Happy Day Challenge Day 2-Abbie's Note

This is the second day of the 100 happy days challenge and it was this note that caused me to smile.
The note in question was left by a work college called Abbie left this note saying that anyone who was in the shop don't forget to reprice the stock and take down all the Christmas decorations but she wrote:

Please carry on repriceing!
Done loads today!
I'm frazzled hunnays
Keep it real like Ian beil and take down more Xmas decs if there are any lol!

love Bunny (Abbie) xxx loves ya!
If you knew how sweet and funny Abbie is, then you'd see how funny it is. Thanks for the day-brightening note Abbie! 

Its looking like another year, just happier

For Christmas I ate so much cakes, sweets, and just food that not only did I get baking related gifts, I'm sure I put on an extra couple of pounds! Which is totally worth it. Food is always worth it!

But this year the baking gifts have been so epic cool!

• Cupcake Calender (Thanks mama!)
• The New Primrose Bakery Celebrations Book (Thanks again mum)
• A set of measuring shot glasses (Yet again thanks mum)
• A diary that has my name on it!!! (NOTHING EVER HAS MY NAME ON IT!!! So I was very thrilled with this. Thanks mum!)
• Conversion Apron (Very helpful Naomi and thank-you)
• Undead cookie cutter (This is totally cool! Thanks Ben)
• Green tea ice cream powder (Naomi this is so cool!)
• Green tea x 2 (Will be drinking this quickly, thanks Naomi)
• Caramel covered dates (Again thanks Naomi)
• Camel Milk chocolate (ermm... thanks Naomi...  Not sure what to make of this one. I bet it tastes great.) 

Also, this is wicked cool, a necklace with my name on it. Its so hard to find something with my name on it. Thank-you Lucy this is so lovely!

Not featured in the photos is

Great British Bake Off Calender (thanks Sofia!)

A pretty butterfly cake stand (Thankies Naomi!!) 

Gingerbread man soap (Yummy smelling thanks Lucy!)

After the celebrations of Christmas and the partying of New Year has worn off the dreaded January Blues begins to set in. Its been 5 days into 2014 and its starting to look like another year. It's that sort of thinking along with going back to work or studying and the cold weather that really get the January Blues really gets going. I've found out that on January 10th, most new year resolutions get broken. (This post is going somewhere, it won't be doom and gloom. Just keep reading.) This is why I don't make new year resolutions I always forget them in the end. But this year I've decided to keep to 2 resolutions:

• Cut down on the swearing. I know it sounds strange that this lovely looking, not awkward at all lady, swears at all. But after working in kitchens and the frustrations of uni, yes I do admit I have a swearing problem! So for the sake of my families and friends ears, I'm cutting down the swearing. 
• I'm trying the 100 happy days challenge, trying to be happy for 100 days... that's pretty much it! And why not? January is a bit of a bummer month but doing even the smallest things can bring us an amazing amount of joy. 

So that's how I'm fighting the January blues with a little bit of happiness everyday. I encourage all of you to do the same because we can make this year like every other... just a lot more happier. What's my first happy moment? Well it's writing this post! 
(Update 07/01/14 I may not be able to update the blog everyday, however all the pictures will be published on the facebook page)

Happy New Year and Pizza Chunk Biscuits

Happy 2014 baking lovers! I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas, a happy new year and a hazy hangover recovery on the 1st of January. 

This is a very delayed post, it has been a crazy busy Christmas and New year. I just got back from Dorset after spending the New Year with my boyfriend and his family. 

Which was a earthing experience, spending the new year with a guy that you've been with for almost 3 years. Yeah we've been able to stand each other for that long! The fact is our endless love of food and stuffing our faces has kept our love strong. 

I'm joking darling. But we are obsessed with food. 

Then I caught a horrid cold just after New Year, so I've been snuggled up with a hot chocolate set that I got for Christmas trying to recover before going back to uni, and so all the posts are all delayed. 

My Bad...

