Jaffa Cakes

I love baking, but mostly I stick to tried and tested recipes that I know will work.

However, last week, for no reason whatsoever, I decided I wanted to make Jaffa Cakes.

It took me a few days (due to laziness more than anything) to get all the ingredients and I started making them the other night. I used Good Food's recipe and it was pretty easy (to start with - read on...). They took a while to make, but not because they were difficult, simply because everything needs time to cool down (cakes) and set (jelly).

The batter is a little unfamiliar to me and probably needs a bit of work after my first attempt, but it was perfectly edible. For 12 cakes, you should place a bowl over a pan of simmering water and mix in 2 eggs, 2oz plain flour and 2oz caster sugar until you have a thick but light batter. This took around 5 minutes for me, but I need to do some research into this as maybe I should have stooped sooner or carried on for longer. As I said, the cakes weren't quite right.

Then, you simply grease a muffin tray and scoop the batter into the holes, leaving them in the oven for 8-10 minutes, before letting them cool.

While they're in the oven, you can make the yummy orange jelly using a normal sized pack of jelly as well as a tablespoon of orange marmalade and boiling water. According to Good Food's recipe, you need 125ml of water, however, I found that this wasn't enough to melt the jelly so added a bit more, as well as a bit more marmalade - it tasted good to me, but the consistency was a little wobblier than your usual Jaffa Cakes.

Then comes the waiting. The cakes need to cool and the jelly needs to set. Next time, I'd probably make the jelly the night before - save waiting around.

After everything is cool and set, you need to cut the jelly into 12 small circles, slightly smaller than the cakes themselves.


Then, came the mess. Oh the chocolatey messy mess.

In hindsight, simply placing a sheet of baking paper on the worktop before pouring the chocolate over the cakes, would have made life a lot easier. Ah well, I learnt my lesson.

They weren't pretty but boy they were good!

After chatting with colleagues about this mess, one of them came up with an amazing solution, something that should get these to look better. Next time I plan to set the jelly in a muffin tray, so that the jelly is already in 12 perfect circles. I also, plan to leave the cakes in the tin to cool, so that when I pour over the chocolate, I should hopefully get a better finish as the chocolate won't dribble down everywhere. Clever ay?


I haven't tried this yet though, so if you have any tips - let me know. I can't wait to have a go at them again.

Christmas is on its way

Yay - Christmas is only a few weeks away. And this year, the Other Half and I have a cosy little home to celebrate in, instead of a cold and damp rental - woo!

Last week, Cardiff switched on its Christmas lights - one of my favourite times of year. I finished work, walked into town (it was a perfect cold and dry day), marvelled at the beautiful lights, browsed the array of cute stalls and had some roasted nuts while watching the various street performances.

I've also just started wrapping my gifts as I need to head home to north Wales on the first weekend in December and I'm getting mega excited. The Other Half doesn't quite seem to share my level of enthusiasm, yet.


Only a month to go...

Guess what I found...

...a yellow cushion!

My beautiful yellow cushion. The one that has been missing for 3 months and which I have finally found.

Alright, I was simply looking for a plain mustard yellow cushion to go with my yellow, grey and white bedroom. And I finally found one, at BHS, just down the road.

It may be a tad boring, and very plain indeed, but it's exactly what I'd been looking for. So, I hope you like it! :)

Hudl2

So, I've been looking to buy a tablet or a small laptop for a while. The Other Half spends most of his evenings on our only laptop, so I never really get a chance to browse for much longer than 10 mimutes at a time.

And so, today I bought Tesco's Hudl2 and I couldn't be happier.

I'm far from being tech-savvy. I have a ridiculously old mobile phone, I have no idea how to use Snapchat and I've only just discovered Instagram. See, definitely not tech-savvy. And to top it all off? My mum recommended the Hudl2. God I feel old.

Aaanyway, I love my little pink Hudl. It looks good, it's light and does everything I need it to do. I read several reviews which said it's a great little tablet and that you can't get much better for the price - I was sold...especially as I am a bit of a coupon expert.

The Hudl2 retails for £129. I paid £20. I was so damn impressed with myself.

Ok, I did have a £50 gift voucher from my dad, but I still managed to get an impressive £59 pound off-get in! 

I normally spend my Clubcard vouchers as soon as I get them, but this year, after moving house twice (ugh!) I forgot to change my Clubcard address. And so, my landlord stole my vouchers! I know, how ridiculous is that? But, after a very nice phonecall with Tesco customer services, I was told I'd receive all my vouchers, even the stolen ones, in November, a whopping £25 in total. Woo!

I then went on to 'boost' these vouchers - between now and December 14, Tesco will double the value of all your vouchers, so I actually had £50 to spend. And then I basically threw all my other vouchers (£2 off when you spend £20 etc.) at the poor cashier. Boom - Hudl2 for £20.

Eat your heart out Martin Lewis.

Now I'm off to play with a virtual dog, after checking on my virtual city. Money well spent.


Photo from SavvyAnnie