'CHOC DRINK POWDER' CAKE

This cake has been branded the 'best-est' cake by my kids. It is neither wet, not dry, neither bitter, nor too sweet. Simply superb. And truly one of the easiest caked to make, to the point that when we were about to put the cake in the oven they asked 'is that it!?'.

The recipe comes from Samantha Vallejo-Najera, a very well known chef/caterer/business woman in Spain, who -together with eleven wonderful women at the top of their fields and many many more guests - helped us launch Inspiring Girls in Madrid last week. Samantha is a woman I have always admired, with a positive and fun attitude in life, a woman 'with style'. If you happen to speak Spanish, read one of her books, they are great.

In addition to the pictures of the cake you can see couple of pictures and a video Inspiring Girls event. Thanks so much to all the people, companies and media who helped us on the day and also to the hundreds of them who have got in touch to offer support since then. The response has been so overwhelming that, though there was a bank holiday weekend in Spain, our team had to cancel their holiday plans to be able to answer to all those who want to join in.  We could not be any happier! You can get more pictures at www.inspiring-girls.com  or on my instagram (miriamgonzalezdurantez). And if you want to get in touch (especially if you are a woman, but we now have many men who are helping as well!) do email us. We are always looking for more volunteers and ideas for this international campaign.

For the cake you need:
- 4 eggs
- one and a half glass of sugar
- a glass of 'hot chocolate' powder: Nesquik, Cadbury's… though if you are in Spain use Cola-Cao, of course!
- half a glass of milk
- half a glass of sunflower oil
- one and a half glass of plain flour
- a teaspoon of baking powder
- a tiny bit of butter and flour to prepare the tin (we used a round one)

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees.  In a bowl mix the sugar and eggs with a whisker (we use an electric one) While you keep whisking add the milk, oil, hot chocolate powder, flour, and baking powder. Grease the tin with butter, dust it with flour and bake for 60 minutes (or until a skewer comes out clean) Oustanding!

 

And if you clock here you can find is a video of the event prepared by Yo Dona (http://videos.elmundo.es/v/0_5eij9yq8-inspiring-girls-se-presenta-en-espana?uetv_pl=yodona&count=1)

FAKE FERRERO-ROCHERS

I have been thinking of making this recipe ever since I saw Nigel Farage celebrating a party at the glitzy Ritz hotel in London with a huge tray of Ferrero-Rochers. The party was full of multi-millionaire media owners, powerful journalists and people whose fortunes amount (individually) to around 800 millions pounds…800 million pounds!! God knows how a privately educated man, ex City trader, who enjoys an MEP salary and is backed by the very wealthiest part of the establishment has managed to trick so many people into making them think he is 'anti-establishment'. It beggars belief...

So here you have the recipe for fake Ferrero-Rocher. As fake as the anti-establishment credentials of Farage.

You need:
- 10 hazelnuts
- a small tub of Nutella
- 2 ice-cream cones or wafer biscuits (you can find these in any supermarket in the baking section)
- 100 gr milk chocolate
- 100 gr dark chocolate
- two handfuls of chopped hazelnuts (you can buy them already chopped)
- a small tray covered with baking paper
- golden candy paper ( you can buy this in Amazon very cheaply: 100 of them for less than a pound!)

We got the idea for the recipe from various Spanish blogs (including 'atrapada en mi cocina' which is great) but have used our own measurements and changed a little the method.

 Put the Nutella in the fridge. When it is very cold, take little spoonfuls of nutella, put a hazelnut inside each spoonful and give them a round shape with your hands ensuring that the hazelnut is fully covered by nutella. Put them on the tray and get them into the fridge for around twenty minutes.

Crush the ice cream cones and roll the nutella-covered hazelnuts in it. You may need to press a bit the crushed biscuits against the nutella balls so that they adhere to it. Put it back into the fridge for 45 minutes.

In the microwave, melt the chocolate (around a minute on full power). Add the chopped hazelnuts and mix well. Take the nutella balls and cover them with the melted chocolate. Put them back on the tray and let them cool down for one hour.

Cover the chocolates with the golden candy paper (or if you do not have these, you can do a silver version of these with normal kitchen foil)

If you manage to forget about the Farage connotations, these are actually really-really nice.