German Chocolate Cupcakes

♬ 'The Best Of The Monkees' by The Monkeys

Alongside many other Britain's this week my energy levels are depleting, talk about a rubbish British summer! Creativity has been lopsided and I don't believe the start of this post sounds like 'dear diary'. I have to shake off this excess grey feeling and get back to excitable and dramatic Mita.

Now looking at the above picture who wouldn't get excited? EXACTLY! A champion batch of cupcakes made especially for Islington boxing club. Suggested by George Foreman these German chocolate cupcakes have a decadent dark chocolate sponge with coconut and pecan chocolate butter cream, and a random Munchie on top. Based on the popular American 'Germans Chocolate Cake'.

Enough typed, enough eaten, roll on the recipe...

Ingredients:

For 12 cakes in muffin cases

125g unsalted butter

100g dark chocolate

125g golden caster sugar

1tsp dessicated coconut 

2 large eggs

125g self raising flour

1tsp baking powder

3 tbsp coconut milk

Topping:

125g unsalted butter

50g dark cocoa powder

200g sifted icing sugar

20g crushed pecans

Dessicated coconut

Pecans to decorate

Pack of munchies

1 tbsp milk

 ▶Method:

: Preheat oven to 180°c.

: Melt the chocolate and butter in a large bowl over a pan of simmering boiling water.

: Meanwhile put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and stir, add a pinch of salt.

: Pour in the melted chocolate and butter, whisk well then add the eggs and milk.

: Scoop a generous amount in each case.

: Bake for 20 minutes and leave in the tray for a few minutes then place on a cooling rack.

: Make the butter cream by whisking the butter until soft, add the milk, then cocoa powder and icing sugar in batches, tip in the crushed pecans.

Once cakes are cool to touch at the base, pipe or spread on the butter cream and place face down on a plate of dessicated coconut. Top with a cheeky Munchie.

DONE!

Favourite Song:

ê '(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone'

It's a back to back blogging extravaganza! The Monkees are springing me back into action.

Chocolatey Baked Cherry Cheesecake

 

♬ 'Version' by Mark Ronson

CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE CAKE.

Quite an indulgent Sunday consisting of cream cheese, sour cream, perving on tennis players, and another recipe with fresh cherries. I have one more pack and will stir them through whatever I can this week, and won't bore you with blogging any more about the plump dark red bad boys.

While watching the tennis final between Federer and Murray I was running back and forth to the kitchen trying to assemble this cheesecake. Honestly apart from feeling like an actual ball girl, I was tempted to configure a warning sign that read 'CAN CAUSE ADDICTION'. I happily scoffed two slices, then had to store the rest! Why baked cheesecake? I thought it was time to line my stomach for what's to come in late August....

NEW YORK!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Super excited about venturing out to the big apple and exploring food and more food. I have to taste everything out there, then occasionally run through Central Park to feel lighter.

Right I need your help, where's best to wine and dine? Travel guides look nice, and they tend to be left at home once on holiday so if you have any cool suggestions that would be great.

In other news....

Give this cheesecake a go, I promise you will want to pass this on. I figured baking a cheesecake would have similar properties to a cake, therefore eggs and extra flour were used for binding. The chilled method is usually what I opt for if I have a few mates round, but the wobbly centre and smell of a baked cheesecake is something quite special. The base would normally be digestive or ginger nut, however it was time for the oaty Hobnob to take a stand. After googling like a madwoman I grabbed a few bits of knowledge about baked cheesecake, and formatted the recipes I read into this...

Ingredients:

8 Hobnobs, in a plastic bag and smashed with whatever is close. I used the bottom of a coffee jar. 

50g unsalted butter, melted.

300g light Philadelphia cream cheese

100g plain flour

 2 tbsp icing sugar

2 large eggs

140ml sour cream (adds a tang and used in a New York cheesecake)

10 smashed and pitted fresh cherries, a few left whole to decorate.

50g chopped pecan nuts

Dark chocolate sauce

Cocoa powder for dusting

35g dark chocolate chopped (I had Green & Blacks mini bar)

Method:

Dig out an 18cm spring form cake tin.

: Preheat oven to 180°c.

: Mix the melted butter with the crushed biscuits, then stir in the chopped chocolate.

: Press down in the tin and bake for 5 minutes. Take out and leave to one side and sprinkle on the pecans.

: Combine the cream cheese, icing sugar, flour and sour cream until very smooth. Then add the eggs one at a time.

: Stir in the smashed cherries.

: Pour on top of the base and bake for 40 minutes. The sides should be puffy and the centre quite wobbly.

