Dairy free choc cake

 So this is my first dairy-free venture - a surprisingly easy recipe, but so strange having to remind yourself not to add any hint of milk, cream, butter or yoghurt! Basically the only change you must make to the recipe is to swap in dairy-free "butter" for the usual butter/marge of choice. Simple. And there's no change in taste or texture either - I was quite amazed that the chocolate cake tasted - surprise, surprise - like perfectly normal chocolate cake! Filled with raspberries and topped with dairy-free choc-chip buttercream, with a grating of dark chocolate* to top the cake off, this made a gorgeous dessert for my Auntie on her birthday.

*Only dark chocolate is fine for my Auntie to eat - I suppose it depends on the level of your own dairy intolerance. Unfortunately can't guarantee that this cake is suitable for all those dairy intolerant - you'll have to check out the ingredients yourself

 *Serves 12*

145g self-raising flour and 30g Bournville cocoa powder (175g floury ingredients total)
175g caster sugar
175g dairy-free butter
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp (tiny pinch) salt
1 punnet (200g) fresh raspberries

250g+ icing sugar
Dark finely grated chocolate - only 2 or 3 squares needed to make visible difference
175g dairy-free butter
1tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 175', and grease two cake tins (or one larger tin if you're pushed, as I was - I'll elaborate on this later). Cream dairy-free butter and sugar together until smooth, before adding your vanilla and beating in each egg, one by one

2. Sift in all dry ingredients and mix well until smooth. If the cake batter isn't a dark enough colour (creamy latte-coloured batter won't taste very chocolatey when cooked), just add a cheeky extra tbsp cocoa powder - if you must add more than this though, perhaps add a tsp or two of water to loosen the mix

3. Pour the batter into your greased cake tins, place in the preheated oven, and bake for 30-35mins* before testing (if in two tins - will need nearer 45-50mins if in one larger tin) with fork prongs to see if any raw batter sticks (if it does, give it another 5-8mins)

* 4. Make your butter icing whilst the cakes are cooking. Mix together dairy-free butter and icing sugar - gently at first to avoid icing sugar dust flying everywhere - and finally add vanilla extract, and grate a few squares of dark chocolate in. I refrigerated mine as dairy-free butter seems to get a little softer than my usual butter/marge, and I wanted to pipe my icing

5. Decoration: If your cakes are perfectly cooked, great. Sandwich together with 1/3 of icing and raspberries, pipe remaining icing on top, and dot raspberries on the top.

However in my case, I had only one large tin, so my cake was miserably uncooked in the centre. Oops. Solution: scrape out uncooked cake batter, and discard. So now we've got a 6cm(ish) circular hole in the cake's middle, leaving our cake donut-shaped. Don't panic. Place cake on serving platter. Cut remaining cake horizontally into a top and bottom half, before slathering 1/3 of icing into the middle, and sandwiching back together. Now fill the hole in the cake's middle with raspberries, stacking them up until the hole is no longer visible - genius - and the finished effect is, well, quite lovely and most importantly, intentional. Once the cake is entirely cooled, use piping bag (if you have one - otherwise simply smooth icing on) to ice on all remaining frosting in pretty, circular cupcake style (working from cake's edge, inwards), before grating more chocolate over the top*

*If you want posh chocolate shavings, take dark chocolate and either use a speed-peeler across the chocolate's edge, or use the following technique. Place large bar of dark chocolate face down before you on a surface, take a sharp, flat-edged knife and hold horizontally on the chocolate's surface. Holding each end of the knife, gently scrape the knife towards you, pulling shavings of chocolate with it. Please be careful! (Jamie Oliver technique - seen on one of his 30 Minute Meals episodes)

 Here's a picture - I thought this may be the only chance I get to see my own cake presented on Pizza Express plates, drizzled with raspberry coulis...

