Livi’s Homemade Christmas

Hello! This is the year of homemade presents, and just in case you are stuck for ideas- here are some homemade edible presents that are very easy and so cheap. Have a lovely Christmas and happy new year!

Livi’s Salted Pretzel Christmas Puddings

These are so easy 🙂 Just fill two piping bags, one with white chocolate and one with dark. Place the pretzels on a foil sheet, making sure they are flat. Pipe dark chocolate into the lower two thirds, and white into the top. Put some holly and berry Smarties on the top, and freeze them for about 10 minutes to harden them. 🙂

Livi’s White Chocolate Turtles.

These are really popular and so quick. I make mine in Madeline moulds, to give them a pretty shape.

On a tray lined with foil, or a silicone Madeline tray, place as 24 pecans at intervals. This is tricky- but try to balance a Rolo on top of each nut. Bake in the oven for upto five minutes, on a low heat. I have burnt so many, so I suggest sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the oven, bake-off style. When the Rolos still have their shape, but are being to melt, take them out and push another pecan on the top of each one- does not have to be neat, in fact, it’s better if it isn’t. Leave to cool, then pipe melted white chocolate over the top to encase them. Freeze for 10 minutes to harden.

Livi’s Rocky Road Sheet

 Melt 200g of white chocolate in a bowl over some boiling water. Spread out a large piece of foil, and pour the chocolate on. Use a knife to spread it into a rectangle, keeping it fairly thin. Next, use whatever you like to cover it. I used mini marshmallows, crumbled shortbread, pecans, and a drizzle of mint chocolate- but Rice Krispies, caramel, freeze dried raspberries, ginger nuts and hazlenuts. Freeze for ten minutes and cut/smash it into bits.

Stay Unchained ❤

Life, the universe, and everything. (and some cake too, don’t worry)

I feel dreadful. I have become one of ‘those’ people. Those people I used to laugh at during my anti-hipster phase (which I’m still in).  Those people who sit in Starbucks, staring around with their Apple Mac, sipping some kind of coffee abomination whilst they tsk and roll their eyes whilst they work on their magnum opus, their great English novel.

Actually, I’m just blogging whilst I wait for my American to finish his PhD advisor meeting. I’m in Starbucks in Manchester, and I so desperate to avoid the above stereotype that I ordered a mint tea that tastes like polos in boiling water, and I made no noises and no eye contact with anybody. And this isn’t the great English anything- it’s a blog about cake.

So, Manchester! The city has a great buzzy feeling, everything is so cheap and individual, and the uni is so cool it hurts. The only thing i haven’t yet found is a decent teashop, hence Starbucks,  but I’m sure it’s just alluding me,

Whilst I have been here, it has been a challenge to not become overwhelmed by the hugeness of what we are undertaking. PhDs in separate towns, PhDs in general, resigning ourselves to the kind of broke only postgraduates can understand and the stressful passionate dedication of academic writing. I remember, during a particularly stressful part of my Masters, rushing back to the library with a short loan book, which had incurred a 30 pound fine, trying to speed read it on the way, whilst running through all the possible reasons that Anne Boleyn might have had devout religious intentions and how to disprove them- thinking that academia had claimed the very last parts of my soul, and that I should go and become a baker in Tuscany, and dedicate my life to raising wild boar.

But we are back again, and already I am itching to get back to the books, and the stress and the only lifestyle that makes me truly happy.

Wow mayte, that got a bit heavy for a cake blog. Here’s some pictures of some cakes what I made this year.

Sour Cream and Chocolate Cake

Chocolate, Hazlenut and Malteaser cake

Marmlade Bread and  Butter Pudding

Jam and Cream Viennese Whirls.

Stay Unchained ❤

A brownie experiment

I am a Nigella Lawson brownie maker, and I want to state that first and foremost. Nigella’s are a towering sugared stack of beauty, and until recently I skipped over any other pages in any other book that proposed an alternative. However, I recently wondered whether I might be limiting my brownie horizons , and perhaps it might be time to branch out. This led to three (non-consecutive- don’t worry) differentials.

The ‘Baked’ Brownie

I was kind of intrigued by this. The result is a thinner and cakier kind of thing….completely lovely though. The recipe is Edd Kimber (a theme is developing!), and although it has not converted me, I am pleasantly surprised.

Recipe here: http://theboywhobakes.co.uk/2009/09/the-baked-brownie/

Vegan Brownies

Having a best friend who is allergic to the planet earth (LOL JK love you mayte) means that I have wanted to perfect vegan brownies for a while. The no-egg thing is a seriously conundrum, and I honestly thought it would take WIZARDRY to make this work….but they were LUSH. Not dry, not that tasteless plasterboard effect and NO DATES. I have no idea why dates are substituted for dairy in so many cakes. It’s awful and you’re awful for doing it. Verdict: good…but still no substitute for 16 pounds of dairy heaven. ❤

Recipe Here:  http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/6036/vegan-brownies.aspx

The Healthy Brownie

IT’S A TRAP. haha but seriously ITS A TRAP!!!!! I have always been of the opinion that you’re either a person that eats a brownie, or you’re not- so the healthy thing really shouldn’t be relevant! But for the love of creation, I decided to suffer the craziness of healthy decadence. This recipe used Greek yoghurt and almond milk and I was skeptical, but it was actually ok. Not really a brownie, more of a compact bitter fudgey square….but with milk ice-cream its truly not bad.  I can’t say I’m converted, this oxymoronic treat still doesn’t make sense, but I applaud the effort. I changed it up by adding a handful of chopped hazlenuts ❤

Recipe Here: http://tonetiki.com/2013/02/07/skinny-fudge-brownies-192-calories/

In cakeclusion, don’t mess with a classic, but if  you have too, all of these are viable options, I love you all- and now I’m going to raid the tin.

Now, enough rambling- look at some pictures.

Baked Brownies

Healthy Brownies

Stay Unchained ❤