Simply sCRUMBlicious

For the love of Macarons...!

2012-01-11T20:06:00.003Z

OK.. I have been meaning to post about macarons for a while now. I am finally happy with a recipe and technique that seems to be less temperamental, and has worked pretty well for me… so am going to share it with you now... :)

When I first started on the journey of macarons, I followed the rules of Helene and Aran who’s blogs I absolutely love. The food and photography, both equally amazing… so effortlessly stylish, how do they do it…! Anyway, I digress... Even though I patiently planned ahead (something you KNOW I never do) and aged the whites, tried both the French and Italian meringue method… I was still getting mixed results each time,usually with a few cracked tops... or not the right texture, too crispy without chew... hollow tops... Arg!

It was only one day when I had one of my last minute decisions to make them for my cousin before he left the country the next day, that I stumbled across my now favourite recipe/technique! NO aged whites ! Not one… and you know what, I am never that good at remember weights or measuring them precisely either… but they still seem to work even with my less than refined attention to the detail. Much less wastage!

So here it is – my recipe and method using the French method (so much easier and less washing up!):

3 egg whites, room temperature (I have weighed them, and sometimes it’s around 90g, sometimes 100g depending on the size of your eggs, though it hasn’t affected the results)

200g icing sugar

110g ground almonds (buy them ground, and then whizz them up again in the food processor to make them even finer for a smoother finish!)

50g caster sugar

Gel food colouring if using

+ Measure out the almonds and icing sugar in a food processor and whizz them up till they are thorough blended and you have a lovely fine almond dust. Not too long, just a few whizzes in the machine

+ Sift the mixture out in a clean bowl

+ In a separate bowl, start whisking the egg whites up, when they start to turn white and foamy, start adding the caster sugar, keep whisking till glossy, stiff, though not dry. If it looks like cloud, you have gone too far. It should look like shaving foam, glossy and smooth, though holding it’s shape too. Add your colouring if you are using at this stage too. Gel colouring works best, as you get good colour without too much trouble. Steer away from liquid colour, as this will alter the balance of liquid in the mixture.

+ Sieve the dry mixture into the egg whites… I think this double sieving gives a finer finish too, don’t be tempted to add the almond clumps that are left in your sieve to the mixture!

+ Now to mix the wet and dry... be firm for the first 4-5 strokes, use a strong folding action to blend the 2 mixtures and knock some of the air out of the egg whites. When the ingredients begin to meld together, slow down and be gentle at this point. You have come this far, you do NOT want to over mix your batter at this stage.

+ Keep folding, till the mixture turns from a stiff batter to one that flows like a silky rice pudding, or oaty porridge! It's better to undermix at this stage than over mix. When you lift out your spatula, the peak of batter that is left behind should slowly fall back into the mix without trace...if it flows back too quickly, you have probably gone too far, if it holds it shape, then give it another fold or two...

+ Once you are happy with your mixture, pop it in a piping bag with a plain nozzle and pipe out your macarons onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment. The size is completely up to you, I like smaller ones, about the size of a £2 coin, though the ones you buy are usually a bit bigger... whatever you fancy!

+ Preheat the oven to around 180 degrees

+ Now, here is the bit that I think makes all the difference. Rest your piped macarons. You have to leave them out until they develop a skin, you know it is done when, when you can gently touch it with the soft pad of your finger, and it doesn't stick! This can take anything from 10mins to half an hour+ . Depending on where you leave them, if it's a dry sunny day, or a cold, wet wintery one... though be patient, by allowing the skin to develop, my theory is that this is the key to giving them their signature frilly feet and shine, and preventing them from cracking when in the oven.

+ When ready, pop them in the oven, (I use the bottom shelf), as soon as you have put them in, turn the heat right down to around 150 degrees. Too warm, and the macarons will colour before they are cooked through, my oven does not have even heat, it's hotter on the left, so I tend to bring the heat down to 130 degrees... You should start seeing feet after about 5 minutes... don't open the oven before this. At around 8 minutes, have another look, you should have good rise of the frilly feet at this point, and the shells will be firmed up, check that they aren't colouring, and depending on the size you piped them, give them another 4 minutes if they are small, or anything up to 20minutes total baking time if they are bigger. Sorry, can't be more specific on this, I usually bake for 14 minutes if they are £2 size, and around 18 minutes for standard shop size - though it does depend on your oven.

When out of the oven, let them cool completely, and they should lift clean off the baking tray...

Pair them up and sandwich with your favourite filling.

The ones here are white ganache, one flavoured with rose extract, the other with matcha. Be adventurous, and try flavours that you like... Ganache bases work best, as it gives you a firmer set filling that doesn't squidge out when you bite into it, though you can also try buttercreams, marscapone based frosting, jams, spreads... experiment... have fun!

New Year, New Resolutions... New ideas...?

2012-01-08T13:38:00.002Z

So.. the new year is upon us? What resolutions are out there ? There is always the usual weightloss one that everyone has... 1 stone... 2 stone... ? Why oh why is it soooOooOOo easy to put on, though so difficult to work off ??? Despite this, am determined to do it properly this time, with noticeable difference... hahaha ... ! We'll see...

Other things to consider for the new year... More cakes ? New style of cakes... !

Yes, It is balanced on a mixing bowl... :P

Here is the birthday cake that I made yesterday for a very special little girl... The brief was pretty simple, just simple flavours, colour scheme - maybe pinks... it is her First birthday cake afterall... something suitably girlie :) So armed with pretty much free license... I set upon a spring themed Butterflies and Blossoms cake. The 4 layers of vanilla sponge, and originally, I was thinking strawberries and cream filling, though with 3 layers of filling required, why not go Neopolitan, so one layer of Strawberry Cream with Bananas (her favourite) one layer with vanilla cream with fresh strawberries, and a thin layer of chocolate cream to finish it off.... Should be quite pretty when cut open?

I am not usually very keen on sugarcraft, as I think icing cakes are a bit clawingly sweet... though I surprised myself with just how much fun it was to make! I think I may just have to experiment further... :P In my defence, I used a whipped white chocolate ganache instead of the usual rolled fondant icing to cover and act as a base, so that it would be less sugary sweet. It did make it a bit less stable, and does need refrigeration before serving... though I think it will make it tastier in the long run...

Festive Tidings...!

2011-12-29T21:58:00.000Z

Oops... it's been quite a while... what a busy year it has been! Hoping that it has been an exciting, happy and fruitful year for everyone!

Hope the holidays have brought you all that you wished for!!!

Baileys, Dark Cherry Chocolate Torte... anyone want the recipe...? :)

Pretzel Mania...

2011-06-25T15:01:00.003+01:00

If you have been to Westfields, I am sure you would have at some point been lured by the heavenly scent of the cinammon and sugar pretzels stall... they hand out samplers of fresh out of the oven soft hand rolled pretzels... so tasty... and before you know it, you are handing over money so that you can have your very own piping hot pretzel, all to yourself. Though the beauty of them is getting them fresh, hot out of the oven, they just aren't as good if you take them home... Though you can't really pop into Westfields on every pretzel whim...

The texture is so light and fluffy... though it would be bad to eat more than one.. wouldn't it... ? ;)

So next best thing.. make your own! I have tinkered with a recipe over the last couple of weekends, and this comes pretty close - enough to satisfy that craving.

A yummy balance of chew to fluffy softness, and a light crisp crust... Give it a go, it's so simple, you only need patience whilst the dough is left to rise, otherwise the whole process of actually kneading and cooking takes no more than 20 minutes tops!

Recipe:
Makes 12 large pretzels, or 15 palm sized

4 cups plain flour
1 cup strong bread flour
2x 7g sachets of instant yeast
1/2 cup of sugar (granulated is fine)
1 1/2tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 3/4 cup of warm water (slightly warmer than tepid)
Glaze:
1/8c Bicarbonate Soda dissolved with1 cup hot water

Stir together all the dry ingredients together with oil, then stir in warm water - start with around 1 1/2 cups and then add little by little until there is enough moisture to bring all the flour together to a slightly sticky dough... turn it out onto a clean surface, and start kneading the dough till smooth. This took me around 6mins. When ready,press your finger into the dough, the indent should bounce back.

