Maltesers Birthday Cake

The pass couple of months I have been busy with changing jobs and finishing off my course with the Open University. Now that I’ve settled in my new job, I’ll have time to work on this blog again. I’m hoping to write at least one post every two weeks, so let’s hope I can do it!
Last weekend was my sister, Wing’s birthday so I made her a Maltesers birthday cake. The cake was very simple to make and you can pretty much substitute Maltesers for any type of chocolate you fancy.

Cost: about £2
Cooking time: 40mins

Ingredients
(For 6)
100g margarine (Stork), room temperature
100g caster sugar
100g self raising flour
2 eggs
½ tsp baking powder
200ml Elmlea double cream
80g Maltesers (or as much as you want)
Maltesers, marshmallows and chocolate sprinkles to decorate




Method

1. Line two 18cm (7inch) sandwich tins with baking paper.
2. Preheat the oven at 180 ºC.
3. Mix butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in the eggs.
5. Gently, add the flour while stirring the mixture.
6. Add the baking powder and mix well until the mixture turns creamy.
7. Pour the mixture into the prepared tins and bake for 20mins.
8. Meanwhile, whip the double cream.
9. Crush the Maltesers using a bowl and spoon.
10. Spoon half of the whipped cream into the bowl of Maltesers.
11. Put both bowl of whipped cream into the fridge.
12. When the cakes are cool enough to handle, spread the Maltesers and cream mixture on the top of one of the cakes.
13. Place the second cake on top and spread the rest of the whipped cream on the top.
14. Decorate with Maltesers, marshmallows and chocolate sprinkles.

Tip
I find different brands of butter/margarine really do make a difference to the cake. My favourite is Stork because it gives both crispiness and sponginess to the cake.

Try a different topping. My sister Kathy baked me this one for my birthday.

Mussels and Spaghetti in creamy sauce

Mussels are surprisingly tasty and cheap. They should be eaten more often as an alternative to meat because they are low in fat and very nutritious. One reason why I think mussels are not as popular as other meat is that people don’t know what to cook them with. Well, this recipe should give an idea, to you city people, of how to incorporate mussels into your main meals!

Cost: about £1.30

Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients

(For 2)

1 pack of cooked mussel meat (180g)

200g spaghetti

½ onion, diced

Olive oil

Garlic (granules or crushed and chopped)

Ground black pepper

1 tsp of chicken stock granules

100ml of single cream

60ml of milk

4 tsp of corn flour mixed with 2 tsp of cold water, to thicken the sauce

Method

1. Cook the pasta in a small sauce pan, according to the instructions in the packet (usually boil for 10-12 mins).
2. Meanwhile, heat up a little olive oil in another sauce pan and throw in the onion with the garlic and black pepper and fry it until golden brown.
3. Wash and drain the mussels and add them to the onions.
4. Pour in the cream and milk and let it boil for a few minutes.
5. Add the chicken stock to the sauce pan and stir.
6. Add a little corn flour to it and stir. Keep adding corn flour to it until the sauce is thick enough, then turn off the heat.
7. When the spaghetti is cooked, drain it and throw it into the sauce pan with the creamy sauce.
8. Give it a quick stir so that the sauce covers all of the spaghetti and serve.

Tip

A friend once told me that by adding a bit of oil to pasta when it’s cooking will stop it from bubbling up and overflowing the pan. It works! :)