Monday Bake - Lavender Shortbread

What a great couple of weeks - I have loved the Olympics  - watching sports I have never watched before and shedding more than a few tears at the medal ceremonys - I can't quite believe it is all over - could it not have been on for a month?   We have had the BBC coverage on all the time we have been indoors - this morning I didn't even switch on our television - it needs a rest!  There is the paralympics to look forward to - we are going to see the swimming and we also have tickets to the Olympic Park, which we are really excited about.  

Last week we went Lavender picking at Hitchin Lavender.  We could smell the lavender as soon as we got out of the car.   It costs £4.00 per adult (children are free) and for your £4.00 this you get a pair of scissors to borrow and a plastic bag to fill with lavender. 

When we rounded the corner to the field we could just see rows and rows of beautiful lavender.  The colour is amazing, we walked to the top and the view of the surrounding countryside was lovely.

We picked our row to walk down to collect our lavender.  We saw several butterflies and the buzzing of the bees was incredibly loud, they were very busy working away.   

They advise to cut from the sides of the bushes, not the tops and we quickly filled our two bags.  

Once we had finished we headed to the cafe in the barn.  Minibakebakegirl had millionnaire shortbread and a cup of tea, hubby had coffee with a piece of toffee crisp. I had coffee with some lavender shortbread, which was lovely, the lavender flavour was very subtle.  We didn't realise until we left that you could have free refills of filter coffee - we will remember next time!

I have filled 3 vases with my lavender to dry out and bag for future crafty projects, such as my knitted lavender heart or my lavender hanging bag.  While we were having tea a huge bee came in the living room - we heard him before we saw him.  Hubby said it was obviously attracted by the lavender!

I had never made lavender shortbread before so I googled some recipes.  I chose this one from the Good Food website.  I made the lavender sugar a few days before, I used 250g of caster sugar and 1 tsp of lavender flowers and stored it in a jar.  I found this a good recipe as it makes one baking sheet of biscuits - not too many at once.  It can also just be made with plain or vanilla sugar. 

Thanks for visiting, next week my blog post will be from Edinburgh :o)

Bakebakegirl

Todays top three Spotify songs.

1. Freedom - George Michael 

2. West End Girls - Pet Shop Boys

3. Rule The World - Take That

Monday Bake - Carrot Cake

I love carrot cake, love loaf tin recipes and Rachel Allen is one of my favourite cooks so the carrot cake recipe in her Bake book is perfect to me!

You can find the recipe here from the Good Food website. 

When I make the icing I find I need to add more icing sugar to thicken it slightly so it just sits on top of the cake and doesn't run down the sides. 

Do you like my new plate the whole cake is sitting on - I think the colours go perfectly with the carrot cake.  My Sister found it for me - she is keeping a look out for sale plates for my blog too.  I found another two in John Lewis yesterday to vary my pictures - the man serving me kept banging them together while wrapping them up - even Minibakebakgirl whispered to me that he wasn't being very gentle!  Luckily they made it home in one piece.

Hope you are still enjoying the Olympics, Team GB have been amazing - so many medals.  I will need to buy more tissues for this week, the interviews and medal ceremonies get me everytime.

See you next week.

Bakebakegirl

Todays Top Three Spotify Songs

1. Train - Drive By

2. A-ha - The Living Daylights

3. Sparks - Number One Song in Heaven

Monday Inspiration - Olympic Torches

We have had a very busy Olympics weekend.  We all enjoyed the Opening Ceremony on Friday - it really was amazing, we all were saying "that is the REAL Queen with James Bond!".  Minibakebakegirl and Niece2 wanted to stay up to see who was going to light the cauldron, however, as Minibakebakegirl was to get up early on Saturday morning they managed till 11.15pm.  I think they lost interest watching all the teams arrive, there were lots of countries I had never heard of!  I thought it was a nice touch that they had the next generation of British competitors to light the cauldron which once lit was beautiful, a very, very clever design.

Minibakebakegirls early start was for Olympic girl's football in Coventry with Hubby.  She was lucky enough to win the tickets in a draw at school.  They watched two matches Sweden v Japan and Canada v South Africa.  The best match was the second one according to Minibakebakegirl!

Then yesterday we all went to Earls Court to watch men's volleyball.   We watched Australia v Argentina and USA v Serbia.  We quickly picked up the rules, however I was surprised to see players jumping into where the officials were sitting to hit the ball!  I was very taken by the group hugging by the teams - mostly when they scored but sometimes when they didn't.  There was also a lot of handshaking and patting on backs!  Great team spirit. 

Our journey from home couldn't have gone better, the tube wasn't too busy and we all liked the Boris announcements :o)  He is the Mayor of London and apart from that I am not sure how to describe him! 

Inspired by our weekend, today we made Olympic Torch cupcakes.   I have seen cupcakes baked in icecream cones before with the icing piped like icecream and when I saw ones made to look like olympic torches I thought I would give it a go.

I used my standard cupcake mix and just filled the cones like cupcake cases. 

They took the same amount of time to bake as normal ones.





I then made red and yellow buttercream for the flames and spooned it alternately into the piping bag.

I am really pleased with how they turned out and Hubby has asked for me to make some more for him to take to work.

Hope you are enjoying the Olympics too, this is our television viewing for the next few weeks.

