Mini Peanut Butter and Chocolate Croissants

These are ridiculously easy to make and yet oh so delicious and sinful. Life's too short to make your own puff pastry so I cheated and used a pack of ready rolled pastry! I added a combination of dark chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Some were just chocolate, just peanut butter or a combination of peanut butter and chocolate. The peanut butter one was the clear winner and I'm sure I'll be making a lot more of these. 

I'm sending this to The Biscuit Barrel Challenge hosted by Laura from I'd Much Rather Bake Than... which has the theme of 'fun' this month. These were fun to eat especially since you don't know what the filling is until you bite into it!

I'm also sending this to  Treat Petite hosted by Stuart from Cakeyboi and Kat from the Baking Explorer. The theme this month is 'Spring into Easter' and although this is not a traditional Easter bake, I think it would be perfect for Easter breakfast or brunch as it's quick and easy to make and you can use any leftover easter egg chocolates instead of chocolate chips. 

puff pastry, 1 egg, chocolate chips and peanut butter chips 

 roll out the puff pastry and cut into 8 rectangles 

 cut each rectangle into triangles 

 fill with chocolate chips or peanut butter chips or both 

 roll them up starting with the longer end and pull the ends down on each side so it forms a crescent shape 

 brush with eggwash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water) before baking for about 30-35 minutes in a preheated oven of 200C until golden brown

Minecraft Birthday Cake

I've had a few cake orders from work this month mainly for children's birthdays. The first is this Minecraft Cake for Josh who turned 8 yesterday so Happy Belated Birthday! I had no idea what Minecraft was so I had to learn quickly! Essentially it's a game about making and placing blocks. You then build structures and there are different 'characters' in the game like Creeper, pig and chicken all of which I made from fondant icing. I wanted to make Steve as well but I ran out of time!  I did some research online and came up with this cake which I am pleased to announce was a huge success. Josh was really impressed with the cake and to be honest so am I! I really wasn't sure I could pull it off but I think it's not too bad for a first attempt. Just don't look too closely at the imperfections!! 

He wanted a vanilla sponge with strawberry jam so I baked 2 large square cakes (6 egg sponge x 2) and made 4 layers using strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream to sandwich the layers together. I then made some chocolate frosting by adding melted chocolate to the buttercream and used that to cover the outside of the cake. The 'crumbs' is made from crushed oreo and rich tea biscuits which actually gives it a slight pixelated effect which I was hoping for. The top is covered with a piece of green fondant covered with green buttercream and green coconut which resembles the grass. The figures are made from ready rolled icing and I shaped them by hand using pictures from the internet as a guide. 

The entire cake took 2 evenings to make. I baked the cakes and made the fondant figures on day 1 and assembled the cake on day 2. Top tips - either use a large roasting pan or place a large piece of parchment paper over your worktop before pressing the crumbs on the cake. This makes it much easier to clean up the mess after! Place the dessicated coconut in a ziplock bag, add the food colouring and seal the bag then give it a good shake to get green 'grass' - no mess and no washing up! Remember to save some vanilla buttercream to make green buttercream before adding the melted chocolate as it's quite difficult to make brown green afterwards! 

As this contains strawberry jam in the middle of the cake layers I'm sending it to Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and co hosted by Jane from The Hedgecombers. The theme this month is jams, curds and preserves. 

 weigh eggs in their shell and use the same amount of flour, butter and caster sugar for the sponge.

 I baked 2 cakes in my square tin 

 making the layers with strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream 

 This is going to be a tall cake! 

 cover with chocolate frosting on the outside but not the top 

 I drew this pattern freestyle on a piece of parchment paper - the square is the size of my cake tin and I made random blocks around the edges 

 cut out the pattern and place it on top of rolled green fondant and cut out the pattern with a sharp knife 

 ready to go on top of the cake 

 slightly wonky but it's starting to look like a minecraft block! 

 cover the fondant with green icing then cover with dessicated coconut which has been dyed green to resemble grass. 

 Place the figures on top using a toothpick to support them. I used cutters to cut out the name and age - his favourite colour is green but you can of course using contrasting colours to make it stand out more. 

Peach and Blueberry Maple Syrup Muffins

Remember my peach and blueberry maple maple walnut pie? Well one of my colleagues is allergic to walnuts so I decided to make the same flavours sans nuts but in muffin form. I made up the recipe myself and they turned out so beautifully that I made a further 2 batches of these. I gave a box to my friend's mum who was in hospital following a surgery as I thought it might cheer her up! I love how the slices of peaches look like rays of sunshine. The muffins were deliciously moist and fruity. You can clearly taste the flavours of peach, blueberry and maple syrup and the wholemeal made it feel healthier. 

