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Raisie Bay

kitchen

My Sunday Photo – 5th February 2017

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Valentines Cake with hearts and flowers

Boo has been pestering me for her to make a cake for a couple of weeks now. She wanted to make it all by herself with no help. Then I was sent a bunch of cake decorations and there was just no holding back Boo. So 9 am yesterday morning she got baking!

Apart from reaching a few things from the cupboard for her and leveling off the cake (Which involves a large knife) I did nothing, she did it all herself and we have the video to prove it!

So here it is, in pride of place for my Sunday photo this week. A gorgeous moist chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream and lots of romantic decorations. All Boo’s work, what a clever girl!

Boo proudly showing off the cake she made by herself
I guess I’d better get her application in for Junior Bake Off!

Photalife

Sunday Snap

Toe Nail Dusted Sweet Cakes recipe

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You asked – I made them…enjoy!

This is a recipe from the Hoxton Street Monster Supplies Cookbook which I am giving away three copies of in my prize draw which ends on 29th November..see widget below for entry.

I asked what my readers would like to me to make from the book and had an overwhelming response for Toe Nail Dusted Sweet Cakes, so here they are.

First though, make sure you have a jar of Truly Disgusting Toe Nail Crumbs in a jar on your kitchen shelf like I do.

Toenail-Dusted Sweet Cakes



“In the past, nose-to-tail -end hunters would source and dismember whole humans – and Toenail Cakes were a great way to use up every last scrap. A full set of fungus-infested toenails was considered a real treat and the original recipe introduced them to the dessert menu. Most tribes now buy pre-packaged joints and cuts, so this updated recipe is for those who don’t have easy access to truly disgusting toenails.”


Ingredients:

  • 125g unsalted soft butter
  • 125g caster sugar
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 250g self-raising flour, sifted
  • pinch of salt
  • 4 tbs milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
coating

  • 400g icing sugar
  • 100g cocoa powder
  • 150-175 ml boiling water
  • 200g desiccated coconut

Method:

Grease an 18 x 25cm cake tin and line with nonstick baking paper
Beat together the butter and caster sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy
Gradually incorporate the eggs, adding a little flour to prevent the mixture from curdling
Add the flour and salt and fold in with the milk and vanilla extract.
Turn into prepared tin and level the surface.
Bake in a preheated over for 25-30 minutes until risen and firm to the touch.
Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out to cool further
Sift the icing sugar and the cocoa powder into a bowl.
Make a well in the centre and beat in enough fo the boiling water to form a smooth icing with pouring consistancy.
Dip the top of each cake into the icing and then coat with the coconut.
Leave to set.
The question can be found in the Rafflecopter Gadget and you can answer in the comments. If you answer in the comments you do not have to fill in the gadget but it will give you more entries into the competion.
Rules: 
UK only, sorry
Please make sure you leave me your e-mail for contacting the winners
Winners will be chosen at random
The rafflecopter gadget will appear on other posts but you only need to fill it in once
No prize alternative will be offered
Prizes will be sent out by Hoxton Street Monster Supplies
Raisiebay will not be responsible for unreceived prizes
Prizes must be claimed within 28 days after the close of the competition.
Competition will close on November 29th 2016
All entries will be checked

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Night Terror Torte and Competition

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I’m currently running a competition where you could win one of three copies of the Hoxton Street Monster Supplies Cookbook. fill in you details in the Rafflecopter widget below for your chance of winning.

Here is my first recipe from the book, Night Terror Torte.

hoxton street monster supplies recipe book

The instructions say..”Be sure to think truly appalling thoughts as you make this torte –  you will find that the screams of your victims will have an extra edge of misery if you do.”


Well, I didn’t really have appalling thoughts but I did make it while in a lot of pain, so hopefully some of my victims felt the benefit…*insert evil cackle*

Actually, as you can see from this recipe, the torte is incredibly delicious and I would definitely make it again.

