Chocolate madeira cake

A friend recently asked me to create a robot cake for her now 5 year old son. The only requirements were a chocolate cake with chocolate filling (well he is 5!) and a robot theme. I had only 12hrs to complete this cake as the original cake never materialised but my friends money did disappear! I have a tried and tested chocolate madeira cake which is super moist and holds up well under the weight of the sugar paste. I pulled this together out of bits in my quite massive baking cupboard so I am pretty happy how it turned out. I heard that there was none left after a bunch of crazy 5 year olds devoured it.

What you need: (for one 9x13 inch baking tray)

305g Unsalted Butter
305g Caster sugar
3 Large eggs
3 teaspoons Baking powder
230g plain flour
6-8 tablespoons Full fat milk
0,5 teaspoon Vanilla Essence
40g Cocoa

What you need to do:

1. Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together 
2. In a bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Beat for 6-7 mins untilll pale and voluminous.
3. Beat each egg in one at a time. Ensure each is well mixed before adding the next.
4. Fold the flour and cocoa mix into the eggs carefully.
5. Add the vanilla essence and milk a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency reached.
6. Spoon into tin and level off with a palette knife.
7. Bake at 170°C for 30 mins. Check with a skewer to determine if cooked.
8. Leave in tins to cool for 10 mins before gently removing to a wire tray to cool.

Banana and Choc Chip Muffins

My first reaction this morning was Shit! I have 2 pretty ripe (black) bananas which must be eaten. The kids almost gag at the mere idea of a ripe banana and the hubby gave them a look of pure hatred which would see them relegated to the bin. In what I felt was a vain attempt to prevent any more food wastage which is a pet hate of mine I looked to google for inspiration. Now my go to gal for all things baking is Cupcake Jemma, I have never had a recipe fail and even if I do alter her recipes its usually very slightly. This is one of her recipes so full credit to her @cupcakejemma. What I can say is that 2 sad and quite pathetic bananas became 12 of the most gloriously moist, indulgent and fought over muffins. A win for ripe bananas everywhere and a win for mammy (at least today).

What you need:

175g Ripe Bananas (2 large bananas the blacker the better)

125g Self Raising flour 

100g Caster Sugar

25g   Dark brown sugar 

1/4    Teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda

125g Soft Butter

50g   Chocolate Chips

2       Large Eggs

2       Tablespoons of Milk

What you need to do:

1. In a bowl, Mash the bananas with a fork until very smooth.
2. Sieve into a bowl, flour, sugar, brown sugar and bicarbonate of soda.
3. Add in the butter, chocolate chips and eggs. 
4. Beat everything together until its well combined.
5. Add the milk and beat for 1 min.
6. Spoon the mixture into muffin tins.
7. Bake at 170°C for 20-22 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. 
8. Try to hide at least one before your children find them!

Cranberry and white chocolate cookies

So I was thinking yesterday about what I would like to bake today. Friday is always my go to day to bake goodies and I was having a bit of trouble deciding. I just happened to be sitting in a waiting room, reading old magazines waiting patiently and kinda anxiously on my first mammogram. Fast forward 10 mins and some sore boobs later and I knew what I was going to bake, Cranberry and white chocolate cookies. Im not sure if it was my boobs being squashed flat which gave me the idea but here I am enjoying them (the cookies that is) so win win for me. This recipe has been adapted over the years but its my go to "god damn that's a good cookie" recipe and can be adapted for whatever flavors you want. This recipe makes about 20 fairly large biscuits but i usually freeze half for another day. 

 What you will need:

265g Plain flour (sifted)
220g Light brown sugar
220g Unsalted butter (softened)
1 teaspoon Vanilla essence
2 Large eggs
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
100g White chocolate chips
100g Dried Cranberries

What to do:

1. In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
2. Add vanilla to eggs and beat into butter and sugar mixture a little at a time. 
3. Add the Flour, salt and baking powder and mix until well combined.
4. Add in the chocolate chips and dried cranberries and mix well.
5. At this point you can spoon ( I use an ice-cream scoop) to portion out the biscuits on baking paper or you can half the recipe and freeze in a log shape. When you want to bake them just cut frozen slices from the log (removing the clingfilm) and bake as normal.
6. Bake your cookies at 180C for 10-18 mins depending on size. Cookies should be golden and slightly soft. Try your best to allow cool for 5 mins before eating.