A very special cake....

   Once Upon A Time.....

.....I was asked to make a cake. A very special cake, in my opinion. For a very good friend of my dog. 

My dog, Gnasher.

 This is my dog, Gnasher. If you knew her,  you'd know that she is basically ever so slightly bonkers. But in a very good way. Doesn't have a grumpy bone in her body! She makes friends very easily, human & doggie. This particular friend was a human. A small one, called Rosie, who is the daughter of a lovely friend of mine.
 Rosie, or rather her Mum, asked me if I would like to make a cake for Rosie's 8th birthday. A cake based on the Disney movie, Tangled. Maybe a Rapunzel's Tower cake?  'Would love to' was my reply (well she & Gnasher are very good friends!!).  

Can you see the board? No, I can't either!!

 So I had a good think, a few mugs of tea, looked at some pretty pictures of cakes...and spoke to some of my lovely cakey mates. My friend Julie gave me an intensive masterclass in making castle cakes ~ Thank you lovely Julie!!
My friend Kellie gave me strict instructions on how I 'must cover the board properly & use a ribbon!!' So I did just that and doesn't it look professional?
  The first time I have ever covered a cake board!!  I have made a step by step album (you all know how much I love doing these!!) on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.292284777508972.66128.134501389953979&type=3, so I won't bore you with it all again.


 Here we go, the finished Rapunzel's Tower cake!!

Rosie's Cake!!

  And here is Rosie with her cake. I think she liked it!! Well, only the best for one of Gnasher's friends!!

Anyone for Afternoon Tea?

Afternoon Tea, Cake Fairy style!!

  I spent Mothers Day afternoon in the kitchen. I was in the zone, the 'baking zone'...I loved it, every minute of it!!
   I finally got to use my mini Victoria Sponge tin from Lakeland, and the mini loaf tins my menfolk treated me to on Mothers Day. 

 I made some coconut & lime macaroons, some cherry & almond mini loaves, some mini loaves of a very zingy lemon drizzle cake. And the mini Victoria sponges too!

Very Zingy Lemon Drizzles

  All my sponge recipes use the same basic formula ~ weigh your eggs, and use the same amount of butter, sugar and SR flour, with some liquid to loosen. (Easier for me this way as my hens all lay different size eggs!!). 
   So for the Lemon Drizzle I used 3 eggs, creamed the butter & sugar together, along with the zest of two lemons, then added the eggs and flour. Then I added the juice from the two lemons...well I told you it was zingy, didn't I?  This made enough to fill 4 of the mini loaf pans, which went on a baking tray into the oven @ 160 fan for about 30 mins, then when cool were topped with icing made with lemon juice & icing sugar, more zinginess!!

Mini Vic sponges...

Same basic formula for the mini vics, except no lemon anywhere, just a splash of vanilla essence when Betty the KitchenAid beat the butter & sugar together, and some milk give a dropping consistency. For the 12 hole tin from Lakeland, I used 2 large eggs, but I think I slightly overfilled them, so had to trim the bases a little to stand them upright!!  They were filled with raspberry jam (I opened the last jar of homemade!!), piped whipped double cream, and fresh raspberries. Icing sugar on the top, I really needed a miniature paper doilie too, to make the pattern on the top my Nana always used to do!!

Coconut & Lime macaroons

  Now to the macaroons! Not the posh French Maccaron (please, don't make me try again!!) but traditional rough edged coconut ones, that should really come stuck on rice paper. One of my lovely bakey mates, Frankie, found me a lovely simple recipe for these, it was a recipe by Jill Dupleix, which I tweaked a bit, as the eggs I had were enormous ones!! (One actually came from a hen named Coconut, the other was called Poached).
  So this is the recipe I used ~ 2 large egg whites, 200g of dessicated coconut, 120g caster sugar, zest of one lime, and the juice of the lime too. I like to whip up the whites using Betty the KitchenAid, but you don't actually have to whip them at all, just mix all the above together. Then using a tablespoon, dollop out 12 rounds, and flatten them a little, onto a baking paper lined tray. Oven @ 160 fan for about 12 ~ 15 mins. When they cooled, I drizzled them with melted white chocolate.. I had a very hard time not eating all of these, as they were a special request from my coconut mad brother..

Cherry & Almond mini loaves

  Last bake on the menu was the Cherry & Almond mini loaves, and you've guessed it, you start by weighing the eggs again. This time there is a slight difference, as I replaced 1/3 of the SR flour with ground almonds, and added a splash of natural almond essence whilst Betty the KitchenAid was hard at work again (I do get my money's worth from that machine!!). I used 3 eggs again, and a full 200g tub of naturally coloured glace cherries, as I LOVE cherry cake to have lots of cherries in it! Half of the cherries were mixed into the batter, and the other half were just popped onto the top of the cake as they were put into the oven. After about 15 mins in the oven, I sprinkled some flaked almonds on the top too.
 
  The menfolk were gathering now, brought by the aroma of baking, and impatiently waiting for the goodies to be served, so I had to shoo them away whilst I took my piccies... They said that the first one I gave them was okay, but that they really needed to try another one just to be sure.....Hmm..

  So there you are, Afternoon Tea, Cake Fairy style. Enjoy!!

I'm back!!

  Oh, Hello!!  So sorry for the lack of posts, since changing my working hours to full time last year, I have been rushing about like a mad thing, but I have got myself organised now I think!!  Watch this space for new post soon!!