Rebecca Bakes Cakes

Sunday night ice-cream heaven!

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 20:09:00 +0000

I am a very happy camper this evening, I have discovered the best ice-cream ever. Vanilla & peanut butter ice cream, with a raspberry jam centre & itty bitty chocolate covered peanut butter cups. Peanut Butter Me Up indeed. Perfect for a lazy, not thinking about work tomorrow, Sunday evening in front of the telly!

Thank you Ben & Jerry, I might even forgive you for sending Cherry Garcia to ice cream heaven!

Have a great week, Rebecca x

DIY coffee - an experiment in roasting!

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Sat, 18 May 2013 16:03:00 +0000

So you may remember I used to work for a coffee company & I've picked up a fair bit of useless knowledge & tried many different blends & roasts over the years. However, I'd never even thought about roasting my own coffee beans, so when a friend offered me a bag of green coffee beans, fresh from his Grandparents farm in India, I thought it was worth having a go.

This what the beans looked like when they arrived. They had been washed, so the outer skin & pulp of the coffee cherry that surrounds the bean had been removed & they'd been left to dry.

For the main event, I enlisted the help of my local coffee geek (otherwise know as Olly, ex-colleague & friend) & we set about our research into how to roast coffee beans at home without having to buy an expensive mini batch roaster! There are a number of methods, but we went for the straight forward frying pan technique.

First step was to wash the beans in cold water, the little bit of moisture that absorbs into the beans helps them roast & I guess stops them from burning too quickly!

Next was to heat the frying pan so it was HOT!

Tip the beans into the frying pan, keeping the heat high & the beans moving!

Gradually the colour started to change....

Then you hear a crack! It was around 4 minutes in to roasting, it's almost like the sound of popping corn, at this point turn the heat down just a touch.

Keep the beans moving all the time until you hear them crack again, you'll also start to smell a faint smokiness.

This is the point to take them off the heat, the residual heat will keep them roasting. By now, they've been in the pan for 7-8 minutes.

Tip the beans into a metal sieve & swirl them around to help them cool down quickly. It was a freezing cold day when we did it so we stood in the garden to cool them down. It also helps being outside as the chaff that can come off the beans just blows away.

Once they'd cooled properly, we ground some & brewed up using Olly's posh glass drip filter.

I have to say we were pleasantly surprised by the result. It produced a very smooth coffee, quite mild, it was very enjoyable to drink straight, no milk or sugar, adding them would have killed the delicate flavours. Put it this way, I've drunk (& sent back!) way worse cups of coffee from professional outlets!

If you ever get the chance to roast your own, I'd give it a try. It's really easy & very satisfying in the same way I guess as baking your own bread or making home brew is? Don't think I'll be doing it all the time though, for the sake of laziness I'll stick to my pods for now.

Thanks to Olly for the use of his kitchen & hurrah to us both for not burning it down in the process! Till next time, Rebecca x

Hotel Chocolat giveaway to celebrate 100 posts!

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 22:42:00 +0000

I must admit when I first conceived my hair brained idea of baking a cake a week for 52 weeks back in January 2010, I wasn't entirely sure if I'd get through the challenge, never mind still be blogging 3 years later. But here I am & thankfully here you are, well some of you at least, still reading, commenting & providing the incentive for me to carry on. I know a 100 posts might not be a lot in the grand scheme of the blogsphere, but for me it's a big deal & worth celebrating.

So what better way to celebrate than with a competition to win some delicious Easter chocolate courtesy of our friends at Hotel Chocolat! The prize is a Zebra Beastie Egg (yes it has stripes!) from their Easter 2013 collection, it comes with 6 praline & caramel mini eggs...yum!

Lets face it, chocolate makes most of us happy & as tomorrow is the UN's first International Day of Happiness, our competition theme is just that, happiness! To enter all I'd like you to do is pledge yes to happiness & no to grumpiness, are you with me? You can leave a comment below or email me at rebeccabakescakes@hotmail.co.uk. Open to UK entries only, the competition will close at 12pm on Wednesday 27th March 2013 & the winner will be picked at random & contacted by the end of the day.

Good luck! Rebecca x

Source: www.dayofhappiness.net

I should probably point out that Hotel Chocolat are not at all affiliated with the UN Day of Happiness or Action for Happiness, but given they make such delicious chocolate, I imagine they are all lovely people & like the idea of making the world a happier place.

Seasons Greetings!

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 10:36:00 +0000

Just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas

& a Happy New Year!

Rebecca x

The 2012 Christmas Cake

Deck the halls with popcorn trees!

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:39:00 +0000

I saw these lovely little popcorn trees somewhere at some point & thought they looked fab, they're something really different from the usual Christmas treats I make. I didn't follow a recipe, I kind of made it up as I went along using melted marshmallows to bind the popcorn together. The trickiest bit was shaping them into trees, I got myself into a right mess, melted marshmallow could be used as a heavy duty adhesive, it sticks to everything!

I melted around 200g of white marshmallows in a large pan, do this over a low heat & take some time otherwise the marshmallows can brown quite quickly. I then stirred in a dollop of butter just to loosen it up a bit. Next I stirred in about 200g of sweet popcorn, the cinema style one not the toffee coated one. Now, how to handle this big old gooey mess?! I started with dry hands....didn't work, then I tried icing sugar....by this point I was covered in marshmallow & had nothing resembling a tree! Then I remembered a tip I'd been given in the past & I sprayed my hands with a little olive oil....bingo, I could easily shape my trees!

I used a digestive to make a base for the tree, then decorated them with coloured icing, sprinkles & stars.

Voila, a forest full of popcorn trees!

If you're looking for ideas for last minute Christmas treats to make, scroll down for a few from the Rebecca Bakes Cakes archive.

