Lovely recipe: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/afternoonteacake_87184
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Sunday, 15 May 2011
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
If you can't sleep, make cookies
The other weekend I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep. So I thought making cookies would be a profitable use of that extra time. As a massive peanut butter fan, I made peanut butter cookies from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook.
The mixture is a gorgeous, shiny sweet gloopy mess. I was so distracted by it that it wasn't until I'd dolloped out my first batch that I realised I'd forgotten to add the Reece's Pieces which I was adding instead of the stated 'peanut butter chips' (just because I randomly had the Reece's Pieces in my cupboard and have no idea what peanut butter chips are anyway). So I just stuck them into the top and then threw the rest into the remaining mixture.
It worked really well, the cookies get more firm as they cool and are a slightly chewy texture, which turns to satisfying slightly sticky peanut-butterness in your mouth as you chew. Highly moreish and perfect with a cup of tea to wash them down, from preparation to eating took about 20 mins and they made a yummy breakfast!
The mixture is a gorgeous, shiny sweet gloopy mess. I was so distracted by it that it wasn't until I'd dolloped out my first batch that I realised I'd forgotten to add the Reece's Pieces which I was adding instead of the stated 'peanut butter chips' (just because I randomly had the Reece's Pieces in my cupboard and have no idea what peanut butter chips are anyway). So I just stuck them into the top and then threw the rest into the remaining mixture.
It worked really well, the cookies get more firm as they cool and are a slightly chewy texture, which turns to satisfying slightly sticky peanut-butterness in your mouth as you chew. Highly moreish and perfect with a cup of tea to wash them down, from preparation to eating took about 20 mins and they made a yummy breakfast!
Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Amazing cakes!
What's better than a cupcake? A GIANT cupcake of course!
These were made some February birthdays in my family by my sister, Jackie - I know a day (or two) of hard graft went into making these with incredible results:
My grandad's (the yellow one) was vanilla topped with marsala wine icing, crystallised violets and chocolate covered blueberries (!); mine was strawberry flavour and Chloe's was vanilla flavour - we both had gorgeous chocolate covered strawberries on ours. Truly outstanding.
For more spectacular cakes - though not necessarily in a good way like these - amuse yourself at the Cake Wrecks: 'When professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong'....
These were made some February birthdays in my family by my sister, Jackie - I know a day (or two) of hard graft went into making these with incredible results:
My grandad's (the yellow one) was vanilla topped with marsala wine icing, crystallised violets and chocolate covered blueberries (!); mine was strawberry flavour and Chloe's was vanilla flavour - we both had gorgeous chocolate covered strawberries on ours. Truly outstanding.
For more spectacular cakes - though not necessarily in a good way like these - amuse yourself at the Cake Wrecks: 'When professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong'....
Thursday, 11 February 2010
6 hours and a dozen eggs later...
When, inspired by another department's efforts, I suggested having a cake sale at work in aid of the Haiti disaster fund, I didn't realise I'd get so into the idea that I'd spend my day off on my feet in the kitchen, slaving over eggs, sugar, flour and icing to produce 4 different cakes (3 for Haiti, 1 for me).
I awoke to a clear, cold morning, the first bit of clear blue sky we've seen in a while and then this happened:
A sudden, ridiculously heavy and blustery hail storm which blew in enough for there to be a smattering of icy deposits to collected on windowsill and bushes. Followed by more sun, and then some snow... all in all outside looked far too unpredictable, so I settled in to a day of working up a steam in the kitchen. And with radio for company and a good amount of bowl and finger licking to keep me sustained throughout my travails, I rather enjoyed it.
Preparing my tools in a (not for long) clean kitchen:
Cake(s) number 1: Vanilla Cupcakes
I'm never sure when these are done as they're quite dense and can be a little heavy... not sure if I slightly overcooked them, but always still delicious especially with beautiful creamy frosting on the top. I think I was a little over-zealous with the food colouring though, I got a bit over-excited and they ended up maybe a little childishly bright rather than the sophisticated pastel shades I was intending:
Cake number 2: Carrot cake with lime cream cheese frosting
This cake mix was REALLY tasty with the cinnamon spiciness! This is a recipe that always works out, lovely moist cake with dreamy, fluffy frosting:
Cake number 3: Spiced date, apple and walnut loaf
A little bit Delia Smith, a little bit Marguerite Patten this recipe. I used Delia's recipe for date, apple and walnut loaf which combined more ingredients than Marguerite's 'spiced date loaf' (plus I had apples to use up). But Delia omitted to use any spice, so I co-opted the 2 teaspoons of mixed spice from Marguerite's recipe, and I think the two combined was perfect - rich moist fruit with a lovely spicy aroma.
Cake number 4: Ginger Cake (from Levi Roots Caribbean Food Made Easy, my latest acquisition)
At this point I admit my domestic goddess facade was beginning to slip, and I certainly wasn't in the mood for weighing out treacle - a bit of an annoying recipe direction as treacle is thick and sticky and rather tricky to transport from tin to scales to saucepan. Tablespoon measurements would have been better...
Melting together treacle, sugar, butter:
Mixing in the flour, powdered ginger and chopped stem ginger (resisting the urge to eat chunks of it straight from the jar):
Looking very brown and treacly....
With lime icing:
And the cake sale....
I awoke to a clear, cold morning, the first bit of clear blue sky we've seen in a while and then this happened:
A sudden, ridiculously heavy and blustery hail storm which blew in enough for there to be a smattering of icy deposits to collected on windowsill and bushes. Followed by more sun, and then some snow... all in all outside looked far too unpredictable, so I settled in to a day of working up a steam in the kitchen. And with radio for company and a good amount of bowl and finger licking to keep me sustained throughout my travails, I rather enjoyed it.
Preparing my tools in a (not for long) clean kitchen:
Cake(s) number 1: Vanilla Cupcakes
I'm never sure when these are done as they're quite dense and can be a little heavy... not sure if I slightly overcooked them, but always still delicious especially with beautiful creamy frosting on the top. I think I was a little over-zealous with the food colouring though, I got a bit over-excited and they ended up maybe a little childishly bright rather than the sophisticated pastel shades I was intending:
Cake number 2: Carrot cake with lime cream cheese frosting
This cake mix was REALLY tasty with the cinnamon spiciness! This is a recipe that always works out, lovely moist cake with dreamy, fluffy frosting:
Cake number 3: Spiced date, apple and walnut loaf
A little bit Delia Smith, a little bit Marguerite Patten this recipe. I used Delia's recipe for date, apple and walnut loaf which combined more ingredients than Marguerite's 'spiced date loaf' (plus I had apples to use up). But Delia omitted to use any spice, so I co-opted the 2 teaspoons of mixed spice from Marguerite's recipe, and I think the two combined was perfect - rich moist fruit with a lovely spicy aroma.
Cake number 4: Ginger Cake (from Levi Roots Caribbean Food Made Easy, my latest acquisition)
At this point I admit my domestic goddess facade was beginning to slip, and I certainly wasn't in the mood for weighing out treacle - a bit of an annoying recipe direction as treacle is thick and sticky and rather tricky to transport from tin to scales to saucepan. Tablespoon measurements would have been better...
Melting together treacle, sugar, butter:
Mixing in the flour, powdered ginger and chopped stem ginger (resisting the urge to eat chunks of it straight from the jar):
Looking very brown and treacly....
With lime icing:
And the cake sale....
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