merry xmas

Today I had a little pre Xmas tea party for my youngest son, with 2 of his nursery school friends. We made the Gingerbread house yesterday (all 4 of us had a hand in it!). I used the recipe and instructions from Rachel Allen's Bake book. We also made fairy cakes, gingerbread biscuits and homemade mincepies (1st time I've ever done that). Everyone loved it, so far we've eaten half of the roof!

these are a few of my favourite things.....

Like everyone I have a selection of go-to recipes that work time and again, and taste delicious. It seems only fair to share a few of these with you, as it's unlikely that I will be cooking or baking for any of you soon! Unless my dream of Claire's Cakes happens some time soon!

1. Victoria Sponge Cake. This is a simple vanilla sponge, which should be light and airy. Fill with raspberry jam for a quick store cupboard make or add fresh strawberries and whipped cream for total decadence. I use a recipe from Nigella Lawson's first book How to Eat. Find it on page 26 of the hardback version. The great thing about this recipe is that you can make it in a food processor for a very quick make. I won't reprint any recipe here as they are not mine to start with.

2. Gingerbread Men. My search for the perfect gingerbread was a long one, but once I tried the nicely spicy gingerbread recipe from Dan Lepard my search stopped. This is my favourite because the gingerbread have a great flavour, are still a bit chewy in the middle (I don't want to break my teeth) but have the crunch on the outside. Find the recipe in Dan Lepard's Exceptional Cakes: Baker and Spice book.

3. Chocolate Brownies. Again the depth of flavour, fool proof, easy recipe has me reaching for Scoop by Natasha Zabolsky. Although this is an icecream book, she also has some recipes for things to have with your icecream! This brownie recipe calls for cocoa powder, and I find Green & Blacks cocoa powder is dark and rich enough to make these brownies delicious. The brownies are chewy in the middle and crispy and flaky on top. These never last long in my household.

4. All out show-off cake. This is my very very special occasion cake, as it's not cheap to make, and is incredibly rich to eat. I make Konditor & Cooks Curly Whirly Cake recipe is here. It looks brilliant when decorated with the vanilla bean frosting and the chocolate swirls but tastes to die for.

5. Meringues. All you need to know is 2oz of castor sugar to every egg white. Your bowl and beaters need to be scrupulously clean. No grease or dirt, otherwise it will not work. Beat your egg whites until you can stand the bowl upside down and the egg whites won't fall out. Then add in the sugar, beating as you go. You can cook these 2 ways; to make them pure white and dry and crisp all the way through a very very low heat 110 deg c for many hours for a crisp meringue. Or bake at 140 degrees for 40mins for a crisp outside and a chewy middle. Turn the oven temp down by 10 degrees if browning. Eat as desired, but with fruit and cream is delectable.

6. Lemon Cakes: I have 2 different types, depending on the occassion. To impress I make the sublime biscuity/ cakey lemon bites which I found online c2 years ago. Thank you wonderweb! Julie Biuso's recipe always gets a great response when I make it. Or if I want something less decadent, then a simple lemon drizzle cake. This sticky sponge is a classic.

7. Bread and Butter pudding. I have never liked bread and butter pudding, too dry too bready, and certainly not dessert! That is until my sister recomended that I try this recipe by Skye Gyngell. It was moist, and vanilla-y and delicious. This is the only recipe I'll be using in future.

8. Fruit Tart/ Cake - Ok I can't describe this but this is the fantastic Stone Fruit Tea Cake in the Rustic Fruit Desserts book (which I would recommend to anyone). You can get the recipe if you register at Gourmet.com . I use plums in it and it works o-so well! Most people want seconds! And get a sad look when you tell them it's finished!

Well that little lot should keep you very busy. Give me a shout of your go-to recipes, so we can all share!

Happy baking xo

uber choccywoccyness

Choccywoccydoodah is on TV!

(piccie courtesy of Good Food Channel - everything in it is made of chocolate, apart from the guy in the middle!)

If you haven't caught it already (it's on nightly at 9pm, on the Good Food Channel - SKY 249/ Virgin 260 - but lots of repeats inbetween) it's a documentary about Brighton's extravagant Chocolate Cake Shop that is Choccywoccydoodah.

I appreciate the Americans have the fabulous Charm City Cakes but we have the highly imaginative, creative, extravagant, flamboyant, cheeky chocolatiers in the centre of the city. We love looking at their window displays, which are amazing.

I will only have some of their cake, from their cake bar, every few years (it is v v rich, but v tasty, and I just can't justify it, unless it's a special occasion!)

