Christmas bauble cakes

There was a time when I always wanted the latest novelty cake pan or innovative piece of baking equipment from Lakeland - to be fair I still do want those things but am realistic to know I don’t have space for much more and don’t have time for the sort of elaborate bakes I used to do! But it’s fun to dig out equipment I haven’t used in a long time - or in this case had never actually used.

This is a silicon mini cake pan in the shape of Christmas baubles - I think I bought it in the January sale one year and had never actually used it!

The only instructions on the back said to use a two egg cake mix so I used this recipe from the BBC Good Food website  but had far too much cake mixture so made these reindeercupcakes as well.

I had to guess how long to cook them for as though the cakes are small they are fairly deep so I did them at 180C for 20 minutes.

You can see the design on the cakes when they came out of the pan - some baubles have stars, others stripes and two had a snowflake pattern that looks really pretty if you go over it with white icing with a fine piping nozzle.

I went over the other designs with icing with varying degrees of success. My piping has never been neat! These look quite effective when all piled together on a plate though I don’t think I’d have the patience to ice more than six, it would be a fun activity to do with children.

3D Christmas Cookie Tree

I feel like Christmas has almost passed me by this year. Normally I do all my shopping in November if not before, and do plenty of Christmas baking. This year being pregnant has meant I'm tired a lot of the time, spending half my weekends having naps, and when I am awake I have far more important things to do like register for nurseries which have a one-year waiting list!

My beloved cat was also unwell over the past week but is much better now, and I feel a bit more awake at the moment (I hope that lasts!) so decided it was about time I did something festive. Yesterday I listened to Christmas music while wrapping gifts and actually did some baking.

I bought the Lakeland 3D Christmas cookie cutter set in their January sale last year and hadn't used it yet so this was the perfect time. You get a set of star shaped plastic cookie cutters in varying sizes and two piping bags and nozzles.

There's a recipe on the back of the box which I followed though I also added some cinnamon for a more Christmassy taste. You need to make two cookies from each cutter, though I found the recipe recommended baking the cookies for 12 minutes, which I think works for the larger ones but once you get to the very small cookies, 12 minutes is too long. I baked them in batches and reduced the oven time as the cookies got smaller.

I left them all to cool, then mixed up some icing sugar with water to make a thick paste that I could pipe. I found the nozzle provided in the kit a bit thin so just snipped off the end of the piping bag and piped an outline around the edge of each cookie star. I then added some Dr Oetker gold pearls to the tip of each star while the icing was still soft.

Next I made up some thinner icing and used it to flood the inside of the cookies, and left them all to set.

The final step is to layer the cookies starting with the largest on the bottom; as you have two of each size, rotate one so that the points on the star are sticking out between the points of the cookie underneath.

I placed the final small star standing up on the top of the 'tree' though you could also add another decoration on top if you like.

The effect is really pretty and it is a little time consuming to bake this many cookies when you can't get them all in the oven at once but otherwise it's a very easy kit to use and something you could do with children. The cookies tasted really nice too - we tucked into them after helping my mother-in-law decorate her tree.

I'm sharing this with Cook Blog Share, hosted this week by Hijacked by Twins.

Chocolate and Merlot Red Wine Cupcakes - Wilton Shot Tops Kit

I've long been making cocktail cupcakes and bundts, experimenting with recreating the flavours of my favourite tipples in the form of cake. So I was really excited when I went to the Lakeland product launch in July and saw this Shot Tops kit from Wilton - and even more excited when they gave me one to try.

The set contains little plastic pipettes in the shape of either wine bottles or cocktail glasses; you fill them with alcohol (or any liquid) and insert them into the top of the cake, for people to squeeze the liquid into or over the top of the cake as they eat them. I'm sure I remember someone doing something similar on the Great British Bake Off but having to use 'proper' pipettes, I don't think they were sold for home baking at the time!

The kit I received also contained a small recipe book, and there were some great-sounding recipes for cocktail-based cupcakes in there, but disappointingly not all the recipes actually involved the pipettes. I wanted to make one of the recipes that did, and also thought about inventing my own cocktail recipe, but decided that to review the kit properly I should make one from the book.

