Degustabox review and Molten Nut Butter and Chocolate Fondant Cake

It's time for another What's in my Degustabox? and a very exciting recipe. I've been receiving a Degustabox on a monthly basis for a few months now. It's like having a surprise delivery of goodies every month. Degustabox is a no obligation monthly subscription which costs £12.99 including delivery. You get 9 to 14 surprise products and it's usually a good mixed selection of goodies. I have a special discount code for all my readers if you are interested in signing up a box for yourself or for a family memeber/friend. You get a £3.00 discount when registering by using this code F3TJ1 which makes it just under a tenner for a goodie box including delivery.

This is my favourite box so far as I loved pretty much everything in it. There's quite a lot of sweet stuff and 2 items with peanut butter! I decided to create a recipe using the Whole Earth Three Nut Butter which I have tried previously. I love Whole Earth nut butters as they are very tasty and not overly sweet. I made a Molten Nut Butter and Chocolate Fondant Cake which sinfully delicious. It took a bit of trial and error and I think I ended up making these about 6 times before I finally got the timings right. The cake is cooked on the outside but has a gooey melting centre of chocolate and three nut butter. It was best served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It would be a very impressive dessert at dinner parties but nerve wrecking as you may not get it perfect.

 February Degustabox 

 American Muffin Company Chocolate Brownie Bites. These are gluten free and wheat free and tasted more like cake than a brownie. 

 Beet it Sport bars which contain 400mg of dietary nitrate and is used by over 150 universities world wide for research into the benefits of lowering blood pressure and improving sports performance. 

 Jack Link's Beef Snack which is great for a protein snack on the go. 

 Whole Earth Three Nut Butter contains cashews, hazelnuts and peanuts. It's made with fresh ingredients with no added sugar and you can really taste the different nuts in them. 

 Peanut Hottie which is a peanut butter flavoured hot drink.I've already tried this as I received it as a gift from a friend and makes a good peanut butter hot chocolate! Perfect for a quick peanut butter fix.

Laimon Fresh - a refreshing, sparkling, lime,lemon and mint drink. If you like citrus then you will definitely like this drink. The mint adds another layer of freshness 

 Melba thins which are one of my faouvrites. The crisp toasts are individually packed in packs of 5 which makes it handy for lunch boxes. 

 Schwartz Flavour Shots - Spanish Paella and Indian Mild Masala Curry. These flavour shots contain a unique blend of herbs, spices and seasoning which you can use to create really tasty meals. There are also recipes available on their website www.schwartz.co.uk

 Lily O'Brien's Cocoa Cookie Crunch - delicious little bites of chocolate biscuit biscuits covered in chocolate. They were really tasty and I could have easily eaten the whole pack myself! 

 

  whisk the sugar, egg and egg yolk 

 add in the melted chocolate and flour 

 chocolate mixture 

 half fill the ramekin and add a generous teaspoonful of three nut butter in the middle

 cover with the remaining chocolate mixture 

 fresh from the oven 

 The cake is cooked and set on the outside

 soft, gooey, melting centre 

 I love the melting centre!

Recipe adapted from this recipe online which in turn is based on Donna Hay's recipe

Makes 3 ramekins

100g dark chocolate
50g butter + extra for greasing
1 egg
1 egg yolk
55g caster sugar
18g plain flour
3 heaped teaspoons three nut butter

• Preheat the oven to 200C. 
• Place the chocolate and butter in a heat proof bowl and place over a pan of simmering water. 
• In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar, egg and egg yolk. 
• Add in the cooled, melted chocolate mixture and flour and whisk again. 
• Butter your ramekins generously - this is really important as you don't want the cake to stick. I tried using the non stick spray but it turned out better with a generous rub of butter.
• Spoon the mixture into the ramekins until about half full.
• Place a generous teaspoonful or 2 teaspoons of the three nut butter in the middle of the batter. 
• Cover with the remaining chocolate mixture. 
• Bake in the preheated oven for 8-9 minutes. The timing will vary with your oven - 8.5 minutes was the perfect time for my oven. If it's undercooked then you get a very messy plate. If it's overcooked you don't get the molten centre. 
• Run a hot knife around the edge of the ramekin and turn the cake out onto a plate. It should come out easily if you've properly buttered the ramekin dish before baking.
• Serve warm with cream or ice cream.

Disclaimer: I was sent a Degustabox for review purposes. I was not required to write a positive review or to create a recipe. All opinions expressed are my own. This is not a sponsored post.

Lemon cupcakes and a review

Cupcakes are one my favourite things to bake. I definitely class myself as more of a baker than cake decorator so when I was asked if I wanted to review Cupcake Decorating Lab by Bridget Thibeault I said yes as I wanted to learn some new techniques. It's a beautiful book published by Quarry Books. It has 144 pages in total with lots of colour photographs.

