lemon infused buttermilk cake with an orange drizzle

Sometimes in life a cup of tea just isnt enough to hit the spot + whats nicer than a biscuit with a cup of tea....CAKE thats what.
Well this cake is just perfect with a nice hot cup of tea especially when a certain Lillie-B is taking her nap + a certain mammy needs a recharge from the constant tornado of destruction that is her two little darlings!!!!
This recipe actually makes two loaf cakes so you'll always have an emergency cake in the freezer for any excuse possible.

For this recipe you will need.
2 cups of butter
2 cups of sugar
4 eggs
1/4 cup of lemon zest
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 cup butter milk
3 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

For the sugar syrup:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup lemon + orange juice

For the orange drizzle
2 cups icing sugar
Orange juice

Firstly pre heat your oven @160'
Cream your soft butter + sugar together until light and creamy next add your eggs one at a time so as not to split. Once everything has combined well add the zest of your lemon + the juice of the lemon, then combine.

In another bowl combine your dry ingredients well making sure there are no lumps or bumps. Now we are going to add your dry ingredients + your buttermilk to your sugar, butter + eggs. Do this in rotation, flour first then buttermilk, then flour again + lastly the last of your buttermilk.

Scrape the bottom of your bowl so as to make sure all the buttery floury mixture is co operating. So for fun I have used a 2lb loaf tin + a 8" round tin to bake my cakes in but you can use any combo you like.
Rub your butter all over the inside of the tins so the cake wont stick to the sides, evenly pour your mixture into both your pans + bakes @160' for 40mins.

While the cakes are baking away + making your kitchen fill with the yummy smell of lemons you can go ahead + make your lemony  orange syrup + your orange drizzle.

Simply add 1/2 cup of sugar + 1/2 cup of lemon +orange juice to a wee bowl stirring well to dissolve all the sugar....The syrups done so lets make the orange drizzle. Pop 2 cups of icing sugar in a bowl + slowly add a small amount of orange juice in now give it stir you want the drizzle to be runny enough to flow over the cake but not to runny that it wont stick in place.

Once the cakes are fully cooked pop them on a cooling rack + let cool for a moment then with a fork pierce the cakes all over. Then slowly pour over the syrup over the two cakes. its important to do this when your cakes are still warm as the cakes will suck in all the juices + make them so moist.

Once the cakes have cooled its time to "drizzle the drizzle" i like to start in the middle so it naturally pushes itself over to the edge. If its been a tad lazy you can encourage it by lifting the tray up slightly at one side + in a flash it will ooze over the sides YUM....

You are just going to love the tanginess from the buttermilk with the zingyness + freshness from the infused citrus. As an experiment i have even sampled this with white wine instead of tea + i must say it is superb lol....

ENJOY XXX

Gluten free banana pancakes...

Like most people I have many guilty pleasures one of which is Pinterest, I had to take the app off my phone a few weeks ago because it was sucking up all my spare memory. I think while Cathal was away in Canada I found myself in the evenings escaping to Pinterest doing "research" of course for our new house in canada. We hadnt found our house yet but that didn't stop me fantasizing about what I could do with it.

So here I am in the land of Canada + the app has now found itself on the iPad(+ back on my phone) + i came across this fun little recipe for banana pancakes. They are über quick + a bit of fun so i said what the heck il give them a go.....

What you will need for this recipe:
1 Banana
2 Eggs

Firstly smash your banana up into a smushy paste, I used my baby food smasher because its teeny tiny + does what it says on the tin.

Next crack in both your eggs + combine well until you can't decipher between egg + banana...

Then your ready, heat your pan add a wee splash of oil + pour out your banana batter. This batter makes approx 5 small pancakes perfect for 1 portion... Give them a try they take on a lovely carmel sweet flavour from the bananas but are equally as light from the whipped eggs..

Enjoy XX

My raspberry ripple + organic porridge

On my quest to stay away from the easy route in the morning, TOAST if I'm not eating eggs my go to breakfast is the trusty porridge.

Iv found a gorgeous organic porridge in aldi + to top it off they are jumbo outs too. But unfortunately porridge in the morning can be uuber boring + end up looking like slime at the bottom of your bowl GROSS.

So my mind started to wonder as I was feeding the young-uns this morning, I knew I was going to have porridge and that I didn't want to sprinkle sugar over the top because let's be honest that's just defeating the purpose of taking the porridge route!!!! RASPBERRIES.... A warm raspberry compote swirled in my porridge eureka by god iv done hahaha.

