Inside Out Bounty Cake

One of my favourite flavours is coconut and you may have seen on this blog a few weeks back, that I blogged a favourite recipe of mine for coconut cake. Around the same time, I also blogged the recipe for my friend Helen's chocolate cake which I have discovered is both easy and impressive.

I was thinking about cakes - as you do - and I remembered that a favourite dessert I once had on a holiday was coconut ice-cream with a warmish chocolate sauce. And then I thought of Bounty bars - coconut in the middle, chocolate on the outside. It got me thinking - maybe I could make a chocolate coconut cake. So, I set off on a Google search, the results of which were disappointing. Half the recipes stipulated cake mix as an ingredient and I have to be honest, I really don't see the point when I have the basic ingredients to hand.

I therefore set about devising my own cake using both of the above recipes. What I decided on was to have the chocolate cake in the middle, with the addition of some coconut to give it a bit of flavour, and coconut frosting on the outside, kind of like a Bounty inside out, so that's why I've called it Inside Out Bounty Cake! I've never devised my own recipe like this before, so it was fairly ground-breaking for me. I am good at following recipes, not creating them out of nothing.

I set off on this journey on Wednesday after the children went to bed. Unfortunately, after I'd baked the cake, I discovered I had no icing sugar so had to make the icing the next day as I was home alone with the kids and couldn't go to the supermarket. I was a bit dubious at first because I ended up with extra icing with my first piece and it seemed a bit sickly but it has been universally wolfed down and praised by those who have tried it. You only need a small slice so in theory, it lasts ages - unless you have kids who love coconut. Mine do!

Inside Out Bounty Cake

Ingredients
For the cake:
275g/10oz caster sugar
175g/6oz soft tub margarine
3 eggs
175g/6oz natural yogurt
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 tbsp coconut cream (try to use the thick part if it's separated a bit)
200g/7oz self raising flour
50g/2oz cocoa powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
50g/2oz desiccated coconut

For the icing:
100g/4oz butter, at room temp or slightly softened
300g/10oz icing sugar
4tbsp coconut cream or to taste (NOT creamed coconut - I buy the cream from Waitrose or Booths)

1. Pre-heat oven to 180^oC/350^oF/gas 4. Grease a 32cm (9in) spring form cake tin. Line the base with non-stick baking paper. Dust the inside of the tin with a little flour, then tap out the excess. (An 8in tin will also work although you may need to adjust cooking time.)

2. Beat the caster sugar and margarine in a mixing bowl until smooth (I use an electric mixer). Beat in eggs, vanilla essence, yoghurt and coconut cream. Sift in flour, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda, tip in the desiccated coconut.  Stir until fully combined. Spoon mixture into prepared tin and level the surface.

3. Bake cake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Put the tin onto a wire rack, and cool for 5 minutes. Turn the cake out onto rack to cool completely.

4. Make the icing once the cake is completely cool. Mix the butter and icing sugar together and stir in the coconut cream. Beat until smooth. You may need to add a little more icing sugar or coconut cream to get a nice spreading consistency. Swirl over the top and sides of the cooled cake.




As you can see, I made the icing a teensy bit runny but it did make it soft and nice to eat. There is only one piece of the cake left now but then I took a big chunk of it round to my friend's today. There were 7 children and 3 mummies - most of the kids had at least one piece, if not more!

What do you think to my experiment then? Leave me a comment if you try the recipe. Happy baking!

(This is an entry to English Mum's Big July Bake Off, for which the prize is a Green & Black's hamper. Entry details are on the post but entries close today - that's 31st July - so if you want to enter, get baking and snapping pretty quick!)

You know you're a Mum when....

I've picked up this great meme from Christine at Thinly Spread. She decided to write about the things that mark her out as a mother of children. I thought I'd add mine. (Assuming I can find 10 new ones of course!)

1. You're not grossed out by anything anymore. By the time you become a mother, your dignity has gone anyway, considering the number of people that have surveyed your private parts during pregnancy and birth. And then, unless you are very lucky, within days, you will have been peed, puked and pooed on, sometimes all three at the same time. Actually, newborn nappies are a doddle compared to the ones you get after weaning..... anyhow, you've seen it and done it all by then. Nothing is too gross, nothing can faze you.

2. You find yourself singing a tune, which at first you don't recognise, and then realise that it's the theme tune from a children's TV programme. And it will not go from your head, however hard you try.

3. You notice ambulances/police cars/fire engines/diggers/tractors whilst out driving, point them out excitedly and then realise you are alone in your car. Good job no-one else is there to see your embarrassment.

