Monday Bake - Nigella's Molten Chocolate Babycakes

 

Along with Rachel Allen, Nigella is one of my favourite cooks.  When she first appeared on tv I bought How To Be A Domestic Goddess, it quickly become one of my favourite baking books and still is. I have made a lot of the recipes and a lot of them I make a lot! 

As her new programme Nigellissima starts tonight on BBC2 at 8.30pm I thought I would do a recipe from that book that I have never done before....chocolate fondant.  Along with souffles it appears to be the scariest pudding to make.  You can find the recipe here on her website.  This recipe is also partly inspired by watching Celebrity Masterchef the past few weeks (someone always makes a chocolate fondant on there) and HOORAY Emma Kennedy won!

What is great about this recipe is that you can make it in advance and keep in the fridge until you need it - you just add 2 mins to the baking time. 

When I brought them out the oven and then inverted them onto the plate I did hold my breath to lift off the tin....but they were fine!    When I cut into the first one and the middle was runny I did a bit of a whoop!! 

We all enjoyed them - dark chocolate heaven. Minibakebakegirl did a good impression of the Greg Wallace Masterchef spoon action!  It was a perfect end to our Sunday dinner served with a scoop of Vanilla Mackies of course.

Thanks for visiting.

Todays top three Spotify songs:

1. Ode to Billy Joe - Bobby Gentry
2. Coward of The County - Kenny Rogers
3. Clouds Across The Moon - The Rah Band

Monday Bake - Banana Traybake

I am always on the look out for recipes to use up ripe bananas so when Sister made me this delicious banana traybake I pinched the recipe!

Ingredients:
175g margarine
175g caster sugar plus some extra for sprinkling
225g self-raising flour
100g porridge oats
2 medium bananas - mashed

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200c/GM6
Cream the margarine and sugar together.
Using a knife cut in the flour and oats to make a crumbly mixture.
Sprinkle half the mixture into a brownie tin and press down lightly.
Spread over the mashed banana.
Sprinkly over the rest of the mixture and press down lightly.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown.
Sprinkle with caster sugar.
Cool and cut into pieces.
 

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting,
Bakebakegirl

Todays top three Spotify songs:

1. Money - The Flying Lizards
2. Loser - Beck
3. Save Tonight - Eagle-Eye Cherry

Monday No Bake - Scottish Macaroon

I've had my sinus op :o(  Hubby told me it needed to get worse before it gets better and it has certainly done that.  I have caught up on sooo much tv - glad I was watching recorded programmes as I kept dozing off and having to rewind to the point where I fell asleep!  I'm onto series 5 of The Big Bang Theory.  E4 completely missed out series 4 but luckily Hubby found it on Tivo and I had a marathon day of watching the second half of it (had watched the first half at Sisters) as it was only available till midnight.  Hopefully once I have finished series 5 it won't be long before series 6 is out here :o)

I supervised MBBG making Hubbys birthday cake on Thursday.  This is my chocolate loaf cake without the orange juice, sandwiched and covered in chocolate buttercream with an M&M topping.  Every year as part of Hubby's presents from his Mum and Dad he gets a different box filled with M&M's.  This years is really cute with little drawers - it will look lovely on my dressing table!

 

 

It looks great doesn't it - tasted good too - even though I can't taste much at the moment! 

On Sunday 26 August me and Sister went to the recording of Radio 4's The Kitchen Cabinet at the BBC Edinburgh Festival Fringe. There was an audience of 200 people and before you went in you had to complete a survey and ask one foodie related question for the panel. Once we were seated the Producer spoke to everyone and explained that 9 questions had been picked for the panel and the 9 "lucky" people would sit in the front row to pose their questions during the show......Sister and I then spent the next 5 mins panicking that we would be picked!!! Luckily we weren't and were able to enjoy the show from where we were sitting - phew. Clarissa Dickson Wright was meant to be on but she had lost her voice. We really enjoyed it.  It was on Radio 4 on Tuesday 4 September 2012 - you can listen to it here. They record an hour and edit it to half an hour - it was interesting to see what they cut out.

They discussed several scottish delicacies - including chippy sauce! One of the sweet scottish delicacies they discussed (and cut out) was Scottish Macaroon - totally different to English or French macaroons - it contains a secret ingredient - potato! Warning: - this is very very sweet recipe - but yummy! 

When I am feeling better I will make the macaroons and update this post with a picture.

Thanks for visiting,
Bakebakegirl

Todays top three Spotify songs:

1. Hey, Soul Sister - Train
2. At Home - Crystal Fighters
3. Uprising - Muse

Monday Review - Paralympics and Primrose Bakery

No baking from me again this week, I am feeling a bit jittery - I have already broken my gravy jug this morning :o(  I am having my sinus operation later today.....so hopefully the right side of my face will be pressure free and will be back to feeling normal soon.  

On Thursday Minibakebakegirl and I went into London and did the Pink and Purple Wenlock and Mandeville trails and some shopping inbetween!  Minibakebakegirl took charge of the map and we had great fun spotting them.  My favourite was the Afternoon Tea one.

 

Late afternoon we went to the Primrose Bakery.  A lemon cupcake and cappuccino for me and chocolate cupcake and tea for Minibakebakegirl - it was delicious and we had great seats to watch the busy comings and goings of the bakery.   They have two books - which will be going on my christmas list!

