Happy Mothers Day

For my mum this year I made mini simnel cakes from this lovely book.























I am sad that I forgot the marzipan centre though. This taught me a good lesson to read all the instructions before getting carried away! But on the plus i found some lovely dried fruit called 'orchard mix' full of dried apricots and pears and prunes and sour cherries. i hope they are a lovely treat for my lovely mum.

Happy Mothers Day

For mother's day, as last year, i made a simnel cake for my mum. She is a master cake maker, but i don't think it's often she has a cake made for her so it's nice to give a sweet treat.

This year i didn't grill it though. i think it made a more attractive cake that way.

I was a little absent minded and forgot to add the mixed spice and ground ginger, but it is packed full of dried fruits and crystallised ginger so i hope will still be a tasty delight. I will wait for the verdict (or maybe i will get to sample a small slice myself!)

Happy Mothers Day Mum!

yours lovingly,
Emily. xxx

Birthday makes and birthday bakes

This weekend was full of birthday fun and I did lots of making and baking for the special occasions. This is a very nice thing about being on holiday - plenty of time for making and baking.

a nice feature of the socks is that they stand up alone.

Here are the socks I knitted for my mum. I used some rowan pure wool 4 ply in 'antique' and this pattern from the guardian. They were a real delight to knit, although perhaps could have been a little longer at the ankle. It's not often I knit socks though and these were definitely the best pair yet. I would like some for myself before the summer is out.

award winning!

On sunday we went for a garden party in honour of Mum's birthday and also because it had been mine and my sister's birthdays in July too. Mum's garden won first place in the Burgess Hill in Bloom competition (garden design category) so it was a treat to sit there in the sun. I am so pleased for Mum that she won and proud of her too. Gardens take a lot of work i think.

Mum had asked me to make a cake for the occasion as there were lots of people there and it is nice to help. I decided a good summer treat would be the apple and raspberry cake i made a few weeks ago.

two cakes are better than one (on the left is apple and raspberry cake and on the right Beth's birthday sponge)

Here is it on the left. And here on the right you can also see a birthday cake for my friend Beth. On saturday night we had a good old knees up for that event, and this sponge had come out really very nicely indeed. The recipe for this one is:

8oz butter/margerine, 8oz caster sugar, 9oz self raising flour, 3 eggs, 2 tablespoons of very hot water (added only once the other things are mixed together well). 

It makes a very lovely light sponge.

Also for Beth's birthday I knitted a red tea cosy just like ours. I have been really impressed with this little make as really does keep the pot hot. I even used the pattern I had written there so was pleased to have written it down to know what I did. I did make a couple of modifications though like having fewer stitches and making the ruffle in garter stitch. Beth likes tea and has a nice teapot so I thought this would be a good gift.

It's nice to be able to make nice things for presents. I am pleased with this time well spent.

And now it's time for a holiday!! 

Yours birthdaily,

Emilia. xxxx

Birthday Cakes!

Today it is my birthday! and so what better occasion for eating loads of cake (also it is Rich's birthday tomorrow so it really is necessary to do some baking and icing)

I have had this cupcake stand since christmas but not yet used it. It was good to save it for this time though - what joyful celebratory treats to behold!

I made three whole batches so have a good variety - lemon, chocolate chip and marshmallow and almond cakes. we ate all the spares yesterday just to be sure they were good enough. they were.

Also i got myself some little plates for the day - the perfect size for a little cake! (and my mum says they are very old so perhaps much birthday cake has been enjoyed from these ones)

And if all this wasn't enough, a small cake from cake master mummy - orange and poppy seed!

I have been treated this morning with breakfast and presents and lunch and tea, and now off for some music for the afternoon. What a very lovely day for me.

Yours, a year older now,
Wise old Baker. xxx

Fresh fruit bake

This morning I was up bright and early to bake a summery cake delight.

I really really liked the look of Debbie's fresh fruit tarts and then i came across this recipe from the vegetarian cookbook my mum bought for me and decided it would be a good treat for this summer's weekend:

kettle's on

A gem! 

