Mint Chocolate Chip Cake Recipe

As requested by theicingonourcake.blogspot.co.uk/, i'm going to share a cake recipe that I experimented with and turns out to be everyone's favorite cake.

I am a lover of baking and find it very relaxing. I make many different things but this cake is nice and simple but is a show stopper.

I forgot the Cocoa Powder in the pic WOOPS!

INGREDIENTS 

4oz Self Raising Flour

4oz Butter

4oz Caster Sugar

2 Eggs

1tsp Baking Powder

2tbsp Cocoa Powder

1/2tsp Peppermint (for both Cake and Ganche)

300g Dark Chocolate

300g Double Cream

One Bag of White Chocolate Chips

Mint Chocolate Thins

Chocolate Flakes

EQUIPMENT

Most importantly an oven

Cake tin

Grease-proof paper

Cake board

A flat knife

Measuring Spoons

Sieve

Mixing Bowl and whisk

METHOD

I am a Delia Smith and completely believe in her sponge cake mixture! So if all fails pull out Delia and follow her basic Victoria Sponge Recipe lol.

How I make my sponges are in 2 separate halves instead of making one big cake and cutting in half.

Make sure your ingredients are room temperature.

 CAKE

To start you want to pre-heat your oven to Gas Mark 3, Grease and Line your tin.

In a bowl mix the Butter and Caster Sugar together.

Mix the Eggs into the Butter and Sugar ONE at a time.

Sieve the Self Raising Flour a bit at the time, until the mixture is nice and smooth.

Add into the mixture the Cocoa Powder and Baking Powder.

Then finally add the Peppermint Essence, it might not seem much but you want the flavor to be there but not WOW that is MINTY!

In the bottom cake add the bag of White Chocolate Chips, so that it sits nicely and when you put the top cake on the Ganche will not sit lumpy.

I am a blind baker, I bake by smell and not timings, but usually around 20mins, you should be able smell the beautiful cake and touch it with springing back.

My baked cakes!

I usually let the cakes cool in the cakes tin, they then retain the moisture, I think....it just makes it better lol.

TOPPING

In a non stick pan put the Double Cream, Dark Chocolate and 1/2tsp Peppermint Essence  in a warm up on a LOW heat

Wait until the Dark Chocolate Melts then take off the heat and pour into a bowl.

Cover with Cling Film, to stop any insects trying to enter the chocolaty goodness. Put to one side for ONE to TWO hours, until it has set a little.

Give the chance a stir before applying, with a Big Spoon, put TWO big blobs of Ganche on the bottom sponge and spread out. Then put the top piece on.

Using your Flat Knife added the Ganche to the side of your cake, do not worry about making a mess you can clean that up with a piece of kitchen towel. Then add the rest of the top and make it all nice a smooth.

To add my Mint Chocolate Thins I did keep them in the fridge so they are hard to make it easier cut into two. Put them on the cake like it was a clock face, adding the Chocolate Sprinkles on last.

Finished Cake

I hope you like the cake as much as my friends and family do.

And remember to check out theicingonourcake.blogspot.co.uk/

Bye!

A Romantic Weekend Away And A Visit To My Third Love

This weekend I was whisked away by my lovely Mike to celebrate our 3rd Anniversary of being engaged! Normally we do not celebrate on a grand scale, I think last year we treated ourselves to some Steak and a bottle of Bubbly, most likely something that was on offer lol, but Mike decided we deserved one last treat and we might not get the chance next year. We also wanted to take the chance to spend some us time, as we've finding its really important to take the time just being us, together not worrying about others! All be it we spent most of the weekend discussing weddings and house, but we did it in 4* luxury in a very relaxing Jacuzzi. 

We came to be excited that were not on the final stretch of saying the wedding is 14 months away and soon will be say 1 YEAR!

While on our little trip to Derbyshire Dales, we visited a few places, enjoyed a few drinks but the highlight was visiting my third love, next to Mike and History.

CHATSWORTH HOUSE (www.chatsworth.org)

Before any judgement I visit this property nearly every year, generally around my birthday. Visiting this place reminds me, why I LOVE history so much (my second love) there is just an atmosphere around this place, something so familiar but it is such a beautiful place that is always changing.

While contemplating my happiness while walking around the property, I had to think of the once unhappy bride of this property, who has her very own new wing and you are unable to miss her presence, the famous Lady Georgiana Spencer aka Georgiana Cavendish Duchess of Devenshire. 

G, as she was nicknamed married William Cavendish the 6th Duke of Devenshire on the 7th June 1774, on her 17th birthday, believing that she was marrying for a love match, and the duke wanted her as his bride for love not for the Heir and the Spare. But she was put in a situation that was common for the ladies of the court, and indeed her dearest friend also felt this pain. No not Lady Elizabeth (Bess) Forster but a lady in a different country who managed to make a wonderful friendship and help aid each other threw the pains of their marriage. This lady would be the last Queen of France and Navarre, Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna of Austria or commonly known Marie Antoinette, married King Louis XVI, then the Dauphin of France on the 16th May 1770, at the very young age of 15.