4. Your fridge looks like this. Party invites, reminders, school dinner menus, certificates, notes from school and nursery, reminders for all sorts of things placed somewhere where you can grab hold of them quickly. Oh, and your little darlings' artwork. Before children arrived in this house, it would have been a surprise if more than 4 things were stuck on it. (Some of those fridge magnets weren't my choice either!)

5. Tidying your house is akin to painting the Forth Bridge. As soon as you finish at one end, it's time to start again at the other and it's never all tidy and clean at the same time.  Ditto laundry. Ditto ironing, if I did any.

6. You have random conversations on topics you never thought possible. Recently, I got asked if the baby Jesus only had one hand (too long to explain that one) which was interesting for July. When I explained to the children that my Mum's cat had passed away, they thought she'd gone to Devon, which is where their aunt (my sister) lives, so confusion abounded for about 10 minutes at the end of which, I was crying with laughter.

7. You have finely honed negotiation skills on a par with the United Nations. Seriously, a group of mothers could deliver world peace. You take no nonsense from your children after the 147th fight over who is going to sit on "your side" of the car. There is no storming off, sulking, ceding to unreasonable demands or walking unwittingly into flashpoints. World statesmen would not stand a chance. You are a formidable, and irresistible, force.

8. You see a spot/red mark on your child that wasn't there a few hours ago. Immediately, your brain races off on a kind of instant and internal Google search. First, you search "meningitis symptoms" and grab a glass to press on it. It blanches and you exhale, not having realised you've been holding your breath since noticing aforementioned mark. Next, it's "chickenpox" (even if your child has already had it) and your inbuilt family diary flicks back over the last few days to see if you think your child has been near anyone who is or who could be pregnant. You check for other, similar spots. You take their temperature. You dispense Calpol, just in case, even if won't cure spots. You cross your fingers that they will be OK tomorrow and they don't miss school/nursery/their best friend's party they have been looking forward to for yonks.

9. You well up, or cry at everything. News stories are never the same once you are a mother. You hear of a death or deaths and you can't help thinking "that was someone's son or daughter". You know that someone somewhere is grieving the loss of a child, however old that child was, and you can only imagine the pain that they must be feeling. And that sets you off. On a lighter note, so does the end of most children's films.

10. Your heart melts when your nearly 4 year old daughter stops what she is doing at music group, comes up to you, wraps her arms around you and says "Mummy, are you very proud of me?" Right at that moment, whatever else she's done that day, she's forgiven and you love her without question. Which you always do anyway; it's just that sometimes, other stuff gets in the way. Your kids can pull up really fast with a few words or a single action, and you are reminded that you ARE a mother, and that you are their world to them. Deep stuff.

So, there you go, there are my 10. Do you like them? I'm not going to tag anyone in particular to pass on this great meme, but feel free to tag yourself and have a go. Place a link in the comments if you want my other readers to find it, and whilst you are at it, why not visit Christine's fantastic original post and leave a comment with your link there too? Get yourself a badge too (see below). Dads, please note - there is a badge for you too on Thinly Spread, so don't consider yourself excluded.

Nature - on my doorstep

I am not and probably never will be one of the world's best photographers. Still, I console myself that I am better than my mother, who used to regularly chop off important parts of a photograph, get fingers in front of lenses or shake the camera at the crucial moment. At least digital cameras mean you don't waste film these days and you get instant feedback on how your picture looks. But generally, I shoot what I see and I'm rarely inspired to go find something to photograph. Spontaneity is definitely my style. I don't plan good photographs, they just happen. I'll never make my fortune from photography.

When I first read Tara's prompt for this week's Gallery post, I must admit I was stumped. My heart sank because I have skipped the last two due to a lack of inspiration and time as my extensive (ha!) collection didn't run to anything that I could fit into the prompt and I couldn't think of anything to do; nothing hit me in the face. I really wanted to join in this week's prompt, not least because there is a prize for the best entry of a Green and Black's hamper. Incentive enough, I love a good competition! But still, on looking at the prompt, I had no idea what I was going to do.

And then, that same evening, I was at our neighbours' house across the road. It was their son's 6th birthday party, which had continued into the evening as a barbeque for family and friends. As the sun started to go down, the children were out on the front lawn, playing football and I was watching them idly. I turned my head and looked up. There, on that front lawn, I was greeted with a view that fitted the prompt perfectly. I grabbed my phone and quickly took two pictures. The other people there probably thought I was some kind of lunatic, but here is the best one:

Shame I can't make this any bigger - my blog layout won't let me!