Night Terror Torte

Ingredients, serves 8 monsters:

200g caster sugar
4 tbs water
2 oranges, thinly sliced
475g sweet shortcrust pastry
100g butter, soft
100g ground almonds
2 eggs, lightly beaten
100g of dark chocolate

Method:

  • Put half the sugar and the measured water in a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved.
  • Add the orange slices and cook over a low heat for 30 minutes until the oranges are tender and most of the syrup has evaporated. let cool.
  • Roll out the pasty on a lightly floured surface until a little larger than a greased 9 1/2 inch fluted loose-bottomed tart tin.
  • line the tin with the pasty and chill for 15 minutes
  • Line the tart with nonstick baking paper, add baking beans and place on a baking sheet.
  • bake in  a preheated oven, 190C gas mark 5 for 10 minutes
  • Remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 5 minutes until golden and crisp.
  • Reduce the oven temperature to 180C, gas mark 4
  • Beat together the butter and the remaining sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy.
  • Add the ground almonds, then gradually beat in the eggs until smooth. Set Aside
  • Reserve 10 of the best orange slices, then drain and chop the rest.
  • Stir the chocolate into the almond mixture, then mix in the chopped oranges.
  • Spread into the tart case, arrange the reserved orange slices on top and bake for 30 minutes.
  • Let cool for 30 minutes before removing from the tin.
Slice and Enjoy!

The Hoxton Street Monster Supplies Cookbook comes from the Hoxten Street Shop found in East London (unsurprisingly on Hoxton Street) and is the purveyor off all kinds of everyday items for the living, dead and undead. Due to a curse all profits got to The Ministry of  Stories, a creative writing and mentoring charity for young humans. At the shop you will such goodies as Earwax Cubes, Salt Made From Tears of Anger or Banshee Balls as well as the fabulous cookbook.
So if you are looking to treat that monster in your life, you now know where to go.


So let’s get on with the competition. 

The question can be found in the Rafflecopter Gadget and you can answer in the comments. If you answer in the comments you do not have to fill in the gadget but it will give you more entries into the competion.
Rules: 
UK only, sorry
Please make sure you leave me your e-mail for contacting the winners
Winners will be chosen at random
The rafflecopter gadget will appear on other posts but you only need to fill it in once
No prize alternative will be offered
Prizes will be sent out by Hoxton Street Monster Supplies
Raisiebay will not be responsible for unreceived prizes
Prizes must be claimed within 28 days after the close of the competition.
Competition will close on November 29th 2016
All entries will be checked

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Great British Bake Off Fondant Fancies

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I can’t believe that next week is the final of the Great British Bake Off, this year has gone in such a hurry.
This week we saw savoury Palmiers for the signature bake, a Savarin for the technical bake and Fondant Fancies for the Showstopper.

Andrew did really well this week saving himself from final elimination as it was Selasi that was shown the door with just one week to go.

I have made Palmiers before and I don’t have a tin to bake a traditional Savarin, although I do have something similar, I guess I didn’t fancy it.

The kids had already decided for me anyway, they wanted to make Fondant Fancies.

Of course, my kids like their cakes pretty plain so when we were coming up for ideas for their cakes they wanted chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream and icing. So, forgive me these are not the most exciting or fancifal Fancies.

Also, I really can’t get on with watering down fondant. I still have nightmares from when I had to do it when I made the Mokatines from last years Bake Off. This time I messed up when the icing was just not runny enough to cover the cakes, so I watered it down a little more and then it was too runny.

Maybe if I’d been decorating them myself I would have been more patient, but it was not good when the kids were all keen to do it but have the patience of a flea. It was really mess too. I think there was more Icing on the greaseproof paper than on the cakes themselves. I tried to scoop it up for a second coating but the kids were pretty quick at scooping it up into their mouths.

fondant fancies with icing dripping off
messy cakes

The cakes were tasty enough, but I wasn’t happy with the decoration.

Fondant Fancies

Ingredients:

300g self-raising flour
325g soft butter
325g caster sugar
25g cocoa powder
4 eggs

buttercream

100g soft butter
200g icing sugar
10g cocoa powder

Fondant

500g fondant icing
75g water
drops of food colouring of choice.

