Afternoon Tea Week Blackberry and Marshmallow Cake Recipe and Tea Tray How To

One of my favourite things in the world is a mug of Earl Grey tea and a slice of cake, so you can understand my excitement when I heard that it's Afternoon Tea Week! The blackberries are also ripening in the hedgerows and I thought that this would be the perfect time to re-share a recipe I came up with a couple of years ago for blackberry and marshmallow cake. You can find the recipe here - happy baking! The tray I've used here is an old metal tea tray I found in a charity shop and spray painted to give it a new lease of life- find out how in this post. Have a lovely time enjoying Afternoon Tea Week

Valentine's Day Biscuits Recipe

Valentines Day may be tomorrow but there's still time to make some lovely treats to gift! Here is the recipe for these simple but yummy shortbread sandwich biscuits, filled with jam and buttercream...

Makes aprox 28 single heart shaped biscuits/14 sandwich biscuits

Ingredients

For the shortbread biscuits

150g plain flour

100g butter cut into small pieces

50g caster sugar

For the filling

75g softened butter

75g icing sugar (plus extra for dusting)

2-3tbsp jam of your choice (I used Loganberry)

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees

1) Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the butter and sugar

2) Rub the butter into the flour and sugar mixture until all the butter is incorporated with the flour. The mixture should resemble crumble mix

3) Press the mixture together to form a ball of dough- add a tiny drop of water if the mixture is a little dry

4) Roll the mixture out to aprox 4-5mm thick using a rolling pin and floured work surface

5) Cut out your biscuits with a pastry cutter of your choice. The heart cutter I used was aprox 4,5cm long

6) Place onto a couple of large, greased baking trays and prick with a fork. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 190 degrees, or until golden. Leave to cool completely

7) To make the buttercream, beat together the softened butter and icing sugar until completely combined. Spread onto one half of 14 biscuits

8) Spread the jam on top of the buttercream

9) Sandwich the other biscuits on top. Dust with icing sugar

10) Enjoy with a nice cup of tea! These biscuits would make a lovely thoughtful gift and would look really lovely wrapped in cellophane and tied with ribbon

No chance for me to give them to Mr Writer as a gift- he'd already eaten quite a few before I'd put the filling in!

If you're wondering where I got the fab heart shaped tea bags, they are handmade by ContoursAlbion, who I first discovered on Instagram. Alise makes tea bags in many different shapes including cat shaped (yay!) to add extra fun to your tea time. The tea tastes lovely too!

If you'd like to find out how to make coasters like the ones pictured, they are made from old CDs and lace- check out my How To here

Happy baking!

Recipe: Blackberry and Marshmallow Cake!

Walking along the river and seeing so many blackberry bushes full of ripe berries got me thinking about blackberry picking and what I could cook with them now they are in season. It's a year ago since I first posted my recipe for this Blackberry and Marshmallow Cake- it's a lovely and unusual way to use Blackberries now they are in season and if you pick them yourself they're free! Happy baking!

Do you love baking with Blackberries? What's your favourite Blackberry recipe?

Strawberry and White Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe- Homemade Father's Day Gift

 It's English strawberry season and each year I love to experiment with new recipes and ways of using my favourite berry. I've also been thinking about handmade Father's Day gift ideas and as my Dad loves white chocolate and strawberries too, I hope he will love a gift of these little cakes! Filled with fresh strawberries and topped with white chocolate buttercream, they are a real treat (I'm enjoying one with a cup of tea as I type). Here's the recipe...

Makes 16 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes

• 150g butter
• 150g Self Raising Flour
• 125g caster sugar
• 3 medium free range eggs
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 200g fresh strawberries

For the buttercream icing

• 150g icing sugar
• 150g butter
• 150g white chocolate
• Milk chocolate sprinkles
• 8 strawberries

For the cake

Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees and add paper cake cases to cupcake trays

1) Cream the butter and sugar together using a large metal spoon or an electric mixer until smooth

2) Beat the eggs and add them to the butter and sugar mixture a little at a time, ensuring the egg is fully combined in the mixture

3) Sift in the flour, then add the vanilla extract and beat until combined

4) Chop the strawberries into small pieces and add these to the cake mixture, mixing until combined

5) Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases and bake for aprox 15-25 minutes. The cakes are ready when a skewer or cocktail stick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool completely

6) To make the white chocolate buttercream, first cream together the butter and icing sugar together using a large metal spoon or electric beater

7) Melt the white chocolate and allow to cool slightly before beating it into the buttercream mixture 

8) If the buttercream looks a little runny, leave in in the fridge for a while to firm up a bit

9) Ice the cakes using a piping bag or add the icing with a knife if you prefer. Top with chocolate sprinkles and half a strawberry

Happy baking!

Recipe- Rhubarb Tarts

I know that Rhubarb is the Marmite of the fruit world, but I love it ( love Marmite too!). It's in season right now and I'm enjoying finding new ways to cook with it- here is my recipe for Rhubarb Tarts...

