I'll have what she's having Nutella Cookies

Welcome to my kitchen, where it's kinda obvious I can not resist any type of pretty thing for my house.

It's been a problem for a while now, you might have noticed over the years I have the same thing going on with food which I frequently decorate with pink sugar flowers and sprinkles, because most everything tastes better that way.

But not these cookies. Nope, they will not win any beauty contests, but oh the taste, the yummy chocolately taste will win you over in no time.

There seems to be a lot of ingredients, but these are easy to make if you have a mixer to help cream the butter and sugar together. Just follow the steps and soon you will have a batch of soft chocolately cookies of your own.

Also make sure you take them out while they are still soft, they will continue to cook on the tray a little bit and as they cool they will harden up a little bit.

Like all chocolate chip cookies I love them best when they are still a bit warm, but if you can resist you can store them in a cookie jar for up to 3 days.

Happy Baking Xx

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (makes 20 Super delicious cookies)
Conversions are rounded to nearest 5 gram.

250g (9oz) plain (all purpose) flour
30g (1oz) cocoa powder
2 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
1 tsp bicarb soda (baking soda)
115g (4oz) unsalted butter at room temperature
115g (4oz) brown sugar (approx 1/2 cup)
60g (2oz) white sugar (approx 1/4 cup) * I used caster or superfine but regular is ok
1 large egg
145g (5oz) Nutella (heaped 1/3 cup)
230g (8 3/4oz) chocolate chips or chunks * I used a mixture

Preheat oven to 160C (320 F) and line 2 or 3 trays with baking paper.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, cornflour (cornstarch) and bicarb soda (baking soda).

Cream butter and both sugars for approx 3 minutes at high speed. Reduce speed to medium-low and mix in egg and then Nutella until combined.

Add flour mixture, mix at low speed until just combined and then add the chocolate chips mixing until the chips are distributed evenly.

Place approx 2 Tbsp (US 2 1/2Tbsp) mounds of cookie dough onto prepared trays leaving enough room for the cookie to spread during baking. Flatten the cookie dough slightly.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. The cookies will still be soft when you remove them, however leave on trays to cool and you will be able to pic them up.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores.

Affiliate links may earn me money and contribute to supporting this blog.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer do not reuse without permission. 

Chocolate Hot Cross Bun Recipe

I love baking, love it. But for some reason when it comes to hot cross buns I usually buy them from the bakery or supermarket.

But this weekend we had a bit of free time so I whipped up some myself taking an old traditional hot cross bun recipe and modifying to add chocolate chips, removing all that unnecessary dried fruit and changing the bun into a chocolate bread with a lightly fragrant cinnamon base.

Deliciously perfect just baked Chocolate Hot Cross Buns

I don't know why it took me so long, look at that picture, delicious just baked softly fragrant buns and oh my goodness the house smells even better than those buns look.

Plus it cost me way less than the bakery ones, so economical as well.

They were super easy as I used my stand mixer's dough hook attachment and saved about 10 minutes time of hand kneading, although don't worry, the recipe will work out just fine hand kneading if you don't have a dough hook/stand mixer.

I find the key things for successful baking with yeast is to not overheat and to prove the yeast prior to mixing into the other ingredients. Oh and time, you can't really rush it, I made the ones in the picture in about 2 1/2 hours including rising and baking time but I would normally set aside at least 3 hours.

Chocolate Hot Cross Bun Recipe makes 12 large hot cross buns
I use premix royal icing mixed with water to a piping consistency.

2 X 7g packets yeast 14g total (1/2 oz total)
1 tsp caster sugar
3/4 cup milk (6 fl oz)
50 g unsalted butter (1 3/4oz) melted/softened
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk (4 fl oz) extra
525 g plain (18 1/2 oz all purpose flour)
70 g caster sugar (2 1/2 oz)
25 g cocoa (7/8 oz)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
230 grams chocolate chips (8 oz)  # the baking kind that hold shape.
1/2 cup royal icing mixed with  1/2 tsp cocoa and 1/4 tsp cinnamon.

Put milk in microwave safe jug and heat in microwave for around 15- 20 seconds at high so that it is warm to touch (not hot). Using a fork whisk in yeast and 1 tsp sugar and allow to sit around 10 mins until needed.