;)

Ultimate chocolate cookies

 Hi guys - sorry for the long wait, blogging's been put on hold over Christmas and the return to Canterbury last week! Not done too much baking lately as Christmas has meant eating far too much (delicious) rubbish, and snow has put my running on hold, but today I needed a pick-me-up, and after watching my sister make these ultimate chocolate cookies a fortnight ago for her boyfriend's birthday, I decided to give them a go this afternoon. I definitely wasn't disappointed.

This is, unsurprisingly, a recipe of Nigella* - one of my favourite TV chefs as her recipes are très indulgent and incredibly sweet - but I have tried to make it a little more suited to the student budget. I've replaced posh choc for Sainsburys' basics, and cut Nigella's enormous proportions of chocolate down just a teeny tiny bit (not that you'll notice). Anyway, I think these are gorgeous, they seem to work every time, and I know you'll love them if you're as big a fan of chocolate as me! Enjoy, but try not to eat all at once...

* http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/totally-chocolate-chocolate-chip-cookies-29

*Makes 14 Cookies*

100g dark chocolate (to melt)

175g chopped/chips white chocolate - I used a mix of a basics bar & white choc buttons

150g plain flour

50g white granulated sugar

75g brown sugar

125g butter/marge

30g dark Bournville cocoa powder

1 small tsp baking powder

1/2tsp salt

1 egg (straight from the fridge, unusually!)

1tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 170' - or 175' if, like me, you've got a temperamental student oven - and line two baking trays with greaseproof paper

2. Break up your dark choc, place in a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave for 1min, stir, then microwave again for 1min until almost entirely melted

3. Place flour/cocoa/salt/baking powder in a bowl (or measuring jug if it's easier) and give a quick mix-up, so that it is ready to throw in after the next stage. If, like me, you are using a bar of white chocolate as chips for your cookies, place your bar onto a chopping board and cut up into tiny pieces now too

4. Cream your butter and sugar until well mixed, before pouring in your melted dark chocolate - once mixed in, the batter looks so gorgeous that I could very easily have eaten it all at this point...

5. Mix your vanilla into the batter. Removing your egg from the fridge, beat well into the mix. I will warn you that you have quite a stiff batter at this point, so this will give your arms a work-out! But persevere until your egg is entirely beaten in, before sifting in all your dry ingredients and stirring well (again, it may take a few mins to mix thoroughly). Now add your chocolate chunks, mix once more, and you're finally ready to dollop tbsp-size mounds onto the lined baking trays*

*PS: These cookies are so indulgent, I froze six cookie-batter mounds before baking (leaving Robbie and I "only" eight to eat). Pictured below. Just stick them on a baking tray, cover with clingfilm, and leave, flat, in the freezer for 1-2hrs. Then simply throw the frozen batter 'cookies' into a freezer bag. When you want more cookies, there's no need to defrost - just stick them in the oven, 175', for 18-20mins

6. Bake the cookies in preheated oven for 15-18mins (cookies baked in the bottom half of the oven may need an extra 2-3mins than the cookies baking on the highest shelf in the oven). Now, the cookies will come out fairly squidgy (because of all the chocolate in the mix) - don't worry about it. Just let them rest on their baking trays for 3-4mins - honestly, you'll be amazed how much they firm up in this time - then remove and place on a wire rack so that the cookies get nice and crisp

7. Now eat the cookies (and once more, thank you very much Nigella). Thanks for reading!

Christmassy cranberry sauce & festive chocolate truffles recipes

 So Christmas is officially on top of us again - the house is in an uproar, the tree repeatedly destroyed by the kitten, presents are wrapped left, right and centre, and most importantly, an avalanche of 'Christmas food' awaits us in our cupboards. Cheese, chocolate, turkey, cake, gammon, coleslaw, alcohol - everything that makes this season feel so good (and do so much bad to my waistline - still, to hell with it, it's Christmas after all!).