LIghtly oil a large bowl (this should be at least twice the size of your ball of dough). Place your dough into the bowl, and roll it around to thinly coat with oil. Cover with cling film and let rise in a non drafty warm place to rise for 1-2 hours, until doubled in size. (I leave mine in a closed oven)

When the dough has doubled, preheat the oven to about 240 degrees C. Dissolve your bicarbonate of soda in the hot water.

Turn out the douhg on a lightly floured clean surface, and divide into about 12 portions. Roll out into a long rope- approx 20 inches, or thereabouts, twist it into your pretzel shape and then place on a baking try lined with baking parchment. When all the dough is shaped onto your tray, brush them generously with the bicarbonate glaze (this gives them their signature pretzel shine) and then bake for 8 minutes till browned.

For cinammon sugar pretzels:
Melt approx 50g of butter, when the pretzels come out of the oven, brush them with the melted butter then dip the pretzels into a bowl of cinammon sugar to cover (cinammon mixed with caster sugar)

Poppy Seed:
Sprinkle poppy seeds over the glazed pretzels just before they go into the oven. You can also sprinkle them very sparingly with some good quality sea salt

Glorious Cupcakes...

2011-04-29T19:26:00.003+01:00

I have to admit, I have never really been a big cupcake fan. Never really thought I do them very well, just not the light bouncy sponges that I like. BUT ! I have a recipe that I now love... unlike the traditional victoria sponge recipe I use, with equal amounts of butter, sugar and flour, this uses a lower proportionate amount of butter, and uses milk instead and only 1 egg! Surely that must be healthier! The result is a moist light sponge, keeps pretty well too!
Try for yourself:
120g caster sugar
40g butter (room temperature)
120g Self-raising flour
Pinch of salt
120ml milk
1tsp vanilla extract
1 egg

Preheat the oven at around 160 degrees, and line a muffin tin with large cupcake cases.

Mix together sugar, butter, flour, salt together till it is well incorporated and sandy like... You can do this with a hand mixer on a low speed. Mix the milk with the vanilla extract, pour into the dry ingredients and mix till just blended, then crack in an egg, and mix in with a spatula till JUST incorporate. Do NOT overmix. Divide into 12 cupcake cases and bake for about 17-22 minutes depending on your oven. Test after 17mins, cakes should be lightly browned and bounce back when pressed. Cool and then add desired topping and decorations!

Topping suggestions:
Cream cheese frosting
Marscapone Vanilla Cream
Passionfruit cream topping

Variations:
Coconut Cupcakes:
Substitute milk with coconut milk for a lush coconut cake cupcake, top with a coconut topping with toasted dessicated coconut...YUM!
Chocolate Cupcakes:
Take out about 20g of flour and substitute with cocoa powder
Walnut Coffee:
Take out 20g of flour and subsitute with roughly crushed walnuts, substitute the vanilla extract with about a tablespoon of coffee. Top with frosting flavoured with coffee, or Tia Maria for a grownup kick and extra walnuts on top.

Springtime baking for mums and dads...!

2011-04-16T11:08:00.001+01:00

How long has it been since I updated... too long I have to admit...

I have been keeping busy though, working through a few Birthday commissions, a tropically fruity Mango and passionfruit birthday cake for my friend's dad, with the trickiest (Chinese) birthday message to date! Then i got a VERY last minute request for a birthday cake for a mum - only guidelines "she loves green"... Green??!?!? I am not keen on green cakes, apart from Pandan, green in cake isn't particulary appealing... though I cheated a bit and made two tone green-white chocolate surround for the strawberry gateau. :)

Festive Macarons

2010-12-21T14:32:00.003Z

Oh, I know... I have been slack in updating the blog - though I have been taking a baking break :) Anyways, so I come back with avengence ! Holiday Macarons, with oodles of festive cheer and filled with Cranberry and Raspberry cream and/or dark chocolate ganache...

I am not usually a fan of sugarcraft, though had a flash of inspiration and topped them with these cute holly leaves and berries, I love the way they look against the dark chocolate macaron biscuit ! The pinky ones were topped with shiny edible confetti hearts.. :)

Glorious gals...

2010-11-11T20:47:00.008Z

So... remember a few months ago, Y came over to get some baking tips and try her hand at gracie styley celebration cakes...? Well, last weekend, my old flatmates wanted in on the act too and came over to tool up and give their spin on the cake I made for D's birthday last month.

The proof as they say... is in the cake... :)

It was a lovely, lazy afternoon of baking fun. With the gals learning some new techniques, and having a girlie giggle in the process... they ended up making a sumptuous passionfruit and mixed berry cream cake... very fresh and surprising light for A, who was at one point a bit shell-shocked at the sugar that goes into it. (there wasn't really that much.. it was a very big cake ! ) :)

Layzee Lunch and lounging...

2010-10-27T23:10:00.000+01:00

Birthday girl's brief: just simply, simple flavours, sponge, maybe some jam and cream. Nothing fussy...

So here we have it, I stuck to the brief, a simple vanilla sponge, layered with homemade jam, vanilla cream dotted with strawberries and surprise honeycomb fizzles... and then a second layer of raspberry cream... topped with fresh berries and chocolate pralines. So my confession, whilst foraging for inspiration, I came across Lindt mini pralines... In a shiny pinky box. Oh, they are cute, just the normal lushious Lindt, all miniturized... can you spot them hidden amongst the berries... :)

A change of seasons...

2010-10-03T16:08:00.010+01:00

Autumn is definitely here... I just bought myself a 13.5tog duvet ready as the chillier nights draw in and my first official bake to mark the change in season? What could be more comforting than good old fashioned Apple Pie... Encased with a crisp light flakey crust and filled with chunky apples and warming cinammon with just a hint of nutmeg.

I am not a big pie baker, usually more cakes rather than puddings... though I thought I would make the effort this weekend, as last weekend I brought over a Spanish tortilla over to my parents' house - and as soon as I got through the door, dad caught a quick glimpse of my dish, and exclaimed that I had made him apple pie! As he trailed me into the kitchen, he was somewhat disappointed that it was a tortilla and no pie. (Yes! He is to blame for my sweet tooth!!!) So of course, I felt bad, just from his sheer enthusiasm to lukewarm realisation that I was only armed with a savoury snack.

Yesterday, I stocked up on a bounty of apples (Bramleys, Cox's, Granny Smiths and threw in a couple of Pink Lady's too!) . Got myself a pie dish, well, if you are going to do it properly... ;) And I was ready to go!

The pastry was flakey and crispy, no soggy bottom which was my main fear - I par-cooked the apples in a mixture of sugar, cinammon and cornflour before filling the case, it looked very proud as I tucked them in with their pastry duvet. Though after cooking, the apples had shrunk back a bit. This didn't really affect the quality of the pie, though wondering if it's an apple thing. Maybe if I stick to Bramley's there will be less shrinkage? Or is there always going to be a gap between finished pie crust and apple filling inside? hmm...? Answers on the back of a postcard... :)

A passion for fruit ...

2010-09-27T20:58:00.005+01:00

Mango passionfruit, raspberry passionfruit... are you getting the hint that I am really loving the passionfruit right now? Teamed with lemon for a bit of extra zing to balance the fragrance of the passionfruit, it's definitely been my flavour of the season, especially when further enhanced with the last of the fresh lush berries of summer...

Last days of the Summer

2010-09-20T20:24:00.005+01:00

I hope everyone had a great summer. We spent the last days of summer picking fruit and vegetable at Garson Farm at Esher. As well as the 'pick your own farm' there is the farm shop (where I bought some locally baked bread and some pickles) and the wonderful gift shop (where I bought some clothes for my daughter). There were plenty of cabbages, sweetcorn, peas, broccoli and strawberries, but the raspberries were definitely the best in season.

We lived on the vegetables for the week and we made some cupcakes topped with creme fraiche and berries for a friend's house warming party.

