Rainbow cake

Hello there

A very quick post to tell you about the rainbow cupcakes my daughter and I made today. It was a practise session for the birthday cake she'd like to have. To find the recipe itself, go to my pinterest board and in the baking ideas you'll be able to click back to the recipe. It's really easy  other than when you put the mix into the cupcakes, as that's quite fiddly. Try to ensure that your mixture drops from the spoon when picked up, as it needs to be easy enough to move around within the cupcake cases.

I used food colour pastes for the first time and the intensity is far greater than the liquids I've used in the past; which is just the ticket for this rainbow cake. We had fun in a 'new to us' shop looking at a whole range of baking and crafty stuff. The shop is called Wyndsor's in Warrington. There's a little cafe there too but that was shut at 4.30 when we got there. It was also a shame that the staff weren't particularly helpful yet there seemed to be loads of them but none even said hello.

 

Maggie pointing out that she's also wearing
her colourful hand made tie-dye
t-shirt, so in keeping with the theme

 

 

Take care out there

 

 

 

Lemon meringue pie - not cake!

Hello there

Now then. Should I start this post in a very confident tone or not?... mmmm.. not sure that's wise after my last 'lemon' adventure. In the oven as I type is a lemon meringue pie. It's got about ten minutes left to bake. Fingers crossed I've got this right.

I have to give a big thanks to my friend Jane who saw my last lemon post and took pity on me. She gave me a copy of a recipe from a very old (1976 published) Marks and Spencer book. That's the recipe I've used. Hey, that's handy! If it has all gone wrong, I can blame Jane!! Works for me! :-)

Poses are always necessary with Maggie :-)

Everything went smoothly on the whole, other than Maggie and I getting in each other's way regularly. We had to nip to Asda whilst we waited for the pastry to rest as I don't have a flan dish nor enough eggs. I've gone through quite a few eggs this week.
















The moment of truth has arrived. It looks fine although I'd rather it was more golden. We did have caster sugar sprinkled over the top and the oven was on 140c as instructed. I turned it up after the set time to 165c for ten minutes but still no golden. I could do with one of those gas burner thingies which chefs use at times like this.

We'll see what it actually tastes like at tea time.

Take care out there.

Date of writing = April 3rd 2012

Lemon meringue cake - not pie!

Hello there
Yes, I've been baking again. Well, I have to really. I'm practising making this today with the idea that I can make it again next week for friends who are coming here for dinner. I had intended on making lemon meringue pie but couldn't find a recipe in our books, so I chose this as it looks yummy in Nigella's 'Feast' book.
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I wrote that paragraph yesterday- March 31st 2012.

I'm writing this section, post baking. The good news is that I made my own lemon curd for the cake. No it isn't an April Fool's joke :-) The smell of lemons was very refreshing throughout the house and I did feel a sense of achievement as I think it turned out well and is really very easy.

My attempt at an 'arty' shot which is hard when the windows aren't
exactly spotless and the fence there is falling down closer to the house :-) The rock is
a dessert rose, Chris bought back from Morocco this month.

It's now post the baking and there's not any good news about the cake I'm afraid. I took loads of photos at each stage, with the intention of doing a photo heavy post but I'm not going to bother. The sponge in the middle didn't cook properly, so I suspect I needed to put the oven on a lower temperature and cook it for longer. It's a sandwich cake with meringue on the outer and sponge in the centre, sandwiched with lemon curd and cream.
Chris's daughter eat a good slice, bless her and said she'd finish it off. I just didn't like the mixture of sponge with meringue.

They can't all be winners although Nigella clearly has success with it and likes it.
Sufficive to say, I won't be making this next weekend. I'll probably end up buying something in as I want to make something much more fun for the meal. View my next posting for details :-)

Take care out there