Happy Birthday to My Love

I do love a good birthday celebration, and this weekend we celebrated my Fiancé’s 31’st birthday. Here he is looking happy as a sandboy with the birthday gift he got from my parents – a Lubitel 166b Medium format film camera.

His birthday isn’t until Monday but he has to go to Germany to give a speech at a tech conference so we celebrated today with cards and gifts and a lovely meal after visiting Greenwich Market to collect the camera. So now I can share with you my birthday craftiness!

First of all, here is the card I made him.

Did you get the reference? It’s from the video game Portal which is one of his favourite games ever. It isn’t as neat as I would like, but I think for my first attempt at both watercolor painting and paper cutting, I think it is pretty acceptable.

And of course, since in the game, the cake is proven not to be a lie, I too had to prove the cake not to be a lie by producing the cake.

Here it is – on top, the cake in the game and below, my attempt. After spending forever trying to work out how to get the sprinkles on the side of it, I almost dropped it whilst lowering it into the fridge, which I can tell you, was heart stopping moment. Luckily I managed to rescue it, with minimal damage. He loved it!

And of course, in true Me style, I had to crochet him a gift too. And, of course, I finished it whilst he was sleeping on the morning of gifting. Doh! When will I ever learn to be punctual?

This is a Pachimari, modeled on his favourite character, D.va from the Video Game Overwatch. And, I am especially proud of myself as I did not have to buy any new yarn – I was able to complete it using leftover yarn from the Loot Llama I made back in December.

I am particularly proud of the little headphones. I think I managed to pack in quite a lot of detail!

A Year in Recipes (2017 Edition)

Another reflective post – this time in all the recipes I have created and published. 

First was this rocky road brownie fudge back in February. You can find the recipe here. 

I then made this butternut squash cake in March as a experiment. Turned out quite well. The recipe is here.

Then I made these yummy Butterscotch and Choc Chip Cookies. Also in March. The recipe is here. 

Then came these Roti breads. 

And this Lemon Meringue cheesecake. Also in March. (I was clearly on a roll in March.

I made this Mint Lemonade in April after being inspired at Honest Burger. 

And in May I made these Mini Egg Brownies. 

And this super tasty Chocolate Orange Tart (which i reprised this christmas for christmas day dessert). 

I then got super busy in July, with three cupcake recipes. Chocolate, Lemon Poppyseed and Banana. 

In august I made this Giant Cinnamon Bun.

And this Bakewell Tray Bake, which went down an absolute storm with my colleagues. 

And then in September, I made these Herby Dough Balls and an Adventure Tea Loaf. (Which unfortunately I didnt manage to photograph)

So thats 15 yummy new recipes published this year. I really enjoyed making these and feel really pleased that I have become more confident in my cooking ability. 

Tasty Choccy Orange Fudge Cake

Just poppin in to share with you a cake I made a couple of weeks ago as A gift for my partner for our anniversary.

It is a modified version of Mary Berrys Chocolate Fudge Cake, which you can find here. 

Here are the modifications I made:

1. I used the juice of 1 orange in the cake. I countered this by reducing the amount of milk in the recipe. 

2. I used smooth orange marmalade instead of apricot jam. 

3. I decorated with Terrys Choc Orange pieces – 1 bag contains plenty to decorate the cake and give yourself a reward for a job well done!

I love chocolate fudge cake and love to make little tweaks – what suggestions do you have?

Pumpkin Birthday Cake

First of all, I would like to apologise for the lack of posts the last week or two – I have been in a lot of lower back pain the last few weeks, Its been completely debilitating some days, So I have done little more than lay around in agony in my spare time. 

I have however been baking. 

As you may remember, it was my birthday on Saturday, so I wanted to bake some cake to take to work. I decided to go seasonal and make a pumpkin cake. Today I am sharing the recipe with you. I invented and published this recipe over 2 years ago but this time I remembered to take pictures before they all got scarfed down! So for the many of you who have been so lovely as to follow me since then, here is the recipe again!
Ingredients:

250g Butter, Very Soft

225g Plain Flour

1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

300g Golden Caster Sugar

3 Eggs

1tsp Ground Cinnamon

1tsp All Spice

1/2tsp Cardamon

300g Grated Pumpkin

2tbsp Golden Syrup

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 160C.

2. First, you should carve the top of the pumpkin off and empty out the insides. then carve it into wedges and peel. 

3. Grate the pumpkin. 300g of pumpkin is roughly half of a small pumpkin.

4. Cream the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add the flour and other dried ingredients slowly to the butter and sugar mixture. it will become stiffer but should still be soft.

