Choc choc chip no case cupcakes

A while ago I tested a recipe for a choc chip cake. It was pretty nice, but I immediately thought it would be nicer as a cupcake (as you do). So since I was asked to make some chocolate cakes for a friend's birthday I thought I'd have a bit of an experiment and see what happened.

I changed the original recipe, as I thought it was too runny, but then when they were baking I worried that the cakes might turn out too solid. Luckily they're not and though the cakes have a good crust on the outside, within they're moist and fudgey. Paired with the moussey icing it is chocolate heaven!

But one question remains - why when I took them out of the muffin tin, did the paper cases fall off the cakes?! I'd actually ordered some snazzy spotty cases especially for these cupcakes, but they didn't turn up in time and since they were pretty expensive I'm glad they didn't! Next time I make these I won't bother with the cases.

Choc choc chip cupcakes

175g butter, softened

175g caster sugar

3 medium eggs

140g self raising flour

30g cocoa, sieved

150g dark chocolate, melted (either in a bain marie or in a microwave in short blasts)

3tbsp milk

1tsp vanilla essence

100g milk chocolte chips

Moussey icing

150g butter, softened

150g icing sugar, sieved

1tbsp cocoa, sieved

1tsp vanilla essence

100g dark chocolate, melted and cooled

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/160C in a fan oven.

In a bowl cream together the butter and caster sugar until light an fluffy. Beat in the eggs one by one, beating each in completely before adding the next. Beat in the self raising flour and cocoa, then add the melted chocolate, vanilla and milk, the mixture should be quite loose now. Fold in the chocolate chips and divide the mixture between a 12 hole miffin tin. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until risen a little and firm to the touch.

For the icing cream together the butter, icing sugar and cocoa. With the beaters running mix in the vanilla and chocolate. Pipe onto the cakes as you like, or smooth on with a knife for a more rustic effect!

I made these on an extremely hot day and my icing started to melt as soon as it was mixed, so I popped it in the fridge to set up before I used it. I ended up having to keep the cakes in the fridge, which is not ideal, but otherwise they would have been sitting in a pool of melted icing!

Cakes for Karen

After ranting somewhat about cupcakes when I started this blog I actually seem to have become increasingly obsessed with them. They are all I want to make at the moment and I'm loving experimenting with cake mixes, flavourings and techniques.

These raspberry cakes are my latest experiment. I like the gooseberry and elderflower ones I made a few weeks ago better, but these are good and hit that raspberry spot!

My friend Karen has just had another baby - a little boy called Samuel. So I went off yesterday to see her and her two little ones, taking some of these with me. They've got no artificial colours or flavourings in them, so they're perfect to give to little people without having to worry about feeding them anything bad.

Before I packed them up to take I took a few pictures. I was most put out that the minute my goodies were boxed and sealed the sun came out and it was a beautiful day, perfect for taking pictures of cakes.... So my pics aren't the bright jewels I'd have liked, but oh well, you can't win em all!

Raspberry cupcakes
125g butter, softened
125g caster sugar
2 medium eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest 1 lemon
140g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
juice 1/2 lemon
milk to loosen
12 raspberries

Raspberry buttercream
125g unsalted butter, softened
225g icing sugar
100g raspberries
1 tbsp lemon juice

Cream together the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs one at a time with the vanilla, lemon zest and juice. Fold in the flour and baking powder. If the mixture is stiff then add a couple of tablespoons of milk, until the mix falls off a spoon easily. Spoon a little into the bottom of each case, place a raspberry in each and cover with more cake mix. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, til risen and golden.

For the icing, whiz together the raspberries and lemon juice in a small food processor then press through a fine sieve to remove the pips. Beat together the butter and icing sugar with the raspberry juice. Place the buttercream in a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle and pipe onto the cakes.

Dinner in the garden

My lovely boyfriend has gone away for over a week and so I am alone. To send him off I decided to cook us up a feast.

I lived in Japan for 5 years and was lucky to be able to travel all round Asia while I was there. The amazing tastes and flavours have always stayed with me and I tend to cook lots of Asian food at home, since I've usually got some of the base ingredients like ginger, garlic and chilli in the house. This meal was no exception and on the spur of the moment I decided to make some Vietnamese fresh spring rolls and then some Oriental style steamed trout, since I picked up a couple of gorgeous fresh trout at the supermarket for hardly any thing.

It was a warm evening, so we sat outside with dinner and a bottle of prosecco. Divine!

