Rattling On...

Bun fight...

In anticipation of afternoon visitors yesterday I decided it was time to whip out the madeleine tin once more. Regular readers will remember I've dabbled with these little cakes previously, using Nigella's recipe.

Well, this time I thought I'd give Jane Brocket's version a spin, remembering the trials NL put me through. Namely being forced to eat shed loads of experimental efforts. I even followed the whole recipe, method and all. All the cooling in the fridge bits as well. You should be proud of me.

And the verdict? Not bad at all, a bit chewier than NL's and the mixture went a long way. 19 madeleines from a recipe that promised 10-12. These were in a 12 hole tin with the bigger size holes, rather than the eyeful style preferred by the average Frenchman with more self restraint.

If I had to make a complaint it would be the index in the book. The madeleines are listed as French Madeleines, under f; as opposed to English madeleines, under e. Now call me a pedant if you must but to me and my highly regimented cerebral filing system a better listing would read thus:

Madeleines, English p.155,157

                French p.154,156

Obviously, if you're just paging through they're next to each other. But, and it's a big but, if you're looking in the index you expect them under m. Or is that just me?

In conclusion, they're both very nice.

Health food...

It's got carrots in it, so it's healthy. It also has pecan nuts instead of walnuts as I think these are the only nuts now that don't provoke a reaction in me. I had chocolate brazils in February and suffered. Previously these went down fine, I'm very peed off as I adore chocolate brazils.

It has crossed my mind that chocolate may be an issue so I'm trying to avoid it. To be honest I'd miss it less than nuts on the whole. My waistline can only benefit, and it needs the benefit at the moment.

This is the carrot cake from Jane Brocket's Vintage Cakes book, hardly modified at all, which is unusual for me. The topping has cream cheese in it and when I came to get the pack out of the fridge there was an issue. I'd bought it with black pepper in. Which at the time I remember fancying on some crackers-it hadn't been intended for a cake.

Cheese triangles to the rescue. They worked a treat in case you're wondering, nice and tangy.

Well, that's a week gone of the holiday and I feel like I've wasted so much time. This always happens. It's still way too cold to work outside and I'm trying not to go out to places where I'll spend money, which is almost everywhere these days. I should be clearing out a room upstairs, should as in that's what I'd planned, but ennui set in on that the last few times I've attempted it. I'm not really sure why, but think it has to do with a lot of my past being stored in there.

I've got rid of a lot of mementoes, the accumulated stuff of anniversaries of this and that, things that won't be wanted by either side. But shared 'stuff' runs to boxes and boxes. Record and CD collections, record players (amps, speakers), dinner services, books, where to start? The temptation to order a skip is very strong.

While it all sits there the frustrations caused by it, and life in general, also sit there. I know all I need to do is get my backside in gear, but then I know a lot of things and never do anything about them either. I just dread getting to some point in the future and being faced with the whole mountain instead of just a hillock. Such is life, or at least a life with too much stuff in it.

In the end, I could fill a small van with the things that I really couldn't live without, a very small van. If only it were that simple.

Bake-along...

Teddy and I decided to do some baking, the poppy seed mini-bundts from Jane Brocket's book to be precise. Teddy was a little apprehensive as to whether hers would turn out of the copper tin she used.

Phew, that's a relief. Which is more than can be said for the ones I made in some mini-bundt tins. They were crap. Ok, they taste fine but the buzz word was stick. Stick!!! And I did all the usual things that I do. The tin is off to the great recycling bin in the sky.

I did make a few more in the IKEA skinny muffin tin, without cases. Which was really silly of me. But a few were presentable, even if they look like weird fat mushrooms.

Nice recipe. The poppy seeds add a bit of spice and a nice texture. Just be careful what you make them in...

(Teddy's pinny from a rather good idea in a previous comment by Sonata)

Silicone valley...without any valleys.

I've been at it with the Vintage Cakes book again, with the vague idea of attempting to make all the things in there at some point.

These are the Queen cakes, a very easy recipe. It also gave me the opportunity to purchase a new bit of kitchenalia, a silicone mould. The first one I've ever tried.

I have to say I've always been sceptical about silicone, doesn't seem natural that a pink, floppy bit of rubberiness could act as a cake form. But it can. My major discovery was that the cakes come out better the longer you leave them to cool in situ. Not rocket science, but it might save someone a batch of buns.

I'm not saying that I'm a convert to silicone, mind, but the non-stickiness of it, the ease of cleaning, the way you can cram it into a cupboard- all these points are in its favour. I certainly shan't be getting rid of my old school vintage bakeware, that has far more personality, and if I'm honest I really don't like the garish colours the modern stuff comes in. But sometimes you just have to get with it.

I still haven't made the Christmas cakes, I'm not sure where time is going. I think it's partly as we don't break up until the 21st and I won't have the usual run up days when I do all the bits and bobs. I have a cunning idea for our cake (my parents' will be traditional) and am hoping to make it soon. Along with the Christmas puddings, which I may as well leave until Christmas Day at this rate, then there'll be just the one lot of steaming to do!

I suppose this is why so many people end up buying puddings and cakes. Work interferes so. What I really want to do is put on a cheesy CD and get up to my armpits in baking and decorations. Instead I have a diary stuffed with after-work meetings, in-work meetings, pre-work meetings and all the stuff in between. Oh, and one hair appointment. Not sure why I made that as I'm not going anywhere. But it's a bit like changing the beds on Christmas Eve, it's just something you do at Christmas. Or is it just me?

Cake mountains...

