Chocolate Valentine's Day Cake Pops...and a Cheesecake Winner!

I shared with you a few weeks ago some of the baking goodies I got for Christmas.  I thought, seeing as how it's now February, it was time to share the rest! 

This is what your present stash looks like when Santa tells you he's not going to buy you much cupcake stuff this year because you have enough!! If you don't believe that this is a small amount of stash, check out the cupcake goodies of Christmas '10, and Christmas '09.

To be fair other than these cute cupcake cookie cutters, the cupcake calendar, car freshener, heart cases, socks, carriers and shopper most of the other prezzies were general baking related goodies.  My fave was the Jamie Oliver jelly mould set, I have big plans for that - I am a huge jelly lover! My KitchenAid earrings also went down well! I got a rather snazzy set of Nigella Christmas mixing bowls you can see peeking through at the back, and I got a cake pop machine with lots of cake pop paraphernalia! 

I've seen these machines around for a while now but I'd never been tempted to try them out.  To me, cake pops are cake crumbs mixed with frosting, rolled into balls and dipped in chocolate.  I didn't understand how you could 'bake' cake pops and I didn't think they would be too appealing, but after receiving my present I was interested to test them out! 

I became even more excited to make my first batch of cake pops with the machine after I got my monthly email from Squire's and fell in love with their coloured cake pop sticks they sell.  Up until now I had only ever been able to find white ones, and I used to be more than a little envious of all the amazing coloured sticks I see on American baking blogs.  So I snapped up some red sticks knowing they would be perfect for some Valentine's pops! 

Aren't they awesome! I love how vibrant they are, and they are also alot sturdier and more durable than white cake pop sticks I have bought in the past.  My ferrero rocher tray was the perfect size to hold the cake pops in once they had come out of the machine (although I had to cool them on a wire rack first otherwise they were so hot they melted the plastic!)

I was slightly dubious...while baking my first batch in the cake pop machine it smelt exactly like when you make cheese toasties in a toastie machine! I wasn't sure how they were going to taste! but I'm happy to report that the chocolate cake was actually really tasty and moist, and the fact that the machine made all my cake pops so perfectly round and uniform made me a happy baker.  I was pleasantly surprised! 

I dipped them in some milk chocolate and then decorated away with lots of super cute Valentine's sprinkles from Just Bake.  They have a great range of sprinkles, cupcake wrappers and cupcake cases.

My favourite product from their site has to be these adorable double sugar heart decorations. I have never seen anything like these before and they would look great on cupcakes too but I thought they looked especially striking on these cake pops, and they co-ordinated with the red sticks so perfectly! 

I finished off my last few cake pops with some toasted coconut just because I LOVE coconut.  They smelt soo good as we were photographing them, and it was pretty hard to resist taking a bite! 

I think they turned out much neater and more attractive then the last times I made cake pops and oreo pops! 

Here's how to make you own, in the cake pop machine:

Chocolate Cake Pops:

Makes 24

Recipe from Sweet Treats booklet

125g unsalted butter, softened

125g caster sugar

2 medium eggs

100g self raising flour

3 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp milk

For decorating:

400g milk chocolate

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

sprinkles of your choice

toasted coconut

Beat together the butter and sugar in a mixer/bowl until light and fluffy.

Add one egg at a time, beating well after each addition.  Sift the flour and cocoa powder into the bowl and add the milk.  Beat until everything is fully incorporated and the mixture is smooth.

Plug the machine in.  Using a pastry brush, brush a small amount of vegetable oil on the top and bottom plates of the machine to assist with the removal of the cake pops.

When the green light illuminates the machine is ready to use.

Add one slightly heaped teaspoon of mixture to each hole in the machine, filling it to just below the line of the hole.

Close the lid and time them for 4 minutes.  Check them, if they feel spongy and firm they are done.

Leave them to cool for 1 minute in the machine with the lid open.

Remove them from the machine with a teaspoon, then leave them to cool on a wire rack.

