Valentines Craft and Bake 2012

As part of my 'trying new things' I wanted to start taking part in other peoples blog hops or competitions, not so much for the chance of winning but just to take part and get involved.

The lovely Jacqueline at Cakeboule set up a 'Virtual Valentine craft and bake competition' where she invited anyone to take part and enter either craft or bake entries on a Valentines theme.

Mr P and I don't really 'do' Valentines, not because we're unromantic, but just because we don't feel the need for a special day to say I love you. Flowers are over priced and restaurants are over booked and it's all got a bit commercial. What we do try and do it have date nights at home, where either one of us cooks for the other or we cook together. The children go to bed early (they don't mind at all and even tell me off if I don't get dressed up!) and we have some 'us' time.

All that said, I was more than keen to take part in Jacqueline's competition. I am as soppy as they come and I love a bit of romance. As Jacqueline will be away for Valentines day she's asked that all the entries are in early, which I think is great as it might give other people ideas of things that they could make or do rather than go down the commercial route.

So craft or bake???? Hmmmmm.........I did both!

I always give my children a gift on Valentines day. Nothing big, in fact sometimes it might just be a heart shaped lolly and a home made card, but it's a little reminder that I love them very very much and it makes them feel involved in something that usually passes children by.

For the children I made keyrings or bagcharms whatever they decide to use them for. They were quite simple to make and I think they'll like them, but these I will save for Valentines day itself.

4 Hearts for our 4 Sweethearts

They're made from soft red fleece, stuffed just a little bit and then embellished or embroidered. I had real trouble getting just the 'ring' bit of a keyring (got them now from trusty old eBay!) So I bought keyring blanks.

Then for the baking. I had so so many ideas in my head and I wanted to make them all, but I managed to narrow it down to two bakes that I made today.

First was this heart shaped chocolate cake, topped with chocolate ganache and a simple message. Mr P does love chocolate, so what better way to say I Love You, than on a chocolate cake?

Then I made these Cupcakes, so that everyone could enjoy a little bit of love in cake form!

I made rose one's with little handmade roses and edible red glitter

I made swirly one's again with my handmade roses, but no glitter

And Heart-topped ones too

So this is how I've chosen to remind the one's I love, just how much I love them and not just on Valentines day, but all year round.

Some of the other entries to the competition are amazing and very varied indeed. I really look forward to seeing them all once they're in. And if you want to enter, it's not too late. The closing date isn't until 4th Feb 2012 and I know Jacqueline would welcome new comers. Pop over to Cakeboule if you fancy joining in.

Bowling Cupcakes

I'm going to be cheeky and double up on this blog as these cakes are also my entry to this weeks Cake of the week.

This week sees the last of my three children's birthdays for another year. M was happy with a shop bought cake, thank goodness, as her birthday is in the first week of the new academic term, always a busy time. (I've vowed that I will make her one next year, no matter what!) L asked for a Horse cake which she helped me to make although again because of work it was a little late. But she didn't mind and it was my first entry to the Cake of the week blog.
So next is R's birthday. It's actually on Wednesday but he had his party yesterday, so for him the cakes came early! He originally asked for a chocolate tray bake covered in sweeties but I didn't have a tin that was a good size. They were all too big or too small so I suggested chocolate cupcakes instead and luckily he agreed! I told him to leave it with me and I promised him I'd make them special.
I baked the cupcakes on the Friday night using my usual recipe and then sat down to see if I could pull off my idea.
I was originally going to transfer the sweetie topping idea from the tray bake to the cupcakes but then, from nowhere the idea of Bowling Balls and Bowling Pins came into my head. Well, I say from nowhere, R was having a Bowling party but the idea to put the theme onto the cakes just seemed to pop into my head. I like it when that happens!
So I bought a small pack of ready coloured icing and a pack of white icing and once all the children were tucked up in bed I attempted to make the cake toppers.

Fiddly to make but I really enjoyed it 

The next morning I was up early to decorate the cakes. I piped them with swirls of chocolate butter cream and popped on either a bowling ball or pin to each cake.

Cakes ready to go in the early morning sun

Set up at the party

I was very pleased with how they turned out and so was R. His little face when I showed him the toppers when he got up that morning was worth all the effort. He had a lovely party with his sisters and friends and he still has his actual birthday to come!

My Little boy, not sure how much longer he'll let me call him that!

RBOK - Chocolate Orange Marble Cupcakes

RBOK or Random Bakes Of Kindness is a lovely idea that was started by Vanessa Kimbell. The idea is quite simply that you bake double of whatever you are making, keep one half and gift the other to someone you feel deserves a treat, for whatever reason. I loved this idea and I already quite often share my baking with the neighbours on either side of our house, as a thank you for taking a parcel in or just because I've made something I know the little ones or indeed the big ones will enjoy. I wasn't sure I'd officially take part, until the other day.

I think it's fair to say I've been having a tough time of things lately. I'm dealing with some very difficult family issues and I have been poorly for about three weeks. Work is......uncertain to say the least with potentially more uncertainty to come. Our aged cat took a turn for the worse (glad to say he's now fully recovered) and the fridge freezer is dying a slow death. Add to this three children with birthdays and it gets pretty stressful!

