Christmas Cake 2016

This year's Christmas cake is a very simple idea. A snowman's head. Lots of images online to inspire.

Recipe by my mum.

Merry Christmas one and all.

Chocolate Fudge Christmas Tree Cupcakes - Recipe

Christmas Fayre time! Every year our kids' school has a Christmas Fayre in order raise some funds for the school. This year is my youngest's last year at primary school and they have recently introduced a Bake-Off style competition. Well guess whose ears pricked up then! I always help out and donate some cakes but this year is the first time it's been a competition. The categories were Family Favourites, Creative Cupcakes and Festive Showstoppers.

Below is my entry. Chocolate Fudge Christmas Tree Cupcakes.

Unfortunately, as I was attempting to take an amazing photo, this happened:

OOPS!

I patched them up as best I could, cursing those cardboard cupcake stands, but was then too late to enter! Aw well... there's always next year. Oh no, wait...

Still, the other entries were amazing. The winning showstopper was a fantastic Gingerbread house made by an 11 year old in my little girl's class. Must get her round more for some tips! There was also a fantastic chocolate smarties cake, where the pack of sweets is pouring into the cake, and a beautiful reindeer cake. Extremely high standards.

This recipe is a delicious chocolate fudge cupcake, (or scrumptious if you are 10), topped with green buttercream icing piped into Christmas tree shapes and decorated with gold or silver baubles.

Prep and Decorating Time: 1 hour (but do allow time for droppage!)
Bake Time: 15-20 mins

Makes 12

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

200 ml water
85 g butter
85 g golden caster sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
3 tbsp whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
225 g plain flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder

For the topping:

100 g butter
200 g icing sugar
Green food colouring
Silver/gold soft pearl sprinkles
White sprinkles for snow (Optional)
You could use any coloured sprinkles as fairy lights or baubles or stars


Method:

Heat the oven to 180 C. Prepare a muffin tin with 12 gold (or Christmassy) paper cases.

Place the water, butter, sugar and syrup in a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar dissolves. Bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Allow to cool.

(In fact I didn't allow it to cool, and it still seemed fine!)

Mix the milk, vanilla and bicarbonate of soda in a small bowl, again until it dissolves.

Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a bowl and then add the (cooled!) syrup mixture. Add the milk mixture and then beat in a food mixer until smooth. It will be quite liquidy and gloopy.

Divide the mixture into the paper cases and bake for 15-20 minutes until they are well risen and firm to touch. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool.


For the icing, beat the butter until really smooth, then add in the icing sugar and beat slowly to start with, to prevent it snowing everywhere, then faster until smooth. Add in the green colouring until you get the colour you want.

Using a small star nozzle, fill a piping bag with the icing and pipe the icing in swirls getting narrower as you go up. Some of my trees were quite lop-sided. And that was before I dropped them!
Decorate with sprinkles, baubles, snow and stars, as you wish.


Did you go to this year's St Paul's Christmas Fayre? Did you taste my trees? I'd love to know what you thought...

See lots more Christmas recipes on #recipeoftheweek

Chocolate and Hazelnut Noisettes - Recipe

These beautiful organic hazelnuts were a present from Macedonia - brought back from my friend's mum's garden. What to make with them? Well, obviously, pralines...

I dug out Life's A Praline by Juliette Nothomb, another gift, this time from an event at Godiva and the very first recipe was for Gianduja, smooth creamy lingots noisettes. I don't know what any of that means, but the picture looked very tempting and the recipe seemed relatively easy. Preparing the hazelnuts, however, was quite time consuming, but the result was more than worth the effort. With Christmas coming up (less than 5 weeks away now), these could make a delicious, homemade gift.

Macedonian Hazelnuts

Prep Time: 1-1.5 hr
Bake Time: 15 mins plus 1 hr cooling

Ingredients:

250 g hazelnuts
180 g sugar
55 ml water
1 vanilla pod, scraped out
250 g dark chocolate
100 g milk chocolate for topping
(optional 1 tsp bicarb of soda)

Equipment:

Nutcracker
Baking tray
Bain-Marie
Small saucepan
Thermometer

Method:

Firstly, prepare the hazelnuts. Using a nutcracker, remove all the shells and place the kernels on a baking tray. Roast for about 15 mins in the oven at 150 C.

