Jewellery Making and Cupcake Decorating Parties

If you are looking for a new idea for a child’s party, you could try Psyche’s Bazaar (see the link on the right). They have a trained jewellery designer who will come to your house or venue and make jewellery with the children. I supply the cupcakes, frosting and cake toppers and the children can decorate their own cakes as well.  All the details are on Psyche’s Bazaar’s website.

Rosebud Cupcakes

I’ve spent all morning getting ready for the Shopping Evening tonight and made these cupcakes. I have decided to display them in a gift box tonight and I’ve filled the box with 3 different cakes – Vanilla, Chocolate and Coffee & Walnut, just so that people browsing around the stand can get an idea of what it’s possible to order. I may sell them singly or in 4’s and have a few tasters on offer too. After all, the whole point of them is the taste, not just the look!

 

Chocolate, Coffee & Walnut and Vanilla Cupcakes

I have taken an order this week for some wedding cupcakes from a couple who want to reflect their wedding in Las Vegas, so they are going to have American flavoured cupcakes such as Maple Syrup, Carrot Cake and Blueberry Cupcakes - it should be lots of fun deciding how to decorate them on a La Vegas theme! The reason I mention weddings is because I think the chocolate rosebuds above would look lovely at a wedding too!

 

My friend’s daughter has already ordered the chocolate and red rose cupcakes for her 13th birthday, but with red foil cases, which I think will look pretty stunning all piled up on a stand.

 

I also took a snapshot of the bagged up Brownies and Rocky Road which I’m taking tonight – they are always very popular at these shopping evenings. It’s funny, because I almost did not include Rocky Road in my repertoire, as I thought it was the sort of thing anyone could make at home, but apparently not!

 

Brownies and Rocky Road

 

 

 

Chocolate and More Chocolate

If you could only see how much chocolate I am getting through at the moment! Today I have made a chocolate layer cake, 12 chocolate cupcakes and double batches of Fudgy Brownies and Rocky Road. The day did not get off to a good start as someone had fiddled with my alarm clock and we were late getting up – I had just 20 minutes to get the first child out of the door to catch the school bus. In that first hour I managed to cram in a huge amount, including getting one layer cake in the oven.

Chocolate Layer Cake

Chocolate Cupcakes

I was really keen not to miss my Pilates class today, but that meant I had to make at least one cake before I went. Luckily, it all got done in the end. I have spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find liquorice laces to make some train tracks for a cake, as all the supermarkets seem to move all the usual sweets out of the way to make room for the Christmas stuff. Anyway, on my third or fourth attempt at different shops, I eventually found some today!

Tomorrow is a day of baking and packaging items to take to the Christmas Shopping Evening held by Papworth Trust at the Jubilee Hall in Eaton Socon.  I have decided to take lots of cookie mixes, a Christmas Cake, Brownies and Rocky Road and 12 cupcakes in a gift box to show the type of cakes you can order. I am also going to have lots of cakes to taste tomorrow – I don’t know why I haven’t thought of doing that before!

Cookie Mixes In A Jar

I’m just taking a short break from baking and giving my legs a well deserved rest. I’ve spent the morning making another Christmas cake whilst listening to White Christmas and other golden oldies. Nothing like getting in the mood for Christmas – possibly my favourite time of year. I had to make a dash to the supermarket for some ingredients I had forgotten and when I opened the door, the smell of spicy Christmas cake cooling in the kitchen greeted me and even if I do say so myself, it smelt pretty good!

I have also made about 10 cookie mixes in jars. I am off to the Papworth Trust Shopping Evening on Friday, so I want to take plenty of these jars with me. Everyone is very interested in them, as they make really good presents, even for a non-cook, as they are so easy. You just add your own butter, egg and vanilla, mix them together and then tip in the contents of the jar. Each one makes 18 cookies and of course you can re-use the preserving jar it comes packaged in. Very little waste, which is always a good thing. I think they are an excellent way to try out making your own cookies, as nothing beats them fresh from the oven and you look like you’ve worked really hard on making them!

Today I have made Chocolate Chip, Dark Chocolate and Sour Cherry, Dark Chocolate and Cranberry, Oatmeal and Raisin and Cranberry, White Chocolate and Pecan (the one in the front of the photo). They look so pretty all layered up in the jar. Last week someone bought one and said she was just going to look at it and not use it! I like to give them to my son’s teacher’s at Christmas time – they always seem very appreciative of them!

