Chocolate Chip Flapjack Recipe

I made flapjack for the first time ever a few days ago and we honestly loved it. I've always wanted to make it but I usually either don't have the ingredients or I don't have the time but this time I had both and I wanted to try something different. 

Ingredients: 

50g of chocolate, chopped up or you could use chocolate chips

175g oats

1 tbsp of golden syrup

125g of butter

125g of demerara sugar 

Method: 

1. Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan. 

2. While it is melting together chop up the chocolate. 

3. Add the oats to the mixture in the pan and make sure everything is stirred in properly, you can then add the chocolate. 

4. Tip into a greased tin and bake in a 180 degrees pre-heated oven for 30 minutes. 

5. When cooked, tip out onto a wire rack to cool then cut into squares. 

Let me know if you try this recipe, it's so easy to make and just tastes delicious!

Have you seen my last post? Lush Brightside Bubble Bar!

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Nutella Victoria Sponge Recipe

So this is a cake I never actually intended to make. A few weeks ago we had family round for the weekend so as I always do, I planned to bake and this time I was thinking my Victoria Sponge would be a good idea. Everything was going fine, the cakes were cooling, the fresh cream was whipped, and then it turns out the jam we had in was no good. I have no idea how as I'd only used it recently but cue a panic from me because everything else was ready to go except the main filling. Luckily I had a bit of a genius idea, or so I think anyway, chocolate spread! I mean, adding chocolate spread to anything only makes it even better? So Nutella to the rescue and the cake turned out absolutely delicious! Whilst it is obviously very similar to a normal Victoria sponge, I thought I'd share the recipe anyway if you want to try it.

Ingredients: cake

225g butter

225g caster sugar

225g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp of vanilla essence

4 eggs

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp of milk

Ingredients: filling

2 tbsp Nutella or any chocolate spread

150g double cream

Method:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 170 degrees and grease and line 2 cake tins

2. In a mixing bowl, add in your butter and sugar and cream together until soft

3. Next add in your 4 eggs, one at a time, beating after each one and then finally add in the extra egg yolk and vanilla essence

4. When those are all mixed in well, sift in your baking powder and flour. Keep mixing until everything is combined and you can then add in 1 tbsp of milk to loosen it up a little

5. Pour evenly into the two cake tins and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean, leave to cool on a wire rack

6. When the cakes are cool, pour 150g of double cream into a clean bowl and whisk with an electric whisk for about 2 minutes. You can then spread evenly over one of the cakes

7. Add 2 tbsp of chocolate spread to the other cake, spread well and then sandwich the two cakes together

8. Finally dust the cake with a generous layer of icing sugar and slice!

To say this wasn't the cake I planned on making, I'm actually really glad this is what we ended up with. Everybody seemed to enjoy it so it'll definitely be one I make again!

Have you done much baking recently?

Other recipes - Lemon and Blueberry Cheesecake // Chocolate chip Flapjack // Gingerbread cupcakes

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Chocolate Loaf Cake Recipe

When I bake I always anticipate things going wrong and a lot of the time they do, I just don't have much faith in myself! I fully expected this Chocolate Loaf cake to go wrong but luckily it went incredibly well and tasted amazing! I am a huge lover of chocolate cake and I have to say I do make a pretty good one, have you seen my Easter cake recipe aswell?

Ingredients: 

175g softened butter

175g golden caster sugar

3 eggs

140g self raising flour 

100ml milk

4 tbsp cocoa

100g of chocolate chips or broken up chocolate 

Method:

1. Heat oven to 170 degrees and line a loaf tin with baking paper, I just used some Dr Oetker release spray which is just amazing

2. Beat the butter and sugar with a whisk until soft and fluffy and then add in the eggs

3. When you've mixed the eggs in, add the flour, milk and cocoa until you have a smooth batter

4. Add any chocolate chunks or chocolate chips and give it a good mix

5. Pour into the tin then bake for 45-50 minutes, I insert a skewer towards the end and if it comes out clean, its done

6. Cool in the tin then transfer to a wire rack, once it had cooled I added some melted chocolate drizzled on top

Let me know if you give this recipe a go! It was such a good cake, and a perfect amount if you have people over or are planning a party or anything similar!