Once they have started to go brown, and the skin begins to crack, remove from the oven and place on a clean tea towel in a bowl. Allow to cool.
When cool, give them a massage inside the tea towel and the skins should flake off. Transfer them carefully to a clean bowl, making sure all the skins have rubbed off. If it's not happening, put them back in the oven for a few more minutes and repeat. You may need a bit of scraping action! Also, this will wreck your tea towel... this part is a real faff, and I have to say, I gave up. Instead I blanched the nuts in a bowl with some boiled water and a teaspoon of bicarb. I let this soak for about 10 minutes, then it was easy to scrape the rest of the skin off with a kitchen towel. Back in the oven to dry roast them again.



Once the skinned roasted hazelnuts have cooled, it's time to prepare the praline mixture.

Chop the hazelnuts in a food processor.

In a saucepan, place the water, sugar and vanilla and heat up to 120 C. If you don't have a thermometer, just bring it to the boil and let it boil for about 2 minutes. Then remove it from the heat and mix in the chopped hazelnuts. Place this back on the heat and stirring constantly, let it boil until caramelized. It will happen very quickly and dry out so keep an eye on it.

(In the original recipe, the hazelnuts are caramelised whole and then whizzed up in a food processor. I guess this will give a different smoother texture.)

Set up a Bain-Marie and melt the chocolate. Fold in the hazelnut mixture and mix thoroughly. Spread the mixture over a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and allow to set in the fridge.

I then melted some extra milk chocolate and spread it over the top to give a smooth finish.

Once set, chop into small bitesize pieces. They are rich and luxurious, so you'll only need a small piece. Wrap the rest up as gifts...

Check out some other fab #recipeoftheweek :

After Eight-y Birthday Cake - Recipe

 Sometimes an idea just presents itself. Playing with words. I wanted to make a cake for Himself's mum for her 80th and we just talked about the number and what she likes. It was then I wondered if there were such a thing as an After Eight cake. Of course there is! Rachel Allen to the rescue!

I followed this recipe pretty much to the letter. It really is minty! Love it. I might have to make this again for no particular reason...I smothered the whole cake in the icing and then wanted to 'glam' it up a little, so I made some easy chocolate mint glaze to drizzle over.

Simple royal icing for the writing, stick a few After Eights on top, et viola.

 

 

 

 

 

Prep Time: 30 mins

Bake Time: 40 mins 

Decorating Time: 45 mins

 

 

Ingredients:

 

For the Cake:

 

125 g dark chocolate

50 ml milk

150 g butter

150 g golden caster sugar

3 eggs

200 g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

100 g After Eight mints, broken

 

For the Icing:

 

10-15 g fresh mint leaves, chopped (remove any stalks)

250 g icing sugar, sifted

Juice of half a lemon

1/2 tsp peppermint essence

 

For the Chocolate Glaze:

 

50 g butter

100 g dark chocolate

1/2 tsp peppermint essence

 

For Decoration:

 

After Eight mints (as many as you wish)

100 g icing sugar

1-2 tsp water

1/2 tsp peppermint essence

1/2 tsp mint green food colouring (optional)

 

 

 

Method:

 

 

Heat the oven to 180 C or 160 C with fan.

 

Prepare a 20 cm square cake tin.

 

Place the dark chocolate and milk in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and allow to melt, then set aside to cool, giving it a slow mix.

 

Cream the butter and sugar in a food mixer until light and fluffy.

 

Carefully add the cooled melted chocolate mixture and then the eggs, one at a time, mixing continuously.

 

Next, add the sifted four and baking powder and fold through thoroughly. 

 

Finally add the roughly broken After Eight mints and stir through.

 

Pour the mixture into your cake tin, and bake for 40-45 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

 

Allow to cool completely on a wire before adding the icing.

 

 

For the icing, chop the fresh mint roughly, remove any stalks and whizz it up in a food processor with 2 tbsp of the icing sugar. This gives a beautiful minty green colour so I don't think it's necessary to add any food colouring, but of course you can if you wish.

