Monday 9 August 2010

Soft Serve, Slow Serve?

There aren't many things that greatly impress me and as you can imagine this makes it pretty hard for people to buy me gifts. As the years have gone by I need less and less as it simply won't fit in our flat. We've taken to getting family to club in for one bigger gift for each special occasion and for my birthday this year it was the turn of the Cuisineart Soft Serve Ice cream maker to do it's best to impress.

Apparently it was pretty hard to track this present down as the time I first caught glimpse of it was on one of our trips to Devon quite some time ago. However, Alex worked his magic and I'm now the proud owner of a machine that I still can't quite master! Don't get me wrong it's simple to use.... My main problem is my great lack of patience.

You have to put the ice cream bowl in the freezer for 24 hours and it's quite big, so leaving it in there isn't always and option if you are a freezer hoarder like me. I keep getting it out thinking it will work after 20 hours or even 21 hours ... But alas this is not the case! It MUST be left for 24 hours plus no matter how greedy you are feeling.

Once you do get it right and wait that little bit longer the results are great. Soft serve ice cream in your own home, what more could you ask for...... Apart from a bigger freezer or a faster freezing bowl :)








Friday 16 July 2010

All Or Nothing Girl

I've decided I'm one of those all or nothing people. After filling a wonderful cupboard full with cake goodies and ingredients, as well as posting up my previous blog posts, it seems to have taken me quite sometime to get back into the kitchen. I partly blame the good weather but it's definitely down to the fact that I totally commit to something, making it my mission and then it simply fades away to nothing for some time, if not forever.

Today I got back into the kitchen with the intention of making something to take to the door staff at Pacha where I work on the occasional night. They are my taste testers (as well as Alex who had to take a break, just like me, for fear of exploding)! I baked Oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips and roasted nuts. They didn't turn out to be the worlds greatest cookie creation so I'm not sure if I'll take them along tomorrow night...

...Well, would you? Some of those bouncers are three times my size and I wouldn't want to offend them with dodgy offerings!









Thursday 10 June 2010

Chocolate makes your clothes shrink


Last night the cupboards were bare so I decided to whip up a batch of cookies to satisfy my cravings. Immediately I was faced with the dilema of whether to opt for double chocolate cookies or simply chocolate cookies. Now if you've read my previous blog you'd probably think with my 'ever expanding waistline' I should really have opted for less chocolate, but I was surprised to find that less chocolate meant double the amount of butter and sugar, as well as a lot more flour, which would have done me no good at all. After much deliberation I opted for the double chocolate and they were a success. However, by the time it came to the taste test I'd licked far too much from the bowl and was feeling well and truly sick and ended up going to bed with a pretty heavy stomach! I gave most of the cookies away to my hairdresser today as the thought of more chocolate wasn't that appealing to be honest and two wise boys once told me that 'Chocolate makes your clothes shrink'!







LISTEN HERE!





Monday 24 May 2010

My Ever Expanding Waistline

This weather is all well and good, but it doesn't make for great baking conditions. The second I touched the chocolate and butter today it quite literally melted in my hands! However, the show must go on.
I haven't been cooking much lately simply because of the lack of a kitchen surface in our kitchen and also because I've been trying to shed the pounds... It's not always easy avoiding the cakes when they just sit there staring you in the face day in and day out. I made these cakes for Alex tonight, but after the taste test I've just had I'm thinking that we'll half this batch. I do feel slightly better knowing that I left off the frosting- They taste delicious....

...God help me and my expanding waistline!



Black Bottom Cupcakes Recipe here:
http://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/black-bottom-cupcakes

Monday 10 May 2010

Julia Child's Chocolate and Almond Cake

We've been pretty busy renovating our flat here, so finding time to bake hasn't been easy and I'm presuming things will be a whole lot worse tomorrow when they take out the kitchen work surfaces!


I've been occupying myself by reading lots of cupcake books and the other week I finished reading Julie and Julia, a book about Julie Powell, a woman who is nearing thirty and decideds to cook 524 recipes from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. I'm well past the 30 mark but something made me think that this baking mission is probably the easier and cheaper option than hers.


Anyway, yesterday I decided to try my hand at one of the French recipes and yes, you guessed it I baked a cake. Mastering the Art of French Cooking does not contain the easiest recipe format but after reading through it a few times I managed to whip up the most scrumptious Chocolate and Almond Cake for a family birthday ... Well worth a try, but I did opt to send it away with the guests as I could have easily devoured the whole thing in one night!





