Hallowe'en: Devil's Cakes

When the lovely Jenny from Mummy Mishaps announced that her next 'I Love Cake' linky was going to be cakes for Hallowe'en I started to have a think. The toddler group that we belong to is having a Hallowe'en party and I'll need to take a plate of party food along so I decided to kill two birds with one stone: practise my cakes for the party and link up to 'I Love Cake' at the same time.

I decided on Red Velvet cupcakes. When I was looking for recipes I was intrigued by a couple of things. First of all, it's not just a sponge with red colouring in it. The colouring is achieved through mixing red food colouring with cocoa powder, and then added to the initial wet ingredients. I thought vinegar was a weird thing to put in but according to the never-wrong Wikipedia: "the reaction of acidic vinegar and buttermilk tends to better reveal the red anthocyanin in the cocoa". That's interesting thought I! Then I read on further and discovered that Devil's Food cake (a type of chocolate cake) and Red Velvet cakes often get mixed up in recipe books.

Perfect! I'm making me some Devil's Cakes!

Ingredients:

  • 60g room temperature butter
  • 150g caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 10g cocoa powder
  • 20ml red food colouring
  • 20ml black food colouring
  • 1½tsp vanilla extract
  • 120ml buttermilk
  • 150g plain flour
  • ½tsp salt
  • ½tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1½tsp of white wine vinegar
  • chocolate spread
  • strawberry jam
  • milk chocolate
  • orange & black vermicelli

1. Cream butter and sugar, then add the egg and mix together.

2. In a separate bowl, mix the cocoa powder, red food colouring and vanilla essence to make a thick, dark paste.

3. Add to the butter mix and stir in thoroughly.

4. Add half the buttermilk and beat. Then add half the flour and mix in. Repeat until all is used.

5. This is a really cool science bit: add the salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. Watch it fizz! Beat well until really smooth.

6. Put a spoonful of cake mixture into the cases, enough to cover the base. Place a small amount of chocolate spread in the centre of each one, and then pour another spoonful of mixture on top; enough to fill two-thirds of the case.

(As I had spare mixture from the 12 that it's supposed to make, I wanted to see what it would like as a black cake. I added a further 20ml of black food colouring (Asda sells it) and put jam in the middle instead of chocolate spread)

7. Bake for 20-25 minutes in a pre-heated oven (170°C).

8. Melt some milk chocolate in a bain marie and pour into the centre of the cake. Smooth over to cover the top and then sprinkle some vermicelli on the top.

9. ENJOY!

Pop over and see the other entries into 'I Love Cake': The Hallowe'en Edition using this widget thing below. The linky will be open from Saturday 15th October and will close at the end of the witching hour (ie. Midnight) on Halloween itself Monday 31st October.

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Getting Nakd

We've recently been given the oportunity to get Nakd.

Isn't it a lovely selection pack?

Nakd bars are made from nothing but fruit, nuts and natural flavouring. They are also 100% unprocessed. What's more, each bar is gluten, dairy and wheat free, suitable for vegans and, this is the best bit for more, even counts as one of your five a day!

Did I mention that they taste yummy?

Mum's tried and approved of the Berry Delight and I've munched on the Cocoa Orange. Hubby can't wait to get to grips with the Cashew Cookie and the Pecan Pie, while I think The Boy is going to like the Gingerbread bar.

All the bars are moist, light, chewy and extremely succulent. They also fill the gap really nicely and at only 135 calories (on average) with 1g of saturated fat, they're hardly going to break the calorie bank that day!

Nakd bars are available from all the big supermarkets and also directly through their website.

We were sent a selection pack of bars for the purpose of this review. Our opinions are honest and unbiased.

A Drizzle of Honey

The Boy and I have been making cakes again. He loves it so much and is getting so good at mixing the ingredients together, he's really got the hang on holding onto the bowl while whisking and stirring. I used to love cooking with my mum when I was little, and I want him to enjoy cooking so that I've raised a self-sufficient son!

