Pink Elephant Baby Shower Cake - Almond, Apricot & Mascarpone

My sister is having a baby! I’m really excited that I’m going to have a niece and I expect my parents can’t wait to be grandparents. It’s amazing how many things you need to think about when you are expecting a baby so it’s nice that in the UK we are increasingly adopting the tradition of baby showers. We have always given gifts when babies are born, but I like the American tradition of everyone (well, the women) getting together before the baby is born to shower the mother-to-be with love. It’s also helpful to receive any gifts you might have been given anyway before the baby comes, because otherwise you will probably have bought everything you need by the time it’s born!

 

It’s also a nice way for the mum-to-be to feel spoiled so I was happy to help organise a baby shower for my sister. It was held at the house of one of her friends, as they all live in the same area whereas I live further away, so the host arranged for everyone to bring something different to the shower, such as food, drink and decorations. I brought a few decorations, some games, and of course the cake!

 

You can see and download the games I did at a previous baby shower for a friend.

 

I started thinking about how I would design and decorate the cake before I put any thought into flavour. I wanted the cake to look the part – I had to carry it on a train and it didn’t need to feed hordes of people so much as I loved some of the two and even three-tier cakes I’d seen online, I decided one tier was enough – but I still wanted it to look special.

 

I also didn’t want to use a design I’d done before – partly as I wanted a new challenge but mainly because as it’s my sister, I thought it needed to be unique.

 

I’d made cakes with baby shoes, teddy bears and ABC blocks on before, which seemed the most obvious ideas. I browsed online for quite some time to get ideas for other themes – I wanted the cake to have pink elements as my sister is having a girl, but not for the entire cake to be pink. One motif that kept coming up was elephants, and when I found some baby shower napkins with elephants on, I decided this would be perfect. I also had my eye on the Fmm Easy Bunting Cutters, Set of 3

which I’d bought and wanted to try out. Bunting can be used for all sorts of occasions and themes and it reminded me of both garden parties and also the circus, which worked really well with the elephant idea.

 

 I decided to make the elephant the week before and let the fondant set hard; I knew I wouldn't have much time when I was baking the cake for the baby shower and this would give me extra time to deal with any problems like if the elephant's trunk fell off!

I added a little bit of black food colouring to a ball of white fondant -usually I complain that it's too hard to colour your own black and you have to buy it, as black food colouring only makes the fondant grey. In this case that was exactly what I needed! I had a look at a few pictures of elephants online and moulded the fondant freehand, using a knife to slice into the piece at the bottom to separate it into two legs.

I had these baby girl wafer decorations left from a previous baby shower and didn't want to use them on the cake itself but had an idea after seeing a picture of an elephant holding a balloon - I stuck it onto a cocktail stick and put that in the elephant's trunk.
 

I then used a small heart cutter to cut out a shape from fondant that I had coloured pink and used this for the elephant ears, and cut the tops off two more hearts for the feet. I made an eye from a tiny ball of white fondant and dipped a cocktail stick into black food colouring to dot on the pupil.
 

I had a plaque cutter I picked up ages ago like this one:

PME Plain and Fluted Double Sided Oval Cutter, Medium, 50 mm, 2-Inch

 

that I used to make a plaque from pink fondant and put another 'it's a girl' wafer onto it using edible glue.

I also covered a cake board in white fondant and let it go hard in time for next week.

 

So on to the cake itself. I wanted something light but not lemon as I've made a lot of lemon cakes before. The Baking Book: The Ultimate Baker's Companion (Good Housekeeping) had a recipe for almond and apricot cake and I decided to do this, but I scaled up the recipe by 50% once I found that the quantities given baked two quite thin layers of cake.

 

By the time I'd made three and piled the apricot and mascarpone filling in the middle it was quite a tall stack; it would have looked nice just dusted with icing sugar as the recipe suggested, but I decided to cover it in fondant so I could decorate the cake how I wanted.

You can find the full recipe on the Good Housekeeping website.

I spread the apricot compote onto the cake and topped with mascarpone mixed with icing sugar, between each layer

I spread some of the extra around the sides and on the top of the cake

When it came to decorating the cake, I covered the whole cake in white fondant and placed it on the cake board I had previously covered, with a ribbon around the edge. I stuck another piece of ribbon around the bottom of the cake, and mixed up some royal icing which I tinted pink, to pipe strings for the bunting around the cake.

I used the bunting cutter to cut out the shapes - it just gives you a lot of triangles (joined together which you have to separate) but this does mean that they are exactly the same size and shape.

I used a cocktail stick in pink food colouring to make a polka dot pattern on alternate bits of bunting then stuck each piece on to the cake with edible glue. It was hard to make it as neat as I wanted though.

