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!