Blue skies are always more interesting with a bit of cloud, don't you think? Skies in Lancashire are rarely this gorgeous but there it was. Luminous feathery white clouds brushing with the lightest of touches across a sky that graduates from its daytime shade through to darker shades of cobalt and ultramarine as the sun disappeared over the horizon. Really, this could be anywhere, were it not for the tiny corner of my next door neighbour's roof that I managed to get in shot, and it took my breath away. Here, in front of me, was Nature in all its glory, reminding me that wherever we live, it really is all around us and we don't always have to look that far or that hard to discover it.

I wonder how many others at the party noticed the sky last Friday evening. Judging by the amount of alcohol that was being consumed, probably very few, but I saw it and there was my photo for the Gallery. Like I said, spontaneous is my style. I hope you like my interpretation of Nature. It's there on our doorsteps, yours and mine. We just have to look harder and notice it more, or it passes us by.



This is my entry for week 21 of the Gallery on Tara's blog, Sticky Fingers. If you have chance, please visit the page and look at some of the other entries. Hopefully, you'll discover some great new blogs along the way. Give it a go; you are bound to see some great pictures.

Dear So and So - tailgaters, teachers and Asda (again) - amongst other things

Dear 4x4 driver,

Tailgating on a motorway is not big and it's not clever. Rather, it scares and enrages me, particularly if my children are sat in the back. Haven't you ever heard of leaving a safe distance between you and the car in front? Driving a bigger car than the rest of the population doesn't make you better than the rest of us. You just bought a vehicle with features that you hardly ever use as you spend all your time on roads rather than off-road.

Get off my back, Kate

Dear Asda,

Still no news on the coffee shop at my local branch. We used to have one, you know. You put the kiosk, computer games and DVDs there instead and promised us a new one at some point. I don't really want one of those. I occasionally want a coffee instead. You have an empty unit on the side - can't you put one in there? Don't you know that I go to other supermarkets not far away if I want a drink and get my shopping?

Yours getting thirstier, Kate

Dear Supermarket Shopper Mother,

Those small trolleys don't have seats in them for a reason. That being you aren't supposed to put children in them. So DON'T sit your child in them - it's not only stupid, it's bleeding dangerous. I'm still putting my jaw back after seeing you with a baby that can barely sit unaided placed in one. Let's hope he didn't fall out.

Use a big trolley next time, Kate

Dear Weather,

Enough already with the Jekyll & Hyde stuff you've been serving us up in July. Can we please have something a little more balanced? I don't mind the odd bit of rain if it's going to solve the hosepipe ban but do we have to have several deluges a day where the water runs down the road like a river and we get flash floods? So it rains, I put on a waterproof and half an hour later, I am boiling.

Please sort it out, Kate

Dear Reception teaching staff,

Thanks for putting up with Monkey and 29 other 4-5 year olds since last September. It's your first year teaching the Reception class at school and you did a really fab job. Monkey has loved having you as teachers this year. My little boy is a rough, tough schoolboy now but his progress in his schoolwork has been astounding. Sorry you've got me as a parent again next year!

Hope you liked the cakes, Mrs C

Dear Year 1 teaching staff,

Good luck in September! You're off to a good start tho - Monkey thinks you're great. Long may it continue! Not so sure he'll feel like that once he discovers that you actually have to work in Y1. 

Just be aware you've got me for the next two years, Mrs C

OK, OK.....I am officially rubbish at blogging.

My last post was 4 days ago and I've got nothing in the pipeline. For the second week in a row, I am devoid of inspiration for the Gallery. I've got some ideas in my head but nothing laid down in concrete form that will make any sense to anyone but me. My online brand, if I were to have one, is being neglected. In my defence, it's nearly the end of term and I spent about 5 hours of my child free day yesterday (I get 6.5 hours to myself) making blackcurrant jam!

However, I hope you've noticed I've made some changes to the blog over the last few days. I've added a whizzy button to get an RSS feed of my blog and you can now also subscribe via email so that you get sent you new posts if that's what floats your boat. And this evening, I found I could add the little buttons at the bottom of the post that allow you to post links to all sorts of random places.

This is on top of the new commenting system I added last week, and the fancy new layout I found on Blogger's new Template Designer.

I may not be sharing my wisdom with you, but I've been tinkering away and making me look a bit different and hopefully, this blog will be easier for you to "drive".

