Celebrating Father's Day with Glenfiddich Whiskey #cbias

I am a member of Collective Bias Social Fabric Community. This content has been compensated as part of the social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client.

My husband Ian is a fabulous, hands on father to our five children who completely adore him, and he fully deserves to be treated to the finer things in life.  When Father's Day comes around it provides an extra excuse to do just that!  Celebrating having a great man in my children's life is something I do everyday, but this one day a year gives us a licence to go that step further and go to town with good food and gifts as we come together as a family to let Ian know just how special he is to us and how lucky we all are to have him.

One of Ian's favourite tipples is Single Malt ScotchWhiskey - possibly due to the fact that Scottish blood runs through his McDonald veins!  Taking part in a shop for Collective Bias to purchase a bottle of Glenfiddich 12 Year Old Whisky as a Father's Day gift, put a big smile on the face of my husband and gave me an opportunity to really spoil him.  

Take a look at our photos from our shopping trip to Morrison's in my Google + album where we looked at Father's Day Gift ideas and bought our Glenfiddich which was on special offer at just £20 for a 70 cl botttle!

Buying the Glenfiddich was just the start of Ian's treats, as I wanted to use the whiskey, not just as a smooth, warming drunk, but also as an ingredient in a recipe for an amazingly delicious sounding Chocolate and Glenfiddich Whiskey Layer Cake.  I found a recipe at The Little Loaf and tweaked it everso slightly.  The resulting cake is rich, indulgent, dark, moist and absolutely divine. The Glenfiddich Whiskey adds a grown-up and rather masculine twist to the chocolate cake which will make it a hit for any dad on Father's Day.  So buying a bottle of Glenfiddich is a great gift idea.  What's more, dad gets to finish what's left of the bottle at the end of the baking session. A gift that just goes on giving!

Chocolate and Glenfiddich Whiskey Layer Cake

Ingredients:

For the cake

340g plain flour
525g golden caster sugar
128g cocoa powder
2 ¼ tsp baking powder
2 ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 large free range eggs
375ml milk
188ml rice bran oil
3 tsp vanilla extract
375ml boiling water

For the whiskey syrup

100ml water
100g caster sugar
50ml Glenfiddich whiskey

For the buttercream

150g softened butter
350g icing sugar
4 tbsp condensed milk
2 tbsp Glenfiddich whiskey

For the ganache

250g dark chocolate
250ml double cream
100g light brown muscovado sugar

Method:

For the cake

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Prepare three 20cm cake tins. I use Cake Release.
• Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into the bowl. Add sugar.
• In a separate bowl, beat the eggs then add the milk and rice bran oil. Pour into the dry mixture and whisk for two to three minutes until well combined.
• Whisk the boiling water to your mixture a little at a time until combined. The batter will be extremely liquid.

• Pour into your prepared cake tins and bake in the centre of the oven for 25 – 35 minutes. Remove from oven when cooked through.

For the whiskey syrup

• Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. 
• Simmer for a couple of minutes until the sugar has dissolved. Add the whiskey and simmer for one minute more then remove from the heat.
• Drizzle the syrup over the top of each cake.

For the buttercream

• Beat the butter until pale and fluffy. 
• Sift in the icing sugar and whisk to combine, then add the condensed milk. 
• Continue to beat, slowly adding the whiskey.

For the ganache

• Place the chopped chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl.  
• Heat the cream and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer for one minute. 
• Remove from the heat and allow to stand for one minute then pour over the chocolate and stir until smooth and glossy. Allow to cool to a spreadable consistency.

To assemble the cake

• Smear ganache on top of one of the cake rounds.  Spread buttercream onto another round and sandwich together.
• Repeat by smearing ganache on top of the cake and spreading buttercream onto the third round and placing on top.
• Use the rest of the ganache to coat the top and sides of the cake and smooth over.

I really enjoyed making this cake with help from Kizzy who loves baking. The aromas that emanated from the kitchen were amazing.  Seeing the end result made us know that all our hard work was well worth the effort.  When Ian saw the cake he was very keen to sample it along with a wee dram of Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whiskey!  He said the cake was amazing.

