Baileys Cheesecake Brownies

Alcohol… chocolate…cheesecake…. what more could a girl want? Baileys Cheesecake Brownies, that’s what! Literally the best breakfast on a Friday morning.

The trio… alcohol chocolate and cheesecake!

You better grab one before they all go…

All mine!

Ooops… too late! These brownies were surprisingly easy to make and it only took me an hour from start to finish. It’s not like you needed an excuse anyway right?! This recipe makes about 30 brownies… enough for me right?!

Brownie ingredients:

• 220g dark chocolate
• 220g butter
• 240g golden caster sugar
• 60g plain flour
• 4 free range eggs
• Half a glass of Baileys!

Cheesecake ingredients:

• 450g full fat cream cheese
• 80g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• A few splashes of Baileys

Method:

• Preheat oven to 150oC
• For the brownies:
• Melt together the dark chocolate and butter in a bain marie
• When cooled, mix in the sugar
• Add in the eggs one by one and mix well
• Sift in the flour and mix until combined
• Add the Baileys to your taste (I tend to be more generous!) and mix well
• Put the mixture into two brownie tins, spreading it evenly to the edge
• For the cheesecake:
• Whisk together the cream cheese and sugar
• Mix in eggs
• Add Baileys to taste
• Layer this on top of the brownie mixture, and lightly swirl the two mixes together
• Put in oven for about 30 mins, until just set in the middle.
• Remove from oven and leave to cool completely before serving!

Enjoy cake snobs!

Layers of swirly goodness!

Recipe adapted from here.

Chocolate ginger sandwiches

This weather is craaaayzee! Horrible and cold, snow and rain. PLEASE bring the spring soon! To comfort myself on another cold night, I decided to spice it up with an ingredient I don’t normally use… Ginger. I was inspired by the Domestic Sluttery Just Desserts theme of Fred and Ginger.

Of course, every Ginger needs her Fred, a delicious bite of chocolate! So here they are, my choco-ginger cookies, sandwiched together with a marscapone cream cheese stuffing!

Fred and Ginger biscuits

Ingredients:

• 290g plain flour
• 30g cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 170g softened unsalted butter
• 200g light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 100g golden syrup
• 60g dark chocolate chips
• Granulated sugar, to roll the dough in
• One package marscapone cheese
• Tsp vanilla bean paste/syrup
• More golden syrup!

Method:

• Whist together brown sugar and softened butter in bowl and add the egg and golden syrup until all combined
• Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, spices and bicarb
• Mix well until all ingredients are combined
• Stir in chocolate chips
• Shape into round balls, you should make about 30
• Roll in granulated sugar
• Place onto baking parchment covered tray and bake in a preheated oven at 175OC for 12 mins, or until cracks form in the tops of cookies
• Leave to cool for a few minutes then transfer onto cooling rack
• Make the filling by whipping the marscapone and adding in vanilla and as much golden syrup as you like!
• Spread on cooled cookies and munch… I think these are much better the next day!

Cookie balls waiting for the oven

 

Just out of the oven and ready to be sandwiched together!

 

Kissing cookies!

 

 

Stacked up ready to be eaten!

 

Go on… take a bite!

 

So have you had any successful baking experiments recently?

Bundt in the Oven

Morning Cake Snobs… I’ve got a BUNDT in the oven for you today! I baked a blueberry cream cheese pound cake for a volunteers meeting for the food festival Gefiltefest (in May.)

Here I am debuting my new apron, a birthday present with my sister “posing” behind me!

Queen of the kitchen and the Jester!

And here is the real star of the show, Blueberry Bundt cake with a white chocolate topping:

My Bundt Baby

This is a fairly simple recipe, and the reward is just great!

How can you resist a slice?

