Trick VS Treat Bake Off

It had been a while since we have had a bake off at work so in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness month we decide to combine a charity bake off with the upcoming seasonal festivities of Hallowean. The Trick VS Treat bake off was born, bakers were asked to create either creepy or pretty bakes and then donations towards the cakes would raise the money.

I created a poster to help build the hype and on the day there was a clear divide on the table between the sweet treats and creepy concoctions. There were meringue ghosts, mummy biscuits, cupcakes decorated with butterflies, bats, decapitated jelly babies and pumpkins plus pretty lemon biscuits, spiderweb millionaires shortbread and my favourite was the peanut butter bites.

I went for the Chocolate and Guinness cupcakes (now my signature bake even though I nicked it from Nigella) but decorated them differently. The first were classically pretty with white frosting and sprinkled with silver edible glitter, then wrapped in pretty cupcake sleeves with lasercut flowers. The second batch were decorated with green icing and glitter to look like grass (the actual black cake represented the soil) then gingerbread tombstones were popped on the top for a suitable creepy but tasty treat.

The Chocolate and Guinness cake recipe can be found here and the gingerbread biscuit recipe is below, originally from BBC food.

We raised an amazing £202.47 for Breast Cancer Care - not bad for some baked flour, sugar and eggs.

Gingerbread Tombstones

Ingredients:

• 350g plain flour

• 1/2 tsp ground ginger

• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

• 100g oz butter, cut into cubes

• 175g  light soft brown sugar

• 4 tbsp golden syrup

• 1 free-range egg, lightly beaten

For the icing: 

• 150g icing sugar

• 8 tablespoons of cold water

Method:

• For the ginger biscuit tombstones, place the flour, ginger and bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl. Rub the butter in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

• Add the sugar, syrup and egg and mix together until it forms a soft dough. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4.

• Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and cut out your shapes – you will only need a few for the cake so cut out some other Halloween shapes for extra biscuits.

• Place the shapes on to greased baking sheets (leaving at least 3cm between biscuits as they will spread) and bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the sheets with a palette knife and place onto a wire rack to cool completely before decorating with white icing.

• Make the icing just before you are ready to pipe as it will set if made too early, simply mix the icing sugar and the water, adding a couple of tablespoons of water at a time until you have a thick but pipable consitantly. Pop in a piping bag and decorate as you see fit.

Chocolate Macarons - I finally did it!

After a couple of failed attempts at macarons (the first lot had to be eaten with a spoon) I had given up and decided my favourite french treat is something I would only ever buy. Then I spotted a macaron masterclass on a deal website and thought it would be an ideal opportunity to learn the ricks of the trade.

Tea and Scones is in central London and taught by Caroline Hope in her tiny apartment, but this was back in March and from the looks of her website she has now moved to Swiss Cottage in North London. Caroline studies tea and aims to impart her knowledge of tea drinking traditions and english baking on her students. I went with a couple of friends and at the time it was great and I wished I had made some macarons sooner. We were taught how to make pistacho (my favourite) and chocolate in a small group, but I was put off by the expensive equipment - metal bowls, silicon mats, decent piping bags and flat baking trays were all recommended.

There were a few tips which stayed with me though...

• When folding in the dry ingredients into the egg white mixture, be confident but use the least amount of folds possible.

•  Use baking trays with no sides as this makes sure you have an even bake.
• When filling your piping bag place it in a tall glass to hold it in place.
• Once the macarons are piped drop the trays from a height to get rid of any air bubbles and flatten them slightly.

• Leave to air dry for 30 to 60 minutes until they have a skin on.
• Open the oven door a couple of times during cooking to let steam escape.
• Match the macaroons halves up depending on there size before beginning piping.

All these tips help create perfect macarons.

I was prompted to give macarons another go when I spotted a special macaroon mould silicon mat in Lakeland and a rubber piping bag, so I treat myself and researched a recipe online. I tried one from the guardian food section, the writer had already tested out lots of different recipes so had done all the hard work.

