tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56906105776545107532024-03-06T07:41:03.486+00:00Cakes and CardiesBaking, Knitting, LifeCakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.comBlogger119125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-40968656369315442972014-01-03T16:30:00.001+00:002014-01-03T16:30:57.703+00:00Christmas et alIt has been a while since my last post, it seems that Christmas took over my life! Not sure what I did when I was working full time but I didn't seem to have any time this year! Probably just lack of organisation, must write more lists next time! But there was a lot of Christmas baking done and here follows the pictures to prove it.<br />
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These are my mince pies. I made traditional ones, the ones with the star tops, and frangipane ones. The frangipane ones were the favourite.<br />
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My christmas cake (one of four that I made, the other three went to good homes) with royal icing and green stars. Still have half left but it will go down quickly enough.<br />
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Christmas dinner pie. This had all the leftovers within - turkey, stuffing, sprouts, cranberry sauce and topped with roast potatoes. A fine way to use up the leftovers.<br />
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This is the Christmas bake I am most proud of, a Pandoro. This is Verona's version of the Panettone. It is a cakey bread flavoured with vanilla. It took about 36 hours to make but it was worth it. My sister in law sent me the recipe from Italy, in Italian! It had lots of pictures and with the help of Google translate I managed to decipher it. It turned out well in the end although I haven't tasted one before so not sure if it was authentic but it did the trick and didn't last very long. I made another one which will be going into bread and butter pudding this very evening.<br />
So, there is a roundup of my Christmas activity. Happy New Year one and all and more baking and knitting on its way in 2014.<br />
Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-50726732919116420782013-10-27T11:49:00.002+00:002013-10-27T11:49:51.539+00:00German Chocolate CakeAs you all know, I am working on setting up my own baking business and as part of that I need to get practice. To that end I sent out an email to my friends offering my cake baking services for the price of the ingredients. The response from everyone has been lovely, lots of "Good Lucks" and "Wows" some cake requests, yay! Thanks friends.<br />
The first cake request was a German Chocolate Cake. My friends partner asked people at work if they had any cake needs and one American colleague asked for said German Chocolate Cake. My first thought was, never heard of that before, what is so special about this cake? I immediately turned to the interwebulator and lo and behold many entries and recipes for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_chocolate_cake">German chocolate cake</a>. It turns out that it has nothing to do with Germany the country, it is named after the type of chocolate used to make the cake and is an American sweet treat.<br />
The chocolate used is German's chocolate which is a semi-sweet baking chocolate and apparently the recipe first appeared in 1957 and has been a popular American cake ever since. I looked at many recipes and decided on the one from the <a href="http://www.joyofbaking.com/GermanChocolateCake.html">Joy of Baking</a>, it gave some history behind the cake and also gave alternatives to the German's chocolate (which is rarely used these days). The cake is a triple chocolate layer cake with a caramel frosting flavoured with pecans and coconut. And so we came up against a problem, I don't own three 8in cake tins. In fact I have three tins that are of a size but are not quite 8in, crazy I know! These are tins that I have bought over the years and they all differ in size by very small amounts, one is 8in, one is just under and the other is about 7.5in!!! I'm sure they were sold to me as 8in tins.....I decided to use them because the thought of dividing the recipe in three and cooking each one separately hurt my head.<br />
There are many ingredients in this cake, melted chocolate (I used a 60% cocoa solids chocolate), coffee, buttermilk and of course the usual butter, sugar, eggs and flour. But all very easy, it uses the creaming method and then all the other ingredients are folded in. I divided the batter between the three tins putting a bit more in the smaller tin to help keep the height the same as the other two, it made sense at the time!<br />
While the cakes were cooling I made the frosting. It is a strange frosting made with egg yolks, sugar and either evaporated milk or double cream. I chose double cream. These are heated and stirred until the mixture thickens, it's almost like a custard. Once it reaches the right consistency it is taken off the heat and chopped pecans and coconut added. This is left for about 60 minutes and then it is ready for spreading. <br />
The assembled cake is a whopper! The other thing about this cake is that it is not frosted all over, seeing the chocolate layers and frosting in between is all part of the fun. I put the smallest cake on the top and once it was iced it looked a bit wonky but I think it passed muster.<br />
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I delivered it to my friend and awaited the verdict. I wondered if it would be like the German chocolate cake that her colleague remembered from the US. A couple of days later and apparently it went down very well and reminded them of home! Mission accomplished.<br />
Since then I have purchased two 8in cake tins and will rid myself of the "not quite 8in" ones.<br />
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Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-27238896594934045442013-10-21T12:39:00.002+01:002013-10-21T12:39:24.713+01:00Technical Challenge 3: Apricot CouronneAs I mentioned in my last blog I had a flurry of technical challenges last weekend. The second of my bakes was the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/apricot_couronne_12975">Apricot Couronne</a>. As I am not doing them in order I chose this one because I fancied making a yeasty thing and happened to have all the ingredients to hand.<br />
For me the dough wasn't a problem, it is a slightly enriched dough. I always leave my dough for 10 minutes after mixing it before I start to knead it. This comes from Dan Lepard's method, although he then only kneads for 10-15 seconds and leaves it for another 10 minutes and repeats this three times before leaving it for it's first rise. I found that just leaving it for the first 10 minutes the yeast has started it's magic and I only need to knead (!) for about 5 minutes rather than 10-15 minutes. It seems to work for me!<br />
This dough is a bit wet as it has butter, egg and milk in it but once you start working it it becomes less sticky and more manageable. I did one stupid thing and that was to use an egg straight from the fridge!! Really?? I know better, really I do, but sometimes I'm a bit devil may care and just go ahead. It's not even that hard to warm up an egg, put it in warm water for about 10 minutes and it warms up a treat. Could I wait 10 minutes? Apparently not.... As a result the dough didn't rise very well on it's first rise but once I had added the apricot mixture and rolled, cut and twisted it, it behaved much better. <br />
I baked it for the length of time given in the recipe and it looked and smelled like it was baked so I left it to cool. We were having it for lunch and the husband couldn't wait very long so it was still warm when we cut into it. The bit that had the most filling wasn't as well cooked as the bits that had less filling, which makes sense. It was also much better on the second day. If I make it again I would use less butter and sugar as it was a bit sickly. Was it wasted? Oh no it wasn't, every last morsel was enjoyed.<br />
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If you compare my Couronne with Paul Hollywood's you will see that his has a bigger hole in the centre. I think my dough wasn't as long as his when he rolled it, hence the bigger hole. Looking at it another way, mine had more tasty Couronne!Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-64055817883330184122013-10-14T13:11:00.000+01:002013-10-14T13:11:56.452+01:00Technical Challenge 2: Floating IslandsYou wait eight weeks for a technical challenge and then two come along at once! You will remember at the beginning of this years GBBO I said that I wanted to make all the technical bakes? In the same week? Yeah, failed miserably on the latter but I'm still determined to make them all. This weekend I was nursing my husband after a leg operation (nothing serious but he couldn't get around very well so I had to be on hand) and so had a bit of time on my hands. I made two of the technicals, more on the second one later.<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/floating_islands_with_03517">Floating islands</a> or Îles Flotante if you are being all French about it was the week three technical. Poached meringues in a creme anglaise with spun sugar on top, easy. I had all the ingredients (eggs, sugar, cream, milk, vanilla bean paste) so I decided to give them a go on Saturday, we could have them for our dessert (a treat for the wounded husband).<br />
