Microwavable Double-Choc Cake

I spent some time at Mum's house today and really felt like something homemade and sweet. Unfortunately, Mum doesn't have an oven at the moment so I was a bit stumped until I looked up some microwavable recipes. The recipe I ended up using was a concoction of Edwina Hanslo's microwave cake recipes, but the gist is always the same.. you put it in the microwave! Is it just me or is this not the perfect late-night indulgent snack? It turned out so moist and spongey, but almost had a pudding texture to it. It was decadent and dark, and I had to share it!

(Excuse the not great quality of the pictures, I only had my phone on me)

 

Microwavable Double-Choc Cake

 



Prep time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 7-10 minutes

Serves: 10

 

Ingredients

100 ml sunflower oil, plus extra for your pan

175g caster sugar

140g plain flour

3 tbsp. cocoa

3 tsp. baking powder

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla essence 

100g dark chocolate chunks

 

 

Method

Grease a 22cm silicone microwaveable cake pan with a little oil and place a circle of baking parchment in the bottom.

 

Mix sugar, flour, cocoa and baking powder in a bowl. In a jug, whisk the oil, eggs, vanilla and 100ml hot water until combined.

 

Add liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly until you have a lump-free batter. Add in dark chocolate hunks to mixture and pour into the cake pan and gently tap to pop any air bubbles. Cover with cling film.

 

Microwave on Full power for 7 minutes. Remove and check if the cake is cooked by poking a skewer into the middle: if it comes out clean it is ready. Allow cake to stand for 5 mins, then remove cling film and turn out onto a cooling rack.

 

 

 

 

 

 This is such an easy recipe and is so quick its perfect for a late night snack or for busy mums and workers. I served mine with some fresh berries and a dollop of vanilla bean ice cream to balance out the decadent chocolate.. HEAVEN! I definitely recommend you try this recipe and alter it to your favourite types of cakes. For a great midnight treat, simply quarter the ingredients and cook it in a microwavable pot or mug, drizzle with some chocolate syrup and ice cream and enjoy it. You deserve it!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

 

Meet Sookie.

Well its been about two months since I brought blogging into my life and I thought it seemed only right that I started to share a bit more about myself and some of the things in my life that make me happy. One important aspect of my life is my beautiful pets. I have already shared with you the story of how we adopted Chewie (here), our first adopted cat together so I thought I would now share with you our newest baby, Sookie.

We adopted Sookie from the same animal shelter we adopted Chewie from, at our local Animal Welfare League on the 26th March 2013. It was love at first sight. She was asleep on a platform on the jungle gym and was so fluffy! I immediately looked at her and wanted to meet her.

About an hour later she was home and meeting her new brother. Chewie is used to cats, as he grew up with the family cat back at mum's place, but he was quite unsure of her for the first few days. Sookie has such a wonderful personality and is so gentle and kind, we are so happy and thankful to have found her, she's the perfect addition to our family.

Here's a collection of a few photos of her since we got her. She's pretty cute, huh?

Chocolate cake.... without the eggs.

You know that time of the month when all of your bills just happen to arrive all at once? That instant joy you feel when you know all of your hard earned money is going to be taken away with the blink of an eye? Yeah. I experienced that today. Rego, phone, electricity and internet alllllll came out this week so today when I felt like making a cake  and realised we had used the last of our eggs AND milk, I had to get innovative.

I've never tried making a cake without eggs but today I thought I would give it a go. I pretty much used whatever was in my cupboard and used measurements I knew were similar to other cakes. Here's what I came up with.

Chocolate and Coconut cake 

 

 

Ingredients                                                                       Serves: 12

185g butter, melted                                                          Cooking time: 30 minutes

100g sugar

2tbs honey

1 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup cocoa

1 1/2 cups self raising flour

1tsp baking powder

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

1tsp cinnamon

 

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and line a 20cm round cake tin with butter and baking paper. Combine your melted butter, sugar and honey together until just combined. Next, sift in the cocoa, flour, cinnamon and baking powder into the wet mixture. Add the desiccated coconut to the mixture. Pour your cake batter into the tin and bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the top springs back to the touch.

 

 

 

 

This cake turned out so rich and moist, it was delicious! I really wasn't sure how it would turn out without the eggs but I was pleasantly surprised. I am definitely going to be experimenting with this recipe and trying different alterations. My next attempt will be with a creamy chocolate icing. Yummo!

 

 

 

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





Betty Crocker Blueberry Muffins

My mum's oven broke a while back and she still hasn't gotten it fixed. Perfect timing for winter, hey? Mum's a huge fan of the baking packets you buy from your local grocer because really, they are great. You need minimal ingredients, usually only eggs, water and oil, mix with a spoon and bake. Anyway, my mum had a packet of her favourite blueberry muffins from Betty Crocker that she couldn't bake so asked me to do it for her.