The giveaway has been drawn and all I'm saying is there's more than one winner. Check your inbox!
Lots of baking going on at the moment, at home and at work. A PTA stall to be stocked, two student birthdays and a fundraiser all on the go. This cherry cake, from Jane Brocket's Vintage Cakes again, is for eating at home. We need a bit of carb to cope with the cold, wet, dark and miserable weather. At least the roof is mended now, following some particularly gusty days last week.

I have some things to show you, when there's enough light to take decent pictures that is. I don't like using the flash, mainly because I don't have the finesse to bounce the light or whatever it is people do. I could learn, but I don't particularly want to. So you get crappy, grainy shots that I could pretend were meant to look like that... let's face it you can spend good money on an app to get the distressed look and I can do it for free.

I haven't made anything with the yarn I spun yet, and I also haven't had any overwhelming desire to do any more spinning. Which is a bit of a relief in a way, but it was nice to try something new and meet some really interesting people. I'm not sayng I won't ever do it again, but I can't see my efforts competing with Rowan any day soon. Although I was watching some drop spindle videos on Youtube, now that looks quite soothing...

Cake swap

I signed up to do Emily's 3rd Blog Birthday Swap and sent off my envelopes a while ago. One of my swap partners is Julie (no blog) and I already knew she had a lot of commitments in October so hers may have to be a little late. Not so, it arrived last week.

She'd included a recipe card for this lovely lemon cake (which is after Jane Brocket from the Gentle Art of Domesticity) which I had to make almost at once. It tastes lovely, I know this as I had to have a slice almost at once as well. This was a logistical move as the loaf-shaped cake wouldn't go in the tin without removing one end.

She's also includud a sewing pattern which I will try very hard to make up soon. Thankfully it's not too difficult as my sewing skills aren't legendary. I also sent her a recipe and a crochet pattern and we both had to include a picture of something we loved or found beautiful, mine was of birds which ticked both those boxes. Thanks, Julie for three great things in your swap.

In other news: Last night No2 and I went to see Skyfall. There isn't a cinema here so we went to Macclesfield and arrived quite early. Which turned out to be fortunate as there was a queue out onto the pavement and then another with clever people who'd pre-booked (note to self...).

For some reason known best to themselves a lot of people had taken very small children with them. A two and a half hour, noisy and violent film maybe isn't the best place? Just mentioning, especially to the woman who took the small girl to the toilet three bloody times.

Nonetheless, it was really good. It has humour, or at least I found bits funny- but you never know, it has a sort of 60s vibe and it is Union Jacktastic. New characters, including Q, a mere child who, as it happens, went to school with the woman sitting next to me. She told me so, and what's more I have no reason to disbelieve her.

And Daniel Craggy of course. Boff boff.

Life is made up of marble and mud...

Another cake from JB's book, this time the marbled bundt. A straightforward recipe, but I missed out a couple of small stages. First, I just added the milk straight at the beginning.

Second,when splitting the mix into two parts I didn't feel it necessary to use digital scales to make sure I had the proportions balanced. Two roughly equal dollops is good enough for me.

Thirdly, as I'd added the milk in the beginning I just plonked the cocoa into one of the halves and carried on beating that half. I like a simple life, me.

Oh, and I never faff around melting butter to grease intricate cake tins. I use this spray, the yellow lidded one. It covers lightly and evenly and has never let me down.

Sometimes these bundt cakes are too rich and heavy, but this is neither. It's really very nice indeed, but big. I took a good half of it to work and the rest will last us the week. I'm glad I like the recipe as I have a few bundt tins (see here for another) and like using them on Occasions, they look impressive!

It's also useful working with someone who has the appetite of a horse, likes cake and isn't fussy. Two people at work have asked if I'll bake for them for parties and such and that would be a good answer to the dilemma of enjoying baking/scoffing it. But I'm a bit nervous of charging for things, even though in the past I've often baked for friends. We'll have to see.

Just another manic Monday...

On Sunday I got my apron on and baked. For the Macmillan coffee morning event at school and a school birthday.

I opted for tray bakes for the coffee morning, ginger ones. I got the recipe from Jane Brocket's latest book, or at least I think it's her latest, she seems to fire them off at quite a rate.

It turned out to be more of a faff than I'd anticipated, and making two in one bowl was not the great idea it seemed. It rose to perfection though and looked ok when iced. Lemon flavoured icing, but jelly diamonds not candied lemons as, guess what, the shops here didn't have any.

I'd already bought recycleable trays for them as I get sick of hunting down my baking pans and cake tins at work.

So, there I was with two tray bakes and a chocolate sponge cake, I decided to cover them all with clean tea towels and leave them out of the way.

Coming into the kitchen later that evening I immediately saw that the tea towels had been a majorly excellent idea. The sponge cake was fine, but some or other fat feline had decided to dance on the tray bakes, causing the towels to be embedded in the cake at intervals roughly resembling moggy paces.

Big time bugger, but actually the cakeage itself was unmolested. So I had to do some cutting and pasting and managed to cobble together a good mound of pre-cut squares. More work.

Yesterday morning and I'm putting the finishing touches to the sponge with a sprinkling of icing sugar on the top using one of these rather useful gadgets. Saves all that washing up of sieves. But. BUT, when the bottom drops out of the thing as you're just putting it back into the cupboard it doesn't seem so labour saving.

The dog was in sugar heaven, rolling in the damn stuff. Vacuum out, mop out. Time to get into the car.

Which had a flat battery. Again. Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhhhhhhhh..................