Feeling sheepish...

Ok, so Easter was a dismal weekend and the weather finally broke... on Tuesday, in time for work. But this is not going to be another post droning on about the prosaic
English climate; yep it's another one about cakes!
I decided to make the sheep cupcakes (as pictured below) as they looked cute and spring-like…my resulting cakes looked less cute and more psychotic. To be fair, I was at a distinct disadvantage to begin with when I was unable to track down any black icing with which to create their joyful little faces – I probably could have done had I travelled further afield but I wasn’t about to spend my time off scouring the country for it. Anyway, I decided that I could do just as good a job if I melted some plain chocolate and sculpted the faces myself…this may have been my first mistake – I am certainly no artist! To make matters worse the icing did not thicken to a hard enough paste, and (to my horror) when I piped the lovely wiggly coat on my beautifully risen cakes it just melted and covered the bun like snow on a Swiss mountain. Not to be disheartened I soldiered on and placed the sheep heads delicately on top…but given the liquidity of the icing they slid slightly and made the sheep look lopsided. I figured once the faces had been given some animation with eyes and mouths all would be rectified – once again though I was completely deluded. One was described, by my darling fiancé, as the cousin who has been locked in the attic…which I think was slightly harsh – they weren’t abnormal, just special. Though they did inspire him to make a short film that even Hitchcock would be proud of, complete with death metal soundtrack – seriously, a cross between Black Sheep and The Birds.
Despite their slightly demented appearance the cakes were very tasty and I was (eventually) very proud of them. As the box is finally empty I’ll assume someone enjoyed them, unless of course they escaped… :-S

Pictures may follow, although I am loath to expose myself to ridicule - voluntarily!

Easter Treats

I was slightly disheartened to learn that the forecast for the Easter weekend is less than desirable – I figured I’d be enjoying my garden...possibly with a cocktail or two in hand. But alas, the good old English weather has come up trumps again and we’re in for a soggy time - though I’m more than happy to be proved wrong! Anyhoo, it’s not going to stop me enjoying the luxury of a five-day weekend (oh yes people, I tagged an extra day on because four just isn’t enough!).
So in the absence of the sun I’m going to do some more baking. I recently found a recipe for some woolly sheep cupcakes...how fabulous do they look?! I appreciate that my sheep will probably look slightly more retarded than these but they look jolly good fun so I’ll give them a go anyway. Why is it when you’re trying to be good and maybe lose a few pounds you end up finding all these recipes that just have to be tried...?

Summer days...

Summer officially arrived at the weekend and since the sun is shining outside I wanted to bring some of that to my blog... which seems to have taken on a strangely yellow hue recently - what with all the talk of custard. I will consider therapy, but for now will delight in the knowledge that the light nights are on their way, along with evening strolls to the pub... especially since the good people of Bicester have seen fit to re-open one of the good ones - hurrah!

It has also been decided in our house that we should have a sunflower growing competition this year, this was due to the discovery of a free packet of seeds and not, you'll be pleased to hear, a lengthy and well articulated discussion (as that would have ended pretty swiftly after I confess my lack of gardening expertise). Anyway, if it all ends in disaster and we cannot look out onto a display of beautifully cultivated flowers I'm sure we'll manage to chuckle at our pitiful attempts.

Rhubarb & Custard Cake

Another one from Good Food Magazine (May), I love getting home to find my new copy has been delivered - I spend the next few hours salivating over the pages! Luckily I could still read the following recipe...

For the roasted rhubarb:
400g rhubarb
50g caster sugar

For the cake:
250g butter, softened
150g pot ready made custard (not the chilled kind)
250g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g golden caster sugar
icing sugar, for dusting

Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Rinse the rhubarb and shake off the excess water. Trim the ends, then cut into little-finger-size pieces. Put in a shallow dish or a baking tray, tip over the sugar, toss together, then shuffle the rhubarb so it's in a single layer. Cover with foil, then roast for 15 mins. Remove the foil. The sugar should have dissolved, so now give everything a little shake, then roast for 5 mins more or until tender and the juices are syrupy. Test with a sharp knife; the rhubarb should feel tender, not mushy, and still have kept its shape. Let it cool completely.
Butter and line a 23cm springform cake tin. Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Reserve 3 tbsp of the custard in a bowl. Beat the rest of the custard together with the butter, flour, baking powder, eggs, vanilla and sugar until creamy and smooth. Spoon one-third of the mix into the tin, add some of the rhubarb, then dot with one-third more cake mix and spread it out as well as you can. Top with some more rhubarb, then spoon over the remaining cake mix, leaving it in rough mounds and dips rather than being too neat about it. Scatter the rest of the rhubarb over the batter, then dot the remaining custard over. Bake for 40mins until risen and golden, then cover with foil and bake for 15-20mins more. It's reeady when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in the tin, then dredge with icing sugar when cool.

Custard Cupcakes

Makes 12

Ingredients:
100g custard powder
200g softened butter
2 eggs
4 tbsp milk
140g caster sugar
100g self-raising flour, sifted

To ice the buns:
150g icing sugar
hundreds and thousands, to decorate

Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4 and place 12 paper cases into a muffin tray. Beat the custard powder with the butter, eggs and milk, then stir in the sugar and fold in the sifted flour. Spoon into the paper cases.
Bake for about 20 mins until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool completely.
Mix the icing sugar with about 3 tbsp water to form a thick paste. Cover the tops of the buns with the icing, then decorate with hundreds and thousands.

This recipe was from the March issue of BBC Good Food magazine.

Custard dreams...

For reasons unknown, yesterday I had custard on the brain and, having decided I wanted to do some baking I ransacked my books and magazines for inspiration... I decided upon Custard Cupcakes and Rhubarb & Custard cake. Now, anyone else might realise that this is a lot of custard - however, it didn't seem to cross my mind until I was up to my elbows in the yellow stuff! There's nothing better on a Sunday afternoon than spreading custard and hundreds & thousands all over the kitchen...
Thankfully all went swimmingly and the cakes went down well with my other half, I suspect his lunchbox may contain a cupcake or two today! As for me, I was pleased with my efforts, even if the word custard has now lost all meaning to me (as I suspect it has for any readers too!).

Recipes to follow...