I put the 'it's a girl' plaque onto the front of the cake, and the elephant on top standing on a circle of pink fondant. I switched the ribbon around the cake for a paler one as I thought the other one was too bright.

 

 

My sister seemed really pleased with the cake and it tasted absolutely delicious - really light and creamy. The decoration isn't as neat as I would have liked but I do think the elephant on top is quite sweet.

Bulgur wheat, apricot and chickpea salad

 

I always say that I don’t like salads, but what I really mean is that I don’t like lettuce – unless I’m in absolutely the right mood for it which usually means a sunny day! When I was a child salads were “lettuce, tomato, cucumber” – the words almost run into each other. But it’s not the 1980s any more and you can put pretty much anything in a salad – and it doesn’t even have to have lettuce as a base.

 

I was going through some recipe cuttings – actually pages I had photocopied from a diet cookery book of some kind – and trying to make space in the kitchen by throwing them out. Most of the recipes in that folder were not interesting enough to keep or even to cook – or very similar to ones I already have in recipe books. I did keep a few however, one of which was this salad – but now the recipe is on my blog, I can throw out the photocopy as well!

 

T

he recipe didn’t actually include instructions for a salad dressing but instead advised that a fat-free vinaigrette would go nicely with this. So you could make your own dressing or use a shop-bought one – or even eat this plain.

 

To make at least two decent-sized lunches (this travels well in a lunchbox to work) you need:

200g bulgur wheat

200g tinned chickpeas

50g ready-to-eat dried apricots, chopped

1 stick celery, chopped

2 spring onions, chopped

1 piece stem ginger in syrup, drained – this is optional and I actually left it out

1 tbsp fresh parsley or mint, chopped

 

 

Put the bulgur wheat in a large bowl and pour over 250ml boiling water. Leave for 20-25 minutes to soften and swell and break up any clumps with a fork.

Add the other ingredients and toss well, and add your dressing if required.

I'm sending this to No Croutons Required, the veggie salad and soups linkup, hosted by Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes.

Christmas Hamper from HamperGifts.co.uk

Christmas hampers were a big feature of my childhood. They came from the milkman and my parents paid a few pounds every week into a sort of savings scheme, which meant they could choose from a selection of hampers just in time for Christmas. It was delivered by the milkman and it was like Christmas had come early, it was so exciting seeing what goodies the basket contained! I have hazy memories of Fray Bentos pies and tinned ham – so it wasn’t just a hamper of chocolates and biscuits, but some staples and things you might want to eat on Boxing Day after having cooked a huge Christmas dinner the day before.

 

I definitely prefer luxury hampers that are full of treats, be it chocolate or posh tea, biscuits and savouries. So I am pleased to be able to review this Christmas hamper from HamperGifts.co.uk. OK, it's quite a while until Christmas - nearly three months - but I'm sure I'm not the only person who is already looking forward to it and trying to sort out with various family members and in-laws where we are going to spend Christmas day!

If you are the type of person who likes to do their Christmas shopping early as well, why not head over to www.hampergifts.co.uk and see if there's anything you like - as well as Christmas hampers they offer new baby hampers, bath & beauty, cheese, chocolate, beer, wine, and some lovely themed hampers like 'breakfast for two' or 'romantic surprise' - great for newlyweds or people who have just moved into a new house (not that I'm hinting!).

The hamper I was sent to review was beautifully packaged, in a reusable wicker basket, covered in cellophane with a big bow on the front. I couldn't wait to unwrap it!

I think I was sent a selection of products as the contents don't tally exactly with any of the hamper gifts on their website, but that means I can let you know which products I think are particularly good, and there is probably a hamper to suit everyone. Prices for the hampers range from £19.99 for the smallest, to £275 for 'the majestic', though there are lots within the £30-£50 range which I think is quite reasonable for this type of hamper.

My hamper contained:

• Edinburgh Preserves honey mustard with whisky - I love mustard and particularly those with honey as the sweetness and sharpness of the mustard go wonderfully together. I'm looking forward to trying this mustard with beef.

• Walkers Chocolates of London milk chocolate praline seashells - 160g box. Nicely packaged so I gave these to a friend as a gift (I couldn't eat everything myself, or you'd be waiting another month for this review) and she was really pleased.

• Apple and apricot meli melo in violet flavoured syrup - 200ml glass bottle. I've seen this sort of thing (bottled fruit in syrups) before but never tried them. See below to find out what I did with them.

• Luxury fruit cake, made by Pittas Foods- this looked lovely, with  caramelized brown sugar on top and packed with fruit. Again it's nicely packaged with a bow round it; I gave this to my parents to try. My mum said it was "packed with large chunks of fruit, nice and spicy, and very moist." Definitely went down well!