Making meringue is ok, done that before. My first challenge was shaping them into quenelles, never done that before. I have seen it done so I made my best attempt, they weren't the smoothest or the shapliest but they did the job. The next hurdle was the poaching. It said to poach over a very low heat and make sure not to let the poaching liquid boil. I put it on the lowest heat but it still boiled and the meringue quenelles puffed up (it was pretty impressive) so I took the pan off the flame, hovering over it until the nine minutes were up. I scooped them out of the liquid and left them to drain.<br />
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Now for the creme anglaise, another first. But I have been reading about it and the pitfalls, not heating it to much etc. The poaching liquid is sieved to get rid of any rogue meringue. I beat the egg yolks and sugar until they were pale and fluffy and added the poaching liquid, whisking all the while, and put it in a clean saucepan over a low heat. I cooked it for about three minutes I think, until it reached the right consistency, i.e. coating the back of the spoon and all smooth and silky. I left everything to cool and moved on to the spun sugar (are you kidding me!).<br />
This was the hardest bit of this challenge, another first, but also it's VERY HOT sugar that you are playing with so a bit daunting. I managed to get something that looked ok, but it was really difficult to move it fast enough over the rolling pin to get the very thin strands. There were lots of blobs of sugar rather than gossamer strands of sugar! But I got enough to make sort of balls of sugar to stick atop my floating islands, there was a lot of wastage!! And now to assemble.<br />
Et Voila!<br />
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The meringues were light as a feather and my first attempt at creme anglaise wasn't half bad but I don't think it is one of my favourite desserts. However it did test many of my skills as well as my patience (spun sugar, why I oughtta.....)Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-24487715134706173882013-10-11T17:46:00.000+01:002013-10-11T17:46:39.548+01:00Black Pepper Rye and Band of BakersI watched the Paul Hollywood Bread programme earlier this year (I enjoyed it, good recipes) and in one of the episodes he visited a South East London baking group, <a href="http://bandofbakers.wordpress.com/about/">Band of Bakers</a>. It was started by two South East Londoners (Naomi and Gemma) and is about people who love to bake getting together and trying each others bakes. Interesting, I thought, at the time and then it went out of my head.<br />
When I was made redundant and started to think about baking a bit more I remembered them and put myself on the email list. The first event was quite soon after I contacted them and I couldn't make it. Then I got an email about an event with <a href="http://www.danlepard.com/">Dan Lepard</a>! Being a fan I was excited. The event was to help publicise the publication of <a href="http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/Titles/59349">Short and Sweet</a> in the Netherlands. They wanted members to make recipes from the book. We had to submit our two favourite recipes and then Band of Bakers chose which bakes would make the cut for the event. I chose the Black Pepper Rye Bread (have made it twice before and loved it) and the Espresso and Brazil Nut Cake (never made it but wanted to!). Given Dan Lepard's reputation I didn't have a lot of confidence that I would make the cut. But a week or so later the email came through, I was in! With the Black Pepper Rye, I was very excited and also filled with trepidation. Making Dan Lepard's bread and having him taste it, maybe!<br />
The day came around and I made the bread as per instructions in Short and Sweet and the bread Gods were with me as it turned out the best I have ever made it, it rose beautifully and was a very handsome loaf. Not being sure about the etiquette of bake club I turned up early (the event was held in a local Nunhead cafe the wonderful <a href="http://www.bambuni.co.uk/">Bambuni</a>) without a plate to display my bread or a knife to cut it! Happily the lovely Band of Bakers ladies came to the rescue with a bread board. <br />
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As everyone arrived there were amazing bakes from about 30 people, mostly cakes but there were a few savoury items too. All looked amazingly professional.<br />
We then waited for the guest of honour. Dan arrived with five Dutch food journalists, his Dutch publicist and his husband. He was lovely, introduced himself to everyone and was overwhelmed by the array of bakes from the book. Then we tucked in! It all tasted as good as it looked and I got to take home a goody lunchbox! Everyone was very complementary about my bread, all the jornalists loved it and one even took a photo of me with the bread! Who knows I may turn up in a Dutch food magazine.... But the highlight of the night was when Dan's partner came over to me and said that the bread was exactly the same as when Dan makes it and that it was "amazing", his word. I have to say I felt very flattered, I think I even blushed!! <br />
So, a great success and I met some lovely people who love to bake. Hopefully I will be able to go to future events. Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-31761986806773820642013-09-27T12:36:00.002+01:002013-09-27T12:36:41.123+01:00Courgette Cupcakes aka Vehicle for Italian Meringue ButtercreamAs you know, I have been doing some research into baking over the last few weeks. Trying to hone my skills in the basics, creme patisserie, creme anglaise, pastry and buttercream icing. Who knew there were so many varieties of the buttercream icing? And so many better tasting buttercreams too! Of course I have made the classic, butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract and the cream cheese variety but the Italian Meringue buttercream and the French butter cream are new to me. I started with the former, the IMBC and boy is it dreamy. <br />
I wanted to make it but had to have something to put it on, you can't just eat it by the spoonful can you? No? Ok, yes you're right, mustn't eat it by the spoonful!<br />
We have recently been getting a fruit and veg box from <a href="http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/">Abel & Cole</a> and the week before last we got two courgettes. Now, I am in two minds about the courgette. Cooked in the right way it can be delicious but get it wrong and it can be a very tasteless. One of my favourite ways of cooking the courgette is to put it in a cake, it makes a great alternative to the carrot cake. One of the signing up gifts from Abel & Cole was their cook book. All you have to do is go to the index, look up your fruit or veg and there are some lovely recipes to open. <a href="http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/recipes/little-italian-courgette-cakes">Italian Courgette Cupcakes</a> was where I stopped under the courgette. I replaced the honey and nut topping with the IMBC.<br />
I found this recipe for the <a href="http://cakejournal.com/tutorials/how-to-make-italian-meringue-butter-cream/">IMBC</a>, it was very clear, the pictures helped. The basis of this buttercream is a meringue made with a hot sugar syrup. You get a very thick and silky meringue and then add your butter whisking all the while. At first I thought that it wouldn't work, the addition of the butter makes it split but you just whisk on through and you end up with this thick, unctuous, creamy icing that you can use on anything. The thing you have to remember, again, is that you shouldn't just eat it by the spoonful. It's hard to remember when you are faced with the finished product.<br />
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I then piped it on to the courgette cupcakes. The cakes were lovely (a nod to the healthy) but the thing that my husband remarked on the the icing, he liked it, a lot!<br />
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Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-58465728637576132672013-09-20T17:04:00.003+01:002013-09-20T17:04:53.534+01:00Leith's British Baking MasterclassAs you know I was recently made redundant from my day job and my lovely work friends were very generous with my leaving gifts. I got a set of Orla Kiely cake tins, a great necklace with an oven glove, grater, whisk and frying pan charms and (the reason for this post) a voucher for <a href="http://www.leiths.com/">Leith's Cookery School</a>. I chose to do the British Baking Masterclass, a one day course that covered all the basics. I thought it would be a good class to make sure I was solid in all the cake techniques.<br />
I did the course two weeks ago. I really enjoyed the day, everyone was very helpful. What it showed me was that I am pretty ok on the basics, now I need to start using those skills to experiment. <br />
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The things I learned that I sort of already knew:<br />
1. Creaming the butter and sugar until it is really, really, really pale and fluffy, you can never do this too much.<br />
2. Always fold in the flour to your batter, not over-working it.<br />
