Easter - excuse for decadent cup cakes

Made these for my friends to enjoy whilst our kids did an egg hunt in the garden. Took inspiration from a christmas cake posted on Pinterest (will put up link later) that I must have a crack at this year.

So hummingbird bakery chocolate cup cake bases.

Topped with delia's sour cream/bourneville icing.

And eleven maltesers.

Hum-ding!

Christmas Preparations #4: freestyle mince pies

Decided to try deep fill...

Christmas Preparations # 3: Peppermint creams

Interesting when cooking with a toddler.  Recipe called for 450g icing sugar to two lightly whisked egg whites and a few drops of peppermint essence.  Think my eggs were too big as added a shed load more icing sugar to make it dough like and then it still stuck to everything: me, Erin, the rolling pin, the pallet knife, the tray I put the creams on to dry...

Hey ho.

About 10 of the batch of 50 were near presentable.  They were the ones I managed to do once Erin had got bored.  A lesson there - wait until the toddler gets fed up and then you can make food you'd actually be happy for people to eat.

There are recipes when baking for a reason...

I have discovered today that there are acceptable degrees of Janet-type behaviour when it comes to baking.  I thought I could adapt the Hummingbird Bakery marshmallow cupcake recipe to cut out the tedious and frankly wasteful melting-of-marshmallow-to-put-in-the-centre-of-cakes stage.  But no!  A baking disaster ensued...

At first I thought I was on to a winner as the marshmallow expanded and looked like it was melting nicely.  But then as the timer went off at 20 minutes, I could see we had a proper disaster on our hands - what on earth happened to the mallows?!  Hey ho, gotta give these things a go.  Mr WP delighted in pointing out that surely the Hummingbird people had already tried this technique so it wasn't at all surprising it had resulted in crater cakes.

So I made a second batch and decided that simple vanilla cakes with the yummy mini marshmallow topping would do the job nicely enough without faffing about melting things to go in the middle.  A little nod to Janet there all the same.

Christmas preparations # 1: Christmas Cakes - UPDATE! Stages 2 and 3

So, the boy continues to be a legend, and he has a bit of a gnarly cold so is sleeping even more.  That said, it has taken some time to getting around to feeding the cakes, for a number of reasons...

I made the mix:

And, being rather Janet British Bake Off about following a recipe, substituted gluten free self raising flour instead of plain flour (we'd run out as Mr WP had been in a Hummingbird frenzy again).  And this also meant my mum, who loves a Christmas cake, could share in the joy.

So, I baked them:

And they came out with a nice spongey top and a clean skewer etc etc.  But then mum tried one and we found they were, horror of horrors, UNDERDONE.  Oh no!  What to do?  Mum said feed with brandy and they'll taste alright.  But I just couldn't face an underbake.  I could hear Paul and Mary's words ringing in my ears so I consulted Helen and we decided it would be ok to bung them back in the oven for half an hour.  This happened today - FIVE days later.  Proper Janet behaviour. 

So now they look like this and have also had a liberal dowsing with brandy:

Proper rock hard slightly burnt Christmas cake.  Yessssss.

Breastfeeding = need for cake, lots of

My lovely friend Helen gave me the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook as a new baby gift.  Mr WP and I just love this book.  He started off with some chocolate chip cookies that got eaten so quick I didn't even get a chance to take a photo.

I decided on Marshmallow cupcakes and what a choice.  I think I ate three in a row yesterday.

So you put melted marshmallow in the middle of the vanilla cupcakes (am going to try to bake a whole marshmallow in the middle of the batter next time)

Icing mixing tekkers:  use the beaters without power to mix the butter in before whizzing - stops clouds of icing sugar ruining your kitchen surfaces darling.

Marshmallow vanilla frosting - sooooo yummy!

Tomorrow, lemon cupcakes for Mr WP's birthday...

Christmas preparations # 1: Christmas Cakes

Thanks to this little guy being such a legend:

Check out Daniel's homemade blanket - a Debbie Bliss design I almost got perfect for once!

