Cupcakes, Cake and Passion: zombie

I'm very lucky to have friends and family who know me very well. They know that getting food and baking related gifts is always a winner. I'm so grateful for all my gifts this year, and I thought I would share with you readers what I got. (Its also a thank-you post as well :))

One of the coolest notebooks that I've ever received is the 'Notes of a Baking Genius'. Which sums me up perfectly! Which my friends Lucy and Ben got me. I'm also in love with my cute cupcake little diary which I'll be documenting my blog post dates and college deadlines (Thanks Nan and Gramps). The baking dvd and book combo my mum got, when I have a moment I'll have to watch it (Thanks Mum!) Also, the tea towels my Mum got me as well, which are very pretty.

I got the Great British Bake Off Showstoppers (thankies Sofia!) which I've been browsing for my next bake. Also, I got the latest Primrose Bakery book which is all about Christmas cakes and bakes (again thank you Mum). I haven't had a chance to look at this one, but I'm looking forward to reading it. Another fantastic gift is the green tea-towel which has written on here: "1. Bake Cake, 2. Accidentally eat it all myself." Again, Lucy and Ben nailed it, thank you!

Another couple of lovely gifts I got were from 2 good friends of mine, unfortunately I was too stupid to take any pictures of them. I opened them up at different times before Christmas and, I tend to get a bit over excited, so I ripped them to shreds. Firstly, I received a pretty blue owl mug and Instant Chai Latte mix that I got from Chloe. I wish I had taken a picture of the whole thing wrapped up because it was so pretty. Many thankies Chloe! Also, my friend Zoe knows me very well in my love off all things coffee related and she got Starbucks Hot Chocolate Mixes *Homer Simpson Drool*. Thanks Zoe!! I'm also very lucky in getting my first ever blowtorch, which is a girly pink! I also got 2 adorable little heart shaped crème brulee pots with the blowtorch! Thanks Chantelle and Nicky, I can't wait to use this!

Lastly, Rob got me the coolest thing ever: a Rice Cube! (didn't take pictures was to busy being a child and opening them up). Its a cute little device that makes sushi simple. I can't wait to start playing with it. Rob also got me a traditional bamboo steamer, presumably to go with my Rice Cube. Thank you so much Rob!

The next gift has nothing to do with baking at all, but it definitely deserves a mention. Its a zombie desktop shooting set! I've got a pencil gun with rubber band shots and zombie rubber targets. I keep getting distracted cause they need to be shot at! (Lucy and Ben woo!! Thank you very very much for this!)

I did get more pressies but they were more skincare related and there are plenty of blogs that showcase beauty and make-up bits. This be a foodie blog and make-up is not really my domain anyway.

Did you get any food related gifts this Christmas?

It's a little late in February for a Valentines post but I don't like Valentines so there you go. I like the idea to dress up in red and eatting chocolates and sweets but thats it. I don't fancy overpaying for a meal that costs less any other day, but because its Valentines day its £60 for a sub-par 3 course meal and a cheap glass of plonk wine... Yeah no thanks...

But I appreciate that people think its a real holiday and people really go above and beyond to celebrate. I made my feelings about Valentines clear last year in this post.

Yet last year, I still fell into the trap of making treats for Valentines day. I caved into the pressure!! Damn you Valentines! Actually the truffles and biscuits were very tasty and it was nice to have the boyfriend around to fight over them with as well.

So what happened this year? The weekend before Valentines I spent with my boyfriend because I have too many university deadlines and we don't really do Valentines. We prefer to make anytime we spend together special rather then just the one day.

I had spent Valentines weekend alone eating chocolates and baking of course! This year I decided to channel my distaste for Valentines with these horrors:

They want your heart and your brains!!!

Using the dough recipe and icing recipe on last years Valentine heart biscuits by using Fred biscuit cutters (which I got as an epic Christmas present. Thanks Ben and Lucy!) I was able to create some yummy biscuit creations, however they became really wet. At first I thought: Must have made the icing wrong. But I found out that one of my family members had stored the biscuits in a moist environment (it was stored in very cold conservatory). So that's why the biscuits ran but they just look more horrific, which is the look that is really on trend, well it is for zombies.

My advice when you start these biscuits:

Bake your biscuits and make sure they are cold or your icing will warp.
While your biscuits are baking draw how you would like to decorate your biscuits. I really went to town with my doodles.
Stick with 3-4 colours for your zombies. I used 5 colours and it got fiddley and annoying as I wanted it done by colour 3.
Do one colour at a time, one zombie at a time. I tried to fill in all the greens on all the zombies. That doesn't work and it will cause a mess. This is why 2 batches were made so you had the outlines icing and the filling icing

Recipe: Makes 20 biscuits

125g unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
1 medium egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g Doves Farm plain flour, sieved plus a little extra to flour your work surface.

Equipment:

Electric whisk
Bowl
Sieve
Undead Fread Cookie cutters
Speech Bubble cookie cutter (I don't have one so I used a paper template)
Whisk
Cling-film
Baking sheet lined with parchment
Rolling pin

1. In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy.

2. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix together.

3. Sift half the flour into the bowl and mix in, then sift in the other half and mix again.

4. Knead the dough until smooth, then wrap in cling-film and let it rest in the freezer for an hour at least.

5. Pre-heat your oven to 180c/350f/Gas Mark 4.

6. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to around 4mm thick and cut out into zombie shapes.

7. Place on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden brown. Allow to cool before decorating.

Recipe: Stiff peak royal icing

1kg icing sugar/confectioners’ sugar
4 medium egg whites
2 tsp lemon juice
Green, blue, black and red food colouring paste (you can leave a little icing white if you prefer)

Equipment:

Electric whisk
Bowl x 5
Sieve
10 disposable piping bags
Scissors
Forks x 5
Toothpick
Tissue
Tablespoons x 5
Zombie decorating sheet

1. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl.

2. Add the egg whites and the lemon juice to the icing sugar and mix together for about 5 minutes.

3. The mix should look smooth and shiny. If it looks a little dry then add one drop of lemon juice and mix for a minute.

4.Once your icing makes a stiff peak put it in 4 clean bowls (5 if you keeping a little white icing).

5. Colour the different bowls different colours using the food colouring. (Leave one of the icing bowls coloured white)

6. Quarter fill, 4 (or 5) of the piping bags with each colour. Snip a small hole in the top of each bag.

7. Take a biscuit and starting from the top centre, pipe an different coloured outlines around the inside edge of the biscuit to the tip of the zombie.

8. Make sure there are no holes or missing gaps in the zombies, if there are fill them in with the correct colour.

9. Once all the zombies have been outlined, add a teaspoon of water to each of the colours until the consistency of each icing is runny. Keep adding water, carefully, until it reaches running consistency but not watery.

10. Fill each 4 (or 5) more disposable piping bags and cut small holes in the ends.