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R <3 xx

Mary Berry Iced Chocolate Traybake - Merry Christmas

Sorry it's been so long... hectic with a law degree... but I'm still cooking and baking! In the meantime here is a recipe for Mary Berry's Iced Chocolate Traybake - an easy and quick recipe that feeds a large crowd. I added edible glitter onto mine for Christmas time.

Silver glitter

Gold Glitter

Merry Christmas.

Recipe: (from the Mary Berry Ultimate Cake Book)

Ingredients 

4tbsp cocoa

4 tbsp hot water

225g butter

225g caster sugar

275g self raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

4 eggs

4 tbsp milk

- Blend the cocoa and water and allow to cool slightly. Add the other ingredients and mix. Turn into a lined tin and level the surface. Bake at 180c for 25-35 minutes (until the cake has risen and is springy to the touch)

For the icing:

3 tbsp apricot jam

150g Plain Chocolate

6tbsp water

350g icing sugar

1 tsp sunflower oil

- Warm the apricot jam slightly and brush over the cake.

- Melt chocolate in a pan with the water until smooth. Allow to cool slightly and add the sifted icing sugar and oil, stir until smooth. Spread evenly on top of the cake with a palette knife. 

Also a few festive photos from around the house - 

Goodbye for now (and Mary Berry's Devilled chicken with courgette couscous)...

God it's been so long since I've last posted! I can't even remember my fonts and the layout! Again, hugeeee apologies for not keeping up with this blog. I've finished my exams, been on a trip around South-East Asia and am now preparing to move to London and start at the LSE on my law course. I'm still cooking and baking as much as I can and once I have a routine sorted out, will hopefully be the Student Chef again and reviewing London restaurants. 


But for now, I leave you with this heavenly recipe, Mary Berry's devilled chicken - a sweet, sticky sauce that I serve with courgette couscous and vegetables or salad.


Please keep checking back as I do want to keep blogging in the future!


Ingredients - (this is the original recipe although I like mine saucey to coat the couscous too so I triple or quadruple this recipe).
Chicken breasts with the bone in (one per person)
1 heaped tablespoon apricot jam
1tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp crushed chilli flakes
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp  tomato ketchup
1 tbsp soy sauce


For the couscous - Roughly 100g dried couscous per person
2 courgettes, grated
2 red onions, grated
Garlic flavoured olive oil
Black pepper


Serve with vegetables - I used runner beans and corn on the cob straight from my Mum's vegetable patch but you can use whatever you want or a green salad.


1. Make the sauce by mixing all the ingredients together in a bowl and then cover the chicken breasts in a oven proof dish, leave to marinade in the fridge.
2. Cook in the oven at about 150c with foil over the dish for about an hour and then take the foil off for the last 30 mins.
3. Make the couscous by toasting the courgette and onion in a pan and then mix into the couscous (that's been cooked with boiling water as per instructions on the pack) and then stir in with some garlic oil.
4. Cook the vegetables and serve all together when the chicken has cooked, tender and is basically falling off the bone.
- I use the couscous as a base, the chicken and sauce on top and then have the vegetables on the side. It's seriously delicious, my parents want it again and again!

Easter Cakes, Royal Wedding Cupcakes and Bluebells...

Again, I apologise for the lack of posts but revision is proving to be a great stress at the moment, so bear with me! Over the last month or so, it's been Easter (cue the chocolate nest cakes made from shredded wheat, golden syrup and melted chocolate filled with a little chocolate butter-cream and topped with mini eggs), we've had some unseasonably good weather which meant a visit to the Bluebell Woods and baking some summery cupcakes (made to the Hummingbird Bakery's vanilla recipe, topped with their chocolate buttercream and then decorated with fresh strawberries and raspberries, some with sugar paper flowers) and of course the Royal Wedding (again Hummingbird vanilla cake with chocolate frosting and then decorated with red, white and blue sprinkles on a wedding themed cake stand). I promise I'll be back, posting regularly as soon as these damn exams are out of the way! :D

Apologies, I'm on study leave...

Hello my lovely readers! So sorry I haven't posted for over a month now! But I've been extremely busy studying for my final A-level exams which take place in June. So I've still got a couple of months to go and then I'll be back in cooking every single day! In the mean time I'll try and blog a few posts and some photos.
Here are some photos of some foodie bits in the past month which I will write about in due course, my Birthday at the Ivy, Easter treats and the start of summer BBQs. And I've also got some new cookbooks - Ottolenghi, The Hummingbird Bakery's new Cake Days and these will feature too :) Have a nice Easter.

Moroccan meatballs with couscous

I went to Marrakesh in May last year and loved it - the food, the riad's, lanterns and souk's. I've since tried to recreate some of the incredible food we had there. I've also noticed that Moroccan cuisine seems to be more popular in the UK now. We ate a lot of couscous and spiced grilled meat and harissa (a spicy flavoured chilli paste). One recipe I found was for Moroccan meatballs served with a herby couscous - I cooked it with my boyfriend for my parents on Saturday night.

Ingredients - serves 4/5
1 kg lean minced lamb
1 red onion, grated or finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 cm chunk ginger, grated or use a couple of tsp ground ginger
pinch dried chilli flakes
4 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground cinnamon
Olive oil flavoured with garlic
2 x 400g tins plum tomatoes (and swill half again in water)
200ml chicken stock 
coriander, chopped


To serve - 
400g couscous
500ml chicken stock/water
coriander
harissa paste
Pitta breads (I like the round little ones from Waitrose)


1. Put the lamb, onion, garlic and half the spices in a bowl and season well. Use your hands to mulch it all up and form small meatballs (we made 40)
2. Heat garlic oil in a large pan and add the meatballs in batches, frying until browned all over. Then scoop them out. Add the rest of the spices to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes. Then add the tomatoes, stock and season. Simmer for 10 minutes then add the meatballs and cook for another 20 minutes.
3. Make the couscous by adding the stock, a couple of teaspoons of harissa paste before forking through. Leave to absorb the liquid.
4. Meanwhile, grill the pitta breads by sprinkling with water then placing under a hot grill for a couple of minutes. 
5. Add coriander to the meatballs and fork some through the couscous. Serve by pouring some meatballs and sauce over the couscous and mopping it up with the pittas. 
- My Dad likes it with a kick so added more harissa paste.

Mexican Fajitas

I love the whole tex-mex fajita thing. Last night I made these fajitas with my boyfriend - sizzling chicken, peppers and onion cooked in a griddle pan and then rolled up in a soft tortilla with salsa, guacamole, lettuce and grated cheese. We cheat, just the tiniest bit, by using Discovery seasoning paste but they're really yummy.

Ingredients - 

Chicken breasts, cut into strips

Red yellow and orange peppers, cut into strips

Red and white onion, cut into strips

Discovery Fajita Seasoning Paste

Tortilla wraps

Salsa

Guacamole

Sour Cream (optional)

Grated cheese

Lettuce

1. Fry the chicken, peppers and onions until really well cooked and the onions are almost caramelised. Then add the fajita seasoning paste and stir in. 

2. Microwave the tortilla wraps to warm and soften.

3. To assemble, add some salsa to a wrap and top with the chicken and vegetable mix and then add some lettuce, grated cheese and guacamole. Fold up and eat!