Nelly's Cupcakes

Daisy Cupcakes

2012-02-15T08:00:00.003Z

I had a very busy cake-filled weekend, I was asked to make 24 cupcakes for my cousin's Christening on Sunday. I am always happy to make cupcakes for people and love nothing more than seeing people enjoy my creations.

The order was for 12 chocolate and 12 lemon cupcakes.

I used the hummingbird chocolate cupcake recipe from Cakedays, I am not a huge chocolate cake lover so don't make it too often so didn't deviate from the recipe at all. Tehy were actually really nice! I usually find chocolate cake dry and unappealing but these were moist and very chocolatey! They were a huge hit with the kids at the party! The buttercream on top was just a simple butter, cocoa powder, icing sugar combo. I never really measure buttercream I just keep adding sugar until I get the right consistency.

The lemon cupcakes were the ones I was most looking forward to making, I decided to make a simple vanilla sponge with just a hint of lemon and top with a sweet lemon buttercream. They turned out so well and were definitely the adults favourite, the sponge was light and delicate and the tart sweetness of the buttercream made them incredibly moreish!
For the lemon buttercream I creamed the butter, lemon zest and a splash of lemon juice together and then gradually added sieved icing sugar until I got the desired piping consistency. For 12 cupcakes I started with around 110g butter.

Both cupcake flavours were decorated with small fondant daisies. The baby who was being christened was called Daisy Grace so I though this would be a nice touch. I bought a daisy plunger cutter from Cake Craft World and simply cute out some white sugarpaste. I also dyed a small amount yellow and made some tiny dots for the centre of the flowers. It was fiddly but totally worth it! I mean how cute are they?

I am very proud of myself and hopefully I will be able to make more beautiful cupcakes for people soon.

for those who asked, I used a Wilton 1M nozzle for the piping

Happy Valentines Day!

2012-02-14T09:03:00.001Z

Happy Valentine's Day to my lovely readers, as I had no posts scheduled for today I decided to just wish you a delicious, chocolate filled day and also say a great big thank you for reading my blog.

I have no exciting rock and roll plans for today, just a quiet one with a few glasses of something bubbly.

How are you spending Valentines this year?

Meal Planning Monday - 13/02/12

2012-02-13T08:00:00.000Z

I have submitted my post to the linky over at Mrs M's Blog

Last week didn't quite go to plan. The roast dinner ended up being on Monday night as we had friends over on Sunday and had Fish and Chips instead.
So the Chicken and Leek pie got pushed to Thursday and we had a few sort yourself out nights as we were busy with various projects and too busy to think about food.

On the plus side of this it means we have a few leftovers which we can carry over to next week, so shopping will be a lot cheaper!

Monday
Breaded fish with homemade chunky oven chips/wedges.

Tuesday
Sort yourself out night

Wednesday
Quorn bolognese with linguine & garlic bread

Thursday
Tuna Pasta Bake

Friday
Pork Chops with garlic mash and greens

Weekend
I have no weekend baking planned yet, it will probably be more spontaneous, whatever I am in the mood for.

Looking over this meal plan I already have everything I need in the freezer/cupboard so all I will need to buy for the week is cat food and packed lunch stuff! Looks like it will be a cheap week! Not ever worth doing an online shop! Bonus!

Sunday Lunch - Chicken and Leek Pie

2012-02-12T08:00:00.003Z

May not win any beauty contests but was absolutely delicious!

This weeks Sunday lunch is a bit of a cheat as we didn't actually eat it on Sunday, but why mess with a nice little blog routine eh? This Sunday we had some friends over to watch a sporting event so opted for Fish and Chips from the shop around the corner. Lazy but delicious!

I seem to be on a bit of a pie kick right now, I think it is the wintery weather that has sent me spiraling into a warm blanket of pastry. It really is the ultimate comfort food. Although for the sake of my waistline I shall have to stop making it so often!

I seem to be posting my shortcrust pastry recipe a lot on the blog so I won't post it again, simply head over to last weeks pie recipe to check it out.

I think the prep time for this meal was a bit much for a midweek dinner but you can totally use ready-made pastry or make a big batch of pastry at the weekend and freeze it, ready for midweek use.

The filling of this pie is not something I have ever attempted to make, I have always said on this blog that savoury cooking is not my strong suit so I was a little nervous about trying something new, especially as I had no back up plan for this dinner and a hungry boyfriend to feed.

I loosely followed this and this recipe for guidance but just sort of winged it really.

Chicken and Leek Pie Filling
Click here for printer friendly recipe

1 leek (chopped as chunky or finely as you like)

Left over roast chicken (You can use any chicken, just cook it beforehand)

1.5 pints of chicken stock

2 tablespoons of flour

1 tablespoon of double cream

Oil or frylight for cooking

Salt and Pepper to taste

I started off by gently frying the chopped leek until softened and then added a tablespoon of flour and stirred to combine.

I then added 1 cup full of stock and stirred, the stock should immediately thicken.

Once fully combined add the remaining stock and cooked chicken.

The few recipes I had seen for similar fillings didn't say to add any further flour but my filling was very liquidy so I added another generous spoonful of flour and it thicken up lovely. I added salt and pepper to season.

I then added a tablespoon of double cream to finish it off and add a lovely richness, although it still tasted nice without.

I probably made a million culinary mistakes in this recipe but it tasted amazing and was a huge hit! I think next time I will try to thicken it up a little more as it was very runny when I served it.

You could also make it less calorific by perhaps using creme fraiche or Philadelphia rather than the double cream, also serving in mini pie dishes with just a pastry lid would be lovely too. Also if you don't live with a complete vegetable-a-phobe than you could add other veggies to beef it up a bit, I think mushrooms would work a treat!

What are your favourite pie fillings, I really want to broaden my savoury repertoire.

Pinterest - A bloggers resource

2012-02-11T08:00:00.011Z

I found this great article from Angie at A Whole Lot Of Nothing about Pinterest Sucess Stories and how Pinterest can increase your blog traffic.

