April 15, 2015 by Michael Madden

Chocolate Cup Cakes

Today I had a moment of revelation. Not a great big must go to church every Sunday from now on kind of revelation. This was of the culinary kind. You may or may not know that Zac’s diet is terrible, and he’s not afraid of telling people that he doesn’t like their cooking. He once famously awarded the mother of one of his friends a “Come Dine With Me” zero after she foolishly gave him fish fingers. It worked, as word got around and now when he goes anywhere for tea he is assured of the finest sausages and chips! Anyway, I have been trying to find ways of making his diet more balanced. Even bought 3 different types of Quinoa today (didn’t know there was that much variety), and there will no doubt be tales from the darkside of the kitchen relating to this particular grain in the coming weeks. But today I discovered a recipe for chocolate cup cakes that contains chickpeas. A whole tin of them. What’s the worst that can happen? So I set about mixing the ingredients. I was a bit apprehensive as the finished batter was very runny, but I poured it into 12 cup cake cases and put it into the oven. After 20 minutes they looked like normal cupcakes, perhaps a little flat on top, but if you wanted to ice them they would be perfect. Five minutes after Zac came home from school I noticed that there were only 11 and a half left. So either Zac didn’t like them (he would never eat just a half of one), or Sally had been at them. She, of course, denied it, and pointed the finger at Zac. “I said he could have a nibble of one before his tea,” she explained. I then asked Zac, and he said he really liked them. Very tasty. I then broke the news to Sally that they were much higher in protein than regular cup cakes and Zac loved them. She was genuinely amazed. “I couldn’t tell the difference,” she said. “Aha!” said Poirot. Her confession was not difficult to extract!

After that triumph the introduction of Quinoa was too much for one day, maybe tomorrow!

And speaking of cooking, the pan was finally laid to rest today. Not even Cillit Bang! could get rid of that mess.

Elsewhere, the pirate dog came out of hibernation today, mainly to feature as Willy The Whaley Warrior, mascot for our T20 U19 team. He may also make an appearance at a certain birthday party that’s not far away – no Helen, not yours, although you never know!