eat pray bake

Off The Deep End (Cake, Cake, Cake, Cake, Cake, Cake Pop)

2012-03-05T14:24:00.000-08:00

My second Off The Deep End post, tasty Red Velvet Cake Pops. Check it out here..

Peace & Love

March Photo A Day....

2012-02-29T13:43:00.002-08:00

So whilst I was wasting my life away on Pinterest, I found this blog that I'm already in love with called Fat Mum Slim (link here). One of her more recent posts was to kickstart the "March photo a day" challenge and I think it sounds great so I'm doing it!

I will be posting my pictures on Instagram and Twitter. You can follow me on either one, my twitter (@bailey_ana) or Instagram (@baileyana) and if you're up for it, then take part too. I think it will be pretty cool, join us :)

Peace & Lovexx

Havana Santiago

2012-02-27T13:01:00.003-08:00

Happy Monday People!

After being in a bit of a funk for the last few weeks, I had a conversation with an old friend who basically told me to get over myself and get on with it... Sometimes you need to hear the truth spoken in love and it's done me the world of good. It's so easy to look at your circumstances and get discouraged but as he said, life will throw things at you but you've got to fight back. Also I do believe that contentment is a state of mind and has little if anything to do with what's going on around you. It's time for me to look within! I even went as far as sending myself a card filled with a loving & encouraging message, I can't wait for it to come in the post...don't judge me! :)

On an even more exciting tip, this Friday - Sunday (2nd-4th March 2012), my friend and her man are staging a Cuban inspired take-over at Rich Mix in East London, following their trip there last year. It will be 3 days of culture including film, music, photography, cocktails and other delights. I'll be there on the Sunday with my cakies so come along and get involved. You can get more details from this site (click here). If you are in the London area on any of those days, especially Sunday, come down, I'd love to meet you!

Have a great week,

Peace & Love

xx

Sunday Smoothie

2012-02-26T10:30:00.000-08:00

It was a beautiful day today, perfect for drinking smoothies outside in the garden!

This week, I hung out with my friend Bowbelles, (check out her cool blog here) and she whipped up a beautiful fruit smoothie from just three ingredients; strawberries, bananas & grapes. It took about 5 minutes to put together and tasted delicious, I was like "Why am I not making smoothies?"

So here I am, with my very own tasty Sunday smoothie. You take 2-3 strawberries, 1 small banana, about 10 grapes and blend them together. That's it! I'm going to have to try different combinations but for today this one is perfect.

Peace & Love

xx

7 Links Challenge

2012-02-23T16:52:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I was really pleased to be nominated for my first 'blogger chain questionnaire thing', called the 7 Links Challenge, by Dee-Ann Rice (I'm not sure what the correct terminology is here). A big thanks to Dee-Ann for nominating me, I gave her a sob story about never being nominated to do one, and she was gracious enough to take pity on me!

In short, the idea is that you pick out and share 7 posts based on the following criteria;

Your most beautiful post

Your most popular post

Your most controversial post
Your most helpful post
A post whose success surprised you
A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved and
The post that you are most proud of

Without further ado, here are mine;

Most beautiful post - For I Know The Plans I Have For You...

This is the first post that came to mind for this category, mainly because I really love the way that these cupcakes turned out. It took me a while to get all the ingredients together and when the idea came to me for them, I felt like the Mad Professor I was so excited. I still love it.

Most popular post - Christmas Cake Pop Baubles

These cake pops have done the rounds on a few cool blogs and rocketed to the top of the popularity tree. I love it because they are so simple and they're pink :)

Most controversial post - Are You Gonna Bang Doe?

I'm not one for controversy (on my cake blog at least) but I did base the title & theme of this post on a questionable song that I love! Check it out for yourself and tell me what you think!

Most helpful post - How To Make Cake Pops - Photo Recipe

I have a love/hate relationship with cake pops but after I did the pink cake pops, one of my friends asked for a how-to post & I had a lot of fun putting this together. I'm pleased to say it's my second most visited post.

A post whose successsurprised you - Nutella Cupcakes

The popularity of this is all thanks to the mighty Pinterest. Around New Years Eve/Day this was all over the place. I wasn't expecting a big fuss but it's nice.

A post you feel didn’tget the attention itdeserved - Florence + The Machine

This is a really hard question because I have some posts that do really well and then I have lots that I'm really happy with that much fewer people look at. I decided to go for this one in the end because this was my first stab at making up my own recipe, they tasted gorgeous and it was a tribute to Florence and the Machine's amazing Ceremonials album.

The post that you are most proud of - Cranberry Jam & Cream Cheese Nibbles

This is an impossible question, I am proud of all of my posts. Under duress though, I picked this one because I can remember how excited I was to have made my own jam! I am a simple person & I felt really clever and domesticated and like a farmers wife or something. I had visions of me running through meadows with the sun on my face and happy barefooted children everywhere! :) I'm a city girl & thoroughly undomesticated but this gave me a taste of a parallel universe me, I like her, she seems like she'd be tidy, organised and able to make her own sausages!

So those were my picks, you can of course link to the actual posts either via the pictures or the titles. Check them out & tell me if you have any other favourites.

My nominees for the 7 Link Challenge are;

Bowbelle from Some Like It Essex

Ash-Lilly from Ash-Lilly's Lacquer Lust

Bangs from Bangs and a Bun

Sarah from Sarah Akiswombe

Cherine from A Woman Doing Her Best To Seek Happiness...

Kerry from Life, As I Know It

The rules of the challenge are as follows (taken from here);

THE GOAL

To unite bloggers (from all sectors) in a joint endeavor to share lessons learned and create a bank of long but not forgotten blog posts that deserve to see the light of day again.

THE RULES

1) Blogger is nominated to take part

2) Blogger publishes his/her 7 links on his/her blog – 1 link for each category.

This shouldn’t take you long to do – don’t over-think it!

- Your most beautiful post
– Your most popular post
– Your most controversial post
– Your most helpful post
– A post whose success surprised you
– A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved
– The post that you are most proud of

3) Blogger nominates up to 5 more bloggers to take part.

(Feel free to nominate any kind of blog to take part – we want this project to be as inclusive as possible!)

4) These bloggers publish their 7 links and nominate more bloggers

I hope you enjoyed it!

Peace & Love

Pimp My Cupcake...

2012-02-21T02:05:00.001-08:00

A while ago I saw some mini tissue pom-poms being used as cake toppers and I decided that I was going to learn how to make them because they looked soooooo cute. Turns out our good friend Martha Stewart has the simplest ever 'how-to' post on her website. Once I organised myself to get around to trying one I was really happy with how they turned out. It's amazing how a topper can make a simple vanilla cupcake look a lot more fabulous :)

I got all artsy with it, Andy Warhol stylee :)

“If everyone isn't beautiful, then no one is.”

― Andy Warhol

Now to pimping my life!

Peace & Love

Marshmallow Fluff Tarts

2012-02-17T18:16:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Order has been restored and happy baking has returned! If you follow my blog at all, you will know that I love makings tarts, they are the simplest things in the world to do and are just so tasty. Mini ones are like mouthfuls of wonderfulness and make me happy.

Today's offering is a simple shortcrust pastry (shop bought), filled with a mixture of whipped cream & Marshmallow Fluff (one tablespoon of whipped cream to one teaspoon of Marshmallow Fluff), topped with a raspberry & some icing sugar. I bought the Marshmallow Fluff from Asda, but I think other shops sell it as well. It wasn't a very scientific bake today, no measuring of ingredients, just a little bit of this & a little bit of that as I had some leftovers to use up.

All in all I'm pretty pleased with them but I think it's time that I stepped away from the ready-made pastry & started doing it myself... Wish me luck :)

Peace & Love

xx

Keeping It Real - Skull Cupcakes

2012-02-16T13:10:00.000-08:00

This has been a week of ups and downs; Whitney Houston passing (down), two cool birthdays (up), losing all of my photos (major down), finding a forgotten stash of money (up), car making strange 'I'm going to die any minute' noises (down), tea and red velvet cake with a friend (up), I could go on and on, but I'm sure you get the picture.

The photos for my planned post have disappeared, so I had to rustle something else up in their place. My plan was to blog about a lovely birthday cake I'd made, covered with strawberries and happiness, but I was just too sad to bake any more happy cakes. I laid out all of my cheeriest sprinkles on the kitchen counter and even tried to imagine myself making sugar flowers but I couldn't. I think we need to be real with ourselves sometimes, don't ignore how you feel, work through it.

So I got out my skull candy mould & immediately felt better. I bought it just after Halloween but haven't quite found the right time to make anything with it. I then picked out some red foil cupcake cases and the juiciest red glitter I could find & the good vibes started rolling in... It's amazing what glitter can do (that and a cheeky glass of red wine!) I reckon it's pretty impossible to stay down when there is red glitter all over the place :)

I stuck with a vanilla cupcake and cream cheese frosting to keep things nice and simple. Once everything was assembled, my mood was officially lightened. My photos aren't back, but all hope isn't gone!

My lesson: Keep it real but stay positive!

What do you do to cheer yourself up?