So today's really simple (but very scrummy recipe) is:

Honey and Raisin Cupcakes

  • 4oz self-raising flour
  • 4oz butter
  • 4oz caster sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • couple of handfuls of raisins
  • squeeze of Beech Forest HoneyDew

Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth.

Whisk in the eggs, adding a little flour if it starts to curdle.

Add the flour and mix.

Fold in the raisins.

Put a spoonful of cake mix into each case (enough to cover the base) and then drizzle some honey on top. Put another small spoonful of cake mix on top.

Bake for 20 minutes at 170°C.

Remove from oven and while still hot drizzle honey over the top. It will soak into the top of the cake, leaving a crispy residue.

Enjoy while still warm!

We were sent a squeezy bottle of  New Zealand Honey Co.'s Beech Forest Honeydew to review. It made scrummy cakes and our tastebuds opinion is unbiased and honest.

I've added this to Reluctant Housedad's 'Recipe Shed' linky (where the theme is Bakes and Cakes) and to The Crazy Kitchen's 'Cooking With Your Toddler' linky.

Recipe ShedThe Crazy Kitchen

Saturday 8th October 2011 – 'Daddy's Tummy' (280/365)

We were sent this rather fabulous t-shirt from TwistedTee for The Boy and Mr.TheBoyandMe to play with. It's great fun because Mr. TBAM gets to chill out on the floor doing nothing, while The Boy drives his little cars all over his stomach. I can thoroughly recommend this as a funny present for the man in your life, a really cool and clever t-shirt. Certainly beats socks!

Review: Diet Chef

I have the dieting capabilies of a mouse faced with a cheese mountain. That mouse would be no more capable of scuttling away from the fromage festivities than I am when it comes to my favourite foods. I really need to develop some will and staying power! My problem is that once I've done the diet for three weeks and have lost it, I sabotage it by thinking "ha! I showed you body, I can lose weight when I want to!" and reach for a slice of bread and jam (my downfall). I also do the food shopping, albeit online, and if I get bored I buy 'niceties' which are very naughty!

When I was asked if I'd like to try some of the range of Diet Chef I agreed thinking, "Why the hell not?". I was sent a day's meals and told not to eat anything else. For one day, surely I could manage that?

Well I didn't get the chance to, because when it came it included a meat shepherd's pie. I'll give many things a go for reviews, but I'm not about to give up thirteen years of vegetarianism, so Mr. TheBoyandMe stepped in and offered to do the review. My Knight in shining tinfoil!

Note: the food reviewed is part of a subscription-based diet scheme. Talking to a doctor or qualified medical professional is always advised before starting any diet. Diet Chef themselves also recommend taking part in light exercise.

When the Boy's Mummy asked me to review a day's worth of meals from Diet Chef, I decided to give it my best shot (he's lying, he offered!). My food reviewing skills may be more Gyles Brandreth than Giles Coren, but just to do it properly, how about if that is the ONLY food I eat that day (thankfully, coffee is allowed)? That way it'll be a test not just of how good the food is, but also if the quantity is sufficient to remove the temptation to snack.

The meals provided were just a single days worth of a diet subscription plan that can last for several months at a time. Diet Chef recommend adding fruit and vegetables, and to drink at least one litre of water per day.

Breakfast: Chocolate granola, 195 calories

I'd never had granola before, so decided to eat it with milk like a normal cereal; this added a few extra calories but made it more palatable to my tastebuds, and gave an overall effect of eating crunchy coco-pops. To add a bit of bulk (breakfast being the most important meal of the day, after all) I also added some chopped strawberries to keep me going until lunch.

Lunch: Tomato and pasta salad, 264 calories

Mixed in with some steamed vegetables, this tasted a lot better than you'd expect from diet food, with a slightly creamy taste rather than the tomato assault I feared. I'd actually say that I preferred the taste of this over and above the standard tomato pasta sauces that ready meals often contain.

