Baking up a Storm

Ooofff sorry I’ve been so busy over the last few weeks, what with starting a shiny new job and trying to find  a new flat I’ve hardly had any time to make or do anything else!

This weekend has been my first spent at home in weeks! There has been weddings, 30th Birthday’s  visits to Lincolnshire as well as lots of other things have kept me busy and living out of a suitcase!

I’m exhausted! But, exhausted I may be, I am very bad at sitting around doing nothing! Today has been spent catching up on alterations I owe people and a sudden desire to bake! I have once again delved into my wonderful Christmas present of the Leon Baking & Puddings book and decided upon having a stab at Bread making.

Following their recipe for a loaf using spelt flour, olive oil, seeds and pine nuts I decided to substitute spelt flour for some wholemeal flour which I happened to have in the cupboard and also added sesame seeds and golden linseed to the mix. This is the first time since I was a little girl, baking with my mum that I’ve even tried baking bread and was surprised about how easy it was and there is massive scope for trying out new recipes with different seeds, nuts, fruits, herbs and spices!

I’m currently waiting for the loaf to cool down so I can try a slice or two!!!!

Scrummy Yummy Homemade Granola

My darling little brother bought me a cake stand and Leon’s third cook book “Baking & Puddings”...I think he was dropping a massive hint that I should be baking more…so here goes the first attempt at a recipe from my new cookery book.

I love breakfast, it’s pretty much my favourite meal so I thought I’d start with attempting to make my own Granola. I’ve followed the method of the Leon recipe “Our Favourite Granola” but I’ve amended the Ingredients slightly to suit my tastes and you can do the same if you want to try it for yourself!

Ingredients (Makes around 1.6kg)

600g Rolled Oats

50g Sesame Seeds

60g Pumpkin Seeds

60g Sunflower Seeds

50ml Maple Syrup

100ml Sunflower Oil

250ml Runny Honey

50g Dark Brown Sugar

50ml Water

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

A Grating of Fresh Nutmeg

A Pinch of Sea Salt

100g Sultanas

100g Sliced Dried Apricots

50g Dried Cranberries

50g Sliced Dates (I found in Co-op some delish Organic Deglet Nour dates by “Natural Selection”)

50g Dried Figs

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 150c and line a couple of baking trays with greaseproof paper. *TIP* If you screw the greaseproof up in a ball and spread it out again it will make it much more easy to handle and fit into any shaped and depth baking tin or tray.

2. Mix the oats and seeds together in a large bowl and leave to one side. In a saucepan mix together the maple syrup, honey, oil, water and sugar; put this over a not too high heat and whisk well until everything is nicely melted and combined together. *TIP* Before measuring out the sticky honey and syrup, measure the oil out first in a jug. You’ll find the sticky stuff sticks much less with a slight coating of oil in the measuring vessel.

3. Take the mixture from the heat and add the nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla and stir well and pour into the dry oaty mix, stirring well to make sure everything is nicely covered. Spoon the mixture into the baking trays and spread out evenly, pop in the oven for 1 hour

4. Take the trays out of the oven and turn the mixture over and break it up into chunks with a spoon or spatula, ensure its spread out evenly. Turn the oven down to 140c and bake the granola for another 35ish minutes. Take out of the oven and leave to cool before stirring in the dried fruits.

I just had to add a picture of the fruit, they look like jewels or something…yummy chewy breakfast  jewels!

Keep it stored in an airtight container and it should last for a few weeks at least! It’s super yummy with milk and yoghurt with some fresh fruit!

Morgy’s Marble Cake Recipe

I have a had a request or two asking for me to post my marble cake recipe I used to make the Iceberg Cake so here goes! I love Marble cakes they remind me of being a kid and baking them with one of my Granny’s, there is always an air of mystery about them too because until you actually cut a slice out of it you don’t know what it’s going to look like!

This recipe is for a monochrome, chocolate & vanilla marble cake, but you can use any food colourings you want, if you want to make it with three or four colours just split up the batter accordingly and chuck in your food colouring!

