FUNDRAISING: Rocky Road

If you don't think Rocky Roads are the most incredibly thing in the universe, you don't deserve to live on it. Got it?

I mean, what more could one ask for in a snack? There's chocolate, biscuits and marshmellows (and the cheeky addition of Maltesers)! Also, they're really popular and people will pay anything for them, making them a good fundraising choice!

Ingredients

125g soft unsalted butter

300g milk chocolate

3tbsp golden syrup

200g rich tea biscuits

100g mini marshmellows

2 tsp icing sugar, to dust

Method

1. Heat the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a heavy-based saucepan over a gentle heat. Remove from the heat, scoop out about 125ml of the melted mixture and set aside in a bowl.

2. Place the biscuits into a plastic freezer bag and crush them with a rolling pin until some have turned to crumbs but there are still pieces of biscuit remaining.

3. Fold the biscuit pieces and crumbs into the melted chocolate mixture in the saucepan, then add the marshmellows.

4. Tip the mixture into a square baking tin and smooth the top with a wet spatula.

5. Pour over the reserved amount of the melted chocolate mixture and smooth again.

6. Refrigerate for about two hours or overnight.

7. To serve, cut into fingers and dust with icing sugar.

They. Were. Incredible.

That's all I'm going to say. Incredible. This one is getting made again.

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I use the excuse of 'I bake' to taste every single cupcake in my sight. Seriously, if you have cupcakes, I will charge towards you at a high speed.

Cupcake shops are no exception. I want to try every single cupcake from every single shop (can you imagine how fat I would get?). So today my dad brought home cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery.

The flavours he chose were Violet, Carrot, Early Grey, Orange Blossom and Chocolate with White Chocolate frosting. YUM.

You might have remembered when I made Earl Grey cupcakes? Well, they were a Primrose Bakery recipe, believe it or not. So I did a comparison... 

They didn't quite look the same, however...

My cupcakes were delish though, and they will be baked again. And more tea cupcakes to come!

FUNDRAISING: Update!

 If you know me, you'll know that I'm fundraising for my World Challenge trip to Madagascar like crazy. In fact, if you know me, you'll know that I never stop talking/panicking/pulling my hair out about it. It's all I think about, it consumes me. argh.

So I bake. I do what I love, and I bake for the defenceless younger girls in my year who are too rich for their own good. They want their sugar kick, and I supply them. A bit like a drug dealer, but slightly less illegal, and also cheaper.

We invested in cupcake carriers and so every week I take 36 cupcakes into school to thrust in the faces of hungry children. And momentarily, I am the most popular girl in school. Until they run out and I go back to being the socially awkward pineapple I am 99% of the time.

Up to now, I've made chocolate cupcakes, and the recipe can be found here! But I've tried to mix it up a bit, and do different cake decoration every week. They're so pweeeetty.


 Week 1: One Direction cupcakes. They sold super quickly. If you're interested, Harry sold quickest. Zayn was left until last.

Week 2: Spring Pastel cupcakes. It's just frosting lightly dyed with food colouring (we did yellow, green and pink) and topped with wafer daisies, which can be bought really cheaply.

Week 3: I didn't take a picture! Waaaah, they were so beautiful! They were topped with homemade white chocolate Jazzles. 

I did this simply by melting white chocolate, spreading it over greaseproof paper and sprinkled hundreds and thousands on generously. After they had set in the fridge, I cut out circles. 

These sold the fastest, maybe because they were so colourful. And it was more chocolate...

Week 4: Chocolate Jazzles! They were the same as the hundreds and thousands Jazzles, only with chocolate balls.

 So there you go. £900 down, £2745 to go. Uh oh.


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In Westfield yesterday, you could write down you resolution for 2012. This was mine:

And this was the egg that I drew today. It's smiling, right? IT COUNTS.

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Another thing you should do. Buy a Pindippy t-shirt!! I'm beyond obsessed with mine, thank you so much Bebe and Jessie!

The one I'm wearing is 'Discombobulate', which I have been wearing all day while baking. (And if you Zumba, it's going to be amazing for that too. Bring on Zumba time!)

You're actually going to have to rip it off me. It's not coming off.

FUNDRAISING: One Direction Chocolate Cupcakes

Ok, so I know you're either thinking two things right now:

1. One Direction?!?! OH MY GOSH, SERIOUSLY? You're so cool Lucy!
2. One Direction?!?! Why, just why. You're so uncool Lucy...

Personally, I'm in love with One Direction. But then again, I'm a 15 year old girl, so that's practically expected.

I used the Hummingbird Bakery Chocolate Cupcake recipe. Because, why bother with any other cupcakes? Hummingbird is superior.

Ingredients

MAKES 24

200g plain flour

5 tbsp cocoa powder

280g caster sugar

3 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

80g unsalted butter

240 ml whole milk

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the frosting:

500g icing sugar

160g unsalted butter

4 tbsp whole milk

4 drops vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/gas mark 3

2. Put the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter in a bowl and beat until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.

3. Whisk the milk, egg and vanilla extract together in a bowl, then slowly pour about half into the flour mixture, beat to combine. Slowly pour in the remaining milk mixture. Continue mixing for a couple more minutes until the mixture is smooth. Do not overmix!

4. Spoon into pre-prepared cupcake cases and bake for 20-25 minutes. Leave cupcakes to cool slightly in the pan before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

5. Beat the sugar and butter until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Combine the milk and vanilla in a separate bowl, then add to the butter mixture a little at a time. Beat until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes.

6. Decorate as desired.

I'm hoping they will sell well. Pre-teenage girls love One Direction right? I have 40 chocolate cupcakes, topped with an variety of One Direction themed cupcake toppers (bought online from Simply Topps)

But they were a pain for make! Five hours slaving in the kitchen (that's including an hour lost in Waitrose trying to find some cocoa), so they weren't very quick and easy to make, which is what I am looking for.

Nice try, Luce.

Just in case you were interested (which you're not), Louis Tomlinson is my favourite from One Direction. So there is me and my Louis cupcake. Mwaaah.