Category Archives: Reviews

Cupcake crazy

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21

To celebrate National Cupcake week, I was sent some Cupcake books to look at (well, also to make some of the recipes).

I was sent Cupcakes by Sue McMahon, Special Cupcakes by Wendy Sweetser, and Divine Cupcakes by Tamara Jane, which are all published by New Holland Publishers here- you can also check out their facebook page here.

All the recipes look amazing (click on the names to have a look on amazon where you can “look inside”).

Cupcakes has several pages devoted to various toppings (how good does toffee topping sound?)- “normal” ones like butter-cream and cream cheese frosting, and fancier ones like swiss meringue butter-cream. It also has a little “special diets” section in the back.

Special Cupcakes is divided into different sections- party time, seasonal celebtrations, romance, cakes for kids to name a few. Sweet potato and orange cupcakes jumped out at me from this book.

Divine Cupcakes is filled with cupcakes (with the most beautiful photography and amazing decorations), then at the end there is a section for different frostings/ icings, and then a section for decorating tips (how to make sugar roses, or chocolate twirls)- I would need a steady hand there!

I could not resist the brownie cupcakes from Cupcakes, so that was what I made first. I loved that the recipe had 2 eggs, because then it was easy to only make half.

Yum- that is melted chocolate and butter, and a bowl with sugar and a whisked egg. Plus some scrumptious dark chocolate chips from Beyond dark.

They are more like little chocolate puddles than chocolate chips, but so so yummy.

The batter ready to go into the oven. The batter was super easy to make and smelled totally amazing.

When they came out- I love the appearance of the tops- like real mini brownies. The recipe had chocolate ganache as the topping, but I had no cream. It did say to leave that out for a less rich cupcake, so I went for middle ground.

Some whole earth dark chocolate spread, plus a few more chocolate chips.

Now to enjoy one while looking over all the other fabulous sounding recipes. :)

I also had a few bananas a bit past their best, so I decided to make the banana toffee cupcakes from Cupcakes too. Although I had used all my cupcake cases so I made them in mini loaf cases (and some in a bigger one too).

Looking lovely in their mini loaf case things.

And then with the toffee topping- this was really easy to make (and could be used on top of loads of different cupcakes)- I made it in the microwave (although it did bubble over) and made them a little more special. I took these to work (well I kept us a couple to share) and they were a total hit- I think everyone was really impressed that I made the toffee topping and that it was not out of a tin, and it really was very easy to make.

Alas now I have run out of eggs (for now, until I visit my Mum again) so the baking shall have to cease! But I am sure you will see more recipes from these books popping up pretty soon.

So- look inside one of them on amazon (click on their names above), and tell me what you would love to see me bake on this blog! :)

Feeling better (better do some baking then)

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21

Hello!

I enjoyed everyones cheese answers yesterday! It seems the vegan cheeses just do not cut it, but also people miss it less than they would have thought. Thinking about it more, I am not a massive cheese lover anyway- I really only like cream cheese, mozzerella, goats cheese, strong cheddar and wenslydale. No blue cheese, or brie, or feta or anything like that. I think I just got into the habit of topping meals with grated cheese, when they did not really need it.

Anyway, I forgot on my post yesterday so say that I was better (as my post was about Tuesday I suppose). But I was. Yesterday I had a run and it was great! I didn’t want to go too far, in the end I did just under 4 miles, but I managed it all with an average pace of 10 min miles, a speed I have not got up to for a while. Plus no walk breaks (well, except for annoying crossing the road ones). I was super pleased as I was starting to get a little worried about the upcoming 10K- I was hoping to beat my previous best time, but now I am hoping to run the whole way! I seem to have gone backwards!

I also got back into baking.

Some pumpkin whoopie pies! I was so excited to make these :) Although I did not have any marshmallow fluff to add to the filling, so I made it without and the filling was super runny!

They were a hit with Andy and at work- gently spiced and really tasty. :) Ones to make again for sure.