 

Add this to the rest of the icing sugar, the butter and the lemon juice, with extra essence of peppermint to taste. Beat all together with a mixer until smooth.

 

Carefully half your cooled cake and spread the icing in between the two layers. It is quite a thin cake, so you don't need to if you prefer not to risk breaking it...

Spread the rest of the icing around the rest of the cake, as smooth as you can.

 

Prepare the chocolate glaze by melting the butter and chocolate in a bowl over simmering water. Let it cool enough so it still drips, but is not too runny - this may take 20 mins or so. Slowly drizzle it over the top of the cake in the centre, and let it slide out and down the sides. You can help it along a little if it doesn't drip enough! This part really is trial and error and you need to judge the consistency of the chocolate. Allow to set.

 

For the writing, mix 100 g icing sugar with a little water, add a bit at a time until you have a good consistency for writing. Add some peppermint essence or mint green colouring if you wish. Use a piping bag with a small nozzle to write your message.

Stick on any number of After Eights at random or in a pattern, before the chocolate glaze is too set.

 

Eat the rest of the After Eights with a nice cup of tea...

 

 

 

 

 

 See lots of other delicious homemade recipes on A Mummy Too's #recipeoftheweek:

 

Woodlands Piccadilly - Vegetarian Restaurant Review

When a restaurant is full of so-called locals, you know it must be pretty good. In Piccadilly, just off Haymarket, lives a small, simply decorated Dosa House - Woodlands. With a rich heritage in India dating back to the 1930's, Woodlands first opened in Maryleborne in the '80's and have expanded to Piccadilly and Hampstead since. Recommended by a food-loving friend for the dosas, I was keen to give it a try - although if I'd walked past it on Panton St I might not have been tempted in. A slightly dated, shabby exterior leads to a simple wooden dining room with little atmosphere and no music. It was about half-full, however, of what I took to be people originally from South India, dressed in sarees and dhotis and indeed western clothing too, milling in and out as if it were a Keralan food court, ordering dosas, eating quickly and then moving on with their lives.

The staff, initially, were a little dozy (forgive the pun) but we were soon attended to by the manager, after I dubiously asked about cocktails (I was still in a post-NYC bubble). They do do them, but not usually. I settled for a beer. On the manager's reccie, we ordered a Tandoori Platter to start - mushroom tikka, cauliflower, baby corn, and paneer tikka, all marinated in the chef's special spices and tandoori grilled. We also received a complimentary Special Crispy Bhaji, because I think he liked being asked lots of questions about the food!

The starters arrived quickly and were utterly delicious. Not your typical curry house dishes, although they seemed familiar, they were lighter and more fragrant. Perhaps it was the missing meat. Oh - did I mention it's all vegetarian?! Yes, I knew that before I went... But although I am a complete carnivore (my friend isn't - she eats very little meat, so it suited her perfectly), I didn't miss it at all. The variety of dishes was as good as anywhere.

Crispy Bhaji, Tandoori Platter
Thali

For mains, we ordered the Thali. Although everyone around us was eating dosas - huge domed crepe breads with lentil dipping sauces and freshly made chutney and the filling (or not) of your choice, I have to go back as they looked so good. So so good. But still, our thali was just lovely. An age old South Indian meal, with small bowls of daal, curry, vegetables and rice, as well as a small dosa (no, not just like the other ones of which I was so envious) and even a gulab jumann for dessert. Although it looked teeny, it was more than filling, and showcased a plethora of flavours, textures, colours and tastes.

Afterwards for our cocktail fix, we wandered round Piccadilly and were more than satisfied!

Cocktails at the Cafe Royal

More cocktails! A Mojito and a Porn Star.

Woodlands Piccadilly

37 Panton Street, SW1Y 4EA

Open Mon-Sun 12-10.45

Meal for two with drinks ~£35

NY-LON Lounge Bar, at the O2 - Review

Who goes to the O2 unless they are going to a concert? Well, quite a lot of people, apparently. I was invited to the 1st birthday bash at NY-LON cocktail bar, nestled in the Entertainment Avenue behind TGI's, and what a treat it was. Lots of people, tourists and Londoners alike, were milling round the arena. I don't think there was any event on, it's actually just a nice place to go! A destination venue, shall we say. Lots of chain restaurants, some classier ones too, lots of bars and a proper pub. There's even a cinema and a bowling alley - giving the feel of a town centre hub for going out to enjoy.