5. Crack the eggs into a mug and beat them until combined. add them slowly to the mixture. If you add them too quickly or do not mix it in thoroughly enough, the mixture could split. (If it splits, you can rescue it by adding a little more flour)

6. Add the pumpkin and mix in thoroughly. This is another opportunity for the mixture to split, some pumpkins have more moisture than others and if your pumpkin has a lot of water, it may reject the fats. Again this can be remedied by adding a little more flour to bind it back together.

7. Finally, stir in two tbsp of golden syrup.

8. Spoon into the cupcake cases prepared earlier and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. they should be golden in colour but still a little sticky. A skewer inserted into the center should come out clean.

9. Leave to cool and Ice as desired. Thid time I used vanilla frosting and gold pearls to decorate. 

I also had a bit of an icing experiment using glace icing. 

For this version of the cake I used the same amount of mixture and just cooked it in a cake tin for around 45minute to an hour. I then covered the cake with white glace, then piped a spiral of black glace on top then using a toothpick much like you would for standard feather icing I dragged a line from the center to the edge to create a sort of spider web effect. 

Adventure Tea Loaf Recipe

I love me some tea. So does my fiance. We particularly love a little tea shop called Yumchaa (you can go to their shop in soho or camden or buy online). They make gorgeous red, green, black and white tea blends all with their own wonderful carachters. Our favourite by far is a red tea called Adventure.

It is a rooibos with dried apple, kiwi fruit, almond pieces, hibiscus and caramel. It is spectacular! 

So I got to thinking, would this work as a good tea bread? And by god it does!

Its is sweet and fruity and is lovely toasted and drizzled with honey. I only wish I had a photograph to share with you but I ate it all up so fast I didnt get a chance! 

Here is the recipe!

Ingredients:

200g glace cherries
2 tsp adventure tea
200ml hot water
300g flour
1tsp baking powder
110g caster sugar
1 egg

Recipe:

Add the hot water to the tea in a jug and leave to stew for about 10 minutes.

Chop up the glace cherries and place them in a bowl. 

Strain the tea and pour it over the cherries. Allow to sit for 20 minutes 

In a seperate bowl mix together all of the dry ingredients. 

Slowly add the contents of the cherry bowl into the mix, followed by the egg. Mix until smooth.

Pour into a loaf tin.

Bake for around 45mins on gas mark 6 or until a tooth pick inserted into the middle comes out clean. 

Enjoy with a lovely cup of adventure tea! 

Herby Garlic Dough Rolls

The other day my Fiance and I were making ourselves a pizza for dinner (we love to make our own pizza together) when I realised that we had no garlic bread! (For us this is huge – we could eat garlic bread forever). What we did have, however, was more dough than we could get in our skillet. So I had a brain wave. And this is what it looked like:

I call these my herby garlic dough rolls. They are so buttery and garlicy and yummy! So today, I thought I would share my creation with you! Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Dough:

140ml Water

1 tbsp Olive Oil

225g Strong White Bread Flour

1tsp Dried Herbs

1tsp Salt

1/2tsp Sugar

1/2tsp Easy Blend Dried Yeast

Filling

A Handful of Mozzarella

4 Cloves of Garlic

100g Butter

Method:

Add all of the dough ingredients to the bread maker and set to the dough setting. This is usually about 30 Mins of kneading followed by an hour of prooving. 

If you dont have a bread maker, you can just use your hands. Put all of the dry ingredients into a bowl, then slowly add in the water bit by bit, mixing with a wooden spoon until you no longer can. Then continue to mix with your hands, until you have a dough starting to form. Tip the bowl out onto a floured surface and knead until it all comes together into a smooth springy dough that bounces back if you press your finger gently into it.  Then leave in an oiled bowl to proove, about and hour or until doubled in size. 

Whilst waiting for your dough to proove, soften the butter in a small bowl. Finely chop 4 garlic cloves. Cream the garlic clives into the butter then beat until creamy and spreadable. 

Take your dough and knock it back on an oiled surface then stretch it into a rough rectangle. 

Spread the garlic butter all over the dough right to the edges. Sprinkle over the mozzarella then roll up along the long edge. 

Cut into bite size amounts. I cut my roll or garlicy goodness in half, then half again, then half again, so that I had 8 peices.

Place them in a baking dish as you would a batch of cinnamon rolls, and bake until golden brown. Around gas mark 7 for 20 to 30 minutes. 
Enjoy! Try not to gobble them up before you get them to the dinner table!

Cherry Bakewell Tray Bake

Hello all! I am popping in today to share with you a recipe for my yummy Cherry Bakewell Tray Bake, which I road tested on my colleagues just this morning and it has gone down a treat! Its so fragrant and lovely!

