Doggy Delights

Hello! Well anyone who read my last post will know that i was getting a puppy, and today she is making her online debut! 
We got her a couple of weeks ago and she is now about 11 weeks old, and i will tell you a little about her. 
She is a Boxador, part Boxer, part Labrador, with the agility and enthusiasm of a Boxer and the intelligence and kindness of a Lab, and i also think it makes for a pretty adorable dog. 
Her name is Bowline, which is a type of knot, and this stems from the fact that our family owns and loves boats, but we shorten it to Bo, which is uber cute. 
She loves to play, and is very intelligent, and has learnt so many tricks, so much so that we have just about managed to train her to lift her left paw when we say port and her right when we say starboard ( all tying in with the nautical stuff )

I have never owned a dog before, but all i know is that i am loving her and the experience so far, and i am especially going to enjoy finding recipes to bake her little treats, and training her to be my co-chef, or at least a dog that doesn't jump on the work surface every time i'm baking, either would do. 

So to celebrate the arrival of the lovely Bo, i have found a recipe on pinterest, which isn't mine, but i thought looked lovely, this recipe is from a website called pizzazzerie.com and has lots of lovely recipes on it. So i hope any dog lovers enjoy this recipe, and watch my blog for any more appearances of Bo, she might be sneaking into a few more of my posts from now on.

 Pupcakes

Makes 6 cupcakes 

Ingredients

1 cup whole-wheat flour 

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 c plain yogurt

2 1/2 tablespoons sunflower oil

2 tbsp honey

1 large egg

1/2 apple, chopped

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/4 cup diced carrot

Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons peanut butter

Method

1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with 6 paper liners. 

2.In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and soda. In a medium bowl, blend together the yogurt, oil, honey and eggs, then stir in the apple, cheese, and carrots. Add to the flour mixture and stir just until mixed (will be slightly lumpy).

3.Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling each cup about 3/4 full. 

4.Bake in the preheated oven about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a pupcake comes out clean. Let the pupcakes cool in the tins on a rack for a few mintues, then remove and set aside to cool completely. 

5.For the frosting, just mix together all of the ingredients and pipe it on top, and serve it to your helpful hound or marvellous mutt!

Hope you and your pooches enjoy this!

See you next time, love from Elise and Bo xx

Making, not Baking Houmous

Hello Everyone! 
Now despite the title, I'm not all about baking, even though it is my 'main game', i really am just a foodie, and love everything about it, so not just baked goods! And i thought i would introduce this to you today with a quick Houmous recipe, which is a definite favourite of mine! 









Now I'm not sure how much experience you guys have had with houmous, but i must say now it is a glorious thing, and very versatile, and although shop bought houmous is delicious and easy, there is nothing more satisfying than the achievement of your own pot of houmous sat in front of you. 
So here is a lovely little recipe for houmous, for which all you need is a food processor, it couldn't be simpler! 

Ingredients: 

150g dried chickpeas
100g tahini paste ( tahini is a paste made of sesame seeds, and if you struggle to find this, then it can be replaced by 2 tsp of sesame oil)
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp chilli powder
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil 

1 clove of garlic

A good pinch of salt

Method: 

1. Get out your food Processor 

2. Prepare all your ingredients 

3. Chuck it all in the food Processor, and blitz for a couple of minutes until smooth, scraping down the sides at times. 

4. Put into a serving dish, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a little chilli powder for garnish. 


And it really is that easy! And the results are great, you won't want to go shop bought again! Well i hope you have enjoyed this little post, and i now hope you won't be too shocked if you see non-baked recipes on my blog! 
Also, very exciting news! On Saturday i will be getting a puppy, a little Boxador none the less, so I'm sure i will be bombarding you with pictures of her, and she definitely isn't baking related!
As always, leave me any comments, i love reading them, until next time, Elise xxx

Woodland Birthday Cake

Here it is! The woodland themed birthday cake i made for my little sisters birthday! It fitted in well with her indoor camp style birthday party, and was enjoyed by a crowd of 9 year olds! 

Well first of all Happy Birthday to my Little sister Tibbie, and secondly i've decided that from now on, i will not post a how-to on these sorts of fondant cakes, as it is a lot of hassle and i often find it easier just to look at these sorts of pictures and take inspiration from it. 

So please feel free to take all the inspiration you need, and if you want to make this cake then look at my earlier birthday beach hut cake for a recipe, and comment for any help! 
So thanks again for reading my little post, i have been working on my blog a lot recently trying to get it up and going, and marina has been taking care of this lovely web design. Thank you to all my new followers, i have a Facebook page, follow me here - https://www.facebook.com/littlegingerbakes and my twitter, shown in the bar on the right hand side of my blog, and help me on my way! 
Thank you, any questions, or comments, feel free to ask! Until next time, Elise xxx

Beetroot and Chocolate Red Velvet Cake

I had never heard of this cake before until my friend Marina (check out her fashion blog by the way it's great marina-simone.blogspot.com) requested it for her birthday cake.

I researched a bit and came up with this, i put loads of elements together, and excuse the slapdash icing job, but i can honestly say it's amazing! 

With a not-to-rich chocolatey taste, and a lovely earthy back note from the beetroot, and a lovely pinky, ruby colour!

Now as you can see i made a mahoosive cake, which was about 5 layers, so don't worry I'm not going to make you make that much, just giving you the recipe to make an average to large sized cake. 

Even better, it's a very simple cake to make!








Ingredients

For the Cake 

2 teaspoons lemon juice

135g beetroot, boiled and blended (reserve some for swirling on top)

310g plain flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

400g caster sugar

50g unsweetened cocoa powder

285g unsalted butter, melted

4 eggs, beaten

125ml milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

75g cream cheese

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

450g icing sugar

Method



1.Grease and line one 23x33cm, similar sized baking dish or a couple of sandwich tins.  Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas 4.

2. Sprinkle the lemon juice over beetroot, and set aside. 

3. Combine the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda, caster sugar, cocoa, melted butter, eggs, milk and 2 teaspoons vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Stir in beetroot. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed of mixer, until well combined, but do not over mix. Pour into your prepared dish. 

4. Bake at 180 C / Gas 4 for about 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave on wire rack, and allow to cool (stone cold) 

5. To make the icing- : combine cream and cream cheese, 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add icing sugar, beat until fluffy.  

6. Once your cake is cooled, using a palette knife, spread your frosting evenly all over the top and the sides of your cake. 

7. Finally using a knife or a pastry brush, make a swirl or any other pattern of your choice, on top of your cake, using your reserved beetroot puree. 


And there you have it! Beetroot and chocolate red velvet cake! i hope you enjoy this recipe, please do comment if you like the look of this recipe, want to make it, or need any help! And don't forget to go check out Marina's blog!  Always here! elise xx