Cupcake Decorating Class

This afternoon Caitie and I went to a cupcake decorating class at MarziAnn.

Natalie Baker (yes, her real name!) showed us how to mold the icing in to different shapes, and then we each copied with our own product at our own table. First were wee 'garden' cupcakes, complete with toadstool. Caitie found it quite enjoyable - much like playing with playdough. lol




Some shapes we moulded by hand, some we used punches to create, such as small flowers. Caitie enjoyed both.

Isn't her garden cupcake cute? :) It's got a toadstool, a ladybird and some flowers.





Then we made 'under the sea' cupcakes, with an octopus, seaweed and a fish. Caitie put a scarf on her octopus. :)






Caitie really enjoyed her class. Thanks, Natalie!

Grandad's favourite avocado spread

When I was a child, my father used to make this, and we'd either eat it on toast, or with teaspoons from the avocado skins. Yum! You can even have it as a dip. I taught Caitie how to make it today.
It's quite easy - combine avocado, sour cream, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Combine until you reach a taste that suits you. I like lots of lemon juice, salt and pepper in mine. Lots of flavour. :) Caitie of course prefers a little less pepper and lemon. Such an easy, delicious treat though!

Guy Fawkes

To celebrate Guy Fawkes, we decided to make Yorkshire parkin and plot toffee, using a recipe from Caitie's great-great-grandmother. Caitie's great-grandfather said 'we always had parkin and plot toffee for Guy Fawkes. We'd make the toffee with Mum and wrap it up in little cones of grease proof paper and take it to the teacher in the morning. The toffee would make you chew for hours, stick your teeth together.'

We made the Yorkshire Parkin first. We had to convert the measurements to metric, but it was a very straight forward recipe. We combined 455g oatmeal, 225g flour, a teaspoon of ground ginger, 225g sugar and 200g butter, and Caitie 'rubbed' it together. Then we added 340g 'slightly warmed' treacle. The final addition was a teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in half a glass of milk.



Caitie's dad then showed her a trick for creating a smooth surface on the top. He wet his fingers and smoothed the top. Because his fingers were wet, they didn't get sticky with the cake mixture. :)



Then we baked it at 150 degrees Celsius for about an hour. We ended up having to take it out before it was cooked in the centre, because it was going to burn on the outside. Turns out we should have used a much shallower tin. We agreed the recipe was right, but on this occassion, the creation was a fail because the tin was too deep for it to cook properly. :(



Then we made plot toffee. SO easy. We combined 225g sugar, 28g butter, 2 tablespoons of treacle and 2 tablespoons of water in a saucepan, melted it and brought it to the boil for ten minutes.



We tested it's readiness by dropping a few drops in a glass of cold water, and Caitie pronounced it ready because it immediately went solid. So we poured it in to a pan to cool.



It isn't chewy, but it's still a success. You only need a small amount though, it's very sweet. :)

Anyway, we went to an awesome fireworks display, so we had a great Guy Fawkes. We hope you did too.

Christmas Cake - FAIL

In about July, Caitie helped her dad make this year's Christmas cake. This was a new thing for me, who has always believed that a cake should be eaten within days of being made. Caitie's dad was a baker for ten years, and tells me that the best fruit cake he ever ate was five years old. Ew! lol But regardless, they made this year's Christmas cake in July, and it has been sitting in the pantry in a tin.

IThey opened the tin today to add a bit of brandy, which Caitie's dad said would help it to keep and add to the flavour too. Unfortunately, this is what they saw when they took it out of the tin...



Turns out the tin wasn't air-tight. :( I guess they'll have to make another one.