Other Recipes - Chocolate Chip Flapjack or Tiffin.

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Gingerbread Cupcakes Recipe

When it comes to Christmas and baking, one of the only things I think of is Gingerbread and as we're now in September, I think its acceptable to start thinking about the festive time of year! I'm not too brilliant at Gingerbread men so I wanted to have a go at cupcakes instead and they turned out so well! These were such a cute size and tasted delicious.

Ingredients: 

150g butter
150g brown sugar
 2 eggs
150g self raising flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger

Method: 

1. Pre - heat you oven to 180 degrees

2. In a bowl, mix together the butter and sugar until you get a creamy mixture

3. Add your flour a little bit at a time, folding it in, add the cinnamon and ginger and mix

4. Add your eggs one at a time, mixing after each one. If you find your mixture is quite sticky you can add a little bit of milk here

5. Line a muffin/cupcake tin with bun cases and add about a tablespoon of the mixture to each one 

6. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes then leave to cool on a wire rack

The first time I made these I didn't actually do a frosting as I just didn't have the ingredients or the time, they were still delicious though! The second time I just made a simple vanilla buttercream. I did attempt to pipe the buttercream on top but then the bag broke so that didn't go to plan. I just used a tsp to spread some on and I think they look pretty cute!

I can't wait to make these again. These are going to be perfect for Autumn. Let me know if you give them a go!

Have you seen my other baking posts? Chocolate Chip Flapjack and Bourbon Biscuits.

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Chocolate Chip Swirl Blondies featuring Beech's Fine Chocolates...

Every week after watching Great British Bake Off I always get a real urge to bake so a few weeks ago I decided to make some Blondies. Recently I was sent a selection of chocolate bars by Beech's Fine Chocolate* to include in some baking so I thought I would add some milk and white chocolate to these blondies and they turned out so well, I really do think they are the best things I have ever made.

I really struggled to find a simple blondies recipes, I looked for ages and even on pinterest they all seemed to be really fancy or required ingredients I didn't have. Eventually I found quite a basic one but it was in cup measurements, I just tweaked a few things and added in a few extras. 

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of butter, melted
1 1/2 cups of brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
100g of chocolate chips or broken up chocolate, I used Beech's Milk and White Chococolate*
Nutella or any chocolate spread, I used white and hazelnut spread

Method:

1. Pre - heat oven to 180 degrees and grease a square baking tin, and line with baking paper
2. To start, melt the butter in a saucepan then add to a large mixing bowl, add in the sugar and stir
3. Add your eggs one at a time and the vanilla extract, stir until everything is combined
4. Add the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt and fold into the mixture.
5. When everything is combined and you have a smooth sticky mixture add the chocolate chips or broken up chocolate. I used Beech's Chocolate bars, half white* and half milk* which were so creamy and smooth.
6. Transfer to your tin and then top with nutella or chocolate spread. I used a few teaspoons of a hazelnut and white swirled chocolate spread and then I used a skewer to swirl it all together on the top. This was a bit of a last minute addition to it but such a good idea.
7. Bake in your pre - heated oven for 20 minutes then leave to cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes before cutting. 

The inside was so gooey but the outside was crispy and together it really was amazing. I cut mine into pretty big pieces so the mixture ended up making 9 but I definitely could have got more out of it as they are really sweet and only a little square would be enough! This is definitely something i'll be making again in the future!

*I was sent a selection of chocolate bars by Beech's Fine Chocolate to include in some baking, I only work with brands relevant to my blog

Other Recipes - Homemade Pretzels // Slutty Brownies // Chocolate Chip Flapjack.

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The Best Hacks For People Who Love Baking

Over the last year or so I've discovered some tips and hacks to help with baking and I wanted to share them with you! As I'm sure you know by now, I love to bake and I like it to be as simple as possible so some of these tips have really helped me and made sure I get the best end result. 

