Fat Friday

It’s my colleague Louise’s birthday next Thursday, but we are going out tonight for dinner at Aqua. To start the celebrations, I decided to make a cheesecake – but one with a brownie base. I used the brownies recipe that I posted previously (a big favourite in the office, and one of my favourite things to bake because its seriously easy. I cheat a bit, and use a big metal mixing bowl on the hob (low low low heat) to melt the butter and chocolate, then just chuck everything else in on top.) then this Nigella recipe for no bake cheesecake. We’ve not cut into the cheesecake yet (I’ll update the post at the bottom when I do) but I’m quite worried that it hasn’t set properly. Argh. Stupid American recipes. WHY WOULD YOU MEASURE THINGS IN CUPS? (S’alright. I’ve complained at the Americans in the office. It did give me a good chance to use my fab Joseph Joseph set* as well – this 6 item set is £12, but the 8 item set* with the additional items being things that aren’t really that useful is about £35. Crazy.)

The items in the above photos though, well, those are mini fairy cakes. I KNOW THEY ARE AMAZING. This recipe from Nigella’s How to Eat* book is seriously easy. Here’s my version of the method:

Ingredients

125g self-raising flour
125g unsalted butter, soft
125g caster sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
milk

Method
Throw all the ingredients in a food processor except the milk. Leave to blend for a few mins until its all mixed together, then drip in a few teaspoons of milk, so it becomes more of a cake batter consistency. Put into cases, bake at 200°C for about 10/15 mins (until they look nicely brown, and a skewer comes out clean)

For the mini cakes though, I had a few packs of petit four cases* (new bad habit when I go shopping – picking up cake cases because they’re pretty. I have about a thousand cake cases now) and bought this cake tin* which the cases fitted into perfectly. I put my cake mix into my icing bag to put into the cases which was a great idea! I picked up some writing icing this morning on the way to work, because I didn’t have enough butter to do buttercream, and wrote the message on with frozen hands when I first got in! Everyone has been decorating their own cakes before they eat them – a good activity for a Friday!

I may be caked out already, and we’ve not even had the cheesecake…help!

edit The cheesecake was a bit sloppy, but lush – creamy and rich but the brownie balanced it well :)