 With this in mind, I've found two quick and easy recipes to spice up Christmastime and really get me into the Christmas spirit. So here it comes - homemade chocolate truffles. Seems a bit pointless when you first think about it - I know how easy (and cheap) chocolate is to buy in the supermarkets - but I promise, these are worth it. Dark, creamy, with a hint of Irish cream - these little gems are perfect for the bloated post-Christmas-dinner moment when you can't quite bring yourself to eat a whole pudding, but when one chocolate - or two or three or four, in my case - seems so utterly tempting. People will be impressed at the seemingly huge effort involved, when actually, it's fairly simple (just a bit mucky - prepare for the stickiest, chocolatiest hands you've ever had - yum). So really - if you can squeeze in some truffle-making in the countdown to Christmas*, try them. It will be so worth it.

*These chocolates, once made, can last up to one week in the fridge. Will they last that long? Doubt it.

 My next recipe sounds even more eccentric. Homemade cranberry sauce. And this is from a girl who has quite literally never eaten - or particularly liked - jarred cranberry sauce. Why, you ask, when you can buy it in little jars ready to slap on the table? Simply because - it's delicious, and I honestly think it's one of the best, easiest recipes I've yet discovered*. So easy to tweak to personal tastes. Plus, the berries' literal transformation in front of your eyes just amazes me - you have pretty but somewhat unappealing cranberries one minute, and the next, you've created an amazing, gorgeous-smelling, jammy sauce, with a hint of chutney-like savouriness with the addition of a little chopped red onion. All by yourself, all in twenty minutes. I have to admit it made me feel more than a little proud. I hope it will make you feel the same.

*This recipe is from a family friend who knows how much I love to try new recipes! Thank you.

*Chocolate Truffles with a kick*

Makes twenty to twenty-five chocolates

Combination: dark chocolate and chilli-flavoured chocolate (of course you could add your own chopped chilli to chocolate, to taste - that would be even more original!). I used 70g chilli choc and 110g dark choc.

90ml double cream

80ml Irish cream (i.e. Baileys - I'm trying Sainsburys' own this year, though)

About 50g sweet cocoa powder (i.e. Cadburys' drinking chocolate) or dark cocoa powder (Cadburys' Bournville powder is my dark cocoa of choice) - I have to say, for this recipe, I prefer normal, sweet, cocoa to the bitterness of dark cocoa

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Small pinch salt

1. Break your chocolate into small pieces in a bowl, add salt, and leave on the side. Pour your cream, Irish cream (or, for alcohol-free choccies, just replace with extra double cream) and vanilla into a saucepan and very gently heat - you don't want it to boil. After about ten mins on a low heat, start checking the temp with a - clean - finger. Once the liquid is hot to touch, remove from the heat.

2. Now simply pour into a bowl with the broken chocolate and salt, stirring gently so that they mix and form a 'ganache' (basically what's used to ice nice chocolate cakes).

3. At this point - taste the chocolate cream mix (chef's perks), and refrigerate/freeze for at least one hour. Here comes the messy part now...

 4. Remove your ganache from the fridge before it is entirely set and hardened. You want it slightly pliable for your hands but not soft - otherwise disaster may ensue (meltage). Organise yourself - set out a cereal bowl with a few large tbsp of cocoa within, ready to lightly roll your chocolates in, with a cocktail stick waiting to roll the truffles around easily in the cocoa. Try and make sure your hands are as cold as poss (an awkward request, I know). Basically, take a large teaspoon of the mix, roll quickly and lightly in your palms into a circular shape, drop into the cocoa, use the cocktail stick (or teaspoons) to roll, then place in a mini cake case, or greaseproof paper, on a serving tray or plate. Repeat. Every so often, if necessary, rinse the chocolate from your hands with cold water. Done. Leave in the refrigerator to chill. Bring them out on Christmas day - any day - and enjoy.

And here's a sneak peek of myself covered in gooey melted chocolate, with some of the finished truffles on the counter...

*

*Cranberry Sauce*

Makes enough to fill one 415g (large) jar

200g fresh cranberries

50g very finely chopped red onion

1 small glass port - 75ml?

