Make Your Own Chocolate House

For Christmas this year the boys have asked for a lot of maker sets such as ice cream makers, slushy makers make your own chocolate lollipops I love that the boys are finding their creative sides, but the one thing most of these expensive make your own sets have in common is that the majority of them come with no ingredients meaning they are not just ready to use, however, the Make your own chocolate house comes with everything you need from instructions and moulds to meltable chocolate.

We were sent this lovely set from What2buy4kids  I realised as soon as I opened it that it would be something I would have to do with one of the kids, not all of them as there was one house not only that my two-year-old is far too heavy handed! I had someone on one time with my six-year-old Adam so we decided to spend it making the chocolate house.

On opening the box inside there were two moulds a bag of white chocolate buttons a bag of milk chocolate buttons, instructions a paper hat and a colour your own garden to place the house on when you have finished.

The first job was to melt the chocolate, the instructions state to put it in the microwave for 40 seconds, we did the milk chocolate first it was perfect we set that aside to cool a little before pouring it into the bowl next the white chocolate for some reason these did not melt at all it just went a bit thick and not very runny so I placed the bowl over another bowl with hot water in it this melted it really well.

next, it was time to pop the chocolate in the moulds this was really simple and went very well, then to place into the fridge to set.

The house actually set really well, we left it for around half an hour in the fridge. Once it was set bit by bit Adam started to very carefully pop the chocolate house parts out of the mould unfortunately when he popped one of the side bits out a little bit did break off but this was easily fixed.

Once all the parts had been removed from the mould we warmed up the leftover white chocolate to use to stick the house together, I did think at the time this is not going to be easy but in actual fact it was really simple using my finger I just popped a bit of the warm chocolate on the edges a bit at a time I found it was easiest to do this with the house standing up it fixed together really well then we popped it back in the fridge for ten minutes to fuse together that was it we had a beautiful choc on choc make your own chocolate house!

I was really pleased with the results and so was Adam he had great fun helping to make it. here are a few tips for a successful looking house.

• Melt the white chocolate over a bowl of hot water rather than in a microwave.
• Don't worry if you haven't filled the chocolate to the sides once you have filled all the mould give it a good few taps on the side to even out the chocolate and get rid of the air bubbles it also should fill all the gaps.
• It doesn't take many buttons to stick the house together so you only need to save a very small handful of the white ones to stick it together at the end.
• Last but not least eat it and enjoy it the chocolate is absolutely divine really good quality.

Overall I absolutely love this Make your own chocolate house it has everything you need to get creative with the kids, have fun and for half the price of some of the popular make your own kits around this retails at £12.50 and can be purchased Here at What2Buy4kids  or alternatively you can visit the choc on choc website here this house is available to buy all year round, however, I think it would make a great Christmas gift for kids.

   This choc on choc house was sent to us to review from What2Buy4kids all opinions remain honest and my own.        

Half Term Baking with The Kids and DR.Oetker

Half term is already nearly upon us and its difficult to find things to do especially with Christmas just around the corner and probably for most like me funds are short or are being preserved for Santa, what better to do than some half term baking with the kids its fun keeps them engaged and bring out the creative in them. We were kindly sent some amazing Cake decorating items from Dr. Oetker which made the cake decorating exciting and really let them explore their creative side.

We used a really simple recipe that I remember off the top of my head and I have been using for fairy cakes since I was a little girl remember when it comes to kids baking it doesn't have to be perfect nor does it have to be a piece of art like you see splashed all over the internet, baking should be fun, messy and inexpensive that is exactly what it was in my house.

Ingredients 

• 110g/4oz butter or margarine.
• 110g/4oz caster sugar.
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten.
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional).
• 110g/4oz self-raising flour.
• 1-2 tbsp milk.

Method

• heat the oven to before you do anything to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and fill 2 x 12 fairy cake tins with paper cases.

• Mix the butter and sugar together in a bowl it should turn pale once you have done this. Beat in the eggs, a little bit at a time, and stir in the vanilla extract (you don't have to use this).

• Fold in the flour or if its kids miking them stirring is just fine use a large spoon if you can. Add a little milk until the mixture is a soft dropping consistency and spoon the mixture into the paper cases until they are half full.

• Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes, or until golden on top and using a skewer or knife insert it into one of the cakes if it comes out clean then they are cooked. Set them aside to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and cool and let them cool.

Usually, we would make our own icing, but with Dr.Oetker there is no need for icing the decorations are easy to use taste simply divine and will have the kids squealing with excitement as they add there own individual personality to each cake it was absolute chaos but they had so much fun.

There is so much choice to choose from with Dr.Oetker and it is certainly not going to break the bank this is what the boys used to get creative with theirs.

