felinedream

This weekend Brodie decided she wanted to join Devin in our new Sunday feature ‘Baking with mummy’. I figured something easy would be best so, after consulting the trusty Nigella Bible (How to be a Domestic Goddess), we settled for fairy cakes. Strangely, I have never made plain fairy cakes before so it was a bit of an experience. I have also discovered the secret of baking with both children: make 2 batches of cakes and only have 1 child in the kitchen at a time. Brodie went first. I measured out her ingredients and she added them to the bowl when I told her to and used the handheld mixer to mix it all together. She did need a little help transferring the mixture into the muffin cases (we both ended up covered in it) but all said and done, the whole thing was a success. When it came to icing, I spread the icing on each cake and she topped them with sugar animals. Devin managed to do much more himself this week. Not only did he weigh out his own ingredients, but he managed putting the mixture into cases and doing the icing himself. I have never *really* enjoyed baking with the kids but this was fun and stress free. Hubby dearest has declared the fairy cakes ‘moreish’ and the kids love eating something they have made themselves.

Much of my time has been taken up with studying and writing essays. My final uni essay of the year is due in on Thursday and then I have two weeks to finish my Forest School portfolio. Eek! The good news is that I have done my first aid training and am now qualified to be a First Aider in an outdoor setting. Work is busy but I’m enjoying it. Although I haven’t had a chance to do anything crafty for ages I have been cooking and baking. Tonight I made some beef burgers with garlic and chilli. Unfortunately they were devoured before I got a chance to take a photo. Devin has taken an interest in baking so last week we attempted Nigella’s Banana Bread. It turned out rather well but the kids weren’t too enamoured with it so I took it to work where it was gobbled up.

Tomorrow Devin has requested that we bake something with chocolate in it so I’m going to look out some sort of biscuit or cookie recipe this evening.

In other news, I went shopping for supplies for the Alice in Wonderland swap today. I’m hoping to get crafting when I’m on holiday in a week or so.

Plain sponge cake is not a thing I’ve ever made. If I’m making cake, it’s a chocolate cake I desire. However, this week I found myself making plain sponge on two separate occasions. At the weekend I made a Boston Cream Pie, which is basically two sponge cakes sandwiched with creme patisserie and topped with a chocolate ganache. The sponge was amazing but I had slight problems with the filling and topping. My creme patisserie wasn’t thick enough and, having never made it before, it didn’t dawn on me that it wouldn’t thicken much when it was cooled. Still, it tasted divine. Then the ganache split slightly and no matter what I did, it just didn’t have a smooth and shiny consistency. All in all, the cake looked messy but it tasted great.

Then last night I had a go at making a birthday cake for Brodie, who turned 3 today. The kids love the chocolate icing I make but I find that the combination of that and the chocolate cake is a little much for them. So, I decided to have a go at another sponge cake. This time I filled it with raspberry jam and pink vanilla butter icing before topping it with some more of the icing mixture. The wee sugar bees which adorn it were part of a christmas present from my mum.

I’m actually giving bits of this cake away to those who visit us in order to stop myself from eating it. Being a Nigella Lawson recipe I dread to think how many points are in each slice. My cake testers assure me that it’s yummy.

I have never made a fruit cake before. There, I said it! However, hubby likes fruit cake and what with it coming up to Christmas I thought it would be nice to have a go. I chose Nigella’s recipe for Marzipan Fruit Cake because hubby loves marzipan and because I hoped that the extra marzipan would stop the cake from being too dry (my main problem with fruit cake). Nigella’s recipe calls for dried pears but I couldn’t find any so used dried peaches instead. I thought the cake looked amazing. I made it out Tuesday and we tucked into it last night (Friday). Hubby insisted that I cover it in more marzipan and icing. It wasn’t a complete disaster but I think it’s a skill that I need to work on.

All in all it turned out better than expected. The cake itself was surprisingly light and moreish. The only thing with this cake is that you have to prepare some of the ingredients the night before baking and then, once it’s baked, you should leave it for a week (not that we managed that one). Definitely not a quick process.