G, Painted by Gainsborough

Maria Antonia aged 13 by Martin van Meytens

Both marriages ended in companionship but it took these great ladies a long time to find a way to love their husbands, who they married as part of a game played by the adults of court. historyandotherthoughts.blogspot.co.uk/, writes a fascinating piece on "What Did Marie Antoinette And Georgiana Duchess of Devenshire Have In Common?

But I find when looking back in the past, yes these ladies were lucky to be privileged, but in their rank they never knew the joy of marriage for love or knowing their husbands inside and out before committing to them.

Its is wonderful be reminded I might admire houses such as Chatsworth, but never own, yet I am lucky to be with a man who adores me and will not be worried if I have a boy to continue his name but will love bringing life into the world with me.

Critical Illness and Life Cover at My Age

As were in the midst of buying our first home, we had to have the very depressing conversation about Life Insurance, Critical Illness etc........I never thought about death for so long before, especially as I feel I am just starting my life!

The best moment was reading through the paper work and finding the top list of 39 things that are most likely affect you.......

1. Alzheimer's Disease
2. Aorta Graft Surgery
3. Aplastic Anaemia
4. Bacterial Meningitis
5. Benign Brain Tumor
6. Benign Spinal Cord Tumor
7. Blindness
8. Cancer
9. Cardiac Arrest
10. Cardiomyopathy
11. Chronic Rheumatoid Arthritis
12. Coma
13. Coronary Artery By-pass Grafts
14. Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
15. Deafness
16. Dementia
17. Heart Attack
18. Heart Valve Replacement or Repair
19. HIV
20. Kidney Failure
21. Liver Failure
22. Loss of Hands or Feet
23. Loss of Independence 
24. Loss of Speech
25. Major Organ Transplant
26. Motor Neurone Disease
27. Multiple Sclerosis
28. Open Heart Surgery
29. Paralysis of Limbs
30. Parkinson's Disease
31. Progressive Supranuclear Palsy
32. Respiratory Failure
33. Serve Crohn's Dosease
34. Stoke
35. Systemic Lupus Erythrmatosus 
36. Third Degree Burn
37. Traumatic Head Injury
38. Type 1 Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus
39. Ulcerative Colitis

To be honest I haven't heard of a few of these, but it did  make me think as I was ticking in my box if any off these have affected my family, when you become an adult is death a big worry? While having this discussion with my solicitor I realized I actually fear losing Mike or becoming ill myself.

It made think how simple the decisions as a child were, my priorities were who to dress up as today, will my parents take me anywhere fun today, will I be treated to puddings or cake........Now I'm making decisions to decided to have Life Cover or Not.....and i'm saying this without having a pension! Ekkkk 

Is A Wedding Planner A Must?

My inspiration for my FIRST blog comes from a conversation Mike and Myself had after watching BBC 2 Rhod Gilbert Work Experience. I know your thinking what does Rhod Gilbert the comedian and weddings have in common? A man who publicly declared hates weddings, well whether he likes them or not in this episode he was a Wedding Planner, and as funny as it was, it made us ask do you need one? We are getting married in 14 months time and due to the expense we began planning and paying the beginning of this year.  

Courtesy of BBC

I became my own Wedding Planner! Who could plan our wedding better than me? Right? The best part I have done it for free, with simple tips as in, attend a free Bridal Fayre you get a free Bridal Magazine (usually £3.99) which had budget information in it and there is loads of websites that offer this for free, especially www.confetti.co.uk! Add the power of the internet, a phone and Excel Spreadsheet you can handle your own budget and keep an eye on it, even alter it if you need to! For the majority of the wedding we looked at online before visiting. For example nearly all receptions have online brochures in pdf files to look at. Also depending where you book you get a Wedding Planner for the day! So do you need to pay for 2?

But something Rhod said really got me thinking; "Blokes don't dream of their weddings from five years old. Blokes don't give a t***." My Fiancee is quite involved in our wedding but the bigger picture is me and my mum, especially with the little details.

 Now i'm not declaring war on Wedding Planners, but are they a wedding staple for everyone? But for us our budget is everything! With the average wedding costing £15,000 were lucky we have £12,000, but a Wedding Planner is extra cost! Can you afford the extra cost? Are you organised enough with plenty of time to do it yourself?

Smaller companies generally charge between 11-15% with bigger companies hitting 20%. Putting it in context, if we did have one we would loose £1,800 (15%) or £2,400 (20%) out of our budget. The company Rhod used 'Oh So Perfect Weddings' charge from £1,200, but offer a variety of services at different cost.

I guess if I was someone like Angelina Jolie, a Wedding Planner would be a must, but wedding companies would be offering her their services for advertisements and royalties.and I guess budget wouldn't be a topic" But I am a mere girl from Stoke who is finding reasonable costs!

As for Rhod: "I definitely 100% do not think I had a knack for Wedding Planning, so I don't know about the future if Give A S*** Weddings." But my question is how much did he and the BBC get for free?

But what do you think? To have a Wedding Planner or not?