Recipe

Custard Creams & Bourbon biscuits.

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Custard creams & Bourbons were two biscuits that were a staple in my home growing up, my little brother loved Bourbons! I have finally got around the making some gluten free & vegan so I can add the recipe for you all.

If you are not from the UK you might not know what these biscuits are, a Custard Cream is a custard flavour sandwich biscuit filled with a creamy custard butter cream & a Bourbon is a chocolate sandwich biscuit with a chocolate butter cream centre.

Both are best served with cup of tea as they are great for dunking!

I know most shop bought own brand Bourbons are vegan but they are not gluten free. These biscuits are easy to make and keep for days in an air tight container, if they last that long.

I made mine bat shaped but you can make them any shape you like.

The Recipe:

Preheat your oven to gas mark 4/180°C/160°C Fan/350°F.

  • 175g Self raising gluten free flour
  • 3 tbsp Bird’s custard powder*
  • 50g Caster Sugar
  • 50g Vitalite baking block
  • 50g Vegetable shortening (I used Trex)
  • 1 tbsp Plain soya yoghurt mixed with 3 tbsp of cold water
  • 1 tsp vanila extract

*for the Bourbons,
add 1 tbsp cornflour & 2 tbsp Cocoa powder

The cream filling:

  • 1 tbsp Bird’s custard powder*
  • 130g icing sugar
  • 50g Vitalite block
  • 1 tbsp boiling water

*for the bourbons
add 1 tbsp cocoa powder

1, In a bowl beat together all the above ingredients until light and fluffy, put to one side until your biscuits are cooled & are ready to be sandwiched.

Method:
I used my kitchen aid to make these but you can make them by hand.

1, In a large bowl add the dry ingredients & mix roughly to combine.
2, Add the Vitalite & Trex and rub into the flour mix using your finger tips so it resembles bread crumbs,
3, Now add the vanilla and the yogurt water mix and combine until your mixture forms a ball,
4, Chill dough in the fridge for 20 minutes
5, Once your dough is chilled roll out with a little extra sprinkle of flour to about 4mm thick & cut out your shapes. Remember these are sandwich biscuits so make sure each biscuit has a friend.

6, Bake on a cookie sheet for 9-10 minutes or until the edges are starting to colour lightly.
7, Allow to cool completely on the baking tray.

8, Once cool add your cream filling, because mine were bat shaped I used a piping bag to pipe some cream onto the bottom biscuit & then top with another biscuit.


I hope if you make these you like them, Jammy Dodgers are next on my list,
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Recipe

M&S Percy Pig cake! We made it gluten free!

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This recipe is the first one on Living Dead Cakes that’s not going to be vegan, but don’t worry it is still gluten free! Everything is always going to be gluten free.
There will be vegan recipes still but it will be a mix.

When I saw the M&S Percy Pig cake, I crossed my fingers and wished it to be GF but sadly my wishes did not come true, so after I had a tantrum a 2 year old would be proud of I decided to make my own, so here is my recipe, Super easy and super quick.

Percy pig cake.

Pre Heat oven to 190C/Gas 5.
Grease two 20cm sandwich tins and line with non-stick baking paper.

Ingredients:

For the cake:
200g Stork, (or any baking butter you like)
200g Caster Sugar
200g Self-Raising GF flour
4 Eggs
1 Tsp baking powder

For the Frosting & filling:
250g Butter
550g Icing Sugar
70g Percy pig dessert sauce
Pink food colouring (I use Gell or paste from the supermarket NOT liquid)
1/2 jar Strawberry jam

To decorate:
1 bag of your favourite Percy pigs
Lots of sprinkles (make sure they are GF)

Method:

Cream the butter and sugar together for a few minutes until light and fluffy, add two eggs and half the flour, fold in, add the last two eggs, flour and baking powder fold until combined, dived between the two cake tins and bake for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through. remove from tins and cool.

While your cake are cooling make the frosting, beat together the butter and icing sugar until light and very pale in colour, this takes about 5/8 minutes if you have a stand mixed I would use it, once beaten add your Percy pig syrup and beat again, add a few drops of your pink food colouring to create a pale pink.

In a bowl add about 150g of your buttercream and add more pink food colouring to make a darker shade of pink.

Once your cakes are cold add the strawberry jam to one layer and top with you Percy pig flavour butter cream and the other cake layer on top and cover with a thin coat of butter cream (a crumb coat) and chill in the fridge for 10 minutes.

