Sugarcraft Figures!

Just spent a lovely evening with Nickie from Cakes by Nicola (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cakes-by-Nicola/148705945245272?ref=ts&fref=ts and http://cakesbynic.weebly.com/) at Make - Horsham Craft Project learning to make sugarcraft figures, and here are my first efforts! I'm really pleased with them and have learned loads from Nickie. She's a fab teacher and took us step by step how to make them, explaining all the tools, pastes and techniques clearly. Watch this space for more fondant friends in the future...!

Jason's WORLD FAMOUS ginger cake!

I was treated to this recipe at my Grandma's 90th birthday party this summer when my lovely cousin Charlotte made these as muffins, and I knew I needed to get my hands on this recipe! It was created by one of her work colleagues, Jason (who I've been told is an amazing baker), and he has kindly let me share it with you. 

The original recipe is designed to bake 2 x 2lb loaf tin cakes and I have used it to make 18 large muffins/cupcake size cakes.

Jason's WORLD FAMOUS ginger cake

2 mugs of self raising flour,

1 mug of sugar,

2 heaped tsp of ground ginger,

1 heaped tsp of bicarbonate of soda,

4oz/100g of Stork,

2 generous tbsp of golden syrup,

1 mug of boiling milk (I heated this in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes),

1 free range egg.

1. Preheat the oven to Electric 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 6.

2. Mix together the self raising flour, sugar, ground ginger and bicarbonate of soda.

3. Add the Stork, golden syrup and milk and mix until smooth.

4. Add the egg and mix until well combined, it should resemble a runny batter with some bubbles.

5. Either pour into 2 lined 2lb loaf tins or spoon into 18 muffin cases (I made a bit of a mess doing this as the mix is runny, which led to a few odd shaped muffins. I used a knife to even them up after and eat the bits, what a hardship).

6. Bake the loaves for about 40 minutes and then leave to cool. I baked my muffins for about 25 minutes in an electric fan oven, you may find they need less time in a gas oven.

I decided to add rather messy lemon icing (made of icing sugar, a bit of hot water and lemon juice) to mine. 

This recipe is perfect for this time of year as the night's draw in and really make me feel all Christmassy. The cakes are soft, squidgy, gingery and delicious, I am definitely going to try it as a loaf cake soon too!!

Thank you Jason for letting me share and enjoy your recipe!

Happy baking!!

xxx

Chocolate praline truffles!

I have ALWAYS wanted to be a chocolatier so decided I should give making hazelnut praline truffles a go! As a total amateur to chocolate making I decided to stick with a recipe for my first attempt and have got my suggestions for how I would improve it personally next time. This is the recipe I used:

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/9622/hazelnut+praline+truffles

You'll notice mine don't look anything like the pictures on there but they have probably made them loads of time (I'll tell myself that). Here's some pics of mine in the making and the final products, with a few tips and ideas for improvement along the way:

 Sugar dissolving in water to make caramel.

 Uh-oh, this recipe doesn't have enough water! I have just realised this is an Australian recipe and Australian 'cups' are slightly smaller than American cups (which I have) so that must be why!

 This is what happened to my 'caramel', lumps of hard sugar! Luckily I quickly added a good slug of water and it dissolved again...

 And turned into beautiful caramel, sorry saucepan!

Stirred in the hazelnuts (PS. buy blanched ones rather than bothering to roast and rub your own) to make the solid praline.

Utter decadence- chocolate ganache from dark chocolate, butter and cream. Next time I would make this with half milk and half dark chocolate as it's very rich and wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. 

 Whizzed up hazelnut praline.

 Chocolate ganache and hazelnut praline combined to make the filling for the truffles. 

Truffles rolled out and coated in white and milk chocolate. The white chocolate wasn't as easy to coat with as it started to melt the truffle which showed through on the outside, my husband said he thought it was intentional though and that he likes them best. Next time I would make them half the size the recipe suggests as they are HUGE! I'm not complaining though...

Looking forward to trying these again with all my improvements and hopefully a much nicer finish on them too, think being smaller would help that as they would be easier to coat, these are nearly the size of golf balls!

Happy chocolating!

xxx

Cake and Bake Show!