When I shared it on twitter I had a few emails and tweets asking for more details and invites, so I thought I would write this little post to answer some of those questions in my own weird way and suggest some great UK foodies for you to follow! Also, if you would like an invite then drop me an email using the contact form here.

I first joined Pinterest in May 2011 and it very quickly became one of my favourite sites. Not only is it a beautiful piece of design but it is very cleverly constructed and incredibly easy to use.

Some of you may be asking "What on earth is Pinterest?" and if you are all I have to say is; where have you been?

Pinterest is a fast growing social network based around the premise of "pinning" images onto various "boards".

Basically a giant virtual pin board for storing all of your favourite images from around the web. The clever part is that the picture is automatically linked to the website it is pinned from, so can also help boost blog and web traffic!

You can create as many boards as you like on a variety of subjects from food (obviously) to interior design, fashion or even a wishlist for Birthdays or Christmas! Pinterest has great sharing links to Twitter and Facebook so great for giving loved ones little hints on gifts.

I also have a board entitled "Blog" which I use to post a few of my own images from my blog, I try not to pin too many as I don't want it to be just about advertising myself, but if I take a yummy picture I think people will enjoy, I pin it! And as a result Pinterest is now my 6th biggest source of page views!

So to help get people started I decided to compile a list of lovely UK foodie pinners to follow;

You can find me on Pinterest here.

Urvashi from Botanical Baker.

Amy from She Cooks She Eats.

Beth from Jam and Clotted Cream.

Amy from Cooking, Cakes and Children

Janice from Farmersgirl Kitchen.

Beckie from Beesteas.

Julia from Cafelula.

Ros from Roswensian.

David from I Want To Bake Free.

Laura from Cake and Feminism.

Jules from Butcher Baker.

Kaite from Katiecakes.

The Great British Baking Club is also on Pinterest.

So go forth and pin! I hope my little post has enlightened those who wanted to be enlightened. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below, if I missed anything feel free to elaborate, maybe we could get a discussion going?

Normal delicious recipe-based service will resume shortly.

A lovely surprise in the post...

2012-02-09T09:43:00.000Z

When I got home from work last night I found the cutest little blue envelope on my doormat, I didn't have a clue who it could be from, as my Birthday is ages away and I wasn't expecting anything in particular.
To my absolute delight it was from the Baking Mad team who I worked with filming my episode of Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard. It was such a sweet gesture I just had to share it with you all.

I also want to say a HUGE thank you to the Baking Mad team for the wonderful experience and making my day really fun and memorable. A special thank you goes out to Jenny at Infinite Media for just being really lovely both via email and on the day of filming.

I literally cannot wait for my episode to be on TV and to share the whole day with you all. The series starts on the 5th of March on Channel 4 during the day. I am not sure when exactly my episode will air, but as soon as I know I will let you know. Promise.

Valentines Shortbread Biscuits

2012-02-08T09:38:00.003Z

Valentines day is nearly upon us once more, people often have mixed feeling about Valentines. I personally feel it is a bit of a Hallmark holiday, and in my house it doesn't tend to be marked with any enthusiasm; a card and a nice meal in the house is plenty. Also our anniversary is on the 10th of March so we tend to save our pennies to do something then.

Like a lot of people money is a little tight at the moment so what says I love you more than a homemade gift? And me being me it had to be baked!

These delectable little shortbread biscuits are a real favourite in my house so I decided to put a valentine spin on it...

Chocolate Covered Shortbread

180g plain flour

120g butter, softened (Must be full fat proper butter)

75g caster sugar

White and Dark Chocolate for Decorating.

I used my kitchenaid for this recipe but you can easily do it by hand.

Beat the butter and sugar together on medium for 3-5 minutes until smooth, try not to overbeat as it can make for a too bubbly/airy biscuit.

Turn the speed down and slowly add the sieved flour, it should form into a dough fairly quickly. So as soon as it is formed stop mixing and turn out onto a floured surface.

I sometimes pop my dough in cling film and refrigerate it for 30 minutes or so before rolling. It is not vital but can make the rolling and cutting part a little easier.

I roll onto a lightly floured surface to the desired thickness, for these biscuits I went for about a 0.5cm thickness but in hindsight a slightly thicker biscuit would of been nicer.

Preheat the oven to 180C and bake these beauties for 15-20 minutes, you want them to colour slightly but not to go too brown.

Once cooled completely I set about decorating. I would normally simple dust with a little caster sugar but as its Valentines I decided to go that extra mile and bathe them in chocolate.

I simply melted some white chocolate and some dark chocolate, dipped the biscuits in the white (things got messy and delicious), then let them dry for a while. Then using a butter knife I drizzled dark chocolate over the top.

These little biscuits were absolutely delicious and I'm even going to take some in to work as a little Valentine treat for the co-workers.

Do you celebrate Valentines day? Do you bake any treats for loved ones?

I'm entering these into February's Teatime Treats hosted by the lovely Kate from What Kate Bakes and Karen from Lavender and Lovage. The rather fitting theme this month is Romance.

Oh and as an aside, how do you like the new look? I would love opinions and feedback...

I have entered this recipe into Mrs M's Recipe Link Party

And the winners are....

2012-02-07T09:11:00.000Z

Here are the lucky 5 winners of my recent Victory Tea giveaway. A lovely 16 bag trial pack of tea will be winding its way to you very soon!

@mylovelybites

@TeaCupCupcakes

@badgerbakes

@thegardengang

@bakingaddict

So if all of you could please either email me for DM me on twitter your addresses so I can get these little guys in the post to you as soon as possible.

Hope you enjoyed the review and giveaway, sorry if you didn't win but you can head on over to the Victory Tea website to get your own trial pack for just £1!

Private Pie - February

2012-02-06T12:59:00.001Z

Last week saw me and a friend heading to a top secret location for my first foray into Pie Club. Similar to the Clandestine Cake Club we met up, brought pie and filled out boots! I had an absolute blast and a huge thank you to the lovely folks over at Private Pie.

