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!