Easy NO FAIL Chocolate Cake

Finally after years of looking for the perfect MOIST chocolate cake recipe, I finally found one that is easy, versatile and never fails! You can make it into a cake or cupcakes!
So here it is courtesy of www.bbc.co.uk/recipes (by Rachel Manley)

Ingredients:
- 225g plain flour
- 350g caster sugar
-85g cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
-1 1/2 tsp baking powder
-2 free range eggs
-250ml milk
-125ml of vegetable oil
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
-250ml boiling water

STEPS:

1) Preheat the oven to 180 C , Grease and line a 20cm baking tin
2) Mix the eggs, sugar, milk,cocoa, vegetable oil and vanilla extract
3) Mix in flour, baking soda and baking powder
4) Then mix in the boiling water (the mixture will be slightly watery like chocolate milk)
5) Pour into the baking tin and cook for 40 mins or until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.
VOILA your cake is ready.

Here are some tips that you can do:

Nutella Frosting

- To make the nutella easy to spread boil some water and place the jar in the water (baine marie) this will keep the nutella smooth and easy to spread

-Also to keep your plate clean, place aluminium foil all around the cake (see below) and when your are finished just remove them!

CUPCAKES

- This recipe makes about 24 cupcakes

-Follow the recipe as above, just place the mixture in cupcake tins instead of a cake tin

- IMPORTANT: the cupcakes take about 5-10mins to cook!! Be careful you don't burn them!

- Then you can frost them with butter icing or nutella!

Woopdedoop #4

Now that the summer has come I just lovvvve this french grenache rose wine!! Great on a summer afternoon with grapes, nuts and goats cheese!!

Amaazing whole wheat apple muffins

I had some apples that I wanted to use so I went on my favourite blog smitten kitchen (smittenkitchen.com) and found this unbelievable recipe for apple muffins! They are amazingly moist!!

Ingredients:
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp cinammon
- 1 large free range egg
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (v. important that it is at room temperature)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup dark , brown sugar
- 1 cup yoghurt
- 2 large apples peeled and chopped

- Preheat oven to 180C.
-Place cupcake holders in your cupcap baking tin

Steps:
1) Mix the flours together, baking powder, baking soda, salt & cinammon and set aside.
2) In a seperate bowl, cream butter and both sugars. Beat until fluffy.
3) Add the egg and mix well. Mix in the yoghurt gently (if you over mix it will curdle the mixture)
4) Stir in the dry ingredients and fold in apple chunks
5) Divide the mixture evenly in the muffin cups and sprinkle each one with brown sugar (do not miss this step it really makes them amazing)
6) Bake for 15- 20 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the centre of the muffins.
7) Cool the muffins and Enjoy!!!

Easy homemade pesto sauce

This year I have had surprising success with my herbs! For once they have not
(yet) died on me! So I found myself having to trim my basil to strengthen it and wondering what to do with 5 bunches of basil. Soooo I decided to make some simple pesto-style sauce which is great with pork and chicken! So here is the simple recipe:

Ingredients:

- 4-5 cups of basil leaves (take them off the stems)
- 2 tbsp olive oil (you can always add more depending on how you want it)
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tbsp capers
- parmesan (optional as this makes it heavier)
- 2-3 anchovies (optional, I would not use this if you are going to use it as sauce on pork)

NOTE: you can always make more and place in a jar. Just increase the quanities

Place everything in a food processor until all pieces are well blended. Then you can just use it anywhere:
a) place it on pork chops or chicken pieces and then cook in the oven for a very light and tasty meal
b) use it in pasta
c) cut potatoes into small cubes, mix in pesto sauce , place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and then cook in over at 180C
Enjoy!!!

pork chops

chicken pieces

The 10 minute brunch / lunch / dinner

Here is a recipe for a healthy, easy and fast meal that is well balanced.
Basically we are talking about a poached egg, wholemeal toasted bread (drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar), served with mixed salad! So easy yet surprisingly filling!

How to poach your egg:
Now there are a million theories on how to poach and egg. Some use special little cups, some try the professional chefs way etc etc. After many a failed attempt I have found that using simple poaching rings (metallic rings that look like cookie cutters) never fails! You just bring the water to a boil, place the rings in the pan, gently break the egg in the ring and cook for approx 3 mins (depending on how you like your eggs).

Then place your egg on the toast and season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Serve with mixed salad (I find a mixture of baby spinach, rocket and watercress is the best combination).
E voila!

Yoghurt Chicken

This is a recipe that happened by accident! I had some leftover yoghurt and I thought instead of throwing it away I would dump it in with the chicken! Its a really easy 'foundation' to work on as you can change the spices according to what you feel like at the time.
Here is the 'Mediterranean' version:

Ingredients:

- 3 chicken fillets
- 3 large cloves of garlic (crushed)
- 2 cups of light greek strained yoghurt
-  3 cubannelle peppers (the long, sweet, light/yellow green ones)
- 1 small onion
- 1 - 2 tbs of balsamic vinegar
- 3 tbs of olive oil
- oregano
-sea salt & freshly ground pepper


Steps:

 1. Cut the chicken into small pieces (about 3cm cubed), add the crushed garlic cloves and the yoghurt. Mix well, cover the bowl with cling film and leave overnight to marinate. (If you do not have the time then leave it for a minimum of 1 1/2 hours to marinate).

2. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

3. Thinly slice the onion into 'ribbons' not cubed. Then thinly slice the peppers in the same way. Add them to the mixture along with remaining ingredients.

4. Place the mixture in the baking tray, spreading it out as much as possible. Cook for 20-30 mins until chicken is cooked and BEFORE it dries out.

I like to make some wild rice or bulghar wheat as a side dish and mixing it together with the chicken

TIPS: sometimes I add tandoori or masala spices and chilli flakes for an indian version! If you use these spices replace the balsamic vinegar with lemon.


Enjoy!!

Woopdedoop #3

Yesterday I discovered a really adorable new cupcake shop in Strovolos, Sweet Lavender Cupcakes!
They have the most amazing flavours, coconut, mocha espresso, red velvet, peanut butter, lemon and the list goes on. They are also suprisingly moist! Well Done!
www.sweetlavendercupcakes.com,