The venue was The Town Wall on Pink Lane, it was absolutely fabulous and I will definitely be going back there in the near future. We also had a couple of guest speakers from New Zealand Gourmet Pie. Who are a local pie company who make absolutely heavenly pies! I tried the Steak and Cheese and Minted lamb varieties and I have to say they were absolutely delicious!

The theme this month was "Pies from around the world" so we had a variety of flavours from my Irish Corned Beef and Sweet Potato Pie, to a Thai Pie, Pizza Pie and Greek Lamb Pie.

There was also a selection of sweet pies such as lemon meringue, Key Lime and Mississippi Mud. I didn't get a picture of these ones as by this point I was so full of pie I couldn't think straight!

I highly recommend local folks to come along to this lovely monthly event, it is really chilled and great for meeting local foodie types.

6XXNQK9XQHYH

Meal Planning Monday - 6/02/12

2012-02-06T08:00:00.005Z

I was super duper organised this week and planned my meals and submitted my online shopping delivery order to be delivered on Sunday Morning. This weeks meals actually started on Sunday as the leftover roast dinner appears in Mondays menu.

Lunches will consist of sandwiches for the boyfriend and porridge and fruit for me. As always I am cooking for two.

Sunday
Full roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings

Monday
Roast chicken and leek pie with root veg mash.

Tuesday
Working late and busy night so a "sort-yourself-out" night.
Normally sandwiches/ soup or ready meals.

Wednesday
Quorn bolognese with liguine and garlic bread

Thursday
Tuna jacket potatoes, I do these by scooping out potato, mixing with tuna and a bit of grated cheddar and oven baking.

Friday
Pork Chops with roast potatoes and veg.

Weekend Baking
Gingerbread and flapjacks for lunchboxes.

All of this weeks groceries, including all ingredients for above, (I already have some things in the cupboard, such as pasta and tuna) cat food and lunches came to a total of £ 36.89 (with £5.00 for delivery)

I am quite chuffed with the low cost of this weeks shopping. Although next week I might try buying my fruit and veg and meat from Grainger Market and see how much I can save.

How much do you spend in a week on food shopping?

6XXNQK9XQHYH

Sunday Lunch - Leftover Stew Pie.

2012-02-05T08:00:00.002Z

This week saw me launch my frugal meal planning mission in a vain attempt to save some pennies and be more organised with evening meals. Ever since Christmas I have been all over the place in terms of cooking and getting myself organised after work. I suppose it makes sense that after a leisurely couple of weeks in a nice warm house with heaps of time to plan and cook nice things, getting in at 6pm after a full day at work and slaving away in the kitchen is less than appealing.

On the flip-side though, if I haven't planned something we inevitably end up grumpy, hungry and heading for the chip shop; which is bad for both the wallet and the waistline.

So, for this weeks Sunday Lunch I decided to embrace the frugality and make a leftover pie. I made a HUGE batch of pastry and split it into three, freezing two for future pies. Call me Queen of all thing frugal!

Rather than using my "go-to" polka dotty pie dish I decided to take inspiration from Laura at Cake and Feminism and make my pie in a cake tin! I loves the chunky home-made look of her game pie and wanted to see how mine would turn out.

I absolutely love the crimping and the depth of the pie made in a cake tin.

For the pie filling I used some leftover stew. I had made a beef and root vegetable stew the week before and frozen some portions for mid-week winter warming meals. I defrosted it at room temperature all day while I was at work. I had to drain a little bit of liquid before popping it in the uncooked pie crust, mainly because I didn't want soggy pastry.

I never blind bake my savoury pies, I am a lot of slap-dash and rustic in my savoury pastry and also I quite often have it with gravy so I love a nice crusty flaky top with a slight squidge to the bottom. Shameful to admit, I know.

Here is my pastry recipe:

Shortcrust Pastry

250g plain flour
pinch of salt
110g butter, chilled and cubed
1 egg yolk
2-3 tbsp cold water

I start by mixing the flour and salt in a food processor.

Then I add the chilled and cubed butter and pulse until you have something which resembles course breadcrumbs.

I then add the egg yolk and 2 tbsp of cold water and pulse until it just starts to clump together.

I then wrap the dough in clingfilm and pop it in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.

The Stew itself isn't very fancy, its as simple as some gently fried off diced beef, chopped carrot, sweet potato, potato and leeks chucked into my slow cooker, covered with beef stock and popped on low for 8 hours or so. When I get in from work I simply thicken it up with cornflour and add some seasoning to taste. Et voila!

It made for a really comforting and tasty meal which we then had the following day as leftover leftover stew pie!

Served with some veg mash and gravy.

How do you best utilise your leftovers?

I have linked this post to Fabulicious Food's Family Friendly Friday blog event.

Mini Lemon Meringue Tarts

2012-02-02T08:00:00.007Z

On Sunday I decided to make a pie for our Sunday Lunch (post to come next Sunday). I also wanted to make something yummy for dessert as a treat. I use egg yolks in my pastry so had a few spare egg whites knocking about that needed to be used up... It didn't take me too long to decide to whip up some little lemon meringue pies!

Lemon Meringue Pie was actually the first ever post on this here blog! although I do like to think my skills have improved since then...

Rather than making one huge pie I decided to make a few mini ones, everything is cuter in miniature right? Plus I have heaps of the mini tart tins after my epic recipe development for my recent TV appearance/adventure.

Bizarrely every single element of this pudding has been blogged recently by me but as part of different recipes, it just goes to show that if you know the basics you can pretty much create any type of desert!

Lemon Meringue Tarts

The pastry recipe can be found here. I simply omitted the nutmeg.

The curd recipe can be found here. I didn't have any fresh lemons in the house so just used the bottled lemon juice and it tasted just fine, it lacked that lemon-y zing but I quite liked the subtle flavour.

The meringue recipe can be found here. I had three egg whites so simply upped the sugar to 150g, if you just think of it as 50g of caster sugar per egg white it works well. I also added a few fresh vanilla seeds which made the meringues taste amazing!