Peace & Love

xx

What Makes It All Worthwhile....

2012-02-13T18:27:00.002-08:00

I spend a ridiculous amount of time in the kitchen and as much as I love it, I also get sick of the sight of it. The constant washing up, the wiping down, the sweeping and the moping. The icing sugar that gets everywhere and the equipment that needs to be cleaned and put back in to it's place. Not to mention the chaffing of my hands from all of the cleaning products and the fact that I can hardly ever wear nail vanish. Plus after spending hours baking & decorating a cake, I STILL have to go to the kitchen to make proper food. It's never-ending and exhausting and I wonder why I do this to myself.

But when it gets to that point, something or someone comes along to remind me. Often, it is my nephew. I love the way his eyes light up when he gets a cake and the way that he is always so full of praise. It makes my heart warm and I feel like maybe I'm not wasting my time after all!

This post is dedicated to my nephew for being an amazing source of encouragement. Happy Birthday my love for thank you reminding me why I do this!

Peace & Love

xx

Desperately Seeking Approval

2012-02-10T06:39:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered what or rather who motivates you to do things? I've heard tales of men starting wars to win the affection of a fair maiden and whilst it sounds a bit far-fetched, I do get it. Sometimes that person is a parent or a group of friends but the need to impress someone that you are into is probably the strongest urge of all, you don't even need to be into them in a sexual way.

I have a person like that, someone who I am trying to impress, that I'm almost 100% confident is completely oblivious to my efforts! It's pretty sad really but what can you do, the heart is foolish! :)

Before you get too worried about me, be comforted that my unrequited obsession has in fact given birth to the beauty that you see before you - a heart in a cupcake! Of course I will do a 'how-to' tutorial in the near future so you too can recreate this bad boy - it would be rude not to.

Until then though, please enjoy the mix of vanilla cupcakes with a red velvet heart centre and cream cheese frosting on top.

Peace & Love

xx

Let Them Eat Cake

2012-02-08T16:46:00.000-08:00

When I first learnt how to make a madeira cake some years back, I discovered two things;

a. It is simple to make.

b. It tastes delicious straight out of the oven with custard.

As good as the above may appear at first glance, it presented me with a very serious problem. I made madeira cakes ALL the time. And when I say 'all the time', I really do mean 'all the time'. In the evenings I'd feel like something sweet and where an ordinary person may grab a biscuit/cookie, I'd bake a cake & eat it.

Clearly this could only lead to diabetes & so I actually stopped baking altogether for a while - my attempt at going cold turkey!

Luckily for me, I think I have managed the art of balance in this area & am getting my sugar fix from licking cake mixture from bowls rather than eating whole cakes! Only when it is totally necessary, do I bake myself as cake. So when I was asked to make a plain Madeira cake for a birthday, it bought me back to the old days and made me smile.

Check this link here for a really nice madeira cake recipe. The best part about this cake is that you can get creative and add your own hint of flavour. I used to love adding cinnamon and nutmeg instead of the lemon rind for a warm spicy twist.

I hope you are having a good week so far...

Peace & Love

Pizza Cake (And Giveaway Winner Announced!)

2012-02-06T14:30:00.000-08:00

Is it a pizza? Is it a cake? No, it's a Pizza Cake!!

Hello People - hopefully you all looked at the picture and wondered why on earth I am posting pictures of slightly dodgy pizzas on my blog... Well, the answer is that I'm not. This bad boy is in fact a cake :)

A friend of mine asked me to make a cake in the shape of a pizza to celebrate a year of their blog 'Things We Have Eaten'. The Things We Have Eaten crew is made up of a collective of guys who blog about stuff they have eaten (rocket science I know). It's pretty cool though because they travel around and clearly enjoy their food so check it out...

The 'Things We've Eaten' Crew

When I got the call, I was really excited. The challenge with something like this, is getting the recipe right. The biggest mistake you can make is not paying equal attention to taste and presentation. If I had to choose then taste would reign supreme but you really must focus on both. So the cake has got to look like a pizza, but be a tasty cake.

I used a moist vanilla cupcake recipe for the base (click here for a link). I figured such a thin layer of cake could dry out pretty quickly so this was important. I doubled the quantity of the cupcake mixture and baked it in a 14" round tin. I also managed to get an empty pizza box (after buying a large pizza first) as it adds to the whole drama of the thing.

Jam acts as tomato and the "cheese" is buttercream coloured yellow. Everything else is made out of coloured sugarpaste icing except for the pineapple which is real. All in all it was pretty convincing, especially at night.

On a totally different note, I am really pleased to announce that Ellena Emmanuel is the winner of the cake pop giveaway and will be contacted soon to receive her prize. Thank you to everyone who entered!

Peace & Love

Waffles With Spiced Honey Glazed Pineapple

2012-01-31T05:27:00.000-08:00

I'm so over January! I'm over waking up in the dark and rushing around trying to catch the natural light to take pictures. Roll on the summertime, with light, warmth and long days.

To help lift my spirits a bit, I wanted to bring on the summer vibe with some tropical fruit - the mighty pineapple. I had also intended to try and do some more healthy recipes for the coming month. I'm afraid that the regular snacking on my creations is starting to show on my tummy & I'm not liking it! I figure if I make healthy stuff at least once in a while, I'll be giving myself a better chance of keeping it under control!

So today I bring you, waffles with spiced glazed honey pineapples and cinnamon fromage frais. If you wanted to be super good you could just leave out the waffles, note that's not what I did as I didn't want to go crazy :)

The recipe is very simple, I don't have a waffle iron (to reduce temptation), so I bought the waffles. The pineapples take about 20 minutes to make including preparation time so it's really quick. Click here for the link to the recipe.

This is actually very tasty. You have a beautiful mix of different textures with the waffles, pineapple and fromage frais. There is also a tartness from the lime and the fromage frais to offset the sweet flavours: all in all a big thumbs up!

Before I forget, I will be announcing the winner of the giveaway in Friday's post so look out for that!

Tell me, what is your favourite season and what have been your highlights for this month?

Peace & Love

Delphine's Chocolate Cake

2012-01-27T15:58:00.000-08:00

When you bake as much as I do you need to set some boundaries to ensure you can fit in your clothes.

Rule number one is not to eat too much cake or as the Notorious B.I.G. said 'Never get high off your own supply'. Clearly to say no cake ever would be unrealistic. But how much is too much? You can imagine how difficult this potentially could be for me but I've pretty much got it down to a fine art.

This week though, I broke that rule and I made a cake just for me. It was one of those weeks where I did things I don't normally do, like stay away from my laptop and take long walks rather than drive everywhere and eat whole cakes for myself.

The cake is an authentic French recipe, given to me by one of my friends. It is rich and indulgent and really easy to make.

Delphine's Chocolate Cake

200g plain chocolate
125g butter
150g caster sugar
3 eggs
2 tbsp of self raising flour

1. Preheat the oven to 180oC/ 350oF/ Gas 4. Grease and line an 8" cake tin with greaseproof paper.
2. Melt the chocolate and the butter in a pan over a gentle heat until just melted. Leave to cool slightly.
3. Add the sugar, eggs and flour and mix thoroughly.
4. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake.

You can of course dress it up with cream or raspberries but I ate it just as it is, slice by tasty slice. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Peace & Love

xx

Candy Kisses For Sleeping Beauty

2012-01-24T07:16:00.000-08:00

A kiss seals two souls for a moment in time ~ Levende Waters

Hello my friends. I find myself in a bit of a Sleeping Beauty mood at the moment, well Sleeping something at least! Do you ever get those times when no matter how much sleep you get you still feel tired? I'm thinking I'm in need of some sunshine or a handsome prince to come and wake me from my slumber! :) Seeing as that's not going to happen anytime soon it's on to plan B; cupcakes and hibernation, oh and easy recipes to make.

The lip toppers are to give me that boost that I need - one that can only come from loving lips! I bought a lip candy mold a while back and have not had a chance to use it yet so as there's no time like the present I thought let's go! Candy moulds can be bought online or in craft or cake decoration shops. Wilton do an extensive collection so that is always a good place to start.

Check out this cool link (here) for a vanilla cupcake recipe with a handy how-to video.

Never a lip is curved with pain

That can't be kissed into a smile again ~ Brete Hart

Enjoy

Peace & Love

xx

Off The Deep End (Honey Cupcakes with Clotted Cream)

2012-01-23T12:09:00.000-08:00

Hello All

Just wanted to let you know that I am now writing for the Off The Deep End blog... Exciting times!

Check out this link for my first post; Honey Cupcakes with Clotted Cream. I'll be writing for them once a month & will keep you updated with the posts.

Peace & Love

Wonderful Love & Lollipops

2012-01-20T02:13:00.000-08:00

Everyone says that LOVE hurts.

But that's not true. Loneliness hurts.

Rejectionhurts. Losing someone hurts.

Everyone confuses these with LOVE.

But in reality, LOVE is the only thing in thisworld that covers up all the pain and makes us feel wonderful again.

Peace & Love

ps click here for a recipe link. I used strawberry flavouring and red food colouring with some silver dragees for decoration.