I wish you all a very Happy Christmas & prosperous 2013! Rebecca x

Christmas Cookies

Gingerbread House - including template

Florentines

An tribute to my trusted Good Housekeeping Cookery Book

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 13:49:00 +0000

I'm only a few weeks behind schedule, but this morning I finally got the Christmas cake into the oven! It has previously featured on the blog as Week 39 in my year of cakes, so I wasn't planning on writing another post about it, but as I reached for my trusty cook book, I thought would share the story of where it comes from.

The recipe comes from The Good Housekeeping Cookery Book which my parents received as a wedding present & Mum has since passed onto me. The book was first published in 1944, my edition I think is from 1976, it is a fabulous book & and I think a piece of foodie history. I'm not sure cook books of today provide guidance on purchasing whelks or a recipe for creamed brains? It is not an all glossy cook book, but instead has 64 pictures scattered throughout the book to showcase some of the recipes. I think this is my favourite part of the book, the pictures really capture the styling of the 70's.

From the vegetable section, Grapefruit & Prawn Salad, Tomato Salad, Green Salad, Cucumber Salad, Mushroom Salad & Cream Cheese & Celery Salad

Buttercup Scrambles - Scrambled egg & sausage in a bread case

Celebration Cake

There is even a section on entertaining with this fantastic menu suggestion for a wedding breakfast...

Melon & Grape Cocktail

Cucumber Soup

Boned Duck with Orange Stuffing

Salomon Trout

Salads: Tossed Green, Dressed Mushroom, Potato & Chive, Tomato with Onion

Lemon Souflee or Strawberry Flan

Wedding Cake & Coffee

I have built up a collection of lovely cook books with mouth watering pictures & recipes from all over the world, but I always fall back to my battered green book for all my cooking basics. When I forget how to make pancake batter, need to work out cooking time for a joint of meat or just fancy making a classic pud, this is what I reach for. I'm pretty sure Good Housekeeping still publish a traditional cook book that is more relevant for today, but would I want to swap mine for a shiny new one...no. As well as being a piece of cooking history it's a piece of family history that I wouldn't want to part with.

So back to where we started and the main legacy of this book for the Hodgson household, the Christmas Cake! It's still in the oven (& will be for a while yet) filling the house with the most amazing smell, M has already complained that we'll have to wait another 2 months before we can eat it. We've had this cake every Christmas for as long as I can remember & now the responsibility of making it falls to me (no pressure), I hope we'll enjoy it for many more years to come.

Isn't it strange how you can become attached to a cookery book? Till next time, Rebecca x

Back for Baking Week with Brownies

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:44:00 +0000

I have finally retrieved the laptop from the cupboard under the stairs & managed to breath some life back into it. Please Santa if you're reading this, I'd love a Mac Book for Christmas, PC's are increasingly driving me to violence against technology...well not all technology, just my rather temperamental laptop! Anyway, I was shocked to realise it has been almost 3 months since my last post. So much has happened I'm not sure where to start, so to avoid falling into a long winded waffling, here's the edited highlights.

I left my old job & have started my new one & I love it!

I have been a bit poorly so am experimenting with a Gluten Free lifestyle.

Oh & probably the most exciting thing, I have got engaged...yey!

It's been a fairly busy 3 months, I haven't been slacking, so I hope you'll forgive my leave of absence :-) It's only been in the last week or so that I've felt settled again after so much change, so I'm back for National Baking Week & what better time to test out my first Gluten Free baking recipe.

When I first went gluten free, I guess I thought 'well that's my baking out the window then', along with any other cakes, biscuits & yummy sweet stuff. I started off trying a few gluten free substitutes, Sainsbury Free From Digestives, lovely, Tru Free Custard Creams....well I'm not quite sure how to describe them. But then I never did eat normal custard creams, so why I suddenly had an urge to eat a gluten free version, no idea?

This recipe is one from Dove Farms, the people who make a whole assortment of gluten free friendly ingredients. (It's getting a bit boring constantly writing Gluten Free, I'm switching to GF, ok!) I've never baked with GF flour, so I thought now was not the time to experiment, stick to a tried & tested recipe. This one had really great reviews, you can find it on the Doves Farm website. There are really only 2 ingredients you need to switch for GF versions, flour & baking powder...I know I never thought baking powder had gluten in it either?

Fresh out of the oven, in my Lurpak Brownie pan...fab freebie!

The result, well they look like chocolate brownies, smell like chocolate brownies & taste delicious, I would challenge anyone to tell the difference! If you have any other tried & tested GF recipes, I'd love to see them. I'm not sure if I'll have to stay GF, it's all a bit of trial & error really, but I do know I'm feeling better, so I'm not arguing with that!

These will not last long!

Happy National Baking Week everyone, hope you get to enjoy making & eating lots of cake! Hopefully this is me back into the swing of this blogging malarkey & I will be sharing my food ramblings with you all once more. Lucky things! Till next time, Rebecca x

Java spiced chocolate cake with coffee cream

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 20:11:00 +0000

So you may remember a few months back I shared the news that I'd quit my job! Well the good news is that I now have a new job (phew!), so for me I'm currently on a rollercoaster of excitement, anticipation & a bit of blind fear. But it's also tinged with sadness that I am leaving my current company after almost 6 years. The team I work with are not just colleagues, they are friends & we've been through a lot together. Engagements, marriages, break ups, sickness, loss, babies & a fair few cracking nights out. We've pretty much seen the lot, but its a rare day when we haven't at least had a bit of a giggle along the way.

I hope one of the things I'll be remembered for (forget about my ability as a marketer!) is for my baking, lets face it I fed them cake pretty much every week for 52 weeks during my challenge. Funny how I didn't get many complaints about that! So it seemed fitting that I should leave them with a cake & a coffee inspired cake at that.

