New hand mixer and potentially the best chocolate cake EVER!

After receiving a new hand mixer for my birthday, I have been desperate to try it out, but I was looking for the perfect opportunity.  I stumbled across this scrummy looking Chocolate Cake recipe on BBC food whilst looking for inspiration, and I am so glad I did. 

I was dubious upon receiving my new Dualit hand mixer, as I felt it would be more hassle than it was worth. How wrong could I be? Firstly, I was impressed with its sleek design, and its vibrant red colour. Secondly, I love how easy the mixer is to use. The mixer comes with three attachments; flat beaters, dough hooks, and balloon whisk. The attachments are super easy to attach/detach, and are dishwasher friendly which is always a huge plus! Finally, the mixer is much lighter than expected, making mixing easy, and you almost feel lazy letting the mixer do all the hard work! 

Dualit Hand Mixer

Now moving onto the important part...the cake! Without sounding big headed, it is without a doubt the best Chocolate cake I have ever made, no exaggeration needed! Know this could be down to me, the hand mixer or the recipe, I'm thinking its the later two! The hand mixer sure made light work of making the cake. 

Feel free to try out this fabulous recipe :) 

My favourite winter warmer recipe

The Co-operative Electrical  are currently hosting a competition,  in which bloggers are asked to write a blog featuring their favourite winter warmer recipe. Now I am a lover of competitions, and food so I really couldn't say no to entering! After all its a fabulous excuse to sit down with the family and eat my favourite winter dish, not forgetting dessert as well! 

My all time favourite winter warmer dinner has to be Cottage Pie with Yorkshire Puddings, with the emphasis on the plural of Yorkshire Puddings! The more the merrier! Using a simple recipe of  equal measures of eggs, flour and milk (recipe tip gained through watching far too many cookery shows) has not failed me yet. Cottage Pie is such a simple, yet satisfying dish, which never fails to please. Who knew such basic ingredients thrown together, could make such a delicious meal?

Cottage pie and Yorkshire puddings 

From this...

To this....

In less than one hour 

Now a winter warmer dinner can not not be complete without a delicious dessert. My current favourite (as it's continuously changing) has to be Chocolate Brownies. Now in my opinion a dessert isn't a true dessert without containing chocolate, so this dessert really does fit the bill! I stumbled across this Chocolate Brownie recipe on the internet last year whilst browsing for baking ideas, and it has remained a firm favourite ever since. The hardest part of the baking process has to be getting the oven timing just right, to produce a gooey chocolate center...fortunately this time I was successfully!

Chocolate Brownies 

From this...

To this...

In less than 30mins

If I was lucky enough to win this competition I would invest in some new kitchen appliances, to aid me in exploring new recipes, but also a new camera, so I can truly capture how delicious my food can be (granted this is not always the case). Improvement in my presentation skills may also be required to achieve this! 

House of Fraser Dream Valentines Day

This is my entry for the House of Fraser Valentines Day outfit challenge. 

As a single lady this valentines day, the evening is more likely to consist of PJs, chick flicks and large quantities of chocolate (cliched I know), rather than a glam night out, but I enjoyed the challenge none the less. 

As this Valentines planning is highly hypothetical, I thought I would go all out and share with you my dream Valentines evening...

Obviously a dream Valentines evening requires:

A dream outfit...

Dress -£25 Leather Jacket - £229 

Perfume  - £71 Mascara - £19.50 Heels - £59 (in sale) 

Necklace - £51 (in sale) Nail Polish - £14.50 Clutch -(in sale)


A dream man...

Ian Sommerhalder

or

Zac Effron

Now I'm not fussy (what with being single n'all) so either of these guys would do!

A dream location... 

New York

I was lucky enough to visit New York a couple of years ago, and it truly is the most magical city I have ever visited.

Cocktails...

Cocktails  

Dancing...

Dancing

I did say this was a dream valentine date, and in this dream I can obviously dance...

Finally, no date is complete without a cheeky smooch...

A cheeky kiss...

Kiss

In reality I would be equally happy with a quite meal at a local restaurant, but if Ian Sommerhalder or Zac Effron are free this Friday 14th I am not going to say no...

As this is only a dream valentines date, images have been taken from the internet, I hope I have credited all images correctly.