Lindt Chocolate Creams and a giveaway

I love Lindt chocolates especially their dark chocolate truffles. I was really excited when I was asked if I wanted to review a copy of Lindt Gold Bunny recipe book. Lindt's Maitres Chocolatiers have compiled some of their best recipes in this really cute and fun book. My favourite part is that it is shaped just like the famous Lindt gold bunny and comes complete with a bell! The book is really beautifully presented with 26 recipes in total. Each recipe is really easy to follow and accompanied by a beautiful colour photograph which is a must for every recipe book. 

 How cute is the book? The bell works too :) 

 Some sample pages 

 Sample page inside with a recipe on one page and a colour photograph opposite. 

 Another recipe page

The recipes included in the book are

• Chocolate lollies with a caramel centre
• Chocolate cheesecakes
• Milk chocolate and hazelnut mousses
• Crispy chocolate eggs
• Chocolate and pecan barquettes
• Greedy chocolate mice
• Chocolate mini choux buns
• Chocolate brioche toasts
• Chocolate dulce de leche
• Chocolate fondue with French toast fingers
• Home-made hot chocolate
• Chocolate-iced madeleines
• Petits beurre millefeuilles with chocolate cream
• Chocolate spread
• Fizzy chocolate lollies
• Choco-mint brownies
• Hot bananas with chocolate squares
• Soft chocolatey caramels
• Chocolatey meringue layers
• Coconue-chocolate cigars
• Chocolate tiramisu
• Chocolate eggs with meringue bursts
• Florentines
• Muffins with chocolate cream filling
• Chocolate creams
• Panna cotta with praline cream

I decided to make the chocolate creams recipe as I liked the sound of it and it was the accompanying photograph on the contents page. It was really easy to make and tasted really chocolatey. I brought it to a friend's house to serve as dessert and it was very well received. It's not overly sweet due to the dark chocolate and yoghurt and feels like a healthier version of chocolate mousse as it contains natural yoghurt.

If you like the sound of this book and want to get your hands on a copy then you are in luck. Jacqui Small Publishing have very kindly agreed to giveaway THREE copies to my readers. The closing date is 23rd March 2015 so that the prize can be delivered in time for Easter. 

Terms and Conditions

Entry is via the rafflecopter widget below.

You have to answer the question which is a mandatory option to unlock further entries to the giveway.
This GIVEAWAY is open to all readers over 18 with a postal address in the UK.
Closing date is 23rd March 2015 at 12 midnight GMT.
The WINNER will be chosen at random via Rafflecopter and will be contacted by email. If no response is received within 48 hours, another winner will be selected at random.
I am running this COMPETITION on behalf of Jacqui Small Publishing who will be sending out the prize directly. By entering you are giving me permission to pass your email address on to them so they can contact you for delivery of the prize.
All entries will be checked and verified.

Recipe reproduced with kind permission from Jacqui Small Publishing

Serves 4
Preparation time 10 minutes
Chilling time 3 hours

160g Lindt Excellence Cocoa 70%
200ml milk
25g caster sugar
1 heaped teaspoon vanilla sugar
375g natural yoghurt
sugar sprinkles to decorate

• Roughly chop the chocolate and melt in a bowl in a bain-marie. 
• Add the milk, caster sugar and vanilla sugar.
• Mix together gently.
• Quickly beat the yoghurt with a fork and add to the chocolate mixture.
• Divide between 6 small glass dishes and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. 
• Decorate with sugar sprinkles before serving. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of Lindt Gold Bunny for review purposes. A positive review was not required and all opinions expressed are my own. This is not a sponsored post. 