I was pleasantly surprised with the results. My ganache split though but was easily fixed by whisking in some more cream. The macarons had a perfect little foot and only a few cracked on top, they were relatively evenly sized and best of all the tasted like proper french macarons.

I left them in the fridge overnight and let them thaw for 20 minutes (I couldn't wait any longer) before serving, they were even better the next day with a crisp shell and chewy inside - I will be making them again.

Chocolate Macarons
Makes about 10

Ingredients:

• 65g ground almonds

• 85g icing sugar

• 25g cocoa powder

• 75g egg whites

• Pinch of salt

• 60g caster sugar

For the ganache:

• 100g whipping cream

• 100g dark chocolate, chopped

• 20g butter, cut into small pieces

• Pinch of sea salt

Method:

• Make the ganache first. Heat the cream in a small pan until it's just beginning to boil, then take it off the heat and add the chocolate. Leave it be for a couple of minutes, then stir furiously until smooth. Gradually beat in the butter and finish with a pinch of salt. Set aside to ... set.

• To make the macarons, you'll need a template. Cut two pieces of baking parchment to fit your baking tray and, using a glass or pastry cutter about 3.5cm in diameter, cover one piece with dark ink circles spaced about 2cm apart. Put this on the baking tray and cover with the other piece of parchment: you should be able to see the circles through it. Prepare a piping bag with a 1cm nozzle, or cut the end off a disposable one so you have a hole about 1cm in diameter.


• Blitz the almonds in a food processor or spice grinder for a couple of minutes, then sift these, the icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl. Repeat, so they're well mixed.


• Put the egg whites and a pinch of salt into the mixer and begin whisking. As soon as the whites begin to hold their shape, whisk in the caster sugar, and continue whisking at high speed until you have a stiff meringue – you should be able to hold the bowl upside down without fear (go on!).

• Fold in the dry ingredients, and then beat the mixture vigorously until it's of a consistency which falls off the spatula: if it's too thick, it will be hard to pipe. Don't worry about beating the air out of it: you don't want too much trapped in the shells.


• Spoon the mixture into the piping bag and carefully pipe on to the circles. Pick the baking tray up and drop it on to the worksurface a couple of times, then leave to rest for about 30 minutes until the macarons feel dry to the touch: they should not be sticky. Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 180C.

• Bake the macarons for about 17 minutes until firm, opening the oven door briefly a couple of times during cooking to let off any steam. Once you're sure they're cooked, slide the baking parchment off the tray immediately to stop the macarons cooking. Cool completely on the paper, then carefully peel off: if they're cooked, they should come away easily.

• When cool, match up equally-sized macarons, and then, using a small palette knife or spoon, sandwich them together with ganache. Refrigerate for 24 hours, then serve at room temperature.

BBQ Memphis Pork

After the visit to the West Hampstead Farmers Market, I couldn't wait to cook the huge amount of pork ribs we have got from the Roundwood Orchard Pig Company in the BBQ Memphis spice kit from The Spicery.

The kits consisted of a BBQ rub which you simply rub all over the ribs and then tightly wrapped in tin foil, cook for 1 hour 30 minutes on a low heat (160° C or Gas mark 3), turning occasionally. The rub is made from lots of herbs and spices including three types of paprika, garlic, chilli, thyme and pepper.

Once the meat is falling from the bone, unwrap from the foil and coat one side in the BBQ sauce which is made with a the BBQ sauce blend of paprika, all spice, garlic, mustard and chilli's which is mixed with ketchup, wine vinegar, worcester sauce and brown sugar. Pop under the grill for 5 to 10 minutes until it starts to crisp up.

We served it up with sweetcorn which was cooked on our new griddle pan, potato salad (with some chopped mint from my herb garden) and coleslaw. It was amazing, the meat just fell from the bone, the BBQ sauce was goopy and had a good warm kick to it, plus coleslaw, corn and potato salad is once of the best flavour combinations ever.

