Cupcakes, again.

I was asked to bake some cupcakes for Ian's nan for her to bring along to her OAP club. It's tradition for all the ol' dears to bring along treats to celebrate their birthdays, and as it's her birthday on Wednesday she wanted something to share with her mates.

I'm still playing around with my new toy, I can't seem to get enough of Instagram. Now, I'm no photographer, so to have an app that will make my pictures look halfway decent is a godsend. Please, humour me.

Back to the cupcakes, look at these naked lovelies.

I basically made the same cupcake as the Easter ones from last weekend except I left out the lemon from the sponge and went straight-up vanilla. The icing however, I kept the same.

Summon da police, someone broke in and messed up my kitchen! Icing sugar is the devils creation.  

My, what a fine job they made of the cupcakes, they must be professional...

I think Ian's nan liked the cupcakes, I hope all the old dears do too!



New toy

Not one for fancy technology, I always said I'd never be that bothered about getting an iPhone, and would be more than happy with my cheapo pay as you go handset for as long as it would (work before I dropped it in another cup of coffee) did I mention that I'm clumsy? Oh kids, how times have changed! Not only have I gone and got myself an iPhone but I'm secretly loving it! You can't tell Ian or I'll never hear the end of it.

Anyway, I was messing with the camera and I took a photo of the boy. Isn't he handsome?



Easter Cupcakes

In the spirit of the season, I made some lemon cupcakes to bring over to Ian's mum for Easter lunch yesterday. I told you I was a fan of lemons!

Because I wasn't feeling terribly creative (i.e. lazy) I chucked a few Cadburys' Mini Eggs and tiny fluffy chicks on top. Cute, right?!

Lemon Cupcakes

For the cupcakes

125g unsalted butter, softened

165g caster sugar

zest of one large lemon

2 medium eggs

225g self raising flour

125ml milk

Preheat oven to 180°C

Line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin liners

Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Don't skimp on this part! Add the eggs one at a time, and beat well after each addition. Add the lemon zest and stir through.

Gently fold in the flour until it's combined and then add the milk, stirring well.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire cooling rack.

Lemon Sugar Syrup

1-2 tbsp caster sugar

1-2 tbsp lemon juice

In a small saucepan combine the sugar and lemon juice over a low heat until sugar has dissolved. Brush each cake liberally with the sugar syrup. This keeps the cupcakes lovely and moist!

Lemon Buttercream Icing

Adapted from: Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery

110g unsalted butter, softened

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

zest of 2 unwaxed lemons

500g icing sugar, sifted

2-3 tbsp room temperature milk

Begin by beating the butter, lemon juice, lemon zest and half the icing sugar until smooth. (I always start with a wooden spoon - being very clumsy, I don't want a layer of icing sugar all over me and my kitchen!) Gradually add the rest of the icing sugar and beat slowly, moving on to a hand held mixer for a smooth, light icing.

I made the cupcakes on Saturday evening, but because we wouldn't be eating them until Sunday I wanted the buttercream to stay soft (it has a tendency to harden) so I added about 2 tbsp of milk to the mixture.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, decorate them any which way you please and enjoy!

*Photo taken on Ian's iphone.

Cardamom and Lemon Stamped Cookies

Woohoo! I'm back in the baking saddle (so to speak) and there's just no stopping me! My poor kitchen has taken a bit of a bashing over the past couple of days, the guilt of neglecting him got too much. My belly is loving all the delicious baked goodies but my thighs are screaming out to be saved. Does it count that I went cycling yesterday? And I did 12.5 miles?! Biking and baking, get me!

I love the Hairy Bikers (do you like my feeble attempt at a biking and baking link? Sorry kids) and I wanted to bake these cookies as soon as I saw the recipe on their new programme, Hairy Bikers' Bakation. Have you seen it yet? It's great! They're travelling across Europe on their motorbikes, visiting artisan bakers along the way and trying their hand at baking traditional recipes from each country. If you haven't seen it you're missing a treat and I've lost count of the number of times I've declared that 'I want that job' *sigh*. A girl can dream...