• Alice Mcpherson's luxury butter shortbread - this was one large round piece in a cardboard box, so wouldn't exactly go far, but a nice addition to the basket 

• Diane cinnamon crunch truffles - 150g box. None of these are brands I recognise but they all seemed to be good quality and in many cases small local producers, which I like. These truffles were described as 'speculoos flavour'  - speculoos is a spiced biscuit popular in the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe. I gave these to my sister though I think my boyfriend would have preferred us to keep them!

• Pearl's Flapjack - There were two large flapjacks, one apricot flavour and one cherry and coconut. They were absolutely delicious - very sweet but really moist and hit the spot when I was ravenous after getting home from work perfectly.

• Mini nutmeg grater and nutmegs - this was so cute, with the mini grater and nuts in a little box with a red ribbon round it - would make a great gift and I'm looking forward to using it in my Christmas baking.

•  Baronie Belgian chocolate classic chocolate sticks orange made with all natural ingredients 75g - a lot like Matchmakers but smooth - if I recall, orange Matchmakers have a slight crunch inside them which I never really like. These are solid chocolate sticks but with orange flavour and tasted heavenly - my boyfriend never even got to see them!

• Pearls luxury brandy Christmas pudding - only 100g so not family sizes but a little extra festive treat that you heat up in the microwave.

• Olives et al sunshine rosemary and garlic olives from the Greek Island of Evia - 150g jar. I don't like olives but my sister does so she pounced on these! 

• Edinburgh tea and coffee company breakfast fresh ground coffee 56g pouch - I'm not much of a coffee drinker so I gave this to my mum, she said the coffee was "smooth, rich and full of flavour".

• Cairnsmhor fine foods Parmesan and pepper oatcakes 150g - it's not Christmas without cheese and biscuits and these were lovely.

• Individual wrapped caramels that were strewn throughout the basket - they didn't even make it as far as being photographed! They tasted very good though they were not quite as runny inside as I like.

• A small hessian bag of traditional hand baked biscuits - white chocolate and strawberry flavour. The biscuits melted in the mouth and the chocolate pieces gave a satisfying crunch.

• Big 200g bag of chocolate buttons - my boyfriend demolished most of these. Not the best quality chocolate - it didn't taste quite as good as Cadbury's - but he wasn't complaining!

Here's a quick recipe for the apples and apricots in syrup, which is really easy to make.

Roll out a square of puff pastry and place the fruit on it in a diagonal. I used two pieces of apple (the large pieces in the photo) and alternated them with two apricots, which used up about half the jar.

Fold the corners of the pastry which don't have fruit on them to the middle and seal to make a parcel.

Bake in the oven for about half an hour until the pastry is golden brown.

The picture doesn't do it justice - this tasted just like the things I've bought from bakeries in the past. The syrup from the fruit gives the pastry a lovely sweet coating but isn't so much that it goes soggy, and the fruit is lovely once hot and baked.

Thanks to Hampergifts.co.uk for sending me the Christmas hamper to review.

Martha Stewart's Apricot Cheesecake

 I love cheesecake and trying out new varieties and when I saw apricots in the supermarket a while ago decided to buy them and think of something to make afterwards - and found this Martha Stewart recipe for apricot cheesecake.

I won' t repost the entire recipe here as you can click on the link and follow Martha's instructions. I used digestive biscuits rather than Graham crackers for the base but otherwise I largely followed her recipe.

Crush the biscuits in a food processor. Actually I don't think I added the sugar and salt as directed in the recipe as I didn't see the need.

Here's my punnet of apricots

Bring the apricots and sugar to the boil then reduce heat and stir frequently. Then puree in a food processor.

Cream together the cheese and sour cream then add sugar and beat again.

Add eggs and beat until smooth.

Press down the biscuit crumbs into the base of a loose-bottomed cake tin (I think I actually mixed the biscuit crumbs with some melted butter to make sure they would stick together). Then spoon in the cheese mixture, and swirl the apricot puree over the top.

Bake in a preheated oven at about 180C for 25 minutes.

Martha suggests cutting the cheesecake into squares but I preferred to make a round cheesecake and slice it as you would a cake. I usually prefer unbaked cheesecakes to the baked kind but this tasted delicious; the apricot puree on top gave a great zingy contrast to the creaminess of the cheese.

I'm sending this to Alphabakes, the challenge I co-host with Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker. She is hosting the challenge this month and the letter that was randomly selected was A - so this apricot cheesecake fits the bill.

I am also sending this to the One Ingredient Challenge as their ingredient this month is cheese. The challenge is hosted by Nazima at Franglais Kitchen and Laura at How To Cook Good Food.

In addition I am sending this to the No Waste Food Challenge, as their theme this month is leftover fruit. The challenge is hosted this month by Elizabeth's Kitchen and was started by Kate from Turquoise Lemons.