Also it is National Cupcake week this week. I am not sure if it is an excuse for the Food network to show more of Cupcake wars than usual, but I was emailed a few recipes from this cupcake book and asked to try some on my blog. I went for the black forest cupcakes, only half way through I found out I did not have any black cherry jam (I was sure I still had some of the lovely meridian cherry spread) so they turned into chocolate and raspberry cupcakes. Ffion I hope you approve :) More for work anyway!

And now I am making some autumnal spiced apple crumble bars, based on this fruit crumble bar recipe from the lovely Katie. Happy days indeed.

And if that is not enough, I have body pump later :)

Lastly, it is nearly the weekend! We are off to see Steven Merchant on Friday night (I keep forgetting) and then up to Sheffield on Saturday for some Shakespear. How cultured! :) I will have to tape the Great North run as I am getting a bit excited about it!

Any exciting weekend plans?

Busy weekend

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14

Hey all

This is a random heart-shaped potato that I dug up the other day! Plus it sort of fits with the wedding weekend?? Maybe ??

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend. I was off to a family wedding yesterday, which was great. I did not take any pictures (fail), but what was brilliant was that the colour scheme was so bright! The bride had a lovely deep green sash on her dress, and the groom had that colour (what are those hanky things called that go in the top pockets to match the ties?) tie etc, but then one bridesmaid was in bright red, one was in purple, and then each of the men in the party had a different colour tie etc- yellow, purple, red, blue- it looked fab! And at the reception each table had a different colour (we were on the red table)- so the flowers and favours all co-ordinated. It actually looked brilliant. Anyway, it was fun (although I did have a rather interesting man next to me who kept on and on about how his meal looked better than my veggie meal- I always find those situations awkward as I do not mind other people eating meat- I am not a militant type and I do not lecture people, but I also think that some people can be very insulting!) although it was a late night!

Today we went out for breakfast, and then to a family garden party to continue the celebrations. I am home now for a little bit, to unpack,and then repack (ahem and read/write blogs as I eat my lunch/dinner) as I am off for a girly trip to Bristol for a couple of days!

So not much blogging will be going on still! Anyway it is Sunday so time for the weekly review;

Monday- faster 5.8 miles.2 and a hlaf hours of weeding at the allotment.

Tuesday- 3 hours digging, aerobics.

Wednesday- audiofuel run before breakfast. Small amount of easy weeding.

Thursday- Yoga in the morning, body pump in the evening.

Friday- 10 mile run.

Saturday- Yoga before breakfast.

Sunday- rest.

I am planning on having a run tomorrow morning before we leave, but the only exercise will be shopping over the next couple of days! Then it will be time for my magic mile for marathon talk! Not holding out much hope but participation counts for more than a good time! And it is all about the taking part, yes?  :)

Byeeeee

Baking extravaganza!

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21

Evening all :)

Hope you all had a good weekend despite the crazy weather. I ended up stuffing my trainers with brown paper yesterday, as they were so soggy. Today I took the paper out and it was wet through, and so I put my trainers in the airing cupboard. Hopefully they will be dry for a run tomorrow.

This weekend I have mainly been baking.

First I attempted some mint chocolate fudge. I made my usual fudge recipe, and then added some chopped dark chocolate before pouring it into the pan. I then sprinkled it with sugar which I had mashed with a pestle and mortar with some mint essence. The fudge tastes fine, but it was so crumbly so cutting it was not so easy!

Interesting shapes no? Anyway, I hope it will still be happily received.

Then I made some peanut butter cookies from my Peanut Butter & Co cookbook. I was a bit wary of trying this recipe, mainly because the Hummingbird recipe is so good!

These were amazing- so chewy and almost gooey on the inside- stuffed with peanut buttery goodness. These were for Sunday tea so we have none at home now.

Then I made some of those brownies that Katie invented and Rachel also made.