Snack: Salted popcorn, 107 calories

There's not much I can really say about popcorn. Soft, salty, with a few bits that stick to your teeth for a week afterwards. But, come 3pm, very much a diet-saver.

Dinner: Cottage pie, 235 calories

Taking out the calories can often mean also removing the taste; not so in this case, and if I hadn't known in advance that it was diet food I'd have been none the wiser. Served again with vegetables, in quantity it was indistinguishable from a 'normal' evening meal and, if a fully committed dieter would easily have been enough to see me until breakfast.

Conclusion

I admit that at the end of the day I did give into temptation with a late-night snack and beverage (although the latter are allowed in moderation anyway), but had I been eating these as part of a longer-term diet plan I may well have held off. In addition, as we were provided with these foods for review there wasn't the same impetus that would exist had I been a fully paid-up subscriber to the diet plan.

Overall, if these meals are representative of the entire range, then there's enough flavour and variety there to keep anyone happy. As they don't need to be refridgerated and can be microwaved, they are also extremely convenient to both store and cook, and therefore suitable for someone who doesn't have time for a more 'traditional' diet plan.

I was sent these products for review. Mr. TheBoyandMe's opinion is honest and without bias.

Are You Pink or Green?

When I was pregnant with The Boy the first five months were quite rough. I had nausea constantly, and even though I was only ill a handful of times, the feeling never really went. One of the things that helped me to settle my stomach was Bottlegreen Elderflower Sparkling Pressé, it was like a miracle worker. I highly recommend it to anyone, and it now remains one of my favourite drinks.

Bottlegreen have a variety of cordials and sparkling drinks available, I personally prefer the sparking range. I'm very fond of the Pear and Elderflower, but for a little more tang there's also the Cox's Apple, Ginger and Lemongrass, Pomegranate and Elderflower, and the new soothing flavour of Green Tea and Elderflower.

The sun is shining and the sky is blue this afternoon, I am ignoring the fact that the wind has blown the clouds all away and there is a bite to the air. I'm in the sun-drenched kitchen and I'm having a glass of the new Limited Edition BottlePink Sparkling Pomegranate and Elderflower. It may be heading towards Winter, but I'm hanging on to Summer with this drink. Can you imagine how scrummy it would be with Pimm's?

Ignoring my flippancy, October is the month dedicated to raising awareness of cancer, specifically breast cancer. With cancer affecting so many people, there is no way anyone can afford to bury their head in the sand. Having had three grandparents die from cancer, and my father battle it (successfully) twice in the past five years, I am well aware of its impact. There are plenty of ways in which you can support cancer charities. Popping a few 'pink' products into your shopping trolley the next time that you are in the supermarket will help towards funding cancer research.

Through the month of October, BottleGreen will donate 10% of the sale of each BottlePink to Breakthrough Breast Cancer. The Sparkling Pressé and Cordial are available from Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Tesco or Morrisons.

I was sent a bottle of BottlePink for the purpose of this post. My feelings are relevant and honest.

Friday Funny

Both of these come from bath and bedtime last night.

We were both giving The Boy his bath, and he was merrily playing with his toys while I was telling Mr. TheBoyandMe about a situation at work. When he fell over for the third time, with a mild splash, we looked to see what he was doing. The Boy was performing some extremely energetic yoga position which consisted of him looking at the sole of his foot. We asked him what he was doing. He looked at us quite worriedly and said, "Mummy, daddy, look look! My feets are wrong!"

I looked at his foot and it was fine, apart from extremely waterlogged. Explaining that it was because his feet were wet and that hands and feet went wrinkly in the water, he then checked his other foot and spent the next three minutes trying to keep his feet out of the water complaining because "my feets are all brinkly!"

Once he'd got dried and dressed in his pyjamas, he ran out onto the landing to call down to me for his bedtime drink of milk. I was particularly organised and had already passed it up through the spindles onto the landing. He stopped in his tracks and shouted, "Wowsers!"

He makes me laugh.

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