Halloween White Chocolate Cake Pops

Halloween is always a great excuse to get creative in the kitchen. At least, it is for me. Cake pops were something I had been meaning to try for so long, and was inspired by some I had seen on Pinterest.

Some creepy eyeballs were to be my cake pop of choice!!

I think I have learned a lot from making these, so please read on to discover the amazing recipe by Molly Bakes, which has had so many compliments from everyone I have given them to.

For the cake, you will need...

120g unsalted butter, softened

150g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 free range eggs, at room temperature

180g self raising flour

4 tbsp milk, at room temperature

For the vanilla cream cheese frosting, you will need...

80g unsalted butter, softened

40g cream cheese, softened

200g icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp icing sugar (but I left this out as I didn't want them to be too sweet)

For the decoration, you will need...

400g bag of candy melts - I couldn't find these so used 400g white chocolate

Decoration (I used blue food colouring, black food colouring and red food colouring)

Lollipop sticks

Something suitable to stick your cake pops in to make them stand up while they dry. This is important, as I found out!!!

. Preheat the oven to 180C

. Grease and flour a 25cm round cake tin (or approximately that size)

. Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy (5 mins) and then mix in the vanilla extract

. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add half the flour and then half the milk and mix until fully combined

. Repeat this with the remaining flour and milk

. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack and you have your cake ready!

. While your cake cools, you can make the cream cheese frosting. Combine the butter and cream cheese, gradually adding the sugar until well mixed and light and fluffy

. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before using

. Crumble the cake thoroughly into a large mixing bowl. I carefully cut the edges off my cake to make sure there would be no lumps, and then sat in front of the TV with it for about 15 minutes, rubbing it lightly between my fingers until it resembles fine breadcrumbs

. Take the frosting and add it to the cake, one tablespoon at a time. The amount you need will vary depending on how moist your cake is. I used less than half of mine as apparently my cake seemed moist enough!

. Keep mixing until you have a firm fudge-like texture. I used electric hand mixers for this. If it is ready, when you squeeze a bit in the palm of your hand it shouldn't crack (too dry) and it shouldn't stick to your hands (too wet)

. Wrap the mixture in cling film and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, so it is firm but not hard

. Break off ping pong ball sized pieces of mixture and roll them into balls. Put them on a lined baking tray and return to the fridge for another 15-20 minutes, or until firm

. Meanwhile, melt your chocolate or candy melts. Do this either in the microwave (very carefully) or in a double boiler (a bowl over a pan with boiling water in it) and keep stirring to evenly melt until it is a smooth silky consistency

. Take a lollipop stick and stick the end into the chocolate. Push it about half way into a ball of cake mix, and leave to set on a baking tray. Repeat with each of the cake balls

. Take each cake pop and fully submerge them in the candy or chocolate, one at a time. Allow the excess to drip off. Remember to have whatever you will leave them to dry on at the ready! I made this mistake. Cover plates with greaseproof paper... Trust me... Some of mine stuck!

. Either add on decorations at this stage (e.g. sprinkles) or allow the cake pops to set for a few hours before beginning more elaborate decoration

I used a small paint brush to paint on the eyeballs. With the red veins, I had a squeezy bottle with a thin nozzle, so I put those on straight from the tube.

The perfect spooky treat, ready for the trick-or-treaters to arrive, but only after a good few hours to really firm up. 

Cake pops are great for lots of different occasions. You can turn them into almost anything, which is proved by Bakerella! Her speciality is cake pops, and I always love to look at her holiday-related posts on her blog, which you can see here.

To give you some more spooky inspiration, take a look at these...

Bakerella trick or treat ghosts; see them here

Pumpkin cake pops by The Pink Whisk, see them here.

Mummy cake pops from Craftsy website, here.

Have you made any Halloween cakes or biscuits? If so, let me know what you made! I made these chocolate and passionfruit ganache tarts, with white chocolate spider webs on them last weekend for a pumpkin carving party!

Burger Night at Leon, Ludgate, London

Last night I was invited to Leon in Ludgate for ‘Burger Night’, the launch of their new chicken burger, with less than 1.5% saturated fat. A craving-buster AND low fat… what more could you want?! 

My friend Katie and I arrived, not really knowing what to expect. We were warmly greeted by Henry Dimbleby, the co-founder and CEO, and ushered to a long table laid out for us with a mixture of bloggers and Leon employees sat around it.

 

 

Leon prides itself in its good, responsibly sourced food. Their vision is the belief that food should taste good and do you good, as well as being accessible for everyone. They want to ‘change the face of fast food’. Currently, they have 11 sites in London, but are looking to expand to 25 by the end of next year. They are a 14-strong team, situated in London Bridge, and as well as some great conversation with Henry, we learned a lot about the contents of the food and the product design processes from Toph, the head of food.

Their locations are perfect for the discerning office worker, keen to go and grab lunch as soon as the clock hits 12.00pm. With locations on the Strand, Bankside and Canon Street (among others) and soon to open More London Place, they are strategically placed to catch the lunch time rush, but also provide on-the-go breakfast or after work casual dinner.

