flowerpot-cakes.

forget 'cup'cakes, following my visit to hampton court flower show i have been inspired by 'flowerpot'cakes! but before i get ahead of myself let's give a bit of background.

on friday i took my mum to hampton court flower show as her birthday present. as we got off the train i was greeted by a sight that immediately lit up my face - dozens of brightly decorated cupcakes! a cafe had set up a stall at the station and this included hand decorated cupcakes for only 99p - a complete bargain!

 so many cakes!

 all hand decorated in lovely colours and topped with flower decorations

 tower of cakes - some with wraps

my lovely mum bought me a cake so i chose a gorgeous pink one with a blue flower and a glitter finish. i polished it off after our fish and chips lunch and it was SO nice. i tend not to expect cupcakes that look good to actually taste good - often they are quite dry. but this was so moist and the icing was almost like mousse - so so scrummy!

 i love the glitter!

on the way back we just missed a train so we had a bit of a wait at the station so ended up back at the stall! i got one for myself (it's been an indulgent week!) and one for my sister. at this point they had started putting the plastic cases into little plastic flower pots which i thought was a really clever idea and very fitting for the whole event!

flowerpot-cake!

i love the simplicity of this one

 

for my sister i got a light blue one with two flowers and glitter (unfortunately it got slightly squashed on the way home!)

these cakes have really inspired me to try and master the art of icing with a piping bag!

love,

nen

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late lemon.

apologies for the recent lack of posting - it's been a busy few days! on saturday i went to watch the farnham carnival with my home friends which was really nice (especially the couple of cheeky cocktails afterwards!). then yesterday was my mum's birthday and we went to the harry potter studio tour which is absolutely AMAZING. words cannot describe! and today i started my temporary job of doing the admin for the charity which my mum is assistant coordinator of. so it was a day of lots of printing and editing documents. however i have now found a moment to return to my beloved blog! i have a lot to catch up on but let's start with a lemon cake.

a little memento from our harry potter day!

lemon drizzle cake is one of my absolute favourites and it is so easily to whip up! simple case of whisk all the ingredients together, bake and when it comes out of the over top with a mixture of sugar and lemon juice and zest. so easy but so delicious and it makes the house smell great! i made it a few days ago and it certainly did not last long! thankfully i managed to get some pictures before it all went!

like i said - just throw all the ingredients in and whisk!

i love the ripple effect you get when whisking!

this recipe was taken from 'Girl Talk: A Book of Cooking' - which according to the cover is a BBC publication. it's getting old now as it's (i think) my first cookbook! i also used to make flapjack using a recipe in it.

here is the finished product with the 'drizzle' soaking in. as it makes quite a lot i make a few slots in the cake with a teaspoon to let the mixture really seep into the sponge - this means certain slices have really juicy lemony bits!

the recipe doesn't say to line the loaf tine with baking paper but it makes removing the cake much easier. here the cake is minus my first slice - which was still warm - quite possibly heaven on earth!

well until next time, with more cake stands!

love,

nen

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wishful thinking!

so amongst the fifty or so junk emails i cleared out of my inbox today was one delcaring that the blue cross sale at debenhams has started. i felt a little weak at the knees (as did my computer as i proceeded to open up about a million tabs). i started with the clothes section, drooling over some dresses by henry holland and julien mcdonald (which i managed to filter down to one summer dress by the former that i may indulge in!). then i had a brief look through the beauty section (daisy by marc jacobs is reduced, so tempted!) before looking at the home section. after a cursory glance for items for our student house next year i entered 'cake' into the search bar.

bad move.

i am now seriously lusting over these two cakestands. both by wedgwood (such a housewife) they are absolutely gorgeous (and reduced from £60 to £45 each - bargain right?!)

the first has a really classic look. although i have to say it's hard to judge how big they are - the handle looks a little out of proportion?! but still, it's so charming!

the second i think is really exquisite. the design is really beautiful and different from other cake stands i have seen. well a girl can dream!

here are the links:
stand one
stand two

as consolation another of the emails from bhs was to say my order had been dispatched - an order of three cake stands! (what they were £6 each - that really is a bargain!). so pictures will be up when they arrive. for now i think i might destroy my attempt at healthy eating by making a lemon drizzle cake (that counts as one of your five a day - right?!)

love,
nen
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i need dollar, dollar.