Chocolate Chip Amaretti Biscuits

2012-01-18T06:32:00.000-08:00

I learnt something this week. It's pretty simple but will be invaluable for you when you are trying to bake anything. In fact it's more like two things, maybe three;

Lesson 1: Don't let yourself get distracted by phone calls from friends or take a bath when you have cookies in the oven. It really isn't the best, stay focused!

Lesson 2: Use your common sense with recipes as not all of them are legit. The recipe I followed said to bake the biscuits for 15 minutes but after that time they were still completely uncooked. In the end I looked up other recipes and they said to bake the cookies for 40-45 minutes!

Lesson 3: Recipes always seem to take me longer than the recipe says it will. This is actually my problem because I like to do a million things at the same time. Focus!

Recipe for Chocolate Chip Amaretti Cookies
(makes lots, maybe 26)

170g/6oz ground almonds
170g/6oz caster sugar
2 egg whites
15ml/0.5 fl oz amaretto liquor
Chocolate Chips (optional) enough for 1 per biscuit

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
In a large bowl beat the egg whites until firm peaks stage.
Mix the sugar and the almonds gently into it using a metal spoon.
Lastly add the amaretto liquor and fold in gently until you have a smooth paste.
Make small balls using approximately half a teaspoon of the mixture. Place the balls approximately 2cm/¾in apart, as they will expand whilst cooking.
Bake in the oven for approximately 30 minutes or until the cookies have risen, are a deep golden color and have tiny cracks. Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool. If you wish to add the chocolate chips do so when they are first out of the oven and the biscuits are still soft and warm. Place one chocolate chip in the centre of the biscuit. The chocolate will harden again as the biscuit cools.
When cool gently peel cookies from parchment. If they stick to parchment, turn the paper over, take a damp paper towel and gently wipe the bottom of the parchment paper to loosen the cookie.

And there you have it, another quick and tasty recipe for desserts. This is actually a quick recipe, even I did it in a reasonable time, when I wasn't having a bath or talking on the phone :).

Let me know how you get on with the recipe.

Peace & Love

Petit Pain Au Chocolat

2012-01-17T04:28:00.000-08:00

Happy Tuesday folks! Yesterday was a day of three pretty cool things. First up, I had the privilege of getting a sneak peak of David Hockney's upcoming exhibition A Bigger Picture at the Royal Academy of Arts during a preview showing for friends and family.

There are two things I love about preview showings; the first is being able to see the art in peace. This will almost definitely be a very busy exhibition so to get to see it like this was amazing, especially in such a grand institution. The other cool thing were the refreshments; more specifically the Champagne that flowed and flowed!

No photography allowed but I managed to sneak the corner of one pic! :)

The second thing I did yesterday was to enjoy the beauty of the winter sun. I confess that last weekend I stayed in to avoid the frost and bitter cold. I just looked out of the window, said no & curled back up again - shameful! This was no longer an option come Monday and I realised that I had been missing out! The snaps below are taken from my garden. I love how nature can bring forth beauty even in the starkest environments.

The third and final cool thing I did yesterday was to make some Petit Pain au Chocolats - with Flake chocolate :). I had seen this recipe a while ago on another blog and have been wanting to try it because it looks so simple. As I was assembling the petit pains I had a brainwave and thought, "I wonder what it would taste like with a Flake?"

The answer is delicious! Plus the Flake actually retains its flakiness which adds an interesting texture to the bread. It's definitely worth a go as it's really so simple. I enjoyed mine with a cup of coffee.

Recipe - Petit Pain Au Chocolat

1 sheet ready-made puff pastry cut into 12 squares
1 large egg beaten (for glaze)
200g of your favourite milk or dark chocolate, each cut into 2cm pieces (you may not need all of the chocolate)

1. Preheat oven to 400°F/200ºC/Gas 6. Line a baking tray with greasproof paper.

2.Brush the top of each puff pastry square with egg glaze. Place 1 piece of chocolate on each pastry square. Roll up the dough tightly, enclosing the chocolate in each square. If you don't roll it tightly it will puff out and be very fluffy!

3. Place pastry rolls on baking sheet, seam side down. Brush tops of pastry rolls with remaining egg glaze. Sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake until pastries are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Best served immediately.

Definitely give this one a try!

Peace & Love

To The Child That Is Waiting...

2012-01-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I had the privilege of attending a baby shower for my good friend. The theme was an English Tea Party and after much deliberation I came up with a menu, with help from my long-suffering sister.

Tea Party Menu

Finger Sandwiches (all on white bread)
Ham and Watercress
Cream Cheese and Chives
Cream Cheese and Cucumber

Cakes
Red Velvet and Cream Cheese Frosting
Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting (some topped with strawberries)
Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream
Toffee and Banana Cake
Victoria Sponge
Lemon Drizzle Cake
Chocolate Eclairs

Drinks
Champagne and Strawberries (generously provided by Mummy-to-be)

I've been to a lot of baby showers in my time, but this one was truly beautiful and involved us taking time to bless the baby and appreciate the amazing gift of a new life. It was so moving that I almost got broody (almost!)

Have a look at a handful of the pictures from the day and join me as we wish them all the best for the future.

Peace & Love
xx

ps Special thanks to my sister for coming to my rescue at 3am the night before. I will always love you xxxxx

I'm Going In.... Best Cupcake Ever!

2012-01-11T12:57:00.000-08:00

My name is Bailey Ana and I am an insomniac.

It's true, I go for days on end with about 3 hours sleep a night until I become exhausted and think my life is falling apart and then my body goes on strike and I get a decent nights sleep. In fact it's probably takes about 2 days of being a zombie before I feel like a human being again.

It used to stress me out, (my insomnia), because obviously I'd be thinking about all the sleep I wasn't getting & how tired I was & the stress cycle would continue. More recently, I've decided to go with it and see it as a time for inspiration. Without exception my inspired ideas and thoughts come at night. In the twilight hours I can plan and think clearly so now I try to go with the flow. Plus me stressing about it doesn't actually help me to sleep so why bother!

One of my dilemmas for last night was what I was going to do with the leftover batch of red velvet cake mixture in my fridge. I love Red Velvet cake as much as the next person but I wanted to do something a little different, something fun and tasty and a little bit exciting but more than anything I didn't want to buy any new ingredients.

This morning (a first) it came to me.

Red Velvet cake with mini cake balls (an uncovered cake pop) and a toasted meringue topping.

Big!

I was excited because in theory all of these elements should work well together & I was so right. In fact I would go as far as saying that this is probably one of the best cupcakes I've ever made. They literally melted in my mouth.

I had all of the ingredients in the house; red velvet cake mixture, cream cheese frosting & some leftover vanilla sponge in the freezer. It was almost a simple task of baking the cupcakes & making the meringue. If you had to make it from scratch it would probably be a much bigger hassle but this is another one to put in the 'definitely worth it' category.

Recipe

Red Velvet cake mixture (get recipe from here)

Cream Cheese Frosting (get recipe from here)

Cake balls (get instructions from here)
Make the cake balls half the size of the ones you would use if you were making a cake pop.

Meringue (see recipe below)

1. Bake your cupcakes and leave to cool.

2. Make the mini cake balls using approximately 15g of cake mixture per ball.

3. Using a teaspoon cut out a small area from the top of the cupcake for the cake balls to rest on. Do not cut them too far down. Place one ball on each cupcake.

4. Make the meringue using the following recipe. It makes just enough for 12 cupcakes so you will need to make more if you have more cupcakes;

2 egg whites

4oz/110g caster sugar

Beat the egg whites until stiff, then beat in the sugar a little at a time until stiff and smooth. Use this mixture to fill a piping bag, and pipe over the cupcakes. Brown with a blow torch or under a preheated, hot grill. If you use a grill be careful because they brown very quickly!
5. Eat or serve to happy people!

I'm pleased with myself for getting inspiration in the daytime and I'm hoping this may lead my brain to shut down a bit at night so I can actually sleep! A girl can dream :)

Peace & Love
xx

Mini Chocolate Eclairs & Mutiny

2012-01-09T13:45:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to to be kind to myself, I swopped my workout at the gym today for a gentle class of Pilates aimed at retired people. That backfired. This is the second time I've taken the class and for whatever reason (the fact that I am clearly under 65), the guy who runs it, takes one look at me, apologises for the gentle pace (which is what I go there for) and then ramps it up!!! Needless to say, I almost didn't manage to get a post up today, I am shattered, my body hurts and my brain is refusing to come up with coherent sentences: in short there is a mutiny going on!

Fortunately for me I had a secret weapon up my sleeve to kick start my body back up again - mini chocolate eclairs. There are quite a few steps to this if you are making everything from scratch but they are tasty and worth the effort if you're having people over or it's an occasion or you're just really keen. They are especially nice to come home to when you have overdone it and your body has gone on strike. Only the richest of sugary foods was going to encourage my body to pull itself together and work with me, if only for a little while.

