The best birthday cake in the whole world!

Master Chef Australia will be the death of me... that damn show plays on my biggest weakness: perfectionism. I thought making a delicious risotto was good enough, but then they would create these 20 component risottos that set alight spontaneoulsy and the ashes turn into dessert or something. It gave me a serious inferiority complex. AND on top of that, they came out with Junior Master Chef, so then I had to endure 9 year olds creating dishes I couldn't even pronounce. It was all just too much for me, I HAD to up my game, I refuse to be left looking like a peasant chef with my unsalted caramel and homeless gingerbread man.

Beer Box Cake

There's something really nostalgic about those great big slabs of cake you would take to school on your birthday; fighting over who got the last square of chocolate, and who got the ones with the blob of caramel. I haven't had a beer box cake in AGES! Sure, I'd love to be able to whip up a seven tier birthday cake coated in edible gold and modelled on the Burj Al Arab- but it still wouldn't taste as good as the memories of your whole class singing 'Happy Birthday' with icing covered faces.

Farewell Part 2- Death by chocolate

'T was a cold and wintery Women's Day

It all started with Women’s Day, or as I experienced, the day of no remote recognition. The boyfriend came home to a delicious belated Meat Free Monday (MFM) dinner of Mediterranean roast veg with couscous, feta, a mixture of seeds, and a balsamic and olive oil dressing. In my attempt to prove that a secret desire to be a 1950’s housewife does NOT make you anti-feminist, dependent, ignorant or unmotivated, I tackled Women’s Day with gusto. To prove that I am the amazing, multi-talented woman of my dreams, I cleaned, I laundered, I vacuumed, I worked, I wrote, I studied, and I prepared what I thought was a healthy, nutricious, and delicious meal.

Silken Hot Chocolate

Quick, easy, and super versatile- make it thick and rich for serious chocolate connoisseurs, or light and delicate for those on diet :) or just eat the ganache as is!

Warning: Eating this will make you very very happy

Ever craved something so ridiculously decadent it's slightly embarrassing to tell anyone? Like a deep fried Mars bar (will have to try one of these while I'm in the UK), or deep fried chips smothered in cheese sauce (quite happy to never try this one thank you very much)?

A few weeks ago I made the queen of all cupcakes; in looks it passes off as pretty and appealing, in theory it is simple and one of man's basic needs... but the lavishness and decadence of it would have your skinny jeans running back to that changing room where you spent 2 hours trying to squeeze into them and not look like a sausage. That said, if this cupcake were an actual queen, it would be a fat little American kid with melted chocolate on her face and crown. It is...... the chocolate and peanut butter cupcake!

If you love peanut butter, you will feel no shame wolfing these down. If you've always feigned shock at the wicked combination of peanut butter and chocolate, you will politely decline a second cupcake only to find yourself returning hours later for a third and fourth. If you're on diet, well, I warn you: this contains butter, cocoa, peanut butter, cream, and loads of sugar- and you won't even care.