Bakebakegirl

Todays top three random Ipod songs:

1.  She's So Lovely - Scouting For Girls

2.  Wow - Kylie Minogue

3.  Pack Up - Eliza Doolittle

Monday Bake - Coconut Loaf Cake

For once it seems the weather has been paying attention and it has been lovely since school broke up on Friday.  We had our first barbeque of the year yesterday at Hubby's Sisters and lovely it was too.  A perfect afternoon sitting in the sun, chatting and eating :o)  Sisterinlaw had made Nigellas Nutella cheesecake for pudding, which was delicious.    

Minibakebakegirl and I were going to spend the first official day of the holidays on our bikes, however our tyres needed pumping up and the pump was in the car and Hubby is at work with the keys....so we will cycle another day.   We walked to our picnic spot via the nature reserve, spotting some damselflies along the way (such a gorgeous blue) and sat in the shade.  After lunch I read my book and Minibakebakegirl did some drawing.   We both decided it was probably too hot for cycling today anyway!   

I don't know where I got this recipe from originally, it probably came from a Sunday magazine as I have written it in a notebook. I like the way the top of it forms a sort of crust and the inside is almost fluffy. 

Ingredients:
75g dessicated coconut plus some extra for sprinkling
150ml milk
175g caster sugar
175g margarine
2 eggs
225g self raising flour
Raspberry jam

Method:
Soak the coconut in the milk overnight in the fridge, if not leave to soak for as long as possible for the coconut to absorb the milk.

Preheat the oven to 160c/Fan 150c/GasMark3
Line a 2lb loaf tin with a loaf tin liner (I use Lakeland)
Place the margarine and sugar in a large bowl. Cream together with an electric whisk until light and creamy.
Add the eggs one at a time beating well between each one.
Add the coconut/milk and mix again.
Fold in the flour.
Spoon into the tin and cook for about 1hour 15minutes. 

Check it after an hour if the top is browning too quickly, cover with some foil.
Check the cake is cooked (when an inserted skewer comes out clean - if it doesn't pop
the cake back in the oven for another 5 minutes - then check again - repeat as necessary) The top will crack - this is fine.

Leave to cool in the tin. Once cool spread a thin layer of raspberry jam over the top of the cake and sprinkle with the remaining coconut.

Thanks for visiting, have a good week, see you next Monday.
Bakebakegirl

Todays top three random Ipod songs:

1. We Are The People - Empire of The Sun
2. I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
3. Hips Don't Lie - Shakira

Minibakebakegirl Monday - Cupcake Farm

Hi, it's Minibakebakegirl here. I really enjoy baking and cooking especially with my Mum.  I have been looking through my cookbooks and found a really cute and easy recipe….a cupcake farm!  This recipe is from my first cookbook and is a really fun way of decorating cupcakes.

Here are some photos to show what I did.

I will be having a very busy week because I am doing my school production (The Pirates of Penzance) three evenings in a row, the year 5/6 BBQ on Thursday and the last day of school on Friday. BUSY!!

Thanks for reading my blog post and I hope to do another one soon. 
Minibakebakegirl

Todays top 3 random Ipod songs:

1. Ed Sheeran - This 
2. Will.i.am - This is Love
3. The Beatles - Drive My Car

Monday Inspiration - Lemon Meringue Cup Cakes

I love all things lemony! Lemon drizzle cake, lemon tart, sherbet lemons (even though they cut my mouth), lemon possett, the list is endless!   I saw a recipe for lemon meringue cupcakes in my Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook and couldn't wait to try it out. 
The buns were easy to make, the recipe states it makes 12-16 but it made 20.

The meringue involved getting the sugar to the soft ball stage - time to use my jam thermometer.

Adding the boiling sugar to the frothy egg whites and then whisking until glossy and voluminous!





Scooping out a bit of the cupcake and adding lemoncurd. Then putting the meringue on top and blasting with a cooks blow torch!  





I would make this recipe again - maybe halving the quantities - especially as it means I get to use my cooks blow torch!!!

Next week there is a special blog post as it's going to be by Minibakebakegirl.

Bakebakegirl

Today's top three random Ipod songs:

1. Green Grass - I Am Arrows
2. House Of Fun - Madness
3. Ray Of Light - Madonna

Monday Bake - Gluten Free Cupcakes

Every wednesday a work friend and I would share a slice of cake from the staff restaurant, then the quality of the cakes went downhill rapidly.   My work friend who also loves baking said to me "we can do better than this" and Cake Club was formed.  There are 5 of us now and one is my friend who is coeliac.   I have a few gluten free recipes such as my brownies but these use ground almonds instead of flour.  This week I decided to try out some gluten free flour and make some cupcakes.  I used Doves Farm.

The recipe came from Goodtoknow.   It was a case of putting all the ingredients in one bowl and whisking until smooth.   As the recipe says the mixture was very runny but I was pleasantly surprised that once baked they had risen!!!

                   

                                                                          (This photo shows how clean

                                                                 and shiny my new oven is! )

I made bright blue buttercream (not the one from the recipe) and then Minibakebakegirl and I went to work decorating them - edible glitter was required.

                   

They taste good, not too dry, I will make them for Cake Club when it is my week but maybe with less garish decorations!

Todays top three random Ipod songs:

1. Asereje - Las Ketchup
2. Hey Ya - Outcast
3. 9-5 - Dolly Parton