Last week, for a baby shower, I turned my hand to choux pastry, adapting 3 different recipes to make some mini chocolate eclairs. This was my first time making them and as I'm not a great lover of choux pastry I was more than a little intimidated - how would I know if I got it right, I haven't eaten an eclair for ages?? Improving my pastry skills is one of my (many) goals for 2012 and I had some left over marshmallow flavoured cream from a birthday cake so I figured, why not!

Choux Pastry Recipe

Makes about 24 mini eclairs

Choux Pastry (adapted from How to Bake by The Great British Bake Off)

100g plain flour sifted

175ml water

1/4 teaspoon salt

75g unsalted butter at room temperature

3 eggs beaten

Marshmallow Cream (adapted from the Whoopie Pies by Love Food)

100g marshmallows

100ml double cream

1 1/2 tbsp milk

Chocolate Topping (from all recipes UK)

2 tablespoons butter

60g plain chocolate, chopped

125g icing sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas 6 and line a baking sheet with greasproof paper

2. Put the water, salt and butter into a medium sized pan and gently heat until melt the butter is melted, then quickly bring to mixture just to boiling point before adding the flour.

3. Take the pan off the heat and mix vigorously with a wooden spoon until it turns into a smooth dough.

4. Put the pan back on the fire and slightly cook the dough for about 2 minutes until it comes away from the pan in a smooth ball.

5. Tip the dough into a mixing bowl and leave to cool until it is it just warm then gradually add the eggs using an electric mixer. You will not need to add all of the egg so leave a tablespoon or so. It needs to be shiny and paste like but not too wet.

6. Pour into a piping bag and cut off the end. Pipe 5cm lengths of dough onto the baking sheet, leaving enough space for the rolls to expand.

7. Bake for 15 mins then reduce the temperature to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas 4. Quickly open and close the door to let out the steam and then bake for a further 10 mins.

8. Remove from the oven and poke a small hole in one end of every roll to let the steam come out. Return to the oven for 3-5 mins to make sure they are fully cooked on the inside.

9. Cool on a wire rack.

Marshmallow Cream

1. Melt the marshmallows and milk in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

2. In a separate bowl, whip the double cream until it holds firm peaks. Fold the cooled marshmallow mixture into the cream and leave to set in the fridge for at least 30mins.

Chocolate Topping

1. Heat 2 tablespoons butter with chocolate in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until melted. Remove from heat and stir in icing sugar, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla. Set aside.

To assemble: Slice each eclair in half lengthways. Pipe some cream onto the bottom half of each eclair. Replace the tops and spoon on the chocolate topping. Chill until serving. The eclairs get soggy if left for too long so it's best to assemble them when you are ready to eat them. You can freeze the eclairs and take them out 10 mins before you are ready for them to defrost.

I'm now off to bed, my sugar high has ended, my vision is getting blurred. I hope you had a great start to your week and don't forget there are still a few days left of the giveaway. Click here for more details!

Peace & Love

Love Never Fails

2012-01-06T01:54:00.001-08:00

Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does, Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up. James A. Baldwin

You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly. Sam Keen

Love is absolute loyalty. People fade, looks fade, but loyalty never fades. You can depend so much on certain people, you can set your watch by them. And that's love, even if it doesn't seem very exciting. Sylvester Stallone.

On the 1st of January this year, my in-laws celebrated 40 years of marriage. Even as I write that sentence I am in awe of how they managed to go the distance and make it through living in different countries, raising children and semi-retirement. So few marriages last that long, mine included, and it seems that everyday someone else is calling it quits. I'm grateful to have a real life example of enduring love and commitment to give me hope.

The pictures are of the cake that I made to celebrate the occasion, your 40th anniversary is known as the Ruby Anniversary, hence the red accents on the cake.

For all of you out there, make sure that you love and look after each other. x

Peace & Love

Tea and Cupcakes

2012-01-04T05:55:00.000-08:00

There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea ~ Bernard-Paul Heroux.

This is a busy week for me with some serious life shaping stuff happening. Major changes mixed in with birthdays, anniversaries and baby showers: in other words cakes, cakes and more cakes! Yes, life changing stuff must be marked with cake.

Cake and Tea.

Generally we use cake as a mark of celebration and tea for everything and anything! For me, baking has become a solace and a place to channel my love and creative energies. The thing is, you can't be angry or bitter and bake something tasty. Food that is cooked with love just tastes different, you can't put your finger on it or explain it, it just does. I bake to stay sane and to keep my heart soft and filled with love. I drink tea because it's tasty and warm and strangely comforting.

Today, in amongst the many cakes I have this week, I decided to use some of the leftover cake mixture to try out these cute silicon tea cup cupcake moulds. I bought mine online from Amazon and they are just as cute as they look in the pictures! The two cupcake flavours are vanilla and chocolate and both are topped with a cream cheese based frosting. For the vanilla cakes, I coloured the frosting pink and the chocolate cakes have had a touch of Nutella added to the frosting. I just couldn't resist after the fun I had last time.

If you want to make Cream Cheese Frosting use this recipe below adapted from the Hummingbird Bakery Book;

Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes enough to cover 12 cupcakes.

300g icing sugar, sifted at least TWICE

50g unsalted butter, at room temperature

125g cream cheese, cold

Beat all of the ingredients together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) on slow speed until the mixture comes together and is smooth and well mixed. Do not overbeat, as it can quickly become runny. If it does get a bit runny then leave in the fridge to firm back up again before you use it.

The actual recipe advises you to mix the butter and sugar first before adding the cream cheese but I always had lumpy or runny icing with that approach. You may have better luck than me though!

So find yourself a cup of tea, a cake and tell me, what or where is your happy place?

Peace & Love

xx

Manifestos and Party Food

2012-01-02T09:30:00.000-08:00

via http://creatingclever.com/the-aileen-manifesto

I'm writing this post a broken woman; a combination of a new workout plan and over enthusiastic New Years Eve celebrations. I can't work out whether it's a good thing or a bad thing - either way, I've definitely bought the year in with a bang and my whole body definitely hurts, the perks of a rock n' roll life!

So I've been really wrestling with this whole resolutions thing. It's not the thought of making resolutions itself, I'm goal orientated and am forever setting myself things to accomplish. It's the fact that it seems this year will be a pivotal one, (being the year of comic awareness and that), so my goal setting has gone into overdrive. I want to do a million things or at least 37 before the year is up. I'm thinking I might have a 'new month resolution' to minimise overwhelmment (sic) and break it up a little, after all Rome wasn't built in a day!

In my last post I talked about learning a new skill each month - and the skill for this month is to learn the basics of web building. I have my Dummies Guide and hopefully you'll see some cool changes on the blog over the coming weeks.

via http://wonderful-things-in-your-law.tumblr.com/

Now for the party food; I brought some mini pastry snacks along to the New Years Eve party that I went to this year (or is it last year?); a selection of puff pastry rolls filled with Apple & Cinnamon, Chilli Turkey Sausage Meat with Cranberry Jam and lastly Goats Cheese.

I first got the idea for the Apple & Cinnamon rolls from this blog (recipe included) and it was so simple that I figured why not try out some other fillings?

Apple & Cinnamon Pastry Rolls

Sweet Chilli Turkey Sausage Rolls

Goats Cheese Rolls

The sausage rolls were probably my favourite and I'll be making them again. Right now though, I'm off to get a glass of wine and take a long soak in a hot bath... Yeah right, I'm off to get my rubber gloves to clean out the kitchen and then make dinner, plus alcohol is not my friend! (And so my rock n' roll life continues :)).

Peace & Love

xx

ps Don't forget about the cake pop giveaway - there is still time. Click here for more details.

New Year, New Resolutions And Nutella Cupcakes

2011-12-30T08:42:00.000-08:00

The new year is about hope and taking the opportunity to evaluate and plan. I've been overwhelming myself with all the things I want to change & do but mainly I'm excited about what 2012 will bring. To some, 2012 just another year but for others it is the dawn of a new physical and spiritual transformation for the world. I'm in need of some transformation for sure so I am definitely claiming that for myself!

As a general rule, I believe that if you want to change something there's no time like today, but I do think a new year is a pretty perfect time to set goals. So in no particular order here are a few of the tangible things that I'd like to tick off this year;

- Consistent exercise (3 times per week)

- Learn a new skill every month (contenders include web page building & sewing)

- Go to Europe once a quarter and France at least twice

- Get a bike

- Improve my photography

- Play my piano

- Blog, blog and more blogging :)

I actually have a kazillion things I'd like to do, some deep and meaningful (like find inner peace) & others less so (do more piping icing), but I don't want to bore you. Instead I will talk a bit about the tasty cupcakes on display here. They are Chocolate and Nutella flavoured, (click here for a link to the recipe) and being that I love all things chocolate, these cuties are no exception. They are tasty and perfect for bringing to New Years Eve parties to wow your host!

Have fun, however you choose to bring in the New Year, and let me know what your resolutions are. Also don't forget to enter the giveaway for a chance to win some cake pops! Click here for more details.

Peace & Love

Merry Christmas Everybody And A Giveaway!

2011-12-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much for journeying with me this month and enjoying the Advent Blogendar (Calendar). I will be taking a much needed rest over the Christmas week and will be back with a bang in the New Year. To celebrate the festive season and 100 blog posts, I will be giving away 6 cake pops in either vanilla, red velvet or chocolate flavour.

