Mrs G's Baking Adventures

Madrid: A Quickie Food Tour

2011-05-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

Mr G and I have just come back from a week in Madrid!
What a foodie heaven!

Gravity - defying fruit!

The paella was so yummy!

And the "Tortilla" (a Spanish omelette made with sliced potatoes)

And the "croquetas", the cod ones were my favourites.

They had macarons, which were very disappointing. They were far too crunchy. No chewiness at all.

The coconut macaroons though - delish.

We visited the Mercado de San Miguel - a food hall which had stalls and stalls of yummy treats.

These cakes were amazing.

This stall had the tiniest ice cream cones I had ever seen!

Hot chocolate and churros.
Mmmmm

No trip to Spain would be complete without indulging in this Spanish tradition. We tried a couple of places but by far the best was Cafe Valor!

Words cannot describe how good the chocolate and the churros here were.

Yes, it really was as good as it looks in this picture.

Mr G opted for an orange flavoured chocolate.

It was so good, we went back for another on our last day in Madrid!

Buenos Noche Amigos!

Egg Whites: Friend or Foe?

2011-05-21T12:02:00.001-07:00

I generally try to avoid recipes that heavily involve the use of egg whites. Soft peaks, firm peaks, stiff peaks.....if I see those words, I automatically flick over to the next page.

Determined to get over my egg whites phobia, I recently tried two egg white based recipes.

The first was Angel cake from the Hummingbird Bakery book "Cake Days".

The cake was not as light as I hoped bit it did give me the opprtunity to use my new Bundt tin!

I thought "Fallen Angel" cake was a better description. The cake was just too dense, not light and airy like I had hoped.

But, the recipe had no butter or caster sugar so is good for those watching their waistlines.

Next up was Passionfruit Pavlova.

I used the Nigella recipe from "Kitchen".

Good old Nigella.

It really was the perfect pav.

The egg whites were whipped until stiff. You add the sugar whilst it is whipping which turns the mixture lovely and glossy.

Spread the mixture into a round disc-like shape and then bake in a low oven.

Just out of the oven!

I then topped with lightly whipped double cream and the pulp of five passionfruits.

The tartness of the passsion fruit against the cream works so well.

MMmmmm!

The meringue has a marshmallow texture to it - quite the opposite to shop bought meringues.

I don't think that I have gotten over my fear of egg white recipes quite just yet, but I'm getting there!

Nxx

Easter Afternoon Tea

2011-04-25T02:52:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone has had a lovely Easter!

I had two of my sister in laws round for Afternoon Tea.

I made a variety of sandwiches - I don't know what it is but sandwiches always taste better to me with the crusts cut off!

I found these cute mini Easter Eggs in Home Sense and that set off the colour theme for the tea party!

I also made a variety of sweet treats.

Of course we had scones.....

But I have to confess, I didn't make the scones! My lovely mum did.

Scones and I do not play well together.

I just cannot get the hang of them.

I dipped some strawberries in white chocolate.

And made mini Red Velvet cupcakes and mini chocolate cupcakes, topped with micro mini eggs!

I also dipped some marshmallows in milk chocolate.
It was far too hot to make a huge variety of cakes.

But I did make some shortbread rounds topped with glace cherries.

But best of all......

Check out my sugar!

I found these cute butterfly shaped sugar cubes in John Lewis. They are part of a range by Belle de Sucre (http://www.belledesucre.com/) and they are so cute.

I also got some handbag shaped sugar, because let's face it, we all need handbag shaped sugar cubes in our lives!

Nxx

London Goodies!

2011-04-20T15:48:00.000-07:00

Mr G and I have just returned from a short break in London.

Naturally, whilst we were there, I had to visit a few bakeries that I hadn't been to before.

Top of the list were: Ella's Bakehouse in Covent Garden, The Primrose Bakery in Covent Garden and Pierre Herme in Selfridges, Bond Street.

Ella's Bake house was a revelation. The cupcakes were quite dense but so tasty. I tried a Nutella one which despite the name had no chocolate and was mostly hazelnut, and a peanut butter cupcake. Both were lovely.
I also tried a peanut butter whoopie pie from Selfridges which was a disappointment. The Pierre Herme counter though......

Ah, Monsieur Herme.

How you have changed my life.

I have to admit, some of the flavour combinations were a little out there for me. I am a traditionalist at heart, so the creme brulee and salted caramel flavours cried out to me. I did try a chocolate and passion fruit macaron though, which was devine.

The creme brulee was far my favourite though. Positively life changing.

Yes, dear friends, a macaron that perfect can definitely be life changing.

But, my loyalties still lie with Laduree.

I treated myself to a box and also bought a box for my mum. Cos I love her.

All in all, it was a great trip.

Alas, the Primrose Cupcakes didn't make it home for pictures, but I can highly recommend the Coconut Cupcake. Yum Yum.

BBQ Cupcakes

2011-04-20T15:38:00.000-07:00

As in cupcakes I made to take to a BBQ, not BBQ flavoured cupcakes!

I also got a new cake stand in lemon yellow. I promised Mr G this would be my last one until we get a bigger house!

As it is coming up to Easter, I made some chick and bunny shaped fondant toppers - glittery pink ones of course!

I had also bought these giant white buttons covered with hundreds and thousands from M&S ages ago. They were perfect with lemon coloured frosting.

I packaged some up to take to the BBQ.

Individual cupcake pedestals.

Where would life be without them?

Nxx

Salted Caramel Sticky Toffee Pudding

2011-04-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

Sticky Toffee Pudding is my favourite dessert. EVER.

I cannot resist ordering it from the menu and I always make it when we have people over for dinner.

I always make Nigella's Sticky Toffee Pudding as it never fails me (apart from one occasion which resulted in sticky toffee pudding on the kitchen ceiling but we won't go there...)

I decided to try this variation for a change which I found in a copy of the "You" magazine supplement a while ago.

For the Sponge:-

150g of pitted dates chopped

250ml water

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

75g unsalted butter diced

125g light muscovado sugar

2 medium eggs

2 tbsp golden syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

200g plain flour sifted

For the Salted Caramel sauce:-

100g light muscovado sugar

1/2 tsp fine sea salt

100g unsalted butter

150ml double cream

Method:-

1. Pre-heat over to 190 degree centigrade / 170 degree fahrenheit / GM 5. Butter a baking tin measuring 27cm - 30cm x 18cm - 20cm.

2. Bring the dates and water to the boil in a small saucepan and simmer over a low heat for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the bicarbonate of soda. The mixture will froth up.

3. Cream the butter and sugar together and then add the eggs one at a time, then the syrup and then the vanilla and then the flour. The beat in the date mixture in two batches.

4. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes until set and the pudding has risen.

5. While baking, put all the sauce ingredients into a pan to melt and whisk together until smoot. Pour half the mixture onto the pudding and serve the rest separately with double cream.

10/10 for this recipe!

Adding salt to the caramel sauce gave it another dimension.

I made it for Mr G and my Mum for Mother's Day and they both loved it too.

Nxx

Rocky Road Bites

2011-04-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

These are without a doubt my go to recipe when the occasion calls for some "Petit Fours".

All you need is 75g of marshmallows....

...and 75g of chopped brazil nuts.

Melt 100g of milk chocolate and 100g of dark chocolate and mix together!

Then leave spoonfuls of the mixture onto sheets of greaseproof paper to set.

Yum Yum.

Nxx

(Apologies for the poor quality photography folks- it was really dark when I took these and the flash was playing up!)

Hummingbird Bakery's Raspberry Cream Cheese Brownies

2011-03-27T13:55:00.000-07:00

I've tried a few recipes from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook now and a few of them have been a little bit hit and miss.

Not this one though! I was delighted with how these babies turned out. You start off with a layer of brownie. The add a layer of cheesecake.

Bake in the oven...

...and when cool, top with lightly whipped cream mixed with fresh raspberries.

I cut mine into slices and decided not to top them with additional fresh raspberries.

They just didn't need them.

I made these for a party and the whole night Mr G kept on asking if we had any left at home!

I think these are definitely in his top 5 home baked goodies!

(I also got this gorgeous baby pink cake stand from M&S!)

Nxx

Pink and Green Cupcakes

2011-03-20T10:22:00.001-07:00

I am so out of practice with cupcake making!

My mum asked me to make some this weekend as one of my aunt's was over from Canada.

I decided on pink and green as the colour scheme.

I made vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting.

I love the green butterflies. They came out so sparkly.

My piping was atrocious though.

In fairness, I was in a hurry as I was going kitten viewing with my friend Andrea.

They were so cute (the kittens that is, not the cupcakes.)

I can't wait for Andrea to get her kitten!!

Nxx

Snickers Cupcakes - Part 2

2011-03-20T04:45:00.000-07:00

I made some snickers inspired cupcakes a while ago, but recently I tried another version at the Cocoa Emporium in Affleck's Palace.

www.thecocoaemporium.co.uk

They were so yummy!

I decided to have a go at making their version myself.

I made my regular chocolate cupcake mix and added chopped up pieces of snickers bars into the mix.

I then topped with peanut butter frosting and a slice of snickers.

They were so more-ish.

The pieces of snickers that went into the cupcake batter turned even more chewy when cooked.

I shall definitely be doing these again!

Nigella's Jumbleberry Crumble

2011-03-12T09:34:00.000-08:00

I love Apple Crumble.

LOVE IT.

I have never made a crumble before though.

I had a craving the other day, and alas I had no apples in the house!

Nigella came to the rescue though. I was watching an episode of Nigella Express on the UK food channel, and she made Jumbleberry Crumble in about two minutes flat.

Problem solved.

Crumble craving sorted.

Crumble Topping

Ingredients:-

6oz plain flour

4 oz unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Method:-

1. Sieve the flour, salt and baking powder.

2. Rub the butter in using your fingertips.

3. When the mixture resembles course breadcrumbs - you're done.

Jumbleberry Mix

Ingredients:-

A mix of any berries that take your fancy.

I used a mixture of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries.

4 tsp caster sugar

2 tsp cornflour

Method:-

1. Place the berry mix into a ovenproof dish

2. Add the the sugar and cornflour and mix well

3. Spread the crumble mix on top.

4. Sprinle some golden caster sugar and cinnamon on top of the crumble mix.

5. Cook in the oven for 40 minutes (Gas Mark 4 / 180 degrees fahrenheit)

6. Serve warm with cream or custard

The crumble was delish!

Mr G insisted on having two helpings with lots of cream!

Within half an hour, this was all that was left!

Banana Cake with Toffee Sauce

2011-03-06T04:17:00.003-08:00

You know when you have bananas that have gone too soft to eat?

This recipe is perfect for that.

The recipe was given to me by a former work colleague.

