Recipe: S’mores Cupcakes

I made a s’mores inspired recipe back in 2018 and looking back on it, I’m both embarrassed by and proud of myself. The original recipe looks horrendous compared to these little beauties but it makes me proud to see how far I’ve come as a baker in these last two years. 

Where 2018’s recipe was nothing more than a chocolate sponge topped with a marshmallow buttercream and sprinkled with crushed digestive. Today’s recipe however consists of a buttery biscuit base, moist rich chocolate sponge all topped off with a toasted marshmallow buttercream that when bitten into gives you a delicious mixture of sweet and salty, creating that melt in the mouth s’mores texture. 

Ingredients 

For The Buttery Biscuit Base 

- 45g Melted Butter

- 150g Crushed Digestives 

- 1 1/2 Tbsps Golden Syrup 

For The Cupcakes 

- 100g Caster Sugar 

- 100g Stork

- 100g Self Raising Flour 

- 15g Cocoa Powder

- 2 Eggs 

- 2 Tsps Chocolate Extract 

For The Buttercream 

- 200g Unsalted Butter, softened 

- 320g Sugar And Crumbs Toasted Marshmallow Icing Sugar 

Method 

1- Pre heat oven to 180C. Line a twelve hole cupcake tin with paper cases. 

2- To make your buttery biscuit base you’ll want to mix the crushed digestives with the golden syrup and melted butter. Once combined it should look like wet sand. 

3- Spoon a tablespoon of the biscuit mixture into your paper cases. Using the end of a rolling pin press the mixture down until it evenly covers the bottom of your paper cases. Place to one side. 

4- Into a bowl place your sugar and stork. Cream together until pale and fluffy in texture. 

5- Add one egg and a tablespoon of flour. Beat until well combined. 

6- Repeat with your second egg and a second tablespoon of flour. Beat until combined, taking care to scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl. 

7- Fold in your remaining flour, cocoa powder and chocolate extract. Take your time at this point as you don’t want to knock out any air from the mixture. 

8- Spoon on top of the biscuit mix and bake for 22 minutes or until the sponge springs back when pressed. Leave to cool in the tin for five minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. 

9- Now it’s onto the buttercream. Place the softened unsalted butter into a clean bowl and beat until soft and pale in colour. 

10- Add half your icing sugar and beat until fully incorporated. I advise folding in the icing sugar to start with as it helps stop that horrid icing sugar cloud covering you and all surfaces surronding you. 

11- Beat in the rest of your icing sugar alongside two teaspoons of milk until you have a nice piping consistency. 

12- Spoon your buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle of your choice and decorate your now cooled cupcakes. 

13- Then all that’s left is to enjoy them and trust me when I say one definitely won’t be enough. 

 

Recipe: Dark Chocolate And Orange Shortbread

                                           

I love shortbread, love cooking shortbread and love thinking of new flavour combinations to try out in my shortbread recipes. And earlier in the year I shared a recipe for triple chocolate shortbread that created my addiction for shortbread with chocolate chips in. So with Autumn upon us and Christmas rapidly approaching, I thought I’d try and incorporate one of my favourite Autumn/Winter flavours into shortbread. So today I’m sharing with you my dark chocolate and orange shortbread thar’s rich, sharp and melt in the mouth delicious. The key to this shortbread is dark chocolate chips, their slightly bitter flavour combines perfectly with the sharpness of the orange and creates a delicious combination in each bite.