I blind baked my mini tart shells for 9-12 minutes, and then assembled. I preheated the oven to 200C and then when I popped the tarts in I reduced the temperature to 160C. I baked them for around 15-20 minutes until the top was golden and crisp to touch.

These went down an absolute treat and were even lovely the following day cold! Although when they cooled the meringue cracked and fell a little so if you are making these for a fancy dinner party or tea with the queen make sure you serve them fresh! In fact if you are cooking for royalty or an episode of "Come Dine With Me" I would suggest piping the meringue; much fancier!

What is your "go-to" dessert recipe? If you were on Come Dine With Me what would you serve?

I am entering this bake into the AlphaBakes Challenge hosted by The More than Occasional Baker and Caroline Makes. This month is brought to you by the letter "L".

The French Oven Macarons.

2012-02-01T14:39:00.001Z

This week on twitter I heard some rather exciting news, well at least I find it exciting. The French Oven in Grainger Market have started selling Macarons!
I have been looking for some in and around Newcastle for a while, and was delighted to hear that they were finally being sold somewhere!

Before watching The Great British Bake Off I had never actually heard of these little almond beauties. hangs head in shame
I did try making them myself not too long ago with some minor success but as I had never tried them before I had no idea if the ones I made were a patch on the real thing.

The French Oven in Grainger Market are selling 8 different flavours at £1 each or 8 for £6. I bought a box of 8 with one of each flavour. I have to try them all to give an honest review right?

The Flavours are; Chocolate Ganache, Pineapple Swirl, Strawberries & Cream, Chocolate Orange, Lavender & Blueberry, Mint Chocolate, Black Forrest Gateaux and Salted Caramel...

They came in a lovely (if a little big) box filled with turquoise tissue paper. The first thing you notice of course is the wonderful colours, they are almost too pretty to eat... Almost.

The Salted Caramel was the first one I tried as I do love this combination generally. The main flavour is obviously almond but the filling has a lovely rich salty caramel aftertaste. The macaron itself is delightful, light and crisp on the outside but soft and chewy in the mouth.

My favourite flavour was the Black Forrest Gateaux, it was a lovely deep pinky purple colour, with a gooey jam centre with what tasted like real cherry pieces! Absolutely amazing!

The lavender and blueberry was a close second, do fragrant and delicate.

I think these little darlings would make a lovely treat or gift for someone, although at a pound each (they are quite small) they are a little pricey for a regular purchase but I would love to buy a box for a friend or an occasion. I would suggest getting boxes that hold 8 macarons rather than the huge box I got, as they did get battered about within the box and crack a little.

So, if you live in the North East, get yourself down the the French Oven to sample their delights!

Grrrrr Tiger Bread: It's Puurrrfect!

2012-01-31T08:00:00.008Z

I recently saw a blog post over on Mary Anne's blog about Tiger Bread. I absolutely love Tiger Bread from the supermarket but had never really given much thought to how it was made. When I read Mary Anne's post I was intrigued and really wanted to give it a go myself...

I wont be posting a recipe as I urge everyone to click on the link to the original post, as Mary Anne's blog is amazing and informative and well worth a visit.

I did however differ from the recipe slightly, I had to add 60ml more water to the paste to get the perfect brushing consistency.

I will say that I followed a very standard white bread recipe,almost identical to my own and what makes the "tiger" effect is the paste that you spread on top of the loaf before baking.

I was really pleased with my loaf, it looked amazing and has a lovely crunch. However, the flavour was a little lacking. I was expecting that lovely signature "tiger bread" flavour but it was quite bland. I wonder if you can add flavouring to the paste?

I will definitely be making this visually stunning bread again.

Meal Planning Monday

2012-01-30T09:28:00.001Z

I have submitted my post to the linky over at Mrs M's Blog

Like a lot of people nowadays money is getting pretty tight and we are searching for ways to cut costs and save a few pennies. I have noticed a few people doing "Meal Planning Monday" on their blogs and it made me stop and assess how I do my food shopping and cooking.
I am a little ashamed of just how much food gets wasted in my house through lack of planning and probably a healthy dose of laziness. This has got to stop.

So I am giving this meal planning schtick a go to see if it helps reduce my costs and stops the "whats for dinner?" questions filling me with dread.

Now I don't have any children so I am just cooking for two;

Monday
Leftover pie with boiled potatoes and sweetcorn
Tuesday
Breaded fish with homemade chunky chips
Wednesday
Quorn chilli with brown rice
Thursday
Tuna Pasta Bake
Friday
Lamb chops with garlic mash and greens

Weekend Baking
Valentines cupcakes and cookie pops

Luckily I have all of the ingredients already in the house so no shopping required this week. Will need to get planning next week to get an online shop sorted in time.

Do you meal plan? How do you stay organised and stop food waste?

Sunday Lunch - Homemade Pizza

2012-01-29T08:00:00.003Z

Due to the fantastic response to my last Sunday Lunch post I have decided to try and include a regular savoury post on the blog. I am not as confident at savoury cooking but I do hope you enjoy the posts.

Now, I understand that pizza may not be considered a traditional "Sunday Lunch" but when we decided to have a Sunday night movie night it seemed like the perfect accompaniment. Also, I am slightly obsessed with Dan Lepard's super easy pizza dough recipe!

Just to veer off topic for a second, if you haven't bought a copy of Dan Lepard's Short and Sweet yet you are seriously missing out. Hands down THE best food-related book I have ever read, such a wonderful resource and jam packed full of delicious recipes.

Back to the topic at hand; pizza...

My first ever job at 15 was working at a small pizza takeaway, I worked there for around 4 years and we used to make mountains of dough in a huge machine every night. I can still remember the recipe we used. However, when it comes to making it at home I can never seem to get it right! I can make enough or hundreds of pizzas, but try and scale it down to just enough for two and it never seems to work.

This was one of the first recipes I tried from Short and Sweet and it is fast becoming one of my favourites. It is pretty fool proof and adaptable so I am able to use some of my own knowledge to put my own spin on it.

