Nutella Marbled Loaf

Kat was still in school while we were enjoying our half term last week so she had her one and only sleepover with us on Saturday night. Once Jessica was asleep Kat's crafting demands came thick and fast and it all began with a request to make cake. Big fans of Nutella that we are, we opted for a recipe for a marbled loaf cake from GoodtoKnow. It was very straightforward and the resulting cake was delicious. I think you can probably tell from the photo that Kat wasn't brilliant at splitting the cake mixture in half so we ended up with rather more chocolate than plain cake but no-one's complaining!

Chocolate Making at Craft Cabin E4

We had a lovely morning at the Craft Cabin E4 in Chingford today.  We were there for a birthday party, which they ran brilliantly. Jessica loved creating her own chocolates from the array of sprinkles, raisins, cereals etc. and made a glorious mess spooning the melted chocolate into the moulds to fill them up. The children decorated boxes to take their chocolates home in, played party games and had a nice lunch too. It was a very busy couple of hours and the little lady had a blast. A huge thank you to the hosts and the staff.

Honeycomb and Chocolate Spoons

Last winter I had an inexplicable urge to make honeycomb and attempt to perfect the art of doing so, which was easier said than done without a sugar thermometer. I will confess up front that in making the several batches more than a couple ended up in the bin and somehow I also managed to ruin a couple of my saucepans so this was certainly not one of my most successful exploits but the ones that worked were delicious and the photos I took at the time still make my mouth water now...

I used a BBC good food recipe but halved the quantities after my first attempt. The full recipe was huge and very thick in the 20cm square tin that they had recommended. I liked the thinner honeycomb that came from using the same tin with 100g of caster sugar, 2.5 tbsp of golden syrup and 1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda. I used this recipe because it didn't require a sugar thermometer. The reviews aren't great but with sufficient care and attention it did work for me.

I also made up a collection of chocolate spoons by scooping melted chocolate onto wooden teaspoons and then seasoning or decorating them laid out on greaseproof paper. I liked the idea of the chocolate chilli ones and the sea salt chocolate ones stirred through hot chocolate for a more indulgent drink. I didn't keep any for myself though so I've no idea if they worked! They did look pretty wrapped up in cellophane and ribbon though!