Nigella’s Marzipan Fruit Cake

150g sultanas
100g natural coloured glace cherries, halved
150g dried pears, chopped
100ml white rum
250g marzipan
50g ground almonds
zest of 1 lemon
175g plain flour
100g caster sugar
100g butter
2 large eggs
1 tsp orange flower water

Use a 20cm spring form cake tin, buttered and lined bottom and sides, so that the parchment comes a good 10cm above the rim.

The night before mix sultanas, glace cherries and dried pears in a large bowl and cover with the rum.  Dice the marzipan and put it in the freezer. Leave both to soak and freeze overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 140/gas 1. Beat together ground almonds, lemon zest, sugar, flour, butter and eggs.  Add drained fruit, orange flower water and frozen marzipan, mix together.  Put the mixture into the tin, levelling the surface, and making a slight indent in the middle to get an even surface when cooked.

Cake should be baked for 2 - 2 1/2 hours, or until skewer comes out clean (I found this difficult to judge because there were bits of gooey marzipan and peach on the skewer). Do not overcook, as it will continue to cook in its own heat for a bit.  But don’t worry - there’s enough dried fruit and marzipan to stop anyone complaining that the cake is dry.

Allow to cool in the tin then rewrap in parchment and foil to store for about a week. I fed the cake a couple of spoonfuls of rum before I wrapped it.

Today has been a good day. I awoke this morning after having a lie in (Brodie didn’t climb into bed with me until 7.30). I guess the downside was that we’d been at a wedding reception last night and didn’t get in until 11pm. Anyway, this morning was the launch of the new Body Combat release at the gym. I was there for 10am and sweated my way through the cardo heavy routine which I love, love, love. After a brief lunch I dropped my kids with the lovely Barry and kidnapped me a Sara. We went to see writers Alan Bisset and Denise Mira as part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival. I was in such a good mood when I returned home that I set about baking some cookies. I found a recipe for gooey chocolate cherry cookies which I thought I’d try. Now, these cookies are seriously yummy. The only problem is that I made them a little too big so they are more cakey than gooey.

Ingredients

Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Beat the butter, sugars and egg until smooth, then mix in the flour, chocolate, almond and cherry pieces and ½ tsp salt. Spoon onto non-stick baking sheets in large rough blobs - you’ll get 20 out of this mix (I only got 12 which was part of the problem). Make sure they are well spaced as the cookies grow substantially as they bake. The raw dough can be frozen. Bake for 12-14 mins until just golden, but still quite pale and soft in the middle. If baking from frozen, give them a few mins more. Cool on the sheets for 5 mins, then lift onto racks with a fish slice and leave to cool completely.

October week is now upon us. I know I have a cheek to complain about needing a holiday, what with being off for 7 weeks over the summer and having a long weekend in September, but I am really looking forward to a week away from work. As with all school holidays I’ll have Devin at home with me so we’ll be going to the gym (him to the kids classes and me for various classes/workouts) but I’ve also planned to do some outdoorsy things with him. Some of them are craft based so I shall post all here.

To kick off the holidays I did a spot of baking this morning. I fancied having a crack at some chocolate brownies so pulled out Rachel Allen’s Bake and adapted one of her recipes (the only change I made was to use walnuts instead of hazelnuts). I was really worried that I wouldn’t get these out of the tin because they are so gooey and fudgy. They did break up a bit but they still taste delicious.

Ingredients

175g dark chocolate                            175g butter

25g cocoa                                               3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract                           100g plain flour

75g walnuts (roughly chopped)

1. Preheat the oven to 180c. Line square cake tin (approx. 20cm x 20cm) with greaseproof paper.

2. Melt together chocolate, butter and cocoa.

3. In a large bowl beat together eggs, sugar and vanilla. Continue to whisk while adding melted chocolate mixture. When this is combined sift in the flour and fold through the nuts (using a metal spoon).

