Popcorn Rocks

Ruth from Makey-Cakey decided to host a birthday surprise ingredient swap to distract from her 30th birthday this year. The idea is simple - bloggers get randomly paired up and we each have to post an ingredient of a cakey nature, bake then blog about it. She will be doing a round up on her birthday which is on the 23rd July 2012. Happy Birthday Ruth!

I was paired with  Lou from Please Do Not Feed The Animals. We exchanged a few emails to discuss allergies etc and she very kindly sent me my ingredient promptly as I wanted to make it before I left for my holidays. I got a lovely parcel in the post which had this beautiful card and my surprise ingredient - popping corn.

I LOVE this card!! How cute is that? Thank you so much Lou!!! :)

My surprise ingredient - popping corn

I've never actually popped fresh corn so I was quite excited to give it a try. I looked at a few recipes and in the end decided on a popcorn mix as it was quick and simple and I had all the ingredients to hand. It turned out to be reminiscent of Christmas as it had white chocolate, cranberry, pecans and cinnamon! I don't see why I can't celebrate Christmas in July! :) Ruth I hope you'll forgive me as this is not strictly a bake but I thought it was the best way to feature my surprise ingredient.

The first kernels popping!

 I've included a little video if you want to watch the corn popping process - I felt like a little kid, I was mesmerized!!

Freshly popped corn - smells amazing!

Add in nuts and dried cranberries

And a sprinkling of cinnamon

Melt some white chocolate with a few mini marshmallows thrown in for extra "stickiness"

Leave to set in a muffin tray

'Christmassy' Popcorn Rocks!

I bought this ribbon which says "With Love" from Hobbycraft.

Happy Birthday Ruth! 

Banana, peanut butter and nutella spelt bread

Quick recipe post today with an indulgent banana bread. I love baking with bananas and have all sorts of banana recipes. However, I almost always go back to combining it with peanut butter or chocolate or both! This bread has peanut butter chips, chocolate chips and nutella! It also has spelt flour and bananas so I don't feel too guilty having a slice or two :) It's quite indulgent and not an everyday bread but it's perfect for weekends or holidays. The bread is moist and you can definitely taste the peanut butter in there. I know I burnt my nutella top but it actually tastes quite good - I love the crusts and crispy bits. If you try this recipe, remember to cover with foil before baking!

I'm entering this to the Breakfast Club hosted by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours as the theme for this month is Holiday!

Adding in peanut butter chips and chocolate chips

  Add blobs of nutella on top ... 

.... and give it a little swirl

oops burnt the top as I forgot to cover with foil

... still tasted good!

 I love the nutella crust and you can see the chocolate chips/peanut butter chips in the slice - yum! 

3 ripe bananas
140g peanut butter
60mls vegetable oil
1 egg
50g caster sugar
50g brown sugar
185g spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
100g milk chocolate chips
100g peanut butter chips
3 heaped tablespoons nutella

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• In a medium sized bowl, whisk the bananas, peanut butter, oil, egg and sugars. 
• In a separate bowl, mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt. 
• Make a well in the centre of the banana mixture and pour in the flour mixture. 
• Stir gently until just mixed - do not over mix 
• Fold in the chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. 
• Pour into a loaf tin and smooth the top with a spatula. 
• Add 3 big blobs of nutella on top spaced apart. 
• Use a knife or toothpick to swirl the nutella. 
• Cover with kitchen foil after about 20 minutes to avoid burning the top. 
• Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

Win a copy of MasterChef Kitchen Bible

Hope everyone had a good weekend. To brighten up your Monday and your week, I have another exciting giveaway for you today. This is not a 'pure' baking book but it does have cake recipes in it :) The lovely people at The Works have kindly sponsored this giveaway which is open to all UK residents  (Apologies to my international readers).

To enter, please fill in the rafflecopter form below. Closing date is19th July 2012.

Good luck!

PS There's still time to enter to win a copy of marshmallow madness.

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Wasabi and White Chocolate Cupcakes

This month is the 6 month anniversary of AlphaBakes. When Caroline and I started it back in Feb we would never have imagined the amazing response and support for our little blogging challenge - THANK YOU to everyone who has entered especially to our regular bakers.  We've had a lot of fun hosting these challenges and being awed and inspired each month with your creativity. As a special thank you and to celebrate our 6 months we have a giveaway for one lucky AlphaBakes entrant this month. Check out Caroline's blog for more details.  Here's a sneak preview of what you can win so get baking as the deadline is 25th July 2012. 