 



 

     

Last Saturday Hubby, Minibakebakegirl and I went to the Paralympics.  We had day pass tickets and were able to see Goalball, Wheelchair Basketball and Wheelchair Tennis - very good value for £25 for the three of us.   We were lucky enough to see GB at the Basketball - it was an excellent game - very exciting.  The Olympic Park is amazing and huge - and we had a good wander round - the wildflowers are so pretty - each of the benches had little facts on them - some about the factories that used to be on the site and some random facts!

 

 

 



 

Minibakebakegirl goes back to school tomorrow - can't quite believe how quickly the 6 weeks holidays have gone. She is going to be a Year 6 so this is her final year at Primary School - she is excited to be at the top of the school.

Thanks for visiting
Bakebakegirl

Todays top three Ipod songs:

1. Good People - Jack Johnson
2. 10,000 Nights - Alphabeat
3. Driftwood - Travis

Monday Review - Edinburgh Part 2

We have had another busy week in Edinburgh which included a street magician and a secret shoe shop!

On Tuesday we had lunch at Peter's Yard.  We all had soup, I had the lentil, Sister and Minibakebakegirl had the tomato and wensleydale.  We all got two slices of different bread - I don't know what mine were but they were delicious and so was the soup.  We liked the shape of the soup spoon - is this a swedish soup spoon? 

On Wednesday Sister and I went to see Bob Downe - this was his 16th Fringe - we have seen him a few times and I still find him hilarious!  His facial expressions and dancing are brilliant - plus he has an excellent voice.  After his show he said he would be in the bar so we went to meet him.  Mark Trevorrow seems a lovely guy and was happy to chat to everyone who came up to speak to him.  (I would have liked my picture with Bob Downe too!)

On Thursday I met FriendK for a very late lunch.  As it was such a nice afternoon we went to Cafe Centro in George Street as you can sit outside at the back of the restaurant.  It was lovely to catch up over a few glasses of wine and then she took me to Shhh a new shoe shopping experience. The shoes range from £70 to over a £1000 and they are all by different designers.  We just had a look round but the idea is that you make an appointment to go with a group of friends, drink champagne and try on shoes!

I went out with Best Friend and FriendV on Friday for dinner to Cafe Andaluz.  I probably go to this restaurant at least once a year when I am in Edinburgh and the food is always fantastic.  Afterwards we went to the Spiegel Terrace for a drink and while we were chatting a street magician came and did several different card tricks for us.  He was amazing - making my card disappear from the pack and reappear inside his wallet. His shuffling skills were fascinating and we were all very impressed.   

Once it was dark on Saturday evening we all got in the car to drive to Arthurs Seat to see if we could see Speed of Light.  Sisters friend is taking part in this next week.  We could see it quite well from ground level - the various patterns they were making and the different colours.  I imagine it would be quite chilly up the top if you were taking part and absolutely miserable if it rains! 

See you next week,
Bakebakegirl

Todays top three Songpop songs:

1. Common People - Pulp
2. Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
3.Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen




  

Monday Review - Edinburgh Part 1

Minibakebakegirl and I are currently in Edinburgh staying with Sister and Family so no baking (by me) this week.  Sister made some lovely banana traybake - another great recipe to use up brown bananas and I plan on pinching the recipe.  

At the weekend we stayed with BestFriend. Minibakebakegirl gets on really well with BFDaughter so it means we can have a proper catch up.   BFHubby cooked us a lovely chicken curry on Friday night, then we watched Ghost Ship with a very young looking Quinn from Dexter.  We also watched the original Fright Night.  We watched this several times when we were teenagers and I was a bit worried it wouldn't be like we remembered, however, we both enjoyed it!  I think I will watch the remake (purely because David Tennant is in it!) 

On Saturday afternoon the girlies headed into town for a bit of shopping and a mooch around the Mound were there are street entertainers.  We watched Mr Spin, who is a unicyling juggler - he was excellent - the last picture shows show him juggling, balancing a glass of water on his head while unicycling.  Quite a few street entertainers seem to waffle and take soooo long to get to the main part of their act, however Mr Spin did several amazing juggling bits and pieces before the main unicyle part.

Best Friend made us pancakes for breakfast on Sunday (yum) and I was honoured to get to use one of her Twilight mugs, she is a huge Edward fan.  I'm more on the Team Jacob side - I seek the heat.  The weekend with BestFriend went very quickly as always and both days BFSon (who is 7) and I had great fun on the trampoline!



Today Sister, BrotherInLaw, Minibakebakegirl and I went for coffee at The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Nieces went back to school last week).  We went to Cafe Modern One and sat outside in the garden terrace as it was such a lovely day.  I had a cappuccino and an oat and ginger slice.  It was a flapjack with a very sweet icing (almost like a soft scottish tablet).  It was very good.  Minibakebakegirl had a huge slice of brownie.

Thanks for stopping by, see you next week.

Bakebakegirl

Todays top three SongPop songs:

1. Only Happy When It Rains - Garbage

2. It's Raining Men - The Weather Girls

3. Video Killed The Radio Star - The Buggles



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