4. Spoon mixture into tin and cook for 19-25 minutes. Brownies should be ‘dry’ on top but gooey in the middle.

5. Leave to cool in cake tin before cutting into squares.

Alas, today there are no pictures. I have been crafting and baking, honest guv.

Today I had a mass bake. I made Raspberry and Lemon Muffins, Caramel Shortcake and Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes. They were all a disaster in one way or another (although they’re all edible). The muffins weren’t very lemony and, despite being coated in flour, the raspberries sank to the bottom. I also overcooked them a little so the tops are a bit hard. The caramel of the shortcake has some little bits of sugar which haven’t dissolved properly (boo). I also overcooked the cupcakes a little but, more importantly, the icing isn’t quite right. I used my usual chocolate gooey icing but I think it’s a little too sweet. Hmmmm…..maybe I just need to get back in the swing of things.

I have also been crafting but I can’t show you that yet as it’s part of a swap. Crafting is something I don’t really do a lot of and I’ve never made things to give to other people so I’m really nervous about this. I’m happy with what I’ve made, I just hope the recipient is happy.

In other news, it’s reports week at school and I’ve just finished mine. I’m leaving the grammar check until tomorrow though because my head is swimming. I need a holiday.

Well, that’s me back at work. I have spent the last couple of days reorganising/brightening up my classroom and therefore have a load of planning/paperwork to do this weekend. It’s strange how, after being off for 7 weeks, you slip back into the old routines so easily. It honestly feels like I’ve never been away.

Earlier in the week I managed to find the time to do some baking. After a second failed attempt at the orange cake I decided to return to Nigella and make her version of Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups. These are amazing however they are incredibly rich and sweet, so even I can’t eat more than a couple at a time.

Ingredients

For the base: 200g smooth peanut butter, 200g icing sugar, 50g softened butter, 50g soft dark brown sugar

For the topping: 200g milk chocolate, 100g dark chocolate, tbsp butter.

• Put all the base ingredients in a bowl and mix until you get a sandy texture.
• Line a brownie tray (approx 20×20cm) and fill tray with base mix, pressing it down evenly.
• Melt chocolate and butter, mix together and pour over base.
• Leave to cool (in fridge) before cutting into roughly 48 pieces.

I wanted to make something with peanut butter in it this evening but when I opened the cupboards they were bare (well, lacking in peanut butter). Instead I had a wee flick through Bake and chose something I had the ingredients for.

Ingredients

225g butter                            50ml milk

225g caster sugar                225g plain flour

4 eggs                                      2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla                         50g cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 180c. Grease a cake tin (8inch diameter).

Beat the butter until it is soft and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat well. In a separate bowl beat together the eggs and vanilla. Gradually add this to the butter mix, stirring well. Sift the flour and baking powder into butter mix and fold in. Add the milk and mix gently until combined. Divide the cake mix between 2 bowls. Add the cocoa powder to one of these bowls and mix thoroughly. Using spoonfuls from alternate bowls, fill the cake tin. Then take a skewer and drag it through the cake mix to achieve the marbling effect. Bake for approx. 45 minutes.

This cake is wonderfully light. The only thing I wasn’t happy with was the marbling effect. I think this may be a skill that takes practice.

I’m a sucker for a good squidgy cookie and Vonnie claimed to have found such a recipe so I thought I’d give it a try. Armed with the ingredients I set about creating the perfect cookie. For my first batch I replaced the peanut butter M&Ms in the recipe (which I would have used had I any to hand) with 50g of chocolate covered peanuts and 50g of chocolate covered raisins. Vonnie was right, they were crisp round the edges and soft and squishy in the middle. However, I’m not a fan of golden syrup so I’m going to work on replacing that without ruining the texture of the cookies (I’m thinking maple syrup and then add some pecans). The boys in the house weren’t too enamored with peanuts in their cookies so I then whipped up a batch with just the raisins. I had to take a picture quickly because they started disappearing off the wire rack while they were still hot. Honestly I still prefer the taste of Rachel Allen’s Dotty Cookies but these ones were so much easier and quicker to make.