This is a recipe that has been in my scrapbook for a couple of years but this is it's first outing, I'd hand written it, so apologies that I can't source it. It's a bit of a twist on a chocolate cake which adds cloves, cinnamon & nutmeg, sandwiched together with a coffee cream!

60g cocoa powder
1tsp ground cloves
3tsps ground cinnamon
1tsp grated nutmeg
100g butter
220g caster sugar plus a little extra
3 eggs

180g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

400ml double cream

1.5 tbsp finely ground coffee beans

1. Mix the cocoa powder & spice together. Spoon out 3 teaspoons of the mixture & keep to one side. Add 200ml of hot water to the remaining mixture & stir well until smooth.

2. Cream together the butter & sugar, then beat in the eggs one at a time until smooth & creamy. Sift in the flour, baking powder & bicarb, mix well, then finally mix in the chocolatey mixture.

3. Divide between 2 sandwich tins & bake at 180c/GM4 for around 20 minutes until well risen & springy to the touch. Leave to rest for 5 minutes, then tip out onto a rack to cool.

4. Whip the cream with a tablespoon of sugar, then stir through the ground coffee. Use the cream to sandwich the cakes together, I had enough to also cover the top, then sprinkle over the remaining spiced cocoa.

It smelt amazing when it was cooking, a fabulous mix of chocolate & spice. Guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow to hear what everyone thinks! I'm not a fan of goodbyes, so instead this is my 'see you later' cake. So 'see you later' team, it's been a blast. I just hope they like cake at my new company? Till next time, Rebecca x

Marmalade cupcakes for Paddingtons Birthday!

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 16:14:00 +0000

Did you know this week it was Paddington Bears birthday? Well one of his birthdays, as like the queen he has two, Christmas Day & 25th June! What was one of Paddingtons favourite foods...yep marmalade, et voila this weeks recipe Orange Marmalade Cupcakes. Ok so this is a bit of a tenuous link but it's been on my list to try for a while & this seemed like a good excuse!

The recipe is also from Cox, Cookies & Cake, the book I featured a few weeks back. They are a lovely soft buttery cake with a tangy tast of marmalade, topped off with orange butter cream & a final dollop of marmalade if they're not orangey enough for you already!

So Happy Birthday Paddington (I do realise my excuses to bake cakes are getting a little ridiculous!), here are a few facts you may not know about the bear from darkest Peru...

- The first item to pass through the channel tunnel when the UK broke through to the French side was a Paddington Bear

- The first Paddington Bear book, 'A Bear Called Paddington' was published in 1958. The book series has gone on to sell more than 35 million copies & have been translated into 40 languages!

- 9 different artists have created their own vision of Paddington, but he is always seen with his duffle coat, hat & wellies.

I loved these marmalade cupcakes, they're a great addition to the repertoire, if you want to try them yourself, just add around 3 tablespoons of marmalade, the zest of an orange & a good dash of OJ to a basic vanilla batter. Then add some orange zest to a vanilla butter cream, yum! Till next time, Rebecca x

Our Limited Edition Marmite Paddington, he lives in our fruit bowl!

There's a corgi on my cake!

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Thu, 31 May 2012 19:59:00 +0000

A short post from me this week as I just wanted to share this creation with you, my Jubilee Victoria Sponge! I'm still having problems getting my Victoria Sponge to rise properly, they never seem to work as well as other cakes I make...not sure why? Anyway, this one was one of my better efforts, topped off with some fab decorations from Not On The High Street. I've since seen the same kit in Waitrose, so it would be great if you're stuck for something to take to a Jubilee party this weekend.

There's a cut out of Buckingham Palace, some bunting, the Queens carriage, union jack flags, Her Majesty & Prince Philip, two Guards & a couple of corgi's!

So whether you're celebrating the Diamond Jubilee or just looking forward to the extra long weekend, I hope you enjoy it. I for one, will use it as an excuse to eat cake! Till next time, Rebecca x

Very very chocolately cookies from Cox Cookies & Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Tue, 22 May 2012 18:53:00 +0000

Over the last few years as my baking habit has grown, so it seems has my collection of cook books, most of which I have very gratefully recieved as gifts. I love looking through them for inspiration & to drool over the pictures, but if I think about it, it's not that often I actually choose a new recipe from a book & try it out. I have my staple recipes that I pretty much know off by heart, then the rest is a series of experiments, some more successful than others!

So I've decided to branch out, broaden my repertoire & try out at least one new recipe from each of my books. The first is from Cox Cookies & Cake, a collaboration beween baker Eric Lanlard & the designer Patrick Cox. The book is a technicolour spectacular divided into themed chapters, my particular favourite is the Styling Cupcakes section. Although where one is meant to find a beach bum mould & skin-coloured edible paste I have no idea, (Cheeky Cupcakes on page 100 if you get a chance to look at the book!)

Easing myself gently into this somewhat eccentric cook book, I decided to make double chocolate & marshmallow cookies, the Man Cakes (page 108) will have to wait for another day.

They really should be called Choc as much choc as you can into a cookie cookie. They have melted chocolate, cocoa powder & chocolate chips in them, topped off with a good drizzle of melted marshmallow. The texture was quite cakey rather than crunchy cookie, but oh my god they tasted good! Next on the hit list for this book is the Orange Marmalade Cupcakes, it's worth a look if you want some more unusual ideas & if anyone knows where I can find a torso mould let me know :-) Till next time, Rebecca x

If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:49:00 +0000

So what are rules? One of the dictionary definitions is 'the customary or normal circumstances, occurrences, manner, practise, quality etc' Essentially we go through life following these types of rules, work hard at school, work hard at university, find a good job, be loyal & work hard at work, working hard is a somewhat recurring theme.

But what happens when you don't want to follow these rules anymore?