Repeat until you have used up all your mixture, mine took 4 batches.

Transfer your cake balls into a ferrero rocher tray or egg box (something that will hold them stable).

Melt 200g milk chocolate with 1/2 tsp veg oil in a bowl in the microwave on low heat, for 20 second intervals until all chocolate is melted and smooth.  Keep a close eye on it as it can burn easily.

(I did mine in two batches as the chocolate can become too thick if it's left out for a long time)

Dip your sticks in the chocolate and then dip them into the cake balls.

Freeze them for about 15-20 minutes, this will help the chocolate to firm up quicker once dipped.  

Transfer the melted chocolate into a small container - you don't want to use a large bowl because you need a good depth to dip your cake pop.  I used a tall milkshake glass which was the perfect size.

Dip your cake pop into the chocolate so it is completely submerged, pull it out twirling it around to flick off excess chocolate.  

Sprinkle your favourite edible decorations on the chocolate quickly before it sets.

I poked holes in the styrofoam blocks that came in the cake pop machine box and then stood up the dipped cake pops in there so that they were upright and secure.

Leave to cool for about 2 hours until the chocolate has set completely.  

Eat and enjoy! 

and you may be here because I was hosting a little giveaway this week.  Thanks for all your entries, I was overwhelmed by your love of cheesecake!! and I'm happy to announce the winner of the Valentine's Cheesecake competition is....

Tammy Chambers! 

Congratulations, please contact me as soon as possible by sending me an email at cupcakecrazygem@gmail.com with your contact details - address and telephone number so that we can arrange for the English Cheesecake Company to send out your cheesecakes in time for Valentine's! 

Sorry to all of those who missed out, but thanks for joining along and hope you will enjoy all the recipes featured on my blog.  If you were some of the people who said you were going to have a go at the s'mores cheesecake do let me know how it turned out! 

S'mores Cheesecake and a Valentine's Cheesecake GIVEAWAY!

*** This giveaway is now closed ***

You may be thinking that for a person who spent a whole 5 months of her life baking and developing cheesecakes for The English Cheesecake Company last year, that my blog is severely lacking in cheesecake recipes...and you'd be right! 

Oh the fun I had and the flavours I dreamed up! I made a whole range of drinks cheesecakes - there was the milk and cookies: an oreo flavoured cheesecake topped with oreo cookies and gummy milk bottles! The coco cola flavoured cheesecake filled with popping candy and topped with fizzy cola bottles, the lemonade cheesecake topped with whole slices of lemon and giant sugar crystals that made it look like what you see when you peer into a giant jug of lemonade! and my personal favourite was the 'my cheesecake brings all the boys to the yard' - a strawberry milkshake flavoured cheesecake covered in gummy milkshakes. 

However, unfortunately I can't share any of those recipes with you since they are top secret! and one day down the line may be used by the company I was working for.  So I can develop my own recipes at home to share with you...but, my husband is not a cheesecake fan! and when you're making a full sized cheesecake and only one person is going to eat it - that's a problem! you can bet I would get crazy fat in no time at all.  

So bear with me, I'm trying as much as I can to ease cheesecake into our household gently! We had some Americans over for dinner and I knew we were going to rustle up some slow cooker pulled pork burgers with creamy corn and I wanted a suitably American dessert to finish off with.  I have had this recipe bookmarked for aaaages so I was more than excited to finally get around to using it! 

So what constitutes a s'mores cheesecake? a graham cracker base, which delighted the Americans we served it to because you can't actually buy graham crackers in regular supermarkets here! A super smooth and creamy milk chocolate baked filling topped with some ooey gooey toasted marshmallow.

One of our guests declared it the best cake ever, and for me it was definitely the best cheesecake I've tasted in a long time.  