50g caster sugar (perhaps another 30-50g if you have a very sweet tooth)

Juice of one large orange (zest too, if you have the time)

Pinch of salt

1. Chop your onion as finely as possible (your choice, but I wanted flavour rather than texture) and place in a large saucepan. Wash the cranberries well, ensuring there are no straggling stems left behind, and add to the onion. Now measure out your sugar and add this to the pan, pouring in the port and squeezing in the orange juice too. Finally, add the salt, stir, and turn the heat on low.

2. Stir gently every so often. Within about ten minutes, the mixture will have reached boiling point, the liquid reducing away and flavouring your fruit. You'll soon begin to hear the most delightful 'popping' sound as the berries burst in the heat. This lovely mixture fills your kitchen with such gorgeous, citrussy Christmas smells - and all you have to do is throw the ingredients in a saucepan and leave it to simmer away for twenty minutes total. Perfect. You'll see that, with no lid on the pan, the juices reduce quickly, and the berries and sugar take on a gorgeous, jammy consistency. Give in to your inner child and squish the berries a little with your spoon, leaving only a few whole (more for appearance than anything). I have to say that the warm mixture tastes so very good - both sweet, tart, and with just a hint of the onion's savouriness - but don't burn your tongue on it. Save some for Christmas.When the twenty minutes of cooking time is up, just spoon into a clean, sterilised* jar and leave, lid off, to cool - this can take an hour or so. Seal the jar and store in the fridge once cooled. Lasts up to one week.

*Sterilised - i.e. put through a dishwasher. In my case, I just washed the jar up, leaving boiling water to rest in it for some minutes, before rinsing thoroughly and emptying. Not sure if this is officially 'sterilised' though.

I don't know about you, but my family is big on cranberry sauce with turkey, hot or cold - and until now, I never quite understood it. As there are six of us eating Christmas dinner - and there are, quite literally, piles of food - there ought to be leftovers: meat, 'teatime' food, and my scrummy cranberry sauce. What I'm thinking is that our lazy, boxing day menu of cold leftover meat, coleslaw, cheese and biscuits sounds considerably lovelier with the promise of leftover cranberry and red onion-flavoured dip.

Anyway, I've been talking for far too long about food, so I'll leave you to it; enjoy your own Christmas dinners. It's time for all of the last-minute shopping, wrapping, prepping, delivering, visiting. I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas - with or without homemade chocolate truffles and cranberry sauce - and a happy new year!

Choc brownie recipe and time at home!

So my essays are finally finished, handed in and I have time to blog again! So I'm finally sharing some recipes, photos and general stuff from about three weeks ago. Hope you enjoy.

Firstly, my chocolate brownie recipe as hinted at before. These were made in a hurry before going home for the weekend the following day (also made again this past Sunday as they were so yummy). My Nan - baker Number One of the Brothers' family - has given them her seal of approval, so trust me and get on with baking them. Soon!

 

Yummy raw brownie mix...

... and the final product. Mmmm.

*Makes twelve very decent-sized brownies*

100g plain flour

Basically 2-3 big tbsp cocoa powder (Cadbury's Bournville powder is perfect for baking)

3 eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

300g caster sugar (although I only used 250g the second time and they were just as good)

175g butter/marge

White chocolate buttons (Sainsburys' sell handy 70g bags really cheaply - 2 of these bags in the brownie mix was just right)

1. Preheat oven to 170'. Gently melt your butter in a saucepan until liquid, before pouring into a mixing bowl with the caster sugar, mixing well. Add vanilla essence and mix again

2. Measure out your flour/cocoa and stir into the butter/sugar (the mix will go gorgeously thick and chocolatey at this point)

3. Now crack in your 3 eggs, one at a time, stirring in thoroughly. Finally, mix your chocolate buttons in and pour into a baking-paper-lined oven-proof tin

4. Bake for about 20mins (depending how gooey or firm you'd like your brownies to be; the longer you bake them the firmer they'll become). Don't worry if the top bakes dry; the middle stays really moist, especially where the chocolate buttons are lurking

I hope you enjoy these anyway - tasty and intensely chocolatey brownies that are cheap (the baking ingredients, once you have them, last ages and are very cheap) as well as incredibly quick and easy to make for a week's satisfied snacking. I actually found that the brownies lasted for a week in an airtight plastic container and still tasted perfect.