Next year I will tweak the recipes to fit in a 1litre jar. The current jars are 75cl and so difficult to find at a decent price! By next year I will have lots more flavour combos, but if you like the idea of this and would like a particular flavour, just give me a call or drop me an email. These can be bought now for Christmas and will last until at least April 2010.

Cookie Mix In A Jar

Knitted Squares For A Throw

Knitted Squares Rowan Pure Wool

Having got fed up with the last knitting project (the garter stitch throw), I decided to re-use all the wool from that and knit 6″ squares in all sorts of textures and patterns, following a Debbie Abrahams pattern. Here are the first three knitted in a Rowan Pure  Wool double knit in my favourite colour – duck egg blue.  One day I might actually complete a project larger than a scarf! I’ve realised that I very quickly get bored, so maybe by varying the stitch and the colours, I may be able to keep my interest going long enough to get it done. I suppose I could always make a cushion, if I can’t quite run to a throw…

Milk Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes with Pink Chocolate Roses

I’ve  been in the kitchen making 24 of these cupcakes today. The customer requested milk chocolate ganache instead of the usual dark chocolate ganache, as it is  sweeter, perhaps more appealing to a general audience. Today for some reason, it did not want to behave and took ages to thicken, so I could pipe it.  Still, I got there in the end! The photo may not be up to scratch, as the camera was dropped the other day and ended up with the lens stuck in the ‘out’ position. After a bit of research on the internet, my husband found a DIY repair site which recommended giving the camera another sharp bang… Well, it worked, if only as a temporary measure! I can see my husband has now found another excuse to buy that expensive camera he wants for Xmas…

Milk Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes with Pink Chocolate Roses

Birthday Books

Anyone who knows me, knows I like my books, especially baking and craft books. So I was pleased to receive a very good selection off my wish-list:

Birthday Books

Firstly ’Life Is Sweet – A Collection Of Splendid Old-Fashioned Confectionery’ by Hope and Greenwood - a lovely retro-feel book on old-fashioned confectionery. There’s so much to choose from and I can’t wait to have a go. My eldest son and I are already planning to make truffles and all sorts of goodies to give away at Christmas – he particularly likes to make sweets at Christmas-time.

Then there’s my Dodo Diary 2010 – cannot do without it. All those columns and areas to write all sorts of notes in – it helps to keep me and everyone else organised.

A fantastic book on baking called Rose’s Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum- it’s a really big book packed with all sorts of unusual recipes, which are tested to the hilt and backed up with lots of tips and advice. Can’t wait to read it properly! Then there’s Blankets and Throws To Knit by Debbie Abrahams, Sewing in No Time by Emma Hardy and Divine Cupcakes: A Book Of Temptation by Tamara Jane. Which do I choose to read first?

Getting Ready for Shows

I’m not sure what I’ve been doing for the past two weeks (apart from tending to sick children, making Christmas cakes and Christmas puddings), but somehow I have not got around to putting anything on my blog. Very remiss of me! Feeling especially guilty, as I bought a copy of  ‘Blogging For Bliss’ by Tara Frey yesterday and I’ve started to realise there is so much more I could do! I’m itching to get on with it, but…..

First things first, as I have two Christmas Shopping Evenings coming up on Wednesday and Thursday, so all of today and tomorrow will be spent baking. So far I’ve made double batches of Fudgy Brownies and Rocky Road and 24 each of Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes, which will be transformed into Christmas Cupcakes with cute robins,  Rudolfs, Xmas trees and snowflakes on them and into the Candy Cane Cupcakes shown below. I have been trying to get ahead as much as possible by prepping boxes and bags and all the other stuff I have to take with me.

Getting ready for a show

 People are always very complimentary about my packaging and labelling and often want to know who put the look together. It was just me , well, with a fair amount of technical input from my husband.  I’m the one with the artistic input and he has to tweak it for me on the computer. I guess I know what I like and the look I want to achieve! My husband designed my website for me and for someone who doesn’t do it for a living, I think he did a pretty good job. My cousin prints my labels at Daymark Ltd. www.labelsandtags.co.uk – they do an excellent job.

I suppose I had better get back to packing boxes and bags, as most of tomorrow will be spent making Cranberry and White Chocolate Chunk Cookies and Dark Chocolate and Sour Cherry Cookies, as well as adding all the finishing touches to the cakes. Thursday will be spent making more of everything for the next shopping evening. I have been very busy of late, so thank you to everyone who orders from me and thanks too for all the lovely things you say about my website and the cakes.

