Red Velvet Ancient Egyptian Mummy Cake {Halloween}

Halloween is almost upon us! Tis the season of ghosts and goblins and candy! This was the inspiration for this month’s Clandestine Cake Club. Having recently taken over the organisation of the Reading group I was happy that a few old faces showed up! Just because I love Halloween doesn't mean everyone else does so I made the theme Halloween/Bonfire Night/Autumn.

I stuck with Halloween, because as I mentioned I love it. A red velvet cake seemed approiate. The only question was how to decorate it? After the debate vampire or ghost I went with a mummy. Not a mother mummy, but an ancient Egyptian dead one.

Also the reason I went with a mummy as it was going to be super easy. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again I’m no cake decorator so keeping it easy is how I roll. Took out my piping bag and had a look through my nozzles took the one that looked most flat like and used it to pipe bandages across the cake in all different directions.

Please don’t ask me which nozzle I used because I couldn’t tell you! I can tell you that I used a tried and tested over and over again red velvet cupcake recipe. Straight from the original the hummingbird bakery cookbook. It’s one of those books that’s super reliable and would recommend to anyone.

This cake is great for any Halloween celebration! Or a monster movie marathon!

Red Velvet Ancient Egyptian Mummy Cake

60g unsalted butter, at room temperature
150g caster sugar
1 egg
10g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp red food coloring gel
½ tsp vanilla extract
120ml buttermilk
150g plain flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1½ tsp cider vinegar

Heat the oven to 170°C before buttering a 7 inch round cake pan and leaving to the side. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat until it’s fully mixed in. Add the cocoa powder, gel color, and vanilla extract and give it another good mix. First add half of the buttermilk, mix until just combined then add half the flour mixing, again until just combined. Repeat adding the remaining buttermilk, then mix. Add the last of the flour and mix. Add the salt, bicarb, and vinegar and beat until well mixed. Scrap down the sides of the bowl into the prepared cake pan and place in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes. Cake sound spring back when gently pressed and skewer test should come out clean. Leave to cool for a few minutes before removing from the tin and leaving to cool completely before icing.

vanilla “bandage” frosting
250g icing sugar
80g unsalted butter, room temperature
1-2 tablespoons milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 googly eyes

Beat the icing sugar and butter together first before adding 1 tablespoon of milk and the vanilla extract. If it’s too thick then add the other tablespoon of milk, if it’s too soft add more icing sugar until you get the consistency you need to be able to pipe it. Fill the piping bag that has a flat like nozzle with the frosting and pipe a triangle in the middle of the cake wherever you want. Then continue to pipe “bandages” everywhere but inside the triangle. Add too googly eyes by adding a dot of frosting to the backs of each and stick on the cake left bare. Or you could pipe your eyes on. Whatever suits your skill level!

We had some other great cakes: 



Toffee Apple Cake

Chocolate Orange Spider Cake

Spiced Apple Cake

Gingerbread Grave Cake

We met up at the amazing Alto Lounge in Caversham, just outside Reading town centre. It has a homey atmosphere that was perfect for out gathering and the staff were super friendly!

Alto Lounge: 32 Church Street, Caversham, Reading RG4 8AU, England

What's a Party without Cupcakes??

A party isn't a party without cupcakes. Especially a birthday party! My father-in-laws girlfriend threw him a surprise 60^th birthday party a couple weekends ago and of course I supplied the cupcakes!

I went with a crowd pleaser Oreo Cupcakes! I followed a recipe from Love Bakery by Samantha Blears exactly. It’s a go to cupcake book.

It’s been quiet on the blog and it probably will be until the end of the year. I will hopefully be baking a bit more once the girls are off and I have a bit more down time.

I hope everyone else is enjoying the holidays! 

Rainbow Birthday Puppy Chow!!

also known as dog food, Muddy Buddies, Monkey Munch, People Chow, and Doo-Doo Butter Bites

I grew up with Puppy Chow so it can be hard to explain to the British people that it's not actual dog food, but a tasty delicious treat that is more addicting then crack. I did just type that. No other way to describe the fact that it never lasts more then a few hours and how you always regret it later! Enjoy!!

