Hot and fruity Cupcakes

Really fancy doing some baking but want to try something different.. Let’s see if it works.. yay it did. I just love making cupcakes, so easy and everyone loves them but at times they can be a bit kiddie.. so let’s try a grown up version. I chose 2 fruits that I love.. strawberries and mangoes. Made up the usual cupcake batter then added small pieces of either strawberries or mangoes in the paper cases then filled by the batter. Once they were cooked they we ended up with little hot puddings.. Sweet and delicious

 

What you need to make 12 cupcakes

·         120g plain flour

·         140g caster sugar

·         120ml milk

·         40g unsalted butter ( leave this to soften at room temperature)

·         1 ½ tsp baking powder

·         ½ tsp vanilla extract

·         1 egg

·         6 strawberries

·         6 mango pieces

 

How to put together

In a mixing bowl put the sugar, flour, baking powder and butter together and mix together until they have all combined. Now add half the milk and mix well. In another bowl whisk together the egg, vanilla and remaining milk. Pour this into the mixing bowl that has the flour and whisk together until this resembles a smooth batter.

Heat the oven on slow heat of gas mark 3 or 160C

Wash and chop both the strawberries and mangoes into small pieces. Keep them separate.

Line a muffin tray with paper cases. Add the strawberries or mango pieces to the bottom of the cases and spoon in the cupcake mixture. Do not overfill the cases. About two thirds full is enough allowing them room to rise. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden. You can tell them are cooked when inserting a cocktail stick in the middle of a cake it comes out clean.

 

Lush !!

 

Fish and Chips

I just love fish from the chip shop but here in London I don’t feel the flavours are great .. Until .... I started going to the Midlands.. Birmingham in fact!! Fridays is always take out night. My other half insisted I tried the fish from there and once I did try, yes I was hooked. Such an amazing taste.. Succulent meaty cod in the most perfect batter. Not too oily but mixed to perfection with a touch of sweetness. I look forward to those days when we would go up the motorway and enjoy the loveliest take out option available.. Salivating all the way.. Can this get any better? No but when I visit Leeds, my sis in law has a wonderful fish shop but they mostly use haddock which I find is much more meaty. So I thought let’s give it a try, make this dish at home. To experiment I used 2 cod and 2 haddock fish ... a very easy, quick to put together but very impressive version of the most popular ... fish and chips... of course only a fraction of the price. The beauty of this is that you can add anything in the batter to make it as personal as you wish.

 

Fish - what you need to serve 4

·         2 cod skinless boneless fish

·         2 haddock skinless boneless fish

·         225g plain flour

·         300ml cold beer

·         3tsp baking powder

·         ¼ tsp sugar

·         Salt to taste

 

How to put together

Wash the fish and leave to drain. In the mean time get yourself a large mixing bowl and mix the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt together. Slowly add the beer little by little until the batter is a thick consistency. Meanwhile fill a wok with enough oil to deep fry the fish and heat. Whilst the oil is heating dip each fish in turn in to the batter, turn the fish and coat again. Once the oil is hot one by one fry the fish gently.. Once the fish is golden on one side turn and fry the other. Cook each fish and drain the oil. Usually a few minutes on each side is enough! Serve with homemade chips, tartar sauce and a wedge of lemon....

Chips - what you need to serve 4
 

·         4 large or 8 small potatoes

 How to put together

Peel and wash the potatoes and once drained slice into chip shape pieces, gently fry in small batches. Once golden turn and fry again. Once the chips are cooked let the oil drip and serve alongside the fish.

Mmmm  !!