I have started to make these individual Christmas Cakes from the latest edition of Country Living magazine:

 

The rationale being that I am probably the only person that's going to eat them in our house, so why not make 16 cupcake sized cakes soaked, no, drenched, in brandy - last the whole year right?

Here is the fruit soaking in lemon juice, orange juice and brandy.  It smells amazing.  After three days I am allowed to make the cakes.  Then, once made, they have to be 'fed' brandy for four weeks.  I wonder if that is a daily, weekly or perhaps even three hourly thing - kinda like the new son...

(not that he's being fed brandy, no no no!)

Great British Bake Off Chocolate Roulade

I have also been sewing, a lot - completed first international order yesterday - a 1-2 yrs pinafore in the gorgeous Tilda Rosebird fabric in teal.  It's destined for Australia don't you know - blog post to follow once it's arrived with its owner.

But had the family over for the weekend and Sunday lunch today.  Mr WP cooked the roast, I did the desert.  Mary Berry's chocolate roulade from the Great British Bake Off.  Very nice.  And suitable for my Coeliac mum.

Needless to say, with three Tudballs, a Tam and three Winders, there is none left!

Body Shop at home party

My good friend Helen is having a Body Shop at home party on 23rd September from 3-5pm at her home in Green Street Green.  Children welcome so it's going to be pandemonium and fun, all at the same time (just how Helen likes it I suspect!).

Am going to stock up on pampering products, especially for poor tired pregnant feet, and do some early Christmas shopping.  Whoop!

Let me know if you can make it and want the address.

Oh yes, and I just remembered I promised to make scones.  There will be tea and cake (Helen makes good cakes) - what more could you ask for?!

Poor neglected blog!

I think it's being pregnant and having a distinct lack of energy at the moment.  Poor old blog has been neglected.  As has sewing to be honest.

Some baking has been done, Nigella Slut's brownies, blondies and blueberry muffins all taste good, although we're sticking with the brownies in the Winder household as they got voted top banana for both slut-like decadence and overall taste. 

Couple of posts coming up on new sewing achievements.

The blind for number 2's room is almost finished.  It does fit and it will do the job well, so just got to convince Mr WP to drill some holes (always a chore) and we're all set.  Maybe a batch of brownies will do the trick...

Hello Ladies that Cake!

Had a really enjoyable time at the F&F sale today.  Bagged some bargains and met a lot of lovely people.  Have just had a taste of my Ladies that Cake crocodile mini cake and boy it was good!  Might not last the night for the daughter to taste in the morning...

Here is an action shot of one of the ladies and I sharing a stall at the sale:

Mini cake before:

After:

Oh dear, Mr WP has demolished the rest.  Sorry Erin.

Let there be cake!

What to do with a overripe banana?

A question mums generally struggle with on a weekly basis.  You know how it goes: "What would you like for pudding?", "Banana."  "Well I haven't got any as last time you didn't eat them, how about a petits filous?"  etc etc.

So, we buy bananas and she doesn't eat them, surprise surprise.

Here is an excellent recipe for chocolate banana muffins, care of the gastro tart we all love to hate, Nigella.

Makes 12

3 very ripe/overripe bananas (I only had 2)

125ml vegetable oil

2 large eggs

100g soft light brown sugar (I didn't have any so used a combo of golden caster and some soft dark brown that's been lurking in the cupboard for a while)

225g plain flour

3 x 15ml tblsp best-quality cocoa powder, sifted (bourneville did the job ok)

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

line a 12 bun muffin tin with muffin cases (you don't say)

Nigella's instructions slightly simplified here:

Mash up bananas then use hand held mixer to beat in oil, then eggs, then sugar

Chuck the flour, cocoa powder, bicard into a bowl then sieve the lot into the banana mix

Beat it all together with the mixer

Spoon into the cases and bake at 200 degrees c for 15-20 mins

Yummy!

I must say, they were the best muffins I've ever made - nice and spongy as opposed to crumbly.  Chocolate chips would add another dimension.  Am going to have a crack at adapting this recipe for other flavours as the texture was just spot on. 

Poor lone leftover muffin, aw.