So now its autumn, I'm thinking of pumpkin pie. There is a small city farm nearby with huge pumpkins in their vegetable patch. Hmm....must speak to the manager to see whether I can buy one.

Smokey with undertones of coffee...

2010-08-30T08:55:00.020+01:00

Took a baking break and made me some jam ! Strawberry and raspberry last week... a bit random as I had left over berries from a cake and left over sugar from i don't know when...

Anyways, so about 700g berries to 400-500g jam sugar, JAM sugar I say (sugar with additional pectin to help the jam set) and juice of half a lemon. No method, just threw it all in the pan and bubbled away on a rolling boil for about 15mins, stirring occassionally... turned out sooooo good... the raspberry really enhances the flavour, some may have issue with the seeds, though i liked the extra texture, as well as big juicey strawberry bits... YUM ! :) Anyways, it only made 2 jars and a bit... and I gave them both away so i was only left with the "bit"... :P

During the following week, I found myself watching the "Great British Bakeoff"... a nice bit of baking fun, in the theme of masterchef for the oven, though with less dramatic music and no Greg and John to shout at you that you are out of time. Anyways, theme this week was biscuits, and master artisan breadman and judge Paul Hollywood showed his hand at making the ultimate scone, suitable for royalty! :) I have to admit, scones are not really my thing... though they looked good... poofy high yet light insideand Mr L loves a good cream tea. So against my usual resistance to following recipes, I actual copied it (click here for recipe) down with a mind to give it a go this weekend. Unusual, as he uses bread flour, rather than the usual plain or self raising you see in other recipes, maybe something to do with the gluten? Also, he used a surprisingly low butter content - how would that fair? Divine is the answer. Rich and light... very good indeed. Mr Hollywood, you are the don.

Though really, my ulterior motive if I am honest is that with fresh scones, I thought it would be a good excuse to make some more lovely jam... actually, conserve. As apparently, cream teas are with conserve, not jam (as per Mr L). So this time, I was prepared, Friday night, whizzed around supermarket, got me a kilo of strawberries, and nabbed a bag of sugar... and was good to go.
Hulled strawberries, and layered with sugar in a big pan the night before, apparently doing this firms up the strawberries before cooking. Yesterday morning brought the mixture to the boil (strawberries had been macerated, and were now swimming in beautiful juices)... again, left on a rolling boil for 20 mins with a squeeze of a lemon. Strange... it didn't seem to thicken like last time... even when cooled... it was still like strawberry soup... what had gone wrong?!! Method was the same... recipe was proportionally the same, I don't know what happened!? Left it till the afternoon, hoping that it was just a temperature thing, though to no avail. Decided to throw it all back to the pan to cook for a bit longer. Caught a glimpse of the sugar bag, the PRESERVE sugar... preserve... NOT jam sugar... it didn't have the additional pectin, and strawberries are a soft fruit with low pectin .... THAT is why it didn't set... DUH! I bought the wrong sugar... what a muppet. I remembered I had a bottle of natural apple pectin in the cupboard, so thought I could save the jam... poured in half a bottle... left it for maybe 5 mins... and boy, was that a bad idea... it burnt... not just a little heady synge... a full-on stick-to-the-bottom of your pan like toffee burned sugar, pectin strawberry mixture. Mr L said it smelt like strawberry coffee... alas... poor jam wannabe... RIP

Cake below was the original cake that gave up the leftover berries the first time around...

Musings of cake

2010-08-16T13:07:00.004+01:00

So recently, there has been a recurring question that keeps rearing it's head... just where am I going with these cakes?

I have had a couple of real commissions, though I would hardly say it was a business. My problem, I have to admit is that I don't view it as a going concern as such. It's usually a cake here, a brownie there - on request to friends and family.. though a Business venture?! That would involve an actual strategy and structure... objectives and targets right? Though I haven't the discipline. I don't even have recipes that I am capable of following, the cakes come by from an idea, a passing thought, a sponateous concept, a colour... worse still, I dislike repetition. So how can I standardise and monetise something that allows me complete creative directive and no boundaries?

I love what I am doing when it comes to the baking, and the joy it brings... though what is the next step... Am I supposed to be thinking of the next step, or just continuing to drift on my cupcake cloud... ?

2 days... 49 cakes!

2010-08-08T18:33:00.004+01:00

OK...so I cheated and 48 of those were of the cup variety... though still... that's still quite a lot of cakeage ! :)

My Brother's birthday... as the baby of the family, he always gets a bit of extra special treatment... hence the cupcakes on top of his birthday cake. Fluffy chocolate sponge cupcakes filled with raspberry jam and topped with cream cheese frosting and flake... :)

For the main event, he was also after a chocolate cherry concoction - and you know how I feel about all my cakes being very individual... so again, I had to rethink my concept... presentation. No almond this time though, brother doesn't like almond. This time I syruped my own cherries... equal proportions sugar to water in a pan and once melted,threw in some frozen pitted cherries, left it on a gentle simmer for 15ish minutes on low heat. In the last 5 mins, splash in some Kirsch to finish and leave to cool. The cherries tasted just how they should, not having worked with kirsch before, though it really does do something special to enhance the flavour!

The sponge was chocolate, the cream was a layer of chocolate mousse (custard based) and the other a cherry mousse, both pebbled with the juicy cherries, and finished with a chantilly cream. Topped with 2 tone cherry glaze from the cherry syrup, though as the syrup was a bit too sweet, I offset this with some fresh raspberry purée to give it a more rounded flavour. Happy Birthday Bwo... xx

Baking overload

2010-07-14T21:11:00.009+01:00

This hot weather we have been having had been so wonderful - though not ideal conditions in any sense for baking, storing or transporting any type of cakeage...

Though all my friends and family all seem to be cancerian babies, all with birthday's within days of each other... ! So it has been late night and early bakes for me to avoid the blanket of heat that fills my kitchen throughout the afternoon...

This week and weekend was a baking baking marathon... 2 birthday cakes, 1 celebration cake, 1 banana loaf cake, 6 mini berry tarts and 1 large tart filled with crème patissière and topped with strawberries...all within 5 days! Though in my baking frenzy, it looks like I forgot to take a picture of my passionfruit/ white chocolate mousse cake... eesh !
No wonder I had to take a slacky sleepie Monday off... Yay !

Though amid all this baking crazyness, there has been a casualty... For some reason,my lovely Nikon SLR has decided to rebel and refuses to work. Well, actually, it does work, it just doesn't want to lock in the SD card in its slot. No reason, it just won't lock? Anyone else had this problem before? I have had to send my baby away to be fixed... :( Hope she gets better soon...

Baked with Love (Part II)

2010-07-05T19:20:00.011+01:00

Back in November 2008, I got my first ever commission for a birthday cake... and we have come full circle - this time I made a cake for Uncle Flavian - Auntie Mina's other half... :) What a lovely garden party they threw, taking full advantage of this beautiful weather we have been having !

The brief was a straightforward blackforest gateau,though as usual, I always do things a little bit differently, so put a very gentle almond undertone throughout just to bring out the cherries and add another dimension to the flavours.

Three sponge layers - 2 chocolate, 1 of chocolate almond, 2 fillings (smooth dark chocolate mousse dotted with juicy dark cherries, and some equally juicy sour cherries to cut through the richness; a second layer of red cherry mousse, filled with whole cherries and chocolate shards for a little textural crunch!) and a subtle almond cream to top it all off.

Worried that the look was slightly out of season, I finished it with an elegant floral chocolate surround, homemade chocolate cherry cups and decorative two tone chocolate decorations and gorgeous fresh picola cherries... As usual, the devil's in the detail !

Spreading the crumbs...

2010-06-28T21:30:00.006+01:00

I have been meaning to post this one for a while, though I just haven't quite got around to it... Though a couple of months ago, my friend Y wanted to bake a birthday cake for her hon, and asked if I could help. Of course I jumped at the chance, I guess I love the creativity of baking and the joy that baking brings to others, so to be able to share the experience was great fun!

