Valentine Candy Cane Chocolate Hearts

This is my other quick no bake recipe for Valentine. I actually made these chocolate candy cane hearts for Christmas but didn't get round to posting it. Everyone loved them so I saved a box of candy canes to make these for Valentine's Day. It's ever so simple and takes about 5 minutes to prepare, depending on how many you are making. 

I made a short video to show you how to make the candy cane hearts.

Unwrap the candy canes and pair them up on a large sheet of greaseproof paper. Place them facing each other to form a heart shape. Using a kitchen lighter, heat the ends of the candy canes where they join together until you can see bubbles. Push them together gently until they create a seal. Be careful not too push too hard or the candy canes will break. Melt the chocolate in 30 second bursts in the microwave. Carefully spoon the chocolate into the hearts and decorate with sprinkles. Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or until set. 

As before I'm sending this to a few blog challenges this month

AlphaBakes hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes and myself on alternate months. The letter this month is "V" and Caroline is accepting all Valentine related treats. 

Treat Petite hosted by Kat from the Baking Explorer and Stuart from Cakey Boi. The theme this month is 'Love is in the air'.

Foodie Friday hosted by Helen from Casa Costello. 

#FoodYearLinkup hosted by Charlotte from My Recipe Book. The link up is open to any foodie posts related to events in the Food Bloggers Calendar for February. These are quite obviously for Valentine's Day!

Penguin Oreos for Valentine

These are really quick and easy to make for Valentines. I have a slight obsession with penguins - they are just so cute! Apparently emperor penguins mate for life and they are often seen as quite romantic. I saw these online and thought it would be a great Valentine project which is also slightly different from your usual heart shaped cookies, brownies, cupcakes ... not that there's anything wrong with those! I have planned a special Valentine bake but I'm not sure if I'll have time to bake it before the 14th so watch this space! I do have another quick no bake recipe to share with you tomorrow that you can make for Valentine.

I'm sending this to a few blog challenges this month. 

AlphaBakes hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes and myself on alternate months. The letter this month is "V" and Caroline is accepting all Valentine related bakes. This is not technically a bake but I hope it's acceptable! 

Treat Petite hosted by Kat from the Baking Explorer and Stuart from Cakey Boi. The theme this month is 'Love is in the air' and these definitely fit the bill.

Foodie Friday hosted by Helen from Casa Costello. 

#FoodYearLinkup hosted by Charlotte from My Recipe Book. The link up is open to any foodie posts related to events in the Food Bloggers Calendar for February. These are quite obviously for Valentine's Day!

 All you need is oreo cookies, chocolate chips and heart shaped sprinkles

 Separate the oreo cookies. Scrape off the crumbs from the white centre with a sharp knife. Cut out a triangle at the top to resemble a heart shape. Use a little icing (I used writing icing in a tube) or edible glue to stick the chocolate chips and heart sprinkles as shown. If you want to create wings, cut out a triangle shape from the discarded oreo cookie. PS technically this is not hand made but hand decorated but I like the ribbon! :) 

Banana, walnut and chocolate chip cake with maple syrup cream cheese frosting

This is honestly the best cake I've eaten in a while and that's saying a lot! It came about by chance as I couldn't decide what to bake but I knew I wanted to bake with bananas. I didnt want to bake another banana muffin so I thought a cake would be better. I had a discussion with one of my work colleagues who loves cake as much as I do and we 'created' this cake together by discussing what ingredients she wanted in the cake!! I said I wanted to use bananas and she wanted chocolate, walnuts, honey and maple syrup. I thought about it and decided that I could make it work so I gave it a go! The results were truly amazing. I incorporated everything she wanted in the cake and added a cream cheese frosting as well. The cake was really moist and full of banana flavour. You can taste the walnuts and the chocolate chips in there which also added a depth of texture to the cake. Unfortunately you can't really taste the honey but you can clearly taste the maple syrup cream cheese frosting. 

The following week, my colleague who helped me create the cake told me what happened when she took a slice home for her house mate. She described the cake to her housemate who did not look impressed particularly as she does not like bananas. However, she decided to have a taste and after a few bites said "if I'd known it was going to be so good, I'd have taken it to bed with me!!" That's honestly how I feel about this cake as well and I'm definitely going to have to bake it again. 

I'm sending it to a few blog challenges this month...  

Love Cake hosted by Ness from Jibber JabberUK. This month is the anniversary of the challenge and the theme is For The Love of Cake. This is not a typical Valentine bake but it came about through our love of cake and it's definitely one of my favourite cakes ever. 

No Waste Food Challenge hosted by Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary. This recipe uses up old bananas and ingredients from my cupboard. 