The yeast should froth up like this

Sift the flour, cocoa, remaining caster sugar, cinnamon and salt together and set aside until required.

In the bowl a large stand mixer with a scraper beater attachment or regular beater, place the butter, egg and 1/2 cup milk and mix for 30 seconds at low speed. Add the yeast mixture and mix another 10 seconds, then add the sifted flour mixture and beat at low speed until all the dry mixture has been incorporated. The mix will be quite sticky.

Switch to a dough hook and mix at medium low speed for a couple of minutes until the mixture is smooth and elastic.* If you do not have a stand mix and dough hook you can knead by hand for around 10 minutes.

Spray a large bowl with oil, place the dough into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and pop in a warm place to rest for around 1 to 1 1/2 hours until the mixture has doubled in size. I use my oven and turn it up to 50C for a few minutes then turn it off before placing the bowl into the oven, if required I turn the oven light on. It should be just warm not hot.

Once the dough has risen remove from bowl, punch it down and mix in the chocolate chips quickly. I used baking chips which do not melt very quickly, the higher quality chocolate will melt and become a sticky mess.

Dough should be smooth and flexible

Lightly spray a baking tray around 20cm X 30 cm with oil. Shape the dough into 12 even rolls and place into the tray. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest/rise for 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 190 C (fan forced). Remove the plastic wrap from baking tray and pop the buns in the oven for 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 160 C and cook for a further 20 minutes.

Allow to cool a little. Pop the royal icing into a zip lock bag, cut a small hole in the corner and pipe crossed onto the top of the buns.

Best served immediately although still good next day. Store in airtight container at room temperature.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores.

Affiliate links may earn me money and contribute to supporting this blog.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer do not reuse without permission. 

Cute dress from Target Australia

Egg Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Thumbprint Cookies

I live in a household of people who like to lick the bowl.

Except me, I'm the odd one out. 'Wait,' I cry 'That has raw egg in it!'

Everyone around me looks at me like I am some kind of crazy 'cause y'know they just wanna eat raw dough.

As I compromise I came up with this egg free chocolate chip cookie dough a while back and last week I thought I would give the kids a treat and pop it onto thumbprint cookies.

Of course they loved them, in fact Sweet loved them most of all and after finding extra left over raw cookie dough in the bowl she was in dough heaven.

I on the other hand was not completely smitten, they tasted OK but I think my brain was convinced that I should not be eating the raw dough.

Anyhoo enough about my issues. The point of this intro is that if you like raw cookie dough you'll love these cookies. Yup just like I thought, pretty much everyone that is not me can now scroll on down to the recipe.

Egg free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Thumbprint Cookies

225g (8oz) unsalted butter (softened to room temperature)
2 cups plain flour (all purpose)
1/3 cup cocoa
1 cup sifted icing sugar (powdered sugar)
pinch salt
2 tsp vanilla extract

Line 2 baking trays with baking paper (parchment paper) and preheat oven to 160 C (325 F).

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix until combined.

Roll tablespoons (US approx 1 1/2 Tbsp) of mixture into a ball, flatten, place onto prepared trays with enough space around to spread a little.

Use your thump to press an indent into the middle of each cookie.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the cookies are firm to touch.

Allow to cool on tray for 5 minutes and then remove to wire tray to cool completely.

Once cooled place 2 teaspoons of chocolate chip cookie dough mixture (recipe below) on top of each cookie. If you like sprinkle extra mini chocolate chip cookies on top of each cookie.

Store in an airtight container in fridge for up to 3 days.

Egg Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

1 cup plain (All purpose) flour
75 grams (3oz) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp (2 US Tbsp) Milk
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Sift the flour and set aside.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer at high speed cream (mix together) the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to medium low, add the milk and vanilla and mix until combined. Then reduce speed to low and mix in the flour until completely combined. Add the chocolate chips and mix in by hand.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores.

Affiliate links may earn me money and contribute to supporting this blog.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer do not reuse without permission. 

Chocolate peanut layer extravaganza cake

I'm dreaming all about deeply satisfying rich tastes and at the moment I love the pairing of chocolate with creamy peanut butter. As though you can't tell from my previous post :)

To try and quell my desire I created this chocolate peanut layer extravaganza cake. Now I know what y'all are thinking, surly that Oreo Chocolate Cheesecake you just posted put a dent in my cravings, but the problem was I shared it all out. To remedy it I kept this one mostly to myself.

