May 12, 2013 by sarah
After calls to make a chocolate cake for the nurses at work, I relented and made Nigella’s dense chocolate loaf cake from ‘How To Be A Domestic Goddess’. I report it was sufficiently googey and chocolately to satisfy all – well I guess so as it all disappeared! I also made a spiced rhubarb sponge to celebrate the first harvest of rhubarb from our garden. Yummy!
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May 12, 2013 by sarah
The chickens have been enjoying the sunshine in the back garden today. When I popped out to check on them, look what I found… dog and chickens asleep in the sun. What this picture doesn’t show is that our cat, Brian, was asleep on the grass too only 3 feet away from the chickens. I tried to get a picture with them all in but they woke up and moved off. Happy families!
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May 12, 2013 by sarah
We took a few days off work and went camping in Herefordshire and Shropshire, so I have not done any baking for a few weeks. The weather was glorious every day. I particularly liked the day we sent going around the second hand book shops in Hay-on Wye and all lovely meals we had out, especially around Ludlow. The other timber house , painted in yellow, is part of Stokesay Castle, near Ludlow.
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April 21, 2013 by sarah
After several lots of experimentation, the ‘Judith and Tim Hochzeit Kuchen’ recipe is finished! I apologise for my German if it is incorrect! I haven’t actually made the entire recipe at one time as the deadline has crept up but the individual components have been made and I have tasted it in my head!
For the sponges
300g self-raising flour
300g caster sugar
250g unsalted butter, soft
4 large free-range eggs at room temperature
4 tablespoons milk
½ tsp baking powder
Finely grated rind of 1 orange
3 x 8”(20cm) sandwich tins, greased and base lined with baking paper
Heat oven to 180oC. Whisk the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add all the other ingredients and mix until blended but not separated. Divide among the 3 tins, level off the top and have a slight depression in the centre. Bake for about 20-25minutes until springy and slightly shrink away from the sides of the tin. Cool in the tins for 5minutes before turning out onto a wire rack and leaving to go completely cold.
For the whisky-orange syrup
Juice of 1 orange
50g sugar
2 tbsp whisky or Glayva liqueur (liqueur of whisky and orange made in Glasgow)
Put the ingredients in a small pan, heat gently until the sugar is dissolved then boil for 1minute. Leave to cool completely.
For the raspberry jam filling
300g tub of frozen raspberries
3 teaspoons cornflour
4 tablespoons caster sugar
2 tbsp whisky or Glayvar liqueur
Put all the ingredients into a medium sized pan, set over a medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves in the juices. Then rapidly boil for 2 minutes, stirring until thick. Allow to go completely cold.
For the mascarpone frosting
500g tub mascarpone cream
2 tbsp caster sugar
½ finely grated zest of orange
1 tbsp whisky or Glayva liquer
Put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before using to cover the cake.
To assemble the cake
The cooled cake tiers, trimmed so flat
Cooled syrup
Cold raspberry filling
Cold mascarpone frosting
Punnet of fresh raspberries
Using a pastry brush liberally soak two tiers of the cake on the top surface and one tier on the bottom surface. Place a cake layer on your serving plate of choice, syrup side up, spread over one half the raspberry filling, place on the next layer of cake syrup side up and spread on the remaining raspberry filling, place on the last tier with the syrup side down. Cover with the mascarpone frosting (or other frosting of choice) and decorate with fresh raspberries. Refrigerate until needed but ideally eat the same day it is made.
And here are the photos from the version I made to test the frosting, this time on a two tier genose sponge:
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April 21, 2013 by sarah
Unlike the fickle French macaron, these are a breeze to make and the cracks and other imperfections that plague their french counterparts are all part of the character of these. These biscuits are a chewier version of amaretti. Recipe from Christmas edition (Dec 2012) of Country Living.
Makes 30-40 macarons
350g caster sugar
250g ground almonds
40g plain flour
4 large egg whites
few drops almond essence and zest of 1 lemon
Heat the oven to 180 oC. Line lots of baking sheets with parchment.
Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks but not stiff or dry. Add the almond essence and lemon zest.
Add a spoonful at a time the mixed dry ingredients until it forms a soft mixture and leave to sit for 10 minutes. Form teaspoons of the mixture into balls in you hand and gently press onto the baking sheets. Sprinkle with another tablespoon of sugar.
Bake for 15 minutes until gold brown and lift of the parchment easily. Turn off the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes before cooking on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
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April 21, 2013 by sarah
Our cat, Brian, flumps! This is an onomatopoetic word so you can probably guess what it involves. When he lies down, he just flumps! This is him flumping on our bed this morning, and yes sometimes he lands upside down!!!
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April 12, 2013 by sarah
This week Eilidh and Rachel, two friends from uni days, came to stay. We went to St Albans, Hampton Court Palace and Spitalfields and went to The Rex cinema in Berkhamsted(http://therexberkhamsted.com/) where we saw ‘Oz the Great and Powerful’ which was surprisingly good fun! Here are some photos…
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April 12, 2013 by sarah
There is nothing better than having some friends to stay on which you can do some cake experimentation! Sadly, I have to report that the Swiss meringue buttercream icing was not a great success – far too dense and buttery and nothing to counteract the sweetness of the sugar. This is the site where I got the original idea from http://sweetapolita.com/2011/04/swiss-meringue-buttercream-demystified/ . This is a special cake so I want something beyond the normal cream cheese/ buttercream that I make. I feel some more experimentation coming on! Although this is obviously not keeping the cake under wraps until I reveal the final recipe, I felt I had to share some of the almost disasters as well as the finished products with you.
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March 31, 2013 by sarah
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March 31, 2013 by sarah
It is Easter Sunday and the sun is out! Hello Mr Sunshine, we haven’t seen you for a while!
I put out my Easter decorations today. The decorated eggs are not homemade but I have had them for about 10 years – I bought them in ‘The Olde Friars’ in Keswick when I worked up in Cumbria. I made the little bunnies and chick during the week while listening to MP3s for my medicine certificate – multi-tasking! I think the hanging bunnies have worked well, especially with their little pompom tails, but the 3D bunny on the chocolate egg basket is a bit weird! I’ll try something different next year. I also didn’t get time to make a felt lamb but if any of you guys have the time then there is a fantastic pattern here www.patternbee.com/FREELAMBKIN.html (the pattern is in the top right corner). Happy Easter everyone!
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