I think she enjoyed making the cake as it wasn't as intimidating as it looks... the tutorial was a laugh ! And doesn't it look great ! Gold stars methinks!!! :)

Berries and Butterflies

2010-06-02T20:03:00.000+01:00

I've had a break from baking for health reason for the past few months, but I'm back on the mend now. To celebrate, I took a few days off work to bake my daughter a birthday cake. You would have thought that I would choose something simple to get my to my baking mojo back, but my daughter wanted a three layer cream cake with berries, butterflies and a pink chocolate wrap. So here it is:

The first layer was filled with raspberry fresh cream and the second layer was filled with strawberries and cream. The pink chocolate was a bit tricky to make and the hot weather didn't help, I'll definitely have another go at this next time. We made the butterflies out of edible paper and my daughter decorated them with some edible glitter. I think she did a great job.

jamming around...

2010-05-16T16:23:00.007+01:00

Last weekend I had a hankering for making some doughnuts... I am not a fan of cakey doughnuts. I much prefer their yeast-dough counterparts. There is just something about the lightness and the delicate nature of the best kind of doughnut. The way it doesn't just give way when you sink your teeth into them, the gluten gives you just that little bit of resistance, that makes them so satisfying, whilst still being soft and fluffy... Yum! Fillings? Purest that I am, raspberry jam in one and M's favourtite apple and dusted with cinammon sugar for the other... :)

Though how do you make a doughnut keep beyond a day?! Ideas...?

Caked out

2010-04-26T10:14:00.013+01:00

Lots of cakes, though have been very slack in posting...

So here you go... all in one fell swoop... :)

So what do we have here... Lots of birthday cakes mainly... all with similar makeup, though all different flavours... Firstly Kal's cake... filled with raspberry and amaretto cream... a nutty roulade surround and topped with fresh berries and funky homemade chocolate decorations...

And this one. A special commision for S... A banoffee-chocolate-rum gateau... :) This one was a bit different, instead of just sponge layering through the cake, I changed the texture of this one a bit. It has a crunchy caramelised biscuit base dotted with pecans... then a filling of luscious rum cream, fresh bananas and caramel... the second layer was a plain chocolate cream peppered with fresh raspberries. Topped with raspberry cream filled profiteroles encased by crunchy caramel and the cake itself finished with an elegant chocolate surround.

So what else do we have... let's see....Well this one. I was a bit undecided about this one. The filling was a lychee and strawberry filling. The fruity lychee mousse was very refreshing, though I am just not too keen the texture of the lychee mousse... maybe the puree needs to be finer next time? Though it did make for a very spring flavoured treat!

So last, but by no means least... this retro looking number. Topped with butterscotch cream fill profiteroles and fresh strawberries, hides a butterscotch pear surprise ! There were a number of steps to this seemingly simple cake... and it gave me trouble! One of the layers of sponge was supposedly a hazelnut dacquoise, though whilst I was busy getting on with my vanilla poached pears, I may have forgotten that they were in the oven. I think I need another timer ! :P

Luckily, the rest of it behaved itself. So, sandwiched in between the vanilla sponge was a creamy butterscotch mousse, then the troublesome dacquoise, followed by the poached pear purée mousse, with some of the poached pears roughly chopped into the mix. Finished with smashed up praline of toasted pistachios, pecans and hazelnuts... Pure indulgence...

Halloween and Baby Shower

2009-11-04T17:45:00.004Z

Oh gosh, it has been that long since I last posted something on this blog? Tut Tut Tut. It's a good thing that Gracie has been keeping up with all the baking and blogging.

Did everyone have a wonderful Halloween? Here is the Pumpkin that my Rascal chose and the scary face was carved by my brother in law. Hee Hee Hee! The heat from the candle inside has made the top shrink.

My friend, Delene, had her baby shower last Saturday and I promised her that I'll bring some cupcakes. So I ordered some cute baby boy decorations and pretty cupcake cases. I phoned Gracie asking for tips on what sponge and icing to use for the cupcakes. In the end I used a Chinese Chocolate sponge and the topping consisted of melted vanilla white chocolate and milk chocolate instead of the usual butter cream and icing.

I tried to make some Totoro puffs (I saw some on a Japanese Website), but they turned out looking more like weired teddies/bunnies. Hee Hee Hee.... I definitely need to work on my piping.....well at least they tasted great.

Birthdays Galore !

2009-09-21T18:05:00.009+01:00

September... the month of birthdays - a LOT of them... or maybe just too long since I last posted... hmmm...

So what of the flurry of cakes... well... there were some indulgent fun cakes - snickerdoodles, with a crispy base, caramel mousse and chocolate cream, some fruity flamboyant celebrations of peach and strawberry layered mousse, another of mango and berries topped with a white chocolate bow, though my favourite was the elegant understated azuki and matcha mousse gateau... what's yours?

Simply Summerlicious !

2009-08-10T13:32:00.007+01:00

We are published !

Check out UKHandmade to see the full article for this yummy summery recipe idea...! :)

As you can see, I had more than a little fun setting up the photo shoot !!!

Wemake Christmas Fair and Sponge Cake

2009-07-31T23:27:00.013+01:00

Following from last year's success at the Christmas Wemake Fair we have signed up to this year's Christmas Fair at Chelsea Town Hall. So we have been both busy doing our R&D.

Photos taken from Wemake

For some reason I've been obsessed with making sponge cake (don't ask me why, but I'm not pregnant). So I've been steaming sponge cake and baking sponge cake. I bet I will be frying cake soon.........hee hee hee. I made a cake that was really......spongy, soft, moist.........and yummy today....have a look.

Update: For personnel reasons, we will not be selling any cakes and chocolates this year. We might be able to pop by and buy some goodies though.

Time for Chai... ?

2009-07-16T19:17:00.006+01:00

It has been a while since my last cake blog... so what have I been baking of late...? Well... it was the lovely Mary's birthday a couple of weeks ago, and I had promised to make her a cake since.. well, a very long time. So what cake did I make her? Well, this is one that took some thought... something a little different, a bit grown up... and here it is, a chai latte gateau.

A layering of vanilla sponge, then a chai mousse, a hazelnut sponge layer, and a rich smooth coffee marscapone cream, topped off with another vanilla sponge. It was an exciting trip for the tastebuds to the exotic world of the various chai spices in the mousse. Though I fear the cardamons were a little too strong. Though a very fragrant adventure nonetheless! Happy Birthday babes ! :)

Fluffy fruity sweetness !

2009-06-21T09:11:00.010+01:00

After a while of going awol, finally some new projects! Another festivity, this time for Father's day - He is where I got my sweet tooth from, and is always enthusiastic about any new bakes and treats I bring along for him to try. So I needed something a little different, something a bit special... and what better present than my dad's all time favourite sweets !!

I have always wanted to make marshmallows, though it always seemed a little bit more tricky and fiddly than I was prepared to commit to. Anyhow... a recent present changed all that, I am now the proud owner of a candy thermometer! So what better way to christen it than with this sweet fluffy treat!

Marshmallows are surprisingly straight forward to make, though they are fiddly... why? because they are sticky... take a bit of patience... and oh, and did I mention, sticky... ? ;) Though, they worked !!! I blended some fresh raspberries and strawberries in for that extra fruity mMMmm... And they turned out a treat... Dad loves them! Yay!

Also tried my hand at another flavour - Tangy lemon !

More Birthday Cakes

2009-05-15T12:14:00.003+01:00

There seem to be a lot of birthdays at the moment and I have to wait till July for Gracie to bake me one.....hint hint hint. It was my husband birthday a while back and since he took a day off I decided to do the same. Instead of going to watch Star Trek (will have to go and watch it later) I decided to bake him a cake. Can you believe that I've known him for more than 10 years and I've never baked him a birthday cake?! Tut tut tut. A few of his friends asked what kind of cake I was planning on baking. Well, lets put it this way....I kind of made it up as I went along. Hee hee hee!

Here is the cake:

A three layer vanilla sponge fill and covered with cream and fruits. I was planning surrounding it with Belgium chocolate swirls all the way round, but guess who ran out....yep I ran out and so did the local supermarket. So I had to improvise with the chocolate square disk. I think it did the job.

Before I forget we raised £50 for Shelter's Cake Time. I must organise the event again next time.....it was fun.