I am going for afternoon tea today, arranged by feminist brighton to raise money and awareness for The Poppy Project. I mentioned that I would make a cake for the day so perhaps this will be a welcome addition for that event (and a good excuse to tuck in!)

Yours better get a move on,

Almond. xxxx

Me and Herring

This weekend there was a bank holday, but not much good as the skies were grey. I managed to pull myself out of my ear related malaise a little on sunday night with a trip to the pub and a catch up with friends. Just the ticket. I did drink rather a lot of beer though and suffered somewhat yesterday morning. I was meant to go to London with Rich, but i decided it was a bad idea on account of my hangover and with work the next day, but made the most of my mood with a good helping of cooking and eating and treated myself to some polish dinner. 

My mum bought me this little book when i returned from Poland. It is nice because it has the recipes in both english and polish languages so helps me recognise the dishes. I decided to make Danie z kartofli, jajek i sledzia (casserole of potato, eggs and herring) and Salatka polski (polish salad). Very much egg and soured cream went into it all. And although it didn't quite have the authentic polish flavour, it was treat for sure.

 

 

If i wasn't full enough already, i also decided to test out my new loaf tin and make a brack (fruit cake!) I like this recipe because there is just dried fruit, tea, sugar, an egg and some flour. I also added a little milk and hot water to mine to help loosen the mix a bit. It is a real chewy treat.

After all this food i didn't sleep well, and am rather dozy today. Nice to have some leftover herring in my lunch though.

Yours sleepy headedly,
Emilia xxxx

Sun-day Bun-day

Last night i decided to bake some hot cross buns for my sunday breakfast (and some holiday breakfasts. and snacks.) I found my recipe here at the good food site. I really recommend it!

 buns in the oven

This recipe is a real gem, but there were a few things i did differently. These were threefold, detailed as follows:

Firstly, the recipe instructs you to split the dough into buns to rise just once before baking. Instead, I let my dough rise once in the bowl and then beat it down before splitting it into buns and letting them rise again. This beating down breaks up the bubbles in the mixture and they come back smaller the second time round. I think this has really helped as they are definitely a very nice, soft, bready texture, and not full of big holes (like a ciabatta) as my bread normally is.

Secondly, I got into a terrible mess with the crosses using the Good Food method (making a flour/water paste and squeezing it through a hole in a food bag)  Instead i resorted to making a flour and water dough and cutting it into strips. much better. 

Thirdly, as i didn't have honey or syrup, i made my drizzle with 2 tbsps sugar and 2 tbsps water, heated together and drizzled over the buns as soon as they appeared from the oven. 

They are lovely and sticky!

toasted buns

Best enjoyed toasted with tea.

Yours, bun tummied,

Emilia. xxxx

Simnel Sunday

Today it is mothering sunday! This year i decided to work out it's connection with easter and i have found out some interesting things especially that it is the middle Sunday of lent and also known as Simnel Sunday. And that it has its own cake. As I am very keen on traditions which involve cakes I decided that there would be no finer treat for mother.

I found the recipe for my simnel cake on this blog called Apple and Spice. I got myself a little confused whilst making it though as i had it in my head that it was an apple and spice simnel cake and thought 'there's not much apple' (in fact nil apple). But it has all become clear again now.

pre-toasting. what a pretty cake

The best feature is the layer of marzipan baked within the cake! and the glacé cherries.

I also learnt something from this recipe - that you can stop the cake from browning on the top, but keep it baking by covering it with kitchen foil. i think this is going to save me from many burnt edges in the future.

The recipe does however suggest putting the cake under the grill (or use a blowtorch on it) to toast the marzipan for the finishing touch. I thought this would be a good idea, and think it will add something to the eating experience, however has made the cake look like cheese on toast.

cheese on toast

Hopefully my experience will help you make an informed decision over the toasting part. Although a google image search has helped convince me.

I made a small sample for Rich and my tea. it's good to try before presenting to mother. we were both very happy to eat it.

a nice mid-lent treat and a good reward for keeping my mits off the chocolates for a whole 4 weeks. i will remember this for lents ahead.