You may notice it's not as aesthetically pleasing as it could have been, check out Tracey's beautiful version to see how it could look! One of the steps for the marshmallow topping is to use a hand held electric beater to whisk it whilst it is simmering in a pan above water.  I don't have a hand held beater and so I had to resort to doing it by hand...do you know how hard it is to whip marshmallow meringue into stiff peaks with only your muscles (or lack thereof) for power? Well, you can see how hard it is from the picture below because mine probably wasn't whipped as long as it should have been and so it wasn't as stiff as it could have been but it still tasted just as delicious! I also grilled mine, as I don't have a blowtorch and you can't get as nice a toasted effect but you definitely get the toasted taste coming through so it is worth doing it! Just keep a close eye on it, it gets toasty super quick! 

S'mores Cheesecake:

From Bon Appetit, via Tracey's Culinary Adventures

Crust
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 9-10 whole crackers)
3 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 

Filling
9 oz milk chocolate, chopped
2 8-oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
3 large egg, at room temperature 

Topping
1 cup sugar
2 large egg whites
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon salt
12 large marshmallows, cut into quarters with wet kitchen scissors
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the crust:  Preheat oven to 350 F.  Spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray.  In a medium bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs and sugar.  Pour the melted butter over the mixture and stir until the crumbs are evenly moistened.  Press into an even layer in the bottom of the prepared springform pan.  Bake for 12 minutes, or until set.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool to room temperature.  Reduce oven temperature to 325 F.

To make the filling:  Add the chocolate to a microwave-safe bowl and heat in 30 second intervals at 50% power, stirring in between each interval, until the chocolate is melted and smooth.  Cool until just barely lukewarm, stirring occasionally.

Combine the cream cheese, sugar, and salt in the bowl of your food processor and pulse until smooth. With the machine running, pour the heavy cream through feed tube and process just until blended. Again, with the machine running, add the melted chocolate and then the eggs, one at a time, blending and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition until the mixture is smooth.  Pour the batter over the cooled crust. 

Bake for about 55 minutes, or until the outer edge is slightly puffed and the center is barely set (the center will jiggle slightly when the pan is gently shaken).  Transfer the pan to a wire rack.  Run a small sharp knife around the cake to loosen it from the pan.  Let cool slightly then refrigerate for at least 8 hours.  (I left mine uncovered in the fridge until it was cold, then used plastic wrap to cover the pan.) 

To make the topping:  In a large metal bowl (I used the bowl for my stand mixer), combine the sugar, egg whites, water, cream of tartar and salt.  Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly until the sugar dissolves and the mixture feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes.  Remove the bowl from the pan and add the marshmallows; let stand for a few minutes until the marshmallows soften.  Place the bowl back over the pan of simmering water and beat the topping with a hand mixer for 4-5 minutes, or until stiff, shiny peaks form.  Beat in the vanilla.

Let the topping cool just slightly (don't wait too long or it'll set and you won't be able to spread it).  Meanwhile, remove the sides of the pan from the cheesecake.  Transfer the topping onto the cheesecake; use a spatula to spread it to the edges.  Let stand for about 15 minutes, or until set.  Use a kitchen torch to toast the topping lightly.  (You could also do this under your broiler but keep a VERY close eye on it, it'll go from brown to burnt quickly.)  Transfer the cheesecake to the fridge and chill well before serving.

So that was my s'mores cheesecake but you're really here for the GIVEAWAY right?

Well since I know so many of my followers are cheesecake lovers! and since Valentine's day is right around the corner - how would you like to win some of these delicious and oh so cute mini Valentine's Cheesecakes courtesy of The English Cheesecake Company! They would make the perfect gift for that loved one in your life...or even the perfect gift if you wanted to treat yourself, shh I won't tell! 

When the postman arrived on my doorstep this morning bearing these cheesecake goodies it was more than a little exciting! and of course I had to taste test them to make sure they were up to scratch.  Let's have a run down of the flavours:

You get 4 varieties (3 of each in the box).  First up is a baked vanilla cheesecake on a crunchy biscuit base, topped with a dark chocolate fudge sauce and crushed up Oreos and an edible chocolate rose in the middle.