Which is quite an accomplishment as it's a reasonably tall cake.  With the additional height of the chocolate shards it makes quite an impressive cake suitable to serve at any gathering.  

The addition of salted peanuts sprinkled on top and the chocolate shards with added sea salt flakes adds a lovely contrast both in it's crunchy texture and the salty taste which is a welcome foil to the sweet frosting.

During the winter months the cake should hold up quite well, however in warmer months or in warm climates you may need to chill the cake in the refrigerator during assemble the next layer of cake has been pressed in place.

Finally if your tastes tend towards the delectably indulgent but you don't quite have my stamina you can quarter the recipe, bake in a 15 cm round baking tin for around 20- 15 minutes less and have a cake that is still extravagant in taste but a little more moderate in serving size.

Chocolate peanut extravaganza cake makes 1 X 20 cm diameter by 15 cm high cake (excluding shard height)

I used an Ateco 868 piping tip and large disposable piping bag. Cake will serve 20 to 35 people depending on serving size. 

4 layers of chocolate cake (recipe follows)

Peanut Butter frosting (recipe follows)

100g dark chocolate

3 Tbsp salted peanuts

1/4 tsp salt flakes

Make the chocolate shards. 

Cover a flat tray with baking paper and melt the dark chocolate in the microwave at medium low heat and whisk until smooth. Spread the chocolate out onto the prepared tray, the chocolate should be a few mm's thick.

Chop 1 1/2 Tbsp of the peanuts roughly and sprinkle on top of the melted chocolate along with the 1/4 tsp of salt flakes. Allow to set.

Assemble the cake.

Place the first layer of chocolate cake onto a cake board or cake stand. Ensure this layer is completely flat, so it would be the bottom layer from one of the cakes you cut in half.

Place a large star piping tip into a piping bag and fill the bag with peanut frosting.

Starting on the outside edge of the cake, holding the piping bag upright 90 angle to the cake apply pressure for a short burst to pipe a star of frosting. Release the pressure on the bag and the pull the bag up away from the cake. Continue to pipe frosting around the edge of the cake and then pipe a second circle of frosting 'stars' just inside the first circle. Continue to pipe working to the center of the cake, you should have around 4 or 5 circles.

Take the next layer of cake, it should be the top layer to the cake you have placed on the bottom. If this cake has a rounded dome*, turn it over and gently press the domed edge into the frosting ensuring the cake is completely centered on the previous layer and that you have no cake overhanging. You should now have a flat top on the cake to work on.

Using the piping bag filled with peanut frosting cover the top of the cake with frosting as described in the steps above.

Take the next layer of cake. This layer should be the bottom layer of the remaining cake. Press it gently into place, make sure that the cake is centered with no overhang.

Using the piping bag filled with peanut frosting cover the top of the cake with frosting as described in the steps above.

Place the final layer of cake, if it has a domed top, once again push the top down gently into the frosting so you have a flat top on the cake to pipe onto.

Pipe the final layer of peanut frosting onto the top of the cake taking care that the stars are even and the same size.

Add final decorations.

Cut the dark chocolate covered in peanuts into large triangle shards using a sharp knife. Press the shards into the top of the cake with the points of the triangle facing upwards. 

Sprinkle the remaining peanuts onto the top of the cake.

Cake may be served immediately or stored for  in refrigerator until ready to serve, remove 20 minutes prior to serving. Left overs cake be stored in an airtight container in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Chocolate layer cake

3 cups plain flour
2 tsp bicarb soda  
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup cool water
250 g unsalted butter room temperature cut into small squares
2 1/2 cup caster sugar 
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 160 C fan forced (325 F) and grease flour and line 2 X 20cm round tins with baking paper.

Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Mix the hot water and cocoa to make a paste then add the cool water mix until well combined, set aside.

In a large bowl of a stand mixer mix together butter and sugar at high speed until well creamed (about 2-3 mins).

Reduce speed to low and mix in eggs then vanilla mixing until well combined.

Add 1/3 of the flour, mix until just combined then add 1/2 the cocoa mixture, mix again until combined and scrape down sides. Add another 1/3rd of the flour, mix, add the remainder of the cocoa mix and scrape down sides then mix in the remaining flour.

