So the last post was one of such promise. An opportunity for me to bake for my life and for a fantastic cause. I started the week with such gusto and managed 2 cakes during one day (quite a big achievement with a small person in tow, wanting to "help"!). I got quietly self hi-fived my awesomeness, only to be punished for such cockyness the day after by contracting what can only be described as the devil of all throat and flu infections.
Long story short, after three courses of anit-biotics and the use of all of our babysitting favours from now until 2014, I am finally back on the cake wagon! So evil nursery bugs, back off I have much baking to do!
Thursday, 25 October 2012
Friday, 28 September 2012
It's for charity mate!
Right, those that know me would say I get a little (read lot) excited about most things. Whether that be a trip to the zoo, going out in Manchester for an evening on the tiles, getting wallpaper for the ongoing decorating (when did I turn into my parents?) or even going to buy storage for my never ending quest for organisation in a house full of men (you would not believe how much stuff a 3yr old can have and we have not mentioned the 36yr old's stuff!)! However, the excitement I get when I am asked to bake for an event or for someone else cannot be matched! No not even the recent trip with my little sister to the New Kids on the Block and Back Street Boys concert can compare to my excitement about next Friday!
A couple of months ago, my sister in law J decided that she was going to have a coffee morning to support the Macmillan Coffee Morning. She originally was going to have a couple of people over to have a coffee and a slice of cake and a chat, whilst earning some money for charity. However, the couple of people has turned into about 60 people. It has bred into a beast, with people bringing friends, friends of friends, auntie's friend's cousin's dog walker (you get the picture!) and the original idea of a couple of scones and a victoria sandwich has gone out of the window, especially as the vicar is now coming (J asked to borrow the church's cups) along with half of the area's congregation.
Now not being one to shy away from an opportunity to bake and eat cake, I jumped at the chance to help out with a couple of cakes. So far I have decided on:
Orange and Poppy Seed Cake
Orange and Redcurrant Cake (there's a theme!)
Tea Loaf
Almond and Raspberry Cupcakes (recipe here)
White Chocolate and Cardamom Cake (recipe here)
I don't know if I may have gone a little bit mad with cake, though in my opinion you can never go too mad with cake, but I do know that I am going to bake every single one of these and be thoroughly and utterly chuffed to bits that I am doing so for such a brilliant cause.
Now I have not had chance to take any photos as yet (because I have not fired up the oven yet and got my finger out and started baking) but as soon as I do I will update you all.
Wish me luck!
A couple of months ago, my sister in law J decided that she was going to have a coffee morning to support the Macmillan Coffee Morning. She originally was going to have a couple of people over to have a coffee and a slice of cake and a chat, whilst earning some money for charity. However, the couple of people has turned into about 60 people. It has bred into a beast, with people bringing friends, friends of friends, auntie's friend's cousin's dog walker (you get the picture!) and the original idea of a couple of scones and a victoria sandwich has gone out of the window, especially as the vicar is now coming (J asked to borrow the church's cups) along with half of the area's congregation.
Now not being one to shy away from an opportunity to bake and eat cake, I jumped at the chance to help out with a couple of cakes. So far I have decided on:
Orange and Poppy Seed Cake
Orange and Redcurrant Cake (there's a theme!)
Tea Loaf
Almond and Raspberry Cupcakes (recipe here)
White Chocolate and Cardamom Cake (recipe here)
I don't know if I may have gone a little bit mad with cake, though in my opinion you can never go too mad with cake, but I do know that I am going to bake every single one of these and be thoroughly and utterly chuffed to bits that I am doing so for such a brilliant cause.
Now I have not had chance to take any photos as yet (because I have not fired up the oven yet and got my finger out and started baking) but as soon as I do I will update you all.
Wish me luck!
Friday, 24 August 2012
Aracna-baking.
When I found out I was having a little boy, over three years ago now, I envisaged baby blue blankets and sleep suits with vintage airplanes on them and going for adventures in the woods. Little did I know what else having a little boy would entail!
