Freckled Kirsty

Hello friends, Today's bake is a lovely chocolate cupcake with a hidden Rolo in the middle, topped with a yummy chocolate buttercream and yep, and extra Rolo on top! As the cupcakes bake, the chocolate shell of the Rolo melts leaving a liquid caramel surprise when you bite into the cake - it is  important that the Rolos are very cold before you start, otherwise the caramel is at risk of spreading into the rest of the cake, so stick them in the freezer for half an hour before starting. Ingredients (makes 12 large cupcakes): 230g butter softened 190g caster sugar 90g light brown sugar 200g self raising flour 4 eggs 2 tsp vanilla extract 12 Rolos For the butter icing: 300g icing sugar 150g butter icing 45g cocoa powder 12 Rolos Method: Preheat your oven to 180C/ 160C fan assisted. Line a 12 hole cupcake tins with cases. In a bowl, beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. One at a time, add the eggs and continue beating until well i...

Hello friends, I think I am going through a bit of a cookie phase at the moment, I love having sweet treats that I can grab when peckish, and not feel too guilty about eating them. Today I have experimented with a new Oatmeal and Raisin cookie - there are a few cookies I reach for automatically when a choice is in front of me, and this combination is up there with chocolate chip and Smarties cookies as one of my favourite. I am a texture person, and this has a really chewy soft texture which I adore. For my cookies I used some muscovado sugar, rather than all white sugar and a duck egg rather than hen egg as this leads to a moister, richer cookie. Ingredients: 115g softened butter 100g light muscovado sugar  25g caster sugar 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla extract 90g plain flour  1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 120g breakfast oats 120g raisins Method: Preheat the oven to 180C/   170 fan assisted and line two baking trays with parchment. In a bowl, beat together...

Hello friends, So it is that time of the month where Mr Postman brings along a little package, which makes me rather excited! My monthly Birchbox is something I really look forward to - I follow  +Birchbox  on Twitter so for days they have been teasing and dropping hints as to what may come this month - and in actual fact this month we have a Birchbag with summery goodness inside.   Ripping off the packaging I find that I have the bright pink edition of the Birchbag, hurrah! There were four possible choices, all of which look lovely but the pink I have is very vibrant, inspired by Ibiza and designed by Birchbox's own Jess Diner. The first product I pull out of the bag is a lovely lilac colour Soigne nail varnish, and I promptly painted my nails  - this is a very subtle colour and needed two coats to make it pop. It is very pretty and a sophisticated shade so I like it a lot.   Next up is a Benefit product (very excited by this as I love Benefit...

Hello friends, So..... Nutella. Anyone else obsessed with this? I love the chocolate-hazelnut yumminess and will spread it over pancakes, toast, muffins, crumpets, anything really that seems like a good combo. So it struck me the other day, that I haven't made the most appealing bake - Nutella cookies! This recipe only has three ingredients, it is so simple and makes gooey cookies that won't stick around for long!  Ingredients : 130g plain flour 260g Nutella 1 egg Extra Nutella for the gooey center Method: Preheat the oven to 180C/ 160C fan assisted. Mix together the three cookie ingredients and beat well until the dough is consistent. It will be quite a greasy dough and will stick together well. Take a spoonful of mixture and roll into a ball, flatten slightly and make a little well in the middle. Put a teaspoon of Nutella into the well and then take another spoonful of dough, roll and flatten then cover the Nutella. Press the two halves together to make ...

Hello friends, A good rich, moist chocolate cake is up there in my top 3 of cake types, so here it is - my new favourite recipe. I made this for a birthday lunch, and wanted a little bit of wow, which is why I coated the cake in a white buttercream, and then poured a chocolate ganache over the top. I like how it turned out, although coating the cake was fairly time consuming and I kept getting crumbs in the icing so it wasn't perfect! Ingredients: 200g plain flour 80g cocoa powder 200g caster sugar 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 2 duck eggs 100g vegetable oil 2 tsp vanilla 175g milk 75g warm water 180g soft butter 560g icing sugar A dash of milk 100g milk chocolate 100g double cream Method: This makes an 18 inch sandwich cake. Preheat oven to 180C/ 160C fan assisted. In a bowl mix together the flour, cocoa, caster sugar, baking powder and salt. Make sure this is well incorporated then add the wet ingredients, eggs, oil, ...

Hello friends, As we are in Wimbledon week, what better cake to celebrate with than the classic Victoria Sponge, with a cream and strawberries filling. This is a beautiful looking cake and an ideal desert to the countless BBQs and outdoor meals as we celebrate the coming of summer. Ingredients: 175g softened butter 175g caster sugar 175g self raising flour 3 duck eggs 250ml double cream 1 tbsp icing sugar 1 tub of strawberries, halved  Method: This makes an 18 inch sandwich cake. Preheat oven to 180C/ 170C fan assisted. In a bowl beat together the sugar and butter until it is pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well. The mixture may separate a little after the eggs are added, but this will come together as you beat it. Fold in the flour gently, and pour the batter into two greased sandwich tins, then put into the oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven when golden and allow to cool fully. Whilst cooling, whip the double cream until it f...

Hi friends, This is part two of my healthy truffles blog, and this time we are going for the classic chocolate truffle. The base for these healthy truffles is always dates, then you add in nuts and flavouring as you fancy. I am a big peanut fan, so today I have used peanuts in the truffle base.  The last batch of truffles I made have been slowly eaten, before I go to the gym or before my partner goes for a run and they definitely give an energy boost and help us get through our exercise. Ingredients: 15 dates, soaked in warm water 75g peanuts (you can use other nuts such as hazlenuts/ pecans if you don't like peanut) 50g coconut oil 2 tbsp cocoa Method: Blitz all of the ingredients together in a food processor, until all of the big lumps have gone/ the dough is a nice consistency. Take a tablespoon of mixture and roll into a ball (if you dampen your hands before hand you won't get mixture stuck to you). You can roll the balls in a coating, such as cocoa pow...

Hello summer friends, Today is a scorcher in England, summer has hit and it is 32 degrees outside! And what better way to enjoy the sunshine than a frozen bowl of fruit sorbet - refreshing and cooling this is the perfect sweet treat to counter the sun. I have a ice cream attachment for my KitchenAid, but you can make this with any other ice cream beater or by hand. Ingredients: 3 ripe Mangos 2 Lemons 100g Icing Sugar Method: Place your ice cream bowl in the freezer at least 12 hours before you want to use. Peel the mango and chop into small chunks. Put into a food processor and blitz until smooth. Juice the lemons (if you pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds this is a lot easier) and add into the mango. Mix well, then add in the icing sugar. Place the mixture in a freezable pot, and place in the freezer for around an hour.  If you are making this by hand, after the hour take out and mix the sorbet around and place back in the freezer. Repeat this every...