I recently posted Chocolate Whoopie pies as my first entry to this month's AlphaBakes as the letter is W. Not many ingredients or bakes start with or contain the letter W and initially I only came up with walnuts, white chocolate and whisky.  Then, inspiration struck and I thought W for Wasabi! Question is can I bake it into a cake? The answer is yes! It's already been done and I found this recipe on bakingmad.com

I have to say I was definitely sceptical about using wasabi in cake. I associate it with eating sushi, not baking! It was interesting to get everyone to guess what the key ingredient was.  Needless to say no one guessed correctly even when I hinted that the green frosting was a clue.  You can definitely smell the wasabi in the cake but the taste is very subtle. There is a slight aftertaste which you will recognise if you've ever tried wasabi.  The cake itself was moist and the white chocolate really complemented the wasabi well. If you are adventurous, I'd recommend adding an extra teaspoon of wasabi to the batter or even in the frosting for an extra kick! I may try it with salted caramel icing next time ala Marian Keyes in her book Saved by Cake.

I'm also entering these to Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Kate from What Kate Baked.  The theme for this month is cake stall cakes & bakes so I think these little cupcakes would be perfect. They may raise a few eyebrows though!

Finally, I'm entering them to Cupcake Tuesday hosted by Liz from Hoosier Homemade

  My key ingredients - wasabi and white chocolate.

After melting the white chocolate and butter - the fat will separate but don't worry, it will all come together I promise!

This is what it looks like after beating for a few minutes. Add the eggs then the dry ingredients.

Then a tablespoon of wasabi paste or a little more if you are feeling adventurous :)

Fresh from the oven - smells amazing and the cakes have a light, springy texture. 

I made a vanilla buttercream frosting and tinted it green and finished it with some green sugar sprinkles.

Recipe adapted slightly from bakingmad.com
Makes 10 cupcakes

For the cupcake

100g butter
100g white chocolate chips
100g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
75g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon wasabi paste

For the frosting

150g butter
350 - 400g icing sugar, sifted
1 heaped teaspoon vanilla bean paste
green food colouring

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Place the chocolate chips in a medium sized pan and heat gently over low heat.
• Stir in the butter in cubes and continue stirring until it's all melted. 
• Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar.
• Allow to cool for about 10 minutes.
• The mixture will look 'strange' as shown as the fat separates but don't worry it's normal for it to look like this!
• Use an electric mixer or a handheld mixer to beat for about 10 minutes and it should become a smooth lump.
• Add in the eggs one at a time and mix well between each addition.
• Add in the vanilla extract, flour and baking powder and mix well.
• Finally stir in the wasabi paste.
• Scoop the dough into cupcake cases and bake for approximately 20 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow to cool completely on wire racks.
• To make the frosting, beat all the ingredients together in an electric mixer until smooth.
• Add the green food colouring at the end, a little at a time until you get the colour you want. 
• Pipe the frosting on to the cooled cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles.

Scottish Tablet

The Best of British has moved from Cornwall to Scotland and I've unintentionally made a recipe that segues nicely from one to the other! The first thing that came to mind was Scottish shortbread but I wanted to make something a little different. I decided to do some market research by asking all the Scots I knew to tell me what treats they enjoyed whilst growing up. Quite a few of them said Scottish tablet. Please excuse my ignorance but I've never heard of it before so I decided that's what I would make. I've been told it can be tricky to make but it wasn't going to stop me trying! I did some research on the internet for recipes and there were quite a few variations mainly around using water or milk and different ingredient proportions. If anyone would like to share their Scottish tablet recipe with me, I would love to make this again properly!

The result - according to my Scottish taste testers - it tastes exactly like tablet but was soft and squidgy like a Cornish fudge. Hmm... I'm not sure what the problem was but I didn't have time to make another batch. Plus these are seriously SWEET and don't even ask how many calories there are in these! I had to check the ingredients list a few times just to be sure and yes the amount listed below is correct! 

The Best of British Challenge was created by Fiona from London Unattached and Karen from Lavender and Lovage which will run for 6 months. Each month, a county or region around the UK is selected. To enter, blog about your interpretation of a recipe or dish from that region. The challenge is sponsored by New World Appliances and there is a prize of a £50 Amazon voucher. Last month the challenge was Cornwall hosted by Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog. This month, it's Scotland hosted by Janice from Farmersgirl Kitchen. There's still time to enter as the deadline is 15th July 2012.

