Coral Anniversary Cake

Last week my parents celebrated their 35th Wedding Anniversary. 35 years! Isn't that incredible?

The traditional gift for 35 years is coral. Now, not only do you not want to go around giving actual coral (I won't get my science hat on but read here for more) but it's also fairly difficult to incorporate a coral theme into cake. All I could think of was Finding Nemo, which would have been a bit lost on my parents I think, so instead I decided to go for coral coloured flowers, nice and simple (theoretically).

The whole thing turned into a bit of a farce. I made the cakes in Edinburgh and then took them all the way home to near Liverpool. I made the icing for the layers and crumb coat the evening I got home but then had to hide the icing and the cakes in my room because my parents got home from work too early I recommend you don't try sleeping with a tub of icing in the room. The temptation is so great.

I then spent the next morning manically layering and crumb coating, whipping up the main icing, icing with a "rustic" style because if I'm honest there was no time for anything else, and then painstakingly making tiny little fondant flowers for to decorate. All done hidden in the conservatory in case someone came home early. I finished by the skin of my teeth, and I was quite happy with it. I'd intended on a super smooth icing which would have suited the fondant flowers more - the rustic look would have been better with real flowers. But time got the better of me so no super smooth icing. Stupidly, I could have saved myself a lot of time by just going to buy buy some fresh flowers. Oh hindsight.

So lesson of the blogpost - be prepared!

I used the following recipes:

• Double the sponge recipe from this Raspberri Cupcakes cake
• The strawberry (although I used raspberry) cream cheese icing from Glorious Treats
• 375g Icing Sugar, 225g Butter, dash of milk for the layering/crumb coat butter cream

I've included a few behind the scenes snaps of assembling the cake. I was on snapchat the whole time annoying my friends with lots of pictures of layers. Have you ever had to make a special occasion cake for someone? Were you more organised than I was? (I hope for your sake you were!)

 

Lemon and Raspberry Easter Pudding

A couple of weeks ago I decided to make some lemon macarons for my Mum, for Mother's Day. No big deal - I've pretty much got macarons down now, although I do still feel an overwhelming sense of pride every time I get perfect shells with properly formed feet. 

However, despite my relative confidence, macarons are tricky treats, and they don't always work. This time I'm not sure what went wrong - I think it was a combination of not getting the sugar hot enough and then, once I'd whipped the egg whites and hot sugar together until cool, I left it to sit for a while because my friend popped round for a cup of tea. I knew as I piped them that something wasn't right, the mix was far too runny. Nevertheless I persevered, just in case, and let them sit before putting them in the oven. Sadly they came out terribly cracked, and I was left with a pile of sad macaron shells and some lemon curd I'd made earlier to fill them with. 

 
I couldn't resist a little nibble of the cracked macarons, and they still tasted delicious, so I decided to try and make use of them anyway. I took them all the way home with met, along with the lemon curd and made some nice little puddings for after lunch Mother's Day. If you don't have any cracked macarons, you could just use some plain meringues, either bought from the shops or some you've made yourself, but I'd definitely recommend colouring homemade ones yellow, it's so bright and cheerful, and definitely seasonal. Macarons are also a little chewier than shop bought meringue, and have almonds in them, so the taste wouldn't be quite the same, although I think they'd still be delicious.

Lemon and Raspberry Easter Pudding

Makes 6 Individual Puddings

1 batch of macaron shells/ 1 batch of meringue, crushed (I use a recipe from this book for macarons, but there's plenty out there online if you don't have a favourite)
1 punnet of raspberries
300ml Double Cream, whipped 
Lemon Curd (recipe below)

Lemon Curd

3 Unwaxed Lemons (zest and juice!)
4 Egg Yolks
90g Caster Sugar
40g Butter

1. Put all of the ingredients in a blender and pulse until the zest has all but disappeared.
2. Then put heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water and put the mix from the blender into the bowl.
2. Stir until everything has melted and then keep stirring until the yellow mixture coats the back of the spoon. It has to thickly coat the back of the spoon, so if you run your finger through it the line you make stays clear. This can take up to 15 minutes.
3. Sieve the curd into a bowl, or if you're keeping it for something else put it in a sterilised jar. Don't use it until it's completely cool.

Assembling the Puddings

1. Put a layer of macaron crumbs on the bottom of your ramekin.
2. Drizzle some lemon curd over the macaron crumbs.
3. Add some fresh raspberries. Pack them in nice and tight so you get a nice clear pink layer on the outside of your ramekin.
4. Fill the ramekin to the top with whipped cream.
5. Sprinkle some more macaron shell around the edge of the ramekin and swirl some lemon curd into the top of the cream.

Lochs and Life Updates

It's been a while since I've written anything about anything other than food, so I thought I'd share a few pictures of today's day out and share a little life update.

On Tuesday this week I handed in my last big piece of work of the semester and, excitingly, of my masters! (other than the small issue of a 12,000 word dissertation, but that is next weeks problem). I have a big list of things I want to do - reply to emails, do some editing, read some blogs, bring the Easter baking ideas I've been dreaming of into the real world, clear out the mess that is my wardrobe... some of these things are more exciting than others!