When your crumb coat is chilled I like to move my cake to a serving plate or cake board and cover with a thicker layer of butter cream, chill for 5 minutes.
Add a little extra butter cream for glue and around the sides add your sprinkles, this bit is a little messy. cover the sides with sprinkles.

Pipe 8 little swirls of the darker pink cream around the edge of your cake and one in the middle, top with your Percy pig sweets.

I had a little butter cream left over so I made some cupcakes to match, sadly I have no photos as my children ate them too quickly, but this would be great if your making this as a birthday cake.

Recipe

Apple Malt loaf

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Malt Loaf, That stodgy fruit filled dark brown brick looking heavenly delicsousness.

I’ve not eaten Malt Loaf in about 11 years, and its one of the many things I miss that are normally full of evil gluten. Here is my own vegan & gluten free version.

If you are not from the UK you will probably have no idea what Malt loaf is, its a common snack food that we normally eat sliced covered in butter with a cup of tea.

Its originally from Scotland but we love it all over the UK.  Its full of dried fruit and malt extract, sadly malt extract isn’t gluten free so my version isn’t technically a malt loaf as its missing the malt but it does taste just like Soreen. I’ve used date syrup & tea to try to recreate the malty flavour.

maltloaf2

Ingredients:

For the loaf

  • 225g Dried fruit
  • 150g Brown gluten free bread flour
  • 130g Plain gluten free flour
  • 125ml strongly brewed tea
  • 100g Date syrup
  • 100g Dark brown sugar
  • 100g Treacle
  • 1 large apple, peeled & diced
  • 70g Apple sauce*
  • 1 Tsp. Baking powder
  • 1 Tsp Cinnamon (optional)
  • Pinch salt

*I used a 70g pouch of Ella’s kitchen organic apple puree, YES I used baby food! 🙂
I’ve been using it lots of new recipes keep your eyes out for more using this.

For the glaze

  • 1 Tbsp. Treacle
  • 1 Tbsp. Date syrup

Method: 

Pre-heat your oven to 160c/320f/ or Gas mark 3 & line your 2lb loaf tin

  1. In a jug brew 125ml of black tea, & set to one side to steep while you get everything else ready.
  2. In a large bowl add your flour, diced apple, dried fruit, salt, baking powder, & optional cinnamon & set to one side with your steeping tea.
  3. In a sauce pan add the date syrup, sugar, & treacle and heat until it starts to bubble and all the sugar is melted
  4. Pour your warm mixture over the dry ingredients, and add the whole pouch of  apple sauce and steeped tea, mix until well combined.
  5. Pour into your lined loaf tin and bake for 60-65 minutes.
  6. Once baked remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
    leave to cool for 10 -15 minutes
  7. In a microwave safe bowl add your treacle and date syrup and melt on high for 10 seconds and using a pastry brush paint the top of your loaf with all the melted glaze.
  8. Leave to cool completely before you slice and smother in dairy free butter.

If you make this yummy malt loaf don’t forget to tag us on Facebook or Instagram,
I love seeing you all make my recipes.

maltloaf4

Recipe

Creme Egg Chocolate Cookies

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Whats better than Creme eggs & chocolate cookies? Creme egg filled cookies!!!

I’ve made vegan creme eggs loads of times but this time its with cookies!
(My vegan creme egg recipe can be found HERE)

These cookies have a few elements to them but once you have made them all its so worth it, I make the cookies first so while they are cooling I make the other elements then when they are cool you are ready to assemble them!

This recipe makes approx 8 sandwich cookies.

The Cookies:
Ingredients:

  • 200g Plain gluten free flour
  • 30g Cocoa powder
  • 1 Tsp baking powder
  • ½ Tsp Bicarbonate of soda
  • ½ Tsp salt
  • 115g Dairy free butter
  • 150g Soft brown sugar
  • 50g Caster sugar
  • 1 Tbsp Ground flax seed mixed with 4 Tbsp of warm water
  • 40g Chocolate Soya pudding
  • 50g Chocolate chips
  • ½ Tsp White wine vinegar

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 200c/400f/ or Gas mark 6 and line a cookie sheet with non stick parchment paper 

  1. In a bowl swift together your flour, cocoa, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt and move to one side.
  2. In another bowl beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, add your flax seed mix, chocolate soya pudding and mix until well combined,
  3. Now add your dry ingredients a little at a time mixing well,
  4. Once you have nearly added all your flour mix add your chocolate chips and white wine vinegar, and mix again
  5. Chill the mix for 20 minutes
  6. Once chilled place spoon full of the cookie dough on a baking sheet and bake for 7-9 minutes
  7. Once baked move to a cooling rack and cool

Now the Creme egg filling,

Ingredients:

  • 85g Liquid Glucose (It will be in the baking section of the supermarket)
  • 30g dairy free butter (I used Pure sunflower)
  • 200g Icing sugar
  • 1 Tsp Water
  • 1 Tsp Vanilla or any other flavouring you like
  • Vegan food colouring I used Wilton yellow

Method:

The Fondant centre.