3. Oven temperature is key, "know your oven".<br />
4. I'm pretty good on all the techniques.<br />
5. Always have the eggs at room temperature.<br />
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The things I learned that I didn't know:<br />
1. When making a sponge beat all the eggs together first and then add them a tablespoon at a time to your creamed butter and sugar, whisking them well in between each addition. This makes for a lighter sponge, you get more air into the mixture.<br />
2. Whatever raising agent you are using (Baking Powder, Bicarbonate of Soda) once this added to your mixture the chemical reaction starts immediately so it's important to get the cake in the oven as soon as possible to take advantage of that rising.<br />
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As I knew, baking is a science. It's about chemical reactions, the the ingredients you use as well as how you use them will determine the outcome of your cake. I also got a book recommendation from one of the chefs. It is all about the science <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Science-Good-Cooking-Illustrated/dp/1933615982/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=18SFAIU2XLD3P&coliid=I2T24ZKJ0KR2WQ">The Science of Good Cooking </a>. I want to learn the science behind all these reactions and then I can use that knowledge to experiment and be creative. Well, that's the idea anyway!<br />
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Below are the fruits of my labour: Victoria sponge with a passion fruit butter icing, lemon and blueberry friands, sun-dried tomato and basil scones and cherry and chocolate cookies. I have to say that the sponge was probably one of the best I have ever made so the course was worth it just to master that.<br />
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I also got a certificate! It came in the post yesterday, to get it framed or not?!!!<br />
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Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-27218873234366764762013-09-12T12:45:00.001+01:002013-09-12T12:45:04.517+01:00Creme Patissiere vs Creme AnglaiseWatching GBBO always put me in mind of creme pat, don't you find that? No? Just me then... It was the floating islands in their creme anglaise that got me thinking about it (I haven't made them yet but they are on the agenda soon) and the difference between them.<br />
It seems that the difference is that creme pat uses a thickening agent (flour, cornflour or a mixture of both) and is therefore a lot thicker and can be used in tarts etc. Creme anglaise just uses the eggs to thicken it and therefore has more of a pouring texture.<br />
I have made creme pat twice recently. The first time was a few weeks ago when I made a Boston Cream Pie. This is a sponge sandwich with creme pat in the centre covered in a chocolate ganache. No pictures I'm afraid but it was yum despite the sponge being undercooked and the creme pat not being quite thick enough. It would appear that I am having a few issues in the kitchen at the moment what with Muffingate last week! In fact one of my friends said that it was the nicest thing she had tasted in a long time so disaster disschmaster!! I used a recipe from the BBC website for the creme pat and it used cornflour to thicken it. I think I may have taken it off the heat too soon, hence the lack of thickness.<br />
The second time was last week. After doing some research online and in Master the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child I found that there were many recipes and many different ways of making it. The recipe I went with was from the Cordon Blue website.<br />
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Ingredients:<br />
250mls Milk<br />
1 vanilla pod<br />
2 egg yolks<br />
60g sugar<br />
30g flour<br />
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I wanted to see if I could make a cardamom custard so I replaced the vanilla pod with a cardamom pod, I used just one as I wasn't sure. It had a hint of cardamom flavour but not enough so next time I would use at least 4. The milk is heated with the pod and a third of the sugar until almost boiling. Whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until pale and fluffy then add the flour and mix well. This is where it gets tricky. Add about a third of the almost boiling milk to the egg mixture, this tempers the eggs. Whisk well and then add this back into the rest of the milk whisking all the time. Put back on the heat and and cook until bubbling, let it cook for a minute to cook out the flour. This recipe called for butter to be patted along the surface of the custard once it is off the heat, to stop a skin forming. Other recipes say to whisk in the butter once it is off the heat and then cover with clingfilm before refrigerating it. I did the latter, not sure why, it seemed more logical!<br />
As I said above it had a hint of cardamom but not enough and again it wasn't very thick. A lot of the websites warn against heating it too much in case of curdling and I think I was too quick to take it off the heat, it needed another few minutes and it would have been fine, I need to take my courage in my hands the next time. I used it to make two mini tarts with kiwi atop and they went down very nicely.<br />
Next up is the creme anglaise which will be attempted as part of my GBBO technical challenge challenge!Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-33612609590764042652013-09-02T17:25:00.001+01:002013-09-02T17:25:47.600+01:00Technical Challenge FailureGreat British Bake Off is back, very excited here at Cakes and Cardies, very excited. I have mentioned my love of <a href="http://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/">GBBO</a> before and if you can stretch back into the mists of time (2011) you will remember my attempt to bake the technical challenges from series 2. I did three (Iced fingers, Tart au Citron and Miniature Pork Pies), blogged about the first two but not the third (can't remember why). Then my personal life took a turn for the worse and blogging silence ensued. But as you can see from the last couple of months I am now back in earnest.<br />
So as series 4 of Bake Off gets of to a start so does my new challenge to make all the technical bakes from this series. I want to try to do them in the week after they are aired if possible. As I only decided to do this as the second week started I am already behind, not a great start, but hopefully I will catch up by the end of this week. Week 1 was Angel Food Cake, I will be making this on Friday. <br />
And so to my failure. Week 2 was English muffins, bread week. Bread is good for me, I have been making it for a couple of years now and feel comfortable with it so this should be easy....oh dear. To cut to the chase, these were a disaster. So many things went wrong and I'm not sure why.<br />
First I decided to make half the mixture as 8 muffins are a lot for two people to consume, four on the other hand is perfect, two each. Halving the ingredients was fine apart from the egg, how to halve an egg? I have done this before but it isn't an exact science. I pretty much beat the egg and then added half using the that-looks-about-right method. The dough was a bit sticky but that's not usually a problem, I think I may not have kneaded it for long enough because it didn't really rise very much. Then instead of rolling out the dough (as specified in the recipe!) I did it by hand and so the dough wasn't even. I should have started again but I carried on regardless. I cut out two muffins which were very thin and then rolled the dough again and cut out a huge one and used the remaining dough to fashion the fourth muffin. <br />
As you can see, flying by the seat of my pants, not very Bake Off. They rested for 30 minutes and then came the cooking. I used my heavy based frying pan and heated it to a high temperature before putting in the muffins. I lowered the temperature once they were on and gave them 6 minutes on each side. But, they were all different sizes so some were done before and the big one....well lets just say Paul would not have eaten it!! See what you think...<br />
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If I had produced these on Bake Off last week it would have been me leaving, definitely. So I need to try again and see if I can get it right. I have to say that they tasted good and had a light airy texture (apart from the giant one, I still ate it though). Many lessons to learn. I don't know how they do it on the show without all the instructions and to a time limit, pretty impressive.Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-64064434991617809952013-08-30T12:54:00.002+01:002013-08-30T12:54:42.161+01:00Chocolate Guinness CupcakesIt seems that the Chocolate Guinness Cake is becoming my signature cake. Not just that I have made it a few times now but that it is just yummy and I guess that is why I keep going back to it. There may be an Irish thing too, can't be sure about that though....<br />
A few weeks ago someone posted a link on facebook to a <a href="http://javacupcake.com/2013/07/guinness-cupcake-round-up/">Guinness Cupcake round-up</a> which I duly perused, something to try at a later date. Last weekend became that later date. <br />
