Good Coffee

I have turned into an actual coffee snob. Since being converted to coffee after craving it being pregnant to my second I now can't get enough (I previously hated it that much I threw up violently on board a Boeing 747 when I was a long haul air hostess after necking a double espresso to try and stay awake during a flight to Shanghai, not good). Anyway, I say I love coffee but I am still quite fussy as to what I use my daily caffeine quota on. Firstly I love lattes or flat whites depending on the amount of hours I slept the night before and how much caffeine I need to get me through the toddler groups/ soft plays that I am en route to. Homemade instant coffee just will not do. It still reminds me of teacher breath and sends me running out of the house screaming. Starbucks is foul, too inconsistent and not pleasant tasting, I once ordered two lattes, for my husband and I, and they tasted completely different, weird. Costa is average, always a bit grubby and second-rate, Cafe Nero would be ok if I could get the buggy through the door of my local one (grrrrr) and Pret is marginally better than the lot. The Monmouth Coffee company is heavenly, shame my nearest is at Borough Market (an hour away) and the queues go round the block. However, recently Harris + Hoole popped up in Guildford and changed my expectations completely. Lovely, yummy, sweet, proper coffee, with nice staff, good snacks, a buggy park and dog friendly, Harris + Hoole is fab. Now I really didn't want to like it because it as been bought out by bloody Tesco. The only trouble is it really does do superior coffee. They serve it warm, at 60 degrees, to get the milk and coffee beans as sweet as possible, and it really does make a difference. They do kids meal boxes and the cakes etc are really good particularly the warm banana bread spread with butter or a toasted foccacia, and of course the decorate your own gingerbread man to keep the bambinos entertained.

So now, pretty much every day I drag one of the children with me to get my fix. All I need to do is log on to the app on entering and they start making my perfect coffee, it's that easy and yes I'm that lazy I don't even need to talk to anyone (actually I'm a bit embarrassed that I'm back in there again with my noisy messy children).

If you pass a Harris + Hoole check it out, but beware, you'll never be able to drink another high street coffee again.

*not a sponsored post, it may sound like it but it's purely because they just do really great coffee!

GUEST POST - Recipe of the week - Amazing Cadbury's Creme Egg Brownies

This week's recipe is a guest post which comes courtesy of the brilliant, beautiful, blonde, baking twins Rozzie and Lizzie. The twenty-two year old twins bake, a lot, from beautiful cakes, to delicious bread, yummy muffins, gooey cookies, sticky flapjacks, scrummy cupcakes, and that is just the sweet stuff. After posting the above pictures and recipe on Facebook they quickly went viral and became a Facebook phenomenon, reaching 25k shares in three days (so apologies if you have seen and tried these already). Luckily for me the girls are sharing the recipe with me, and you, too. So without further ado here it is, the best damn brownie recipe you'll ever try.....

AMAZING CADBURY'S CREME EGG BROWNIES!

185g unsalted butter
185g best dark chocolate
85g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
3 large eggs
275g golden caster sugar
6 Cadbury’s Crème eggs cut in half.

Preheat the oven to 160C and grease a 20 cm square baking tin.
Melt the butter and dark chocolate together either in the microwave or in a bowl over boiling water.
Break 3 large eggs into a large bowl and tip in 275g golden caster sugar. With an electric mixer on maximum speed, whisk the eggs and sugar until they look thick and creamy, like a milk shake. This can take 3-8 minutes. You will know it's ready when the mixture becomes really pale and about double its original volume.
Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the eggy mousse, and then gently fold together.
Hold a sieve over the bowl of eggy chocolate mixture and sift the cocoa and flour mixture, shaking the sieve from side to side, to cover the top evenly. Gently fold in to the mixture.
Pour into the baking tin and cook for 15 minutes then take out of the oven and gently press the cadburys crème egg halves into the mix, spacing them apart evenly. Put back in the over for another 5-10 minutes.
Leave to cool before removing from tin and cutting into squares.

For the very few of you who aren't creme egg fans try substituting in oreos or a few mini eggs for the creme egg halves they are just as yummy!

If you want to follow Rozzie and Lizzie on Twitter and see more of their wonderful baking creations you can do so on twitter here and here.

Ps These two really are ones to watch, if they don't have a book or cookery show out soon I'll be very surprised!

Savoy Tea Chocolate

My awesome husband went for a meeting in town the other day and arrived home with the most amazing treat (after a bit of not so subtle hinting). A box of handmade chocolates from Savoy Tea. I mentioned it in my post here about the delightful little bijou tea shop in The Savoy Hotel. Inspired by London's Edwardian shopping arcades, the walls are covered in a fabric whose design hints at the Asian origins of tea. It offers a wide variety of beautifully packaged Savoy teas, bespoke tea accessories such at the hotel's own china tea service, handmade jams, biscuits and fresh patisserie. You can also see the hotel's pastry chefs and chocolatiers at work as they put the finishing touches to the beautiful cakes and confectionery.

The chocolates, as you can see, were almost too beautiful to eat, I did manage it though. Delicious cocoa and subtle flavours fused together formed the smoothest melt in the mouth chocolate that only handmade chocolate can produce. I am a huge chocoholic and these really hit the spot, ensconced in the most sumptuous black packaging. Don't get me wrong a surprise box of Milk Tray is never disappointing, but there's something about a box of handmade chocolates that makes them taste all the more divine.

