Sunday, 20 October 2013

Week ending 19th October

Its all about the little cakes and practicing my piping skills this week, I am thinking of getting a giant cupcake tin so will definitely need more practice on piping as there is a large area to cover on the top of a ginormous cupcake!! I did also make some oat and raisin cookies and a granary loaf. Here are the photos plus the ones I didn't have time to publish last week of the toffee apple meringue tart.

Starting with the meringue tart from last week - starting with the apple filling, then topped with caramel, then the meringue before and after baking then a slice before devouring! And not a soggy bottom in sight !









Next this weeks loaf 







Then some orange flavoured cupcakes topped with real chocolate (as opposed to cocoa) butter-cream topped with a malteser





 Another batch of mini Victoria sponges



and some lemon cupcakes - another new recipe from my Hummingbird Bakery book




and finally for this week a batch of 24 oat and raisin cookies



Sunday, 13 October 2013

Week ending 12th October

I have had a busy week again - made far too many cupcakes !!!! but my plan is to work my way through the 1000 cupcake book along with all my other books, must experiment a little more I think. I need to spend a day or three going through my books and making lists !!

Anyway this week I have made a granary loaf, a lovely farmhouse cake from a recipe I found on a new web page I discovered through Facebook - Poppy's Patisserie - and it was a lovely moist fruit cake. I have bookmarked her page!! I have also made blueberry muffins by request from my daughters friends at her workplace, mini Victoria sponges, another batch of cherry bakewell cupcakes (always a popular choice), some plain cupcakes decorated with two coloured icing (more practice needed here too), and a new chocolate biscuit recipe from another page I follow on Facebook called Iced Jems, the biscuits are called chocolate crackle bites. 

First of all the bread, from basic kneaded dough, to first rise and final loaf






Next was the farmhouse cake - yum yum



Mini Victoria sponges filled with jam and buttercream


Blueberry muffins


Iced cupcakes


Cherry Bakewell cupcakes


and finally the chocolate crackle bites, although I am making a toffee apple meringue tart for dessert tonight, but will not have time to post that today before I leave to catch my train to Guildford so will post that next week.



Saturday, 5 October 2013

Week ending 5th October

I have to say I have been very busy this week (and this was all done on Friday and Saturday) - I have made two loaves of bread, one white and one granary, 2 batches of those lovely oat and raisin cookies, some red velvet cupcakes (from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook) some sugar nib and fruit cupcakes, and some more cherry bakewell cupcakes. I have also started my alcoholic fruit soaking for my Christmas cake - for this I used this recipe from Ruth Clemens lovely web site (http://www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk/2012/09/time-to-start-your-christmas-cake.html )

First of all the bread, these are both from Jo Wheatley's book A Passion for Baking and they always come out beautifully - I use my Kenwood processor for these for the initial kneading.

White loaf






Granary Loaf


Red Velvet cupcakes - first attempt at these, the recipe was very easy to do, and I would definitely do these again, sooner rather than later too




Sugar nib and fruit cupcakes


Fridays batch of cookies



And Saturdays 



and finally for this week another batch of cherry bakewell cupcakes


And, in case anyone is interested, here is my fruit soaking in brandy and orange juice for the next 6 / 8 weeks!!!!! Then it will be time to marzipan and ice. I am making the More Fruit Boozy Fruit version of the three on her page.