Next is a baked chocolate cheesecake on a chocolate biscuit base, topped with the fudge sauce and this time little bits of chocolate covered honeycomb and an edible chocolate rose.

The second baked vanilla cheesecake is topped with the fudge sauce and broken up pieces of chocolate flake along with the edible chocolate rose.

The final one to complete the lineup was my absolute favourite because Toblerone has got to be one of my favourite chocolates ever! So a baked chocolate cheesecake, on a chocolate biscuit base covered in fudge and big chunks of Toblerone is my idea of heaven! 

Words can't describe how delicious these cheesecakes truly were.  Sometimes for me I find cheesecake a bit boring and plain but these were anything but! I love the addition of the sticky fudge sauce which really adds something special and I love how chunky all the toppings are! 

So you want to try them too don't you?

To be entered into this competition for a chance to win these delights you just need to do one thing:

1. Like the English Cheesecake Company on facebook  and leave me a comment on this post telling me that you have done so.  

If you'd like to increase your chances you can have a bonus entry for:

2. Liking my brand new facebook page, again leave me a separate comment telling me you have done so.

If you really really want these cheesecakes you can have a 3rd entry by:

3. Retweeting this giveaway on Twitter, and then comment and let me know.

Each individual comment acts as a new entry so if you do all 3 things be sure to leave 3 comments.

Okay - are we all up to speed? You have 3 chances to win and your entries are valid up until Midnight on Wednesday 8th February.  The winner will be announced on Thursday 9th February, to ensure plenty of time for delivery for Valentine's Day.  Unfortunately this is open to UK residents only since those cheesecakes will not make it to you in an edible state if you live anywhere else! 

Good luck!

An Outsider Tart Cooking Class...and a Giveaway Winner!

On Saturday we spent an amazing morning at Divertmenti Cookery School in Marylebone with none other than David and David, the owners of Outsider Tart Bakery on Chiswick High Rd.

You may recall I visited them once on one of my cupcake hunts, and whilst I didn't try one of their cupcakes I did try lots of their other baked goods which were all delicious! and after many of the mediocre cupcake bakeries I have visited recently in London I have decided Outsider Tart has to be up there as one of my favourite London bakeries so I feel pretty sad I've only visited them the once! Chiswick is pretty far out from us, I know it's a poor excuse, especially since I'm living in London now so I have made it a goal to visit them very very soon...if not just to experience one of their Thursday night cookie bar's! 

Let me introduce you to David no 1, David Muniz...this picture, and awesome facial expression just about sums him up completely! He is completely passionate about baking and his enthusiasm just shines through, as does his sense of humour! There was a number of lovely little anecdotes to do with their personalities and baking styles and the way they balance chores at home! David likes to be a little less accurate than most with his following of recipes and he tends to deviate alot, like deciding to make the Kunegunda cake with strawberries and raspberries rather than apple which is what was stated on our recipe file! and he likes to throw caution to the wind and walk on the baking wild side by breaking his eggs straight into the mixing bowl (rather than into a seperate bowl first incase of any accidents!) all the while instructing us to do the opposite.  Yes, he may not practice what he preaches but since he's the pro and I'm the ammateur I'm inclined to follow his example nonetheless!

That brings me onto David no.2, David Lesniak - an altogether more serious character with a more dry witted sense of humour than David no.1 but the Davids' contrasting personalities set them up perfectly as a little comedy duo! He doesn't seem to appreciate the big messes David no.1 creates in the kitchen at home as he is always the one who has to clean them up! and he is rather obsessive about things being orderly...even to the point of having to methodically measure out the portions in the tray bakes they make for their bakery to ensure every slice is of equal size!

We were taken through 3 recipes with them in the 2 hour slot that we were there for.  All of the recipes come from their book, Baked in America, which is due for release on August 4th but we've already pre ordered our copy from Amazon because we're just that eager! (and you get a great discount on the price!) We got given copies of the recipes to take home so I will definitely be sharing some of them with you over the next few weeks (we already whipped up a batch of those delicious looking cookies above last night but we ate them so fast that no pictures were taken!) and we got to browse through a copy of the book which only cemented our excitement for the book because everything in it sounds and looks so tasty!

