Kell Posted October 8, 2011 Author Share Posted October 8, 2011 I've been busy in the kitchen making more goodies for Xan's birthday party which is tomorrow. Made marshmallow hats and carrot and courgette muffins. Don't they look great? Today I'll be making cheese and tomato whirls, double chocolate brownies and flapjacks. After that, I'm done! Going shopping with the other two mums this afternoon to pick up mini pizzas, chicken nuggets, sausage rolls, that type of thing, and also goodies for the little party bags, balloons, streamers, etc. The cake (which is a big tray bake) is also getting picked up today. The party is being held at a nursery, so as well as the bouncy castle we're hiring, there'll be a ball pit and loads of other toys, as well as swings, slide and climbing frame outside if it's nice weather. It's going to be a totally kick-@$$ party! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted October 8, 2011 Share Posted October 8, 2011 So Kell, what time do you want the BCF Birthday Coach to arrive? There'll be about 200 of us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted October 8, 2011 Author Share Posted October 8, 2011 Party starts at 11.30am, but I haven't made enough for 200 I'm' afraid. Just 32 marshmallow hats and 24 muffins. About 28 truffles (see The Great Cake Pops Disaster). Probably make about 30-ish of everything else too... so you might go hungry - LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 I've just baked my first ever batches of cupcakes! Having been inspired by The Great British Bake Off, I bought myself a couple of books, The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook and The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days. I've basically started at the beginning and made the vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting piped on top and sprinkled with sugar strands. I did have a minor disaster with the first batch yesterday. The book is very clear that it's based on American recipes, and that they bake their cupcakes in muffin cases in muffin tins, so I bought myself two muffin tins last week, but when I came to put the cases in the tin ready to fill, the cases were smaller than the holes in the tin. It meant that instead of the 12 cupcakes I was supposed to be making, the cases spread and I ended up with only six. This morning, I decided to take the muffin cases with me and go and try and find another tin, and found a nice John Lewis one which the cases sit higher than the tin, but they fit into it perfectly. I tried another batch this afternoon, and they came out much better. I made up a batch of frosting, but with the extra cakes I didn't quite have enough, and even with fewer cakes, I wouldn't have had enough to pipe as much as I'd have liked on the top of the cakes, so next time I'll make one and a half times the amount. Still, my piping wasn't too bad, and I'm quite pleased with the results and they taste lovely! Next time, I'm going to try chocolate ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Hi Chesil, the cupcakes sound great, I've always stuck with an old good housekeeping recipe but was thinking of investing in a hummingbird book, which one would you suggest of the two you have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted October 16, 2011 Share Posted October 16, 2011 Hi Chesil, the cupcakes sound great, I've always stuck with an old good housekeeping recipe but was thinking of investing in a hummingbird book, which one would you suggest of the two you have? I don't have many baking cookbooks, and I really wanted something with a good amount of cupcake recipes in it, so I bought the Cookbook first. I've read it from cover to cover, and I think it's good for beginners as it starts off with the basics, so the first recipe is for vanilla cupcakes, and is set up with chapters for cupcakes, cakes, pies, brownies, muffins and cookies. It explains that these are influenced by American recipes, and I would never make their version of the pies as they look far too sweet (2 cans of condensed milk for a lemon meringue pie!) but the others all look like things I can cope with. The only complaint I would have is the quantities are all metric, which isn't a major failing, but I do like to know the imperial as well. The Cake Days book has a mixture of basic and more advanced recipes and I loved the idea of the chapters for different occasions, such as Valentines Day, Hallowe'en and Bonfire night, as it's easy to see when to make some of the seasonal cakes, and there are some more challenging recipes to attempt. I also like that they explain how to convert some of the recipes from cupcakes to layer cakes. I think if you have some experience, this would be a more satisfying book. It's been so long since I've done any real baking, that I've lost all my confidence, so I'm happy I've got the Cookbook to start, but I think given a bit more practise, I'll be going for the Cake Days more often than the Cookbook. Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted October 17, 2011 Share Posted October 17, 2011 Thanks Chesil, that's great. I'm stuck in a rut with my baking so the cookbook sounds like a great idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abcinthia Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 Today I made apple, fudge and chocolate muffins. My first attempt at muffins and I was really pleased with how they turned out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 Made two batches of chocolate cupcakes yesterday. I'd bought some new papercases but even before I'd put any mixture in, the cases had started to fall inwards, but I assumed that once I got the mixture it, it would expand and fill out the case back to normal shape. Unfortunately, it didn't and within 10 minutes of taking them out of the over, the middle of the cakes had sunk and the cases had either creased inwards or fallen away from the cakes! Not to be beaten, I made a second batch, and used the older box of cases I had in the cupboard, and these kept their shape, and the cakes cooked perfectly! I wanted to try cream cheese frosting, so I made that one first of all, and iced about 10 of the cakes (6 of the good looking batch and 5 of the car crash ones) and made some chocolate butter icing today for the rest. The chocolate icing is not my taste, but the cream cheese is delicious! This will definitely be making a reappearance at some point Topped the cream cheese with a few small chocolate chunks, and the chocolate with silver balls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted October 23, 2011 Author Share Posted October 23, 2011 I think I might make some corn muffins tomorrow. They're very popular in our house and as Xan and I are both under the weather it'll be nice to have a little treat to perk us both up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted October 30, 2011 Author Share Posted October 30, 2011 Just baked what I HOPED would be a batch of gruesome green cupcakes, but they barely look green at all. However, I shall remedy that with green icing - ha! I plan on writing "Boo!" on them all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted October 30, 2011 Author Share Posted October 30, 2011 Here they are! The photo doesn't really show the true colour at all. The cakes are a very pale green but the icing is bright bogey-green - LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sofia Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Made marble mini cupcakes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Made a lovely apple crumble, but according to kids it has too much apple in it, oh well, all the more for me!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kell Posted February 2, 2012 Author Share Posted February 2, 2012 How can you have too much apple in an apple crumble???!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted February 2, 2012 Share Posted February 2, 2012 Well, there was more in there than normal as I defrosted too much of the apples I froze in the autumn and was too lazy to make an extra crumble. Personally I prefer more apple less crumble but the kids are more interested in the crumble and the custard... :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sofia Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 Fudgey chocolate cupcakes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abcinthia Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I'm currently baking some bagels. I didn't realise how easy they were to make! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sofia Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Fudge brownies and lemony scones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaliepud Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 I fancied baking something different this weekend and went through some old Good Food magazines and came across a recipe for ginger cake, which actually turned out to be more of a golden syrup cake (a whole tin!!!) It was gorgeous, my 7 year old can't get enough of it and even my Mum liked it and she doesn't like cakes very much.. Definitely one to make again.. Here's a pic to tickle the taste buds! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bree Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 It looks fantastic chalie! Your lucky lucky family! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 That looks very tasty! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sofia Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 Chocolate chip muffins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muggle not Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 I fancied baking something different this weekend and went through some old Good Food magazines and came across a recipe for ginger cake, which actually turned out to be more of a golden syrup cake (a whole tin!!!) It was gorgeous, my 7 year old can't get enough of it and even my Mum liked it and she doesn't like cakes very much.. Definitely one to make again.. Here's a pic to tickle the taste buds! Wow! That does look great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppy Posted March 8, 2013 Share Posted March 8, 2013 (edited) I fancied baking something different this weekend and went through some old Good Food magazines and came across a recipe for ginger cake, which actually turned out to be more of a golden syrup cake (a whole tin!!!) It was gorgeous, my 7 year old can't get enough of it and even my Mum liked it and she doesn't like cakes very much.. Definitely one to make again.. Here's a pic to tickle the taste buds! That looks really yummy chalie. This wouldn't be the recipe would it? I'd like to make it sometime. http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2090637/ginger-cake- Edited March 8, 2013 by poppy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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