Vanilla Muffins with Galaxy chocolate icing

I have been trying to make the perfect sponge cake for years and it’s not been turning out very well, my skill in cooking is with savoury not with cakes and muffins. But I haven’t let that put me off, because I love making cakes.

One day my boyfriend came home with some muffins that a customer had made for him, the woman who had made then had iced them with butter icing and sprinkled them with edible glitter. They looked fantastic and when I tasted them I couldn’t believe how light and fluffy they were and how wonderful they tasted.

The next day my boyfriend told her how much I loved them and couldn’t believe how light and fluffy she had managed to make them. So she kindly gave him the recipe, which I am forever thankful for.

When I first made them, I found it very strange that I could do the whole lot in a food processer, even the flour. Because I was under the impression that you had to fold the flour in and be gentle so not to knock out all the air. But trust me when I say this, it works, but it may be because you use plain flour instead of self-raising.

I have yet to try this with hand blender or by hand, as I have a food processor and I am too lazy. But if you try it another way, let me know how they turn out.

If you want to get the glitter, you can go to any cake shop and find all sorts of stuff to decorate them with. The best glitter is the silver or white one as they show up on all colours of icing. I once made black icing and put some of the white glitter on it and it really made it look very special. You can also buy icing or sugar flowers, butterflies, hearts etc. to make your muffins look extra special.

For the icing you can make a plain butter icing (the same recipe I use here without the chocolate) or you can add a flavour, lemon, orange, white chocolate etc. I like to make a plain flavoured cake and have a flavoured icing, but it up to you.

Cake

·         6oz. Caster sugar

·         6oz. Plain flour

·         6oz. Butter

·         3tsp Baking powder

·         3 Large eggs

·         Cap of vanilla extract

Icing

·         200g Butter

·         200g Icing sugar

·         200g Galaxy chocolate

Pre heat you oven to gas mark 7, 220c

Cream the butter and sugar together in food processor, until pale in colour, this can take anything from five to ten minutes, it will depend how soft your butter was to start. While that is mixing beat the eggs and add the vanilla extract to it. Also sieve the flour and baking powder together.

Once the butter and sugar are pale in colour add a little egg while it’s still mixing, then a little flour, keep doing this until everything is mixed together. Carry on mixing for about two minutes, you will find this mixture is very light and smooth.

Divide into muffin cases that are in a muffin tray, I normally get 12 muffins out of this mix, I fill them about halfway as I don’t want them over flowing when cooking.

I also put these cakes in the bottom self and put a baking tray on the top sleeve. I’ve found this stops them peaking in the centre and gives them a flat surface making them easy to decorate.

Place in oven and bake for about ten to fifteen minutes until lightly golden, test with a metal skewer if it comes out clean the cakes are cooked if not they need more time. But keep an eye them, you do not want them to burn.

Take them from the muffin tray and put on wire rank and leave to cool completely before you ice as the icing with melt and not look very good.

To make icing break the chocolate up and put in a microwaveable bowl and zap it for short blasts in the microwave, keep checking and string till melted and leave to one side to cool a little.

Cream the butter till soft then sieve in the icing sugar and mix together you can do this by hand or processor. When mixed add the chocolate and stir till it’s all mixed, this makes a little more icing than you need but it’s better to have too much than not enough. If you do have any left-overs you can leave it in the fridge for a couple of days. It’s a good excuse to make more cake, not that you need any.

You can pipe the icing on or just spoon it on and spread with a knife till you get your desired look. When they are covered you can decorate them any way you want. With the glitter I find it easier to get a sheet of paper fold it and pour a little glitter in there and sprinkle it on that way. Otherwise you get an explosion of glitter on them and the kitchen

Good luck and I hope you enjoy xxx

Melting Moments

Now there are several versions of melting moments, but these are the ones that my mum always made with her own little touch of a little jam on top. It’s the sort of biscuits you can quickly make if someone is popping round or you just fancy something sweet.

When I made these the first time for my boyfriend, he was like I love melting moment. So I made them and when they came out the oven and I presented them to him, he took one look and said these are not melting moments, they don’t have coconut on them.

My reaction was, they are. These are how my mum makes them and the recipe in the book says that they are melting moments. Well after trying them, he said he didn’t care what they were called, he thought they were great and asked for me to bake another batch.

The jam on the top is an addition my mum added and it really makes these biscuits, they were good before but now they are great. It adds a sweet fruity bust of flavour.

Before you bake these biscuit you roll them in oats or cornflakes, I prefer the oats but it’s up to you, you could even use honey-nut cornflakes. It’s all up to you.

·         4oz. Butter

·         3oz. Sugar

·         1 Egg Yolk

·         5oz. Self-raising flour

·         A few drops of vanilla essence

·         Jam (raspberry, strawberry, mixed fruit)

·         A large handful of rolled oats or crushed cornflakes

Heat your oven to gas mark 5, 190c

Cream the butter and sugar together, then beat in the egg yolk and flavour with a few drops of vanilla essence. Fold in the flour, to form a stiff dough. Divide into 20 small ball, roll between your palm to make the ball. Roll in the oats or crushed cornflakes and put on a pre-greased baking tray and flatten them and make a small indent in the centre and put a small teaspoon amount of jam in it.

Put in oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown, remove from oven and put on wire rank. They may seem very soft but a minute or so will firm them up.