To enter the draw all you need to do is;

- become a follower on the blog, Twitter or Facebook.

AND

- leave a comment saying which of the Advent Calendar posts is your favourite and share this on Facebook or Twitter with the hash tag #baileyanacakes.

To help you choose below is a collage of all of the posts :)

The competition closes midnight 14th January 2012 and I will announce the winner in the last week of January 2012.

Good Luck & Happy Holidays

Day 24 Christmas Mix

2011-12-24T09:32:00.000-08:00

We are actually here, it's Christmas Eve!!! I cannot believe how quickly time has flown by this month. I've been wondering how I was going to do to round up this Advent Calendar & had grand ideas of amazing cakes. Then the reality of the fact that I still have Christmas to prepare for kicked in, coupled with some last minute Christmas Eve present shopping. In a word, time just ran out - I just about managed to catch the light to take these pictures :)

I'm taking care of desserts this year and the only request I had was for Apple Crumble - tasty but not particularly seasonal. So instead of showing my actual Christmas dessert, I whipped up three tasty snacks that can be enjoyed on the day (or any other time for that matter). All of these take less than half an hour to prepare at least and are sure fire favourites...

Check out the recipe here. This is an old classic and takes about 10 minutes max - love it.

The recipe and lots of cool variations can be found here. I added marshmallows to mine and didn't quite manage the clean cut finish that they have but it tastes just fine :).

And finally for awesome simplicity check out the recipe here. The link for is a recipe for plain and toffee popcorn, I didn't bother making any plain popcorn so I doubled the toffee mix to make sure it covered all of the popcorn. The plan was to save it till tomorrow but it's all gone already!

Merry Christmas & I hope you have a beautiful day tomorrow!

Peace & Love

xx

Day 23 - Strawberry & Chocolate Tartelettes

2011-12-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

Things are getting more and more hectic in the run up to Christmas, so quick sugary pick-me-ups are the order of the day!

If you've been reading my blog you will know that I am a fan of strawberry tarts & tartelettes. Add some warm chocolate ganache et voilà, you have an awesome dessert. Go one step further & dollop on some extra thick double cream and you are in a chocolatey heaven! The tartelettes were gone in seconds, I could barely wait to take pictures!

The chocolate ganache I used is a mix of single cream and dark chocolate, as it was used as a base to ice a cake but the traditional recipe is made with equal quantities of double cream and dark chocolate. Click here for an example recipe. The key to a good ganache is to use good quality chocolate, don't bother with the value brands!

Well I'm off to get back to preparing, I hope you guys are more organised than me!

Peace & Love

xx

Day 22 - Christmas Cornflake Wreaths

2011-12-22T00:30:00.000-08:00

This is yet another offering from the mighty Nigella Lawson's Christmas book - Christmas Cornflake Wreaths. They are basically made from marshmallows, cornflakes and sprinkles and as I love Chocolate Cornflake Cakes it seemed like a nice one to try.

Nigella says in her recipe book that the wreaths are very sweet and that children adore them. I'll be testing the children theory this Christmas but I would agree that they are very sweet. That said I did nibble quite a bit while I was making the wreaths so it can't have been that bad!

The wreaths can be made up to a week ahead and are really simple, here is the recipe if you want to try.

Recipe (makes 12)

100g butter

200g mini marshmallows

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

250g cornflakes

Sprinkles

1. Melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat then add the marshmallows, stirring until all melted and smooth.

2. Take off the heat and stir in vanilla and almond extracts followed by the cornflakes.

3. Take some mixture about the size of a small satsuma and roll into a ball. Then flatten using the palm of your hand and mould into the shape of a wreath, making a hole in the middle. The mixture is sticky but is slightly easier to work with if you lightly grease your fingers.

4. Decorate with sprinkles.

Leave to set for at least 2 hours and then store in an airtight container between sheets of greaseproof paper.

Wow, only two days left of the Advent Calendar and two days left until Christmas, I can't believe how quickly time is flying by, this time next week it will be all over!

Happy Cooking :)

Peace & Love

Day 21 - How To Make Cake Pops - Photo Recipe

2011-12-21T01:00:00.000-08:00

Day 20 - Prosecco & Pomegranate Jelly

2011-12-20T08:14:00.000-08:00

Today is my first drink type post & I have been dying to try the Prosecco and Pomegranate Jelly from Nigella Lawson's Christmas Book that I stole from my sister!

There's something so regal and enchanting about pomegranates, I can sit there for ages picking the seeds one by one and as Prosecco is one of my favourite alcoholic beverages, this dessert is a match made in heaven.

To get the recipe click on this link which has taken the recipe from the book verbatim. I halved it and used 5 gelatin leaves as I wanted it to be set a bit firmer. I also used glasses rather than a jelly mould, mainly because I don't have a mould but also these glasses are way cuter. They were an early Christmas gift from my sister & I love them!

Another variation is to use shot glasses and top with Maraschino Cherries, I thought they looked pretty nice too.

As an update, most Christmas presents have been purchased, all that's left are the homemade ones which need to be done as close as possible to the time... Such joy!

Enjoy

Peace & Love

xx

Day 19 - Doughnuts and Sprinkles

2011-12-19T06:15:00.000-08:00

Another day another birthday! Today it's my wonderful mum who is celebrating her birthday in the sunshine :)

I decided to celebrate with some ring doughnuts, another Bailey Ana first as doughnuts are a big favourite in the house. I looked around to try and find a recipe and although there are tons out there, it was a tough one to choose as most of them had pretty mixed reviews.

In the end I settled on a recipe from the BBC Food website (not BBC Good Food) and used a simple icing on top (icing sugar & water). Here are the results;

Have a lovely day Mum & can't wait to see you soon!

Peace & Love

Day 18 - Chocolate Blossom Cake & Fancy Dress Parties!

2011-12-18T09:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was my beautiful sister Rashida's 30th birthday and we had a fancy dress party to celebrate. The cake was made up of two-tiers covered with dark chocolate ganache and decorated with blossoms cascading down the sides. All of the blossoms were handmade from flower paste (icing) and brushed with gold lustre dust. It took a while but you'll agree it was worth it!

This was my first ever fancy dress party & me and my sister were both really excited about changing our hair for the day! The guests made a real effort, here are just a few of the costumes on the night starting with the birthday girl herself;

Thanks to everyone for coming & making it special day for the girls & a big Happy Birthday to Rashida and Tor.

Peace & Love

Day 17 - Christmas Boozy Ice-Cream In A Chocolate Cup

2011-12-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

Ice-cream is happiness condensed - Jessie Lane Adams

As I have friends and family around the world who are celebrating this Christmas in the sunshine, (in particular I'm thinking of my mum in Jamaica, not to mention my aunt, cousins and many dear friends), it is only right that I do a sort of warm weather Christmas treat; and Rum & Raisin ice-cream seemed as good a place to start as any!

Perhaps the most exciting thing about this dessert is the chocolate cup that the ice-cream sits in. I got the technique for making them from one of my newest books called 'The Vintage Tea Party Book' by Angel Adoree founder of the Vintage Patisserie. Basically you mould the melted chocolate around a balloon that is partially blown up and then very gently peel it away to reveal the edible cup. A bit fiddly but very cute.

If you are in the sunshine, you'll have this eat this one quickly before it all melts but I don't see that to be a problem :).

Peace & Love

xx

Day 16 - Chocolate Cupcakes With A Cherry On Top

2011-12-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

Do I need a reason to have made these cupcakes? Seriously, they are just ridiculously cute and a perfect treat for hard working ladies (and men for that matter :). These babies were the Chocolate Cupcakes that I referred to in yesterday's post, I think it's clear to see why they needed a post to themselves :).

The fresh cherries were covered in melted white candy and left to dry in the fridge. I then made my favourite chocolate cupcake using the recipe from the Primrose Bakery. This is a fail safe recipe when I know that the cakes may not be eaten straight away. That said, it is super fiddly. It's all about separating eggs, whisking egg whites, melting chocolate, etc etc. You literally have to work your way up to it but I wanted the ladies to take some with them as gifts so I went for the longer lasting ones. You have to be careful with cupcakes as they can dry out really quickly.

On a more slightly more concerning note, Christmas is hurtling towards me at breakneck speed & I still have a lot to do- like buy some Christmas presents! My deadline is the end of this weekend so on Monday I'll give you an update as to where I'm at. Party season is kicking in as well so there's loads going on; I'm going to my first ever costume party this weekend & I'm super excited.

I'm off to get my presents on: have a great weekend whatever you're up to!

Peace & Love

Day 15 - White Chocolate and Cranberry Muffins And Girly Time

2011-12-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I had the privilege of hosting the fortnightly meeting of the Mums At Home Ministry with my sister. I really enjoy being hospitable but I kind of live in the middle of nowhere so I don't do it as often as I'd like. I also don't get a chance to go to this meeting much at all so it was a real treat to be able to catch up with everyone; you should never underestimate the value of quality time with cool people for sure!