But, of course, I am here for cocktails. NY-LON Lounge Bar opened at the O2 just over a year ago. Since then they've been serving up cocktails pre- and post-gigs, in celebration of one of my favourite travel routes - London to New York, flying with Virgin Atlantic and Delta Airlines, the official airline partners of the O2. To celebrate one whole year in this lavish, airport lounge exclusive bar, with steward-eque staff and streamlined interiors, resident mixologist Massimilanio Bua has created The Venturer: a blend of Bacardi, vanilla Galliano, Peychaud's, lemon and lime juice, egg white and apricot jam. This signature cocktail is available for the whole of October for only £6.

Accompanying canapés are themed on both UK and NYC traditional fare - so expect sharing boards with scotch eggs, mini goat's cheese tarts, and pastrami on crispbread.

Soothing music in the background with a super cool DJ, and the NYC skyline filling one wall, you may just feel like you're about to fly...

NY-LON Lounge Bar
Unit 4.03 Entertainment Avenue
O2 Arena, SE10 ODX

Open Tue-Sun 4pm-midnight
Food served 4pm-8.30

Images thanks to Crisp Media Ltd.

Lemon Cheesecake Cupcakes - Recipe

 It's official. I am married to a grumpy old man. Himself turned 50 last week, and amidst several trips away (Dubrovnik is stunning, people) and a Saturday night out (don't worry, it wasn't out-out), I managed to squeeze in these little scrumbags.

He's not a cake fan, so I opted for what I thought was the simplest, easiest to make, but delicious cupcake, to cater for 50 or so guests. Lemon cheesecake. In its simplest form. Without any cheese.

Apologies for the rubbish photos. Completely forgot to style them... ;) The toppers I ordered from eBay, and the sprinkles are black glitter.

 

Makes: 12 (obviously I did several batches) 

Prep Time: 20 mins

Bake Time:15 mins

Decorate Time:20-30 minutes

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

115 g butter

115 g golden castor sugar

2 eggs

2 tbsp milk

115 g self-raising flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 lemon, zested

For the filling (this makes enough for about 30 cupcakes):

1 can of Condensed Milk

300 ml double cream

Juice and zest of 2-3 lemons (depending on how lemony you like it)

Method: 

Place 12 (or however many) gold foil cupcake cases in a muffin tin and heat the oven to 190 C.

Cream the butter and sugar together for a few minutes then add the eggs and milk. Sieve in the flour and baking powder and gently mix through until smooth. Add in the lemon zest and stir it through so it's evenly distributed.

Spoon the mixture into the cases, about two-thirds full. Bake for about 15 minutes. Check they are cooked through with a skewer.

Allow to cool on a wire tray while you make the filling.

For the filling, whisk the cream and condensed milk together for a few minutes until it starts to thicken.

Next, add in the zest and whisk briefly. Slowly add the lemon juice as it should thicken quite quickly, stop when it's the right consistency (you may not need it all, and you don't want to go too far).

Filling a piping bag, with a large round nozzle, and pipe onto your cooled cupcakes. Don't use a star-shaped or flower nozzle, as the zest with get stuck in the nozzle and it'll come out all wriggly - trust me!

Decorate with rice paper toppers, edible glitter, lemon zest, or as you wish.

See #recipeoftheweek for more delicious recipes.

G by Godiva Tablets - perfect for Chocolate Week

 

Everybody's favourite week of the year. CHOCOLATE WEEK!

 

Godiva, those purveyors of luxurious chocolates sent over some of their latest indulgence - G by Godiva tablets. Squares of pure heaven, I particularly love the Blond - a blend of white chocolate and caramelised milk chocolate, enhanced with crunchy buttered salted caramel. I dare you to try and resist...

 

Here I have tried to recreate an Instagram post of Godiva's... not quite doing it justice! I couldn't wait very long to get stuck into the tablets.

 

Blond Chocolate with Salted Caramel

Also munched my way through the Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Crisp. It's all very ethical you know, made with single origin Mexican chocolate, so it's quality AND authentic. Promise.

Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Crisp

Available in:
Milk Chocolate
Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Crisp
Blond Chocolate and Salted Caramel
Dark Chocolate
Dark Chocolate Toasted Coconut
Dark Chocolate Orange and Ginger


 

Eeasy Cheesy Scones - Recipe

 Sunday afternoon baking. When you are slightly hungover and need some stodge, these cheesy rock cakes are just the thing. Made simply with store cupboard ingredients, you can make them without cheese if you wish, or add in bits of onion or even fried bacon for extra flavours. Eat them warm with lots of butter. Hangover, cured...

Makes: 12

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

100 g butter

275 g self-raising flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

150 ml whole milk

50 ml vegetable oil

1 egg

130 g grated cheese

(Optional - add chopped chives or spring onion for extra flavour)

Method:

Heat the over to 180 C fan and lightly butter a 12-hole muffin tin.

Using the dough hook on your mixer (or use your hands) combine the flour, baking powder and salt together then mix in the butter until you have a breadcrumb texture.

Whisk together the milk, oil and egg, and gently mix into the dry mixture. It will be a sticky dough with some little lumps.

Stir in the grated cheese (and onions or chives, if using).

Spoon the batter into the muffin tin.

Bake for 20-25 mins until tops are golden brown.

Serve warm with lots of butter and a nice cup of tea.



As featured on: 

Nissi, Palmers Green - Restaurant Review

 Nissi on Aldermans Hill, Palmers Green is a friendly, family-run Greek restaurant well worth travelling to North London for. Clean and spruce with efficient, if a little brusque, waiters (they were busy, it was late), it's a great venue for a birthday get-together for a few lovely ladies, including a vegetarian and a wheat-intolerant. As the Prosecco flowed, despite the occasional fly-dunking, we ploughed through most of the dishes on the starter menu, sharing each one in true Greek style.

Halloumi; Kolokithokeftedes;Beetroot;
Louvi and Htipiti;
Spanakopittedes; Calamari

For Round 1, we ordered several dishes from the mezedakia menus. Htipiti was a delicious coarse dip of roasted peppers and chillies with feta cheese and herbs - so good we ordered it again for the second course. Grilled halloumi was tender and not squeaky at all, and the beetroot and bean dishes were subtly flavoured and easy to finish. My favourite was the Spanakopittedes, filo parcels with feta, spinach and dill. The fresh calamari was also tender in a crispy batter, a mixture of squid rings and baby squid, with cracked pepper.

Lamb cutlets; Grilled octopus;
Swordfish souvlaki; Greek salad
Dessert

Round 2 was a mixture of mezedakia dishes and a couple of mains. More hiptiki obviously, as it was so amazing, as well as a Greek salad, a spinach dish and enormous Cypriot chips. The grilled octopus was smothered in oregano, olive oil and lemon and was outstanding. Swordfish souvlaki was fresh and marinated with peppers and courgettes. Our one meat dish was lamb cutlets with an exquisite mint crust, and to finish there was complementary pistachio ice cream and with melons. 

Overall the food was excellent and I would definitely recommend sharing lots of smaller dishes rather than having one dish to yourself. There was no problem at all for our veggie friend nor our wheat-free one. The staff were attentive and rather charming at times, and more than accommodating when we couldn't decide...

Nissi

62 Aldermans Hill, 

Palmers Green

N13 4PP

Meal for 5 including drinks cost ~£30 each. 

All Things Baked - Product Review

 All Things Baked is a new baking kit delivery service along the lines of Hello Fresh and Gousto, offering recipes and ingredients to help you develop your baking skills.
If you are inspired by GBBO, and would like to start baking at home, then this could be your first lesson.

 

 

 

They kindly sent me The Cake Box, their best seller, to try out. It contained a simple cupcake recipe, some vanilla pods, food colouring, Dr Oetker wafer daisies and some dried cranberries for decoration. Each month, if you subscribe, you will receive a baking tool and in my kit I got a lovely wooden spatula. To make the recipe you need to purchase your own basic ingredients - the eggs, butter, flour and sugar, icing sugar and cupcakes cases to bake them in.