J is absolutely awesome! No two days are the same and from when he awakes at 6am, we hit the ground running right up until we crash and burn at around 7.30!
There are the lovely moments where he tells me that he missed me and loves me when he wakes up in a morning and the crazy times when he comes out with gems like, "Mummy, pterodactyls are not a true dinosaur, they are actually flying reptiles!" (!!!!!!!!!!). There are also the times when he pulls something so obscure out of the bag, that I begin to question where he gets his ideas!
After a lovely lunch at the local deli, I noticed that they had started stocking Nordicware that you can hire for a few days. The tin that caught my eye was a totally amazing galleon ship. I pointed this out to J and asked if he would like a pirate ship cake for his forthcoming birthday. He stared blankly at me and the assistant, who had kindly told me it was available for hire, shook his head and stated "Me want a spider cake, hexagon shape". What???? The girl just laughed nervously and proceeded to edge away from us politely!
So the frantic brainstorming for decoration ideas started along with some rather choosey vetoing from J. (Who knew a three year old knew his own mind so well?)And here is what we came up with.
I made a vanilla and chocolate marble custard cake, covered with a buttercream crumb coating and iced with royal icing.
The spider was made using a chocolate covered donut iced in black buttercream icing with pipe cleaner legs.
As you can also see J got in on the action making his own spider and getting a tad covered in icing!
J is absolutely awesome! No two days are the same and from when he awakes at 6am, we hit the ground running right up until we crash and burn at around 7.30!
There are the lovely moments where he tells me that he missed me and loves me when he wakes up in a morning and the crazy times when he comes out with gems like, "Mummy, pterodactyls are not a true dinosaur, they are actually flying reptiles!" (!!!!!!!!!!). There are also the times when he pulls something so obscure out of the bag, that I begin to question where he gets his ideas!
After a lovely lunch at the local deli, I noticed that they had started stocking Nordicware that you can hire for a few days. The tin that caught my eye was a totally amazing galleon ship. I pointed this out to J and asked if he would like a pirate ship cake for his forthcoming birthday. He stared blankly at me and the assistant, who had kindly told me it was available for hire, shook his head and stated "Me want a spider cake, hexagon shape". What???? The girl just laughed nervously and proceeded to edge away from us politely!
So the frantic brainstorming for decoration ideas started along with some rather choosey vetoing from J. (Who knew a three year old knew his own mind so well?)And here is what we came up with.
I made a vanilla and chocolate marble custard cake, covered with a buttercream crumb coating and iced with royal icing.
The spider was made using a chocolate covered donut iced in black buttercream icing with pipe cleaner legs.
As you can also see J got in on the action making his own spider and getting a tad covered in icing!
Tuesday, 7 August 2012
Berry Nice!
After the cake for mum's birthday, I feel like I need to get back to baking, just for fun. Over the last couple of weeks, I have been baking for other people and for events, and have thoroughly enjoyed coming up with the concepts and then baking them. However, it has been something like three months since I baked a cake just because I can. For no other reason than for the love and enjoyment of baking.
All of the last few cakes have been round or moulded, and I felt like doing a loaf cake. The next important question was what to bake? I decided to approach this with a considered and thoughtful approach (read, stood staring into the fridge for 5 mins seeing what needed to be used up and what was on its last legs!!) and decided on a summer fruit loaf cake.
Now the only thing with a loaf cake is that when I make them, they always appear to be quite a standard cake. By this I mean that they are just what it says on the tin. A cake in a loaf shape. Nothing more, nothing less. Delicious, but not very sexy. I needed to think of a way to "jazz it up" as my hubby would say. I did not want to start heading towards doing sugar paster flowers or candied fruit, but definitively wanted something simple yet effective. The answer was simple. Crumble! So the summer fruit crumble cake was born!
