Cookie Girl

Red Velvet Cupcakes

cookiegirl — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 00:01:05 +0000

140g/5oz plain flour
1 & half tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
120ml/4 fl oz buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp red food colour paste
55g/2oz unsalted butter, room temp
170g/6oz sugar

icing:
110g/4oz unsalted butter
110g/4oz cream cheese, room temp
450g/1lb icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (Nielsen Massey)
gold glitter and gold dragees to decorate

1.Preheat oven to 180 degrees c/350 degrees f/gas 4
Line a 12 hole muffin tin with cases
2. Sift flour, cocoa powder, bicarb, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.
3. In another bowl whisk buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla and colour paste until blended.
4. Cream butter & sugar till light and fluffy. Add eegs one at a time. Add flour a third at a time alternating with the buttermilk mixture until all mixed.
5. Divide mixture between cases. Bake in the centre of the oven for 15-20 mins. Check they are cooked by touching them, if they spring back they are cooked. Remove and turn them out onto a wire rack.
6. To make the icing, beat the butter and cheese until creamy. Add icing sugar and beat until combined. Add the vanilla paste and mix.
7. Spoon the icing into a piping bag and pipe rose swirls using a closed star nozzle. Ice the cupcakes from the centre moving towards the outside of the cupcake. Decorate with gold glitter and gold dragees.

From my recipe book ‘Eat Me!’

Sugar Paste Rose

cookiegirl — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 00:46:07 +0000

Here is a sugar paste rose made using a cutter. After thinning and curvy the ‘petals’ with a ball tool I turned it over and used the ball tool to push down the centre. After adding a little edible glue I placed a fondant cone in the centre and then wrapped the petals around it.
I will do another one and post a video of it soon.

Save Our Library

cookiegirl — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 01:08:01 +0000

Having only just moved to the area I have been really inspired by the community spirit. The way that everyone has pulled together to fight the councils plans to close our library has been nothing short of heroic. There has been a 24 hr vigil with volunteers needing flasks and snacks to keep them going. I thought that the least I could do was donate some cupcakes to give them energy in their endeavors!

Gay Bake Club

cookiegirl — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:56:40 +0000

The first rule of Gay Bake Club is be gay, the second rule of Gay Bake Club is bake a cake! I had the great pleasure of meeting the members of this club at our very dear friends John and Kari’s Halloween party. They live in a fantastic mews in Maida Vale which is inhabited by foodies. They like nothing better than all mucking together for street parties and barbecues and there is a definite competitive edge to their cooking which can only be seen as a benefit for the likes of us, the guests. There is always a dazzling array of desserts, often brought out with a flourish just when you had sworn that you were full to the brim and unable to manage another bite. In the summer it was Barry’s home made ice cream. Neither Lavender or Lemon Verbena piqued my interest one sounded too floral and the other too herbal. How glad I was that I was proven wrong. The lavender had a gentle yet complex flavour and the lemon verbena was sharp and lively. Not to be out done Graham from two doors down brought out a delectable baked New York cheesecake that was rich and creamy with a crisp crumb base.
This time the ante was upped yet again. Barry had started up the afore mentioned bake club and all five of the participants had baked up a storm. As soon as he saw me he said that I must taste all their contributions and would I also consider making a guest visit to a future get together.
Well, on the strength of their offerings at the first one it wouldn’t take much to tempt me back for more. Their was an unusual egg pie that apparently originated from a medieval source and a delicious croque en bouche which they had all created together. Then I was given the perfect cupcake. It was orange with creme patissiere (or crem pat as we used to call it in my dads shop) and glace icing. Gosh was it good. I didn’t want to rock the boat by passing my judgement and declaring a winner when I hadn’t even been asked. And I hope that I have not over stepped the mark but had I picked a winner then the cupcake would have taken the biscuit!

A Room Of My Own

cookiegirl — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:15:29 +0000

Had this pic taken for Easy Living mag as they are doing a feature on me. I got the desk from my favourite antique shop on Goldbourne rd (I have been buying beautiful pieces from David for years now). I love how worn and mellow the wood is and it has lots of drawers and cupboards for all my ribbon, tissue paper and bits and pieces for making things. It never fails to inspire me looking out over my walled garden filled with splashes of red geraniums and delicate heads of lavender. This is the place I find inspiration for my recipes and fairy tales.

Cupcake Decorating Class

cookiegirl — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:36:12 +0000

Some of the brilliant masterpieces created by the lovely ladies who came along to our cupcake decorating class last Saturday. I was suitably impressed by the standard of their work!

