Cakes, chocolate, caramel...Give me it all!

I love to cook.

I really do. I especially love to cook things that people think are really difficult and impressive but in reality just take a lot of chip-chopping and preparation. In other words...I like the glory that comes with producing a good meal almost as much as the eating itself!

Strangely enough, throughout all the sickness the one thing I don't have a problem with is cakes and chocolate! Hurrah! Although I'm not sure this will work in my favour when I go for my gestational diabetes test...booooo. Anyhows, with Easter fast approaching (last week *cough*), I decided I wanted to whip up something scrumptious for the big day.

Enter the Mary Berry book.

Oh how I love my brand new Mary Berry book! All the classic recipes are there along with scores of new ones :) One of the things I LOVE about the book is that it has sections telling you exactly how to prepare foods and present them. From how to bone a chicken, to the exact times and temperatures for roasting meat, to how to perfectly fold and present a Danish pastry - I LOVE this book!

Within 5 minutes I'd found a delicious chocolate cupcake recipe, decided to knock up some caramel for a topping and I was away in the kitchen. With no sickness woo!

After making the caramel I decided for a bit of flair I'd add it to some buttercream to make, what I believe to be, a rather pretty and impressive cupcake display.

There were lots of 'oohs and ahhs' when the cupcakes were revealed :)

What do you think?





And now they're all gone!