Ticking All The Right Boxes

Living with my brother, who is quite literally a human dustbin means my baking game is picking up...and fast. A few days ago I whipped up one cake, a few days later I whipped up another. It's great that he loves them, but hard work keeping up with his appetite! 

First off: Coffee and Hazelnut cake. 

What you'll need:
(Enough for 8-10 slices - depending on size of course) 
-2 eggs
-4oz butter
-4oz light brown sugar
-4oz self raising flour
-3tsp of hazelnut syrup
-3tbsp of instant coffee + hot water
Icing:
-4oz icing sugar
-4oz butter
-2tsp of coffee & water

The Baking of:
I'm going to be lazy and just link you to a previous step-by-step. Simply because it's a recipe I've done on numerous occasions.
All you need to do differently is add the syrup and coffee once you've got all the other ingredients mixed together. 

P.S: If you love your coffee, don't be shy on the amount! 

P.P.S: I've finally found out that you can actually buy Hazelnut extract/essence. So if you don't want a bottle from Starbucks, head over to amazon and pick up a small bottle. 

Skinny(ish) Chocolate and Hazelnut Muffins!

I want to eat my cake and be healthy too! Dieting generally sucks but if you balance your cake intake out with plenty of exercise it does't have to be all bad. So with that attitude I thought I'd try and make a healthier version of the delectable treats. 

What you'll need:
Makes 6
-1tbsp cocoa powder
-100g self-raising flour
-50g caster sugar
-1/2 tsp of bicarbonate soda
-1 egg
-100ml skimmed milk
-2tsp Starbucks Hazelnut syrup (perks of the job)
-Chopped nuts (this was a last minute choice and I only have brazil nuts, but I'd say hazelnuts are the better option)

The Baking Of:
-Pre-heat your oven to 170c
-In a large bowl mix together your dry ingredients (flour, b.soda, cocoa & sugar)
-In a separate jug beat together the wet ingredients (milk, syrup, egg & oil). Then mix the two together to make a creamy batter.
-It's a wet batter, so you may want to put the mix back into the jug and pour it out into muffin cases. 
-Before you pop them in the oven, sprinkle over the chopped nuts. Whack 'em in and bake for approx. 15-20mins. 

I know they're skinnier than normal cakes, but that doesn't mean you have to eat them all at once! 

Enjoy!

Birthday pt.2

Can we just take a second to look at how awesome my best friend's cake skills are?!

Basically, I have the biggest love for Starbucks - I'm addicted AND I work there. So, for Jordan it was pretty obvious what cake she was going to make me. It's a victoria sponge with butter and royal icing. My god it tastes good. 

Oh, I got some more baking goods so now I'm really excited to get back in the kitchen!