Left Overs

What is it with left overs? It is almost like they are willing one to eat them every time one walks past them....And when you have a cake left overs, it is even more dangerous.... But then again, left over calories - just like those calories one consumes whilst standing up - don't count, right?

We had our Spring Barn on Friday and served coffees and cakes in aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care. 

So I spent all of last Thursday marathon baking:

♥ Rhubarb and White Chocolate Muffins ♥

♥ French Toast Cupcakes (from Cookie Girl's 'Eat Me' Book) ♥

♥ Vanilla Cupcakes for the kids with Marshmellow bunnies and chickens (Hummingbird Bakery) ♥

♥ Butterkuchen ♥

♥ Vintage's Amerikaner ♥

♥ Cherry & Quark Tray Bake ♥

♥ My Mum's Covered Apple Cake ♥

I also baked Martha Steward's Earl Grey Cookies, Cranberry Shortbread Hearts and Chocolate Crackles. At the end of the day my kitchen was covered under a layer of icing sugar, everything was sticky and all I wanted was something savoury to eat - and for me, that really means something :)....

I have been trying and trying - and am now giving up - to put links on all the recipes...for some reason it is not working - so should you want any of the above recipes,  I am happy to e-mail you the links.

Love


Nicola x

Cakes for Gardeners

Every summer, The Suffolk Gardener's Guild holds their annual tea party....and as I love to bake, I always offer to bake something for their cake buffet...and I like it to be somehow flowery...

This year I made these little rose cakes in my new bundt cake tin (oh don't you just LOVE Nordic Ware?) - and they were very popular! I am not actually THAT keen on fresh bundt cakes, I find them a little to dense, but the next day, or the next - they are yummy!!

This is the recipe which came with the tin (Rose Raspberry Cakes):

Heat your Oven to 160°C/325°F.

Combine 1 ½ cups of sugar and 1 cup of butter and mix well. Add 5 eggs, mixing well after each addition. Add 3 cups of flour, 1 ½ tsp of baking powder , 1 ¼ cup of milk and 2 tsp Vanilla, mix well. Spoon into 24 greased individual tins until ⅔ full. Spoon dollops of raspberry jam onto each cake - you'll need approximately 1/3 cup of jam in total - and with a small knife, gently swirl the jam around. Bake for 20-25 min and do the toothpick test. Cool in the tins for 10 min and then turn out onto a cooling rack, dust with icing sugar before serving.

I did this in 2 batches - as my tin had only 12 holes - I could have used an unlined muffin tin or other little tins, but wanted them all to look the same . They kept beautifully in a tin for several days!

I will soon begin to post 'proper' recipes here....still not really in the cooking mood... it has to be quick and easy in the summer for me. But with autumn fast approaching this year, I have started looking through my books again..... I LOVE the autumn kitchen!!!!

Have a lovely weekend!!

Love

Nicolax

p.s

A couple of years ago I made these Begonia Cupcakes and was pleased with the result (sorry, very old camera) - I found the 'How To Do It' on You Tube....take a look!

In need of cake....

This weekend I had been invited to join friends for an open-air picnic and 'Music in the park'. What should I take? It started at 3pm, so I thought I'd take afternoon tea....a flask of tea, cucumber sandwiches and I needed cake....

Inspired by my recent visit to the Norfolk Lavender Fields - and the fact that I had come away from there with a jar of lavender sugar - I decided on these little lavender cakes.

Here is how to make them:

♥ Pre-heat your oven to 180°

♥ Sift together

1 ⅓ cups of plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

♥ Add and blend in

⅓ cup white caster sugar

⅓ lavender sugar

♥ Add and mix together

⅔ cups of whole milk

1 egg

¼ cup butter at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

Fill the mixture into 12 smallish muffin cases or, like I did, into 6 large paper cases, and bake for 20 minutes.

I drizzled them with a mix of icing sugar and lemon juice - but the original recipe suggested a white chocolate buttercream - unfortunately, it was too hot for hat - so if anyone would like to know how to make the butter cream, just let me know!

Have a wonderful start to the week!!!

Love

Nicolax