RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE SWIRL CUPCAKES

I made these cakes as a late - not my fault it was late, he was in Malaysia on the actual day - Fathers Day present, and as it was the first recipe I'd pretty much made up myself I was rather impressed with how they turned out. The only downside is because of the cheesecake swirl and the raspberries the mixture is rather moist so you have to be really watchful in case they burn... alternatively you could make up a vanilla brownie version, which would make the cooking simpler.

CUPCAKES

2/3 cup of sugar

1 1/2 cups of plain flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2oz of butter

1 egg

1/4 cup of milk

3/4 cup of buttermilk

3/4 cup of raspberries

CHEESECAKE SWIRL

4oz cream cheese

1/8 cup of sugar

egg yolk

1/4 tsp vanilla

FROSTING

whipping cream

raspberries/white chocolate

Mix dry ingredients together in bowl. In a separate bowl mix butter and egg, then add milk and buttermilk. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture until just combined. Toss the raspberries in 1tbsp of plain flour and fold into mix. For the cheese cake swirl beat softened cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla until smooth. Half fill cake cases with cupcake batter, add a tsp of the cheesecake mix and then cover slightly with more batter and gently swirl. Bake at 175˚C for about 25 minutes, or until an inserted tooth pick comes out clean.

Whip the cream with a whisk until stiff and layer on top of cakes once cooled. Top with raspberries or grated white chocolate.

FERN

CHOCOLATE BEARS

I'm sort of a little bit sick of making cakes whenever I want to give someone a homemade present. Don't get me wrong, baking is possibly the best thing in the world, but sometimes the amount of time it can take just isn't practical when you're busy, so when I saw this silicone mould for £1 (yes, you read that right) my prayers were answered. 

Now, I'm sure there's some fancy way to produce beautiful chocolate, but again, with time constraints the simplest thing to do is to buy a bar and simply melt it down, then just leave it at room temperature to set. Done. You could always wrap them in a little bag and tie with ribbon to give to someone - maybe even try adding raisins, nuts, popping candy, or even, for the more experienced, layering different chocolates once the previous layer has set. Plus you can always use the mould to make ice cubes when you're done.

(Make sure the chocolate has actually set before prising them out - as you can see my first few were still a bit soft!)

FERN

VEGAN BROWNIES

Chocolate brownies are one of my guilty pleasures, but this recipe takes some of the guilt away with the knowledge that they are 100% cruelty free. I usually find vegan baking recipes use a lot of ‘obscure’ ingredients that I know I’ll rarely use and ultimately get wasted. After adapting a few more complicated vegan brownie recipes to use more staple cupboard ingredients this has become an absolute favourite, and having used it at a variety of functions and special occasions, I have had many requests to share my secrets. So here it is my recipe for the perfect gooey vegan brownies!

Makes 12

190g plain white flour

50 cocoa powder

200g white sugar*

1 teaspoon baking power

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

180ml soya milk**

180ml vegetable oil

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees, and oil baking tray.

2. Sift flour and cocoa powder and add all dry ingredients to bowl.

3. Add all wet ingredients and mix well until mixture is thick and there are no big lumps.

4. Pour mixture into baking tray and bake for 20-30 minutes, until a knife can be inserted into the middle and come out clean.

5. Leave to cool and then cut into 12.

JENNY

*Can add up to 300g if you have a very sweet tooth

** 180ml of water can be used instead of soya milk, or a mixture of the two can be used

DEPRESSED CAKE SHOP PT 2

The last time I wrote about baking – it was about The Depressed Cake Shop.

It's going to be launched in July, and I am glad to say I will definitely be a part of it.

My love of baking and having a chance to work with Miss Cakehead and Eat Your Heart Out seemed to be ample reason to be involved with the project – but recently, my reasons became that much more personal.

I hadn't heard from a dear friend in about a month. We had only ever spoken online, as our mutual condition (Aspergers) kept us both too scared to meet in case it all went weird. But we were friends.

We spoke nearly every day for 6 years. In many ways he knew me better than a lot of people as I knew him in the same way.

