Sunday's recipe's

Here are some of sunday's recipes...

Lemon curd - to cook, can you believe it, in a microwave!

200g Caster Sugar

100g Unsalted Butter

250ml Lemon juice

lemon zest

3 eggs

Beat together the sugar and eggs, add the softened butter, keep mixing and add the lemon and lemon zest...

then put the whole lot in the microwave for 30seconds, take out, stir... back in microwave, take out stir and on and on until the mix is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.. then pour into jars and leave.. amazing! I am now going to make this all the time, I had no idea it was so easy!

Chocolate brownies...

200g butter

125g dark chocolate

150g plain flour

440g caster sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

4 eggs

icing sugar

2 tbsp cocoa

preheat the oven to 180c, place the butter and chocolate in medium saucepan, over a low heat and stir until melted and smooth.

place the flour, sugar and cocoa, and baking powder in a bowl... add the eggs and chocolate mixture and stir well.

place in a lightly greased 20 x 30cm rectangular cake tin.

bake for 40 to 50 mins

cool and dust with icing powder, or in my case cover in chocolate icing :)

Lemon, Coconut cloud cake... wow.. perfect with the homemade lemon curd aswell! x

for the cake:

225g unsalted butter

225g caster sugar

1/2 lemon zest

5 eggs

225g self raising flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

100g desiccated coconut

for the filling and topping:

450g full fat cheese

125ml coconut cream

zest of 1 lemon

100g icing sugar

8tbsp lemon curd

100g dessicated cocnut

2 22cm cake tins

preheat the oven to 170c, butter and flour the cake tins..

to make the sponge, first beat together the butter, sugar and lemon zest.

add the eggs one at a time with a spoonfool of flour between (this stops it curdling) and mixing well.

add the remaining flour, and the baking powder and coconut

mix well.

divide the mixture between the tins, place in the oven for 25 mins.

to decorate, beat together the cream cheese, coconut cream, lemon zest and icing sugar .

slice both halfs of the cake in half again. to make 4 layers.

spread lemon curd on one layer, then sit another layer on top, then spread a good dollop of the cream mixture over this one and place the third layer on top. spread over the remaining lemon curd and add the final layer. the rest of the cream can now be spread all over the top and the sides to give a cloud effect

I then covered the whole lot is sliced coconut aswell! Amazing! x

Surprises & Angry Birds

As my post below let you all know tuesday was Sam's birthday.... although i couldn't say it on the day I had planned him a surprise party at the strongrooms in shoreditch... it was fab, I wore my new bedjacket/dress and my jeffrey campbell shoes- so many amazing people made the effort to come - some, including sam's mum even came all the way down from the midlands! x

We drank far too much and partied all night but it was brilliant!

This is the cake that i copied for sam... except in my excitement i hardly took any photos!..

I followed the instructions here, and would highly recommend it! great fun! xx

Victoria Sponge

This weekend I made a classic victoria sponge for my Dads birthday... then because I wanted to eat the cake there and then I made some mini victoria sponge aswell!

The recipe is so easy - for the mini ones i just halved the quantities and baked in a muffin tin. x

Ingredients:
225g/8oz butter or margarine, softened at room temperature
225g/8oz caster sugar
4 medium eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
225g/8oz self raising flour
milk, to loosen

method:
-Grease and line 2 x 18cm/7in cake tins with baking paper. (i only have one cake tin so i just used this twice!)
- Cream the butter and the sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy.
-Beat in the eggs, a little at a time, and stir in the vanilla extract.
-Fold in the flour using a large metal spoon, adding a little extra milk if necessary, to create a batter with a soft dropping consistency.
-Divide the mixture between the cake tins and gently spread out with a spatula.
-Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden-brown on top and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
-Remove from the oven and set aside for 5 minutes, then remove from the tin and peel off the paper. Place onto a wire rack.

Sandwich the cakes together with jam, lemon curd or whipped cream and berries or just enjoy on its own.

