Friday was “National Chocolate Cake Day” and I stuck to that plan as on Friday my daughter had a chocolate cake for her birthday. The one thing I would change about this Chocolate Piñata Cake would be the sweets which we used in the middle of the cake. The Smarties tended to lose their colour inside the cake. This was due to the buttercream containing moisture as the Smarties reacted as they do when they get wet. This little fact did not stop my children from demolishing the cake and as of this morning the tray is empty. Not one piece of cake or sweet is left.

Today I have already written up my first new ingredients article. I am not changing the ingredients page until I have some smaller articles written up to replace what I have got already. I can then add to the ingredients page as I go but to begin with I am planning on writing about the main ingredients of a cake. My articles will include details about the nutrition, storage, how and why the ingredients are used, and my own personal experience of supply of the ingredients and choices I have made along the way.

Now I am going to add another recipe to my blog through the yummly format which I will add to my recipe page on the website. I am going to add some more recipes to “Pinterest”, “Tastespotting”, and “Foodgawker”. I might even get round to adding something to Twitter and Facebook again. My yummly  publisher page is present on Yummly now but I don’t seem to be able to find my recipe pictures yet on the site so I assume it is not live yet. I will keep an eye on this  to see how it progresses. Anyway back to this recipe as I have removed my old recipe page so I am in need of more recipes on my new page.  Once I have this done I can let the children do some baking if they really want too.

[lt_recipe name=”Oatmeal Cookies” servings=”12″ prep_time=”10M” cook_time=”15M” total_time=”25M” difficulty=”Easy” print=”yes” summary=”Nutritionally, one cookie contains 139 calories, 5.9g total fat (8% daily total fat), 19.3g total carbohydrate (7% daily total carbohydrate), 1.3g fibre (5% daily fibre) (based on a 2000 calorie diet).” image=”https://www.love-to-bake.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/cherryoats2.jpeg” ingredients=”125g self raising flour;125g oatmeal;50g caster sugar;pinch of salt;75g butter;milk to mix;Glace cherries/dried fruit/nuts” ]Preheat the oven to gas 4.;Line a baking tray.;Mix together the flour, oatmeal, sugar and salt.;Rub in the butter.;Add enough milk to form a dough.;Flatten the dough to the desired thickness and cut out with a cutter.;Once on the tray I add the other flavourings such as cherries or nuts.;Bake for 15 minutes till golden brown around the edges.;[/lt_recipe]

This is a really simple recipe to follow and my children love these cookies. You can add whatever flavour you wish. I have reduced the sugar in this recipe but the nutritional content of these cookies is excellent due to the presence of the oatmeal. These cookies are a firm favourite with my children and a great way of getting oats into their diets.