Happy Mothers Day

yours regretting the grilling,
Emilia. xx

Now it is December

Today we had a lot of snow in my neck of the woods. it disrupted my journey home quite badly last night and left me with not enough time for steaming my christmas pudding before bedtime. Luckily though today i left work early due to transport concerns and finished the mixing.

i am not sure if this looks appetising or not. it smelled very good though! 

Now it is steaming and only has fifteen minutes left. Because i reduced the amounts to make a 2 pint pudding, i am only steaming it for 4 hours rather than 5 (Nigella suggests this is appropriate). Then it will only (only!) need another 3 hours on the day of consumption!

There was a nice twist of fate this week too which meant that i got a sixpence in my change (i am not sure where from though and think probably it was magicked into my purse) and so i cleaned it in a bit of ketchup and wrapped in foil and mixed it in. Whoever finds that will have good fortune (unless they don't notice until it is too late!)

In other news, I did put last night to good use and managed to finish a wooly boble hat to match my shawl scarf. i thought that was a very good use of my time, and it certainly kept me warm today.

photo quality =very poor, but it is cable knit and i used the same pattern as on my cardigan.

Also it is December and the month of chocolates for breakfast. i have two advent calendars and this morning got a chocolate reindeer in one, and a funsize pack of maltesers in the other. i like this month already!

Now i must check on my pudding, but I will leave you with this nice picture my sister took of some gulls on the church roof. little bit of snow there!

Yours feeling christmasy,

Emilia. xxxx

Stir Up Sunday

Today it is stir up sunday. That is the last sunday before advent which is traditionally the day for stirring up all the christmas pudding mix.

And this year i am getting in on the act, with the help of Nigella. My mum always uses Delia's recipe, so this is a bit of an adventure, but i have a lot of trust in Nigella, after the Marmite Spaghetti success (you must try it - it's not what you think it will be like. ie. it is really really delicious!)

this is a good book full of grant festive treats. here is nigella with biscuits

It seems that recipes for christmas puddings can vary quite a lot. Mum says Delia's has beer in, and maybe some nuts but Nigella doesn't use those things. I can't find her recipe online, but the one I am using is a traditional one from her Christmas book (it seems she has perfected many type of pudding of the christmas variety)

The ingredients for the pudding are:
150g each of currants, chopped prunes and sultanas; 175ml Sherry (a sweet one in my opinion); 100g Plain Flour; 125g White Breadcrumbs; 150g Suet (vegetable in my opinion); 150g Dark Muscavado Sugar; 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon; 1/4 tsp of Ground Cloves; Grated Zest of 1 Lemon; 3 Eggs; 1 Medium Cooking Apple; 30ml (2 tbsps) of Honey (runny in my opinion)

These are the amounts Nigella gives, and this will make a 3 pint pud. For mine i have scaled it down by a third to make a 2 pinter, as fear the feast will be overwhelming.

I have had a very busy weekend so I am lucky that the process is in two parts, and today's part was very quick in that I had to measure out the dried fruit and put it in a bowl with the sherry and cover it with clingfilm to steep until tuesday when i will have the time for the rest of the activity (this is perfect as Nigella recommends the fruit is steeped at least over night or up to a week)

steeping fruits - sweet and gungey 

Tuesday I will have to get mixing as soon as i get home as there is 5 hours steaming to do before bedtime! I am really pleased that I am making my own pudding though. it is a first for me but a very very good life skill.

Yours festively,
Pudding Bowl. xxxx

Birthday Cakes

This weekend was the birthdays weekend. one was mine, and one was for Rich. This meant there was a lot of cake. this was no bad thing.

The first cake was the one my mum made for me. it was a small cherry cake. this is my favourite type of cake. She used to send it to me through the post when i was at university. not anymore though - so it was a really grand treat for my birthday. i'm not sharing.

The cake from my mum

But i do believe cake is a good food to share and I was so lucky to also have another cake made for me from my good friend Eleanor. Very good friend indeed. This is the cake - it said on it EMILY HELLO. i liked that finishing touch. it was exciting because the cake meant everyone sang to me. i forgot what that felt like from last year.

the cake that eleanor made 

This was a sponge sandwich with raisins in the sponge and honey in the sandwich. it was such a delicious combination. also there were chocolate fingers around the edge - it looked so wonderful. She is a clever one that eleanor. Also in the background you can see the jam sandwich biscuits Debbie and Yumi made. they said they were too buttery, but i thought they were just grand! i liked all the baked goods. i hear there may be more of these for Latitude.