I used rhubard and ginger Jam for the large cake and blackcurrant and lavender for the small ones :) yummy :)

Rhubarb Crumble Cake

Yesterday I made this great cake from Liberty London Girl's blog..

Mine didn't turn out anywhere near as neat though - not having a large enough cake tin as soon as i put mine in the oven and it started to rise it was a cake volcano - oozing all over my oven!

either way it tasted good - go bake! x

Ingredients:

200g Butter

400g Caster Sugar

4 eggs

400g Self Raising Flour

Eight Stalks Rhubarb chopped up

Crumble topping

150g butter

150g plain flour

30g caster sugar

Method: Bung the butter & sugar in the processor and whizz to a thick cream together. Add two eggs, whizz. Add 4tbsps of the flour. Whizz. Ad the last two eggs. Whizz. Add the rest of the flour. Whizz. That’s your cake batter.

Pour it into your well-greased cake tin. Scatter over the chopped rhubarb. (You don’t mix it in as it would all just sink to the bottom. This way it distributes itself pretty evenly through the cake as it cooks.) Mix together the butter and flour in the food processor. Pour the resulting crumbs over the rhubarb, and sprinkle over the sugar. That’s your crumble topping.

Put in the oven for at least 35 mins. It’s cooked when a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Voila

Coconut Chai Latte

how amazing does this look!

Coconut chai latte, 1 mug

1 large mug oat or soy milk
1 portion/bag of black tea (I used PG Tips, but any black tea is fine)
3 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
3 pods of cardamom
a few pinches of dried ground ginger
1 tsp good quality coconut oil
ca 1 tsp maple syrup (optional)
Pour milk in a mug to measure and then transfer all of it but about 1 dl to a pot (if you have a milk frother, otherwise transfer all of it). Add the tea bag and the spices, and heat until almost boiling. Lower temperature and let simmer for a few minutes, then turn off the heat and let it stand for a few minutes more.

Meanwhile, if you have a milk frother, froth the 1 dl of cold milk (if not you can skip this step). Put it to one side.

Strain the tea and pour into a mug. Add the coconut oil and the maple syrup (if using). Stir, and as the final step add the cold milk.

found over on: Flickan & Kakorna check out the site for aome amazing cupcakes!

Pj's Banana Jam

At Ms Marmite lovers Underground christmas market this weekend PJ very much admired some 'not for sale' Banana Jam.. well here is a recipe.. just for you PJ! x

Banana Jam
2 lbs ripe bananas (1 Kg)
3 3/4 Cup brown sugar (750 g)
1 1/3 Cup water (3 dl)
juice of 3 limes (or lemons)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (1 cc)
3 tablespoons of pure vanilla extract (or use real vanilla beans) (1 cs)
1 dash of ginger powder
1/4 Cup of rum (1/2 dl)

Peel and mash the bananas.
Mix water, lime juice, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, ginger over moderate heat and stir until syrup thickens. Add the mashed bananas and let cook 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add rum during the last few minutes of cooking to let alcohol burn off. Immediately place in jam jars and seal.

A Donna Hay Christmas....

Donna Hays simple food styling and recipes have long been a reason to buy living etc... this month the little christmas leaflet is full of yummy looking recipes and ideas.. maybe one day i'll get round to actually buying the proper magazine...

I love these:..

sweet wreath... wrap boiled sweets in festive fabric and fasten to a wire cake rack!. so simple!

rose cups..

doily table runner... sew lots of old doilies onto a cotton back sheet.. sorted!

flavoured water.. liven up jugs of tap water with ginger, rapberries, mint etc..

and this recipe...

Candy Cane Cupcakes, such a great idea - I love candy canes but there are always broken ones in a pack....

