Coffee and Cake in the Sunshine

Spring feels like it’s in the air these days which is great. Things are starting to come together with the business too as the New Year starts to get going. I’ve got lots of fairs planned over the next few months and I’m increasing the number of great little places that I’m supplying.

Excitingly, I’ve also started to sell a range of my cakes and biscuits online through the really brilliant website Love Your Larder (www.loveyourlarder.com) which is, essentially, a bit like an online Farmer’s Market with lots of great producers selling gorgeous food.

I was taking quite a few pictures of my cakes last week as I wanted to take advantage of the sunny days and show them off at their best ready for the start of the online sales.

Best of all, when all the pictures have been taken, but the sun’s still shining, there’s only one thing to do which is to sit outside, drink the coffee and eat the cakes!

Magic Trees, Hot Chocolate and Ginger Brownies

It has snowed again here and we’re lucky in that it hasn’t been so heavy so as to cause too many problems (although our pipes have frozen today upstairs-not great!). I took these pictures of the beautiful trees while out walking with Porridge -I think they look like those Magic Trees I always used to get in my stocking for Christmas-the ones which you put in a special solution and they ‘grow’ a snowy covering overnight.



All of my Christmas baking has kept me very busy over the past couple of weeks and I’ve been making lots of these Dark Chocolate and Stem Ginger Brownies (which I’ve called The Ginger, Dark and Handsome) to go into my Christmas hampers. I’ve been experimenting for weeks to get what I hope is the perfect Brownie texture. These taste so Christmassy with the chunks of Stem Ginger and have a fudgy, truffle-ish texture.  I’ve just had a little break with a hot chocolate and a couple of brownies to keep me going- yum!

Let it Snow

It really feels like winter has arrived here finally. We had our first snowfall of winter yesterday and it all looks so Christmassy. Freezing cold, but beautiful.

I have been really busy in the Cakery this week too, getting even more orders for my Christmas Cakes and Puddings ready. I have totally fell in love with Christmas Pudding making this year, too. I'm using a recipe that is a little bit more modern than some (which often contain suet and breadcrumbs). Mine just uses self raising flour and I think this makes the pudding so much lighter and less stodgy-I've eaten quite a few already in the name of research (!) and I'm still really enjoying them-especially in this weather. There's something really old-fashioned feeling and satisfying about getting a huge big bowl and just stirring everything together before steaming the little basins for hours and hours. One more batch to make today, then we're going sledging....



Stirring up for Christmas

Last week, I got started with the Christmas Cakes and Puddings. I have had a pile of orders already for lots of different types (gluten free, nut free, etc, etc...the list goes on!) Anyway, I have already made quite a few and they are just 'sleeping' (as I like to think of it!) in their tins while I feed them regularly with Brandy in preparation for the Big Day. All this Christmas baking has made me think that the great thing about baking for a living is that you can totally and unashamadly immerse yourself in the festive spirit of things a long way before it's actually decent to do so-Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Bonfire Night...I'm thinking about them months in advance in anticipation and that's just the way I like it.

After much testing (spanning quite a few years!), I'm making my cakes and puddings to a recipe that is part -Delia, part -Rachel and part- my Mum's and I'm icing them in a variety of ways-some just with almonds dropped in before they bake like a Dundee Cake, some with glazed nuts or fruit and some with some full on sugar paste decorations that I am learning to make in my wonderful SugarCraft Night Class. I know it sounds very old fashioned but I can't recommend these classes enough if you're interested in cakes and cake decorating and general crafty things like that-all I can say is you'll be amazed what you can make with some sugar paste (pictures to follow next week when I finish my latest creation.)

A Trip to the South Coast and Fish and Chips for Supper

We have been away for a really lovely holiday on the South Coast (hence the lack of Blogging!) The weather was absolutely fantastic-more like Summer than Autumn/Winter and we had lots of gorgeous walks on the beaches.

We also went to some really gorgeous foodie shops and ate some amazing meals (best of all, a huge portion of Fish and Chips after another walk on the beach-I don't think there are many things that taste as good).

Purely on the grounds of research, of course, we also ate some amazing cakes! We had a trip up to London and went to the very lovely and inspirational Primrose Bakery: their chocolate cupcakes are highly reccommended!

and also to the equally delicious Hope and Greenwood for another retro-glam sugar fix!

A Picnic in the Autumn Leaves and Boiled Eggs for Breakfast

I love picnics more than lots of things. Food always tastes so much better when you eat it outside and picnics remind me so much of when we were little. We used to do lots of walks and picnics then, in summer and winter, even when it was cold and raining (which it often is up here!) The picnics I remember the most were in high summer, during the hay harvest. Dad would be doing the harvest and every lunchtime over those days, Mum and I would pack some sandwiches and cake (usually chocolate) and we would take it over to where Dad was working to have lunch with him.

I had my heart set on a picnic yesterday (even though it was a bit drizzly) so we packed up the sandwiches, the flask of tea and another trial toffee apple cake and set off for a walk in the autumn leaves.

I also have exciting news from our hen house! We have had some Black Rock hens for some time now, but until yesterday, they hadn’t laid any eggs.

We were putting it down to the stress of moving into a hen house with lots of older, bigger hens so, imagine my excitement when I went to collect the eggs to see 3 tiny, deep brown eggs! I had one boiled for breakfast and it was so lovely.

A Walk to the Ruined House and a Toffee Apple Cake

Not far from us are the ruins of a lovely old house. We don't often go over to it because it is across the river from us and we would need to take a boat to get to it, but, the other day we decided that this weekend we would make the journey across and go and see it. It's very beautiful but a little bit sad as it's stood in ruins for a long time- it floods so nobody wants to rebuild it.

We had the most gorgeous walk in the autumn sunshine and Porridge adored the little adventure as it was somewhere new.

We also saw these absolutely lovely little pigs and I think I've convinced everyone in our house that we should get some of our own, so we may be adding to the menagerie very soon!

When we got back, we'd had another delivery of some more gorgeously pink apples from a friend. With Bonfire night on the way, I 've been wanting to make a Toffee Apple Cake for a while. I have adapted another recipe and made this apple studded sponge. It's made with olive oil and topped with a butterscotchy icing. We had it for pudding with cream and we really enjoyed it. I'm going to vary it slightly so it's more of a tea time cake rather than a pudding as I'd like to add a cake like this to my range in time for Bonfire Night-nothing makes me think more of this time of year than toffee and apples-apart from maybe sausages and baked potatoes!