Tea-rrific

As part of my 21 day detox I've been not drinking my usual cups of tea. Although I initially found it very hard not having my morning brew I've finally started getting used to herbal teas instead.

To help make the exchange easier I tried to vary the ones I drink throughout the day, from Red Bush, Peppermint, Lemon and Ginger and good old Green Tea with Lemon. My Mum though has just introduced me to a tea which I LOVE, Lipton Morocco, a blend of Mint and Spices. Luckily for me she very kindly sent me home with a few to keep me going until I next go shopping.

I would recommend giving it a go, I'm hooked. As the temperatures are dropping outside snuggling up with a mug of this spiced scented drink gives me a nice warm glow inside - dare I say it's also making me feel festive?!

West Hampstead Farmers Market

London has quite a few farmers markets but our nearest is good half an hour walk away in Queens Park so we did get very excited when it was finally announced that West Hampstead would be getting one every Saturday.

It started a couple of weeks ago but due to prior commitments I couldn't make until this week. It was a beautiful sunny autumnal day for a little mooch around the stalls, it is not huge but there is enough good quality stalls to be worth the trip. A few meat based ones, a couple of bread stalls, vegetables - common and some unusual stuff and a few specialising in chutneys, cheese, garlic and cakes plus an independent coffee stall too.

First stop was for a coffee, which was disappointing - slightly grainy at first which may have been the chocolate sprinkles but became nicer and smoother the more you drank, only to become grainy again towards the bottom.

We wasn't sure what we wanted so had a little walk round and then went around again (it only takes 5 minutes). I spotted some good looking pork ribs and remembering we had a spice kits for BBQ Memphis pork thought I would grab them, it was £7 and there were loads of them from Roundwood Orchard Pig Company.

Mat has his eye on a pie from Wildflour Bakery so we went for a chicken and mushroom one to share for a lunch, and then decided to grab some vegetables to go with it. I had my eye on some unusual purple carrots so grabbed them with some broccoli. I didn't expect the purple carrots to still be orange inside - they tasted like sweet regular carrots but did add another unexpected colour to our lunch.

We had run out of chutney so we tried some at the Isle Of Wight Garlic Farm stall and settled on one with apricots, garlic and ginger to compliment the chicken pie. They also sold garlic butter, smoked garlic and elephant garlic.

Our friend Chris picked up some celeriac and bacon to make a soup.

On the way back we popped into The Kitchener, West Hampstead's kitchen shop and grabbed a Typhoon griddle pan - something which I have quite fancied for a while and as we have Jamie Oliver latest cookbook - 15 minute meals - quite a crucial piece of kits for most of the recipes.

Lady of Vintage Bakery

So a couple of weeks ago the Lady of Vintage Bakery asked if the Midlands arm of Foody Faces would like to sample a selection of her delicious sweet treats. Luckily for me (not so great for Jade) I am the Midlands arm of Foody Faces and after a quick reply I was eagerly awaiting my goodies.

Lady of Vintage is run by Jess, who mixes her passion for all things vintage with her flare for baking. From cupcakes to savoury muffins she can whip up a treat for every occasion and has a great selection that would not only make your taste buds happy, but look picture perfect! You can take a look at the Lady of Vintage menu here.

I took collection of my Lady of Vintage special delivery and went round to share the bounty with my Sister, any excuse for a tea party!

Ready for our Lady of Vintage tea party

It came beautifully presented, from the gingham box, to the polka dot ribbon it was all packaged in a way that only went to excite me more about its contents. It showed a lot of thought and effort, clear they had been made with a lot of love. It's these finishing touches which mean so much if you're buying these as a gift or plan to have them as part of your special occasion.

Although it all looked too pretty to eat we brewed the tea and finally cracked open to the cakes. Here's what we discovered: Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes, Chocolate Cupcakes, Buttermilk Loaf and Cakepops.

We both couldn't resist the sound of the Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes so ate those first. This is a great concept for a cupcake, the cream cheese frosting was an excellent topping, not too sweet as so many cupcakes are, and the fresh strawberry was a great addition. We both loved the hidden strawberry inside too and thought the decoration was delicate - I could see these making a great wedding cupcake, the simple, well loved flavours would be a nice light treat at the end of your meal.

The Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcake

Next we tried the chocolate cupcake, these were real show stoppers. The decoration showed a lot of different skills and techniques and i think these would make a lovely gift, they just looked so sweet and oozed vintage appeal. The attention to detail impressed me - the edible jewels in the centre of the hand crafted sugar roses and the silver luster all added a bit of extra bit of sparkle to these pretty little cakes.

The Chocolate Cupcake

One thing I hate about cupcakes is when you get 20% cake to 80% frosting, you end up just feeling sick after one mouthful. I'm happy to say that the Lady of Vintage cupcakes were perfectly formed, the ratio of cake to topping was just right and each cake was of equal height. I know I'm sounding a little Paul Hollywood about this, but if you're having cupcakes for your special day I think it's important they looked as good as the Bride or Birthday Girl. 

Next we got stuck in to the Buttermilk Loaf. This vintage recipe is light and fluffy and would make a perfect afternoon tea treat.

The Buttermilk Loaf

Finally we finished off with a cakepop. The outer coating was lovely and crunchy, the delicate coating of chocolate was covered in sprinkles which I think helped to create this great crunch. This coating then helped to emphasize the gooey inside. I love cakepops, think they are a fab idea. not only is the portion smaller so they are great for when you just want a little treat, but they also make brilliant party food as they are portable.

Cakepops

Sue enjoying her chocolate cakepop

Me enjoying my vanilla cakepop

Lady of Vintage Bakery is a great idea, whilst there's many out there who will share her love of all things retro, not many of those will have the patience to scour old fashioned recipes books and have the steady hand to create an array of detailed decorates that will add the finishing touch to your celebration big or small.

Shopping Detox

In a couple weeks I'm turning the big 3 0 and decided it was time to make some lifestyle changes before I hit this milestone.

For the past few years I've been slowly putting on the pounds, eating more and more junk and generally feeling a little bit chubby - it's not the way I want to say goodbye to my twenties. My impending thirties has made me feel that it's time to stop abusing the body I have, I'll only have one and it needs to last me a while yet.

As a early birthday present to myself I booked to see a Personal Trainer, thankfully I found myself a brilliant one - Gail Abbey has not only whipped me in to shape with some workouts (which I have kind of enjoyed in a weird way), but she also given me some great advice on my diet too. Admittedly when I first got introduced to the 21 day 'So Lean and Clean' detox I was worried - I LOVE my food and hadn't bargained on Gail advising me on changing what I eat, but as she rightly explained it was needed if I was going to get the most out of the experience.

So the '10 year old let loose in the corner shop on the way to school' diet had to go in favour of the whole foods and lean protein of Gail's detox - it's not been that hard, one I get past week one, actually pretty easy, which has really shocked me. Week one wasn't great, I crashed and burned, the headaches I was getting as my body got used to the shock of not having an endless supply of sugar were terrible, so much so I attempted to ease the pain with a packet of Fruit Pastels - I felt like a crack addict going for a hit once cold turkey got too bad.

I refocused and instead of treating myself to crisps, chocolate and full fat Coke, I treated myself to foodie gadgets to help me through the detox, here's what I got....

My Bobble water bottle, rule one of the detox is to drink LOTS of water. This handy little gadget means that I can turn tap water instantly into filtered water. Sean nabbed my original blue one that I got from the Kitchen Shop stall at Lichfield Food Festival so had to treat myself to this pink one from Waitrose.
The reusable bottle filter should last around 2-3 months, which although the replacement filters aren't cheap it will work out a lot cheaper than buying bottles of mineral water everyday - plus it looks ace :-)

The 'spork', a must for anyone eating a lot of lentils for lunch :-)

My Luckies Brown Paper Lunch Bag is my favourite thing though. Means hauling my lunch to work isn't a chore. Made of indestructible Tyvek material it has insulating material on the inside to make sure that my lunch arrives in tip top condition come 1pm.