I also had some white chocolate stars from Sainsbury’s so I added these on the top (sadly no edible glitter!). I had a minor problem in that I did not have enough apple sauce, so I used some mashed banana instead- hopefully they do not taste too banana-ey. I am going to freeze this in slices ready for later. :)

Then it was the piece du resistance- white chocolate and coconut fudge. I used the normal recipe (from Rachel Allen’s Home cooking) and added some shredded coconut to the middle and to the top.

There it is cooling (all the white chocolate melts from the heat of the fudge and pours out the sides).

And sliced! This batch sliced much easier, and looks so pretty too. These will be in bags soon, for end of term gifts. So not too much to tempt me with at home!

I did have a lovely lunch;

Andy bought some Wensleydale and cranberry cheese to have at our picnic on Friday (and he bought rocket salad too which I was very impressed with as he is normally very fussy with salads and only buys iceberg!)- so I had some on some toast with a red pear. And you can see my lovely teapot so of course I had to have some tea.

OK so time for a quick training recap of this week;

Monday- attempted a mid length run but cut it short due to having to stop and walk- think this was tiredness and dehydration.

Tuesday- Aerobics hooray!

Wednesday- Audiofuel run which is still hard work but in a good way I think! Plus yoga for runners podcast.

Thursday- Body pump hooray! Upped weights only for dumbells in the triceps track, and forgot to take a towel. Whoops.

Friday- Rest day.Picnic concert. Plently of body pump aches!

Saturday- Long and wettest run ever.

Sunday- Rest day- yoga for runners podcast.

So fingers crossed that my trainers are dry by tomorrow.

And it is on to the final week of work before the summer holidays, so I was wondering does anyone have any lovely school memories from the last day/ week of term? We used to get to take in games from home on the last day which always seemed like such fun! I was easily pleased I think!

How to make chia pudding?

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13

Evening all! Hope you all had a lovely weekend. Especially the tennis! I got a text from my Dad saying he would be doing the Men’s final, but I had already arranged to go and visit a friend, so I taped it and am watching it now (just saw him!!)- I did listen to the match on my drive home but it is hard to listen while driving.

Anyway, I spent Sunday out visiting, and did do some yoga in the evening. So here is the belated (yet again) training for the previous week.

Monday- Just under 6 mile run- it was baking that day and I really struggled.

Tuesday- Aerobics- I was full of energy and loving it!

Wednesday- Rest day- walk up to cinema only to find film sold out! Walk home and yoga.

Thursday- Body pump- most notable was the full real press ups! OK so only 4, but still!

Friday- Audiofuel intervals- hard work (esp the fastest ones as you would expect)- followed by cheesecake! (Well, not right away)

Saturday- 8.5ish mile run, then helping at Summer Fayre

Sunday- Rest day- and yoga.

I am pleased I have kept up the yoga twice a week, and I might look at some of the other podcasts available for some variety.

Other stuff- I tried some chia seeds yesterday. They have been a bit of a craze (and raved about in Born to Run) and I looked for them in the little Wholefoods in London. Anyway, Lucy offered to send me some!

I mixed a small mashed banana with some cocoa powder, then added a tbsp chia seeds and a splash of milk, and left it in the fridge all day. I had it after my yoga in the evening and it was lovely- the chia seeds soaked up the milk and obviously banana and cocoa is already a winning combo!

I topped it with a pear and some garden strawberries- yum :)

Also ages and ages ago I tried some of the Nature’s Path cereal, and also joined their mailing list. A while back they sent an email saying “click here for free cereal” and I did, thinking it would be a small pack. Well it came in the post!

A real proper sized box of cherry and coconut cereal. Yummylicious indeed!

And today I had a run after work- I did the same route as last week but my legs felt heavy (not sure why as I rested yesterday- maybe teaching PE all afternoon in the heat?)- I picked up the pace at the end but it still took me 64mins (only a couple of mins faster than last week in that baking weather). Ah well I will take that I suppose.

I have also signed up to some more races- The Brighton half marathon and the Silverstone half marathon, and…..

.. next weekend Andy and I are off to Silverstone to see the Grand Prix!!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo! :)  He surprised me on Friday and I am so excited! :)

Any exciting races or other plans for you guys?