christmas chocolate cupcakes and cranberry cookies.

phew, with that extensive example of alliteration out of the way let me begin this last post of 2012 by wishing you all a happy new year. i hope it is your best yet! this year has certainly had its ups and downs for me, but starting this blog and the enthusiastic response i've had has really carried me through so thank you all so much. especially now that the views have surpassed 1000 - thank you, thank you, thank you!

this last post reflects back on the christmas binge we're just emerging through (after one last night before the detoxing and dieting begins - for some at least!). i went to my ever trusted hummingbird Cake Days for the festive season, they have a whole section dedicated to christmas and it was almost impossible for me to decide what to bake!

back to making a mess in the kitchen - i'm sure my mum has missed me really!

my first choice was a cookie classic - white chocolate and cranberry. popular all year around, this flavour combination is a particular hit at christmas when we go crazed for cranberries! the recipe was simple to follow and resulted in some seriously scrummy cookies! when transferring them to the cooling rack one broke up which meant i just had to eat it while it was still hot and gooey - shame!

cranberries and white chocolate weighed out and ready to go

scrummy cookie dough coming together

folding in the cranberries and chocolate before baking

the finished result!





the second choice was guided by one of the popular gifts at christmas - the chocolate orange. these are ridiculously tasty - to get myself through my horrific project last term i scoffed a selection box! so when i saw the chocolate orange cupcake recipe i just had to give it a go. these made the house smell sooooooooo good and with a christmas cd on in the background helped me to get into the festive spirit. a small warning though - they are very rich so i have taken to serving them with a drizzle of cream (hey, tis the season of indulgence!) although as often happens the hummingbird frosting recipe makes a crazy amount so there is now a sizable bowl of chocolate orange frosting sat in my fridge - any takers?!

the mix that actually made it into the cakes ready to go

it looked like i was having a heston style dry ice moment when the icing sugar cloud erupted

my mum was in charge of icing these festive treats

so that's it from me in 2012. i hope you all have a fantastic night and a fabulous new year full of many baked treats!

love,
nen
x







bonkers bananas.

(firstly - does anyone else still use the gwen stefani song to check that they have spelt banana properly?!?!)

but anyway - i hope everyone has had a very merry christmas and been spoilt rotten, particularly on the food front. i hope there's been a lot of baked goods to go around! this christmas i made chocolate orange cupcakes and white chocolate and cranberry cookies but more on that in another post.

for now it's all about the banana cake. this is probably one of THE easiest cakes to make ever - you don't even need an electric whisk. this is great when you have overripe bananas (aka the ones that are going black and shmushy!) as we often do in our student house (hello parents buying us fruit and it not getting eaten... whoopsie!) but this is an excellent way to put them to good use (and to kid yourself that you're getting one of your five a day).

the first time we (my housemate april was in on the act) was a classic late night uni baking session (which also demonstrates that you don't have to be particularly awake to make it!) we followed this recipe (although not sure it really deserves to be called a recipe as it's so simple!)

april's mad mixing skills

once you've poured it into the tin, top with a covering of brown sugar for a nice crunchy top

the finished result - scrummy!

this is best served warm: note warm not hot (much to my housemates' dismay) let it cool in the tin for a bit.

the second time we made this emma and april had the genius idea of adding chopped up rolo! which makes it more naughty but even more delicious!

so if you've got any bananas lying around and you fancy baking something simple this is the one for you!

love,

nen

x



princess procrastination post.

so the last thing i should be doing right now is being on my blog (hello 9,000 word essay that isn't writing itself...) but here i am! this post is dedicated to the birthday of my lovely housemate anna. hers was the first birthday in our student house which we have affectionately nicknamed 'princess palace' (hey we're all girls and the boys' house is called the 'lad shack' so it's perfectly acceptable!). anyway anna is a real girlie girl (she jumped at the idea of us getting disney princess themed walkie talkies for house communication!) so i thought what would be better than making her a princess palace birthday cake? so here are the results...

i baked three vanilla round sponge cakes (the base one being slightly larger but that was more to do with different sized tins) with a little red food dye in to give it a pink tinge. i cemented these together with strawberry jam (her preferred flavour but it doesn't matter what you use) i also baked a tray of sponge to form the towers. next up i whipped up A LOT of pink butter icing.

assembling the cake

i cut the tray bake into four lengths to create the towers and stuck these on the side of the cake. note to self - put icing on the towers when they are lying flat rather than when up the sides of the cake! while this seemed like it was going to hold together one soon collapsed and the others began to follow suit - so i folded over the bits that were sticking up.

it worked for a minute!

next came the REALLY fun bit. we had done a tesco delivery and i basically added every form of pink sweet known to man to the basket in line with the overly ambitious sketch i had! so here is the finished product and then i'll go into the details:

princess palace!

the doorway made from white chocolate buttons, with a strawberry lace frame and handle. then i used strawberry millions to create a path (stuck down with a bit of water and icing sugar)

the towers with strawberry lace ivy and candyfloss bushes

marshmallow flumps for battlements. for the turrets i covered ice cream cones in an icing sugar and water combo before sprinkling them with hundreds and thousands.

the complete birthday tea - we set very high standards for future birthdays in our house!

well this will have to be it for now - i'm off to continue writing about victorian prostitution (gotta love a free choice history project...!).

love,

nen

x













bakesoc business.

so part of the reason i have been so incredibly busy is because of all the bakesoc antics that have been going on. from our first meeting in the ram at the beginning of term, it has been a crazy journey ever since!

first of all there was our freshers week picnic which meant my first time experimenting with the oven. not the most successful venture but it's amazing how much you can cover up a collapsed cake with butter icing! we had loads of really nice, chatty people turn up which was very encouraging for us.

it was a lovely day for a picnic!