They do not reveal how they model with the chocolate (some magic recipe with glycerine, maybe?) Although you can buy modelling chocolate from other sources (I once bought some but I didn't like the taste) and I'm sure I was given a recipe from a chocolate workshop I did a few years ago? Or do I imagine that?!

The artistry is superb, and it's amazing to watch how they put together their cakes.

Didn't mean to be away so long...

I really didn't mean to be away so long, but life has been so busy over the last 6 months so some things had to be dropped temporarily. I am always thinking about this space even if I'm not present.

But now I have to go as the wonderful Prof Brian Cox and the Wonders of the Universe is on TV. (BBC2).

PS. I'll be having the marmalade for breakfast!

time for tea

There has been enough of a gap, of the over indulgence of Xmas/ New Year, to start to reconsider making and eating cakes and the like.

To make sure that my cakes look as good as they should I bought this tiered cake stand from here for them. It was reasonably priced and quite sweet. Also I can flat pack it when not in use.

I also use my sweet little heart milk jug by Beverly Hewitt that I bought last year, that makes everything look prettier on the table.

And what should go on this stand? Well the BBC has a new baking series on Monday nights, at 8:30pm called Baking made Easy with a new (to the the TV screen) chef called Lorraine Pascale. She has a very friendly easy going manner, that drew me into the programme. All the recipes from the series are here (thank you BBC).

And of course, my new book by Eric Lanlard, Home Bake. Although I have not forgotten about Rachel Allen's Bake, Jane Ashers Baking book or the wonderful Rustic Fruit Desserts book.

To get me into the swing of things, I made some scones at the weekend. Just a simple recipe, served with raspberry jam and a cup of tea. Sometimes in life the simplest things are the best.

Season's Greetings

I made the "kill you in a hearbeat" malteaser bites from Eric Lanlard's newish book "Home Bake" as part of the baked goods for our New Year's guests. They are easy enough to make with children but good enough for grown ups too!

The book was a present and has many lovely cakes to make in it. Just look at the front cover! That says summer birthday cake all over it!

I'm sure there will be plenty of baking in 2011. Which brings me to say;

Happy New Year, I hope you all saw the new year in with family & friends. My eldest was awake until 11:30 he just couldn't quite hold on!

Reviving my Spirits

In between doing my best impression of Florence Nightingale I made this lovely Tea Fruit Loaf from a Sainsbury's recipe card that I picked up a few years ago.

It is very quick and easy, and apart from soaking your dried fruit for a while in tea, it comes together very quickly.

The recipe is as follows:

350g mixed dried fruit (I used 200g sultanas, 100g raisins, 50g currants)
350ml tea
Cover the fruit with the tea and leave overnight (or a few hours depending how desperate you are)
Mix with:
2 beaten eggs
200g dark brown soft sugar
270g self raising flour
1teaspoon of cinnamon

Put into a lined loaf tin, and bake at 170deg C or fan 160 deg C or gas mark 3 for 1.5 hours. I checked mine at 1 hours fifteen minutes and it was ready, so out it came. Cool on a wire rack and eat as soon as you want to (preferably with a nice cup of tea). Sainsburys suggest you spread margarine on it, I leave that up to you!

I have also been having a go at Attic24's crochet star decorations. Hooky fantasticnous! One wonky point but I got there in the end!

Have a lovely weekend. BTW My son is a bit better today.

batty me

Gingerbread Biscuits made for an early school Halloween Charity Cake sale.

The funny thing was I was getting all stressed about making something and then my husband said why don't you make biscuits with your Halloween cutters! He was absolutely right!

My eldest helped me make the dough, which was great fun. It had to rest for a few hours in the fridge, and by the time I got it out again, I just wanted to do a quick job of rolling it out and cutting out the biscuit shapes. The pumpkin and cat are in my children's lunchboxes today as a treat. The gingerbread recipe is by Dan Lepard in his Exceptional Cakes book. To my mind it's the best recipe I've got for it. Absolutely perfect!

the last biscuit

The other day I felt like something sweet. Not a large portion of cake or pudding, just a small bite to satisfy my appetite.


I made some biscuits, from Rachel Allen's Bake book (which I have mentioned before). It was a pretty simple mixture, to which I added lemon zest (using a new zester bought at Peter Jones aka John Lewis the other week).


On a different note, it's so nice to buy kitchen tools that work!


Anyway, they were a hit. Too much of a hit, as I was left today with the last biscuit.

You will be pleased to know that I enjoyed half of it with a cup of tea. My son enjoyed the rest of it with some milk!

Guilty Pleasures

I think the picture says it all!