This is not a tale of epic proportions or of great significance, it is a simple story about going against the grain & following your gut. I have a nice job, I work with a lovely team of people, I like the products we make, but ultimately I have been doing the same thing for years & I've grown bored...so bored I've actually had visions of throwing my laptop across the office & flouncing out in dramatic style. I appreciate you may be thinking, stop whinging, do you not know we're in a recession, you're lucky to have a job! But as most of us spend more time at work than with our families, should we have to accept being unhappy at work?

So what did I do?

I quit my job.

I have no new job.

Ooops!

Or as the response of most people I've told has been, wow you're brave, r.e. crazy woman, do you not know we're in recession yada yada yada...

It wasn't a rash decision, (unlike someone I know who shall remain nameless who posted a resignation letter through their boss' door at 10pm then never went back!) I have thought of nothing else for weeks. However the relief I feel having now made my choice is unreal, even my work colleagues have noticed a difference, which makes me wonder just HOW uptight & unbearable I'd been at work?

My gut was telling me it was time to go & bugger me it's probably right...again! This isn't the first tricky (slightly reckless) decision I've ever made, when I was 20 I left a good job to go back to uni & complete my degree, when I was 27 I left my first marketing job with no where to go. At the time there were people around me who said I was making bad decisions that I would live to regret. One particularly supportive boss suggested as a result of my decision I would be, & I quote 'unemployable'. Both worked out fine & led me to where I am now, so at 33 making another significant change, I just have to trust that there's no reason why it won't be ok this time too.

So to the title of this post, it's a quote from Katharine Hepburn, 'If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun'. That kind of sums it up for me, I haven't followed the rules, this isn't what people expected me to do, but I'm excited for the future, it's fun not knowing what is coming next. I feel like a cloud has lifted & after a stress induced baking hiatus, Ive even made some cookies!

The moral of my story, follow your gut & don't feel you have to do what people expect of you. For me, it's onwards with the job search! (I'm an experienced Group Brand Manager with strong commercial experience in case anyone is wondering!?) That said with 5 years working for a coffee brand, there's always Cafe Nero or maybe I'll finally get round to opening a cafe of my own? The world is my lobster! Till next time, Rebecca x

Make your own Sushi in the Shire

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 20:18:00 +0000

Oops...so somehow it's been nearly 8 weeks since I last posted, I swear it was only a week ago, sorry. I'm back to share with you the latest foodie experiment from the Shire!

One of our favourite cuisines at the moment is Japanese. I love all the fresh flavours & simple dishes that don't leave you feeling full of stodge. There's a great place in Windsor & it was during one of our recent visits that the fated words how hard can it really be to make sushi? were uttered! So in blissful ignorance, with a shopping list compiled with help from our friend Google, we set out to buy our ingredients. Three supermarkets later we eventually found what we needed in Waitrose.

We decided on 3 different fillings for our sushi, sweet chilli chicken, sesame salmon & grilled tuna with mango. Granted I'm not entirely sure how authentic these fillings are? To start with you have to cook the sushi rice & leave it to cool, then stir in a couple of spoonfuls of mirin & rice vinegar, which we already had in the cupboard. So far so good! We cooked the strips of sweet chilli chicken, thinly sliced a fresh salmon fillet then marinated it in a little sesame oil, pan fried a tuna steak until just cooked then sliced it & finally chopped a mango into small pieces trying to avoid ending up with a bowl of puree.

With all our ingredients ready, it was time to start construction...

First up you place a sheet of Nori, dried seaweed onto the rolling mat. For the observant among you, yes our mat was the wrong way round on the board...you can see where this is heading!

Next spread the rice over the nori, getting it as close to the edges as you can.

Spread the filling over the rice...by this point we realised the mat was the wrong way round for rolling! Then you use the bamboo mat to roll it all together into a rather unattractive looking green sausage which it ready to be sliced into rolls.

Now through this photo montage you'd think it was quite straight forward, but far from it! You have to try to keep everything in the roll, make it even & tight enough so it doesn't just fall apart when you slice it...oh & wrapping your own finger in it probably doesn't help! So the end result, drum roll please....

Not too bad eh? It's not going to win any beauty awards but it tasted good, we served it with the traditional pickled ginger, wasabi & soy. Chopsticks proved problematic, the sushi pretty much collapsed in a heap when picked up. Sushi scooped up with a spoon is probably not how the Japanese intended! It was fun to make, if not a little frustrating & definitely not easy. It's going to take a lot of practise before I'm ready to let it loose on anyone else. For now I think we'll resort back to Misugo in Windsor for our sushi. Has anyone else had a go at making their own? I'd be interested to hear how you got on & if you have any tips for me? Till next time, Rebecca x

Hunk a chunk of choccy love!

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:59:00 +0000

I'm not one to get swept away in the commercialism of Valentines Day (that might sound strange coming from a marketeer!) I find it a bit overwhelming the variety of items that are Valentinised all in a bid to 'get us in the mood'. How slapping a few hearts & flowers onto a standard supermarket product is meant to do that I just don't know? That's not to say that I ignore the day, but I'd rather make something myself that feels more personal & special. As is the case for most occasions, I usually bake!

Last year I took part in a Forever Nigella challenge & tried out her recipe for Love Buns (still makes me giggle!) Click here to take a look back at that post.

So keeping with the competition theme, this year I was invited by Baking Mad to go head to head with 14 other bloggers. The challenge was to create my ultimate Valentines treat, using a minimum of 3 ingredients from a mystery box of goodies I was sent.

Where to start? What to bake? Cake? Biscuit? Brownie? Cupcake? Arrghh...too many options! Then inspiration struck me! Now bear with me on this explanation, I'm not even quite sure how exactly my brain worked it's way round to this...