Jenny D Day

cookiegirl — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 23:52:51 +0000

Jenny D is a very dear family friend. I have grown up alongside her children and she is very close to both my mum and mother in law, but despite the age gap we have always been great friends.
We have been waning to get her to visit for ages but she is at that difficult age. The one where you have elderly parents in constant need of support, grandchildren to baby sit, kids to bail out (although generally not from prison) and you still have to work for a living.
It seems fundamentally wrong that Jenny still has to work as hard as she does. She is glorious and generous and looks like she should be sipping champagne in some far flung exotic Island not looking after the elderly and infirm in both her work and her down time. She some how manages to rise above it all and look fabulous in uniform or out.
Anyway there was a window of opportunity and we grabbed it, spiriting her away from the bad influence of her children, who would have taken her to a 90s Garage night, which she would have hated. It is such a wonderful thing to be able to offer a spare room to a friend. Oh the joys of living in a house!
Cosy Mae woke bright and early and Jenny treated us to tender flaky croissants and cafe au lait chez Minkies. We then mooched around Queens Park farmers market, trying to strike up that balancing act between being friendly and not getting too involved, not when the roast has yet to go on. Then mum picked up a joint of pork for lunch.
After a long leisurely lunch marked by the popping of corks (it may only have been proseco but too be honest I prefer it to champagne anyway) I presented my cake for afternoon tea. Perhaps it was the thought of Jenny in the sun drenched tropics that inspired me to make a sticky and fruity pineapple upside down cake.
An unusual addition to afternoon tea was custard but as needs must. And no I didn’t make it myself, there is no shame in birds custard (although I do prefer ambrosia out of a tin or carton), particularly after spending all day slaving over a roast.

Afternoon Tease

cookiegirl — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 23:36:37 +0000

Was really excited about seeing Dan my best mate who moved to Barcelona in July. I am really thrilled for him that he is so happy embarking on a new adventure but I am gutted to not have him in my life on a day to day basis anymore. Anyway it turns out he was over for a whistle stop visit.
Ellie suggested that the three of us meet up for afternoon tea at mine as Dan has yet to see the new house.
At the last minute Ellie had to bow out as Archie was unwell but she assured me that Dan was on his way to mine (a short walk away). I made the most carrying on doing my last minute tidy (as you do) to ensure the house made the best impression possible.
As an hour passed I began to wonder if I had been stood up. Lets just say Dan does have form! Annoyingly my phone was refusing to charge and I when I tried his phone it went straight to answer phone so I had no idea what was going on. As more time passed it became apparent that he was a no show.
I’d like to say that I hadn’t gone to any trouble but of course I had. Cosy Mae was in her finest tea party outfit and I had made two loaf cakes; a vanilla madeira and toasted hazelnut and dulce de leche one.
By then I Ellie had called worried about where Dan was as he had definitely headed off to mine. Some time later she called to say that he had suddenly realized he had left an essential component for his computer in the shop in Tottenham Hale (where ever that is). As this shopping was the whole reason for his visit he had no choice but to go get it.
When I got my phone back on there was a sweet message from him asking me to forgive his stupidity. Although I understood it made me feel quite sad. The upside is I was left with an unusually tidy house and a couple of delicious cakes to demolish with my family. I used these lovely disposable loaf tins which look lovely and also minimize washing up. What’s not to love?
Here they are;

Happy Birthday to Choo (Choo Train)

cookiegirl — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:25:13 +0000

I couldn’t have been more thrilled to be asked to make my best friend Ellie’s little boy Achie’s 1st birthday cake. As I was crazy busy that weekend and I don’t like to bake vanilla sponge to far in advance I had to come up with a simple way of doing a train cake.

I decided to do one base on a nursery toy train meaning I could keep the colours pastel and not have to put in much detail. The thing that brought it to life for me was having the idea to use different kinds of sprinkles as the cargo, I think that this visually lifted the whole thing.

So having finished my last class on Saturday afternoon I made up a large quantity of victoria sponge before going to the theater. You know the drill but here it is anyway:

Cake

24 oz softened butter

24 0z granulated sugar

12 large free range eggs

4 tsps vanilla bean paste

24 oz self raising flour

Icing:

4lb icing sugar

1 lb butter

1 lb cream cheese

4 tsp vanilla essence

Packet of Party Rings

Selection of Sprinkles

I used my Kitchen Aid to do this:

Cream butter and sugar, before beating in the eggs (I did 4 at a time). Add the vanilla bean paste, followed by the self raising flour. I didn’t bother sieving as I was in a hurry! I used an old square tin I have which is 11″ by 11″ and 4″ deep. I buttered it and lightly floured it.I baked the cake in the centre of the oven at 180 degrees. It took just under an hour.

