Cake Pops

I've been wanting to make cake pops since the craze first stared but I've never been sure which method to use as there are three main ways; using a 'cake pop maker', combining pre-brought cake with butter cream icing or using a cake pop mould (like the one I used below).

Making the cake pops themselves is the easiest part, simply weigh out and combine; caster sugar (4oz), butter (4oz), (3) eggs, plain flour (4oz) and vanilla extract to form the cake mixture. The mixture then needs to be spooned into the individual moulds (up to the rim) but make sure it isn't the side with the little air hole as that is the top.

A top tip to make sure they don't stick to the mould once they are done is to (very) lightly coat the silicone tray beforehand with oil (using a spray oil is the easiest way to control the amount you use) and flour. They need to go into the pre-heated  (180oc) oven for approximately 20 minutes, however I found they needed a little longer than this but be careful not to take them out to early as it will cause them to drop in the middle. 

Once they have cooled for roughly 20-30 minutes, melt the chocolate you are going to use to coat the cake pops and individually dip the sticks into the melted chocolate before inserting them into the cake pops. You need to be careful not to push them too far as they might go through the other side. I'd recommend inserting them a third of the way into the cake pop. 

There are a range of different cake pop stands online but with a bit of wood and a drill my dad quickly rustled me one up and my mum (justpootling.blogspot.co.uk) being the keen crafter she is, set to work decorating the cake pop stand, which you can see above. I found the how-to for this cake pop stand from rosebakes, it provided a great step-by-step guide.

       

Once the cake pops have been left in the fridge for roughly an hour and a half, you can begin dipping them into the melted chocolate. The best way to do this is to melt the chocolate over a bain marie, allowing more control over the temperature of the chocolate (less likely to burn). It will also keep the chocolate hot whilst you coat each cake pop, as when microwaved it will begin to thicken as it cools at a much quicker rate (as you can see above).

I choose to melt milk chocolate and white chocolate for these but you can choose whatever chocolate you want to coat the cake pops. 

There are a thousand different ways to decorate cake pops (you only need to do a Google search to see the vast amount of cake pop designs), but it is completely up to you as to what you choose to decorate them with. As you can see I raided the cupboard and found every single tub of sprinkles possible. 

  

Mars Bar and Milky Way Cookies

Still got chocolate tins left lying around the house from Christmas? This is the perfect recipe to use them all up before starting the January diet (or not in my case). I used a BBC Food basic cookie recipe and swapped the chocolate chunks for various tin chocolates. If your household is anything like mine it will be the mars bars, bounties and milky ways.

Just like any other cookie recipe; cream the butter and sugar together, add an egg and drop of vanilla extract, then a pinch of salt and self raising flour, before finally adding in the chopped up chocolates (I just used all the chocolates I had left).

Then roll the dough into walnut sized balls, any bigger and it will be one big cookie, and be sure to leave enough room between them (I did three in a row).

As you can see they go delicious and crunchy but don't be fooled, they are still incredibly gooey inside but you've got to eat them warm!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Carrot cake cupcakes are perfect for any occasion, this occasion being Christmas of course! I used the Hummingbird Bakery Carrot Cake recipe for these which I separated into individual cupcake cases.

Unlike usual cupcake recipes, which use butter, carrot cake requires (sunflower) oil. So to begin; add the oil, light brown sugar and eggs together. Once combined, add in the vanilla extract and dry ingredients (plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger & salt). Followed by the grated carrot.

Then place them into the oven until they are golden brown, and leave to cool before icing. 

The carrot cake frosting is taken from Lorraine Pascale's carrot cake recipe which is made using icing sugar, butter, lemon zest, vanilla extract and cream cheese. I also tend to add in some of the lemon juice too for extra flavour.  

Once combined, you can begin spreading the icing on top of the cupcakes before adding the decorations. Normally I would decorate them with miniature white chocolate carrots (which you can find in Sainsburys), but as it is Christmas, it only felt right to use a few santas and reindeers instead.

Christmas Biscuits

Making and decorating Christmas biscuits is my favourite pre-Christmas activity. The BBC Food recipe I use makes vanilla biscuits but to make them taste more Christmassy I add mixed spice.

Cream the butter and sugar together, add the egg and vanilla essence (and mixed spice) until combined. Then add in the flour to form the dough. 

Then you can raid the cupboard for Christmas cutters you probably last used when you were five years old.

Then once they have cooled on a wire rack its time to start decorating!

...And tah-dah, with a touch of glitter and some icing, you've got Christmas biscuits!

Glittery Mince Pies

For me, mince pies are like turkey, I only really eat them because it's Christmas. Nonetheless I make them every year as they are a favourite in our household, especially when they're fresh out the oven.

You will find hundreds of different recipes online for mince pies but I prefer the most simple recipes that require the least amount of faff as they tend to be the yummiest. This Paul Hollywood recipe is just that.

 

Making pastry is much easier that people expect, simply combine all the ingredients: flour, butter, sugar and an egg together and add a small amount of cold water until a dough forms. Then once you've wrapped it in clingfilm and put it in the fridge to chill, you can make the filling.

However, I must admit I didn't make the mincemeat this year as I ran out of time, so instead I popped the pastry into the freezer for a short amount of time before rolling it out. Once you have cut the circles out of the pastry and lined the moulds, you can fill them with mincemeat and place a star on the top (to show off all the yummy mince meat underneath).

Once nicely browned, they can be taken out of the oven and sprinkled with lots of glitter to make them look even more Christmassy (you can now buy edible glitter from most supermarkets).

As I was giving these as gifts I placed them in bags and tied them with a bow.

Gingerbread House

This year I decided it was time to try and make my own gingerbread house. Whilst making the gingerbread was simple, constructing the house itself was not so easy.

To make the gingerbread: crumble the butter and flour together, then add in the remaining dry ingredients (ginger, mixed spice, light brown sugar and bicarbonate of soda) and finally the whisked egg and golden syrup to form a dough.

Once rolled out (to the thickness of 2 x £1 coins), use this template to cut out the six pieces (two of each) needed to make your house. To make stain glass windows, simply make a round hole big enough to fit a hard boiled sweet in the middle (this will melt as the gingerbread bakes). 

 

Remember that when you take them out of the oven, they may not seem done after 8-10 minutes but they will firm up as they cool down. And then once you've made a mixture of icing sugar and water, you can begin gluing the four sides together before putting the roof on top. Then you should be left with something like this...

Ok, so maybe not. But this was the one I made last year with the help of Ikea's flat pack.

This is the one I really made, before this happened...

Unfortunately I could only stick a few smarties on before it collapsed, but nonetheless it still tasted just as good!