But on Wednesday morning when the sunshine was tempting me out of the front door I decided that the to do list could wait until Thursday and Friday, and five of use headed for the hills and went for a wander around Loch Leven. It's only half an hour North of Edinburgh and it's absolutely beautiful. Sadly it was very late in the day before we arrived, so we didn't manage the whole 21km lap of the lake, but we'll definitely be back another day to complete the walk. The small part of the path we explored was peppered with hidden doors and secret pools so I can only try and imagine the rest of it.

I will be honest though, there was more tempting me out into the great outdoors than just the sunshine. For almost five years I've been living a very luxurious lifestyle, it has to be said. Yes there's been countless hours spent in the library, more bowls of lentils than I care to remember and that one time I sat on the floor of the lab and cried because there was seawater pouring everywhere and I didn't know how to stop it, but overall the student lifestyle is undeniably wonderful. Even as a science student your time is relatively flexible, and when the sun shines you can drop your plans and run to the nearest loch to explore.

However, I am very pleased to be able to say I have been offered a full time, "grown up" job. And whilst it's more than I ever could have hoped for, before graduation and within an organisation whose work combines so many of my passions I can't believe my luck, it does mean I'll have to wait until the weekends to head for the hills in the future.

So I'm trying to make the most of my last couple of weeks. Last weekend explored some more of Newcastle, I'm off to Amsterdam with Ben later this week, and then I'm going to spend a bit more time in the nooks and crannies of Edinburgh. It's been a long time since I visited Amsterdam so if you have any recommendations about what to do and where to eat I'd love to hear them.

And now I'm going to end this excessive amount of text now and leave you with some more pictures of a lovely day out. I hope the sun is showing its face where you are and that you're enjoying it too.

Beetroot and Blood Orange Brownies

You might remember a couple of weeks ago I wrote about visiting Bettys in Harrogate, and I spoke about a salad I shared with my parents. The salad had beetroot and blood orange in it and the combination of the two flavours was delicious, absolutely the highlight of the salad. Tangy and light alongside deep and earthy.

Like I said at the time it triggered a bit of a cake thought in my head. Beetroot cake is nothing new, but I've never tried it, so I thought it was high time I did, with some bonus blood orange just as we reached the end of the season.

I had a good Google and read so many chocolate beetroot cake/brownie recipes I thought my head was about to explode. I took something from almost all of them, and came up with my own version, as none of them had quite the combination I was looking for - melted chocolate and cocoa powder for ultimate chocolate-ness, meted butter not oil and fresh beetroot. The end result was am incredibly rich, dense, gooey brownie that was refreshingly different from my normal brownie recipe (which you can find here).

Beetroot and Blood Orange Brownies

85g Dark Chocolate
240g Butter
300g Caster Sugar
3 Eggs
300g Cooked Beetroot
30g Cocoa Powder
150g Plain Flour
50g Ground Almonds
1tsp Baking Powder
1 Large Blood Orange

1. Cook your beetroots. I washed mine, boiled them until quite soft (time depends on size of beetroot) then washed them in cold water and rubbed off the skin before finally grating them.
2. Preheat the oven to 180oC and line your tin. Size doesn't really matter, the thicker the mixture is in the tin the longer it will take to bake!
3. Melt the chocolate together with the butter and then add the caster sugar.
5. Add the eggs one at a time followed by the grated beetroot.
6. Sift all of the dry ingredients together and then add to the wet mixture, folding in gently.
7. Chop the blood orange into rounds and cut the skin off.
8. Pour the mixture into the tin and place the blood orange on top.
9. Bake for around 45 minutes, or until a knife comes out nearly (very very nearly) clean).

Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Cupcakes

I made these sugar coma inducing cupcakes a few weeks ago, before lent. It is now lent, and I'm salivating as I type because I haven't nothing half as sweet as these has passed my lips in forever. 

Okay just over two weeks, but it feels like forever. If I'm honest, these bad boys are possibly a step too far - Ben and I actually shared one because there was just so much icing and our teeth were still buzzing afterwards. But sometimes that's exactly what you need. I made these to take round to Broadchurch night (any suggestions to replace the David Tennant shaped gap in my life right now would be much appreciated) so I don't have a picture of the inside, but the cake is just as marbled as the icing. I think you can just see the pattern peeking out under the icing on the picture immediately above.

Marbling the cake is really deceptively easy. Every marble recipe ever has said that, because it's true! Blob of vanilla cake mix, blob of chocolate cake mix, another blob of vanilla and then wiggle a cocktail stick through it. The two tone icing is marginally, and I mean really hardly at all, more difficult. I like to put my piping bag in a tall glass and fold it out on itself a couple of times. Then you just put vanilla icing on one side of the bag and chocolate icing on the other side, a spoonful at a time. It isn't always really neat, you are most likely to get completely covered in the two types of icing and the first one or two you pipe can often be way more of one icing than another, but then you're golden. 

Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Cupcakes

150g Butter

150g Caster Sugar

3 Eggs

175g Self Raising Flour

50ml Milk

3tbsp Cocoa Powder

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and get your cupcake cases ready.

