World Baking Day,Baking Brave and a Handbag Cake!

Sunday May 19th was World Baking Day and the idea is to 'Bake Brave' and make something that you haven't before. Something that will take just out of your comfort zone and push you a little.

There is a list of recipes ranging in skill from 1-100 (has anyone baked 100?!) to give you some inspiration and tips. It isn't too late if you'd like to take part,head over and take a look!

I didn't bake from the list...but...Sunday also happened to be my birthday (21 again,obvs) so i did 'Bake Brave' and I made something I haven't attempted before. While it may look quite simple,well it is really, I spent most of the time second guessing myself convinced something would go wrong and it would look more like a crumpled carrier bag than a pretty purse.

Apologies in advance for the following photos...at the time i blamed the lighting but i realised afterwards that my camera had a dusty lens! Slightly annoyed with myself.

Not half bad for a first attempt?

I found a wonderful tutorial at Jessicakes and while mine doesn't look half as professional,I think if i keep practising I'll get there!

I did take step by step photos and I'm happy to share them,but its by no means perfect...its just to show how i did it. I learn something new every time I make a cake and this was no exception...thanks to Jessica!

The first step is to bake a cake...maybe that's a little obvious but well...anyway I made a 2 layer 6 inch vanilla sponge cake and I filled it with a dark chocolate ganache.

Next I cut the cake,and made my first mistake...easily fixed but it still made me nervous. It was the first step!

I cut the cake on each end...1 was meant to be slightly smaller than the other but that didn't work.

See....

I put the smaller cut piece back and cut it right,then I breathed,just for a minute.

I stood the cake up and checked that it was straight from every angle. 

Then i filled that pesky join with ganache. No problem.

Now for the carving.

I cut down both sides of the cake at an angle making sure that both sides were as close to the same as i could get them. Jessica goes further with her carving,but as this was the first time i 'carved' a cake this was my limit.

When I was happy with both sides,i brushed away all those crumbs with a pastry brush and then gave the whole thing a coating of chocolate ganache.

I did give it another thin coat after this photo,and I smoothed it as much as i could with a hot palette knife.

Then i set it aside to firm up and I went to have a cuppa.

I made the bags handle by rolling out a black piece of fondant and wrapping it around a large circle cutter,I cut a piece out of it with a flat edge and then left it to firm up while i carried on with the cake.

I added some pink colour paste to my fondant,rolled it and then draped it over the cake.

I very gently pulled the fondant out at the corners,smoothing out all the sides as i went.

This bit went so much better than i expected because i knew the seams of the cake wouldn't be seen at the end,i wasn't too worried. I carefully snipped off the excess fondant on all the edges and then rolled around the bottom edges with a pizza cutter. (Which i keep aside only for cakes)

Next i cut a piece of fondant to the same width as the flat top of the cake,which was 3.5inches and 6inches long and i rounded off 1 of the shorter edges. I laid this over the cake and then ran around the edge with a fondant tool to make it look like stitching*.

Now using an extruder tool* with the circle disc attached  I made black ropes and with a little edible glue fixed them to the seams of the cake.
To finish off,I added a little bow and a flower to the front then i attached the handle with a dab of edible glue.
The handle didn't want to stay put at first but i got there in the end...ill do that differently next time.

I'm quite happy with how it worked out!

*Handy links below :) 

Crusty white loaf...easy!

The mere mention of baking bread bread at home can be quite daunting to some.

It was to me too!

But honestly, once you take the bread making plunge its one of the most satisfying things you can do.

I seem to have phases where I make bread for days on end and then just stop again.

I think it just breaks it up a little bit,cake is usually where i'm always at!

If you read my ramblings often then you'll know my hubby is a big fan of breads and loaf type cakes.

So recently when we watched the Paul Hollywood 'Bread' series,he spent most of it pointing and saying 'want that one' 

Its been a whole lotta time since i made bread so i made a simple white crusty loaf to start with.

I was happy with it,it looked like bread,it tasted like bread,it definitely smelled like bread.

You see I use past tense? Thats because its all gone,less than 24 hours later!

I didn't eat it all,before you think I gorged...I got 1 slice luckily!

I used Pauls recipe.

500g strong white bread flour

40g soft unsalted butter

12g or 2 sachets fast action dried yeast (I used tescos own brand)

2tsp salt

about 300ml warm water..not hot!

a little sunflower oil

Put the flour and butter together in a large mixing bowl,then add the yeast and salt but make sure not to to let them touch yet. Or as paul tells us,the salt can kill the yeast before it can even start to work.

Add roughly half of the water and start to mix,bringing it together using your hand.

Gradually add a little bit of the water at a time.

You may not need every drop,you want just enough until the dough has picked up all the flour from the bowl.

It shouldn't be sticky.

Drizzle a little oil onto a clean work surface and turn the dough out.

Now knead...this is when you get to work out any pent up tension you have.

Demanding children? Husbands? Take it out on that dough and knead it well for a good 5 minutes.

When the dough is smooth and stretchy drizzle a little more oil into the mixing bowl and pop the dough back in. Cover with cling film to prevent it from drying out and set it aside to prove.

Depending on how warm your room is,about an hour later it will look something like this...

This time dust your surface with a little flour and turn the dough out again.