Add the sour cream and continue to mix at low speed until completely combined.

Divide mixture evenly between the 2 X 20cm tins and bake for around 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Allow to cool in tin for 5 minutes then carefully turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

When ready to use cut each cake in half horizontally to make 4 layers in total.

Peanut Butter Frosting

Ensure that all ingredients are at room temperature prior to mixing. In warm weather you will only require 1 Tbsp to achieve a smooth piping consistency. In cold weather you may need to add extra milk to achieve the desired consistency.

4 cups icing sugar mixture

2 cups smooth peanut butter

200 g unsalted butter room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp milk at room temperature

extra milk at room temperature extra if required

Place the sugar, peanut butter and butter in a large bowl and mix at high speed until light and fluffy, around 6 minutes. Add the vanilla extract and mix until combined. Add 1 Tbsp of milk and mix until well combined. Add extra milk as required to achieve a consistency which will is light and fluffy but will hold its shape when piped.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores.

Affiliate links may earn me money and contribute to supporting this blog.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer do not reuse without permission. 

Sorry Not Sorry - Chocolate Oreo Cheesecake cake

Sorry, I know I'm supposed to be blogging about healthy clean eating and putting up recipes with cakes made from raw kale that taste exactly like kale chocolate.

Y'all have probably made resolutions and I really want to support you in that, fingers crossed that it all works out for you.

But I made a resolution that I thought I had a chance I might keep so it had nothing at all to do with giving up cheesecake, frosting, chocolate and/or peanut butter.

Truthfully I made this cake for Christmas day kinda in rebellion to making pavlova to take to every family event. I mean, I like pavlova as much as the next person but there is only so much you can eat.

So I thought I would like some cheesecake, then I thought, hmmm maybe some chocolate cake would finish it off and I had a bit of peanut butter frosting left over in the fridge so I covered the whole lot in that.

and it came together to make this cake. Seriously cut these slices really, really thin

Chocolate Oreo Cheesecake
makes one tall 6" cake

1 X 6" Oreo Cheesecake no crust (recipe below)
2 X 6" chocolate cake (recipe below)
Chocolate ganache set to spreading consistency
Peanut frosting
Optional - a few meringues, Oreos, chopped peanuts

Place 1 of the chocolate cakes onto a cake board or your cake stand, cover the top with a layer of chocolate ganache and pop the cheesecake onto the top of the cake pressing down lightly. Place in fridge to set.

Remove from fridge, cover top of cheesecake with a layer of chocolate ganache and then place the other chocolate cake onto the cheesecake, press down lightly.

Cover sides and top of cake with a thin layer of chocolate ganache and then chill in fridge until set. .

When set remove from fridge and cover whole cake with a layer of peanut frosting, return to fridge to set.

Gently heat ganache until it becomes just pour-able and top cake with a layer of ganache allowing a little to spill over the edges. Retain any extra ganache to heat and use as a sauce for serving

Decorate top as desired, I added some meringue, Oreo's and chopped peanut, although if you have extra peanut frosting some swirls of frosting with mini Oreo's would be cute.

Oreo Cheesecake

500g (17 3/4oz - if you round up to 18 oz it will be ok) cream cheese (full fat)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg plus 1 egg white
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp plain flour (1 US Tbsp all purpose flour)
14 Oreo Cookies (whole or broken - I used whole)

Preheat oven to 160C

Grease and line a 6" tin with baking paper.

Beat cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Add egg and egg white, lemon juice, vanilla and flour, beat until just combined.

Pour half mixture into prepared tin, press half Oreos into mixture, pour half of the remaining mixture in and top with remaining Oreos, then the rest of the cheesecake mixture.

Bake in preheated oven for around 40 minutes or until the center is just set.

Allow to cool in tin for 15 minutes. Run a plastic knife around the edge of the cake to loosen sides and then carefully tip out cake onto a cake board to cool.

Chocolate Cake

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp bicarb soda  (baking soda)
1/4 baking powder
pinch salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup hot water
1/2 cup cool water
115 g unsalted butter (4 oz butter) room temperature cut into small squares
1 1/4 cup caster sugar (superfine) use regular white sugar if caster sugar not available
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 160 C fan forced (325 F) and grease flour and line 2 X 6" tins with baking paper.

Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Mix the hot water and cocoa to make a paste then add the cool water mix until well combined, set aside.

In a large bowl of a stand mixer mix together butter and sugar at high speed until well creamed (about 2-3 mins).

Reduce speed to low and mix in eggs then vanilla mixing until well combined.

Add 1/3 of the flour, mix until just combined then add 1/2 the cocoa mixture, mix again until combined and scrape down sides. Add another 1/3rd of the flour, mix, add the remainder of the cocoa mix and scrape down sides then add the final flour and mix until completely combined.

Divide mixture evenly between the 2 X 6" tins and bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.

Allow to cool in tin for 5 minutes then carefully turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Peanut Frosting

1/2 cup icing sugar (confectioners)
1/2 cup peanut butter
50 g (1 3/4oz) unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 to 3 Tbsp milk

Mix sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add milk to make frosting to a spreadable consistency (in hot weather less milk will be required)

Chocolate Ganache

500 g (17 3/4oz - if you round up to 18 oz it will be ok) dark chocolate
175 g ( 6 1/8 oz) cream*

Place chocolate and cream in microwave safe bowl and heat at high heat for 2 minutes. Allow to sit for a minute and then whisk until smooth. Cover bowl and allow to set to desired consistency.

*I made this in summer in cool weather use 250g cream.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores.

Affiliate links may earn me money and contribute to supporting this blog.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer do not reuse without permission. 

Rocky Road cookie candy fudge

I had a plan.

It was a good plan and it involved me being totally organised with teacher gifts this Christmas.

Now I'm not going to bore you with the details of this super amazing plan, but lets just say everything did not go according to plan which makes this year pretty much like the last few years.

Paper napkin Coco White Greengate from Simply Sweet Home

But I did manage to come up with this nut free Rocky Road which was in the plan so I'm calling this year a success.

Because I made this nut free I added some Oreo Cookies for a bit of crunch. I also used Turkish Delight, which I know not everyone likes or can easily find so in the recipe I just say to cut up your favorite candy bar or lollies instead and it will work out amazing.

Lidded bowl - Sophie Vintage bowl and lid available from Simply Sweet Home

Rocky Road Candy Fudge makes around 60 pieces, you can halve the recipe if you like. I used Lindt Milk Chocolate. Conversions are approximate in this recipe.


200g (7oz) white marshmallows 
1 1/2 cup white sugar
2/3 cup evaporated milk (not low fat)
1/4 tsp salt
500 g (18 oz ) milk chocolate chopped into small pieces
1 tsp vanilla extract
150 g (5 1/4 oz)Oreo Cookies
150 g (5 1/4 oz) marshmallows
165 g (5 3/4 oz) candy bars or lollies (I used Fry's Turkish Delight bars)
400g (14oz) milk chocolate extra

Line 2 trays 15cm X 20cm (6" X 8") with foil.

Chop up the cookies, marshmallow and candy in a large bowl (use a bigger bowl than shown in picture as you will need to mix in chocolate later.) I like to use scissors to cut marshmallows and candy.

Chop the 500g (18oz) chocolate into small pieces and place in a large bowl with the vanilla extract.

Pop marshmallows, sugar, evaporated milk and salt into a saucepan on medium low heat, stir until the marshmallows melt. Stir the mixture over the heat for another 5 to 7 minutes, do not allow it to boil.

Pour the marshmallow mixture into the bowl with the chocolate and allow to sit for a minute or 2.

Using electric mixer beat the chocolate fudge mixture for a couple of minutes at low speed. All the chocolate should be melted.

(note this is a picture from a previous fudge the milk chocolate fudge will appear lighter in colour)  

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, use the back of the spoon to level the mixture until it looks pretty smooth

Chop the remaining 400g milk chocolate in small pieces and melt in the microwave at medium heat for 2 minutes, allow to sit stir and then heat for a further 1 or 2 minutes, mix until smooth.

Pour just over half the mixture into the prepared marshmallow/cookies mixture and gently use spoon to try and coat as evenly as possible. Spoon the mixture onto the top of the fudge and press in as evenly as possible. Pour or spoon the remaining melted milk chocolate over the top of the rocky road fudge making sure that there are no bare candy bits showing.

Cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight.

When the mixture is set, turn upside down on a cutting board and peel off the foil. Using a sharp knife cut fudge into desired number of pieces.

Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores. 

Affiliate links may earn me money and contribute to supporting this blog. Links to Simply Sweet Home are not sponsored however I am related to the owner.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer do not reuse without permission.  

Baking hack Marshmallow Booster for domed cakes

Some times I make mistakes.

OK, OK I know I make mistakes all the time. But sometimes I make mistakes that require me to come up with a solution that ends up being kinda cool and worth sharing with everyone.

Like last Sunday, when I baked a packet mix cake and did not follow the instructions properly because I used a smaller tin, split the mix into 2 cakes and was lazy and did not line the tin as directed.

In my mind I was thinking that if I used two 6 inch tins I would end up with a lovely tall cake instead of a regular 8 inch flat cake. But at least 2 of those things I did wrong can result in the cake cooking quicker than usual which can mean overly domed (peaked) cakes.

And that is what happened, it was my fault - I know it - no use getting upset over it.

But I didn't want to cut off the tops to level the cakes, it was just too much to lose and it was too big a space to just fill with plain ganache, so I came up with this marshmallow booster cake hack idea.
 

I placed the cake flat side down on my cake stand, put a thin layer of chocolate ganache over the domed top of the cake and then stuck a ring of marshmallows around the edge of the cake. Then I filled in the rest with ganache* and squished them together with the other cake flat side on the top. I chilled the cake for a bit and then covered the sides and top with the remaining ganache using a kitchen knife.

*to make ganache melt 2 parts chocolate to 1 part cream (so for example 200g (8oz) chocolate to 100g (4oz) cream) in the microwave at high heat for a minute leave to rest and then whisk until smooth. Heat another minute or 2 if the mixture is not smooth and then whisk again.

I decorated the top with some raspberries but you can do what ever you like.

It was a pretty good save if I do say so myself, the marshmallows are more economical than chocolate and not as heavy and dense, plus to the kids it seemed like I was doing something exciting.

Hope you enjoyed my cake fail. We all did :)

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer unless otherwise stated do not reuse without permission. 

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

The kids went back to school a few weeks ago and I started off the year baking home made healthy snacks for them to take to school.

Reduced fat and sugar muffins made with banana and blueberries and wholemeal cookies. Yup I was totally that mum.

But then it started, the muffins were still banana and wholemeal but I was slipping chocolate in as well, same with the cookies.

Not that I mind stuff like banana and blueberry muffins, they are actually quite nice and the kids love them, but I like a bit of chocolate every now and then.

And I don't think there is anything wrong with that.

Anyhoo today I found a bag of raspberry M&M's sitting around and I actually don't really eat candy by itself much so I thought I would make them into some cookies. 'Cause candy in cookies - yup I totally eat that, like all the time.

These cookies are a bit of a cross between a muffin top and a cookie, a touch cakey, they are not crisp and not overly buttery, cakey is the way I like them. It means I can eat a couple and I don't feel overloaded.



The raspberry M&M's give the cookies a yummy raspberry flavour which I love, and a bit of a bonus for me they are pink - yay!.

Of course you can substitute regular chocolate chips for M&M's if you like and they will be just as delicious.

Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies (make 24 cookies)

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/4 tsp bi-carb soda (baking soda)
1/4 tsp salt
115g unsalted butter at room temperature (4 oz)
1/4 cup caster sugar (superfine)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup raspberry M&M's
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (of chopped milk chocolate - I used Lindt milk)
Optional 1/4 cup raspberry M&M's extra

Line 2 trays with baking paper. Preheat oven to 160 C (320 F)

Sift together flour, bi-carb soda (baking soda) and salt, set aside until required.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together butter and both sugars at high speed for around 3 minutes.

Reduce the speed to medium low, scrape down the sides and add the egg and vanilla.

Reduce the speed to low and add in the flour mixture, mix until combined. Add the chocolate and M&M's  and mix for a few seconds until distributed evenly.

Scoop out around 1 1/2 Tbsp (2 US tbsp) of mixture and flatten into a disc shape on the prepared tray. Repeat until all mixture is used.

Bake in preheated oven for 12 to 16 minutes or until cookies start to turn golden.

Optional - after 8 minutes remove trays from oven and quickly press a few extra M&M's onto the top.

Cool on tray for around 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer do not reuse without permission.