About Flat # 5

Coming from an apartment in Nottingham's Lace Market, Food From Flat # 5 is all about sharing the tasty recipes that myself or my boyfriend make on a daily basis.

My story: for several years I had a very bad relationship towards food. I became underweight, looked like a stick and put a burden on my health. In around a year all of this has changed, with my boyfriend's love of good food and some personal determination. I still like to live healthily, but I have learnt to enjoy food. Cooking has turned into a hobby - my adult version of arts and crafts, and I have begun to relish the opportunity to try new things, alter recipes and not feel so guilty about eating so many cookies...

Having recently moved into a lovely little apartment, I decided it was time to start blogging in celebration of our new kitchen being slug-free (yes, our previous student house came with resident slugs)! I began taking photographs of the meals we made some time ago, making the transition from a 'cooking' album on Facebook to a more explanatory blog. (Pictured above is a book my boyfriend made me filled with some of our favourite recipes, all handwritten.)

Food can bring people together and give you a sense of accomplishment. It also doesn't have to cost a fortune. Here, you will find healthy dinners made on a budget and not-so-healthy deserts cooked with the most basic kitchenware. I am also not the best with measurements - sometimes I forget to write down that which I have used, and if I am following another recipe I always alter the amount of each ingredient I add, but most of the time this doesn't matter. I believe that measurements should primarily be based on individual tastes and so feel free to make changes when desired or if you notice something I have left out.
Now let's get cooking...

Celebration cake

I made this triple chocolate cake for my boyfriend's birthday. You may wish to make it smaller or less chocolatey, depending on your budget and number of people - this cake served around 12 large portions. To make a single layered cake, roughly half the ingredients listed. It is rather rich, but if you are a fellow chocolate lover like myself, then the taste is absolutely delicious! I prefer butter icing over sugar, and I like to use real chocolate instead of cocoa powder. I also use the cheapest butter I can find - Sainsbury's, Tesco and Asda all sell baking butter at around 55p, give or take. As for the chocolate, I personally prefer using Dairy Milk, but you can get away with low cost own-brand versions too.

This recipe is simple in the sense that you can mix the cake ingredients together in no specific order. You can also give or take measurements, such as the amount of butter, flour or chocolate that you use. Bake it in the oven for around 50 minutes at 180°c - try not to open the oven door while it is rising, but check it after around 45 minutes by sliding a clean knife into the middle. If it comes out clean, your cake should be done!

Ingredients

Cake:

• 4 tbs cocoa powder
• 6 eggs
• 5 tbs hot water (add more or less as needed)
• 300g butter (melt in the microwave beforehand to make mixing easier)
• 300g caster sugar
• 250g self-raising flour (add more or less as needed - sieve in to avoid lumps)
• 2 ts baking powder
• 2tbs vegetable oil (this keeps the cake moist)

Icing:

I covered the top and sides with milk chocolate butter icing, and the middle layer with white chocolate. Below is for the milk chocolate - re-make but with white chocolate and roughly 1/3 of the ingredient amounts for the middle layer. Smother it over with a tablespoon (and your hands if needed) once the cake has cooled.

• 500g milk chocolate (melt in bowl over a boiling pan of water and keep stiring so that it does not burn)
• 250g butter
• Icing sugar (add as needed, constantly mixing it in to check how much more you will need - you want the icing to remain gooey rather than dry)

Decoration:

• 2 tubes of Smarties
• White chocolate buttons
• Candles (the sparkling ones used here were purchased from Paperchase) 

Equipment:

• 2 round cake tins (here I used 1 cake tin, and a saucepan with the handle removed for the smaller layer!)
• Large mixing bowl
• Microwavable bowl x 2
• Pan (with hot water)
• Mixing spoon
• Table and tea spoon measuring tools
• Weighing scales
• Sieve
• Knife
• Electric whisk / food blender