So without further ado; on with the recipe...

I once again reached for my trusty kitchenaid for the initial ingredient mixing, but you can also do it by hand. Start by putting the flour, yeast and salt in the bowl. Set the mixer on slow and slowly poor in the water and oil. I then turned it onto medium until fully combined.

It looks kind of lumpy and weird at this point but I left it in the bowl for ten minutes to relax and prove a little.

After ten minutes pop the dough ball onto a kitchen surface which has been slightly oiled and knead. It doesn't need a lot of work. (for a full description of how to knead correctly you should buy the book ;) ) then pop it back in the bowl and leave for ten minutes.

Repeat the knead and leave process a few times, by now it should be more shiny and elastic. Looks much more like pizza dough should.

This is where my method differs from the book;

After the final ten minute prove I then divide the dough up into roughly 150-180g balls (these makes a nice deep pan 10" pizza) and left to prove again under a tea towel.
Once they have risen nicely simply roll them out with a rolling pin and pop into a tin which has been oiled. I actually use loose bottomed cake tins to cook my deep pan pizzas. They work an absolute treat! If you want a thinner base I tend to use a swiss roll tin and make a big square one.
Once it is in the tin (it doesn't matter if it is a bit smaller than the tin) leave it to prove once again.

Once it had puffed up a little in the tin, I simply spread it to the edge of the pan and pinched a nice deep crust. Then spread a nice tomato sauce in the middle.

Then just pile it with the topping of your choice and cook on 200C for around 25-35 minutes. I like mine quite well done so sometimes it stays in for up to 45 minutes, but just go with your preference.

These pizzas went down an absolute treat for out Sunday night TV/Movie night. The crust was fluffy and tasty and the addition of fresh mozzarella made for a decadent dinner. Plus I worked out the rough cost of this recipe compared to a takeaway and it is SO much cheaper! It probably seems like a lot of time with all of the proving but as it is spread out throughout the day you can keep going back to it in-between other chores or trips to the shops etc...

Do you ever do your own homemade takeaway instead of forking out for a home delivered one? What are your favourite movie night treats?

Hummingbird Bakery - South Kensington

2012-01-27T08:00:00.010Z

Continuing with my review series, next on the list was the Hummingbird Bakery in South Kensington. I have been wanting to visit Hummingbird for a long time now, I have their Cake Days book and love the results of the recipes I have tried at home.

I actually arranged to meet some twitter friends at Hummingbird when I was down in London. It was fabulous to finally meet the lovely Laura, Beckie and Steph face-to-face.

Upon arriving at South Kensington tube I consulted my google map app to see which direction I should head to find the Hummingbird Bakery. After a couple of wrong turns I headed in the right direction but have to say I didn't immediately spot it. The exterior is quite subtle and if it wasn't for my observant sister I might have walked straight passed...

There was a lot of outdoor seating and if it had been summer I probably would of loved to sit out there and people watch while eating my body weight in cake. However, as it was freezing and getting dark we headed inside. The seating was very limited, one three seater table and 4-5 seats in a bar type arrangement.Luckily as we walked in the group at the 3 seater table were leaving so we made a mad dash for the space.

There was a lot of cake on display, the large ones in the glass cases immediately caught my eye, they all looked so good. Although, at a whopping £5.60 a slice I had to limit my initial excitement to one piece.

The interior was just as subtle as the outside, it definitely had more of a "chain" feel than the primrose bakery. The brown colouring with the pink hummingibrd graphic was prominent but the overall feel was very light and calming. It wasn't overly cluttered and the main focus of the store was definitely on the vast cabinet of cakes!

After a lengthy decision process we went ahead and ordered a (HUGE) slice of carrot cake and a red velvet whoopie pie. The carrot cake was nothing short of amazing, I am a big carrot cake lover and hands down this is one of the best I have tasted. It was moist and studded with walnuts. The cream cheese frosting was rich but not sickly. It wasn't piled high with frosting either, just the perfect ratio of cake to frosting. At £5.60 a slice I initially thought it a little pricey but when I saw the portion it could easily be shared between 2-3 people!

The whoopie pie was an experience for me, because believe it or not I had never had one before! I obviously had heard of them and that they were heralded as the new cupcake etc... But I am always a bit put-off when someone tells me what is "cool" or "trendy" so avoided them generally.

This whoopie pie looked enormous and the deep red was really inviting on display. I was a little disappointed with the sponge if I am honest but I am not sure this was Hummingbirds fault, I just don't think I am a whoopie pie fan! The sponge is quite dense and almost cookie-like which I am not sure I like. The filling however was amazing (a mix of cream cheese and marshmallow) and I may of not-so-gracefully licked all the filling off the sponge.

I bitterly regret not opting for a cupcake or slice of cheesecake brownie (which looked unbelievable!) I will definitely be heading back to Hummingbird on my next trip to London and I solemnly urge the big wigs at Hummingbird to consider a northern branch? Newcastle maybe? *hint hint*

And finally onto the staff; I may be a little bias as the lovely Steph works at this branch of Hummingbird but everyone was so friendly. When we walked in we were greeted by all three staff members (but not in a corny way).
I asked a lot of questions about the cake ingredients and flavours and everyone was very knowledgeable and had their own opinions on their personal favourites.
We arrived at the bakery at around 4:30pm so it started to get busy with the after-work crowd. The staff members were cool and calm and every single customer got the same treatment as I did, I was very impressed.

Now onto the scores;

I will score each section out of five, giving a combined total out of twenty.

Atmosphere: 3 - Subtle exterior and lack of seating brought it down a little.
Price - 3 - Quite pricey but HUGE portions.
Staff - 5 - Fantastic service.
Taste - 4.5 - Blown away by flavour and quality of cake, wouldn't order the woopie pie again but down to personal preference rather than bad bake.

Total: 15.5/20

I would highly recommend a visit to the Hummingbird Bakery. The cake itself really shone through and was the star of the show; as it should be.

Have you been to Hummingbird? What was your experience like?

