ilovemealplans.com

My baby boy turns 2 this week and we threw him a party. He is totally Thomas the Tank Engine mad and so it wasn’t hard to choose a theme. I went cupcake crazy and made 40 Thomas cupcakes which went down a storm with both children and adults! They were totally delicious partly due to the vanilla sugar and partly due to the sweet cream cheese topping. I made a mixture of vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with both plain cream cheese icing and cream cheese/chocolate icing. Now how to make cupcakes Thomas themed? Well, first I found some Thomas rice paper toppers on ebay so that was easy, but I wanted to do something more. Then I found Thomas silicone ice cube trays and was able to use these to make Thomas chocolate shapes to top the cakes! Here are the pictures and the recipe:

Thomas the Tank Cupcakes Thomas the Tank Cupcakes Thomas the Tank cupcakes Thomas the Tank Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Makes roughly 20 cupcakes

• 8oz unsalted butter
• 80z sifted vanilla caster sugar (make this by storing caster sugar for several days with a vanilla pod to infuse)
• 80z sifted self-rising flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 4 large free range eggs
• 2 tsp milk
• 1 tbsp coca powder
• 1 tbsp drinking chocolate powder

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°c.
2. Make sure butter is soft and, in a large bowl, mix well with caster sugar until smooth.
3. Add half the flour, all the baking powder, and 2 eggs to the bowl, fold in gradually and gently.
4. Add the rest of the flour, eggs and milk, fold in gently.
5. Test mixture, it should drop easily from your spoon, if it is sloppy add a tbsp more flour, if it is too thick add a tsp more milk.
6. Be gently with your mixture and fold gently this will keep air in the mixture.
7. Spoon half the mixture into cupcake cases, fill each case no more than half full or they will rise too high to ice easily.
8. Gently fold cocoa powder and drinking chocolate into remaining mixture and then spoon into remaining cases, again only fill cases half full.
9. Bake cakes for anywhere between 15-25 minutes this will depend on your oven*.

*A fan oven will cook cakes more evenly and quicker, but all ovens vary and you must check your cakes after 15 minutes. Try to check the cakes through the glass of the oven door (if you have a glass front) if you open the oven too early it will change the temperature and can effect how they rise. When you think the cakes have risen open the oven and test the cakes by pushing a skewer into one, if it comes out clean without any wet mixture then they should be ready – see the photograph below for the cakes straight out of the oven.

Thomas the Tank Cupcakes Thomas the Tank Cupcakes Thomas the Tank cupcakes Thomas the Tank Cupcakes

Icing:

Ingredients:

• 500g full fat cream cheese
• 12 oz sifted icing sugar
• 100g dark or milk chocolate

Method:

1. Mix cream cheese and icing sugar well**.
2. Pipe half the icing onto a variety of chocolate and vanilla cupcakes.
3. Melt chocolate and pour into remaining icing, mix well.
4. Pipe chocolate icing onto remaining cupcakes.

** Full fat cream cheese is needed as low fat will not keep its shape when piping.

Thomas Chocolate Shapes:

To make these shapes buy silicone Thomas ice cube trays available online. Melt chocolate and pour into moulds, cover the ice cube tray with cling film and place in the freeze over night. Pop out Thomas chocolates and make another batch. Place on top of the iced cupcakes.

Cupcake Stand:

Inspired by Annies-eats.com I made my own cupcake stand. It is really easy to make and you can read all the instructions on Annie’s blog, but I made it even easier by using some old cake board instead of starting from scratch.

My beautiful boy turns 2.

