It's only just gone 12pm as I write this and already I've had one of those days.

Let's rewind back to the start....

8am, we get up to discover it's been so windy in the night that the bins have disappeared from the front of the drive. Thankfully Mr T is a good un' and went to rescue the bins before he headed into work.

9am, I open my pill packet to discover the prescription I picked up last week was actually for my old pill, not the new one so cue a mad dash to the docs to get it changed. When I got there I was told I would have to wait until 5pm even though I needed to take it that morning and it was their fault for giving me the wrong one. After expalining this to the receptionist she told me to come back in half and hour.

9-10am, run a few errands in Otley then discover one of the shops I needed to get a last minute Christmas present in is closed arghhh!

10am, go to the docs and pic up my prescription and head next door to the chemist. While I'm there I hear a girl asking for pen and paper as when she was getting out of her car a gust of wind whacked it against another (it's very windy today). I pick up my script and head back to the car park to find, you guessed it, my car was the one that had been hit. Poor Betty Blue has a massive dent in the side.

Luckily the girl appeared at that instant and gave me her details and I got straight on the phone to Mr T. I head home to a load of missed calls from the sis-in-law and my nephew is ill so they won't be coming over today to make gingerbread houses. Disappointed big time :(

So there you have it, a pretty rubbish Monday morning. I think I need to go make so more of these Chocolate Orange Brownies and bury my face in them.

There is something about After 8's that always reminds me of Christmas. Maybe it's the chocolate and mint combination or the smell is quite nostalgic but whatever it is I knew I had to make something with those flavours when Sharon from Pudsey CCC invited me to a mini CCC event at her home last week.

Initally I was unsure as to how I would execute it but after a flick through the good old BBC Good Food website I stumbled across this recipe. Does anyone else have too many cookbooks but still go online in search of recipes? I'm so guilty of that!

I knew it was the ideal recipe but still needed a bit of work. Personally I can't stand sugarpaste on cakes, yes it makes them look amazing and I'll happy decorate numerous cakes with it but when it comes to cake club I like to ice my cakes in frosting or a glaze.I loved that the cake was filled with chocolate ganache so I decided to up the quantities and coat the outside of the cake in it. I also decided against the loaf tin purely because I couldn't be bothered with cutting the cake and having to repeat myself during the baking process (read the original recipe to see what I mean).


Chocolate Mint Cake
170g salted butter, plus extra for greasing
100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
240g plain flour
280g caster sugar
6 tbsp cocoa
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 large eggs
280ml buttermilk ( I forgot to buy some so just used the same amount of normal milk but added 1 tbsp of lemon juice and left it to sit for 5 minutes)

Chocolate Mint Ganache
300g mint chocolate (I used the big bars from Aldi)
300ml double cream

• Preheat the oven to 160C fan

• Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin.

• Melt the butter and chocolate together in a small pan. 

• Mix the flour, sugar, cocoa and bicarbonate in a bowl.

• Whisk together the eggs with the buttermilk. 

• Whisk the melted chocolate mixture and egg mixture into the dry ingredients, along with 200ml boiling water until lump-free. 

• Pour into the tin and bake for 20 mins until a skewer inserted  comes out clean.

• Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

• To make the icing warm the cream until it starts to bubble lightly. 

• Pour over the chocolate and stir until it has fully melted and is a glossy and smooth.

• Place in the fridge to set for a few hours.

• Once firm fill the cake with half the ganache, cover the top and sides with the remaining and decorate with a few festive sprinkles.

Enjoy!

All the wonderful cakes, yum yum!

I adore kitchen gadgets. As much as I long for the simplicity and romantic notions of years gone by (I’m often convinced I was born in the wrong era) I could not imagine life without all my kitchen toys.

Ox cheek bone luge

yummy fries!

The Juicy Lucifer

This burger was so yummy if a little spicy for me

Mini wedge salad

Toasted marshmallow sweet potato pie