 

Chocolate Peppermint Candy Cane Cupcakes

Here is a sneak preview of the November and December Special at the sweet kitchen – a dark chocolate sponge with a peppermint frosting and topped with a mini peppermint candy cane – very festive! I experimented with making a red and white swirled frosting and peppermint candy sprinkles, but thought it a bit much with the striped candy cane. I prefer the contrast of the natural frosting and the striped cane. Less is more in this case…

Chocolate Peppermint Candy Cane Cupcakes

 

Red and natural swirled frosting

Nanny’s Christmas Pudding Recipe

This recipe came to my grandmother from a war-time friend and we have been using it for many years in our family. I have prepared the fruit today and left it soak in the brandy and will finish making them tomorrow. This recipe makes a huge amount – at least 3 large puddings, so I usually halve the recipe and make a large and a smaller pudding. I use the plastic pudding bowls and clip on lids from Lakeland. If you make the full amount, you will need a huge mixing bowl!

First Day:

Ingredients:

• 8oz currants, 8oz sultanas, 12oz raisins, 4 oz glace cherries, 4oz angelica (optional, but I include it), 8 oz good quality mixed peel, 4oz whole blanched almonds, chopped, 2oz glace pineapple, 2oz dried apricots,
• 4 tablespoons brandy.
• Chop the cherries, angelica, almonds, pineapple and apricots, add the currants, sultanas and raisins and pour over the brandy. Stir well, cover and leave overnight in a non-metallic bowl.

Next day:

Ingredients

• 9oz white breadcrumbs from a good loaf, 10oz Demerara sugar, 12oz shredded suet, 1/4 tsp ground mace, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp mixed spice, 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg, 6oz self-raising flour, 1 orange, 1/2 lemon, 3oz grated carrot, 8oz grated Bramley apples, 5 eggs, 2 tablespoons black treacle, 1/4 pint stout eg Guinness.
• Stir the breadcrumbs, sifted flour and spices into the fruit mix. Stir in sugar and suet. Grate in the orange and lemon rind, carrots and apples. Beat in eggs and add the orange and lemon juices and treacle. Mix all together until well blended. Lastly mix in the stout and maybe an extra slug of brandy to a dropping consistency. Put the mix into the pudding basins. Cover with a circle of baking parchment. Clip on the lid or tie on a pleated circle of foil or muslin, if using a proper pudding bowl. Steam very gently in a double boiler for 8 hours (yes, 8!). Make sure the saucepan does not boil dry. Use the other half of the lemon in the steaming water to help prevent the saucepan marking.
• Remove when done and cool. Store in a cool dry place until Christmas Day. They can be frozen, if you prefer or want to keep it for a long time.
• On Christmas Day, steam the pudding again for 3 hours. All this steaming produces a very dark, moist pudding, so don’t try and cheat by microwaving it. It won’t be the same!

You can swap and change the dried fruit and include anything you like, likewise with the alcohol, although the recipe says to use brandy or rum, you could use whiskey, Cointreau etc. You could add more or less spices too.

We light the pudding with a generous tablespoon of  brandy, and serve it with brandy cream (just whip the cream and whip in a slug of brandy).

Welcome New Baby Cupcakes

I made these this morning – chocolate sponge, pink vanilla frosting and pink sugar feet. The purchaser wants to welcome home a new mum and her new baby girl, which I think is a lovely idea. It’s wonderful to have gifts for the baby, but it’s quite nice to have something for hard-pressed Mum and Dad too!

Whilst next time, I would recommend a natural coloured vanilla frosting or a chocolate frosting, so that there is more contrast and the pink feet show up a little more, I think they will be happy with pink on pink. It is to welcome a little girl after all!

As well as a welcome home present, these would also be ideal for a christening or baby shower.  Blue feet are available too, as well a mix of  baby bottles, prams, hearts and baby vests in pink or blue. You can have butterflies or animal faces too, which come in a mix of brighter, but subtle colours.  All cost £1.99 for 12 on top of the usual cost of the cupcakes.