The cookie recipe is from the episode when they visited Norway - look at the view they had when baking.

Check out my view



In your face, Bikers.

Anyway, the cookies! Lemons have to be one of my all time favourite ingredients and I will almost always choose a lemon dessert if ever we go out for food. I've only ever used cardamon in savoury dishes and was intrigued to see how it tasted in a sweet treat. Knowing that cardamom is a very fragrant, almost overpowering spice I was worried when I saw how much was needed in the recipe and I didn't want it to be another case of 'Emma, I can't eat this', (Ian isn't cardamom's greatest fan) but to my surprise they were a massive hit!

I'd've liked a bigger hit of lemon in the cookie, so next time I'd ramp it up by zesting two lemons and the cardamom, thankfully, doesn't overwhelm the taste. It is a well known fact that I get easily distracted, which, truth be told, is a real pain in the arse and I may have left them a little too long in the oven (note to self: BUY A TIMER) as they were more golden in colour the than I wanted, but beautifully crisp.

Cardamom and Lemon Stamped Cookies

Hairy Bikers' Bakation

BBC 2

225g soft butter

150g caster sugar
zest of one lemon
250g plain flour
100g ground almonds
1 heaped tsp cardamom seeds, ground in a pestle and mortar

Preheat the oven to 190C
Line 2 large baking trays with baking parchment.

Using an electric hand-whisk, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest together in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in the flour, almonds and cardamom until the mixture is well combined and comes together to form a stiff dough.

Roll the dough into 24 balls and place 12 on each baking tray – make sure you leave space between each one. Press each cookie with a cookie stamp or the bottom of a glass to flatten and leave decorative indentations in the dough (I didn't have a stamp so I used the bottom of a glass)

Bake a tray at a time for 12–14 minutes until the cookies are pale golden brown. Leave them to cool on the tray for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. They will crisp up as they cool. Store the cookies in an airtight tin and eat within 7 days (if possible!)



Chocolate-Orange Cake

If I'm honest, this weekend baking thing hasn't panned out quite as I'd planned. As I work shifts, I don't alwys get a weekend off; my days off can fall on any two days of the week, and may not necessarily be together. This is no biggie as I like to have my days off when everyone else is out working - its so peaceful to go shopping mid-week rather than battle through the queues on the weekend! For weekend baking it can sometimes be problematic, and if it's been a busy Saturday I don't always feel like coming home to bake, let alone to make us dinner aswell. That's not to say I haven't whipped up a batch of cookies or baked a cake when I've come home from work, because sometimes I just get the urge, y'know? Baking can be very theraputic, especially if you know you're going to get a delicious treat afterwards! But on some days I just need to do nothing and re-charge my batteries.

Anyhoo, I saw this recipe in Nigella's 'How To Be A Domestic Goddess' ages ago, and the combination of orange and chocolate in a cake  seemed too good ignore, it became one of those recipes that I filed away as 'ooh-I-must-try-that-one-day' cakes. So, flicking through the book for ideas I knew it needed to be made. There's something quite appealing about a recipe that calls for ingredients that you should already have in your store-cupboard. This Store-Cupboard Chocolate-Orange Cake, as it is correctly known, did just that.

Ok. My first obstacle was the discovery that my store cupboard was somewhat lacking in the essential ingredients needed for the cake. Foolish gir! So, after a quick dash to the shops to pick up a bar of dark chocolate and a jar of marmalade I couldn't wait to get started. (I acidentally bought two jars of marmalade. So what if I got distraced by the different varieties of marmalade and forgot that I'd already put a jar into my basket? The real mystery is how I didn't realise this until I got home)

Once out of the oven and cooled a bit, I couldn't help but think the cake looked a little dry. A spoonful of marmalade mixed up with some water to make a syrup was poured over the top, but not before I skewered holes in to the cake first. The cake turned out to be very dense with a glisteningly sticky top. It wasn't overly chocolately but the sweetness of marmalade was almost too sickly sweet, to the extent that I was the sole-eater of cake in a two-person house. Not a problem as I do love cake. Mae West once said: 'Too much of a good thing can be wonderful!', but boy, was I glad when it was all gone.

