Baby Guinness Cake!

To clarify things this is not made with guinness! After a crazy night out last Friday night at the Relaunch of Upstairs at The Roundy , I decided to make a cake in honour of the shot we were drinking for the whole night :) I must have had 12 of the things and I was working haha. The shot is Tia Maria with a Bailey's head on it, so I made a Coffee cake with Bailey's Buttercream Icing... preeeetty good if I say so myself :)

6oz butter, 6oz caster sugar, 3 eggs, 1tsp vanilla, 2tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 3tbsp warm water, 7oz self raise flour, 2tbsp cocoa

Dissolve the coffee and leave to cool. Beat the butter vanilla and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift in the flour & cocoa and pour in the coffee mix, then beat gently in. Transfer to a greased and lined tin (20cm) and bake @ 180C for 20-25mins

Ice with Baileys Buttercream
200g soft butter, 100g icing sugar, tsp baileys and tbsp cream/milk.
Beat all ingredients together well, until smooth and no sugar lumps

First of the new year baking :)

I got a fit of madness today ! It's been a while since I baked so I started off with a few of my favourites, Nutella Iced Mocha Squares, Vanilla Melting Moments and a few Mince Pies thrown in for Joe :) So much for New Years Resolutions and healthy eating ... it's actually impossible :)

Firstly Nutella Iced Mocha Squares
Recipe

6oz soft butter, 6oz caster sugar, 3eggs, 2tbsp cocoa, 7oz self raising flour, 1tsp vanilla, 2tbsp coffee (dissolved in 3tbsp hot water) Bake at 190C

• Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
• Beat in the eggs one by one, beating well in between and until light and creamy
• Sift in the flour and cocoa and fold in to the mixture. Also fold in the vanilla and coffee

Tip mixture into a greased&lined baking dish and bake for 25-30 mins. Cool in the dish and transfer to a wire rack. Spread with Nutella and sprinkle a few chocolate strands on top... Indulge!

Coffee Love

Aswell as cakes I have little obsession with coffee, having worked in coffee shops for the last 7 years it was impossible not to develop that obsession! But i've become somewhat of a snob, and I annoy everyone with my rants about the perfect milk and combination of tastes and service ( especially service!!) Here' s just a few pics of coffees I've made, lattes and white mochas, Ill get back to ranting some other time!