Valentine's chocolate & raspberry cupcakes

Double chocolate chip cupcakes with a raspberry jam centre, chocolate frosting and a raspberry topping

Perfect for Valentine's day - for your boyfriend, girlfriend, friends, family, or just for yourself!

They taste divine too

Makes 18 deep cupcakes
- 225g margarine
- 225g caster sugar
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 225g self raising flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- dash of milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- cocoa powder
- 100g milk chocolate chips
- raspberry jam

For the frosting and topping
- 200g butter, softened
- 275g icing sugar, sifted
- dash of warm milk
- 150g dark cooking chocolate, melted
- fresh raspberries
- freeze dried raspberry pieces (or red sprinkles or hearts)
- edible glitter (optional)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees and line a cupcake tin with cases. (Use special ones for valentine's day!)

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar until well combined. Whisk in the beaten egg, then fold in the flour and baking powder.

3. Stir in the milk, vanilla essence, enough cocoa powder to change the mixture to a deep brown colour, and the chocolate chips. Mix until well combined and then spoon into the cupcake cases (about 2/3 full).

4. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until a knife comes out clean from the middle.

5. Once cooled, cut the top centre out of each cupcake and spoon in a teaspoon of raspberry jam into each.

6. Place the tops back on (trying not to eat them) and set aside.

7. To make the chocolate buttercream frosting, beat together the butter, icing sugar and milk until smooth (be patient). Then stir in the melted chocolate.

8. Spoon the frosting into a large piping bag with a star nozel and get piping! (you can also just spoon and spread onto the cakes if you prefer)

9. Place a raspberry on the top of each cupcake and sprinkle with the freeze dried raspberry pieces, or whatever decoration you are using, and finish with a dusting of edible glitter.

They will look something like this when you finally get to eat them!

Enjoy :)

Chocolate and vanilla jam cupcakes

I made these for my 19th birthday the other week, for friends and family. I hadn't made cupcakes for a really long time so loved doing it, and actually discovered that piping icing isn't so bad! I've never been that good at piping technique but realised that with some good piping bags stuffed full of lots of icing, it really is quite simple and fun to be creative with it. I wanted the contrast of chocolate and plain vanilla sponges as well as the contrast with the plain cream icing and pink icing so that they looked good on my cupcake stand. Make sure you use cute, colourful cupcakes cases to make these scrummy cupcakes look even more appealing. I use this recipe time and time again, I have probably posted them on here before. It's so versatile - you can pretty much do anything you like, adding fruit to the sponge, using different coloured icing and decorations etc etc. Just have some fun!

For the sponges (makes 24)

- 225 margarine/butter (or both)

- 225g caster sugar

- 4 eggs, beaten

- 225g self raising flour

- 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 2 tbsp semi skimmed milk

- 1 tsp vanilla essence

- cocoa powder (for the chocolate cupcakes)

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4 / 180 degrees. Line a few cupcake trays with cupcake cases.

2. Beat together the marg/butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, adding flour occasionally if curdling occurs.

3. Sift the remaining flour and baking powder into the bowl, then gradually whisk in the milk and vanilla essence.

4. Spoon half of this mixture into cupcake cases.
5. Sift cocoa powder into the other half of the mixture, stirring and adding more until it is dark brown in colour. Spoon this into the remaining cupcake cases.

6. Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Leave to cool on a cooling tray.

7. Once cooled, you can begin making the buttercream. But first, take the vanilla cupcakes and cut a small hole in the middle of each to fill with a tsp of jam. I used raspberry but any flavour would work well.

8. Cover with the cut out bit of sponge, and they are ready to be iced!

For the buttercream

- 150g unsalted butter

- 225g icing sugar

- 2 tbsp hot milk

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- pink colouring (for vanilla sponge cupcakes)

1. Cream together the butter and sugar with the milk until smooth and silky. Stir in the vanilla extract.

2. Spoon this into a large piping bag with a nozel in (I ordered large, plastic disposable icing bags off amazon - you just snip off the end, pop in the nozel, fill with icing and are easy to use!) and start icing the chocolate sponge cupcakes - I go clockwise in a swirling pattern to get the effect you can see in the pictures.

3. Once all the chocolate cupcakes are done, add some pink food colouring to the remaining icing and stir until fully combined. Pipe this on to the vanilla cupcakes in the same way as the chocolate ones. Voila! You can decorate with fruit (strawberries or raspberries) or sprinkles or whatever really, but I just wanted to keep them simple.

Enjoy :)

Oh, and just wanted to show you this cute apron my friend bought me for my birthday, I love it, can't wait to wear it!!

Sweet scones with raspberry jam

These English treats are perfect for the Jubilee weekend - whether you're having friends and family over for afternoon tea, or having a party with a finger food buffet. I got this recipe from Lisa Faulkner's book again (I love it, I get so many recipes from there!) and they tasted yummy. However, I was cooking in a student kitchen with no mixing bowls, no scales, no sieve, and no rolling pin... You can imagine the dilemma of guessing the quantities and using a tall drinking glass to roll out the dough and cut out the round shapes. As a result of all the chaos, they didn't seem to rise well like scones usually would (only a few worked out okay) and I also forgot to brush them with milk, and I cooked them slightly too long... This meant that they were quite dense and crunchy, almost like biscuits! Delicious biscuits, nonetheless, especially with jam. I'm going to make these again soon when I'm home so I can get them right, and have them with clotted cream as well as jam. I'm sure this recipe will work perfectly well for you though, so give it a try!

