Team Umizoomi cake

Last May my youngest son turned three. His favourite tv show at the time was Team Umizoomi so that was what I decided to base his birthday cake on. I made two cakes, one a vanilla sponge and one a lemon sponge. The bottom one is ten inches and the top one is eight inches.  First I made Umicar out of fondant.

Then a Bot to sit in Umicar.

Then I covered the bottom cake in blue fondant and the top in pink fondant, and made a Millie and Geo for the side of the cakes.

The completed cake.

I then had to find somewhere for the candles, so they just went on the top but i think it would have looked nicer if they were in front!

Lemon bakewell tarts

Two of my sister's favourite desserts are lemon tart and bakewell tart so I though it might be nice to combine them. You can find the recipe for these at 

 http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1898650/lemon-bakewell-tarts  

   

They were easy to make and really delicious so I made some more.I wasn't too fond of the lemon peel in the pastry so I left it out. Then to make sure it still had a lovely lemony flavour I made some icing using icing sugar and the juice from a lemon and used that to decorate the top. 

I only have five pastry tins and the recipe makes six so the last one went in a glass ramekin. It would have been impossible to turn it out so I grabbed a spoon and ate it straight from the oven. I think that one might have even been better than the ones baked in the pastry tins!

Raspberry cheesecake brownie

So Faith will turn thirteen next month and to mark the special occasion she is having a disco party. The guest list currently stands at 80 people and i'm doing the catering, gulp!
So naturally I've been busy trying out recipes to feed the masses. This was Faith's first suggestion as she made it once before from the hummingbird bakery cookbook  and said it was very good. Having just tried it I have to agree it's a lovely thing. As you can probably tell from the title it's a layer of chocolate brownie, then a layer of vanilla cheesecake and topped with a layer of raspberry cream. You can find the recipe at http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/433316/Hummingbird-Bakery-raspberry-cheesecake-brownie

 Brownie layer ready for the oven.

Cheesecake and brownie cooked, this picture looks darker than it actually is. It should be golden brown round the edges and pale in the centre. I accidentally made a rather large hole testing to see if the brownie was cooked underneath the cheesecake, but there's cream going on next so I don't mind.

               

 A rather generous layer of raspberry cream. This is my favourite part.

Topped the whole thing off with some freeze dried raspberries and a dusting of icing sugar.

The cheesecake layer seems a little thin to me so next time I'm going to double the ingredients for that layer.

Rainbow-themed Party

My beautiful youngest daughter turned one last march and we threw her a rainbow-themed party. Rainbow balloons, decorations, food and cake. The first thing that I made was rainbow fudge. You can find the recipe for it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwC8oTk8KDY

Rainbow Jelly

For this you just need four packets of jelly; purple, red, orange and green. Make the green ( lime ) jelly as per the instructions on the packet and pour into see-through cups, I used shot glasses, then pop into the fridge for an hour. Repeat for the orange layer, then the red and finally purple.

Rainbow cake

I decided on a simple rainbow decoration for the exterior of this cake propped up on fluffy clouds because the real beauty of the cake is inside. The recipe for the cake came from BBC Good Food as the layers are quite thin so I didn't use my usually cake recipe. You can find it here   http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3028705/rainbow-cake    

I was really pleased with the layers, with the exception of the green which no matter how much green colouring I added it still turned out yellowy!

To go with the Rainbow cake, jelly, and fudge there was also fruit kebabs consisting of strawberries, oranges, mango, green grapes and blueberries, m&ms and jelly tots ( sorted into colours by my boys ) and candy canes.

Bread

I make a loaf of bread about once a fortnight using Paul Hollywood's recipe for an easy white loaf. The first one I made didn't look that good....

But like most things it just takes a little practice. I found the recipe to be quite adaptable and now use it for a variety of loaves and buns. My favourite loaf is my

Poppyseed loaf

You can find the recipe for this bread here; http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/white_bread

For the poppy seeded bread just throw in a handful of poppyseeds at the mixing stage.