  1. First add your butter and liquid glucose to your bowl and beat them together, you can do this with a stand mixer, a hand held mixer or by hand with a spoon.
  2. Once thick and creamy add your icing sugar, 1 teaspoon of water, your flavouring &  mix together until all combined.
  3. Take half of the mixture and colour it yellow, keep the rest white
  4. Take a piping bag with any tip you like I used a wilton 1m, add the white to one half of the bag and the yellow to the other half.

The chocolate butter cream,

Ingredients:

  • 150g Vegan butter
  • 280g Icing Sugar
  • 35g Cocoa Powder
  • 1 Tsp Plant milk

Method:

  1. Place the butter in a bowl and beat on high for a few minutes until soft,
  2. Add the cocoa powder and 1 tsp of plant milk and beat together
  3. Add the icing sugar and beat on low until combined and then on high until fluffy.
  4. Place in a piping bag until needed

I also made little vegan chocolate eggs for the top using a mini egg mould, you can make these If you want too.

To assemble :

Now you have made all the elements of these yummy cookies you can now put them together, first match up your cookies into pairs & get your piping bags of butter cream and creme egg fondant ready.

Pipe a circle of butter cream around the outer edge of the base cookie and fill the centre with the creme egg fondant and place the other cookie on the top

Drizzle the top with a little creme egg fondant and you are ready to eat

When I made these I made double the creme egg fondant and make some vegan creme eggs too.

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General

Sam: Trick ‘r Treat.

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Trick ‘r Treat is one of my all time favourite horror films,

Movie poster

Sam has been on my list of cakes I’ve wanted to make for years so this Halloween he was one of two cakes I made.
(The other one will be up soon)

If you haven’t seen Trick ‘r Treat and you like horror films then what are you waiting for go buy it and watch it now!

so here are a few photographs of my little cakes Sam.

He is of course Gluten Free & Vegan

I hope you like him as much as I do.

Happy Samhain from us all at LCD HQ.

 

Recipe

Vegan & Gluten Free Kids: Autumn Flapjacks.

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My favourite seasons are autumn & winter, It might be due to the fact I wear nothing but black and when its cold it means I can wear top to toe velvet and not melt but it also might have something to do with all the baking I do at the time of year.

These flapjacks are perfect for lunch boxes as they are nut free or for after school snacks, & great for our little vegan & gluten free children and our the first recipe from our “Vegan & Gluten Free Kids Series” I will be adding lots of recipes to this series, lots of fun things that children can get involved in baking and these flapjacks are the perfect to bake with children at any age, just make sure they have adult supervision.

I baked mine using my 12 hole brownie tin, this recipe makes 12 perfect little squares, If you would like to use a similar tin I found this one on Amazon for you.

I’m ok with certified gluten free oats but some coeliacs aren’t, if you are not gluten free just use normal oats.

Ingredients:

  • 250g Gluten Free oats
  • 125g Dairy free butter
  • 125g Soft brown sugar
  • 40g Golden syrup
  • 170g Sultanas
  • 2 Medium apples grated
  • 1 Tsp. Cinnamon
  • 2 Tsp. Orange oil

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 160c/320f/ or Gas mark 3 grease your brownie tin

  1. In a bowl add your Oats, Sultanas, grated apple, cinnamon, orange oil, and set to one side.
  2. In a sauce pan add your Sugar, dairy free butter, & golden syrup and melt on a medium heat until all the sugar has melted.
  3. Pour this into the bowl and mix well,
  4. Dived the mixture between the 12 holes and bake for 20-23* minutes or until the edges are starting to go golden brown.
  5. Once baked allow the flapjack to cool in the tin for 5 or so minutes and then remove and allow to cool completely.
    .

autumnfj2
*If you are making this is one tin and not the 12 hole tin you will need to bake it for a little longer around 30-35 minutes

They keep well in an air tight container and you can switch it up and add anything else you children like, chocolate chips or other dried fruit.

