Choco-Cherry Cake

If, like me, you love a good old chocolate cake, then give this baby a whirl. It's dead easy to whip up and tastes heavenly (try not to think calories, but then that surely applies to most cake recipes?). Not too good for the waistline, but very good for the soul with a cup or tea, coffee or glass of milk if you're trying to be wholesome.

This is a treasured Better Homes & Gardens recipe from a 1960 book of desserts my mum had hanging about while I was growing up, so where necessary I've shown the UK substitutes along with the original American ingredients list. And the cherries, well I'd steer away from using glace (really not the right texture here) and miss them out altogether if you can't find, or can't stomach to use the fleuro pink coloured maraschino, although most supermarkets have them - oddly enough near the jarred olives and little onions (being the kitch cocktail stalwarts rather than commonly used baking variety). They're like little glowing gems in such a dark moist cake.

Choco-Cherry Cake

1/2 cup of butter, marg or vegetable shortening (UK: I've not tried with Trex, but both margarine and butter work beautifully and give the same results)
1 cup sugar (caster or granulated, it doesn't seem to make any difference!)
1 egg
2oz unsweetened chocolate, melted (UK: substitute with 6tbsp cocoa and 2 tbsp veg oil)
*
1 1/2 cups cake flour (UK: substitute with 1.5 cups minus 3 tbsp of plain flour)
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup maraschino cherries, chopped
2 tbsp maraschino cherry syrup
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Stir marg, butter or shortening to soften. Gradually add the sugar, creaming till light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat well, then stir in the melted chocolate (or cocoa and veggie oil).
Sift together the dry ingredients; then add to the creamed mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with the flour mix; beating well after each addition. Add the cherries, syrup and nuts if using.
Grease bottom of a 8" x 8" x 2" baking dish or metal pan, and pour in batter. Bake in oven till a skewer, toothpick or piece of spaghetti inserted comes out clean. If using a glass/other baking dish, then you'll need to bake for 50-55 mins at 325, but for metal pans, bake for about 40 mins at 350(180).

Top with your favourite chocolate icing, leave plain (perfect with vanilla ice cream) or, my favourite, sprinkle the hot-from-oven cake with semi-sweet chocolate chips until they melt and smooth with a spatula for an 'instant' frosting (which is even yummier when it hardens on the cooled cake...). The cake here is dark, but light and very moist - very much like you'd expect from one of those American 'packet' Devils Food Cake mixes actually - but is just right cut into dainty squares for afternoon tea, or even serving in cupcake cases at a picnic. Enjoy!

Whoopie Pies

If you've not heard of Whoopie Pies yet, you really don't know what you've been missing, but let me fill you in. Whoopie Pies apparently stem from the early Amish who used to make these for their menfolk and children to take in their packed lunches (who exclaimed "Whoopie!" when they opened their lunch boxes). True or not, it's a charming story all the same and it perfectly sums up the homespun charm of these gorgeous cake-y beauties.

Whoopies have also reputedly taken up the mantle from the cupcake for #1 sweet treat of choice, both this side and the other side of the Atlantic. Not only a quick cake fix, they also make the ideal (easy to bake) alternative to the more formal cupcake for weddings and other celebrations. A stack of these on each guest table, or perhaps several flavours piled up on a stand instead of a traditional cake with pretty napkins on hand (obv) would make a divine and more personal finish to any wedding breakfast.

Like a cross between a macaroon (for looks) and a cupcake (in ingredients), the classic Whoopie Pie is like a soft and squidgy "Oreo" in taste. Two soft and deeply dark not-too-sweet chocolate cake discs are sandwiched together with a fluffy white marshmallow cream filling. Heaven in a bite, or a few bites if you make them more generous or 'Man Size'! As you can imagine, resistance is futile. Flavours are easy to change and you can find them on sale in fashionable London bakeries and even Harrods and good old M&S adorning all kinds of decoration from glitter to suger flowers, but I think they look best plain and simple - cake and filling only. Leave the fondant icing and sprinkles to their dressier sisters who don't leave the house without their make-up and heels (the cupcake), as these lovelies look so much prettier with their scrubbed faces and slightly scuffed ballet pumps.

If like me you know that these will be your downfall (a batch of these taunting you from the kitchen will, I assume, counteract any leeway made to lose the last of my post-baby tum by my new running fitness regime...), then make a batch and simply freeze what you don't need before icing.

For more inspiration, pre-order either of the 2 amazingly cute looking new books on the subject of all things Whoopie Pie and try not to be too smug when sharing the results with loved-ones!
And to make this even easier, you can find them listed in my Amazon carousel to the right of this page! How nice am I?

Play kitchens and accessories for your budding Jamie or Nigella

This weekend, the yummy daddy and I we spent several hours on the M25 heading to our nearest IKEA for a few items for our little budding Jamie Oliver (or should that be Nigel Slater?) - his very first, and I should hope only play kitchen.

Now this isn't a mammoth occasion for most, but for someone who didn't understand why our son needed a tea set a few months ago (a favourite toy these days and used everyday to make mummy, Buzz Lightyear and Elmo high tea), my husband was actually pretty enthusiastic about the purchase and I have to say that the DUKTIG play kitchen from IKEA is really gorgeous in the flesh - albeit in a practical, neutral way as you can see here. Its very sturdy and well designed (if you like the modern look) and feels reassuringly built to last. It even has clever 'feet' that the units sit on that can be swapped around to raise the units up, so the kitchen can grow with your toddler. The plastic 'ceramic hob' lights up just like mummy's does when switched on (although I expect it will eat those 6 x AA batteries required at an alarming rate), and the plastic 'sink' removes so you can happily indulge their play washing-up parties and empty the contents easily without having to scoop out water unsuccessfully with a cup!

In fact it's almost good enough to put behind any disappointment I might of had (who am I kidding?) at not being able to get him one of those beautiful dinky pretty Honeybake ovens (which would have been more for me, I'm well aware of this!), the lush red retro diner style kitchens complete with American style fridge freezer, or the pretty stenciled country-kitchens out there - all touches that would have been lost on our boisterous little lad. Besides, this one looks like Mummy and Daddy's (inherited) kitchen, so it's ideal, and at £63 for the base unit (another £20-something for the add on microwave section), it's positively a bargain!

Other adorable bits to kit out your progeny's play kitchen have to be anything at all from Melissa & Doug (if you've not come across this brand, they're gorgeously well made, high quality wooden items in fabulous colours). I have my eye on the Pizza Party set a wooden pizza with toppings that Velcro on top that you 'slice' (complete with sound effect, apparently) and the lush Cookie Dough set (seen here) which I've coveted since a mummy friend bought one for her little girl - a knife and spatula complete with 'tube' of cookie dough that you 'cut' before Velcro-ing into place on its own tray and top with icing.

Cappuccino Cupcakes

Okay, so these aren't exactly a health food, but they're not bad for you either (in moderation of course) as they are made up of a third grated sweet potato, third ground almonds and a third rice flour. This gives a really moist springy cake that tastes every bit as naughty as it looks, but will all those extra vitamins from the hidden veggie content. YUM.

This recipe comes from my favourite book of the moment Harry Eastwood's Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache and I promise you, if you love a good coffee-flavoured cake then these are little bites of heaven! I should add that they look far more like a traditional coffee and walnut sponge (only without the walnuts!) rather than the blond crumbed cake with a pale coffee hint I'd imagined just reading the title; but as I love Coffee and Walnut cake, I wasn't disappointed with the result. Anyway, they're a doddle to make and sadly very easy to eat too so here they are...

Cappuccino Cupcakes - Harry Eastwood (Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache)

Makes 12

2 medium free-range eggs

160g caster sugar

200g peeled and finely grated sweet potato

100g rice flour

100g ground almonds

2tsp baking powder

1/4tsp salt

3 tbsp coffee essence (such as Camp)

Icing:

50g unsalted butter, cold and in cubes

200g icing sugar, sieved

50g marscapone

2 tsp coffee essence (such as Camp)

• Preheat the oven to 180.C/350.F/gas mark 4. Line a 12-cup muffin tray with paper cases.

• Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl for 5 minutes, until pale and quadrupled in volume. Add the grated sweet potato and whisk again. Whisk in the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt, as well as the coffee essence, until they are well introduced.

• Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases, aiming for it to come four fifths of the way up each case. Place in the oven for 20 minutes until the cakes are risen and cooked. Don't be alarmed that they are flat on top rather than dome shaped.

• Whilst the cupcakes are cooking, make the icing. Whisk the butter with an electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Next, add 100g icing sugar and whisk together to create a paste. Beat for an extra 10 seconds at this stage to stabilize and appease the butter.

• Add the marscapone and coffee essence, along with the rest of the icing sugar, and mix by hand with a wooden spoon until all are combined in a happy and unified mixture. Refrigerate until the cupcakes are ready.

• Once cooked, remove the cakes from the oven and cool them in the tin for 15 minutes. I (the author, that is) usually put them into the fridge to finish cooling right down so that they are cold by the time you want to ice them. Ice the cakes, using about 1 tablespoon of icing for each one. Decorate with chocolate coffee beans before serving.