This is, to the uninitiated, a waffle (made using my new machine) with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, strawberries and chocolate sauce!!! I restrained my family at just 1 per person!

Starting a Starter

I don't know if you have heard of a starter before, but it's a way to make a yeast like product from just flour and water. I saw Hugh F-W do it on one of his many River Cottage programmes. Some people may call it a leaven. Apparently these things keep for years, decades even. Anyway, everyday you feed your starter, to get it going, you also have to discard a bit as well, as you'd have a ginormous amount of this flour mixture!

After 2 or 3 weeks, I should be able to use some of the mixture to make a sourdough loaf of bread.

It seems like an intriguing thing to try, and is fairly cheap thing to do. So I'll let you know if I can make a success of my starter. I have started it using wholemeal flour, but apparently after a time, it's best to switch to white flour (less microbes in it).

Have a lovely weekend. The Brighton Festival starts tomorrow, yah, and I'm also off to look at an allotment as well!

UPDATE Sat 1st May: Just discarded the first half of the starter and fed it with more flour and water, and it smells disgusting. Absolutely acrid. Beyond foul!

Diet, what diet?!

I am supposed to be avoiding chocolate, cake, too much dairy etc just to try and lose a bit of weight.

But my sporty husband loves dessert, so on Friday, I decided to make Mimi's Apple Cake, from this book, as our weekend treat. It was a teeny bit healthy, with the apples!!! Plus I had all the ingriedients in (apart from a lemon for its zest), so I made it! I had to imagine it with the slight zing of a lemon, but everyone seemed to like it as by the close of Friday it was over half gone and by Saturday it was totally finished!!! I'm pleased to say the 3 men in my life had the vast majority of it!

Delicious

These kicked started a great weekend for us.

(lemon & blueberry buckle)

How could I resist cooking a buckle? I'd never heard of that, but it just screamed out "make me", then I had to aso try the stone filled fruit teacake, which is sublime.

(stone filled teacake)

It's not a teacake as we know them, here is the UK, more a halfway house between a pie and a cake! More pie if anything! But what a great pie, filled with plums, it was sublime. A new favourite. (thank you Chicken)! Recipes found here under cookbook club, "Rustic Fruit Desserts".

Poppy Fields and other delights

Poppy Field
Originally uploaded by furious_george_ii

This is where I spent part of the day, a beautiful poppy field, on the road between Falmer and Woodingdean, Brighton. The poppies were taller than my youngest son But my husband was taking lots of photos, and it was nice enough to wonder through, admiring nature, and wondering why there weren't more bees to be seen.

Then we went off to the beach, when roughly 10 minutes later the storm from the east headed our way! So back home we went.

what a sky!

This morning we all went to a localish swimming pool, with currents, slides, water canons, and lots of fun! Too much fun, as the eldest just wanted to play and not swim!

Being a backwards post, yesterday we went to a lovely park, so the children could have a good play. The plan was to sit on our rug and not get up until it was time to go. But of course, we couldn't, so no rest for me or my husband either!

Yet another lovely weekend (which also included homemade scones, clotted cornish cream and fresh strawberries! Summer is here!)

Far and Away

Over the lovely Bank Holiday weekend, we went to Norfolk, to stay with our friends, who live in the countryside. A nice change from our City life.

They have 2 daughters, similar ages to our sons, which makes our get togethers go fantastically well, as they all get on brilliantly.

As a present for them I made some cakes, and decorated some chocolate fairy cakes with chocolate buttercream, and little fancy chocolate decorations made using Chocolate Transfer Sheets.

I give my instructions for them here, I learned how to do these at the Brighton Sugarcraft show, that I went to a few weeks ago, at a demonstration by Julie Orton.

RESOURCES:

This is where I bought mine from: Have Your Cake and Eat It.
You can also try here or here.
Some online Directions:

METHOD:
Using any chocolate you like (I did use a dark Green and Black, but you can go for a cheaper brand, and any type as well, as it's a decoration, so you are not getting a huge taste hit)

All I did was carefully melt my chocolate for 30 seconds at a time in a PLASTIC container in the microwave (takes between (1m - 1:30s )

Get a baking tray, line with greaseproof paper and lay your transfer sheet on it. (You can pre cut it to the size you need - I cut a skinny rectangle) . You need the plastic side down and the grainy side facing up.


With an (offset) spatula, spread your chocolate on, thinly.

If your kitchen is cold, let it set , it should be semi set after a few minutes, if not pop into the fridge for a few minutes. Before it has gone hard, you can get cutters and cut out your shapes (I used hearts and stars, and just cut triangles with a normal sharp knife)

Put back in the fridge to set. Try not to handle too much as the chocolate melts very quickly.