*

Finally, on being at home. It was lovely being back, seeing my family as well as kitten Smudge again (as you'll see below, she's gorgeous), blackberrying for the last time this year by the Stotfold cemetery and being treated for dinner at The Horse and Jockey in Ravensden. Anyway, I'll show you some pictures I took and tell you a bit about everything.

 

My lovely bedroom view at home. Whatever time of the year it is, I get fantastic coral pink sunsets through my window that I always appreciate.

My kitten Smudge - photographed on here for the first time, I think - having a rare moment of peace on my bed with my slipper. Christened "the mad thing" by my sister, these cuddly moments before she falls asleep are much appreciated by my exhausted family! While I was home, she hid my shoes - which are actually heavier than her at present - constantly behind the sofa etc., making my leaving the house a real problem. Below, there she is again, interrupting my Mum, sister and myself on our girlie Saturday night watching Strictly. Such pretty eyes and unusual patterns on her little face! She's still only about as big as my size 4 feet here.

 

Ooh, and there's a picture of my homemade (and half home-picked) blackberry and cherry crumble. It's covered in custard which makes seeing it all a bit difficult, but trust me, it was good. I'm sure my sister will tell you her crumble is better (it's really her 'thing') but I think this one made a pretty good match.

Basically, to make a crumble serving 6 people you need:

75g butter/marge

225g plain flour

100g brown sugar

*

150g washed blackberries

150g frozen cherries (already pitted)

Some tbsp white sugar (about 4? Adjust to taste)

Preheat oven to 180'. Simply mix up with a fork (or your fingers) the crumbly topping ingredients until you are left with a golden yellow breadcrumb-like crumble. Set aside, mix your washed fruit in an ovenproof dish before adding a few tablespoons of white sugar to it (evening out the tart acidity with some sweetness). Finally, stir, then top with your crumble and leave to bake in an oven for about 40mins until golden and crispy.

*

Finally, my dinner with the family at the Horse and Jockey pub-restaurant in Ravensden. My first meal there and certainly not my last, I hope. Wonderful food (I had pan-fried pidgeon, roasted pork belly and then a zingy lemon-chocolate cup for dessert) and wine, great service and a beautiful little pub in general. Apparently it's recently been voted pub of the year and I can see why. Definitely try it for a treat sometime - it's getting five stars from me.

 *****

And after being at home, coming back to see Canterbury in fully-fledged autumn was lovely, especially being up at my university on top of the hill. Think orange-golden leaves beneath your feet and breathing in crisp, cool air.

 

Hope you enjoyed all my ramblings.

Maddie

Homemade chicken soup

 Hi all; had a busy couple of weeks here in Canterbury. Robbie's mates have been up to visit, I've been up and down the hill to uni what feels like millions of times, Robbie's started his new job and I've now been given a deadline for two essays too - hectic!

 Today I've been busy - okay, a student's definition of "busy" perhaps - dashing to my lecture (this is a long and up-hill trek, I'll have you know) before coming home, squeezing in time to bake brownies, then summoning up remaining energy to go swimming for an hour afterwards. Currently I'm procrastinating by writing this blog, therefore delaying the moment I will start writing my first essay. Also, if you were wondering, yes, the swimming is basically in the hope of cancelling out the effect of scoffing one's body-weight in chocolate brownies.

 Anyway, after the long haul this morning I came home and had a gorgeous lunch ready with absolutely zero effort on my part (other than nuking it in the microwave for 8mins) - the chicken soup I made early last week and froze in portions. Having made a roast chicken dinner Sunday for two, there was plenty of meat on the bird leftover to tear into soup, and with the carcass leftover I saw a great opportunity to make some nice stock.* So, at last, this is the recipe I wanted to share with you all today:

*If you don't have leftover chicken to hand but fancy this recipe - just fry a chicken breast or two on a high heat (on the hob) until the meat is white all the way through (not pink) and the outside is browning, then chop into bitesize chunks ready to pop in your soup.

