Lemon Drizzle Cupcakes

So it's been a while since I wrote a baking blog.

I've wanted to make something I haven't made before, but I just couldn't decide what I wanted to make.

Charlotte wanted me to make lemon drizzle cake, so I changed it and made it into cupcakes.

I've never made lemon drizzle cakes, nor have I ever tried a lemon cake, so totally unsure about how it should actually taste, it was time to bake.

This recipe should make 24 cupcakes 

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius

You will need:

250 grams of unsalted butter at room temperture

400 grams of caster sugar 250 grams for batter, 150 grams for icing

3 eggs, lightly beaten

250 grams of self-raising flour

zest and juice of 3 lemons

Line cupcake tray with cases.

With an electric whisk, whisk the butter, 250g of the sugar, eggs, flour, zest of 2 lemons and juice from 1 lemon until just combined. Fill the cases two thirds full, then bake on a middle shelf for 30 minutes, until a skewer poked in comes out clean.

Leave to cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.  Once slightly cooled, poke holes in the top of the cupcakes.  Pour remaining lemon juice over the remaining 150 grams of sugar and the zest of 1 lemon and spoon over the cakes.

These cupcakes are super sweet and not recommended if you are on a diet.

Enjoy!

Aussie Out

xo

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Scones!

So as lent is upon us, and Charlotte has decided to give up chocolate.  I am trying to be kind and bake thing that do not have chocolate in it.

This weeks baking mission : Scones.

A super simple recipe that can go wrong so easily.

You will need :

3 cups of self raising flour

1 cup of heavy cream

1 cup of lemonaid

Put the flour in a bowl and  make a well in the middle.  Add the cream and the lemonaid and using a flat knife, make cutting motions in the mixture until completely combined.  If the mixture is still sticky, add more flour.

Lightly dust a working bench with some more flour and transfer your mixture.  Then knead your dough for a few minutes.  Then roll it out so it is roughly a centimetre thick.

You can either cut it into squares or using a round cutter, into circles.

Pre heat oven 220 Celsius 

Bake 10-12 minutes

Add jam and cream for the top.

A tip for scones the next day, cut in two, put on some nutella and put back together, and heat for 10 seconds in the microwave.  It tastes like dreams coming true.

Enjoy

Aussie Out

xo

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Banana Bread Baking!

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In honour of my very 50s lifestyle, I've been doing a spot of baking!

So armed with some old bananas and a killer 50s soundtrack, it was banana bread a go-go!

Ingredients

140 grams of unsalted butter (at room temp)

140 grams of caster sugar

2 large eggs

140 grams self - raising flour

1 tablespoon of baking powder

2 over ripped bananas (mashed)

Pre-head your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  

Lightly grease your load tin.

Cream the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy, then slowly add the eggs with a little flour.  Fold in the remaining flour, baking powder and bananas. Pour into the tin and bake for about 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the middle.  

Cool in the tin for 10 minutes then move to a wire rack.

The best thing about banana bread other than using up old bananas, is you can toast it, add some butter and its perfect for morning tea ( or a cheeky naughty snack)

Enjoy

Aussie Out

xo

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Soft Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

So in honour of me watching far too much "Call the Midwife" and wanting to be a 50s housewife, I found a 50's music playlist on spotify and spent my afternoon baking cookies.

This was the first time I have tried this recipe and they actually turned out really well.

Get Ready.  Get Steady. And BAKE!

Ingredients:

-  113g butter - salted or unsalted

- 1/2 cup caster sugar

- 1/2 cup light brown sugar (firmly packed)

- 1 egg

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

- 3/4 cup of peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)

- 1 cup plain flour

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- a pinch of salt

- 1 cup of chocolate chips 

Preheat oven at 175 degrees Celsius

 Bake in the middle of the rack for 12- 14 mins or until the edges of your cookies start to brown.

This is a quick and easy recipe and made 20 cookies but could make more if you make them a little smaller.

Give them a try and let me know how they turn out for you!

Aussie Out
xo

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Sing-A-Longs = Fun-A-Lot.. what?

Its the days were you don’t do much that can turn into an amazing day.

With big plans to go to thorpe park with Charlotte today, me finding out that it will be busy as fright night was still on, me hurting my knee at work the day before and how horrible the weather was, we agreed to stay in and have a baking day instead.

So armed with our coats and our umbrellas we walked down to the shops to grab our ingredients for our baking (rocky road from Charlotte and lamingtons from me).  Charlotte also came up with the idea of making cheese steak sandwiches with chips with chicken salt (the salt of Gods)

After cleaning the kitchen, the baking began while watching Bridget Jones’s Diary and discovering that we are living a slightly younger version of that movie and figuring out how much time we have left until we meet our Mark Darcy who will like us “just as we are”

Maybe it was the chocolate and sugar in the air but an impromptu sing-a-long/ dance-a-long started.  It started out innocent.  A bit of one direction.  A bit of S Club 7 , throw in some Nikki Webster and we were off.

We then got the brilliant idea of getting dramatic whilst singing into a sky remote and a febreeze air freshener bottle while singing no air from Jordan Sparks which lead to a killer dramatic playlist.

Un-break my heart - Toni Braxton

Hero - Enrique Inglesias

Against all odds - Mariah Carey ft Westlife

Without you - Mariah Carey

Make you feel my love- Adele

Bring me to life - Evanescence

End of the road - Boys 2 men

Never ever - All Saints

Things picked up after that with rousing renditions of the cell block tango, Hillary Duff songs, and then the sad realisation that I still remember all the words and dance moves to high school musical.

At this point the rest of the female housemates in my house arrived home so Charlotte and I decided to end the night with the Time Warp.

I think it is important to remember that we were both completely sober and both had a great night.  

Oh and yeah we did bake our goodies aswell.

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