Now I feel like baking a chocolate cake....

Gracie's Lacies...

2009-05-06T12:53:00.007+01:00

More Celebration cakes - first a wedding anniversary cake... something romantic for spring. I came up with this cake so that it would appeal to both the sweet rich tooth of the Mr, as well as the less indulgently decadent preferences of the Mrs.

The sunny spring weather was also a firm consideration in my conceptualisation. So that I ended up with a lemon-white chocolate mousse gateau, with a romantic pink lacy surround. The idea - a smooth creamy white chocolate mousse, sat upon a crunchy almond shortbread base, then a layer of vanilla sponge, topped with a light refreshing lemon mousse to offset the richness of the chocolate and decorated with meringue blots and raspberry dots. I have to say, I was a little hesitant about the lemon mousse, as I have never made an egg white mousse base before, raw eggs just worry me... though it was really yummy, light air bubbles, and just enough tang from the lemon to cut through the sweetness. Even as a dessert in it's own right, I will definitely make that again! (make sure eggs are the freshest you can get!)
Passionate birthday cake: There was a bit of a story behind this one... the original concept involved coconut cream, and then pineapple and passionfruit mousse, in multiple alternate layers to create a bit of a dramatic affect when sliced. Though I messed up my pineapple passionfruit mousse. Although it was very tasty, the consistency was too runny. It didnt set... The first attempt at this cake failed miserably, and half of it ended up in the sink when I unmoulded it from it's cake ring. Very disappointing. In the end, I had to revise the brief (as ever, time constraints!), and came up with this one. Small, though nicely formed. Vanilla sponge layered between the passionfruit-pineapple cream (scrapped the mousse idea, as I wonder if gelatine is the answer to setting it?) Topped with the coconut cream and drizzled with passionfruit coulis.

Macaron Joy!

2009-04-09T09:15:00.005+01:00

I did it !

Macarons...
* Tip-toed feet: check
* Smooth poofy dome: check !
* Yummy pretty baked confectionary clouds... check !!!

Even managed the chocolate ones, that were yummy... with a triple chocolate 'n praline centre... ok, maybe a bit excessive, though it's a celebration of chocolate!Too moreish! :)

Les macarons...

2009-04-05T12:48:00.007+01:00

My latest adventure, the intriguing macaron... such a neat little pretty package made of 3 simple ingredients - though has managed to present so many problems and discussions to baking enthusiasts all across the ether...

So how did I fair? Well, it wasn't the success I had hoped for, and will require further attempts. My batter did flow like magma, though was a little worryingly flat when i piped out my little disks. Though after resting them for half an hour to develop the shiny skin, I carely popped them into the oven. After around 8 minutes, I had a flutter of excitement, as I noticed the "feet" slowly emerging. Though this was short lived, as I noticed that the feet were not standing tall and upright, as they began to spread outwards as they were more akin to doing sideway splits. I removed them from the oven and was semi happy with them. They had a nice shiny coat, though I couldn't help but be slightly disappointed in their flat-footedness...

I have since learnt that this could be a combination of the egg-whites not being ages long enough, and/or overmixing... So, will have to try again ! Watch this space!!!

(Yesterday's project - chocolate nest gateaux... Happy Birthday S !)

Shelter's Cake Time

2009-03-26T12:12:00.013Z

I've been looking forward to Shelter's Cake Time for a while now as I had organised a small event in the office. I signed early this month and got the fund raiser pack filled with posters, stickers, a collection box and recipe suggestions. How cool is that! We decided that one person will bake two batches of cakes/cupcakes for one day of the week. I started first with a batch of carrot cupcakes and orange cupcakes this Wednesday.

[baking late at night]

[I had to take these photos quickly as there were hungry colleague to feed ...Hee! Hee! That explains why someone appears to have poked their finger in one of them...Hee hee hee!]

The carrot cupcakes were all sold out before lunchtime and the orange cupcakes sold out in the afternoon. The little collection box is half full already. What a result!

Anyway today, my lovely colleague and fellow knitter baked a Coffee and Brazil Nuts cake and a Walnut and Date Loaf. The coffee cakes sold out late morning and there is just a teeny bit of the loaf left.

[Left the camera at home so had to use my mobile]

The money will go to Shelter helping homeless people or people facing loosing their home, especially in the current economic situation. I've asked one of my colleague to count the money and will post this later.

Jigglety pigglety

2009-03-23T15:42:00.009Z

This weekend was a pretty busy one for me, lots of bakes and not enough time !

Mother's day is a wonderful celebration of mum's everywhere! It reminds us all how we probably spend too much time taking our mother's for granted - and allows us this reprieve to show our unspoken gratitude on this one day in March. How easily we are let off for the other 364 days of our careless offspring behaviours... ;)

Mum was treated to the beautiful displays at the orchid show in Victoria this weekend. It was a lot of fun with us girls, me mum and Maria... cheekily pointing out some of the less obviously attractive breeds of orchids in a very childish fashion - think mum enjoyed the day!

Bakes - mum got one of my Swiss apple pies. I have no idea if it is at all swiss, though it got it's name, as it is my version of an apple pie my dad used to get at the old Swiss Centre in Leicester Square. Baring in mind I was pretty young- I don't even remember if I was even 10 when they used to have them - it was always going to be a bit hit 'n miss to see if I could recreate this old gem. It has taken a couple of refinements, though it's not a bad interpretation, considering it is based entirely on a childhood memory. Chunky apple, topped with an almond meringue crust and toasted flaked almonds and lovingly presented on a suitably retro plate.

Alex's mum got something a little different - a little more ornate. I didn't have time to think up a new cake combo, so it was a mixed berries and white chocolate mousse cake for her. Topped with juicy berries... Not a big leap from previous offerings, but it's still kind of pretty, though those darned strawberries - just won't stand up straight and created a slightly wonky border... :)

What's baking...?

2009-03-15T13:08:00.013Z

It has been a while,though still been busy baking...

A few new experimentations, many first times, molton chocolate soufflé, pear and almond frangipane. mochi and even tried my hand at sugarpaste roses. :) These made very cute decorations for my citrus cupcakes, not really a fan of sweet sweet icing, though I figured the lemony citrus would cut through the sugar, I think it works...

Mochi was a different no-bake experiment, I have made them before with varying degrees of success, as the sticky sticky glutinous rice flour is just too fiddly and sticky to handle, though I was hankering for the delicate soft

texture, so soft and satisfying when you bite into freshy made mochi. Yummy! My fillings: the usual red aduki bean filling, and also made the chinese variety - fresh toasted peanuts, sesame and coconut.

The contrast of the fragrant crunchy crushed nuts and sesame against the squidgy soft mochiness... mMMmmm...

80s Healthy Cakes

2009-02-18T12:37:00.005Z

It's currently half term and I took Monday off to spend some time with my daughter and her friends. On Sunday, we watched Dancing on Ice on television and it was the 80s themes to celebrate the 25th anniversary that Torvill and Dean won the 1984 Winter Olympic with Bolero. Now these kids haven't got a clue what the 80s were about. So I got all excited telling them about Fame, Leg warmers, rara skirts, power ballads, Steve Davis wining the Snooker Championship, Bolero, big perms, the A Team, Care Bears, Tiffany, Aha and men folding their jacket sleeves. I think they found it very amusing. Anyway, I showed them some of the old books from the 80s (my Dad use to work for a book wholesale company and had 40% off the price), when we came across an old cookery book.

This is what we made, a strawberry cream cake, decorated by myself and the kids. I tried to make a healthier version so I reduced the sugar and bought some low fat cream. We only included a tinny weeny amount of butter and milk. I thought it tasted fine, but Mum was not impressed with the low fat cream......I think I may stick with the normal double cream. Do anyone have any suggestions? Low fat cream cheese?

New Year... New Cakes... !

2009-01-22T13:23:00.006Z

This is my 步步"糕"昇 New Year's Cake... this is a typical chinese greeting at New Years. [Actually, you could use it anytime really when you would wish someone well...] literally translating to "every step high rising". ie. Making ever increasing steps towards success and steady progression.