I hope you like these as much as my family does. If you make them don’t forget to tag us on Facebook or Instagram, I love seeing you all make my recipes.

autumnfj4

Recipe/review

Disney Descendants! Ways to be wicked.

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There are so many ways to be wicked!

My Daughter and I are counting down the days until Disneys Descendants 2 is aired on the Disney channel. Friday 20th October can not come soon enough. 3 DAYS!!!
We know all the new songs and have seen lots of sneak peeks so all we need is the film!

If you are not familiar with what Disneys Descendants is about, it’s about 4 of the main villains teenage children, We have Mal daughter of Maleficent, Evie daughter of The Evil Queen, Jay son of Jafar, & Carlos son of Cruella de vil. All the villains have been banished to an Island with no magic called the Isle of the Lost & Ben, son of Beauty and the Beast is going to be a king and wants to give the villain children a fresh start and allow them to come to Auradon and go to school.

In honour of all things wicked I have made two yummy Descendants inspired recipes, Mal’s love spell cookies from the 1st film and red dipped caramel apples from the new film. You don’t have to add a real tear of human sadness to your cookies but I would if you have one to hand.

Mal’s Love Spell Cookies, 

Ingredients:

  • 115g Dairy Free Butter
  • 150g Soft Brown Sugar
  • 1 Tsp Baking Powder
  • 1 Tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
  • 1 Tbsp White Wine Vinegar
  • 50g Ripe Banana
  • 225g Gluten Free Flour
  • 50g Dairy Free Chocolate Chips
  • 1 Human Tear Of Sadness (optional)

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 200c/400f/ or Gas mark 6 and line a cookie sheet with non stick parchment paper

  1. In a bowl cream together your butter and sugar,
  2. When light and fluffy add your banana and mix well again,
  3. Now add all the rest of your ingredients and combine well,
  4. If using now add your human tear of sadness 😉
  5. Cover and chill in the fridge for a few hours
  6. Once chilled scoop on too a cookie sheet and bake for 11-14 minutes.

Give away with caution, the course of true love never did run smooth. 

Ways to be wicked apples

Ingredients:

  • 8 Red Apples
  • 8 Wooden lolly pop sticks
  • 420g Caster Sugar
  • 4 Tbsp Golden Syrup
  • 100ml Water
  • 1 Tsp Vinegar
  • 2 Tsp Vegan Red Food Colouring
    (I used sainsbury’s liquid colouring, its marked as vegan )
  • Purple & green ribbon for optional decoration

Method:

You will need a sugar thermometer, but you can buy them very cheaply in most supermarkets or online 

  1. Wash your apples in hot water to make sure they are super clean, and add your wooden lolly stick, I used a hammer to push mine in, place on a cookie sheet lined with non stick paper,
  2. In a medium saucepan add your sugar & water, cook until the water has dissolved
  3. Now add your golden syrup and vinegar and bring to the boil
  4. Boil your sugar mixture until you reach 140C and add your red food colouring, it will bubble up a little bit so be careful.
  5. Keep boiling your sugar until you reach “hard crack” 154C
  6. Once you reach 154C tip the sugar to one side of the pan and dip & roll your apple in the mixture and place on your lined cookie sheet,
  7. Leave to cool and then they are ready to eat!

Wicked ways beneath the skin, Let all who taste it now join in.

Recipe

Sabrina The Teenage Witch: Chocolate Bundt Cake With Truth Sprinkles!

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Most people have a fond rose tinted nostalgia for the decade that they were a teenage and I was a teenager during the 90’s (the best decade EVER FYI).
Sabrina The Teenage Witch was one of my favourite shows, I loved her! I even had a purple Sabrina phone case for my Nokia 3210!

When I saw the boxset of all 7 seasons on Amazon I knew I needed to own it and show my children how totally cool 90’s tv was!

So we all sat down and started to watch season one & my daughter was hooked by the end of that first episode, we carried on with episode two, “Bundt Friday” if you haven’t re watched the show since the 90’s I will give you a quick recap. Sabrina makes a Bundt cake in her cookery class and takes some truth sprinkles to school to find out what bully Libby and her friends have been saying about her behind her back, but she also finds out that Jenny likes Harvey too! The truth can hurt.

Here is my recreation of that chocolate bundt cake Sabrina makes, and as always it’s 100% Vegan & Gluten Free and OMG its TOTALLY AMAZING but hey whatever make it for yourself and see. 😉

I also bought my bundt cake tin from Amazon too.

