Valentine's Day Cake

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!

Nx

Valentine's Day- Love it or Hate it?

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!

Nx

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

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

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......