I wouldn't rush to make this particular cake again, but if I did I would perhaps use a darker marmalade than the one (or ones) I bought. When I was a little girl I remember a very dark, thick-cut marmalade we used to love spread on thickly-sliced white bread, with a generous layer of salted butter underneath. I think this marmalade would be perfect for the cake - not too sweet, but with just the right depth of flavour.

Store-Cupboard Chocolate-Orange Cake
How To Be A Domsmestic Goddess
Nigella Lawson

125g unsalted butter
100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
300g good, thin cut marmalade
150g caster sugar
pinch of salt
2 large eggs, beaten
150g self raising flour

Preheat oven to 180°C
Butter and flour an 8" (20cm) springform tin

Slowly melt the butter over a low heat, once it's nearly melted stir in the chocolate. Take off the heat and stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add the marmalade, sugar, salt and eggs. Stir together until all ingedients are amalgamated then beat in the flour, bit by bit. Scrape into your prepared tin and bake for about 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the tin for about 10 minutes before turning out onto your rack.

A Birthday Celebration

Last Thursday I turned thirty-three and quickly tried to forget it. Feeling like death from a glorious midnight shift and not getting in until 4am (thanks George) it was hard to feel nothing but, well, old.

Undeterred, Ian made sure I enjoyed a relaxing morning before he whisked me off for an afternoon of cinema fun. I was treated to a film at the The Electric Cinema in Birmigham to watch The Descendants. Going to the pictures is bit of a busman's holiday for us, but when it's someone else's cinema you quickly forget your day job and can enjoy watching some quality cinema, regardless.




{via}





Ian booked us a sofa where we ordered drinks and nibbles, to be served just as the film started!

And the film! If you haven't yet had the pleasure of watching it, I urge you to go out now and view it immediately. Mr Clooney's dubious wardrobe didn't detract from his performance and the vulnerability of his character made me love him a little bit more. I'll admit I cried a little throughout. OK, a lot then. But it's hilarious too, so don't let my uncontrollable blubbering put you off.

When the film ended, and the little old lady waiting for the loo and I had finished discussing the films highlights ("George Clooney, WOOOOO!", her shrieking words not mine) Ian and I headed over to Moseley where a table was booked at a lovely Caribbean restaurant, Carib Grill.

With our bellies full of rum punch, delicious jerk chicken and curried goat, it was the perfect end to my birthday, and what a fine ending it was. Thank you Ian!

Weekend Baking

Sometimes it crosses my mind that I'm not as adventurous a cook as I'd like to be. Don't get me wrong, every once in a while I get the urge to bake something new, something different. That little gem of a recipe hiding away in a cookbook will occasionally reveal itself to me, but, more often than not I find myself reaching for the familiar recipes in my repatoire.

It's no secret that I have a lot of cookbooks. I, unfortunately, haven't utilised them as best I could so, I have made a decision. I am going to revive weekend baking in this here house, to try a new recipe each week from a book of my choice - a recipe that I may not have tried before.  

How d'ya like them apples? In a pie. Got it.


I can't promise that this will be an interesting 'Julie & Julia' project. I can't even promise to make each recipe with the energy and enthusiasm of said project, a la Julie. But I will channel my inner Julia (or Delia, depending on how I feel) and she will emerge, bringing sexy back baking back to my kitchen. I may not be able to keep up the promise of weekly baking, but I'll hang on in there, feebly attempting in my quest for delicious baked goods.


Are you in?

Wales v Ireland

In terms of sporting loyalty, I had a tough weekend. Here... I'll try to explain:
How does a Welsh girl born to an Irish mother make the right decision in choosing which team to support when the most exciting match of the RBS Six Nations kicked off on Sunday?