Shabby Chic Hampton 7 piece Cake Set Review and a Giveaway

5 more sleeps to Christmas! I can't believe that it's the last weekend before Christmas, where has the time gone? Luckily there's always time for cake and tea in my house and it's a real welcome for this busy weekend. I've made a classic Victoria sponge as it's J's favourite cake and we do love a good Victoria Sponge. Fortunately I have a beautiful Shabby Chic Hampton 7 Piece Cake Set to help me serve the cake. It's a traditional design cutlery gift set from House of Fraser. It's beautifully packaged in a gift box and the set includes 1 cake slice and 6 cake forks. It's made of stainless steel and it's also dishwasher safe. I really like the presentation of this set and it would make a great engagement or wedding gift. It's also perfect for tea parties at home or just a treat for yourself :) 

If you like the look of this set then here's your chance to win one for yourself. House of Fraser have kindly sponsored 1 Shabby Chic Hampton 7 Piece Cake Set for one of my lucky readers.


Terms and Conditions

Entry is via the rafflecopter widget below.

You have to answer the question which is a mandatory option to unlock further entries to the giveway.
This giveaway is open to all readers over 18 with a postal address in the UK.
Closing date is 1st January 2015 at 12 midnight GMT.
The winner will be chosen at random via Rafflecopter and will be contacted by email. If no response is received within 48 hours, another winner will be selected at random.
I am running this competition on behalf of House of Fraser who will be sending out the prize directly. By entering you are giving me permission to pass your email address on to them so they can contact you for delivery of the prize.
All entries will be checked and verified.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I was sent a Shabby Chic Hampton 7 Piece Cake set by House of Fraser for review purposes. A positive review was not required and all opinions expressed are my own. This is not a sponsored post. 

White chocolate and cardamom cake with rose, strawberry and yoghurt filling and a giveaway

One day I had the urge to bake a layer cake. I've been baking a lot of biscuits and small treats recently and I was craving cake. Proper cake. I was sent some spice drops from Holy Lama to review and I started thinking about how I could incorporate them in a cake. I chose flavours that I knew would pair well and came up with this recipe for white chocolate and cardamom cake with a rose, strawberry and yoghurt filling. I used my usual 'weigh your eggs' sponge method and added in cardamom spice drops, sour cream for extra lightness and chopped white chocolate as I was too lazy to melt the white chocolate. Plus it adds a different texture to the cake and everyone enjoyed the white chocolate bits.  I was initially going to fill the cake with a cream and mascarpone cheese filling but decided to use low fat greek yoghurt instead to cut back on the calories and preparation time. 

The spice drops come in a lovely box which clearly labels the spice. The spice drops themselves are easy to use as it has a pipette and it's easy to measure drop by drop. The cardamom flavour was strong in smell, taste and intensity. The box said that 1 drop ~ 1 cardamom pod so I used 10 drops. The rose spice drops smelt absolutely amazing and I used 5 drops for my filling which in hindsight was perhaps a little too much. These are a great alternative to grinding up spices and it's so easy to use. I can't wait to try the other flavours! 

The cake itself was very well received. The flavours worked really well together and visually it looked beautiful. The sponge was light and you can clearly taste the cardamom. The rose and strawberry filling was light and fragrant and helped cut through the 3 layers of cake. I'm glad I chose a yoghurt filling as a cream filling might have been too heavy but would definitely be indulgent. 

I'm sending this to Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Jane from The Hedge Combers. The theme this month is Floral so I hope the rose extract counts. 

As strawberries are in season, I'm also sending this to Simple and in Season hosted by Ren from RenBehan. 

This also fits in nicely with Celebration Cakes & Bakes hosted by Jenny from Mummy Makes Cakes.

I'm also sending it to Four Seasons Food guest hosted by Tina from the Spicy Pear this month. The challenge is usually run by Anneli from Delicieux and Louisa from Eat Your Veg. The theme this month is The Colour Red and there's a lot of red strawberries in this cake! The rose extract is colourless but roses make me think red too. 

It's also my entry to the Rix Aga Inspired Recipe competition where the theme is strawberries. 

I have a Baker's Spice Drop Kit to giveaway to 1 lucky reader which contains 

• Vanilla extract
• Cinnamon extract
• Cardamom extract
• Ginger extract
• Nutmeg extract

Terms and Conditions

Entry is via the rafflecopter widget below. 