*MY MAKE AHEAD TIP: I found that putting these cakes in a tin overnight before icing the following day (popping the icing in the fridge overnight too) made for a sticky top that made the job of icing almost impossible! On my second batch though, leaving the cakes out overnight (icing still in the fridge) left them dry enough to ice the next day whilst not drying the cake out at all.

If you love baking, do check out Harry's book. It's a divinely beautiful looking book if (like me) you love to devour recipe books like novels, but it also contains some stunning cakes, scones and so on, all containing vegetables like courgette, potato or sweet potato (there's even a parsnip fudge) instead of the usual butter. All in all, gorgeous little sweet nothings for any occasion (or everyday) when you hanker for a slice of something sweet to soothe the soul.

Jamie's Family Christmas saves the day...

I'm not sure if you managed to catch Jamie Oliver's Family Christmas on Channel 4 a couple of weeks ago, but thank goodness I caught it as this year we were having a small family Christmas (just the two of us, plus the adorable but fussy-eating toddler!) and decided early on to forgo the whole turkey option and try a crown instead...but what to do about gravy?!

This is where Jamie came to the rescue with his Get-Ahead Gravy. Quite radical in the method - you basically roast off chicken wings, herbs, spices and veggies before making a reduced stock of them.

When the show was aired, it appears everyone raced to find the gravy recipe online but it wasn't posted due to restrictions in how many they could post per episode; however you can find it explained in full in his December issue of "Jamie" magazine - available from WHSmiths still if you hunt about - and I'm sure it'll appear in a future cookbook if he goes the way of Nigella, Delia et al! And because I'm always happy to share a good thing, you can find the details below...

Get-Ahead Gravy (Jamie Oliver)

Makes about 1 litre

2 celery sticks, trimmed and roughly chopped
2 carrots, roughly chopped
2 onions, quartered
5 bay leaves
5 sage leaves
4 sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 star anise
2 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
8 chicken wings
30ml olive oil
4 tbsp plain flour
60ml sherry or port (optional)
2 dessertspoons cranberry sauce

*Preheat oven to 200.C/gas6. Put the veg, herbs and star anise into a heavy bottomed roasting pan (as it'll need to go on the hob later on). Scatter the bacon over the top. Break the chicken wings open and add to pan. Drizzle the lot with the olive oil, season and roast in the oven for about 1 hour (until meat is falling off the bone).
* Take the pan out of the oven and pop onto the hob. Over a low heat, mash it all up with a potato masher, scraping the bottom of the pan and mix in the flour. The longer you take to do this, the darker the end gravy will be. Once the flour is comboned well, add 2 litres of of hot water and boil for 10 minutes until thickened then turn down to simmer for about 25mins. If adding sherry or port, do so now.
* Once it's at the right consistancy for you, check seasoning and strain/sieve into a bowl. Discard what is left behind and cool down to chill or freeze.
*On the day itself: take your gravy out to thaw (if frozen). Once the turkey is cooked, tip it up to pour the juices into the pan. Remove all but 1 1/2tbsp fat and pour in your pre-made gravy. bring this to boil, scraping the bottom of the pan for crusty bits and add your cranberry sauce to taste before serving.

Now we found the star anise very strong, even though I only used 1 (pre-empting the 'chinese crispy duck' flavour!) discarding it before the water-adding stage, and so next year I'll be missing this out entirely. I also found that to get to the right consistancy (i.e. not water!), I had to simmer it for nearly 40 mins leaving us with nearer 500ml rather than a litre of finished gravy, but I guess that everyone's oven and hob differs! And as there were just 3 of us, I wasn't overly concerned that we'd run out. Like many others, I also couldn't get hold of chicken wings for love nor money so I replaced the wings with 2 chicken quarters instead, though I'm sure thighs or similar would also work just fine.

Must-have beauty buys this Autumn, or ask Santa for them if you've been good...!

Brrrrr. It's feeling very autumn-y and chilly all of a sudden (those darker mornings don't help though, do they?) and the flip-flops and shorts have all but disappeared from sight, thank goodness! But with the acceptance of having to wear heavier clothes and bunging the heating on without guilt comes the dreaded battle to keep those pins moisturised under those tights, boots or trousers And to keep hair frizz-free despite being pulled through countless sweater necks and keeping a subtle glow rather than succumbing to a rather fittingly Halloween-like ghostly pallor.

So here are my favourite beauty products to help you feel and look pampered this Autumn/Winter so that, come Spring when layers start to lighten and the chance to bare skin you're not filled with sheer panic as you've fallen into disrepair (or is that just me?). In no particular order, I highly recommend the following but feel free to share your personal must-haves too. My husband will vouch that I'm a sucker for trying a new shampoo...