I was going to stay with a good friend down in Devon over the August bank holiday and she enjoys various cocktails but is a particular connoisseur of red wine -she actually helped me pick the wine we had at my wedding. So I decided to make a rather unusual sounding chocolate and merlot cupcake - not strictly speaking a cocktail but apparently chocolate and red wine go together. Wilton says: "The concentrated, rich taste of merlot wine and not-so-sweet dark chocolate is a natural match when combined in these intensely flavoured cupcakes."

The cupcakes consist of a chocolate base, buttercream with red wine reduction and pipettes containing red wine that you drizzle over the top.

The recipe says this makes about two dozen cupcakes, but I got 16 large ones out of it. You need:
2 cups plain flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar (I used caster)
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup sour cream

for the icing:
2 cups merlot wine
1 cup butter, softened (the original recipe says to use half butter, half shortening, but as that's basically lard I didn't want to)
4 cups icing sugar

for the infusion:
1 1/2 cups merlot wine
Wilton Shot Tops infusers

Preheat oven to 180C, 350F. Beat the sugar and oil with an electric mixer in a large bowl then add the eggs one at a time, mixing well.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add some of the flour mixture, alternating with the sour cream, until it is all mixed in.

Place cupcake cases in a muffin tin and divide the batter evenly between the cases.

Bake for 16-19 minutes in the oven and allow to cool.



Bring the wine to the boil in a small saucepan and simmer until it has reduced to a couple of spoonfuls. Allow to cool completely.

For the buttercream icing, beat the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl. Add the reduced wine and beat again.

Pipe or spread onto the cupcakes.



Cut a small opening in the tip of each Shot Tops infuser and place in a cup of wine; squeeze to draw the liquid into the pipette and when you stop squeezing, it should stay inside. Insert into each cupcake and when you serve, squeeze the Shot Top to infuse the cupcake with wine. You can taste the wine in the middle and it gives the centre a nice moist texture. I don't expect I will use these Shot Tops that often but they really are a great idea!

I'm sharing these with Treat Petite, hosted by Kat at the Baking Explorer and Stuart at Cakeyboi.

- And also with We Should Cocoa, hosted by Choclette at Tin and Thyme.

Charlotte at Charlotte's Lively Kitchen runs a blog challenge called the Food Calendar and there are several things happening this month that these cupcakes would be great for, including National Cupcake Week from Sept 12-18, International Chocolate Day and the Macmillan Coffee Morning.

Peaches and Cream Summer Sandcastle Cake

Copyright Caroline Makes dot Net

I bought a sandcastle cake mould from Lakeland two years ago and only used it once, when I made this pineapple and coconut sandcastle cake. The uncomfortably but beautifully hot weather we've had for the past week or so inspired me to dig it out again and to come up with another summery flavour for the cake. I decided not to decorate it as a lot of fondant or buttercream is not always a great idea in hot weather, and I wanted the natural colour of the cake to reflect the colour of the sandcastle.

I wanted the cake to be light and moist so decided to make it peaches and cream flavour. I used tinned peaches as I had some in the fridge to use up, and it meant I could use the peach juice from the can as well, but if you want to use fresh peaches I'd use three or four peeled and chopped, and for the liquid element, perhaps the Granini Peach Drink that's made using peach puree (available in Tesco and Waitrose) or peach-flavoured squash, made up quite strong.

Peaches and Cream Cake - an original recipe by Caroline Makes, for Caroline Makes.Net

You need:

Cake Release spray for greasing the mould

200g butter, softened

200g caster sugar

4 eggs

1 cup peach juice or squash

about 200g peaches, either tinned or fresh, peeled and sliced if necessary

275g self raising flour

 

 

I used the Lakeland sandcastle silicone mould for this cake, which doesn't seem to be available on their site any more - if you want to purchase one, keep an eye on Ebay, or you can use any shaped cake tin or mould.

Preheat the oven to 150C. Spray the sandcastle mould with Cake Release or similar.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer then mix in the eggs.

