Christmas fairs and Santa on a motorbike

Mmm.... today has been what I like to call a typical 'Christmassy' day. When the weather is cold and you bundle up with warm coats and fluffy boots. When you do typical 'Christmassy' activities. Today was definitely one of those, as I went with my family to a local Christmas market in Ripley. When we arrived, the streets were lined with stalls, left, right and centre. Vendors, huddled under canvas shelters, smiled warmly while potential customers browsed tables, full with Christmas decorations, lucky dips and homemade treats. After a quick wander up and down a section of road, we passed Pinnock's coffee house, a free table in the window catching our eye- a rare sight as it had recently been voted best in the local area. The café looked like it was made for cold winter days such as this- wooden beams supporting the worn roof, large jars by the till, filled with marshmallows and other hot chocolate toppings, fabric bunting strung up above the till. It was downright cosy. Our orders placed, we sat back and enjoyed the warm and inviting atmosphere. Even the teapots and teacups were charmingly vintage. Being the typical English girl I am, my lunch consisted of Earl Grey tea and scones with cream and jam. Très anglais, non?

Birthday cake and new beginnings

I think it's safe to say that it's been a while. It's been a while since I last blogged, it's been a while since I last baked and it's been a while since my birthday. Yet here I am, telling you about the highlights and disasters of my 18th. But before I tell you that, I think I need to give you all an update. Some VERY big news. I have a new kitchen! Ok, so maybe it's not that exciting, but for me it is. After spending many stressful hours with family breathing down my neck when I spill my tea or get cookie dough on the ceiling (yes, that really happened), a new kitchen is a big relief. Finally I have more space to... make a mess, i suppose. Oh. And I have two huge drawers... one for cake decoration and one for tea. Ahh, I'm so English!

Baking alone or with others? Which do you prefer?

So it has been a while since I last blogged- 10 months to be exact. What with AS levels and a very poor memory, blogging has not been a big priority. But, as part of my grand return, I have decided to start with one of the most debatable topics of the kitchen: tomayto or tomarto? Fine, maybe that isn't the post I had in mind. It's obviously tomarto (here in England at least). The subject I was thinking of is 'Baking alone or with others?' - which do you prefer? We all have our personal preferences when it comes to the kitchen. Some of us take on the role of a dictator (e.g my cousin... and me as well I suppose). Others welcome the help of anyone and everyone, too scared of braving a dreaded recipe alone. But there are pros and cons of both, are there not?

Chilli chocolate challenge

Ever heard of Russian roulette? This is essentially a chocolate roulette, a game of chance, with one in 5 chocolates being a throat scorcher.

It starts off with a selection of chilli chocolate buttons, placed in front of the players. Each player is to take a button. The chocolates are mixed up and have different heats, ranging from low to extra hot. It can work as a party game or a dare, but I would recommend serving these with a glass of milk, having learnt my lesson the hard way.

Hot Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe

There is nothing quite like the light, fluffy chocolate buttercream and soft cocoa infused sponge of a chocolate cupcake. The cheeky chocolate cupcake is a great treat after a long day and can be used to help relax. Here is my recipe for the "Chocolat Chaud" (hot chocolate) cupcake. I hope you like it!

Super easy rose cupcakes

Ever wondered how to make a decorative rose cupcake, without the fiddly fondant or risky buttercream? Get down the supermarket and get yourself a pack of pink pig sweets, and you are all set!

Coconut and raspberry cupcakes

Alternate option: Traybake

Ingredients

For the cake
4oz margarine or butter
4oz caster sugar
3oz self-raising flour
2oz desiccated coconut
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs

"John Whaite Bakes" book review

On Saturday, I was incredibly excited to receive a new recipe book for playing the lead in my drama group's performance of "Peter Pan". The book was "John Whaite Bakes", a book I had been very eager to get! I was a great fan of John Whaite on The Great British Bake Off, and even more so because I had my photo taken with him at The Cake And Bake Show in London 2012 (see my Cake And Bake Show post for the pictures). I was very happy about getting this new book.

A vintage spread

Last Friday i decided to do something a little different for my "baking day". With too many complaints on how I was trying fatten my family up with so many cakes, I made something a little healthier. Jam tarts. But to make it even better, I made a mini photo shoot with the collection of vintage teacups I have. The result was some very pretty pictures that look very quaint indeed. I hope you like them!

Lemon drizzle loaf cake

Friday. My favourite day of the week. The last day of school before the weekend, and my baking day. What could be better? Today's bake was a lemon drizzle loaf cake. I had made this dish only once before on my work experience, where I had a great week working in a kitchen! That was a while ago though, so I may as well have been new to the recipe.

Orange chiffon cake

A day off school, and what better is there to do than bake a cake? The next item on my "baking to-do" list was a chiffon cake. After trying an incredibly light cake at "The Cake and Bake Show 2012", which turned out to be a chiffon cake, I have been wanting to make it. I adapted the recipe to make an orange chiffon cake. I followed the recipe and the end result was excellent. A very soft sponge with a very distinct orange flavour. I decorated it with a few "orange blossoms". They are more like daisies, but it makes it look pretty. Here is the recipe I used:

My Cousin's amazing cheesecake!