Banana Cake

Ingredients:-

4oz unsalted butter

6 oz caster sugar

1 egg

6 oz self raising flour (sifted)

2 ripe bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 fl. oz milk

Method:-

1. Grease an 8inch pan and pre-heat oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180 degrees fahrenheit.

2. Cream the butter and then add the sugar and vanilla. Beat in the egg.

3. Mash the bananas and add to the creamed butter mixture.

4. Fold in the sifted flour.

5. Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda into the milk and add to the mixture. Stir in gently.

6. Pour mixture into cake tin and bake for 40 minutes.

Now for the toffee sauce....

Toffee Sauce

Ingredients:-

100ml cream

4oz light brown sugar

4 oz unsalted butter

Method:-

1. Melt butter in pan together with the sugar

2. when the sugar is dissolved, stir in the cream.

3. Serve immediately.

The cake was yummy with the toffee sauce.

I had used a 9 inch cake tin so the cake was a little flat but it still tasted lovely.

Valentine's Day Cake

2011-02-12T08:40:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I know I said I wasn't a massive fan of Valentine's Day BUT, Beks had bought me a heart shaped cake tin for Christmas.

How could I not use it this weekend?

I used the Betty Crocker recipe for White Cake.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups plain flour

2/3 cup margarine

1 1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

5 egg whites

Method:

1. Grease and line 2 x 8 inch cake tins (or make 24 cupcakes). Pre-heat oven to 350 degree fahrenheit / Gas Mark 4.

1. Mix together all ingredients except egg whites in a mixer on slow speed for 30 seconds, and then increase speed and mix for two minutes. Scrape down the sides.

2. Add egg whites and mix on high speed for a further two minutes. Again scrape down the sides.

3. Pour mixture into two cake tins and bake for 25 - 35 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. (The cakes took 45 minutes in my oven which is Gas).
4. Leave to cool and then sandwich together with frosting and then decorate.

I used a cream cheese frosting which I tinted pink.

I decorated with heart shaped chocolate dragees and a hot pink fondant heart for a bit of contrast!

But check out the inside of the cake.......

I tinted some of the cake mixture pink to make a pink and white layer cake!

I'm not great with big cakes, and I have to say it was a bit of a pallaver slicing the heart shaped cakes evenly!

But it was well worth it to to have the desired effect.

The cake was yummy too.

I generally use a yellow cake recipe, and had expected the white cake to be lighter, but it was actually quite dense!

Mr G was impressed with his heart shaped cake!

Valentine's Day- Love it or Hate it?

2011-02-12T08:28:00.001-08:00

Mr G and I are not massive fans of Valentine's Day.

We don't make too much of a big deal about it, but having said that, we don't ignore it completely and I always make the effort to decorate our dining table.
Pink was this year's colour of choice!

When I came back from Harrogate this week, Mr G had made me a lovely Chicken Tikka Masala (from scratch I hasten to add!) from the book "I Love Curry" by Anjum Anand.
Mr G had never made a curry before in his life!

Although I don't generally do posts about savoury items, I had to blog about this curry for two reasons:-

1. It was the nicest curry I have EVER had ( fragrant, creamy and delicately spiced ) and that is saying something as I love Indian food.

2. It was lovingly made for me by Mr G.

And that is surely what Valentine's Day is about?

Letting that all important person in your life know how much you mean to them?

And what better way to do it than through food!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

2011-02-08T01:49:00.001-08:00

Mr G and I went to London to visit relatives over the weekend and I decided to take some cupcakes.

(It was the same relatives that we had been visiting when "Burgergate" took place so Mr G was adamant he was not holding the cupcakes at any time!)

I decided on Red Velvet because they seem quite Valentines-ey to me.

Plus I wanted to get the sparkly red glitter out again!

I had bought some cucake wrappers to use.
They are so pretty.

They finished the cupcakes off perfectly.

Cake Mixes

2011-02-08T01:39:00.001-08:00

I have a confession to make.

I am obsessed with Betty Crocker cake mixes.

I don't generally use them but whenever I go the States, I have to bring home a few boxes.

I think it is the novelty factor, and the fact that we have a pretty limited supply of cake mixes over here.
They have so many over there: Red Velvet, Bananan Cake, Orange Cake, White Cake, German Chocolate Cake. The list is endless.

Even Cherry Chip Cake!

But one thing I have never seen until now is a Macaron Mix!

Beks went to France recently and reported back that you could get Macaron Mixes in a box!

WOW!

This brand did three types: Chocolate, Coffee and Raspberry.

Now if only I could speak French I could work out how to make them......

Chocolate - covered Toffee Pretzels

2011-01-31T11:59:00.000-08:00

I recently saw a post on the Made with Pink blog for homemade Turtles.

http://www.madewithpink.com/

They reminded me of the Take 5 candy bars that you get in America. They are basically a pretzel base with a layer of caramel, peanut butter and peanuts covered in milk chocolate.

Yum Yum.

They inspired me to have a go at making a home made version.

I melted the Werther's original toffees with 1 tablespoon of whipping cream and then sandwiched the toffee between two pretzels.

Yes, it was a messy job. Prepare to have sticky toffee go EVERYWHERE!

At this point, I wanted to add a dollop of peanut butter but I was covered in toffee by this point so decided to give the peanut butter a miss on this occasion.

Then I melted some milk chocolate and covered the pretzels.

Oh. My. Gosh.
A-mazing. With a capital A.

The pretzel shapes make them look like little hearts which is ideal for Valentines' Day!

Warning: they are totally addictive.
I've made them to take to London this weekend for relatives but I am not sure that they will last the week...

Pink & Purple Cupcakes

2011-01-31T11:49:00.000-08:00

I haven't made cupcakes since Christmas which feels like forever ago now.

I wanted to make some as a Thank You for someone.

Pink and Purple seem like "thank you" kind of colours to me.

I made choc cupcakes and topped with vanilla frosting which I tinted pink and purple. I then topped with some fondant decorations.

My piping was a little off I have to admit. I also made some other cupcakes which I'll post later on in the week as they are not finished yet.

Marble Cake

2011-01-31T10:27:00.000-08:00

Wow. It feels like forever since my last post.

I did make a lovely marble cake recently.
I love marble cake.

My Gran used to make it for me every birthday.

I can still remember the excitement of seeing all of the different colours- yellow, pink, chocolate and green.

As you can see, I made mine simple. Chocolate and vanilla.

I used my regular cup cake recipes quantities and swirled the mixtures together.

It was yum.

More Christmas Cupcakes

2011-01-01T05:07:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I know Christmas is officially over but I had to blog about the second batch of Christmas Cupcakes that I made.

Edible glitter is just so Christmas-ey!

I went for pink glittery reindeers!

I also tried a glittery red ponsettia!

I made these cupcakes for the family for Christmas Day.

The kids loved them!

I also made frosted brownies and sweet and salty crunch bars, courtesy of Nigella's Kitchen.

I hope you all had a lovely festive break!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Nxx

Christmas Cupcakes

2010-12-19T05:34:00.000-08:00

Beks and I were asked recently if we wanted to make some cupcakes to sell at my friend's little boy's school Christmas fair.

Naturally we jumped at the chance!

I made a variety of decorations out of rolled fondant.

Some Christmas themed...

.. and others not so Christmas themed!

Edible glitter is definitely my new best friend!

Beks made chocolate and vanilla cupcakes.

These were my favourite. Little flowers and butterflies. Very girly.

The fair was last week, but because I was working away from home I didn't get to go!

Beks manned the stall, and we did really well! Everything sold out!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!

Xmas Pops!

2010-12-18T07:26:00.001-08:00

Christmas Tree Cake Pops!

I had seen these on the Bakerella website and Mr G had recently bought me the Cake Pops book!

They were surprisingly easy!

I made Oreo Truffles and then shaped them into cone like shapes, and then dipped them into green candy melts.

I used a toothpick to get the pine effect and then sprinkled on some coloured mini choc chips to look like xmas tree lights!

French Toast Cupcakes

2010-12-18T07:17:00.001-08:00

I recently saw a post on the Art of Being Perfect Blog for French Toast Cupcakes

I knew I had to try them!

They should be called Cinnamon Toast Cupcakes, but they are undeniably delicious!
And absolutely perfect for getting you into the Christmas spirit!

The recipe is so easy!

Check out "theartofbeingperfect.blogspot.com"

I topped mine with a cream cheese frosting, a handmade fondant flower and a dusting of cinnamon.

Chocolate Fondants

2010-12-12T07:25:00.000-08:00

Chocolate Fondants are one of Mr G's favourite puddings!

They are so quick to make and much nicer than shop bought melt in the middle puddings!

I tend to use Nigella's recipe for "Molten Chocolate Babycakes" from "How to be a Domestic Goddess" but Rachel Allen has a good recipe in her "Bake" book.

Ingredients:-

50g unsalted butter

350g dark chocolate

150g caster sugar

4 large eggs (beaten with a pinch of salt)

1 tsp vanilla extract

50g plain flour

Method:-

1. Grease 6 ramekins or pudding bowls and pre-heat over to 200 degrees fahrenheit or Gas Mark 6

2. Melt the chocolate and let it cool slightly

3. Cream together the butter and sugar and gradually beat in the eggs and salt, then the vanilla

4. Add the flour and when mixture is smooth, scrape in the cooled chocolate and mix until a smooth mixture is formed

5. Divide the mixture between the ramekins and cook for 10 - 12 minutes

6. When done, turn over onto a plate and serve with whipped cream or creme fraiche

These are them just out of the oven- they should be cooked on the outside and melted and gooey on the inside!

I did heart shaped ones as I was feeling particularly romantic at that moment in time!

I also went all out and served with custard and strawberries!

They were yum! Mr G ate his in about 30 seconds flat!

They are also delicious eaten cold the next day and taste like a really luxurious mousse!

This recipe is also easy to halve in order to make three instead of six!
They are so easy and quick to make- the longest part is melting the chocolate!

Ho's Chinese Bakery

2010-11-21T05:13:00.000-08:00

Manchester, like most cities has its own Chinatown.

Ho's Bakery in Chinatown is one of my favourite bakeries.

Their cakes are so yum. My favourite is this Coconut Cake. The break like dough is so soft and the coconut mixture is heavenly.

Clockwise from top: Custard Bun, Cream Bun and Red Bean Bun.

I love red bean buns, although I do admit it is a bit of an acquired taste.

In Guyana, South America, where my Mother's family are originally from, they make a very similar pastry called "Black Eyed Cakes" which is made from black eyed peas.

I think these cakes are the direct result of the Chinese influence in Guyanese cuisine, and every Christmas my Grandmother would make these pastries for us to eat.

On a separate note, we also grew up eating "Chow Mein" which is a staple in Guyanese food and

again it was only until I was much older did I realise that it was a Chinese dish!

On my recent visit to Ho's, they were selling these Portuguese custard tarts. They were delish. The pastry was perfect - light and flaky!

One of my faves- good old plain cream sandwich cake. It is an eggless sponge which makes it so light, almost like a Swiss roll sponge.

The cream is light too and I love the way you get a massive wedge!

If you are in Manchester at any time, I would definitely recommend a trip to Ho's and don't be afraid to try something new!

Ultimate Oreo Cupcakes

2010-11-07T09:43:00.001-08:00

Why "ultimate" I hear you ask?

Well these cupcakes have an oreo base, oreos in the cake mixture, oreos in the frosting and are topped with a mini oreo!

These are definately some of my favourite cupcakes to date.
They were inspired by a cookies and cream cupcake that I recently had at my favourite coffee shop in Harrogate- Bean and Bud.
They sell the most amazing hot chocolate and when I go in, I can never resist the array of locally made cakes that they have in store. One of my favourites is the cookies and cream cupcake which has the most delicious oreo frosting I have ever had.

I started off by separating a few oreo cookies and placing one half at the bottom of the cupcake cases.

I then crushed up a few more oreos and added these to my chocolate cupcake batter.

As if these weren't delicious enough.......

....I made a cream cheese frosting to which I added finely cruched oreos.

I then topped the cupcakes with the frosting using a spatula. I tried piping the frosting, but pieces of oreo kept on getting stuck in the nozzle tip.

I then placed a mini oreo on top!

They were so yummy.

I had made them for my cousin's birthday as a treat for her.

Hope you enjoyed them Tans!!

Salted Caramel Whoopies

2010-11-07T09:20:00.000-08:00

I have to say, salted caramel is my favourite flavour combination at the minute

Which is quite strange as I really am not that keen on caramel flavoured things.

Mr G bought me this recipe book for my birthday. The Whoopie Pie Book by Claire Ptak.

I used her recipe for salted caramel whoopies.

Ingredients:-

330 grams plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

125 grams unsalted butter

120 ml whole milk

200 grams light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:-

1. Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4 / 180 degrees centigrade. Line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

2. In a bowl, sift together the flour with the baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3. In a small saucepan, warm the milk and melt the butter in. Do not boil. (see above) Allow to cool.

4. In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar and egg andwhen light and fluffy add the the vanilla.

5. Mix in the flour mixture and then add the cooled milk mixture until just combined. Allow the mixtue to chill for 30 minutes.

6. Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto the baking sheets and cook for either 10 -12 minutes if making large whoopies or 8-10 minutes if making small whoopies.

7. Remove from baking sheet then allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

NOTE: the whoopies were very flat so I would suggest either using self raising flour or increasing the amount of baking powder if like me, you are not a fan of the flat whoopie.

I didn't use the recipe for Caramel Swiss Buttercream that was suggested in the book, as I had come across a jar of this in my local Waitrose supermarket....

Bonne Maman Confiture de Caramel.

It was much nicer than the Carnation version I had recently tried.

Salted Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:-

25 grams unsalted butter

65 grams of cream cheese

150 grams of icing sugar

2 tablespoons caramel

1/2 tsp salt

Method:-

1. Mix together the butter and icing sugar

2. Add the cream cheese and beat until smooth

3. Add the caramel and when fully combined, add the salt.

NOTE: you may need to add a little more icing sugar if the mixture is too runny to spread on the whoopies.

Spread the filling on with a spatula.

They were very sweet, butting adding the salt cut through the sweetness a bit.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

2010-10-24T08:06:00.001-07:00

A while ago, I saw a post on the Art of Being Perfect blog for Red Velvet whoopie pies and ever since I have been meaning to have a go at making them.

Check out http://www.theartofbeingperfect.blogspot.com/ for the recipe.

The mixture was a lot firmer than my regular whoopie pie mix, and the whoopies were certainly more denser. More like a muffin consistency.

I made a batch of cream cheese frosting to sandwich the pies together.

Mr G loved them. I enjoyed them too, but I think overall, I prefer red velvet cupcakes to whoopie pies. They look pretty though!

Macaron Success!

2010-10-10T06:24:00.000-07:00

Look I made macarons!

I'm still in shock. I actually had some success!

One of my friends recently confessed to me that she had made macarons (you know who you are Shaz!)

I was so impressed! She even had photographic evidence to prove it! Spurred on by her success, this weekend I was determined to have another go.

I have only made macarons once before, and they were a disaster.

I have to confess, I have severe RDD (Recipe Deficit Disorder)

Any recipes longer than a few lines, I tend to ignore and make up as I go along. That is what I did with my first attempt at macarons.

On my first attempt I certainly didn't bother to grind my icing sugar with the ground almonds before sieving....

...and I certainly didn't whip my egg whites until they were stiff peaks.

I realised after my first attempt that with these little suckers, you really do have to follow the recipe to the letter. So I did. I used the recipe from I love Macarons by Hisako Ogita.

I decided on pink vanilla and chocolate macarons, which I sandwiched together with a vanilla custard creme.

The mixture was a little runny with my pink vanilla macarons. I am not sure if I overmixed or didn't mix enough.

As you can see they were a little flat after cooking.

My chocolate ones were much better although some of them cracked. I think my "macaronnage" technique improved for these ones.

The vanilla custard creme was lovely.

If you squint, they don't actually look half bad.

But they tasted yummy!

Mr G and I ate the whole lot in about 24 hours!

I really want to have a go at making salted caramel macarons next time so watch this space.

Nutella Cupcakes

2010-10-03T09:24:00.000-07:00

Mmm...... Nutella.

I have been meaning to make these for a while!

I came across a crunchy chocolate spread by Whole Earth. It tasted like a Ferrero Rocher!

The frosting had normal nutella in.

Nutella Frosting:-
80grams unsalted butter (room temp)
250 grams icing sugar
80 grams nutella
25ml whole milk

Method:-
1. Beat together butter and icing sugar until well combined
2. Add milk
3. Mix in the nutella and beat until smooth

I started with chocolate cupcakes and then when they were cooled I scooped out a little bit of cupcake and then put in about 2 teaspoons of the crunchy chocolate hazelnut spread.

I then added a little frosting, dusted with cocoa and topped with whole hazelnuts.

I also made some mini versions!

Not the prettiest cupcakes I have ever made but they were delicious!

Cupcake Topped Cupcakes

2010-09-26T08:46:00.000-07:00

Not 'real' cupcake topped cupcakes as you can see!

I saw some fondant cupcake shaped toppers recently on the Art of Being Perfect Blog.

I decided to have a go at making some pastel coloured ones.

I had bought these cupcake shaped cookie cutter from a cook shop in Harrogate this week. I couldn't resist the pastel colours!

I used some ready to roll fondant and tinted it to get the colours the right shade.
My green frosting was supposed to be a pastel shade too but I picked up the mint green one instead! Whoops!

They looked fine though!

I sent a box of cupcakes for my cousin as she has just secured a place to do her Masters!

Well done Tans!

Snickers Inspired Cupcakes

2010-09-26T08:32:00.001-07:00

A while ago I saw a post on the Butter Hearts Sugar blog for Snickers inspired cupcakes.

Being a lover of the peanut butter and chocolate combination, I figured adding caramel into the mix could only be a bonus!

I went to buy my can of carnation milk to make my caramel but when I got to the supermarket, I saw that the clever people at Carnation had already done the hard work.

I took the easy option (although the good intentions to make my own caramel were there I assure you!)

I started with chocolate cupcakes.....

.....and then scooped out a bit from the middle and poured about two teaspoons of caramel in.

I then topped with peaut butter frosting and a chocolate covered peanut!

They were yummy!

I asked Mr G if they were too much with the caramel.

He shook his head and with a mouthful of cake he muffled a response that I couldn't quite decipher.

I took that as a no!!

The English Rose Bakery

2010-09-19T05:13:00.001-07:00

A while ago, Beks sent me an e-mail telling me that there was a new company called "The English Rose Bakery" making macarons and supplying them to the Manchester area. (www.englishrosebakery.com)

We were most excited.

Whilst I was home this weekend, Mr G and I decided to check out Chorlton Food Market and who should have a stall but The English Rose Bakery!

This is Emma who makes the macarons!

She makes a whole range of flavours including Vanilla, Pistachio, Chocolate, Black Cherry, English Rose, Salted Caramel, Raspberry, and Lemon.

Obviously I had to buy a box!

They were absolutely AMAZING!

Now as someone who has a soft spot for Laduree macarons, I can honestly say these were some of the nicest macarons I have ever tasted. They were soft and chewy and what stood out was the flavour. You could smell each individual macaron flavour a mile off.

The salted caramel was absolutely to die for, and I even preferred it to the Laduree version!

Emma will be at various food markets across the North West and if you get the chance I would highly recommend you check out her stall!

Betty's - Yorkshire's Finest

2010-09-19T04:32:00.000-07:00

No baking this week folks as I've been working away from home. I am working in a lovely place called Harrogate which is in North Yorkshire. It is about 1 1 /2 hours away from Manchester so I've been staying there during the week. Have been missing Mr G like mad but luckily I have Betty's to keep me going! Betty's is a lovely tea room and there are branches all over Yorkshire but the first one opened in Harrogate in 1919.

They also have a shop selling a wide variety of breads, cakes and chocolates.
Including these macarons in Chocolate, Lemon, Pistachio and Raspberry.

They have a good range of pattiserie such as their famous puff pastry cream hearts...

....and the fabulous Engadine Torte which is a Swiss specialty with hazelnuts and meringue. Definitely my favourite.

They also do a Yorkshire Curd Tart which is a little bit like a dense cheesecake with raisins.

I also managed to explore Harrogate's only Cupcakery...

Cupcakes by Charley!

They have a good selection of cupcakes and also sell whoopie pies.

Alas, there were no peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes.

But they had a lovely Cookies and Cream cupcake.

The cake was really rich and decadent.

I also tried a Vanilla Whoopie Pie that was sandwiched with a strawberry buttercream.

As you can see it was huge and I was a little bit disappointed. The consistency was more like a Victoria Sponge expecially with the addition of the strawberry infused buttercream.

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Brownies

2010-09-12T14:41:00.001-07:00

Do you ever have a craving for a baked treat but simply cannot be bothered with measuring out numerous ingredients?

If so, then this is the recipe for you!

These are without a doubt my signature brownies.

Now I am not a total baking snob. Although I don't use cake mixes as a general rule, I am rather partial to a Betty Crocker brownie. I love the fact that you only add three ingredients to the mix and one of those (the egg) you don't even have to measure.

I devised this recipe one day when I had a craving for chocolate and peanut butter.

Simply pour the batter into a lined tray.

Mix two generous tablespoons of cream cheese with two generous tablespoons of smooth peanut butter.