Icing:

Beat half of the icing sugar in to the softened butter, add the cream cheese followed by the remaining sugar and vanilla essence. Beat for 4-5 mins so it is light and fluffy. Divide it into four bowls and colour each one with a small amount of colour paste.

After the theater once the cake was well and truly cooled I took the plunger and cut the huge spongey square into chunks. I quickly realized that I wouldn’t need all the cake for this recipe but tis always better to have too much cake than too little. (The leftovers ended up being slathered with cream and strawberry jam for a makeshift Victoria Sponge cream tea.) I ended up with 6 carriages and one engine which I cut into shape. I left the rest for the next morning as by then it was 2am!

In the morning I got stuck in slathering delicious cream cheese icing onto each of the shapes, luckily I had some left from class so didn’t need to make anymore up. I used a variety of pastel colours and didn’t worry too much about marks from the palette knife, home made cakes should look home made and not shop bought and unless you work in fondant (which I hate) you will never get a perfectly smooth finish.

Once all the sponge was covered I arranged to pieces on some baking parchment on a large tray. I added party rings for wheels and tipped a ludicrous quantity of sprinkles on top of each carriage. I made the chimney from one of the pieces I had cut off to shape the engine. I used a wooden skewer to secure it to the engine. I bought lots of sweets to add as decorations but decided that I really liked the simplicity of it and thought the sweets would detract from it looking like a toy. I was going to make green coconut cake but decided against it. If this was a toy train then it worked better being on a brown floor board like surface.

Having had a bad night with the baby I had to do this all in double quick time to have it ready for the party at 2pm. Then I got a message from my super efficient friend to say her hubby was coming to pick me up at 1.15! Eeek!!! Just did it in time and then managed to get myself and Cosy Mae ready in about five mins flat. Was worth all the effort when both mum and dad welled up on seeing it, Archie seemed happy enough although probably a bit young to fully appreciate my efforts. Have to say I was quite pleased with the result considering the time restrictions and that I hadn’t done a train before.

No Place Like Home

cookiegirl — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:49:56 +0000

It was wonderful to go back to our family home in Norfolk for the weekend. Much as I love living in London there is nothing like being surrounded by fields full of cows and breathing in that fresh country air.

I always find myself sleeping better and longer when I’m there. And Cosy Mae had her only ever week of sleeping through whilst we were there. It is also the place where I bake and eat the most cake. Somehow it doesn’t seem excessive to bake a fresh one every day or two and luckily we always seem to be inundated with people so the bulk of the eating doesn’t fall to heavily on my shoulders, or waist!

As we are miles away from the nearest shop there is usually a haphazard nature to the recipes that is conducive to creating new flavours. Until recently there was no scales there which made measuring a bit hit and miss but led to me being pretty spot on with guess-timating using a table spoon (of which there are hundreds).

The first cake I made was:

Coconut Cake with Chocolate Topping

6oz/170g Butter

6oz/170g Muscavado Sugar

3 Large Eggs

7oz/200g Self Raising Flour

2 Tbsp Golden Syrup

3 Tbsp Desicated Coconut

Icing:

2 Tbsp Butter

4 Tbsp Cocoa Powder

7oz/200g Icing Sugar

2 Tbsp Desicated Coconut

1-2 Tbsp Milk

Preheat the oven to 170 f/ Gas Mark 3

Cream the butter and sugar and beat in the eggs in one at a time.

Add the golden syrup and stir well until combined.

Mix in the coconut and self raising flour. Don’t over beat.

Pour the mixture into an 8″ cake tin.

Bake for 30 -45 minutes (depending on your oven).

When the top bounces back when pressed in then it is cooked.

To make the icing:

Sift the icing sugar and the cocoa powder.

Using a wooden spoon gradually add the icing sugar and cocoa powder to the softened butter.

As the mixture begins to become too stiff to mix add the milk a little at a time. The consistency should be just soft enough to spread with a palette knife (you don’t want it to be runny). If it is difficult to spread then run the knife under a hot tap. You should be left with a thick coat of chocolate icing. Sprinkle with the left over coconut (do this whilst still wet as it will stick better).

I have to admit that we couldn’t wait for the cake to cool down before icing it hence the rather crumbly slice pictured.