This giveaway is open to all readers over 18 with a postal address in the UK.
Closing date is 14th July 2014 at 12 midnight GMT.
The winner will be chosen at random via Rafflecopter and will be contacted by email.
I am running this competition on behalf of Holy Lama Spice Drops who will be sending out the prize directly. By entering you are giving me permission to pass your email address on to them so they can contact you for delivery of the prize.
All entries will be checked and verified.

 white chocolate, self raising flour, caster sugar, cardamom spice drops, rose spice drops, eggs, fat free greek yoghurt, sour cream, strawberries 

 adding in the sour cream and cardamom spice drops (dark green) 

 adding in chopped white chocolate 

 For the filling - fat free greek yoghurt mixed with strawberry jam and rose extract 

 adding in the strawberry jam to the yoghurt 

 spread filling on top of the cake  

 add a layer of strawberries - I used the ends and smaller strawberries for this, reserving the rest for the top layer decoration 

 repeat with the next 2 layers 

 decorate with fresh strawberries on top 

 add a sprinkling of icing sugar 

 The cake held it's shape after a slice had been cut 

 delicious 3 layer cake 

An original recipe by bakingaddict

For the cake

weigh your eggs in their shells and use the same amount of butter, sugar, flour. My eggs weighed 265g (4 eggs) so my recipe is

265g butter

265g caster sugar

265g self raising flour

4 eggs weighing 265g in their shells

200g white chocolate, chopped

10 drops of cardamom spice drops (you can use 10 cardamom pods) 

150mls sour cream 

For the filling

500g fat free greek yoghurt

3 - 4 tablespoons strawberry jam (adjust to taste) 

5 drops of rose spice drops (you may want to use less - adjust to taste)

For the decoration

Fresh strawberries

Icing sugar for dusting 

• Preheat the oven to 170C.
• Grease and line 3 x 20cm sandwich tins.
• Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
• Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition.
• Stir in sour cream and cardamom spice drops.
• Add chopped white chocolate.
• Divide batter evenly into 3 cake tins (I weigh mine to make sure they are the same size)
• Bake for approximately 18-20 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Turn out on a wire rack and allow to cool completely before decorating. 
• To make the filling, stir the yoghurt in a bowl.
• Add in strawberry jam and rose extract and swirl it gently.
• Spread between the cake layers, adding a layer of fresh strawberries on top.
• Decorate the top with more strawberries and a dusting of icing sugar. 

Disclaimer: I was sent the spice drops for review. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions expressed are my own. This is not a paid post. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Vanilla Victoria Sponge and a giveaway

I love baking with vanilla. It's such a versatile flavour and absolutely delicious on it's own. Since I discovered how easy it is to make your own vanilla extract, I've not bought any but I do regularly buy vanilla pods and vanilla bean paste for baking. Taylor & Colledge have a great range of vanilla bean products including organic vanilla bean pods, vanilla bean dusting sugar, vanilla bean extract, vanilla bean paste and vanilla bean grinder. I was particularly intrigued by the vanilla bean grinder as I've never seen one before. I shortlisted a few recipes to showcase the vanilla flavour and in end decided on a classic Victoria Sponge. 

I filled it with vanilla cream and fresh strawberries and added vanilla to the sponge mix as well. The vanilla flavour was delicious and you can definitely smell the vanilla in the cake as there was quite a lot of it! The vanilla bean grinder was really easy to use - similar to a salt/pepper grinder. I loved the flecks of vanilla on the cream and it added to the vanilla flavour too. 

I have 3 sets of their full range of vanilla bean products to giveaway to 3 lucky readers. Entry is via the rafflecopter widget below. 

The prize consists of one of each of the following for 3 readers.