We had a BBQ with some friends and as well as making many salads (Ottolenghi to the rescue) I also made a chocolate Brioche, vanilla fairy cakes for the kids (although many adults seemed to be attracted to the jelly tot/smartie be-decked cakes!) and for the adults Chocolate Guinness cupcakes. I went back to the round-up but in the end I used Nigella's Feast recipe, why mess with the classic?<br />
I wanted to make 2 dozen cakes and I figured the recipe in Feast for a 23cm cake would probably do the trick. The batter is very wet so I put it in a jug and poured it into the cases, about three quarters of the way, and it made 24 with a little dribble to spare. They cooked for 20 minutes @ 200 degrees, left to cool in the tin for 10 minutes an then cooled completely on my grill tray. I had some cupcake boxes leftover from the dog cupcakes and used them to store overnight and iced them the morning of the the BBQ.<br />
I made the amount of icing in the recipe and wasn't sure if it would be enough to pipe icing on to all the cakes so I spread icing on the first 12 cakes with a palatte knife and then piped the other 12. <br />
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Once I put the cakes out at the BBQ what followed was an interesting experiment in peoples choices. I told everyone that both batches were exactly the same apart from how they were iced but it was the piped cakes that went first! I have to say they did look prettier than the other ones, nothing like a bit of good piping.<br />
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Here's the chocolate brioche I made too....<br />
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Having watched Great British Bake Off (SO EXCITED that it's back) that afternoon I thought a sandwich cake was the order of the day. I kept it fairly simple, vanilla sponge sandwich (from How to Be a Domestic Goddess) filled with lemon curd, lemon curd cream and lemon curd cream with blueberries for decoration.<br />
It was a bit like GBBO in the my kitchen yesterday (apart from the fact that Paul, Mary, Mel and Sue weren't there!), I burned myself on the cooker ring and then stabbed myself with a knife when I was removing the nozzle from the piping bag! Not as bad as some on GBBO but getting there.<br />
The sponges came out well with no sinking, you never do know. The lemon curd cream filling came from my Lemon Macaron making of two weeks ago. I mixed 200mls of whipped double cream with 4 tbsp of lemon curd. I think I might up the lemon curd next time, it needed a bit more of a kick. I then piped this over the lemon curd spread on the first sponge and then piped swirls on top. I thought the swirls needed some decoration so I popped a blueberry on each one. A sprinkling of icing sugar later, voila.<br />
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It went down well with the knitting girls and was a treat this afternoon with a little cappuccino.Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-32774400737387851952013-08-23T15:35:00.002+01:002013-08-23T15:35:36.619+01:00Basil, Sun-Dried Tomato and Parmesan Twister BreadLast Sunday morning I was enjoying a mornings reading in the conservatory, as you do. As the morning wore on I began to think about lunch, food never being far away from my mind. We didn't really have much in so I needed to be creative. As I looked up my eye caught our basil plant. This was just one of those plants you buy at the supermarket and rather than chucking it after using it we decided to keep it and it has done us proud over the summer. All it needs is a bit of water every day and to be used once a week and it will keep you in basil, well for the summer.<br />
So I had basil. I also remembered that I bought some sun-dried tomatoes a while ago for some recipe or other and they had been languishing in the fridge ever since. Basil and sun-dried tomatoes, a culinary match made in heaven. But they needed to be in something substantial, a bread? I recently made a Lorraine Pascale recipe for a twister bread which had a sesame oil and sesame seed filling. What was to stop me from putting basil and sun-dried tomatoes in it instead? The answer, nothing. Once I started rummaging in the fridge I found some parmesan and some Italian cold meats, I do believe we have lunch!<br />
The <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/twister_bread_10942">twister bread</a> recipe is very simple, if a bit messy and doesn't take long in the rising department. Once I had my dough rolled out I brushed it with olive oil, scattered the chopped basil, tomatoes and grated parmesan on top. Then it was just a case of cutting it into six lengths, twisting each one individually and then twisting all six to form the ring. The join wasn't very pretty but the rest looked good. It then has a rise for 45 minutes and baked for about 35 minutes.<br />
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This is a great sharing bread, you just pull it apart and eat. With the Italian meats it was perfect and it made a starring roll in Wednesdays dinner when it went into a Panzanella (a tomato and bread Tuscan salad). Bread is indeed the food of the Gods. Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-5011695637946461222013-08-18T13:14:00.002+01:002013-08-18T13:14:28.782+01:00The Macaro(o)nI have now made macarons four times. The first time they worked out ok, see <a href="http://cakesandcardies.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/magnificent-macaroons-maybe.html">here</a>, the second time they were a disaster (nothing to see here, go back to your homes). My third attempt was a couple of months ago. I had some egg whites left over (can't remember from what) and decided to put the previous failure behind me and try again. This time I used a recipe from the <a href="http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/books/detail.page?isbn=9780297863267">Hairy Bikers Big Book of Baking</a> (the one from their TV series Bakeation, which is full of many splendid things). <br />
This recipe is from their time in France, so these would be macarons as opposed to macaroons, in this case a Raspberry macaron. However, when I came to make them I didn't have the ingredients, i.e. the raspberries. The filling has rose water in it and this gave me an idea. I would make rose water macarons with a pistachio filling (I did have rose water and pistachios). These were a triumph, I gave some to the neighbours and brought the rest in to work.<br />
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Ok, so we are on a roll. A couple of weeks ago I made a Boston Cream Pie which calls for a pastry cream filling (my first attempt at this, I will be trying again and will let you know how I get on) and I was left with egg whites. I turned to the Hairy Bikers again and this time a Lemon Macaron. I seem to be fine with the method (having the Kicthenaid helps) it is the piping that seems to be the problem. They either come out too big or too small, although that isn't really a problem I guess. The main thing is getting them lovely and smooth and shiny as per the picture and every other macaron I have seen. I followed all the instructions (use<br />
water on your fingers to smooth the top, bang the tray on the surface a few times, leave them for 30-60 minutes to create a shiny crust) but they still came out lumpy. They tasted lovely, the filling of cream and lemon curd was dreamy but in the looks department they had failed miserably, see what you think.<br />
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They made lovely gifts for friends at our recent dining club, despite their imperfections. No feedback yet on taste but they seemed pleased to receive them!Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-39948749660756055392013-08-06T18:58:00.002+01:002013-08-06T18:58:13.890+01:00From Little Acorns.....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsCWwkfAh7qP9V6b6kAQfByBkNiGjetVIUQLkSOB7qf3yMpoGb7AwTr8rB2Ale2kF2GISs6ycNn7UlrFDhK2AY723pJaoQ78kWzEUD41FBnRHSEaehSkCERmKdMWvOMcqPJiVSQs7ZK04/s1600/WP_000619.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsCWwkfAh7qP9V6b6kAQfByBkNiGjetVIUQLkSOB7qf3yMpoGb7AwTr8rB2Ale2kF2GISs6ycNn7UlrFDhK2AY723pJaoQ78kWzEUD41FBnRHSEaehSkCERmKdMWvOMcqPJiVSQs7ZK04/s200/WP_000619.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I love making cakes, you know this about me. I love it, love it. Recently I have made some more elaborate cakes. A wedding cake (yawn!) and a couple of friends birthday cakes (one involving a frog on a lily pad and one with very bad writing!). But none of my cakes have ever been made for public consumption i.e. for people I don't know, until recently.<br />
I was at a friends birthday party (the bad writing cake) when another friend asked me to make a cake for her daughter's upcoming 5th birthday. Her daughter likes dogs, well actually she LOVES dogs, obsessed. The commission was to make a dog based cake for a five year old and some cupcakes for the adults attending the party. My friend insisted that she would pay me, I demurred, she insisted again and I said "well, let's talk about that later" (not good at the taking of the money from friends, you know what I mean?). I came away from the party with a hangover and a job, not too shabby for a Sunday night in Camberwell.<br />
