Baking- One Bowl Chocolate Cake and 7up Cake

I've been doing some more baking lately, so thought I would do another baking post. :) I recently made one bowl chocolate cake and 7up cake.


One Bowl Chocolate Cake

A couple of weeks ago I made a one bowl chocolate cake. (The reason for the name is that it's all mixed up in the same bowl). The recipe is from Six Sister's Stuff, here's the link: http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2013/06/one-bowl-chocolate-cake-made-from-scratch.html


Note: When I've visited this site recently I've been getting a warning message from my anti-virus saying that it's a security threat. However I emailed them and one of the sisters told me that they have had their site checked and it's not coming from there. I used Google Chrome to view the site like she suggested and nothing's happened. (My usual browser is Firefox). So it's probably best viewed in Chrome. :)

I've previously made one bowl black tea chocolate cake but that had a bit of a bitter taste with the tea. I did like it but this cake was nicer. Here's a picture:

Litha 2017

Last Wednesday it was Litha aka Midsummer/the Summer Solstice (21st June this year). As I mentioned in my Litha celebration ideas post (it was also part of a baking post) I made lemonade. I normally make it for Litha; the type I usually make is what I call "Hello Kitty lemonade" because the recipe is from a Hello Kitty book! Last year I used a recipe from The Real Witches' Kitchen book by Kate West. I didn't like that much because it was quite bitter, so this year I went back to my favourite type! lol. It's also easier to make since you don't have to boil the lemon rind or anything, you just mix the lemon juice with the water and sugar.

I had the lemonade with a salmon sandwich and sea salt crisps for lunch and also made the same tomato and onion salad that I did last year. The recipe is from The Kitchen Witch book by Soraya. Here's a picture of the lemonade:

Baking- No-Yeast Dinner Rolls and Brownies + Litha/Midsummer Celebration Ideas

The other week I made some no-yeast dinner rolls. Their full title is Momma's No Yeast Dinner rolls and I got them from Pinterest. Here's the link (the recipe is on the pin itself): https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/423268064969834345/

I've baked bread a couple of times before but it can be quite a complicated process! So I like no-yeast recipes because they're simpler. A few months ago I made quick dinner bread which came out quite nice. More recently I made flourless peanut butter bread. I wasn't so impressed with that; it does come out like "proper" bread but I didn't like the taste that much. I think I might have liked it more as a sweet bread. Still, it's good as an alternative bread if you're gluten intolerant because it's gluten free. :)

What I liked about these dinner rolls is the fact that they only have a few simple ingredients (flour, baking powder, milk, mayonnaise and a pinch of salt) and that they're easy to make. It doesn't say what kind of flour to use but it must have been plain because you also baking powder. The rolls tasted nice. Here's a pic:

Beach Pics

I normally post on Sunday or Monday but I didn't get round to it this time. I recently took some photos at Worthing beach though, so thought I'd do a random Tuesday post! :)

Worthing beach is one of my favourite beaches but I hadn't been for ages due to car issues and the weather during winter. It was lovely weather and it's really starting to feel like summer. (Well, it was but yesterday it rained hard for most of the day and today it's colder and windy! lol). Here are the pics:

Beltane 2017

Last Monday I celebrated Beltane. As I mentioned in my Beltane Celebration Ideas post I made guacamole. The recipe is from Soraya's book The Kitchen Witch. I had it with a chicken drumstick, sea salt crisps and carrots. While other years I've had elderflower to drink, this year I had lemonade (Fever Tree Sicilian lemonade). Here are a couple of pictures:

Beltane Celebration Ideas

Tomorrow (1st May) is Beltane, the 2nd spring festival and the start of the summer season. It can also be celebrated today (30th April). Interestingly I just watched an episode of The X-Files last night where the sabbats were mentioned and Beltane was referred to as "Roodmas" and celebrated on 30th April. (Note: This episode doesn't cast witches/magic practitioners in a good light but there is one good witch!). Roodmas is apparently an old English word that means "Mass of the Cross" and it was celebrated as an attempt to diminish paganism! So maybe it's an alternative name. Witches of The Craft refers to it as the Christian term for Old Rood Day.

Note: If you're in the Southern Hemisphere you're about to have Samhain. Have a good one! )


Following on from my Oestara Celebration Ideas post, here is one for Beltane. :)

First of all here are some links with more info about this festival:

http://www.priestesstraining.com/beltaine-sex-goddess-love/

http://www.pennilesspagan.com/2017/04/5-ways-to-celebrate-beltane.html

http://tesswhitehurst.com/5-ways-to-celebrate-beltane-in-5-minutes-or-less/

http://tesswhitehurst.com/4-unique-little-ideas-for-your-beltane-celebration/

Frosted White Chocolate Easter Cake

For Easter this year I made a white chocolate Easter cake. I decided to make it on Good Friday because other relatives were also baking things and I knew I wouldn't be able to eat everything on Easter Sunday! lol. The recipe is a James Martin one. Here's the link: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10209/frosted-white-chocolate-easter-cake

I first made this for Easter a few years ago (I think in 2013) and although at first I wasn't that sure about it, I ended up liking it. So I thought I would be good to do the same cake again this year. It has white chocolate in the sponge and cream cheese frosting/icing with Mini Eggs on top. Here's a picture: