Burnt Butter Cupcakes

To celebrate the visit of my dear twitter (and real life) chum @blueberryathome it seemed fitting to not only roll out the red carpet but also to bake, bake, bake.

A perfect opportunity to try out one of the many recipes I had earmarked to try. And a perfect lesson in how NOT to press ahead without giving it a proper read through first...

I admit it was ambitious to plan biscuits and cakes given I had just an hour in which to prepare them - an hour which also included tidying the house and occupying the toddler. A flawed plan borne of over ambition.

To be fair, had it been your bog standard fairy buns it wouldn't have been an issue, but the clue to my undoing lies in the title of the recipe. Burnt butter.

So - how come if you are NOT intending to burn butter it blackens in seconds and yet here, as I stirred and stirred and waited and waited, it seemed to take an eternity. Not only this - but I came further unstuck when I read on to discover that after this lengthy process it was essential to allow the butter to resolidify before incorporating with the rest of the ingredients. It goes without saying that it was an unseasonably warm day and this took forever. And a couple of days.

I knocked up the biscuits (old faithfuls, Rachel Allen - sorry) while I waited and managed to get the cupcakes into the oven in the nick of time.

And then I read the rest of the recipe.

Buttercream icing? No sweat until...the same process again with the butter????? Why didn't it just tell me that at the beginning and let me get the whole darned process over in one go? (Or - to be fair - why did I not actually read the recipe that has been sitting on my shelf for the last year and work this out for myself)

Time was against me and bog standard buttercream it was, cakes barely iced before the doorbell rang.

I was possibly too frazzled to provide an in-depth assessment of the results but the golden colour and nutty taste were duly noted by the rest of those who consumed them with gusto and the whole lot vanished so fast I figure I'm going to have to do them again (and properly!) - but perhaps not against the clock next time...

Girls Night In (& Guilt...)

There is much to feel guilty about...

...telling the toddler that a mouse ate the chocolate from her party bag (in my defence it was a) delicious and b) surely this is ok for the sake of her teeth?)

...neglecting my blog for too long (though to be fair I have been cooking - just not writing about it til now)

Oh so many things.

And then a girls' night in, a week or so ago, when I turned to a Delia standby even though the post it notes sticking out of the top of my Nigella collection (yellow for 'made', white for 'still to try', orange for 'ran out of yellow') seemed to taunt me with my disloyalty every time I turned my head.

To be fair, between work and the toddler there was no time for shopping so it was a case of what's in the fridge? And what on earth can I do with that little lot?

The answer is roasted vegetables with couscous and a harissa style dressing - though (as is my wont) I didn't so much follow the recipe as use it as a guide. The veg were aubergine, sweet potato, red onion, field mushrooms and baby plum tomatoes, as that's what I had and that's what I like - oh and a stray red pepper found its way into the mix as well. I'm not sure what the recipe advises but I do this bit pretty often (great with a piece of salmon) so I went slightly off piste, learning my lesson at the end when I went for the traditional slug of balsamic to bring out the flavour of the caramelised veg - and realised that n a fug of exhaustion and absentmindedness I had accidentally used sake instead. Um...Japan meets the Med anyone? Er...fusion?

Luckily you couldn't really taste it and the rest was easy. Chop some feta and mix into the cooled veg (Delia says goats cheese but a) there was none in the fridge and b) feta seemed a safer bet as goats cheese seems to provoke strong and not always positive reactions. Plonk (not a culinary term I have heard Nigella or Delia use but hey ho) on top of a bed of couscous and whack some rocket on top. Whip up a dressing of olive oil, lime juice, tomato puree and cayenne pepper (you are meant to use cumin too but I'm not a great fan - so I didn't) and hey presto. Supper for four, demolished faster than you can say "sorry Nigella, promise to use one of yours next time...honest."

For pud fresh strawberries and a batch of Ms Lawson's Rocky Road (see earlier entry - this time I remembered to turn off the heat before adding the marshmallows so they didn't melt - hurrah). Made enough for a small army - but hey, it was a girls' night and hey, it was chocolate.

My husband was singularly unimpressed with what we left him - just one little teeny tiny little square. Oops

Birthday Biscuits

Some time ago the child and I experimented - unsuccessfully - with Butter Cut Out Biscuits (Domestic Goddess)

We followed the instructions to the letter - and yet the resultant dough was saltier than a salty thing dripping in sea water. I checked the recipe - yes, 1 tsp of salt. I checked the measuring spoon in the sink to check I hadn't accidentally used a tablespoon instead of a tea spoon - but no - all present and correct.

The biscuits and the remainder of the dough went straight in the bin and we moved on to rolling out recipes new - in every sense. But with a party to prepare for and requests for "cutting shapes mummy" we gave it another go. This time I added just half a teaspoon of salt and the results were perfect.

The tiddler and I rolled and cut and rolled and cut experimented with hearts, stars and numbers. Twelve minutes in the oven, a few minutes to cool and on with the decorating. For the sake of expedience I did the icing. The child was put in charge of sprinkles (100s and 1000s - huge mistake - they roll and bounce everywhere. Next time we'll try a slightly more tameable vermicelli variety).

Before the entire house got covered we instituted a dipping procedure (iced biscuit into sprinkle bowl and hey presto) although the child quickly discovered the joy of decorating her own sticky fingers (dip, lick, dip some more...carnage).




But by hook or by crook, the end product was delicious and much admired (plate of spares for mums and dads vanished so fast we got the insect spray out and went in search of a plague of locusts...) And better still - we've got more dough in the freezer to try it all again

Sweet Treats For A Happy Birthday

The child turned two last week. When we asked what she wanted for her birthday her answer was "a cake and a candle". How could mummy refuse?