I had a few weeks before the big day and spent some time researching dog cakes on the internet, as you can imagine there was a lot to see. In the end I decided on dalmatian cake, the dalmatian being Ella's favourite of all the dogs. The cake itself was a chocolate cake (from Nigella's Feast), two layers with a vanilla butter cream in the middle, covered with white fondant icing and decorated with black spots. The crowning glory was a fondant dalmatian (with red scarf) sat atop the cake. After getting approval for my design it was just a matter of waiting until the week before to make the fondant dog and ice the cake board and the night before to make the cake. <br />
The morning of the party I made 2 dozen cupcakes (12 vanilla, 12 chocolate) and decorated them with fondant icing paws (see below). All that was left to do was to get them safely to the party, that's where a husband with a car comes in handy (especially when I don't drive). We delivered the cakes and stayed to enjoy the festivities (5 year olds birthday parties a very tiring...) and saw the cake delivered to Ella with candles. She was very happy with her doggie cake and there were compliments from the adults for the cupcakes. My first foray into paid cake making was a success. <br />
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Since then I have been made redundant from my day job and one of my ideas is to start a Cakes and Cardies business, to somehow turn my love of baking into a job. It is a challenge, daunting etc but if I don't try it now when will I? Onwards and upwards.<br />
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Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-63032578335842704222013-08-06T18:58:00.000+01:002013-08-06T18:58:00.314+01:00Sorry..about the earlier technical difficulties. The publish button is next to the save button! Full post to follow.Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-30498002863579147552013-07-25T14:41:00.001+01:002013-07-25T14:41:59.430+01:00Soft FurnishingsWe have lived in our house for almost 4 years (my husband) and almost 3 years (me) and we are slowly (very slowly) sorting out each of the rooms. You know when you move in somewhere you just make do with what you have? You think, this will do until I settle in and decide what I want.....suddenly it's 4 years later and you haven't done very much at all. That's where we are at the moment. <br />
But the lounge room is about to have a complete makeover: new curtains (went up at the weekend), new sofa (being delivered today), new dining table (being delivered on Friday) and chairs (put together over the weekend). In a very girly way I am very excited! <br />
Just putting up the new curtains has made all the difference. They are a wonderful 50s inspired print from Sanderson, <a href="http://www.johnlewis.com/sanderson-dandelion-clocks-lined-eyelet-curtains/p114044">Dandelion Clocks</a>. As you can see the material is cream with wonderful splashes of green, grey and mustard. And this is where I sought my inspiration for the soft furnishings i.e. cushion covers. We did buy 2 cushions in the same pattern but I also wanted to knit some and the bought cushions were too expensive to be buying more than two. I bought a couple of basic cream cushions for £5.99 instead, much more cost effective. <br />
I wanted to use the Celtic knot cable pattern that I had used on the shawl I didn't wear for my wedding (sorry, it was only a matter of time!) and discovered a simple but impactful one on Ravelry, <a href="http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/knitting/how_to_knit_an_aran_pillow_with_a_celtic_design.php">Aran Pillow</a>. Unfortunately it doesn't come with the cat!! I had some cream wool in my stash that I thought would work. It was a lighter weight than the pattern called for so I had to add some stitches either end to get it to the requisite 40cm but nothing too onerous. I'm not the best at adjusting patterns but something as simple as a square is hard to mess up, she says.<br />
I finished the first cushion on Saturday, sewn up and ready for positioning on the sofa. I bought some Debbie Bliss aran wool in a green/grey colour for the other cushion cover and started that one yesterday. I think this one will knit up quicker because of the aran weight. It does seem strange to be knitting in the weather but the cushions won't make them selves. Here is a picture of it in progress.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU_Rrj2INf2G7ZxZ23xzLhomQAyDo_5k8yQmg-CndMKGkOQ6mkNM729hliqRNEogQPEjnYkKFPJ48Ijc4990nFkq2UwXJh9qAiAoF7gBxqLbgqXaMHlPUIOq4Grea5GS8DryHeKQIsF2Q/s1600/WP_000641.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU_Rrj2INf2G7ZxZ23xzLhomQAyDo_5k8yQmg-CndMKGkOQ6mkNM729hliqRNEogQPEjnYkKFPJ48Ijc4990nFkq2UwXJh9qAiAoF7gBxqLbgqXaMHlPUIOq4Grea5GS8DryHeKQIsF2Q/s200/WP_000641.jpg" /></a></div>I want to add a couple of more cushions and with that in mind I bought an off-cut of the Dandelion material from ebay, quite a sizeable piece for about £12. The idea (it is nothing more than an idea at the moment!) is to use the above-mentioned shawl as the front of the cushion cover and back it with the material. What I think I will do is sew the shawl to the material and then make the cushion cover from there. Not sure if that makes sense, in my head it does. I don't have a sewing machine so I will have to do it all by hand which makes it trickier but not impossible. More on that later. Meanwhile here is the first cushion in situ on the new sofa with her shop bought siblings, aaaah. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisZQjBd2Bprg1j_9P2OMpn9ZFWLa8_t0dKY9qnc3xCrAtWKP4KDNQ4QgT9ETIdEhFYteFGkJn91KcksMFRwvXZqf6TxqOMx6c98rWS3NhojZfXewN0CcMyecBJeGxIer5UbWhxs0K_d54/s1600/WP_000639.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisZQjBd2Bprg1j_9P2OMpn9ZFWLa8_t0dKY9qnc3xCrAtWKP4KDNQ4QgT9ETIdEhFYteFGkJn91KcksMFRwvXZqf6TxqOMx6c98rWS3NhojZfXewN0CcMyecBJeGxIer5UbWhxs0K_d54/s200/WP_000639.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm5MNxDdRDq2lRWxzN-Qt9gf_iXstuzXnen4U1a2IIqoXYn14fj-7nHUDRtW69wdRzz10DXfqNNpXGbGS5KxmPbecZ9Esvy5dFAAiOqBUglHGh3qMPNqE7PLyRfVVieOw8vUOwyJKs4sI/s1600/WP_000640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm5MNxDdRDq2lRWxzN-Qt9gf_iXstuzXnen4U1a2IIqoXYn14fj-7nHUDRtW69wdRzz10DXfqNNpXGbGS5KxmPbecZ9Esvy5dFAAiOqBUglHGh3qMPNqE7PLyRfVVieOw8vUOwyJKs4sI/s200/WP_000640.jpg" /></a></div>Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-86490264410136598752013-07-11T18:54:00.002+01:002013-07-11T18:54:38.980+01:00The Cardies Part of the WeddingThis will be the last time I mention my wedding, honest....well it may come up again but promise it will only be in passing.<br />
We have had the cakes bit of the wedding now for the cardies bit. I wanted to add a knitting element to the day and one of the things I decided was to knit a shawl to wear with my dress. I wanted to use cable and found a pattern on Ravelry for a beautiful shawl with a Celtic love knot cable running the length of the shawl. I chose a cream wool and began the 600 odd rows of cable. I finished it fairly quickly but it soon became obvious that it wasn't going to work. It was too small and didn't really go with the dress. So I have put it away for the moment but it will re-appear under another guise at some point (watch this space).<br />
With the shawl a no-go I wanted some knitting to feature and after some internet surfing I came upon some knitted bunting, aha, this could be it. The pattern was very simple, stocking stitch with a garter stitch border. My dress was red so I used cream and red (from my wool stash) and knitted 18 flags so I could alternate red and cream. I then sewed them together and using duplicate stitch embellished them with SHARON + PAUL. I bought a bag of random vintage cream buttons from ebay and sewed them on to the flags, et voila. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpdUbsFDyO_O5QkVe-n9N3-42r21GVrmSsHGY3X1DDQ0p4HSVRAZ3T1c5SBB31I2IIyRDBV0rxmAME1ifbZ2zOuHeJWh9b9UVgafqJgKEbWa0nfbzH3oePZ5hwqteCZBSxFxqam5zwqzU/s1600/DSC_0155.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpdUbsFDyO_O5QkVe-n9N3-42r21GVrmSsHGY3X1DDQ0p4HSVRAZ3T1c5SBB31I2IIyRDBV0rxmAME1ifbZ2zOuHeJWh9b9UVgafqJgKEbWa0nfbzH3oePZ5hwqteCZBSxFxqam5zwqzU/s200/DSC_0155.jpg" /></a></div>All it cost was my time (not that long really, a few nights in front of the telly) and the buttons (about £5). It was hung on the top table at the wedding, I was very pleased with it I have to say. <br />
Here endeth the Cakes and Cardies wedding. Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-25668199330222298982013-07-06T09:16:00.001+01:002013-07-06T09:16:32.634+01:00Wedding Cake (Volume 2)Having decided on everything for the wedding cake I then had to wait, months (well three or four) before putting any of it into action. The nature of the cake being that it is a last minute thing. But I did want to test out the cake tins and see if I could cook the cakes in advance and then freeze them thus saving myself any last minute dramas. Work were very happy with me in the months before the wedding, they all got to have chocolate Guinness cake on a regular basis. The 14in cake was the one I was worried about most but it proved very easy. <br />