Swirl the mixture together and then add dollops to the brownie batter.
You could at this point swirl the peanut butter / cream cheese mixture into the brownie, but I prefer biting into a big chunk of the mixture.

Wait for the brownies to cool slightly before slicing up......

.....and serving still warm!

DELICIOUS!!!!

Mini Pink Cupcakes

2010-09-11T08:50:00.000-07:00

One of my friends was home this weekend to celebrate the festival of Eid with her family.

I decided to make her some mini cupcakes to help her celebrate!

Mini Cupcake cases are so cute!

I decided on vanilla cupcakes and then added a touch of pink gel food colouring to make the cupcakes themselves pink.

Just out of the oven. They took hardly anytime to cool down!

Once they had cooled, I added some pink vanilla frosting and then topped them with pink m&ms and pink chocolate hearts.

I noticed the other day that Sainsbury's had started selling cupcake boxes.

They were quite expensive - 2 for £1.75 but they were cute so I couldn't resist buying a couple.

I normally buy my cupcake boxes online from Cupcake Boxes UK (www.cupcakeboxesuk.com)

They are really reasonable and have a great variety of sizes and designs.

Home Made Pretzels

2010-09-06T13:38:00.000-07:00

When I was in London the other week, I visted Westfield Shopping Centre. Amidst the various snack stands was a pretzel stall selling the tastiest freshly baked pretzels. I had a cinnamon sugar pretzel which was delish.
I had wanted to have a go at making them myself and had recently seen a post on the Butter Hearts Sugar blog (http://www.butterheartssugar.blogspot.com/) This is a lovely blog and the recipe seemed really straight forward.
My pretzel shaping skills need improving though!

Just fresh out of the oven!
The smell was irresistable!
I sprinkled some of the pretzels with sea salt.

I also made some cinnamon sugar for coating.
You just mix a few tablespoons of sugar with a couple of teaspoons of ground cinnamon.

I brushed the freshly baked pretzels with some melted butter and then dipped them in the cinnamon sugar.
Mr G and I ate the whole lot within a couple of hours! Definitely a recipe I will be trying again. The possibilities are endless.....maple coated, chocolate dipped, rosemary and sea salt.

Cutest Cake Stand Ever!

2010-09-05T11:13:00.001-07:00

I am definitely one of those people who is a sucker for anything in miniature form.

When I saw this teeny tiny cake stand - I just could not resist.

Plus the packaging was super cute too.

It is only big enough to hold one cupcake. Perfect for those moments when you are treating yourself to a cupcake after a hard day. (Especially if there is no-one else in the house so you don't have to share...)

I made some Red Velvet cupcakes just so I could try out the cake stand!

The cake stands are made by Rosanna and are part of the 'Petite Treat' range. They are also available in cream and green.

Mr. Potato Head Cake Pops

2010-09-03T10:10:00.001-07:00

I hadn't made cake pops for quite a while and after making some red velvet cupcakes, I decided to make some red velvet cake balls. I had seen these Mr Potato Head pops on the Bakerella website.

Hats off to Bakerella big time. I do not know how she gets her cake pops to look so smooth.

Making the pops themselves is not so hard.

You start off by crumbling any cake that you have made.

Add a good dose of cream cheese frosting.

Mix well until fully combined and shape into balls.
I used some peanut butter flavoured candy melts as it was the perfect colour.

You will also need an assortment of sprinkles and mini chocolate buttons....

And voila!

Mr. Potato Head!

I was quite pleased with how they turned out but I wish I could get the coating to go on a lot more smoothly.

Must keep practising!

A Foodie Tour in the Big Smoke - Part 3

2010-08-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

I stopped off at Harrods Food Hall for a mooch around. I love love love Harrods food hall. I can spend hours wandering around looking at the displays.

Lola's cupcakes are sold at Harrods. They looked yummy but after visiting Crumbs and Doilies, I felt I had had a cupcake overload.

I couldn't resist purchasing a red velvet whoopie pie though. It never ceases to amaze me how well the peanut butter frosting works with the red velvet whoopie.

This is one of my favourite counters. They have the most amazing selection of chocolate covered nuts and I can never resist getting a selection to use to top cupcakes with. The colours are so pretty too.

Don't even get me started on the sweet counter. It's like being at Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.

But best of all......

LADUREE - aka Macaron heaven!

Alas, I wasn't allowed to take any pictures inside but I did purchase a small box to take home.

I bought a selction of vanilla, chocolate, coconut and chocolate flavoured ones. Yes, I know I am a creature of habit BUT I did break the mould and get a liquorice flavoured one which was actually rather good.

My fave without a doubt though was the vanilla.

A Foodie Tour in the Big Smoke - Part 2

2010-08-30T06:26:00.000-07:00

As I was in the area, I decided to stop off at the Hummingbird Bakery in South Kensington.

There were loads of cupcakes to choose from but I knew what I wanted.

I bought a slice of the frosted brownie to take home. The brownie was delicious.

I also bought a black bottom cupcake. It was amazing although the one I got did not have enough of the cheesecake mixture in. I have attempted these at home using the recipe from the Humingbird bakery book but was disappointed with the way the cheesecake mixture turned out. It was far too runny to add to the flavour of the cupcake, but it has inspired me to have another go at making them.

The cream cheese frosting was so delish!

A Foodie Tour in the Big Smoke - Part 1

2010-08-30T05:57:00.000-07:00

I went to London this weekend for a family party. Believe it or not, I didn't manage to bake anything to take with me this time so I decided to seize the opportunity and try some of the infamous sweet treats that our capital city had to offer (or at least as many as I could fit into in a couple of hours!)

First stop was Partridges Food Market which is held every Saturday from 10am until 4pm at the Duke of York Square.

Partridges was amazing. A real foodie heaven. They had these cute cupcake shaped tins filled with cupcake flavoured cookies!

There was a whoopie pie stall at the market. I tried one of the oreo flavoured whoopies and I was blown away. It had oreo pieces in the batter and the filling had oreo crumbs mixed in. Yum Yum. The ladies running the stall were super nice and friendly too and didn't mind me taking pictures!

There was also a stall selling yummy looking fudge.

And this stall selling the hugest meringues I had ever seen. Seriously, they were about the size of a small side plate (no exaggeration!)

I couldn't resist purchasing one that had brownie pieces inside. It was delicious.

Last but certainly not least, I had to stop off at Crumbs and Doilies.

They had really pretty looking cupcakes.

They had a good variety of flavours: red velvet, rose flavoured, good old vanilla, oreo and chocolate.

I got a box of mini cupcakes to take home for Mr G.

I managed to only eat two before I got the box home.

Well done me.

The red velvet and oreo were my favourite but I surprised myself by enjoying the rose flavoured cupcake.

I would really recommend visting the food market if you get the chance. There was a Portuguese stall selling freshly made Pasteis de Nata (Portuguese custard tarts). They smelled absolutely delicious.

Churros & Chocolate

2010-08-26T04:24:00.001-07:00

A few years ago Mr G and I visted Barcelona and had the most amazing hot chocolate. It was so rich and thick. We would sit at a cafe bar on the Ramblas and people watch all day.

Ever since then I have been meaning to have a go at re-creating that hot chocolate. I was flicking through one of my cookie books and I came across a recipe for Churros. These are the small doughnut- type Spanish treats that are traditionally dunked in the hot chocolate. The following recipe has been adapted.

Churros

Ingredients:-
1 cup plain flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg
Juice of half lime or lemon
Vegetable oil for frying
Granulated sugar for coating Churros

Method:-
1. Place water, sugar, salt and tablespoon of oil into pan and bring to the boil. Add the flour and baking powder and beat until smooth.
2. When mixture is smooth add the egg and beat until fully combined.
3. Place mixture into a piping bag and using a star shaped nozzle, pipe mixture out onto a baking sheet in 3 - inch pieces.
4. Heat oil (you need oil to be about 2 inches in depth) and add the juice of half a lemon or lime.
5. When oil is hot enough to brown a small piece of day old bread in 30 - 50 seconds add the churros and cook until golden brown (about 3 - 4 minutes).
6. Leave to cool for a minute and then roll in the granulated sugar. Serve warm with Hot Chocolate.

Spanish style Hot Chocolate

Ingredients:-
5 tablespoons dutch processed cocoa powder
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
6 oz dark best quality dark chocolate coarsely chopped (I used Green & Back's 75% cocoa solids)
2 cups milk

Method:-
1. Place the cocoa, sugar and 2 tablespoons of milk into a pan and bring to the boil. When the mixture starts to boil, whisk quickly to bring to a smooth paste.
2. Add the rest of the milk and whisk until well combined.
3. Add the chocolate and mix until incorporated. Serve immediately.

As a flavour alternative, add one teaspoon of ground cinnamon or try ground chilli powder for a Mexican twist.

It was yummy. My churros were a bit fat as I had used one of my frosting nozzles but they were so yummy with the hot chocolate. Mr G agreed. It brought memories of Barcelona flooding back.

Hasta Luego mi amigos!

The original Mrs G's 75th Birthday!

2010-08-23T08:03:00.001-07:00

It was my mother in law's (the original Mrs G!) 75th birthday this week and we had a surprise party at ours for her.

We ordered her a cake from Richard's Cakes and asked them to have her doing her favourite things - knitting and watching Coronation Street!

I made some cupcakes for the occasion. It would have been rude not to!

I decorated the table using purple and green so tried to keep the cupcakes with the same colour theme.

Check out my bargain cupcake tray! It was only £1.50!!

She was really pleased with the cake. And the party as a whole. Now back to the clearing up!!

Birthday Cupcakes

2010-08-23T07:59:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine asked me to make her some cupcakes for her birthday. I made vanilla and chocolate cupcakes and then topped most of them with vanilla frosting and the rest with peanut butter frosting. Like me, she has a fondness for peanut butter frosting!

Gluten Free Whoopie Pies

2010-08-23T07:43:00.001-07:00

I tried my hand at gluten free whoopies this weekend. I got the recipe from "Whoopie Pies" by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell.

Ingredients:-

2 1/4 cups gluten free plain flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon xanthum gum (see the free from section in Sainsbury's if you are struggling)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temp)

4 tablespoons vegetable shortening

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 tablespooons milk

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:-

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit / Gas Mark 6. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and xanthum gum.

3. Using an electric mixer beat together the butter, shortening and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and buttermilk and beat until combined. (Yes, my mixture curdled again at this point- I take it that is what buttermilk is supposed to do?!)

4. In a small jug combine the milk, bicrabonate of soda and vinegar and then add to the batter along with the flour mixture. Beat on low until just combined. Add the vanilla and beat on a medium speed until well combined.

5. Using a spoon drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto the baking sheet spacing at least two inches apart.