For Rich's birthday i made a marzipan ring cake. it was from the nigella lawson how to be a domestic goddess book. i like to be a good woman so that was a good place for me to find a recipe. this was called Easy Almond Cake, and looked quite sophisticated so i thought it was a winner - recently i have got myself into trouble with too much icing and sweets.

the cake from me to Rich (recycled candles!)

This was unlike most cakes as was very moist. the recipe is quite light on the dry ingredients. it was an all round success, except maybe i baked it a little too long so it was a bit dark in colour (the top was golden, but this became the bottom!) that didn't affect the taste though, and it looked a delight once dusted (coated) in icing sugar. i filled the ring with strawberries which was a perfect accompaniment.

This is the recipe for that cake... i would recommend it.

Ingredients:

250g Butter (unsalted)

250g Marzipan

150g Caster Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Almond Essence

1/4 teaspoon of either Vanilla or Orange extract (Nigella says the zest of an orange, but this worked out nicely with the orange extract from a little bottle)

6 large eggs

150g Self raising flour

Method:

preheat your oven to 170 degrees.

First you will need to cream together the butter, marzipan and sugar until it is blended and smooth. this took me a lot of effort so is probably better if you have a machine to do it, but if you don't - have faith - it gets there in the end. And I had a few lumps of marzipan at the end, but it didn't matter in the end.

next add the almond essence and either vanilla or orange extract. (i used orange - you could tell in the finished cake and i think it was a good choice for a summer one) then stir in the eggs and flour. (do not worry that there doesn't seem to be much flour - i was worried i had written the recipe down wrong but it all worked out deliciously)

grease up a ring tin (they are quite expensive, but i think it was a good investment and it makes small fat wedges when you cut it - if you don't have one though, maybe a loaf tin would be a good alternative - and if you don't have one of those, maybe it doesn't matter all so much) and pour in the mixture.

Bake in the oven for 50 minutes, checking it from 40 (mine was probably done then but i left it for full time after some under baked mishaps in the past) let it cool for a bit in the tin before turning out. because of the butter to flour ration though, this slipped out no trouble.

then i just decorated with a dusting of icing sugar and filled the ring with fruit. you could try other alternatives - maybe some sugared almonds. nigella recommends apple sauce.

All in all this cake was very grand. i will definitely give it 10/10 because i liked the taste and the way it looked. I would give the other cakes here mentioned 10/10 as well. This was the grandest cake weekend ever!

That just reminded me - i have the leftover marzipan in the cupboard - ready for a sweet treat!

Yours older and fatter,
Emilia

here is the official nigella recipe online in case i have missed some important information:
http://www.nigella.com/recipe/recipe_detail.aspx?rid=230

Gingerbread Friends

Yesterday our student services department had a picnic for the end of term and invited me along. I said i would make a cake, but the days have been so hot and i felt a cake might melt (especially the way i make them - icing heavy). I wasn't really sure what would be good, but decided that that gingerbread men would be a traditional contribution to the feast. Charming, and not too sickly for eating in a heat wave.

(fun with picture editing - i need to work on my photography skills - this is certain)

Here is the recipe for Gingerbread Men:

You will need:

300g plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoons of ground ginger

100g butter

175g light brown soft sugar

1 large egg from a hen

4 tablespoons of golden syrup

Some baking paper (optional)

a baking tray

a cooling rack

 some measuring scales and spoons

 a large mixing bowl

a spoon for mixing

a cup and fork for beating the egg

an oven

a sieve (optional) 

a place to wash your hands and utensils

a rolling pin

What to do - 10 easy steps to biscuit joy.

step 1 - turn on the oven to 190 degrees to be heating up.

step 2 - sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger into a bowl.

step 3 - cut up the butter and wait to soften, then rub this into the flour until all even.

step 4 - stir in the sugar

step 5 - beat together the egg and golden syrup and stir this into the mixture until it forms into dough

step 6 - knead the dough until it's smooth. cut it in half to roll out to 5mm thick and cut into the desired shapes using a man shaped cutter (or bird) 

step 7 - lay these on some baking paper on a tray ready for the oven. 

step 8 - decorate with currents and raisins and other dried fruits as you see fit

step 9 - bake in the oven for 12 - 15 minutes

step 10 - leave to cool and then enjoy them with tea.