Ingredients :

225g softened butter plus extra for greasing

225g caster sugar

225g self-raising flour

4 eggs

3tbsp milk

1tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp cocoa powder (i like using Green & Blacks or good old Bournville) or a few drops of food colouring if you want a multi coloured cake

Method:

1. Pre-Heat the oven to 180c and grease with butter either a 20cm diameter cake tin or pair of sandwich tins. Line the base of the tin(s) with a circle of greaseproof or baking parchment.
2. Cream together the softened butter and sugar until light coloured and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time ensure they combine well, add the vanilla essence.
3. Next sift in the flour a couple of spoonfuls at a time adding some or all of the milk to make a smooth batter.
4. Once the batter is ready separate out half of the mixture into a separate bowl, (if you are planning to make a 3 or 4 coloured cake separate the batter evenly into 3 or 4 bowls) sieve in the cocoa or add the food colouring into one of the halves and mix thoroughly.
5. Next you need to spoon blobs if the batter in both colours randomly around the cake tin(s) until all the batter is used up and is evenly distributed. Gently flatten out the batter with the back of a spoon or spatula so it fills all the gaps, next tap the cake tin(s) firmly on a flat worktop to get any air bubbles out.
6. Take a skewer or fine bladed knife and gently swirl the different coloured batters into each other, be careful not to over work this stage or the colours could all mix together, when using lots of different food colourings it can result in a bit of a grim sludgy colour…so less is definitely more!
7. When you’re down swirling stick them in the oven for 20mins if using sandwich tins or 40mins if using one tin, make sure to keep an eye on the cake as different ovens work at different speeds
8. You will know the cake is done if it is risen and the center of the cake springs back when pressed, or use the skewer method sticking it in the centre, if it comes out clean it’s done, if it comes out with uncooked batter on it, stick it back in for a bit longer
9. When the baking is done leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool fully before decorating and eating with a nice big cup of tea!

If you have a go at this recipe i’d love to see a picture of your marbled cake!

 

 

 

Iceberg Ahoy!

My flatmate Ange loves Penguins and it was recently her ahem-30th Birthday…oh no I mean 25th…err anyway I love baking Birthday cakes for people and trying to incorporate as much as I can into them to make them personalised to them. I had bought some achingly cute Penguin shaped candles and settled on attempting to create some kind of Iceberg cake to place them on.

I’ve not baked many shaped cakes in my time, so this was a bit of a challenge. I started by baking a chocolate and vanilla marble cake, in two sandwich tins. I chose marble cake in the hope it would give the appearance of rocks under the snow when it was cut into.

Next I chopped the cakes into angular…rock-ish type shapes and stacked them up in a icebergy way, cementing them together with piped buttercream icing

I then plastered it all over with more buttercream as a sort’ve glue for the icing. For this cake I used ready to roll Royal icing, which I rolled out and “draped” over the cake, moulding it into the rocky cakey crags as I went. This was the trickiest part of the project and I had to work really quickly and luckily only stuck my finger through it once.

Then I trimmed of the excess icing…

Finally I, with Blue icing, iced waves all around the base of the cake and stuck on the penguin candles!

TA DAAAH! Happy Birthday Miss Pink!

oh and the marble cake idea sort’ve worked, when you cut into it, it does look a bit like rocks…a bit

Holiday Spoils!

After a 1000 mile round trip I have finally returned to my little East London flat, I wouldn’t quite say I had a restful Christmas Break but it certainly was lovely to see many of my family and friends.

Mine and Johnny’s epic journey started with no journeying at all, we stayed in London for Christmas Day along with my flatmate Angela. We had a tremendous “Wanstead Family Christmas Day”, making sure of course we ate and drank until we could no longer move! On Boxing Day we set off for the cute little village of Bassingham in Lincolnshire where my mother lives, then down to Cornwall for a couple of nights to see the rest of my family. Johnny’s family live in Sittingbourne in Kent, this was our next stop and as we were in the area we went to visit a big group of our friends that live in and around Rochester, ending in a very, very late Pre New Years Eve night out!

