I can't believe it has been a month since our trip to Berlin and a month since Himself proposed!!! These past few weeks have gone by in a blink of an eye and I have been fully embracing my inner Bridezilla while researching venues. We are going to visit some when we are back home at the end of October (yes it will be back in Ireland eeep!) and I am so excited!!!

Anyway, enough of me going on about wedding stuff! I thought I would share some pics of the wonderful baked treats and delights that we sampled in Berlin. There was this amazing chocolate shop called Fassbender & Rausch and oh my god it was out of this world. It really is in a league of it's own. I have never been anywhere like it before and I could happily have spent hours in there. Unfortunately we didn't venture up to the cafe upstairs as we had already stopped for coffee and cake but if we ever go back that will be my first port of call!

There were lots of famous landmarks made out of chocolate on display and the detail on them was just stunning. The desserts were amazing too. I had a white chocolate and raspberry dessert and oh my, it was divine. They boxed it up beautifully and I enjoyed it later on that evening back at the hotel.

All this talk of it now is really making me want some chocolate!

Brandenburg Gate in chocolate

The Reichstag in chocolate

The TV Tower in chocolate

The dessert I bought - heavenly!

The prices we so cheap for such brilliant quality.

The dessert counter

Really wanted to buy this one too but I was good and stuck with one dessert.

Another Monday has arrived and another meal plan. We pretty much stuck to last week's plan but apart from Thursday where I had to work late and ended up picking up a pizza on the way back home.

Im getting my head round this whole low carb diet that Himself is doing and I'm finding I'm reducing how many carbs I usually eat too. I still love my pasta and spuds but sometimes it feels like a bit of a faff when it's just for me. I do wish I liked salad though and then we could eat exactly the same thing but I can't stand the stuff. I do love a nice hot meal so salad is just meh...

So this week the plan is:

Monday - baked sea bass with roasted veg
Tuesday - spicy pork and rice/salad for Him (this meal really has become a midweek staple. It's so quick and easy to make and there is always leftovers for lunch the next day).
Wednesday - Szechuan beef with peppers and rice/salad
Thursday - Im meeting the bestie for dinner as a late birthday celebration for her so He will prob have a chicken salad
Friday - Prawn curry
Saturday - once again will prob be a bit of experimenting in the kitchen
Sunday - Roast


I will be linking this post up over on Mrs M's blog so make sure you have a nosey and what everyone else is up to.

Have a lovely week xxx

Take cookies for example, I don't know about you but you can't beat a really good chewy chocolatey cookie straight from the oven. I found this recipe online but it it didn't have enough chocolate in it so I reduced the flour content and added some more cocoa. I think next time I will add more cocoa to it but that's personal preference. I also had some Tate and Lyle golden syrup caster sugar in the cupboard that I got in my goody bag from the Leeds Bake Off that I had yet to try out so this seemed like the perfect recipe to try it on. If you don't have that soft light brown sugar will work just as well.

Ingredients:
125g butter, softened
225g golden syrup caster sugar or soft light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g self-raising flour
30g cocoa
1/2 tbsp milk (only if you find the mixture is a bit too tough and dry)
200g chocolate chips (I used 100g milk and 100g dark)
Makes 24ish (depends on how much cookie dough you munch on before it makes its way into the oven!)

• Preheat the oven to 180C/170C fan

• Cream the butter and sugar 

 

• Beat the egg in a small dish and add the vanilla extract.

• Sift in the flour, add the eggy vanilla mixture and the chocoloate chips and mix together. 

 

• Roll into balls (about a heaped teaspoon of cookie dough) that are a wee bit smaller than a golf ball and space well apart on a baking sheet that has been lined with baking parchment. I used a yorkshire pudding tray and yes this will take a lot longer cos I could only bake in batches of 4 but it stopped the cookies spreading together.

• Bake for 10 mins and using a palette knife carefully place on a cooling rack. They will still be soft but will firm up while cooling.

And that's it - easy chocolate chewy cookies!

The theme for the most recent Leeds Clandestine Cake event was "Ooh You Tart!" where we had to create a cake inspired by our favourite tarts. Now I love a nice lemon dessert and after talking to a fellow CCC comrade on Twitter she suggested I make Lemon Meringue Pie.

Now this recipe is totally made up but it looks good and tasted good and sometimes they are the best bakes. I just followed my gut with this one and I'm really please with how it has turned out. Next time I might add lemon zest to the meringue before baking just to give it that extra lemony zing! I also abandoned the mixer for this cake and gave my arms a good workout creaming the butter and sugar by hand and using the balloon whisk for the rest. Sometimes it's nice to do things by hand although when it comes to buttercream or bread dough I'll always use my mixer!

I think next time I will make my own lemon curd but for this one shop bought stuff was fine.

