Ingredients

300g butter (you could use margarine if you prefer)
200g soft brown sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
700g oats
2 pinches salt
100g crystallised ginger, chopped into fairly small pieces
75g dark chocolate, roughly chopped (I used 70% cocoa solids)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas mark 4. Grease and line a 10 x 15 inch baking tray. Melt the butter (or margarine), sugar and syrup in a pan over a low heat until melted and combined.

2. Mix in the oats, salt, ginger and chocolate and then press into the tray. It’s worth spending a few minutes pressing the mixture in with the back of a spoon, just to make sure that the mixture sticks really well.

3. Bake for 15-20 minutes and then leave to cool in the tray on a wire cooling rack. I usually let it cool for a little while and then cut it into pieces before it has completely cooled.

Enjoy!

Post updated 14th August 2016.

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I haven’t done any baking for such a long time because we’ve been trying to eat more healthily recently, but we had a couple of days off this week and I just fancied doing a bit! I decided to look for a new recipe with fresh raspberries and came across this one – these cupcakes are quite tangy and so moist, so if you’re looking to make something that isn’t too sweet, these are perfect. Serve them warm with some creme fraiche – yum!

This recipe comes from the BBC Good Food website and was originally published in Good Food Magazine in July 2005.

Ingredients

200g self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
200g unsalted butter, softened
4 eggs
200g caster sugar
3 tbsp milk
50g ground almonds
zest of 1 medium orange
150g punnet raspberries, lightly crushed, plus extra to decorate

For the sugar crust
juice of 1 medium orange
4 tbsp caster sugar

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper muffin cases.

2. Tip the first 8 ingredients into a large bowl and beat with electric whisk until smooth (or use the usual creaming method if you’re like us and you don’t have a mixer!)

3. Fold the crushed raspberries through the batter.

4. Divide the batter between the cases (they should be about half full) and bake for 20-25 mins or until golden and just firm.

5. Whilst the cupcakes are in the oven, make the topping by mixing together the orange juice and sugar until well blended.

6. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow to cool a little. Drizzle each with the orange and sugar crust mix. Top with the extra raspberries to serve.

Enjoy!

The post Warm raspberry and orange cupcakes with an orange sugar drizzle appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Last week we had a pre-birthday celebration for our lovely friend Hannah, and everyone brought something along to contribute to the meal. We were set the challenge of making a birthday cake – but what sort of cake do you make for the person who made you the most amazing wedding cake?! So we decided to go for a super-chocolatey cake, but found two recipes that we liked. Tom was in charge of cake making and went for a combination of the two recipes: the first was by Rachel Allen and the second was from The Cooking Ninja blog. I was in charge of the frosting, and this originally comes from a Mary Berry recipe that we also found on the BBC Food website. You’ll need to use a 21cm loose bottomed cake tin, lined on the bottom and buttered on the sides – best to get this ready before you start!

Ingredients

250g good quality dark chocolate (we used Green & Black’s 70%)
210g butter
250g caster sugar
5 eggs
75g ground almonds
50g flaked almonds
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt

For the frosting
200g white chocolate (the Green and Black’s white chocolate works really well!)
150ml double cream
125g whole fat cream cheese

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Toast the flaked almonds a little in a pan.

2. Melt the dark chocolate and the butter in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Separate the eggs; beat the yolks together with the sugar and the cinnamon in a large bowl.

3. Beat the egg whites in another bowl, together with a pinch of salt, until you have stiff peaks.

4. Once the chocolate and butter have melted, add them to the yolks, sugar and cinnamon mixture, along with the ground and toasted flaked almonds. Mix well before folding in the egg whites.

5. Bake for around 45 minutes and then leave to cool in the tin.

6. For the icing, break the white chocolate into a bowl. Heat the double cream in a pan, until very hot but not boiling and pour the hot cream over the white chocolate to melt it. Stir until melted and set aside to cool for a few minutes.

7. Spoon the cream cheese into a bowl then gradually add the white chocolate mixture and stir until combined. Set aside to cool a little, until thick enough to ice.

8. Spread the icing over the top and sides of the cake. I sprinkled some white chocolate stars over the top to make it look extra special.

This is a really rich and indulgent cake – if you’ve got a sweet tooth like me then you’ll love it! Enjoy!

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Ingredients
170g/6oz clear honey
140g/5oz butter
85g/3oz light muscovado sugar
2 eggs, beaten
200g/7oz self raising flour, sieved
Water

For the icing
55g/2oz icing sugar
1 tbsp clear honey
Hot water

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 3 and butter and line the bottom of a 7in/18cm cake tin.

2. Measure the honey, butter and sugar into a large pan. Add a tablespoon of water and heat gently until melted.

3. Remove from the heat and mix in the eggs and flour.

4. Spoon into the cake tin and bake for 40-45 minutes until the cake is springy to the touch and shrinking slightly from the sides of the tin.

5. Cool slightly in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack.

6. While the cake is still warm, make the icing by mixing the sugar and honey together with 2-3 teaspoons of hot water. Trickle over the cake in whatever design takes your fancy. Enjoy with a cuppa!

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