Hungover but happy we headed to Lower Halstow where our friends Tim & Amy live, for ACTUAL New Years Eve with a few of our close friends, indulging in several bottles of my specially infused for Christmas, Cinnamon Vodka. Awesome in both White Russians and with Apple Juice! We saw in New Years Eve in a messy but positive style and as tradition dictates a EPIC CHALLENGE FOR 2012 is set, this is a task set that you need to achieve within the year (it has to be creative or of an self-improving nature). My task is to produce a 6 outfit collection with a Retro influence, I’ve already bought myself a new sketchbook and am working on a few rough ideas and it’s only 2 days in! Anyway there will be more about this in the coming weeks and months I have no doubt.

For now here’s a little selection of my Christmas and New Year Photos…. I’ve not got a picture of it yet, but I did get a Slanket (which I am currently wearing) it’s not the most glamorous of garments but sure is snuggly!

Belly pork with all the trimmings for Christmas Lunch

A Present from Johnny - Hendricks and a teacup to drink it from!

A present from Angela - Sailor Jerrys-tastic!

Johnny and Young Stan in the jumpers they got for Christmas

ok ok I get the hint...I need to Bake more in 2012!

in the Nags for Pre NYE drinkies!

Oh Yeah and I bought this for myself from the Collectif sale.....

Chained to the Oven

Morning Ladies & Gents,

For those of you who actually had to go to work today and haven’t had the day off (jammy gits) I hope you enjoyed the quite empty underground carriages like I did this morning. I got a seat straight away, in fact I had a choice of seats! Lovely!

This week, as I’m sure most of you have been, I’ve been rather furiously trying to get myself organised in the presents department for Sunday. I have been getting to know my oven really, really well over the last few days and have produced what I think is borderline mass production of Christmas baked goods for my nearest and dearest.

I only burnt myself once! Which is actually pretty good going for someone as clumsy as me!

I’m also a little sad because for quite some time my kitchen counter has been graced with the presence of a classic Kenwood Mixer, in fact it’s just the same as the one my Gran had when I used to bake with her as a little girl. This Kenwood is not actually mine, it belongs to my good friend Rohini the writer of the smashing blog The Beat That My Heart Skipped among other things. Her and her fiance had to move a while a go to a place with a much smaller kitchen and there wasn’t room for the mixer so I happily to charge of it until they eventually moved somewhere bigger. Sadly that day is drawing closer as they’ve just bought themselves a gorgeous Art Deco apartment in Wanstead, it is actually just across the street from where they currently live, I fear Roh will want her Kenwood back soon. But looking on the bright side a shiny new mixer will be going on my 2012 birthday wish list!!

So far from the Kitchen of Morgan I have produced hundreds of yummy Gingerbread Angels & Stars. These are made from a really quite special recipe that I received from a total stranger called Becky….that’s rather a contradiction…. hang on let me explain, she was the person who sent me my Curiosity Project Box that I rambled on about in my last post and through the wonderous-ness of social networking she tracked me down on twitter ( @amberbewrong in case you didn’t know)

I’ve also attempted Cheese Straws for the first time, these are made with Gruyère and Cheddar and sprinkled with Cumin Seeds. According to my boyfriend Johnny, who loves a cheese straw or two, they are “humbling” which I think is a good thing….Next up was another first, Shortbread. With these I added some lemon zest to the mixture, without sounding to big-headed I think they taste really quite awesome. I was incredibly proud of how well they came out! I think Johnny, who’s now become my resident food critic as of today, agrees as he describes them as being “unparalleled in the modern age”… i think he’s attempting to be funny.

Still to come in the Christmas food making saga is Pesto Palimers and a Swiss Roll Ice-cream cake. That’s going to be the Christmas Day Dessert, it’s one of Lorraine Pascale’s recipes from her show Baking Made Easy. Then of course there is the Christmas Day Lunch, luckily there will be three of us (me, Johnny and my lovely flatmate Angela) to deal with all that! We are all rather excited about our London Christmas!

WHOOPIE PIES

Is anyone with me and feeling a little bit over heavily buttercream iced cupcakes?  I can’t deny I do love a cupcake but a little overwhelmed my the excessive sugary, icing up your nose and on your face in various colours…… I’ve found an excellent replacement to the icing on the face, it’s crumbly chocolatey-ness all over the place in the glorious form of a Whoopie Pie!

On one of my many un-thrilling trips to Luton to visit clients last week I happened to buy a copy of the Times…i skimmed the endless analysis of the election, straight to “the table” section to become unbearably excited by the appearance of a Whoopie Pie in an article by Huma Qureshi.