So can you imagine my horror when, whilst driving M to her theatre group a warning light started flashing on the dashboard of my car and to my dismay it started spluttering as we drove along. Once we'd arrived at our destination I looked at the manual and it seems it was something to do with the emissions or exhaust. I know nothing about cars but I knew this could not be a good thing and would probably be very costly, as cars tend to be. I was also worried as without my car I cannot work and if I don't work I don't get paid. Arghhh!!
Seriously......how much more could I take?
The following day I wasn't working as I had to attend court. I was meeting Mr P before hand as he was coming with me. Next to his work there is a garage. From the outside it's like a car grave yard, there are whole cars and parts of cars piled up and lining the drive. The owner is an older man, who under his overalls wear a shirt and tie. Walking into a garage, knowing I know nothing about cars, would fill me with dread, but this is the garage that has been looking after my car since the move north so I went in with Mr P. There was no sharp intake of breath, no muttering or tutting that you sometimes get in these situations, just a simple " leave it with us and we'll take a look" The owner had even agreed to lend me one of their cars if they needed to keep mine for more than the day. We left it there and headed off for our appointment. We came back less than two hours later and the lady from the garage waved us over as we passed by. My car was ready! Fixed and running like new, they had dropped everything  to look at my car. It turns out it was something quite simple, a part that needed replacing and they'd done it straight away. I was so relieved.

That's when I decided to do my first proper RBOK.
So this morning, just under a week later I baked a large batch of chocolate orange marble cupcakes, not something I'd made before, or had a recipe for, but that's what popped into my mind. So after the school run I whipped up a batch.
The recipe I came up with was this

200g unsalted butter
200g light soft brown sugar
200g self raising flour
4 eggs
4 tblsp milk
2 tblsp cocoa powder
zest of an orange
1 tsp natural orange essence

Place all the ingredients into the food processor, apart from the cocoa, zest and orange essence.
Once everything is combined put half of the mixture in a separate bowl. To the mixture that is left in the food processor add the cocoa and mix. To the mixture in the bowl, finely grate the orange zest and add the essence. Mix well.
I used 24 cake cases. They're an odd size from Ikea, not as big as muffins but bigger than fairy cakes. I might only make 18/20 in future.
Put a large teaspoon of each mixture into the cake cases. Take a skewer and swirl the two mixtures slightly.
Bake on 180c/gas4 for about 15-17 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
I topped some of the cakes with a little melted chocolate, but they're nice left plain too.

Marble cupcakes

Once cooled I popped nine cakes into a cake box and six into a plastic tub. I drove to the garage and found the owner in the office talking to his sister who also works there.I gave them the box of nine cakes and explained that I simply wanted to say thank you. I don't think I've ever seen two people more surprised to receive a gift! They really were genuinely delighted and a little taken back!
Next stop was Mr P's work, just next door. I was collecting some hedgehog boxes that he's made to donate to Warrington hedgehog rescue. I swapped him two hog houses for six cakes to share with his colleagues. He seemed happy with that and a few minutes after leaving I got a cheeky text asking what I'd be dropping off tomorrow!
 There are still some cakes left at home for the children to have after school or in their lunch boxes. It felt really nice to be able to make so many people smile, it could get addictive!

The lady in the garage, who I now know is called Barbara made a really good point. She said "So often you go out of your way to help people and it's so rare that they really appreciate it" At least they know I did!

Click here

Snicker cupcakes

It's been a while since I've had the chance to get creative in the kitchen and this idea has been in my mind for a while. Due to today's strikes my booking was cancelled and the children were at home. The weather ruined our chances of going to the PYO so what better than an afternoon in the kitchen.
Mr P, my partner has a sweet tooth I blogged about his birthday cupcakes and the Oreo cupcakes that followed Here. The Oreo ones set his mind to work wondering what other of his favourites I could turn into Cupcake creations. Next came a request for Malteaser cupcakes, which I'm pleased to say turned out well. Then came the request for Snicker cupcakes. Hmmm! I had to think about this one. Not so easy to blitz up a snickers bar to add to the mixture and anyway, I'd done that! No, these needed to be different.
So this is what I came up with.

I started with my usual Chocolate Cupcake recipe and made 12 cakes.

Cooling off in a sunny spot

Once they'd cooled I took a knife and cup into the tops.

Use a nice sharp knife

Cut in a round as if you were making 'TopHat' cakes

Put each top back on to it's cake, so as not to mix them up and set each one aside while you cut the rest.
Take a teaspoon and fill each hole with a teaspoon of caramel.

Pop the lid back on to each cake. Don't worry if some of the caramel oozes out, it will be hidden under the icing!

Speaking of icing, this one's not for the feint hearted!
I made half my usual quantity of Butter Cream icing (200g Butter, 400g Icing Sugar, splash of milk) and added to it a whole jar of crunchy Peanut Butter (or Peanutterbut as it's known in our house!) I found it better to make up the Butter cream first and then stir in the Peanut butter. You want to thoroughly combine it but don't over mix it.
Put the mixture into a piping bag and pipe your icing as usual.

I topped them off with a slice of a mini snickers bar. In fact they were treat size Nutty Bars from Asda. I popped them in the fridge to firm them up, making them easier to slice.

I was really pleased with how they looked. They'd turned out pretty much as I'd hoped. But as they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating!

Oozy caramel centres

The family all really liked them, even R who is not a huge cake fan and doesn't like Peanut Butter.

I only ate a half. I'm watching my weight (again!) and I calculated the cost in calories of these little beauties and they come in at slightly under 500 calories each!  I wonder what suggestions Mr P will give me next???