Recipe: Carrot Cake

The recipe was loosely taken from BBC Good Food.

I can take or leave chocolate, crisps or sweets but cake? Cake I can eat all day, every day. Hence why I try not to bake it so I don't eat it all but last week I decided that I rather missed baking and whipped this up as a birthday treat for my boyfriend's dad. I was so pleased how it turned out!

Ingredients:
300ml of sunflower oil
4 eggs
280g of soft light brown sugar
170g of self-rasing flour
170g of wholemeal flour
4 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
2 teaspoons of bicarbonate soda
280g of coarsely grated carrots
100g of chopped walnuts

For the icing:
Make it easy for yourself and buy the Betty Crocker ready made cream cheese icing. It's like heaven in a tub. You'll need two tubs and some walnuts to decorate.

Method:
Heat the oven to 180 degrees and generously grease three shallow cake tins with butter.

Whisk together the oil and beaten eggs in a bowl and leave to one side. Add the sugar, flours, spices and bicarbonate soda into a large mixing bowl. Make sure you mix together thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

Finally add the remaining grated carrots, walnuts and egg mixture to the dry ingredients and give it a good stir.

Divide the mixture equally between the three cake tins and pop in the oven. Mine cooked with 30 minutes but always keep an eye on it as it depends on your oven. Sometimes it can take up to an hour.

Once the cakes have cooled, slice off the top - quickly scoff them so the evidence disappears - and smear on the icing before placing them on top of each other. Decorate with the walnuts however you wish.

Admire your handy work and tuck in to a big slice in front of the telly.

Like always, please do tweet me if you happen to make this! Happy Baking!

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Review: Fleet River Bakery

Tucked away behind Holborn station just off Lincoln Inn Fields, sits the Fleet River Bakery. It's a welcome change from the endless chain coffee shops that scatter the streets. It's always got a queue around the block so I'd recommend taking lunch a little earlier so you beat the rush. Don't make the same mistake as me and go around 3pm as you'll miss out on the goats cheese sandwich. I've heard wonderful things!

The delicious looking food is all on display so you can have a good mooch around before you make your decision. It's the perfect place to settle down for an hour and catch up on your favourite book. You don't feel rushed by the staff to scoff your food down and it's full of sharing tables so it feels a little cosy. I'd pick up the cutlery and napkins at the counter as you won't find any on the tables. It's a lovely little gem hidden away from the hustle and bustle.

I opted for a tasty pesto, brie, tomato and basil ciabatta with a generous slice of carrot cake to finish. To be fair the portions for so huge I could have done with one or the other but you know a Friday is always a pretty special day. I'd love to go back and sample the hot food.

Do you have any recommendations for independent coffee shops in London?

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Recipe: Strawberry sponge cake

I baked this cake a good few weeks ago for my boyfriend's dad's party and although it didn't get eaten there - we completely overdid it with the food - it went down a treat in my household and my mum's office.

As this is a Martha Stewart recipe all the measurements are in cups! Sorry I know how frustrating this can be for Brits.

You will need:
6 tablespoons of unsalted butter plus more to line the cake tin
1 1/2 cups of plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 large egg or 2 medium eggs
1/2 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract
1 pound of strawberries
1 cup of sugar plus two tablespoons of sugar

1. Line the tin with butter. Try to be generous as you can as you don't want the cake sticking and all your hard work destroyed! I used tiny strawberries but if they're a bit bigger make sure you cut them in half. Don't forget to preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

2. Pop the butter and the cup of  sugar into a bowl and mix together using an electric mixer. If you're hardcore you can always do it by hand! Make sure it nice and fluffy.

003. Mix in the eggs - after they've been wisked together -, milk and vanilla extract. I like to use a wooden spoon for this instead of an electtric mixer but it's up to you!

004. Shift the flour and mix it in with the other mixture.

 005. Add the mixture to the cake and position all the strawberries in the cake batter. Spinkle the remaining two tablespoons of sugar over the strawberries. Pop it in the oven and bake it for around 45 minutes. Keep checking after 30 minutes though as some oven vary with cooking times. My fan oven seems to make it up as it goes along - no time is ever the same!

 Voila! A lovely strawberry sponge cake that you won't be able to stop eating! For something so simple it looks very eye-catching on the table even if I do say so myself. Keep in mind that the strawberries will sink as time goes on.

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But it was not your fault but mine and it was your heart on the line

Outfit:
Hawaiian print cut out dress: Asos
Demin jacket: Primark
Brown straw bag: eBay
Dove blue and pink heart lady dragons: Vivienne Westwood
Chunky pearls: Gift from friend
Red plastic watch: Toywatch

Finally gave my beautiful new shoes an outing - I figured the boyfriends birthday was a pretty special occasion! They are so easy to walk in and my feet don't sweat like I though they would - too much information I know! This is one of my favourite outfits i've worn in a long time. I love this dress, it's my favourite type of length but the cut outs around the waist stop it from looking frumpy. Just a shame I haven't had much wear out of it thanks to the dreaded rain.  This bag is without a doubt one of the best things i've brought on ebay. It was a mere 99p and it's the perfect holiday/summer bag. Anyone else get drawn to straw during the summer months?

Like I said I wore this out to my boyfriend's birthday for a meal with his family. I completely overindulged with three courses and paid with it at weightwatchers. It tasted so good but i'm really going to have to pull my finger out as all my weight seems to be going back on! I rustled up a chocolate cake for him and was rather pleased with my decorating skills. It's not going to win any prizes but I thought I did ok with my first attempt! The boys going to get fat as I made him a ginger cake and his nan made him another chocolate cake. Think he might need some help finishing them off...

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