Thomas the Tank Cupcakes Thomas the Tank Cupcakes Thomas the Tank cupcakes Thomas the Tank Cupcakes

Thomas the Tank Cupcakes Thomas the Tank Cupcakes Thomas the Tank cupcakes Thomas the Tank Cupcakes

Thomas the Tank Cupcakes Thomas the Tank Cupcakes Thomas the Tank cupcakes Thomas the Tank Cupcakes

This month it was our wedding anniversary and we usually cook each other a special meal. My husband cooks the starter and main course, while I cook the dessert. This year I didn’t have much time to plan ahead and decided to make chocolate trifle which is a favourite of both or ours. Earlier in the day we had gone for a walk and picked blackberries so I planned to use them as the fruit for the trifle.

When it came to prepare the dessert it had gotten late and it coincided with trying to put Baby G to bed, I didn’t have time to make a proper trifle so I made these little individual ‘mock’ trifles – something I came up with there and then so I could get upstairs to my crying boy! They turned out to be totally delicious and much quicker so I am recommending this recipe to you.

Serves 2:

Ingredients:

These measurements are approximate, they filled the two small champagne glasses I decided to serve them in (add more of less accordingly)

• 100g blackberries
• 2tsp sugar
• 2 trifle sponges
• 150g custard
• 50g chocolate (or more if you love chocolate!)

Method:

1. Gently heat the blackberries with the sugar until they are soft and slightly liquid.
2. Place the trifle sponge in the bottom of glass/dish, you may need to cut the sponge to fit.
3. Pour the blackberry mixture over the sponge and leave to soak in
4. Break chocolate into small pieces and place in microwave proof bowl with custard, heat on a low temperature for 30 seconds at a time stirring until chocolate has completely melted and mixed with custard.
5. Pour chocolate custard over sponges and place in fridge for custard to set.

Frittata is such a good dinner for so many reasons:

1. It tastes delicious!
2. It is really easy to make.
3. Eggs are the main ingredient so it is an inexpensive meal.
4. You can add lots of different fillings to make a different meal everytime.

I first tried frittata when my school friend Sarah Shear made it for me, then several years later I read a Delia Smith recipe and started cooking frittata myself. A few years ago I taught my Mum how to make frittata and now she often cooks it for dinner as she finds it so quick and easy, plus my Dad loves it! Now my 89 year old Grandfather said he would like to make it so here is the recipe.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• some olive oil
• 1 large onion sliced into rings
• 1 large potato sliced and cooked
• 1 large handful cherry tomatoes halved
• 1 large handful of chopped fresh herbs (basil, thyme, parsley) or 2 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 100g peas
• 4 slices of ham (roughly chopped)
• 100g grated cheese
• 6 eggs

Method:

1. Pre-heat the grill to 180
2. Pour a little olive oil into a large non-stick frying pan and fry the onions.
3. Place the eggs and the cheese to one side and add all the other ingredients to the pan with the oinons, cook on a low heat for approx 5 mins.
4. Whisk the eggs in a jug, beat them well and pour into the frying pan. Increase the heat underneath and sprinkle the cheese evenly on the top.
5. Cook the mixture on the hob, on a low heat, for roughly 10 minutes. While the mixture is still wet on the top but showing signs of cooking at the edges remove to the grill (if you continue to cook on the hob it will burn underneath before you have been able to cook it on the top!).
6. Watch the frittata and when it is set slice and serve.

Serving suggestion:

Cous cous and salad.

You can add lots of different fillings to a frittata so experiment and enjoy!

This is a great lunch or starter for a dinner party. As with everything I do it is very quick. It took 2 minutes to whiz it all together in my food processor and a few minutes to make it look pretty in the bowl. Mackerel is a good fish to use as it is full of fish oils which aid with a whole range of health issues from arthritis to depression! Here is my recipe:

Serves 4 for lunch, 6 for a starter

Ingredients:

• 2 smoked mackerel fillets
• 250g cream cheese
• 2 tsp lemon juice

Method:

1. Whiz everything together in a food processor until smooth.
2. Serve with toast.

I really love macaroni cheese but I find to make it from scratch takes time and makes a lot of dirty dishes to be washed up! Instead I sometimes make my quick version, it uses all good ingredients and is good for when you are in a hurry.