For this brekkie treat you will need:
1/2 cup organic jumbo porridge oats
1 cup of cold water
1 cup of frozen raspberries
1/2 teaspoon of light brown sugar

Firstly in a small pot add your porridge + water, put your timer on 6 minutes and let the porridge come to the boil. Once it has let it simmer for the remaining time.

In another small pot add your raspberries + light brown sugar + enough water to barely coat the bottom of the pot. Bring your raspberries to the boil stirring all the while, you'll notice at this stage the raspberries are softening nicely and you have made a yummy syrup out of the teeny drop of water + the small sprinkle of brown sugar. If at all possible it's always best to use brown sugar instead of processed white sugar, your bodies a temple + all that!!!

Beep beep beep there goes your timer. The porridge is perfectly cooked + your raspberry compote is cooked to perfection, all in 6 minutes.

This raspberry compote can be used with so many of my other blogs, think about how good it would be my fishy hot brownies or my all American pancakes or cupcakes, or lemon tart or or well your get the gist I'd eat it with anything lol...

Enjoy
Rebecca

Chocolate biscuit cake 2.0

I find when I'm writing recipes for cakes I seem to turn into a mad scientist and I completely lose the run of myself. For example my last blog was the morish chocolate biscuit cake it is simple and straight forward but always leaves a lasting impression, so then I got to thinking what would step this bad boy up a notch in flavour town.....

So there I am in my kitchen Scanning the room for inspiration, and my eye leads to the "biscuit box" where the hubby keeps his Munchy stash. This is the box that I have a mental electric fence around as nothing good ever comes from there, well when i say nothing i mean everything good comes from there or more like everything bold comes from this box....

It's jammed with bars and cookies and the odd packet of peanuts. So for research purposes I go over and open it and BAM inspiration whacks me across the head. The three ingredients I've been searching for having been living it up in here all along.
. Chocolate chip cookies
. Digestive biscuit bars
. Peanuts

So for this beautiful creation you will need
300g dark chocolate
300g milk chocolate
250g real butter
200g of choc chip cookies
3 chocolate digestive bars
150g mini marshmallows
1 cup of peanuts

So like the previous biscuit cake in a double boiler melt your chocolate and butter together stirring occasionally, coz its fun!!! In the meantime break up choc chip cookies roughly(not to small though as they are prone to crumbling). Do the same to the bars.

Once your chocolate and butter has completely melted tumble in your biscuits and bars and fold in to the luscious lava. Next sprinkle in your peanuts, there's no need to chop them as they are small enough. And lastly add your marshmallows. Combine everything really well making sure absolutely everything is coated to perfection.

Have your baking tray lined with cling film before pouring your messy mixture in, spread it all out carefully. Then pop it in the fridge until completely set.

This version of the chocolate biscuit cake is ridiculously good, and don't let the thoughts of the peanuts make you run a mile the undertones of their salty flavour complements every other flavour to a Tee.

Morish chocolate biscuit cake

I think it was written in the stars that my sweet little Lottie-daisy was going to have a love affair for two things, 1 chocolate and 2 biscuits.

Now anyone that knows myself and the hubby know that I dream and fantasies over all things chocolate except for galaxy don't get me started on galaxy GROSS!!! And Cathal could survive on one food type for the rest of his life and that's all things biscuits lol.

The first time I had the pleasure of having this cake was not so long ago. we had the pleasure ofe been invited to a friends wedding, it was a two day affair and on the second day for dessert was this amazing biscuit cake.

I couldn't get over how moreish it was, the biscuit pieces were so crunchy and the chocolate super melty pure pleasure.

This recipe is so easy to remember and takes no time at all to make and takes even less time to set in the fridge so you can indulge with a nice cuppa and in my case treat little Lottie-daisy in her perfect dessert

For this recipe you will need:

300g 70% plain chocolate
300g good quality milk chocolate
250g real Irish butter
100g mini marshmallows
250g marietta biscuits

Firstly in a double boiler melt both types of chocolate and your butter, gently stirring to make sure there wasn't any lumps or bumps left in it. While this is all melting beautifully together roughly break up your Marietta biscuits, you don't want to crumble them up to much as its the crunch of the biscuit that is key in this cake. I was also told by a wise woman to use Marietta biscuits rather than digestives as they won't soak up the chocolate and go all soggy.