Being resourceful with leftovers...

2012-01-26T08:00:00.006Z

When I was preparing and experimenting with recipes for my TV appearance I had an awful lot of leftovers floating around so had to get pretty creative if I didn't want it all to go to waste.

Firstly I had a mountain of lemon and lime curd sitting in a tupperware pot in my fridge. It was super tasty so didn't want it to just sit there unused and I wanted to do a bit more than simply spread it on toast. So I decided to try making some cupcakes. I mixed up my usual batter recipe and simply folded the curd into the batter before dividing it into cases. I wasn't really sure if it would work but was in an experimental mood.

The result was actually a HUGE success...

The cupcakes almost had a Madeira-like quality, they were soft and moist with a subtle citrus flavour. I decorated the top with a simple glace icing made with icing sugar and lemon juice and a slice of lemon/lime (if I had thought far enough ahead I would of bought some of those candied lemon/lime segments)

Here is my yummy curd recipe;

Adapted from a recipe from The Pink Whisk

Lemon/Lime Curd

60 mls lime juice/ lemon juice

120 mls water

135 gs caster sugar

25 gs cornflour

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon butter

Grated zest of half a lime/lemon

When I first made this I was surprised at how easy it was! You simply add all the above ingredients into a saucepan and pop it over a medium heat. Whisk continuously until it starts to thicken, as soon as it starts to thicken, take it off the heat and keep whisking and it should then look like a nice thick citrus-y jelly/curd!

I used this in a couple of tarts but won't be blogging the recipe until mid-march so keep an eye out for that.

I also made a massive amount of custard and had a lot left over, as I love a good custard tart I couldn't bring myself to chuck it away. Although, after a good two weeks of non-stop pastry practise and making I really didn't want to make anymore.

So I got a little experimental...

I had a tin of cherries in the cupboard that I was desperate to use so I drained the tin and popped the cherries in my lovely Laura Ashley Pie Dish which I got for my 24th Birthday and covered them with the custardy mixture.

I popped it in the oven at 180C and kept checking it to see if it had worked/set. It cooked for around 30-40 minutes (it was quite a large/deep dish). You can tell it is cooked by giving it a little wobble. You want it to be jiggly but not runny.

It tasted bloody amazing! The vanilla custard was swirled with deep pink cherry juice and the cherries poked their heads out of the top and glistened. I would in the future like to try this in an open top tart/pie.

Anywhoo, here is the custard recipe for you;

Baked Custard

2 eggs

70 g caster sugar

150 g double cream

150 g whole milk

1 tsp vanilla paste

Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a large bowl.

Heat the milk, cream and vanilla paste in a saucepan, allow it to just come to the boil then take off the heat.

Pour the milky mixture over the egg/sugar mixture, whisking continuously until fully combined.

This is now ready to bake, either in a tart or on its own. I think these would work really well in little ramekins, you could do a variety of flavours. So easy but delicious!

I hope you enjoyed my higgledy piggledy leftover post, how do you use up your baking leftovers?

Low Calorie Blueberry Butterfly Cakes.

2012-01-24T08:00:00.001Z

The lovely folks over at Bakingmad.com recently advertised for bloggers to take part in their January healthy baking challenge. I was keen to try some less fattening cakes so jumped at the chance to take part.

I had a choice of a few different recipes to try but really liked the look of these Low Calorie Blueberry Butterfly Cakes. Butterfly cakes remind me of baking as a child and fill me with this great sense of nostalgia and warmth. So without further ado, here is the recipe;

Low Calorie Butterfly Cakes

Ingredients

55g low fat spread

55g Half Spoon Granulated Sugar

1 Egg

85g Self Raising Flour

2 tbsp unsweetened apple puree

For the filling:

Crème Fraîche

Blueberrys

Vanilla pod

I used Half spoon sugar and new Lurpak Lightest spread.

The method of these cakes is pretty standard. You cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.

Add the egg and beat until smooth (if it starts to split add a couple of pinches of your flour)

Then fold in the flour and apple puree.

Divide the batter into cupcake cases and cook at 180C. The recipe stated to cook them for 12-15 minutes although mine were nowhere near done at this time. They cooked for around 25 mintues and were still a little pale and unrisen. They were cooked fine in the middle though.

Once cooked and cooled, its time to cut the butterfly wings. With butterfly cakes you would usually just cut the peaked top off but as these didnt rise well I cut a small round out of each one instead so my wings are a bit chunky.

I added some vanilla seeds to my Crème Fraîche and filled each little hole with a generous dollop, smooshed the wings in place and studded a couple of lovely blueberries in the top. Although you could us any fruit you had lying around.

The cakes themselves were a little heavier than the full fat recipe I usually use but taste-wise they were lovely, I really like the Crème Fraîche with the added vanilla, it really lifted the whole recipe.

Overall these little guys are pretty tasty considering they are low-calorie, the recipe on Baking Mad doesn't actually tell you how many calories are in each cake but I went onto Myfitnesspal.com and calculated it and it is roughly 148 calories per cake. Is that good?

What is your favourite low-cal/low-fat/healthy bake? Or how do you adapt your recipes to be healthier?

Victory Tea: flying the flag for superior tea. (Giveaway)

2012-01-23T08:00:00.006Z

I recently discovered a new and local tea company on twitter called Victory Tea. The fact that they are based just down the road from me in Heaton, Newcastle really caught my attention as I love to use local companies if I can, better for the environment and better for the local economy etc...

I clicked onto the Victory Tea website and fell instantly in love, the vintage style of their website and packaging is beautiful and made me really want to try their product! So when I saw that they were offering trial packs I just had to have one.

The packs themselves are so well designed and reflect the strong company brand. I can't bring myself to throw the box away, it is sitting on my kitchen shelf.

Inside the pack there is a very generous sample of teabags (16 in total) in glorious golden bags.

I know I have yet to mention the tea itself yet, but it is simply because I am leaving the best till last. Victory's Blend No. 1 is quite literally THE best tea I have tasted. I am a huge tea drinker and have always just went for the brand that was on special offer at the supermarket. I was by no means a connoisseur, I mean tea is just tea right? wrong!