When he disappeared, I searched for a way to contact him. Luckily I remembered what his mother did for a living, and her name. Google did the rest.

I emailed her and waited. Then the email came back asking me for my number.

The next day, her fiance called me – Ryan had passed away a month ago.

I was completely devastated, and have been grieving ever since.

His mum called me the other night, asking how I was and to apologise for not calling to tell me herself the first time. She was glad that someone cared enough about him to try and find out if he was okay.

He didn't have any friends offline, which saddened me even more.

It's been really hard getting up every day. It's been harder to get to sleep. I see lots of things that Ryan would love in my day to day – things that I want to go online and share with him.

But I can't.

He struggled a lot with anxiety and depression. His ASD meant that he found it difficult to engage with people, and be outside in the world without support.

However he was a great person. He loved the country Finland (and the hot chicks from their native metal bands), he loved to talk about politics and religion (hated both), he had a weakness for the cute and weird videos on youtube (we used to try and one up each other with them), and he loved a good bit of cake.

If it wasn't for him, I would have never had the courage to go and seek my own diagnosis of Aspergers. He changed my life forever.

That's not the sum of who he was, or is to me – I loved him for everything that made him, him.

So it's that much more important that I help raise awareness of mental health by taking part in The Depressed Cake Shop.

It's also that much more important to talk about depression, anxiety and mental health openly. Everyone is affected by it one way or another, and it's high time we started supporting each other.

JULIE

WE'D LOVE TO SEE YOU

Here at Milkshake & Honey we like to embrace all things creative. We love to see a broad spectrum of beautiful, exciting and interesting things, and what makes it a broad spectrum is the contributors. That's why right now we're opening up a window for new regular contributors. If you already have your own blog, or just have always wanted to share things you love or love to do then feel free to get in touch!

THE CAKE DEPRESSION

This year Time To Change launched a huge awareness campaign about Mental Health. They are trying to challenge the stigma that people encounter when they open up about their mental health issues.

Fact is we all know someone with a mental health problem, we may be someone with a mental health problem.

It could be depression, OCD, bipolar disorder, or even an eating disorder. You could be someone who self harms to cope, or has thoughts about suicide. You could be someone who can't leave the house without having a panic attack.

It affects one in four people – so you either know or are someone who has been dealing with some form of mental illness. To raise awareness, the notorious Eat Your Heart Out curated by Miss Cakehead, are opening The Depressed Cake Shop.
EYHO have been turning stomachs (and baking anatomically correct ones too) since Miss Cakehead opened the iCake pop up shop in tribute to Steve Jobs' passing, and the Wesker & Sons human butchery to mark the launch of the latest Resident Evil game. Since then her amazing food artists have gone on to raise awareness of sexual health with STD cakes, and all manner of medical conditions at the Pathology Museum in London.

It's hard to talk, never mind think about the dark side of mental health. So to that end, bakers from all over the country are creating confections that aren't quite up to scratch. Cakes that don't feel quite right today. Cupcakes that don't have the strength to get out of bed in the morning.

By showing on the outside how mental health can affect us on the inside, The Depressed Cake Shop will not only raise money for Time To Change – but raise awareness too.

The Depressed Cake Shop will launch later this year.


Top photo, Miss Cakehead. Mid photo, Conjures Kitchen

-JULIE

HOW BEING SKINT REALLY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION...

Handmade, vintage and bespoke has always been a passion of mine and after being made redundant this year I was forced to get creative and make my own when it came to gifts, specifically Christmas gifts!

Raiding the fridge, the sewing kit and the jewellery box have proved not only money saving, but fun too!

I was never the type to just give one gift to someone – so I hit upon the idea of a little care package for my nearest and dearest. 

This way I could batch make all my gifts and save some time!

At Christmas time people like to eat, drink and be merry – so I decided to make some christmas cookies, some flavoured vodka, and a suitably themed mixtape which I don't need to tell anyone how to make!

