If you ever have cake craving, but there is no way in hell that you are baking a whole cake, you can always make a cake in the mug. I know my one is not the most beautiful thing out there but it tastes lovely and it takes under 5 minutes to make with minimal clean up.
Note: the cake in my pictures was one of my more goopy ones, just how I was feeling that day :)
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...............What you will need to make a chocolate cake in a mug...............
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- A large mug
- 3 tbsp flour
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp cocoa, or 2-3 tbsp hot chocolate
- 1 egg
- 3 tbsp milk
- 3 tbsp oil
- Optional: Some chocolate chips, or break up regular chocolate and a splash of vanilla
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..................How to make a chocolate cake in a mug..................
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- Add all of the dry ingredients into a mug and mix well. I find that fork works the best for this.
- Add in the egg and mix it in real good, if you leave some egg that isn't mixed in you will get something that results in a chocolate cake marbled with cooked egg white. Not nice. So just make sure it is all mixed together thoroughly.
- Add in the milk and oil and again mix it up.
- Optional: Now you can add in the vanilla and the chocolate chips/pieces. I wouldn't mix the chocolate chips in too much because you want them distributed nicely and not sinking to the bottom. I usually leave mines towards the top and it all melts nicely.
- Microwave for 3 minutes on high.
Tip: You can make your first cake in a mug following these exact steps but after you can tweak it. Sometimes I put in less oil and more milk. Sometimes less sugar and sometimes if I want it more gooey I nuke it for 2 minutes. It is worth playing around a bit to get the result that you like the best.
Also there are a TON of other flavor cakes that can be made in a mug out there so get exploring!
Photo Credits: My photos.
Fudge is a much adored sweet no matter what the time of the year is. Usually it is associated with small specialty shops and being sold in cubes or pricey slabs, and a wide variety of flavors. Well this holiday season why not try your hand at making these incredibly sweet treats your self? Give them out as gifts and make the lucky recipient very happy! They will be done in no time ( just add the time it takes for them to chill) and will make a perfect gift or a treat for your guests. If you happen to have children, not only can they help you out, but they can make the whole thing all by themselves. This will show how to make Holiday Fudge Stars, however, please feel free to substitute any shapes, flavors and colors to fit your needs and liking.
What you will need to make your Holiday Fudge Stars:
- A large flat bottom pan. Square or round will do.
- Some foil to line the pan.
- One teaspoon of butter
- One can (16oz) of frosting, flavor of your choice. Here I will use vanilla.
- Two cups of chocolate chips, again white chocolate, semi sweet milk, etc. up to you. I use white chocolate chips.
- Half of a cup of chopped up jelly candy, flavors and colors of choice. I like red or green.
- A star shaped cookie cutter. Once again, please feel free to substitute for a different shape.
- A microwave safe bowl and a spatula.
How to make your Holiday Fudge Stars:
- First you should get your pan ready, line it with the foil on lightly grease the foil with the butter.
- If you haven’t chopped up the candy yet do so now, just so you have it ready to go when needed.
- Pour the whole can of frosting into the microwave safe bowl, add the two cups of chocolate chips and stir it up.
- Melt the mass in the microwave at 10- 15 minute increments until it is all even and liquid. Depending on the microwave the times will vary so don’t walk away and leave the chocolate and frosting unattended.
- Stir the mass to make sure there is no lumps and that it is smooth.
- Let cool for a couple of minutes then stir in your chopped jelly candy. Make sure it gets in everywhere. You don’t want a large sum of it on one side and nothing elsewhere.
- Once the candy has been added pour out the mixture onto the foil lined pan. Spread it out nice and even.
- Cover the pan with foil and refrigerate until the fudge is firm.
- Once the fudge is firm use the foil to lift it out of the pan.
- Cut out the star shapes with the cookie cutter. If wanted you can add sprinkles or sugar on top to decorate it.
Tips:
- For storage use an airtight container and refrigerate.
Photo Credits: A) My photo. B) Sorry I Know it is not a star I just did them in chunks last time C) Sorry it's a really crappy picture I was having trouble with flash and whatnot.
So my hands have gotten quite stiff and cold and I wanted a hot drink but I didn't feel like anything we had so I figured why not make an improvised spiced tea? Mind you I never made any kind of spiced tea let alone proper....but hey how hard can it be?
