The power of blog and chocolate cake

As you may have guessed by now I really enjoy blogging and reading other people's blogs ! Sometimes it gets squeezed out in the hurle burly of life , especially as I know a quick five minute catch-up can turn into a couple of hours.
This week I am enjoying blogging as Pickle-Lily is away at Guide Camp and they have set up a blog for families to follow. I checked it to see if they had got there safely - they had, of course , and I'm enjoying the pictures and reading the girls posts. I am not a worrying mum, P has been to camp on many occasions and I know she will be safe, happy and well cared for, but it's good to see her enjoying herself, and have an idea of what she may be talking about on her return!
I also used a blog to create Mr P-L's birthday cake last week.

Happy Birthday!


The idea came from the Crafty Ribbons blog - using the basic chocolate madeira cake recipe below.

You need - for the chocolate cake
250g caster sugar
250g soft margarine
4 eggs
2 tablespoons of milk
260g self-raising flour
40g cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

To make
1. Cream the margarine and sugar together until light and fluffy.
2. Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder in alternate batches with the eggs and milk.
This means I stir in about quarter of the dry ingredients then an egg, then another quarter, then another egg and so on until it's all mixed together.
3. Put in a lined 8" cake tin and bake at 140C (Fan) for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
4. Cool.

To decorate
Pickle-Lily then mixed up a batch of chocolate butter cream, I can't give you the ingredients as she does this by taste, to spread on the top and side. We thought the Crafty Ribbons idea of kit-kats were better for an adult, so it took 18 of the two fingered kit-kats to go round the cake and four tubes of smarties on top. All held together with a ribbon we found.

I'm hoping I'm not too late to join in Handmade Monday - then it is just the case of throwing teenage son off the computer to visit the other blogs!

Hoppy Easter



Lots of chocolate this way!

 Happy Easter everyone and to celebrate, the old favourite Easter Nests - very simple and you could make some in the next ten minutes!

Easter Nests

You need...
22gg of chocolate - any sort or colour!
50g of butter
2 tablespoons of golden syrup  (these last two ingredients make your nests more chewy and less brittle!)

Mix together in a big over a low heat

until melted, then add 100g of cornflakes
and stir together.
Dollop in the cakes cases and add mini eggs. This mix makes about 18 including some mix for testing and some for missing!

Have a great Easter week-end, off now to have a cup of tea and an Easter nest. Big Pickle is back from Marine camp this afternoon and there won't be any left after he gets home!

Jo and Pickle-Lily

xx

P.S Have decided to be lazy and use this post for Handmade Monday - why not visit all the other blogs and see what goodies they have to share?

Chocolately chocolate cake

This is the chocolately chocolate cake I made for P's party Sunday afternoon - it was so yummy (if I say so myself!), and it all disappeared by Monday! I finished all the purses and then we filled them with bits and bobs, and the girls seemed to like them. I had a couple of mums say how much they liked them in the playground yesterday.
Last week was busy, as P's school had OSTEd in, and they asked me to do some supply for them on and off during the week. This was great as I had lots of work. This week I haven't been booked at all, so I am busy re-stocking. One of the mums asked me to do a Pickle Lily party, but I'm not sure. I've never even been to a commercially organised one, you know like Jamie Oliver or Usborne books, so I wouldn't know where to start. Still I shall give it deep thought.
I would like to say thank-you to Wendy at 1stuniquegifts for Handmade Monday last week, as I had lots of lovely comments, so if you're visiting from there WELCOME!

Button Stash Giveaway

I love reading other people's blogs (as well as writing Pickle Lily) and often happen on them by chance as I did with Bella-Boutique. She is giving away a lovely stash of buttons for Easter including P's favourite kind - chocolate! Why not have a look and enter, there's a link in my blog list.
Jo x