Ingredients 

- 115g Butter

- 55g Caster Sugar 

- 175g Plain Flour 

- 100g Dark Chocolate Chips

- Pinch Of Salt

- Zest Of One Orange

- Juice Of Half An Orange 

Method

1. Pre heat oven to 180C. Line a tin of your choosing with greaseproof paper.
2. Into a bowl place your caster sugar, plain flour and salt.
3. Add your butter and then using your fingers or a food processor blitz/rub together until it resembles breadcrumbs. 
4. Add your dark chocolate, orange zest and orange juice. Continue rubbing together until it starts to resembles a dough. Normally I’d add a little bit of water to my mix to help bind it all together but because we’ve added the orange juice, we don’t need that extra help to bind everything together. 
5. Once you have your dough, you can either roll it out on a lightly floured surface and cut out with a cutter of your choice or you can press it into a small tin that’s lined with greaseproof paper like I do. 
6. Once your shortbread is ready, pop it into the oven and let it bake for 10-15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. 
7. Leave to cool completely in the tin if you’ve cooked it as a whole and then cut and enjoy or if you have shaped shortbread just gently peel it from the greaseproof and enjoy. These work wonderfully with a nice cuppa and one bit won’t be enough. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Spice Shortbread

 

I think it’s safe to say that I’m a little obsessed with pumpkin spice, even though I’m yet to have a PSL so far this year. So today I’ll be sharing with you my recipe for Pumpkin Spice Shortbread. Rich and buttery, this crumbly shortbread embodies all the flavours of Autumn whilst still melting in the mouth and being absolutely delicious. 

Ingredients 

- 115g Butter

- 175g Plain Flour 

- 55g Caster Sugar

- Pinch Of Salt

- 2 Tsps Pumpkin Spice Mix 

Method 

1- Pre heat the oven to 180C. Line a tin of your choosing with greaseproof paper. This can be a round sandwich tin like I used or a flat baking tray so you can roll and cut out your desired shape. 

2- Into a bowl place your plain flour, caster sugar and salt/ 

3- Add your butter and rub together until it resembles breadcrumbs. You can also use a food processor to do this but I don’t have one and find it quite satisfying to do with my fingers. 

4- Add your pumpkin spice mix and continue to rub together with your fingers until the mixture starts coming together to resemble a dough. You may require some water to get the dough to come together but you don’t want to add too much as it’ll make the dough too wet and it will just stick to the sides of the bowl. 

5- Now I planned on using some leave shaped cutters and being all Autumnal and that but my amazon order got lost in the post and I had to just pop my dough into my prepared round tin and bake it. You can use any cutter you like and just need to roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface before using your cutters to create your desired shape. Then it’s just a case of popping them onto your prepared tin and popping them into the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. 

6- Once your shortbread is cooked, leave it to cool in the tin completely. Then once it’s cooled all that’s left to do is cut it if you’ve cooked it in a tin like mine or just peel gently off the greaseproof paper and enjoy with a cup of coffee. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Spice Loaf

On Thursday I shared with you my first Pumpkin Spice recipe. And today I’m back with another. What can I say, I just love pumpkin spice. But honestly a lot of this recipe is just from the fact that I love a good loaf recipe now that I’ve actually mastered how to cook a good loaf. And this loaf is divine. A delicious brown sugar based loaf packed with pumpkin spice mix and topped with a sweet coffee buttercream that just makes me long for my first PSL of the season. 

Ingredients 

For The Sponge

- 150g Light Brown Sugar

- 150g Stork

- 150g Self Raising Flour 

- 3 Eggs

- 2 Tsps Pumpkin Spice Mix

For The Buttercream 

- 150g Butter, softened

- 270g Icing Sugar

- 2 Tsps Vanilla Extract

- 2 Tsps Coffee Extract 

Method 

1- Pre heat oven to 150C. Line your 2lb loaf tin with greaseproof paper or a loaf tin liner. 

2- Place your stork and light brown sugar into a bowl. Cream together until pale in colour and fluffy in texture. 

3- Add your eggs one at a time, each followed with a tablespoon of flour. Beat well in between each egg, taking care to scrape the sides and the bottom of the bowl. 

4- Fold in the rest of your flour along with your pumpkin spice mix. Take your time folding these in as it’ll help to keep the air you’ve just beaten into the mixture. If you’re wondering how to make pumpkin spice mix then just pop it into google and there will be a ton of recipes. 