Ingredients:

For the cake,
250g Gluten Free Self Raising Flour
250g Dark Brown Sugar
80g Cocoa Powder
1 Tsp. Baking Powder
1 Tsp. Bicarbonate of soda
250ml Plant Milk (I used Soya)
150ml Dairy free plain yoghurt
50ml Vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. White Wine Vinegar

For the chocolate ganache
100g Dairy Free Chocolate
65g Coconut Cream
Vegan Sprinkles

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 170c/325f/or Gas mark 3 and grease a bundt cake tin, I used this one

  1. In a large bowl sift your flour and add all the other dry ingredients.
  2. In another smaller bowl add all your wet ingredients
  3. Mix both bowls well & add the wet to the dry and mix until well combined, pour your mixture into a very well greased bundt pan and bake for 40-45 minutes.
  4. Once baked leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and turn out and cool completely
  5. To make the ganache, melt your chocolate & mix in the coconut cream, leave to cool and thicken in the fridge for about 10 minutes.
  6. After its lovely and thick pour over your bundt cake and add a good handful of sprinkles.

This cake is super moist and so chocolaty it would make an amazing birthday cake or warmed up in the microwave for 30 seconds and served with some vegan ice cream.

General

No admittance except on party business: A Hobbit House!

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No admittance except on party business: A Hobbit House!

One of my all time favourite things to make are birthday cakes for those I love and this cake was for a very special little girl, my best friends daughter Baya.

Baya is loving Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit films at the moment, which is no surprise as Baya and her family live a very nature filled life & spend a lot of time outside in the country side, so her mum requested a Hobbit house cake.  The inside was a light fluffy vanilla sponge with butter cream & home made strawberry conserve, Baya’s favourite.

So I set about making this extra special cake for one of my favourite little people.

I had a look at a few Hobbit house images and set about designing in my mind what the cake would look like.  I wanted to add little extra special details, so we have the One Ring on the door step, a bow & arrow for Baya’s favourite character Legolas, a little fire pit & a mini vegetable patch with (of course it’s organic) carrots, cauliflowers and the Hobbit staple Potatoes. (No second breakfast is complete with out them)

Baya’s little face when she saw her cake was amazing & the reason I love making cakes for little people. She was over the moon with her own little Hobbit house.

Below are some photos of Baya’s special little Hobbit house,
For more photos have a look at our Facebook album HERE.

 

             

Happy Birthday sweetie, we all love you lots & lots xxx

Photo Credits, Living Dead Cakes, C. Jayne & B. Whitwell

For more photos have a look at our Facebook album HERE & give us a like.

 

 

Recipe

Unicorn Frappuccino! Vegan Starbucks HACK!

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Unless you have been living under a rock the last few days you would have seen pictures of Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino posted all over social media.


Sadly for us its an American only drink and is only available for a few days in the USA, but as its full of dairy us vegans couldn’t drink it anyway BUT I have made a vegan gluten free inspired version we can drink! and its as tasty as it looks!

Its not 100% the same as the Starbucks one but its still so good. The Starbucks one goes from sweet to sour as you drink it, i’ve added sherbet to try and re-create this, & from what I have read it can not be made vegan as the blue syrup has milk in but my version is 100% vegan & gluten free and super tasty.

I’ve tried to use only supermarket ingredients, all the sweets came from Asda, but I had a bottle of Monin Bubble gum syrup in my cupboard so I have used that too.

If you want to make it a little more adult add a shot or two of vodka to it before you top with cream. (you can thank me later for that!)

Ingredients:

Makes 2 drinks 

Method:

  1. Melt your 65g of white chocolate and dip your cup rims into the chocolate and then dip into your sprinkles, place in the fridge to set
  2. In a food processor (or blender) add your ice, milk, ice cream and whats left of your white chocolate and blend up until the ice is crushed.
  3. Separate your mix into 3 bowls and dye each bowl and different colour and place in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
  4. After 30 minutes in the freezer add 20ml of bubble gum syrup to the blue bowl, all the raspberry sherbet to the pink bowl & 2 Tbsp, of dip dap sherbet to the purple bowl.
  5. Dribble some strawberry sauce inside your glass & layer your colours into your glass, mixing them up a little to make it swirly. (add your vodka now if you fancy it)
  6. Top with vegan cream add some rainbow drops as decoration and a little more sherbet and Drink!

? Who needs Starbucks! ?

 Save the unicorns!