I love the story that accompanies these cookies! At Outsider Tart they are known as XXX rated chocolate chip cookies, but they hail from a cookie the Davids fell in love with when they lived in New York.  There was a bakery right across the street from them that sold cookies called 'Chubby Hubbies' - don't you just love the name! and they were David no.1's favourite treat.  When they moved to England and wanted to start up their bakery they got in touch with Mary, the Cuban lady who had owned the bakery, and they found out it had closed down and she had gone down a completely different career path.  So they asked whether she might like to share her recipe, but they were met with a resounding no, so they set to try and recreate the chubby hubbies the best they could. 

They told us their version comes close, but they have never been able to successfully incorporate the mini marshmallows that were in the original cookie so it's not quite perfect yet, although after sampling some bite size versions we thought it tasted pretty delicious to us! and we even got to try some of the gooey melty ones that were fresh out of the oven! as did David no.1, sneakily shovelling in mouthfuls of the cookie behind David no.2's back - it was quite amusing to watch and I wish I had caught it on camera!

The next recipe they showcased was called 'Kunegunda's cake'.  We had been wondering for weeks leading up to the class what would be in this cake! We had even tried googling it and were rather confused when we couldn't find out any information! but we've since found out Kunegunda was in fact the name of David no.2's grandma so that would explain why google was of no help to us!

The 'cake' infact starts life as a pie because you begin by making dough, yet somewhere in between the baking stages it turns cake like and so it's a very intriguing dessert indeed! It can be made with any kind of fruit you desire! The one we sampled on the day was made with strawberries and raspberries which paired perfectly with the lovely summer's day it was, the original recipe calls for apples, and David and David gave many more recommendations of combos like strawberry & lemon, mango & blueberry or raspberry and peach...all tasty alternatives.

David and David have alot of baking wisdom between the two of them and I picked up alot of tips on the day that I furiously scribbled down on my recipe file.  One of the things they said that I liked the most was that their book, and recipes in it, are not concrete and you don't have to follow them exactly - in fact they want you to experiment and add your own touches to each recipe.  Alot of the baking they do comes down to how they feel on the day, and to do with what feels right when you are baking, use your intuition to help you create the yummiest treat possible, and it's all down to personal preference.

The treat we ended the day with, and indeed the treat we began with (because it took quite a long time to make!) was the rather lovely looking crowd pleaser: The Apple Stack Cake.

This is definitely a special occasion cake.  It's not something you can just whip up in one evening and it can, and should, be made over the course of several days because by assembling the cake the day before you give the apple filling time to really soak into the cake.

Here they are dishing us up a very generous slice of the cake to take on our way as we left! I was sad that the time flew by so quickly but glad that I was able to attend and went away armed with new tips and baking enthusiasm...and anticipation of their books arrival!

I'll leave you with a few of the Davids' top tips:

1. Melt your chocolate in a saucepan...straight on the hob! (yes, despite getting many looks of horror coming his way from the French men at Valrhona it is the way that David no.1 always does it) it is quicker and if you melt your butter first and then add the chocolate the butter acts as a protective layer so your chocolate won't burn.  Also, leave a few morsels of chocolate unmelted and then once you take your pan off the heat they will melt into your mix anyway.

2. Use the paddle of your KitchenAid to scrape down the sides of your bowl, this process also ensures any unmixed flour/sugar that is stuck to the paddle will be dislodged in the process...and it creates less washing up than using a separate spatulat (which pleases David no.2 greatly!)

3. When it comes to chocolate only the best will do - Valrhona all the way.  When it comes to Salt - go Kosher, it distributes better through your cake than regular table salt which can sometimes sink to the bottom. 

