Tea Time in London...

If anyone found themselves stuck for somewhere to take their Mum's last Sunday or if anyone wants  go out for an Easter treat... or in my case just a Sunday afternoon treat... then a great book to buy is Tea and Cake London. It is such a fabulous little guide if you live in London or are just visiting for sweet and kitsch cafe's, the best bakeries or for the capitals most luxurious afternoon teas.

Over the weekend I decided to visit one of the branches featured in the book, Cocomaya. I have walked past it on a few occasions and have always wanted to go in. It did not disappoint! It was situated in a lovely surrounding and an array of teas were served in vintage, mix-match crockery. Considering the area, the cakes were very reasonably priced and were delicious. I would highly recommend Cocomaya! It was so sweet, even down to the little details, like mini jam spoons for their super sweet homemade jam!

However, after eating a lovely Brownie here, I wanted to get baking!!! I decided that after having a few ideas from the cupcake competition I would give one of them a try. I thought about making a mint-choc-chip cupcake, which I am sure is common cupcake recipe, but as chocolate and mint go so well together I thought why not.

This was another recipe that I was creating myself without the use of a strict guide from a cookbook, which makes me uneasy! As I have made so, so many mistakes in baking in the past and I hate waste! But I am learning more every time I bake and am understanding the methods of baking within certain measurements and with particular ingredients. Sounds so simple. Anyway, this is what I made this time and they were a real success and I am so pleased! I hope you like them :) And if anybody does see this recipe and tries them at home then let me know by commenting below or on twitter, I would love to know if you enjoyed making them and how they turned out for you.

Mint-Choc-Chip Cupcakes

160g Caster Sugar

160g Butter

2 Eggs

160g Self Raising Flour 

2 Tble Spns Cocoa Powder

1 Tspn Vanilla Extract

50g Chocolate Chips

Icing:

100g Full Fat Philadelphia

50g Butter

500g Icing Sugar

2 Tspns Peppermint Extract 

Green Food Colouring

Extra Chocolate Chips to decorate. 

Another reason I wanted to make cupcakes..yet again! Is because I have recently purchased a piping bag!  ITS SO GOOD! Got a little carried away on the Lakeland website and ended up buying a few essentials and then a few things that maybe weren't so essential! 

Silicone Cookie Moulds and Silicone Piping Bag

Anyway, the piping bag is brilliant and really easy to use, looking forward to watching a view tutorials on youtube and making some well decorated cakes! I am also very excited at the prospect of making huge Oreos cakes! 

And that's pretty much it for this blog. I am yet to watch it, but there is a new Paul Hollywood programme, aptly named "bread" which should bring about some inspiration to try making bread. Also Mary Berry featured in Food & Drink on BBC a few weeks ago giving tips on making afternoon tea which I will defiantly be tuning into!  

One more thing, St Davids day has just been on the 1st March and I was planning on doing a big Welsh post to celebrate and make some Welsh Cakes, but with no rolling pin and no cutter until now it became a bit of a mission. So instead I will supply you with a great recipe to make your own (they are not just for one day of the year after all, that would just be silly). If you have never had them before, they are really easy to make and  they are similar to scones, but squashed! And really lovely plain, or with sugar or butter or jam... Don't forget the mixed spice is what my Mum tells me, its essential! And just for fun, here's a picture of Tom's dog Milo enjoying one last St Davids Day!! x 

Happy St Davids Day! 

Dipped Shortbread Biscuits - Gift Ideas

I know I have been blogging a lot lately, but there seems to be a lot going on baking wise! I made these chocolate dipped short bread biscuits for a very over due Christmas present for my boyfriends Grandparents, as I left the Christmas shaped, iced sugar biscuits and the biscuit bird jar at home in Wales when we visited Tom's family over the festive season.

But as they are visiting I thought I would finally make them some (fresh) biscuits! I got the idea from London Bakes recipe for Vanilla Bean Short Bread and thought they were a classic biscuit that I had never tried to make myself. In the end I used a recipe from BBC Food and it worked out perfectly. They made 20 short bread rounds that tasted sweet and buttery. I wanted to give them a little bit of an extra sweetness and make them pretty to put in the glass jar, so I decided I would dip one side into melted chocolate. To the recipe on the link I added a pinch of salt and a dash of vanilla extract. I also made them without a rolling pin or cutters...so work that one out! but I have hit the Lakeland website hard this week so will be expecting a few kitchen essentials to be delivered soon!

However, they turned out really well and I hope they like them, even though they are a little late! Now that I know how easy it is to make shortbread I will definitely be making it more often. Such a simple recipe with simple ingredients. I would love to make some chocolate chip shortbread cookies or maybe the Vanilla bean biscuits from London Bakes. The glass bird jar is from The Wallace Collection Museum gift shop and it comes in two sizes, I think filled with biscuits this can make a great home made present.

Dipped Shortbread Biscuits

In other baking-related news, I have some bad news... I did not make the finalists for the cupcake challenge! No surprise there really! I am a total beginner at boiling eggs, so I wasn't overly heartbroken. I will defiantly be entering competitions like that in the future. It was really fun to be given a theme and make something of your own and get creative. Check out the finalists, they all look amazing! Also if you are like me and need some help with your decorating skills then try this Stained Glass Butter Icing course at the V&A Museum. Although it is my two favourite things combined (museums and baking) I am too poor from ordering piping bags and rolling pins, but if you do go enjoy!