so i went to town the other day with my brother so he could pick up his prom shoes and shirt (so cute!). i can't believe it's his prom already and three years since mine - it's crazy how fast time flies!

after prom duties had been fulfilled we popped into 'the works' which is a weakness of mine. they do a variety of baking bits (like stands, shaped tins, cupcake boxes and more!). thankfully this time i managed to restrict myself to one purchase (a major achievement for me!). a set of three cardboard individual cake stands. these seem to be one the rise at the moment, i've seen them in paperchase too. this set was only £1.99 which seemed really good value and they would add interest to a cake display.

now back to filling out more job forms - desperation is increasing as my bank account is decreasing!

love,
nen
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mediocre muffins?

so for lunch today i set about following a recipe for ham, pea and feta muffins which sounded like a nice change to the monotony of lunch! however i'm not entirely convinced they have worked very well. first of all i was surprised that the recipe called for the use of an electric whisk - normally i make muffins by hand (which is why they are good to make with small children). it did say to use the slow setting however my whisk seems to be turbo powered so i think that might have altered the batter.

i also had a bit of a moment with the microwave (a new addition to our kitchen, hello twenty-first century!) i thought i would melt the butter in the microwave to save washing up a pan, however it proceeded to explode! note to self - watch it very carefully next time!

but back to the batter - it seemed a little strange and really clung to the whisk (literally all the batter was wrapped around the two whisks!). but i put them mixture in the oven anyway (possibly for slightly too long as the tops are a bit hard - but again this could be the batter?) i tried to eat one - not sure if it was still too hot as the centre peeled away from the outside! but my mum had one later after they had cooled more and she liked it? so perhaps i was just being a bit eager! i'll brave trying one again tomorrow. if not i think next time i will hand whisk the batter and perhaps use a little more liquid?

love,
nen
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strawberries and cream.

in the last couple of days we have finally seen a hint of summer (although that hint is made in comparison to the torrential downpour of the last week!). for me there are few things that summarise a british summer like strawberries and cream. this is such a refreshing yet indulgent treat (there's a reason for the expression 'like the cat who got the cream'!) so as my first foray into baking since returning home from university was a strawberries and cream cheesecake (a hummingbird recipe). this was a really simple recipe to make (only problem was that my spring form tin is larger than most recipes call for - i think because it's european - so my cheesecake doesn't quite have the height of most!)

my favourite part was making the strawberry sauce that runs through the cheesecake. this was really easy - just sugar, water and strawberries but boy did it taste good! i think i might have eaten more than i put in the cheesecake!

the only note i would add is that this took a while to set, 2-3 hours for the cheesecake and then it was recommended to leave it overnight once you had put the topping on. i did this (nothing like building up the anticipation and getting the taste buds tingling!) here is the finished result:

i like the contrast with the black tin - i think it would look super stylish served up on black dishes.

i had a slice after dinner and it is really scrummy - but what could be expected from such a classic flavour combination?! unsurprisingly it also appeals to cats as we discovered as i left my mum's slice unattended in the kitchen!

tomorrow i'm planning on taking a more savoury route: ham, pea and feta muffins which sound like a great lunch option to me! until then...

love,
nen
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retail therapy

so the other day i went to town for lunch with a friend and after we'd shaken off the chili heat of our meal, we hit the shops. our intention was to buy the reduced jubilee memorabilia (classy students) however the sainsburys in town had already taken their stuff away (sad times!). however just that morning whittard of chelsea had launched their 50% off sale. naturally it was downhill from there! although exercising some self control i managed to restrict myself to one purchase, this beautiful cake stand.

it's absolutely gorgeous and i think it would look great with a classic victoria sponge on top! and it provides me with another item for the spectacular tea party i am planning to host in our student house next year (although perhaps i should ask all my housemates first!)

however the retail therapy did not stop there (hey exams were stressful okay?!) the other day we donned our tourist caps and visited exeter's underground passages (which are amazing and well worth a visit!). on the way back to halls we walked a different way through town and my eagle eyes spotted a display of cupcake cases in a shop window. upon closer inspection i discovered that they were only £1 a pack - which is incredible value! there were so many different sizes and designs that i could have easily bought the entire display stand. however i limited myself to five (yes that was limited!) and here they are:

so my collection of cases is now very considerable (i will show you the full collection once i get home) - but hey they are still cheaper than shoes!

love,
nen
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