I used a 9x13ins brownie tin (thats roughly 23x33cm)

Ingredients:

3 Large Eggs

200g Baking Spread (I used Stork)

150g Self Raising Flour

75g Ground Almonds

200g Golden Caster

50g Glace Cherries

A little Icing Sugar For Dusting

50g Icing Sugar for Icing

A Few Drops of Almond Extract

A Splash of Milk

Method:

Preheat the oven to gas mark 6.

In a large bowl, combine the sugar and baking spread followed by the eggs to form a runny batter.

Then sift in the flour, followed by the ground almonds and mix until smooth.

Roughly chop the cherries and dust them with icing sugar. This just stops them from sticking together and sinking straight to the bottom of the cake tin. Stie them into the cake mix.

Pour the mix into a greased tray bake tin and bake for 25 to 30 Minutes or until a pick placed into the center of the cake comes out clean. 

To make the Icing, whisk together the icing sugar, a couple of drops of almond extract and a splash of milk. Add the milk a very small amount at a time until the desired consistency is acheived. It should be thick enough that it does not run straight off the cake.

Et Voila! Now make yourself a cup of tea and enjoy the fruits of your labour! 

Giant Cinnamon Bun!

I love cinnamon a lot. Its so warming and festive. This saturday the weather was atrocious so I thought what could be nicer than some cinnamon buns? A giant bun of course! 

Prepare yourself – its super cinnamony!

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

180ml milk

1 egg

1tbsp Yeast

50g Butter

50g Sugar

1tsp Salt

1 tsp Cinnamon

390g Flour

For the Filling:

70g Butter, softened

60g Golden Caster Sugar

2tbsp Cinnamon

For the Icing:

50g Icing Sugar

Milk

1tsp Cinnamon

Method:

First gently warm the milk in a saucepan and add in the butter. Once the butter has melted whisk in the yeast.

In a seperate bowl mix together the flour, salt, sugar and cinnamon.

Pour the yeasty milk mixture into the dry ingredients, along with the egg. You may need to add a little more flour or milk at this point, depending on the consistency you have acheived. 

When it has reached a soft doughy state, tip it out onto a floured surface, and knead for 10 minutes, or until the dough bounces back when you press your finger on it. Leave it to rest for 10 minutes.

Line your slowcooker with liberally greased parchment paper.

After 10 minutes, roll out the dough into a rectangle. 

Whip the softened butter so it is light and easy to spread then spread it all over the dough, leaving a little butter for later.

Sprinkle with the golden caster augae.

Then the cinnamon.

Then roll it into a log. 

With traditional rolls you would slice the log into bits. For my giant cinnamon bun however, you just give the log a gentle rolling to flatten the top just a smidge, then do thr same prcess with the butter, sugar and cinnamon again. 

Finally roll it into a whirl and put it into the lined slow cooker. Cool on high speed for around 2-2.5 hours. 

To ice, just whisk together icing sugar, cinnamon and milk. Add a very small amount of milk at a time, until you reach a thick glossy consistency.

Enjoy!

Lemon and Poppy Seed Muffins

I love lemon and poppy seed and thought this was a perfect opportunity to indulge myself!

Ingredients:

200g Self Raising Flour

100g Golden Caster Sugar

1 Egg

120ml Milk

50ml Oil

30ml Lemon Juice

40g Poppy Seed

Method:

Preheat the oven to gas mark 6. 

Place all of the dry ingredients in one bowl (except the poppy seeds) and all of the wet ingredients in another. 
Whisk the wet ingredients together and stir the dry ingredients together.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients a little at a time and stir until smooth. 

Add in the poppy seeds.

Spoon into your muffin cases and bake for 20 minutes.
Enjoy!

Banana Cinnamon Muffins

Funnily enough, I cant stand bananas. Never liked them, never will. They just dont sit right with me. But for some reason, in cake, I have no issues with them. Maybe subconciously I dont like them because I know they are healthy so I wont eat thrm on their own but cake gets rid of the healthy aspect… or maybr cake just makes everything edible…
Anyways, here is this Sundays muffin recipe! Enjoy !

Ingredients:

200g Self Raising Flour

100g Golden Caster Sugar

1 Egg

120ml Milk

50ml Oil

2 Bananas

2 Tbsp Cinnamon

Method:

Preheat the oven to gas mark 6. 

Place all of the dry ingredients in one bowl, the banana in another bowl and all of the wet ingredients in another. 
Whisk the wet ingredients together and stir the dry ingredients together.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients a little at a time and stir until smooth. 

Mash the banana and stir into mixture. 
Spoon into your muffin cases and bake for 20 minutes.
Enjoy!