Method:

preheat oven to 170C/gas mark 4
grease and line two 7″ square tins
cream together butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl
add eggs and beat in one at a time
sift in flour and cocoa powder and fold the mixture together
pour evenly into tins and bake for 30 mins until a skewer comes out clean
cool the cut into equal cubes (9 per tin)
Make the buttercream by creaming together the icing sugar, cocoa powder and butter
coat four sides of the cakes but not the top and bottom
put the remaining buttercream into a piping bag and pipe a shell on the top of each cake
Chill in the fridge for at least 1/2 hour
Make the fondant by mixing the icing with water and food colouring.
We split our icing into three and made one white, one blue and one orange.
put the cakes on a cooling rack over a sheet of greaseproof paper
pour the fondant over the cakes from the top and allow to drip over the sides.
Another method I’ve heard of is to put a fork into the bottom of each cake and dip them into the fondant icing, covering all sides, then leave them to drip on cooling rack.
Do not do as I did and make the fondant to runny.
Here are our finished Fancies.

As you can see from this next photo, I also could have spent a little more time mixing the fondant with the water and there were some lumps present.
Next week, I’m going to attempt a bake without the help of the kids.

Mummy Mishaps

Great British Bake Off Jumbles

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I missed joining in with the Great British Bake Off last week, I just didn’t have the time.

This week my kids were keen to have a go at the Jumbles so I’ve handed the baking over to them.

First up though, my little run-down on this weeks program, Tudor Week.

Seriously, Tudor Week! Well, it was the time of huge banquets and lots and lots of food, for rich people anyway. Something great from that time though was pies, now you can’t go wrong with a pie.

We love our pies here, I love making pastry so that’s probably a big factor. Whether it’s a shortcrust apple pie or a water crust steak pie we can’t get enough. I really wish I’d taken a photo of the steak and ale pie I made last week, it was delicious and looked so lovely when I took it out of the oven.

The contestants where told to make a signature dish of pies arranged in a Tudor style. It went ok, we had the usual eruptions, too thick pastry, not enough filling problems.

The Technical was Jumble biscuits. Now this sounded easy until you saw how they had to design their biscuits. It looked fun, I think that’s why my kids wanted a go.

The Showstopper was marzipan themed. I am somewhat addicted to marzipan and I only allow it in the house at Easter (Simnel Cake) and Christmas (Christmas Cake) because I tend to eat a lot of it.

No-one could deny that Candice’s Peacock was stunning! And guess what, it tasted good too! Not only did she do an excellent job of her marzipan decoration, she also had a surprise pinata type filling of blueberries and the most amazing rainbow coloured sponges inside her lovely bird. I think she deserved her star baker prize this week. (Haven’t there been winning peacocks on GBBO before? if you want to get ahead, bake a peacock! )
I’ll shut up now and get on with it..Ready, Steady, Bake!


Jumbles Our Way.

Paul Hollywood’s recipe asks for mace, aniseed and caraway seeds. I decided that if I put those things in our biscuits the kids wouldn’t eat them, we left them out, so we have a less spicy biscuit.

Ingredients:

  • 350g plain flour
  • 175g sugar
  • 75g butter
  • grated rind of half a lemon
  • grated rind of half an orange
  • 2 egg
  • 50g granulated sugar

Method:

  • Put the flour and sugar in the bowl
  • add the lemon and orange rind
  • rub in the butter
  • add 1 egg and bring the mixture together
  • wrap in cling film and chill for at least 1/2 hour.
  • Preheat oven to 170C
  • shape into biscuits
  • brush with the other egg and sprinkle with sugar
  • bake for 10-15 minutes depending on size of biscuit shapes you make
We split the dough into four pieces and each child and myself made a selection of shapes for the biscuits. I didn’t count how many we had but there was at least 20.
The kids had so much fun with their shapes. I did have a go at the Tudor shape but it was too fiddly.
jumbles biscuits of different shapes and patterns
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tudor style jumbles biscuit

Mummy Mishaps