Image found {via}

 I'll admit I'm not much of a sports watcher (I leave that up to my Mr. Emma) but when it comes to the Six Nations, I love it! But the Wales v Ireland thing has always been a source of debate growing up in in our house. Am I more Welsh because I was born in Wales, or am I more Irish because of my Mum? Oh, I don't know. What I do know is... they both put on a good show!

Much to my Mum's horror I declared I was supporting Wales. I could hear the disappointment in her voice - I wonder, can one be too old to be put up for adoption?

Anyhoo, to keep in with the Welsh theme, my weekend baking should've included some old favourites such as Bara Brith or a few little Welsh Cakes. But that would be too obvious, and I'm afraid I don't work like that. I have this terrible condition where my belly takes over everything. So, once my gut had literally spoken, a Spiced Date and Walnut Loaf it had to be.

Trying to stop myself inhaling the hot-out-of-the-oven cake was truly one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, with the exception of having to wait a whole day before I could eat it, of course.

The delicately spiced sponge was studded with pieces of crunchy walnut and moist dates, and the top was lovely and sticky. I substituted the ground mixed spice for some ground allspice for no other reason than I didn't have any to hand. 

It was not as moist as I'd anticipated and could perhaps have benefited from being taken out of the oven sooner than the recipe asks (I checked it after 1 hr 20 mins and the oven was set at about 140°C) but the cake was delicious and was improved greatly with a steaming hot mug of tea and a triumphant Welsh win!

Spiced Date and Walnut Loaf
The Delia Collection: Baking
Delia Smith


4oz (110g) pitted dates
2oz (50g) walnuts
4oz (110g) butter
2oz (50g) black treacle
6oz (175g) golden syrup
5fl oz (150ml) milk
2 large eggs
8oz (225g) plain flour
1 tsp ground mixed spice
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda


Pre-heat the oven to 150°C
Lightly grease a 2lb loaf tin


Chop the walnuts and dates into small pieces and set aside.


Place the butter, treacle and syrup in a saucepan and melt slowly over a gentle heat. Once melted, remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly, then add the milk. Beat the eggs and add these to the mixture.


Sieve the flour, spices and bicarb into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour the syrup mixture into it. Whisk on a slow speed until you have a smooth batter. Fold in the walnuts and the dates, and pour into the prepared tin.


Place the cake in the centre shelf of the oven and cook for about 1 ½ hours. Once done it will have a rounded and slightly cracked top. Allow it to cool in the tin for about half an hour before turning out onto a wire rack then once cold, keep in an airtight container. The cake will improve with age so try, if you can, to not eat it straight away.

Home

I was looking through some of old photographs and I came across some from a visit home in April 2008.





I grew up in a small village in North Wales until I was 19, when I moved away to study in Sheffield.

  

When I was younger I couldn't wait to move away and experience the bright lights of the city. Now I'm older, I love going home again.

A bunch of flowers

Look at this lovely bunch of flowers! Aren't I a lucky girl?



Yes, I feel so lucky to have been taught how to make my own flowers, that no one need buy me any more, ever again!

I was taught how to make roses and carnations as part of another sugar craft course I did at Tamworth College. Although fiddly, the carnations were a lovely flower to make. I love how delicate they look against the more robust rose.

It's actually a cake...

...a bouquet cake to be more precise!

I ended up giving my Mum the flowers on top of her own birthday cake one year. She still has them stashed in a shoe box somewhere, and ever the embarrassing parent she'll get them out to show her visitors:

"Look at what my daughter made" 

"Oooh!"



Ch-ch-ch-changes!

No, I'm afraid this isn't a David Bowie based post. I figured I'd just rip off his song title to illustrate the ch-ch-ch-changes (sorry) I've made to my new bike.

The beautiful original cream tyres on my Gazelle were, well, past it. Cracked, dusty and tired there was no way I was going to risk going on an adventure without immediately replacing them. After all, I didn't want to be riding a death trap.

