New Blog Site

I know I rarely use this one, but there is a new blog starting up at our new venture - http://www.zenbaker.co.uk/

It is the start of what we hope is a beautiful, holistic baking business - the stuff we make and sell is local, wholesome and traditional.

On the new website we are preparing a new blog which covers the philosophies behind why we have chose to do this, along with thoghts about where the business, and more importantly, the food should go next.

Please take a look, subscibe, rant, feedback and enjoy.

The Evolution of the First Birthday Cake

It was my daughters first birthday last week and we had a little get together for family and friends. In the days leading up we did a bunch of baking and cooking, and of course, the centrepiece of any birthday is the cake.

So here is the walkthrough of Maya's cake - it was my first crack at decorating with Regal Ice, and apart from some mild cracking hiccups and going mad with cake glitter, I reckon it turned out quite well ;)

This was carved out of a 12x9 inch basic sponge traybake. I made a template out of a piece of paper and cut around it when the cake was cool, leaving as much cake as possible. Basically it was cut through to fit as much cake as possible on the cakeboard.

Smeared with jam and rolled out the Regal ice. If you make any kind of mistake with Regal ice you can dab some water on it and rub out the mistake with your finger. Do it lightly, but the icing wll bind together. Its very forgiving stuff.

Once the icing was done, I fitted a ribbon around, and again it is sealed with a dab of water on the back - this glues the ribbon to the icing without any marks. Genius, huh?

I got some cheaty little flowers from Hobbycraft already made. A little dab of water on the back and then stuck all over the cake. Place them out the way you want then before gluing in place.

Canny! I finished by cutting "Maya" with letter cutters into icing and decorating the board.

And now for the alternative, ugliest but lovely tasting birthday cake -

This one was for the ice cream ;) Malteaser cake.

Its Brownie Time

Im doing a half batch at the request of my hubby. Havent made them in a while, so will let you know how it goes.

The oatmeal raisin cookies are waiting for the brownies to finish using the oven.

I need a bigger kitchen.

Pics to follow.

So far this is the chocolatey-ist thing I have ever made. I am calling it The Chocolate Obscenity. Its just that chocolatey.

Double chocolate fudge cake with dark chocolate butter icing, choc chips and dusted with....thats right, chocolate.

It didnt last long. Especially because Jayne arrived with a look of intent destruction so intense that I feared for my life if I stood between her and the cake.

Happy drools everyone :)

Apple cake revival

Its in the oven. Last time it was a total disaster - I am blaming the fact that I didnt have the right size tins and the whole thing just would not cook right.

I have a new tin.

If it goes wrong this time then its on my head ;)

I will keep you posted.

Malty Overload

Been having a wonderful time making malt cakes. Made a huge cupcake one for a friends birthday the other day and it was so good I decided to make a pure chocolate cake last night and dress it with malt icing.

Thats after a batch of little malt cupcakes were made and decorated too.

Goes best with very, very, VERY strong cawfeeeee!

Its been awhile...

But there you go. Time gets away from me, especially at the beginning of the year.

I am starting the cycle that begins with little seeds and ends up being lots of food today.

Been out into the garden on a wonderful, bright and warm afternoon and planted up the seeds for broccoli, celeriac, tomatoes, various lettuces, spring onions, leeks, sage and lemon coriander.

Its a start of what will go into our allotment. This year it looks like the allotment will be soley for me and my hubby rather than for us plus my Mam and her partner. So it will be a bunch more work, but it will be worth it. Lots of fresh, wonderful fruit and veggies that can be cooked and baked into some gorgeous things.

I love Spring.