COOOOOOOKIES!!

Well here goes for my first request - make star shaped cookies for Roberts birthday. Well this was one of the easiest things ever - if the recipes were all a bit nuts. Any normal choc chip recipe will do, might have to look around to find one that doesn't have molases and other random things in it, but they do exist!

This is a fun recipe - chuck everythnin an mix it all up.  Not quite doughy enough to need to knead it, but still should be stiff enough to roll out and all that.  First though - once it's made into dough, it needs chilled, so wrap it up in cling film and chuck it in the fridge for a half hour or somethin. 

So, once that's chilled etc go on an cover the whooe worktop you'll be usin in flour so it doesn't stick.  Cover the rolling pin, and the cutters in flour too, makes it all a lot easier!  Once it's rolled out, cut out the shapes(in this case stars) as close to each other as possible, keeping the wastage as little as poss! I used different sizes and piled them on top of each other and cut small stars out of the big ones.  Be creative as you like - go for it!  Once theyre all cut out an ready chuck some smarties or whatever else on top you want cooked.  Can leave it til afterwards and use icing to put things on if you don't want them cooked.  If you don't take the cookies out at just the right time - the smarties all lose their colour so keep an eye on them.

Hope you enjoy!

Sarah x x

  

Dr Who Extraveganza part 2

The Dalek!

Well this one was a lot quicker to make.  There are no inbetween pictures so you'll just have to use your imagination for these ones.  Started with the same 2 cakes and then came the tricky bit.  How the heck do we make this Dalek shaped?!  

Basically, we decided on just butchering it all untill it looked slightly dalek shaped.  The head took the longest - but gave us lots to munch while we decorated!

Melted the chocolate ans spread it all around the cake, gettin it everywhere.  Totally forgot that once it set, the chocolate would be stuck to the plate and therefore the cake totally stuck under all the chocolate - oh well it was fun to get out!  So while the choc is still wet, start shovin all the matchsticks and malteasers and other things on/in.  We used marshmallows stuck on matchmakers for the arms and gave up with anything on the head etc.  Next time!!

So once it's all set - enjoy!   The choc is brill, and we could have eaten the whole thing!  And tbh, I did pretty much! 

Our beautiful cakes!

Sarah x x

Dr Who Extraveganza part 1

The Tardis

Me and Pammy had this brilliant idea to make a Tardis cake for the last Dr Who special - wow we underestimated the task.  Just to show who it all started I've included a picture before the mayhem!  Also, please note you can't buy even a pallette knife unless you're 25 WTF?!?! Just as well Pammy was there!

All this and it only came to about £15 - not bad I think! 








So we got started just me telling Pammy how to make cake mix and I think I have converted her.  Couldn't say enough how much she liked baking now!  Soon started a production line with one being mixed, one cooking and one cooling.  Ended up with 4 cakes in all for making both cakes. Once the first two were cool enough we levelled them off and jam&buttercreamed the middle to make one big rectangle cake.  Looking back should have made slices and piled them up instead.  Carnage ensued..I'm going to pretend it wasnt that bad and not show you the pictures. 

Once that was settled we started trying to colour the icing. Emphasis on TRYING.  Had ready made fondant icing and onlyhad to turn it blue, should have been easy.  Took ages, got colour EVERYWHERE and had to refrigerate the icing several times.  But eventually we got the icing rolled out and stuck onto the cake.

Yes we know its not as blue as it's meant to be but we had to settle for that.











after doing the top wrong an makin it overhang we ripped it off, ate some cake early and made it again proper set back a bit.  Looked pretty good, so we made the finishing touches with the windows and police box signs.  Although according to Pammy it's a Police Book.  See below for the finished product!

How good does this look?  Sadly it wasn't to last and it slid all over the place and turned into the Leaning Tardis.

Well it still tasted good!











Sarah xx

HALLOWE'EN!!! (jelly snake cakes)

So it's no surprise to anyone that knows me Hallowe'en is my favourite day of the year...I want kids just for Hallowe'en!  So I decided to make special fairy cakes in honour of Dave's awesome party. Heres how they went..

Started with the normal cake mix..then I realised I hadn't quite figured out how to get the Jelly Snakes inside...and Pammy had kindly pointed out they would most likely melt.  I cut some in half and stuck them on the top but they just looked ridiculous. So eventually I decided just to use the full ones, stick them inside and have them curl onto the top..eventually they looked like this!!

So they don't look a whole bunch like that but I still couldnt resist eating a few snakes and as always about half the mixture.  Oven for the normal time etc then rather anxiously took them out.  OMG perfect! Like seriously the most perfect little shaped cupcake I have ever made!  So as soon as the cakes have cooled enough I try one...my gosh don't I regret it!  The cake might be jus nicely warm but jeez the snakes are MOLTEN!  Still snake shaped but wow it was hot...and had fallen right through the mixture an hidden itself in the cake..which was the original plan anyway.   Note:cover them with flour an they don't sink, thanks mum!

So once the snakes had proper cooled they actually held their shape, tasted awesome and worked really well! Tried to inject some strawberry sauce so they would ooze too but instead it all jus came straight back out so I need to practise that trick. Iced them all with orange and left them to set overnight.  Woke in the morning to find one missing, thanks dad! But apparently tasted really nice and the contrast in textures worked well.  Off they all went to the party.  Opinions were all round positive, only one guy saying they were really dry.  They last well too as Dave had one days later.  All round thumbs up! A Haloowe'en regular.

Sarah xx

What's the deal with Cream Cheese?!

I love white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake possibly more than I will my first born child - so what better for my first experimental cupcake?  How wrong could I have been?!

In my wisdom I decided I'd swap half the butter for cream cheese an at first it seemed to actually work perfectly.  So made up the rest of the mixture as normal. Melted a whole slab of white chocolate, burnt it but shoved it in anyway.  How do you burn chocolate?!  Then decided the best way to get raspberry in would just be these little flakes I found - but they seemed so tiny I chucked the whole bag in to make sure there was some in every cake.  Mistake number 3. 

All seemed well so in the oven they went, smelling gorgeous an seeming promising.  First one out though an the results needed obvious improvement. The cakes didn't rise properly due to the mixture being messed about.  The cream cheese taste was nowhere to be found an the choc was only there if you knew to look for it.  Uh-oh.  The raspberry however was so strong I may rethink that too.  

So keep tuned for my improvment on this,  Im thinking cream cheese frosting and choc drops.  Anyone wants to taste let me know!  

Sarah xx

So let me start this off...

Right,  I'm sure you all know I'm slightly addicted to baking.  It's not exactly a secret.  So welcome to my blog of ideas and creations that I want to use in my bakery when I get round to opening one.  All suggestions welcome and I always need people to test for me!

Firstly, normal fairy cakes.  A little offering if you will.  Use this recipe, enjoy and create your own mini masterpieces.

You need
4 ounce self raising flour
4 ounce caster sugar
4 ounce butter/marg
2 eggs

Method
Mix the sugar and butter up til it's all light an fluffyish and you can't see any of the sugar anymore.
Beat in one egg(don't worry if it looks horrible or curdles...keep mixing it fixes itself)
Add half the flour, have fun trying to keep it in the bowl. 
Beat in the other egg, and the rest of the flour.
Fill cake cases an bake for about 15 mins or until golden brown on top at 180C

ENJOY!

So there ya go,  the original little cakes that started it all.  Now to experiment and get some pictures up for you all to drool over. 

Sarah x