Obsession

There's a long running feud of macarons, which apparently is between Laduree and Hermes. Since Hermes recently crashlanded in Selfridges, I finally got round to trying them. In a nutshell, don't do it!! Haa... Opinions do differ though and I have a friend who believes Hermes has the crown, but to me? They are overstuffed nuggets. The name of the flavour is more interesting than the taste, and the ultimate test - the salted caramel for me, just doesn't live up to Laduree's delicate and pleasing nibble. Packaging wise, the bag was a bit trashy (unpictured because I was that offended :P ) a white bag with leaf cut outs. Too primary school for me compared to Laduree's "Marie Antoinette shops here" style bag. The box, well I had to ask specifically for a box than a plastic bag, was nicer than the Laduree one because it was good and solid, but I can probably find the solid ones at Laduree too. And so, the little overstuffed little suckers sit. Costing well over ...

This is from the Crabapple Bakery cupcake cookbook. I've loved this cake for ages, looking at the picture for some time, but finally I made it. Decoration wise I don't have any flowers to put on top so I put the little chocolate mushrooms I bought from the Japan centre on top. This cake I'd definitely remake, but without the sponge fingers which are decoration only and don't add anything. They stay stiff and unyielding against the cream which is almost a disappointment when you're eating it. Ingredients: 1/3 self raising flour 1/3 cup cornflour 3 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp ground cinnamon 2 tsp cocoa 5 eggs, separated 3/4 cup caster sugar 1 tbsp golden syrup - Apple sauce - Whipped cream - Sponge fingers (250g pack works fine) Method: 1. Mix all the dry ingredients (bar sugar) together 2. Beat egg whites to peaks, add sugar and keep whisking, then add yolks and golden syrup 3. Fold dry into the egg mix 4. Bake in two greased pans (18-20cm round sandwich tins) for 15 mi...

Today was a day for nuts. I don't know how it ended up that way, but that's just the way it is. Since I did nothing yesterday I guess I was trying to kill it with some over-productive bakeathon. Since I've stopped buying cookbooks for my new year's resolution (it's July now and I'm holding strong!) I've been hitting the library. A few wonders in there, and an opportunity to try out some books that I refuse to buy. The above are Peanut Butter Biscuits from Baking - Delia Collection. It has the simplest recipe ever. My substitution was a poor one I think, not that it tasted bad - we ran out of bicarb and so we used baking powder. It didn't come out as a dry dough like the recipe suggested, but was quite greasy. When they were baked the edges weren't as cookie cute as the picture in the book, but they were definitely yummy. On my list for make again favourites :) Peanut Butter Biscuits Makes "20" according to the book, 12 plus 4 small ones by ...

As cakes go, this one is a-may-zing! In imitation of one Joey Tribbiani "What's not to like? Cream good, strawberries good, cake good, meringue goooooooooooooood" :D This has parental popularity which is rare, but is enjoyable all the same. This recipe cake from the Good Housekeeping Simple and Stunning Cakes (by Greg an Max). Very, very minor tweaks on my part - I used unsalted butter rather than margarine (you can tell the age of the book!!) and added a little vanilla (like 1/4 tsp) to a pot of light double cream. Note that I didn't chose to use light double cream (Elmea no less :S) just that someone bought it and we had to use it up. Something you need to watch out for is the flipping of the cake on top of the other one when you finally plate up. Very delicate and very breakable!! Ingredients: Cake: 50g unsalted butter 100g caster sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla 4 egg yolks 100g plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 3 tbsp milk Meringue: 4 egg whites 225g caster sugar 50g flaked a...

I've been trying to do macarons for awhile, (okay I've tried like twice?) and I think this actually worked. Funnily enough though, the should-have-been-a-failure ended up better than the ones that were text-booked. The recipe I followed was as follows here . It's the one in the comments which I reproduce here. 110g icing sugar 60g ground almonds (sift these together after whizzing down to a fine powder in a food processor) Then beat up 60g egg whites (usually 2 eggs' worth) with 40g caster sugar and a LITTLE bit of food colouring (a tiny dot of the gel stuff is much better and more intense than the liquid stuff), untill you have a firm, shiny meringue. Fold this gently, a third at a time, into the almond mixture. DON'T overmix; when it's just incorporated part the mixture with your spoon - it should slowly flow back together like 'molten lava' might. (If you can picture such a thing) Then pipe circles by holding your piping bag still and squeezing it a ...

So it was the tenth anniversary of this web forum I belong to - see right for link, and we were asked if we would consider making some cakes to mark the occasion. Much stress!! There were two practice cakes where I tried to make a chocolate gateau, but finally decided that the chocolate mousse filling would make it incredibly difficult to eat on serviettes. But, here it is finally. Despite dropping my ipod on the "y" in "Anniversary when I put on my coat on the train (it landed on the clingfilm which I think saved it from being squished completely!). Despite the pouring rain and Piccadilly Circus closing most of it's exits because of the flooding. Despite me wrangling for my umbrella and mobile with cake boxes in each hand. It made it through the storm!!! The cake itself is a Vanilla Buttermilk Cake from Sky High Cakes. I've made it before but for cupcakes (the lemon jam centre ones). This time I did try to emulate cake flour to an extent by replacing two tablesp...

So I got me an Ebelskiver pan :) For those of you as blank as I was, basically I was perusing the Williams-Sonoma website since I WAS going to be going to NY but never made it. But my friend was lovely enough to buy one and bring it back for me. Google it. Youtube it. Ebelskivers are basically pancakes (with a touch more egg white) which you can fill with things like nutella or jam. I used the recipe that came with the pan but observe. First go, they look pretty cute although a lot easier to get round rather than pancake shaped if you don't fill them. Lots of tips online on how to turn - I used wooden chopsticks. Easy peasy. Although if you do fill them, the jam can go a bit weird and turn it purple :)