 

next up was our cupcake decorating class. this was a free event we put on and we expected perhaps a few dozen or so people to turn up. over 100 people later, an emergency trip to the shop to buy more cakes and me frantically whipping up butter icing in the corner we were left amazed (and slightly bewildered!)

 

my first batch of cupcakes didn't work out so well either...

but were much better the second time around!

 

 

this led on to the freshers fair where we gave out cupcakes (from the giant display tree) and our goodie bags (the sweetie bags was my idea!). we had over 200 people sign up and our numbers have grown since then. this is amazing for a new society and really exciting!

 

ollie and catherine manning our beautiful stall

 

 

we then held our first 'bake and bring' social at 44 below (home of the amazing cocktails in teapots!) for which i made my favourite - lemon drizzle cake! (featured in july) this went down a treat and i also got to sample other's creations - in particular catherine's apple cake was simply SCRUMMY!

 

so much else has happened, but i'll save that for a later date. i'm off to indulge in the perfect winter warmer of jamaican ginger cake and custard!

 

love,

nen

x



time flies when you're paying bills...

wow. how is it possible that it's over two months since i wrote my last blog post?! it has been constantly on my mind and i have been continually telling people that i am getting around to it but wow! time sure does fly at uni - especially now that it is second year! but here i am, back again - i just hope you'll take me!

so so much has been happening since returning to uni. i've been experiencing the delights of living in a student house (where apparently the fire alarm is more sensitive than the ones in halls - three times already!!). the joy of bills has struck and struck hard (£50 for ten days worth of water...). but overall it has been so much fun - it's great to be able to bum around make-up free and in pjs with my girls! but also... oven! so i am now able to bake at uni rather than precariously carting cupcakes on the train. although much like the blog i haven't been baking as much as i thought but i am getting into it!

so now that my first 3000 words of essay are out of the way (hello mini respite before the 7000 word monster is tackled) i finally have a chance to gather my thoughts and get back to the blog!

i have so much to catch you up on so expect (hopefully) a lot of posts in the near future!

love (and apologies),
nen
x

classic cupcakes.

once again my apologies for the gap in posts - i spent a few days away with a few of my friends from university which was really lovely! however it does mean i've had this post brewing for a while and some photos that need sharing!

possibly my favourite thing to bake are classic vanilla cupcakes. as usual i follow the hummingbird recipe!

my bible!

this involves making a mixture like breadcrumbs with the dry ingredients and butter before slowly adding the milk and egg. my mum has a freestanding mixture so i had the excitement of using that!

i like to create a variety of sizes when making cupcakes - partly as an excuse to use different patterned cases! but i also think it looks nice on a stand or display when there is difference. i especially love making teeny tiny cakes!

these cases are so beautiful!

the best part of making cupcakes is the decorating! i always take a while to decide on my icing colour and decoration combination - of course taking into account the pattern/colours on the cases! (it's a very complex operation...) this time i went for blue and yellow and combined this with raspberry sherbet and hundreds and thousands respectively.

possibly my favourite thing ever - buttercream! 

blue with pink sherbet

yellow with hundreds and thousands

baby cakes with sugar butterflies

experimenting with different designs and looks is so much fun - i hope the girls in my house next year are prepared for becoming my new guinea pigs!

love,
nen
x

slightly skewed scones!

so feeling inspired by the great british bake off to do some more traditional baking i turned my hand to scones. unfortunately the results would definitely have had me evicted from the competition!

i used a recipe from "the vintage tea party book" by angel adoree - which i absolutely love! it is so beautiful and contains everything you would ever need to know about hosting a tea party!

so i followed the classic scones recipe. having never made scones before i did not know what the mixture should look like, however i did thing the quite gooey and dough like texture i had probably was not right!

it probably also did not help that i somewhat drowned them in milk rather than glazing them with it! however the results were not all bad - if a little crispy and misshapen!



so closer to rock cakes than scones - however once they were lathered up with raspberry jam and clotted cream (oh the guilt!) then they were super scrummy. i've been indulging in them in the afternoons whilst reading (i've been making up for a lack of pleasure reading at uni and so already this: the adventures of tom sawyer, the marriage plot, heart of darkness, never let me go, little women, sons and lovers, the fifty shades trilogy (no judging!) and the great gatsby this summer!).

not the most beautiful scones but still delicious!

today i spent a lovely sunday afternoon making some cupcakes - so expect another post soon!



love,
nen
x

great british bake off!

so this post is a little overdue but here it finally is - and wow! this series of great british bake off is already turning out to be amazing. i just wish it was on every night! the perfect mix of jealousy, wonder, amusement, tension and hair-grabbing mistakes!

the first week was astounding with the interior decoration challenge. the union jack cake was so so good! (definitely never attempting anything like that as there is no way it would turn out the same!) and the upside down cakes at the beginning were pretty good too - i want to try and make one for myself now!

 the second week was even better, especially as you get to know the contestants more - i love the two younger guys (do they really exist and where can i find one?!). this week was bread week (which i haven't made myself since food technology lessons in year nine - the supermarket is just too convenient!) but these guys were seriously impressive. and talking of impressive - those eight strand plaited loaves! i really want to try one for myself now but dealing with all those dough tentacles seems a little intimidating! and SPOILER ALERT this week's star baker was john - who is just so adorable!

i already cannot wait for next week's offering and i'm far too tempted to indulge in buying the show book (who needs to eat next year anyway?!). so check back next week for more GBBO thoughts!

love,
nen
x

the vintage cake house.

as i discovered to my delight (and perhaps marginal, irrational disappointment) someone has beaten me to opening a cake shop in farnham! this summer saw the opening of the vintage cake house on downing street (it has a beautiful pink striped facade so you cannot miss it!). having been driving past it for several weeks now i finally got around to paying a visit.

so at four yesterday afternoon myself and my friend louise entered the shop. it is hard to know where to look first, the decor and furnishings are beautiful - all very shabby chic - but then there is the cakes on display which quickly steal your attention.

we seated ourselves in the middle so we could get a good view of the shop! our drinks order was taken, i had a refreshing pomegranate and raspberry drink whilst louise decided to be daring and order a more exotic tea (which perhaps turned out to be a mistake as it was smoked and so rather pungent! you live and learn!)

the beautifully served tea!

after this was the tricky business of choosing which cake to have! there was probably about ten different treats on display and we were certainly spoilt for choice! perhaps the only note to be made was that it would have been helpful if the cakes were labelled. but in the end we went for a slice of lemon cake and a victoria sponge and shared them.

the cake is served on gorgeous china and with proper cake forks!

the cake was really scrummy. the victoria sponge was moist with a lovely jam and buttercream filling. the lemon cake wasn't quite lemony enough for me - but i like mine quite strong! but louise certainly enjoyed it...

smiles all round!

all in all this is a fantastic addition to farnham! we already have two more visits planned - one for afternoon tea (a must!) and another to see what happens during 'victorian week' (only in farnham!) i would highly recommend a visit to anyone - it cost us £5 each for a drink and slice of cake which seemed very reasonable to me! so pop in if you have the chance! (check them out on facebook or at www.thevintagecakehouse.co.uk)

love,

nen

x







celebratory cheesecake!

wow guys - i owe you all such a massive thank you as this blog has now surpassed 500 views! and from all around the world - absolutely crazy! so thank you thank you thank you!

as a little treat here is a baked raspberry cheesecake i made the other day. recipe from bbc good food (check out their website - they have so many good recipes!) baked raspberry cheesecake recipe

it's a really simple recipe to make and reasonably inexpensive (you can cut down on costs by using frozen raspberries rather than fresh, also good if you're making it out of season)

you begin by making the buttery biscuit base! (for those who haven't seen the video, especially for any masterchef fans, check this out - buttery biscuit base!)

a really easy way to do this without making extra washing up is to put the biscuits in a food bag then bash away with your rolling pin! although don't get too carried away as the bag could tear. this gets baked in the oven to make it set. then it's on to the cheesecake itself. this is simple but does require quite a lot of elbow grease! unfortunately quite of a few of my photos are refusing to upload ("server returned invalid response") - which is annoying but i'll go with what i have and try and put the rest up later!

the cheesecake as it comes out of the oven



making the raspberry sauce topping.

i am a massive fan of raspberries so i always use a lot more than the recipe calls for! both in the cheesecake itself and on top - this sauce is so sweet!

i put the sauce on before removing the tin to minimise the amount that went on the worktop!

nom nom nom!

unfortunately one of the photos that is refusing to upload shows that i wrote '500' on the cheesecake in raspberries - aah the joys of technology!

but i hoped you've enjoyed this - it is one of my favourite recipes. and thanks again for the views!

love,

nen

x

like mother, like daughter!

like so many things in my life, mumma bru was the one who first got me into baking! from an early age i'd be stood on a stool in the kitchen helping her to make cakes (and licking the spoon afterwards!) i would even make my own attempts - once she found me in the kitchen with all the pots and pans out breaking eggs into them! what can i say?!

my mum has fridays off and they were the best days as we would often come home from school to a house filled with the smell of baking and a warm slice of cake waiting! she still carries on baking and puts her skills to good use for her charity Farnham ASSIST (which works with the over-60s). she often spends a whole day mass baking and icing cupcakes to sell at events. the last time she did this i managed to get a few snaps before they were whisked off to be sold at the local 'music in the meadow' event.

so many cakes!

i especially like the cut out chocolate hearts! (all decorations from sainsburys)

i'm getting very hungry just looking at these so i think i may go and whip something up! more posts still to come but for now talk later!

love,
nen
x