Easter in Arran and salted caramel cornflake cakes

Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to stay in such a beautiful location as Scotland. Its all to easy to wish you lived elsewhere and I've always hankered to live in the States. However, it doesn't take long for me to remember why I love my home country so much and despite the somewhat dreary weather at times (well a lot of the times), our landscape and scenery are truly stunning. 

My friends and I headed over to Arran on the Brodick ferry for a short weekend break and rented a house in Lochranza which accommodated the 12 of us (kids included). The area was quiet and peaceful and our house for the weekend Westwood was ideal and cosy for a bit of escapism. 

Arran isn't particularly buzzing but we visited the brewery and distillery and despite the rain most of the weekend managed a few walks and a few shopping trips for gifts in Brodick. 

Easter wouldn't be Easter without chocolate and indeed cakes. Not the most exciting of cakes but I love Cornflake chocolate nest cakes, but when I spied a few recipes for salted caramel versions I knew I wanted to give them a try. 

Word of warning these cakes are extremely sweet and a little taste goes a long way. They went down well with the group but personally I do prefer the classic chocolate version. 

Recipe (makes about 12)

90g Butter, 2 1/2  tbsp Golden Syrup, 190g granulated sugar, 120ml double cream, 1 teaspoon salt, 170g cornflakes, 40g milk or dark chocolate

Heat the sugar in a medium saucepan over a medium heat continually stirring. Keep the heat constant and stir with a wooden sppon. The sugar will form clumps and bind to form a thick amber goo. Keep stirring. When the sugar has melted and becomes more liquid like, stir in the butter being very careful as it bubbles up and stir till melted. Slowly add the cream and boil for one minute. Remove from heat add the salt and golden syrup and stir to combine. Pour in the cornflakes and combine. Dollop into baking cases and top with a little egg ( I used galaxy golden eggs). Allow to set for 10 minutes or so then drizzle chocolate on top and pop in the fridge for about 40 mins to set. 

Eat in moderation these are sweet!

I also managed to get in a little bit of sneaky calligraphy just for fun.