A cake through the letterbox?

Last week we were sent an adorable little cake from Bakerdays If you have never heard of them, they are an online cake company that make personalised cakes for any occasion with any design you could possibly think of!

We were sent a letterbox cake to review, it is a perfect size to fit through your letterbox, meaning you don't have to wait in for the delivery. Problem was my postman didn't realise this and my cake was stuck in the post office depot for nearly a week as I was at work when he delivered it! Luckily the cake is sent a cute tin with a protective film and is fresh for up to two weeks so we were still able to enjoy it when I picked it up.

When choosing a cake with Bakerdays there is a selection of fillings including this very delicious chocolate chip filling, plain sponge, fruit or even gluten or dairy free making them a suitable gift for anyone. The sizes range from this letterbox size at £14.99 up to a large cake with 40-55 portions for £56.99 so a range for any budget.

The cake can be personalised with any name or message you choose but I didn't want to give mine away so I stuck with the original message!

Christmas may be over but with Valentine's day and Mothering Sunday just around the corner I think a cake would make the perfect gift!

Alice in Wonderland birthday party

This week is a busy week of birthdays in my house as today is my big day (I am half way to 70) and 6 days ago was my daughters birthday. It has been a long time since I have had a proper party so I thought I would post the highlights from the Alice in Wonderland party that she had at the weekend.

Kyra was 12 last week and she always likes to have a party to celebrate her birthday, she actually starts planning the next party within weeks of the last one finishing! I loved the idea of having a tea party with sandwiches and cakes on stands and little teacups so we thought we would make it a bit like a mad hatters tea party.

I used Amazon to find lots of little props for the party, I especially love the tiny milk bottles that we filled with milkshake and the plastic jars full of sweets (not sure if the mad hatter had pick'n'mix but we wanted it anyway!) complete with paper bags and weighing scales.

We didn't have as many decorations as I wanted but we did cover the table with playing cards and cups and saucers. The inflatable flamingos were meant to go in the garden along with the game of croquet, only it was pouring with rain! The girls were not worried though as they were busy gossipping, some of Kyra's friends are from primary school and she hasn't actually seen them for 6 months so it was lovely for them to be able to catch up.

The party bags matched the sweet bags but as they were quite plain we put out a craft table for the girls to decorate their own bag before filling it. This didn't actually happen as they were too busy taking part in a talent contest and all I could hear coming from the kitchen were the lyrics to 'Do you want to build a snowman?' Yes, I should of known it would turn into a Frozen party eventually!

Kyra really loved the day and it was great to see so many of the girls dressing up as characters from Alice in wonderland.
 I hope she doesn't have anything too extravagant planned for next year as I also have a sweet 16th and a big 18th to contend with!!

Lemon Drizzle Muffins

I  don't think there is a cake I don't like but one of my all time favourites is the lemon drizzle cake. I think its the sourness of the lemons mixed with the sweetness of the cake that makes it so moreish!

I had just made lemon drizzle cake a little while ago and I wanted to make some muffins so I thought why not combine the two? Not being much of a baker myself, I didn't feel confident to just make up my own recipe so I turned to good old google to find one for me.

The recipe I found which looked pretty simple to make was on the BBC food recipe website. The preparation time was less than 30 minutes and the cooking time was 35 minutes. The recipe said it would make 8 - 10 muffins but as I used cupcake cases I actually made 12.

Here is my batch before I added the lemon drizzle...

Here are the ingredients if you would like to make your own:

2 eggs beaten
85g caster sugar
240ml milk
100ml vegetable oil
300g plain flour
3tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
zest of 4 lemons

For the topping

50g icing sugar
juice of 1 lemon

My lemon had rather a lot of juice so the drizzle was very watery but I liked it like that, if you prefer it more like icing then just add less juice.

 

The muffins are very easy to make; just combine the egg, sugar, milk and oil in a large mixing bowl.

Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt.

Add the grated lemon zest

Spoon the mixture into pre prepared muffin cases.

Bake in a pre heated oven at gas mark 6/200C until risen and golden.

Make the lemon drizzle topping and pour over the muffins once they have cooled.

Sit back with a nice cup of tea and enjoy your home cooked deliciousness! 

And remember when life gives you lemons, bake lemon drizzle muffins...

Cake glorious cake

I love cake I do, I could eat it everyday! In fact the first thing I ate when I got up this morning was a piece of chocolate cake (just a small piece)

Lately I've been seeing cake everywhere, lots of fab designs, homemade, cupcakes, tiered, cakes with fruit or covered in chocolate (my favourite) and it's made me feel quite inspired to make my own.
I've made cakes before, like the basic kind with a bit of butter cream but I'm thinking I want to take the next step and start decorating and designing, particularly for birthdays.

In May it's my daughters 12th birthday and she wants an Alice in wonderland themed tea party so I have been looking at cakes like the one below via pinterest. It definitely isn't for a beginner like myself so I think I will make a simpler version with 1, or maybe 2 layers!
The other cake, also via pinterest, I thought would be nice for Valentine's and as the man is trying to lose weight I suppose it will have to be a Valentine gift to myself :)

My 15yr old is studying food technology for her GCSE's as she wants to be a baker when she's older but she's really having a hard time at the moment. The cooking part of the course is fine but there is a lot of written work and she has to make a 26, A3 page portfolio within a few weeks. Falling being with this work has really started to put her off the course and I'm hoping that if I spend time baking and get her involved it will encourage her to carry on with her dream.

As they say 'there is no time like the present' so today I am going to bake a lemon drizzle cake just to get me in the mood!