Crunchy Carrot Cake

Let's talk carrot cake. Squidgy and sweet with the odd crunch of pecan, complemented by cool cream cheese icing, in my opinion it's a cake you can't really beat. My version isn't overly spiced, there's just a hint of mixed spice. No one wants to be overwhelmed by spice. No one wants to be overwhelmed by words either, so lets get on with the recipe.

Crunchy Carrot Cake

150g Butter, melted

150g Soft Light Brown Sugar

3 Eggs

200g Self Raising Flour

1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1tsp Mixed Spice

200g Carrots, peeled

100g Pecans + extra to decorate

Cream Cheese Icing

600g Icing Sugar

100g Butter

300g Full Fat Cream Cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grate the carrots and set aside. Mix the melted butter with the brown sugar and then add the eggs. Add the flour, then gently stir in the chopped pecans. Finally, pad the carrots with kitchen roll until they're quite dry and stir in. Split evenly between two round cake tins (approx 10"). Bake for around thirty minutes, or until golden on top and a knife comes out clean.

2. Remove the cakes from the tin and leave to cool. Mix up the icing ingredients to form a smooth white icing. Spread a thick layer on the top of both cakes then place one on top of the other.

3. Decorate with pecans to give it an extra oomph, in both look and taste.

Enjoy with a cup of tea... maybe even a cup of matcha tea! Don't forget you can enter a giveaway here to win a free Modern Matcha Kit. 

Afternoon Tea at Cloud 23

High in the clouds of Manchester is a luxury bar, aptly named Cloud 23. Sitting pretty on the 23rd floor of the Beetham Tower, between the Hilton hotel and private apartments, the bar is accessed by a private lift, and it's views of the city and the surrounding counties are unrivaled. And luckily for us, so is it's afternoon tea! In the evenings it's an incredibly busy bar, but we decided to try the more laid back afternoon option. So on Easter Saturday, Ben and I went along with my parents and my Godmother to give it a go.

After taking in the dizzying views and daring each other to stand on the glass floor, we calmed our nerves with a Pommery 4 Seasons Tasting Board of champagne. A decadent and slightly dangerous treat for the middle of the afternoon.

Shortly after than champagne the main event arrived on ultra-modern three tiered stands. We started with the savory nibbles - cheese and onion wraps, ham and mustard sandwiches, tuna and cucumber sandwiches and puff pastry rolls filled with goats cheese and tomato. It was all good, but the puff pastry absolutely stole the show in my opinion.The pastry was flaky and light, and paired with the classic goats cheese and tomato combination they couldn't really go wrong could they?

We then moved on to the fruit scones, served with the classic clotted cream and jam. Or is it jam and clotted cream? Either way, these scones were bang on.

Finally the really sweet treats. Chocolate peppermint macarons (or a chocolate cupcake for Ben who is horribly allergic to nuts). For me chocolate peppermint is either a roaring success or a bit of a let down. Flavor wise, these macarons were pretty close to perfect, but in terms of their appearance they were a bit bumpy... And the cupcake? Pretty damn good, according to Ben. You can sort of see in the background of this picture a shot glass of orange mousse, which in my opinion lacked a bit of the zing you'd expect such a mousse to have.

The absolute star of the sweet show was a raspberry and white chocolate tart, which definitely did not have a soggy bottom. Perfection!

Equally perfect were the staff we were served by. Incredibly friendly, completely on top of their game they never let your teacup empty despite it being a busy Saturday afternoon. They even stopped to take some photographs for us - such a treat to get photos of the whole group!

(Can we also take a moment to appreciate my tan? It was just after we'd got back from holiday, and as I'm writing this post I'm sadly staring at my hands, once again ghostly pale).

After taking a bit of time to let our food go down, we couldn't help but sample the renowned cocktail menu. Lot's of the cocktails are named after classic Manchester memories (Here's to Baby, The Industrialist etc) but he menu ranges from the classics like the Kir Royale to the slightly more innovative, like the Washday Blues I decided on. Everything we tried was delicious, and despite the afternoon tea lining my stomach I was more than a little dizzy by the time we were leaving. There's no holding back on the measures in this place!

Ben doesn't drink, but it didn't stop him investigating their "Blue Sky" (non-alcoholic) cocktails. Although I tried my absolute best to get him to order the "Little Fluffy Cloud" because of the name, in the end I think the one he went for was "Salute the Sun", less excitingly named though wonderfully tasty with cranberry and pink grapefruit.

I do think though, out of all of our choices, I picked the most exciting cocktail, "Washaday Blues". Tanqueray Gin, honey, blue curacao, tio pepe sherry and lemon were topped with soda and served with a side of popping candy! When the popping candy was poured into the liquid it went absolutely everywhere, popping and crackling as it went. The squeals this elicited from an every so slightly tipsy me gained us some glares from a nearby table, but come on! Popping candy!