Ingredients

Ready rolled puff pastry sheet, aprox 400g rhubarb, 5 tablespoons sugar (or to taste), 3 balls of stem ginger, small amount of golden syrup or honey, to drizzle

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees

Method

1) Unroll the puff pastry sheet. The sheets come self rolled in grease proof paper- so handy as you then don't need to flour your work surface. Cut into eight pieces

2) Wash the rhubarb and cut into 2cm pieces. Finely chop the stem ginger and add to a small saucepan with the rhubarb, sugar and a small splash of water

3) On a low heat, stew the rhubarb and ginger, stirring regularly so the sugar doesn't burn. After 10-15 minutes, or when the rhubarb has softened, remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly

4) Without cutting all the way through, use a knife to score a 1cm border around each pastry rectangle- this allows the edges of the pastry to rise, Prick the inner rectangles all over with a fork

5) Add a small drizzle of golden syrup or honey to each inner pastry rectangle

6)  Strain off any liquid and divide the rhubarb between the pastry rectangles, placing within the border

7) When I make these again I will beat an egg to brush the edges of the pastry to give a more golden appearance when baked. Place on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes, or until the pastry is golden

Lovely served hot with ice cream or custard, or cold with a cup of tea. If you love rhubarb, what are your favourite rhubarb recipes?

I've now made an entire set of table ware- check out my how tos for placemats made from an up-cycled top, coasters made from old CDs and lace and napkins made from tea towels and pompom trim. Happy making and baking!

Baking Day

I just thought I'd share a pic of the Lemon and Pistachio Cake I made this afternoon! I found the recipe on the BBC Food website, check it out here if you'd like to give it a go. Asides from crafting, cooking is my therapy, so it's a lovely thing if I get some time to bake.

I'd love to learn how to decorate cakes- the one on the website was very elegantly decorated- perhaps that's another challenge for 2015!

Handmade Christmas gift idea: Earl Grey and Ginger Shortbread Recipe

I don't know about you but I love shortbread and it's a great handmade gift idea for Christmas. I may have mentioned a few times that I love Earl Grey tea and it was while enjoying a cup recently with a piece of shortbread I thought up the idea of combining the two! Mr Writer suggested adding the stem ginger for a Christmassy flavour. The Earl Grey flavour is subtle but you could leave it out if Earl Grey isn't for you. Enjoy!

I'm all ready for Santa!

Makes 8 pieces 

Ingredients:

150g Plain Flour

100g Butter cut into small cubes

50g Caster Sugar and a little extra for sprinkling

4 balls of Stem Ginger chopped into chunky pieces

4 Earl Grey tea bags- tea removed from tea bags

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 190 degrees

1) Sift the flour into a large bowl and add the butter and sugar

2) Rub the butter into the flour and sugar until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs

3)Stir the ginger and Earl Grey tea through the mix

4) Bring the mixture together as a dough and add to a greased 8" round tin. Press the mixture down with the back of a spoon, ensuring an even layer. Sprinkle with caster sugar and lightly score slices with a knife

5) Bake at 190 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden

6) Leave the shortbread to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then slice, remove from the tin and leave to cool completely

These biscuits look lovely as gifts wrapped in cellophane and tied with ribbon. Make some for yourself too, they are really moreish! 

Recipe: Blackberry and Marshmallow Cake!

 It's the time of year when Blackberries are coming into season and you see them growing in abundance in the hedgerows. I'd been thinking for a while that I'd like to come up with some new recipes using Blackberries this year and whilst watching Dragons Den one evening there was a pitch for Marshmallows (love love love marshmallows!) and this started the cogs turning! The Great British Bake Off is also back and making me hungry on Wednesday nights, so the natural choice was to make a cake. So this is what I conjured up, a Blackberry and Marshmallow cake! I've kept the sugar in the filling to a minimum as I didn't want it to be a sugary overload and I hope you'll agree it's just right! Enjoy!

Serves 12

Ingredients:

For the cake

• 200g Self-Raising flour
• 200g butter
• 200g caster sugar
• 3 medium free range eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Icing sugar, to dust

For the filling:

• 150ml extra thick double cream, or double cream whisked until thick and spreadable
• Handful of Blackberries 
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar
• 8 pink Marshmallows

For the cake:

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease two 8" sandwich tins and line the bases with baking parchment

1) Cream the butter and sugar together with a spoon or hand mixer until smooth and no lumps remain

2) Beat the eggs into the mixture one at a time

3) Sift in the flour and baking powder. Add the vanilla extract

4) Beat the ingredients together with a spoon or your mixer, taking care not to over beat the mixture. If it looks a little dry, mix in a tablespoon of milk

5) Divide the mixture evenly between the prepared tins

6) Bake for 20-25 mins, or until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre of the sponges comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tins for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Allow to cool completely

7) Shortly before assembling the cake, prepare the filling. First make your Blackberry "jam." Add the handful of Blackbereries to a small pan with a tablespoon of caster sugar and a tablespoon of water. Cook on a low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is syrupy and the Blackberries are soft. Roughly crush half of the Blackberries with the spoon

It's best to make this mixture straight away right before you need to use it, but if you do prepare it in advance it can be made syrupy again with the addition of a drop of hot water

8) Spread the cream onto one sponge

9) If you've managed to resist eating them all (I found this very hard... nom) put your marshmallows into microwavable dish and microwave for 10-15 seconds. You'll end up with a marshmallow fuff. Work quickly here while the marshmallow is soft and spread over the cream. If the marshmallow starts to set again, microwave for five seconds. Top with the blackberry mixture

10) Add the top half of your cake and dust lightly with icing sugar. Enjoy!