Reine De Saba

[Chocolate and Almond Cake]
“This extremely good chocolate cake is baked so that its center remains slightly underdone; overcooked, the cake loses its special creamy quality. It is covered with a chocolate-butter icing, and decorated with almonds. Because of its creamy center it needs no filling. It can be made in the same manner as the preceding cakes, starting out with a beating of egg yolks and sugar, then proceeding with the rest of the ingredients. But because the chocolate and the almonds make a batter so stiff it is difficult to fold in the egg whites, we have chose another method, that of creaming together the butter and sugar, and then incorporating the remaining items.


For an 8-inch cake, Serving 6-8 people
A round cake pan 8 inches in diameter and 1 1/2 inches deep
4 ounces or squares semisweet chocolate melted with 2 Tb run or coffee
A 3-quart mixing bowl
A wooden spoon or an electric beater
¼ lb. Or 1 stick softened butter
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
Pinch of salt
1 Tb granulated sugar
A rubber spatula
1/3 cup pulverized almonds
¼ tsp almond extract
½ cup cake flour, scooped and leveled, turned into a sifter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Butter and flour the cake pan. Set the chocolate and run or coffee in a small pan, cover, and place (off heat) in a larger pan of almost simmering water; let melt while you proceed with the recipe. Measure out the rest of the ingredients.
Cream the butter and sugar together for several minutes until they form a pale yellow, fluffy mixture.
Beat in the egg yolks until well blended.
Beat the egg whites and salt in a separate bowl until soft peaks are formed; sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed.
With a rubber spatula, blend the melted chocolate into the butter and sugar mixture, then stir in the almonds, and almond extract. Immediately stir in one fourth of the beaten egg whites to lighten the batter. Delicately fold in a third of the remaining whites and when partially blended, sift on one third of the flour and continue folding. Alternate rapidly with more egg whites and more flour until all egg whites and flour are incorporated.
Turn the batter into the cake pan, pushing the batter up to its rim with a rubber spatula. Bake in middle level of preheated oven for about 25 minutes. Cake is done when it has puffed, and 2 ½ to 3 inches around the circumference are set so that a needle plunged into the area comes out clean; the center should move slightly if the pan is shaken, and a needle comes out oily.
Allow cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan, and reverse cake on the rack. Allow it to cool for an hour or two; it must be thoroughly cold if it is to be iced.
TO SERVE
Use the chocolate butter icing and press a design of almonds over the icing.

Glacage au Chocolat

[Chocolate Icing]
“This simple chocolate icing is butter beaten into melted chocolate, and forms a tender coating over a white or chocolate cake, or over a thoroughly chilled butter-cream icing.
For an 8-inch cake
2 ounces (2 squares) semi-sweet baking chocolate
2 Tb rum or coffee ( I used Kaluha :) )
A small covered pan
A larger pan of almost simmering water
5 to 6 Tb unsalted butter
A wooden spoon
A bowl with a tray of ice cubes and water to cover them
A small flexible-blade metal spatula or a table knife

Place the chocolate and rum or coffee in the small pan, cover, and set in the larger pan of almost simmering water. Remove pans from heat and let chocolate melt for 5 minutes or so, until perfectly smooth. Lift chocolate pan out of th hot water, and beat in the butter a tablespoon at a time. Then beat over the ice and water until chocolate mixture has cooled to spreading consistency. At once spread it over your cake with spatula or knife.

Wednesday 28 April 2010

When In Doubt ....

Finding the perfect cupcake recipe isn't as easy as it may seem. Apparently in London you are either a Hummingbird or a Primrose Hill lover. I'm not convinced and think that I must typically be somewhere in between. I've tried to get to that middle point with my own recipes but haven't quite got it right yet, resulting in Alex eating some pretty dodgy cakes along the way.
I'm sure I will get there soon, but for me nothing quite beats resorting back to the Victoria sponge recipe when you're feeling a bit deflated with it all.... Obviously re shaped, resized and decorated as I please!


Victoria Sponge Ingredients:

225g/8oz butter or margarine
225g/8oz caster sugar
4 medium eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
225g/8oz self raising flour
milk, to loosen





Tuesday 20 April 2010

A Strand Too Far?

It's official..... I've over ordered. It had to be done, but now I think I'm slightly regretting it!
It all started when I made it my mission to find somewhere that sold more than just a small pot of sprinkles. I found somewhere, doubled my order and signed offline feeling pretty chuffed with myself after having succeeded on my task for the night. Now let me tell you I never been very good at weight conversion but this time I really messed up. Imagine the look of horror on my face when I opened 2 Kilo's, yes that's 2 Kilos of Sugar Strand Sprinkles ... Kiddy heaven! There's no going back on this baking lark now then.

I'm off to find a cupboard to put this lot in! Until Next time x