These are the  photos of my cousin's cheesecake and either mine or my brother's mini pies (I think I made them, but am not 100% sure). The cheesecake, from looking at the pictures, I think was chocolate, coffee bean and raspberry, but again I don't know exactly. The cheesecake looked amazing, although regretfully, I didn't try any because I wasn't a fan of cheesecake at the time. However, I know that it went down well with those who did have a piece. I always like to share the works of my family or friends because they deserve a little credit for such an amazing, edible masterpiece. The mini pies also look great, whoever they were made by.

Taste of Autumn food fair

At the start of Autumn this year, I visited the taste of Autumn food fair. There were many goodies on offer, with pies and pastries, cheeses and oils, apples and chocolates and cordials and marinades all over the place. There were a number of baked products, including cheesecakes and tarts, and the most delicious raspberry and apple pie. Although we did not buy one, we made one later that day which was equally as fruity and sweet.

 I had a lovely day sampling the various products, sampling a bit too much of some products, such as the flavourful smoked garlic oil at one stall, and the crispy turkey at another. I was particularly interested in all the bakes and cakes on offer. They certainly were stunning.

I have also added a few pictures of some nice things I saw in the gift shop. I hope you like these dainty delights as much as I did!

Chocolate orange cupcakes

Chocolate orange, a popular flavour, but how about in a cake? My cousin and I had a go at making our own chocolate orange cupcakes. We made the sponge and our own orange syrup to soak through the sponge and for the centre. Unfortunately  because the oranges were quite old, we could only use the juice and not the zest, so it was lacking some of that orange flavour. There is always next time, I guess. We topped our cakes with a little sugared orange slice sweet. This was my cousin's first time piping and he did rather well at it!

Chocolate digestive and lavender tea cupcakes

The day my friend and I made these cakes, we had decided to have a go at a bit of harmless experimentation. With a cupboard full of ingredients and an endless stream of ideas, we set to work baking our cupcake creations. Mine was a lavender flavoured cake with a plain buttercream, my friends was a chocolate digestive biscuit cake with, again, just a simple buttercream. The results were very tasty indeed. My only suggestion for my cakes would be that instead of using lavender tea, I use lavender flowers, of which we didn't have any at the time. Here are our end results. This was my friends first time piping, and it looked really good for a first go. Hers are the chocolate cakes and mine are the lighter coloured ones.

Gran Gran's homemade birthday cakes

Flower cake

My Gran, or as my brother, my cousin and I call her, Gran Gran, has made some stunning cakes over the years. She is not a professional cake maker but her cakes really are of professional standard. What ever we had asked for she had made even better than expected, making the most difficult cakes just for us. I am always proud to show people these cakes because I am able to say "My Gran made them"! So now I will share them with the world. The best birthday cake I could ever ask for. Thank you Gran Gran for these stunning cakes!

First ever (successful) cake pops!

Many hours have I spent attempting to make the so easy looking cake pops. Every time I failed. Simple as that. Mainly due to issues with the very frustrating and fiddly candy melts that won't melt thin enough, or the cake spewing over the top of the cake pop tin (through a hole in the lid).

I managed to solve my usual problems by adding sunflower oil to thin the chocolate. This thins it very well, but for those weirded out by this, it does not affect the taste! I also piped the cake batter into the tins to get the exact amount of cake batter.

I thought those of you might like to know that I also made a fondant rose and mini apple pies today, which were very tasty. The rose is actually for the christmas cake I am helping to decorate. Not very christmasy but très elegante. Plus, I wanted to use my new "ball tool" (If anyone knows of a technical name for this, I would love to know what it is). Unfortunately I do not have the photos for you to see because I didn't think of taking any at the time.

At the moment I am currently knitting a small "angel cake"(-yes, a bit odd for a teen but I enjoy being crafts and being able to make so many things out of a ball of wool). I bought a book from a craft store with instructions on how to knit 20 different cakes, which is right up my street. I will hopefully post a picture when it is finished, seeing as I am about half way.

I just want to say a big thank you to all my readers, as today is the one year anniversary of this blog. You have made this website what it is today!

It is not an amazing picture or cake pop, but as promised, the cake pop photo:

The cupcake faerie
xx

Recipe: http://thosesunnydays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/tasty-treat-tuesday-chocolate-vanilla.html

This link is not the recipe I used. I improvised and made a plain vanilla cake batter, and baked it in a cake pop tray and then melted some chocolate for the coating. I don't like to crumble up cake to mix with frosting because it makes the cake too sweet. And who would crumble up an innocent little cake?

The best christmas gifts for the cupcake lover

With christmas getting closer by the minute, now is the time to start shopping for presents before the holiday shopping rush starts. For those out there who love everything cupcake, I have designed a cute cake stand gift set. Most of the products are easy to find, but if you want a few quick links I have at the bottom of the post. You can use the cake stand for:

• A table ornament
• A christmas present for cupcake lovers
• Separate gift ideas (only use a few of the ideas in the picture)

A sweet (16) afternoon tea!

It was my 16th birthday the other day, and my mum surprised me by getting my cousin, aunt and gran round and by setting out a wonderful afternoon tea "spread". When I came in the living room looked wonderful, with a set of fancy cups and saucers, scones, jam and a teapot to be filled with "Betty's tea room blend" tea. I must admit it was very fun, especially with the one man comedy show that is my cousin ( who is also scarily like sheldon cooper from the big bang theory at times). All in all it was a great birthday, and thank you to everyone who made it so great!

My wall of inspiration

Over the past few months, I have been been collecting various postcards and leaflets to stick onto my bedroom wall. After putting up what must be at least 50 of them, i thought that I would show my readers the results: