Bon Appétit...

For my birthday a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get a lovely madeleine tray. Naturally, I couldn't wait to give them a try and I was very pleased with the results. They are quick and easy to make and bake and so delicious, a big hit with my family. I used Michael Roux Jr.'s recipe and it produced a lovely light and fluffy cake mix and delicious madelines. The recipe is here, along with a video of him and the lovely Mary Berry making them together.

Michael Roux Jr.'s Madeleines

Makes 12-16

Ingredients:

100g/4oz plain flour, plus extra for dusting,

100g/4oz butter, melted, plus extra for greasing,

100g/4oz castor sugar,

3/4 tsp baking powder,

2 eggs,

Zest and juice of 1 lemon.

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas mark 6.

2. Melt the butter and brush the tin with some. Dust some flour over and then tap it on the worktop to shake off any excess.

3. Whisk together the eggs and sugar until frothy.

4. Whisk in the flour, butter, baking powder and lemon juice and zest.

5. Leave the mixture to rest for 20 minutes.

6. Put a desert spoon of the mixture into each madeleine mould and then bake for 8-10 minutes until lightly golden brown.

7. Enjoy warm from the oven, pretending you are in a cafe in Paris!

Amusez-vous à faire cuire ces délicieux gâteaux!

xxx

Cupcake Bouquet!

Happy Mother's Day to all the lovely Mummy readers out there! For my Mum I decided to try something new and a bit more adventurous- the cupcake bouquet! For my first every attempt I'm really pleased and definately think I could improve it next time. So here are some photos of my efforts and tips on what I did, they are loads of videos out there so it's worth surfing Youtube for a bit and lots of different ways to do these.

I decided to do mine in a plant pot and used a floristy polysterine sphere (all purchased on ebay). I made and iced 12 cupcakes although was only brave enough to get 7 of them on, next time I would try and get them further down too. I did put them in the fridge after icing to ensure the buttercream wouldn't slip.

Using cocktails sticks to secure them I then started adding the cupcakes! You can use several cocktail sticks for ones further down and you need to keep them at at least 45 degrees so that the cakes don't fall off. As I added the cakes I used cellotape and green tissue paper to start adding 'leaves and foliage'.

I kept going with this until I'd added enough cupcakes that I thought would stay in place (I only dropped 2!)

 Then I finally added some more 'leaves' and a bow and voila!

  The cupcakes all stayed on overnight and most importantly, my Mum loved it!!

Happy Mothers Day

xxx