Lemon Meringue Pie Cake

Meringue

2 egg whites
115g caster sugar
1tsp white wine vinegar
1tsp cornflour

• Preheat the oven to 160C/140C Fan

• Lay a sheet of baking parchment on a tray and draw round the shape of your 20cm cake tin

• Put the egg whites in a bowl and whisk until stiff

• Add the sugar to the mixture a teaspoon at a time while whisking at the same time

• Stir the cornflour and vinegar in a dish and whisk the the meringue mixture

• Fill a piping bag with the meringue mixture and snip off the end.

• Pipe a series of blobs within the circle shape you have drawn but give the outer edge a bit more height (basically pipe it as if you were making the meringue for a pavlova).
  
  
  

• Place the meringue in the oven and turn it down to 130C (fan) for one hour.

• Once cooked the meringue should be a creamy/very light brown in colour and the shell will be firm to the touch.
  
  
  

• Leave to cool in the oven with the door closed for an hour or two for a chewier meringue.

Lemon Sponge

125g caster sugar
125g stork
125g SR flour
1tsp baking powder
zest of 2 lemons
2 eggs
1/2 jar of lemon curd

• Grease and line one 20cm cake tin

• Preheat the oven to 160C (fan)/180C (no fan)

• Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy and then add about 3/4 of the lemon zest.

• Crack eggs into a jug and give a quick beat with a fork.

• Mix the baking powder and flour in a bowl then add about half of this to the butter and sugar mixture.

• Add about half of the egg mix and whisk together

• Mix in the end of the flour mixture and eggs and make sure you scrap the bottom of the bowl so it is all combined.

• Pour the mixture into the tin and place in the oven for around 25mins until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Now to assemble the cake - the easy bit!

• Turn the cake face down on your cake stand/plate/board so you are working on a nice flat surface. 

• Spread a generous amount of the lemon curd on the top of the sponge using a palette knife and encourage it to drop down the sides of the cake (this will give an oozing effect once the meringue is on top). 
  
  
   

• Place the meringue on top of the cake

• Fill a piping bag with the remaining lemon curd and drizzle over the top of the meringue. Try to avoid spreading it with a knife or you will risk breaking the meringue.

• Sprinkle over the remaining lemon zest and that's it - easy!

Enjoy!

Since I started blogging a few months ago I noticed people taking part in Meal Planning Monday over on At Home With Mrs M's blog. I have been meaning to take part for a while now but we have had such a busy few weeks between being on holiday and meeting up with friends that I wasn't properly able to meal plan.

At the moment Himself is on a low carb high protein diet so meal planning has been a bit of a battle to create stuff that we can both enjoy. We have managed to work it that if I want pasta/rice/potatoes in a dish He just swaps that for salad.

So anyway, here is our meal plan for the week!

Monday - Pork chops with caramelised red onions, peppers and garlic
Tuesday - I'm at cake club so He will probably have something involving meat and salad
Wednesday - Paneer Curry, a recipe from Rick Stein's new India book
Thursday - Minted lamb kofta kebabs with rice and veg for me/salad for Himself
Friday - Lamb Curry from Rick Stein's new India book (yes we love our currys!)
Saturday - Off to Leeds market so will try and pick up some nice fish
Sunday -  Roast

So that's it, my first Meal Planning Monday post! Make sure you check the linkup over at Mrs M's blog to see who else is taking part.

BTW, if any of you have any low carb high protein recipes please let me know. Feeling like meat overload at the moment with all our meals.

Have a great week!

You know how sometimes you need a chocolate pudding that just hits the spot? Well this pud definitely does. It's from Lorraine Pascal's Baking Made Easy book and has now become my go-to dessert. I also don't need to go shopping for any specialist ingredients (provided I keep a spare bar of chocolate in the cupboard) and it can be whipped up in no time. I love Lorraine Pascal's recipes, they are always so easy to follow yet amazingly tasty! I also have her Home Cooking Made Easy book and I have made so many recipes from there - yum!

From the outside it looks pretty standard but once you cut into it out oozes some yummy chocolate loving goodness.

Quick tip - make sure you mix the sugar and cocoa together before you coat the mini pudding bowls otherwise when you tip the pudding out it can have a bit of a speckled effect (see pic below) but don't worry it still tastes amazing!

Melting Chocolate Puds - serves 4

110g butter
40g melted butter (for greasing)
1tbsp cocoa powder (for greasing)
1tbsp caster sugar (for greasing)
110g caster sugar
110g dark chocolate
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
110g plain flour

4 dariole moulds (I got mine from Sainsburys)

• Preheat your oven to 180C/160C fan/Gas Mark 4 

• Grease the moulds with the melted butter. 

• Mix the tbsp of cocoa powder and the tbsp of sugar together then coat the inside of the moulds so it sticks to the butter and tip out any excess.

•  Melt the rest of the butter in a small pan over a medium heat. 

• Remove from the heat, add the chocolate and leave to melt (make sure you have broken the chocolate up into small pieces)

• Whisk the eggs and yolks in a bowl until they start to thicken then gradually add the sugar whisking all the time until it becomes pale and mousse-like.