Rainbow Birthday Puppy Chow

350g chocolate milk or dark
1 cup smooth peanut butter
114g (1 stick/ ½ cup) unsalted butter (optional)
1 box (500g) Shreddies cereal (I used Sainsbury’s brand)
icing sugar about 500g I can’t be specific as I just sprinkle it on until I like what it looks like.
3-4 tubes of Smarties or M n M's or another other brightly colored candy/sweet

Melt chocolate, peanut butter, and butter if using together in a non-stick pan. Keep an eye one it, it won’t take long to melt. Then pour cereal into a large bowl. Pour melted mixture over the cereal and stir with a big spoon until covered. Or shake the bowl around a bit. Then pour in a little icing sugar and stir and shake. Make sure you have a cover for your large bowl or use cling film or foil to cover when shaking. Just add icing sugar until desired constancy. Since this is birthday puppy chow I added in a few tubes of Smarties to make it colorful like I did for the cookie jar!! I did see online some use white chocolate (too sweet for me) and add sprinkles to the icing sugar. The white chocolate would allow the sprinkles to show up better. Good idea, but not for me. 

notes: The first time I made puppy chow in the UK, everyone was very confused by the name!!An easy birthday gift is this rainbow birthday cookie jar I recently gave to my friend for her birthday!

Rainbow Birthday Cookie Jar!!

It was my friend Louise's birthday yesterday! We don't normally exchange gifts, but as we meet earlier in the week for dinner (sushi!!) I couldn't show up empty handed! So, of course it's my first thought to bake something.

However she is doing so well on her weight loss journey that I didn't want to sabotage it with a big batch of something that would need to be eaten within a few days. In comes the jar idea! I did look around and found the cowboy cookies in a jar on Bakerella's blog so I went with that. I changed the name to Rainbow Birthday Cookies!!

Here's what I did and/or changed to work for people in the UK (sorry I still used cups!!)

layer your jar in this order 
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup & leveled
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cooking oats
3/4 cup m&ms I used Smarties
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 – 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped



I put a cupcake wrapper to cover the lid and I made my label with an iPad app that I printed off and layered on colored paper.

I hand wrote the instructions which are:

add: 114g butter, soft (1/2 cup or 1 stick); 1 slightly beaten egg; 1 teaspoon vanilla
to make: Pre-heat oven to 180C/350F Pour jar contents into a large bowl, stir to combine. Then beat in butter, egg, and vanilla. Roll into 1 inch balls (walnut size) and place 2 in apart on a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.

I've told her that it's probably best to use within 6 months although I did see some say that her's were good up to a year? Not sure I would push it that long. Baking powder/soda would probably lose their potency.

This was fun and easy to make! A perfect gift!!
Omit the nuts, of course, if the receiver is allergic.

Update: she couldn't wait!
And was kind enough to send me some pictures!!
:0)

Pizza Sugar Cookies!!

My daughter turned 5 on Friday! I can't believe how fast it's gone! I know all parents say that. When I was pregnant I used to get annoyed by all the people who would tell me that it would go fast. Now I'm saying it myself, because it's so true.

To celebrate we let her have her first party. With her birthday so close to Christmas we tended to only have small family parties. People are so busy this time of year I didn't want to add one more thing others lists! First I wanted to throw her a My Little Pony Party or a Winter Princess Party, but most of her friends are boys and we were having it in the house. We are limited to space, so 5 of her friends were invited for a Pizza Party!!

I had all sorts of fantastical ideas of it being the best party ever with the kids making their own pizzas and having hand made aprons to take home as their party gift... I'm glad I chucked those ideas right out of my head!! In the end I bought pizzas and made these delicious vanilla cookies for them to take home in their party bags.

to make: use your favorite sugar cookie recipe!! I used Shauna Sever's Big, Soft Frosted Vanilla Sugar Cookies from her book Pure Vanilla. I wanted them to look like mini pizzas so, I dyed 1/3 of the frosting red. Spread that on first for the 'tomato sauce', then the white on top of that for 'cheese' then used different sprinkles for the 'toppings'!

I asked the kids if they thought they looked like mini pizzas, all of them, but one polite little girl, said no! Ah well, they were still delicious!! Now I have about 7 weeks to decide what to make for the littlest ones birthday! They really do grow up fast!!

note to self: 4/5 year-old's aren't really all that interested in games they were way more happier just playing then when I was trying to coax them into Pizza Bingo or Pizza Darts and Hot Tomato. note to other parents: I hate party bags. They end up in the trash the second they leave your party. Pure Vanilla is available on Amazon UK or US. My views on the book and the Lemon Dream Bars I made from it.

Guy "Forks" Marshmallow Brownies!!

A few days ago I shared with you my thoughts of The Vintage Tea Party Year by Angel Adoree where I said I would be letting you know how I got on with the book.