Origins Ginger range
I had the pleasure to be given a taster gift-set of this heavenly smelling range for Christmas last year and although I've never been a 'ginger' fan in any form - the scent or the edible kind (although bizarrely my twin sister can't get enough of the stuff) - the scent of this range is so wonderfully warming and lingers just enough to soothe and pamper. If you try only one item from this range then please try the Incredible Spreadable Scrub and I promise your central-heating-parched winter body with thank me! Other delicious bits that should go straight to the top of your Wish List are the sexy Ginger Gloss spray oil, and the huge tub of luscious Ginger Souffle whipped body cream. Yum.


Kerastase
My favourite hair care range if money is no object... Okay, yes it's pricey, but my goodness, the products in this brand really do deliver what they promise. A couple of years ago I was silly enough to go on holiday without having a good trim beforehand and needless to say I returned from 2 weeks in the sun with hair so brittle and straw-like that I feared I'd have to have it all cut off. Using the Forcintense at-home treatment (7 little vials of magic to use daily) saved my lengths from the chop and gave it back its 'swish'. If, you also have fine weak hair (years of hot-roller action, I'm ashamed to say) then look out for the green packaging of their Resistance collection for shampoos, conditioners and treatments to help strengthen or boost volume.


Lousie Galvin Natural Locks range
Having always has long, baby fine troublesome hair, I've spent years flitting from one shampoo to another. Call me a Haircare Floosie if you will, but this rather swish supermarket range (you can find it on the shelf in Waitrose or buy direct from the Lousie Galvin website) sure stands out from the rest. Price-wise it isn't the cheapest out there at £7.95 for the shampoo or conditioners, from which you can choose from dry/coloured, normal or volumising variations - and there's a big tub of deep conditioner at £9.95 available too that I have my fickle eye on, but they give brilliant results and best of all contain no nasties or silicone which especially good news for those with fine hair.

Aussie 3 Minute Miracle
If the two hair recommendations above are a little over budget this side of payday and your parched locks are in need of some immediate TLC, then grab a bottle of this wonder balm. It now comes in various options, Original, Coloured or Long and they all smell fabulous and give hair a lovely shine, add moisture and generally boost.

Scholl Cracked Heel repair cream
Taboo subject perhaps as glamorous it is NOT, but lets be honest. Most of us have at some point found that heels as soft as a baby's bottom is not what we find when you take off those boots or shoes at the end of a busy week... This is a seriously good product to rescue your heels if they're very dry, hard or cracked and make you positively proud to show them off again when the weather or occasion allows.

Blistex Daily Lip Conditioner
For me, this is the only lip balm to use and as the packaging is so acceptably unisex, it's often to be found on the bedside table next to my husband's side of the bed. Simply brilliant at keeping lips hydrated whatever the weather and it's also a dab hand (excuse the pun) at taming rough cuticles or soothing those sore tissue-chapped noses too!

Prescriptives Traceless
I'm a huge fan of anything that makes life easy beauty-wise as these days, with a busy toddler to look after so my hour long leisurely get-up-and-out routine has had to be condensed into about 5 minutes whenever I can. This sleek squeezy tube of fabulousness gives you a beautiful and easy-to-apply sheer cover that is somewhere between a regular foundation and tinted moisturiser but makes getting a colour-match child's play. Only available from a Prescriptives counter or online at QVC.

Super cute Toddler water bottles by Sigg (makers of The Original Swiss Bottle)

Thankfully my little boy LOVES his water but is more than a little fickle when it comes to what he drinks it from! For this reason, we usually end up with a whole array of sippy cups, lidded beakers and sports-style plastic bottles cluttering the house, car and buggy by the end of the day. But with one of these super stylish aluminium reusable water bottles, I think his reluctance to stay loyal to just one water source whilst on the move and doing all those oh-so-important Toddler activities will be curbed for good!

Just like the adult versions, Sigg Toddler and Kids bottles are non-toxic, dishwasher-safe, tested to make sure that they're 100% safe to use and will not leach like plastic water bottles can do. they're also leak-proof (Hurray!), suitable for all drinks and best of all are Eco-friendly.

This adorable little 30cl blue puppy design is the one I have my eye on for The Boy, but I have to admit I fancy one for myself and may get one for The Husband too if I can only choose which ones as the choice of designs is endless. You can even buy pouches to hide them away in, coloured straps to carry them by and brilliant double-handle grips to help little hands hold their bottles all by themselves, just like Mummy and Daddy. Genius. And with so many designs and accessories to personalise them with, there will be no chance of you or your Little Darling picking up someone else's sippy cup at Nursery or Play Group.