Recipe:
110g butter
90g dark muscovado/demerara sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
125g self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
210g summer berries ( if you want to use frozen then do, though you don't need to defrost them before using)
Crumble:
15g butter
15g flour
15g demerara sugar
Preheat oven to 150C fan/160C/ gas 4.
Line a loaf run.
Beat together the butter and sugar and add the eggs one at a time.
Add the vanilla extract/paste.
Add the sifted flour and baking powder and fold in.
Spoon half of the batter into the tin.
Add half of the berries.
Spoon the rest of the batter on top of the berries.
Add the rest of the berries onto the top of the cake.
Mix the crumble four and butter by running together until the mix resembles bread crumbs and add the sugar.
Sprinkle the crumble mix on top of the cake and place in the oven for around 50 mins until cooked.
Cool the cake in the tin.
This is not a pretty cake and has a certain tartness to it, which always goes down well in our house. But it is delicious and goes down well with a cup of tea in the afternoon when your fingers start to wander towards the biscuit tin!
Enjoy! X
All of the last few cakes have been round or moulded, and I felt like doing a loaf cake. The next important question was what to bake? I decided to approach this with a considered and thoughtful approach (read, stood staring into the fridge for 5 mins seeing what needed to be used up and what was on its last legs!!) and decided on a summer fruit loaf cake.
Now the only thing with a loaf cake is that when I make them, they always appear to be quite a standard cake. By this I mean that they are just what it says on the tin. A cake in a loaf shape. Nothing more, nothing less. Delicious, but not very sexy. I needed to think of a way to "jazz it up" as my hubby would say. I did not want to start heading towards doing sugar paster flowers or candied fruit, but definitively wanted something simple yet effective. The answer was simple. Crumble! So the summer fruit crumble cake was born!
Recipe:
110g butter
90g dark muscovado/demerara sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
125g self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
210g summer berries ( if you want to use frozen then do, though you don't need to defrost them before using)
Crumble:
15g butter
15g flour
15g demerara sugar
Preheat oven to 150C fan/160C/ gas 4.
Line a loaf run.
Beat together the butter and sugar and add the eggs one at a time.
Add the vanilla extract/paste.
Add the sifted flour and baking powder and fold in.
Spoon half of the batter into the tin.
Add half of the berries.
Spoon the rest of the batter on top of the berries.
Add the rest of the berries onto the top of the cake.
Mix the crumble four and butter by running together until the mix resembles bread crumbs and add the sugar.
Sprinkle the crumble mix on top of the cake and place in the oven for around 50 mins until cooked.
Cool the cake in the tin.
This is not a pretty cake and has a certain tartness to it, which always goes down well in our house. But it is delicious and goes down well with a cup of tea in the afternoon when your fingers start to wander towards the biscuit tin!
Enjoy! X
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
Birthday Ladybirds
It is Mama's birthday and it has called for something a little bit special. I really wanted to do an all singing all dancing tiered cake, but as there is only going to be 7 of us and a gorgeous puppy, it might have been a little bit excessive (especially as each tier would have fed about twenty people!!!). I asked J what I should do and was met with the answer; "Spiders and bats.". After pointing out that maybe Grandma might not be as keen on this, he suggested ants. Again I pointed out that this might not make the best decoration for a cake. After ten minutes of discussing (ahem arguing ) and discounting ideas as broad as crocodiles and penguins (???), we settled on ladybirds.
We made a strawberry jelly cake (as per previous post) and baked it in a bundt style tin. Then we made some sugar paste ladybirds and baby ladybirds to decorate the top of the cake.
As time was against us, we just sprinkled the top of the cake with green edible glitter and attached the ladybirds to the top of the cake with buttercream.
Needless to say that the entire thing got devoured within quarter of an hour. Not bad going for the seven of us!
We made a strawberry jelly cake (as per previous post) and baked it in a bundt style tin. Then we made some sugar paste ladybirds and baby ladybirds to decorate the top of the cake.
As time was against us, we just sprinkled the top of the cake with green edible glitter and attached the ladybirds to the top of the cake with buttercream.