Add the peach juice and mix again. Finally add the sliced peaches and the flour and gently fold in.

 Stand the sandcastle mould in a large roasting tin and pour the cake mixture into the mould. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour.

Allow to cool in the mould and then turn out onto a cooling rack.

 This was a beautifully light and moist cake; so moist in fact it started to break as I took it out of the mould before it was completely cooled, which will teach me to be more patient next time!

 

I'm sending this to Love Cake, hosted by Ness at JibberJabberUK; her theme is garden party and this cake would make a great centrepiece.

 

I'm also sharing this with the Food Calendar linky on Charlotte's Lively Kitchen as it's summer holiday season!

 

Christmas in July: Lakeland's new range for 2016

It’s Christmas in July! Did you know that the big retailers launch their festive product ranges just after the mid-point of the year, months in advance of Christmas? I’m not entirely sure why they showcase their wares so far in advance – it’s probably a combination of manufacturing lead times, getting a sense of what will sell, and factoring in the advance deadlines of glossy monthly magazines, and not wanting to be left behind by the competition – once one retailer decided to go in July, the rest probably had to as well.

 

So it was a blazingly hot day in July when I was invited to three Christmas launch events on the same day. I had a day off work to recover post-honeymoon (blogging is not my day job, I actually work in the City) but the jet lag wasn’t too bad, so I decided to take advantage of the time off to visit all three events and gather some content for my blog and meet a few people as well.

 

The event I was most excited about attending was Lakeland. I’m a big fan of Lakeland, even though I think some of their products are a bit unnecessary - I don’t need a tool to cut an avocado, I use a knife – which is not to say their tool isn’t easier, but there comes a limit to how many kitchen gadgets one person can have! But one person’s avocado peeler is another person’s spiralizer – and I have to admit I do own quite a few Lakeland products.

 

Speaking of spiralizers, Lakeland had a whole display devoted to them. At the moment (until 20 July) they are doing 35% off selected spiralizers.

 

 

There are now several types, including a new electronic one from Morphy Richards which makes very fast work of spiralizing. It will cost £50, I'm told, and comes with different blades though I think you might have to trim larger veg to fit. It doesn't take up much more space than the manual spiralizer and is good for people who have difficulty turning the handle of the original one (which I have myself) - so I can see the benefit.

 

 

They also have a new range of microwave containers; I tend to just stick things into the microwave in a dish so am looking forward to trying the one that I was given as a parting gift. I watched a cookery demonstration of the microwave containers where they cooked some of the spiralized veg and some chicken which smelled amazing. I also had a chat with BBC Good Food columnist Gerard Baker, who has written a recipe book with Lakeland on jams, curds and preserves, about how it's actually quite easy to make jams and curds. I've never tried and tend to resort to shop-bought lemon curd but Gerard urged me to have a go at making my own and I might just have to do that!

 

I was also pleased to see the Smarter iKettle and coffee machine on display.

 

 

Here I should declare something of a vested interest: my husband's cousin's husband invented the iKettle and wifi coffee machine and runs the company behind them, Smarter - a really innovative company it's worth keeping an eye on. The idea of the iKettle, if you haven't come across it before, is that you can boil the kettle using your phone - you can set it to wake you up already boiled, or to switch on when you are coming in through your front door. You can choose a different temperature to boil the water to, depending on if you are making tea, green tea, coffee etc . The coffee machine takes this one step further, enabling you to grind coffee controlled by your smartphone, and adjust the strength to suit your own tastes. As we hear more and more about the 'connected home' with everything controlled by wifi - from your heating to seeing who is at your front door - I think Smarter have hit upon a genius idea. And I'm not just saying that because I know them! The iKettle is £99.99 and the Smarter Grind & Brew Coffee Machine is £179.99.

 

And now for something completely different... why not have a sprout party this Christmas? Love them or hate them, you can have everything from paper plates to Christmas crackers with Lakeland's fun sprout design. Prices for items here start at £2.69. They also have a lovely range of more traditional Christmas decorations if that's more your thing!

 

Here's a slogan I could live by.... found on a cake tin that's part of a pretty range of crockery and kitchenware. This tin is a very reasonable £9.99.