4. Don't ever prick your cakes in the middle with a cake tester/knife to see if they're done.  It scars their surface! and a simple old fashioned prod with two of your fingers will do the same job, if the cake bounces back then it's done and there's been no stabbing involved!

and before I forget! the winner of my cheesecake giveaway was...

Comment no. 10 - The More Than Occasional Baker!

Your wish of receiving a salted caramel cheesecake has come true, just let me know your email address so I can contact you to arrange delivery! Thanks to all who entered.

A week of birthday cupcakes and a GIVEAWAY!!

Apologies for the lack of blogging, this past week has been crazy busy! with 3 different birthday celebrations, a night of Kings of Leon and a night and day at Wimbledon! but I'm ready now to share all the yummy cupcakes I have been indulging in this week...and because it was my birthday and I'm feeling generous I want to give you all the chance to win something delicious! but first...back to the cupcakes.

Last weekend my parents came to celebrate mine and my sister's birthday.  None of my birthday celebrations are complete without cupcakes, like the ones we tried last year at Queenie's in Shropshire, so we headed to Bake-a-Boo which is just down the road from us in West Hampstead that we hadn't got around to trying until now

It's a cute little tearoom where you can sit in and enjoy their baked goods, and there's also lots of fun cupcake paraphernalia to purchase too. We were there quite early in the morning, I was disappointed they only had 2 proper cupcakes on offer: lemon or white chocolate and raspberry - they were both gluten and dairy free which I wasn't too thrilled about but they were surprisingly tasty nonetheless! If you want to check out the other fun we had in London for my 'pre-birthday' celebrations you can see all the pics here

On Monday, I found myself in Westbourne Grove...which is fast becoming a favourite area of mine! with so many delicious eateries how can it not be! Ottelenghi's, Melt chocolates and this time I discovered Tom's Deli.  It is owned by the same people who own Crazy Homies and Lucky 7 - both awesome restaurants that I checked out on my other blog here  and so I knew I was going to love it! It sells tons of yummy American treats inside and has platters full of delicious looking treats.  They told me their cupcakes are brought in daily from a nearby bakery - from the looks of it, they may come from The Cupcake Company but I can't be sure.  I picked a raspberry and white chocolate which was very yummy but I would have preferred more frosting:cake ratio! The brownie was outstanding! it was so fudgy and moist, and it was filled with raspberries - bonus! I will definitely be going back to this cute little deli.

On Tuesday evening, my husband came to town and we had an amazing birthday meal at Chicago Rib Shack in Knightsbridge.  When we got home I was greeted by these amazing Wimbledon themed cupcakes from Lola's! and had happy birthday sung to me!  

I was SO surprised to see this little pic of Andy Roddick sitting on top of my cupcake! The actual one you buy from Lola's comes with Andy Murray's face on but I'm defo not a fan so my sister promptly replaced it with my fave State side player! 

Also in the box was two strawberry and cream cupcakes, and this awesome vanilla cupcake decorated like a tennis ball!! Lola's redeemed themselves this time around, and I enjoyed the cupcakes much more than the last one I ate from them.

Wednesday was my actual birthday! so more cupcakes were in order! After an amazing birthday meal at Navajo Joe in Covent Garden, which I just cant recommend highly enough, we popped around the corner to The Primrose Bakery.

It's been a long time since I've eaten one of their cupcakes and I had a feeling they might have a fun flavour, different from the boring combo's you usually get, and I was right.  We picked up a chocolate cupcake with marshmallow frosting and a giant marshmallow on top! I loved the pink glitter on top, and the cupcake tasted great! I love the atmosphere inside their little shop too and it was a good place to give our feet a little break for a while! 