When set, you can remove the plastic peel. Just take a corner and slowly peel off.


It can be tricky removing the hearts and star shapes, I found!

You make them circular, just wrap inside a tube, when it is semi set, to give the circle. You could then fill with mouse and berries!

For a cake:If you want to wrap it around a round cake: Then measure the circumferance of the cake, but cut your rectangle, do as above, when it is semi set you can stick it onto the cake, attaching it with a spot of chocolate. Overlap the 2 ends very slightly. Once set remove the plastic sheet. You can put the sheet out from where it is overlapped, with a sharp tug.

For a square cake, the instructor, cut 4 rectangles, just slightly larger than the cake, and stuck them on. You can easily trim the chocolate with a sharp knife, as it's so thin, to make the sides neat.

Tempering: You need to melt your chocolate bit by bit, no hotter than 34 degrees C. I half melted it, stirred it, and put it back in, if it needed more. Do this is 20 to 30s bursts. If you do it right! The chocolate remains glossy (when it has cooled down) and has a snap to it when you break it!

I would have photos, but they were all eaten before I got a chance! When I do some more, shortly, I will take some pictures and post them up!

Red Nose Day 09

Do Something Funny For Money!

Today is Red Nose Day 09 (they are every 2 years) and raise £££s for charities in the UK and Africa.
It certainly is a great cause. I have made a cake sale for my husband's office, I made 4 cakes:

The Curly Whirly Chocolate Cake from Konditor and Cook's website (in the Telegraph article) - this is super indulgent and very very delicious. A fabulous celebration cake, especially if you decorate it with melted chocolate swirls, like they and I do!

A Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting (from Exceptional Cakes by Baker and Spice AKA Dan Lepard) - I've never made this before, but it looked good when it came out and smelt nice, so hopefully it'll taste delicious.

A Victoria Sponge (with raspberry jam filling) from Nigella Lawson's How to Eat, this is a very light and airy sponge, and easy to make to boot as well! You could put whipped double cream in it to really jazz it up!
A Luscious Lemon Cake (in a loaf tin), which is moist and sticky and very yummy. I'm a big fan of lemon in desserts and cakes!

I don't know about you but often I'm disappointed by chocolate.

Anyway a grand total of 45 slices of cake are to be sold and eaten for charity - can't be bad! I'm hoping at least £45 is made, if not more!

The children have their red noses and are wearing red, as am I (top). My eldest son's school are having a funny hair day, but he refused to have his hair touched!!!

Anyway, whatever you are doing, have a great day and weekend.

Bread and Butter Pudding

My sister made this recipe last night, from an article in the Independent on Sunday and we all declared that this was the BEST EVER Bread and Butter Pudding. The bread stayed moist, and was lovely to eat. Do try!

Picture courtesy of the Independent on Sunday / Lisa Barber

Bread and butter pudding
By Skye Gyngell
Serves 6-8

1 tbsp apricot liqueur

A small handfuls of sultanas

150g/5oz caster sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

300ml/10fl oz double cream

300ml/10fl oz whole milk

8 thin slices of white bread, crusts removed

60g/2 1/2oz unsalted butter, softened

Pouring cream, to serve

Heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas4. Now warm the apricot liqueur slightly over a low heat in a small heavy-based pan. Place in a small bowl and pour over the sultanas. Leave to steep while you prepare the other ingredients. (we didn't do the apricot liquer thing, and soaked the sultanas in water - although you could add another flavour?)

Make the custard by placing the sugar and eggs in a bowl, along with the vanilla extract and whisk together until pale and creamy. Add the cream and milk and stir to combine. Pass through a fine sieve into a jug.

Butter the bread on one side and layer the slices in a medium-sized, ovenproof dish with the macerated sultanas scattered in-between. Pour over the custard and leave to stand for 15 minutes.

Stand the dish in a large oven tray and pour in enough water to come halfway up the sides. Carefully place in the hot oven and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Serve with the pouring cream.

Finally...

I was so sure I'd have this in the bag or on the blog by the 1st week of January, but that came and went, then I thought the middle of January, ditto, now we're finally in February 2009, I can show you my Xmas 08!

Firstly these are the 2 cakes I made for Xmas.

The wreath is all sugarcraft, that I made in my class. I was quite pleased with it. I also made a pointsetia that I must post a picture of, as I was really really pleased with that!

This is my cake for my children, penguins from Ann Pritchards DVD. Snowman, all mine! I finally got to use my bead maker, at the base of the cake! My eldest picked them all off to eat, he called them caterpillars as in sections that is what they looked like!