These are easy and delicious. the lessons i learnt were to make sure they were quite thick when rolling them out, and not to let them get too baked. less is more for a chewy result. also i think a little more ginger would have a pleasing effect - i like the gingerbread spicy.

mine were a little baked, but overall very nice - especially the thicker ones. The one i tried the night i made them tasted quite bland, but i think the ginger flavour matured over night and by the time of eating they were really really good. Everyone wanted one, even though their faces were strange so i will give them 9 out of 10.

Even these two.

Gingerly yours,

Emilia. xxx

I made a cake

On Saturday it was my friend Liosliath's birthday. i made her a cake - peanut butter cake! i decorated it with monkey faces and bananas because she likes Africa.

I thought i would be more adventurous with my cake making, and because i know Lios likes peanut butter, and because i like peanut butter a lot too, i decided to make a peanut butter cake.

Here is the recipe. I might have put a bit too much yogurt in mine as i think my scales are unreliable. But it was really delicious, despite my fears that it didn't bake properly (maybe it is meant to be quite dense and stodgy)

What you need to make the cake is...
200g butter (plus some more to grease your tins)
3 tablespoons of smooth peanut butter for the mixture and 2 more for the middle - but you don't really need to measure for that - just put as much as you like is a good way.
4 large eggs
200g golden caster sugar
150g pot natural yogurt
200g self-raising flour

To make Chocolate topping you need
100g Milk Chocolate
2 tablespoons of milk

First step is to turn the oven on to 180 degrees so it can be warming up ready.

The Cake
The way i make a cake mixture is by creaming together the butter and sugar and adding the eggs one at a time with a spoon full of flour and blending, then add the rest of the flour. Then with this i added the peanut butter and yogurt. (maybe a bit too much yogurt, and i used low fat, but this might not have been wise) in the future i might just use a couple of tablespoons of milk.

Grease your tins - 2 round ones i used, i am not sure of the size of them but about 8 or 9 inches across (you can see the cake is on a tea plate there) and pour equal amounts into each.

Bake for half an hour (that's what the recipe says, but mine too about 50 minutes - this might be an issue with my oven though - and the amount of yogurt i used) they should be golden on top and round the edges, but check by poking with a fork, and if it comes out clean it means 'ready'.

Leave them to cool five minutes in the tins before turning out. (this was the stage mine sank. that has never happened to me before so it was quite a distressing time. i felt helpless) I have learnt, always make sure the cakes are totally cool before decorating (to avoid icing meltage), so this means you can have a hearty cup of tea and maybe do some other activities before assembling and topping.

Finishing off
To do this, i trimmed the cakes where the tops had inflated, and spread one with peanut butter. the original recipe also says to use some Dulce du Leche (or something i couldn't find) but i think that is like toffee sauce so you could use that. Banana might be nice too. Or marmalade. or chocolate butter icing. Then pop the other on top to make a sandwich.

Make some chocolate topping by melting 100g chocolate with 2 tablespoons of milk and spread this on the top. The original recipe suggested putting some salted peanuts in a bowl with a teaspoon of water and a tablespoon of icing sugar to coat them, and then toast them in the oven at 200 degrees for ten minutes, and then sprinkling those on top. I just used monkey faces and bananas and hundreds and thousands.

Verdict
I will definitely be trying this cake again, it was tasty and not too sweet. i don't think it baked so well though and i think that is because i put yogurt in it and i think that was wrong.

I give this cake Seven out of Ten.

Here is Liosliath enjoying that on her Birthday. She also had a caterpillar chocolate cake from her other friends. i hope i get TWO birthday cakes.

Much love,
Baker