Making things from scratch is always fun, but sometimes it is sooo good to whip something up when you're busy in literally ten minutes! The pack I used only costs around $4.00 and makes 12 regular muffins. My mum likes to take these with her to work so I made mini muffins, and got 36 minis out of the pack.

This particular pack only required 3/4 cup of water and 1 egg. How simple! All I needed to do was preheat the oven to 200 degrees, combine the dry ingredients provided with the wet and mix with a wooden spoon until combined. Once I spooned the mixture into the tray, I then had to add a small amount of the blueberry mix and using a skewer, swirl the berries through.

 

Because of their size, these little bad boys took 6 minutes. They are the perfect bite size treat and turn out perfect every time. Of course, its all very satisfying making muffins from scratch but I highly recommend these types of baking packets for people who aren't quite comfortable baking or whom are short on time. They really are fab!

 

Happy Wednesday!   

Just a bit of gardening

My best friend and I are both garden lovers and for our 2 year anniversary, she gave me a garden set for my window sill. The set contained three tin pots, seedlings for Pansies, Alyssums and Lobelias, as well as these cutes pegs with mini chalkboards on them. It is so perfect for me at the moment because the house we are renting has absolutely nowhere for me to have my garden, except for inside, so I've had to use my windowsills to showcase my beauties and keep the rest of my plants at my mum's house until we find our next place (boy will I make sure it has a good veranda next time!).

I only got around to finally planting the seedlings this week and have been so amazed at their progress. I planted them on Saturday when the sun was still out and was so excited to record their progress, but I wasn't expecting anything after only 5 days.

These photos were taken on the first day. You can see that the Alyssum seedlings needed to be pressed gently on top of the soil, while the Pansy and Lobelia seedlings needed to be sowed about 5mm underneath the soil. Having to write on those little chalkboards are super hard!

 

This is the Alyssum seeds after only two days. I was expecting the Alyssum to grow faster than the others because they were planted on top of the soil but I never expected this much growth so quickly!

 

 

This is the pots today - five days in. My Alyssums are going well but still nothing for the other two! I will keep you updated with their progress. I have never grown anything from seedlings before and I'm really hoping the other two start growing up and out of the dirt soon.. I am one impatient garden mama!

 

While I'm doing an update for my garden, I wanted to show you my little beauty that featured in one of my earlier posts about my DIY super cute and easy succulent garlands. My succulents have been really loving the cold sun they have been getting in my window sill this winter. This one especially has bloomed in the last few weeks since I did this post.

 

I just love this photo and how Chewie sneaked into it at the last minute.

 

Happy Thursday Everyone! ♥ KL

 

 





 

 



Nails of the week

It has been raining and overcast this week where we live and it can just get a bit, how can I put it.. Dark? No matter how many blinds, lights or doors I open I can never get enough light!

I love natural sunlight and the colour it brings to a room and I have really been missing it this week so I felt I had to create something bright, fun and bubbly for my nails.

[Order: left; middle; right]

Cutex 230 'Fuschia Fury', Bys 'Baby Lets Cruise' & BC Co. 'Shade'.

 





As you can see, I don't have a favourite brand of nail polish. I'm a 'Ooooh I love that colour!' and 'Ohhh that's cheap!' kind of girl. I started off just intending to paint my nails the Fuschia Fury, but once I finished the base coat it just seemed too boring!

 

 

 

 

Now I love this colour and normally I would be happy with the one colour on my nails but it just wasn't enough for me this week. So I decided to just play around and see what I could come up with. Besides, that's what is so fun about painting your own nails. If you stuff up, just get some remover and start again!

 

I decided to use a an old and rusting bobby pin to form some polka dots in a random pattern using the two other colours. Once I had done one nail I was so excited because they ended up looking like I had strawberries on my nails!

 

 

 

 

 

I don't usually paint my nails like this but when the weather is keeping you down, sometimes you gotta make your own sunshine!

 

I'm always on the look for different nail designs and ideas so if you have any, let me know! Sharing is caring after all.

 

 

Happy Tuesday Everyone.



 

 

 

 

 

 





The story of how we adopted Chewie.

I love my pets like I love a human, it's just the way I am! My pets are a huge part of my life and bring joy to me every single day. Whether it be by getting a cuddle from my cats or hearing my birds whistle good morning. It seemed only right that I started sharing the stories of my beautiful pets with you and I decided to start with my eldest cat Chewie.

Chewie got out a couple of nights ago and we couldn't find him. We left food, water, called his name and still he didn't come. It was a very distressing 36 hours but finally at 5am in the morning I heard his cries and instantly burst into tears! I know, cats are meant to be outside some people say to me. But John and I decided when we got him that he would be an inside cat so we would know he was safe, and so that our birds and other animals would be safe too.