This tea is a rich and bright golden colour and smells strong and quite fragrant at first. The taste is clean and fresh with a slight sweetness that lifts it. I find with quite a few brands that they can leave a weird aftertaste or have bitter notes but Victory Tea I find, doesn't at all and simply leaves me feeling refreshed and craving a second cup.

Another good thing about Victory Tea is the price, it is only sold online and in bulk (packs of 80, 640, 1600) so they can offer this superior brew for much less than its supermarket rivals.

This tea is so refreshing and has completely converted me. I have even converted a few friends and colleagues into switching to Victory. Now I hope to convert you too.

Giveaway
The lovely people at Victory Tea have provided me with 5 sample packs to giveaway to my lovely readers! Each pack contains 16 teabags.

To enter simply leave a comment below telling me how you take your tea. It is as simple as that!

For an additional entry simply tweet " I have entered @nellyscupcakes giveaway to win some delicious @victorytea. http://www.nellyscupcakes.co.uk "

Make sure you leave a Separate comment below telling me you have done so (including your twitter username)

Lets see how many more Victory Tea converts I can create! Mwah ha ha ha (that was my evil world domination laugh)

I have in no way been paid or received any goods in exchange for this post, all samples I received will be given to readers

Sunday Lunch - Toad in the Hole.

2012-01-22T08:00:00.003Z

Toad in the hole is a HUGE favourite in my house, I don't make it too often as it is probably not the most healthy of meals and I seem incapable of small portions. This recipe has never failed me, it always rises beautifully and taste light and fluffy with a crisp edge...

N.B This yorkshire pudding recipe can also be used to make around 8 yorkshire puddings in a muffin tin.

Toad in the Hole

Ingredients

125g plain flour

300ml milk (I use skimmed)

2 eggs

a bit of salt and pepper to season

8 sausages

This is one of the few recipes which I know by heart and it is super easy! When I made it this week I used my kitchenaid for the first time.

I simply popped the flour salt, pepper and egg in the bowl and turned it onto a low speed (with the whisk attachment) and slowly pored in the milk. I then turned it up to medium for about 2-3 minuted until nice and smooth.

I then popped the batter in the fridge while I cooked the sausages. I always like my batter to rest in the fridge for a while, I am not sure if there is any actual science to it but I find the Yorkshire pudding rises better.

I used Richmond Skinless Sausages, but you can use any kind of sausage really.

I cook the sausages until slightly brown (but not fully cooked) in the oven on 200C, I don't use any extra fat or oil as I find the sausages produce a little oil when they cook.

Once the sausages are slightly browned I pour in the cold batter (you should get a nice sizzle as it goes in) and then cook for another 30 minutes or so. It depends on your oven as to how long it takes, but I check on it after 30 minutes and check to see if the top is crispy and brown, well risen and comes away from the tin slightly at the sides.

I served mine with a pile of root vegetable mash and lashing of gravy.

I was a bit apprehensive about blogging this recipe, purely because I usually stick to things that are sweet and baked, but I might make this a regular feature? A savoury meal post on a Sunday? What do you think? Would it be something you would like to read? Or should I stick to what I know?

Primrose Bakery - Covent Garden.

2012-01-20T08:00:00.001Z

While I was down in London filming I decided to check out a few well known bakeries to see what all the fuss was about. The two I was looking forward to the most were The Primrose Bakery and The Hummingbird Bakery. I have both of their recipe books and hear nothing but great things from my London based spies.

So, I have decided to do a bit of a review/comparison of the two big bakeries. I will start of by reviewing the bakeries themselves, looking at atmosphere, price, staff and of course the crucial taste test.
Then I will review their respective books, baking a few recipes from each and comparing them based on how easy they are to follow, and of course how they compare not only to each other but to the "real thing" instore. It will probably span a few posts and a good few weeks, so stay tuned!

I am in no way being paid or sponsored to write this post, they are simply my opinions.

I headed for The Primrose Bakery in Covent Garden after a reccomendation from Katiecakes on twitter. I of course had heard of the bakery as I received one of their recipe books for Christmas but as soon as I saw on the map that it was just around the corner from where I was, I had to stop by for a cake-fix...

From the outside the cafe is simply adorable, the buttercup yellow facade really catches your eye and draws you in. The sweet hand-drawn logo on the front window and kitch interior really polish off the home-spun look, so I was in no doubt that I had in fact found the place I was after.

The inside is quite compact, but sweet. The chairs and table were all mis-matched but worked well together. They had a large chalk board on the wall with the prices on and a glass counter that ran the length of the shop.
On the counter there were large cakes on stands, which looked lovely. Inside the cabinet was a (small) selection of cupcakes, slices, cookies and loafs.

Behind the counter there was a selection of cute paraphernalia, from greetings cards and prints to vintage sweets and cook books. The display was very well presented, I was instantly drawn to it and had to hold myself back from buying everything in sight!
The only drawback with the displays for me was the fact that not all of the cupcakes and bakes were labelled in the cabinet so it was hard to tell what was what.

I opted to try the coconut and lime cupcake with a pot of tea. The tea was reasonably priced and the pot was huge! I got 4 cups out of it! Very impressed.

The cupcake however was a HUGE disappointment. The sponge was dry and a little bland I couldn't really taste any coconut or lime in the actual sponge itself, it seemed like just plain vanilla. It was so dry that I actually couldn't finish it (which is rare for me!) the frosting was packed full of lime zest and juice by the taste of it, it was quite overpowering and bitter, and it was dusted with coconut which didn't really add to the flavour.

The other disappointment for me was the staff, they were friendly enough but when I asked about the cakes they didn't seem to know what they all were and when I asked which one THEY would recommend they responded by saying they didn't actually like cake so couldn't help! Also, another couple of people came in after us and inquired what the lovely cinnamon smell wafting from the kitchen was, the girl behind the counter simply shrugged and asked them what they wanted.
I know not everyone is a fan of cake, or knowledgeable about baking, but they should at least have a basic knowledge about the goods they are selling and be enthusiastic.