Needless to say that the entire thing got devoured within quarter of an hour. Not bad going for the seven of us!
Sunday, 15 July 2012
Baking for Babies
A couple of months ago two fellow bloggers, Dolly Bakes ( www.dollybakes.co.uk )and Mummy's Little Peeps ( www.mummyslittlepeeps.co.uk ) announced a call to arms. The idea was a rather fabulous one, they decided to hold a pop up bakery in a local venue in order to raise funds for the local neonatal unit. The announcement came for bakers young and old to join forces and bake goods to be sold at a summer fayre, which the public could come along and buy whilst also enjoying an array of stalls, including face painting, vintage clothing, sweets and even a vintage photo booth! Brilliant!
I jumped at the chance to help support such a worthy cause and began to decide on what to bake. After an initial obsessive patch of brainstorming, I had a million and one ideas on what I wanted to make for the big day. However, fast forward two months to this Thursday just gone and I still had not made my mind up.
My initial plans and preparations had all gone to pot, what with Si being away on a vintage car rally for the week and my crazy need to paint and decorate part of downstairs in 2 days, whilst simultaneously dealing with builders, visiting family and a marauding 2yr old. Why do I do these crazy things, I ask?
On the last minute, I decide to make some unusual cupcakes which involved arts and crafts to make them quite unusual. It called for a trip to hobby craft, which was endured with a screaming toddler who would only be appeased by a human sized bag of chocolate buttons they were selling off and letting him be in sole control charge of a drag along basket, which kept taking out rather large displays every 5 minutes! Not a great start! On returning home, I also realised that the idea, whilst being a good one, was not a very practical one, so the plans had to be changed again. I settled on a plain cupcake and baked 48 of the lovelies and decorated them with edible glitter and some sprinkles. I then stupidly left them to one side whilst I tended to J's bedtime routine.
Mistake number one was letting J see then in the kitchen, mistake number two was to have left them on the dining table. Mistake number three was not taking any photos. Mistake number four was leaving J alone whilst I ran to get pj's etc. All I can say is that it was pure carnage, that required a thirty minute scrub in the bath and an hours cleaning once I had managed to get downstairs!!!
On top of that I had also used up most of my ingredients on the original batch of cupcakes. After scrabbling around in the cupboards for some additional ingredients, I settled on Almond and Raspberry Cupcakes (recipe below) with a Vanilla and home made Raspberry Coulis icing and some Vanilla Fork Biscuits.
When we rocked up on the morning of the big day, I was staggered by just how many people had baked and brought cakes and bakes to be sold. There was such an array of beautifully iced and decorated cakes, it took all of my will power not to launch myself head first into what can only be described as cake heaven!!!
The whole day was fantastic and the ladies had done a magnificent job of organising the event, helped by many amazing people. Going forward the only other thing I can say now is that I really hope they make this an annual event!!
Almond and Raspberry Cupcakes:
145g caster sugar
145g self raising flour
225g unsalted butter
115g light brown sugar
110ml double cream
55ml milk
4 eggs
75g ground almonds
Best quality raspberry jam
1tsp almond extract
1tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas4/350f and prep a muffin tray with muffin cases.
Beat butter in a bowl until fluffy and add the sugars. Cream together, then add the eggs one at a time. Beat for about 5 mins.
Stir in the almond extract and gradually add the dry ingredients. Mix well.
Add milk and cream and mix.
Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases to about half full.
Place in the centre of the oven for about 15-20 mins.
Remove and cool.
Once cool, using a sharp knife, remove a small circle from the top of each of the muffins and spoon in a tsp of Raspberry jam into each cake.
(don't add the jam whilst baking, as I learnt, as the jam will sink to the bottom of the cakes)
Replace the cake lids you cut off and top with vanilla icing and drops of raspberry coulis.
All in all I was rather pleased with them, considering I only had 1 hr to make them and get them down to the fayre. Though definitely next time, I will put the jam in at the end of cooking and cooling, as above.
