Chocolate & Vanilla Cupcakes

These cupcakes are by far my most favourite and popular!

These take a little longer as it’s two different batters and icing mixtures but it’s totally worth the effort!!

I also add a surprise element but adding Nutella in the centre of the sponge, pure bliss.

Trust me with using coffee, this will elevate the chocolate flavour and make it more intense.

Ingredients:

For the vanilla element:

• 250g self raising flour
• 250g caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 250g unsalted butter, softened 
• 4 large free range eggs 
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp whole milk

For the vanilla butter cream:

• 150g unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 2 tbsp whole milk
• 338g icing sugar

For the chocolate element:

• 150g dark chocolate 
• 350g plain flour 
• 60g cocoa powder
• 370g caster sugar 
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 3 large free range eggs 
• 240ml cooled coffee 
• 240ml buttermilk 
• 210ml vegetable oil 

For the chocolate buttercream:

• 90g dark chocolate
• 150g unsalted butter, softened 
• 270g icing sugar 
• 2 tbsp whole milk

Preheat your oven to 170C. Sift the dry ingredients for the vanilla element into a large bowl, add the butter and eggs then beat for 60 seconds with an electric mixer. Add the vanilla extract into the  milk and stir then add into the batter and mix for 30 seconds, or until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula and give it one last blast to mix well. 

Now onto the chocolate element. Finely chop the dark chocolate and tip into a large bowl and add the dry ingredients and 1/2 tsp of fine sea salt and stir. Whisk the wet cupcake ingredients together in a separate bowl, then gradually add to the dry mix, whisking until silky smooth. 

Now fill your paper cases with alternate cake mixture until two-thirds full, to give it a marbles effect. Now bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until they spring back when touched. Leave to cool in the tin, transferring to a cooking rack after 5 minutes.

To make the vanilla buttercream, bear the butter in an electric mixer for 5 minutes, until pale and smooth. Stir the vanilla extract into the milk then set aside. Sift the icing sugar into a large bowl, then gradually add to the butter in several stages, bearing well between each. Slowly add the vanilla milk and bear for a further 5 minutes, or until almost white. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and give one more blast.

For the chocolate buttercream, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl in the microwave. Then leave to cool for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, beat the butter in an electric mixer for 5 minutes, until pale and smooth. Sift the icing sugar into a large bowl, then gradually add to the butter in several stages, bearing well between each. Gradually add the milk and beat for another 5 minutes until well combined. Pour in the melted chocolate, bit by bit, mixing as you go, then beat for a couple of minutes.

Once the cupcakes are cool, Using a knife or apple corer, cut a small section out of the middle of each cupcake and fill with Nutella. Grab a large icing bag and carefully spoon the vanilla buttercream on one side of the bag, then the chocolate buttercream on the opposite side. Pipe the buttercream onto your cupcakes using a nozzle and enjoy! 

Butter Chicken

This curry recipe will not disappoint! It’s tasty and just as good as your take out curry.

You don’t need to use a lot of spices and you’re not going to spend hours slaving away in the kitchen which makes this a good midweek dinner option.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For the chicken:

• 500g chicken boneless chicken breast
• 1 tbsp garlic paste
• 1 tbsp ginger paste 
• 1 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder 
• Salt 

For the sauce:

• 450g tomatoes, cut into quarters
• 1 white onion, chopped 
• 1 tbsp garlic paste 
• 50g cashew nuts 
• 1 tsp kasoori methi
• 1/2 tsp garam masala 
• 4 tbsp caster sugar 
• 1 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder 
• 5 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp double cream 
• 2 tbsp malt vinegar 
• Salt to taste 

Cut your chicken and add to a bowl. Add the garlic & ginger pastes, chilli powder and sait. Mix well and leave to marinade for a minimum of 30 minutes. Overnight is best.

In a pan, heat some olive oil and fry the chicken until cooked through. Add to a bowl and set aside.

In the same pan, add the onion, a little oil and a tablespoon of butter. Once the onions are cooked, add the tomatoes and cashew nuts. Add some water, the garlic paste, salt, malt vinegar, sugar, garam masala and chilli powder. Mix well and leave to simmer on a low heat for 20 minutes. 