Recipe:

• 340g unsalted butter
• 8 oz cream cheese (one normal sized packet of Philadelphia)
• 600g sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 390g plain flour
• Pinch of salt
• Blueberries, about a bowlful
• 250g white chocolate (optional – for the topping)

Method:

• Cream together butter and cream cheese until fluffy.
• Add in sugar and mix until well incorporated.
• Add in eggs one at a time until all are incorporated fully.
• Add in vanilla and salt.
• Sift in flour and mix well.
• Coat your blueberries in some flour and stir them into the batter.
• Butter and flour your Bundt pan, or use cake release spray (I used the latter.)
• Pour mixture into your pan and bake on 160oC for approximately 1 hr and 15 mins.
• Check cake is done by inserting a skewer.
• Leave to cool on a drying rack, leaving the Bundt in the pan.
• Once cooled, flip on your drying rack.
• Melt white chocolate in bain marie and pour liberally over the top. Once this has hardened, SERVE!

Leave to cool in the pan

Drizzled chocolate

This is perfect paired with a cup of tea, and served after dinner or as part of a tea!

*Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart.

Guinness Cupcakes with Salted caramel buttercream

Todays cupcakes are the cupcakes I made for my own birthday (no cake is as good as homemade cake!) I’m a massive chocoholic as well as loving a challenge so I decided to make some cupcakes I had never attempted before.

I love the cake!

Chocolate Guinness cupcakes with Salted Caramel Marscapone buttercream. Makes 36 approx.

Ingredients:
For the cake:

- 375 ml Guinness

- 330g butter

- 130g cocoa powder

- 400g plain flour

- 350g caster sugar

- 2 tbs baking powder

- pinch of salt

- 3 eggs

- 200g sour cream

For the buttercream:

- 150g caster sugar

- 150g light brown  sugar

- 75g unsalted butter

- 200ml single cream

- 75ml golden syrup

- pinch of salt

- 220g marscapone

- 110g butter

- 750g icing sugar

- 1/2 tsp Vanilla bean paste or 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

- Melt together the guinness and butter in a saucepan over a low heat

- When melted, sift in cocoa powder and leave to cool

- Sift in plain flour and baking powder, then add rest of cake ingredients into a bowl and mix well, using a hand or stand mixer.

- Add in chocolatey guinness mixture when cooled and mix well again.

- Scoop the batter (it will be quite wet) into cupcake cases with an ice cream scoop.

- Bake on 180oC for 15 minutes approx.Take out of pan and leave to cool.

- To make the salted caramel, put caster sugar into a pan with 25ml water and let boil (do NOT stir!) until sugar becomes darker. (Approx 8 mins)

- Add in butter, when that is melted add in brown sugar, cream and golden syrup.

- I made a softer sauce, so I let the caramel boil until 113oC then poured into a container.

- To make the buttercream, sift in icing sugar, then add in butter and marscapone, and 2 large scoops of caramel. Save the rest for drizzling!

- Mix well with a hand or stand mixer for about 4 mins, then pipe on top of cupcakes, and drizzle the caramel syrup on top.

- Top with a sprinkle of fleur de sel, and optionally, some glitter!

Look at these lovelies!

I like these cupcakes as they were moist and very rich, as well as being a proper dense yet satisfying cupcake, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do, and I recommend you have one with a cuppa… in fact that’s what im going to do right now!

Gimme one

Brunch Baking

Morning all, I think 10am calls for a spot of brunch… what do you think?! This is the brunch I made for New Years Day:

New Years Day Brunch!

Enough to feed 15? More like 50! I laid on a huge spread, starting off with bagels, crumpets, spreads and dips, working our way onto cheese and crackers and crisps, then onto dessert… Fresh from the oven cinnamon rolls, fruit pastries, triple chocolate brownies, blueberry muffins, white chocolate pretzels, and rice crispy cakes, as well as chocolate and biscuits! I also added in some chocolate spoons which stirred into hot milk to create the BEST hot chocolate!

Triple chocolate brownies

Cinnamon rolls

Lots of cinnamon rolls!

Hot chocolate spoons

Berry pastry

Blueberry cinnamon crunch muffins and oreo rice crispy cakes

White chocolate covered pretzels

Chocolate, peanut butter, butterscotch Cupcakes!