I have to be honest, we had a fantastic afternoon. The food was great, the staff were brilliant and the company was cracking. There's only one but. And it really is a little one. The views were spectacular. Sadly, though, because we were a relatively large group we couldn't squeeze around one of the window seats, so we didn't get to appreciate them as much as we'd have liked.

But there's an easy solution to that isn't there - we'll just have to go again!

You can find Cloud 23 at:

Beetham Tower, 303 Deansgate

Manchester, M34LQ

We booked ahead to make sure we didn't have to worry about the queue. I don't think it's too bad in the day time, but in the evening the guest list fills up months in advance and the queue can be epic.

Matcha May - a teapigs giveaway!

I love green tea. I love teapigs. I love things that taste fantastic but are really good for you. So when, a few weeks ago, the wonderful folk at teapigs were kind enough to send me one of their Modern Matcha kits, I leapt at the opportunity. I'd never tried matcha, and the opportunity was presenting itself on a plate. So I couldn't resist taking on their matcha challenge. For the last two weeks I've been having matcha, in one form or another, every day. 

There's all sorts of reasons why matcha is a great thing to have every day. It's just green tea, but instead of brewing the leaves the leaves are ground into a fine powder instead. And because the leaves have been grown under cover to promote chlorophyll production, the powder is jam packed with even more goodies than green tea. And the goodies make you feel, well, good!

Now, I have to be honest. I'm a scientist by trade. I like some evidence to back up packages. Some peer reviewed evidence. And usually it's difficult to find any. But, the teapigs website has it pretty much covered to be honest. I was super impressed. But I still had a little peruse of the scientific literature on matcha myself, and came up with this beauty which completely backs up teapigs figures. The long and short of it, there's 137 times more goodies in matcha than normal green tea. 137 times!!

That's what I call a win. 

On with the matcha challenge! I've been experimenting with how I take my matcha. My number one way is a frozen banana, whipped up with some soya milk, a drizzle of honey and a spoonful of matcha powder. For breakfast, pre-gym, pre-essay session, even as pudding if you're trying to be super healthy. Lovely.

I made some fantastic looking matcha pastry, which I filled with white chocolate mousse and white chocolate and matcha mousse. Sadly, the pastry didn't stay green when it baked, but it was still super tasty, especially when you add some raspberries to the top of the tart.

I sprinkled matcha on top of my yoghurt, craisons and muesli one morning when I was in a rush for a quick fix. Another great quick fix is whizzing it up with the aerolatte with some water (or orange juice, or milk... endless possibilities!) in the little shot glass that comes with the Modern Matcha kit.

I think I've felt a difference using matcha. I've certainly been hitting the gym more, although I'm not sure if that's fear of the dress shopping for the grad ball or the matcha giving me more energy. Maybe a bit of both? But regardless, I've enjoyed the challenge, and, to be honest, I think I'm converted. I look forward to adding it to a few more recipes and seeing how it works. I will of course share with you how I get on!

But in the mean time, do you fancy trying the matcha challenge yourself? If you do, enter the giveaway below to be in with a chance of winning a teapigs Modern Matcha kit. It's open until the end of the month. And if I've got you in the mood for tea in general, you can enter dearbaker in the checkout at the teapigs website and get 10% off (excluding cheeky, bulk buys, pick & mix and matcha kits).
a Rafflecopter giveaway I'll just round off with a big thank you to teapigs for giving me the chance to blog about this great tea and providing me with my own kit and the giveaway kit.

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Week 18

Oh it's been another busy, busy week. I've set aside a few hours tonight to catch up on comments and blogs and all things fun. In the mean time, seven photos for seven days!

 Monday - Did you know it's matcha may? I've been working on a post courtesy of teapigs which is coming up on Monday. But here's a little taster for you, matcha on my breakfast!

Tuesday - Magazine meeting! With piles of food obviously. You can read the magazine I edit here.

Wednesday - A very green dinner, 

 Thursday - Well we were going to the gym (honestly!) but I had to swing by Paperchase to pick up a birthday card for my Grandad. And then we smelt food, and the rest is history...

Friday - Was spent on the sofa, in a blanket, writing an essay. Ben kept me company for an hour or so which was a great break! 

Saturday - Hey, that's nacho cheese! (couldn't resist...)

Sunday - A bit more teapigs love, in the shape of a recipe post I'm very excited to share with you!

  “Ah, in those earliest days of love how naturally the kisses spring into life! So closely, in their profusion, do they crowd together that lovers would find it as hard to  count the kisses exchanged in an hour as to count the flowers in a meadow in May.” Proust

Happy May everyone! Aren't we rocketing towards summer? I don't know about you, but I'd be happy for the year to slow down a bit. Take a few days off. Alas, time ticks on! But don't forget to take a few moments to slow down, let the year keep going on it's own for a while. Soak in the sunshine, bask in the blossom. Be happy.