6. Bake one sheet at a timefor about ten minutes. Leave to cool then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

I decided to use a normal vanilla buttercream to fill the whoopie pies.

And voila! Pefect Whoopie pies. The tops were smooth too. Just like a baby's bum!

Ice Cream Pops!

2010-08-19T10:18:00.000-07:00

I love Oreos. A lot.

Even more though, I love oreo truffles.

They have just two ingredients. Oreos and full fat cream cheese.
Mmmm, cream cheese.

You blitz the oreos until they resemble fine breadcrumbs and then mix them in with the cream cheese until the mixture is completely combined. At this point, it is best to leave the mixture in the fridge for a few hours or overnight to allow it to firm up.

Then roll out the mixture into walnut sized balls. Leave in the fridge for a couple of hours to firm up again.

Pop one of the balls onto an ice cream cone that has been cut down in size.

Have you ever used candy melts? I love them. They are basically a vanilla flavoured candy coating that comes in a variety of colours. You melt them down as you would chocolate and can then use them to cover anything or even put them in moulds to create shapes.

Dip the balls in the melted mixture.

YUM YUM YUM YUM

Top with sprinkles to create an ice cream effect.

I had seen these treats on the Bakerella website and had been waiting for an opportunity to make some. I decided to make them as party favours so put them in little cellophane bags using matching twist ties.

I hope the guests like them!!

Wedding Anniversary

2010-08-14T09:54:00.000-07:00

Our wedding cake was amazing. We had it made at a local cake shop - Richard's Cakes in Urmston. The cake turned out exactly the way I had imagined in my head. Five layers - each covered in ivory rolled fondant and covered with fondant roses. The bottom layer was fruit and the rest was chocolate. It was the best chocolate cake I've ever had. Without a doubt.

To celebrate our wedding anniversary, I made a mini wedding cake for Mr G. Richard's kindly agreed to make the cake for me- three mini layers.

I chose a completely different colour combination to our wedding cake.

I decided to use mini cut -out fondant circles to decorate the cake.

This is what I started with. The cakes were covered with buttercream to make sure the fondant stayed put.

I bought some ready tinted rolled fondant. I have been really pleased with the taste and texture of M&B's sugar paste.

I covered each cake with a different coloured fondant.

I also covered the cake board and decorated it.

I topped the cake with one of the roses from our original wedding cake. I couldn't bear to throw them away and we had both eaten our respective weights in icing and sugarpaste roses.

I was so pleased with the finished cake.

Happy Anniversary Baby!!

Chocolate Whoopie Pies - Success!

2010-08-08T03:50:00.000-07:00

I did it! I made a batch of Chocolate Whoopie Pies and they came out looking very Whoopie

Pie-ish!

I used a Martha Stewart recipe which was adapted from her Cookies Book.

Ingredients:-

3 1/2 cups of plain flour

1 1/2 cups cocoa powder

1 tablespoon bicarbonate of soda (yes 1 tablespoon!)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup / 4 oz unsalted butter (at room temp)

2 cups caster sugar

2 large eggs

2 cups buttermilk (at room temp)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method:-

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit / 200 degrees celsius / Gas Mark 6. Line to baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

2. Sift together flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt. Leave to one side.

3. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until mixture is light and fluffy. Add eggs and buttermilk and vanilla and beat until well combined. (NOTE: at this point my mixture curdled. I think the buttermilk was too cold or something. If this happens, don't panic- once you add the dry ingredients, the mixture will come together.)

4. On a low speed, add the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.

5. Drop 1 1/2 tablespoons of the batter onto the baking sheets spacing two inches apart.

6. Bake for about 8 minutes turning baking sheet around half way through. (NOTE: the pies took about 10 - 11 minutes in my oven which is gas. If you are not sure, insert a toothpick into the centre of the pies- it will come out clean when they are done.)

7. Leave to cool completely on wire rack.

Just out of the oven! My tops cracked - there must be some secret way of getting the tops of the pies smooth- I will have to investigate further!

I opted for a peanut butter filling and used my own recipe for peanut butter frosting. I piped the filling on to get that perfect whoopie finish!

I also filled some of them with a chocolate cream cheese frosting that I had made to frost a batch of brownies with. Mmmm.

Cake Decorating Class

2010-08-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

Some of you may recall me mentioning a while back that I was doing a cake decorating course. It was only a six week basic course but I had never in my life decorated a big cake. I was quite

accepting of the fact that I would never be volunteering to make a Christmas or Wedding cake.

The course was really fun - it was full of other people who like me baked for fun. One of the main things that I learnt on the course was how to ice a cake with rolled fondant.

Look what I managed to do!!

This was my first attempt at home using a real cake. I covered the cake with marzipan and rolled fondant so felt doubly pleased with myself.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't think I will be volunteering for Christmas cake duty at any time soon but it has inspired me to do something special for Hubby and mine's first Wedding Anniversary which is coming up soon!

Maison Blanc Macarons

2010-08-05T03:22:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately in Manchester, there is nowhere that sells really good Macarons. There is a little deli in Chorlton called North Star that has started stocking them but the flavours are limited and they are not always available. Luckily for me, Waitrose stocks a variety of sweet goods made by Maison Blanc of Raymond Blanc fame. The range contains a number of 'French inspired Patisserie' , including these lovely Macarons Parisiens.

The macarons are really good and enough to satisfy any macaron craving. Each box contains 12 macarons and there are 2 of each flavour - Pistachio, Vanilla, Raspberry, Chocolate, Lemon and Strawberry. The Vanilla and Chocolate are without a doubt my favourites.

Even luckier for me, Mr G works right next to a Waitrose and is always happy to pop along to bring me home a box when the whim takes me. Bless his cotton socks.
Until they open a Laduree in Manchester (we keep can hope), Monsieur Blanc will have to tend to our Macaron needs....

Business Cards!

2010-08-04T05:56:00.001-07:00

Having realised that I was one of the only people I knew without any business cards for my blog, I decided to order some. Beks had told me about this website - http://www.moo.com/ - which had the cutest little cards. You could also upload up to 100 of your own pictures which would then be printed on one side of the cards. Now being of the view that anything in miniature form is far cuter, I decided to go ahead and order some.

The website was really user friendly and within half an hour, I had uploaded the pictures I wanted to use and completed my order. I decided that since my blog is about baking, I would use pictures of all the things I had baked. (NOTE- the one exception here was the picture of whoopie pies- Beks kindly let me use the picture of the whoopies she had made me as they were so perfect- thank you honey!)

I was so pleased with the results! I uploaded 20 images in total, and for the life of me I cannot decide which are my favourites.
I think if I were pushed, it would be the ones with the picture of my burger cupcakes, the frosted brownie ones and the ones of the cupcakes that I had made for my in-laws.
They are all so pretty! And they arrived really quickly too. I love it when that happens. I also ordered a keychain thing which allows you to keep about 20 cards in. They had a few colours to choose from but I ordered pink for obvious reasons.
I can't wait to hand out my cards!

Brown Butter Toffee Blondies

2010-08-02T07:13:00.001-07:00

What is brown butter I hear you ask? Brown butter is simply butter that has been cooked until it turns golden brown in colour. The butter takes on a nutty flavour which works well in these Toffee Blondies.
I found the recipe in Martha Stewart's Cookies.
Ingredients:-
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter (at room temp)
2 1/4 cups plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup toffee bits

I had bought these toffee bits in America on a recent visit and had been waiting to find a recipe to use them in. You could use chunks of regular toffee as a substitute.

Method:-
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit / 180 degrees centigrade / Gas Mark 4. Grease and line a 9 inch x 13 inch baking tray with greaseproof paper. Grease the paper again and flour lightly.
2. In a saucepan over a medium heat melt the butter until it turns a golden brown colour. Keep an eye on the pan to ensure you do not burn the butter. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
3. In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Using an electric mixer, combine the browned butter and both sugars. Add eggs and mix until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and mix until combined. Add the flour mixture, walnuts and toffee bits. Mix thoroughly and pour mixture into pan.
5. Bake until cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean - about 35 - 40 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and allow to cool before cutting into slices.

This is what the mixture should look like when you mix the butter with the sugars.

Mmm, just out of the oven. The recipe was delicious. I couldn't wait for the blondies to cool so had a couple of slices warm drizzled with cream. Okay, drenched with cream. Yum Yum. The next day the blondies tasted even nicer. Like a really rich chewy toffee cookie.

Picnic Themed Toppers

2010-08-01T03:26:00.001-07:00

I love going for picnics. It is one of my favourite things to do with Mr G.

I wanted to make some cupcakes that were inspired by my love of picnics. I have been making my favourite picnic foods out of rolled fondant.

This is what I have come up with so far. I think the mini slices of battenberg cake are my favourites so far. That could well be to do with the colour combination though!

I also made jam and egg mayonaise sandwiches, iced buns, chocolate eclairs, slices of vanilla and chocolate cake, sugared doughnuts which I had seen on the Art of Being Perfect blog (they were so cute!), jam roly poly cake, chocolate swiss roll cake and jam tarts.

I've still got some more ideas so will post the finished cupcakes soon!

Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies

2010-07-27T05:40:00.001-07:00

I did it! I finally made my own whoopie pies!

I decided on the peanut butter whoopie pie recipe from the book 'Whoopie Pies' by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell.

Ingredients:-

1 3/4 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temp)

4 tablespoons vegetable shortening (I used Stork margarine)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

(Method - see below)

I decided on two types of filling. I had found these two jars of Marshmallow Fluff in a local grocery shop so decided to try the classic Marshmallow filling.

Ingredients:-

1 1/2 cups of Fluff (or other prepared Marshmallow cream)

1 1/4 cups of vegetable shortening

1 cup icing sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Method:-

1. Using an electric mixer beat together the Marshmallow Fluff and vegetable shortening until the mixture is smooth and fluffy.

2. Reduce mixer speed to low and add the icing sugar and vanilla and beat until well combined.

3. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat until fluffy.

(WARNING: this filling is incredibly sweet and should probably be avoided if you are making these for someone who is diabetic or worried about tooth decay. But for the rest of us, it's delish!)

The second filling I made as you can probably guess from the picture above was a peanut butter one. I again decided to try the recipe from the book rather than my own recipe and I was slightly disappointed.

Ingredients:-

3/4 cups of peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)

3/4 cups of unsalted butter (at room temp)

3/4 cups icing sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

Method:-

1. Using an electric mixer beat together the peanut butter and butter on low speed until creamy

2. Add the icing sugar and salt until well mix and then increase speed until mixture is light and fluffy.

NOTE: I omitted the salt as I wanted a sweet frosting but even without the salt, the frosting was not as sweet as I would have liked.

Method for making Whoopie Pies:-

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit / Gas Mark 5. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt and leave to one side.