125g butter 100g dark chocolate, chopped ⅓ cups (120g) brown sugar 2 eggs ⅓ cups (100g) plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted ⅛ teaspoon baking powder, sifted 2 tablespoons cocoa, sifted 100g candy canes, chopped chocolate ganache 200g dark chocolate, chopped ⅓ cup (80ml) single (pouring) cream Preheat oven to 180ºC (355ºF). Place the butter and chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat and stir until melted and smooth. Place in a bowl with the sugar and eggs and mix to combine. Add the flour, baking powder and cocoa and mix to combine. Spoon into 2 lightly greased 12-hole 25ml-capacity mini muffin tins and bake for 12–15 minutes. Allow to cool. To make the ganache, place the chocolate and cream in small saucepan over low heat and stir until melted and smooth. Cool. Turn the brownies upside-down, top with a teaspoon of ganache and sprinkle with chopped candy canes to decorate. Makes 24. Yum!

Secret Garden Party

Before we went away to Majorca we spent the weekend at Secret Garden Party.. it is always a good weekend but it was lovely going straight from camping to a holiday!... i didnt take a camera with me for the weekend.. so only have one iphone picture but one of the best things at the festival was the Hendricks Gin carriages!... Hendricks must have really upped their PR and marketing recently as then seem to be popping up everywhere!.. especially in association with Vintage events..

'The Curiositorium' or 'Horseless carriage of curiosities' as it was called was an amazing couple of 19th century train carriages filled with curiosities.. staff dressed in 20's clothing paraded around the gardens and poured cocktails from a bath filled with gin and rose petals and everyone who left a small tale had a free drink!... amazing!




Their website is also beaurtifully designed and features a blog filled with vintage images and drinks recipes!.these are some of my favourite.. ..

Super Spag Bol....

Monday night sam cooked a super spag bol...
(not to get him big headed but maybe the best..)

We had burgers left over from a bbq that became meatballs.. genius!

Sams steps..
1. make meatballs from burgers (!)
2. chop garlic, onion ( i helped a bit on this one)
3. chop bacon
4. fry meatballs and bacon in a large pan.
5. in a seperate pan fry the onions and garlic
6. add fresh chopped tomatoes and a tin of tomatoes to the onions and garlic.
7. chop fresh chilli and add to the tomato sauce
8. let it simmer while you cook the spaghetti
8. mix the meat into the sauce and add fresh basil
9. serve with heaps of parmesan.


yum.. and enough leftovers for lunch! xx

Ginglik & Waldorf Gnocci

we went to see bluejuice again last night!.. at Ginklik in Shepherds bush.. Fab venue. it is underground in the middle of shepherds bush roundabout in an old public toilet!.. they have big collections of board games and indoor streetlights! x

before we went we had time to grab some food at home...
As we were dictated by the huge lack of ingredients in sainsburys we had a hot gnocci version of the waldorf salad! yummy and very easy.

in case anyone is interested heres the recipe:

-First i cut up some pears and popped them in the oven with some strips of bacon and maple syrup to cook and spread over after..

-while that was cooking i boiled some water for the gnocci and in a seperate pan fried a chopped red onion.

-Using the onion and oil as a base i added a bit of flour to make a roux (how on earth is that spelt!) and then slowly added milk for the white sauce.

-when it was cooked i mixed in a huge chunk of crumbled stilton and a bag of walnuts (bashed up a bit first!)

-Then i cooked the gnocci, mixed it all together and finally added the bacon and pears..

Served with a rocket and tomato salad and garlic bread.. Yum! xx



I unfortunately forgot to take any pictures... but definately worth trying anyway! x

Chef Sam

Sam cooked dinner last night...




'Steamed Salmon with tomato basil cous cous' from the Jamie Oliver iphone app... if anyone as an iphone then i definately reccomend getting this app.. it has loads of quick easy recipes and sections where you can do shopping lists and cross off anything that you already have..

and not even just that.. he bought flowers.. and the most expensive wine that our local tesco have!... i am one lucky lady!

we then played his angry chicken iphone game and watched kick-ass..



xx lovely night! x