We Bake Cake Christmas Cake Part 2

The more this cake gets decorated means the closer we're getting to Christmas which makes me very excited indeed!! 

How To.....make your own piping bag

This is a neat little trick I learnt recently from my college tutor which has proved so useful I wanted to share it with you all.  There are loads of different types of piping bags out there, different sizes, re-usable, disposable etc.  Up until now I used the re-usable ones but they're an absolute nightmare to get clean and if you're piping lots of different colous of icing it can be a right faff cleaning them between each colour.

But with this handy trick you can make your own piping bags, whatever size you like and all you need is a square of greaseproof paper and some scissors.

We Bake Christmas Cake Part 1

Yes I said the 'C' word.................CHRISTMAS!  There's only 45 days left until the big day and aside from all the present buying, card writing, food shopping and house decorating there's also the very important matter of the cake!

Christmas cake has always been a big deal in our house.  Ever since I was little I've always helped my Mum bake the cake, feed it with alcohol and then decorate with snow scene royal icing and the same Christmas cake decorations (usually a plastic christmas tree and father christmas) that every year we'd lose and spend hours trying to find.  The Christmas cake to me will always hold fond memories and is a very important part of the Christmas celebrations and even though I'm the only person in my house that actually likes fruit cake I still make one every year.

If Cupcakes Are As Addictive As Cocaine Then I'm In Big Trouble!!!!

Gotta love the Daily Mail.......apparently cupcakes are now as addictive as cocaine:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2057849/Why-trendy-cupcakes-addictive-cocaine.html

I love how there is a picture of some cupcakes next to a picture of some cocaine just to reinforce the point.  Now I can't say I've ever sampled cocaine but I have eaten A LOT of cupcakes and I'm pretty sure its not the same thing.  But if it in fact is then I have a serious problem, get me to rehab!

Cake Circles

I was at work yesterday opening one of the many e-newsletters I receive daily and came across one relating to cake!!!  This was most exciting not just as cake had somehow infiltrated my day job but also as the subject matter was very curious indeed.  The newsletter contained a story about Bill Drummond's Cake Circle which is taking place around the Static Gallery in Liverpool from 4-6 November.

Cake Circles are a completely new concept to me but I'm liking their style.  Basically what you do is take a map of your local area and draw a circle on the map with your home as the centre point.  Then you bake a cake, anything you like, then travel to a point on the circumference of the circle taking the cake with you, knock on the door of the chosen venue and give the recipient the cake.  Then bake and repeat for as long as you like. Sounds a bit mad but spreading the love with cake can never be a bad thing.

There's more information about Bill Drummond and the Liverpool Cake Circle here.

All I can think is those living in Bill's circumference of the Static Gallery in Liverpool are very lucky indeed.

Cake Decorating Class Week One

A few weeks ago I decided to enrol on an Introduction to Sugarcraft course at The Adult College in Lancaster.  I've taught myself a bit of sugarcraft via online tutorials and a whole lot of trial and error (!!) but when I found out this course was running I jumped at the chance to get some expert tuition.  My first session was this Monday just gone and even though it was only session one I've already learnt sooooooo much!

I was a bit unsure what to expect so I nervously made my way to the college (and getting caught in a massive rain storm on the way there didn't help matters either!) but once I got there everyone was lovely.  There's ten of us in the class and the tutor is called Dan from Emily Jane Moore Cake Designers based in Preston.  He was full of useful information and tips and very patient with us all!

Cake Gadget of the Week

This is my cake gadget of the week for only one reason...........because its so freaking cheap!!

I was wandering round my local Sainsbury's last week picking up a few cake supplies and came across this fab hand whisk for the bargain price of £4.18!  It's from the Sainsbury's Basics range and yes it is a bit basic (no extra fancy attachments etc) but if you're just looking for a cheap hand mixer you can't go far wrong with this.  I've used it several times in the past week or so and its not let me down.

I can't find it on their website so best bet is to hotfoot it down to your local store and snap one up before they sell out!

Dogs Heart Cake Too!

Meet Frank.

Frank is my dog/child.   A furry, black, stinky child but a child nevertheless.  So when it came around to his first birthday naturally I wanted to make him a cake to celebrate. 

My Cake Gadget of the Week

Thought I'd introduce a new feature sharing one of my favourite cake gadgets with you every week.  This week's gadget is probably already being used by you more experienced cake bakers, however if you're new to baking make sure you get your hands on one of these asap!

So what is this ground breaking new gadget?

The humble mechanical ice cream scoop!

I've been baking cupcakes for years but always struggled to get them consistently sized and ensure a professional finish.  If you've ever made cupcakes before you'll know how much of a faff it is trying to get the cake batter into the cases without getting it all over the case, muffin tray and yourself!!!   But with one of these babys there's no mess whatsoever and it also ensures that the same amount of batter goes into each case so all of your cupcakes look exactly the same.

So give it a go.  You can pick up one at most supermarkets and home stores.  Mine was from Sainsbury's here at the bargain price of £5!

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Impromptu Blackberry Baking

Well it’s definitely Autumn, the leaves are falling, there’s a chill in the air and I’ve had to dig out my wellies due to all the rain!  Saying that we’ve had a few lovely bright Autumn days here in Lancaster which I’ve made the most of by taking the pooch out and about on some epic walks.  Last Sunday myself, my other half Steve and Frank the dog had a wander across the fields near our house and down the cycle track that connects Lancaster to Glasson Dock.  While we were wandering I spotted a woman walking towards us with a carrier bag full of blackberries and on closer inspection discovered that the entire side of the cycle track was covered with blackberry bushes, so I set about collecting as many blackberries as I could.  This, let me tell you, took a lot longer than I thought and there was a fair few moans from the other half that we wouldn't be back in time for the Grand Prix.  After about half an hour I ended up with about half a bag full which when I weighed them later worked out at about 400g.