3. Using an electric mixer beat together the butter, shortening, brown sugar, peanut butter and vanilla until light and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time making sure to stop the mixer and scrape down the sides.

4. Add half of the flour mixture beating on a medium speed until just combined. Then add half of the buttermilk. Beat on medium speed until combined. Repeat with the remaining flour and buttermilk.

5. Using a spoon or a 2 tablespoon scoop drop about 2 tablespoon's worth of the mixture onto the baking sheets spacing them at least 2 inches apart.

6. Bake for about 18 minutes until cakes begin to brown at the edges and are firm to the touch. Allow cakes to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheets and then transfer to a wire rack.

Okay, honest opinion, I was not blown away by them. The Whoopie Pies themselves were not sweet enough and with the peanut butter filling especially, tasted a little bit like a peanut butter sandwich. My neighbour Ollie agreed with me (although she did say they were still nice- thanks Ollie!) The ones filled with the marshmallow cream were much nicer. I didn't have enough time to pipe the filling on, and they looked a little bit messy.

Also, the pies themselves seemed a little flat to me. I think the addition of the peanut butter makes the mixture quite dense.

I think next time, it has to be chocolate or vanilla whoopies.
At the time of writing this- I was also amazed to see that M&S are now selling whoopie pies! There are three varieties- chocolate with a vanilla filling, vanilla with a chocolate filling and toffee whoopies with a toffee filling. I tried the chocolate ones and wasn't overly impressed. The ones Beks made were much nicer. Well, at least it means Whoopies have gone mainstream!!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

2010-07-21T09:03:00.000-07:00

As it was Mr G's birthday this week and I decided to make him a homemade cake!

I don't think cupcakes are quite manly enough for him.

His mum always used to make him and his siblings a vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream when they were kids. Actually, she still does. I decided to have go at making one just like Mother used to make. I used the recipe for the vanilla layer cake from The Primrose Bakery cookbook.

Ingredients:-

225 grams unsalted butter (at room temp)

225 grams caster sugar

210 grams self raising flour (sifted)

25 grams corn flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

4 large eggs (at room temp, organic or free range)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tabelspoons semi-skimmed milk (at room temp)

Method:-

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees centigrade / 350 degrees farenheit / Gas Mark 4.

2. Grease and line 2 x 8inch / 20cm round sandwich tins with greasedproof paper

3. Place the flour, sugar, cornflour and baking powder into a food processor. Mix until just combined.

4. Add the remaining ingredients gradually. Do not overmix or you will take the air out of the cakes.

5. Divide mixture evenly between the two cake tins and cook for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

6. Leave cakes to cool in tins for about 10 minutes and then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Mr G likes robot type things so I had a stab at making a small fondant robot cake topper. I used grey rolled fondant and then painted it with some antique silver lustre to give it a metallic effect.

I also used the Primrose Bakery recipe for chocolate buttercream as it used melted chocolate rather than cocoa powder.

Chocolate Buttercream:-
175 grams good quality dark chocolate (70 % cocoa solids)

225 grams unsalted butter (at room temp)
1 tablespoon semi-skimmed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250 grams icing sugar (sifted)

Method:-

1. Melt the chocolate and allow to cool.
2. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter, milk, vanilla and icing sugar until smooth.
3. Add the chocolate and continue to beat until fully incorporated.

I then spread a layer of the buttercream over the top of one of the cakes.
And then sandwiched them together!

I then frosted the top of the cake and the sides with the remaining buttercream.
I put a piece of greaseproof paper underneath the cake to stop it getting all over the cake stand.

The cake looked very homemade, and more like something that I used to bring home from my home economics class. But I guess it had the best ingredient of all in it...

....LOTS AND LOTS OF LOVE!!

Party at the in-laws!

2010-07-18T14:21:00.001-07:00

I love my in-laws.

In particular, I love the fact that they are all as mad as my own family.

We had a family party this weekend with the in-laws and I made some cupcakes for the occasion.

Being me, I wanted to make sure the sprinkles and frostings complimented each other perfectly.
Judging by the comments made at the party, I think I succeded.

The cakes went down a treat, although there were a couple of casualties throughout the night- mainly as a result of me trying to balance cupcakes after a couple of cocktails.

All in all though, the party was a great success. Although the sight of my in-laws singing along to Queen at 2 in the morning dancing around with the hoover will be forever etched in my mind. Love you guys.

What a Whoopie Week!

2010-07-17T06:14:00.000-07:00

This week it feels like there have been Whoopie Pies everywhere!

First the Whoopie Pie cookbooks I ordered from Amazon arrived. I can't wait to try out the recipes! The flavour combinations are so vast!

Then two of my favourite blogs - Bakerella and the Art of being Perfect had cute posts about Whoopie Pies!

AND THEN , Beks turned up at my door armed with a batch of Whoopie Pies that she had made especially for me!

They were absolutely delicious! She had made two sizes - small and large and filled them with either vanilla, chocolate or peanut butter frosting!

Needless to say, the peanut butter ones were my favourites! The 'pies' themselves were deliciously moist and incredibly more-ish.
It has inspired me to try out the recipe for myself as soon as I can!!

More Gluten Free Cupcakes

2010-07-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

I needed to make some more gluten free cupcakes. I managed to find a chocolate cupcake recipe but as I was short of time, I decided to stick with the vanilla recipe I had used before.

I again attempted the Magnolia style of frosting, and although there was definitely signs of improvement in my technique, I think it will be some time before I reach Jedi master stage.

I also discovered that Haribo sweets are gluten free so I decided to use them to decorate the cupcakes.

I'm getting there!

Happy Birthday Kim!

2010-07-13T15:31:00.001-07:00

It was my sister in law's birthday this week and since it was a special birthday (I won't say how special!) I decided to make her some cupcakes.

It also gave me the opportunity to try out my new gel colours and the piping nozzles I had ordered from America.

They were all really good. I wanted some bold colours for a change, rather than the pastel colours I normally go for.

The closed star nozzle was my favourite. I still need some practice though. Some of my attempts went a bit haywire!

I also used the gel colours to tint some rolled fondant and made these flower decorations to top the cupcakes with. I was pleased with how they turned out.

Girly Birthday Cookies

2010-07-11T11:14:00.001-07:00

I have been a busy baking bee this week! I made these cookies to take to a family birthday celebration. I painted them with edible lustre dust to give a shimmery effect. It worked well on the white and lilac rolled fondant but not so well on the hot pink. Back to the drawing board on that one!

Another one bites the dust!

2010-07-11T11:00:00.001-07:00

There have been so many 30th birthdays this year! My cousin's wife turned 30 this week. I remember my 30th. Mr G took me for afternoon tea at the Midland Hotel in Manchester, which is one of Manchester's oldest hotels. It was afternoon tea heaven. But I digress....

I wanted to mark the occasion by making her some cupcakes and cookies.

I had some chocolates that I had bought from Slattery's which I used to top a couple of the cupcakes with. I also make some rolled fondant goodies. I think I have perfected my slices of cake!

Finally, I made some stylish cupcakes using black and hot pink rolled fondant. I like my little handbags. They remind me of of the handbags that Chanel are so famous for.

The Day of Pink!

2010-07-11T10:24:00.000-07:00

It was my Goddaughter's birthday and her mum asked me to make some cupcakes for the party. She wanted pink cupcakes - I was in my element!

I called Beks in for reinforcements, and made both chocolate and vanilla cupcakes....

....and a big batch of buttercream frosting which was tinted pastel pink.

I then set loose my collection of sprinkles!!
I couldn't decide which were my favourites!
I topped them with edible pastel pink glitter for extra sparkle too.

I had bought some chocolate hats and handbags from Slattery a local cakeshop that make their own chocolates.

I made a separate box up for my Goddaughter ,all for herself, and made them extra special and extra girly!

I used some pink gingham cupcake boxes I had bought to package the cupcakes and finished it off with a homemade label and some matching ribbon!

Happy Birthday Goddaughter!!

Bake It Pretty Goodies!

2010-07-11T10:12:00.001-07:00

I ordered some goodies from bakeitpretty.com recently and got them delivered to my aunt's in New York. She sent them on to me and they finally arrived this weekend!

I had ordered some Americolour gel sets.

I can't wait to try out the colours!

I also ordered some piping nozzles. I can't wait to try the "French" nozzle.

Yes, even more baking cases! I have been coveting these black ones with lime green spots for ages!

I had also ordered some of the designer baking cases.
They are so pretty. Too pretty to use methinks!

Hummingbird Bakery Frosted Brownies

2010-07-07T11:03:00.001-07:00

For those of you who do not own a copy of the Humingbird Bakery Cookbook - run out and buy it now! This recipe alone is worth the cost! The brownie is rich and gooey and the addition of the chocolate cream cheese frosting makes it divine!

Ingredients:-
5 eggs
500 grams caster sugar
120 grams plain flour
100 grams cocoa powder
250 grams unsalted butter (melted)
30 grams shelled walnuts (chopped)
30 grams dark chocolate (roughly chopped)

Frosting:
200 grams icing sugar (sifted)
75 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
30 grams cocoa powder (sifted)
150 grams cream cheese, cold

Method:-
1. Pre-heat oven t0 170 degrees centigrade / Gas Mark 3. Grease and line a baking tin measuring 33cm x 23cm x 5cm with greaseproof paper
2. Beat eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add flour and cocoa powder and continue to beat until well mixed.
4. Pour in melted butter and mix through.
5. Add chopped walnuts and dark chocolate by hand.
6. Pour into baking tin and cook for about 30 - 35 minutes or until top is firm but centre is still soft. Leave to cool completely.

7. For the frosting, beat icing sugar, cocoa and butter until mixed together. Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until well incorporated. Turn the mixer up to a medium - high speed. Do not overmix as the mixture will become runny.
8. Spead frosting over the cooled brownie.

I couldn't resist taking a bite out of a piece of brownie whilst taking these pictures!!

Next time I think I will leave out the chopped dark chocolate. I honestly don't think the brownie needed it. I think replacing the walnuts with hazelnuts would work really well too.

More sprinkles!

2010-07-07T10:49:00.001-07:00

I love it when I come home and Mr G announces that a parcel has arrived for me.

I think he is just relieved that the contents of said parcel is sugar based rather than clothing related.

I recently ordered a variety of sprinkles from Make a Wish Cakeshop (http://www.makeawishcakeshop.co.uk/) and some chocolate heart shaped dragees from Chocolate Buttons (http://www.chocolatebuttons.co.uk/).

As you can see, there is a strong colour theme running through most of the sprinkles that were purchased. There is a reason for that.

All will be revealed soon!!!

