A Weekend of Baking...Chocolate and Raspberry macaroons

Since trying these tasty little delicacies in a Ladurée shop in Paris, it has always been a wish of mine to bake them myself. The soft crunch of the shell, the slightly gooey but fluffy interior and a delicious filling all add up to a little piece of heaven, so as I had some time off over Easter I decided to give them a go. My uncle had bought me the Ladurée recipe book one Christmas, and armed with that recipe, I thought what could possibly go wrong!

I started by drawing out my macaroon sizes using the smallest cutter I had. Draw on the back of the greaseproof paper then your macaroons won't taste like pencil lead!

The first step is to blitz group almonds and icing sugar in a food processor until they form a fine powder. I didn't know icing sugar could get any finer but apparently so!

The next step is then to sieve the mixture to get rid of any large lumps of almond that may remain. Once you have done that your icing sugar and almond mixture is ready, called a 'tant pour tant' apparently (Answers on a postcard as to why please!)

The next part needs to be done quickly, so whisk the egg whits until they're frothy, then gradually mix in the granulated sugar for a minute after each addition. Fold in your sugar and almond mixture and you're ready to pipe! Make sure you have a big enough piping bag to fit all of the mixture at once or use two. I was slightly over zealous and tried to fit all the mixture in one and some of it rather oozed over my hand (and a little on the floor but we'll skim over that...!)

I bought a macaroon mould from Lakeland a little while ago, so I decided to test it alongside my greaseproof paper piped ones. I was very proud of the consistency as it was thick enough to hold its shape and was lovely and glossy. I think the greaseproof paper ones may have been a little large, but who doesn't like large ones of anything baked!

The macaroons were rising nicely in the oven and developed 'feet' as described which I was very proud of. The macaroons on the silicone tray looked lovely and glossy, however unfortunately the ones on the greaseproof paper did crack, but I was prepared to let that go being my first attempt.  

I took them out of the oven after their allotted time and left them to cool on the rack. I poured a little water under the greaseproof paper onto the hot baking tray as apparently the steam helps the macaroons lift off from the paper more easily. 

And that's when I stopped taking pictures...!

I don't think I baked the macaroons for long enough as all of them were very gooey and refused to come away from the silicone or the greaseproof paper! In fact I had to abandon all hopes of those beautiful little domes and had to resort to scraping them away with a palette knife, they were not pretty. They are current residing in a box in the kitchen to be snacked on when fancied. They may not be pretty but they're definitely delicious! I shall be trying these again, so keep your eyes peeled for more attempts in the future that will hopefully look better.

Easter Baking...Chocolate cupcakes and Key lime pie

As is the tradition at Easter, we all overindulge on chocolate a little, but when it's in cupcakes it doesn't matter...right? 

I decided to make some chocolate cupcakes to give to my neighbours, and used a recipe that I have used before, so I know how good it is! I ordered some two compartment cupcake boxes and decorated each cake with an egg or a fluffy easter chick (Unfortunately those aren't edible!) and a hand-stamped tag. 

For Easter Sunday lunch, my mum requested a Key Lime Pie which I was really excited to get stuck into. I love strong citrus flavours, especially refreshing with a hint of spring in the air, and with a recipe from a Waitrose magazine I got started. 

The recipe had crushed ginger nut biscuits (I had forgotten how much I liked those!) and butter for the base, baked in the oven until golden. The filling comprised of the zest and juice of 6 limes, a can of condensed milk and 4 egg yolks whisked together. When I put the filling into the pie and started to bake it I was worried that there would be a similar issue to the baked cheesecake experiment, but it firmed up beautifully and cut perfectly. I decorated it with rosettes of whipped double cream and lime slices, and it was the perfect dessert to a delicious leg of lamb. 

It may be tempting to bake your key lime pie in a traditional flan tin to get a nice fluted edge, but for ease of shape and to make sure that it came out properly, I used a metal pie tin which made it much easier to press the biscuit mix up the sides of the tin to create an even layer

A Weekend of Baking...Raspberry and white chocolate muffins and Marmalade muffins

To pass the tine on a rainy Sunday in March, I decided to make two new recipes, Raspberry and White chocolate muffins and Marmalade muffins.

I love raspberries but I am not a huge fan of white chocolate, so I was interested to see how the sharp sweetness of the raspberries would take some of the sickly sweet of the white chocolate away. The key to muffin batter is not to over mix it, otherwise the finished product will be stodgy and dense, if there are flecks of flour when you put them in the oven, don't worry, these will disappear. The raspberry and white chocolate muffins had raspberry puree (mashed raspberries!) and white chocolate chunks in the batter and then a whole raspberry and a large chocolate chunk on the top. When baked these took on a lovely golden brown colour and gave a great taste to the chocolate. I was a big fan of the muffins and think I will definitely make them again. Plus for once, the recipe said it make 12 muffins and it actually made 12 muffins, which hardly ever happens!

The marmalade muffins on the other hand I had a slightly different opinion about! This was a very wet batter which made them very moist, but the taste wasn't what I expected. Each muffin had a teaspoon of marmalade in the batter, however during baking it sank to the bottom and was then difficult to scoop off the paper. Billed as a healthier low fat muffin, I think I will stick to the tastier but maybe slightly naughtier versions in the future. I have a few more healthier breakfast muffins that I want to try, and will of course report back on the results.