I used the <a href="http://www.cakebaker.co.uk/baking-tin-size-conversion-calculator.html">Cakeometer</a> to size up and down from the recipe, a great tool for any baker. It also turns out that the cooking time for a 14in cake is not that much different from a 9in one (the original size in the recipe), who knew? Well, lots of people really! It cooked for about 10 minutes longer in the end. I cut this into quarters, half made it's way into work, one quarter went in the freezer and then went to a friends house and the last quarter.....well I had to check that it was ok! I made the 10in one too and froze it for two weeks, my testers at work couldn't tell the difference so I knew that I could do some advance work. The 14in wouldn't fit in my freezer so that had to be made a couple of days before but I made the other two layers two weeks before.<br />
In the month before the wedding I assembled all the extra things I would need: cake boxes, cake boards, ribbon, food colours, lily forming set etc, everything was ready. The week before the wedding I iced the cake boards and made the calla lilies for the bottom two layers. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYybR4ZGmj_8qNag8B7Mw2ofbRp_Jh-YFjXSlBiiLFylb3ZO8goDs7uKq4tXWMzDgeWbxO0dUajSfe_sQCSfox8Zp1CYrKjTmMWeuZCe_wX_qu_nItvJ7iLB7mc3GCK3Ka2lzR0czXc4c/s1600/WP_000406.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYybR4ZGmj_8qNag8B7Mw2ofbRp_Jh-YFjXSlBiiLFylb3ZO8goDs7uKq4tXWMzDgeWbxO0dUajSfe_sQCSfox8Zp1CYrKjTmMWeuZCe_wX_qu_nItvJ7iLB7mc3GCK3Ka2lzR0czXc4c/s200/WP_000406.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQJQPXrXIK_87Di1cUuY_Z3LI8WKnMRTl4OfD0OaPAu73rQRc1uR553jhcwd8Kca521CZWXgcbk_5V1BIi54Bq0qklsuNHUkJUXfaSmHJchh7XYR23BeoiW5HshCFbR9qbLAa7Fq39hDQ/s1600/WP_000394.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQJQPXrXIK_87Di1cUuY_Z3LI8WKnMRTl4OfD0OaPAu73rQRc1uR553jhcwd8Kca521CZWXgcbk_5V1BIi54Bq0qklsuNHUkJUXfaSmHJchh7XYR23BeoiW5HshCFbR9qbLAa7Fq39hDQ/s200/WP_000394.jpg" /></a></div>I chose calla lilies because I was having them in my bouquet, they are so simple and elegant. I followed instructions on the <a href="http://www.wilton.com/technique/Calla-Lily">Wilton</a> website for these and used the forming kit to make three different sizes. They were very easy to make and looked rather lovely, even if I do say so myself. I made the 14in cake three days before the wedding (picture above) and took the other two layers out of the freezer 24 hours before I iced them.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglPqHE41vkAUrJVDhcXHBw4wYJ30pdoHrLQY3w9wDaV2XQ671ZW5YEcaeVi4FXMHVGaH0HO4C_JJZeH8T1X-j02EaukPkHIlzBtfO9sXbszVYTK47gUFPe6-qBddpYdcbaZmvlNmPq7t4/s1600/WP_000407.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglPqHE41vkAUrJVDhcXHBw4wYJ30pdoHrLQY3w9wDaV2XQ671ZW5YEcaeVi4FXMHVGaH0HO4C_JJZeH8T1X-j02EaukPkHIlzBtfO9sXbszVYTK47gUFPe6-qBddpYdcbaZmvlNmPq7t4/s200/WP_000407.jpg" /></a></div>So all was ready, just the hard part to do now!<br />
We got married on a Saturday and had to deliver the cakes to the venue on Friday afternoon so started the icing on the Wednesday to give me some time in case of disasters. Well, you never know and it would have to be perfect given that 90 odd people would be looking/photographing/eating it! As it turned out it was fairly easy and stress-free. My mother had arrived the night before so she was my able assistant and between us we were finished by lunchtime on Wednesday! Iced, be-ribboned and boxed ready for delivery on Friday. This meant we could go for afternoon tea on Thursday (at the British Museum) and have a fairly easy run-up to the big day.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf33A9yWBNI-vIDzaNqXJajauQREstphx86vyHc5CD46AWyyWprRmB3bHFFksKTjoIP32rnGtmfeyX0gjdLInNS8xUYOp8vW0691YFaBHCkqMpoW_EbAeD-1pBZiAS39axTu12-IhaiI0/s1600/WP_000414.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf33A9yWBNI-vIDzaNqXJajauQREstphx86vyHc5CD46AWyyWprRmB3bHFFksKTjoIP32rnGtmfeyX0gjdLInNS8xUYOp8vW0691YFaBHCkqMpoW_EbAeD-1pBZiAS39axTu12-IhaiI0/s200/WP_000414.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA0a49lHrZvEkFCrttCd6JsDWgPQpFacqUaRmniq5YTYf4AX7WS3sqHWnWEKkjQU2NAG6JnlLbqrb6RSM9Tgq9K0pksAukBRqQIcSfRcYzOLNEiimkLKcuhOCtcXtvLpsmHNxk-qJybnE/s1600/WP_000415.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA0a49lHrZvEkFCrttCd6JsDWgPQpFacqUaRmniq5YTYf4AX7WS3sqHWnWEKkjQU2NAG6JnlLbqrb6RSM9Tgq9K0pksAukBRqQIcSfRcYzOLNEiimkLKcuhOCtcXtvLpsmHNxk-qJybnE/s200/WP_000415.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3c_M1z6pr0ryl4xS0yPLnyujbXTgvN1zUXG9jpfZuXXBu4sO2f92YfB0oSVvH6_PnGAcsa0x0YF03CWZgxrhEwepI-2AVSgugIeOMD0Ytdj1HBy4yC5wK2n3YP0r5mI12-chJUaxdvIA/s1600/WP_000416.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3c_M1z6pr0ryl4xS0yPLnyujbXTgvN1zUXG9jpfZuXXBu4sO2f92YfB0oSVvH6_PnGAcsa0x0YF03CWZgxrhEwepI-2AVSgugIeOMD0Ytdj1HBy4yC5wK2n3YP0r5mI12-chJUaxdvIA/s200/WP_000416.jpg" /></a></div>We delivered the cakes safely and then I had to trust the hotel to assemble it all correctly, but they are used to that sort of thing....sometimes you have to relinquish the control!<br />
The cake looked fantastic on the day and the bottom two layers were finished (people left with lots of goodie bags the next day!) and we have the top layer in the freezer. There is a tradition, apparently, of keeping the top layer of your wedding cake to have on your one year anniversary. So we shall see if it holds up to a year in the freezer! Although it was a lot of work and planning I wouldn't have had it any other way, I'm glad I could make my own wedding cake. I never thought in a million years I would ever do something like that but, as they say, never say never.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuXt1eJLNBNKJCTmNBDOUzH39zXN9JxXn4Q813RUhGBnEal577SzEWbyPMML8X-oi9PD1nguzfzSSLaeD0icIx90Q_LDrU6paAOjWDQZakAEKwkqSDiVpu0pXPqmUa4BliHZ92D6BExn0/s1600/WP_000654.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuXt1eJLNBNKJCTmNBDOUzH39zXN9JxXn4Q813RUhGBnEal577SzEWbyPMML8X-oi9PD1nguzfzSSLaeD0icIx90Q_LDrU6paAOjWDQZakAEKwkqSDiVpu0pXPqmUa4BliHZ92D6BExn0/s200/WP_000654.jpg" /></a></div>Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-33714529152819389682013-07-03T19:10:00.000+01:002013-07-03T19:10:14.602+01:00Wedding Cake (Volume 1)As some of you may know, I recently got married. It wasn't a flashy, expensive wedding so the organisation wasn't too onerous. But there was one thing that I really wanted to do and that was make my own cake. Are you crazy? What were you thinking? Yes, I know, with all the other things to organise why would I want to put myself through this? Many of my friends thought the same thing but then they realised that I was going to do it whatever. You see for me this wasn't a huge stressful thing, it was the one thing that I knew I could do the way I wanted. Baking isn't stressful, in fact it helps me to de-stress. Once I'm in the kitchen with flour, butter, eggs and sugar I'm happy.<br />
It would take a lot of thinking, planning and head scratching but I knew that I had to do it. I didn't know anything about this sort of cake making, the big presentation, iced, be-ribboned creation so I needed to do some learning. I chose to do a short cake decorating course, it was five weeks and gave me the basics that I needed. Then a couple of books were donated by two friends (<a href="http://">The Cake Decorating Bible</a> and <a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Cake-Decorating-for-Every-Occasion-from-Simple-Elaborate-Weddings-Special-Birthdays-Australian-Womens-Weekly/9781742452852">Cake Decorating for Every Occasion</a>) which helped with ideas and techniques. I didn't want anything too fancy, not least because this was my first foray into the celebration cake but it was good to get some ideas.<br />
The main decision was what sort of cake it would be and for me chocolate is the best and so I went with Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Guinness cake. I hava made this many times and it is a rich, moist and earthy cake that is easy to make because everything is melted together. I also had to decide on the size, layers etc and decided on three layers. I found a cake stand that I liked, a <a href="http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?sku=307-710">Wilton floating cake stand</a>, each layer sits on a base with a back support (the picture will give you a better idea) so the cakes look like they are floating. This way there wouldn't be any need for dowels. The stand then dictated the sizes, they would be 14in, 10in and 6in. <br />
Every decision then lead to another one, now for the cake tins. I wanted something foolproof, loose-bottomed and easy to use. I found these brilliant tins on Lakeland, endorsed by Mary Berry and after much research chose these <a href="http://www.lakeland.co.uk/p15769/PushPans?intcmp=INTSRCH:pushpans">Pushpans</a>. They proved to be as good as advertised. <br />
Now I had to decide on the decoration. The Guinness cake is usually topped with a creamy head of butter icing but that would be impractical for a wedding cake what with the layers. Having done the cake decorating course I chose to go with simple and elegant, white sugarpaste with red ribbons on the bottom two layers (my husband is English) and green ribbon for the top layer (I am Irish). I wanted to add a little detail, a spray of calla lilies make from sugarpaste for the bottom two layers and a perspex cake topper in red that read <a href="http://www.misscake.co.uk/weddings/wedding-cake-toppers-1/mr-mrs-wedding-cake-topper">Mr & Mrs</a>.<br />
