Citrus Ice Cubes

I've been wanting to drink more water recently but i just find it so boring and tasteless, give me a diet coke any day! Upon searching the web on how to make water more interesting to drink i came across...fruit ice cubes! I just had to try them so ran out to pick up some citrus fruits, lime and orange this time. I went for citrus just because it seemed the safest bet because you have lemons and stuff in drinks all the time.

I just started out by slicing the fruits then cutting out the individual segments making sure they were small enough to fit in the icecube tray. I then filled my tray with water and popped a segment of fruit in each, then just left it to freeze overnight.

They actually have a lot more taste than I thought they would but it's really refreshing, and a really nice idea for parties or BBQs it even if you just fancy adding a bit of flavour to your water like I did.

Avocado Cupcakes

The other day i woke up and was like, I'm gona make some avocado cupcakes today... I had no idea how it would turn out but figures i would just substitute butter for avocado and hope for the best. Avocado is quite an oily food and doesn't have a really strong taste to it. The other week i mashed avocado and banana together for an experimental face mask. Ok and yes I had to try it, all you could taste was the banana. So for that reason i thought avocado would work perfectly as a healthier option to using butter.

You can check out this post for my easy 'cup' recipe, use the same recipe but it's just a cup of mashed avocado instead of a cup butter (that's about two medium avocados mashed), to incorporate it in to your own recipes just switch the butter for the same amount of avocado!

They pretty much taste just like normal cakes, in fact they're nicer, Simon said they were really nice and he's fussy when it comes to baking... especially mine -_-
They're really light and a much healthier option to using butter!..The cake does come out a little bit on the green side, but i didn't find it of putting at all.

Easy-peasy Sponge Cake

This is probably the easiest, tastiest sponge cake i have ever made. I much prefer measurements in cups, i know it's often seen as the lazy way to measure and isn't as accurate but hey, if you've found something that works stick with it!

So to make about 12 cupcakes you'll need:
1 Cup self raising flour
1 Cup caster sugar
1 Cup butter
2 eggs
1 tbs of vanilla flavouring (optional)

That's the ingredients sorted, how simple is that? And it's so easy to remember!

Here's how to make:
Preheat the oven to 180C
Soften the butter in a bowl and mix in the flour and sugar.
Add the eggs and flavouring and mix until smooth
Pour in to whatever cake/cupcake tin you choose and place in the oven for 10-15 mins until it starts to brown on top.

From here its up to you whether you ice or leave plain.

Hope you enjoyed today's quick and easy recipe, look out for a more experimental/healthier version of the mix in the next couple of posts.

Banana & Oat Quick Snacks (Two Ingredients!)

I love this snack, its healthy, tasty and only needs two ingredients! Just two!

It's really simple and quick, lovely for breakfast and a much healthier alternative to biscuits or cakes if you're craving something sweet.

Here's what you'll need:

(makes 3-6 depending on the size)

1 cup porridge oats, 

1 medium banana

A blender is optional

1. Set oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4

2. Peel a banana get rid of the stringy bits and mash together with a fork or blend with a blender until smooth.

3. Add the oats a bit at a time until all of the banana is mixed up and you have a thick dough like texture.

4. Use hands or a spoon to separate the mix in to six equal parts, flatten down to circles or whatever shape you want on to a baking tray. They should be about 1cm thick.

5. Place the tray in the oven for about 8-10 mins.

6. Leave to cool for about 5 minutes then lift them from the tray using a knife, they shouldn't stick if the mix was thick enough.

7.Enjoy your healthy snack!

 

Extras

If you wanted to make it a bit more exciting you could add coco powder, chocolate chips, chopped strawberry or raisins ect.

Rainbow Cake Recipe

This really is one of my favourite cakes to make, I'm such a big kid at heart. You can't help but feeling happy when you look at this cake never mind eating it!

The best thing about is it is super easy to make! I've tried a few different recipes and the best one is from Kerry Cooks.

I would love to say the recipe is my own but truthfully I wouldn't have known where to start, i do however have a few tips and tricks I learnt after attempting this cake 3 times already... god I'm such a fatty!

This cake serves 12 and takes 3 hours prep time and 15 mins to cook following Kerry's recipe.
It took me longer to cook as I couldn't fit all the tins in my oven at once, but half the time to prepare as i didn't leave the cake to chill between layers.

So my first tip, is if you don't have time to chill the layers, place skewers in the cake like so, then leave it for half an hour for the icing to set. That way the cake won't slide about.

Secondly, I wasn't too keen on the taste of the cream cheese in the frosting so I used water instead. It still set ok, you just need to add a few extra layers so you can't see the sponge underneath.

I used the Dr Oetker gel food colour available in most supermarkets, I didn't have the time to get the proper brighter ones from Ebay or a cake shop. But I think it turned out more to my liking, as you can see the colours are still vibrant but more pastel, and i actually prefer this.

Check out the recipe here