The way to Your Heart.........Writing in Chocolate

How do I know you love me......

.....you indulge me when I hop from one foot to another wearing two different shoes asking 'which one goes better'?

.....you cover me with a blanket when I fall asleep on the sofa on a Sunday afternoon

.....you wait at the finish line of the half marathon in the pouring rain proud, soakng wet holding my kit bag and cheering me on because you know how tired I will be

.....you will drive to the garage in your pyjamas to buy me Love Hearts because I am obsessed even though the man there clearly thinks you are a bit 'Little Britain'!

Last week I found myself looking for a way to say thank you for your unwavering support over a difficult few months and helping me find the answers......a heartfelt thank you that wasn't about spending money but doing something that took a little bit of my time and imagination to show you how I feel.  I took a leaf out of your book - why use 100 words when 5 will do - only I took it a step further and wrote it on a biscuit.....because love often needs very few words to be truly expressed.

Recipe for vanilla biscuits

110g unsalted butter (room temperature)
55g caster sugar
170g plain flour
1/2 vanilla essence


Preheat the over to 180 degrees and cream together the butter and sugar on a low setting on your mixer until a sandy texture is obtaining and the ingredients a thoroughly combined.  Stir in the flour and bring toegether into a soft ball.

Cover and place in the fridge for about 15 minutes and then roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface (making sure your flour the rolling pin as well).  Then using your heart shaped cutters stamp out as many biscuits and then re-roll out any remaining dough to stamp out a few extras!  You can either keep them all the same size or like me use a variety of sizes - just remember to keep an eye on them when cooking as some may need a little less time.

Pop onto a baking sheet and cook in the oven for approximately 10 minutes or until just golden brown.  Remove and leave for a few minutes to cool slightly beofre transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.

Chocolate Writing

Now for the fun bit......decorating the biscuits.  I used a bar of Green & Blacks dark chocolate, break up into chunks and place in a disposable piping bag and roll over the top.  Then place this into a bowl of hot water to let the chocolate melt. 

Once ready to use snip a tiny piece of the end of the bag and then angle to bag down to write, gently flicking up each time you want to stop.  Practise first on a plate if easier and if the chocolate starts to harden at any point just pop it back in the bowl to soften. 

Red Nose Day - Two Tone Icing & Twice The Fun!

I have a couple of weeks at home which meant I had plenty of free time to bake for this great cause.  Also this Sunday I run the Reading Half Marathon so surely an excuse to be able to eat a little bit extra - I will need to build up those energy stores (although not sure that cake is the way forward)!

So the plan is that friends and family will all donate in exchange for cake - they are all very easily bribed for food.......and any money raised will go to Red Nose Day, every little helps.....

The recipe I used was a basic vanilla sponge as used in previous posts (see red velvet cupcake recipe) and the frosting was a double batch of the normal recipe I also use;

500g icing sugar
160g insulated butter (room temperature)
50ml whole milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine the sifted icing sugar with the butter until well mixed and then add in the vanilla extract & milk before turning the mixer up to a high speed for 7-8 minutes.

I think using two tone icing gives a great effect on these little cakes and it,s really easy to do - the trickiest bit is getting the two colours of icing into the bag.  Start with your disposable piping bag and a wide star nozzle and put the bag into a tall glass pulling the edges of the bag over the top of the glass freeing up your hands for the next part.  I had split the icing into two and coloured half of it red and then using a spatula put the red icing into one side of the bag pushing down towards the nozzle. Once you have put all the first colour in the bag then place the white colour into the other side - take the piping bag out the glass and then if there is a gap towards the nozzle with one colour gently push that side down using your hand.

Initially a single colour will only come through so either pipe into a bowl or use this as the centre stars on the middle of your cakes as this will be covered once you finish icing.  Finally, top off with a red m&m and enjoy sharing to raise some money for charity.