So once you have broken up your biscuits add them into the chocolate and gently fold in, at this point you need to muster up all your courage and strength not to just spoon the mixture into your mouth. It'll be tough but I believe in you :)

Once the biscuits are in add in the marshmallows and again fold in not allowing any near your lips!!!!

Pour your mixture it on a shallow baking tray which you have lined with cling film and pop it in the fridge until it has set completely. Lift out using the cling film and place on your chopping block. This recipe makes 24 generous size chocolate biscuit bars, keep out 12 for instant indulgence and sharing of course and pop the other 12 in a freezer bag and keep for effortless surprises for anyone lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time aka my kitchen hahaha

Enjoy
Rebecca x

A cheat treat

Sometimes there is nothing that can satisfy that need to be perked up than a big tub of ice cream .

Now I know the obvious contenders in this category Is Haagen Dazs or good old Ben & Jerry's but I happened to stumble on this little delight after work on Saturday when I popped in to M&S for their meal deal.

I had promised My wee one all week I'd get her ice cream, So with that i sauntered to the freezer and BAM there they were a whole array of undiscovered creamy luscious treats...

At that moment in time there was only one flavour that could win me over and that was their "Molten Chocolate Brownie". Sweet god it was exactly what it said on the metaphorical tin.

It was more'ishly chocolate had whopper chunks of brownie laced the whole way through, and they didn't lie about the molten part either. It oozed with chocolate syrup but they didn't over do it so bravo to M&S ha...

Hope you enjoy my tried and tested
Enjoy
Rebecca x

Kick start to the new year- my multitasking Irish angus meatballs.

So it's been a mad few weeks to say the least, my beloved has moved to to the great white north aka Canada and myself and the wee ones have stayed here back in Ireland and will do so for the next ten weeks.

Talk about a whirlwind of emotion for all involved but the excitement surpasses all emotions and that's what will make the weeks fly.

The day before he flew out we went and did the weekly foodie shop and my trolley was looking like a magical rainbow of colour. I thought it was a perfect moment to start this new years health kick that we all seem to go on but this time I knew I'd have a better chance of sticking with it longer than I normally do as mr temptation wasn't going to be around like the naughty little devil sitting on my shoulder tempting me with all sorts of cookies and breads.

So my first evening alone I wanted to try something new but that wasn't time consuming because as it cooked I would be feeding my 2 1/2 year old and my 6 month old, wash the dishes and make baby bottles...

What on earth could i make I hear you all say....how about meatballs in my very own marinara sauce. I'd prep and make my sauce, while that was cooking away I'd feed the girlies. Next I'd make my meatballs and rest them in the fridge, put the kettle on for the bottles, was the dishes, sterilize the bottles then make them.

After all that I whacked my mini meatballs on the pan poured myself a glass of Claret...

To make these multitasking meatballs you will need

Irish angus minced beef
1/2 a red onion diced
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black cracked pepper

Firstly in a bowl combine the mince and diced onion together with your hand for a few moments making sure their mixed really well.

Next sprinkle the salt and pepper in and mix again before cracking the in the egg, at this stage just get stuck in and combine all 5 ingredients with gusto. Squish it between your fingers you don't want these mini delights to crumble the moment they touch the pan.

Once the messy work is finished you now need to form little meet balls the size of(note iv just scanned around my room to find the right words)...the lid of a coke bottle!!!

Once they are all rolled pop them in a fridge for ten to fifteen minutes this will allow them to firm up.

Fifteen minutes later take these little bad boys out of the fridge pop them in a pan that's had extra virgin olive oil heating and cook in batches as they would only end up boiling /stewing if there was no room to sizzle.

Turn occasionally when golden making sure your not been premature with their removal. Lastly place them in your dish and pour over my delicious marinara sauce(as seen in previous blogs)

I like to finish this dish of with some grated vintage cheddar and a glass of red

Enjoy
Rebecca x

My gluten free rock salt and olive oil bread

So there i was knee deep in cupcakes last Friday and a selection of them were gluten free, and just incase I wasn't going to be under pressure with making 50 cupcakes for a baby shower I had this notion that id give making gluten free bread a go, had never made it before but I had seemed to be on this gluten free buzz for the past few weeks as I had made gluten free meat loaf the week before for my other blog "2 girls with a blog".