We started off with a vodka zinger (vodka with fresh lemonade) and gazpacho shooters, before being presented with a chicken noodle soup (please forgive my pictures – tricky to make a chicken noodle soup look particularly beautiful, especially only with an iphone camera).

So the chicken noodle soup is mainly a lunch time dish, and is hugely appealing because it is 99 calories. They wanted something that was going to become a Leon classic, and that is simple but flavourful. It is both dairy free and gluten free, and this is achieved by using rice noodles. Usually the broth and the noodles are clear or white, so to add a little bit of colour, a dash of turmeric is added to the water when cooking. Delicious and healthy. Perfect to banish a hangover.

Now onto the main event.

Leon have just launched their new chicken burger. It is made with chicken thigh instead of chicken breast, as it is much more moist and tender. It really did make a difference in the burger, but in a good way! Toph, the Head of Food, told us they char grill the chicken to add more flavour, and have worked on tens of variations of the sauce to go on top.

The relish they serve is a mix of their own tomato sauce with a hint of chilli and mango chutney. The sauce is made from olive oil and mayo with a dash of horseradish and tarragon.

Just to make it even better, they wanted to have the perfect low-fat bun, and brioche is the king in this department. Over time, they whittled down the fat in the bun, until they now contain less than 1.5% saturated fat.

With the burger, was a portion of slaw, and some paprika-covered chips. The slaw was delicious - it was light and tossed in a gentle sesame dressing. It contains three different types of cabbage, peas and lots of herbs. Really light and refreshing.
 

The wines they source come from Borough Wines, and they change every week. Usually they sell a standard red or white, but the quality of the wines means you are never left disappointed.

As an after-dinner treat, we tried something slightly naughtier from the menu, the truffle and gruyere sauce to dunk chips in.

It was rich and indulgent, and after a big meal we couldn't get through much, but what we did manage to squeeze in was delicious.

The evening ended, and we had a great time. It was so interesting to find out all about the food development, changing seasonal menus and how all the different staff came to be where they are today. Foodie journeys are always completely unique!

As my office is in London Bridge, I am hugely excited for their new site to open in More London Place in November. I grab a Leon for lunch when I can, but it isn't always convenient for me at work. However, this is all set to change and I am looking forward to being able to have Leon for lunch (and dinner) more often!

A Roman Market; Campo di Fiori

One of my favourite places in Rome was the fruit and vegetable market at Campo di Fiori. It runs from 10am until 2pm every day except Sunday, and it was a bit of a 'must-do' on my checklist for Rome.

The market was nestled in the centre of the square, and had the most vast range of fruit, vegetables and utensils. Unfortunately due to having hand luggage only, we were pretty restricted with what we could buy.

The first thing I noticed were the amazing colours, shapes and sizes of the vegetables available. Some of them looked like something from another planet!

I loved the way all the stalls were displayed, and everything looked so appetising. To be able to buy fruit and vegetables from a market like this every week would be a dream!

One of my favourite stalls was the spice stall. It was so interesting to see they sell pre-mixed spices. Some are for pasta and risottos, some are for seasoning bread or making pizza, and some are for rubbing on meat. Such a great and easy cooking method.

There was a vast selection of sun dried tomatoes available, so just to give you an idea I took some pictures of 3 out of more than 10 different types at one stall.

There were obviously hundreds of different types of pasta available. So many I hadn't heard of! But these ones were my favourite. Who can resist pasta with colourful stripes on?!

At one of the fruit and vegetable stalls there was this gorgeous wooden frame, with a selection of the day's produce hanging inside. I might try and make one of these for my kitchen, it looks so great!

Once we had looked around the market, we stumbled upon a stall selling fresh pomegranate juice. It wasn't something I had tried before but the stall was buzzing so I thought I would see what all the fuss was about.

 It was delicious! It had a really crisp, clean taste. It would definitely suit being a pallet cleanser, or for after dinner.

Then time for a spot of lunch. Unfortunately a white van managed to obstruct the view, but we had lunch in a great place just next to (apparently) where the Carbonara was created.

And then off to Piazza Navona, the Spanish steps and Trevi's fountain!

The next day we headed back to London after an amazing 3 days in the city. The food was great, the weather was perfect, and we had an ideal balance between doing touristy stuff and just sitting and watching the world go by.

Now my next planned stops in Italy are Florence and Naples, have you got any recommendations for either restaurants or foodie places in either of those cities?

Rome: An Italian Foodie Adventure

Last weekend I took my boyfriend to Rome for his birthday. I had had it booked for months so got the flights super cheap, and asked him to book the Friday off work. He had wanted to go for so long and I was excited to go to Italy for the first time, but I kept it as a surprise until we got to the airport.

We had an amazing 3 days; the weather was perfect, we saw lots of the touristy stuff (and it wasn't too crowded) and we experienced some amazing classic Italian food.

I thought I would compile a list of my favourite foodie things from Rome.