Moustache cake

Right before my eldest daughter's twelfth birthday she became obsessed with moustaches. They were everywhere and she had leggings and t-shirts and pencil cases with them on, as did all her friends. I had to make a moustache cake for her birthday. It turned out to be the easiest birthday cake I'd made so far. It was red velvet, her favourite, and a perfect moustache colour when topped with deep chocolate icing. It started as a two-layer circular cake, then was cut in half , one half turned upside down and the whole thing opened up to create a perfect moustache shape. Some fork lines across the top and chocolate sprinkles along the bottom and it was done.

It was so simple that I had to make something to go with it, and I found the perfect cake toppers on eBay and decided on cupcakes. Same red velvet cake inside.

 

So easy to make, yet looks really good. My husband is currently halfway through Movember and this would be the best way to celebrate the moustache coming off at the end of the month, I think!

Autumnal apple picking leads to baking

Last weekend the six of us went to the local orchard and spent an hour picking apples. We got rather a lot. 

Some have been eaten raw, but the majority have been used in new recipes.

Tarte tatin

I used Raymond Blanc's tarte tatin recipe. It said to use puff pastry but gave no instruction as how to make it so I used Paul Hollywood's cheats rough puff pastry. This was my first ever attempt at puff pastry. It didn't go tremendously well and ended up more like shortcrust pastry. It was still delicious but next time I might just use shop bought puff pastry. You can find the recipe for the pastry here; http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/cheats_rough_puff_pastry_91549

And for the tart;   http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/tarte_tatin_72509  

Apple crumble tart

 A cross between an apple tart and an apple crumble. 

For the pastry;

175g plain flour
75g chilled butter
2-3 tbsp cold water

Put the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter using your fingertips, when it resembles breadcrumbs add the water until you have a soft dough. Roll out onto a lightly floured surface and line your dish. Then pop into the fridge for half an hour. Heat oven to 200c/gas mark 6. Fill with baking beans or I tend to prick the pastry all over with a fork and this keeps it flat ( 9 times out of 10 ) and put into the oven for 15/20 mins.

For the filling;

Around 15 apples
150g caster sugar
sprinkling of cinnamon
3tbsp flour
optional gelatine


Peel ,core and chop up your apples into bitesized chunks then throw them into a pan with the sugar, and a little water ( couple of teaspoons ), leave them to simmer until soft, then add the flour and cinnamon.
 This part is optional, it makes the filling a little firmer and less wet.  Cut up one gelatine leaf and soak in a bowl with 3 tbsp water for ten mins. Then melt by placing the bowl over a pan of simmering water. Add the gelatine to the apples. Add the apples to the pastry and put it into the fridge to set.

For the crumble; ( I got this idea from Mary Berry's apple crumble with walnut and sunflower seeds, though I had no walnuts or sunflower seeds at the the time! )

50g plain flour
50g porridge oats
150g sugar
100g softened butter
50g raisins
I used raisins instead of walnuts and sunflower seeds because that's all I had, but you could use either or both if you wish.

Put the dry ingredients into a bowl, then rub in the butter. Spread over a baking tray and put into the oven at 180c/gas mark 4 for 15/20 mins.
Sprinkle a little cinnamon over the top.



Apple & Walnut Buns

I made these using my normal bread recipe but just tweaking it a little. I use Paul Hollywood's easy white bread recipe

500g strong white bread flour

40g soft butter

12g dried yeast

2 tsp salt

300 ml tepid water

A little olive oil

Walnuts

An apple, any kind

Combine flour, yeast and salt in a bowl. Then add the water and mix until it's dough-like. Then it needs kneading for a good five minutes, if not longer. I use oil on the board instead of flour so as to not ruin the flour to butter ratio. Then an hour in the bowl to rise. I just place a tea towel over the top to stop it from drying out. After an hour or so, when it has doubled in size it needs the air knocking out with a few quick kneads. While it's proving cut up an apple into small cubes and boil in a pan for five minutes then set aside to cool. 

Dived the dough into eight equal pieces and add three walnuts and six pieces of apple to each one, then shape into a ball and put on a baking tray. Cover the tray with a towel and leave for 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to gas mark 7/220C.

Put them in the oven for around 30 mins until bread. These are gorgeous fresh from the oven with a piece of cheddar cheese.