Easter chocolate biscuit squares

The quickest, most delicious chocolate treats that you will want to make them time and time again.

Top with mini eggs or these cute flower decorations (from Sainsbury's) for Easter/Spring!

This is a recipe I've posted before - I named them Chocolate Smartie Squares because I usually top them with smarties: find here!

Makes 16 squares

- 50g margarine

- 150g dark cooking chocolate, broken into pieces

- 2 tbsp runny honey

- 250g digestive biscuits, crushed

- 16 mini eggs or edible flower decorations

- edible glitter (optional)

1. Line a square tin (7 inch) with grease proof paper, and grease with margarine. (make sure the paper sticks up out the sides of the tin as you will need to use this to grip when removing the squares from the tin)

2. Melt the margarine, chocolate and honey in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring occasionally.

3. Remove from the heat and add the biscuit crumbs, mixing thoroughly until coated.

4. Spoon into the tin and push down, smoothing the top. Mark into 16 squares with a sharp knife, and place a mini egg or edible flower decoration in the centre of each, and sprinkle with edible glitter (if using).

5. Leave to set in the fridge for a couple of hours, then break into the squares and serve.

Enjoy :)

Skinny chocolate and cranberry muffins

This is a recipe I got straight off the BBC Good Food website so I'm just going to link the recipe rather than writing it all out because I feel like it's copyright or something like that. I usually either create my own recipes or alter existing ones slightly but this time I didn't change a thing!

Here is the recipe: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/252615/skinny-chocolate-and-cranberry-muffins

So first of all, how cute are these cupcakes cases!? I just got them from Sainsbury's the other day in Nottingham so they should be selling them in most stores around the country at the moment if you're looking for some pretty cases.

As you can see, the muffins didn't seem to rise very much which was a pain, but I guess it's because they're 'healthy'. Don't expect these to be some sort of miracle muffins that taste amazing but are really low in fat, because although they do taste good, they are not like normal cakes or muffins because they don't have the normal butter, sugar etc. The fats have been substituted for natural yogurt and oil, which is also why these muffins were quite dry after a few hours of cooling. What we did was just heat a muffin in the microwave for 10 seconds every time we wanted one, because the texture is just so much better when they're warm - it makes them more moist etc. I love the other textures in these from the cranberries, I think dried fruit in cakes is scrummy so that's definitely a plus. They also have a really strong chocolate flavour which makes these more appealing. Give them a try if you're trying to be healthy but still need a cake fix or something sweet, but don't expect them to be the best thing ever - there is a reason why cakes are so good - because of the fat and sugar in them!

Enjoy :)

Easter cupcakes

I made a combination of sponges - vanilla sponge, vanilla sponge with cranberries in, and chocolate sponge. Then I made a huge range of different frostings and toppings - creamy chocolate, vanilla buttercream, buttercream with various different colourings, mini eggs, crushed twirl bars, and crispy cakes (see previous post!). Although this took a lot of time, attention to detail, and washing up, it was definitely worth it! They look so cute and I think will put a smile on everyone's face on Easter Sunday tomorrow :) I will post all the recipes below, hope you give them a try! Don't forget that these aren't just for Easter, you can make these anytime - they are brilliant, versatile cupcake and frosting recipes!

Sponge recipes - makes 12-14 cupcakes
- 125g margarine
- 125g caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
- 125g self-raising flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- cocoa powder
- dried cranberries


1. Cream together the marg and sugar until well combined. Gradually whisk in the eggs and vanilla essence.
2. Sieve in the flour and baking powder and fold in, stirring well.
3. Fill this vanilla sponge mixture into cupcake cases - I filled 5 cases.
4. Take half of the rest of the cake mixture and place in another bowl. Mix with a few handfuls of dried cranberries, or other dried fruit (put as much as you want in), and fill another 5 cupcake cases.
5. Sieve some cocoa powder into the remaining mixture and combine until brown in colour. Spoon into the remaining cases. (For me, this was another 4 cases)
6. Bake in a preheated oven (gas mark 5/190 degrees) for around 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wired rack.

Frosting recipes


Chocolate cream cheese frosting (used on 4 cupcakes)
- Half a tub (80g) of Cadbury's chocolate Philadelphia 
- small bit of icing sugar
- small knob of butter, melted

Combine everything together in a bowl, fill into a piping bag with a star shaped nozel, and pipe onto the cupcakes. I piped onto 2, and spread on to the other 2. I topped with mini eggs and crushed Twirl bars.

Vanilla buttercream (used on 10 cupcakes)
- 125g butter, softened
- 200g icing sugar, sifted
- 1 tbsp warm milk
- various food colourings

Beat everything together until smooth, and lighter in colour (feel free to add more of anything depending on consistency, flavour and colour). I iced 4 cupcakes with plain vanilla frosting, then used pink food colouring for 2, green for another 2, and yellow for another 2. This requires a lot of different bowls to transfer the icing too! (It is worth it though, so pretty) You can either pipe these onto the cake or simply spread with a knife. For the yellow and the green frosting, I used a piping bag and nozel to dot the icing on making flower shapes - prefect for Spring!

Enjoy :)