Baking Boxes, Partial Lists and Apologies

My Baking Box

As it turns out, I'm a horrible liar and if you read this blog then I'd like to apologize(!)... about a month or so ago I promised that a list of order would be published imminently, but as it stands I've barely given it a second thought. I have my excuses, but they're not good enough... so shame on me... anyway, I don't have a list of order, but I'm gonna use the 'P' word one last time and promise that something will go up in the next few days (if anyone's interested?)

But until then I'd like to make a list of a few things which I'm thinking of including, so (as Kel would say) 'Here goes...'

1. Carrot Cake Cupcakes - These I'm hoping to make early on in the process, coz while I was away in the Lake District I went to the massive Lakeland shop, they have in Windermere and bought some mini carrots that I'm super keen to use!

2. Souffle - Just because it's really hard to make and I promised that it'd be the final thing I'd make in the summer challenge as a way of finishing the whole thing off with a bang, or a mini kitchen explosion.

3. Glee Cupcakes - Yes you heard me, I said glee cupcakes. I'm a MASSIVE gleek and proud of it, so I'm gonna make these to celebrate the airing of the Season 2 Finale in the UK - But how can you make the cup cakes Glee Cupcakes? well watch this space, coz I'm massively excited to show you!

4. Apple Pie - an old classic which just has to be done.

5. Flutterby Butterfly cakes - again these are already designed and will be cool - they have strawberry centres :)

6. Death by Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Spears - again a modern classic with a bit of a twist.

Okay so that's it for now guys, but by Wednesday I WILL have posted the rest so please check back soon! :)

Happy Baking

X

Royal Wedding Fun!

I've been waiting to do this post for ages, (1) because it's the first time I've written about something I've actually made myself, (2) because I've been planning these little things for about a month and a half, and (3) because...well... it's the royal wedding - only the most exciting day of the year - well my year anyway! (Oh and (4) coz it just so happened to be my birthday as well! so Yay for me!)

Fresh out of the oven

On the 29th April 2011, Royal Wedding day, we had a Tea Party, with flags and finger sandwiches - very refined and very English, I know - and my contribution was a cupcake celebration, so on Wednesday morning I started with baking the cakes, ready for decoration on Friday.
Now, you probably think it was a little premature to bake the cakes three days in advance, and that they might dry out, but oddly enough I always find that if cakes are left to stand for a few days, then they become a lot denser and nicer to eat!

For the occasion, I bought some special little Union Jack cases and flags from The Works, for 99p, so that my cakes had a 'British' feel!
I must admit that I was a little worried about using coloured cake cases, because last time I did the dye somehow managed to leak into the cake and ruin the entire batch, which wasn't good at all! However this time, I threw caution to the wind and used them again - I'm glad I did, because they added a really great feel to the cakes, that no other cases would have given.

Crowns

My other decorations came from a few places... I got the crowns from John Lewis, for about £3 for five, and the Will and Kate toppers came from a company called Simply Topps on Amazon, who sold me a pack of 24 for the brilliant price of around £2 including P&P! (Not bad eh?)

These decorations were brillaint and, as you can see, hid a multitude of sins on my unpiped icing beneath!

Totes Rah! (as Heat Magazine would say - God I'm so classy with my reading materials aren't I?)

The Wedding itself was beautiful (don't you think?)and the tea party a complete success - So I think that all in all it was one of those days which can be classed as pretty damn perfect!

Congratulations Will & Kate!!!

Happy Baking
X

Inspired: Carrot Cake

Thought I'd just share with you a picture of the AMAZING carrot cake, I had yesterday at The Swan with Two Nicks in Cheshire - it was absolutely delicious and even came with it's own minature jug of pouring cream! Yummy (I also love the little carrot that came on the top and even bought some of my own over the weekend!)
Seriously, go there if you're ever in the area - The food is brilliant!
I'm now thinking that I might just add carrot cake to the list of To Do's, and try a different recipe to last time!

Hopefully I'll get round to posting the completed Baking Challenge list in the next couple of weeks, but in the mean time I have a few idea's up my sleeve which I'm going to try out, as a way of preparation and also as a little bit of indulgence over the Easter break!
(Probably time to root out the Cornflakes!)

Happy Baking!

X

2010's Baking

Since I'm going to start my Baking Challenge in just over a month I thought it might be cool to post up some of my previous attempts, so that you can get a sense of what sort of level I'm at at the moment and also so that, I, myself can look back in coming weeks to compare and contrast, and see if any real improvement has been made!
So yeah, here's something I made earlier...

Buns

My first attempt at icing - shocking I know! I had visions of Humming Bird Bakery - esque iced cupcakes but instead I ended up with... well... as you can see it probably wasn't the best idea to use a tube of shop bought icing on fresh out of the oven cupcakes!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

These actually turned out really well, some merged a little in the oven, but otherwise they were pretty good - even if I do say so myself! haha :)

Lemon Drizzle Cake

My last baking attempt. Again, at the risk of appearing big headded, this was also fairly good. It was however in dire need of some icing on top to give it an added crunch!

Iced Sponge Cake

I made this last year. After a friend told be that she was going to be making an iced cake, I thought that I'd have a go at making one myself - It was a lot more difficult than I expected, and needless to say, mine was no where near as good as hers! But for a first attempt I suppose it could have been a lot worse. I think the worst thing about it was that the icing started to split as I was placing it on the cake, so I had to desparately try and salvage the situation by hiding the cracks with the polka dots, but shhh I don't think anyone really noticed!

Carrot Cake

This was pretty yummy - a little burnt around the edges but not too noticeable. Yeah on the whole it was A-OK :) and if you want to know the icing on top is orange flavoured!

So that's pretty much everything I made last year... I'd say that on the whole, I was fairly successful (If you ignore some of the horrible icing and eversoslightly charred carrot/cupcakes!)
So my aim this year? - to become Gizzi Erskine or you know, someone who can cook with perfection! Watch this space...

Happy Baking! :)

X

Let the challenge begin!

Argh the scary first post... I suppose I better introduce myself... soo I'm Caroline and I'm a student!
And because I'm a student I get a silly amount of time off in the Summer (six months to be exact - I can't believe it either!) which I usually spend either studying, or catching up on my daytime TV (which if I’m honest is the preferred option)!!!
However, recently this has ceased to be as fulfilling as it once was, so this summer I've decided to bake - And when I say bake I mean REALLY bake, not just packet mixes and refrigerator cakes (although I probably will end up making the iconic rice crispy cake at some point, coz lets face it - who doesn't love them!) But on the whole I want to experiment and explore what the world of cooking has to offer, and improve my skills on the way!
So a bit of background to my baking history... I've never been the best cook - a teacher once pointed at my baking and said 'ew what's that?' - so you have a rough idea of my previous skill levels, but more recently I have begun to be almost competent, and last year I decided to make cupcakes and mess around a bit in the kitchen.
Since then I have pretty much managed to get down most of the basics, but this year I'm going to go for it (I have a plan and everything).
My aim is to bake something new every week (or every other week), starting with the fairy bun in week one (16.5.11) and leading up to the dreaded soufflé (which will hopefully rise!) in week Seventeen.
Along the way, I hope to improve my baking skills and post a few recipes for anyone who happens to stumble upon this and wants to start baking too! I'll also post photos of my results and perhaps even review some of the treats I find when I'm out on my various coffee shop excursions!
Anyway we shall see... If you're interested, then grab an apron and come along for the ride!
:)

(If anyone has any recipe suggestions then please comment me!)