*Makes 4 large portions*

2 medium-size onions - chopped finely

2 cloves garlic - chopped finely

3 leeks - chopped roughly

1.5l homemade chicken stock (2 chicken stock cubes in 1.5l boiling water would do fine otherwise)

Leftover cooked chicken meat - torn/sliced into strips

1 large (rather giant, actually) potato, peeled and sliced thinly

1tsp each of dried rosemary and thyme

1 large tsp 'Very lazy chilli' (or 1 chopped fresh chilli)

Splash of Worcestor sauce

Lots of pepper and 1 large pinch salt

Should probably say at this point, make sure your leftover stock and meat haven't been in the fridge for more than 3 days, just to be safe

1. Fry your onion, garlic and leek in a little oil until well-browned and softened

2. Pour your stock into the saucepan with the veg, before stirring thoroughly and seasoning with the herbs, chilli, salt, pepper and a dash of Worcestor sauce

3. Slice your potato (very thinly) into the soup, stirring again so the potato doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Allow the soup to reach boiling point before leaving it to simmer in the pan for 30-40mins, allowing the flavours to intensify and the potato to cook well

4. When you want to eat, simply add the chicken (which is already cooked and ready to eat) to the soup and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes, so as the chicken is heated through entirely (you don't want your chicken in the soup for the whole 40min cooking time, though, as it would strip all the flavour and texture from the meat). Season again with pepper before serving

5. If freezing portions: leave the soup to cool for 1hr maximum (you don't want bacteria etc.) and place in tupperware pots or double-bagged freezer-bags (in case of spillage), before placing in your freezer. Simply remove the soup container from the freezer the day before you want to eat it and leave it in the fridge to thaw overnight. Then seriously microwave it the next day when you're hungry - I microwaved mine for 8mins, full power, to get it at boiling temp, stirring well every 2mins. This is necessary; if the soup is only microwaved to warm-ish temperatures, bacteria can linger. So blast it until it's steaming and the spoon you're stirring it with is pretty much painful to touch when removed from the soup (do try not to burn/scald yourself either though, while I'm on a health-and-safety rant - boiling soup is so painful if spilt on you)

PS: The floaty dark specks are dried rosemary by the way. If you like your soups thick-textured (rather than thinner, with bits), simply blend the soup after the 40mins simmering time, then continue from 4. as normal

Hope you enjoy. It's really rather lovely, especially now the weather's getting depressingly cold, and it's also extremely convenient for a quick lunch. So very handy for students like me who are on the run all day long (ha ha). I'll put the choccy brownie recipe on here soon, don't worry. ;)

Maddie

*

PS: Here's what I had for lunch a few days ago - Nigella Lawson's idea (Nigella Express) - a naan bread "pizza". It was bloody fantastic! I didn't bother with toppings, but literally just whacked the grill on full heat, spread a naan with a bit of tomato puree (ketchup would do) and tore some mozzarella on top (grated cheese works just as well - I've already tried). Grill for about 4mins. Pizza - in an instant. It's a miracle.

Muffins galore!

 Lemon and white chocolate muffins, to be more precise. As I needed to use up some spare lemons whilst simultaneously satisfying my sweet cravings this week, I decided to do some baking - my first sweet bake in the flat.

Anyhow, these are great for either snacking at home or consuming on the move; I've discovered that the little cakes are perfect lunchbox food. And to top it off, I actually iced them (with two separate icings, how indulgent), something I can rarely be bothered to do. Below is one of the finished works smothered in the white chocolate buttercream - perhaps not looking very glamorous (as I'll explain below, I had a traumatic icing bag experience) but tasting delicious, oh yesss.

 The little reusable cupcake cases are incredibly handy as well. I think these butterfly ones were actually purchased from Matalan - I've got two packs of eight - and I really do use them all the time.

