Gingerbread House

There are two types of people that reveal themselves at Christmas: those who are painfully organised, have their presents bought in August and have all of their Christmas baking finished before Christmas eve and those who have ribbons and bows attached to their clothes, burnt cookies in the oven and friends and family unexpectedly knocking on the door.

I usually fall in the latter category!

I must admit...it’s Christmas Eve Eve and I am still yet to finish one of my parents’ presents, wrap ALL of the presents I’ve bought, make truffles for my Grandad, bake two different batches of cookies, make ice-cream for dessert Christmas Day, make the starter for Christmas Day, BUY and write Christmas cards to my family, and I have to complete all of this on Christmas Eve when I will be working from 7am. Can anyone spot a problem?

Despite all of this, I did manage to do something pretty damn impressive at the beginning of the week. I made my first ever gingerbread house.

It was so much easier than I first thought, though I’m not going to lie to you, it is time consuming.

So, if you are one of these super women who was planning on pouring herself a snowball and watching it’s a wonderful life tomorrow, I challenge you to instead bake yourself the ultimate of Christmas table centre pieces – the ginger bread house!

The basic premise is that you make a ginger flavoured dough, roll it out, cut out the various shapes, and stick together with royal icing before decorating with all sorts of yummy sweets and chocolates.

Easy peasy right?
 
Well hopefully, by following this recipe you will find making your gingerbread house just as easy as I did.

Pumpkin Cake Pops

It’s nearly Halloween! The only time of year where I can dress up as a Goth again and not feel guilty! For those of you who don’t know, I used to dress rather “alternative” – I still listen to rock and heavy metal, in fact I’m going to Warped Tour in just over a week, but it’s no longer acceptable to dress all in black. A shame I know! But, Halloween’s more than just a good excuse for fancy dress, it’s also a great excuse to do some themed baking, and this year is no exception.

Today I’m bringing to you Pumpkin Cake Pops. I hope no one is disappointed, but they are NOT made with pumpkin puree, instead they are ginger cake with orange flavoured candy melt coating! A really fun flavour combination. (See also my top tip just below the recipe for making this recipe a little more “adult”.)

The idea was simple...make cake pops on a stick that looked like pumpkins; they would be perfect for Halloween parties being thrown all over the world. However, there were a few hiccups along the way. First of all, the flavour combination although DELICIOUS meant for a rather heavy cake pop and they simply wouldn’t stay on the stick no matter what I tried. So, rather than being on a stick, I simply made stand alone pumpkins which are just as cute and fun!

Christmas Cake

Christmas would not be complete without a Christmas Cake. Fact.

Everyone's Granny has their own recipe, yet more often than not people buy a shop bought cake. Even those members of my family who decorate their own cakes buy the fruitcake from a Supermarket first. Considering my Mum and Dad were famous for their Christmas Cakes before they had children, I couldn't understand why everyone avoided making their own. If my parents could make one every year without fail...why couldn't everyone else?

So, armed with a near-illegible copy of my parents old recipe, this year I decided to make my own cake.

I was pleasantly surprised with just how easy it is. Though...the proof is in the pudding as they say, and when you've never made a cake before, don't know what its consistency, colour, texture etc should be it's a scary thought offering it up to guests!

Fortunately for me it seems my first attempt was a success! (Though it was some what larger than anticipated and is now nicknamed the monster Christmas Cake.)

So, if I can do it, so can you! I urge all of you to make your own Christmas Cake this year! I have started my own tradition, so why not start your own too!!!

Here is my recipe, I am sure it will not fail you.

WARNING: This is highly boozy! (Though Delia assures me you can replace the brandy for orange juice for a more family friendly cake).

Food Trend #3 - Whoopie Pies!

What is a Whoopie Pie: The best way to describe a whoopie pie is a cross between a soft biscuit, a cake, sandwiched together like a macaroon! They have a sweet filling in the middle and are often 2inches across. The perfect size to have alongside a cup of tea!

History: My favourite story about how Whoopie Pie’s came about comes from www.recipes4us.co.uk which suggests Amish women in Pennsylvania used to bake these sweet treats for their husbands and children who would shout Whoopie when they found one in their lunchbox at lunchtime.  Traditionally the cake part is flavoured with cocoa powder and made with brown sugar resulting in a dark brown finish, whilst the filling is very light and fluffy, often made with marshmallow fluff or marshmallow crème and flavoured with vanilla.

According to Matthias Kiehm the food director of Harrods, his store were responsible for bringing the whoopie pie over the the UK. Chris Seaby who is in charge of cakes at M&S originally launched the products in metropolitan areas but has now rolled them out across the country so everyone can buy whoopie pies! You can even find them in coffee shops such as Costa Coffee. No ones quite sure why it took so long for the whoopie pie to find its way to England, and no one knows just how long they are here to stay! (see: “Thebun fight”)

Essential tools: There are no specific tools needed to make whoopie pies, but a flat baking sheet and an icing bag will make your life a little easier!

Method: Using the basic recipe below you can make 10 large whoopie pies or 12-14 small whoopie pies. This ingredient list is very similar to that of a cake, but the added flour gives it a more dense texture.

Food Trends #2: Macaroons (Le Macaron)

This is my second post on a series of food trends; first I posted on cake pops, and today I am writing about macaroons.

Elderflower and Gooseberry Butterfly Cakes

Every month, a recipe competition is hosted on the blog WeGrowOurOwn. Craig the author selects a handful of seasonal fruit/vegetables, and invites his readers to submit recipes to the blog which use one or more of the selected fruit/vegetables. He then selects finalists from those submitted (and extra points are given to those who have grow the fruit or veg themselves!) The competition is then opened up to votes.

This month, I decided to enter the competition. Craig had selected Broad Beans, Beetroot, Gooseberries, Carrots and Peas.

The gooseberries instantly jumped out at me as my gooseberry bush in the garden is currently weighed down with big juicy fruits so I set to coming up with a recipe.

Here is my final recipe which won the competition!

Elderflower and Gooseberry Butterfly Cakes

The concept is an innocent looking butterfly cake, perfect for garden parties, that has a surprise jam-like centre. There are a number of elements and processes so please take this into account. It is a lot easier than it looks!

Mocha Cake

It's been a while since I last posted on here, but it's been very hectic with my boyfriend finally finishing his final exams and him coming to stay!

At the end of last month it was his 21st, but due to exams we couldn't celebrate on the day! However I promised I would bake him a cake nonetheless, and he requested coffee cake!

This is my recipe for a super-indulgent coffee and chocolate celebration cake! There are 4 main elements, the cake itself, a chocolate ganache which fills the cakes, a coffee frosting and then the chocolate top.

This is the finished product!

As you can imagine it hasn't lasted very long! There is one lonely piece left! I wonder who will be the lucky one to get it?

Lemon Cake

Sorry for the delayed nature of this post! I just found my draft and realised I had never posted it :)


This is my Easter Cake! I tried ot make it super kitsch with icing bunnies and flowers and easter eggs round the side.


But, most of all I tried to make it super yummy and moist!

Inside is my lemon cake.

Birthday Cake

There's nothing better on your birthday than having all the friends and family round for a piece of cake and a drink, and that's exactly what we did for Dad's birthday yesterday!

As per usual, I was in charge of the cake (what happened to my healthy eating!?), and it went a little something like this!