 

 

My little girl had a friend round for a sleepover so by way of entertainment it seemed a good idea to try out the Cake Box with two 10 year old girls. Messy! But they were, with a little help, able to follow the recipe, and get those fairy cakes baked.

 

 

The fun part of course is always the decoration. The simplest icing is icing sugar with a few teaspoons of water and a dash of red food colouring, a good squirt of the gel giving a deep pink colour most pleasing to two young girls. Spread on easily with the wooden spatula, and then a variety of 'designs' using the wafer daisies and pretty cranberries. Your own creativity is required here and no techniques are described, so you will need to wing it, developing your own skills month by month.

 

 

Overall very simple to use and easy to follow. You can tell the creators absolutely love baking and want to share their knowledge. If you know very little about baking it's a great kit to start out with on your path to the GBBO!

 

Other kits available include the Bread Box, the Patisserie Box and even a Gluten-free Box. Price ranges from £5.99/month.

 

 

All Things Baked

Gilgamesh, Camden - Review

I'd been looking forward to this one for six months. It was a birthday gift from two fabulous friends who seem to be under the impression I like food! Well... The voucher promised two Champagne cocktails and three courses in a unique Eastern atmosphere with the chance of spotting celebrity clientele (does an ex-tennis-player turned morning-television-presenter count?).

The setting immediately transfers us East. Gliding up the escalator to behold giant wooden sculptures and carved reliefs with bamboo plants dominating the dark wood interior and the newly refurbished retractable roof promising alfresco dining on warmer Camden days. We were warmly welcomed and walked by the bustling sushi station to our table. On venturing to the dark copper-clad bathrooms, you can sneak a peek at a whole range of private rooms, a nightclub and a lounge bar (Ginger Martini, anyone?). Comfy leather-clad booths dominate the window area with views over the Stables Market, while us voucher-bearing clients get to sit centre stage on dark oak tables with a slightly suspicious motif (if you squint sideways and cover certain parts...).

Gilgamesh's menu is quite extensive, offering dim sum, sushi, wok dishes and curries, and its pan-Asian theme is carefully selected for the set menu, a version of which we were offered. We started with cocktails which were fruity and icy, though on checking the drinks menu there were many classics and much champagne as well as an extensive wine list. Which of course we delved into soon after. To start I ordered the crispy chicken wings with a kimchi glaze and crispy garlic, served with a  thick sweet chilli sauce. This was delicious. I couldn't resist using my fingers and gnawing on the bones (luckily they had anticipated this and there was a finger bowl at the ready). Himself ordered crispy baby squid with a teensy amount of sweet soy sauce. Again, delicious, the tempura batter was crispy and the squid, which was served in its entirety (therefore not for the squeamish), was tender and tasty.

Cocktails; chicken wings; baby squid
a tentacle of baby squid; seafood jungle curry; spatchcock chicken in miso sauce.

 We were less blown away by the main course. A choice of four - seafood jungle curry and baby spatchcock chicken with miso dressing won out. I was tempted by the beef bulgogi - spicy boneless ribs - something I've never tried, but wanted to gauge the place on how good their curry is. And the jungle curry was like a thick Thai green curry. Plenty of seafood, calamari, prawns, and even a scallop, as well as some random lychees to sweeten it up. The chicken with miso tasted a little bland and unexciting, and even the extra noodles we ordered couldn't liven it up.

Dessert was beautiful. In appearance only. They were beautifully presented but tasted gloopy and lacked any flavour. Another table had a chocolate brownie - always a good choice - but our cheesecake with lime sorbet and yuzu tarts were, well, disappointing to say the least. 

Gilgamesh has a reputation to uphold. And I'm sure it does in many senses, but if you go for the food, prepare to be a little underwhelmed. The decor and location (and potential celeb clientele) is the real draw, I believe. You could, in theory, have a similar dish from one of Camden's market stalls of a percentage of the cost you pay here. But it's worth a visit just to see what all the fuss is about. So go along and dine in a Babylon-esqe palace with whatever vouchers you can find, but I wouldn't wish to pay full price for the food. Choose carefully.

Gilgamesh

The Stables Market

Chalk Farm Road

NW1 8AH

Meal for two (with voucher) and drinks ~£100