As the batter mix created really is quite substantial, I baked and iced my cakes before freezing half - first placing them in the freezer on a baking tray covered in cling film for 2hrs, before removing and literally throwing them, in their cases, into a plastic freezer-bag (also good to have on hand in the kitchen). If you're not a sharing person and simply can't see yourself eating 15 muffins in 4-5 days, I'd suggest you either make up half or do what I've done and freeze them. This way you can just pluck out a cake before running off to uni/school/work, and within 20mins you'll have a defrosted (and delish) snack.

Anyway, the basis of the cake recipe I've used is adapted from the www.goodtoknow.co.uk website* - I've provided a direct link below if you want the specific recipe page!

*Makes - in my case - 6 large and 9 small muffins*

120g butter

150g caster sugar

Grated zest of 1 lemon

1tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

200g self-raising flour

1tsp baking powder

125ml milk

50g white chocolate, chopped into small chunks

1. Preheat oven to 180' and grease cupcake tin, if using - reusable/paper cases don't need to be greased.

2. Cream butter and sugar before zesting your lemon into the bowl and adding the vanilla, mixing well. Now crack your eggs into the bowl one by one, beating the mixture before adding the second egg and beating again until combined.

3. Measure out flour and add baking powder to it (mix it into the flour as that eliminates the chance of getting bitter mouthfuls of baking powder in the cake: not pleasant). Now add half of this flour/baking powder mix into the creamed sugar/butter, along with half of the milk. Stir until almost combined before adding the last half of your flour/baking powder mix and milk. Before mixing these into the unfinished batter, add the chocolate chunks, and finally, combine everything - but don't over-mix as it will make the cakes chewy and dry. Spoon the batter into the cupcake cases and bake for around 18mins in your preheated oven. The picture below shows the raw cakes upon being placed in the oven - when the cakes come out, they will have risen considerably (yay) and will, hopefully, have taken on a nice golden colour.

4. Whilst the muffins are cooking, create your icings, if using. I made two - one dictated on the recipe I followed that I rather fancied (a rich white chocolate buttercream frosting), and one that I've been using for years and love equally (a delightfully sharp lemon juice/icing sugar glaze - made very thickly on this occasion for my boyfriend who has a penchant for traditional 'iced-bun icing'). Both taste great on these cakes.

White chocolate buttercream:

100g butter

150g icing sugar

50-100g white chocolate, melted

Cream sugar and icing sugar (gently at first to avoid icing sugar being blown all over you and your kitchen - whoops) whilst the chocolate is melting on a low heat in a saucepan (I know you're not supposed to melt chocolate like this but if you use a very low heat, trust me, it's perfectly adequate). When the chocolate is melted, allow it to cool down a little before mixing into the butter icing, and refrigerating to harden the icing before piping.

Note on piping: I struck disaster because my chocolate was studded with puffed rice. Suffice to say that my piping bag became blocked and thus the pyramid-like swirls of icing I'd envisaged for my muffins became impossible. You might fare better than me if you use plain, unadorned white chocolate in the icing mixture...

Lemon/icing sugar glaze:

Juice of 1/2 lemon

100g icing sugar

Literally add one to the other and mix well, adding more of either sugar or juice until your desired taste/texture has been reached. Refrigerate before using to harden the icing a little. (This glaze is perfect for lemon drizzle cakes, just so you know.)

6. Once your muffins and icings have collectively cooled, get icing! I'm rather happy with the photo below as there are only five cakes on the plate, alternately iced - the missing sixth cake tells you how irresistible they are: Robbie had eaten it before the icing made it to the poor cake.

I hope you love these cakes and icings as much as we did - and hopefully you'll have more luck with a piping bag than me!

Maddie

* http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/530299/lemon-and-white-chocolate-cupcakes

Back to Canterbury (and a quick hunters' chicken recipe!)

 So I'm back in Canterbury and all moved into my flat with Robbie. What with being back at uni (I've already read about as much as I did over my entire summer), unpacking my things, repeatedly walking back and forth from classes, preparing for Robbie's job interview and doing lots and lots of food shopping, I've not had heaps of time for blogging - mainly due to the fact that our flat's been internet-free until tonight - yay!

