Orange and Chocolate Chip Muffins Recipe

Oh dear......it's been a while.  But to get back into the swing of things, I have made some Orange and Chocolate Chip Muffins.

I made 3 different sizes, so the baby could have his own mini portion, but as you will see from the pictures below he went for the biggest one!

This is from an Annabel Karmel recipe book and is really easy to make:

4oz Self raising flour
2 tbsp Cocoa powder
4oz Margarine
4oz Caster Sugar
2 eggs
Grated zest of 1 small orange
2oz Plain chocolate chips

1.Preheat oven to 180 degrees C or Gas Mark 4
2.Cream the margarine and sugar together.
3.Add the eggs to the creamed mixture, a little at a time, together with a tablespoon of flour.
4.Sift the flour and cocoa.
5.Mix in the flour and cocoa until blended.
6.Stir in the orange zest and chocolate chips
7.Line muffin tray with paper cases, fill each case until 2/3 full.
8.Cook for 10-12 mins

Quick and Easy Flapjacks

When looking for a sweet treat - fast. I always make these flapjacks.  With only 4 ingredients, melting the ingredients in a pan and bake for 20 mins.  Simple!

2oz Butter

2oz Sugar

1oz Golden Syrup

4oz Rolled Oat

Pinch of Salt

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees C

2. Grease 7 inch tin

3. Melt Butter, Sugar and Syrup in a pan

4. Take of heat and stir in oats with a pinch of salt.

5. Press into tin

6. Bake for approx 20 mins

7. Mark into squares while hot, take out of tin when cold.

Strawberry Strawberry Cupcakes baked in a teacup

Our veg patch isn't doing very well this year but our strawberries have flourished.  I love strawberries and they just look gorgeous at the moment.

I have been itching to try and bake a cake in a teacup and found this recipe from my Muffins and Bakes cook book for warm strawberry cupcakes baked in a teacup.

Recipe:

8 tbsp butter

4tbsp strawberry jam

4oz caster sugar

2 eggs

1tsp vanilla essence

4oz self raising flour

1lb strawberries

icing sugar , for dusting

1. Grease 6 heavy, round teacups with butter. Spoon 2 teaspoons of jam into the bottom of each cup

2. Cream butter and sugar

3. Gradually add the beaten egg and vanilla essence

4. Sift in the flour mixing well.

5. Spoon into cups.

6. Stand cups in a roasting tin, then pour enough hot water to come up 1/3 of the way up the sides of the cup.

7.Bake for 40 mins at 180 degrees C until well risen and when a skewer is inserted it comes out clean.

8.Leave to cool for 2-3 mins.

9.Place a few whole strawberries on each cake, dust with icing sugar

10. Serve warm with remaining strawberries

11. Enjoy!

Blue Fish Birthday Cake

It's been pretty busy here at Creative Heights the last couple of weeks, as it's birthday season in our family and we had one very special birthday on Saturday - Baby's 1st birthday (I can't believe it's 1 year already!) Despite the rain we had a BBQ with about 25 adults and 8 babies and apart from the massive downpour - which thankfully only lasted about 10mins and with everyone huddled under the gazebo, it was a lovely afternoon and everyone enjoyed themselves.
I made the birthday cake a Blue Fish Cake decorated with Smarties and with all the excitement I only have one photo.

And the Oolooloo Banana Cake made an appearance again.

A few more cake posts to follow - but hopefully I'll have some time to start crafting again soon!

"Oolooloo" Banana Cake Recipe

The mystery "Oolooloo" Banana Cake - Where has the "Oolooloo" come from?

With 3 very ripe bananas, I was looking for a recipe to use them up.  I have recently been given a pack of my Granny's old recipe cards - all hand written and very well used!

I found this card for " Oolooloo" Banana Cake - intrigued by the title and the fact it had been so well used I thought it must be good!

 And it was gorgeous, an incredibly moist cake and simple to make.  

After a bit of google research the only reference to "Oolooloo" Banana Cake I can find seems to be from Good Housekeeping 1970, so the mystery goes on?!

If you fancy a banana cake and I highly recommend this one, here is the recipe:

4oz butter or margarine

5oz castor sugar

1 egg

3 ripe bananas mashed

7oz self raising flour

1/2 level teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

1 tablespoon milk

7oz icing sugar

2 teaspoons of lemon juice

Almonds to decorate.

1. Heat oven to 150 degrees C

2. Grease and line 9 inch sandwich tin

3. Cream sugar and fat together

4. Add egg beating well

5. Add mashed bananas

6. Fold in flour and milk

7. Bake for approx 1 hour

8. Cool in tin before turning out

9. Coat with glacé icing

10. Decorate with chopped or flaked almonds (optional)

Sooo many more recipes to get through!

