Cupcakes, whoopie pies and chocolate martinis

The Sunday before last Penny and  I ventured up to London to experience her Christmas present. She had asked for a Red Letter Day that she had seen, which was to spend a couple of hours decorating cupcakes, whoopie pies and making a chocolate martini.

Hugh kindly gave us a lift to the station and we embarked upon our adventure together! Penny is really good with trains and the underground - much better than me! Before we knew it we were getting off the tube at Chancery Lane - just the 40 minutes too early! Fortunately there was a Cafe Nero on the doorstep, so we stopped in for a cup of peppermint tea for me and a very sour lemonade for Penny! We then made the 5 minute walk to the premises of My Chocolate.  We pressed the buzzer to be let in and were asked to wait in the entrance hall to be taken to the chocolate rooms - and to help ourselves to the chocolate on the table - no need to be told twice!

So we were collected, along with about 20 other people, and led down some stairs and through a maze of corridors to the rooms of My Chocolate. We showed our voucher and were ushered into a room with 9 other people. We were asked to take a seat at the table - on ours there were three other ladies and the fun began!

First off we decorated our whoopie pie tops which were sitting on the table. We were given a bowl of melted white chocolate and drizzled it over the tops of the pies. Whilst we were doing that, Tess, our instructor, was melting marshmallows and white chocolate to make the filling for the pies. Once our pies were decorated it was on to making our chocolate martinis! We were given a bowl of melted milk chocolate this time and we used it to drizzle in our glasses to decorate them. Then it was cocktail time! Penny had a non-alcoholic version, so she went first! 15 spoons of melted chocolate single cream shaken over ice and poured into her glass! I paired up with the single lady on our table and we put 8 spoons of the chocolate/cream mix into the shaker and added 2 measures of vodka and 2 measures of chocolate liqueur into the shaker. A good shake and then it was poured out - delicious!

By this time the filling was ready for the whoopie pies, so we were all given the chance to fill our two pies with the marshmallow/chocolate mix, which was the stickiest substance I think I have ever come across! Once these were done Tess demonstrated decorating three cupcakes and we were then let loose to decorate six each, using whatever was on the table.

Penny and I both liked the Cookie Monster which Tess had made, so we both made that one! Penny also made another Tess had demonstrated, the Mr Whippy icecream, with a cherry on top! In the photo below mine are on the left and Penny's on the right.

Tess had said that there would be a prize for the best decorated cupcake. In the end she gave a prize to each table, but Penny was thrilled to win on our table for her snail cupcake!

After two hours of stickiness it was time to box up our creations and head home. Down the escalators and back onto the tube and then off to Liverpool Street to get the train back to Wickford. Hugh met us at the station and took us back home to a roast chicken dinner he had prepared - another lovely treat!

Here is Penny's Cookie Monster in more detail

And her prize winning snail!

We both agreed that it was a fantastic day out and Penny is know thinking of asking for the chocolate making afternoon for her birthday (and hopefully I will get to go along on that too!).