Now all your ingredients are soft, add the mixture into a large mixing bowl and using a hand held blender, blitz the sauce until there are no lumps and it’s smooth. Strain the mixture through a sieve back into the pan, add some more water if too thick. Add the rest of the butter, cream, chicken and kasoori methi. Mix well and leave it to simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve with rice and garnish with a drizzle of cream and a sprinkling of kasoori methi. 

Red Velvet Oreo Cupcakes

What could be better than red velvet cupcakes? Red velvet with Oreo icing cupcakes!!

Oh my god!! These are soooo heavenly and so moreish!

Makes 22

Ingredients:

For the red velvet cupcakes:

• 235g self raising flour
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 250g caster sugar
• 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda 
• 270g softened unsalted butter 
• 4 large free range eggs
• 3 tbsp buttermilk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• Red food colouring paste/ gel
• 1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar 

For the Oreo icing:

• 300g softened unsalted butter 
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 tbsp whole milk
• 675g icing sugar
• 120g Oreo cookies 

Preheat the oven to 170C. Shift all of the dry ingredients together and 1/4 tsp of salt (apart from the bicarbonate of soda) into a large bowl. Add the butter and eggs then beat for around one minute with an electric mixer. Add the buttermilk, vanilla extract and food colouring then mix well. Add enough food colouring to get a nice red colour. Scrape down the sides and beat for a further few seconds, until we’ll incorporated. 

In a small bowl, mix the bicarbonate of soda with the vinegar. As soon as you do this, it’ll start to fizz . Add it straight away to the mixture and whisk very briefly to incorporate. Fill the paper cases two thirds full with the mixture and bake for 20 minutes. Leave to cool then transfer to a cooling rack.

To make the buttercream, beat the butter in a mixer for 5 minutes, until pale and smooth. Mix in the vanilla extract into the milk and set aside. Shift the icing sugar into a large bowl, then add to the butter in two stages, beating well between each. Gradually add the milk mixture and beat for another 3-5 minutes, or until almost white. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and give it another quick blast.

Add the Oreos into a food processor and blitz into fine crumbs. Add to the butter icing and mix until we’ll incorporated. 

Once the cupcakes are cool, decorate them with your Oreo icing. Either by hand or using an icing bag . 

Curry Mutton 

One of the most famous dishes in Caribbean cuisine is curry goat. I couldn’t find any goat at the shops so I bought mutton instead, but use goat if you’re lucky enough to find some.

I made rice and peas to go with my curry but plain rice is equally as good with this dish.

I also had to fry up some plantain as I’m obsessed with it, could literally eat it all day, everyday!

This curry is full of flavour and tastes pretty damn good! The meat is so tender it literally falls off the bone!

You don’t want the liquid to cook out so make sure you keep topping up with water as you want sauce with this dish or it’ll be dry.

Ingredients:

• 3lbs mutton or goat 
• 5 tbsp medium curry powder 
• 1 tsp salt 
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp ground ginger 
• 1 tsp allspice
• 2 tsp ground turmeric
• 4 tbsp sunflower oil 
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, minced 
• 1 x 400ml can coconut milk 
• 800ml water 
• 3 spring onions, chopped 
• Large handful of fresh thyme 
• 8 baby potatoes, peeled and chopped into small chunks
• 1 scotch bonnet 

Put the mutton in a bowl and add 2 tbsp of the curry powder alike with the salt, pepper, ginger, allspice and turmeric. Mix it all into the meat, cover with cling film and leave to marinate over night to get the most flavour, or for 3 hours if you’re short on time.

Heat the oil in a Dutch pot or a large pot over a medium heat and add the onions along with 1 tsp of curry powder and the garlic. Cook for 3-5 minutes until dark brown. Then add 2 tbsp of the coconut milk to create a paste.

Add the mutton to the pot and sauté until the meat has browned all over. Add half the water and the rest of the coconut milk, stir then cover and leave to simmer on a low-medium heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally to endure the meat doesn’t catch at the bottom of the pot. Add 2 tbsp of curry powder after an hour of cooking and add more water if necessary.

After 2 hours, add the remaining curry powder, to taste and more water if needed.

Add the spring onions, thyme, potatoes and scotch bonnet and cook for a further 20 minutes. Remove the scotch bonnet (or leave it for longer if you’re feeling brave/ like it hot!!), cover and cook for a further 30 minutes until the meat is tender. 