This post was part of Craft-O Maniac and Today's Creative Blog  and Simply Designing link party and Wednesday's Adorned From Above Blog Hop

Jubilee Strawberry and Blueberry Victoria Sponge Cake

It's the Jubilee weekend, and I had to make something!

And it had to be a Victoria Sponge (with it's royal connections) topped with a Strawberry Crown!

Jubilee Cake Recipe:

Two 7-8 Inch Cake tins

8oz Self Raising Flour

8oz Caster Sugar

8oz Butter

Vanilla

4 eggs

Filling

Strawberries

Blueberries

Whipped Cream

Topping

Butter Icing

Strawberries

Blueberries

Silver Cake Decoration Edible Balls

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree C.

2. Line the 2 cake tins with baking paper.

3. Cream together the sugar and butter.

4. Add the eggs and vanilla mixture gradually to the butter and sugar, adding a bit of flour with the final portion of egg.

5. Fold in the sieved flour.

6. Divide the mixture evenly between the 2 tins and bake for 20-25 mins or until golden brown.

7. Cool on a wire rack.

8. Once the cake has cooled, on one of the cakes layer the cream and fruit.

9. Place the second cake on top.

10. For the crown, cut 2 strawberries in half and place the 4 pieces in the centre of the cake in a round. 

11. Decorate with the butter icing, blueberries and silver balls.

Enjoy!

Have a lovely Jubilee Weekend!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Really quick and easy to make, tasty chocolate chip cookies.

4oz butter
2oz caster sugar
4oz brown sugar
few drops of vanilla
1 egg
6oz chocolate chips
5.5.oz plain flour
pinch of baking powder.

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
2. Line baking tray with greaseproof paper
3. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
4. Add beaten egg and vanilla mixture and mix well.
5. Mix flour and baking powder mixing until it forms a soft dough.
6. Add chocolate chips.
7. Roll out into small balls and press down softly onto baking sheet.
8. Cook for 10 -12 mins
9. Leave to harden on tray and then enjoy!

Gluten Free Lemon Cake

This is the first time I have ever made a gluten free cake, and it had mixed reviews. Overall it was positive, but if you are expecting a traditional cake it may take a few bites to get used to.

6oz Butter

6oz Caster Sugar

2 Eggs

6oz Gluten free white self raising flour - sieved

1-2 Lemons

1tbsp Poppy seeds

2 heaped tbsp Icing sugar

Oven temperature 180 degress C /Gas Mark 4

1. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Grate the rind from 1 lemon.

3. Beat in the eggs gradually with a tablespoon of the flour, then fold in the remaining flour with the lemon, poppy seeds and juice of half a lemon.

4. Line a 7 inch loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

5. Spoon in the mixture.

6. Bake for 45 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

7. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

8. Once the cake is cold, mix the icing sugar and 5 tsp of lemon juice in a bowl - it needs to be thick but spreadable.

9. Spoon onto the top of the cake, allowing drips to run down the side of the cake.

10. Leave icing to set before cutting.

11. Enjoy!

Heart Biscuits for Valentine's Day

When I saw these pink and white heart biscuits I had to give them a try, I also fancied doing a bit of icing, so kept a few white hearts aside.
If you like a plain biscuit then you'll love these, but I think I might add some lemon next time to make them a bit tastier.

But if you want to give them a try here is the recipe:

Ingredients

4.5oz sugar
4.5oz butter
3 Tablespoons of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
12.5oz flour
1.5 teaspoons of baking powder
0.5 teaspoon of salt
Red food colouring
Icing Sugar
Sugar to dust.

1. Beat the sugar, butter, milk, egg and vanilla until well blended.
2. Beat in the flour, baking powder and salt until well mixed.

For the 2 tone hearts:
3. Divide the mixture in half and added the red food colouring to one half until desired colour achieved.

4. Put in cling film and place in the fridge for an hour.
5. Heat oven to 200 degrees C
6. Roll out the white dough first and cut out with a large heart cutter.  Repeat with the pink dough.
7.Using a small heart cutter cut the centre out of the larger hearts,  then swap the colours.
8. Lightly grease a baking tray.
9. Place biscuits onto baking tray and sprinkle with sugar.
10. Bake for 5-9 minutes or until golden brown at the edges.

For single white biscuits:
Cool biscuits before icing.

Jam Tarts

To get things started - here are some tasty Jam Tarts I made today - a 20 minute job with some left over pastry.
To make Jam Tarts you will need pastry, jam, butter for greasing and a 12 tart mould.
I used shop brought pastry this time but you could make your own.


1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C or Gas.Mark 4.
2. Lightly grease the tart mould with a little butter.
3. Roll out the pastry to 0.5 cm thick, then cut out circles from the pastry using a cutter or cup.
4. Place the pastry into the mould and add a teaspoon of Jam onto top of the pastry. Try not to over fill the tart as the jam will over flow and burn.
5. Bake for 15 minutes.
6. Cool and Enjoy!