I was thinking about what to blog today and feeling just a little bit hungry. I wanted something quick, because I didn't want to have to wait, and easy, because I didn't want to fuss with anything or clean the kitchen, and warm, because it was chilly outside at the dog park today. So I thought I'd make cocoa.

I was pulling the mugs out of the cupboard when I realized this must be the third time this week I've made cocoa. That's okay with me - it's one of my favourite things - but I wondered if there are people out there who don't know how to make a cup of cocoa. So I thought I'd post the recipe:




Combine 1 tablespoon sugar with 1 tablespoon cocoa in a mug. Add a little less than 1 tablespoon of milk and stir into a smooth paste. Fill the mug the rest of the way with milk and stir; things won't combine perfectly but don't worry about it - they'll work themselves out as the milk heats up.

Put your mug in the microwave and cook on high for 1.5 to 2 minutes in 30 second intervals (when I'm making two mugs at once I use 1 minute intervals and a total of 3 minutes). Stir between intervals. Remove your hot cocoa from the microwave and enjoy.

This recipe is nice because it's so easy to alter: put marshmallows or a little whipped cream on top, and chili or cinnamon to the cocoa power, use more or less sugar, ...

It's really wonderful on chilly days.



ps. I was half way through making the cocoa when I remembered the chocolate cake in a mug recipe my sister sent me a while ago. Now I'm trying to decide if we could have cake for desert after having cocoa for an appetizer. I think I'd better print off the recipe - just in case. Do you think I need to wash the mugs out or could I use them as is?

I don't know why it has taken me so long to get around to posting this but it is finally up.
My favourite thing for my birthday is to make a cake and share it with my friends. This year I made cupcakes and decorated them with some pretty paper cups and fancy icing tips I got from Bake It Pretty (I got the "Best-ever Cupcake Decorating Kit" and the bavarian rose cups). Be warned - those big tips use a lot of icing; I had to make a second batch to finish decorating my cupcakes.

I thought it would be nice to share some birthday cake with all of you but didn't really think the cupcakes would do all that well going through the mail so here is the next best thing.

This is our family recipe for Birthday Cake. It is always called that, even when it's being made for some other occasion. I got it from my mum, who got it from her mum, who got it from a friend. It's a nice heavy pound cake especially well suited for making into shapes (we had some pretty cool birthday cakes growing up) and makes wonderful cupcakes, even if you don't ice them.


Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

3 ½ cups cake and pastry flour (not self-rising)
1 tsp baking powder
salt

1 ⅓ cups milk

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. Sift dry ingredients together into another bowl. Add dry ingredients and milk alternatively to the egg mixtures as follows: dry, milk, dry, milk, dry. Bake in a 9" x 13" pan for about 50 minutes at 350℉.

For 2 dozen cupcakes, spoon batter into paper lined muffin tins to ⅔ full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 350℉.


4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 cups icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla
¼ cup milk

Cream butter with some of the sugar. Add vanilla and milk and stir to combine. Add the rest of the sugar and stir until smooth.


This version makes icing that pipes nicely and holds its shape well.

2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp vegetable shortening
2 - 3 cups icing sugar
½ tsp vanilla
¼ cup milk


For a brighter flavour this time I substituted the zest of a lemon for the vanilla in the cake and the juice of half a lemon for the vanilla in the icing (which is probably part of why it took my three cups of icing sugar to get nice firm icing).

Ever since we finished the German gingerbreads I've been wanting more. My friend Katy has promised to try and procure a real German recipe for me but I am impatient and decided to experiment. I made these for breakfast this morning and they are so good. I added raisins, currents and peel to a gingerbread cake recipe I had, cooked it in muffin tins and added a glaze. They are not identical to the German cakes by any means but they have the same types of flavours. They're sweet but not too much and would be nice for tea or dessert and are a special treat for breakfast.


Glazed Gingerbread with Peel and Raisins

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs

2/3 cup boiling water
1 tsp baking soda

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/3 cup each of golden raisins, currents and candied peel.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Put raisins and currents in a small bowl and cover with hot water (if your peel is kind of dry you can soak it too). Cream shortening and sugar. Blend in molasses and beat in eggs.  Pour boiling water over soda and add, stir well. Add dry ingredients and stir to combine (it will be a bit lumpy - that's okay). Drain and add fruit.

Spoon batter into muffin tins. Bake for about 25 minutes or until tops spring back slightly when pressed (this cake is actually best slightly underdone).

While muffins are baking combine juice of half a lemon with 1/2 cup icing sugar and blend well.

As soon as you take the muffins out of the oven brush tops with lemon glaze. Let the glaze set and then brush again. When the tops are dry carefully loosen muffin edges with a knife and lift them out of the pans. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 12 generous muffins.


If you leave out the fruit and cook this in an 8" pan (about 1 hour at 325, the centre should fall as it cools) it will be a cake my mum used to make. She always served it with a lemon sauce (heat up juice of 1 lemon and add sugar to taste).