Tale as old as time

Wow, it's been so long since I last posted. This summer has been a strange one. I graduated in July and since then have spent my time putting off applying for graduate jobs... That's a lie - I did spent quite a bit of time applying for jobs but it has taken me a long time to get anywhere so I perhaps wasn't as efficient as I should have been. I did go to a few music festivals and spent time with my family but, due to a distinct lack of funds, this summer has felt like a bit of a non-event.

The good news is I now have a real job in the real world! It's a bit strange being out of the student bubble but I feel like my life is actually going somewhere now (dramatic much). Okay so I haven't hit my first pay-day yet but I'm feeling more like a real human being who works and gets paid and whatnot.

Hence why I thought I'd fire up the old blog again. I know there are bloggers out there who write whilst living on a limited budget and I'm not saying you can't but I'm a very materialistic person and I didn't quite feel like myself when I didn't have any pennies to spend on the things I love. And not feeling like myself meant my creative juices weren't particularly.. flowing...!

So I'll stop rambling now and get to what this post was meant to be about - Halloween! I love Halloween. In my High-School and College years I was always the one who threw the Halloween parties but at university it became more about club nights. But now we're a little more grown up Alex and I decided to throw our first Halloween house-party in our own home.

I think I enjoyed putting up the decorations, carving pumpkins and making cupcakes almost as much as the party itself!

Beauty and The Beast

Halloween Cupcakes - these disappeared in a flash!

And now I've got that excited feeling... if Halloween is over and Bonfire night is tomorrow then that means Christmas is just around the corner! 

Graduation Cupcakes

I made my family these cute cupcakes when they all came over to celebrate my graduation last week.The cupcakes are my very naughty Chocolate and Peanut Butter cupcakes which I posted the recipe for here and the little mortar boards I made by adapting a couple of recipes I'd found online when I searched for graduation cupcakes.

Basically they're a mini Reeses peanut butter cup with a square of Lindt milk chocolate on top (glued with a little blob of chocolate icing). Then on top of the square is two little strawberry laces and a mini smartie, also glued with chocolate icing.The combination of all that chocolate and peanut butter made for quite a meal and some people made the sensible choice of eating them in two sittings haha!

What do you think? I think they look great in my new cake stand which I just can't bear to put away so is permanently sat on our kitchen table! I'm thinking of putting something decorative inside in between baking sessions - maybe some plastic flowers or something? The cake stand was a graduation present from my Mum and Dad and is by Jasper Conran at Debenhams - it's so sturdy, I can definitely recommend it!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

I have 10 weeks left before my final deadlines for my degree, hence why the blog has taken a backseat lately. I've even taken photos for blog posts but just not had chance to write them up! But I've given myself the day off from studies today and took the opportunity to do some therapeutic baking.

I've been perfecting this recipe for a little while now, the frosting has always been a perfect peanutty soft whippyness but the sponge has sometimes been a little bit dry. This time I used a recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery which has quite a bit of milk in it and it's much more moist. Perfection!

 Recipe

Ingredients 

For the Cupcakes (recipe taken from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook)

100g plain flour
20g cocoa powder
140g caster sugar
1 1/2tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
40g unsalted butter, at room temperature
120ml whole milk
1 egg
1/4tsp vanilla extract

For the Frosting

125g butter, at room temperature
125g peanut butter (I used a combination of smooth and crunchy)
250g icing sugar, sifted
drop of vanilla extract
whole milk

Method

Preheat the oven to 170c or Gasmark 3

Put the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in your mixer and beat on slow speed until everything is combined.

Whisk the milk, egg and vanilla extract together in a jug and add half to the flour mixture, mixing until smooth. Add the other half and mix again but don't over mix.

Spoon the mixture into paper cases and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the sponge bounces back.

Meanwhile to make the frosting, cream the butter and peanut butter together with the vanilla extract. Add the sifted icing sugar (to avoids lumps) and mix until smooth, adding milk to reach the desired consistency (you don't want it too runny if you're going to pipe it).

When they are cooled, spread or pipe the frosting onto the cakes.

Let me know if you try it and enjoy your Sunday. 

Nutella Cheesecake

Mmmmm anything with the word 'Nutella' in it is bound to be amazing in my eyes but this really is something else! I first saw the recipe on Nigella's new TV program Nigellissima and thought it looked surprisingly simple. I think that anyone could make this, whether they've baked before or not.

I made it for a family occasion at the weekend, along with a few other cakes as it was a buffet for quite a few people. I made sure I got one of the first slices and no more than five minutes later it had all gone! I received so many compliments for it, lots more than my much more skill-required coffee or lemon drizzle cakes! 

I used half full-fat and half low-fat cream cheese just to make it slightly healthier. If divided into 16 servings it's 350 calories but I defy you to have just one slice!

Ingredients

• 250 gram(s) digestive biscuits
• 75 gram(s) unsalted butter (soft)
• 400 gram(s) nutella (at room temperature)
• 100 gram(s) hazelnuts (toasted and chopped)
• 500 gram(s) cream cheese (at room temperature)
• 60 gram(s) icing sugar

Method

1. Break the digestives into the bowl of a processor, add the butter and a 15ml tablespoon of Nutella, and blitz until it starts to clump. Add 25g of the hazelnuts and continue to pulse until you have a damp, sandy mixture.
2. Tip into a 23cm round springform and press into the base either using your hands or the back of a spoon. Place in the fridge to chill.
3. Beat the cream cheese and icing sugar until smooth and then add the remaining Nutella to the cream cheese mixture, and continue beating until combined.
4. Take the springform out of the fridge and carefully smooth the Nutella mixture over the base. Scatter the remaining 75g of chopped hazelnuts on top to cover and place the tin in the fridge for at least four hours or overnight. Serve straight from the fridge for best results.

Recipe taken from Nigella's website and can be found here.