5- Spoon your mixture into your loaf tin evenly and bake for 45-60 minutes. I always advise putting your loaf tin on another flat baking tray so that if your mixture decides to overflow when cooking then it goes onto the tray and not straight into your oven. 

6- Once your loaf is cooked (a skewer comes out clean) place to one side and leave to cool. I always advise leaving it to cool in the tin for ten minutes and then transfer it to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. 

7- Now it’s time to make your buttercream. You don’t have to top this loaf with a buttercream but I like how it looks and tastes with the buttercream. Place your softened butter into a clean bowl and beat until soft and pale in colour. 

8- Sieve in half your icing sugar and beat until fully combined. Take care to fold the icing sugar in first before going mad with the mixing otherwise everything from yourself to your units and even the family pet will end up covered in a thin coating of icing sugar. 

9- Sieve in the remaining half of your icing sugar and beat again. 

10- Now it’s time to add your flavourings. I use a mixture of coffee and vanilla so it’s less bitter and gives the flavour of a sweetened coffee. Beat the extracts until they’re fully combined, taking care to scrape the edges of the bowl so nothing is left unincorporated. 

11- Usually I’d add some milk to the buttercream to create a nice piping consistency but the combination of the two extracts has loosened the mixture and created the perfect consistency. So all you need to then do is spoon into a piping bag fitted with a nozzle of your choice and decorate your now cooled loaf. 

12- Then once it’s decorated all that’s left to do is to cut yourself a huge slice and enjoy with a massive cup of tea or coffee. 

Recipe: Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake

 

It’s September which means two things. Firstly it’s now officially Autumn and secondly it’s Pumpkin Spice Season bitches! Now I know not all of you are basic bitches who lose their shit over Pumpkin Spice Lattes being back or obsessing over every PSL themed but I for one am a very proud basic bitch that loves a PSL and can’t wait to get my hands on my first of the season. So with all that comes my first pumpkin based recipe of the year. A cake shape I’ve always loved but never made enough of is Bundt cake. That traditional style cake with fluted edges and a hole in the center. I had a tin that was looking neglected in the cupboard so I decided my first autumnal recipe of the year just had to be a pumpkin spice flavoured Bundt cake. 

Ingredients 

- 250g Unsalted Butter, softened 

- 225g Light Brown Sugar 

- 250g Plain Flour 

- 1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder 

- 1/4 Tsp Salt

- 2 Tsp Pumpkin Spice Mix 

- 4 Eggs 

 Method 

1- Pre heat oven to 180c. Grease your Bundt tin with butter or a cake release spray. 

2- In a bowl place your softened unsalted butter and sugar. Beat until pale in colour and fluffy in texture. I used light brown sugar as it gave the cake a warmer, spiced flavouring that works wonders with the pumpkin spice. 

3- Add your eggs one at a time, beating well to fully incorporate between each one. I advise using this time to scrape the edges and the bottom of your bowl so that there is nothing left sat unincorporated in the mixture that’s going to disrupt your cake as it cooks. 

5- Fold in your flour, baking powder, salt and pumpkin spice mix. Now this is when slow and steady is better than fast and rushed. Beat the mixture too hard and you’ll end up with a flat, chewy cake that isn’t that pleasant to eat. 

6- Spoon your mixture into your prepared tin, using the back of a spatula or a spoon to make sure the mixture is evenly distributed in the tin. 

7- Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. If the skewer comes out with batter on it then just pop it back in for a few more minutes until a skewer comes out clean. 

8- Leave to cool in the tin and the flip out onto a wire cooling rack or plate. Then all that’s left is to enjoy it. It goes well with a cup of coffee or tea. 