Knock out all the air by kneading again,this time sort of roll the dough up and turn it 45 degrees then roll it again. Keep going until it becomes a smooth dough and gently shape it into a round loaf.

Now place it onto a lined baking tray.

Cover with a tea towel and set aside to rise once more.

Preheat your oven to 220c or gas mark 7.

Put a clean empty roasting tray into the bottom of the oven. (All will be revealed)

After one more hour the bread dough should have almost doubled in size again.

Sprinkle some flour on the top and very gently 'wipe' it over the loaf.

Take a sharp knife and make slits across the dough,any pattern you like I guess.

I did sort of a chequer.

Pop the loaf into the oven...but right before you close the door pour some cold water into that roasting tin.

A favourite tip of mine from the great Paul,it really does work! It creates steam and gives a fab crust on the bread.

Bake the bread for 30 minutes.

To see if its done,gently tap the bottom of the loaf and if it sounds hollow... you're all set!

Strawberry milkshake cupcakes

I've been thinking about making these for sooo long!
I have this habit of saying 'ill make that' and putting it off,something always gets in the way and it takes me an age to actually do it.
But,then on the spur of the moment ill decide 'todays the day' and thats how these finally came about.
The only problem was I had no Nesquik,
so immediately i sent my son a text and asked him to pick some up for me.
So i waited,not very patiently I might add.
It was late when I made them and that explains the lack of photos. The lighting in my kitchen (or anywhere else around here) is shocking at the best of times,so you can imagine how it is at 1am!

The cases i used were terrible,you can probably see and so that's why I've sat them into another.

I was originally going to use the recipe from hummingbird but instead I decided to adapt a regular vanilla cupcake recipe.

The only thing I wasn't overly happy with is that the actual cake didn't come out pink as I'd hoped.

Though that of course didn't affect the taste.

I weighed the eggs and used the same weight of flour,sugar and butter.

(3 Eggs were 203 grams,i rounded it down to 200)

Cupcakes

200 grams sifted self raising flour

200 grams caster sugar

200 grams unsalted butter or margarine

3 eggs

2 tbsp milk

4 tsp strawberry milkshake powder (I used Nesquik)

Buttercream/Frosting

175 grams unsalted butter

350 grams sifted icing sugar

2 tbsp milk 

4 tbsp milkshake powder

Preheat the oven to 180c or gas mark 4 and line a cupcake tray with 12 cases.

Beat the butter and sugar together until it becomes pale and fluffy.

Now add 1 egg at a time along with a tablespoon of the flour and mix gently between each addition.

Mix in any remaining flour.
In a small dish mix the milk together with the milkshake powder then combine this with the cake mixture.

Divide the mix between the paper cases and bake in to oven for 18-20 minutes.
I use a 5cm ice cream scoop to ensure each 1 is the same size (Link below)

They are ready when an inserted skewer comes out clean and they spring back when you gently touch them.

 Set them aside on a cooling rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting,beat the icing sugar and butter together with a stand or hand mixer for a good few minutes until its very well incorporated.

Mix the milk and milkshake powder together as before and add this to the mix.

Beat again for another few minutes and you'll end up with a very fluffy smooth buttercream.

I piped on a swirl with the Wilton 2D tip and finished off with a cut down paper straw.

I didn't have edible straws to hand :( maybe next time!

I'd planned to top them with these....

But i'd waited so long to use them that they'd gone out of date!

That'll teach me to not put things off!

Jo Wheatley,Home Baking

I'm a big fan of Jo Wheatley,and I have been ever since I first saw her on Great British Bake Off.

It isn't just that shes a fabulous baker,she's genuinely a lovely lady.

A couple of times now I've asked her advice and she helped me out when I was in a cake panic!

Jo's chocolate birthday cake from her first book 'A Passion For Baking' is now my go-to chocolate cake,its never let me down.

So you can imagine how thrilled I was to receive a copy of her new second book 'Home Baking'

I immediately began to read it and it doesn't disappoint. 

Everything is laid out in categories from biscuits,bars and cookies to teatime treats.

Theres a great range of bakes sweet and savoury,along with stunning relaxed photographs.

None of the recipes are out of reach... there's something for everyone right from baking with your little ones up to even the keenest baker.

Straight away I knew that my first bake from the book would be the Coffee and walnut cake,

a favourite of my hubby's.

Perfect!

A fabulous book,congratulations Jo on what I'm sure will be your next bestseller!

Grab your copy of Home Baking at Sainsburys for the bargain price of £8!

You Me At Six birthday cake

We had another special sweet sixteen in our house this week,so another cake was to be had!

This 1 is similar to the last 16th birthday cake I made,but the decoration is completely different.

I have to say,that when Jade asked me to do a 'You Me At Six' theme I wasn't overly thrilled.

Because of the edible prints I knew I'd have to use I was worried it would look too simple.

But as it turns out...she loved it and I'm happy with it too!

Its had quite a bit of attention particularly on Tumblr.

That's Josh Franceschi,the bands lead singer and Jades idea of male perfection!

Google images was my friend on this 1,I found and printed out the lyrics from some of their songs.

The whole cake is chocolate,filled and frosted with chocolate ganache...the birthday girls favourite.

The musical notes on the board I made from chocolate using a mould.

No pink but at least I got some sparkle on there!

I had to coax her into cutting it..she wasn't happy about that at all!