That was all the planning, research and decisions made, tune in to volume 2 for the making and decorating (and some pictures!). Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-40574195819347005872012-11-18T16:13:00.001+00:002013-05-04T12:53:44.708+01:00GBBO<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBq23DV01UWVMGSZvwMgpK0cDJ-UZkqsJShSNKGzfZmG1KkdDcg8fwoM8ibFzr2oxzVkRTE6t_hrGso0mIkvzg-r4rajK9kr8ChChdQWj38sPzgGCd9ShwffVNyJDvgfbdMctn5SOwuUo/s1600/WP_000312.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="150" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBq23DV01UWVMGSZvwMgpK0cDJ-UZkqsJShSNKGzfZmG1KkdDcg8fwoM8ibFzr2oxzVkRTE6t_hrGso0mIkvzg-r4rajK9kr8ChChdQWj38sPzgGCd9ShwffVNyJDvgfbdMctn5SOwuUo/s200/WP_000312.jpg" /></a><br />
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Prior to my recent silence I was in the midst of baking all the technical bakes from last years Great British Bake Off. I had made three of these before radio silence, lemon tart, iced buns and the pork pies. I do intend to do the others but in the meantime there has been another GBBO! And this time it was even better, if that is possible. I just loved it and was happy with the result, although my favourite was Jamie. So that means another lot of technical challenges to add to last years unfinished list. Looking at the list from this series there are is one that I don't think I will even try and that is the hand raised pies, might leave that one!<br />
However, I find that I have done two of them already! The eight plait loaf, I've not only made it once, I've made it twice! I posted a picture in my comeback blog roundup. You do have to have the instructions in front of you when you are doing it or else it will be a disaster, even with them it's pretty brain achey. But I managed and it looked amazing.<br />
The second one is the treacle tart. I had friends over for lunch a couple of weeks ago and Mary Berry happened to be doing her Bake Off Masterclass on the treacle tart so I thought I would have a go. I never realised that treacle tart doesn't contain any treacle and it's pretty much made out of breadcrumbs!<br />
The tricky thing about this one is the pastry, well that's just one of the tricky things. Unlike many other tarts, the pastry isn't baked blind. This means that avoiding the first deadly sin of pastry making, the soggy bottom, is very difficult. Mary's tip for this is to preheat a baking sheet in the oven and place the tart on it,this way the pastry bottom has a good chance of cooking through. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAbd-oERHZAExaDBUGFt5JCHUtBk3jsnyh0m2xkS7QtoFsL72KTlN8fXzIa4pMvTpQ3h7LobdjPdBWO51ivWEMquA4R2ToQNaenP6FMxBrjY7o2GQdDPvajnXle3OBVO21EnnLWPJRBDo/s1600/WP_000311.jpg" imageanchor="1" style=""><img border="0" height="200" width="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAbd-oERHZAExaDBUGFt5JCHUtBk3jsnyh0m2xkS7QtoFsL72KTlN8fXzIa4pMvTpQ3h7LobdjPdBWO51ivWEMquA4R2ToQNaenP6FMxBrjY7o2GQdDPvajnXle3OBVO21EnnLWPJRBDo/s200/WP_000311.jpg" /></a><br />
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Of course, the most tricky thing is the lattice. Mary's tip for this was to place the five vertical pastry strips on the tart and then weave the other five under and over. This seems easy, right? Well, not if the filling is still warm when you do it. My middle strip melted a bit and broke when I tried to move it, but I managed to mend it and then the other stips were easier to do as you can lift them up at the side to help with the weaving.<br />
The result wouldn't have passed muster in the Bake Off tent, I think I would have been mid-table. But it didn't have a soggy bottom (YAY), the lattice was pretty much ok and it tasted lovely. Served with a pomegranite ice cream, dreamy. Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-3867149791669982362012-10-29T19:33:00.000+00:002012-10-29T19:33:13.067+00:00Halloween Barmbrack<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1fmkshDL4TzIUUbnwq5-aYxxDvCHDcbEbuG9FFSW09SJgpFaWVwSbz2wuZ0fBFUF-HCf9qpoq4NAtvDdqZu51Rppz6zYQvFFWDjfe3twSoxA45ooaTQJAlQeHGit9oW5XK3eYGYvr69g/s1600/WP_000308.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="150" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1fmkshDL4TzIUUbnwq5-aYxxDvCHDcbEbuG9FFSW09SJgpFaWVwSbz2wuZ0fBFUF-HCf9qpoq4NAtvDdqZu51Rppz6zYQvFFWDjfe3twSoxA45ooaTQJAlQeHGit9oW5XK3eYGYvr69g/s200/WP_000308.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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In the new world regime of Cakes and Cardies, the world of actual blogging, the world of writing about, well, cakes and cardies I give you the Halloween Barmbrack.<br />
Have you noticed that Halloween has become a "thing" in the last few years? Every shop has a Halloween display, selling Halloween merchandise and generally making it a "thing". Add to that the Americanisation of Halloween with trick or treating and we have a whole holiday around this one day. <br />
When I was growing up in Dublin Halloween was just on the day. There was dressing up, Halloween games (apple bobbing, taking bites out of an apple suspended from something with your hands behind your back etc) and all on 31st October, one day. In our house there was also Barmbrack. This is a fruit bread/cake that has certain items concealed in the bake that are supposed to tell your fortune. The pea (you will not marry within the year), the stick (you will have bad luck), the coin (you will get rich) and the ring (you will get married within the year. These are all wrapped in greasproof paper and added in to the dough before the last rise. My mother made one every Halloween and we loved searching for the items, no-one wanted to get the pea or the stick everyone wanted the money or the ring, of course. My mother's Barmbrack was more of a Tea Brack rather than the yeasted Barmbrack of tradition but in a way it wasn't about the cake, it was about what you found!<br />
Given all this nostalgia I decided to tackle the Barmbrack for the first time and I chose a recipe from a <a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Forgotten-Skills-Cooking-Darina-Allen/9781856267885">Darina Allen </a>cookbook that I have (a veritable bible of all things Irish cookery). The recipe is very similar to the Pannetone and Colomba (the Italian Christmas and Easter cakes). It is a yeasted sweet dough with a small amount of butter, an egg and milk is used as the liquid instead of water. There are sultanas, currants and candied peel added at the end of the kneading. <br />
When I was making it yesterday I thought I had buggered it up as it didn't rise hugely on the first prove but when I baked it it rose beautifully. When it comes out of the oven you brush it with a bun wash (a sugar syrup) which gives a a lovely shiny glaze.<br />
I brought it into work today but I couldn't resist trying a slice (or two) last night and we managed to find most of the money in the quarter that we had! Oh well all the bad luck left the house!! This morning one of my friends at work described it as a giant hot cross bun, which isn't far off.Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-72009511143067765452012-10-28T16:50:00.001+00:002012-10-28T16:50:51.167+00:00Inspired<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8IAuVst99v-7-xd8HNRzCfohdAGdHEYxAc77U_pKeU43JEVxN7MYYgv9AsklJHtdFDkHV4kuQIOWL5ZS9qOR82re7J0HtR3eEvMmRf2gqYuH9E45nCALRe29c0Ju90hP2BSTU75oEVE8/s1600/WP_000277.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8IAuVst99v-7-xd8HNRzCfohdAGdHEYxAc77U_pKeU43JEVxN7MYYgv9AsklJHtdFDkHV4kuQIOWL5ZS9qOR82re7J0HtR3eEvMmRf2gqYuH9E45nCALRe29c0Ju90hP2BSTU75oEVE8/s200/WP_000277.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ETn4qlEYDSEAPV1LTAacHFyAQXhWZRc7812E5Bqi4EtzREBGS0_E03KswP1pWD9nwhhu4BA-iSIoQM3OQtgb629uDCXew9H5gGevkJeBSoLkRI8s-zWz4LWykuppr4Df1xZilsV7iH8/s1600/WP_000266.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ETn4qlEYDSEAPV1LTAacHFyAQXhWZRc7812E5Bqi4EtzREBGS0_E03KswP1pWD9nwhhu4BA-iSIoQM3OQtgb629uDCXew9H5gGevkJeBSoLkRI8s-zWz4LWykuppr4Df1xZilsV7iH8/s200/WP_000266.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzKGR_RgSvhLjjrnX64arktFFmCZlSwSbYYCaiQiNN7-UpQd_vlDycNMmsOjnE8bZl0Kb4bD73Imwk_YrWvOv0J3B-jA09tH-5I_MGPQRBU9o8ukSpm2umHGcl6IDm-EkSaTlAIBArj-c/s1600/WP_000200.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="200" width="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzKGR_RgSvhLjjrnX64arktFFmCZlSwSbYYCaiQiNN7-UpQd_vlDycNMmsOjnE8bZl0Kb4bD73Imwk_YrWvOv0J3B-jA09tH-5I_MGPQRBU9o8ukSpm2umHGcl6IDm-EkSaTlAIBArj-c/s200/WP_000200.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinMk0v9pSdRP6UmzhngFfU4slAb52lBwI_KOLkUv2HSAm78unSbFCikhLlEDWtYR2VPvaboy208fLcFS-H6K4CkR6BYiTMTIpBCNmJ_13CRZSzbMkT7RvG7k-gT9nGVETrXKnqGy7L-pA/s1600/WP_000164.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="150" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinMk0v9pSdRP6UmzhngFfU4slAb52lBwI_KOLkUv2HSAm78unSbFCikhLlEDWtYR2VPvaboy208fLcFS-H6K4CkR6BYiTMTIpBCNmJ_13CRZSzbMkT7RvG7k-gT9nGVETrXKnqGy7L-pA/s200/WP_000164.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE5-BRc_Bm-V09il_tv4eFxOYuMRPExsZYB5quUlZyCS7_YxMyQNsSezOltNq7QqjUUCNRm-78ljaAUCQugnE8vJrd_Y2vRYoV2Ns1U2iK4OEgRIxchHMZE0uEmk955FTNslAske_DfT0/s1600/WP_000154.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="150" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE5-BRc_Bm-V09il_tv4eFxOYuMRPExsZYB5quUlZyCS7_YxMyQNsSezOltNq7QqjUUCNRm-78ljaAUCQugnE8vJrd_Y2vRYoV2Ns1U2iK4OEgRIxchHMZE0uEmk955FTNslAske_DfT0/s200/WP_000154.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Qww5jFYl0lFga-Gi-lTIUgrcJx0CZ5Hy76jMHZaEhfSWfdhqa9ymjwpn80Scsv9GKVErs84Ap_pk2sD4YXQXuMn9yvbOCWHcBmZW7bM_PwqXlUqF_QjftJCKZfuFDmlYgsoOtbol66c/s1600/WP_000130.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="150" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Qww5jFYl0lFga-Gi-lTIUgrcJx0CZ5Hy76jMHZaEhfSWfdhqa9ymjwpn80Scsv9GKVErs84Ap_pk2sD4YXQXuMn9yvbOCWHcBmZW7bM_PwqXlUqF_QjftJCKZfuFDmlYgsoOtbol66c/s200/WP_000130.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I realise that all my (12) followers will pretty much have given up on me as I have been a bad blogger over the last year, well my last blog was inb April so only six months silence. No excuses to be given, lets just start again.<br />