The book is divided into 10 chapters

It starts with an introduction from the author and also covers materials that you will need. The chapters are then divided into

1. Icing basics - frosting with buttercream, piping with buttercream, tinting buttercream, striping with buttercream, chocolate ganache glaze
2. Sugared Fruit & Flowers - sugared berries, basket of peaches, candied flowers, candied citrus slices
3. Fondant - covering with fondant, silicone moulds, impression mats, stamping on fondant, stenciling on fondant
4. Royal Icing - piping on fondant, brush embroidery, royal icing decorations, sugar cookie topper
5. Flowers & Garden - single buttercream flower, buttercream rosettes, fondant rose bouquet, sugar blossoms, sugar flowers, butterflies in the grass, herb pots
6. Fun Themes - krispie S'more cupcakes, doughnut cupcakes, gone surfing, white chocolate snowman, cupcake cake, cupcake fondue, espresso cups tea party mojito
7. Kids & Babies - tutu cupcakes, ice cream cone clowns, movie night cupcakes, soft serve ice cream, owl cupcakes, egg nests
8. Weddings - tiered wedding cupcakes, monogram cupcakes, shot glass tiramisu, PBJ Mason jars
9. Cupcakes with a Twist - cheesecake cupcakes, cake truffles, cake push pops, rose bundt cakes, flourless chocolate cake
10. Presentation - pedestals & cupcake stands, ribbons, wrappings & packaging

Each chapter is beautifully illustrated with step by step photographs. There's a list of materials required on your left and a helpful tip box on each page. I chose to work with fondant as it still scares me and I also wanted to try something new. I bought some impression mats at a cake show last year but have not used them yet so this was a good opportunity.

I made my favourite lemon cucpcake recipe as I wanted something light and refreshing. I followed the instructions for using the impression mat and decorating the cupcakes and I am pleased with the results. 

My Verdict - I really like this book for the following reasons. It's clear and beautifully set out with lots of colour step by step photographs. It covers everything you need to know to decorate a cupcake from the basics of frosting a cupcake with a spatula to more complicated techniques such as brush embroidery. It also has cupcake recipes at the back in both metric and US measurements. If I did not receive this review copy, I'd put it on my Christmas wish list! 

 ingredients for lemon cupcake

 my recipe only made 10 cupcakes

 impression mats

 place fondant over the mat and press with your fingers or roll with a rolling pin 

 it works! 

 I also got to use my cute button mould

 These were the only colours I had but I think they worked out in the end 

 Place a small amount of frosting on top of the cupcake

 cover with fondant circle 

 ta-dah! 

 it could be neater but I think they look great

 I also decorated some with butterflies 

Disclaimer: I received a free review copy from the publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own. 

Chocolate Fondant Pudding

I love chocolate. No surprise. I love dessert. No surprise. Naturally, I love chocolate fondant. It is one of my favourite desserts to order if it's on the menu and will almost always order it unless there is a good lemon tart on offer.  I saw these on thelittleloaf's blog recently and immediately bookmarked it to make. Some recipes are on my bookmarked list forever and others just go straight to the top of the Q. I simply could not wait to make my own. However, it is dangerous knowing I can make my own as I ended up eating these for a whole week... well the recipe did make 4! Gu might just go out of business soon ;p 

It took a few tries to get the oven temperature correct - first one was undercooked so it collapsed when I turned it out and one of them was overcooked so there was no gooey middle. I did manage to get it right after that and they were absolutely delicious. Well worth the effort and the nervous anticipation whilst it's cooking wondering if it's going to turn out ok. Obviously in the name of research I had to keep making them until they were perfect :) 

I am also submitting this to Jac's bookmarked recipes for Dec

 first try - a gooey mess as my oven temperature was inaccurate but delicious nonetheless 

 second time - almost perfect! I would have preferred it slightly runnier 

 I love this picture :) 

Recipe from thelittleloaf which was adapted from a Jamie magazine recipe, with very minor modifications of my own.

175g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

25g salted butter, at room temperature

75g golden caster sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

25g plain flour

• Preheat the oven to 200C. 
• Butter 4 ramekin dishes and dust with cocoa powder. Shake off the excess powder. 
• Melt the chocolate in a bowl placed over a pan of barely simmering water. 
• Set aside to cool slightly.
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time and then add the vanilla extract. 
• Stir in the flour until just combined and then gently mix in the melted chocolate. 
• Pour into the ramekins in equal portions. 
• Bake for approximately 8-10 minutes (it will depend on your oven).
• It should be set around the edges but still soft in the center. 
• Note: the uncooked batter keeps well in the fridge, just remember to increase cooking time by a few minutes if cooking from chilled.