Welcome New Baby Girl Cupcakes

 

Homemade Christmas Mincemeat

I have decided that this year I really need to get ahead of the game and be very organised well before Christmas. I am merrily taking orders for Christmas Fruit Cakes and cupcakes, without always thinking about making my own Christmas happen! So I thought I’d better make sure that everything was made ahead of time as far as possible, starting with a homemade mincemeat. You could say, I could save myself time by buying it, but as I am not a big fan of shop-bought mincemeat, I thought I’d have a go at making my own to see if it’s better. I used the Lotte Duncan recipe off the BBC Food website, as I liked the sound of the ingredients: raisins, sultanas, currants, mixed peel, prunes, soft brown sugar, cooking apples, suet, oranges and lemons, almonds, pecan nuts, mixed spice, nutmeg and brandy. It has to mature for a couple of weeks before use, so when I have tested it I will let you know if it is worth making or not. There is another recipe on that website for a very boozy mincemeat which also sounds good – maybe another day…

Pink Chocolate Rose Cupcakes

A sweet seven-year old was the lucky recipient of these cakes today. They are decorated with Pink Chocolate Roses and sugar paste leaves. As usual, I was rushing to take a photo, so it’s a little darker than I would like, but you get the idea. I have a special offer on my website www.thesweetkitchen.co.uk at the moment – these pink chocolate rosebuds are available on cupcakes or layer cakes at the special price of £0.50 each instead of the usual £1.75! Offer stands until 30th November 2009 or until stocks run out, if sooner.

Pink Chocolate Rose Cupcakes

Chocolate Layer Cake

Chocolate Layer Cake

I must admit to not having done much baking in the past week or so, due a cold which has dragged on and on. Still, I made this chocolate layer cake and photographed it for the website. I don’t know why, but every layer cake I have made so far has had to go out the door quickly and I haven’t got round to snapping any of them for the website. 

 

Plans for this week include making some sample cupcakes for a bride-to-be to include the colours of her flowers (fuchsia and lime) and making some sample wedding cupcakes for the website. A big part of the attraction of making one-off orders is the creative input I can have. Churning out the same thing day after day is not really my thing! A new challenge always sparks my interest.

 

Time is whizzing by this Autumn – my son reminded me there are only 3 weeks until half-term and then we will really be on the countdown to Christmas. Then I will have the usual dilemma of not knowing what to buy for those difficult to please people, wanting to spread the cost, but not knowing what to buy in October, because no-one else seems to be thinking about it! I wish everyone lived close enough for me to give them something edible!

 

I am off to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Place this weekend – the temptation to spend will be over-whelming, I know. In preparation, I have had a sort-out of all my yarns and, somewhat embarrassingly, I find I must have at least 40 balls of DK, luckily in toning colours, so I am going to try and stash-bust by knitting a simple garter stitch throw for the living room in duck egg blues, teal, brown, fawn, cream and pink. Let’s see if I can actually finish this one…

Mini Wedding and Christening Cakes

Today I have finally got around to testing out some ideas for wedding and christening cakes. I want to offer 2″ square mini cakes and cupcakes for all kinds of special events.  The square cakes are very fiddly, I must say, although I guess the more you make, the quicker it becomes.  The chocolate cakes have a 2″ square sponge centre and have chocolate panels attached to the sides with ganache, piped ganache on top and finally a  chocolate rose as its crowning glory. The christening cakes have a sponge centre and are covered in sugar paste. All of these sorts of cakes are priced upon request.

Mini Chocolate Ganache Cakes for weddings and special occasions

 

 

Mini Cakes for Christenings and Special Occasions

Luxury Rich Fruit Christmas Cake for 2009

I’m in a big hurry to get everything done this week, and coming up with a Christmas Cake design had been on the to-do list for while, so I quickly set about doing this today. For my Luxury Rich Fruit Christmas Cakes this year, I have gone for an all-white snowflake design with just a hint of silver. It’s pretty and sparkly and will blend with all Christmas colour themes. The rich fruit cake contains currants, sultanas, raisins, cherries, peel, apricots, blanched and ground almonds, brandy, lemon and spices in addition to the usual flour, dark brown sugar, treacle, eggs etc. They can also be made with sherry, whiskey or Cointreau instead of the brandy. They are available in two sizes and come on a cake drum, with a white satin ribbon around the cake and fully gift boxed – see www.thesweetkitchen.co.uk for full details.

the sweet kitchen Christmas Cake

As we all know, lots of people do not like the traditional fruit cakes these days, so for them I have made some complementary sponge cupcakes in Snowflake, Robin and Christmas Tree.

the sweet kitchen Snowflake Cupcakes

the sweet kitchen Tree, Snowflake and Robin Cupcakes

Recipe: Plum and Cinnamon Bakewell Tart

Following my Plum and Cinnamon jam-making session a few days ago, I have now played around a bit and produced a recipe for a Plum and Cinnamon Bakewell Tart. This traditional English pudding is usually made with raspberry jam, but I thought it might be nice to try this Plum and Cinnamon jam instead, as it seemed to lend itself to the crisp pastry base and frangipane topping. I made the topping extra almondy by adding almond extract, as I like a really pronounced almond flavour. Anyway, it was very delicious and would make a great pudding when having guests round on a chilly Autumn evening.