• Super Hero Sprinkles
• Fairy Princess Sprinkles
• Chocolate Mix Sprinkles
• Bright and Bold Sprinkles
• Chocolate Footballs
• Food Colour Gels
• Easy Swirl
• Writing Icing
• Heart Marshmallows

To see more from the Dr. Oetker range of baking goodies and toppings visit www.oetker.co.uk

Below are two more recipes from Dr. Oetker if you would like something a little more challenging or with a different taste, however, if you don't fancy any of these recipes you can find plenty more inspiration over on the Dr Oetker website Here You will also find all the toppings that they make on their website through there online shop so you can purchase them and much much more!

Chocolate Heart Mallow Cupcakes 

Ingredients

For the recipe Chocolate Heart Mallow Cupcakes
For the Cupcakes:
Dr. Oetker Cupcake Cases
220 g Margarine softened
220 g Caster Sugar
Medium Eggs x 4, beaten
5 ml Dr. Oetker Madagascan Vanilla Extract (1 tsp)
2 Dr. Oetker Fine Dark Cocoa Powder (x2 sachets or 50g)
170 g Plain Flour
3 Dr. Oetker Baking Powder Sachets x 3 (3 tsp)

For the Decoration:
150 g Butter softened
350 g Icing Sugar
2 Dr. Oetker Fine Dark Cocoa Powder (x2 sachets or 50g/6 tbsp)
25 g Dr. Oetker Heart Marshmallows

Preparation

Chocolate Heart Mallow Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 190°C (170°C Fan, Gas Mark 5). Line a cupcake tin with 12 Cupcake Cases.

Beat the margarine with the sugar until light in texture.

Gradually whisk in the eggs and Madagascan Vanilla Extract.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder and Baking Powder. Using a metal spoon, fold the dry ingredients into the mixture.

Spoon the mixture into the Cupcake Cases and bake for 20-22 minutes until risen and just firm to the touch. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

For the icing, place the butter into a bowl and beat until soft. Gradually sift and beat in the icing sugar and cocoa powder to make a smooth buttercream. Add a little milk if the buttercream is too thick.

Fit a piping bag with a 1cm closed star nozzle then fill with buttercream and pipe onto the cupcakes. Place a Heart Marshmallow onto each cupcake to finish.

Strawberry Marshmallow Cheesecake Bites 

Ingredients

For the Cheesecakes :
Dr. Oetker Baking Cases
115 g Digestive Biscuits, (4oz) finely crushed
65 g Butter, (2 1/2 oz) melted
150 g Strawberries, (5oz) washed
1 Dr. Oetker Free Range Egg White Powder Sachet, (5g)
50 g Caster Sugar, (2oz)
150 g Full fat soft cheese, (5oz)
Dr. Oetker Platinum Grade Leaf Gelatine, 3 sheets
Dr. Oetker Bright Red Gel Food Colour

To decorate:
150 ml Whipping Cream, (1/4pt)
100 g Strawberry Jam, (3 1/2 oz) sieved
Dr. Oetker Heart Marshmallow, 1 bag

Preparation

For the Cheesecakes

Line a 12 cup muffin tin with Baking Cases. Put the crushed biscuits in a bowl.

Stir the melted butter or margarine into the biscuits until well coated. Divide the mixture equally between the cases and press down into an even layer to make a smooth base. Chill until required.

For the filling, remove the green stems from the strawberries, roughly chop the fruit and blend in a food processor for a few seconds until smooth. Spoon 30ml (2 tbsp) into a small bowl, cover and chill until required for decoration.

Make up the Egg White Powder according to the pack instructions and whisk until stiff. Gradually whisk in the sugar to make a thick, glossy meringue. In another bowl, beat the soft cheese until smooth.

Put the Leaf Gelatine in a shallow bowl and cover with cold water. Leave to soak for 5 minutes then drain and squeeze out the excess water. Place the gelatine in a small bowl and spoon over 45ml (3 tbsp) very hot water. Mix well until thoroughly dissolved. Stir into the remaining strawberry purée.

Using a spatula, scrape the meringue onto the soft cheese and carefully mix them together. Gradually and gently, mix in the strawberry purée until well blended.

Spoon the mixture on top of the biscuit bases to fill the cases. Chill for at least 1 hour until set.

Carefully peel away the cases and put the marshmallow bites on a serving plate. Whip the cream until softly peaking and load into a piping bag fitted with a large closed star nozzle. Pipe a swirl on top of each. Mix the reserved strawberry purée with the jam and drizzle a little over each cheesecake. Top with a Heart Marshmallow to serve. Serve any remaining sauce as an accompaniment.