Another year, another Valentines spent eating cake and working. Not a single Valentine in sight (excluding the one from my best friend). As much as I'd like to be wooed - yes, wooed, eating cake is so much easier. Plus, you know it's always going to be there; unlike the opposite sex.
This year I did double baking; buns and cookies. Dead easy, but satisfyingly good.
First up: Hazelnut & Chocolate buns.
Makes 12
What you'll need:
Sponge:
-4oz butter
-4oz caster sugar
-2 eggs
-4oz self raising flour
-2tsps of Starbucks hazelnut syrup (I must find out if there's a HN alternative!)
-And as much cocoa powder as you like
Icing:
-4oz icing sugar
-2-3tbsps hot water
-Even more cocoa powder
The Baking Of:
-Pre-heat the oven to 160c
-In a large bowl: cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs and add the flour. Stir in the syrup and powder.
-Pour the mix into cupcake cases, whack in the oven and bake for approx. 20mins. Or until they spring back when prodded.
-Whilst they're cooling you can get on with the icing: In a bowl, sift out the icing sugar, gradually add the water (until you have the right consistency) and then mix in the cocoa powder.
-Once the buns are done, lather on the icing and for a finishing touch; add a Love Heart sweet. It's valentines after all!
Okay, so the next couple of recipes aren't "fresh from the oven", I actually made them a few months ago but for some reason they didn't make the site.
The first, and one of my most popular, recipes is a modified version of Jamie Oliver's Butternut Squash cupcakes. But I'm sure they're equally as good.
What you'll need:
-"technically" 400g, but I'm lazy and just use half a butternut squash.
-350g light brown sugar
-4 eggs
-300g plain flour
-2 tsps baking powder
-Jamie says to use 175ml of olive oil, but for some reason I've always used 90ml and that works perfectly. So your choice!
-1 tsp cinnamon/a spice of your choice.
- A handful of your chosen nuts. Jamie says to use walnuts, but I go for almonds.
The making of:
-Pre-heat the oven to 180c / 350f / gas mark 4
- Peel, then chop the squash roughly and pop into a blender. (My first attempt at making these I didn't have a blender, so I was left with a grater. Not a fun task!)
-Mix the squash, sugar and eggs in a bowl
-Add flour, oil, nuts and flavourings, and mix together.
-Fill up your cupcake cases with the gloopy mess and then pop into the oven.
-Leave in to rise and get firm for 20-25mins
Now, for the icing Jamie gets all fancy and uses lemon and lavender and other stuff I didn't have at the time. So, I stuck with a simple glacier icing (method found on pack) with the tiniest splash of vanilla essence.
When the cupcakes are cooked, cooled and ready; you just want to drizzle the icing on. No need for artsy stuff.
Now tuck in!
It might be a little presumptuous to say that these taste like a little bit of heaven, but well, they do. And yes, I am indeed blowing my own trumpet.
This is a "Faye's Own", but it's also dead easy.
What you'll need:
Cake mix:
-4oz butter
-4oz caster sugar
-2 eggs
-4oz self raising flour
-cocoa powder
Icing:
-Peanut butter
-butter
-icing sugar
-vanilla essence
(there are no measurements for these, as I feel you should make it to your own preference).
What to do:
-Pre-heat the oven to 180o (I think thats gas mark 6)
-Mix butter and sugar until creamy
-Add eggs and beat together
-Fold in the flour
-Add the cocoa powder (once again, to your own preference)
-Pour mix into cupcake cases and pop into the oven for about 30mins, or until done.
-Clean up, sit down, and wait.
Once they've cooled down you can add the icing and decorate with added nuts if you wish.
P.s yes, I do have a great fondness of peanut butter.