Keeping Cake Moist 

This is my top baking tip and it is a strange one, but if you want to keep your cakes soft and moist then leave a slice of bread on each one while they are cooling. The bread hardens over time but the cake stays so moist. This also works if a cake has been left for a few hours and has started to go stale. Leave it with a slice of bread for a while and it steals the moisture, meaning it's the bread that goes stale instead. It's such a weird concept but works!

How To Check If Cakes Are Done 

Most of the time you can tell just by looking at a cake if it's done or not, if it's not got much colour on the top then it needs longer in the oven. You can also check by inserting a skewer or cocktail stick into it, if it comes out clean then the cakes done but if it has some of the mixture on it then the middle isn't cooked. You can also check by gently pressing down on the middle of the cake, if it feels spongy then it's done!

Cooling Cakes and Buns 

Now when I bake buns or muffins I always put them on a wire rack to cool, I didn't have one up until about a year ago and things used to take so long to cool meaning I had to wait longer to decorate them. Now I use my cooling rack all the time and it make things so much quicker. When it comes to cooling cakes, I put them on the rack upside down, this flattens the tops of them meaning if you want to layer them up it's much easier. 

Silicone Moulds 

Months ago I bought a silicone baking set from Groupon, it included a few cake tins and muffin tins and they have been great to use rather than normal baking tins. It's so much easier to release the cakes from them and they're is no worry that the mixture will stick to them. I hate having to mess about with baking paper with normal cake tins so these have been great. Silicone moulds aren't too expensive either so are worth getting!

Use Exact Ingredients

 This probably seems like quite an obvious one but sometimes I experiment with ingredients and it doesn't always go well. With my Salted Caramel Brownies, last time I used caster sugar instead of golden caster sugar, and even though they still tasted good, the texture was definitely different and not as good as the previous ones, it meant the caramel on top baked differently too so it just wasn't right. The same goes for my Chocolate Cake, if I use normal sugar rather than caster sugar, it just changes the texture completely. I always try to make sure I stick to the exact ingredients to get the best bake. 

Melt Chocolate Properly 

I always melt chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of boiling water. I can't imagine doing it any other way now it just melts so quickly, we don't have a microwave so I can't do it that way but in the past I've burnt chocolate like that. Also, I've tried just putting chocolate into a saucepan and melting it over the heat and it's just gone into one big clump. I always know it will go right if I melt over boiling water.

Have you tried any of these baking hacks before?

Some of my recipes - Millionaire's Shortbread // Peanut Butter Cookies // Chocolate Chip Flapjack

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Simple Victoria Sponge Recipe

For Georges birthday this year I really wanted to make a cake myself as I definitely don't bake as often as I used to, and homemade cakes are always better than shop bought I think. The first time I made a Victoria Sponge cake was about 4 years ago and it was a bit of a disaster so even though it should have been one of the easiest cakes to make, that kind of put me off making it again. Though my first attempt ages ago didn't go too well I decided to give it another go for Georges birthday, and luckily it went well! I followed a Jo Wheatley recipe and just changed the filling and it really did taste delicious.

Ingredients: Cake

225g margarine

225g caster sugar

225g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp of vanilla essence

4 eggs, beaten

1 egg yolk

Ingredients: Filling

150g of double cream

3 tbsp Strawberry Jam

Method:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 170 degrees and grease and line two cake tins 

2. In a mixing bowl, add in your margarine, sugar, self raising flour, baking powder, vanilla essence, eggs and 1 egg yolk and beat with an electric whisk. I whisked it for about 2 minutes until it was nice and smooth. If you don't have an electric whisk, add in the ingredients one by one and mix well with a wooden spoon

3. When mixed well, pour evenly into the two cake tins and bake for 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean, leave to cool on a wire rack.

4. When cool, whisk up the double cream for about 2 minutes with an electric whisk and spread over one of the cakes. Add 3 tbsp of jam to the other cake, spread well then sandwich the two cakes together

5. Finally dust the cake with icing sugar and slice

TOP TIP - When leaving the cakes to cool on a wire rack, add a slice of bread to the top of each cake. This stops the cake from going dry while cooling, and instead hardens the bread. When cakes have cooled, remove the bread and you should have a delicous, moist cake.