So what to do with my blackberry bounty?  Well as it was a Sunday and I knew most of my family would be partaking of a Sunday lunch I thought I’d make them some pudding and settled on the fairly easy to make Blackberry and Apple Crumble.  Here's the recipe:

And so the thirties begin.............

June 2012..........the dreaded time when I will turn 30 and enter that scary decade where we're all expected to settle down and become responsible. I've started thinking about this recently after noticing the start of all the 30th birthdays for all my old (being the operative word :) ) school and university friends.  The party invites are being received, birthday wishes being posted online and most importantly birthday cakes are being made!

I've made two 30th birthday cakes in the last couple of months and I'm sure there will be more as the year progresses.  The first was for my boyfriend Steve who turned 30 in August.  I've been teasing him about turning 30 for months (much to his annoyance) but when the big day came around I was actually quite nice and along with his family we threw him a big birthday party.  No birthday party is complete without a cake and for Steve I created this three tier vanilla sponge cake in red and white (Man Utd colours of course).

This was the first time I'd created such a big tiered cake but with the help of some sturdy dowelling rods I was quite happy with the way it turned out.

Secret Oreo Cookie Cupcakes

This week is National Cupcake Week (http://www.nationalcupcakeweek.co.uk/), a celebration of all things cupcake!  So in honour of the week I thought I’d share my recipe for Secret Oreo Cookie Cupcakes.

I absolutely love Oreos and they’re even better when combined with other sweet treats. Lorraine Pascale has a fabulous recipe for Cookies and Cream Fudge Brownies which always go down well in my house (http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/cookies_and_cream_fudge_48648) but if cupcakes are more your thing try these:

Cupcake Ingredients
150g butter
150g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
125g plain flour
25g cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
1.5 tsp baking powder
1-2 tbsp milk as needed
12 Oreo cookies

Buttercream Ingredients
350g butter
700g icing sugar
4 Oreo cookies

Cake Travels - My Tuscan Cake Adventure

Apologies for the lack of blog posts over the last week or so, I've been stuck in Tuscany!  It originally started as a week off in the sun but due to an Italian transport workers strike and a very unhelpful airline my flight home was cancelled and not rescheduled until a few days later.  Woe is me, such a hardship! :)

It did however give me a bit more time for sightseeing (que a day in Pisa holding up the leaning tower) and more importantly cake tasting!!

I felt it was my duty to taste as many sweet treats as I could while in Tuscany and in this duty I did not fail!  Italians really know their sweet treats and everything I tasted was absolutely delicious.  Highlights included biscotti, white chocolate parfait drizzled in dark chocolate, panna cotta and of course lots and lots of gelato! 

Bread Baking Part 1

OK so I know bread isn't cake but I was contemplating what to bake today and thought I'd give bread a go.  It's been ages since I've baked a loaf of bread, like literally about 10 years, so thought I'd give myself a challenge.  And there's none of your fancy breadmakers being used here, just a bowl and lots of elbow grease!!

I thought I'd attempt a basic white loaf and my first task was to scour through a load of bread recipes and find the best one.  In the end I jumbled together the best bits from a range of them so here you go.......

Ingredients
500g strong white bread flour (plus extra for dusting)
1 tsp salt
1 sachet of fast action dried yeast (7g)
350ml warm milk
1 tbsp honey

You'll also need a large loaf tin.

First off combine the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl.

Boozy Cupcakes!

Another one of my weekend baking requests was to make some of my famed Chocolate Guinness cupcakes with Baileys buttercream for someones birthday.  I love this recipe mainly because it combines two of the best ingredients going, chocolate and booze!!  Even if you don't like Guinness (I'm not the biggest fan) I guarantee you'll still love these.  The Guinness complements the chocolate really well and gives it more more depth whilst keeping the cupcake moist.

And the Baileys buttercream (just add a couple of teaspoons of Baileys to your usual buttercream recipe) just tops them off nicely and as a bonus makes them look like tiny pints of Guinness.  They'd be great for St Patrick's Day.

The Chocolate Box Cake

The first of my weekend's cake challenges was to create a birthday cake for one of my boyfriend's work mates who wanted a cake for his wife's birthday onn Saturday.  I figured chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate could do no wrong and set about creating the chocolatiest cake I could manage.  This was the end result.

I started with my tried and tested top secret chocolate cake recipe which I then sandwiched and covered with dark chocolate ganache. I lined the outside of the cake with Cadbury's chocolate fingers, wrapped the cake in ribbon and to finish it off decorated the top of the cake with Thornton's Continentals.

It was lucky to leave my house in one piece :) 

All Baked Out!

Well I wasn't sure if this was possible but after a hectic weekend of baking I'm all baked out!!!  This is what I started with:

and after several hours I ended up with a chocolate box cake, some gourmet Guinness chocolate birthday cupcakes with Baileys frosting, a three tier 30^th birthday cake and chocolate 60 cupcakes.  Exhausted is not the word!!  Don’t worry though I’m sure I’ll be over it and back in the kitchen soon enough :)

Pictures and blog of them all to follow shortly.

Hello...........we like cake!

Title says it all really. Welcome to the We Bake Cake blog. Here I'll be chronicling my baking exploits and if you're really lucky I might divulge a few hints and tips (or tell you where I went wrong so you don't!)

So enjoy, bake away and feel free to get in touch.

Clare x