What I Read: August

 

August just seems to have flown by, I haven’t had much time to bake or write which explains a lot of the radio silence on here. Yet I did manage to make a little time for reading this month, especially when my mental health wasn’t at its greatest and I needed a little escape. I had high hopes reading wise for August but they fell a little short as I’ve hit a little bit of a reading slump. I want to read but just none of the books I planned on reading this month. I just want to get to my Autumn TBR now and as you’re reading this I’ll probably lost in my first book from that list. Yet I still managed to read four books and they were all books I absolutely adored. 

The first book I read this month was Clockwork Princess. This is the third and final book in the Infernal Devices trilogy. And boy did I love this book, it made me feel every emotion possible and there were a couple of points where I actually cried, something a book has never managed to make me do before. The Infernal Devices series follows a young girl called Tessa Gray who arrives in London in search of her brother Nate. However things take a sinister turn when she’s accosted by a pair called The Dark Sisters and used for they’re power hungry means. That’s until the swoon worth Will Herondale and Jem Carstairs find Tessa and soon she’s lost in the world of Shadowhunters and Downworlders. Clockwork Princess was the perfect ending to this trilogy, it managed to wrap up all the loose ends from book two without rushing it, there was an amazing plot twist I didn’t see coming and the final battle between the Shadowhunters and Mortmain had me hooked and tense as anything. And yes this book made me cry; a lot in fact, twice whilst reading it and once I’d finished it because as a series I’d read back to back I’d become quite attached to the characters and wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye to them. If you only ever read one of Cassie Clare’s series, I highly recommend reading this one. Possibly one of my favourite series of the year. 

From there I finished another series I wanted to finish this year. The Queen Of Nothing is the last book in the Folk Of The Air Trilogy and it was the perfect way to end what has been an amazing series. The trilogy tells the story of Jude, a mere mortal who grew up in the land of Fae after being kidnapped from the mortal world as a child. Being a mortal means she’s looked down upon by the Fae and is essentially fair game to their taunts, teases and torture. The worst of them though is Prince Cardan who’s made it clear just how much he hates Jude. But Jude won’t just stand there and take it, no she has a plan to gain power, a place in the Fae court. Considering it had been a year since I’d read Wicked King, I found it extremely easy to get lost back in the world and the plot of this final book. It had everything and more that I wanted to say goodbye to this cast of characters, something I found surprising because upon initial release this book had mixed reviews. Sure it was shorter than the first two but it wrapped everything up nicely and whilst I’d like for Holly Black to write more in this world, I’m also quite happy with how it’s ended. 

From there I read an amazing stand alone that I wish were the first in an incredible swashbuckling series. To Kill A Kingdom tells the story of siren Lira who’s known throughout the kingdoms as the Princes’ Bane for she has killed seventeen princes in her seventeen years. And as her eighteenth birthday approaches she’s already chosen her next victim. Yet before she can enact her plan she kills one of her own and is cursed to become human. The only way she can return is if she returns with the heart of the Siren Slayer. Yet when Elian saves her from drowning and welcomes her aboard his infamous ship of siren hunters, Lira starts to question everything she’s ever known. I went into this with low expectations but ended up loving it. It had enough pirate without being too cringey or cheesy and the entire cast of characters were well written and developed accordingly as the book went on. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and wish that there was a chance for it to become a series as it has a lot of potential. 

And finally I read the first in a series I’ve wanted to read for the longest time and now am desperate to finish. Ace Of Shades follows Enne who travels to the city of New Reynes in search of her missing mother, with nothing but a name to help her. Upon arrival she soon finds out that New Reynes is nothing like her hometown, getting herself into a spot of trouble in her first five minutes in the city. But from there she manages to find Levi Glaisyer, the man her mother claims will help her. And from the moment they meet, Enne’s life does a complete three sixty and she’s suddenly thrust into the seedy life of a New Reynes regular. This book was amazing, I couldn’t put it down. There’s a slow burn romance that’s filled with sexual tension and you’ll end up tearing your hair out wanting the pair to get together. I’ve already put King Of Fools and Queen Of Volts in my Amazon basket, ready to order/preorder.