Royal Baby Cupcakes // The Easiest Cupcake Recipe, Ever!

To celebrate the birth of the Royal Baby(!) we had a family BBQ whilst all frantically refreshing our phones/ipads/laptops to see if there had been any developments.

During the afternoon I decided to bake a batch of cupcakes, following a Mary Berry recipe and then topped them with buttercream - decorating half pink and half blue - pink for a girl, blue for a boy! 

Here's the (super easy) recipe...

• - 50g/2oz cocoa powder
• - 6 tbsp boiling water
• - 3 free-range eggs
• - 4 tbsp milk
• - 175g/6oz self-raising flour
• - 1 rounded tsp baking powder
• - 100g/4oz baking spread or soft butter
• - 300g/10oz natural caster sugar
  
  
  1. Preheat the oven to 180C
  
  
  2. Put the cocoa powder and boiling water into a large bowl and mix well to make a paste.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  3. Add the remaining ingredients and beat again until combined. (I added a few chopped walnuts too.)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  4. Divide the mixture into the cups.
  
  
  
  
  
  5. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
  
  
  6. Whip up some icing/buttercream and enjoy!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Congratulations to Will&Kate!
  
  
  
  
  
  Kisses,
  
  
  
  

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Peanut Butter Squares

Today I want to share with you a family recipe. 

Whenever there is a family get together, someone will always bring along a plate of these bad boys.

Unfortunately I don't have a photo of the finished product because...I already ate them all. But - that is merely a testament to how devilishly delicious these are!

And, because they can be successfully made by moi, the recipe will obviously not call for an oven (as this always seems to be my greatest downfall, sad smiley).

Let's get cookin'! (But as previously stated, not really.)

Ingredients

6oz Rich Tea Biscuits

2oz Butter

1oz Sugar

4 Tablespoons of Golden Syrup

4 Tablespoons of Crunchy Peanut Butter

Method

1.Grease a baking tray, it works best if the tin is square. (I couldn't find my square tin, boo.)

2. Crush the biscuits. I find that the easiest way to do this is by putting the biscuits in two carrier bags and then to hit them over and over with a rolling pin. This seems to be the least messy method that I have come across!

3. Melt the butter on a gentle heat and add the sugar.

Just make sure you've turned the correct hob on!

4. Add the Golden Syrup. Here's another little tip that mum taught me: When spooning in golden syrup have a cup of boiling water to hand. After each spoon of Golden Syrup pop the spoon in the boiling water for a second and it makes the remaining syrup on the spoon glide off!

5. Add the Peanut Butter.

6. Take the pan off the heat and add the crushed biscuits. 

7. Once all mixed together pop the mixture into the greased baking tray, and try not to eat too many spoonfuls whilst you do this.

8. Finally pat it all down and pop in the fridge for a couple of hours until set!

9. Now you can lick the pan!

Enjoy!

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Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bites

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but the oven really isn't my friend. 

One of the only things I can bake without it turning into a black charcoal mess are my brownies.

So this weekend when I fancied making something sweet and naughty I decided to play it safe and make something that would not require my nemesis (the oven).

This recipe shouldn't really even be called a recipe. It's so easy, which is perfect for people who aren't total a whizz in the kitchen - like me!

Ingredients

12 Digestive Biscuits

2 Tablespoons Golden Syrup

200g Milk Chocolate

6 Tablespoons Peanut Butter

See, even the ingredients list is simple!

Method

1. Melt the chocolate, golden syrup and peanut butter over a gentle heat.

2. Crush the digestive biscuits.

3. Add the crushed biscuits to the melted mix.

4. Pour over a baking tray and spread out.

5. Put in the fridge for about 3 hours.

6. Cut up into manageable bites and enjoy!

Didn't I tell you this wasn't even really a recipe?!

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