If my first attempt says anything I know this book is going to be a great addition to my collection. There were a few things that made me decide on this particular recipe. 1. it was Guy Fawkes Night (aka bonfire night)  and 2. Brownies.

I mean really do I need to say more?? After reading the recipe I was very interested by the cinnamon. I love cinnamon. (I love a lot of things please bear with me!) Why have I never thought to add cinnamon to brownies?? I knew I couldn’t waste any time in trying these out.

I think I will be adding cinnamon to all my brownies from now on (not really). Seriously though they were very yummy. More of a ‘cakey’ brownie then a proper brownie, but I’m really not all that picky. Enjoy!!

Guy "Forks" Marshmallow Brownies 

200g (7oz) dark chocolate

250g (9oz) butter, cubed

250g (9oz) dark muscovado sugar

4 eggs

185g (6 ½ oz) plain flour, sifted

35g cocoa powder, sifted

¼ tsp baking powder

2 tsp ground cinnamon

150g (5 ½ oz) marshmallows, mini or chopped

Preheat oven 160C/fan140C/gas3. Line a 20cm (8in) square tin or brownie pan with baking paper.

Melt the chocolate (break it up) and butter together in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Allow to cool slightly.

Place the sugar, eggs, flour, cocoa powder, and cinnamon in a bowl. Add the chocolate mixture and mix until just combined. Fold in the marshmallows.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes until skewer comes out clean.

Allow to cool before cutting

Angel Adoree’s serving suggestion: Cut into 16 bite-sized pieces. Pierce a cocktail fork into the top of half of the bites and arrange in a checkerboard fashion.

I hope everyone has had a fun and safe bonfire night!! 

notes: My thoughts on The Vintage Tea Party Year! Brownie Quest: Definitely would make again! 

The Vintage Tea Party Year by Angel Adoree {book review}

With the party season upon us Angel Adoree’s The Vintage Tea Party Year is the perfect companion for any host/hostess! In the midst of planning my soon-to-be 5-year-old’s birthday party I realize I really enjoy the whole thought process and execution of parties. I devoured this book in one night and dreamt of all the events I can’t wait to celebrate! Armed with all the information in this book party planning will be a lot easier!

With 12 chapters, loosely based on the 12 months of the year, there are plenty of fun ideas to pick and choose from! In saying that it’s not the typical 12-month celebrations you might be familiar with. New Years and Christmas are of course present, but then it’s more based on events that warrant a party. Such as: Hen-Do’s, kids parties, picnics, street parties, Guy Fawkes Night and so on.

My favorite is the Gentlemen’s Tea Party. I so wish Mr. Knightley would let me arrange a tea party for him and his friends! Some how I think it won’t be happening, but that doesn't mean I won’t be using some of the delicious looking treats from this chapter!!

Not only is there a range of gorgeous sounding and looking food, but lots of tips to help your event go off with a bang! The hairstyles are a fun bonus as well. I would never succeed in doing the hair myself, but if I had a little help I might be able to pull it off!

As I write this I am listening to fireworks and I know I will be listening to them all night and weekend long! Guy Fawkes Night is one holiday I have come to love, having never celebrated it until I moved to the UK. It's just the first of many events that deserve to be recognized with a party, better yet a tea party!! Even though we are staying in this weekend it doesn't mean we will be skimping on the food and activities!

I haven’t decided what I will be making yet, but when I do you will be the first to know! What are you doing this weekend? Really I just want to know what you're eating?!? Doesn't matter if you made it yourself or someone else is making it for you! Have a fun and safe weekend! 

links: The Book People; Octopus Publishing Group; My thoughts on Angel Adoree’s The Vintage Tea Party Book, be warned it has footnotes and I talk about my problem for the first time in a public space.

{Team Umizoomi} Milli Cupcakes!! #AugustBreak

Dora Cupcakes!! #AugustBreak

Watermelon Shark!! #AugustBreak

Banana Cupcakes!!

I was never much of a crier, until I had babies… my hormones have been in chaos ever since! So, today I told myself I wouldn’t cry.

I haven’t yet. Maybe I won’t and I will hold all the tears until September when Mini-Baker is off to her “big girl school.”

Today is her last day of pre-school and for their party I signed up for fairy cakes! I made banana cupcakes in fairy cake cases. There is a difference. This recipe would normally make 12 cupcakes I managed 30 fairy cakes!