This is probably one of the easiest cakes I've ever made so it will definitely be one I bake again and again now. I'm so used to making chocolate cake and brownies etc, so this was a very nice change!

Other recipes - Lemon & Blueberry Cheesecake // Chocolate Chip Flapjack // Millionaire's Shortbread

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Mother's Day Gift Guide 2019*

With Mother's Day not too far away now, it's time to get shopping! Whether you want to splash out or if you're just looking for a few simple gifts, I've got you covered. I hope if you've been struggling for ideas or you've just not had chance to even give it a thought yet, that this gift guide is useful!

Thomas Fudge's Biscuits - from £2*

I only featured a review of some products from Thomas Fudge's yesterday but I really wanted to include them in my gift guide too. As much as we all appreciate a box of chocolates, I think sometimes it's nice to think a outside of the box and go for something a little different. Thomas Fudge's have a great selection of yummy treats from flapjack to biscuits, Florentine's and even savoury snacks too. If you can't choose, they have a few gift selections to choose from too which allow for you to try a little bit of everything. My personal favourites so far are the White Chocolate and Lemon Blisscuits and the Salted Caramel Florentine's. If you think a box of something special like this is a good idea, maybe to even include in a hamper? you can find out more on their website.

Adexe Watches - from £89*

So this is definitely at the other end of the scale when it comes to cost but if you really want to splash out this year, a piece of jewellery never goes amiss. Adexe watches are something I see over social media all of the time now and with the range available, you are sure to find something your mum would love. My personal choice is the Meek - Petite Rosegold which I have a full review of coming later this week. It's such high quality, looks even more beautiful up close and is just a perfect classy watch that can be paired with any outfit.

Lir Chocolates - £13*

If you do want to stick to chocolates this Mother's Day, look no further than Lir Chocolates! Lir pride themselves on combining the very best ingredients (traditional with a few surprises too) with imagination and this is how chocolates like Persian lime, Hazelnut Gianduja and Cinnamon and Raisin Cream are created. There are several different gifts available on the website but the one I love is the Discovery Collection. Beautiful hand-finished and hand-decorated chocolates, stunning packaging and the most delicious, smooth and creamy chocolates. Perfect for your mum to enjoy in the evening after a day of being thoroughly spoilt!

Calidad Home Silk Pillowcase - £34.99* 

Does it get anymore luxurious than silk? I only posted a review of this last week but it's perfect if you really want to treat someone this mother's day. Not only does a silk pillowcase have beauty and health benefits (I know, who knew?!) such as reduced split ends, help with skin conditions such as eczema and being great for sensitive skin, it also feels like absolute heaven. What could beat falling asleep on a cloud of silk each night? Find out more on the website!

Prosecco and Bath Bomb Bubbles Gift Set - £20

A gift set that pretty much has it all in one! You can't go wrong with a bottle of prosecco but to make it just that bit more special, Next have created this gorgeous gift set which also contains a trio of soothing bath bombs, encased in a beautiful gold gift box. Perfect for a warm soak on Mother's Day.

Baylis and Harding Slipper Gift Set - £30

Sticking with a similar theme, Baylis and Harding have released a Pink Prosecco and Elderflower Slipper Set just in time for Mother's Day. This is perfect if you're struggling for ideas and want something that you know they can put to good use. It contains bath crystals, soap, shower gel, foot lotion and of course the beautiful super soft mule slippers.

Card Factory Gift Bundle - £8.49

Can you sense I'm liking the bundle gift sets this year? If you want something more affordable, Card Factory are always a winner, no matter what the occasion. This particular set contains a box of milk chocolate hearts, 1 soft toy, 1 card and 1 large gift bag. I think for the price this is brilliant, just a few little gifts to show you care.

Gift Experience - From £20

If you want to treat your mum to a day out instead, as going and creating memories together can sometimes be much more special than just a gift, there are so many options available. Just a quick google of gift experiences brings up hundreds and hundreds of ideas - afternoon tea, a spa day, a trip to see a musical, a night away, just to name a few. Red Letter Days is a great one to check out if you're thinking of something like this.

Are you all sorted for Mother's Day?

*Products marked with a * are PR samples. Affiliate links used in this post

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