Vietnamese fresh spring rolls
This is a really simple version of a really mouth tingling starter.

1 bundle rice noodles
4 round rice paper wrappers
1 tbsp sesame oil
large handful cooked prawns, about 100g
2 tsp nam pla fish sauce
2 spring onions
handful each, whole mint, coriander and basil leaves

Place the rice noodles in a bowl, pour over boiling water and leave to soften (or do as instructed in the packet). After 5 - 10 minutes when the noodles are softened, drain and refresh in cold water. Place in a bowl and toss through sesame oil and grind over black pepper.

In a small bown mix the prawns with the nam pla.

Cut the spring onions into julienne strips about 5 - 7 cm long, using the green bits as well.

Fill a shallow bowl or baking dish with hot water and one at a time dip in the rice paper wrappers to soften. Cut in half carefully, pressing the knife down onto the wrapper rather then dragging it over, as this can tear them.

On each half arrange first a small bunch of spring onion, so that strips are poking over the edge of the wrapper. Top with a bundle of rice noodles, a few prawns and an assortment of the herb leaves. Roll one side of the wrapper over the bundle of goodies, tuck the bottom up and over then roll up completely. This should create a tube that is sealed at one end.

Serve with dipping sauces and enjoy!



Oriental style steamed trout
I served this with some fragrant rice and stir fried mange tout.

2 rainbow trout, cleaned and gutted
1 double thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and cut into julienne strips
4 spring onions, green and white parts cut into julienne strips
125ml shaoxing rice wine (or use dry sherry)
50ml soy sauce
groundnut oil
1 red chilli, thinly sliced diagonally
2 -3 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
handful coriander leaves

Pre-heat an oven to 180C/ 160C fan oven. Lay out a large sheet of tin foil and place the 2 fish in the centre. Divide the ginger strips and the green parts of the spring onions between the 2 fish, putting some in the chest cavity and scattering the rest on top. Fold the sides of the foil up and pour in the rice wine and soy, then fold the foil together to seal completely. Place in the oven and cook for 15 minutes.

Pour the groundnut oil into a small pan, to come to about 2cm up the sides. Heat over a medium high heat then shallow fry the chilli and garlic until they're golden and crisp (I slightly over did mine.....). Scoop out with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

When the fish is done, remove from the oven and plate up. Drizzle over some of the soy and rice wine juices, top with the white stips of spring onion, the crispy garlic and chilli and scatter over coriander leaves.

Green summer omelette

The weather is still pretty rubbish (who would know it was already August, it's more like March out there!) but we did get a brief visit from the sun on Sunday, which was lovely after a rainy and chilly week. We took the Sunday papers and breakfast outside to the garden to make the most of the little sunny patch while it was still there and it made a change to have the sun streaming through the lounge windows, instead of them being battered by rain drops!

My parents were over for the weekend, so we didn't have a huge amount of food in the house, since we'd pretty much eaten what I'd made for their visit and we'd been out for dinner on Saturday night at a great local Thai place called Esarn Kheaw (which is incidentally one of Matthew Norman from The Guardian's favourite restaurants. See his review here).

By Sunday tea time Southern Chap was starving and I was rummaging through the fridge to find something that would make a nice meal for a sunny day! A handful of ingredients later we were tucking into a thick omelette and some left-over "Katy bread" (artichoke focaccia that I make all the time, which though I say so myself is gorgeous!).


Green Summer Omelette
The omelette itself isn't actually green, just full of good green stuff! If you don't have baby broad beans use peas instead and it doesn't have to be feta cheese, but that was what was lurking in my fridge.

glug olive oil
large handful frozen baby broad beans, defrosted
4 spring onions, sliced diagonally and using as much of the green stalks as you can
large handful mint leaves (used almost a whole pack)
6 eggs, beaten and seasoned
small piece feta cheese

Turn on your grill to high and heat the oil in an omelette pan over a medium heat. Toss in the spring onions and cook for a minute or so, keeping them moving and not letting them brown at all, until their lovely fragrance reaches your nose. Add the beans and mint and stir together to just wilt the leaves and coat everything in the oil.

Tip in the eggs, stir around a little to bring the already cooked bits to the centre and then crumble over the feta. Leave to cook for 3 - 4 minutes, until you can see the sides are done and starting to puff, then pop the pan under the grill and cook for another 3 - 4 minutes, until the top is puffed and lightly browned. Eat straight away with ketchup if desired!