So back to the recipe below, this a competition entry for Slow Food on Campus Portsmouth. The object of the competition was to use grana padano cheese in a recipe. Of course it had to be something to do with baking. Bring in the Pizza Chunk Biscuits! A whole pizza flavour in a single biscuit. Anyone in the UK can enter, if you would like to enter please email:

Your name, your age, your email address and phone number (and twitter username if you'd like to be featured on twitter) to sfoc@upsu.net  

This recipe is also featured on the Slow Food on Campus Portsmouth blog 

Recipe: Makes around 24-30 (Adapted from Cookies Galore by Jacqueline Bellefontaine)

·       150g unsalted butter, at room temperature

·       180g Plain flour, sifted

·       25g grated grana padano cheese

·       20g grated mature cheddar cheese

·       1 tablespoon tomato paste

·       25g sun dried tomatoes, roughly chopped

·       1-2 teaspoons dried mixed herbs

·       1 egg yolk

·       1 tablespoon water

Equipment:

·       Food processor

·       Bowl

·       Sieve

·       Teaspoon

·       Tablespoon

·       Baking paper

·       Baking sheet

·       Rolling pin

·       Fork/pastry

·       Wire rack

1.    Pre-heat the oven to 180c/350f/Gas Mark 4.

Step 2. Put all the ingredients together in a food processor and blitz!

2.    Put all the ingredients into a food processor and process, using the pulse button until the mixture just come together.

Step 3. Roll out dough in between bits of baking paper

3.    Roll out the dough between sheets of baking paper to a large rectangle shape.

Step 4. Place on a baking sheet

4.    Remove the top piece of baking paper and lift the dough, using the bottom paper, on to a baking sheet. Leave the bottom paper in place. Using fork to pastry wheel, mark lightly into squares or bars.

5.    Bake in the oven for about 10-15 minutes until lightly browned.

6.    Cool on a wire rack on the baking paper and then break into pieces along the perforations.

Have a great weekend!

Merry Christmas and Banoffee Cupcakes Recipe

2 days before Christmas and I'm watching the London news as I type and the weather is not looking good. 
90 mph winds and heavy rain, not the best start to Christmas. You want to snuggle up inside with a blanket with a good Christmas film- I'm watching this, which I got for my secret santa gift at work:

Because I'm very very lucky in saying that I'm ahead with my university work! Which means I can take a little break at the festive season. Thank goodness I need a break from the work. 

I'm back in the big smoke aka London, so I've got some time to have coffee with friends, dinner with my family and to do some baking! I wanted to make something a little different. I made banana cupcakes with a caramel buttercream-so banoffee cupcakes! Very yum. 
If you've never heard of banoffee, its an English dessert which has a crumbly biscuit base or pastry base with toffee made from condensed milk, sliced banana and whipped cream. It's a little old school but very tasty!

Banoffee Cupcakes Makes 24 cupcakes (Recipe inspired by The Primrose Bakery Book)

• 250g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 500g golden caster sugar
• 4 large lightly beaten
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 baking powder
• 8 ripe bananas, mashed with fork or broken into small pieces (riper the better)

Caramel buttercream:

• 90g unsalted butter
• 135ml/9 tbsp semi skimmed milk
• 360g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Christmas sprinkles and glitter

Equipment:

• Sieve
• Muffin tins lined with 12 cupcake wrappersx 2
• Heavy based saucepan
• Wooden spoon
• Piping bag fitted with a star nozzle
• Electric hand mixer/ worktop mixer (which I used this time)
• bowl x 2
• Masher
• tablespoon
• teaspoon

For the cupcakes:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180c/Gas mark. Line muffin tin with muffin cases

   

   Step 2. Creamed butter and sugar

2. Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl with electric whisk until pale and smooth.

   

   Step 3 The batter with all the eggs added

3. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing briefly after each addition.
4. Add vanilla extract and beat again.