I was listening to my ipod on shuffle, the Elvis track Burning Love came on. If you're not familiar with it, at the end of the song there is a section that goes, 'hunk a hunk of burning love'. My head was singing 'hunk a chunk of burning love', which made me think of chocolate, which lead me onto Rocky Road...et voila, this weeks recipe! In honour of it's inspiration I have named it,

Hunk a Chunk of Choccy Love

The ingredients I selected from my ready steady cook style package were:

A large bar of chocolate
Chocolate heart sprinkles
Giant white chocolate snowies
Pink shimmer balls
Dark chocolate melt & squeeze topping
White chocolate letters

To these I also added:

150g unsalted butter
200g shortbread biscuits (bashed up a bit into chunks)
50g sultanas
50g glace cherries
1tbsp golden syrup

1. Melt the butter, chocolate & syrup together. Stir in the bashed up biccies & fruit & stir well until all combined.

2. Line a dish with baking parchment, pour in the mixture & press down firmly. Leave in the fridge to set for 20 mins.

3. Melt the topping & spread evenly over your base, decorate at will! Pop back into the fridge to set fully.

I didn't leave mine to set for long enough before adding the topping, so some of the butter from the mixture rose up through the topping, making a bit of a mottled effect on the top. Hasn't effected the taste at all, but you might be able to see from the picture it meant the top looked a little uneven.

When it was set solid, I took the slab out of the dish & paper, wrapped it in fresh baking parchment & tied it up with a ribbon!

What I really like about this (other than it's delicious chocolatey biscuity loveliness) is you can cut a chunk as big or as small as you fancy & it lasts for ages in the fridge. It's not like cake that I feel compelled to eat as soon as possible to avoid it going stale!

Hope you like it? I'd love to hear if you have your own homemade Valentines day treats. Thanks to Baking Mad for the ingredients for my recipe. Happy Valentines Day! Rebecca x

Aspirations of living the Good Life

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:39:00 +0000

One of the best things about our new house is that after nearly 4 years living in an apartment, we finally have a garden of our own. With this come aspirations of transforming myself into the Barbara of Eton Wick & living the Good Life! Now our garden isn't exactly spacious so realistically it would barely generate enough produce to sustain a family of Borrowers so I don't think self sufficiency is in our reach just yet. That said we want to try & grow some of our own veg so we did start looking this week at what to plant when.

Our little patch of land...it's a work in progress!

It was this search that brought me to the Eat Seasonably campaign site & a really interesting little gizmo that I thought I'd share. The Eat Seasonably calendar is an interactive tool that shows what's in season when. So for this month it's all about leeks & savoy cabbage. I must admit it's quite enlightening & makes you think about the amount of food miles we must be clocking up to get all produce all year round. Looking at the calendar I realised there's no need, there's an abundance of stuff available right here on our little island. Guess you just need what to look for? Sorry if this sounds a bit obvious, but it was really a bit of an epiphany for me & I'll definitely be paying more attention to the origins of my fruit & veg.

Finally in other news....you may remember over Christmas I ran a Hotel Chocolat competition. Well I'm happy to announce that my lucky winner was the lovely Lisa @cookwitch who has received her chocolate & after showing immense self control by simply admiring the packaging for a while, finally got stuck into it, congratulations! Till next time, Rebecca x

Afternoon tea with Macaroons from heaven!

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:04:00 +0000

I have to travel quite regularly for my work, 99% of the time it's either to Belgium or Holland. I think I've tried pretty much every sweet treat they have to offer, waffles, chocolate, stroopwaffles...mmm I love stroopwaffles. Anyway it made a nice change that I had to travel to Paris a few weeks back. Sadly I didn't get to see much of the city as the office is based in what I can only describe as the French equivalent of the Slough trading estate! So there I was kicking my heals around Charles de Gaulle airport feeling rather unfulfilled with my Parisian experience when I landed on a branch of Laduree!

I had read about Laduree & oggled over pictures of their beautiful multi-coloured macaroons, but had yet to make it to one of their London stores. With an hour to kill before my flight, I stepped in side & set about the challenge of choosing just 8 flavours. I settled on...

Coffee
Salted Caramel
Blackcurrant Violet
Pistachio
Rose
Black Forest
Colombian Chocolate
Raspberry

I carefully (and proudly) transported my macaroons home & stored them safely in the bottom of the fridge as advised.

Now it didn't feel quite right just to crack open the box & scoff one down with a mug of tea, so I held my first afternoon tea in their honour!

Tea from a proper pot, sandwiches with the crusts cut off, little cheesy tarts & some homemade scones (which were actually a bit of a disaster & went out for the birds, nuff said!) The macaroons took pride of place on the top of my cake stand.
In the spirit of sharing, each macaroon was cut up & shared so we could all taste all of the flavours. (must of looked quite ridiculous to an outsider, me carefully dissecting a macaroon no bigger than a 50p!) Clear favourite was salted caramel, pistachio not so much. They are not an everyday purchase at 15.90 euros for a box of 8, but they are a real treat & true indulgence. The insert in the box explains that the Laduree pastry chefs combine almonds, eggs & sugar before adding the final ingredient, a pinch of 'know how' Wouldn't we all love to get our hands on a tub of that? Till next time, Rebecca x

Getting out of a lunch rut with DIY veg pots!

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:12:00 +0000

Sorry that it's a bit late, but Happy New Year everyone! We moved into our first house just before Christmas, to say that it's all consuming is a bit of an understatement. I haven't had much time to cook properly & as for baking, well lets just say that me & my new oven are still getting to know one another! It's quite scary that you only view a house a couple of times then put in an offer to spend the most amount of money you're ever likely to spend. Once you get in you realise that maybe you were originally looking through slightly rose tinted glasses. Don't get me wrong I love our new house, but once it's stripped of all contents only then do you see it warts & all. It's these unexpected (slightly costly!) warts that have led me to the creation for this weeks post.