Cake-dork that I am, I had a bit of a play on the characters to come up with the design 升(=rise), phonetically sounds like 星(=star) hence the rising star design on the chocolate surround... "糕", the word for cake, sounds phonetically like "高" (=high), which is why there are all sorts of puddings/cake-age type dishes served up at new year, to indicate abundance, superiority, things increasing, going up, overflowing I guess... And so, it was... a decadent affair of berries n baileys, nutty praline... homemade chocolate cups, dark and light, dotted with piped ganache swirls and finished with chocolate curls (though I forgot to get a shot of the cake complete with the shavings)...

This one was for dad's birthday... more of the same, though with a toasted hazelnut cream... and properly glazed strawberries so he wouldn't scrunch his nose up at out of season not so sweet strawberries. I did experiment with a nutty meringue, to add an crunch to the filling, though the duvet of cream just rendered it redundant with it's soft embrace, I suppose the only way around that would be to assemble and serve immediately... though then how to get the charlotte fingers to keep a hold onto the cake without time to set to shape... hmmm...?

Secret Santa and More Cupcakes

2008-12-20T22:29:00.003Z

Every year at the office we have a Secret Santa and I always get such wonderful pressies. I must be a very good girl......Hee! Hee! Last year I was given a small selection of chocolates from Harrods. Yum......I can still remember the taste.. Look what I got this year:

I'm really please with my present...Thank You Santa! I love it. I took it to the office Christmas party (no I'm not that sad to read it at the bar) so I can take it home for the weekend. Considering the amount of alcohol I had I still remembered my book.

This evening I had the urge to bake some cakes, but I didn't have the ingredients to make anything from the book, so I made the usual cupcakes. My daughter was so please to be able to help me as we haven't bake together for a long time. Instead of cream and icing we used melted Belgium milk chocolate and some sprinkles to decorate the cakes. Hasn't my little rascal done well with the decoration. We will be taking some to my Mums and to a good friend who we will be visiting tomorrow.

Wemake - Webake

2008-12-08T12:19:00.030Z

What a fantastic day we had last Saturday!

We have been preparing for the Wemake fair since August this year, experimenting with various menus, coming up with different flavours, working out the logistics of how were going to complete our mini challenge...

So we are happy to say that it all came together in the end and I think it was a success ! The most important thing was that we had lots of happy customers and got some great feedback. So a BIG thank you to you all for letting us share our passion for treats with you!

We both took Thursday and Friday off work to prepare for the day. We were baking like mad from Thursday (till Saturday early morning ... I mean very early morning). To ease the stress Mary had some music on and singing at the same time (her poor neighbours had to put up with her singing and the smell of cakes with the torture of not getting any).

Gracie was up to her eyeballs in cake batter... cheesecake mixing and watercolours ! Oh yes, watercolours indeed. In a moment of 'inspiration', she decided that we would bring our cakes to life in a customised menu... she had much fun with it... maybe too much fun, as it detracted from the baking which then had to go on until the wee early hours of Saturday morning... Probably not helped by her typical 'last minute' alterations to her cake designs either ;) - the fiddly work of the chocolate surrounds took longer than she had anticipated, though were definitely worth the effort...!

It took a good hour to set up the stand with some help and artistic direction from the lovely boys (thanks Jackson and both Alex's!). All whilst Mary was quickly piping away to finish off her cupcakes...

Our first customer was a toddler girl who had been curiously watching this flurry of activity with her father whilst we were setting up... She picked the 'OoOoo Chocolate' cupcakes - which turned out to be a shrewd choice as it ended up being our best seller and were quickly sold out before we knew it! As the day progressed, our cakes, truffles and other sweet temptations were rapidly disappearing before our eyes. We received positive feedback throughout the event, with many asking us whether we have our own cafe/shop... So that was very encouraging !

By the end of it all we were both completely shattered and ready for a good night's sleep ! :) Once again, thanks for all the great feedback... would love to hear what you the rest of you thought !

Birthday cakes birthday cakes...

2008-12-02T14:06:00.007Z

Even though am supposedly focusing efforts for the fair - I did had a couple of distractions last week - 2 birthday cakes... and one that I was only given notice of in the morning, for the very same evening - yep, so I only had a couple of hours after work to come up with an idea, make it and deliver... I really should be more stringent about lead times... :)

Last minute madness: White chocolate and praline decorated with fresh Strawberries and a mixed berry creme.

Second Cake: A twist on the blackened forest - with the addition of a praline sponge, Baileys creme filling and decorated with special kirsch laced chocolate surprise cups (I loved making those!)

Final Preparations and Nigella

2008-11-30T20:30:00.001Z

I've managed to upload my photo of Nigella ('the' Domestic Goddess) from my phone, don't you think she is so pretty and I like her fluffy white coat. I wanted to get a signed copy of her Christmas book, but the queue was so long and it was pouring down with rain outside....nevermind.

Last Sunday went really well, we got very good feedback from our tasters (thank you darlings) and we have now finalised our menu. Yay. Grace even popped over to my place for a quality inspection of my green tea cake today.....Hee! Hee! My favourite cake last Sunday has to be the Black Forest Cake (photo above) which I only got a bite from my husband's portion (Grace, you must make me some more, otherwise you may find one missing next week from our stock :)).

Most of the packaging has been bought and organised, this is just a sample:

The pretty apron was given to us by Alex and we will be wearing this on the day. I'm looking forward to next Saturday.

First snow

2008-11-24T20:15:00.007Z

So, it was the first snow yesterday, what luck! Could it get any more festive for our Great Tasting afternoon! :)

BIG THANKS to all our tasters and cake munchers... it was a really fun afternoon, the cakes were in abundance and the mulled wine was flowing... Of course, there were some feedback forms on hand to help us on our way... afterall, "there's no such thing as a free cake !";)

CakeRoll...

Cupcakes Galore:

* Matcha Green Tea cupcakes

* Chocolate Chestnut

* Lemon Glazed and white cherry

* Carrot Cake

* Choco-Banaramel

Other Cakes:

* Cranberry Walnut Brownies

* Cheesecake Brownie bites

* Pistachio and white chocolate mousse mini gateaux

* Mini Blackforest Gateaux

* Baked Vanilla-Caramel-Raspberry Cheesecake

* Mincepie Streusel slices - (I made a batch of these, and put them back in the oven just as people were arriving, to warm through... and of course - me with my less than effective memory forgot all about them, and they didn't make it out for the party ! Doh! Sucha muppet! )

Non-Seasonal...

2008-11-17T13:35:00.005Z

So I had an idea... well, it's a been on my mind for a while, though I had't found the key ingredient until Saturday...! Okay, I may have been a bit casual in my efforts to track it down, though still... it has been on the to do list for sometime...!

What is the big idea? Well... since we decided that we would be predominantly cupcakes, you may have noticed that I do tend to veer a lot from the brief. Well, who wants to be too predictable and is so much fun coming up with new ideas. Anyways - as usual I am digressing... So, whilst thinking about cupcakes and cupcake cases... I have been wondering what I could use other than your usual paper muffin/cake cases. Then it came to me... cake and ice cream, cake and ice cream... what about an ice cream cone as the shell for my cupcakes! Though obviously I needed the sort that could stand up on their own... hence the search for the right cone...

Best of both worlds... especially as the weather turns a little too chilly for the real thing... I hope you agree...! All that is missing is the 99 Flake... next time perhaps... and what about neopolitan sponge... :)

Shopping and Christmas Truffles

2008-11-16T17:56:00.004Z

This weekend I have driven from the South East of London down to Kingston upon Thames (1.5 hours one way) on Saturday and then all way down to Bromley on Sunday (40 mins one way). This is all so I can get my hands on some lovely packaging and supplies. I also managed to squeeze in some time to make some truffles for my Mum and work colleagues who wanted to have a taste. So it has been very productive weekend. In fact, if my rascal falls asleep early tonight, I might make some cupcakes. A few of my colleagues are having a 'Cake-Off' tomorrow and the theme is 'Cupcakes'. However, my cakes won't be in the competition as, according to my colleagues, I have the advantage of running Simply Scrumblicious with Gracie (so I would have had quite a lot of practice.....I should have kept quiet about it...huh). Nevermind....