SPICED CHRISTMAS COOKIES

225 grams softened unsalted butter (you can use salted, but leave out the tsp of salt if you do)

180 g icing sugar 

420g plain flour
1 egg (whisked in a small bowl)
2 tsp vanilla or almond extract
1 teaspoon salt 
2 tsp baking powder 
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon

It's a little messier because of the icing sugar(most cookie recipes use caster) but it won't spread very much(which means it will keep its shape) and it's got a lovely texture!

In a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter together then add the wet ingredients (egg and flavouring) until combined.

In another bowl – mix all the dry ingredients together then mix them in with the wet ingredients a wee bit at a time until everything is combined. 

The dough should be dry to the touch(kind of like playdough). The first time I made them it wouldn't combine all the dry ingredients – so I added a half teaspoon of water at a time until it all binded together.

Leave it to rest for 10-15 minutes – use this time to clean up your worktops so you can roll out the dough!

I made the mistake of chilling the dough for a couple of hours the first time I made it. It ended up getting really greasy when I rolled it out and the cookies lost their shape completely. This dough is pretty much ready to go when you make it!

Cut your greaseproof paper to the size of your cookie sheet or baking tray – I like to cut a couple so I can lay them all out and bake one batch after the other. Every baker has their own way of doing things!

I used Christmas Tree and Star cutters for my cookies – it's always worth heading down to your local pound shop or supermarket as they always have seasonal baking equipment for super cheap – and once you have them, you can use them over and over.

Roll your dough to about a half centimetre thick and cut as many cookies as you want or need. 

Bake for no more than 10 minutes at 180 degrees. 

Makes about 24 medium sized cookies!

If you want to use these as tree decorations, while your cookies are still warm cut a small circular hole near the top of your cookie and then let them cool.

I didn't decorate mine, but you can decorate them with royal icing!

I use the royal icing recipe from Sweetopia – it's foolproof and really easy to make.

Divide your icing by the amount of colours you want to use, and then set aside some icing to outline your cookie – and thin out the rest using a little bit of water at a time to get the required consistency.

Fill a piping bag with the thicker icing, and using a nozzle with a small rounded tip (I use a Wilton #2) – outline your cookie. Do this by squeezing the icing out so you are almost dropping the icing onto the cookie.

Once this has dried, use your thinner icing to 'flood' the cookie. Fill another piping bag with the icing, and using the same size nozzle, fill the area but not too much or you will overflow. I like to fill it with a gap between the thinner icing and the outline, then gently tap or shake  the cookie so the icing fills up the blank area.

If you want to put dragees(sugar balls) or hundreds and thousands on to embellish it, wait 10-20 minutes so that they don't sink into the royal icing.

Let the cookies dry for at least four hours. If you are giving them away as gifts I recommend letting them sit until the same time the next day. 

You can package them in sellophane bags, or in a tissue paper filled tin. You can also turn them into cookie pops by sticking a lolly stick into the bottom while they are still warm!

SPICED VODKA

Years ago I was introduced to flavoured vodka by an old flatmate of mine from Sweden.

It's really REALLY easy to make and the only real expense is buying a decent vodka. It does take some time though – so make sure you have at least 2 weeks before Christmas to make it!

You can use spices, or fruit – or even sweets to make a really inexpensive and thoughtful gift.

I decided to make pear and cinnamon vodkas as these were in my kitchen at the time. However there are lots of flavour combinations out there you can experiment with – it's just a matter of looking in your kitchen cupboards!

You will need:

1 litre of vodka per batch(preferably smirnoff or something similar. Cheap vodka overpowers the flavouring.)

4 Pears for the fruit vodka

10 cinnamon sticks for the cinnamon vodka

Glass Jars/bottles 

For the Pear Vodka:

Skin and core the pears – making sure there are no seeds or seed husks.

Divided the chopped pears between your jars/bottles(I used 5 regular sized jam jars) and fill to the top with vodka.

Seal with the lid, and leave to infuse for a week in a dark place(back of a cupboard works well). Stir once every couple of days.

For the Cinnamon Vodka:

Stick 2 – 4 cinnamon sticks in a jar/bottle.

Fill to the top with vodka and leave in the back of a cupboard for 2 weeks.

You can either present them in the jars with ribbon and labels, or get some small bottles from Lakeland or Ebay. 



BY JULIE