I find winter lunches a bit of a nightmare, salads just don't cut it in the cold, sandwiches are ok but not everyday & since Christmas I think I've eaten enough soup to fill a paddling pool! I really like the look of all the new types of veg & stew pots available in the supermarket, but at £3-£4 a pop they hardly make for a frugal lunch?

So with a mountain of tuperware at my disposal I thought I'd create my own 'Hodge Pots'! I made 2 different types, but the great thing is they both start with pretty much the same base ingredients. We have...

Rich Ratatouille with Cous Cous

Chilli Bean & Quorn Sausage Stew with Rice. I'm not a veggie, but I like these quorn sausages as they're low in fat, high in protein & not as rich as meaty ones.

For the ratatouille you need:

1 onion
1 pepper
1 aubergine
1 courgette
Handful of chopped mushrooms
Squeeze of garlic puree
Can of chopped tomatoes
Veggie stock cube & a dash of water
Squeeze of tomato puree
Handful of chopped basil
Plain cous cous made up with veggie stock

Roughly chop all the veggies & fry with a little olive oil & garlic until soft. Add the tomatoes & puree, stock cube, water & basil. Mix well & allow to simmer for around 30 minutes until the veggies are lovely & soft & the sauce has thickened up. I layered the ratatouille in a pot with the seasoned cous cous.

For the Chilli bean stew you need:

1 onion
1 pepper
1 courgette
Handful of chopped mushrooms
Squeeze of garlic puree
6 quorn sausages, chopped into chunks
Can of mixed beans in mild chilli sauce (I use Sainsbury)
Can of chopped tomatoes
Veggie stock cube
Squeeze of tomato puree
Mild chilli powder to taste

Again, start by roughly chopping all the veggies, then fry with a little olive oil & garlic until soft. Add the tomatoes & puree, stock cube, beans with sauce. Mix well then taste the sauce, I added an extra 2tsps of mild chilli powder to give it a little more kick. Cover & leave to simmer for around 20 minutes. This one I layered in a pot with cooked rice.

Both are delicious, warming & filling for winter days & by my reckoning work out at around £1 per pot - bargain! Let me know if you have a recipe idea for a lunch pot? Till next time, Rebecca x

P.S. As well as a new house, we also have a new addition to the family....completely gratuitous video of our new cat, but I hope it'll raise a chuckle on a dull January day :-)

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas - with a Hotel Chocolat giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:56:00 +0000

Hello all, it's 1st December today, so I can officially start to think about Christmas! Not that I've had time to think about much else over the last month, not wanting to do things by half I've moved both house & office. But now everything is pretty much sorted it's time to focus on the festivities.

I was very excited to have the chance to be part of Hotel Chocolat Christmas campaign. I'm already a big fan of their chocolate, in particular tiddly pots & cherry deluxe....mmm! So when I was asked if I would like to sample one of the products from their 2011 Christmas range, I didn't need to be asked twice.
I chose a selection of Winter Dessert chocolates which included Apple Strudel, Chocolate Souffle, Christmas Mess & Caramel Pecan Pie. They are definitely chocolates to be savoured & utterly delicious. I preferred the souffle & pecan pie choc's, but that's just because I like darker chocolate. My mum, who I shared them with (it was more than my life was worth not to share!) loved them all, but she has a real sweet tooth. They would certainly make a lovely after dinner treat to enjoy with coffee & if you have guests, I'm sure you could entertain yourselves trying to guess the flavours. You may be surprised how like the dessert they actually taste!

Other things that have caught my eye from the range (family & friends take note :-) are tiddly caramel penguins & mulled wine cherries but really there's just too much to choose from.
I did think it a little bit mean just to write a post about me getting to try some delicious chocolate, so I have an early Christmas treat for you! I have another box of the Winter Dessert chocolates to giveaway to one lucky reader. All you have to do is take a look at the full Hotel Chocolat Christmas range & leave a comment telling me which treat you would like to find under the tree this Christmas.

You can also email your entry to rebeccabakescakes@hotmail.co.uk

Entries need to be in by 23:59 on Wednesday 7th December 2011. Winner will be chosen at random with the help of a random number generator!

Good Luck! Rebecca x

If you want to find out more about Hotel Chocolat you can follow them on Facebook & Twitter

All pictures courtesy of Hotel Chocolat

Bangers and some rather gruesome looking mash!

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:48:00 +0000

Evening all, I've stopped laughing just about long enough to bring you this post! My dinner tonight was quite possibly the most ridiculous looking thing you've ever seen so here it is in all it's glory! It's all down to my latest discovery, Purple Majesty Potatoes grown by UK spud farmer, Albert Bartlett & bought from Sainsburys. Their natural purple colour is down to these particular spuds being high in anthocyanins, the same thing that gives blueberries & red cabbage their colour. This makes them rich in antioxidants & lets face it we all know they're good for us (even if no one I know really understands why??)

It was really tasty although I have to be honest, eating purple mash might take a bit of getting used to. They'd definitely make a great Halloween tea! Or, given they turned the water a bright shade of turquoise, might prove quite useful if tie-dying were ever to make a come back! Have a good evening, Rebecca x

Chocolate week, baking week, is there any week that isn't a week, cookies!

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 18:14:00 +0000

Hello. You may remember a few weeks back was National Cupcake Week, in honour of which I created some peanut butter & jam cupcakes. Well I posted a piccie of said cupcakes on the Baking Mad Facebook page & ended up winning a pack of orange flavour buttons which I probably got a bit too excited about. If you're not a fan already I'd recommend joining, they often run giveaways & competitions. The Baking Mad website is also worth a look for all things related to baking & cupcake making!

So they are the inspiration for this weeks recipe, which I created to celebrate both Chocolate Week (last week) & Baking Week (this week) It never ceases to amaze me the number of 'weeks' we actually have, although I feel there's a critical one missing. I think we absolutely have to have a 'National Eat Crisps Week' where every meal has to be accompanied by a potato based snack! Who's with me??