For Boxing Day we went to the Angel Inn , Hetton, N Yorkshire and I thought the desserts were beautifully presented. So here are a few that adorned our table!





I love the cocoa sillhouette of the fork and spoon the best.

New Year's Eve - that happened mid January due to flu!

This is our table setting for New Year' Eve. I let my husband choose the look and colour scheme of the table this year.
The table cloth, napkins, silver napkin rings, red chargers and burgundy runner are all from John Lewis.

Crockery, is our "best" from Royal Doulton's Fusion Range, it was our wedding present from many guests. Cutlery is Royal Doulton Roma. I'm very sad that their parent company is now in administration after trading sucessfully for a few hundred years.



I had to hand it to my husband for his great choice (in my opinion) I thought it looked very modern and sophisticated.
The champagne flute was from M+S.

As were the wine glass, the wicker table mat was from John Lewis.

The meal was really well received. I made, from Rose Elliot's Vegetarian Supercook book, the goats cheese and cranberry parcel for a starter, her Christmas Galette for main course with loads of vegetables and then a Passionfruit Pavlova, from Nigella Lawson. I was really really pleased with it, and I got so many compliments, so I thank RE and NL for their recipes. It all went very smoothly as well!

My birthday (in November!)

And finally, from November, my afternoon tea at Browns of Mayfair.

Get those cakes and scones, sorry sandwiches already eaten!

Yes, that is me, out of focus, in the background!


I'm now looking forward to Christmas, Boxing Day, New Years 09 already!!!!

Lovely Lewes

Yesterday I took myself off to Lewes, which is a lovely town not too far from Brighton. There were a few reasons why I wanted to go and I was not disappointed.

My first stop was at the oddly named Patchwork Dog and Basket in the Needlemakers Mill. The Needlemakers is one of those lovely old converted mills, all exposed brickwork and beams, full of artisan shops and a nice cafe. If only I had lots of money to spend! Anywa, I had found this shop through the yellow pages, and did think the name Patchwork Dog and Basket makes it sound very fuddy duddy and old fashioned. But readers no! It was the exact opposite. It was a lovely, beautiful even, shop, with its fabrics displayed in colour order from floor to ceiling folded in rectangles, so it was very easy to see. And the ribbons they had were amazing. So obviously I had to buy some!

And guess who had made them? Jessica Jones , who does this blog, and has designed this fabric. I didn't even realise when I had chosen them, it wasn't until I picked them up to buy them that I saw her name. The shop assistant thought I was quite mad, when I started telling her about her blog etc etc!

I also bought this lovely pink and brown striped ribbon in 2 widths. A cool fabric in 2 widths, I just HAD to have it!

Plus some more loveliness in blue ric rac and more woven ribbon.

I was in heaven!

Then it was onto Harveys Brewery Shop in Lewes. Harveys are a local brewery, and my husband wanted a selection in for Xmas. (It's quite amazing how we have sorted out the drink first for Xmas and New Years!)

I bought an 8 pack selection box and 8 bottles of their Sussex Best Blue Label, that my husband likes. I'm surprised the buggy didn't collapse under the weight of it all.

Then I popped into Waitrose (posh supermarket) and picked up some of this Willie's Cacao. Which I've never bought before, but I think it's come down in price (slightly).

I will make his cake from it - A Venezualian Cloud Cake, that sounds very romantic! He suggests to serve it with chocolate truffles, but I can't justify spending more money on his cacao! If anyone has used his cacao or tried any of Willie's recipes let me know your results!

I did go to Lewes to look for a walking foot for my sewing machine, for quilting but the patchwork shop did not sell them. So I need to know can I get away without one to do that meandering, curly stitch to quilt my quilt? Let me know!

I think I'll stop writing now, as I seem to have gone on far too long!

Stollen

My husband always asks for certain things each year for Christmas. These all are food and drink related. Most of the time I ignore the requests, this is only the 3rd year I've made a Xmas cake. Anyway I have made 2 Xmas cakes, so that'll keep him in fruit cake until mid February, I'm sure (he likes it with a slice of cheese on top, stilton or wendsleydale I think).

Now he wants Xmas Pudding as dessert on New Year's Eve. I've decided that can be bought from a local supplier.

And on top of that a Stollen.

I'm sure you can see the similarities in these 3 things (fruit, almonds, marzipan, rum/ brandy!)

To my mind they are a variation on a theme.

Anyway, I've been googling for stollen recipes, if anyone has a good one, and can be kind, can you forward it on to me. I would suggest one with lots of the spice flavours and the marzipan. That feeling of Northern European Winter, I guess!

Thank you very much.