Makes 16

- 375g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting

- 1 tsp salt

- 2 tsp baking powder

- 2 tbsp caster sugar

- 75g cold butter, cubed, plus extra for greasing

- 175ml milk, plus extra for brushing

- raspberry or strawberry jam, to serve

- clotted cream, to serve

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees / gas mark 6 and grease a baking tray.

2. Sieve the flour, salt and baking powder together into a mixing bowl and add the sugar and butter. Rub together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

3. Mix in the milk to make a dough, and knead a little until it becomes smooth.

4. Roll the dough out onto lightly floured surface to about 1cm thick and cut about sixteen 5-6cm rounds. 

Put the dough circles onto the greased baking tray and brush with a little milk.

5. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until risen and golden.

6. Serve warm or cold with clotted cream and jam!

Enjoy :)

Jam butterfly cakes

 I think these are so cute, and I love making cupcakes where you don't have to then make a buttercream or other frosting after - less washing up! These are perfect if you want something a bit more special than just a plain vanilla cupcake, and, like the smartie squares, these would be brilliant to bake with kids. With it being spring, and the summery weather emerging, the butterfly design is very fitting - make sure you use pretty, coloured cupcake cases! You can use any flavoured jam you like and fruit or sweet to decorate, so these are versatile as well.

Makes 12-14 cupcakes
- 125g soft margarine
- 125g caster sugar
- 2 medium eggs
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
- 125g self-raising flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- spoonfuls of jam (e.g. raspberry or strawberry - I used damson)
- fruit, to decorate
- icing sugar, to dust


1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5/190 degrees.
2. Cream together the butter and the sugar. Gradually stir in the egg and add the vanilla essence.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder and fold into the micture.
4. Spoon into cupcake cases on a baking tray, filling half of the case.

5. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until golden. Place on a wired rack to cool.

5. Once cool, carefully cut the tops of with a knife and spoon jam into the centre. Cut the top in half to make butterfly wings and place on top of the jam.

6. Repeat until all done, place a raspberry, or another fruit or sweet, on top (optional), then dust with icing sugar!

Enjoy :)

Blueberry pancakes

These American-style pancakes are a perfect breakfast treat, or make a great brunch. I had never even eaten blueberry pancakes before today, so I was a little weary about making them, but everything went fine and they were delicious. The blueberries poking out of the batter in the pan makes it harder for the pancake to cook through, but if you squash them down it isn't a problem and the blueberries go warm and jam-like mmm. This recipe made about 10-12 pancakes so I heated the oven to keep them warm as the stack got higher and higher. I am ashamed to say that my boyfriend and I ate all of these between us with no struggles (food blogging is stretching my stomach!) I served them with a drizzle of honey and topped with some extra blueberries. We also had blueberry jam and crème-fraiche - the cold cream went perfectly with these warm fluffy pancakes, and it was the Sainsbury's 'be good to yourself' version yay. I definitely recommend making these! 

 Makes 10-12 pancakes
- 250g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 250ml milk
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 50g butter/margerine, melted - plus extra for frying
- 100g blueberries

To serve:
- honey or maple syrup
- blueberry jam
- blueberries
- crème fraiche

1. Sift the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder into a mixing bowl.

2. Combine the milk, eggs and melted butter in a jug. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk together. Stir in the blueberries.

3. Heat a frying pan and add a small knob of butter. Ladle some batter into the pan and flip when the underside starts to go golden brown. 

4. Repeat until all the pancakes are done; keeping them warm on a plate in the oven until you have a huge stack of them.

5. Drizzle with honey or syrup, top with blueberries, and serve with crème fraiche.

Enjoy :)

Classic victoria sponge cake

This is always a winner and looks so classic and cute, perfect for any birthday or other party celebration, particularly in the summer seasons. I made this for my boyfriend's birthday last summer as he loves a good old victoria sponge! I always use raspberry jam for the filling because I just prefer it, it isn't as sickly as strawberry... for some reason I decided to top it with a strawberry though haha.

For the sponges:

- 225g margarine

- 225g caster sugar

- 4 eggs

- dash of vanilla essence

- 225g self-raising flour

- dash of milk (I always add milk when making sponge because it gives it a smooth and silky texture)

For the filling:

It's up to you what you fill it with, I think the classic is just strawberry jam, or jam and whipped double cream, but I like to use raspberry jam with vanilla butter-cream! You can also chop up strawberries for the filling.

For the topping:

It is tradition just to top it with a dusting of icing sugar and a cut up strawberry, but you can use whipped cream or buttercream or anything you want! I again, have used vanilla butter-cream. Flavoured butter-cream would also be good, like chocolate or raspberry/strawberry.

So... for the butter-cream:

- 150g unsalted butter

- 225g icing sugar, sifted

- 2 tbsp hot milk

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Cream together the butter and the sugar (for the sponge) until light and fluffy.

2. Beat in the eggs, adding the odd bit of flour to prevent curdling.

3. Add the vanilla essence, fold in the flour and stir in the milk.

4. Fill two 7 inch baking tins (which should be greased and lined with baking paper)

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes on 180C/Gas 4, or until golden brown and a skewer comes out clean when poked in the middle. Place on a cooling rack.

6. For the butter-cream, cream together the butter and sugar and milk, and add the vanilla extract.

7. Once the sponges are cooled, spread one with jam and the other with the butter-cream and sandwich together. Top with the remaining butter-cream, add a strawberry and ta-da!

Hope you enjoy :)