White Chocolate and Raspberry Blondies

2010-07-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

Mr G recently tried a white chocolate and raspberry blondie from 'And the Dish ran away with the Spoon' - a Manchester based cupcake company that regularly have a stall at the Manchester Piccadilly Farmer's Market where Beks occasionally helps out. He was smitten. It was, he declared the nicest blondie he had ever tasted. I think it was the only blondie he had ever tasted, but it appeared to me to be love at first bite.

After a couple of weeks asking Beks to supply him with these treats, I decided enough was enough and it was time to divert his attentions a little closer to home. (As any good wife would do.) I searched various cookbooks and online blogs for a recipe that I thought would suffice.

There were loads of recipes out there, all offering different takes on this popular combination. This was the recipe that I decided to go with which I found on the website 'Good to Know Recipes' (http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/) :-

150 grams / 5oz white chocolate
100 grams / 4 oz unsalted butter
3 large eggs
175 grams / 60z caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200 grams / 7oz self raising flour (sifted)
1 teaspoon baking powder
175 grams / 6oz fresh raspberries
75 grams / 3oz white chocolate to decorate (optional)

Method:-
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit / 180 degrees centigrade / Gas Mark 4. Grease and line a shallow baking tray 18cm x 28cm / 7inch x 11 inch.
2. Melt the white chocolate and butter in a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy (about five minutes on medium to high speed if using an electric mixer)
4. Once eggs and sugar are mixed, gently fold in the chocolate and butter mixture.
5. Once fully mixed in, fold in the flour and baking powder.
6. Pour the mixture into the lined tray and press the raspberries on top.

It should look something like this.....

7. Bake for 35 minutes until well risen.
Leave to cool in tin and then remove and cut into slices. At this point, you can melt the 75 grams of white chocolate and drizzle over the blondies. I chose not too as I thought it would be overkill, and instead dusted some icing sugar over the top.

Batter mixture in tray

I left mine cooking for about 45 minutes as when I first removed them from the oven, they didn't seem cooked enough in the middle. They were lovely though, and I'm not a huge white chocolate fan. After wolfing down a couple of pieces, Mr G gave them his seal of approval. That's my boy.

Green Cupcakes

2010-07-02T14:02:00.001-07:00

These cupcakes are similar to some I did a few weeks ago.

I made some more mini fondant pieces of cake and this time painted on some edible lustre in snowflake. It gives a lovely sheen to the the fondant.

I had never used a lustre before in cake making. It's like a lovely shimmery eyeshadow. And can be used to create a metallic effect to the rolled fondant. It's given me lots of ideas for cookies.

Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcakes

2010-07-02T13:44:00.000-07:00

My niece and nephew are allergic to gluten and can't eat the normal cupcakes that I make. I decided to have a go at making some gluten free alternatives.

I found a recipe on http://www.glutenfreelife.co.uk/. The recipe was pretty simple, and had limited ingredients:-

225 grams of self -raising gluten free flour (I bought plain as that was all I could get in the supermarket and it was fine)

225 grams unsalted butter

225 grams caster sugar

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:-

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit / 180 degrees centigrade / Gas Mark 4. Line a muffin tine with paper cases. The recipe stated that you should get 16 cupcakes but I only got 12. Maybe my paper cases were bigger.

2. Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix with an electric mixer. When light and fluffy, pour mixture into paper cases and cook for approximately 20 minutes.

NOTE: Cooking time on my oven which is gas was 25 minutes.

The cupcakes were slightly golden on top and springy to touch.

3. Remove cupcakes from tin and leave to cool.

I wanted to frost my cupcakes and I used a simple vanilla buttercream recipe. Most icing sugars are gluten free but if in doubt check with the manufacturer. To be on the safe side, I did not colour my buttercream and when it came to adding sprinkles, none of the ones I had stated that they were gluten free so I decided to keep them plain.

I hope they like them!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2010-06-30T12:03:00.001-07:00

I love red velvet cupcakes. There is a cupcakery down the road from me that makes amazing red velvet cupcakes. I have never made red velvet cupcakes before, so thought I would give it a try. I used the recipe from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes and can highly recommend it. (The book and the recipe).

Red Velvet Cupcakes:

(Makes 24)

2 1/2 cups plain flour (sifted)

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

2 large eggs (at room temp)

1/2 teaspoon red gel paste food colouring

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit / 180 degrees centigrade / Gas Mark 4. Line muffin tin with paper cases

2. Whisk the flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.

3. With an electric mixer on a medium- high speed, whisk together the sugar and the oil until combined. Add the eggs one at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in food colouring and vanilla.

4. Reduce mixer speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches alternating with two additions of buttermilk. Stir together the bicarbonate of soda and the vinegar. Add this frothy mixture to the batter and mix for about 10 seconds.

5. Divide batter into paper cases. Cook for about 20 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

6. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting.

There are loads of recipes out there for cream cheese frosting. My favourite one uses 4 oz of butter, 6 oz of full fat cream cheese and 2 cups of icing sugar. Oh, and a teaspoon of vanilla.

With the first two cupcakes, I attempted the Magnolia - style method of frosting. No way Jose. I could not get the hang of it at all, and had to revert to a piping bag. I don't think it helped that it was scorching today, making the cream cheese frosting quite runny. Or maybe I just overbeat the cream cheese.

I was pleased with my first attempt though. The red velvet cupcakes were yum. Mr G agreed wholeheartedly.

I topped them with regular and mini red heart sprinkles.

Blue Mondays

2010-06-29T09:55:00.000-07:00

I don't like blue. It is just one of those colours that does not appeal to me in any way, shape or form. It just isn't girly enough for me.

I decided to make some cupcakes for Mr G's work colleagues and against my better judgement, I decided to frost the cupcakes with blue frosting and decorations.

I suppose I was trying to see if I could make blue girly.

I admit defeat. Not even with a vast array of sprinkles could I achieve girly, cute looking cupcakes.

So there. Un-girly blue cupcakes. I had to take a photo of them next to some pink flowers. To make myself feel better. I love you pink.

Redemption - Part 2

2010-06-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

As we were in Knightsbridge, we decided to stop off at the Hummingbird Bakery on Old Brompton Road.

I bought a selection of goodies including a frosted brownie (absolutely amazing), a red velvet cupcake (nice but have had better), a blackout cupcake (delicious) and a raspberry cheesecake brownie (would have been nicer but for the fact that the topping melted in the heat by the time I got home). It was my first time to the Hummingbird bakery, but I doubt it will be my last.

Redemption - Part 1

2010-06-28T08:51:00.001-07:00

After the 'burger cupcake incident' I was just about speaking to Mr G the following morning. As a peace offering he agreed to take me to Harrods so that I could visit Laduree, the ultimate in macaron heaven. It was everything I had hoped for. The macarons were so pretty. I couldn't resist purchasing a small box to take home.

I bought vanilla, pistachio, salted caramel, coconut, chocolate and raspberry. My favourites without a doubt were the vanilla and pistachio. Or maybe coconut. The vanilla filling tasted like a rich creme anglais. It was delicious.

Some of the macarons did not make it for the photo! I had also bought some for Beks, which included Lemon. (Bleurgh!! Not my cup of tea at all).

We couldn't resist having a mooch around Harrods Food Hall where I stopped to purchase some Whoopie Pies. I can highly recommend the Red Velvet Whoopie Pie. It was filled with a peanut butter frosting but the combination worked well together. The peanut butter was much richer than the peanut butter frosting I make but it was amazing.

Chocolate Cupcakes

2010-06-27T12:02:00.000-07:00

As well as the burger cupcakes, I made some chocolate cupcakes topped with chocolate frosting.

I wanted a decadent frosting so I decided on using 1 1/2 cups of icing sugar to 1/2 cup of cocoa. I love my Kitchen Aid for making my frosting. I know some bakers swear by making frosting by hand. Not me. It's the Kitchen Aid all the way.

I then piped on the frosting and topped it with some gold sugar crystals and a chocolate gold heart.

Luckily, these made it to London in one piece!

Burger Cupcakes

2010-06-27T11:29:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to make these cupcakes for ages and didn't really have an occasion to make them. My cousin's birthday seemed like an ideal opportunity! They were actually a lot easier than I thought. You start with good old vanilla cupcakes. And a tray of brownies. (Confession - I didn't make my brownies from scratch. I used a Betty Crocker mix for two reasons:- (1) I was short of time and (2) I haven't found the perfect brownie recipe as yet. Once the brownies had cooled, I cut out circles using a 2 inch round cookie cutter. Then I made a batch of vanilla frosting which I then separated out into three separate bowls. I then used gel colours to tint the frosting - red for the "ketchup", yellow for the "mustard" and green for the "lettuce". I then set about assembling the burgers. I cut the cupcakes in half and placed the brownie pieces on the bottom half. I then piped a layer of red frosting followed by a layer of yellow frosting to look like the ketchup and mustard. For the lettuce, I piped the green frosting in a more squiggly fashion to look like lettuce leaves. I then placed the top of the cupcakes on top of the frosting and then finished the look by placing a few sesame seeds on the top of the cupcakes. I was so proud of these. Unfortunately, my crowning glory did not last. On route, Mr G dropped the container carrying the cupcakes. Not one of these little beauties could be salvaged. Needless to say I did not take any photos. It was all too raw at the time. I have to say that Mr G made up for the 'burger incident' the following day but more on that later. At least I have my memories. And these photos. Sniff.

Happy Birthday Raj!

2010-06-27T11:24:00.000-07:00

We went to London this weekend for my cousin's 30th birthday party! I decided to make a variety of treats to take including these "30 cookies". I decided on red and white as I hadn't really baked anything World Cup related. I decorated them with fondant and then decided to add some stars to make them look a little bit prettier. I think I've got my recipe perfected now as the cookies hold their shape perfectly after cooking.

Cake Tins

2010-06-23T13:31:00.000-07:00

I have a new obsession. Cake Tins. I can't seem to resist them particularly when they come in pretty pastel colours. My faves are these pink ones with the word "Cakes" written on the front. Mr G keeps asking me if I really need another cake tin, and of course the answer is always yes. Just one more. Promise.

Pretty Cake Cases

2010-06-23T13:20:00.000-07:00

I love cupcake cases. The range available on the market now is unbelievable. I have gathered a pretty good collection, but the problem is, some of them are so pretty that I never want to use them. Beks and I discovered a great website recently called bakeitpretty.com. They have a really good selection of designer cupcake cases. I've ordered some and I can't wait for them to arrive! In the meantime, take a look at some of my favourites!

Sprinkles Part 2

2010-06-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

Beks and I love finding new sprinkles. We get as giddy as school children when we discover new ones. On a recent trip to the States, I went to a shop called Michael's which is a sort of Hobby Craft type store. It was amazing. The range of baking equipment was fantastic and the array of sprinkles was mesmerising. I quickly set about grabbing as many jars as I could to bring back. A lot of them I have still not even used as yet but if anyone needs mint crunch topping or lavender - coloured sugar pearls then I'm your girl. By far my favourite toppings are these M&M's I bought in the U.S. They have a huge variety of colours and you can buy the colours individually like a pick and mix.