It was a lovely relaxing morning, we ate, laughed and talked about life! I think my favourite part of the morning was the discussion about housework. Virtually everyone wished they could do more (or rather have more done without them having to do it) & I was like 'thank God for that' I thought I was the only one who lived under the guilt cloud about the house! I think the term necessary evil was designed specifically for housework!

The Spread!

As for the food, my sister is the original domestic goddess and made some divine fresh bread. We also had cold meats, olives, cheese and fruits, I was hoping to bring out my Cranberry Jam but got swept away in the conversations & completely forgot! For the sweets, I made White Chocolate and Cranberry Muffins and some Chocolate Cupcakes that I will share in another post (so many cakes, so little time!)

White Chocolate and Cranberry Muffins (Remixed from a Nigella Recipe)

Recipe (makes 12 muffins)

Wet

75g unsalted butter melted

1 large egg

200ml buttermilk

Dry

200g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

pinch of salt

75g caster sugar

Chocolate & Fruit

180g fresh cranberries

40g blueberries

100g white chocolate chips

1. Pre-heat the oven to oven to 200oC/gas mark 6 and line a muffin tin with 12 paper cases.

2. Combine all of the dry ingredients (not including the chocolate and fruit) in a bowl, and in a measuring jug, mix all of the wet ingredients.

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and using a wooden spoon, gently mix to combine. Fold in the fruit and white chocolate, keeping the mixing to a minimum.

4. Bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes or until the muffins have risen and are golden and firm on top.

Here are some pictures from the morning...

Doggie Bag!

The Stars

Fresh out of the oven

Peace & Love

xx

Day 14 - Stuffed Baked Pear

2011-12-14T07:55:00.000-08:00

This dessert was designed to bring some balance back to our lives. A sweet everyday is great, but even the person with the biggest sweetest tooth needs something a bit nutritious once in a while.

I'm having a bit of a pear revival and have been getting through quite a few of them lately. I thought I would try a variation on the mince pie theme and stuff a pear with some fruit soaked in alcohol (brandy & rum) and bake the lot in pastry...

When it came out of the oven, I wasn't sure if I had been a bit too health conscious and was tempted to add a caramel glaze to it, but actually it was really tasty. Pears are naturally very sweet & I drizzled the dessert with some of the alcohol juice from the fruit. This gave it a subtle flavour as you ate the pear at the top. Once you got to the pastry part, you reached the fruit which intensified the experience, the dessert just kept getting better :).

I'm getting a bit braver these days trying new recipes. I used to be a stickler for measuring amounts & religiously sticking to every word & I still follow recipes, but every now & then I like to try something new using what I already have in the cupboards. There's always that danger that it will turn out horribly but if you don't try you won't know!

I feel like I should give you a recipe but as this was freestyled from left-overs in the kitchen I don't have proper quantities at all... Though I'm sure I can put something together if you ask nicely (cause I'm nice like that!)

Thought For The Day

Take risks: if you win you will be happy; if you lose you will be wise. Author Unknown

Peace & Love

Day 13 - Mince Pies Sealed With A Kiss

2011-12-13T04:11:00.000-08:00

Today is a very exciting day, this is my 100th post since I began at the end of March 2011. I've come a long my first post and am really excited to be on this journey. When I first started out, I didn't tell anyone for a while as I was a bit nervous about how it would be received but steadily over the months I have become more confident with and am loving every minute of it!

I think the coolest part for me has been to discover a new passion for photography. I knew that a good blog needed good photos so I set my sights on trying to learn the art form. You can see the progress & while there is still a way to go to get great pictures, I've definitely improved as you can see...

Then...

Lemon Curd Mascarpone Cupcakes Taken in March 2011
http://baileyanacakes.blogspot.com/2011/03/mighty-lemon.html

Now...

Vanilla and Marshmallow Cupcakes taken in October 2011
http://baileyanacakes.blogspot.com/2011/10/for-i-know-plans-i-have-for-you.html

For now it's back to the Advent Calendar and I have turned my hand to the classic Mince Pie! I used ready made puff pastry to save time and filled them a mixture of some soaked fruits that I have on standby and a ready made mince meat mixture.

I personally think they were filled a little bit too much, but my Sister-in-law assures me that you can never have too much mince meat :). I must admit that the juice from the mixture that spilled over the top of the pies, did add some extra flavour to the pastry!

I ate mine with a healthy dollop of extra thick double cream & a glass of mulled wine (naturally), whilst I reflected on this positive addition to my life.

All Gone!

What things have you done this year that you are proud of? Or what hobby/passion have you discovered or reignited?

Peace & Love

Day 12 - Mixtape Monday & Snowflake Mini Cupcakes

2011-12-12T03:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday People, I hope you all had a good weekend. I was a busy bee (no change there then) and yesterday had the pleasure of going to not one, but two Christmas Church Services / Showcases. Both were really well put together and helped to remind me of the reason behind the season. There was food, happy faces, drama and best of all music.

I don't know about you but I am a sucker for Christmas music, I love all of it, the hymns, the Christmas albums, Brass Bands, the lot. Mariah Carey's Christmas album gets a special mention but my all time favourite Christmas song is 'Baby It's Cold Outside' originally written by Loesser in 1936 (thank you Wikipedia :). As a little gift I have compiled a top ten although it's so hard to narrow it down as all of the Christmas songs have been covered a million times so I have selected the versions that I'm loving and the songs that have come to mind.

Top Ten(ish) Crimbo Tunage

1. Baby it's Cold Outside Willie Nelson ft Norah Jones

2. All I Want For Christmas Is You Mariah Carey

3. Santa Claus is Coming To Town Jackson 5

4. Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow Dean Martin ft Nat King Cole

5. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Annie Lennox (LOVE this mix, it's a little bit bashy!)

6. Joy To The World Whitney Houston with The Georgia Mass Choir
7. Hark The Herald Angels/Gloria in Excelsis Deo Mariah Carey
8. Jingle Bells Amy Grant (another bashy mix!)
9. I Saw Mummy Kissing Santa Claus Johnny Clarke (reggae Christmas)
10. Auld Land Syne Barenaked Ladies

Before I forget, the cakies on show are an old favourite Red Velvet, topped with Cream Cheese Frosting & Red Fondant Snowflakes. Check out an earlier post for instructions on how to make your very own.

What are your favourite Christmas songs? Let me know :)

Peace & Love

xx

Day 11 - Christmas Cake Pop Baubles & Molly Bakes...

2011-12-11T09:03:00.000-08:00

I've been making zillions of Cake Pops recently though these babies are my first ever upside down cake pops and I love them!

Cake Pops are simple (in theory) to make, but things often go wrong so it ends up taking three or four times as long as it should. I still haven't cracked it which frustrates me no end, surely by now I should be the Cake Pop Master! That said, I have just secured myself some classes with the writer of one of my latest book purchases, Molly Bakes a cool bakery in London Fields, Hackney. Maybe she can shed some light on how to get it right every time!

Whilst getting frustrated with myself for my lack of mastery over the mighty Pop, I stumbled across the quotes below & they really struck home. There is no substitute and/or fast track for experience. How often are we hard on ourselves for not handling a situation when we've never done it before, let alone when we've given ourselves a bit of a chance? I've certainly been giving myself a hard time this week and am determined to be a bit kinder to myself...

We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. One becomes in some area an athlete of God. Martha Graham

“A man went to Istanbul, his first visit there. On his way to a business meeting, this man lost his way. He began raging at himself for getting lost, until a realization allowed him to overcome his anger. "How can I be lost? I've never been here before?" pp 104-105” Melody Beattie, The Lessons of Love: Rediscovering Our Passion for Life When It All Seems Too Hard To Take.

So back to the cake pops; these cuties are vanilla flavoured and are fashioned after Christmas Baubles, I haven't figured out yet whether you could actually hang one on a Christmas Tree but given that I only made a few, they'll be gone before I can work it out!

Update! Since this post I have done a photo how-to post for making cake pop balls... Not that I am now the expert but I reckon I can at least share what I've learnt through all of my failures :)

Peace & Love

xx

Day 10 - Golden Sparkle Chocolate & Cherry Pots & Christmas Plays

2011-12-10T06:09:00.000-08:00

This past week has been a flurry of activity, baking galore and two school plays; Christmas is well and truly here! For some horrible reason my laptop is playing up so I can't access the vast majority of my photos but I managed to salvage a few to share with you.

My son had the 'prestigious' role of the North Star in a musical adaptation of the Nativity Story called Sparkle. School plays are great, it's hilarious watching the kids get distracted or bored or just standing there picking their nose and you always get the thespians who are really focused and involved. The best part is watching the parents get competitive about their children, my boys are pretty outgoing and tend to get good parts and we love sitting there with smug faces, pretending that it's no big deal: you gotta love it.

My nephew was also playing a Shepherd in his school play but that was earlier on in the week and the pictures were already uploaded to my laptop so I can't access them at the moment to share with you.

I really loved the play and I've been craving chocolate recently so I decided to combine the two and make a chocolate pot topped with some gold sparkles. I added a couple of teaspoons of brandy per pot because it was the right thing to do (naturally) and the cherries to give that extra bit of seasonal colour and vitamins so that it wasn't all naughty!