   

   Step 5. The Cake batter with the flour added

5. Gradually add the flour and baking powder and beat until well combined.

   

   Step 6. Mashed banana

   

   Step 6. The finished batter

6. Mash the bananas up and add them to the mixture and beat until all combined.
7. Divide the mixture evenly between the cupcake cases, filling about 3/4 of the way full. 
8. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 25 minutes.
9. Turn out onto a wire rack and wait for them to be completely cold before icing.

To make the buttercream:

Step 1. Butter, milk and sugar

1. Combine the butter, milk and brown sugar in a heavy-based saucepan and put on the hob over a high heat. 
2. Stirring continuously, bring the mixture to a boil.

   

   Step 3. Allow to boil

3. Allow it to boil for 1 minute then remove from heat and stir in half of the icing sugar

   

   Step 4. Add the rest of the icing sugar

4. Allow the mixture to cool slightly, then add the rest of the icing sugar and vanilla extract.

   

   Step 5. Thick and runny icing
5. Stir until thick and slightly runny. (if it starts to set, put in a microwavable bowl and put on for a few seconds until runny and beat a little. If you need to add a little milk)

Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you in 2014!

Gluten-Free Birthday Chocolate Cake with a Vanilla Heart

Gluten free cakes. No matter how you want to try gluten free products, in my opinion, aren't as good as the real thing. I was asked to bake a gluten free chocolate cake for a good friend. I like a challenge! It was also a good excuse to use the Tasty-Fill Cake tin from Wilton, that I shoved in the back of the baking cupboard, which I recommend for a special occassion. So this is a nice excuse to back an epic birthday cake which had a heart of buttercream.

I've tried doing this with cake carving last year,which I think was my first baking post (aww memories). It was the hidden heart cake which needed some practice but otherwise tasty! 

While I have you I completely recommend using Doves Farm Gluten Free flour as the end cake result was really good for a gluten free cake. 

Recipe: Make a giant cake (Recipe adapted from Cupcakes from Primrose Bakery)

·       230g dark chocolate at least 70% cocoa solids

·       120g unsalted butter, at room temperature

·       350g golden caster sugar

·       3 large eggs, separated

·       370g Doves Farm Gluten-Free Plain flour, sifted

·       2 teaspoons gluten free baking power

·       1 ½ teaspoons gluten free bicarbonate of soda

·       ½ teaspoons salt

·       4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

·       500ml semi-skimmed milk, at room temperature

·       2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Buttercreams

Follow the method for the Vanilla Buttercream here!

·       220g unsalted butter, at room temperature

·       120ml semi-skimmed milk at room temperature

·       2 teaspoons vanilla extract

·       8 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

·       1kg icing sugar, sifted

Follow the method for the Chocolate Buttercream here!

·       175g dark chocolate, at least 70% cocoa solids

·       225g unsalted butter

·       1 tablespoon semi-skimmed milk, room temperature

·       1teaspoon vanilla extract

·       250g icing sugar, sifted

Equipment:

·       Bowl x3

·       Mixer/wooden spoon

·       Measuring Jug

·       Sieve

·       Teaspoon

·       Tablespoon

·       HeartTasty-Fill Pan from Wilton

·       Palette knife

·       Light oil spray for greasing the tin

·       Heatproof bowl

·       Saucepan filled with water

·       Metal spoon

·       Disposal piping bag

·       Scissors

·        

1.    Pre-heat the oven to 170c fan/190c/375f/Gas Mark 5 and grease the tin with the light oil spray.

Step 2. melt the chocolate in a bain marie

2.    Break the chocolate into pieces and place in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Stir occasionally until completely melted. Set aside to cool.

Step 3. Cream the butter and sugar

3.    In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar until pale and smooth, which should 3-5 minutes using an electric mixer. Put the egg yolks into the creamed mixture and beat well.