Happy Baking!!
I jumped at the chance to help support such a worthy cause and began to decide on what to bake. After an initial obsessive patch of brainstorming, I had a million and one ideas on what I wanted to make for the big day. However, fast forward two months to this Thursday just gone and I still had not made my mind up.
My initial plans and preparations had all gone to pot, what with Si being away on a vintage car rally for the week and my crazy need to paint and decorate part of downstairs in 2 days, whilst simultaneously dealing with builders, visiting family and a marauding 2yr old. Why do I do these crazy things, I ask?
On the last minute, I decide to make some unusual cupcakes which involved arts and crafts to make them quite unusual. It called for a trip to hobby craft, which was endured with a screaming toddler who would only be appeased by a human sized bag of chocolate buttons they were selling off and letting him be in sole control charge of a drag along basket, which kept taking out rather large displays every 5 minutes! Not a great start! On returning home, I also realised that the idea, whilst being a good one, was not a very practical one, so the plans had to be changed again. I settled on a plain cupcake and baked 48 of the lovelies and decorated them with edible glitter and some sprinkles. I then stupidly left them to one side whilst I tended to J's bedtime routine.
Mistake number one was letting J see then in the kitchen, mistake number two was to have left them on the dining table. Mistake number three was not taking any photos. Mistake number four was leaving J alone whilst I ran to get pj's etc. All I can say is that it was pure carnage, that required a thirty minute scrub in the bath and an hours cleaning once I had managed to get downstairs!!!
On top of that I had also used up most of my ingredients on the original batch of cupcakes. After scrabbling around in the cupboards for some additional ingredients, I settled on Almond and Raspberry Cupcakes (recipe below) with a Vanilla and home made Raspberry Coulis icing and some Vanilla Fork Biscuits.
When we rocked up on the morning of the big day, I was staggered by just how many people had baked and brought cakes and bakes to be sold. There was such an array of beautifully iced and decorated cakes, it took all of my will power not to launch myself head first into what can only be described as cake heaven!!!
The whole day was fantastic and the ladies had done a magnificent job of organising the event, helped by many amazing people. Going forward the only other thing I can say now is that I really hope they make this an annual event!!
Almond and Raspberry Cupcakes:
145g caster sugar
145g self raising flour
225g unsalted butter
115g light brown sugar
110ml double cream
55ml milk
4 eggs
75g ground almonds
Best quality raspberry jam
1tsp almond extract
1tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas4/350f and prep a muffin tray with muffin cases.
Beat butter in a bowl until fluffy and add the sugars. Cream together, then add the eggs one at a time. Beat for about 5 mins.
Stir in the almond extract and gradually add the dry ingredients. Mix well.
Add milk and cream and mix.
Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases to about half full.
Place in the centre of the oven for about 15-20 mins.
Remove and cool.
Once cool, using a sharp knife, remove a small circle from the top of each of the muffins and spoon in a tsp of Raspberry jam into each cake.
(don't add the jam whilst baking, as I learnt, as the jam will sink to the bottom of the cakes)
Replace the cake lids you cut off and top with vanilla icing and drops of raspberry coulis.
All in all I was rather pleased with them, considering I only had 1 hr to make them and get them down to the fayre. Though definitely next time, I will put the jam in at the end of cooking and cooling, as above.
Happy Baking!!
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
Strawberry Jelly Cake
Yet another cake club has come around and today's theme is "Sweets for my sweet". Cue memories from my youth ( yes I can remember that far back!!!) of Cherrylips, Cola Bottles, Fruit Salads and Blackjacks, along with going to the corner shop with 10p, that my sister and I had managed to alleviate from our dad, for ten penny sweets. Fantastic!
Originally, I toyed with the idea of doing a Cola Cube Cake and even purchased the cola crystals from the local sweet shop, but at the last minute bottled it in favour of a Strawberry Jelly Cake. And I am do glad that I did!