I hope you are all getting into the swing of Christmas, I still haven't bought any presents yet but there are two weeks left, so I've got plenty of time :)

Peace & Love

Day 9 - Mini Christmas Puds

2011-12-09T01:03:00.000-08:00

Panic stations, my beloved MacBook is not working!!! Whilst I frantically try to sort it, feast your eyes on these tasty Mini Christmas Puddings; rich chocolate cake covered with white chocolate.

Oh & send my Mac good wishes... :(

Peace & Love

xx

Day 8 - Cranberry Jam, The Making

2011-12-08T00:02:00.000-08:00

Day 8 aka Part 2 of my Cranberry Jam happiness :). You may be wondering what could possibly be so exciting about making jam? Surely it's infinitely easier to pick up a jar from the shop and be done with it! Up until now I would have agreed but I have been converted, there is such a sense of achievement when you make these and they make amazing home-made gifts.

Cranberry Jam

Recipe

300g fresh Cranberries
8 roughly chopped strawberries (sorry I didn't weigh them)
500g jam sugar (you can add slightly less to taste)
1 lemon
1 small apple
small knob of butter

1. The day before you want to make the jam, mix together the sugar and berries in a large non-metallic bowl, cover and leave to soak overnight.

Sterilise the jam jars on the day you need them, by first washing and then allowing them to drip dry in an oven set to 140oC/275F/Gas Mark 1 for at least 30 minutes while you are making the jam.

2. Pour all of the mixture into a preserving pan or a large wide-based pan. This is quite important as the pan will affect cooking times. I don't have a preserving pan but I used a saute pan which seemed to work OK.

3. Peel, core and grate the apple and juice the lemon. Add both of them to the pan and mix well.

4. Place a saucer in the freezer. This will be used later as a test to make sure the jam is at the correct temperature.

5. Slowly heat the mixture on a low heat until all the sugar has dissolved. Once it is dissolved, bring the mixture to the boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and spoon a little of the mixture on to the saucer that was in the freezer. Once it is cool enough to touch, push the jam with your finger. If it has set correctly, the surface will have a slight wrinkle, if it is too runny then put the mixture back onto the heat and check every 2-3 minutes. The picture below shows you what a 'wrinkly' surface should look like.

6. Skim any scum off the top of the jam and mix in the knob of butter. Leave the jam to cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. This stops the fruit from sinking to the bottom of the jam jar. Then, carefully spoon the mixture into a warm jam jar (never put warm jam into a cold jar) and seal. The jars that I use already have seals but if they don't use a waxed paper disc cut to size.

The mixture I made was only enough to fill this jam jar which is all I needed but you may want to scale up the recipe accordingly if you want more.

I hope you do give this one a try, it's a bit fiddly but totally worth it :)

Peace & Love

xx

Day 7 - Cream Cheese and Cranberry Jam Nibbles

2011-12-07T00:02:00.000-08:00

Have you ever thought of someone and realised you were smiling the whole time?

Well that is how I am feeling about this creation right here. Apart from the fact that it looks so cute and tastes delightful; I am smiling because I made the cranberry jam myself, from scratch, with my own recipe!!! I am totally going to share this with you in full technicolor but I don't want the post to go on forever and ever, so consider this part 1 of 2.

The thing I love about baking is the joy of seeing the end result. You've got to love putting your hand to a task and actually getting something out of it, and seeing that that something is good. Really, I'm bursting almost as much as I was with the Russian Cake Dolls. I can't be sure which one was more exciting. How much can one girl take?

The best feeling in the world is when you realise that you are perfectly happy without the things that you thought you needed the most. Bailey Ana

Peace & Love

ps The ensemble above is made up of water biscuits topped with cream cheese (Philadelphia) & cranberry jam. The jam and biscuits also taste pretty cool - perhaps more so - with proper cheese.

Day 6 - Almond Star Biscuits

2011-12-06T07:18:00.000-08:00

"Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground. Theodore Roosevelt"

Today's offerings are Almond Stars, Nutella (chocolate spread or a ganache) sandwiched between two biscuits, topped with some toasted almond flakes. This is a mash up of a Nigella recipe and my absolute favourite place on the internet, BBC Good Food.

Recipe

For the Biscuits

90g soft unsalted butter

100g caster sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 180oC/gas mark 4.

2. Cream the butter and sugar until soft and pale, then beat in the egg until mixed thoroughly. Finally add the rest of the ingredients and mix until it becomes a soft dough.

3. Divide into two sections & place each one between two sheets of baking parchment. Roll the dough out to the thickness of about 5mm and leave to chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

4. Once chilled, cut out the shapes and place on one side of the baking parchment with a little bit of space between each one. You can re-roll the scraps to make more biscuits. I found the dough to be quite sticky once it gets warm so you will probably need to dip the cutters into flour to make it easier to cut.

5. Sprinkle some almond flakes onto half of the biscuits.

6. Place the biscuits onto a baking sheet and bake for about 10 mins. I turned the biscuits around after 5 minutes to make sure that they cooked evenly. The cooking times are approximate and will depend on your oven. Keep checking the biscuits regularly as they can quick go from cooked to burnt. When they are ready, they will have a pale gold colour at the edges but still be a bit soft - they harden as they cool.

7. Place the cooked biscuits on to a cooling tray and leave to cool.

8. Once the biscuits have cooled, sandwich two biscuits together, one with almonds and a plain one using half a teaspoon of Nutella or another filling of your choice.

These are great as a dessert or with a cup of tea in front of your laptop :)

Peace & Love

Day 5 - Candy Cane Cupcakes

2011-12-05T05:27:00.000-08:00

Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts. Janice Maeditere

The temperature has dipped and some of us are already seeing ice and snow, signs that Christmas is near; so are you in the festive mood yet? As I said in an earlier post, Christmas to me is only about food and family. It's great to have a festival that celebrates good will, love and peace to all and if there's one thing that we can never have enough of, it's love!

Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas. Peg Bracken

My issue with Christmas is when people get themselves into a panic and debt for one day. I'm not sure what the mindset is behind that, even with pressure from children for expensive gifts. Children are little people and understand when we tell them what the deal is. My suspicion is that we do more than we can comfortably afford out of a sense of insecurity, that somehow the value of the gift is a reflection of how we feel or our worth as parents/friends etc.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE giving and receiving gifts but it's much better to put the emphasis on the sentiment than the 'thing'. I for one am rarely satisfied for long, once I have one thing, I want something else!

Remember this December, that love weighs more than gold! Josephine Dodge Daskam Bacon

So why not give some home-made gifts this year? Candy Cane Cupcakes are the flavour of Day 5, vanilla cupcakes and peppermint buttercream icing, topped with a mini candy cane for good measure. I love the red and white colour on these cuties, it is perfectly festive.

Have a good week!

Peace & Love

ps special thanks to Sassy for being my hand model :)

Day 4 - Brandy Snaps

2011-12-04T06:41:00.000-08:00

So the sweets for Day 4 are Brandy Snaps, a successful foray into these types of biscuits courtesy of the Great British Bake Off cookbook. As far as biscuits go, these were pretty straightforward to make and are tasty.

Brandy Snaps

Recipe

50g butter

50g demerara sugar

50g golden syrup

50 g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 180oC/350oF/gas 4 and line a baking sheet with non-stick baking paper. This would also be a good time to prepare a wooden spoon (used to shape the snaps) by oiling the handle.

2. Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a heavy based pan over a low heat, stirring occasionally. All the sugar should be dissolved but the mixture should not boil.

3. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for about 2 minutes, then sift in the flour and ginger. Finally add the lemon juice and mix thoroughly.

4. Use one rounded teaspoonful of the mixture to make a round shape for the biscuit. Make four biscuits at a time on the baking sheet spacing them 10cm apart. When the mixture becomes too firm to spoon onto the baking sheet, you can roll it into balls using your hands. Only make one baking sheet at a time as they need to be shaped while they are still warm and will dry out too quickly if you have loads to get through.

5. Bake the biscuits for 10-15 mins until the mixture has spread out and has a dark golden colour. Remove from the oven and leave to firm up for a minute. You should be able to lift it using a palette knife.

6. Quickly roll the warm biscuit, lacy side out, around the handle of the oiled wooden spoon and press gently to seal it. I found that using a smaller spoon gave smaller curls, you can choose the size depending on what look you are going for. Leave them to cool on a wire rack and repeat for the rest of the mixture.

7. For chocolate dipped brandy snaps, gently melt some milk chocolate in the microwave on a medium heat for 30 second bursts, stirring in between. Dip the biscuit into the chocolate and leave to dry completely on a non-stick baking sheet.

My favourite type of recipe, easy to make & tastes great. Although one thing confuses me, why are they called Brandy Snaps when there is no brandy in them?? Surely they should be called Ginger Snaps... If anyone can shed light on this mystery I would be very grateful!