I wanted to replace the old tyres but if possible keep the cream colour as they look lovely against the dark green frame. With the Gazelle being my first vintage bicycle I had no idea where to start looking for replacement tyres, as Tamworth isn't the sort of town to cater for the more traditional bike.

As a regular reader of Lovely Bicycle!, cream tyres feature a lot on Velouria's blog, and Schwalbe Delta Cruisers seem to be the tyre of choice. A quick search on the web confirmed that I could get them in the UK at a reasonable price, so what was I waiting for?

Mucky pup...

Ahem. The cream tyres may be a problem to keep clean - maybe I should've opted for black after all?



Chillin' at the castle

See! You can't even see the dirt from far away!

I made the decision to take the front rack off the bike, which to me, did nothing for the overall look of the Gazelle. Without it, it feels less cluttered and the bike is 100 times more gorgeous, not that it wasn't before mind you! The rear rack is more than enough for me and what I carry, although I may have to get some funky bungee straps to aid with my more bulky cargo.

When I bought the bike the dynamo light was totally knackered so it had to go. I'd like to replace it when I have the time but I need to do a bit of research to see if I can use the original light with a new dynamo set and how best to fit it to the bike.



Wheeeeeee!

So, those are the little changes that have been made to my bike so far and I'm quite pleased! What do you think?

Oh, go on then. Here's some David Bowie.

What?!

The other day I stopped off at the supermarket on my way home from work, locked up the Gazelle and popped in to grab a few bits. Back outside, as I attached the pannier to my bike I noticed a group of young girls on their bmx bikes watching me getting myself ready to head home - feel free to use the picture below as a visual aid. Honestly... this was them.



Yeah, but no, but... what you lookin' at?



Intimidating? Uhh, yes!

As I cycled away I overheard one of the girls comment, "Why would you wanna ride that?"

Forgive me if I'm being stupid, but wtf? Why would I want to ride a bicycle? The girl on a bike really did ask that question. God, I need to get out of this town.

Okay, okay, I'll cut her some slack. The more I thought about this comment from Sharron* she can't have actually meant what I thought she meant, can she? I mean, its fairly obvious why someone would ride a bike. It keeps you fit and healthy and above anything else it's great fun! OH! Sharron must have meant the style of bicycle i.e. upright, traditional and darn beautiful.

It is a fact that 50% of bicycles in Tamworth are of the mountain variety, and the other 50% are bmx bikes. So to 'fit in' in this town should I have opted for a bike that I already own or a bike that I can do sweet jumps on? Well neither, thankyouverymuch.

I'll happily stick to my fabulous new bicycle and hope that I can inspire other ladies in this town to follow suit and see that traditional is not something to be scoffed at.

(*Name has been changed to protect identity)

Gazelle Implala

Oh my goodness, it's been an age sice I last posted. The nights are drawing in and winter is definitely on it's way. But...

 

I'd like to introduce you to my new bicycle! She's a 1975 Gazelle Impala, a bicycle make that I'd only really heard of through Lovely Bicycle! Isn't she a beauty?

As you might know, I'd been dreaming of getting a traditional bicycle for such long time and had been saving hard all summer but with one thing and another I never actually got round to buying one. Looking for cheap books on ebay I found myself once again dreaming about bicycles and typed 'vintage bicycles' into the search bar. There were loads! After an age of searching and a failed bid on a vintage Raleigh I found the bike that would be mine. With my heart racing through the bids I was soon the proud owner of a vintage Gazelle, and at a bargain price to boot! 

Since getting her I had to replace her original cream tyres with some new Schwalbe Delta Cruisers, which I hope will last for years to come, only because I'm a very lazy bike owner. 

I never imagined that I'd find a bicycle on ebay after I had my heart set on a new Pashley, but I would definitely recommend it for those of you that are on a budget. There are some real gems out there, but be prepared to search hard for the right bike for you. I think myself lucky in finding a beautiful bike in such great nick.