• Once the butter-chocolate mixture is melted stir to combine then slowly add to the egg mix whisking all the time.

• Sift in the flour and whisk briefly to combine.

• Divide equally between the moulds (top tip - place the moulds on an oven tray to make it easier to put in and take out of the oven) and bake for 12-15mins.

• Once baked place each mould upside down on a plate for a minute. If after a tap and a shake it doesn't come out then run a small knife between the pudding and the mould and it should pop out.

 
I enjoyed this with custard but Lorraine Pascal reccomends creme fraiche - either a pretty good.

Enjoy!



(ps. if you can, lick the bowl while the puds are in the oven. It's divine!)

You may have read my last post about the Yorkshire Day celebrations we had at the start of August to celebrate Yorkshire Day.

After Himself advising me that rhubarb and custard would be good (and not because he loves rhubarb) I came across a recipe in the Clandestine Cake Club cookbook for a rhubarb and custard cake and decided to give it a go.

It is so easy to make and very tasty but I think if I made it again I would add more rhubarb. It felt like there was too much sponge and not enough fruit and I LOVE rhubarb in a dessert.

Anyway - recipe!

1 stick of rhubarb (about 100g) trimmed and cut into finger length pieces
215g caster sugar
200g butter, softened
4 eggs
200g SR flour

Custard Frosting (this is my version, the one in the CCC book is different)

100g unsalted butter, softened
250g icing sugar
5-6 tbsp of custard powder

To Decorate

1/2 stick of rhubarb trimmed and cut into finger length pieces and thinly sliced lengthways
100g caster sugar

• Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas mark 6

• Grease and line a 900g loaf tin

• Put rhubarb into a roasting tin and sprinkle with 15g of the sugar

• Roast for 15mins until soft then remove from the oven and leave to cool

• Reduce oven to 180C/106C fan/gas mark 4

• Beat remaining butter and sugar until light and fluffy

• Alternate between adding the eggs and the flour a bit at a time to avoid curdling.

• Pour a third of the batter into the tin then cover with half the rhubarb. Repeat this until all the batter and rhubarb has been used.

• Bake in the oven for 45mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean and place on a wire rack to cool 

• Place the rhubarb in a pan with the sugar and 4 tbsp of water. Heat gently until the sugar dissolves and the liquid begins to boil.

• Once the liquid begins to boil and caramelise remove from the heat. Lift out the rhubarb pieces, place on a board and drizzle over the caramel then set aside to cool.

• To make the frosting beat the butter and sugar til well combined (you might want to cover the bowl with a tea towel to avoid icing sugar going everywhere)

• Add the custard powder and a few drops of milk so it reaches a spreadable consistency

• Add more custard powder if it doesn't taste "custardy" enough - is that even a word?!

• Once the cake is cool spread over the custard icing and decorate with the caramelised rhubarb pieces.

Enjoy with a nice cup of Yorkshire Tea!

Last Thursday 1st August saw the lovely ladies from the Wharfedale CCC celebrate Yorkshire Day at the Create Café in Ilkley. Back in May myself and our other organiser Kathryn went on a venue hunt and when we stumbled across Create we knew it would make the perfect venue for a CCC event. It is a pottery studio and cafe and Jayne the owner is so so lovely.

So Yorkshire Tea sponsored the event and they supplied us with bunting, balloons and of course tea to enjoy at our celebrations. Everyone pitched in to decorate before we could get down to the important business of eating cake! There were so many cakes to match our theme of “Yorkshire born and bred with nowt taken out!” and everyone came up with some very imaginative ideas for their cakes. To be honest I had no idea what to make but Himself is a Bradford lad and said I had to make something with rhubarb in it (nothing to do with his love of rhubarb at all!)

Cake time!

Fleur’s Leeds United Cake

Kathryn’s Black Tea, Blackberry, Lime and Honey Cake

Jane’s Cherry, Almond and Amaretto Cake

My Rhurbarb and Custard Cake

Janey’s Blackcurrant and Liquorice Cake

Melissa’s Gooseberry and Raspberry Cake

Helen’s Fruit Cake with cheese

Emma’s Chocolate Cola Cake

Jo’s Gooseberry and Elderflower Cake

All the Wharfedale CCC ladies and our plate!

After taking a wee break from all the cake eating we were given the option of painting pottery so we decided to paint a “Wharfedale CCC” plate that we can take and display at future events. As the CCC is all about different cakes bringing people together we each painted a slice of cake to represent all of the members of the group. I was so impressed by Create and I definitely think we will be bring the nieces or nephews there next time they come to visit.
 
It really was a perfect way to celebrate Yorkshire Day. Once again thank-you to Yorkshire Tea for the goodies they provided and a special thanks to Jayne at Create Café for her wonderful hospitality.

(btw you may notice this post is similar to that on the CCC website which I had also written but I wanted to personalise it a bit more for my wee blog)