Nutella and Banana Bread!

Hello! While the snow is falling outside (again!), Where are you spring? I have a yummy, comforting recipe to share with you guys. This is my first bake of my baking bucket list and it was a success, Yay! It is super sweet and not that unhealthy (due to the lack of butter)! I've wanted to try banana bread for a while now, I think it's the perfect thing to start your day and what doesn't Nutella make better? Haha..so here goes!

 

The recipe is from AllRecipes UK. Here is the linky >.(http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/31482/nutella-reg--banana-bread.aspx)

 

Nutella Banana Bread

 

 2 dessertspoons Nutella

200g  plain flour
140g  caster sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarb
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs, beaten
4 mashed over-ripe bananas


How to make...

1.Preheat oven to fan 180 C.

2.Place the Nutella in a bowl and microwave until it becomes workable.

3.Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix until well combined. Put your mix into a greased  loaf tin.

4.Bake for 30 minutes (or until a good crust has formed on the top of the loaf) then turn the oven down to 120 C and bake for a further 30 minutes.

 

5.Enjoy it warm with butter, custard, ice cream or like me with lashings of extra nutella.

 

Baking bucket list number 1 is completed woop! Such a tasty wee loaf and perfect for an extra sweet breakfast! It's also a good way of getting fruit into kiddies :). I hope everyone is having a fantastic week, mine has so far consisted of work, uni work, making soup for my sick granny, dressing my puppy up in scarves and baking this beauty!  I've got a few interesting posts in the pipeline, next up is a craft, a recipe or an outfit, we shall see :). Just to say as well you can follow me on bloglovin if you want, I'm a bit lonely over there :).

 

Lots of love,

 

Rachael xx.

 

P.s. Please let me know if you try it, I would love to know what you think of it? Oh and is it spring with you yet?The sun is taking it's sweet time in coming to Northern Ireland :(.

 



 

My Favourite Recipe books...

Hey guys just a quick post for you for today! I realise that I often refer to recipe books many of you have never heard of before, so I thought today I would give you a tiny glimpse onto my recipe book shelf (believe me I have a problem, these are just five of about a million!). These books have loads of my favourite recipes which I have tried and tested. So if you are searching for a new inspirational recipe book, look no further than my mouth watering top 5....

 1. Nigellissima by Nigella Lawson.
This is my most recent find and I have mentioned it a few times on the blog. Such an inspirational Italian recipe book from a true domestic goddess :). My favourites are the Italian Traybake, Chocolate Hazlenut Chessecake, Chocolate and Orange Mousse and the Pepper and Bean dish. Truly scrumptious.

2. The Little Paris Kitchen by Rachel Khoo
I must confess I haven't cooked anything out of this yet but I want to try nearly everything. This book is beautifully put together with gorgeous illustrations and interesting facts. (Her tv show was divine too). This is perfect for fancy looking French food.

3. The Great British Bake-Off: How to Bake by Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood.
( Just a wee side note, my copy is signed haha, Mary Berry is my idol!).  This has a wide range of baking recipes from breads to cakes and pastry. It includes all the favourites from the hit tv show too. My favourites are the Banana Fudge layer Cake, Strawberry and White Chocolate Cream cake, chocolate chunk cookies and the Limoncello and White chocolate Croquembouche ( I made this for Sean's birthday, he was such a happy boy, he ate the whole thing haha!).

4.Home Baking by Meg Rivers.
I'm not sure who Meg Rivers is but boy can she bake, she has some wonderful recipes in this cookbook. Apparently she is Cath Kidston's favourite cake maker, that says a lot, she must be great!
This book is great for some great alternative or artisan bakes. My favourites are the Chocolate and Pecan muffins, Blueberry and Raspberry mini megs, Chocolate cookies and carrot cake. This book also has some amazing food photography!

5. Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child.
Last but by no means least this little number. An amazing woman and an amazing story (you should also read her autobiography, absolutely divine!). It can be a little difficult to follow but boy are these recipes tasty. Julia ( we are on affectionate first name terms hehe!) also includes a lot of information about why we cook the way we do, you can almost here her teaching you! My favourite recipes are the cakes especially the butter spongecake, this is a great base which you can feel free to experiment with flavour wise. Also, the risotto is pretty good, Sean made this a few times, yum yum!

As I said these are only a few of my books and this list constantly changes. I might do a regular feature on the blog where I review recipe books that I have bought too. If you would like that? I love recipe books and magazines, I continuously read through them looking for inspiration (they also make me hungry!). I would also like to know what your favourite recipe books are, so comment down below :). Also any recommendations are absolutely welcome :).

Lots of love,

Rachael xxx.

Mother's Day Raspberry Red Velvet Cake

hey guys! So it was mother's day yesterday here in the UK. So my little sister and I treated our lovely mummy to some home baked goodness :). We are rather proud of this showstopper cake....

Such a yummy cake, vanilla cream cheese frosting, raspberries and a light chocolatey flavour, simply scrumptious...Our mum enjoyed it too haha! I even tried some fancy piping to make it look a lot more professional, our mother deserves the best don't you know :). This recipe is taken from the April issue of BBC Good Food but you could also find it on their website. SO here goes and I hope you also treated your mummy well this mother's day!

Raspberry Red Velvet Cake

280g caster sugar
175g softened butter
3 large eggs
280g self-raising flour
2tsp vanilla essence
75g cocoa powder
150 ml butter milk
1tsp white wine vinegar
85g full-fat cream cheese
75g pureed raspberries
150g punnet raspberries

For the frosting...
200g icing sugar
140g cream cheese
2tsp vanilla essence
140ml whipping cream

1. Heat oven to 160 degrees fan oven. Grease and line two cake tins.
2. Use electric whisk beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating in between.
3.Sieve flour and cocoa powder into a separate bowl. Add half to the egg mixture and fold carefully.
4. Mix buttermilk, vinegar, cream cheese, raspberry puree and fold have of this into cake batter. followed by the rest of the flour mix and then the rest of this wet mix.
5.Spoon into cake tins and cook for 25-30mins until done.
6. leave to cool and make frosting by mixing cream cheese, vanilla and icing sugar and beating in whipping cream.
7. When cake is cooled assemble with frosting and raspberries. Decorate and present to your mother :) .

I hope you enjoy giving this cake a go. It really looks and tastes beautiful. Give me a wee comment if you do give it a go and let me know what you think! I hope everyone is having a lovely Tuesday. I'm going to go thrifting this afternoon (one of my favourite things to do), I might share my finds with you if you would like that??

Lots of love,

Rachael xx.