I have been baking and knitting, lots of new things like bagels and and eight plait loaf on the baking side. On the knitting front I have completed a duffle coat for a baby and started a shawl, a baby dress and continuing my cap sleeve top from a fifties pattern. So what precedes is a gallery of some of my projects over the last months.<br />
Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-1373416687911433732012-04-07T16:07:00.000+01:002012-04-07T16:07:48.666+01:00Colomba Revisited<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzoYpZP2K3BqDRKYe9EqhmcHTI1Am-GiTZeNN2lxfIvOP6zyJrrfihT9tbHOLpnKvKu9EP8vShcTFtFGHQJUlOAfR3U-WTDdPrcE8wcWmquq8Nv813uNfxSejLSG-pPsp2K864wLwT7FM/s1600/WP_000038+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="150" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzoYpZP2K3BqDRKYe9EqhmcHTI1Am-GiTZeNN2lxfIvOP6zyJrrfihT9tbHOLpnKvKu9EP8vShcTFtFGHQJUlOAfR3U-WTDdPrcE8wcWmquq8Nv813uNfxSejLSG-pPsp2K864wLwT7FM/s200/WP_000038+%25282%2529.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Last week, with guests coming for lunch and Easter fast approaching, I was thinking of a desert that would be appropriate for the season. Also having remembered that I still had some of the Colomba moulds in the cupboard from last year I figured that all stars were aligned and that a Colomba was the way to go.<br />
This year I was better prepared for this Easter treat. Having made it a few times last year I knew the time I needed to put aside. I started it on Friday evening (the guests coming for Saturday lunch) and put it in the fridge for it's final rise overnight. I used the same recipe as last year (<a href="http://blog.bakerybits.co.uk/?p=549#more-549">Bakery Bits</a>) but used active dried yeast rather than fresh. I have to say that in the last few months I have been using dried yeast instead of fresh and, truth be told, I am preferring it. It works just as well, maybe even better, it's easily available and I get a perfect loaf every time. I have been using <a href="http://www.dovesfarm.co.uk/flour-and-ingredients/quick-yeast-1x125g/">Doves Quick Yeast </a>which comes in a 125g pack and lasts me about three months. As long as you know that a sachet is 7g then your ok.<br />
I was making a sourdough loaf at the same time so I had my doughs rising at intervals on the Friday and then both went in the fridge. I took them out first thing in the morning and left them to warm up before cooking. One of the wings of the Colomba hadn'r really risen and I was worried that it would look like a dove with a broken wing. But once it was cooked it was fine. <br />
I served it with a marscapone cream. This is a recipe from my sister-in-law, she is Swedish but lives in Milan so had the inside track on the authentic accompaniment. This is the same cream used in a Tiramusu. Mix two egg yolks with 200g of sugar until fluffy. Add 200g mascapone and 1-2 tbs of your alcohol of choice (Amaretto, Cognac or Rum, I chose Rum) and mix carefully. Whisk 2 eggs whites to stiff peaks and then gently fold into the marscapone mix. This is divine and it goes brilliantly with a slice of Colomba and great conversation.<br />
P.S. just in case you were wondering, the sourdough turned out lovely too.Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-36870827162807246862012-03-17T13:15:00.001+00:002012-03-17T13:15:40.384+00:00Happy St. Patrick's Day<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRSMhMhwIzqHVhvFZQbeZA7Zc3Rz_HPFy5kp0sLWl2-Yqu6t6CFwMIP-96tavg8BYEKL5C6oF3H6T3wfQWb66iToXTAYczRyWzpntltUcBXLR8OPT8tA04jgNR-s3YgPC4y6u9f0Ki6A4/s1600/WP_000032+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="150" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRSMhMhwIzqHVhvFZQbeZA7Zc3Rz_HPFy5kp0sLWl2-Yqu6t6CFwMIP-96tavg8BYEKL5C6oF3H6T3wfQWb66iToXTAYczRyWzpntltUcBXLR8OPT8tA04jgNR-s3YgPC4y6u9f0Ki6A4/s200/WP_000032+%25282%2529.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I'm not one for celebrating the day that's in it, well not since I was a child at home in Dublin. Then it meant a day off school, the St Patrick's Day parade, some green food (usually jelly!) and all you could eat of the thing you had given up for Lent. It's a St Patrick's Day rule, if you have given up something for Lent you can eat it on St Patrick's Day. I think this is becuase it always falls during Lent and as it is a celebration your Lenten fast can be forgotten for a day. <br />
Having said that the opportunity to make a <a href="http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/chocolate-guinness-cake-3086">Chocolate Guinness Cake </a>can't be passed up, can it? I was getting some stick from a couple of friends at work because I hadn't brought in cake for a while so celebrate we will. I have made this cake before, the last time a few weeks ago for a friends 40th. It is in <a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Feast-Nigella-Lawson/9780701175214">Nigellla Lawson's Feast</a>, in amongst a great chapter on celebration cakes. Not only does it have Guinness in it, it looks like a pint of Guinness with it's deep dark chocolate cake and it's cream cheese icing slathered on top.<br />
It is also an easy cake to make, the Guinness and butter are melted together and everything is added to this brwon beery batter. The batter is very liquid so I always put the tin on a tray in case of seepage. It takes about an hour to bake and then is left in the tin until it has cooled completely. I made the icing and then iced it at work. So yesteday afternoon at 3.30pm we had a small St Patrick's Day celebration in Holland Park. It is a moist cake that has an earthy chocolatey flavour, you can almost taste the Guinness.<br />
And now that it is the day that's in it I will be having a pint of the black (while watching Ireland beating England in the rugby, hopefully) and some chocolate, well it is a St Patrick's Day rule and I have given it up for Lent!Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5690610577654510753.post-74507758005119173002012-03-17T12:53:00.001+00:002012-03-17T12:53:49.577+00:00Sourdough Sorted<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAKyt7_48McIMzVQPgzHHPNAEEp3Xjt0I_LTZvxfkbIge0_cwHsOTH72-a9g-GHbLdBcWrw5cRrdS8nmkmssA_s-XzxOEQuzwbEUtvM8FHZYcowKpdrYURBcObMyxjvnDyqnkDir0WhfM/s1600/WP_000029+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="150" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAKyt7_48McIMzVQPgzHHPNAEEp3Xjt0I_LTZvxfkbIge0_cwHsOTH72-a9g-GHbLdBcWrw5cRrdS8nmkmssA_s-XzxOEQuzwbEUtvM8FHZYcowKpdrYURBcObMyxjvnDyqnkDir0WhfM/s200/WP_000029+%25282%2529.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I was going to a friend's house for lunch a couple of weeks ago and decided to bring a sourdough loaf to help things along. As you know my started has now been alive for almost a year but as I don't make a loaf every day I have to reactivate it a few days before I want to bake the loaf. It sits in a cupboard in the kitchen quite happily. When it has been left for a while it separates, on top there is a brown liquid and underneath a creamy sludge (sounds good doesn't it?). This sludge is the stuff I need, you take a couple of tablespoons of this (discard the rest) and add 100mls of lukewarm water and 125g of strong white flour (from The Handmade Loaf by Dan Lepard), mix and leave for 24 hours. Next day you discard about three quarters of this and add the same quantities of water and flour and repeat this the next day. As the natural yeasts come alive again it starts bubbling and once that happens it's ready to use, if I want to bake a loaf at the weekend I usually start this process on Tuesday evening.<br />
I guess it is a bit time consuming but it's worth it in the end. I decided to do the main mixing, kneading, proving on the night before (it still takes about 5 hours, it's a slow riser the sourdough) and then put in the fridge overnight for it's final rise. First thing on Sunday morning I put on the oven to warm the kitchen and took the dough out of the fridge to come up to room temperature, about an hour. It then bakes for 50 minutes to 1 hour, not forgetting the steam to help with the crust.<br />
It was a hit at lunch and what was left was frozen and was nice and fresh after defrosting. I do like making sourdough but I do wonder about those who make it to sell. It must be like painting the Forth Bridge, they just have it proving constantly, as one is rising another is being mixed. Hard work if you are producing hundreds of loaves a day. Worth it of course.Cakes and Cardieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13599948686588793733noreply@blogger.com0