Chocolate, peanut butter, butterscotch Cupcakes… what a mouthful! But seriously, these cupcakes were ADDICTIVE, right down to the last buttery mouthful!

I made these cupcakes for a close friends’ leaving party, he’s going to Australia so we sent him off in style! I topped these roof-sticking peanut buttery cupcakes with red, white and blue sprinkles as well as Australian red white and blue M&M’s!

The filling definitely made these cupcakes, a mix of peanut butter, butterscotch and golden syrup formed a sweet and salty cupcake, topped with Marscapone cream cheese frosting. Not for the faint hearted!

 

Bon appetit!

 

Oreo Surprise Cupcakes

I think I’ve discovered the BEST buttercream/frosting combination. Oh yes. Marscapone cream cheese buttercream with Oreo cookies crushed on top.

Oreo Cupcakes

I couldn’t stop licking the bowl after I dished up this buttercream onto surprise birthday cupcakes! What was the surprise? All the cupcakes had something hidden in them, either a whole Oreo, some Vice Versas (remember them?!) or a square of chocolate.

Birthday Cupcakes

They were also surprise cupcakes because they were for a suprise party. Do you think the birthday boy enjoyed them? 

I think so…!

The cupcakes were enjoyed by all, and I even have a few leftover to sneak to some friends!

Happy Friday Cake Snobs!

Healthy Baking 2

Hi Cake Snobs! As some of you may know, I’ve changed my diet since the end of August this year to try and be a bit healthier. Of course i’m still making/baking cupcakes which means still having a taste but it means that the other aspects of my diet are better. Yesterday I reached my Club 10 award in Slimming World, which means I’ve lost 10% of my body weight. I’m really happy and hope it will spur me on further! So without further ado, here’s some recipes I made for last night’s SW buffet:

Lemon Meringue Pie:

Syn free LMP

 

• 500g Quark (fat free cream cheese)
• Juice & zest of 1 and a 1/2 lemons
• 6 tbs sweetener (I use splenda)
• 5 egg yolks
• Beat this in a bowl and spoon into silicone cupcake cases or ramekins
• Bake in the oven at 180 degrees celsius for about 14 mins
• Whilst this is happening, whisk remaining egg whites (5) with a squeeze of lemon juice until it forms soft peaks, then add in about 4tbs sweetener and vanilla essence.
• Once “pies” have been baked, pipe or spoon this mixture on top and bake for a further 8 mins.
• Serve once slightly cooled.

Take a bite of pie!

Mini meringues

I’ve also been enjoying breakfast, and my favourite weekend treat is to kick back with a bowl of special porridge, which I make as normal but add a dash of cinnamon to the oats/milk/water whilst cooking. Once the porridge is made, I drizze some Walden Farms sugar&fat free caramel syrup over it and add a handful of fresh raspberries. DELISH!

Special Porridge

For a pimped up version – bake your porridge oats for half an hour, it tastes like a muffin!

Jubilee Cupcakes

Unless you fell off the face of the earth, you all had a lovely long weekend, thanks to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. This weekend I managed to fit in a family function, a trip to Ronnie Scott’s, AND a batch of jubilee cupcakes!

For the cupcakes, I went with victoria sponge cupcakes (vanilla filled with jam), and piped on red white and blue buttercream. The white buttercream was marscapone, and the red and blue were my new double cream buttercream (divine!)

So, what did you get up to this weekend?

Jubilee buttercream

 

The cupcakes

Cupcake trio

#MasterBaker

It’s charity bake sale day in the Spreading Jam offices, for a great cause. One of the team is running the London marathon and is running short of her target so we’ve clubbed together to have a bake sale in order to get her to her goal.

There is also a competition running, for someone to be crowned the #MasterBaker after the goodies have been judged.

I’ve offered up some pink velvet cupcakes with marscapone topping:

With a selection of gorgeous cakes like these, anyone could win!