They are wonderful just from the oven with a cup of tea or coffee or just as a passing snack.

Mr Poep’s Butternut Squash Soup

I was given this recipe by a very good friend, whose an excellent cook and a great guy.

This is a super easy recipe, but it’s really tasty, you will need to start this the night before for the butternut squash to release its natural sugar.

·         3 butternut squash

·         250ml single cream

The night before you want to have this dish, you will need to peel and take the seeds out of the centre, then cube it and put in a large saucepan cover and leave. You do not need to add anything to it, no water or seasoning.  This way the natural sugar in the squash will release and make this soup extra tasty.

The next day about an hour before you want this, cover the butternut squash with water and bring to the boil, then shimmer till the squash is tender. Drain and put in a liquidiser and blend till smooth, then pour the cream in as you blend. You do not need to add all the cream, it’s too taste. I prefer it with less cream but you may like it with more.

Now you can add a little salt and pepper to it, but trust me it doesn’t need it (but I do put a little pepper in my potion as I love pepper)

It’s ready to serve, it’s that easy and it tastes fantastic.

To serve, I like to put it in tea cups with saucers but of course it will look just as good in a bowl.

As you will notice in the picture I served the soup with pasty twirls, now the only reason I did this was because I made a chocolate pecan pie for afters that day and had left over short crust pasty. So I cut long strips out buttered them and sprinkled them with cumin seeds. I then twirled them and put on an oiled baking tray and put it freezer.

When frozen I put into an oven of about 180 to 200 degrees for about ten to fifteen minutes until golden brown.  They went really well with the soup and added some bite to the smooth creamy soup.

Next time I would like to try them with puff pastry, but if you have any savoury pastry left over I am sure it would work well and the cumin works really well with the buttery squash.

Enjoy xxx

I am back and with cake!!!

I know I have not been looking after this blog and I have to say sorry, but life has got in the way. I am writing a book that I would love to publish and I have been trying to get on with that. But of course I have had writers block, and that makes writing a future top seller a little hard lol.

Anyway enough of that and on to cooking, I have been trying to come up with some new recipes. One of which I cooked for my lovey other-half on valentines day. And I promise to write it up and put it on here as soon as I make it again, to make sure it wasn't a one off wonder lol.

It was my lovey step-mums birthday the other week and for her birthday I made her a vanillia sponge with galaxy chocolate icing (another recipe I will add on here). I decorated it with pretty little flowers I found in the local cake shop and to delight it looked pretty good and she loved it.

So here is a couple of pictures of the cake to see what you think.

With love Nylon Angel xxx

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all, I am still here and I do promise to have some new recipes for the new year.
Have a great day and enjoy great food and drink.
Love Nylon Angel xxx

I am still here

Just to let you know, I am still around and haven't forgotten to put new recipes on. I am thinking meatballs next and maybe something sweet. But if you have any requests, let me know and I will what I can do, thanks.
Nylon Angel xxx

Cheesy Brie Potatoes

      ·         Four to Five large potatoes or enough thickly sliced to fill the baking dish you will use

·         A small block of strong cheddar

·         Two piece of brie

·         600ml carton of double cream

·         A small bunch of coriander

·         Two to three red onion (depends on your own taste)

·         Three cloves of garlic crushed

·         12 rashers of un-smoked bacon

·         Salt and Pepper to taste

Peel and thickly slice you potatoes, about the thickness of you thumb and put them in a saucepan of salted water and bring to the boil you want them to soften but not so soft they fall apart. When cooked drain put to one side

Finely chop your onions and put them in a frying pan with a little oil and fry until soft and golden brown, add garlic and cook off for a couple of minutes. Put this mixture into the baking dish you will using to bake it in. You need it to be a deep dish and about 12in long but what I do is when I have sliced my potatoes and before I have cooked them I lay then in the dish to make sure it covers the whole surface.

Next chop your bacon, and fry it off in the same pan you cooked the onions in and cook until slightly brown. Don’t over brown it as I find it makes it too salty but you want a little colour. Add this to the onions along with finely chopped coriander and give a good mix, and grind a good amount of pepper to that, I like a lot of pepper but you should do this to your own taste. But no salt, the bacon has enough of that and it will ruin the taste.

To that mixture add about two tbsp. of the cream and mix it to combined, taste and add more pepper if needed.

Lay the cooked potatoes over this mixture, and pour a little of the cream over them. Slice both cheeses and layer it over the potatoes and pour a good amount of the cream over. What I do is make sure it’s all covered and there is a good amount of cream in the dish but this is up to you, you don’t have to add as much or you could be a devil and add more lol. I don’t always add all the cream, it depends how it looks when I do it that day.

The cream and cheese will create a lovey sauce as it cook.

Put in a preheated over, about 200/ gas mark 6 and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. The potatoes are cooked as is everything else, you want it to turn golden brown and be bubbling away. Keep an eye on it and when it is cooked to your likely take out and serve (I like it to be dark golden brown and nuclear hot, it will bubble for ages)

This can be served as a whole meal, it is that filling but if you want it as a side. I would recommend that you either have a salad with it or you could have chicken Kiev or even a nice rare steak.

Once you have cooked it a couple of times you will have developed a system and you will be making it within an hour and it’s just as nice cold as it is hot. You do not need to add coriander to it, you could use thyme instead or rosemary. I like the way the coriander tastes but you may prefer a herb like thyme, make the dish your own.