We may have started our Father's Day celebrations a bit early this year, but I wanted to share this cake recipe with you in case you want to treat the man in your life.

Easter Crafts with Hobbycraft #cbias

Although the current weather is more Christmas than Easter, the season of chocolate eggs, Easter chicks and bunnies is nevertheless fast approaching.  We have been taking part in an exciting 'shoppertunity' with Social Fabric to create some homemade Easter themed crafts using products purchased from Hobbycraft.  We have a brand new Hobbycraft store that has just opened in a retail park near to where we live, so I was really keen to pay it a visit and check out all the products on offer.  I love browsing through all the different aisles: the bakeware; the children's craft sets; the jewellery making; the papercrafts and of course the seasonal aisles!

To find out what we got up to on the very snowy day that we visited Hobbycraft to buy the items we needed to get crafty, take a look at my Hobbycraft Shopping Experience G+ Album.

I felt really inspired after reading this poem, which is printed on the wall behind the tills, and ready to help the kids make some Easter craft gifts!  I love doing craft activities with my family but I am no expert when it comes to doing complicated projects. So the crafts that we chose to do are all simple and perfect for children to carry out with some adult supervision.   The range of Easter themed stickers, ribbons and decorations makes it easy to add a seasonal twist to any craft project.  We loved all the cute designs featuring cartoon bunnies, fluffy chicks and colourful eggs.  I bought loads of stuff that will keep us going throughout the Easter holidays, and if the weather doesn't improve we will appreciate the joys of a nice indoor activity such as arts and crafts.

How to Make Decorative Easter Sweetie Jars

1 Kilner Jar (£2.79)

Decorative Paper (£2.00)

Easter Ribbon (£1.00)

Easter Foam Stickers (£1.00/£1.50)

Edging Scissors (£2.00)

Sweets to fill the jar

Cut out a circle of decorative paper using the edging scissors to fit the top of the jar.

Stick on with glue.

Using decorative Easter stickers decorate the lid.

Fill the jar with sweets and shut lid.

Add stickers to body of jar.

Tie a length of ribbon around the top of the jar and add a label.

It makes a great Easter present and an alternative to a chocolate egg.

Kizzy did a great job and enjoyed creating a bespoke jar to give to a friend this Easter.

We are going to expand on this idea to make jars containing the dry mix to make Easter cookies and decorating them for gifts for the grandparents.  It's such a nice idea for a present and would work for any season or occasion.

How to Make Hand Painted Egg Cups

White Ceramic Egg Cups (69p each)

Rainbow Markers for ceramics (£3.99)

This is such a simple and lovely craft idea whatever the age of your children.

The Rainbow Markers are quick drying and smudge proof.

Simply draw your design onto the egg cup and leave to dry.

For a great Easter gift, pop in a small chocolate egg.

All three children enjoyed this activity together.  Designs can be as simple or elaborate as the ability of the child allows, so anyone at any age can enjoy decorating their own ceramic egg cup.  

Ella, Kezia and Freddy had real fun.  I love how hard Freddy was concentrating on his 'modern art' design.  (I hear scribbling is all the rage in the art scene this year!!)

Craft Kits for Kids

Hobbycraft sell a range of great value kids' activity packs from just £1.00.

We bought a kit to make an Easter Chick in a nest, which included everything needed to make it including double sided tape and a felt pen (£1.00).

With a bit of help, Freddy made a chick that he was very proud of!  It is such a great value kit and something that would make a lovely gift to give to crafty kids this Easter.  It would also be a lovely going home present  for children if you have an Easter party.

So if you want to 'hop' along to your local Hobbycraft to stock up on some 'egg-citing' Easter arts and crafts bits (I love a good pun!) you can find your nearest store, discover some ideas for projects and look at the extensive range of products on the website at  www.hobbycraft.co.uk.

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® #CBias #SocialFabric.