Christmas is coming...get your Christmas Cake Baked!

Hullo!

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat...please put your Christmas cake in the oven!

So I did mine last weekend so I can seep it in alcohol on a weekly basis for 3 months. I love the taste of Christmas Cake. Not many people may age seem to like it but my Mamma made loads each year so I was exposed to it from a very young age and I learned to like it and now I love it.

I use a recipe I got from the BBC Food website but I add a few extra steps in based on words of cookery wisdom from my Mamma.

These are my additional steps:

I use 200g of glace cherries rather than 150g as I like the taste of them.

My Mamma recommended that I soak my fruits (the 800g of mixed dried fruit, 100g mixed peel and 150g of glace cherries, although I tend to use 200g of cherries) in red wine. I soak them for one-three days, whatever is most convenient at the time of baking, but my Mamma is adamant you should leave them for three days. I cover the bowl with cling film and leave it in a cupboard. I use a sweet, Greek, red wine called Mavrodaphne. It is glorious; another thing my Mamma introduced me to. If you like a sweet wine I highly recommend it. At the end of the soaking period I strain the red wine off but my Mamma says she incorporates it into the cake mix, her Christmas Cake should come with a warning not to drive after consumption!

When mixing the dry ingredients I like to add nutmeg along with the Cinnamon and Mixed Spice as I like my fruit cake to be unmistakably Christmas-sy!

Another trick my Mamma taught me is to wrap the outside of my baking tin up in brown parcel paper. As the cake is on the oven for 3, maybe more, hours she says this helps to stop the cake from burning. You can secure the paper with string and I recommend using at least two layers of paper.

So far in my baking life I have made three fruit cakes, one I seeped in normal brandy but the other two I seeped in Cherry Brandy and the results were amazing. If you like a sweet and moist cake I would suggest you use Cherry Brandy or similar liqueur that you like. If you like a drier cake then stick with the normal brandy. This year I am seeping mine in Jack Daniels as my partner likes this, fingers crossed it works well! 

I seep my cake every Sunday with 2 tablespoons of whatever alcohol I am using. I will do this right up until a week before decorating. The BBC recipe suggest icing you cake with royal icing, this is something I have not tried yet. I like working with ready to roll icing (fondant) so I use this. I'll be posting some photos with advice and suggestions on how to do this in December when I ice my cake.

One final step you should most definitely add to the end of baking your cake is one I learnt, not from my Mamma, but from my Grandpa. He would always appear at the end of baking to 'test' the mixture! So don't forget to eat the leftover mix from your mixing bowl- it tastes delicious and is a nice little prequel to all the Christmas-sy goodness that waits! It'll soon be December!

Enjoy! xoxo

Gorgeous Rose Cake with a Fab Buttercream Recipe

Hullo!

So it was my Mamma's (that's what I call my Grandma) birthday last Sunday and I was tasked with the usual job of making the birthday cake. I made a vanilla birthday cake with vanilla buttercream and a strawberry jam filling. Since she likes white chocolate I decorated the sides of the cake with Cadbury White Chocolate Fingers- only 4 didn't make it onto the cake and ended up in my belly! Then on the top I piped pink roses as she loves her garden. Here's an explanation of how I did it:

I made the buttercream with 300g of unsalted butter, 420g of icing sugar and 3 tsp of vanilla ESSENCE. I make it in stages by creaming 100g of butter, I take the butter out of the fridge at least an hour before hand so it's soft as this makes mixing it a lot easier. Once I have softened the butter further (by beating it) I add 140g of icing sugar, 1tsp of vanilla essence and cream them together. I repeat this 2 more times so all the ingredients are combined. I find that this recipe and method gives you a lovely creamy and sweet buttercream which holds it's shape well but isn't to powdery.