1. Breakfast

Now this one has to be split up into some sub-sections.

Firstly, pastries. Normally, I am not a huge pastry fan. However the incredible selections available make it hard to resist. We had breakfast in little patisseries each morning, on the way to the first of our day's activities. Sitting outside in the sunshine with an Italian breakfast is a pretty great thing.

 Secondly, coffee. We all know the Italians are famous for their coffees, but I don't think a coffee from a cafe anywhere else in the world is quite the same as an Italian coffee, in Italy.

 Thirdly, orange juice. Standing there watch while the staff squeeze the sweet European oranges by hand reassures you that you made the right decision with your choice of beverage. It has to be served with a spoon as it is so fresh that it separates quite quickly.

There is something about the combination of an Italian coffee, freshly baked pastry and orange juice that can't quite be beaten on a warm Autumn morning in Italy.

2. Antipasti

The perfect afternoon snack after a morning trek around the Vatican and St Peter's Basilica. Amazing cured meats carved freshly, with cheeses, home made chutneys and warm baked bread.

Not to mention an Aperol Spritz and a beer to wash it all down with!

This was on our first night. Pretty hungry after hours of delays, thankfully a bar offered us some amazing cured ham.

 3. Snacks

Roasted horse chestnuts, sold as street food on the sides of the little roads leading to the main piazzas. The amazingly sweet smell travels so far you can smell them from far and wide!

Freshly baked foccacia. Warm, baked with rosemary and with a sprinkling of olive oil to finish. This one was from a restaurant in Campo de Fiori.

 4. Pizza

I would have predicted this one. I think everyone thinks there is amazing pizza in all of Italy.

It is true, but if I hadn't been to this one place, then I don't thinkI would have put pizza on this list because none of it had been OUTSTANDING. You expect pizza to be amazing in Italy, right?

So one night we met an Italian guy when we were at our favourite bar (more on that later) and he took us to the place where both me and my boyfriend said we had the best pizza we have ever had in our lives.

Our Italian friend told us that in Italy, a Margherita pizza shouldn't need any other toppings (except maybe capers and anchovies). This pizza place was from Naples in Southern Italy, hence why a Margherita's full name is a Neapolitan Margherita pizza.

So I did sort of ignore his advice, but only because I hadn't yet had any artichokes in Italy, and they are definitely one of my favourite vegetables, especially fresh.

I would recommend this place to anyone, and we even tried to go back there before our flight but Italian restaurants often close between 4pm and 7pm-ish. If anyone is going, please head to Regine, 77 Viale de Trastevere. Well worth it!

 5. Gelato (ice cream)

So gelato isn't exactly ice cream. It is so much better! We saw a couple of tiny shops by this brand, Fatamorgana, in Rome.

They had the vastest range of flavours. There were 3 fridges with at least 10 different flavours in each. I tried a couple, including Madagascan chocolate, which was intensely creamy and delicious, but maybe too rich for lunch time!

I chose raspberry and mango. It was by far the best ice cream I have ever had, and was a bit like a cross between a sorbet and an ice cream.

 6. Booze!

Of course Italy is famous for its alcohol. From Italian wines, to Italian beers, to Italian spirits, there is something for everyone who likes a tipple, and always a drink suitable for every time of day!

On our first night, we had an amazing bottle of chianti in a little bar just off the square where we were staying in Trastevere. 

 Aperol and a beer. Aperol spritz is now my favourite drink. I don't yet love gin, but am envious of how gin is a great Saturday afternoon drink. Now I have Aperol spritz!

We sat in the square in Trastevere and watched the world go by. Italian performers would come and go, and we sipped on our coffees and then, of course, Aperol and beer!

When I was doing my research before the trip, I had read that somewhere in Trastevere (where we were staying) sells beers for €2 each.

After taking a bit of a battering with the bar tab in the square, we had a look and realised this bar was just around the corner. It was a proper locals' bar, where we sat and observed the real Italian life. We made it our 'base' for the weekend, and went often for the cheap beer and free entertainment (in the form of the drunks in the evening, hanging around nearby).

Just in case you didn't believe me, this is the menu for drinks.

 I also discovered a new... Well I'm not really sure what to call it. A sort of granita? I asked what it was called, and the answer was Sgruppino. This turns out to be a local word, as a friend of mine who is half Italian wasn't sure what it was and had to check!

It was made from a lemon granita/sorbet type of thing, and a double shot of vodka poured over the top. The Italians have it either as a palette cleanser after dinner before continuing to drink, or as a night cap.

The bar is called Bar San Calisto, and is right by the square in Trastevere. Go and have a beer for €1,50 (or €2.50 for a large) at a proper Italian social spot.

I had such a great time in Rome. 3 days was perfect. We did the touristy stuff we wanted to do (including the Vatican, the Spanish steps, Trevi's fountain, Piazza Navona, Campo di Fiori, the Pantheon and the Colosseum.

 Having chatted to some Italian foodies, the places I definitely want to visit next are Naples and Florence. If you have any suggestions of other great foodie places in Italy, please let me know!