If you want to try the muffins, you can find the raspberry and chocolate muffin recipe here and the Marmalade muffin recipe here

Pompom garland

Spurred on by my recent craft purchases, I decided to start simple and make a pompom garland. I made about 18 small pompoms in three different colours and then strung them together on a long piece of wool, securing it at the end with another pompom. After leaving a long tail on the first finished pompom, I tied the yarn to an elastic threading needle (If you don't have one, get one. They come in useful for so many things!) to the end and threaded the pompoms together using this. An elastic needle has a rounded end which doesn't snag on anything which is perfect, as with a normal needle, the sharp pount would go through the yarn and pull the individual threads out. 

 

In the future I may use a double thickness of wool to thread them on, as that many pompoms is fairly weighty, and I think that if it was to get tugged at any point, it may not be strong enough.

For now I have displayed it above the DVD shelving on the way down the stairs, as it was looking a little bare since I took down the sparkly bower from Christmas with just the hooks left in the wood. However I was pleased that I did leave them there, as they allow me to change the accessories throughout the year. I also had some lovely grey filligree hearts that were bought form me as a present which looked very cute hanging underneath the garland. 

A Weekend of Baking...Ginger and Lemon Drizzle Cake

This year I asked my dad what he wanted for his birthday cake, to which he answered, something ginger with no chocolate. Now this to me is a conundrum, ginger and chocolate go so well together! What to do! So I did some research and found a Lemon drizzle and ginger cake, which basically is a ginger cake with lemon drizzle, filled with lemon curd mixed with diced stem ginger and a cream cheese icing filling. It was deliciously moist with a great flavour. The lemon hit you first then the heat from the ginger in the lemon curd, followed by the ginger in the cake and finally the cream cheese icing to finish it all off. It was the perfect way to round off a delicious meal, so much so that everyone took some home so they could have some more. 

The drizzle had zest mixed in with the sugar and juice, which added a lovely lemon crunchy crown to the top of the finished cake.

Tip: Cutting drizzle cakes in half is always a challenge as they are heavy and prone to breaking. Make sure that you use the longest knife you own and try and cut through in one stroke. If you do have to rotate it and go through from different angles, try and keep it level or you will end up with a bit of a mess in the middle. A cake lifter is also a very handy tool at this juncture as it will help you to lift the cake in one movement. Two hands can go wrong as when you pick it up, the cake can break in the middle and you will end up with a half in each hand, not a good look!

A Weekend of Baking...A Trio of cakes

I was asked to make a trio of cakes for a Birthday, and odly I was looking forward to making something familiar and not decorated and designed to the nines for a change! Sometimes it's nice to strip a cake back to what's underneatch and produce something simple and rustic, but still gorgeous and delicious.

 

Victoria Sponge Cake - Filled with vanilla buttercream and fresh strawberries and finished with a fresh strawberry and a dusting of icing sugar

The brief was for a Victoria sponge and two loaf cakes, one of which had to be lemon and poppyseed and the other was left to my decision! I decided to go for a Mocha marble loaf cake that I made for my dad's birthday one year. It has a mixture of vanilla and coffee chocolate sponge mixtures with chocolate chunks, and a white chooclate ganache topping. I had never made a lemon and poppyseed cake before but Nigella offered the answer. To a basic Madeira cake mixture I added extra lemon zest and two tablespoons of poppyseeds. I wasn't sure what they would add to the taste of the cake, but from trying  little bit of the batter, it seemed to give a nutty flavour to the cake. Once it had cooled I made a basic lemon icing and drizzled it over the top, which I thought was a nice contrast to the tempting long crack accross the top.

Front: Lemon and poppyseed loaf cake with lemon icing

Back: Mocha marble loaf cake with white chocolate ganache icing and cocoa powder

A tip when making white chocolate ganache is to mix some butter in with the chocolate and cream, as this will help it to set. White chocolate ganach takes a long time to set in comparison with it's milk and dark chocoalte versions. Ideally make it the day before you need it and put it in the fridge to harden, otherwise you will have a very runny liquid that is impossible to pipe or spread and will not stay on anything! Mine had reached a thick pouring consistency, and although the cake was completely cool the ganache still dripped down the sides (Which I quite liked!) I put the cake somewhere cool overnight and by the morning the dribbles had hardenend up sufficeintly to be able to transport. A light dusting of cocoa powder was all it needed to finish it off.

Craft goodies!

Just after Christmas I treated myself in the sales to a selection of crafty bits to get me motivated and inspired in the new year. Today the last of my purchases arrived, so I can finally start on my various projects, some brand new, and some that have been a little while in the making and planning.

My craft shopping list included:

• Pompom makers (4 sizes)
• Wool in various colours to make the pompoms with
• Gold bells
• Cream bows
• Bias binding in various colours
• Heart shaped wooden buttons

I have lots and lots of ideas buzzing round my head, so watch this space for updates on how my projects are coming along.