The orange buttons are made from cocoa butter & made a great cookie topping, I also added some natural orange essence to the cookie dough mixture to create the perfect chocolate orange cookie.

100g unsalted butter
140g caster sugar
1 egg
140g SR flour
25g cocoa powder
2tsps natural orange essence
Pack of Silver Spoon orange flavour buttons

1. Cream the butter & sugar until light & fluffy, then beat in the egg gradually until you have a lovely smooth batter.

2. Sift in the flour & cocoa powder & fold together, finally add the orange essence.

3. Place small dollops of cookie dough onto a baking sheet, add some buttons to the top. Don't worry it they look a bit squished, they'll spread out when the cook.

4. Bake in the oven at 180c/GM4 for around 10-12 minutes. Leave to cool completely & crisp up.

Looking at the finished article they would probably be quite good for a Halloween party if you were that way inclined? As my friend pointed out, there were a few of them that ended up looking like something out of the Mighty Boosh, google it, you'll see! Enjoy, Rebecca x

Fruit tarts - made with a little help!

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 19:43:00 +0000

Ok, so lets get the obvious out of the way...what is up with the weather!? It's usually around this time of year I'm dusting off my boots, adding an extra layer & wondering whether I really can get another season out of my coat? Instead, yesterday I was in shorts, barbecuing! I for one was very confused by it all. Anyway it was this impromptu BBQ that led me to making this dessert which I wanted to share with you.

Summery desserts in October - what's going on?

I was plodding around the aisles of Sainsburys looking for dessert inspiration when I came across their new range of chilled dessert ingredients. Ready made pastry, compotes, ganache, creme patisserie & the like. Now I make no secret of the fact that I can't make pastry, I always blamed it on the fact I have hot hands, but recently I was told that it could in fact be related to my hormones! Apparently the level of oestrogen you have in your body effects your ability to make pastry...I'm not sure that's ever been medically proven, or if it's simply an elaborate old wives tale, but I'll take it as an excuse!

So, grateful for a helping (non hot, low oestrogen) hand, I picked a pack of ready rolled dessert shortcrust pastry & a pouch of creme patisserie. I was given a set of individual loose bottom tart tins for Christmas, so this was the perfect opportunity to try them out & make yummy fruit tarts.

I lined the tins with pastry & in the absence of baking beans prodded the bottom with a fork to stop it puffing up, then baked them for around 12 minutes. When they'd cooled completely I squished in the creme patisserie then topped them with sliced pineapple, grapes & strawberries.

As much as I consider myself a scratch cook, there are some things that I look at & think why bother when the convenient version is so good. The fruit tarts were absolutely delicious & at 45p per tart (excluding fruit which I was buying anyway), they were excellent value for money. Have a good week & enjoy the sunshine while it lasts! Rebecca x

As if I need an excuse to eat cake....it's National Cupcake Week!

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 20:12:00 +0000

It seems pretty much every day or week in the year is dedicated to some food group or another, to the point that it's getting a little bit daft. I mean Caesar Salad Day & Split Pea Soup Week, really? One of the more sensible events is National Cupcake Week which runs until this Friday, the ambition is to celebrate bakers creativity & passion, supporting & promoting local independent bakers as well as teaming up with some of the bigger boys of the baking world to raise money for CLIC Sargent. Hurrah for Cupcake Week I say! I never need an excuse to eat cake, but I've needed to find some fresh motivation to get back into my baking...consider me re-motivated.

So this was a complete experiment! I wanted to try & combine two of my favourite flavours in a cupcake, peanut butter & jam, or jelly if you're from tuther side of the pond? I don't normally keep peanut butter in the house, purely for the reason that it tends to disappear quite quickly, from jar to spoon to my tummy! I used my basic cupcake mixture as a base & gradually built up the flavour using crunchy peanut butter to add some texture. For the jammy bit, I made a light & fluffy butter cream flavoured with strawberry jam.

For the cakes
250g butter
3 eggs
275g caster sugar
350ml natural greek yoghurt
1tsp vanilla extract
100g peanut butter
450g plain flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
2tsps baking powder

For the frosting
150g butter softened
250g icing sugar
Dash of milk
2tbsps strawberry jam

1. Melt the butter in a large bowl, beat together the eggs, vanilla & sugar then add it to the melted butter, stirring well. Next mix in the yoghurt, then add the peanut butter.

2. Sift in the dry ingredients & fold together. Spoon into paper cases & bake at 180c/GM4 for around 20 minutes. Lift out & leave to cool while you prepare the frosting.

3. Cream together the butter & sugar with a fork until smooth & creamy. At this point I switch to a spatula to mix in dash of milk to loosen it up a little. Finally beat in the strawberry jam until fluffy & a gorgeous shade of pink.

4. Frost your cakes as you wish, mine always look a little rustic! For the larger cakes I topped them with a chunk of a Reeces Peanut Butter Cup!

The little star shaped cakes I made using some silicon moulds which were a pressie for my birthday. I was always a bit sceptical about silicon bakeware, but they worked really well, the cakes popped out really easily & they washed up a treat...think I might be a convert?

So what's the verdict? DELICIOUS! The saltiness from the peanut butter in the cake is really balanced by the sweet sticky jam in the frosting. It's got me thinking about other combinations I could have a crack at....any ideas, please share, always up for a challenge :-)

Hope you enjoy what's left of Cupcake Week. Eat cake! Oh & if you were wondering Caesar Salad Day is July 4th & Split Pea Soup Week is in November, might give that one a miss? Till next time, Rebecca x

A Delicious menu to get me back in my foodie groove!