Step 4. Add the melted chocolate to the creamed mix

4.    Add the melted chocolate to the creamed mixture and beat well.

Step 5&6. Combine the dry bits and milk and vanilla

5.    Combine the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in separate bowl all sieved together.  

6.    Combine the milk, and vanilla extract in a jug.

7.    Add one-third of the flour to the creamed mixture and beat well. Pour in one-third of the milk mixture and beat again. Repeat these steps until all the flour and milk has been added.

8. Clean your whisk!

The Unwhisked Egg Whites

Soft peak egg whites

9. In a clean bowl whisk the egg whites with a clean whisk, until soft peaks form.

Step 10 the finished batter

10. Carefully fold the egg whites with a metal spoon into the cake batter.

11. Divide the mixture between the two cake tins and bake for 30 minutes. Insert a skewer in the centre of the cake and if it comes out clean its done.

12. Remove from the oven and leave the cakes in their tins for about an 1 hour  before carefully placing on a wire rack to cool. Once completely cool, you can ice the cake.

13.  To assemble use a palette knife to spread the icing in the grooves and spread until level.

14.  Put the cakes on top of one another. Then ice the outside of the cake with chocolate icing, making sure that it’s covered, even and nicely iced.

15.Put some of the vanilla buttercream in piping  bag and cut a tiny hole. Start writing your message on top of the cake and top with popping candy and chocolate hearts or other decorations.

  I was so scared it wasn't going to work and then my friend cut it and....

Wow! Heart of Vanilla! My friend did have a wonderful birthday. I was invited on her night out and it was a wonderful night out. I hope you had a great birthday Zoe and I hope you loved the cake! (I'm in the star dress with the fading purple hair. Yes I've done it again. Thats 4 times my hair has been purple in my little lifetime).  

Also I hope your planning your Christmas baking! Check out the siggie below featuring my Christmas dress! 
Merry Christmas Bakers!

Christmas Countdown Feature

Remember that interview for Gourmandize I did awhile back? Well more amazing news, I'm going to be featured for the Christmas Countdown! Watch this space! The recipe featured is my Christmas Yule Log.The recipe is already on the site here.

Bake On!

When Baking Goes Bad- With Good Results 'Fake-aroon' biscuit Recipe

Sometimes baking goes bad. I mean it goes seriously bad. Sometimes it hard to see the positive. 
I attempted to make macaroon's but it went badly. I'm talking just awful looking biscuit things, there aren't even worth presenting to people because their that bad. Oh dear...
It was my first time making macaroons so I wasn't sure what to expect or do and also down to a badly written recipe I found. So it was a mixture of things, I'm hoping to really work on on macaroons at one stage but at least now I've discovered a recipe that uses up some bits that are lingering in the food cupboards:
I've dubbed these: Fake-aroon biscuits

Recipe: Makes 20 biscuits

·       175g icing sugar

·       125g ground almonds

·       3 large eggs

·       75g caster sugar

·       A pinch of salt

·       Your choice of food colouring pastes (I used purple, pink, blue colourings)

Equipment:

·       Food processor

·       Electric whisk

·       Large metal spoon

·       Knife

·       Baking tray lined with greaseproof paper

·       Disposable Piping bag x 3

·       Bowl x 5

        Wire rack

1.    Blend the icing sugar and ground almonds in the food processor until very fine.

2.    Whisk the egg whites with the pinch of salt until they form soft peaks.

3.    Gradually whisk in the caster sugar until the mixture is thick and glossy.

4.    Carefully fold in the ground almond and icing sugar into the egg whites.

5.    Split the mix into 3 small balls and add the food colour to each.

6.    Carefully spoon the fakaroon mixture into each piping bag and pipe small round about ½ an inch away from each other. This is so they don’t run into one another.

7.    Leave the fakaroons to stand for 15 minutes to form a skin

8.    Heat the oven to 160c/325f/Gas Mark 3 while the fake-aroons are resting.

9.    Bake for 15 minutes until firm. While the fake-aroons are still warm, sandwich them together to form a macaroon shape. Cool completely on  wire rack. 

    So I think the lesson here is never be discouraged if you make a mistake because in the end they may taste great!