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I'd also like to take this chance to introduce you to a new member of my family - Smudge, a gutsy (and teeny-tiny) tortoiseshell kitten we've adopted!
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 Anyway, I have already found time for culinary experiments in the last two weeks - both savoury and sweet - and at the forefront of these is the lovely recipe below for hunters' chicken (barbeque chicken), served with homemade chips and, in my case, corn on the cob - yum. The homemade barbeque sauce is one that I've adapted from Gordon Ramsay's own recipe on his recent 'Ultimate Cookery Course'* program I've been watching. Hope you enjoy.

*Serves 2*

2x chicken breasts

2-4 rashers bacon (fat cut off before cooking - option)

Sauce:

Half onion, finely diced

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped/crushed

Ketchup - 4tbsp

Chilli (or normal) flavoured olive oil - 2 tbsp

Ground black pepper

Brown sugar - 2tsp

Worcester Sauce (Lea & Perrins) - 1tbsp

Paprika - 1tsp

Homemade chips:

1 very large (mine was pretty giant) or 2 medium-large potatoes, peeled & chopped thinly into chips (feel free to do more if you're starving)

Plenty of olive oil

Salt & ground black pepper

Sweetcorn on the cob:

If using corn on the cob, simply place in boiling water for the last 8-9mins of chicken cooking time (or follow whatever cooking instructions are on the packet) and spread with butter once served on your plate.

1. Place an oiled baking tray into an oven, heated to 190-200'. Peel your potato(es) and cut into thin chips before removing the tray from the oven and placing the raw potato chips into the tray. Season well, drizzle over more olive oil (be generous) and place into the oven.

2. Preheat your grill to a high heat, before warming oil in a saucepan and frying onion with garlic until it is starting to brown. Now simply throw in all of the remaining sauce ingredients and stir well on a gentle heat until thoroughly mixed. Leave on a low heat to thicken, stirring occasionally, whilst you cook the rest of your ingredients!

3. Sauce complete; at this point I placed my bacon rashers under the grill and allowed to cook until crispy and browned. This could take up to 15mins - do wait until they're visibly cooked & crisp all over. Do get your chips out and turn them over at some point here before putting them back in the oven. Meanwhile, heat a little olive oil in a large wok (a frying pan would do just as well) on the hob.

4. When the bacon rashers are cooked, place onto a piece of kitchen roll, draining excess fat oozing out. Now place your chicken breasts onto the heated wok, allowing them to sizzle and brown well on their bottom side (about 2-3mins depending on the heat of your hob) before turning and browning the other side equally (this time about 3-5mins). There's no rush here - the more golden brown your chicken is, the better.

5. Once you can see that the chicken is all white and nicely browned across its outside (if you can still see raw pink patches, simply continue to cook for longer in the wok), place your bacon underneath the chicken in the wok, before pouring over the barbeque sauce and leaving to cook together on a medium heat on the hob for about 15 or so minutes. Keep tilting the pan to re-douse your chicken breasts in the sauce, keeping them moist as they cook through. Whilst waiting for your chicken to cook through, check on your chips - if they are crispy and brown all over by now, simply keep on their hot baking tray on the side until the chicken is ready.

6. After 15mins, return to your chicken, bacon and barbeque sauce and cut your thickest chicken breast into half, checking that the chicken is entirely white throughout - please make sure there are no pink bits left. When the chicken is completely cooked, serve with your bacon placed on top of the chicken and the sauce spooned over. You could also grate some cheese over the top - but we didn't; to be honest, the sauce is rich enough as it is - plus the chips and corn on the cob's simple tastes really cut through that sweet sauce. Mmm. Enjoy!

Maddie x

* Gordon Ramsay's 'Ultimate Cookery Course' page on the Channel 4 site.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/gordon-ramsays-ultimate-cookery-course/4od#3408434