I sliced the cake in half length ways and filled it with the buttercream and a layer of strawberry jam. I put the strawberry jam (about 4 tbsp) into a bowl and give it a good mix so it spreads onto the buttercream easier. I place the top of the cake back onto the bottom ofthe cake (so the buttercream and jam are sandwiched in the middle) then cover the whole cake in a layer of buttercream. Next, I stick the white chocolate fingers around the outside of the cake then I use a small circular cutter to 'draw out' where my roses will be in the buttercream layer on the top of the cake. Then I pipe the roses onto the top of the cake starting with the one in the middle and work my way outwards. To pipe the roses I use a Wilton 1M swirl nozzle and I find disposable piping bags a great help, particularly when it comes to washing up! As a final finishing touch I used a leave cutter to cut out leaves and placed them at random intervals into the piped roses.

As you can see from the picture I cover my cake drums with a layer of fondant icing. I find this gives the cakes a more professional look and I like to utilise the extra space/fondant as an area for decoration. On this cake I used cutters to imprint flowers into the board and used letter stencils to imprint a a personalised message. This was the final product:

I was very happy with it. On the day half of it was consumed so for the rest of the week my Mamma and Grandpa are eating cake for breakfast, dinner and tea, which they say they are very happy about!

xoxo

Beautiful Paper Flower Decoration

Hullo,

So I got creative at the weekend after searching the internet for paper flowers. I would love to make the flowers for my wedding so I am getting lots of practice in! This is my first attempt and I just used bits and bobs that I already had around in the house:

1. I started by soaking an empty, large honey jar in hot soapy water to remove the label.
2. Whilst this soaked I created my paper flowers (I will be publishing how to make this over the next week).
3. Once the label was removed I used glue to secure string that I wrapped all the way around the main body of the jar.
4. On it's own the string doesn't look great so I then tied a piece of red ribbon around the middle of the jar. If I were to make more I would probably use coloured string to give a better effect.
5. I then took a piece of oasis floral foam and carved a piece that would sit on top of the jam jar lid. 
6. I used glue to secure the oasis floral foam in place on top of the lid.
7. I covered the oasis floral foam in a piece of tissue paper- I used red as it was all I had but green would be ideal.
8. I then arranged my flowers using cocktail sticks, pins and glue to secure them into place. 

Voila!

xoxo

Stuff Matters: amazing book by Mark Miodownik

Hullo,

Just a quick one tonight.

So it was the first day back at work (school) today, a day of teacher training. I felt like a sponge swimming in information and I am not sure how much I have soaked up yet. During the day I found myself really taking noticing of stuff that normally I wouldn't, such as the cutlery we ate our dinner with and the glass windows in the exams hall and the plastic chairs we sat on. It was a peculiar felling to be realising we are surrounded and aided, in so may ways, by these materials that we utilise in such a passive manner. This is the basic premise if one of my favourite books I have read so far in 2014. I really do highly recommend it. Mark Miodownik (read his website here) is a scientist who presents every day materials in an amazing new light. Each chapter is dedicated to an important material that has become a vital part of modern day life. From concrete to glass he covers an array of 'stuff'. My favourite chapter is that about plastics. The book is full of facts but is told in a fascinating style, a real must read for people who are curious about the world around them!

You can buy Stuff Matters by Mark Miodownik from Amazon by clicking here.

Seed Bar; Alternative Flapjack Recipe; Great snack, still a little naughty, easy to make!

Hullo,

So I like my carbohydrates, without them I feel hungry as hell. I love cereal bars and find they are a great mid-morning snack but with all the bad press they get for being high in sugar and preservatives I decided to choose my cereal bars more carefully. I came across a honey seed flapjack bar in Asda but to buy enough for the week would be a bit costly so I looked at the ingredients list and used it to create my own recipe. It has the same texture of flapjack but doesn't have any butter, golden syrup or added sugar. Despite this it is still very sweet because it is made with honey. So it's a great snack, still a little naughty, but a lot better for you than the processed bars. I took some into work and it went down very well and lots of my colleagues asked for the recipe so I thought I'd share it one here too. Here it is:

Ingredients:

• 200-250g of honey (how much you use depends on how sweet you want it)
• 100g oats
• 200g seeds (I use pumpkin, sunflower, golden linseed and sesame, 50g of each)

With either:

For Plain Seed Bar:

• 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp ground cinnamon and 1tsp ground nutmeg.