Cook Blog Share hosted by Lucy from Supergolden Bakes

Recipe of the Week hosted by Emily from A Mummy Too

 dry ingredients and wet ingredients 

 adding in chocolate chips and walnuts

 ready to go in the oven 

 I love how you can still see the chocolate chips and you can definitely taste them! 

 with the maple syrup cream cheese frosting 

 decorated with chopped, toasted walnuts 

An original recipe by bakingaddict

For the cake 
250g plain flour
100g brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
3 or 4 ripe bananas
250mls milk
80mls vegetable oil
2 eggs
100g chocolate chips
150g walnuts ( I left them whole for extra crunch but you can chop them up but not too finely!)
60ml honey

For the frosting
100g butter
100g light muscovado sugar
85mls maple syrup
220g cream cheese

To decorate
20-25g toasted walnuts, roughly chopped

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Grease and line 2 x 18cm round baking tins.
• Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
• In a large bowl, roughly mash the bananas with a fork. 
• Add in the milk, vegetable oil, honey and milk and mix well.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix.
• Finally stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
• Divide the batter evenly into the cake tins and bake for approximately 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Place the remaining walnuts for the topping in the hot oven and roast for about 5-7 minutes making sure that they don't burn. 
• Allow the cakes to cool completely before decorating. 
• To make the frosting, beat the butter and sugar until smooth.
• Add in the cream cheese and maple syrup and continue beating until very smooth.
• Place a generous layer of frosting on top of the first layer of cake. Place the second layer on top and spread the remaining frosting on top of the cake.
• Sprinkle with the toasted, roughly chopped walnuts.

Taffy Mail review and Nerds Cupcakes with Popping Candy Frosting

Have you heard of Taffy Mail? It's an American Candy delivery service which delivers a mystery box of American goodies to your door every month. I love American candy especially those of the peanut butter variety. I usually stock up whenever I travel to America or will ask friends if I know they are going to America and won't mind picking up a few things for me. I'm running low on my American Candy stock so it was very timely to receive a box from Taffy Mail to try. 

This is their festive box so there's a festive theme to the goodies. Never the less it's a good haul and I recognise most of them except for 'Mike and Ike' which I've never tried before. I wanted to bake something with the contents of the box which is how I came up with these Nerds cupcakes with Popping Candy Frosting. I was a little dubious about the flavour pairing but it worked beautifully. I baked a basic vanilla sponge and added in the Nerds candy which provided a watermelon and cherry flavour and some crunch. The popping candy which was peppermint flavour worked well in the icing and set of the tangy Nerds flavour in the cupcakes. In case you are wondering, the Nerds did not melt after baking and remained intact and crunchy. 

 The Taffy Mail festive box 

What was in my box? 

1 can of Arizona Ice Lemon Tea - I love ice lemon tea and I do like the teas from this particular brand. It's a sweet drink with a distinct taste of lemon.

Hershey's Kisses in candy cane flavour - the mint was quite strong and there was mixed opinions on this in the household

Junior Mints - Delicious minty chocolate, a definite favourite

Butterfinger - crunchy, peanut butter candy - one of my favourites

Chiclets - fruit flavoured chewing gum. I rarely eat chewing gum so I'm a bit biased on this one. 

Reese's Peanut Butter Christmas Tree - another favourite. It's a peanut butter cup in a tree shape

Sugar Daddy Milk Caramel Pop - good caramel flavour

Mentos strawberry flavour - chewy and fruity tastes just like the Mentos you can buy here 

Mike and Ike - chewy fruit sweets 

Frosty Nerds - watermelon and wild cherry punch flavour 

Pop Rocks - peppermint flavoured popping candy 

My verdict - This would make a great gift for someone who loves American Candy. You can buy most of them here in specialist shops or online but they are usually quite expensive. These boxes are priced at £14.99 per month including delivery, Personally, I think it's a little expensive for what you get but I do appreciate that it has to be imported. The good news is that I have a special code for all my readers if you want to try out a box or a few for yourself. Use the code BAKINGADDICT at checkout at taffymail.co.uk and receive £2 off for three months.
I've only had 1 box so I can't comment on whether you get different items each time or if you repeatedly get certain items. I do like the mystery element which is fun as you just won't know what you are going to get. However, I think it can be a bit hit and miss and you might get stuff you don't particularly like but that's all part of the fun!