I will score each section out of five, giving a combined total out of twenty.

Atmosphere: 5 - lovely location and decor and it smelled amazing!
Price - 4 - Very reasonably priced for London.
Staff - 1 - Friendly but clueless (sorry)
Taste - 2 - The cupcake I tasted was bland and dry.

Total: 12/20

I would say it is definitely worth a visit if you are in the area, but not the best service and disappointing taste test. A little bit of style of substance here.

Have you been to Primrose? Did I just get a bad cupcake? Tell me about your experience...

What is in my Fridge?

2012-01-19T08:00:00.002Z

Inspired by Helen from Casa Costello I decided to do a fun little post showing you the inside of my fridge. They always seem to do it on MTV cribs so here I go;

Considering I had just done a food shop, my fridge is decidedly empty. Although I suppose there are only two of us in the house so its probably alright. It sure beats the two cans of diet coke, 3 bottles of water and a tub of moldy coronation chicken that was in there yesterday! So we have;

Muller corner yoghurts - We always have some yoghurts to take to work, these just happened to be on special at Tesco this week.

Half finished bottle of diet pepsi (my fridge is so tiny it has to go in diagonal to fit!)

Richmond sausages, ready for toad in the hole later.

Tupperware dish full of left over quorn pasta

Fresh rhubarb so I can make either a tart or a crumble at the weekend.

blueberries and creme fraiche - for a low fat recipe I am doing this weekend

bottles of evian

In the bottom drawer there is some stir fry veggies and some diced turnip to go in a stew later in the week.

Now onto the door;

Some out of date Onken Yoghurt (must remember to throw that away soon)

Mild Cheddar - my other half is afraid of all other cheese.

cold butter for pastry purposes.

Selection of condiments - Mustard, sweet chilli, mustard mayo, light mayo.

The last jar of my homemade rhubarb and ginger jam

Diet cranberry juice (for vodka drinking purposes)

Milk (for tea drinking purposes)

Most of a bottle of gross rose wine I bought at the chip shop on Friday and it is disgusting.

So there you have it! A glimpse into my life and my kitchen. What are your kitchen staples?

Who know, I may do a series and show you my freezer next! Or my (overflowing) baking cupboards! I can tell you are super excited!

Cranberry and Dark Chocolate Muffins

2012-01-18T09:48:00.001Z

Finally! An actual recipe post! Enjoy x

Before I left for London I wanted to squeeze in some baking as I knew I wouldn't have time when I got back and as I was going to be spending 7 hours trapped on a megabus coach I knew I would need some form of baked treat to cheer me up and keep me going.

I decided to go with muffins as I figured cupcakes with frosting wouldn't travel well and also I had some fresh cranberries that needed using up.
I had never baked with fresh cranberries before and I was worried they might be bitter or too tart. After seeking advice on twitter I decided to cook them up in a little sugar before adding them to the muffin mix, here is the recipe;

Adapted from the Mixed Berry Muffins from Humingbird's Cake Days.

Cranberry and Dark Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients
300g plain flour
155g caster sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarb
1/4 tsp salt
250ml whole milk
2 large eggs
half a sachet of vanilla paste
85g melted butter

a punnet of fresh cranberries (could use dried)
2 tbsp red wine
30g caster sugar
cinnamon, ginger, ground cloves (pinch of each)
150g chopped dark chocolate

This recipe is incredibly simple, you start of by sifting together all of the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, bicarb, baking powder). As I now have my lovely Kitchenaid I put all the dry ingredients in the metal bowl and fitted the paddle attachment.

Mix together all of the wet ingredients in a jug or bowl (eggs, milk, vanilla paste)

On a low setting I slowly added the wet to the dry and turned up to medium until smooth.

Once smooth I then stirred in the melted butter (I am really not sure why the butter is added at the end or why it has to be melted? Any experts out there want to explain?)

I cooked up my cranberries with some red wine, sugar and spices for a few minutes, not too long as I wanted the cranberries to keep their shape.

I folded the cranberry jammy mixture and chocolate into the batter by hand, I didn't want to pink liquid to incorporate fully as I wanted jammy deposits studded throughout the muffins.

I cooked at 180C for around 35 minutes until the tops had domed and were golden and a skewer came out clean (except for a bit of jam/chocolate)

These muffins were absolutely delicious! The alight alcohol kick to the cranberries really came through and added an extra depth. The added spices tasted like Christmas and resonated warmth, these would make an amazing Christmas treat; in fact when I first tasted them I immediately started planning mulled wine muffins for next year!
The muffins didn't rise as I imagined they would, next time I would fill the muffin cases a little more to get that signature muffin top.

I am definitely falling in love with the humble muffin though, I have a stash of blueberries and some bananas ripening ready to whip into something scrummy!

What are your favourite muffin recipes? How do you make them more healthy?

Baking Mad TV Adventure - Filming.

2012-01-17T09:55:00.000Z

So, as most of you may be aware I went down to London last week to film my episode for Channel 4's Baking Mad with Eric Lanlard. Unfortunately I am not allowed to give too much away so cannot tell you all about it, but what I will say is that it was awesome! Some might even say "phenomenal", but that is a story for another time.

I was surprisingly calm on Thursday morning, I arrived at Cakeboy early and sat enjoying a lovely cup of tea. However, the second I clapped eyes on Eric Lanlard a weird sweaty panic came over me. What was I doing? Who was I to be baking for this guy? What if he laughed at my feeble creation? All of these questions and more started swimming about in my head. Luckily the lovely crew soon had me at ease and the day went smoothly.

The Cakeboy cafe itself is gorgeous, so many delicious sights and smells and the staff were so friendly even though we were making their jobs a thousand times more difficult and getting under their feet all day. I highly recommend a visit if you are in London!

I don't know when it will be aired yet, but the second I find out I will be shouting it from the rooftops.