Geometric Cookies

2010-06-16T15:44:00.001-07:00

I had invited some friends over for lunch and thought I would make some shortbread cookies to serve after lunch. Mr G had ordered me some small cookie cutters in a variety of geometric designs. I thought it would be good to experiment using some fondant icing which I had tinted.

My first mistake was not chilling the shortbread before cooking. I ended up with air pockets in the biscuits which meant that I had to put the fondant on the bottom of the cookie. My second mistake was trying to decorate them in warm weather. The fondant was not as easy to handle and the shapes were not as clean cut as I had envisaged. My first two attempts were pretty disastrous but I eventually got the knack of it. I liked the combination of colours, but it took a bit of time cutting out the different sized shapes.

Sweet treats cupcakes

2010-06-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

Remember the birthday cake topped cupcakes I made for my friend's birthday? Well I had a couple of slices of the "cake" leftover and it got me thinking. Maybe I could make a whole range of sweet treats out of fondant. I put my skills to the test and these were the results! I was really pleased with the ring doughnuts. The jam filled ones were okay but I think my ice cream cones need a little improvement. I made vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting which I tinted green to make the toppers stand out.

Lemon Bars

2010-06-14T12:08:00.000-07:00

My friend Beks is always surprising me with baked goodies, so for once I decided to return the favour. I decided to make Lemon Bars for her as she loves all things lemon-ey. Me, I don't like lemon at all. It's only redeeming feature is the fact that it's yellow. I found a recipe in one of my baking books called 500 Cookies, Biscuits & Bakes by Catherine Atkinson. There were two lemon bar recipes but this one seemed decidedly easier.

For the base:
20z / 1/2 cup icing sugar
60z / 1 1/2 cups plain flour

pinch of salt

6oz / 3/4 cup unsalted butter

For the topping:

4 large eggs

12oz / 1 3/4 cups caster sugar

grated rind of one lemon

4 fl oz / 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

6 fl oz / 3/4 cup whipping cream

icing sugar for dusting

Method:-

1. Pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark 3 / 160 degrees centigrade / 325 degrees fahrenheit

2. Lightly grease a 13 inch x 9 inch baking pan

3. To make the base, sift the icing sugar, flour and salt into a bowl and then rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles course breadcrumbs. Once you have reached this stage, pour the mixture into the baking pan and flatten down using the back of a metal spoon. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

4. To make the topping, whisk the eggs and sugar together until well combined. Add the lemon juice and zest and mix well.

5. Lightly whip the cream until it just holds its shape and then fold into the lemon mixture. Pour the liquid onto the still warm base and cook for 40 mins until the topping is set.

6. Leave to cool completely before cutting into slices or squares and then dust with icing sugar.

Now I didn't actually try the bars for myself but Beks assured me they tasted delicious!

Birthday Cupcakes

2010-06-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

It was my friend Sabrina's birthday this weekend. I don't see her that often as she now lives in the Big Smoke but she managed to come home for her birthday. I decided to make her some birthday cupcakes but because of the warm weather, I didn't want to decorate them with buttercream frosting. I decided to play around with fondant and decided to make pieces of birthday cake out of the fondant to top the chocolate cupcakes with. They were inspired by some tea party cupcakes I had seen in Selfridges by Fiona Cairns. It was surprisingly easy to make. I made the cake using teddy bear brown fondant which I sandwiched between a piece of pink rolled fondant. I then covered the "cake" with white fondant and cut into slices. I kept the decoration on the cake simple with some pink fondant. I stuck the pieces of cake onto white fondant discs which I had painted with edible glitter. I was pleased with the end results. I decorated a few of the cupcakes with the sprinkles I had made.

Sprinkles!

2010-06-12T11:50:00.000-07:00

I think I may have mentioned before that I love sprinkles. I am always on the lookout for new ones and can spend ages browsing online cake decorating supply shops to see if they have any new styles. The other day, I had some left over pieces of fondant which I had coloured. I didn't want to throw them out but there was not enough left over that could be put to good use. I decided to make my own sprinkles by cutting out shapes using plunger cutters. I would recommend purchasing plunger cutters - they come in a variety of shapes- hearts, stars, flowers. Check out the resulting sprinkles! Pretty!

Double Choc Cookies

2010-06-10T15:53:00.000-07:00

These cookies are a favourite of mine! They are the perfect double chocolate cookies. Moist and chewy and packed with chocolatey flavour. I add chopped hazelnuts in for another bit of crunch but they are perfect just with chocolate chips added in. I plan to make some mint choc chip versions using some peppermint essence and mint choc chips that I purchased whilst in the states. I use a spring form ice cream scoop to make sure the cookies are a uniform size.

Baking Magic

2010-06-04T13:49:00.000-07:00

I recently bought the book "Baking Magic" by Kate Shirazi simply because the front cover was green with white polka dots. The book inspired me to make some chocolate and vanilla cupcakes which I then decorated with pastel -coloured frosting and hand made fondant shapes. I loved the colour combinations. My frosting skills still need work, but as I am due to start a cake decorating course next week, I am hoping that they will improve!

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

2010-06-04T13:40:00.000-07:00

I have a slight fondness for the combination that is peanut butter and chocolate. Slight fondness is probably understating it. Uncontrollable addiction is probably more like it. Nothing indulges this addiction more than chocolate cupcakes topped with peanut butter frosting. My friend Beks usually keeps me supplied but then she taught me how to make them myself. Big mistake. BIG BIG mistake. The frosting is made substituting regular butter for smooth peanut butter. Heaven. I then topped the cupcakes with a variety of chocolate / nut related sprinkles. Out of necessity, I packaged them off in these cute cupcake boxes and sent them on their merry way.

Birthday Treats!

2010-06-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

It was my cousin's wife's birthday recently so I decided to make her some homemade chocolates. I made oreo truffles which I then coated in chocolate. I also had some peanut butter oreos which I covered with peanut butter candy melts. For those of you who have never heard of candy melts, they are ideal to use to cover home made chocolates and for using on cake pops. They come in a wide variety of colours and can be used in the same way as chocolate. You can easily get them online. The peanut butter oreo mixture remained soft even after leaving overnight in the fridge, but they tasted good. I also covered some salted pretzels with chocolate and sprinkled chopped nuts over them. Well who wants low fat goodies on their birthday? I them packaged the goodies in small cellophane bags and sent them in a basket. Very domestic goddess.....

Pastel Cupcakes!

2010-05-24T12:42:00.000-07:00

Mr G and I were invited to dinner over the weekend and not wanting to arrive empty handed, I decided to make some pastel -coloured cupcakes. I made chocolate cupcakes and then experimented with the frosting using some gel colours I had recently bought in the U.S. Now I had never used gel colours before, and wow am I coverted. The intensity of the colours with just a few drops of colouring is amazing. Plus you can make lovely colours by mixing two or more of the colours together. I then decorated the cupcakes individually using matching sprinkles.

Coffee Cake

2010-05-24T12:35:00.000-07:00

Mr G hates coffee but likes coffee cake, so I decided to make one for him as a surprise! I ploughed through my baking books looking for inspiration and a recipe by Rachel Allen caught my eye. The recipe looked simple enough, and although it was tasty (according to Mr G), I was disappointed with the consistency. It was not as moist as I had hoped. The coffee infused buttercream was good though, and I completed the look by topping it with gold - flecked chocolate covered coffee beans (Thanks Philippa!)

Birthday Cupcake Cookies

2010-05-14T06:21:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make my cousin's son some birthday cupcakes, but was worried about transporting them. I therefore decided to make some cupcake shaped cookies instead. After the success of my afternoon tea biscuits, I decided to stick with shortbread cookies which I then decorated with fondant icing as before. I had bought a birthday cupcake shaped cookie cutter on a recent visit to New York. I then decorated them with little fondant stars, as I didn't want them to look too girly!

Anyone for tea?

2010-05-09T03:46:00.000-07:00

I was invited to attend this month's Teawitter Tea Party in the Northern Quarter. It is an event for people who are passionate about baking. I decided to make some decorative biscuits as inspired by the book 'Bake me I'm yours....cookie' by Lindy Smith. She is one amazing lady. Her bsicuits (cookies) are so pretty to look at. I decided on using my Mother in law's shortbread recipe which we all adore. I then tinted some ready to roll fondant using gel colourings to cover the biscuits and to decorate them. I stuck the fondant and decorations on using some boiled jam as I did not have any sugarpaste to hand. My first batch of biscuits spread a lot whilst baking in the oven, so for the next batch, I put the biscuits to chill in the fridge for a couple of moments as I had read that this ensured the biscuits would keep their shape whilst cooking. That tip was spot on. The next batch held their shape perfectly.

Cupcakes for the Kids!

2010-05-05T09:51:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I had a girly afternoon with my friends Andrea, Anika and Sarah. We all met at Sarah's for a cup of tea and a catch up. Sarah has two gorgeous kids and I decided to make cupcakes for them. Inspired my the success of my bunny cupcakes, I decided on a bug theme. Not so much creepy crawlies, but the cuter, friendlier kind. I made some insects using tinted fondant. I thought they were cute. I made the "soil" in the same way as the bunny cupcakes but added some chocolate pebbles that I recently bought in the U.S. Despite my protests, Beks took some pictures of me in action. I thought they turned out quite well. I also made some lilac frosted cupcakes adorned with pink sprinkles. Just because.

Pink!

2010-05-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

I like pink. A lot. In fact I love pink. And Yellow. I love yellow too. Here are some cupcakes that I made with my two favourite colours in mind. I am not great with the frosting, and that is usually where Beks comes in to help, but I do have a knack with decorating and sprinkles. I love sprinkles too, but more on that later.
These were chocolate cupcakes with pink vanilla frosting.

Easter Cupcakes!

2010-05-05T09:26:00.001-07:00

I find I am getting more creative in my old age. These are some Easter Cupcakes I made for my cousin over Easter as she had been studying hard over the Easter break. I got the idea from a brilliant booked called Hello Cupcake by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson. The cupcakes were supposed to look like Easter Bunnies digging in the dirt. I frosted the cupcakes with Buttercream and then dipped them in crushed oreos to look like soil. I then tinted ready to roll fondant icing to make the eggs and bunny feet.

Breast Cancer Awareness Cake Pops

2010-05-05T01:52:00.000-07:00

I have a slight obession about Cake Pops. For those of you not familiar with these bitesize treats of yummy goodness check out www.bakerella.com. This is a blog that I was introduced to by my best friend Beks and it is amazing!

Get Cake Popping Now!