The cupcakes I had chosen specifically to try were 'cat and the cream' cupcakes.  I always like to find cupcakes I've never had before and so I looked on their website and saw they sold them at Whole Foods.  I wondered why I had never come across them before since Whole Foods is one of my very favourite shops to frequent! I found out that they don't do them at the main store, only the smaller ones.  So after a while of getting lost in Soho, we finally came across the small branch and I was eager to find the cupcakes! I looked all over and there wasn't a cupcake in sight, finally I asked a shop assistant who told me they were in the fridge - ugh!! I was not impressed, you never keep cupcakes in the fridge!! So since it had taken me so long to find the place I decided to give them a try anyway and hope for the best.  They have lots of interesting and different flavour combos so we opted for the chocolate cupcake with mint ganache filled topped with a raspberry buttercream! 

I walked around with it for a while to get it back up to temperature before eating it.  By the time I had reached Hyde Park where we were seeing Kings of Leon it was just about ready to eat, I had to smuggle it in under my cardigan as I was worried they were going to confiscate it from me at the entrance to the gig! It was a pretty large cupcake and not the best thing to eat in a field full of people, I got frosting on my nose and cheeks several times and ended up a complete mess by the end of it! The cupcake and frosting were soo good and I was really enjoying it until I hit that ganache in the middle..it was actually made with fresh mint leaves chopped up and for me it just didn't work.  The flavour was far too strong, I was expecting it to be more along the lines of a mint extract or something like that so unfortunately I felt the mint ruined the overall cupcake for me, but it was still fun to try something new!

So that was my cupcake filled week of birthday fun! 

Now on to the giveaway! 

As you all know I recently started working at The English Cheesecake Company and for too long now I've enjoyed their delicious cheesecakes all to myself and I feel it's time for one of you to enjoy them also!! So I am giving away one of their cheesecakes! for your tastebuds to try! 

I don't like to exlcude my fellow bloggers who don't live in England but our cheesecakes have to be sent out frozen and by the time they arrived to you in America or Australia they would be a soggy melted inedible mess! so that really wouldn't work! but what I will say is that if you have friends or family who live in England who you would like to send a cheesecake to then feel free to enter! but please don't enter if you are expecting it to be sent to you because it's just not going to work!! 

How to enter:

1. You need to follow my blog, then check out the English Cheesecake Company's website or my recommendations below and leave a comment on this blog post telling me what flavour cheesecake you would like the most! 

2. If you want a double entry you can also start following me on twitter here and just be sure to write another comment saying that you are doing so.

3. Sit back and cross your fingers that some scrummy cheesecake will be heading your way soon!!

It's really that easy! You have a week to enter and I will choose a winner at random next Sunday, 3rd July, at 8pm!

Here's a few of our newest additions...

and a few of my personal favourites...

and for those of you out there who aren't cheesecake fans we do some delicious chocolate fudge cakes...

Good luck!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

The Sandies with our festively sprayed conch shells!

Today has been a crazy busy baking day! I baked and frosted 100 cupcakes for a church's carol service on the Island that's happening tonight.  I had some left over frosting and some leftover cake in the freezer so I am in the middle of making a few festive cake pops, and our chocolate peppermint cookies have just come out the oven and are waiting to be dipped with white chocolate.  We also still have a yule log to make too which will be our Christmas day pudding! so we are baking up a storm!

Here's a pic of some Sandies that Mara made yesterday morning while I went out to do some last minute gift shopping! They were taken from Martha Stewart's Holiday Cookies magazine.  The recipe was originally for Pecan Sandies but since Mara knows I'm not a nut fan she omitted them and replaced them with some festive red and green M&M's instead...which was a good move!

I've never had Sandies before...or even heard of them for that matter, apparently they are closely related to shortbread but they have a crumblier texture inside similar to particles of sand hence the name! and I was pleasantly surprised, they were delicious!  Mara topped them with some sanding sugar and little mini Hershey's kissables...in festive colours of course.

If you want to make some here's our altered recipe:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup plain flour (all purpose)

1 cup red and green M&M's

To decorate:

Red and green sanding sugar

Red and green hershey's kissables

1. Preheat oven to 350degrees f.  Beat butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium high speed until fluffy, 3-4 minutes.  Beat in vanilla and salt.  Reduce speed to low, and gradually add flour, beating just until combined.  Fold in M&M's.

2. Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, and place on parchment lined baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.  With the dampened bottom of a glass, lightly flatten each ball.

3. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are golden brown, 15-17 minutes.  Let cookies cool completely on wire racks, they can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.  

Now onto a baking giveaway...my sister Mel's scrapbooking blog is having their blogiversary and two great prizes are up for grabs, there is one scrapbooking prize for those of you crafters out there and for all you bakers there is also an awesome gingerbread man related prize! So head on over to her post to enter. You have until the 28th, and it is open to all bloggers, no matter where you live! Hooray...I love international giveaways! 

Cupcake Club and Snickers Rocky Road Cupcakes!

I was very excited about the upcoming cupcake club! The absence of Iron Cupcake had left a huge cupcake shaped void in my life...and so even though I was away the whole weekend house hunting in Wales I made sure I was going to make it to the first meet up (and hopefully not the last!) so it was a late night baking sesh for me!

My Snickers Rocky Road that I make is just one of my fail safe recipes, it is so amazingly easy to make and produces delicious results every time! so I knew it had to feature somehow! I settled on Snickers cupcake that I was going to fill with caramel and peanuts and then I was going to try a marshmallow frosting for the 'rocky road' part of it.

Here is the baking process.  I made these Devil's Food Cupcakes and adapted them slightly as part of a Snickers recipe.  They called for coffee granules but since I don't partake of any form of caffeine I left this out.  I read after on google that the coffee granules bring out the chocolate flavour so I should have probably added a bit more cooca powder to make up for omitting the granules but they still tasted pretty good to me.  I added a cup of chopped up peanuts mixed with some dulche de leche, and cut a hole in the top of each cupcake and filled them with this caramel mixture.

I then whipped up some marshmallow frosting.  It was my first time making this and I was a bit nervous it wouldn't work out! but it was super easy and it piped on like a dream, it really tasted just like marshmallow!

I then topped them with my Snickers Rocky Road which I had let set in little heart silicone cases to make the heart shape.  I got a bit carried away and these were really bigger than I had intended! I was planning on just cutting a little square out to top it with but they are so delicious that I figured no-one would mind having such a big topper!

So I set off for Cupcake Club and it was a great night of yummy cupcakes and good company.  Here is our little sampler plate we had.  Andrea made peanut butter cupcakes, and I don't usually like peanut butter but these were delicious and even had a reese's peanut butter cup in the bottom! Kelly, who hosted the event, made coconut hi-hats...the combo of coconut and marshmallow is always such a winner in my book and I loved the colour co-ordinating tops.  Mara made lemon and lime cupcakes with a mascarpone frosting which were delish, and a refreshing change from all the chocolate-y ness of the other cupcakes!

Kelly has written a more comprehensive write up here that you can check out.  

One of the best parts of the night was that Lisa from Yummy Boutique came along to answer all our cupcake related questions and tell us all about her business! It was fascinating being able to pick her brains and gave me a much better insight into what the life of a professional baker is actually like...I'm not sure I'm hardcore enough for it! She works right through the night before her Saturday market she does just to get everything baked and fresh! now that is dedication, you must go check out her stall on a Saturday outside Patridge's on the King's Road or order some of her cupcakes because they are delicious! She brought us these amazing fluffernutter cupcakes and the cake was so moist with a really creamy frosting!

Thanks to Kelly for arranging the meet-up, and to all the bakers for bringing such yummy treats!

And now onto the results of my 1st giveaway! Thanks to all those who entered and all my new followers :)

We have a winner!! Katiecakes, is now the owner of the brand new cupcake heaven book! congrats!

But...I was having so much fun with my giveaway I couldn't just stop at one winner! so I decided to have a runner up too...hooray! and they will win this book of yummy treats...

                                   

Congrats to Rhonda of Obsessed with Cupcakes for being runner up!

I'm joining in with these for Cupcake Tuesday, so head on over and see what everyone else has been whipping up this week!