Speaking of cake... the Lakeland press show had an entire room devoted to baking and cake decorating products and I was in heaven. This huge display of cups and saucers caught my eye; take  closer look at the jug pouring milk into a bowl of cereal on the top:

 

It's actually cake! Made using Lakeland's anti-gravity cake kit, which I got for Christmas and used to make this floating Mini Egg cake at Easter.

 

Lakeland has two other products in this range; the first is already on sale and the second is part of their new range that I got to see at this event. You can use their 'tiers and spheres' anti-gravity cake set to make this:

 

Very impressive, huh? I'd love to try but think I would need to buy the kit and I'm not convinced my cake would look this good! The other kit that is being launched is a Minion cake kit (£14.99), but you could actually use it to make anything where you want a character or animal to be standing on two legs, with the main body raised off the base, so I think it will be quite a versatile kit.

 

 

Another item that caught my eye was these Shot Tops (£4.99). I remember one of the contestants on the Great British Bake Off - I think it was Luis - making cupcakes where each one came with a tiny pipette of alcohol (brandy I think) to be injected into or drizzled over the cake by the person who is eating it. So you get the strongest hit of flavour as the ingredient is only added at the point of consumption, and it makes the cupcakes really fun. Lakeland has brought out its own range of mini plastic pipettes, shaped like little bottles or cocktail glasses, which you can fill with a flavouring and push into the top of your cupcakes.

They even gave me a kit to try at home complete with recipe book, which I really can't wait to try out!

 

These look pretty awesome too - a cake tin where you can make an edible cup for a drink or dessert!

 

As usual Lakeland has a great range of smaller Christmas gifts: 

I've previously bought the mug cake mug on the top left in this photo below for a friend (did you know you can make cakes in a mug in the microwave?). They've now expanded the range to include a peanut butter cupcake mug (which I really want!) and a takeaway cup style ceramic container which has a recipe for noodles on the side, which I love the idea of as well.

A couple of other products which I was given in a goody bag from the event include this magic tube, which goes inside any spray bottle and lets you use it from every angle, making sure you get out every last drop, which is a great money saving idea:

And finally these prosecco gummies and gin and tonic flavour frosting (part of a range that includes other flavours) - yum!

 Thanks to Lakeland for inviting me to their Christmas press show; I've chosen for myself the products I wanted to write about and all opinions are my own.

Candy Cane Peppermint Bark

I bought this peppermint bark mould from Lakeland in the January sale and have had to wait until now to use it! I had a group of four schoolfriends, plus two husbands and two children, over for a pre-Christmas get-together and I thought it would be nice to give them edible gifts as going home presents, as it meant I got to try out some festive recipes!

This mould is really easy to use and it has instructions on the back. What I would point out though is that it says to melt 100g of chocolate - I think this must be for one piece of bark and the mould you can see allows you to make two at once, as I needed just under 200g of chocolate to fill both.

First melt some milk or plain chocolate, pour into the silicon moulds and leave to set in the fridge.

Meanwhile bash up some candy canes - I used two per piece of bark. When the dark chocolate has set, melt some white chocolate and spread over the top, and sprinkle over the crushed candy cane pieces. Return to the fridge to set.

It's easy to remove the chocolate from the moulds Here you can see both sides - the 'merry Christmas' wording is very clear on the chocolate side, and the candy cane side looks very pretty.

 

I packaged them up in some festive gift bags I got from Amazon and tied them with ribbon. I think they look quite cute!

 

I'm hosting Alphabakes this month (it's Ros from the More Than Occasional Baker's turn again next month) and the letter is X. We are allowing Christmas recipes so I'm including this peppermint bark.

 

 

 

I'm also sharing this peppermint bark with Treat Petite, hosted by Kat at the Baking Explorer and Stuart at Cakeyboi, as they also have a Christmas theme this month.

 

 

Finally I'm sending these to Tea Time Treats; hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Jane at the Hedgecombers, it has a lovely theme this month of glitter, sprinkles and shiny stuff. The crushed candy canes sprinkled on top look quite glittery!