Kate's Crazy Culinary Creations

This is another birthday that I made recently. I have never made a black forest cake before as I am not a huge fan of cherries but it was what was requested so of course I went through my recipe books and found this recipe. As usual start with preheating your oven to 150 degrees Celsius. Prepare a deep 23 centimeter round cake pan, lining the base and sides with baking paper. In a medium size saucepan melt the butter. In a separate bowl combine the coffee and water and stir to combine. Add to the melted butter over a low heat. Then add the chocolate and sugar. Stir over the heat, without boiling, until smooth. Transfer to to a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer and allow to cool to warm. Sift the dry ingredients together in a large separate bowl. Beat the mixture and gradually beat in the dry ingredients, in at least 3 batches. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Then add the extract. Pour the mixture into the tin. Bake the cake in the oven for about 1 3/4 hours. Stand in ...

This recipe was a little bit of a fluke but will definitely be repeated. On the weekend I bought some apples to make an apple pie but never got around to it, so I though why not make cupcakes. My work colleague's are always happy to try my experiments. This one got the thumbs up from them all. The best part is they are super easy and fairly quick too. Okay so I have to admit that I cheated with these ones. I like to pretend it was smart thinking! I didn't make the cakes from scratch I used a packet Vanilla cake mix. I did however make the stewed apples. I diced up 3 Granny Smith Apples into half centimeter cubes and placed them in a medium sized saucepan with the sugar, butter and mixed spice. Over a low to medium heat cook the apples for 5-8 minutes until translucent. Pour the apples on a tray and put in the freezer while you prepare the cake mixture. Preheat your oven as per the cake mixture's instructions. Prepare a 12 hole muffin tin, line with liners. Foll...