Gorgeousness in a Mug

I think I may have stated before that I don't like chocolate cake.

Ladles and gentlespoons, I think I have found the recipe to convert me : Nutella Microwave Mug Cake.

I posted the after pic on Facebook last week and after requests for the recipe thought I would show you all the blow by blow so you can end up with this piece of loveliness :

 First I measured out all the dry ingredients.

Then added the wet ingredients. You don't need to do it in this order, but I like leaving the messy bit until later.

Note to self, after cracking the egg using the same knife you used for the nutella, don't lick your finger, you won't taste nutella, you'll get a tongueful of raw egg - eeurgh!

Mix all of the ingredients together, the mixture should start sticking together and moving away from the sides of the bowl. You can use an electric whisk if you want, but for quickness I used the measuring spoon.

Next, get your mugs out. The recipe says it'll do one large serving, but it does 2 large mugs comfortably.

Divide the mix between the mugs and put one in the microwave for 1 min 30 secs. It'll rise whilst cooking, just keep an eye it doesn't spill over the sides.

After 1 min 30 secs, test the cake with a skewer, if it comes back out clean then it's fine, if not put it back in for 10 sec blasts until it comes out clean.

If you have one of these handy cake testers, you put it in the same way as a skewer and after 5 secs remove it. If it's red then it's the right temperature.

And then you're done, we topped ours with a dollop of ice cream and went in for the nommage.

And now for the ingredients list, as kindly written by Content in a Cottage.

4 tbsp self raising flour
4 tbsp white granulated sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp nutella
3 tbsp oil (olive or vegetable)
1 tbsp chocolate chips (I added these just for a little extra gooeyness)
Ice cream to serve


I hope you all give it a try, it's honestly worth the whole five minutes it takes to make it!

Nommage Wednesdays

It's time for a very overdue post on the experiment I inflicted on treated my colleagues at work to, Chocolate Beetroot Cupcakes.

The original recipe can be found here, but as you will see, I tweaked it from being a cake to cupcake format as it's easier to disperse!

First of all, I want to put my hands up and say although I like chocolate I am not a fan of chocolate cake, or chocolate flavoured products in general. I tried this recipe in the hope of finding a chocolate cake I actually like, but no, the quest continues.

Anyhoo, back to the recipe.

First you put your cocoa powder, flour and sugar in a bowl.

Then melt the chocolate and butter over simmering water.

The recipe now calls for you to liquidise the beetroot then add the eggs, but it wasn't working until I added the eggs.

Add the wet mixtures to the dry and mix together. It will all of a sudden bind and become a thick sticky lump.

I then spooned the mixture into muffin cases. This was my mistake, I would recommend using fairy cake cases as the mix doesn't rise all that much and as this cake was very rich, people were throwing away half of it as they couldn't eat it all in one go.

Note to self : don't drip melted chocolate over the eggs whilst transferring ingredients - it's a waste!

The recipe says to bake for 50 minutes but as these are cupcakes, I didn't use that long and just tested them with my handy little cake tool

To ice the top I used a cream cheese (Philadelphia icing) mixed with some of the beetroot juice and topped with pink sugar sprinkles.

The cake recipe calls for some ganache which I didn't try but if I made this recipe again I would probably do a sort of butterfly cake with the ganache under a layer of the cream cheese icing.

Happy Baking, I'm trying whoopie pies this week

Woop woop!

Oh yeah! I crossed another thing off my list! I can now use a sewing machine and therefore can sew!
I spent this past weekend with the parents, making some curtains and cushion covers for our bedroom ... (here's a sneaky peek)

... visiting the Hotel Chocolat outlet store, nom nom nom ...

... helping my dad out with a quiz night for his Feast Week celebrations ...

... and harrassing  playing with their cat, Webster, aka Fat Cat, Bagpuss, Webby

I'm still making my way through Tess of the d'Urbervilles and I owe you a review for Cold Comfort Farm, as well as pictures from my Chocolate Beetroot Cupcakes.

That's all for now x

When Life Hands You Crumbly Cake, Make Cake Balls

As some of you may know, I was trying to make a Vertically Stacked Cake a la iambaker but it was a major FAIL!

I really should have read the instructions first, hmm, whoops!

So in order to still use the very tasty cake I thought I would try making Cake Balls a la Bakerella. (I have been wanting to make these for forever, but cake doesn't last long enough normally in our house)

For this recipe I used

• 1 (3 egg) cake, which was 1/3 vanilla, and 2/3 morello cherry


• 1 1/4 tubs buttercream frosting (pre-bought)


• 600g+ Chocolate

First, you crumble the cake up into a bowl

Add the frosting/buttercream and mix together

Roll the mixture into small balls and put on a cookie sheet/clean baking tray, preferably with a liner - those things are sticky!

Put in the fridge for several hours (I left it overnight)

(Now isn't this the best kind of his and hers fridge?)

Melt some of the chocolate and dip the balls into it, put it on greaseproof paper and leave to set

Repeat until all the balls are covered. Bakerella's tip is to melt the chocolate a bit at a time so it doesn't set before you've finished.

If you have excess chocolate, I'm sure you can find another use for it, hee hee

And there you have it, nommage!