 I decided to bake with these ingredients - Wonka Nerds and Pop Rocks Popping Candy  

 Adding Nerds to the cupcakes - they look so pretty and very festive 

 ready to go in the oven 

 I like how you can still see bursts of colour through the cupcake 

 decorated with more Nerds candy and popping candy 

Makes 15 cupcakes

For the cupcakes 

250 butter, softened

250g caster sugar

250g self raising flour

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

120g Nerds candy

For the icing

250g butter

500g icing sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

20g Nerds candy

Popping candy 

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add in the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition.
• Sift in the flour and add in the vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste.
• Finally stir in the Nerds candy.
• Divide equally into cupcake cases and bake for approximately 18-20 minutes or until golden brown.
• Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before decorating. 
• To make the icing, beat the butter and icing sugar until smooth. 
• Add in the vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste.
• Pipe the buttercream on top of each cupcake in a swirl and decorate with Nerds candy and popping candy on top. 

Disclaimer: I was sent a box of Taffy Mail candy for review purposes. A positive review was not required and all opinions are my own. This is not a sponsored post.

Nutella Ferrero Rocher Brownies

Did you know that today February 5th is World Nutella Day? I love Nutella and could eat it straight from the jar! Yes I know it's bad for you but it's oh so naughty! I haven't eaten or baked with Nutella for ages so I can't wait to see all the delicious recipes on the blogosphere today. These brownies actually came about because I had a lot of leftover Ferrero Rocher chocolates from Christmas and New Year. Yes it does happen! A colleague loaned me her Ferrero gold tower which I used for my Christmas party and again for my New Year party. We ate most of the chocolates from the first time but I topped it up again and we barely made a dent in it. It's been sitting on the table for weeks now and the biscuit is starting to go a little soft so it was definitely time to bake with them. Alternatively I could sit on my sofa and eat lots and lots of Ferreros and make myself really ill!! 

As Ferrero contain hazelnuts, I decided to pair it with my favourite chocolate hazelnut spread - Nutella. I've had a craving for brownies for a few weeks now so there was absolutely no question about what I would bake. These brownies are very chocolatey and fudgy in the middle with a crispy top which is exactly how I like my brownies. The Ferrero Rocher remained whole and added an extra layer of indulgence to the brownies. Quite a few people were eating around the Ferrero chocolate saving it for last!

I'm sending this to We Should Cocoa hosted by Katie from Recipe for Perfection on behalf of Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog. The theme this month is brownies. 

 my ferrero tower - as you can see there's a LOT leftover! 

 adding nutella to the butter and sugar mixture 

 adding mini chocolate chips at the end 

 ready to go in the oven 

 I love how the Ferrero stayed whole after baking 

 These were taken before sunrise so excuse the poor lighting! You can see how fudgy the brownies are 

 

Makes 15 large squares

225g butter
150g nutella
350g light brown sugar
4 eggs
160g cocoa powder, sifted
190g plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
275g mini chocolate chips
15 Ferrero Rocher chocolates

• Preheat the oven to 180C. Spray a rectangular baking tray with non stick spray. 
• In a large saucepan, melt the butter over a low heat. 
• Turn of the heat and whisk in the sugar.
• Whisk in the nutella.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking as you go.
• Then stir in the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.
• You should get a thick fudgy mixture.
• Finally stir in the mini chocolate chips.
• Pour into the baking tin and level the top with a spatula.
• Press the Ferrero Rocher chocolates at regular intervals as shown.
• Bake for approximately 35-40 minutes or until the top is crispy and cooked and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out slightly wet.
• Allow to cool completely before slicing into 15 squares. 

Churros with Chocolate Sauce

I've never made my own churros until now and I'm wondering why I waited so long. The main reason is because I don't like deep frying in my kitchen and very rarely deep fry anything especially since I bought my air fryer which is amazing. However, we had a Mexican night recently and used some recipes from Wahaca. We made the Mexican slaw, crispy fish fajitas and sweetcorn & chorizo fritters. I decided to make some churros for dessert and as we had to deep fry the fish I managed to re-use the oil. For obvious reasons, I cooked the churros first and then fried the fish in the same oil which was then discarded. 

I found a recipe from Nigella.com which is a recipe from Mexican Food Made Easy by Thomasina Miers - perfect! It's a really simple recipe and it worked beautifully. The churros were light and crispy and the chocolate sauce was to die for. The frying part was not too difficult or messy which I was worried about. I'll definitely be making this recipe again and I think it will be cute to make mini churros. 

 vegetable oil, self raising flour, caster sugar, ground cinnamon, olive oil, golden syrup, dark chocolate, milk chocolate and double cream 

 dough on left and the cinnamon sugar on the right 

 frying the churos 

 almost ready 

 naked churros

 with a generous sprinkling of cinnamon sugar 

 Dipped in heavenly chocolate sauce 

Recipe can be found online here