Classy cupcakes

Tanya's thoughts:
So next time you have Dorian Green pop in for a cup of tea you know what to serve with it. (Anyone remember birds of a feather?) Yes these cake cases are uber tacky but I think they look gorgeous :p the inner chav in me has unleashed itself obviously. I realise I've only described just the appearence so had better mention the taste. Lovely. Chocolatey and rich. What more do you want?

Friend's thoughts:
Well Andrew ate three so they must be good and Lauren's looking very naughty in this photo so presumably must be a 'naughty but nice' treat. Asked James what he thought of these cakes, to which he responded "I helped make them". That's nice dear.

The Soup Off! Blue Pumpkin VS Roasted Butternut Squash

 

Tanya's thoughts:

I like pumpkin soup, I like butternut squash soup - but which is better? :p Actually this is incredibly easy as we didn't like the pumpkin soup :( I followed Tana Ramsey's recipe for pumpkin soup where you fry then boil the chunks of pumpkin with garlic and rosemary - once it was cooked, blended etc - it only tasted of rosemary :( Very disappointing as it looked exciting (although it wasn't blue inside - obviously that would have made it more exciting!) and the texture was lovely and silky.

I've made this butternut squash soup recipe a few times before - again by Tana Ramsey (didn't even click that both recipes were hers until writing this). And it's lovely. Roasting the squash first just really brings out the sweetness of the vegetable. It's a time consuming soup - well over an hour to make it. But the real winner in all of this was the cheese scones I made as an accompaniment for this soup. I found a recipe online: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/8877/cheese-scones and it uses vegetable oil rather than butter to make it healthier. Anyway who cares - they tasted lovely and rose really nicely.

James's thoughts (Well I'll write on his behalf)
He said that the pumpkin soup smelled like weed :/ And he obviously liked the squash soup and scones as took leftovers with him to work. :)