So, would you consider buying a vintage bicycle on the internet over a brand new one?

If so, happy bidding and good luck!

Rain, rain, go away

The rain has eased off and the sun is shining, for now, but it's just a matter of time before there's another downpour. I was hoping to get stuff done on my day off today; our garden currently looks like a jungle - I fear Ray Mears'* survival skillz would be put to the test; the lawn is desperate for a cut but I don't want to die, so mowing it whilst it's wet is out of the question. Maybe I'm being a big ol' blouse, but I didn't even go for my bike ride. I actually put it down to the puncture my poor bike got the other day. Yes, another puntcure! That's two in the space of 5 weeks - is this normal? Maybe cycling through the glass-bottle graveyard that is my route to work isn't such a great idea. My bike is a bit under the weather, so he's tucked up in the garage until he's feeling a bit more sprightly.

Instead, I've enjoyed my afternoon watching 'A View to a Kill', supping a big mug of homemade masala chai - Yum!





*swoon*

 
There's nothing like a bit of Roger Moore, who incidently is the best Bond, to lift your spirits on a rainy, miserable day off. Yes, I know, everyone prefers Sean Connery - not this gal. I'm also partial to a bit of Timothy Dalton *sigh*




*super dreamy*

 
But the rain... please come again another day. Preferably when I'm at work...

(*So much better than Bear Grylls)

Masala Chai

From: allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

235 ml water
6g sugar
1 whole cardamom pod
1 whole clove
2 black peppercorns
3g black tea leaves (I love Yorkshire Tea!)
120ml warm milk

Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil. Add the cardamom pod, clove, peppercorns and tea leaves. Remove from heat, and let the mixture steep for 2 to 3 minutes. Strain into a cup, and fill cup the rest of the way with milk.

Sugarcraft

Way back in 2007 I took a 9 week recreational sugarcraft course at Tamworth College. I wanted to do something with my spare time that I enjoyed, and as I come from a family that loves to bake I thought that this would be the perfect way to spend two hours every Tuesday evening, that wouldn't interfere with my job and shift patterns.

Yes, please ignore the very crude photo, but I was extremely chuffed with my efforts from my first proper cake decorating course. It may not look like much, but that was my flowerpaste poinsettia! Don't you just love the glare of the flash against the red of the petals?

At the time, I felt frustarted that I couldn't quite get the hang of using this 'stuff' that was not too dissimilar to chewing gum. My hands were always too hot and made working with flowerpaste really difficult. I almost gave up within the first couple of weeks as it seemed almost impossible to create anything.

Patience and persistence was all I needed. I felt I could create (almost) anything once my poinsettia was complete! Bring it on...

...I mean, just look at my bow cake. You want one don't you? Admit it.

And this is my embossed, piped and whatever-else-I-could-get-on-it cake. Simply Beautiful (with a capital B)

Hey kids, you gotta start somewhere.

A beautiful day for a bike ride!

Having the day off today I decided to make the most of this fab weather and go for a spin on my bike. I headed out of Tamworth towards Wigginton on a ride that I do a lot with Kellie, but as she's sunning it up abroad this week, I'm on my tod.

Please excuse my pasty whites

Look at this lovely house for sale, shame it's just out of our price range.

HELLO! I just love these yellow gates on Sunnyside Farm.

These pots are lovely aren't they?

Wigginton Manor.

Eye eye.

*Thhhuuuuptt*

With schools off for Whit Week I thought I might have seen more families out and about on their bikes, sadly no. I did see (and was overtaken by) a few lycra clad gents on their road bikes, I tried to keep up but couldn't be bothered didn't want to miss any of the view.

Look at all these broad beans! The field went on for ages

and potatoes! Lots and lots of potatoes - I hope they'll be sold at our farm shop when they're ready.

Canal in Fisherwick

 Packington pig

Poppies

What a feast for the eyes! I'm now sporting a rockin' farmers tan on my arms, ending just below my elbows. Where did the sunshine take you today?