Can’t wait to try out this recipe.

HungryHinny

The inspiration for this cake came from a Clandestine Cake Club event I was hoping to attend, but ended up being postponed to a date I couldn’t make – I had already made the sponge before I found out so I thought I might as well carry on and bring it into work instead!

The theme was to bake a cake inspired by art, and I was planning to recreate Van Gogh’s Starry Night in cake form. I chose lemon and blueberry because I thought the inside would reflect the colours of the icing, plus it’s a combination I love anyway.

I thought a Starry Night cake might be a little OTT for my colleagues, and so instead I had my first go at ‘ombre’ style graduated colour, going from pale yellow in the centre to a bright sunshine yellow at the edge.

For a first attempt I was pretty…

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How gorgeous does this look!

joinmefordinner

Fast and fancy. Fennel and salmon really do work together, despite my initial doubts. Serve the salmon with a fresh orange vinaigrette on tender greens and it makes an over-the-top quick weeknight dinner.
I’ve adapted this recipe from one published in Salmon: The Cookbook –edited by Bill Jones.
Serves 4
Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Tbsp. crushed fennel seed
• 1 tsp. crushed peppercorns
• 1 tsp. coarse salt
• 4 salmon fillets
• oil for frying
• 4 cups fresh greens of your choice: arugula, baby kale, baby spinach, torn butter lettuce or a combination
• Optional: a variety of freshly sectioned citrus fruits: orange, tangerine, sweet lime, melongold, or grapefruit

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Crush the fennel seed and peppercorns. I used a mortar and pestle. Mix together with the salt and pepper. Rinse the salmon, pat dry, rub with a tiny bit of olive oil and coat with the fennel mixture.
3. In an…

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Farmhouse chocolate and banana bread

HungryHinny

Things are a little quiet on the baking front in the Hungry Hinny household at the minute, as our oven has been broken since last Sunday. Nine whole days of no oven! I can just about cope with preparing meals that don’t use the oven but the lack of baking is really starting to get to me.

It’s a particularly annoying time for it to happen, as I was given two fantastic books for Christmas that I can’t wait to start trying recipes from but have to wait – not fun!

Luckily I did manage to get one new bake in before the oven broke, from the Green and Black’s Ultimate Chocolate Recipes collection (the one with the pretty colours on the front) which was kindly given to me by my dad, along with Edd Kimber’s first book, The Boy Who Bakes.

Deciding which amazing recipe to make would have…

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Nutella-filled cinnamon sugar muffins

I adore cinnamon so I can’t wait to try out these sweet treats from Hungry Hinny

HungryHinny

I absolutely adore cinnamon (despite spending the first 22 years or so of my life hating it) so when Choclette chose it as this month’s We Should Cocoa challenge ingredient it should have been easy for me to think of things to bake.

In a way it was, I had plenty of ideas, but things have been a bit manic in my kitchen recently, what with making Christmas gifts, food for parties and catering to the pony’s rather specific needs (quick to eat breakfasts and bars he can take to work), so finding a way of squeezing cinnamon in was actually harder than I expected.

Attempt one was cinnamon chocolate shortbread, which was a disaster, but attempt two, these Nutella-filled cinnamon sugar muffins, was a resounding success.

I’m aware my last post also featured both muffins and Nutella, but who cares because it’s a great combination.

The Nutella is baked…

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Banana, Nutella and hazelnut chocolate chip muffins

These look seriously scrumtious

HungryHinny

Is there any better pairing than bananas and Nutella? If these muffins are anything to go by, definitely not!

Ages ago I made Nutella swirled vanilla muffins, and remember thinking at the time they would work well as banana muffins, then when I saw these over at Sweet Pea’s Kitchen I knew it had to be done.

I upped the chocolate and hazelnut flavour by adding chunks of hazelnut milk chocolate to the batter, which worked well as it meant it wasn’t just the muffin tops that had the delicious mix of flavours.

The swirling on top isn’t quite as pretty as I would have liked, mainly because it’s so cold at the minute that my jar of Nutella had set solid – yet another reason to despise winter…

They were still super tasty though, and a must-make for anyone who loves pairing banana and Nutella as much as…

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Nigella’s coffee and walnut cake (GF)

HungryHinny

I’ve made a fair few coffee cakes over the years, as it’s my dad’s favourite, but I’ve never actually tried a traditional coffee and walnut because of his aversion to nuts, so when my colleague requested it as one of her favourites I was quite excited to give it a go.

After quite a bit of research I settled on a Nigella recipe, mostly because I was intrigued by the method, which literally involves chucking everything into a food processor and blitzing – could a recipe with no creaming, beating, sifting or folding really produce a light and fluffy sponge?!

I clearly should have had more faith, as this cake turned out beautifully – soft, light, just the right balance of coffee and walnut, and, big bonus, it even held up to using gluten free flour.

This cake received the best reviews I’ve had for anything I’ve baked in…

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Easy Cheesecake

Magnumlady Blog

This is probably the easiest and quickest cheesecake ever to make.

Base:

• 200g Digestive Biscuits
• 100g Connacht Gold Creamery Butter (Melted)

Filling:

• 200g Cream Cheese (I’ve used Tesco, Yeats, Aldi and Philadelphia….the Aldi one was awful)
• 75g Castor Sugar
• 250ml Connacht Gold Cream
• Vanilla Pod or a few drops Vanilla essence
• Handful of maltesers (or whatever you want to use)

Recipe

1. For this you need an 8” loose bottom (sounds like me) tin & a food mixer.

2. In a bowl crush the biscuits & stir in the melted butter.

3. Spoon into the tin, spread evenly & press down.

4. Mix the Cream Cheese at a slow speed until softened.

5. Leave the mixer running and add the sugar & vanilla, gradually add the cream, increase the speed & continue whisking until stiff. Add in your whatever flavouring you want and mix.

6. Spoon over the biscuit base…

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How to Extend the Life of Cut Flowers

Amazing Chocolate Brownies

Magnumlady Blog

I made chocolate brownies the other day from a recipe I found on Cake in the Country’s fab blog. I did cheat a bit and only used 3 eggs instead of 4, drinking chocolate instead of cocoa and vanilla essence instead of extract (sorry Sarah I know it’s ‘illegal’ in any good kitchen but mine is a bad kitchen 😉 )

This was the chocolate and butter melting. I was bold after this part. Not only did I not sift the dry ingredients I also just threw them in with the melted mixture. Life’s too short and it saves on washing up!

This was the mixture ready to go into the oven. I think I had the oven too high (I keep forgetting it’s fan assisted) because the edges were a bit dry. Also I just used a loose bottomed (sounds like me!) cake tin. It’s a really easy recipe…

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Cherry Cardamom Quick Bread

Doesn’t this look wonderful. I am thinking of trying it with blackberries which will soon be ready to pick.

joinmefordinner

This is an easy quick bread to celebrate cherry season. Double the recipe and make an extra loaf for the freezer. Fresh ground cardamom seeds really enhance the flavour of the cherries, not that they need any enhancement. They are so good just right from the tree. If you don’t like cardamom, you could substitute cinnamon.
Makes one 9 x 5″ loaf

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 cup fresh cherries, pitted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan.

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add eggs and extract.

Sift dry ingredients together and add to wet ingredients. Stir in the cherries gently (to avoid creating pink batter!) and mix until just combined.

Spoon batter into…

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