Serve with rice and plantain. Bon appétit! 

Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake

This lemon drizzle is super easy to make. It requires no effort on your part but produces a delicious cake with a moist sponge and super lemon taste.

Ingredients:

• 200g unsalted butter, softened 
• 200g caster sugar
• 4 large free range eggs 
• 200g self raising flour 
• 4 lemons 
• 3tbsp milk
• 135g caster sugar for the drizzle 

Line a loaf tin with baking paper and preheat your oven to 170C.

Best the butter and 200g caster sugar in a mixer for 5 minutes, until pale and creamy. 

Add the eggs one at a time (don’t worry if it looks curdled), beating well inbetween adding each egg. Add the flour and mix until well incorporated, now add the lemon zest of 3 lemons and the milk and mix.

Spoon the mixture into your prepared loaf tin and bake for 50-55 minutes until golden and a skewer pushed in the centre comes out clean.

Meanwhile, mix the juice of 3 lemons with 75g caster sugar in a jug and mix until the sugar has dissolved. As soon as the cake has come out of the oven, poke lots of holes all over the cake then pour the lemon mixture all over. Leave to cool in the cake tin.

After 20 minutes, grate the zest of 1 lemon and and add the juice to a bowl. Add 60g of caster sugar and mix. Brush the mixture onto the cake. Leave the cake to cool completely before taking out of the tin.

Enjoy your lemon drizzle loaf cake! Bon appétit!!

Creamy Tomato Chicken Gnocchi

Want a zero effort tomato sauce that you can rustle up in under 20 minutes and that’s full of flavour? Then keep on reading!!

This dish is pact full of flavour and requires zero cooking skills! It’s so simple to make, I’m sure it’ll be a dish you cook again and again.

You can make this vegan by omitting the chicken and Parmesan.

Ingredients:

• 500g fresh gnocchi
• 225g chicken breast, cut into chunks
• 450g vine tomatoes, cut into quarters 
• Red wine vinegar
• Chilli flakes
• 8 garlic cloves 
• Salt & pepper
• 150g spinach 
• 30g basil
• Walnuts
• Olive oil
• Parmesan 

Heat a pan on a medium heat, add some olive oil and once hot, add your chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Once cooked, put in a bowl and set aside.

In the same pan, add some more olive oil and add the tomatoes. Cover and leave to cook on a low heat until softened. Once soft, get masher and mash them until they are smooth (they’ll still be the odd chunk of tomato and that’s ok, we’re going for a rustic tomato sauce). Add a splash of red wine vinegar, crush 6 garlic cloves in, add chilli flakes to taste sad season with salt & pepper. Stir then add the spinach and chicken. Mix well.

Add the gnocchi to a pan of boiling water and cook. They’re done once they float to the top. Add a ladle of the gnocchi water to the sauce and stir. This will thicken it up.

To make the pesto, add the basil to a food processor or mini mixer, add 2 garlic cloves, a splash of red wine vinegar, olive oil, Parmesan, salt & pepper and a handful of walnuts. Blitz it all up and add more olive oil if needed. 

Serve the gnocchi dish, sprinkle with Parmesan and add a spoonful (or more!) of the pesto on top.

Voilà!! Your meal is ready to serve, bon appétit! 

Creamy Garlicky Salmon Pasta

This dish is super easy to make and it doesn’t take too long either. Within half an hour you’ll have a tasty meal on your table!

Now that I have a newborn baby, I don’t have time to slave away in the kitchen every day. Meals like this are just perfect when you’re restricted for time but don’t want to compromise on taste.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• Spaghetti 
• 2 salmon fillets
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• tenderstem brocoli  
• Boursin
• Crème fraîche 

Preheat your oven to 170C. Brush some olive oil on each of the salmon fillets and season with salt & pepper. Wrap in foil and cook for 25 minutes.

Cook your spaghetti in a large pan of salted boiling water.

Cut up your brocoli into bite sized portions and cook in a pan of boiling water.

Once the spaghetti is cooked, drain and put back into the pan. Add 3/4 of the Boursin and mix, adding 4-5 tablespoons of crème fraîche. Season with plenty of black pepper.

Drain your brocoli and add to the pan and mix.

Flake your salmon into chunks and add to the pan and mix.

Serve up, add some more black pepper and Parmesan.

Bon appétit!