Anyway, here are some photos of the truffles:

(Dark chocolate ganache covered in white chocolate with a cranberry topping, dark and white chocolate with glazed cherries and hazlenut)

Also, I was suppose to have a meeting with Gracie last Thursday at Waterstones, Piccadilly, but due to work commitments Gracie couldn't make it. Instead I met Nigella Lawson at her book signing. Hee! Hee! I'll post the photo of her signing her books once I figure out how to do this from my mobile.

Baked with love...

2008-11-10T23:01:00.007Z

Like buses - I don't blog for a while but when I do, they come in quick succession! :)

This weekend was a busy one. I was commissioned with my first birthday cake and it was for a very special person too, which made it all the more important that I get it just right. I don't know about you, though the I always find there is just something a bit special when someone bakes something just for you - whether the outcome is good or bad, it's the thought behind it that will make the cake so enjoyable for me. I was hoping this would be the case for auntie Mina's birthday cake.

Armed with an idea of the flavours and colours she likes I came up with an idea for a chocolate raspberry gateau. I wanted a shiny chocolate ganache glaze, though was worried that it would look too dark for such a joyful occassion, so offset it was my signature charlotte surround and some white chocolate decoration, with some fresh raspberries thrown in too! The chocolate decoration didn't quite turn out as I had hoped - I was aiming for a two-tone chocolate ruffle - though I didn't quite have the technique right. It ended up looking slightly like a scarf flying in the wind... ;)

Charlotte Cake - Chocolate sponge, layered with chocolate mousse and fresh raspberries, another layer of sponge topped with a Tia Maria cream, and then decorated with a chocolate ganache almost mirror glaze (think will have to spread it whilst it is warmer next time to get a smoother finish!)

Sunday - early morning baking, getting into the festive spirit and preparation for the fair - mincemeat streusel squares ... They were a bit yummy served warm with a dash of cream! :)

Feeling Festive

2008-11-09T17:35:00.011Z

Yay! It's almost Christmas and the Wemake fair is under a month away. I've been busy with Mary sorting a few changes to our original plans. Here is the final voucher to all the stall holders:

There will also be a choir there so it will be very festive, so we have agreed to provide some handmade mince pies to them. So this morning I made some with my daughter which was really fun, which is what Christmas Fair should be all about. The pastry was made from scratch and we added some ground almonds. We added some dried cranberries and chopped walnuts to the mince.

I was having a discussion with Kyoko regarding 'handmade' goods one evening over a light dinner at Liberty. She often hear people say that handmade goods/food are not 100% perfect, e.g if you buy certain mass produce goods, they are often made to the same proportions and size etc each time and they are cheaper. However, handmade goods are produced to a high standard and the fact that they are not all the same makes them unique.

Anyway, I will stop ranting. On Saturday, I took a bus journey around South West London to buy a few things for the fair and I will be ordering a few supplies from the internet. I'm just a bit worried that if I leave it all till the last week everyone will be fighting for them. I go back to my checklist now.

MIA...

2008-11-07T14:54:00.008Z

So, I have been awol for a while...

Though it has not been a quiet time away! What have I been up to? To be honest, I have been overwhelmed by work these past few weeks to be baking as much as usual. Though there were still a few treats to be had, and some disasters too! (What's with the flower? It's just beautiful don't you think?)

October came and went too quickly, it brought with it a quick dabble with truffles with some left over ganache from a chocolate truffle cake, though being the mischievous types we are, it was the adulterated version gently laced with some rumlicious tipple. Very naughty, but oh so nice against the smoothness of the chocolate...

It was a month of birthdays too... though disorganised as I am, usually forget what dates they land on. Pleased this year that I had managed to get the date right, I decided that morning that I would surprise my friend with an impulsive visit to personally deliver her birthday wishes... for once. Of course, I was armed with some equally impromptu cupcakes, though being less than prepared, I was baking early on the Sunday morning, with only the ingredients I had to hand. This evolved into some cute caramel cupcakes, some matcha experiments, and some others with the lovely chestnut cream... I vow to be more organised next year and bake a properly planned out cake! :)

Finally, the disaster... oh well... my friends came last weekend for our usual catchup, though it was the first time they had come to see me in London. Again, due to disorganisation and general skattiness, I only decided on the morning that I was going to make them profiteroles. Though having been out the night before celebrating all that was goulish, I was somewhat late in actually getting up and getting to it before they arrived. This resulted in a very flustered me, rushing and underbeating my batter, which resulted in some very sorry looking deflated choux wannabes.

Refusing to acknowledge that I cannot make the perky little puffs (as I have successfully done so in the past!) I tried again last night, and am happy to say, they poofed !

Rasberry and Almond Cupcakes

2008-10-16T23:00:00.004+01:00

As promised here is a photo of the Rasberry and Almond Cupcakes I made this week. Its a cross between a Friand and Angel Cake, so it has a nice texture and has less calories so you could eat more. Hee! Hee! It past the Husband test (he doesn't normally eat cake) who asked for seconds.

Wemake Fair, More Truffles and the Disappearing Strawberries

2008-10-13T13:30:00.009+01:00

I've been quite busy working with the lovely Mary Mcdermot from Wemake on the admin side of the fair in Christmas. So far:

I have sent her my food safety and hygiene certificates - very important
Agreed that the Choir should get some treats from us for volunteering to sing at the fair
Wemake has sent us the invite for the Christmas fair
Discussing the 50p voucher (some of the summer fruits will not be in season during Christmas time, so the photos on this draft voucher may change to more seasonal cakes)

Providing information on the name badges
Sorting out what we can and can not sell in the Church
Writing the Seller Feature

I have also been making more truffles, this time the chestnut milk chocolate coated in dark chocolate and coating in chocolate shavings. The verdict was that most people could not taste the Chestnut, so I may think of something else.....

I also managed to buy some lovely strawberries at my local supermarket, which was great considering they are out of season now. So I made my Mum her favourite strawberry and cream swiss roll. I used half of the strawberries in this cake and I thought I'd use the rest in an almond strawberry cupcake. When it came to making the cupcakes, my strawberries were gone? Shock, horror, my husband and rascal had eaten them all. I think I will have to use rasberries or black berries next time.I will post the photo of the cupcake when I buy some fruits.

Cheesecakin' around...

2008-10-12T13:01:00.012+01:00

Well, I mentioned last time that I had got a new baking pan… so this has been my toy recently, and with it I have been having a lot of fun experimenting with mini cheesecakes.

I have settled on a lovely vanilla cheesecake filling and I took a wander down the biscuit aisle in the supermarket for inspiration to move away from the typical digestives base… I am now happy with the variation I have come up with; nutty and crunchy - adds a nice twist!

So armed with the basics, I have experimented with adding various flavours to varying degrees of success. The banoffee was lush, and the cookies and cream also seemed popular… rum & raisin didn't have the kick I was anticipating... though my personal favourite was a combination of fresh raspberries topped with caramel swirls and more berries…

Going nuts...

2008-09-28T19:40:00.018+01:00

This week has been a bit of a nutty one... I had a hankering for coconut during the week, so had a go at making some coconut tarts - instead of making the filling-bit as you are supposed to, I wanted to try and make them a bit less dense, so whipped up the egg whites separately - whilst this did mean that the mix did end up lighter, it wasn't quite firm enough to hold up the cherry! I was very excited when they began to foof up in the oven, though the next minute I looked, all the cherries were playing hide and seek with me! Oh well... it did mean that you get a nice cherry surprise when you bite in!A couple of weeks ago, I got myself a fantastic muffin type tin - why was it so fantastic? Well... each individual muffin "pit" was loose-base! Never seen one of those before. Have since been playing with ideas about individual cheesecakes and other mini-bake creations.

I ended up baking a batch of sponge fingers and sponge, only to realise that there was no way I could assemble the cakes inside the tins, as the diameter was just too small for the Charlotte fingers as well as the cake... Doh!