It's been AGES since I've blogged without giving you a recipe so please forgive me for this one! I've had a fab day out at the Earl's Court Cake and Bake Show in London today, tired feet now and propped up in bed with all my pregnancy pillows!! It's the first cake show I've been too so wasn't sure what to expect but it didn't disappoint. There was LOADS of stalls, celebrity chefs, workshops and demonstrations. We got the goody bag when we arrived (who doesn't love a goody bag?!) then hit the 'marketplace'. Nearly every stall was giving away tasters, especially good for cheese and bread (Tom's Fudge place take note- if it's less than half the size of my fingernail on my little finger I can't taste it!) and there was so much variety. Marmite brownies were scrummy, may have to make some of these!!

We decided to do a full circuit before coming back to buy pecan and honey biscuits from PS. Love Biscuits, amazing tomato and smoked garlic cheese and caramelised onion and Rioja cheese from the Cheshire Cheese Company, Oreo cake pops and a box of delights from the Little Round Cake Company. I am really taken with these cakes, if you haven't heard of them before (which to be fair neither had I) they make something called a 'tweener' which is a small cake filled and topped and easily enough for 2 or 3 to share. They had such yummy looking flavours too and we were not disappointed with the one we tucked into when we got home! 

http://www.thelittleroundcakecompany.co.uk/cakes/tweeners.html

I'm going to be on the look out for some tweener tins to make my own! Lunch was courtesy of an Italian bakery; bruschetta topped with spicy chilli paste, it was to die for!!

We took a well needed rest to watch Rosemary Shrager bake hot chocolate cakes with caramel sauce which also looked yummy. She was hilarious and took no prisoners! The sound guy had to keep turning her down as she only seemed to shout, but her recipe looked great and I am going to have to make my own caramel sauce soon as it looked really easy to do; just sugar, water and cream!

Next on the agenda was all the cake making accessories and I had to be restrained here. I bought some gorgeous little pink, blue and white buttons for decorating cakes and a cocoa butter transfer sheet which is always something I've fancied trying. If you're not sure what this is I will attempt to enlighten you, and will do a more detailed description when I've actually used it. It is a design made from cocoa butter printed on acetate that you apply to either melted chocolate or fondant icing and when it is cooled you peel it off and the design is left on your baking. Here's a couple of examples from google images to explain it a bit better:

Something else I was delighted with, although I have no idea what I am going to use it for yet, was my new GIANT Bonne Maman glass jar! I'm sure my husband will wonder what on earth it is for but I LOVE it! I may use it for storage in the kitchen or just make a giant amount of jam.
I'm sure I have many other goodies too but am shattered now! Thanks for reading this far, and thanks for a lovely day Mum! Will post again soon with new recipes and ideas.
Much love, 
Yummy Mummy
xxx

Back To School!

Back to school time! Whether your little one is just starting, your older ones are starting a new year or you are back to work as a teacher/TA/parent who has had a lovely summer at home with the children, lunchboxes are back on the agenda! These flapjacks are quick and easy to make, easy to transport in lunchboxes and you can easily add 'extras' to suit your family's taste. Flapjacks are often toted as a 'health food', don't be fooled, most are made like these with butter and sugar/syrup but the oats will help keep little ones going and everything is good in moderation. This recipe is very quick to do and has enough stages for little helpers too as the pan doesn't get too hot!

Super Quick and Easy Flapjack

250g/10oz rolled oats,

125g/5oz Stork,

125g/5oz sugar,

2-3 tbsp of golden syrup/honey.

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. Weigh out the Stork, sugar and golden syrup into a pan (my little man's favourite part is spooning out the butter!)

3. Melt on the stove over a low heat until the sugar and syrup has dissolved and the Stork has melted.

4. Set to one side. Weigh out the oats and add to the melted Stork/sugar mixture. You can also add some extra ingredients here if you want such as dried fruit, chocolate, nuts etc.

5. Line a small tin with foil (I found that a 'normal' brownie tin needed double this mixure to fill it fully as you don't want them too thin).

6. Bake for 18-20 minutes until lightly golden on top. If you bake them longer they will be crunchier so it depends how you like them! I like mine quite squidgy! Leave to cool in the tin before cutting and enjoying.

If you've got any good recipes for 'back to school' lunchbox goodies please share them on my facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/yummymummyletthemeatcake

xxx