Tuesday 22 February 2011

I'm not just talking to myself....

.....I reached 50 follows and I want to say a big thank you to you all for adding me. I didn't think I'd end up with 5 let alone 50!
My little blog is somewhere for me to come and be creative and it's so lovely to know that you are there following me along the way.
I thought I would celebrate with a good old fashioned traditional victoria sponge with a little twist of a filling!!



Ingredients:
4 eggs, weighed in their shells
butter or margarine
caster sugar
self raising flour
the above 3 ingredients should weigh the same as the weight of the 4 eggs in shells!
(if you want smaller cakes make with 3 eggs and the same weight again in the sugar, butter and flour).
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Mix together the sugar and butter /marg until light and fluffy.
2. Add in the vanilla extract and beat.
3. Add the eggs and lightly beat.
4. Now sift in the flour and stir into the mixture until well combined.
5. Poor the mixture into 2 tins lined with greaseproof paper and place into the oven at 180c.
6. Bake for approx 20 minutes.

I filled the middle with a layer of strawberry jam and a layer of mascapone cheese (the mascapone stops it from becoming too sweet).
the topping is icing sugar mixed with water and pink food colouring.






Friday 18 February 2011

Raspberry Coconut slice

A little late for a valentines post, but these are what I made for my Hubby for valentines. They went down well with a cuppa and so I thought I'd share this very easy recipe with you lovely bloggers!

 

Recipe taken from marks and spencers ' biscuits and macaroons' recipe book.


Ingredients
Sponge:
90g Butter
110g Caster sugar
1 Egg
35g Self Raising flour
100g Plain flour
1 Tablespoon custard powder
220g Raspberry jam
Coconut Topping:
160g desiccated coconut
55g Caster Sugar
2 Eggs, beaten Lightly

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180c and grease and line a 20 x 30 cm retangular tin.
2. Beat the butter, sugar and egg in a bowl until it turns light and fluffy.
3. stir in the sifted flour and custard powder.
4. Spread the dough into the tin and then spread the jam on top ( make sure you stir the jam before spreading, as it needs to be runny to spread over the dough) .
5. place the topping ingredients into a bowl and mix until combined.
6. sprinkle over the jam ( they say sprinkle but it's too wet to sprinkle, so I placed it on top of the jam and spread it with a fork).
7. Place in the oven and bake for 40 mins.
Make sure you use the correct size tin as I used a 20 x 20 tin and it took longer to bake!!

I think you could use any jam you fancy.....maybe something like blueberry or apricot.

Enjoy your weekend.x


Friday 11 February 2011

Heaven in a box.......


This week Grandma and myself took our little Harrison on his first trip on a train into London town.
 What a delight for the little fella he didn't know where to look first.
I hold my hands up to being a very curious person ( well........more like nosey...always have been, always will be!) and little H has taken after me! He was having a lovely time looking at all the different faces and places, it was a joy to see him taking everything in.
The joy didn't stop there and why should it I hear you say....It was only fair that mummy and grandma should have some too so we popped along to Patisserie Valerie.....

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This little box was filled with these little treats!

Tiramisu



Mixed berry treat



They were devine, so if you ever pass a Valerie's I'd advice you pop in for a little treat.
What more could I have asked for....sunshine,my mama, my little fella and a naughty treat!!
Enjoy your weekend.x