• Taylor & Colledge Organic vanilla bean pods 
• Taylor & Colledge Vanilla bean dusting sugar 
• Taylor & Colledge Vanilla bean extract 
• Taylor & Colledge Vanilla bean paste
• Taylor & Colledge Vanilla bean grinder

Terms and Conditions

• This giveaway is open to all readers over 18 with a postal address in the UK.
• Closing date is 7th July 2014 at 12 midnight GMT.
• The winner will be chosen at random via Rafflecopter and will be contacted by email. 
• I am running this competition on behalf of Taylor & Colledge who will be sending out the prize directly. By entering you are giving me permission to pass your email address on to Taylor & Colledge so they can contact you for delivery of the prize. 
• All entries will be checked and verified. 

 My selection of vanilla bean products for review - organic vanilla bean pods, vanilla bean dusting sugar, vanilla bean extract, vanilla bean grinder and vanilla bean paste 

 adding vanilla bean paste and vanilla extract to the cake batter 

 I used the vanilla bean grinder to grind some vanilla beans into the whipped cream 

 I also added more ground vanilla on top of the cream before adding the strawberries 

 

 finally a dusting of vanilla bean icing sugar to finish 

For the cake
Weigh 4 eggs in their shells and then measure out the same weight in butter, sugar and self raising flour.
My eggs weighed 265g so I used:

4 eggs (weight 265g in their shells)
265g butter
265g caster sugar
265g self raising flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

For the filling
300mls double cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a few twists of the vanilla bean grinder
Fresh strawberries - washed, hulled and sliced

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition.
• Mix in the flour.
• Stir in the vanilla bean paste and vanilla extract.
• Divide the mixture evenly between 2 sandwich tins.
• Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown and springy to touch. A skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean.
• Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
• Whip the cream until it's set and add in the vanilla extract. 
• Using the vanilla bean grinder, sprinkle some ground vanilla over the cream. 
• Sandwich the cakes with the vanilla cream and a layer of strawberries. 
• Dust the top of the cake with vanilla bean icing sugar.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I was sent a selection of products from Taylor & Colledge for review purposes. A positive review was not required and all opinions expressed are my own. 

Maple, walnut and raisin oat cookies and a giveaway

I love maple syrup and have quite a few maple syrup recipes on my blog. The lovely people at Clarks Maple Syrup kindly sent me a selection of their maple syrup to try and they've also agreed to give two lucky readers a Clarks gift bag worth £25. They have a great selection of recipes on their website and you can also download free recipe booklets. 

I debated about what to make. I usually use maple syrup in pancakes or cakes so I thought about making something a little different. The Clarks Oatmeal Maple Drop Cookies really appealed to me so I gave it a go and was not disappointed with the results. The maple syrup makes for a slightly wet batter and my cookies were soft with a crispy edge. It's definitely a cookie that tastes better the day after and one that slowly grows on you. I love the flavour combination of maple syrup and walnuts. The raisins added contrasting taste and texture and the oats made it feel healthier. I used the Clarks pure maple syrup for this recipe and you can definitely taste it in the cookie. It's not overly sweet and has a lovely aroma. I can't wait to try some of their other recipes. 

As mentioned, 2 lucky readers will win a Clarks gift bag worth £25. Each gift bag will include 

• 1x 500ml Clarks Original Maple Syrup
• 1x180ml Clarks Vanilla Maple Syrup
• 1x500ml Clarks Maple Syrup Pure No.1
• 1x 180ml Clarks Pure no.2
• 1x 500ml Clarks clear blossom honey
• 1x180ml Clarks Lavender honey
• 1x180ml Clarks Orange blossom honey
• 1x 180ml Clarks Acacia honey
• Clarks Recipe book

Entry is via the rafflecopter widget. The prize is sponsored by Clarks and they will arrange delivery of the prize. Competition is open to UK residents only. A winner will be selected at random by Rafflecopter. All entries will be checked and verified and automatically disqualified if it's not a genuine entry. The closing date is 23 June 2014 at 12 midnight GMT. Good luck! 

 My selection of Clarks Maple Syrup

 milk, maple syrup, butter, flour, oats, raisins, egg, walnuts 

 ready to go in the oven

 delicious! 

Disclaimer: I was sent a selection of Clarks maple syrup to review. All opinions expressed are my own. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway