Monkey muffins :) x

My little monkey LOVES to bake so today we whipped up a batch of my Monkey Muffins, These are so simple to make, taste delicious and freeze well too (if they last long enough to make it to the freezer). Little hands can help squishing bananas up and putting cake cases into the tin, whilst bigger ones can help with weighing and measuring. These muffins are great with a cup of tea in the afternoon, but equally yummy for breakfast on-the-go!

Yummy Mummy's Monkey Muffins
Makes 12 'cupcake' size muffins

7oz self raising flour,
1 egg,
1/2tsp baking powder,
Pinch of salt,
3 large very ripe bananas, mashed,
5oz soft brown sugar,
2.5oz Stork, melted,
3oz walnuts (if you are baking these for small children then either leave out the walnuts or make sure they are a safe size for your child to eat, you can smash them up a bit or blend in them in a food processor to be fine so you get all the walnut flavour without the choking hazard. It is recommended not to give whole nuts to under 5s as they can be a choking hazard. If you're baking for grown ups then walnut pieces are delicious in these).

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Put 12 cupcake cases into a muffin tin.
2. Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl.

3. Spoon into the cases equally and bake for 20 minutes until lightly golden on top.

I like these still warm from the oven, as does my little big man, ooops!

xxx

One a penny, two a penny...

One of the many wonderful things about Easter has to be hot cross buns, and our family have been eating them in abundance; a toasted buttered hot cross bun half is one of big little man's favourites at the moment. Today we had a couple left over that were on the stale side so I whipped this up to use them up after our roast dinner. You could easily make this recipe with bread instead (increasing the added sugar and fruit), add other dried fruits or chocolate, and double it to feed more! The good thing about this recipe is that you will probably have most of the ingredients already in your kitchen and it is healthier than some alternatives made with double cream. I like this best served with warm custard!!

Yummy Mummy's Hot Cross Bun Bread and Butter Pudding

Serves 4

2 hot cross buns split and spread with real butter,

1/2 pint of milk,

1 egg,

3 desertspoons of sugar,

3 desertspoons of sultanas.

1. Heat the oven to 160C.

2. Place the buttered hot cross buns into a dish (try and use one that they will nearly fill up).

3. Measure out the milk and break the egg into the measuring jug. Mix to combine them (there will be yellow bits floating around in the milk, it doesn't look that appetising at this stage).

4. Sprinkle the sultanas over the hot cross buns.

5. Pour over the egg and milk mixture and squish the hot cross buns down under the surface of it.

6. Sprinkle over the sugar and leave to stand for half a hour so that the hot cross buns can absorb some of the liquid.

7. Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown on top.

If you fancy having a go at making your own hot cross buns then I would recommend this recipe from Mr Hollywood:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2066661/hot-cross-buns

xxx

Baking with Big Little Man: Chocolate Crispy Cakes

Children love baking and it's great for them to learn lots of skills; counting, weighing, measuring, rolling, cutting, kneading, patience and self restraint!!! My little big man is working on the last one still and sometimes speed and distraction is of the essence, but nevertheless he is one of my favourite baking partners. Today we made chocolate crispy cakes with eggs on for Easter, these are so easy to make and I have included 2 different recipes depending on whether you like yours as more solid, chocolately cake or a chewier cake.

Yummy Mummy's Chocolate Crispy Cakes
Makes 24 fairy cake size.Can be easily halved, or doubled for a party.

For a solid crispy cake:
250g chocolate,
125g rice krispies.

For a chewier crispy cake:
75g Stork,
2tbsp golden syrup,
250g chocolate,
125g rice krispies.

Sweets to top them with, we used Cadburys pebbles that look like eggs as we couldn't find mini eggs anywhere today, but you could use any sweets you like, jelly beans are very nice!

1. Melt the chocolate. I do this in the microwave in short bursts then stirring to avoid burning it. Alternatively you can melt it in a bowl over a small pan of water, making sure that no water or steam gets into the chocolate.
2. If you are using the Stork and golden syrup then melt them in a saucepan and leave to cool for a few minutes. Stir in the chocolate.
3. Stir in the rice krispies and spoon into cake cases in a cake tin. Top with sweets and then put in the fridge to set.

Happy Easter and many blessings

xxx

Magic Rainbow Cake!

My Mum is simply amazing, so she deserves a special magical birthday cake! I decided to make her a magic rainbow cake covered in chocolate fudge frosting and here is the recipe if you want to make your own. It is not technically difficult to make AT ALL but is quite time consuming as there are lots of layers to colour and bake, but does look very impressive. I warn you now, this cake is big (equivalent of 4 single sponge cakes) so it's perfect for a party, and is definitely a 'fork cake'. As it is completely covered you can keep it a secret as to what the cake is inside, so it's a lovely surprise when you cut the first slice!

Yummy Mummy's Rainbow Cake

1lb self raising flour,

1lb castor sugar,

1lb Stork,

8 eggs.

Food colourings for all the rainbow colours- I used Wilton gel colours, I would really recommend gel colours of you won't get bright, vibrant sponges.

2 tubs of Betty Crocker's chocolate fudge frosting (you could do any other frosting you fancied; ganache, cream cheese etc.)

1 sharing pack of M & Ms (you won't quite need all of them but I'm sure your mouth can help you out!)

1. Preheat the oven to 190C.

2. Mix together the self raising flour, castor sugar, Stork and eggs.

3. Divide equally into 7 bowls and then colour to rainbow colours. I did red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink and purple. If you don't have all the colours you can mix them like paint.

4. Line cake tins with foil, if you have 4 cake tins then this will make it a lot quicker for you to bake but they can easily be done in smaller batches. 

5. Bake each cake for 14-18 minutes until a skewer comes out cleanly. Your oven may take a different amount of time so keep a close eye on the first batch so you know how long later batches will take. Remember they are just over half the size of a single sponge so will cook quicker and be thinner.

6. As they come out the oven leave to cool in the foil for a few minutes before peeling off the foil very carefully and leaving until completely cool.

7. To assemble the cake put a little blob of the frosting on your cake plate then put on the first sponge. Top with chocolate fudge frosting, then repeat until you get all the way to the top layer. Cover the top and sides in chocolate fudge frosting then top with M & Ms.

Share and enjoy the magic of the rainbow cake, makes me think of sparkles and unicorns!

xxx