So as I'm whisking my cupcake batter( and must mention my beloved machine stops twirling, so I've to hand twirl my bowl on the machine as the whisks go 90)and all the while in my head I'm conjuring up flavor friends, and I look up for a moment and there in front of me is a bottle of extra virgin olive oil....boom goes my brain why not use olive oil and rock salt that's a guaranteed marriage of flavours.

For this recipe you will need:
390ml skimmed milk
420g gluten free flour
150 ml extra virgin olive oil
1teaspoon of rock salt

Firstly in a bowl add your flour and whisk gently to remove all the lumpy bumps, next pour in your skimmed milk and 90 Mls of your oil and combine well this will take a few moments to combine evenly.

Coat your 2 lb loaf tin liberally with some of the left over olive oil not to use it all as the remainder is for drizzling over the top.

Pour in your bread mixture note that this mixture is an extremely wet consistency but the outcome will be a very light airy loaf.

Drizzle the last of the olive oil over the batter before sprinkling with your rock salt. Pop it in the oven @160' for 45 minutes. It will rise super quick and a fab golden color will appear sooner than you think don't panic it's all part of the process.

For me this bread was YUM the crunchy rock salt on top and the unique tang of the olive oil was just so more'ish, so more'ish infant that I nearly ate the whole bloody thing haha...

Enjoy
Rebecca

My apple & black berry crumble

So while I'm down the path of luscious desserts my grandad Jackie used to adore this next one is a given.

He used to love equal measures of apple tart to cream and I'd say when my gran "Nanos" made the apple tart for him she'd be lucky to get at least One slice from it.

So with all things sweet iv put a little twist to his apple tart and invited along some crowd pleasers . For this recipe you will need:

Crust:
175g flour
25g icing sugar
100g diced cold butter
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon of water

Filling:
7 small apples peeled and sliced thinly
1 punnet of blackberries
Zest of 1 orange

Crumble
100g of light brown muscavado sugar
100g of butter
200g of flour

So lets get started get your pastry dough made wrapped in cling film and then pop in the fridge this will keep the butter cold which will prevent it from shrinking away from the sides of the flan tin.

Blind bake @190' for 10 mins remove the foil and bake for a further 8 mins. With apples and blackberries comes lots of moisture so this will prevent a soggy bottom!!!

In a uniform pattern place the apple slices on the pastry. once all the slices are down pop the gorgeous blackberries evenly over the apples .

Next get started on your crumble. In a bowl pour in your flour and sugar and combine. Then add your cubed butter and rub them all together until you get a crumb like consistency.

Sprinkle this liberally over your apples and blackberries and pop it in the oven @ 180' for at least 30 minutes, by the time your crumble has goldened your fruit has softened nicely and the glorious purple tones from the blackberries have mingled with your apple slices...

I kept true to jackies tradition and teamed this crumble with whipped cream more of a 70/30 ratio than his 50/50...(",)

Enjoy
Rebecca

A cranberry & cherry orange loaf

My grandad Jackie had the sweetest tooth known to man, he had porridge for breakfast which without fail was coated liberally with sugar.

One of my favourite foody memories of Jackie was seeing him sitting at his kitchen table with an unusually big dessert spoon eating trifle straight out of the trifle dish, there obviously was no time to put it in a bowl lol...

So when ever they used to come and stay with us down in the sticks my mam would have a few weeks worth of desserts made in anticipation of this love affair with all things sweet.

One dish that sticks out in my head is an orange loaf, just the smell of fresh oranges triggers that food memory for me.
So here is a twist on that very orange loaf..for this you will need;

2 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of baking powder
2 tablespoons of oil
1 cup orange juice
Zest of 1 orange
1 egg
1/4 cup of caster sugar
100g of glacé cherries
160g of dried cranberries

In a bowl pop in the chopped cherries and cranberries, the zest and juice of the orange. Give this a good mix then sprinkle in the sugar. Set aside for minimum 1/2 hour this will give the cranberries a chance to get nice and plump from the juice.

In a separate bowl sift in all your dry ingredients, once that's done pour in your oil and a whisked egg and combine.

Next mix the two bowls together with a wooden spoon, this is a wet mixture which in turn will give you a fab moist loaf.

You will pour your mixture into a pre lined 2lb loaf tin and pop into your oven which will be pre heated @180' for 30 minutes.

For this loaf you want to check and check again with your skewer that it has baked fully as there are a lot of wet elements to it.

Pop on the kettle and cut your self a few slices and enjoy Sooooo good.

Rebecca