I just made a regular cup of black tea, added in some milk and some Innocent orange juice (yep... i said it.. OJ) and then shook in some ground ginger and mixed spice. Stirred it well and did a little prayer to an unknown deity for it not to make me ill.
*sniff...sniff sniff* Well it smells quite lovely...
AAAAAAAAAnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd it tastes fantastic :D I over did it on the milk a bit, a tad less and it would have been perfect. I should have been making this stuff ages ago!
One old way of preserving fruit is by making jam. This type of jam, however, gets characteristically less sugar added to it. While you are adding less sugar, by cooking it you will gain a mass with less water, and thus with higher concentration of sugar already found in fruit.
It is quite simple to make, although depending on the fruit it could take a while and require lots of stirring. Different recipes will vary somewhat depending on fruit so you might want to find a specific recipe. Here we will use plums as an example. You can vary the amounts to your taste or need. Some people, due to health problems or diet restrictions, don’t put any sugar into jam, instead they depend on fruit alone for taste or add sweeteners.
To make plum jam you will need:
- Ten pounds of plums. It is very important that the plums, or any other fruit you use is ripe. If it is not then your jam won’t be as sweet without adding a lot more sugar to it, it might not have the right texture either.
- Two pounds of sugar. As this varies greatly by taste you should start with one pound and then go from there. So have a few more pounds ready on hand just in case.
- A large and wide pot. Wider and lower pots are desirable due to the ease of stirring over the deep pots.
- A clean or new wooden spoon for stirring.
- A small ladle. The ladle doesn't need to be tiny just comfortable enough a size for you to be able to pour into the jars quickly and without much worry of spilling over.
- Clean jars. For the above amounts a safe number of jars is about ten average sized jars. The amount you will need will vary largely on how thick or runny you make your jam.
- Several clean kitchen towels.
- A stove with an oven.
How to make the plum jam:
- First you will need to prepare the fruit by washing it thoroughly and pitting it.
- After the fruit has been cleaned put it into the large pot you chose and basically cook it until it starts to fall apart and get mushy. Make sure you stir the jam constantly or it will burn.
- Add a pound of sugar, stirring it in well.
- After a few more minutes of cooking carefully take out a spoonful of jam. Let it cool on the side so you can taste it to see if more sugar is needed.
- Keep cooking and stirring the Jam until the bottom of the pot becomes visible.
- Towards the end take out your jars, put them on low temperature into the oven. They need to be hot when you put jam into them.
- Once the jam is done use a ladle to carefully pour the jam into the hot jars.
- Make sure there are no big air bubbles in the jam (get rid of them with a thin straw).
- Put the jars, uncovered, back into the oven, turn it off and let the jam sit at least 24 hours in a closed, turned off oven. Leaving it in the oven will create a thin crust that will help prevent it from spoiling.
- Once cooled completely cover the jars and store them in a cool dry place until giving away.
Photo Credits: Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
This is for all of us who have a tough time in the morning ;)
What you will need to make the coffee & walnut cake:- 175g/6oz unsalted butter, a bit extra for greasing up- 175g/6oz light muscovado sugar (I used regular brown sugar before)- 3 large eggs, beaten- 3 tbsp strong black coffee- 175g/6oz- 1.5 tsp baking powder- 115g/4oz walnut pieces- Optional: some walnut halves for decorating- 115g/4oz unsalted butter- 200g/7oz icing sugar- 1 tbsp strong black coffee- .5 tsp vanilla essenceHow to make the coffee & walnut cake:- Preheat the oven to 180*c/350*f/Gas Mark 4. Get your cake pans ready by greasing and lining two 20cm/8in cake pans.- Cream together the muscovado sugar and the butter until it is all pale and fluffy. Slowly add the eggs, beating well after each addition and finally beat in the coffee.- Mix the flour and the baking powder into the butter and muscovado sugar mixture, then fold in lightly and evenly with a metal spoon. Mix in the walnut pieces.- Split the mixture between the two prepared cake tins and smooth the tops so they are level.- Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 to 25 minutes or until it is golden brown.- To make the frosting beat together butter and icing sugar, coffee and vanilla until it is all smooth and creamy.- Use half of the frosting between the two sponge cakes and the rest on top or along the sides if you wish.- Now if you opted for walnut halves you can decorate the top with them.
Photo Credit: http://www.reallynicerecipes.com/