Plum and Cinnamon Bakewell Tart straight from the oven

Shortcrust pastry

175g unsalted butter in a block

240g plain flour

4-5 tablespoons cold water

Pinch of salt

The way I make the pastry is to grate the chilled butter into the flour and salt, then just rub it through lightly with the fingers to make sure there are no large lumps of butter and that it’s well distributed. Add the water and mix with a knife, then pull together with the fingers until just combined. Pat into 2 discs and wrap in cling film (you will only need one disc for the pudding).  Chill for 20 mins in the fridge, then roll out to fit your dish. I used an 8″ loose bottomed 1 1/2″ deep cake tin, but any 8″ pudding dish would do.

Then spread about 1/2 of a 1lb jar of Plum and Cinnamon Jam on the base of the pastry case. You could use any jam that would complement the almond  frangipane though.

Frangipane

110g unsalted butter

110g caster sugar

90 g ground almonds

25g plain flour

1/2 tsp almond extract

2 free-range eggs

Toasted flaked almonds

Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Mix the flour and ground almonds together. Beat one egg at a time into the butter mix, alternating with the flour and almond mix, until all ingredients are combined.

Spread the frangipane over the jam base and level, then sprinkle toasted flaked almonds over the top. Trim the pastry to fit and crimp the edges.

Bake at 170-180C for 40-45mins or until well browned and it springs back to the touch. Don’t worry if the top sinks back slightly when cooling.

Nice with traditional custard on a cold day or creme fraiche or double cream on a warm day like today.

Plum and Cinnamon Bakewell Tart - the inside story

Thank you

I had no idea that putting one recipe on my blog would lead to such an amazing response. As my blog was new, I wasn’t expecting many people to read it, but I’ve just come in to find enormous amount of people have been reading the recipe and lots of you have been leaving lovely comments too!  Thank you so much – it’s nice to know there are like-minded people spread far and wide. Do keep reading and sendng your comments – I now feel inspired to put loads more recipes on the blog!

Recipe: Lemon Drizzle Cake with Crystallized Rose Petals

Lemon Drizzle Cake with Crystallized Rose Petals

 

This is a very simple but delicious cake, which is always really popular with everyone. The crystallized rose petals add a pretty, summery touch and you might be lucky and still have some rose petals to use in your garden. Only use unsprayed roses though.

 

Lemon Drizzle Cake

4 oz unsalted butter, softened 

6 oz self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

6 oz caster sugar

2 large free-range eggs

4 tablespoons milk

Grated rind of 1 unwaxed lemon.

 

Topping

Juice of 1 lemon

4 oz granulated sugar

 

Crystallized Rose Petals

1 unsprayed rose

1 egg white, whisked until frothy

1 oz caster sugar

(Note: these contain raw egg whites, so if you prefer, leave the cake undecorated)

 

Line a 2lb loaf tin or a 7” round, deep tin with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 180C.

Beat all the ingredients together with a hand-held mixer for 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Transfer the mix to your prepared tin and level the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the top springs back when pressed.

 Remove from the oven and leave in the tin. Mix together the topping ingredients and spread over the top of the cake, whilst the cake is still hot. Leave the cake in the tin until completely cold. Remove from tin and remove parchment paper.

 To make the crystallized rose petals, peel the petals off the rose. Ensure they are absolutely clean and dry. Brush the petals very lightly in egg white and sprinkle with sugar until coated. Tap off the excess and leave to dry on kitchen paper on a wire rack for several hours until dry. Decorate the top of the cake with the petals.

Cakes and cookie bars

I have just about recovered from the Meadow Mutts Dog Show last weekend. I spent all day Saturday cooking and bagging brownies and cookie bars and about 5 hours selling on Sunday. Unfortunately, it was freezing cold and it took me hours to warm up afterwards. Luckily for me though, I sold out early and could pack up and go home to thaw out! It’s great to get out to a few local shows to meet customers and get their reactions to everything I make. Here are a few of the goodies on sale that day:

Blueberry and Granola Bars

Raspberry and Almond Blondies

Lemon and Polenta Cookies packaged for the sale