OR

For Fruit Seed Bar

• 100g of sultanas or cranberries or whatever dried fruit you like.

Method:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees celsius.
2. Line a 20cm square baking tin with baking parchment- this is really important as the honey makes the seed bar rather sticky and it will stick to the tin if you don't line it.
3. Weigh 200-250g of honey in a heavy based pan and heat it gently. The honey will turn really runny and you will be able to mix the dry ingredients into it easier.
4. Weigh out 100g of oats and you 200g of seeds in a bowl and tip this into the runny honey.
5. Add which ever flavouring you are using (either the vanilla and spices or dried fruit) and mix well.
6. Pour the mixture into the lined baking tin.
7. Optional: I cover the tin with a layer of foil to stop the top from burning.
8. Bake for 30 minutes.
9. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
10. Once cool slice the seed bar into squares- I can get 12 squares out of mine. I wrap the squares in cling film and store them in a tupperware container. They last for quite a long time I have never had to throw it out. 

Hope you like it as much as we do!

xoxo

Sunday Morning can mean one thing only: Banana Pancakes!

Good Morning people!

Sunday morning can mean one thing only. It's banana pancake time.

My partner (Ordinary Boy, O.B) and I like to keep fit and O.B follows Chris Jones (a personal trainer who posts on you tube). A few months ago O.B watched Chris Jones' banana pancake video on you tube and that was that. We threw our ordinary pancake recipe out of the window and now we use this one every time. Ours is very slightly different from Chris Jones' version (we don't use the sweetener) but his video is where we got our inspiration from. Click here to watch his video: Chris Jones' Banana Pancakes Video

Here's our version of the recipe:

Ingredients (creates 6-8 medium sized pancakes):

• 3 bananas
• 2 egg whites
• 2 eggs
• 30g oats
• 1tsp of cinnamon

Method

1. Cut your bananas up and then mash them in a large bowl.
2. Break two eggs into the mashed up banana.
3. Separate two further eggs and add just the whites to the mixture.
4. Measure and add 30g of oats to the mixture and mix slightly. 
5. Add 1 or tsp of cinnamon to the mixture and mix slightly.
6. Pour the mixture into a food processor and blend until smooth.
7. At this stage we pour the mixture into a measuring jug as we find it easier to pour out into the frying pans.
8. Put a little oil/cooking spray into a frying pan and heat until it's warm.
9. Pour a little of the mixture into the frying pan and sprinkle a few cranberries on the top. We add our cranberries this way as it ensures each pancakes receives and even number of them.
10. Cook the pancake until little bubbles start forming on the top and then get ready to show off your flipping skills! I am rubbish at flipping so in our house this is O.B's job!
11. Cook the other side for a few seconds, this side should not need as long as the first side did, so keep a close eye on it.
12. Put the pancake in the oven on a low temperature (we have the oven at 100 degrees celsius) to keep it warm while you cook the rest. We find it handy to have two small frying pans and cook two pancakes at a time. I am sure you'll find a method that works best for you.
13. Serve! Because these pancakes are made from bananas they are very tasty without any toppings but for us banana pancakes are a real treat so we go all out and have honey, maple syrup, choc chips, sultanas and pecan nuts on the table to top the pancakes off with. Nom nom. A perfect breakfast if you have a busy day ahead of you; you won't need to eat until late in the afternoon!

Enjoy

xoxo

Proper Birthday Cake!

Hullo,

So this week I will be making a birthday cake as it's my Mamma's 80th Birthday. This book (100 Fondant Models for Cake Decorators by Helen Penman) is a god send:

O.B bought me this as a pre-Christmas pressie to help me create some Christmas goodies. Needless to say it has come in very handy. Not only does it tell you how to create multiple fondant creatures, it also gives you recipes and lots of advice on what tools you'll need and how to best present your cakes. For example, I never thought of covering my cake boards until I read this book. Now I do it religiously and utilise the covered board as a blank canvas to further decorate and enhance the cake.