Ingredients required: 250g butter, 500g sugar (yes the whole pack!!), 1 tin of condensed milk and a vanilla pod (optional)

Use a large pot and place all the sugar plus 1/4 cup of water and heat gently.

Stir in the butter (cut into cubes) and then the condensed milk

Stir continuously and boil until it reaches the soft ball stage ~240F. Lower the heat and continue stirring until the mixture darkens (this is probably where I got it wrong!). Remove from the heat and continue stirring until it thickens. Add in the vanilla bean here if using.

Pour into a tray and leave to set

Break or in my case slice into pieces. It's supposed to have a grainy texture but should look much darker and firmer than this!

There are lots of recipes and videos available on the internet for reference.

Chocolate Whoopie Pies

Happy 4th July to all those who are celebrating! My google reader is groaning with all sorts of red, white and blue delights so this is something different but still very American. One of my good friends was recently successful at a job interview - CONGRATULATIONS!  It's a job she has wanted for a long time and I'm so, so pleased for her. We went for a lovely celebratory dinner at Bistrot Bruno Loubet which I would recommend if you are in the area. I had the Beetroot ravioli which is in the Time Out Top 100 best dishes in London!

Doesn't it look amazing?

I wanted to bake something special for her to celebrate her success.  I remember her telling me that my Lemon Whoopie Pies were the best thing I've ever baked and she has tried a LOT of my baking! I decided to try the chocolate whoopie pies this time and use my jar of Marshmallow Fluff which I found in Asda. I used Dan Lepard's recipe again for the whoopie pies which turned out beautifully. I made a marshmallow fluff buttercream as fluff on its own is really, really sticky! 

The letter for this month's AlphaBakes is W which is perfect for Whoopie Pies!  AlphaBakes is a monthly baking/blogging challenge which is hosted this month by Caroline from Caroline Makes and on alternate months by myself.

As this is an American bake and it uses an American ingredient (Marhsmallow Fluff) I'm also entering this to United Bakes of America hosted by Gem from Cupcake Crazy Gem. 

I'm also entering them to Tea Time Treats which is hosted by the fabulous Karen from Lavender and Lovage and co-hosted by the fantastic Kate from What Kate Baked.  Karen chose the theme of cake stall cakes & bakes. I think these would be perfect for a cake stall and I'm sure they would be very popular. PS Karen I hope you will enjoy these even though they are very American! ;)

 I finally got a chance to use my Whoopie Pie Pan from America. 

 Melt the butter...

 Add in chocolate and continue melting. Then add in eggs, flour, sour cream and milk

  Ready to go in the oven

 Freshly baked 

My first time using Marshmallow fluff - It was too sticky to use on its own so I mixed it with a little butter and icing sugar which gives it a better spreadable consistency and still tasted fabulous.

  Spread a generous portion of marshmallow fluff buttercream on one whoopie pie

 Sandwich them together

 And roll in pretty sprinkles

This is what it looks like using pure marshmallow fluff as the filling

  Boxed and ready to be gifted

Recipe for chocolate whoopie pie was from Dan Lepard's short and sweet
Recipe for marshmallow fluff buttercream was based loosely on this recipe from BBC Good Food
 - I didn't actually weigh the ingredients but just mixed about 3/4 jar of marshmallow fluff with a small amount of butter and icing sugar until I got the consistency I wanted. 

Win a copy of Marshmallow Madness!

I recently reviewed a copy of this exciting new book - Marshmallow Madness! by Shauna Sever which is all about making your own marshmallows which you can read here. It's a great little book especially if you want to try making marshmallows at home.  I'm very pleased to announce that I have a copy to giveaway to 1 lucky reader.

To enter:
1. Complete the rafflecopter form below to confirm your entries made via blog comment, twitter, facebook, etc.
2. You must be a resident of UK to enter this giveaway as I'm paying for the postage cost (apologies to my international readers!)
3. The book is provided by Publishers Group UK.
4. The winner will be picked by Rafflecopter at random and will be contacted by email and/or twitter. 
5. Closing date is 30th July 2012.
6. You have EIGHT chances to enter to win this prize. All entries will be verified - no cheating!

If it's your first time using Rafflecopter or you need a refresher, click here to watch a short video on how Rafflecopter works. 

GOOD LUCK!

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