Now that it is officially summer time, as school is finally done, we need the weather gods to give us some sunshine! I won’t hold my breath! So, if you’re in England and holed up in your house you can make these!!

cupcakes:  

100g unsalted butter, room temp.

175g soft light brown sugar

½ tsp banana extract (optional)

2 (m) eggs, room temp

300g plain flour

½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarb

½ salt

½ tsp ground cinnamon

140ml buttermilk

2 large very ripe bananas, mashed

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas4 and line your muffin tin.
2. Cream the butter, brown sugar, and banana extract (if using, I didn’t) for 7 minutes, or until light and fluffy!
3. Add the eggs one by one, mix for about 2 minutes
4. In a separate bowl mix all the dry ingredients: flour, b.powder, bicarb, salt, and g.cinnamon.
5. Mix into the butter mixture until just incorporated.
6. Add the buttermilk and bananas and mix for a further minute
7. Divide into your paper cases in your lined tin and if you are making cupcakes bake in the pre-heated oven for 25 minutes. If you are making fairy cakes, like I did, only bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. NOTE: be aware that the bananas in the cupcake could cause a toothpick to come out a bit wet so check a few cupcakes!
8.  Out of the oven transfer to a rack and leave to cool before icing!

frosting:

125g unsalted butter, room temp

300g icing sugar, sifted

1 tbsp semi-skimmed milk

1 tbsp clear honey

1. Cream the butter in the mixer until light and fluffy I found this hard, as it wasn’t enough butter for my mixer to mix properly. You may want to use a hand mixer for this icing!
2. Add the icing sugar, milk, and honey and mix for 2 minutes until well blended.

decorating:

chocolate covered banana chips

or

3 small bananas and 12 tsp honey

1. I piped my frosting on, but you could also use a palette knife!
2. I then added a chocolate covered banana chip! The recipe suggests a couple of sliced bananas covered in a tsp of honey (1 tsp for each cupcake) remember if you make fairy cakes you could use less.

I took this recipe from Love Bakery: Cupcakes from the Heart by Samantha Blears

I shared these on Homemade Hooiser's Cupcake Tuesday!!
Button on the side bar! 

Janet made Martha's Roasted Banana Cupcakes if you're looking for an alternative!! 

Cakes fit for a Queen

Mary Berry's Queen Cakes from her book Fast Cakes: Baking made easy-in minutes!

My daughter's preschool is having a Jubilee Party tomorrow and the parents were asked to help supply the feast! Unfortunately Mini-Baker will be unable to attend. Long story, but I couldn't let the other kids down after I had signed up to bring fairy cakes.

When recently flipping through my copy of Fast Cakes (my first ever baking book!) I came upon Queen Cakes. How perfect is that??

So, of course I made them. I realised though after I made them I had completely left out the baking powder so if you make them yours might rise a bit more then mine did! oops. Because of the self-rising flour they were completely fine. Still light and very good.

For the preschool I did a basic icing and tinted it red and used the golden spray I had left over from these whoopie pies to make it a bit royal! :0) I kept the decorations simple as kids are just going to eat them up and not care what they look like!

These really are fast cakes as it's about 10 minutes to prepare them and only 15 minutes in a preheated oven! Also I would say they are perfect for making with kids and you can have your kids decorate them for the Jubilee! If you don't have kids these make a perfect treat for the Jubilee!! Enjoy!!

Queen Cakes: 

4oz (100g) soft margarine (I used Flora)

4oz (100g) caster sugar

4oz (100g) self-rising flour

2 eggs

1 level tsp baking powder

Heat the oven to 400F/200C/gas 6. Have about 18 paper cases in the muffin/bun tin; the number of cases required will vary slightly if the cakes are to be iced or extra ingredients added.

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat by hand for 2-3 minutes or for seconds with a hand held mixer or until well blended and smooth.

Divide between the paper cases and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes until the cakes are well-risen and golden brown. Lift out and cool on a wire rack.

There are a lot of variations you can use with this simple easy recipe. If you want to ice them put a little less batter in the case so it has a rim and it makes it easier to ice. Make up 2-3oz (50-75g) icing sugar with a little water and flavoring. Pour it over the top of the cakes and decorate, as you like. I tinted my with red food dye and sprayed with an edible gold spray.

The official Diamond Jubilee Emblem

The official emblem for The Queen's Diamond Jubilee in 2012 is the winning design following a national competition for children aged between 6 and 14. It was drawn by 10-year-old Katherine Dewar, from Chester.
The official emblem is available, free of charge, for download from this website. (website no longer exists 1.2.2016)