Anyway the point to this post is to share the fab recipe found in this book. It's a very dense mixture so if you're wanting a Victoria Sponge-like recipe keep looking. The purpose of this cake is for it to support lots of fondant decoration (like in the photo below) thus it needs to be a heavy cake.

A Victoria Sponge Cake, although it tastes deliciously light and airy, will not support lots of fondant. Thankfully I happen to love dense cakes, this tastes to me like proper vanilla birthday cake. Slice it up and stick a layer of vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam in it and nom nom! Reminds me of my childhood birthday cakes.

So here is the recipe for a 20.5cm (8inch) round cake or the same can be used for a 18cm (7inch) square cake. The recipe is take from the book100 Fondant Models for Cake Decorators by Helen Penman. If you fancy buying it, it can be bought on amazon for about £7. It definitely recommend buying it.

Ingredients

• 425g of unsalted butter- take the butter out of the fridge ahead of mixing your ingredients. It's easier to cream the butter and sugar.
• 425g caster sugar.
• 7 large eggs- I break this all into one bowl and beat them lightly (just so the egg yolks break).
• 550g self raising flour- sifted.
• 1 tbsp of milk- I have forgot this before and the cake has been fine. If you add too much milk it's difficult it shape the mixture into your cake tin as described in the method below (see step 8 in the method below).
• 2 and a half tsp of vanilla ESSENCE- I add this to the lightly beaten 7 large eggs. It must be essence to get the best vanilla flavour, sometimes people pick up extract and this does not have the same intensity in taste.

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Farenheit). Each oven is different, you will know yours and the more you bake the more personalised your baking will become. My oven is pretty hot so I preheat mine to 160 degrees Celsius and towards the end I may drop it to 150 after checking the cake. I also place the top shelf as high as I can in the oven and put an empty baking tray on it. When ready I place my cake into the oven on the bottom shelf. As it takes a while to get the cake cooked all the way through these steps help prevent the outside from burning.
2. Line your cake tin with baking parchment. Some people wrap the outside of the tin with multiple layers brown parcel paper as this can also help prevent burning but I find this isn't necessary for my oven with this recipe.
3. Beat the softened butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. If you want to do it the old fashioned way (by hand) get ready for some achey arms, I prefer to use a hand whisk. If you're lucky enough to have a food mixer then this will help you no end at this stage!
4. Add one egg at a time and beat into the mixture (I add a little bit of my lightly beaten eggs and vanilla extract mixture at a time). Add a little flour in between each addition of egg to prevent curdling.
5. If you haven't added your vanilla extract into the egg mixture, then add it to the cake mixture now.
6. Add the milk to the cake mixture and gently mix it in.
7. Add the sifted flour a little at a time and fold in gently by hand. I recommend using a large metal spoon.
8. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top. I create a dip in the middle of the top of the mixture to make the mixture look like a doughnut. I do this because in the past I was smoothing the top of the cake and popping it straight into the oven. When I took the cake out it appeared cooked but the middle was hollow. I have found that creating this dip/hole in the middle of the mixture prevents this from happening.
9. Cook for 1 hour 20 mins. 
10. After the baking time has elapsed use a skewer to check the cake is cooked all the way through. Check the middle of the cake as this takes the longest to bake. If the skewer comes out clean, the cake is baked. 
11. If the skewer does not come out clean give the cake another 10-15 minutes and repeat step 10. Keep cooking and checking the cake every 10-15minutes until it is cooked through.
12. Once it's cooked through remove the cake from the oven and leave it to cool completely in the tin. I cover it with a tea towel and have left it overnight to cool before. Removing the cake from the tin too soon while it's still hot can compromise the shape (it may fall to pieces). Do not decorate the cake until it's cooled completely as your icing will melt.

Well there it is my favourite proper vanilla birthday cake recipe! Love it! Hope you do too!

xoxo