I'm sending this to Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior. 

I'm also sneaking this into Treat Petite hosted by Stuart from Cakeyboi and Kat from the Baking Explorer.  The theme this month is 'Spring into Easter' which can be traditional Easter bakes or anything spring like including spring colours. To me these look quite spring like, it's lovely and fresh so I hope that it qualifies. 

The Biscuit Barrel Challenge hosted by Laura from I'd Much Rather Bake Than... has the theme of 'fun' this month. Well that's a great open theme and as these were fun to make and certainly fun to eat, I hope that they qualify too.

 ready to mix everything together 

 love the colours of the fruit 

 They looked a little plain... 

 ... so I added some sliced peaches on top 

An original recipe by bakingaddict

Makes 9 large muffins

125g wholemeal flour

100g plain flour

50g caster sugar

2 teaspoon baking powder

100mls milk

60mls vegetable oil

60mls maple syruo

1 egg

125g blueberries

2 peaches - 1 chopped and 1 sliced for the decoration

• Preheat the oven to 180C. 
• Prepare the peaches by cutting into half and removing the stone. Chop up 1 peach into small chunks and slice the second peach and set aside. 
• Place all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
• Place the wet ingredients in a jug and mix well.
• Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients and mix well.
• Finally add the chopped peaches and blueberries and stir.
• Fill the muffin cases until about 2/3 full.
• Place 3 slices of peaches on top of each muffin as shown. 
• Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool on a wire rack. 

Giant Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cake

It's been a busy birthday month in the office in March and more coming up in April.  I made this for Kim who loves chocolate and peanut butter so I decided to make a giant reese's peanut butter cup cake. It's a chocolate sponge with a peanut butter frosting encased in a chocolate shell. I was really pleased at how it turned out particularly the cross section as it really does look like a giant reese's cup!

This is my first time creating a shell with melted chocolate using the giant cupcake case and I am impressed at how easy it is. I will definitely keep this in mind for decorating giant cupcakes as I always find it difficult to decorate the bottom half - I have been using chocolate fingers but this gives it a more refined finish. A tip that I read online was to heat up a frying pan and to place the chocolate shell upside down for a few seconds to get a smooth, even finish to the shell. My inspiration for this cake came from My Cupcake Addiction and you can watch the video to get more helpful tips.

 Giant cupcake case (bottom half only) & melted chocolate 

 pour chocolate into the case and tip the case at an angle, turning as you go to get a smooth covering 

 it should look like this. Place it to set in the fridge to set (at least 20 minutes) then coat with a second layer 

 You can just about see that the edges at the top are uneven 

 heat a pan then place the chocolate shell upside down and twist it slightly to get smooth, even edges 

 looks much better now! 

 I used toothpicks to mark out the cake sections. You want to discard the top bit (the uneven top) and the middle bit (this is where the peanut butter filling goes) 

 Place bottom 1/3 of the cake into the chocolate shell 

 Cover with a thick layer of peanut butter frosting. Use a palette knife to smooth the top 

 place the flat top 1/3 of the cake on top 

 cover with chocolate ganache - try not to spill over the edges 

 after it has set 

 Normal sized Reese's cup for size comparison 

 cross section of the cake 

For the cake

185g plain flour
200g caster sugar (I'd suggest 250g for a sweeter bake)
185mls buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1.5 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
185mls warm water
95g cocoa powder

For the peanut butter filling

110g icing sugar
200g smooth peanut butter
70g butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
80ml double cream

For the chocolate ganache

200g dark chocolate

150g double cream

15g butter (optional) 

For the chocolate shell

200g chocolate, melted 

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. 
• Add in eggs, oil, vanilla extract, buttermilk and warm water.
• Mix thoroughly.
• Divide into the cupcake cases and bake for approximately 35-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. (the bottom half my need more baking time than the top half) 
• Allow to cool completely before decorating. 
• To make the filling,  place the icing sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
• Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work.
• Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth. 
• To make the chocolate ganache, heat the cream in a small saucepan until almost boiling. 
• Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped chocolates until smooth. Add in the butter if using. 
• To assemble the cake, follow the instructions that accompany the photos above or watch the video from My Cupcake Addiction.