Finally, I had to assemble the actual spongey bit of the cakes inside the tin, and then adding the surround after I had popped them out of the mould. It was a bit of a slow process and probably won't make it to the fair exactly for that purpose - though they did look cute in their minature form - the chestnut and Tia Maria whipped filling was a verrry tasty combination too! I will surely try and incorporate that for the fair somehow... Maybe in a seasonal yule-tide log...!

Mini-Charlie-Chestnut goodness

Imagine a chocolatey sponge to get you into the Christmas mood... ! ( I didn't have enough charlotte fingers for more than a dozen minis, so just made a swissroll with the leftover sponge and cream!)

Truffles

2008-09-21T21:55:00.006+01:00

After reading lots of books, researching on the internet, sampling and checking out all the cooking tools that would make my life easier, I finally took the plunge started my R&D on truffles this weekend. I went to buy lots of chocolate and decided to make the classic version of the dark chocolate with a hint of vanilia. I coated one in cocoa and the other in walnuts. The ganache turned out well (thanks for Dehlia's nippy little Kenwood chopper) but I felt that it could do with a bit more cream.

The chocolate was a bit strong for my taste as I used a plain chocolate with 85% cocoa content, I think I will stick with 70% next time. I took them to the badminton club that I go each week to share them with the team. I got some suggestions from them such as adding honey to make it sweeter and a bit more cream.

I'm planning on making some chestnut milk chocolate truffles next time and Gracie has recommended this chestnut puree.

Thames Festival and Market Research

2008-09-15T13:47:00.005+01:00

While Gracie was baking her beautiful and delicious Charlotte Cake, I went to the Thames Festival to do some (ahem) Market Research. This weekend Southwark Bridge was closed to all traffic and was occupied by more than a dozen food stands selling cakes, chocolates and savory food (the sweet corn was particulary good). There were also more than fifty tables and chairs on the bridge for the visitors to dine. The weather was on our side and I spent just over three hours there and a lot of money as well.

Chocolate, pumkins filled with fruit sauces from Konditor and Cook.

Artisan Chocolates from Cocoa Loco

Cakes and Brownies made locally

As well as checking (and eating some of) the range of cales and chocolates I over heard a conversation about how this particular person would not buy the cakes at the prices sold as they could easily have made them at home (I'm an auditor so eavedropping come naturally to me). Now this is a potential challenge for Gracie and me. We will have to think about how we can stand out in the crowd and ensure that our cakes and chocolates are different (in a good way).

Merry Charlotte Cake...

2008-09-14T21:24:00.016+01:00

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival ! This mooncake festival has happily fallen on the eve of my mum's birthday this year, so it's a bit of a double celebration!

Due to the R&D we have been doing for the cake stall, there has been no shortage of cakes for the family to try. Though I was keen to make something a wee bit different for this double celebration... It's funny, I have always enjoyed baking, though due to this new little venture, I have found myself unexpectedly carried away by the excitment of trying out new ideas, new techniques, and day dreaming about possible flavour combinations... ;) It is a really creative process, and I am loving every minute of it...! Especially as I marry my two favourite hobbies, the baking and photography !

Anyways, I digress... so, back to the birthday cake - Following on from the lusciousness of Alex's Tiramisu last weekend, my love of sponge fingers was reignited, and I was inspired to make my own Charlotte cake...

The cake is probably the most involved project I have undertaken to date, especially as I couldn't decide what centre I wanted inside and so settled on a combination of layered mango and mixed berry mousse. I have never tried making mousse before, am not a dessert-making person, so to test something new was a bit daunting as well as exciting! Proceeding with much caution, it was touch 'n go, for a while. The sloppy mousse, although tasting very berry, did not resemble anything that was every going to set into anything beyond its milkshake consistency. It also didn't help that i was working off of a combination of various recipes. I don't know if anyone else does this, though do you find that when you are looking for a recipe, you really want the best of everyone's experiences, and end up just mixing and matching... probably not the best method, but I guess I have been lucky so far! :) Lady luck stayed with me for this one too, it did turn out well in the end... in a leap of faith, I just used the mousse-shake anyways, and it actually set! In fact, the mango layer did a little more than set, and was a little denser than I hoped... Though the berry one worked a treat - if asked to do it again, would I remember the proportions I used ? Probably not...

Sponge... Berry mousse... sponge... mango mousse... sponge and mango 'mirror'

A Feast and Cupcakes Galore

2008-09-10T12:46:00.017+01:00

Last weekend we popped over to Gracie's for some baking and dinner (thanks Alex). I had a few errands to do in the morning, so when I turned up at Gracie's with only my ingredients for my Spider cupcakes, my host wasn't impressed at my tardiness... hehe ! I was given an hour to quickly whizz them up with the help of my rascal, as Gracie's other half was planning to cook us a proper Chinese feast, as I had been warned that I would be kicked out of the kitchen.

Grace, being as organised as usual, had already baked her Banoffee, Pandan and Panilia cupcakes - re-tweaking the recipe to get the perfect light and fluffy sponge...

Luckily I made up for my lateness with some yummy spider cupcakes.

I ate so much cake and was also picking at the food that Al was cooking (whilst he was still preparing it) that I was already a bit full even before dinner had began! Although I made sure that there was space for the surprise dessert, Tiramisu. Yummm!

Next week will be chocolate truffles...

New Camera and Cakes

2008-08-31T10:30:00.006+01:00

Some people may think it is a bit strange that Gracie and I tend to text each other what we are having for lunch or dessert. As food lovers, it is kind of normal to us. Grace has recently bought a new camera and has been taking proper photos (unlike our camera phone photos) of her cakes. So I thought it would be good idea to share them with everyone.

Tiramisu

Lemon drizzle cake

Chocolate Fudgey Truffle cake

Baking obsessions...

2008-08-27T20:31:00.009+01:00

Well... I suppose it's about time I put in an appearance and didn't just wait around for Mary to keep the blog going single-handedly!

So we had our first tasting session this weekend... we were at the mercy of Mary's decadent chocolate brownies, and summery strawberry swiss roll. Verrry indulgent... !

After a flash of inspiration for something to counter the soft foofyness of baked delights, my contribution to the table was the rocky road popcorn bites that you see in the picture above. We were very pleased with how these turned out... aesthetically - though they didn't quite do what popcorn should do. It was most definitely not a ronseal moment, especially when Mary scrunched up her nose at them. They were tasty enough... though admittedly, the coating was a bit heavy and too sweet. Not to be defeated at the first hurdle and after a bit of slightly obsessive experimentation and tweaking over the long weekend, I think we might be onto something a little bit special! The clusters are light and and have a satisfying crunch, we are still playing around with the combination of flavours, so hopefully next time around we will get the Mary seal of approval.

However, with all this experimentation and taste-testing going on from now till December, I fear that the 'puddings' will actually be the ones serving behind our stall, when the fair finally comes around... ;)

New Venture

2008-08-25T11:20:00.012+01:00

Hi, we are Mary and Gracie. 'Simply sCRUMBlicious' is the name of our new venture into baking and chocolate-making. We have always loved baking and catering for family events and have now decided to take this a step further to share our passion with you all!

This venture all started when Mary attended a craft fair in London and wanted to grab some snacks to keep her family content whilst she was browsing all the lovely handmade crafts. However, there were no snacks at the venue and once they were out of the hall, it was a long way back, so she didn't return and left empty handed...

This experience lead Mary to start thinking about what a good idea it would be to have a small 'Cakes, Chocolate and Tea' stand at the next craft fair. This would mean that there would be refreshments readily available for the visitors to the fair, so that they could take a break without having to leave the site. After all, what could be more comforting than a cup of tea and slice of cake!

After various discussion and brainstorming with Gracie, we contacted the craft fair organisers who agreed enthusiastically to the idea. A table is now booked for the 'WeMake' Christmas Fair on the 6th December 2008.
All the cakes and chocolate will be handmade by us, complementing the ethos of this particular craft fair.

We will be blogging our experiences leading up to the fair and hope this will be the beginning of bigger things to come! We are looking forward to sharing our creations with you on the 6th !