We celebrated with a family tea on the day itself followed by a party for her friends at the weekend. I don't need much of an excuse (OK - I will use any excuse) to get the baking gear out so not surprisingly this presented me with an opportunity to really go to town.

First up the cake. The wee one loves monkeys so a monkey it had to be. I hummed and ha-ed between Nigella's Victoria Sponge and a tried-and-tested-so-much-I-can-do-with-my-eyes-shut one-bowl chocolate cake. The latter won on the basis that monkeys are brown...

So the cake itself was super simple to make. I trawled the net for piccies of monkey cakes til I found a couple I liked and based on those photos drew a template on a piece of A4. Sounds simple but you should bear in mind that I failed art O-level (yes, I am that old...) not once but twice. Whipped up chcolate fudge and regular buttercream icing then mixed the two together fot the lighter brown.

The cake making was interspersed around a vital Champions League tie, one that ended badly so at least making a monkey face provided some form of distraction and I managed to avoid getting tears of frustration in the icing. Instead I took out my angst on the ready-to-roll (black and white - used to make the eyes and surprisingly satisfying in terms of bashing)

On the big day itself the child received many amazing gifts but when asked what she had had for her birthday the reply was always the same - a monkey cake with candles. Bless.

I had been planning the cake for the party for - ooh - months on end. A farmyard scene with animal cupcakes (based on Nigella fairy cakes - natch) all around. The cupcakes did indeed come to fruition (and went down very well as going home gifts) but despite tinkering with varous designs for barns I never quite got what I wanted. So - last minute change of plan - a Peppa cake instead.

Given my ineptitude in the artistry department I found it surprisingly simple to make - though colouring the icing pink left my hands looking like I had single-handedly murdered at least a dozen people. Hey ho - the birthday girl and her friends all loved the result and I guess my hands will return to normal at some time in the near future.

Pancakes, Pans and Parenting...

Didn't get the chance to post this yesterday but better late than never...

Cold, wet and a Cup Final to go to. A proper breakfast is called for.

Luckily the bottomless jar of Instant Pancake Mix - see earlier post and/or (although preferably not 'or' now I come to think of it...) Nigella Express.

Give the jar is essentially filled with 600g flour and you use 150g a time, even non mathematicians such as myself will not have too much trouble in working out that is four lots of pancakes. Except this particular jar seems to have gone on for ever. Mind you - why would I complain about that?!

The reason I am revisiting this recipe is twofold:

1) when Nigella says use whole or semi skimmed milk, it is possibly advisable to use whole or semi-skimmed milk. Except we had run out and as I had already got the egg in the bowl and the whisk in my hand I wasn't going to let such details thwart my lust for fluffy pancakes. And to be fair, skimmed is not a total disaster - just makes it all a little limp.

2) no matter how tired please pay attention to your cookware. Foolishly grabbed the first pan I found, not clocking it was the casualty of the mirin salmon debacle (see previous). Even though it has been utterly and throughly cleaned it clearly harbours a grudge for within seconds the house stank of the ghost of aforementioned fish and this is not an ideal accompaniment to maple syrup. Had to start all over again with a friendlier skillet...

The baby rubbed her hands with glee at the thought of a breakfast that didn't involve Hovis or Shreddies but was strangely reticent when it came to tucking in (yes, yes, the salmony reek probably played its part)

A little psychology soon solved that though - "I bet you can't get the pancake on mummy's big girl fork...wow...you are so clever" repeated until the plate was clean.

Delicious and warming though the repast may have been at the time, within minutes of arriving at Wembley I was frozen solid (indeed, I am only now regaining sensation in my toes). I was also ravenous and having mislaid my essential football-match Fruitellas before they had even been opened, rued the frying pan debacle that cost me that extra serving of brekkie.

But hey - we won. And what a great afternoon it was. And the jar still isn;t empty! So hey Mr Rooney - my next batch is for you

More Fairy Cakes

Yes, yes, I know we've got these covered already - but as a rainy day activity what better than these little spongey treats? ("more mixing mummy").

Pop them in the oven ("Ot, 'ot - burn your wingers" (we sometimes have trouble with the letter 'f'!)) then slather in white chocolate butter cream and go to town with the Barbie sprinkles.

A little too rich for small folk (shame eh? all the more for mummy...) but she was easily placated with a more suitable alternative so all's well that ends well...

Victoria Sponge (with a 'helping' hand)

"Come to our tea party" said a good friend.

"I'll bring a cake" I replied, conveniently forgetting my free time is currently in overdraft and finding the time to do baking would mean bumping the 101 other more urgent tasks even further down the to-do list.

But hey - no surprise that I didn't take too much convincing to forgo Tesco and laundry in favour of floury delights.

What to make? No time for pontification - ingredients for Victoria Sponge all present and correct - so Victoria Sponge (Domestic Goddess) it was

The wee un volunteered her services but I soon learned that babies are absolute rubbish when it comes to creaming butter and sugar to a mouse like consistency. Thanks heavens for the Kitchen Aid...


Fancied something different for the filling: not keen on cream (and nor is my host) so whipped up a white chocolate buttercream and studded it with juicy fresh raspberries.

The photo doesn't do its majesty justice (alas courtesy of a mobile phone) but suffice to say - all (guests) impressed and all (cake) devoured with relish.

Rich and calorific - yes - but then surely that's the point of good old English afternoon tea?