Blogging Worries & My Return

Hi everyone!

You may have noticed that I have been absent from my blog for the last two months or so and that is because I thought I had given up on blogging. So many reasons led to me making that decision and I feel like it was the right thing to do at the time, and now I'm back and have so many plans and beautiful things to bake for you all. I can't wait!

But before I return to the world of baking and blogging I wanted to share with you the thoughts that led me to giving up (and how I'm going to change my attitude towards them) because I really think that a lot of other bloggers probably (hopefully!!) share similar doubts and worries.

Peanut Butter Buttercream

This post is aaaalll about the buttercream. I could talk for hours about how good this buttercream is...

But I wont.

It is the creamiest, most luxurious buttercream I have ever made. It is just sweet enough without being too sweet and it has the most perfect peanut butter taste. There is nothing worse than making a buttercream that you struggle to pipe (baker probs...) because it doesn't hold it's shape or it's too stiff. But this is just perfect. 

Triple Caramel Rolo Cupcakes

Caramel, caramel and.... more caramel? Chocolate sponge with a caramel centre, topped with salted caramel buttercream and caramel sauce. And a rolo of course. 

Just look at that caramel. Look at that glistening, gooey sauce oozing from the rolo. Are you tempted? You're in the right place, my friends. This is caramel heaven! 

Meet your new favourite cupcakes! Fluffy and beautiful chocolatey sponge with a hidden caramel surprise inside and plenty of salted caramel buttercream swirls topped with no other than a runny drizzle of caramel sauce and a rolo. These could not be easier to make (once you get the easy peasy caramel sauce out of the way) but be warned: you will be nagged to make these all the time after they taste them!!

All you need for these cupcakes are some delicious chocolate cupcakes  (use your own tried and tested recipe or use my trusty recipe that I will provide at the end), some of my favourite salted caramel sauce, some basic buttercream and a whole load of rolos!

Rainbow Sugar Cookies

I had an overwhelming urge to bake sugar cookies this week. I have been ill and a bit miserable and I just knew a baking session would cheer me up, and of course I was right! Any kind of cookies cheer me up...

Whereas I usually roll out my sugar cookie dough and use cookie cutters to make cute shaped cookies that I decorate with royal icing, I decided to try something a bit different, more in line with how I make chocolate chip cookies. I rolled the dough into balls and rolled them in sprinkles before baking so they spread into puffy, fat cookies. I think I still personally prefer them rolled, cut and iced these were definitely an experiment worth making. And how cute are they?!

They are soft and cakey filled with sprinkle-rainbow goodness. They are also soooooo easy and quick to make, they take zero effort so they are just a dream to make on a lazy sunday like today!

Oreo Blondies

Soft and cakey blondies with a delicious, secret layer of whole Oreo cookies. Filled with a load of chocolate chips - this is a chocoholics dream!!

Every time I make blondies I am reminded of how much I love them. They always go down an absolute storm whoever I make them for! These one were especially popular because, lets be honest, who doesn't love Oreos? Martin cannot get enough of these!

I feel like the world has gone Oreo mad. The ridiculously huge range of Oreo flavours available, not to mention Oreo flavoured everything just shows our addiction. I personally don't like Oreos on their own, not one but. But I LOVE baking with them: they just make everything better.

As I've mentioned before, I love this blondie recipe because you can do absolutely anything with it. Check out my last blondie recipe here. I had a particular Oreo-bake craving last night and this seemed like the perfect, easy, whip-up-in-no-time option. Blondies don''t need any fancy equipment, ingredients or techniques, can be prepared in 10 minutes and baked in 30. Perfect to satisfy any sweet tooth that just won't wait!