I just love the challenge of using up leftovers. Today a tub of Philadelphia Cream Cheese that needed to be used up. After holding a poll many suggested cheesecake brownies so that is what i tried with added nutella in the brownie mix. Natrally i had to add a spoonful of Nutella to the side as who can resist a spoonful of Nutella when baking with the stuff! OH and it is gluten free too by the way

I won't be adding the recipe for this as i have yet to find a brownie recipe i am happy with (only made brownies twice before) so if any of you know of any really good ones i could try out that would be great as this one came out rather dry and more cake like.

food gallery [link]

my recipes [link]

Polymer Clay gallery [link]

Facebook [link]

Rich chocolate sponge filled with vanilla whipped cream covered with milk and white chocolate ganache, finished off with Lindt Lindors and chocolate coated oreos.

Chocolate cake recipe [link] chocolate ganache recipe is in the topping ideas for my basic cake recipe [link]

I have been baking with Oreo's long enough to know that once you start adding them on top of cakes and things they go soft very quickly so I decided to cover them in chocolate to try and slow that process down as it needs to stay good until tomorrow afternoon at least. It was fun but very time consuming, it took as long to decorate to oreos and Lindors as it did bake the cake and make the ganache! It still makes me laugh making such beautfil and cute things while listening to such bands as Marilyn Manson and Metallica!

It's been a very long time since i have got to make my rich chocolate sponge, the last time must have been my youngest daughters 1st birthday 1 and a half years ago so i felt a little rusty making this so I ended up making two, a trial cake for the family to try and approve (which they loved by the way!) The other for the girlfriend of an old friend i went to college with 10 years ago whose birthday it is tomorrow. I felt very honoured being asked to make this cake as i haven't really seen George since we all left college all those years ago, just the odd time we see each other in town and chat on facebook so i was very pleased he trusted me enough to make this for him after him saying he has seen all my food creations on facebook and thought it about time he try some of my creations himself.

food gallery [link]

my recipes [link]

Etsy [link]

Facebook [link]

These truffles are very naughty! Dark (semi sweet) chocolate truffles that are very rich and creamy and melt in the mouth. Covered in crushed pistachio nuts, i just love the opposites in texture and flavour, it's a fun party in the mouth.

Please forgive the photo quality, for some reason the crisp edges have been lost in the upload to DA It's so annoying as it came out perfectly on my facebook page! If anyone has any advice for uploading photos from GIMP would be greatly appreciated.

RECIPE


I also have a recipe for cookie truffles


food gallery [link]

my recipes [link]

Etsy [link]

Facebook [link]

This photo basically sums up my wedding day. Pumpkins, black and red theme, red petals from teh cake, a spider from my wedding reception, my wedding bouquet and a slice of my wedding cake.
This is one of the red vanilla layers with jam and black chocolate ganache. There were two types of red vanilla tiers, one regular and one gluten free for me. I didn't get a chance to take a photo of the chocolate tier.
The sponge was so moist (my mother-in-law made the sponges, i made the chocolate ganache, designed, put together and decorated it) and the ganache was so rich and tasty.

Whole cake.




food gallery [link]

recipes [link]

Facebook [link]

my Etsy store [link]

Melted white chocolate mixed into mini smarties and Rice Krispies served in petit for cases. I wasn't planning on making anything today but baking is a big stress reliever for me and i really needed that this morning.

I used to make versions of this when i was a kid using corn flakes and such but had forgotten ow much fun and tasty something so simple can be so please don't go dismissing this as just something for the kids to do. There are so many possibilities for these, peanut butter, Oreo, marshmallows, fruit, nuts, liquors, the list goes on so have a play.

I have been so busy this week that I haven't been able to do any food photography of any of the goodies i have been baking. Apple crumble which the kids helped me make, Victoria sponge cupcakes as a thank you gift for a friend which i then made again two days later for my dad who was complaining i hadn't baked anything in ages (i gave him some upside down cake only a week ago!!!)

It has not really been photography weather so expect less and less photography over the following autumn and winter months as i will only be uploading when i either get decent light like today or if it is something really yummy i really want to share with you. Be warned though the photography will not be any good under these conditions so snap shot photography will have to do which is just as well really as it's a really busy time.

food gallery [link]

my recipes [link]

Etsy [link]

Facebook [link]

Banana, walnut, rum, banana chips, chocolate chips and chocolate ganache! This is certainly a big and bold cake with a lot of flavour and attitude. A special cake, for a very special friends birthday.

Lee loves banana cake, he once bought me bananas, eggs, sugar etc round my house so i could bake him a cake while he was here. Since then i mentioned banana and walnut and he got very excited which gave me an idea. I searched many recipes and ideas until i finally found this one on the BBC good food website [link] Of course me being me i just had to adapt the recipe to put my own stamp on it. Instead of vanilla i added rum, chocolate chips to the cake mix and baked it in two tins instead of one so i could fill the center as well as the top of the cake with chocolate ganache. I used two kinds of chocolate ganache, milk and semi sweet then topped it off with banana chips as chopped bananas would have discoloured too quickly plus the chips have lots of flavour, chopped walnuts and chocolate chips.

food gallery [link]

recipes [link]

Facebook [link]

my Etsy store [link]

Never feel guilty about eating cake at breakfast again!
Banana, raisin and sultana cupcakes topped with Cheerios coated in honey.

As always i used my quick and easy cupcake recipe [link] This is really great to experiment with different cereal toppings and combinations, though once decorated serve straight away else the cereal will go soft.

If anyone recognizes what TV show the mug is from, you rock!


food gallery [link]

my recipes [link]

Etsy [link]

Facebook [link]

Vanilla cupcakes with melted chocolate and crunchy white, dark and milk chocolate sprinkles.

I am a sucker for bargains so when i was buying my daughters mini smarties sprinkles for her birthday cake i got these as well and have been waiting for an excuse to finally use them. Today i fancied making something really quick so decided to decorate some left over cupcakes i had waiting to be used up with them as an after tea treat.

If you don't happen to have any cupcakes laying around then you can make your own with the following recipe.


More from the same cupcakes i had to use up.


food gallery [link]

my recipes [link]

Etsy [link]

Facebook [link]

Using up some leftover marshmallows and dairy free chocolate today. S'mores are not a very common thing in my part, no one i personally know have ever tried them. I only tried them for the first time last year after a lovely lady called Meg sent me a S'mores kit from the USA. We don't have graham crackers over here, just as well as I can't eat them anyway so decided to make some cookies. This is also the first time making dairy and gluten free cookies.

For normal or gluten free cookies I recommend this cookie recipe. I have tried many cookie recipes but that is the best recipe I have used so far. I am now on the look out for the perfect dairy free cookie recipe.


food gallery [link]

my recipes [link]

Etsy [link]

Facebook [link]

Orange sponge cake fingers on sticks with melted white chocolate, various sprinkles and Cadbury Flake pieces.

I hate leftovers so today decided to use these off cuts of cake to make some cake fingers with the kids. It was great to get the kids involved in baking and decorating. My youngest helped whisk the sponge mixture but got a little annoyed when the mixture stuck to the whisk and managed to flick it all over herself. Both kids were a little less messy when it came to adding the sprinkles and seemed to add more sprinkles to their mouths than the cake.

The funny thing is, we spent so much time with the off cuts of cake and made so much of it I never got around to making the cakes I was planning on decorating today, instead I had to freeze the main cake so I can continue with my original plan another day.

Cake Recipe


food gallery [link]

my recipes [link]

Etsy [link]

Facebook [link]