Courgette and Chocolate Cake

by 13 Comments

Last Summer I went to a picnic meet-up with my baby and toddler group. One of the mums had brought along a courgette cake which I wasn't at all keen on trying, but actually tasted really nice. I've had it at her house a few times since and it is really quite scrummy. The one thing that I noticed it is that although it's moist, it is actually quite bland. The courgette doesn't really come through and therefore the cake just tastes of, well, cake.

I decided to have a go at making this with The Boy this morning, and had the idea of adding chocolate to give a contrasting flavour. I knew I had the ingredients and there were courgettes waiting to be used up in the fridge. Only, they'd gone too far and had to go into the compost, which is when Mr. TheBoyandMe was despatched to pick up more!

Courgette & Chocolate Cake

Ingredients: 220g plain or wholewheat flour, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, 1 teaspoon mixed spice, ½ teaspoon baking powder, 250g sugar, 200ml vegetable oil, 60g of butter, 3 eggs, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, 2 medium courgettes coarsely grated, 1 large handful raisins, half a bar of milk chocolate, handful of chocolate chips.

Prior to cooking sprinkle a teaspoon of salt into the courgette, place in a sieve over a bowl with a piece of kitchen towel and a plate on top to weigh it down. The excess juice from the courgette will be removed.

1. Cream the butter and sugar together.

2. Add the egg with a little flour to prevent curdling.

3. Add the remainder of the flour and whisk.

4. Add the oil and vanilla essence and mix together thoroughly, the mixture will be runny.

5. Stir in the remainder of the dry ingredients and the raisins.

6. Gently fold in the courgettes and chocolate chips, along with the melted chocolate.

7. Mix thoroughly and then divide between cake cases. This recipe made 20 individual cakes.

8. Place the cakes in a preheated oven at 150°C for 30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

9. We drizzled white chocolate on ours to add some colour.

These cakes are moist and really tasty. The Boy and Me (ha!) made them before Chef Brother came over to see us, and I was nervous about giving him one. He said they were really tasty and would be perfect for Christmas time, he then ate two! Wahoo, thumbs up if ever there was one.

The irony is that The Boy doesn't like them!

The Crazy Kitchen

I Love Cake

Hot Wheels Wall Tracks

by 11 Comments

 I would like to send your son some cars to play with.

Oh alright then, if you insist!

When we met up with the lovely Lexy from MammyWoo, The Boy discovered the wonders of die-cast cars. Addison didn't particularly want to share them with him, but how many toddlers do? Ever since then, The Boy has been very fond of the two Hot Wheels cars that I picked up for him in the supermarket.

Today I staggered home from a stressful day in work to find a large box labelled 'toys' waiting for us. Inside was this:

Wall Tracks Drift Rally Spinout Track Set and the Track Starter Set

Hot Wheels Wall Tracks are one of the new big toys for young lads (and daddies). The track is used vertically by attaching it to a wall.

Daftly, I opened up Drift Rally set before he went up for his nap. Daftly because he then sobbed his heart out when I had to take him up, he was perfectly happy sat pushing the car around on the unassembled bits of track. We had to take the car to bed to pacify him!

So while the little chap slept, I assembled the Drift Rally set. It needs to be put up on a wall that isn't covered in wallpaper and says it doesn't stick well to vinyl, so I opted for a 3ft wide section of kitchen wall. There is a really comprehensive set of instructions which are on an actual template that gets stuck to the wall. You then line up the four brackets against the template and adhere them to the wall with sticky pads. They are designed to be removed, indeed there are spare adhesive tabs. The pieces of the track then slot into holes in the brackets and rest there securely. The instructions recommend that you leave about half an hour or more to allow the pad to be securely attached.

When The Boy woke up, he couldn't wait to have a play.

We then spent an hour and a half in the kitchen playing with it!

I love this because it is flawless, not once did the car get stuck and not race down the track properly. On this track, there is a levered section which drops down before the car races along a bumpy section, before speeding around the corner and off into thin air.

I have often heard of toys that provide hours of fun; this one actually does!

There are a few things that I've learnt which might help:

  1. When it says 3 foot clearance, it means it. We positioned it next to a door which we then couldn't open!
  2. It comes with one car which works brilliantly. We have a few other Hot Wheels cars, one of which doesn't work as it is a) not heavy enough to trigger the level, and b) has a ridge on the bottom which catches.
  3. Don't put it near a large heavy item which you can't move to retrieve the car which has just rolled underneath!

The Hot Wheels Wall Tracks Drift Rally Spinout set retails for £29.97 (RRP) and I think it is worth every penny. It's incredibly clever in its engineering, and because it is a wall-mounted toy it saves space. The whole thing can be removed, leaving just the four mounting plates. They can be pulled off with no problem by pulling down on the adhesive tabs (although I did manage to remove a small chuck of plaster by pulling up not down: follow the instructions!).

If you are looking for a racing track for your little ones, this is a must. It's aimed at 4yrs+ but The Boy is 2 and you can see he was capable of using it.

We were sent this set for the purpose of review. The fact that we love it is entirely honest, as is this review.

Tension-Breaker

by 11 Comments

I've just completely lost it with Mr. TheBoyandMe over something ridiculously small, but of course vitally important. Unfortunately I did it in front of The Boy which, having grown up with arguments galore, I have always tried not to do.

We were sat down at the dinner table eating whilst this tirade was happening, and as much as I tried to remain calm, I was finding it difficult. In the end I thought I'll belt up now because my point is not being understood and I'm just repeating myself.

A silence descended over the table while I stabbed at my carrots, broken by The Boy's babble of "Daddy, you naughty. Mummy, you cross. Mummy, you not cross. Daddy, you not naughty. Mummy, you happy?" and I started to feel bloody awful about myself for putting him through that.

He then pulled his t-shirt up (while he was sat in his highchair) and started fiddling with his buckle. I repeatedly asked him what he was doing but he was so busy concentrating that he didn't listen properly. I turned his head slightly and said, "Look at mummy. What are you doing?"

He looked me fully in the face with his eyes wide and said "I'm itching my willy, Mummy"