Have you come up with any inventive recipes using Blackberries? Post them in the comments below! Happy making!

Coconut Macaroons Recipe with Three Variations

Last week a friend and I held our very own DIY homemade Afternoon Tea! We're both very into our tea and cake, so we thought it would be a good idea to both make a selection of goodies to bring along to our afternoon catch up. One of my bakes was a selection of coconut Macaroons- I love them, there's something charmingly old fashioned about them, they are very sweet, moreish and so easy to make. I experimented with three different variations to jazz up the basic mix. Here are the recipes!

Basic Coconut Macaroons recipe- makes 16 

Ingredients:

• 200g Desiccated Coconut
• 100g Caster Sugar
• 2 free-range eggs

Method: Pre-heat the oven to 180oc and grease a baking tray, or line with baking parchment

1. Add the desiccated coconut and sugar together into a large bowl
2. Beat the eggs and add them to the bowl with the coconut and sugar
3. Use your hands (or a tablespoon if you'd rather not get messy) to thoroughly mix 
4. Using a tablespoon as a guide, shape the mixture into 16 pyramids and arrange on the baking tray
5. Bake for aprox 15 minutes, or until they turn golden

So that's the basic recipe and they are really lovely just plain like this, but I thought it could be interesting to try some different flavours. These are the three that I tried:

Flavour variations: Add your chosen flavour ingredients once you have made the basic mix and stir to combine

1. 100g of roughly chopped glace cherries added to the mix make for a lovely chewy macaroon
2. Add around 18 squares (aprox 3 chocolate bars, or add to taste) of milk chocolate (or experiment with other chocolates) roughly chopped into the mix. Alternatively you could use chocolate chips. The chocolate melts inside the macaroons, really yummy
3. A couple of handfuls of fresh or frozen raspberries. I used frozen raspberries and added them straight intro the mix while still  frozen. They may break up a little as you stir them in, but this was my favourite of all the combinations I tried- the raspberries add a lovely tart sweetness to the macaroons and a pink colour.

All that's left to do then is enjoy your Macaroons! If you've made variations on the traditional Coconut Macaroons I'd love to try them to- share your ideas in the comments below! Happy baking!

This was our afternoon tea table- I can't take credit for the beautiful set-up, my friend set it all out beautifully and also made a georgeous pear Tarte Tatin and lots of other tasty bakes. I'd definitely recommend holding your own DIY Afternoon Tea, it was really good fun both in preparing and demolishing! 

Recipe: Rosewater, White Chocolate and Pistachio Cupcakes

I hope you all had a lovely Easter. As is traditional in my household, this Easter Sunday I made cakes! I love to bake and I especially enjoy trying out new flavour combinations.

 I bought a large bottle of Rosewater in a Deli last year and I've been experimenting with different ways of cooking with it. These Rosewater, White Chocolate and Pistachio Cupcakes have a subtle Rosewater flavour- add more or less to taste. I also think these would be lovely with the addition of chopped chunks of white chocolate added to the cake mix- it all depends on how sweet you like your cupcakes. If you make these I hope you enjoy them and let me know what you think!

Makes 16

Ingredients:

• 150g Self-Raising Flour
• 150g Butter
• 125g Caster Sugar
• 3 medium Free Range Eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

For the icing:

• 150g Icing Sugar
• 150g Butter
• 50g White Chocolate
• 1.5 tsp Rosewater
• A handful of chopped Pistachios

For the cakes:

Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees and line cupcake tins with paper cases

1). Beat together the butter and sugar with a spoon or hand mixer until smooth

2) Add the eggs one at a time and beat after each addition

3) Sift in your flour and fold the mixture together until all of the flour is incorporated, taking care not to over mix. Add the Vanilla Extract whilst folding

4) Spoon the cake mixture into cupcake cases

5) Bake for 15-20 minutes at 190 degrees. Check the cakes after 15 minutes- they are ready when a skewer or cocktail stick inserted into the centre comes out clean

6) Leave to cool

For the icing:

1) Melt 50g White Chocolate in a bowl in the microwave, or in a glass bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Allow to cool

2) Beat together the icing sugar and butter until all of the icing sugar is incorporated 

3) Add 1.5 tsp Rosewater and the cooled White Chocolate and mix until incorporated

4) Pipe or spread the icing onto the cakes and top with chopped Pistachios. Add shavings of White Chocolate

5) Enjoy with a nice cup of tea and a sit down!

Find out how to make these lacy coasters in my How To

Happy making!