Peace & Love

xx

Day 3 - White Chocolate Love Bird

2011-12-03T13:44:00.000-08:00

"Without love, we are birds without wings" Morris Schwartz

Day 3 of the Advent Calendar is a White Chocolate Love Bird from Choccywoccydoodah an AMAZING chocolate shop in Brighton. They can make literally anything out of chocolate; going to the shop is almost like going to an art gallery.

Chocolate Cake from Choccywoccydoodah

Of all the things that I saw in the shop, the bird stood out to me the most. Birds have become quite symbolic to me recently, representing peace & the presence of God, watching over me. One day I was stressing over something & I stood at the kitchen door to get some fresh air just looking up at the sky. In the tree at the bottom of my garden was a bird and this verse came to mind;

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" Matthew 6:25-27

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song" Chinese Proverb

I can't tell you how much peace that bought to me because that is the truth. We can get worried about so much, but worry is not productive and achieves little if anything. It's much better to put that energy into solutions...

I'll leave you with this thought;

"Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings' Victor Hugo

Peace & Love

xx

Day 2 - Sherry Trifle

2011-12-02T02:00:00.000-08:00

Good Morning, today is a Sherry Trifle; layers of sponge cake soaked in Sherry, fresh berries, jelly, custard and cream. This is a massive dessert and probably best eaten with your significant other!

Trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle.

Michaelangelo

Peace & Love

xx

Day 1 - Snowmen Cake Pops

2011-12-01T02:36:00.000-08:00

A Snowman falls from heaven unassembled - Unknown

Welcome to Day 1 of my Advent Blogendar - Snowmen Cake Pops. Inside the candy exterior is a chocolate orange sponge with chocolate orange icing. The decorations are candy sprinkles and sugarpaste icing all tasty & delicious with a bit of fruit to cancel out the calories :)

The awesome thing about Cake Pops is that they make use of any leftover cake that you have and they are so much fun to look at and eat; what's not to love?

Peace & Love

xx

Christmas Is Coming!!!

2011-11-30T08:24:00.000-08:00

It's official, Christmas is well & truly on it's way! I love Christmas for two things, family & food. As this is my first Christmas as an International Blogger and Ting, I thought it would be nice to do my very own Advent Blogendar (did you see what I did there? Blog + Calendar = Blogendar, yeah? OK cool :)).

So as a gift from me, everyday in the lead up to Christmas I will be posting various Christmassy sweet treats, cakes, desserts, cake pops etc and maybe even a drink or two! It will be a challenge but I hope that you will enjoy it as much I plan to.

Today I have some Fruit Cake Cupcakes topped with marzipan and icing. The best thing about fruit cake is that it lasts for ages so I can take my time eating them. I hope you are having a great week whatever you're up to!

Peace & Love

Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins...and happy realisations

2011-11-29T00:02:00.000-08:00

This week I had a bit of a happy realisation, I'm an OK baker. Obviously I blog & therefore promote myself somewhat, but anyone that knows me, knows that I'm an excellentist (as opposed to a perfectionist because that's just silly!) I compare myself unfavourably to people at the top of the game & then beat myself up for not being at their level. It's a double edged sword because it drives my standards - good thing; but it also leaves me feeling inadequate - bad thing.

In fact, I've been thinking a lot about what it is that defines me as a person. Traditionally, it's been the external things in my life such as, religion, career, marital status, bank balance, friendship circles etc etc but recently those things have changed either subtly or dramatically. This period of time pursuing happyness has really caused me to take it back to the bare bones and look deep inside to find out who I really am. You never know what you are going to find when you look within, but look within we must.

So this week I discovered that whilst I may not be Lorraine Pascale, I am an OK baker & when I say OK I mean I can make bad boy Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins that melt in your mouth & compel you to have thirds, yeah I said it, THIRDS, they were that good! I'm also extremely blessed to have amazing people in my life & I have a lot of love in my heart. Oh & I'm also learning the art of surrender (but that is for another post).

What cool things are you realising about yourself? We all know what we aren't good at but what are your happy realisations?

Peace & Love

Saturday Night At The Movies....

2011-11-28T04:05:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday people, I hope you had a good weekend. Mine was cool, I had a wedding on Saturday and celebrated a friends birthday Saturday night by watching the original Alien movie (1979) with a load of friends. On Sunday my youngest's second front tooth finally came out which meant shelling out money for the 'tooth fairy'. Have a look at the pictures :)

Happy Times as he knows what's coming next :)

Red Velvet Popcorn cake pops

Love Never Fails...

The wedding cakes I made...

Peace & Love

Banoffee Tartelettes

2011-11-25T03:20:00.000-08:00

TGIF! Today's offerings are mini banoffee tarts. I like little cakes because then I can eat the whole thing and not feel bad :). Plus I'm in the middle of a wedding cake marathon and have been baking up a storm this week. When you spend as much time as I do in the kitchen baking for other people, you need quick and tasty little treats to keep your sugar levels up.

This banoffee tart took me about 5 minutes to throw together, perfect for when you are a busy bee. I bought all the bits separately from Sainsburys. As it's almost Christmas there are loads of little party bits in the shops at the moment.

The base is a ready made sweet mini tart, filled with Dulce Leche Caramel and double thick whipped cream. They are then topped with sliced bananas and some cocoa sprinkled on top, delicious...

I hope you have had a good week and are planning an even better weekend.

Peace & love

xx

It's Like A Jungle Sometimes....

2011-11-23T02:04:00.000-08:00

'It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from going under.' Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five. The Message. These immortal lyrics from one of the earliest hip-hop tunes seemed like the soundtrack to my life at the moment...

I've spent way too much time in my own thoughts recently and when I do that I get an inflated sense of self and my own problems. Thankfully a few loved ones came to my rescue with some timely words and I remembered how blessed I am. Then I decided, it's time to sing a different song!

Like the mighty Nina Simone sings

Got my hair. Got my head
Got my brains, Got my ears
Got my eyes, Got my nose
Got my mouth, I got my smile

I got my tongue, Got my chin
Got my neck, Got my boobies
Got my heart, Got my soul

Got my back, I got my sex

I got my arms, got my hands, got my fingers,
got my legs, got my feet, got my toes,
got my liver, got my blood..

I've got life,
I've got my freedom
I've got life, I've

got life

and I am gonna keep it,

I've got life

and nobody's gonna take it away

I've got life!

"Ain't Got No, I Got Life"

Furthermore I've got these amazing little jungle animals (well at least I did until they went to the birthday boy), and who can be sad when you see these little cuties? I am blessed :)

I have sooooo much to be grateful for so I intend to spend the rest of my time singing happy songs and baking tasty cakes...

I hope you are enjoying your week so far.

Peace & Love

xx

Fig and Honey Buttermilk Pancakes...

2011-11-21T01:45:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday People. Since here in the UK, it's cold, it's foggy & it's probably the toughest day of the week, I thought I would brighten up your day with some delicious pancakes.

If you needed any proof that pancakes have 'happy face' giving properties, then check Exhibit A - a photo of me brunching in NYC with my good friend a few years back.

Before I tell you all about these delicious buttermilk pancakes, topped with honey and fresh figs, I think it's important that you understand the pancake rules. Here they are in no order of importance;

Pancake Rules

1. Thick or thin? I believe in fair treatment for all, but all pancakes are not made equal. Thick American style pancakes are the only ones that give you a happy face of the magnitude seen above: fact.

2. America knows best: enough said.

3. Pancakes must be shared. Pancakes are a social phenomena and the discussion about how big the pancakes are and how much topping you are going to have, are integral parts of the experience. This is not a time for eating solo.

4. Eat pancakes with fruit. To ensure balance, you must eat some type of fruit with your pancake, be it blueberries, figs or a squeeze of lemon juice, it all counts.

5. Pancakes cannot be rushed. Pancakes are not like a slice of toast that you can eat on the go, you must ensure you have enough time to savour them fully.

The recipe I used is quite a simple one, the key ingredient being the buttermilk which gives the pancakes a light and fluffy taste. Once the pancakes were cooked, I drizzled them with honey and some fresh figs. Figs are not only tasty but they look great and there's something a bit posh about them :)

Have a great week!

Peace & Love.

Buttermilk Pancakes Recipe (makes about 8 pancakes)

120ml buttermilk
75ml cold water
150g plain flour (sifted)
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
3 large eggs (beaten)
1 tbsp sugar (optional)
50g butter (for frying)

1. Mix together all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl and make a well in the centre.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together all of the wet ingredients. Then gradually pour this mixture into the well of the dry ingredients, slowly incorporating the flour with each new addition of liquid. Continue this until you have a smooth batter but be careful not to overmix it. Let the batter stand for a few minutes.

3. Heat a knob of the butter in a pan over a medium heat and when the pan is hot add a tablespoon of batter per pancake. The pancakes will take about a minute to brown on each side and will puff up slightly. Place on a piece of kitchen towel to soak up any excess fat.

4. Repeat this with the rest of the batter and add more butter if necessary. It usually takes a couple of pancakes to get into a rhythm so don't be discouraged if it doesn't turn out great on the first try. Serve immediately as pancakes are best eaten fresh out of the pan.

5. Add the toppings of your choice and enjoy. For a variation you can add a handful of blueberries to the batter.