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:51:00 +0000

Do you find every now & again you suddenly get hit in the face with the fact that you're on a bit of a treadmill, seeming to do a lot & not much all at the same time? Well that's exactly what happened to me at the weekend! I feel like order has been lost & chaos reigns in my life at the moment. It's a scary reality to realise your stable diet for the last month has pretty much been cheese on toast, marmite spaghetti or, & I'm quite ashamed to admit this, Heinz ravioli eaten cold straight from the tin! With everything feeling so chaotic, I'd lost my enthusiasm for food, which is not like me at all. It was time to take stock & get control back - I do realise there is a risk that this post will appear to make me look like a control freak....I'm not I promise :-)

So I dusted off my pile of Olive & Delicious magazines that had accumulated still in their wrappers & set too looking for fresh inspiration. It always makes me hungry reading these mags, so I fuelled up with one of the few remaining things in my kitchen, a bowl of Coco Pops Rocks, (good grief it's not getting any better is it???) & marched off to the supermarket.

I'd decided I was going to cook dinner for my Mum, so patched together a menu from the July issue of Delicious. I wanted to share my creations with you in a bid to get myself back into my foodie groove & spur me on to do more.

To start I made Traditional Andalusian Gazpacho soup which was taken from Rick Stein's Spain book, complete with homemade croutons. It was the first time I'd made croutons & honestly, once you've tried them you'll never go back, dead simple to make too!

Main course was taken from the same Rick Stein feature, Lamb-stuffed aubergines with Moorish spices & manchego cheese, which I served with a green salad. Manchego is one of my weaknesses it was completely delicious paired with the lamb & succulent aubergine.

For dessert I chose a Fig & Raspberry tart which was yummy served warm with creme fraiche. It had an almond base so turned out a bit like a really posh bakewell tart.

The result was a big success! I've had a look around the wonderweb, but haven't been able to find any of the recipes, sorry :-( That said based on the dishes I tried, Rick Steins book could be worth a closer look.

So I'm feeling part way back on track, my fridge is full of fruit & veg & I'm actually cooking again! I'm feeling the restorative powers of having blogged & can feel the healing foodie vibes coming back at my from the blogsphere! I just need to sort out a hair cut, some exercise, tackle my paperwork, the mound of ironing & we're all good. For now, yours, a slightly more organised Rebecca x

p.s. I only have to look after me & get overwhelmed at times, Mum's & Dad's I don't know how you do it!

The most glorious cake I think I've ever eaten!

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 09:49:00 +0000

August has been a really busy month, but thankfully I've managed to have a couple of days off to celebrate my 30-somethingth birthday this week! As a treat we ventured down to Brighton to take in some sea air & to visit Bar du Chocolat on Middle Street. If you're not familiar with it, Bar du Chocolat is part of the Choccywoccydoodah family. It would be impossible to even try & explain the amazing cakes they create, so instead I'll point you to their website, I'll guarantee you'll be drooling into your keyboard. We went for afternoon coffee & cake, & it was absolutely glorious!

I enjoyed a slab of dark coffee cake, served with a generous drizzle of melted chocolate & vanilla ice-cream.

Mum opted for sticky ginger cake, served with drizzled melted chocolate, raspberry coulis & vanilla ice-cream.

It was absolute cake heaven, I'd thoroughly recommend popping in if you're in the area, just maybe pass on lunch first! Till next time, Rebecca x

Boozy Barefoot Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Rebecca) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 08:43:00 +0000

Increasingly I am being approached by companies to receive samples of their products, I have to admit it gives me a touch of the warm & fuzzies that someone has read my blog & wants me to try out their stuff! That said I am quite fussy & have probably said thanks but no thanks to more offers than I have accepted. (One day I might build up the courage to share the most random offer I have ever received!) If it's an exciting new product or a brand with a unique point of view, then I will usually say yes. What I promise to you is that I'll always be honest when I have received a product to try & I will always give you my honest opinion. Policy statement over :-)

It seems one of the big baking trends at the moment is using alcohol in recipes, so when Barefoot Wines sent me a cupcake recipe using their new Moscato, I thought I'd see what the fuss was all about? I had to convert the recipe to metric from cups & sticks, but the quantities seemed to work out ok.

For the cakes
120g butter
225g caster sugar
2 eggs
60ml milk
60ml Barefoot Moscato
1tsp baking powder
200g plain flour
Pinch of salt

For the frosting
250g mascarpone
500g icing sugar
2 tbsps Barefoot Moscato
1tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate sprinkles for decoration

1. Cream together the butter & sugar until light & fluffy, gradually beat in the eggs then the wine & milk until you have a lovely smooth & creamy batter.

2. Sift in the flour, salt & baking powder & mix until all combined. Line a 12 hole bun tin with paper cases & divide the mixture evenly. Bake in the oven at 190c/GM5 for 14-18 minutes until well risen & just turned golden on top.

3. To make the frosting, beat together all the ingredients until smooth. I found chilling it in the fridge until ready to use made it a little easier to handle. When the cakes are completely cooled, top with frosting & some chocolate sprinkles.

The result is a lovely fluffy, buttery cake, I can't honestly say I can taste the wine, but it certainly adds a certain something to the flavour. Enjoy with a delicious chilled glass of the left over Moscato, well you can't let it go to waste can you? If you're inspired to try out cooking with wine, have a look at the Barefoot recipe archive.

Before I go I just wanted to share one other thing with you. Barefoot Wines began in California in 1965, their ethos 'there's no point in doing well if you're not doing any good' is evident in the number of community projects they are involved in. I was especially interested in their Barefoot Friendly Beach Rescue Tour. I grew up on the beautiful North East coast line & cannot imagine why people would want to spoil it by dumping rubbish on it. The reality is they do, so Barefoot have teamed up with Surfers Against Sewage to encourage volunteers to come along to beach clean up events. Click here for more details of this great initiative.

Till next time, Rebecca x

Tynemouth Sands - Barefoot Friendly Beach Rescue Tour visits on 26th August