Nutella Brownies!!

Yuuum so as most people are... i am a big fan of nutella! There really is nothing better than a big spoon of straight Nutella except for Nutella brownies!! I also love chocolatey fudgey brownie. Not cakey brownie! If i wanted a peice of cakes that what i would make not brownie. They are best when pulled out still runny in the middle and left over night to set!! I found this recipe online but changed it a bit and it was really very similar to my brownie recipe but with a cup of Nutella in it!

Ingredients for Nutella Brownies:

• 1 cup butter, unsalted (softened)
• 1 cup granulated sugar 
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup of baking cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (original called for 1/8 teaspoon)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup nutella
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 bar of large Nestle Dark Chocolate – this is for the topping

Mehtod:

- Melt the butter over a low/medium heat. Once melted take off the heat and add chocolate chips and leave to fuse together. In the meantime beat the eggs in an electric mixer on a medium/high speed until fluffy. Add both of the sugars 1/4 at a time and beat well after each addition.

 

- Add the vanilla, cocoa, nutella and flour and mix on a low speed until just combine. Stir the chocolate and butter mixture and pour into the mixer while on a low speed. Beat on medium speed for 1-2 minutenes till thick and fluffy. 

-Preheat oven to 180'c. Grease and line a square cake tin or slice dish. Pour the brownie mixture into the dish. Great / finely chop the dark chocolate and sprinkle over the top. Place brownies into the preheated oven for around 35-40 minutes. These brownies are ooey and gooey and will not set up unless you let them cool. 

-Once cool, leave to set in the fridge over night and ENJOY!!

Pink Ombre Cake!

Pink Ombre Cake!

I made this cake for my friend Izzys 18th birthday yesterday! It is a pink ombre cake that had 4 layers of different colour pink, going from dark to light in the middle and pastel swirled icing from blue to pink!

It is very similar to one that i made a few weeks ago but i took a few more photos on how i did it this time. As i had said before...this is a very fast and easy way to make a cake look that much better! It does take a few extra bowls for colouring the icing but apart from that its very easy to do and looks very pretty!

Afghans - GLUTEN FREE

The Edmonds Junior Cookbook was one of the first books that really got me baking obsessed in 2004 which i can not believe is 10 years ago!! There are two recipes in there that after trying many other i always seem to go back to... 1. Melting moments recipe and 2. AFGHANS!!

Afghans are something i have never tried to make gluten free until tonight and i am very happy that i have. It was very easy to sub for gluten free ingredients in the recipe and it worked out perfectly and you cant even tell they are gluten free which is always my number one aim, baking should always taste amazing and some how i find gluten flour tends to leave an unpalatable after taste.

These are not your traditional afghans..  the only part i don't like about them is the big nut on the top, don't get me wrong i love walnuts or almonds alone, i just don't like it together, so i have used threaded coconut, ground pistachios and chocolate chips! ENJOY

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10-15 minutes

Biscuits:
200g Butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup Caster sugar
1 1/4 cups All purpose Gluten Free Flour (i use healtheries baking mix)
1/2 tsp Guar gum (ensures the biscuits hold and keep their shape, can get from health food store)
1/4 cup Cocoa
2 cups Gluten free cornflakes

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Sift flour and cocoa.

2. Stir into creamed mixture. Fold in cornflakes.

3. Spoon mounds of mixture onto a greased oven tray gently pressing together.

4. Bake at 180C for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned and firm. 5. When cold ice with chocolate icing and decorate with a walnut piece if you like.

To ice and decorate: 

75g unsalted butter 

1 1/2 cup icing sugar

1/4 cup Cocoa

 1 tbsp milk, add more if needed 

Decorations eg coconut, walnuts, choc chips

To make icing, cream the butter for 3-4 minutes or until very pale. Add milk and vanilla and half of the icing sugar and all of cocoa, beat for at least 1 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add remaining icing sugar, and beat for a further 3 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy or at a spreadable consistency. Pipe or spread over cookie, and decorate, as you can see i have used coconut, choc chips and pistachios

Raspberry Cloud Cake - Dairy and Gluten Free

Raspberry Cloud Cake! 

Today i decided to make the strawberry cloud cake from the Annabel Langbein Free Range Cookbook. This is one of my favourite recipes for a summer dessert and also never ceases to impresss. It is one of the easiest and fastest desserts to prepare which always makes life easier!

To make this gluten free i used marcos gluten free gingers nuts in the base with coconut and butter and the rest was already wheat free! Also because strawberries aren't in season i used frozen raspberries which i had half unthawed and were absolutely fine!

I've taken quite a few photos and there is not much else i can tell you at this point. It is in the freezer at the moment and will get back on how it goes!!