My boyfriend John and I adopted Chewie on the 12th April in 2011 from the Animal Welfare League. We both naturally chose to adopt after growing up with pets of all kinds from cats, dogs, fish, birds and snakes (he was the snakes.. ick!). I made a conscience decision when I was in high school that I would never buy from a commercial pet store after finding out about the horrible ways the animals are brought up. With that being said I ended up purchasing one of our three birds, Birdie, from our local shopping centres pet store.

I was walking past the store when I heard an awfully sad cry coming from inside so I went inside and that's where I found Birdie. He was walking around the bottom of his cage crying. And I mean crying. It took all I had to walk to my car before bursting into tears and calling my mum saying I HAD to buy this beautiful bird and give it a good home. So I walked back inside, bought him and took him home with me. That was a horrible experience for me, and even though he is the happiest bird now, that I avoid pet stores as much as possible.

It was such a hard choice choosing between literally 10's of kittens all fighting for your affection. It would be the first time John would be owning a cat so I decided to give John the reigns to choose the kitten he felt a connection with and that's where we found chewie. Chewie hated me. He was sooo playful and he only wanted to play with John. I'm happy to say that once we took him home he softened up to me and now is quite the mumma's boy!

I chose a collection of my favourite photos, in no particular order. See if you can choose which ones are from when he was a lil' bub!

Happy Monday Everyone!

♥ Katie Lou

 

Finds of the week ♥

I have been a bit absent from the online world for the past couple of weeks thanks to my studies at the moment. The end of my semester was spent doing revision and exams, and then in the same week it was the start of a new one, getting my head around a new website and the study materials. So, it was safe to say I have been a busy bee and haven't had any time for myself or my blog until last night. Boy, have I missed it!

I never would have thought that after such a short time 'Bake My Heart Out' would become such an important part of my day to day living. It's my place to share my inspirations and an expressive outlet that I have come to rely on. I am constantly coming across new pictures, things, ideas, blogs, recipes, clothes or anything at all and think to myself 'I'd love to put that on my blog!'.

Tonight I am sharing a few of the things that I have come across this week that have made me happy by looking at them, made me want to buy them and are just a good old piece of eye candy.

 

 Cat Tea for Two set on shop The Berry Tea Shop.

I'm a cat and tea lover so this is the perfect tea set for me! All I need is some peppermint tea and I'd be in heaven.

 

 

Mint Bunny motive ballet flats by shop Le Bunny Bleu. I just love these ballet flats and adore the colour so much that I am adding them to my 'buy' list.

 

 

 

Arrow ring and Crystal Nail bangle by Hello Miss Apple. I am a big fan of arrows and nails incorporated into jewellery. It's such a different look. All of Hello Miss Apple's pieces come in gold and silver, but I'm a gold girl!

Lets Get Loud on shop Princess Polly. This is also available in black. I love the chevron look in anything, and pink is so summery. If only I had the legs to pull it off!

Multi Sleeveless Bodycon dress by shop She Inside. Ooh, I love this. This is the perfect day-to-night dress for me. Business during the day, party during the night.

 

 

Bold and Wild necklace by Imsmi Style. This is a statement piece that wouldn't go unnoticed and can be worn both day and night. I just, LOVE it.

 

 

What do you think? Do these piece inspire your next outfit or just make you happy because of the pure eye candy? I sure hope so!

Happy Sunday Everyone!

♥ Katie Lou

Giveaway :: $100 worth of Cookie Cutters!

I am all about entering giveaways.. not that I ever win anything. Like, ever! (ha ha) I have never won a single thing in my entire life but that won't stop me from trying. Winning $100 worth of your choice of ridiculously cute cookie cutters is my kind of competition!

(taken from Sweetopia)

 

I came across this competition whilst on Instagram thanks to Sweetopia and Cheap Cookie Cutters. I have been following Sweetopia for a while now, a great blog and website with baking tutorials, videos and recipes  for anything sweet but I am a newcomer to Cheap Cookie Cutters and I had to share this truly super online store. They have literally hundreds, yes.. HUNDREDS! of cookie cutters. How heavenly!

I of course, have entered this competition every way possible because I want to win! We all do, right? I have had the chance to have a look around their site and have picked out a few of my faves just in case...

Bow ties

Harry Potter!

A potted flower

A trio of owls

A spider and web

A kitty!

 

Mr Caterpillar

Teacup

A watering can

A cupcake

 

A train

 

For your chance to win simply click here and follow the prompts on how to enter via Facebook and Twitter. Good Luck! 

 

 

Happy Saturday :)

 

♥ Katie Lou