You can visit the Savoy Tea website here.

Recipe of the Week - The Best Carrot Cake Ever!

I know I say this a lot about cake recipes but as this is another from the Hummingbird and it really is über delicious and moist. You can even fool yourself into thinking it's one of you five a day, I do!

Ingredients
300g soft light brown sugar
3 eggs
300ml sunflower or light olive oil
300g plain flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon, plus extra to decorate
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp vanilla extract
300g grated carrots (approx 4 large carrots)
100g shelled walnuts, chopped, plus extra, to decorate
300g icing Sugar
50g unsalted Butter, at room temperature
125g cold cream Cheese

Method
1 Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F) Gas 3.
2 Put the sugar, eggs and oil in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat until all the ingredients are well incorporated (don’t worry if the mixture looks slightly split). Slowly add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt and vanilla extract and continue to beat until well mixed.
3 Stir in the grated carrots and walnuts by hand until they are all evenly dispersed. Pour the mixture into two round prepared cake tins and smooth over with a palette knife. Bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 minutes, or until golden brown and the sponge bounces back when touched. Leave the cakes to cool slightly in the tins before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
4 For the cream cheese frosting beat the icing sugar and butter together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Add the cream cheese and beat until it is completely incorporated. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes. Do not overbeat, as it can quickly become runny.
5 When the cakes are cold, put one on a cake stand and spread about one-quarter of the cream cheese frosting over it with a palette knife. Place a second cake on top and spread another quarter of the frosting over it. Spread the remaining frosting over the sides. Decorate with walnuts and a light sprinkling of cinnamon.

Recipe of the week - Easy Peasy Baba Ganoush

 Homemade baba ganoush

 Served with sticky ribs, chargrilled curried chicken and salad

Super sunny blossom in our garden

This Sunday saw the passing of our first BBQ of the year, any sign of sun and Honey's daddy is marinading meats and soaking wooden skewers for any chance of a BBQ which we have now added a new accompaniment to.
This super easy baba ganoush not only looks like you've made a huge effort whilst entertaining but is super easy, delicious and healthy. Charring the aubergines over a direct flame gives the dip a lovely smokey flavour.
It is perfect for picnic food, scrummy as a starter to dip warm flatbread in and amazing with sweet, barbecued lamb.

Ingredients
3 large aubergines,
2 crushed garlic,
Juice of a small lemon,
2 large tbsps tahini
3 large glugs/tbsps olive oil
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Handful of chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Pierce the skins of the aubergines with a fork then grill for 10 minutes over a hot coal BBQ or place directly onto the flame of a gas hob, till the skin has charred and the flesh is very soft.
Let them cool for 5 minutes then peel the charred skin from the aubergines. Finely chop the flesh and mix with the rest of the ingredients, garlic, lemon juice, tahini paste, pinch of cayenne, chopped parsley and olive oil and a grinding of salt and pepper to taste.
Serve trickled with olive oil, a few parsley leaves and pomegranate seeds.

Recipe of the week - The best & easiest banana and chocolate cake

This is the easiest and most forgiving cake recipe I have ever used, and although the methodology may look a little odd to seasoned bakers (no liquid and mixing the flour in before the eggs), trust the recipe, it really does work, and produces the most delicious, moreish, dense loaf you could wish for. This ugly little cake is never going to win an award for the prettiest treat on the block, but for ease, speed and taste you just can't beat it.
Best enjoyed for breakfast with a cup of earl grey or straight out of the oven while the chocolate chunks are still liquid!

Ingredients
175g softened butter
175g soft brown sugar
175g self-raising flour
2 eggs
2 medium/3 large bananas, squished
400g chocolate chunks (I use dark chocolate)




Cream the butter and sugar



Mix in the flour



Add in the eggs



Stir in the banana and chocolate



Pour into a greased and lined loaf tin, put in a preheated oven on 175c, for 35mins. Take it out of the oven and let it cool in the tin, et voila!



This lasts a good week in the tin (if you can!), and gets moister and moister!

Cakespiration

I am currently deciding what type of cake to make for hubby's birthday and really can't decide. Simple but glorious Victoria sponge? Or a gooey and indulgent chocolate fudge? How about a light and airy lemon curd cake? Hmmm actually maybe a banana and toffee sticky sponge? Then shall I bake cupcakes, or a tiered cake? You see the problem I'm having?!
Anyway here are a few of my past creations to try and make my mind up...





Honey's christening cake decorated with fresh white roses




A few of my prettier cakes

Recipe of the week - Brooklyn blackout cake

For some reason I have been craving chocolate cake, and I don't mean a store bought, dry, airy, powdery cake, I mean a proper home made dark, fudgey, dense, gooey chocolate fudge cake. So I tried out the Hummingbird Bakery's Brooklyn Blackout cake, which was, and still is, completely heavenly.



As you can see from the pictures, I only made a double, rather than triple layered cake as I only had two tins, and because of this I still have half of the quantity of icing, or chocolate custard as they call it, left. I also decorated with grated dark chocolate and crystallised violets instead of cake crumbs, but nevertheless it is one of the best chocolate cakes I have made. Definitely worth a try. The only thing is as I am married to a "professional athlete" it means I seem to be polishing it off by myself, with a little help from Honey!