Come back soon when I have real wisdom to share with you. Pretty please. I'll try to make it good, honest.

A quick slow cooker recipe - Creamy Pesto Chicken

Dawn over at The Moiderer has recently bought a slow cooker and is hunting around for recipes to make in it. I thought I'd try this one as she commented the other day that a chicken dish she tried was a bit dry. It was made with just chicken breast and that might have been a factor. This recipe uses whole chicken breast so, by rights, it should be easier to keep moist whilst cooking. I got it from what is now my slow cooker bible "200 Slow Cooker Recipes" by Sara Lewis. It's actually a variation of her creamy tarragon chicken recipe which I would have liked to try, but Asda, in their infinite wisdom, do not sell fresh tarragon. Grr!

It only takes 4 hours to cook so may not work for you if you're out all day but is good for a weekend.

Creamy Pesto Chicken
Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil
15g/0.5oz butter
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
200g/7oz shallots, halved
1 tbsp plain flour
4 tbsp white wine
300ml/0.5 pint chicken stock
1 tbsp pesto
3 tbsp double cream
Parmesan
A few fresh basil leaves

Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan, add the chicken and fry over a high heat until golden on both sides but not cooked through. Remove from the pain, drain and place in the slow cooker in a single layer.

Add the shallots to the pan and cook, stirring for 4-5 mins until just beginning to turn golden. Stir in the flour, then gradually mix in the stock and wine. Add the pesto, season and bring to the boil, stirring.

Pour the sauce over the chicken in the slow cooker, cover with the lid and cook on HIGH for 3-4 hours, or until the chicken is cooked through to the centre. Stir the cream into the sauce. Serve the chicken, drizzled with sauce, topped with a little grated Parmesan and some chopped or small basil leaves.

(If you want to make the original recipe, substitute vermouth for the wine, 2 sprigs of tarragon for the pesto and some snipped chives for the parmesan).

This was a lovely recipe. The chicken wasn't dry at all so one for you, Dawn. We ate it with mash and some steamed veg - the recipe says you could have it mixed with some penne pasta. It was very filling but most importantly, none got left. Monkey and Missy Woo gobbled it up but they are big pesto fans anyway. I actually forgot to buy the cream when I was at the supermarket, so I stirred in some Greek yogurt instead and that gave a good creaminess to the sauce. I always have Greek yogurt in the house so I am likely to do that again, as I don't often buy cream and it seems a waste to buy a whole pot for only 3 tablespoons! The sauce is slightly green, which might put you off, but we like pesto in this house so it didn't faze us.

A definite keeper, this one. Although the easiest way to cook chicken in a slow cooker is to take a whole one, place inside, put the lid on and leave!! But this is a nice and reasonably sophisticated alternative.

(PS if you have any slow cooker recipes on your blog, please do add the linky to Dawn's page.)

Dear So and So

I thought I'd join in with Kat from 3 Bedroom Bungalow's regular "Dear So and So" feature. It allows you the chance to write letters that otherwise might go unsaid....... Here are mine. Feel free to do your own and link back to Kat's page.



Dear Sunday Driver,

Please don't annoy the rest of the driving public by driving on a weekday. Also, driving at the speed of a snail because you are looking for your turning is not only bloody annoying to other road users who wish to get somewhere before the next day, it's ridiculous. You miss your turn? Turn around - takes 30 seconds. You are obviously not in a rush.

Get a Sat Nav, Kate

Dear Call Centres,

Ringing me, an unknown person, and asking "How are you today?" does not mean you are my friend nor make me want to buy any of your products or services. Rather, it pisses me off and just makes me shout "No!" into the receiver and put the phone back down. I'm a busy woman, and I've got TPS.

Leave me alone, Kate

Dear Mormon,

Normally, I love you guys and a polite "no thanks" to your visits suffices. Stopping me in a street that isn't even where my home is, accosting me as I'm trying to deal with one child and collect another from a party, being insistent on talking to me in the middle of the road then offering to come back later does not endear you to me. Unless I go around with my home address attached to my back, there's no way you're going to find me anyway. So there.

Yours with the upper hand, Kate

Dear Asda,

Put a coffee shop in my local store. PLEASE!

Yours thirstily, Kate

Dear Monkey,

Thank you for teaching me a valuable parenting lesson this week. And well done for all your hard work at school this year. Even if you didn't think your quality work was great sometimes, I thought it was. You're a clever boy. Now please can you be an angel in the school holidays?

Yours hopefully, Mummy