: Let it cool for about half an hour, then release from tin.

: Drizzle chocolate sauce in the centre, place cherries and dust over with cocoa powder. 

DONE!

Now if your wondering has Mita forgotten the sugar? No sugar needed, the cherries and chocolate were sweet enough to make the cheesecake taste so damn divine.

Favourite Song:

ê 'Apply Some Pressure' Featuring Paul Smith

Italiano Egg

                                     

♬ 'Black Light' by Diagrams

How embarrassing, there I was tweeting away about Jamie Oliver carrying the torch and it wasn't him after all, he was further up the road! It was still an inspirational David Pickup who ran well considering the downpour. I started to feel like I got stood up, similar to a feeling many years ago at the cinema, yes that's right he who must not be named left me standing like a hard rocky candy in Cineworld. Gutted. To top that I messed up four poached eggs- FOUR! Not sure what was going on, now if in doubt with poaching I'm totally baking instead.

Moving onwards and upwards to yet another baked egg phenomenon, yes I basically cracked an egg in a mushroom with two of my favourite Italian herbs, basil and oregano. Totally worth blogging and ranting about, because it tastes so damn good. Please watch, listen, laugh a bit and give this a go. Obviously mushrooms don't float everyone's boat so try a red pepper or another vegetable that will maintain its shape once baked.

The earliest memory I have of eggs was after school when I would watch my grandma put them in meat curry, she would keep the shell ON, let them boil and when it came to eating we had to peel them. A messy business but there was something quite special about peeling the egg amongst the meaty soup. These days I find the cracking of eggs occur on a Thursday when I'm near the end of my tether and itching for the weekend to kick in. A cheap, healthy and wholesome ingredient which blesses most of my breakfasts.

Get baking for breakfast!

Have a great weekend.

xxx

Next week, I'm hitting the sweet spot and getting a tad scientific by attempting to make SWEETS.

Cherry Almond Icicle Delights

                                    

♬ 'Greatest Hits II' by Queen

God bless the reduced shelf at every supermarket, my obsessive tendency to dive in the bargain bin at Topshop are now over - it's all about reduced cherries in Tesco! I was tempted to make a colossal cherry cake, in fact baking had to be paused after being covered in flour most of the week. 

Now what to do with a whole lot of cherries...

Smoothie?

Freeze?

Crush?

Blend?

Dip in chocolate and eat while watching Bridget Jones?

I wanted to keep them raw and still at their super food best, so as you can see from the video I made these cute delightful cubes. Cherry and almond is up there alongside the union jack, a peacock, and of course fish and chips as one of my most loved random things.

These are like mini cherry bakewells - but a healthier version.

300g fresh cherries

1 tsp almond essence

Few extra cherries

That's it!

A perfect icicle to pop into whatever drink you want to add cherry love to. Be warned the drink will change colour, so I would advise milk.

HOLD ON! NEWS JUST IN!

I HAVE JUST BEEN TOLD JAMIE OLIVER WILL BE CARRYING THE TORCH NEAR MY BROTHERS HOUSE.

Holy macaroni, the excitement is beyond words...what shall I WEAR?

Right I better be off and get all striped up.

xxxx

Breakfast Banana Split

                                        

♬ 'XX' by The XX

Well here I am on another Iphone app rampage! Where are they coming from? One app just pushes the other out the door, I love it, they serve me well and combining food photography, my voice and music is working out a treat. Meanwhile sharing the videos and increasing my profile is proving quite difficult. Considering my followers on twitter are dwindling at a measly 180-190, I have started to give up on who wants to 'follow' me. Instead I turn my nose to the word and prefer 'fans', because I have a lot of those! Oh well the only thing to do is to carry on as I am. This morning the above banana bonanza happened! Once again I'm not the first ever food blogger to pull this recipe out the hat, however how good does it look? Exactly - scrummy.

No rocket science involved, just bananas, yoghurt and whatever fruit you have to hand.

 ▶ Tips on the perfect breakfast banana split:

1. Ripe bananas

2. Thick luscious Greek yoghurt, preferably with honey. Keep in the fridge until you have to scoop it on.

3. Chopped walnuts, Brazil nuts, raisins, or any other dried fruit and nut would accompany this well.

4. Dark chocolate ONLY. Or if there is a healthy chocolate spread use that instead.

5. Get the kids involved and make breakfast fun. Funny faces, boats, banana split sandwiches - let them get creative.

I have invested in another massive reduced batch of fresh cherries and will be experimenting tonight what to do with the super plump balls of gorgeousness. Any suggestions? Keep an eye on this space to see what I conjure up.xx