The Whoopie Pie has been around for decades in the US, invented in the 20′s by Amish housewives using up leftover cake batter, and has recently witnessed a resurgence of popularity. I couldn’t wait to get home and bake them!

I think my first attempt was pretty good…even though each one came out a different size (note to self must work on portion control) they were…and i’m not too modest to admit it…..AMAZING! light crumbly cake and not too sweet cream cheese icing….GOOOOORGEOUS!

try them yourself there’s a step by step instruction on the Times website

Tea & Culture

this weekend my mum has come to visit and i had a lovely day rich in culture planned for saturday. First stop the Royal Academy a first visit for both of us! We almost spent as much time in the lovely gift shop as we did look through the rooms!

My favourite momment was seeing this little toddler so overwhelmed with excitement at seeing their warped reflection in Anish Kapoors “Tall Tree & the Eye”

i also fell in love with the beautiful gilt mouldings of the Fine rooms!

Next stop was Liberty, which is my favourite & best looking place to shop, this was a first for my mum so we made sure we covered every floor, including the Christmas Shop (one of the best christmas shops i’ve seen, especially for jars of old fashioned sweets). Of all the beautiful & delicate decorations i took a snap of these…..

yes actual puppy baubles…. these i am quite sure will end up on mine & Miss Pinks christmas tree this year. Both of us have an awful soft spot for ridiculous tackyness!!

After exhausting all the floors we ended up in TEA for a scrummy lunch & beautiful rose bud tea served in Silverware by Liberty of Londons original designers.

next we were off to see a play, to see my fab costumes, the Lark hopefully the official shots will be up soon for you all to see!

oh yes & here’s my mum’s cat Cath the Ginger Mitten who has also come to visit & pester us all for cuddles

xoxo

TEA!

” i believe that it is customary in good society to take some light refreshment at five o’clock”

Oscar Wilde – the Importance of being Ernest

 

“we had a kettle; we let it leak:
our not repairing made it worse.
we haven’t had any tea for a week…
the bottom is out of the Universe.

Rudyard Kipling

 

i love a cup of tea, which comes as no surprise to many people i know, at uni i lived with many other such tea drinkers & we had to buy in bulk for all the cups of the stuff we went through!

i have become a slight tea snob of late, i blame the pants typhoo they insist on having at work. i think’s made my tea tasting buds over sensitive, so i’m only ever happy with Assam for everyday & earl grey when i need to sit quietly with a book or my sketchbook….. but then there are all the odd special occasion ones i pick up on tea shopping trips, (yes i go on tea shopping trips) Cinnamon, White tea & coconut, intensely orange/red Rooibos great with milk or without, jasmine, russian caravan, mad tasting Lapsang Souchon (which i was once told smelled like the Jorvik Viking Center) and the best ever peppermint by TeaPigs in wonderful little chiffon pyramids!

sorry where was i going with this….. oh yes every great tea lover, every now & then loves a trip to a pretty tea rooms for afternoon or high tea, which is the treat i have in store for me on saturday. well the treat is not only for me it is mainly for my darling mummy, who is coming to visit from the cold icy north. I have just discovered she has never graced the doors of Liberty’s…. yes SHOCKING i know!  So i am taking her to TEA on the ground floor as a tasty treat!

the inital reason i am Liberty bound is for a fabric forage for my latest commission, i am very excited about the prints i have already seen on the website

 

ohhhh i am so excited already

 

xoxo

guerilla ice cream

whilst shoe shopping for Sebbinty’s feet we stumbled across what is currently happening in the Ultralounge of Selfridges…a guerilla luxury ice cream parlour by the Icecreamists called “god save the cream”. live bands, patent leather armchairs, it looks like a very trendy bar from the outside but all they serve is icecream!

this is what i had…called “name of the Rose” as you might be able to guess it tasted like roses! weird but delish!

this is someone having a “god save the cream” made for them, an icecream cocktail made of baileys, whiskey, cream & frozen in front of your eyes using liquid nitrogen then served in a golden goblet! it was ridiculously theatrical, but i loved it!

xoxo