with love, cupcakes and biscuits.: tea

Showing posts with label tea. Show all posts

Wednesday, 31 October 2012

Why a girl needs emergency chocolate cake stashed in the freezer...

I do and I'm a girl, well a grown up mummy lady but I do *need* emergency chocolate cake stashed in my freezer.

Sometimes only chocolate cake will do and I am well apt to cope with what life throws my way if I know there is a chocolate sponge ready to be slathered in chocolate buttercream available to defrost at any given time I may need it.
It's a simple strategy really, whenever I make chocolate cake (Nigella's all in one recipe in Feast is my go to), I make a double batch, that is four sandwich layers rather than two and bung two of them in the freezer *in case of emergency*. It works for me as my local Sainsburys only sells sour cream by the 300ml tub and the basic recipe requires half that amount. It is sensible then to use it all up, no? Besides I am a double, triple, quadruple batch type of a cook. It's practical and means I can justify using huge pots and long handled wooden spoons. Any excuse for that in my kitchen makes me a happy haggis.

I also make sure I have a supply of luxurious dark chocolate in my baking drawer and I'm good to go.

My boys love their chocolate cake and it is always their choice if they fancy some cake resting in the kitchen, on a cake stand or pretty vintage plate, ready to be sliced after school.

I like mine with a cup of tea served in a lovely cup.

If there was no emergency chocolate cake it would take so much longer to use my scrummy dark chocolate up or use pretty cake stands or vintage china or eat alongside cornishware teacups and saucers or make my boys happy after a hard day at school.

Emergency and essential chocolate cake stashed in my freezer is a must!

Find me on Twitter and Instagram as jammypudding.

Thursday, 17 November 2011

The answer to the ultimate question (not 42 by the way).

The question I mean is "what to have with a cup of tea when there are no home bakes at hand?"

For me, it has to be...

How about you?

Thursday, 9 June 2011

Almost as good as tea and cake?

Is it? Could it possibly be?

Only a smidge behind I say and is a flavour combination that I, for one, cannot get enough of...

Mini pretzels smothered in chocolate.

My wonderful friend sends such delights over from the U.S. Peanut butter cups are a must in my birthday and Christmas celebrations. How lucky I am that my friend indulges me so? She takes a jaunt to Trader Joe's, fills a box with edible treasures and posts them off to Scotland for me and mine to enjoy at our leisure.

When Sophie Dahl described her peanut butter fudge recipe in nostalgia laden memories of salty seas and sweet ice cream cones I knew I had to make it and have many times since (see here). Salty sweet or sweetly salty has to be one of the best combinations out there. It accounts for my general love of peanut butter, snickers and star bars. One year my friend sent over chocolate and peanut butter covered pretzels. I quite happily could have died an exquisite sickly sweet death and floated to heaven. In light of this hankering I regularly thank my anal thoroughness in tooth cleaning and regular check ups at the dentist.

Unfortunately [for me] my Biscuits seem to have inherited the same taste buds so I have to share but right now they are at school and I am here alone able to enjoy a few with a cuppa. I am one lucky lady yet I confess I have to use a little plate or would scoff the whole packet and would be rightly persecuted as an awful Mummy. A cruel, selfish, greedy Mummy and I would, dear friends, deserve it.