Chocolate Birthday Cake and Gingerbread Cupcakes

I love having an excuse to bake, especially when I have the time and a friends birthday at work is always a good opportunity. I know everyones loves Nigella's chocolate and Guinness cake and is the fail safe recipe I always turn too but I wanted to see if I could create something that would be as well loved.

I wanted a show stopper so turned again to a Dan Lepard recipe and this time his easy chocolate cake - the recipe is from the BBC food website and looked like it would be impressive but not stressful to make. He was not wrong either - springy chocolate sponge cut in two filled with nice raspberry jam and whipped double cream and loads of cocoa frosting on top, it was easy to make and went down a treat, as chocolate cake usually does.

I also wanted to try a bit of an unusual flavour combination and so with my new found love of salted caramel I choose to make gingerbread cupcakes with a salted caramel buttercream. Again the recipe was from BBC Food.

These were a little tricker as I need to make the caramel and couldn't remember whether you should stir the sugar or not, it turns out you shouldn't otherwise you end up with a lump of crystallised sugar in a pan. The second attempt was more successful (after watching a couple of online tutorials) - let the sugar melt and when it has, occasionally move the pan gently from side to side, once melted you can stir gently over a low heat until it takes on a golden colour, this will take 5 - 10 minutes so no need to rush. I also took the pan off the heat as soon as it went golden so not to burn it (it will continue to cook in the pan whilst it cools).

These were definitely worth the effort as I think the black treacle makes them very spongy and moist so would keep for a couple of days, if they had not been demolished within five minutes of the final chord of 'Happy Birthday' finishing. The overly sweet topping was delicious and worked well with the slightly spicy sponge.

Easy chocolate birthday cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 100g unsalted butter

• 250g caster or brown sugar

• 50ml sunflower oil

• 25g cocoa powder

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• 4 medium free-range eggs

• 80ml milk

• 100ml double cream

• 300g plain flour

• 3 tsp baking powder

For the cocoa frosting:

• 25g cocoa powder

• 300g icing sugar

• 50g butter

• 50ml double cream

For the filling:

• 250ml double cream, whipped until stiff peaks form when the whisk is removed

• 150g jam

Preparation method:

• For the cake, line the base of a deep 20cm/9in cake tin with non-stick paper and preheat the oven to180C/350F/Gas 4.

• Melt the butter over a low heat in a small pan, pour it into a bowl with the sugar, oil, cocoa powder and vanilla. Beat well until smooth, then whisk in the eggs followed by the milk and cream.

• Sift the flour and baking powder into the butter mixture and beat until smooth, then spoon into the prepared tin and cover the top of the tin with aluminium foil.

• Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for a further 20 minutes, or the top is springy and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean

• Remove the cake from the oven and set aside to cool completely.

• Meanwhile make the cocoa frosting, mix the cocoa powder and icing sugar in a bowl. Melt the butter for a few seconds in the microwave, or in a small pan over a low heat. Mix the melted butter and the cream into the sugar and cocoa, and stir until smooth.

• To assemble the cake, remove the cake from the tin, trim the top of the cake to make it flat, then cut the cake in half horizontally. Put the bottom half of the cake onto a serving plate and spread with the whipped cream. Top with the jam.

• Spread the cocoa frosting onto the top of the cake and swirl it with a spoon, then carefully place it onto the bottom half of the cake.

Gingerbread cupcakes with salted caramel icing

Ingredients:

• 140g unsalted butter

• 200g golden caster sugar

• 60g black treacle

• 60g golden syrup

• 2 free-range eggs, plus 2 free-range egg yolks

• 300g plain flour

• 1 tsp ground ginger

• 1 tsp ground nutmeg

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp salt

• 240ml milk, warmed

For the salted caramel buttercream:

• 125g white caster sugar

• 80ml double cream

• 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 160g salted butter, softened

• 200g icing sugar

Preparation method:

• Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Line two 12-hole muffin tray with 15 paper cases.

• Beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and creamy. Beat in the treacle, syrup, eggs and egg yolks until well combined.

• Sift together the flour, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder and salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then beat in half of the warm milk. Add the remaining flour mixture and the remaining milk and beat until well combined.

• Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until well risen and lightly firm to the touch. Remove the cakes from the tin and set aside to cool on a cooling rack.

• For the salted caramel buttercream, heat the caster sugar and four tablespoons of water in a saucepan over a gentle heat until the sugar has dissolved, then increase the heat and cook the caramel for 2-3 minutes, or until golden and slightly thickened. Remove the pan from the heat immediately and stir in the cream. (CAUTION: the caramel may splutter a little when you add the cream.)

• Stir in the salt and vanilla and set aside to cool completely.

• Cream the butter and icing sugar together for at least 4- 5 minutes, then beat in the caramel. When combined pipe or spread the icing over the cup cakes and sprinkle with a little extra sea salt.

• Decorate the cupcakes with the buttercream.

Ooh look... another mini burger

Having joined the gym this week I have been trying to have a healthier approach to food and drink (basically less of it) but this lunchtime I totally fell off the virtuous wagon and gave into these plump little beauties of meat and melted cheese.

The slider selection from Giant Robot is perfect due to their miniature size, 3 different flavours and full on flavour. Instead of being mini burger patties they are meatballs - one of beef, one of pork and one of veal and all covered in tomatoey sauce, cheese and mustard - plus one had BBQ sauce and the other a pickle. Wash this down with a cold glass of Pinot Grigio and they are worth falling of the wagon for.

Fumo - Little dishes, big flavours.

When a new restaurant opens in Birmingham it can make a lot of noise as even though the place is the countries second city it is not a huge place and fine dining is limited. If that restaurant is also owned by the best known and most reputable Italian in the area - San Carlo, the buzz is huge, and they are offering a new concept for the Brummies too - small plates of Italian tapas called cicchetti to share. This is popular in London already with the likes of Polpo and even San Carlo owned Cicchetti but Fumo is big news for Brum.

It was my Mom's birthday so it seemed an great way to treat her and have a bit of time together. She had already been for lunch and raved about it, which was good as there is no menu on the website so I wasn't sure what to expect.

The place is in a great location, just up from San Carlo and overlooking the square which holds Birmingham Cathedral (and Louis Vuitton). The interior is beautifully done with a huge cocktail bar as the focal point, it seemed a shame to bi-pass those so we supped champagne and then moved onto the cocktails. I went for an expertly made Bramble and my Mom a Japanese Moijito, which even though liked, she switched to the Bramble too for her second cocktail.

By 7.30pm the place was starting to get very full so we grabbed a table (another no reservation policy restaurant) and started to have a look over the huge menu, there was so much we wanted to try so we asked the waiter for a bit of advice - happily he recommended the few things I had my eye on already.

We had a nice bottle of Pinot Grigio and some olives and a bread basket to keep us going. First up was the gorgonzola gnocchi in a parmesan crisp - it doesn't look very pretty but was so tasty - a perfect combination of textures and things I love - cheese, potatoes and... more cheese.

Next was deep fried calamari which was lightly battered, not at all chewy and served on a specially designed newspaper - cute.

The meatball pizza had a good kick to it and a really thin, crispy base.

Last, the stand out dish was the prawns in chilli and garlic - wow. Juicy, really fresh and the flavours really let the prawns flavour burst through... but why only three as a sharing plate I think should come in evens to save people in twos fighting over the extra one - my Mom won as it was her birthday but she did share it with me - bless.

The desserts were great too, a classic cheesecake and affogato - ice cream drenched in coffee, but now we were full to burst and so was Fumo, it was heaving by the time we left with it people three deep at the bar and people waiting for tables to become free to eat, I was just glad we got in there when we did.

So... the food was amazing, the staff knowledgeable, helpful and friendly and the cocktails perfect, plus my Mom had a great time which is the important thing - we will definitely be going back.