The Hunt Begins for the Perfect Vanilla Fudge

Today is a momentous day, today was my first adventure into the crazy world of candy making :)

Well technically I will be posting this tomorrow once I get the chance to do a funky little photo shoot..so I suppose from your point of view, yesterday was a momentous day! This is messing with my mind a little though so I will carry on writing about it as today

I love candy. All candy. You know those old fashioned vintage style sweet shops with the walls covered in great big bell jars full of various brightly coloured sugary treats? well they are my heaven. There are a few characters in the candy world though that share a special little place in my heart (apologies to the others, you are lovely too in your own little way); sherbert lemons, flying saucers, bullseyes, apple 'n custard sweets, bon-bons, chocolate raisins, gobstoppers, sugared almonds...i could literally go on forever. But the one I reaaallllyyy idolise is fudge. Fuddgggeeee. mmmm. In particular sugary sweet creamy classic vanilla fudge

The Best Coffee Cake

Please ignore the wonky topping! I stupidly chose a freaky slice to photo, the rest of the cake has a relatively even streusel, not like this funky looking (but oh so yummy) piece

When the Pioneer Woman says something is the best ever...you know its going to be good. I don't particularly like naming something 'the best' as everyone has their own preferences, but who am I to argue with the great PW!

I didn't really know what to expect when making this as I have never made a coffee cake before, but was really blown away with the results! It's not often I literally CANNOT resist a cake, ok thats an utter lie, but normally I can resist caving in for at least an hour after gorging myself silly having a slice, this one however is something altogether different. I don't know if I have ever made or tasted such an incredibly light fluffy sponge, ever. Its ethereal in its qualities, down to the folded in egg whites no doubt, but its a texture I find utterly irresistible. You probably gather I like this cake by now..and I havn't even got started on the streusel yet!

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

I've had a busy couple of days, moving out of my Uni house yesterday (end of second year already...where on earth does time go) and I got my exam results too, managed to get into my third n final year hurrah! This past year has been really tough, I don't know if I should go into details as maybe a food blog isn't the right place to go into the in's and out's, but I truly don't think I will have a harder 365 or so days in my life again. I try to look on the bright side though and think that if I made it through that year (and managed to pass those blasted exams!) then I can make it through anything. Anyway, im going to avoid rambling today (or try to at least..i suffer from the waffling disorder) and get to the bit you are interested in :)

Ladysmith Cake

I bookmarked this recipe yonks back, Im one of those people that saves a stupid amount of recipes every day knowing full well I wont ever get around to making them all, I think its an addiction. I remember thinking how interesting and pretty the cake was, and the name made it sound like the perfect dainty tea time treat! I'd never seen anything quite like it but it seemed pretty easy and used ingredients I almost always have on hand, however the lack of reviews (i like to know other peeps have success with a recipe before I try my hand at them, im a whimp!) meant it just went into my 'bake some-day' file. Until today, hurrah!

You begin by making a basic vanilla sponge to which you add yummy spices to half (and over yourself if you are a clutz like me, fact of the day - cinnamon stains fingers an interesting brown tinge and is a pretty strong makeshift perfume also!)
You layer the spice mix in a prepped tin, smooth on a layer of jam, top with the plain mix then sprinkle away to your hearts contents with some scrummy chopped nuts, all the while smuggly licking the multiple batter smothered implements with a content little grin.

Dreamy Creamy Lemon Crumb Bars

 

Oh my lordy. If i havn't put on a good few pounds today due to these little bites of creamy goodness I will be incredibly impressed with my metabolism.

Scrumptious Carrot Cake

Using vegetables in cakes shouldn't work, my brain fights against the idea, but this cake just proves otherwise. It is A-MAZ-ING, and I don't say this lightly as I am a self confessed cake snob. Snobs a bad choice of word i think...i love all cake! But for something to be worth remaking it has to have that extra something that this one truly 100% does

I realise most people probably have a go-to carrot cake recipe, but if you don't already then please do give this one a go! It is delectably moist (that word is one of my cringe words..moist..ew..but as far as cakes are concerned, moist = yummmm) due to having an obscene amount of carrots in it, I did so much research before choosing this one and that was really the winning factor, too many carrot cake recipes have only 2 cups or so shredded carrot, thats not enough! This one is basically a health food in its own right. It has a wonderful texture studded with plump little raisins, a shed load'a nuts and a bit of coconut thrown in for good measure :) Result is that every bite has that little something special that means it never gets boring, rather a dangerous attribute when you have this 3 tiered, cream cheese slathered, utterly irresistible deliciousness in the vicinity.

Are we getting the fact I like this cake? I think I have probably made my point :)

Another wonderful thing about carrot cake is that it is so versatile as everyone has their different preferances, for example I really adore the juicy pop of the raisins so probably would opt for 50:50 raisins to nuts. Whereas my mum, although liking the raisins, would rather have a higher nut content. If you don't like either, leave them out! Not a coconut fan, same thing goes. A can of crushed pineapple is a nice addition too. Really just play around and find your perfect balance, or just try mine out and revel in its moorish scrumminess