The idea came about from yet another tried and failed attempt to get J to try something new. I bought a couple of packets of jelly and attempted to get him to try and eat some. Needless to say no amount of Si and I trying to eat it and make mmmm noises would even get him to take even a bite.
So here I was left with a whole pile of jelly and no idea what to do with it. I HATE waste and needed to come up with something to do with it. So an idea formed. Would it work in a cake? The answer is a massive resounding yes!!!
The recipe is super easy, yet yields a huge reward. You need to make a plain vanilla sponge (my favourite recipe is below) and bake in a round cake tin. Allow it to cool completely and then turn the cake upside down.
Grab a skewer and stab holes all over the base of the cake, taking care to not go all the way through the cake. You probably want to only go about two thirds of the way through the cake. Make up two packets of full fat jelly with 100ml of cold water and microwave for about 1 min / 1min 30, until it is liquid and mix to make sure all of the jelly has melted.
Si then came up with the genius idea of syringeing the jelly into each of the holes until all of the liquid had been soaked into the bottom of the cake, taking care not to let any of the jelly roll down the sides of the cake, as this would lead to the cake sticking to the plate it was on, and trust me it is near impossible to get off again without leaving half of the cake behind!
Transfer the cake, covered to the fridge and let it set overnight. Serve by itself, or even with vanilla ice cream!!
Also we store ours in the fridge to keep the jelly set.
Vanilla Sponge Recipe
200g self raising flour
1tsp baking powder
200g caster sugar
200g unsalted butter at room temp
4 large eggs
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
Preheat the oven to 180C fan/350F /gas 4 and grease and line a baking tin
Mix all the dry ingredients together and add the wet ingredients. Then mix in a stand alone mixer or with an electric hand mixer for about 2 mins.
Place ingredients into the tin and bake for about 20-30mins until a skewer comes out clean.
Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
Originally, I toyed with the idea of doing a Cola Cube Cake and even purchased the cola crystals from the local sweet shop, but at the last minute bottled it in favour of a Strawberry Jelly Cake. And I am do glad that I did!
The idea came about from yet another tried and failed attempt to get J to try something new. I bought a couple of packets of jelly and attempted to get him to try and eat some. Needless to say no amount of Si and I trying to eat it and make mmmm noises would even get him to take even a bite.
So here I was left with a whole pile of jelly and no idea what to do with it. I HATE waste and needed to come up with something to do with it. So an idea formed. Would it work in a cake? The answer is a massive resounding yes!!!
The recipe is super easy, yet yields a huge reward. You need to make a plain vanilla sponge (my favourite recipe is below) and bake in a round cake tin. Allow it to cool completely and then turn the cake upside down.
Grab a skewer and stab holes all over the base of the cake, taking care to not go all the way through the cake. You probably want to only go about two thirds of the way through the cake. Make up two packets of full fat jelly with 100ml of cold water and microwave for about 1 min / 1min 30, until it is liquid and mix to make sure all of the jelly has melted.
Si then came up with the genius idea of syringeing the jelly into each of the holes until all of the liquid had been soaked into the bottom of the cake, taking care not to let any of the jelly roll down the sides of the cake, as this would lead to the cake sticking to the plate it was on, and trust me it is near impossible to get off again without leaving half of the cake behind!
Transfer the cake, covered to the fridge and let it set overnight. Serve by itself, or even with vanilla ice cream!!
Also we store ours in the fridge to keep the jelly set.
Vanilla Sponge Recipe
200g self raising flour
1tsp baking powder
200g caster sugar
200g unsalted butter at room temp
4 large eggs
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
Preheat the oven to 180C fan/350F /gas 4 and grease and line a baking tin
Mix all the dry ingredients together and add the wet ingredients. Then mix in a stand alone mixer or with an electric hand mixer for about 2 mins.
Place ingredients into the tin and bake for about 20-30mins until a skewer comes out clean.
Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
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