I've been thinking of how I can evolve this blog as my life changes and even though it's been a tad neglected of late I do love it. It's my space to pour out my thoughts, share my recipes and talk about my boys. Somehow I wanted to merge these things but I'm not a mummy blogger, nor am I an amazingly talented baker; I'm just a mum who loves to bake.

I popped a poll up on my Instagram stories last week asking if my followers wanted to see more baking with children posts and the majority said yes so I've decided I'm going to create a feature on here called Baking With Toddlers. I've realised I also need to do a wee bit of housekeeping on this blog and tidy up some faulty links and add this feature to the top bar (no idea on the technical name for that, oops!).

Anyway.... the other day I decided we should bake some cupcakes together during Dylan's nap time and it was ace! I weighed everything out in advance and had the oven preheating so all Ethan had to do was tip each item into the bowl when I said so and we let the mixer do the work. He loved it and I couldn't stop smiling watching his enjoyment of seeing the simplest of ingredients come together to form a delicious chocolate batter. While the cupcakes baked in the oven he was sat on the floor watching them intently and once I had placed them on a cooling tray he was dying to get decorating. Try telling a 2 year old they need to wait when there are chocolate buns right in front of them is a wee bit of a challenge! 

When it came to piping the swirls of buttercream on to each cupcake Ethan thankfully let me do it while placing his hand on top of mine. I was dreading there being a "I do it mummy" and chocolate buttercream going everywhere but he was so good at watching and generally just taking it all in. I was also pleasantly surprised at how neatly he added the decorations but lets not mention the chocolate buttons that he scoffed before they made it to the cupcakes! A lot more were consumed by a certain little blue eyed boy that what actually ended up on the cakes.

Honestly though, we had the best morning and it was lovely to spend that quality time with my biggest boy. Time is going by so fast so when I get opportunities like this I want to grab them with both hands and cherish them.

If you are thinking of getting into the kitchen with your little one, just do it! You don't even need to bake from scratch, there's nothing wrong with using a good old box kit. It's all about making those memories.

If you follow me on Instagram I've popped the highlights in my Stories so you can see what we got up to.

Baking with Toddlers - Chocolate Cupcakes

12 hole muffin tin

Cupcake cases

140g caster sugar

40g butter/baking spread

100g SR Flour

20g Cocoa

120ml milk

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 160C

Line the muffin tin with the cupcake cases

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy

Beat in the dry ingredients and then the wet ingredients until smooth

Divide between the cupcake cases (it should make around 9 cupcakes)

Let the toddler lick the spoon!

Bake in the oven for 18-20 mins until springy to touch and a skewer inserted comes out clean

Place on a wire rack to cool

80g unsalted butter, softened

225g icing sugar

25g cocoa

A selection of chocolate sprinkles 

Beat together on a high speed until thick and creamy. 

Add a few tablespoons of milk if needed to help combine and make the buttercream more spreadable

Pipe a generous swirl of icing on to each cupcake

Decorate with your chosen selection of chocolate goodies

Enjoy!