2. Whip the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

3. Mix the eggs and the milk together.

4. Alternate adding the flour and the egg and milk mixture.

5. Put half the mix in another bowl and add the cocoa powder to one of the bowls.

6. Alternately dollop the two mixtures into your cupcake cases and then wiggle a cocktail stick through.

7. Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Icing

115g Butter

225g of Full Fat Cream Cheese (I used Philadelphia)

500g Icing Sugar

1 Tbsp Milk

You need twice this much to have the amount of icing there is on the pictures - you make the icing twice for the two flavours. If you don't want quite as much icing you can make up the above, put it in two bowls and put half the vanilla and cocoa powder in.

For Vanilla - add 1 tsp vanilla extract

For Chocolate - add 60g Cocoa Powder

1. Whip the butter until light and fluffy

2. Add the cream cheese and whip until just mixed - don't over mix else it might go runny!

3. Add the icing sugar, milk and appropriate flavouring.

4. Fill your piping bag with the two flavours, one flavour on each side of the bag and pipe away!

Bettys Café Tearooms

Last week I popped home, sadly to see attend the last mass at my parish church before it shut down. It was't the nicest reason to be going home, and although the mass was really a wonderful celebration of what had been it was also helpful in providing positive thoughts the for future and it did mean I was home for the last day of my mum's holiday! So my Dad took the day off too and we went on a rare family trip out.

We're not always the most organised family, so it was nearly lunchtime before we decided to drive over to Harrogate to have some lunch at the famous Bettys Tearooms (they spell it without an apostrophe. It makes me nervous) and a wander around the Botanical Gardens (handily, there is a Bettys at the gardens, and we are all garden and cake lovers).

When we arrived we were greeted by this wonderful window display of some of the most beautifully decorated chocolate eggs I have ever seen. It's just a shame it was a very bright day, so the reflection is pretty terrible. I think you can see the big egg in the middle well enough though.

We tucked into a delicious lunch, and if I'm honest I think we were surprised at how good it was, for a place renowned for it's afternoon tea and sweet treats rather than it's food. My Mum went for a prawn omelette, which when cut open was the thickest, fluffiest omelette I've ever seen, and she was very impressed.  I had the open steak sandwich, and my Dad had the eggs florentine. We also had a salad between us, which had beetroot and blood orange in, which was an absolutely delicious combination, and has triggered a bit of a cake thought in my head. More on that in a few weeks hopefully. 

Regardless of how good the mains were, the sweets rightly took centre stage. We had a choux pastry heart filled with fresh cream and berries, a bakewell slice and a treacle tart. The pastry on all three was absolutely perfect, and I love how pretty the heart is - I wish I could be that precise with a tiny piping tip! 

Unable to resist, we also took a box of treats away with us, and guys. The fondant fancies were just something else. Sponge with a layer of jam and icing, and then, unusually, a thin layer of marzipan on top before the fondant icing. Truly spectacular.

Finally, a little disclaimer. We spent so long in Bettys we didn't actually make it into the gardens before last entrance. We had a lovely, lovely day but we effectively drove for two hours in each directin for cake. Don't tell me that isn't dedication. 

Red Velvet Valentine's Cookies

Yeah Valentine's Day is over commercialised, slightly sickening and eye wateringly expensive if you really buy into it. But it's also an excellent excuse to bake some treats for you, your significant other, your friends - anyone really. Last year I shared some baking inspiration but this year I've got my very own recipe to share with you - Red Velvet Cookies!

 
The traditional red velvet cake is rich and dense, so to me that translates perfectly into a cookie. Of course, red velvet wouldn't be red velvet without tangy cream cheese frosting, and is there anything more decadent than an iced cookie? I think not. So the cookies are topped with beautiful layer of icing, and there's also some white chocolate chips hidden within the cookie. Because a cookie isn't a cookie without some chocolate chips.

Red Velvet Cookies

Cookies

290g Plain Flour

45g Icing Sugar

2tsp Corn Flour

170g Butter

200g Caster Sugar

1 Egg + 1 Egg White

1tsp Lemon Juice

Red Food Colouring

100g White Chocolate (chopped)

Cream Cheese Icing

60g Butter

115g Cream Cheese

320g Icing Sugar

1tsp Vanilla Extract

1. Beat the butter and the sugar together (on high if you're using a mixer) until light and fluffy

2. Whilst beating (on medium), add the egg, egg white, lemon juice and food colouring

3. Turn the mixer down to slow and add the flour and corn flour

4. Finally mix in the chopped white chocolate

5. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least two hours (this really matters!!)

6. Preheat the oven to 180oC and grease and line a tray

7. Place your heart shaped cookie cutter on the tray and press a ball of cookie dough into the shape

8. When it's flattened, press it out and flip it over, so the flat side is on top

9.  Alternatively, you can just put little mounds of the cookie dough on the tray

10. Bake for 9 minutes, leave to cool on the tray for a minute and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely

11. For the icing, whip the butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy

12. Add the icing sugar and the vanilla extract and mix until smooth.

13. Pipe the icing onto the cookies once they are completely cool