a rose by any other medium

so, blah blah blah long time no post. Not done any of the intended recipe improvements or discovered any new ones. Hvae recently taken a slightly different turn and focused on decoration. Some photos should appear in the slideshow. Not much else to say for now aside from intending to now work on different types of flowers/decorations.

ice-cream anyone?

Just a few of the cakes I made recently for a school coffee morning. Tried out a new idea I stole from someone elses photos. Used the 'fluffy frosting' icing again. Wanted to make different 'flavour' ice cream styles. Dyed strawberry ones pink and put in chopped up strawberry pieces. The mint choc chip ones had bits of matchmakers in but I overdid the peppermint essence and green dye so the mixture was too runny to pipe. Still not convinced by this icing though personally I think I prefer the taste to butter icing. Problem with butter icing is I never make it thick enough to pipe, maybe I should work on that!

when is a cake not a cake?

A few weeks back (yes have been lazy in posting) I had a 'creative cupcake' session with a friend. It was inspired by the Hello Cupcake books. These books are fascinating to just look at let alone trying to reproduce some of their ideas. Their imitation savoury meals are particularly interesting though I am not sure the appearance actually encourage you to eat them. Like a number of other books I have looked at, it works on the premise of taking everyday items (generally confectionary!) and using them to create unusual decorations. Of course this meant a lot of time was spent gathering together all potential decorations from the kitchen and also purchasing a few more. Below are just some of the decorations we used.
I also tried a new type of icing involving egg whites, melted sugar and some other bits that I can't remember. As the picture shows it is quite good at holding it's shape and is excellent for piping. It dries into a slightly meringue like exterior. Beware! I am still scraping bits of sugar off of appliances in the kitchen!

Can you guess what it is yet?!

(not sure any of these will be repeated and they would need a lot of practise to get things rights but it was a fun stress free afternoon)

the challenge

After a trip to Ikea and finding some very reasonably priced air tight jars I have got to thinking about Christmas gifts (early I know.) Previously I have made mince pies, gingerbread men and chocolate crispie stars etc and wrapped them in cellophane. The jars that I found would be lovely with some ribbon and a decoration added. So now I have to get to thinking about what to put in them aside from the usual (after all a baked gift is not just for Christmas!)
Now that I have begun to settle on a cookie recipe (though it goes stale very fast) I think the shortbread and flapjack worlds are the next that I wish to explore. On the larger scale I want to find a fantastic chocolate cake recipe, the 'celebration' cake as it were.
First stop shortbread and then playing with different flavours.

The Great British Bake-off

I am currently watching this programme on BBC2. I know the people put themselves forward for it but feel so sorry for them, how scary! It is true what was said, baking is often an act of love and to have it then turned down by someone and have your baking rejected is upsetting. One poor man ended the first round in tears. I would never take part in something like this!
On another note it is very interesting to hear about the history of baking and the different methods used. Made me wonder if I over beat my sponge recipe, might have to experiment soon. Also, I don't have a signature cake that is my own invention or adaptation. Methinks I shall be following the rest of this series.

cookies, cookies and more cookies

Ok so not much has changed since the last post (although am in the midst of summer holiday madness.) In the last few weeks of term I made a small heart shaped 25th anniversary cake, loads of fairy cakes and cookies. The fairy cakes and cookies were then packaged up and given as raffle prizes

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I've also been at a wedding where for the first time I saw a lovely, simple but effective wedding cake and thought.. I could do that. Hmm, maybe time to practise fruit cake recipes!

Anyway, onto the title. I've continued to work on the cookie recipe. Something is missing and might have to go back to following the recipe step by step as the first batch I made were definitely the best. However, I am unscientifically trying different flavours. The list now includes white chocolate and raspberry,
dark chocolate and orange,
white choclolate and blueberry,
white chocolate and cranberry with cinnamon,
milk chocolate and toffee,
stem ginger,
stem ginger with dark chocolate,
lemon and sultana,

and of course just chocolate! (not that there is a chocolate theme or anything! Am now considering other flavours and of course adding cocoa into the dough itself. I also made them whilst away, using another oven is always an odd experience but they were ok (and fed the sand castle builders!) I think a lot depends on temperature and very precise timings when it comes to getting cookies right. On that note, time to remove a tray from the oven.

pricings

Have been asked to make some cakes and cookies to be used at the School's Summer Fete. Apparently they might even be raffle prizes, hmm am I liable if they make anyone ill?! I might even get reimbursed for the ingredients so this weekends task is to work out costings of some of my main recipes. Charging is a scary, but I guess necessary, consideration.

experiment or cheat- not sure

It is the time of year where my workload increases significantly therefore it only makes sense to head to the Kitchen!
For some time now I have been experimenting with cookie recipes and had found one that I was pretty confident in. My aim was now to try some flavours. I went for raspberry and white chocoloate first as today is Daddy's Day and I know my Dad likes them. Apparently he had them for the first time at a Millie's Cookies in York when I went for a university interview- ahh how sweet!
So, being me I decided to look into recipes again. This is where the cheat or experiment comes from. In using a recipe I got from the web I can't really say I am experimenting (aside from trying a new recipe) as I was working from someone elses recipe and not mine. However, I did use their recipe.
First off, what a lot of mixture! Biggest cookies ever! The smell of raspberries cooking is amazing! I couldn't resist breaking off an edge to try and I have to say I liked what I tasted. Cooking times need to be worked out though.
Handed them over to the family guinea pigs yesterday. Todays comments were, 'which millies did you buy them from' and my favourite 'Dad let me try one of the cookies. They are so good. Like millies cookies ones. You've cracked the cookie world'. Seeing as that was coming from two people who aren't found of 'soft' biscuits, that's not bad going. But still, it isn't my recipe it is someone elses!
Today I have made them again this time with my raspberries and then a second batch with dark chocolate and orange. I just made up the quantities for the these. They are in the oven as I type so we shall see what they come out like.
Fingers crossed! Tomorrow they go to the work guinea pigs!

the emotions of baking

I have long believed that, as cheesy as it sounds, if you bake with love the results are always so much better. In reading cookbooks etc I have come across others who also believe this to be the case. Feeding people, providing for them is an act of love and no more so than when you are creating something for one specific person.
I often bake when stressed and in doing so manage to refocus my mind onto more positive things. There are other times when I am just not in the mood and if I do have to bake it is a struggle. Other times it is such a joy that I get rather carried away and only step when run out of space! More often than not it is a sure fire way to forget yourself and when you focus on the positive thoughts it all seems to 'flow' so much better and the cakes taste better too.
My pondering for today is, would others know or is it subjective. If I were to bake right now would someone else know my mood or ultimately would even I be able to work it out.
Hmm, what to bake...

The results of the Guinea Pig taste test

No I don't mean I have been tasting guinea pigs! Having made several batches of the jammy dodger esque biscuits with either semolina or ground almonds, I hit work and family with the two recipes. Obviously this also meant I had to forcefeed people a minimum of 2 biscuits, all part of my masterplan!!
Personally I prefer the recipe containing ground almonds. There is not muich difference between the two in taste but I was not so keen on the texture of the semolina recipe as it was quite 'bitty'. I was quite surprised to discover that opinion was split on the recipes. Most people only noted a difference on texture but quite a few preferred the semolina recipe as it was 'a bit different'. However, the ground almond recipe was ultimately the most successful. Now on to experimenting with thickness of the dough and how much vanilla essence to add.

What's in a name?

Ok, so the latest recipe experimenting. Are they Jammy dodgers? Are they Linzer biscuits? Are they Shortbread with jam? Well the answer is, I don't know. Linzer biscuits apaprently are the same ingredients as a Linzer Torte so should contain almonds. The biscuits I made last week I decided to swap the almonds for semolina (after using semolina in a slightly different recipe the previous week). It created a very interesting texture, quite bitty. However, they went down well, in fact the sister even said she would pay me to make more. It is a basic shortbread recipe but with the addition of semolina/almonds. Though I know people put cornflour or icing sugar in their shortbread recipes. (Shortbread is a recipe I have yet to attack) As for Jammy dodgers? Well I don't know how to define them but it wasn't really like them either.

So, the previous recipe I had used was entitled Jammy Dodgers and I made them with the Lovely Luce (second picture on the green plate). The recipe said use vanilla sugar, however for my own personal tastes this was too sweet. I searched the internet for a similar recipe and trialled it last weekend. I added some vanilla essence but didn't use vanilla sugar. They were ok, though I still remain unconvinced by the texture. I will also need to experiment with the thickness of each biscuit. This weekend I intend to make the recipe twice, once with semolina and once with ground almonds. The human guinea pigs will then be called upon to cast their votes.

technology fails me

I am trying to set up the photo thingy so I can 'proudly' display my attempts at baking. However, the evil computer goblins have other ideas and they refuse to let it work...for now! I shall not be defeated by the little folk who mean me no good will!
In baking news I have made a second attempt at a jammy dodger recipe, not as burnt this time but definitely needs more vanilla!

the beginning..was a long time ago

I have not posted since November 2008! Somewhat slack of me but it can't be helped. I have now found my way over a mountain of flour, crossed over the sea of egg and waded through the quicksand of sugar to find my way back to this blog. So much has happened, so much has been baked, so much has been eaten. And so far no food poisoning....yet!

I shall meander off to consider what to comment on in particular and to delve into the pages of my recipe books.