Bakey Makey Update

So it has been a few weeks since I have really done much in the way of bakes or crafts, mainly due to me doing lots of overtime at work at present. However, I thought I would update you on a few projects I am embarking on and couple of bakes I have done today :)

Apart from work the last few weeks I have spend a lot of time tidying up and re-doing my wild monstrosity of a garden. We spent nearly a whole day cutting only half of the grass! In which every time we did a strip of it, we had to empty the lawn mower. We ended up with a pile getting on for halfway between my ankle and knee of grass cuttings. We also tried getting ridding of the thorn bushes that were in a tangled mess too, we only managed half though. I have never much enjoyed gardening but have always loved having a nice garden. So, the garden looks like a slow moving project that requires a lot of time, energy as well as a bit of money. But I have brought some lovely plants to go in it , I have Pansies, Asiatic Lilies, Sweet Peas, as well as some Lavender and Mint and a Butternut Squash Plant. I am really hope someday I can get round to creating my own vegetable patch, it's finding the perfect location first!

As well as my the ongoing project of my garden, I have started cross stitching again! I have started a Disney Winnie the Pooh pattern which consists of Tigger and Winnie eating Honey. This has been really enjoyable going back to do something I use to do, however I have not got very far yet. I have managed to start doing just one of Tigger's arms.
Then again it, at least its not as slow as my 10 year piece of knitting that consisted of about 10 rows of knitting....

In addition to my cross stitching I have also decided to rekindle my love of sewing. After almost  4 years since I left secondary school and Textiles GCSE, I had began to miss the sewing world. So I have decided to go back to it, but not alone! My fellow friend Catherine, also wanted to rekindle her enjoyment of sewing. I am starting first with a simple skirt pattern with a zip along the back. I thought this would be best to get me back into the swing of things. Today I went fabric shopping to probably one of the most heavenly fabric places I know -FabricLand-. Now choosing fabric for a simple skirt, seems like a simple task doesn't it? But once I have entered that door I am in another world, hypnotised by the sight and feel of thousands of different types of fabric. I couldn't choose between owls, flowers, elephants, butterflies, bows... there was too many designs. And I was adamant that the dress would not be plain haha. After a while choosing and changing my mind way too often (much to the annoyance of my boyfriend, mum and sister) I decided on a blue floral or butterfly fabric.... I am really not so sure. I think I was in such a daze that I can't quite remember what I eventually decided on! My plan is to be making the skirt at my mums house as there is much more room for my Nan's sewing machine (which she is kindly letting me borrow), as well as my mum can be there to aid me in events of disasters! So it may be a slow project that will only get an input of a few hours of week, but I will do a blog post on the final result and the process once I have finished.

Away from crafts and projects I may have foolishly begun, I have also done a few bakes. Nothing outlandish, just really variations on previous blog posts recipes.



After talking to my friend Belinda, who told me she used my pizza recipe to make a calzone pizza, I decided I would try doing that. Me and Andrew have made Calzone pizza one before, so it was going to be a great idea to try it again. With this, we basically used the same pizza recipe, but instead of placing in the oven before hand we put the sauce and cheese on one half and then folded the other half over. We crimped the sides together much like a cornish pasty as well. Before putting the sauce on I attempted to create a guide line for where I thought it would be best to place or not place the toppings and sauce. this worked effectively in some ways as it prevented over spillage in most places. However, for next time I know to be a bit more lenient with folding allowance, as I did have one spillage. This recipe did require also a lot more time in the oven. But the end result was a delicious doughy, cheesy gooey mmmmm mmmmmm. Link to my pizza recipe from BBC : Everyone Loves Pizza

As well as adapting the pizza recipe a bit, I ended up making another Ice Cream Bread today. I certainly did not plan on this, but Andrew promptly placed a bowl, ice cream and flour next to me and gave me a pleading puppy dog look. So I ended up doing so. This time I added cinnamon to the recipe, which made for more flavour. I think this time I needed to cook the bread a bit longer as it did not retain the crumbly texture which was really effective last time. As well I think I worked to slow with the ice cream and this affected the process and end product. Therefore, with this recipe I think you need to work quickly as to not let the ice cream melt too much. Link to original post: Ice Cream + Flour = Bread!

Just before I finish this blog post, I almost forgot. I am in the midst of setting up two more blogs, one devoted to all things books and another for my creative writing. In future I may look into adding more blogs, but I also want to develop the current ones as well :)
I hope you are all well, and yet again any recipes or makes you think I should try let me know. I love to experiment :D

P.S Does anyone know how to sort out my photo layout issues, it's infuriating me!

American Themed Cupcakes!

One thing I love doing is baking cakes, as much as I love baking bread. It is one of those things I have done ever since I was little with my mum and my nan and my sister. I have been known to come up with weird concoctions that have bemused my family, but have been very yummy as well. This is my first cupcake post even though I have loads I can put up and share with you guys.
These cupcakes I made for one of my lovely friends, Belinda, who is going to Camp America in less than two weeks for two months. Belinda was having a small get together before she leaves on friday and I used this as an excuse to try something new. I used a recipe that was given to me from a university bake off challenge that I was going to enter, but unfortunately had too many essays.

So here is the ingredients for 12 small cupcakes:

• 125g of Butter
• 125g of Caster Sugar
• 2 Medium Eggs
• 125g of Self Raising Flour (NOTE: I don't have self raising flour, so I used plain but add 1 and a half tsps of baking powder)
• 2 tbsps of Milk (Desirable) 

Preheat oven to 190c ...... I very rarely preheat the oven, more because I am so slow, I tend to only preheat the oven once I am ready to put the mixture into the cases so that I don't just wonder off and leave the oven on. 

Cream together the butter and sugar, try to resist eating all of the very yummy sweet mixture, I tend to fail at that :P

Add eggs, flour and milk.

In this instant I also added a sprinkle of cinnamon and some orange extract :)

Mix it all together into a yummy mess.

Divide into cake cases.

Put in the oven for 12-15 minutes, if you want to do smaller cupcakes then put them on for about 10-12 mins. 

And eat!!!

Wel if you want to. 

I went out earlier on in the day and brought some red, white and blue read to roll icing (all vegetarian) from an amazing cakes shop near me. I honestly think I enter heaven when I go there, I think if I did not have any self control all my money would of disappeared. One of the things I want to buy there is a selection of flavours you can add to cupcakes which ranged from popcorn, british toffee, cream soda, butterscotch and etc...

I decided as Belinda was going to America the cakes had to be american themed. I am quite pleased with how everything turned out, especially with it being a first time by myself (A.K.A not roping my mum into help) doing this technique. 

I first tried to level off the cupcakes to make a flat even surface which would make it more easier for me to decorate. However, the cakes did not rise as much as i hoped which made it difficult to create an even surface. 

I then sprinkled cornflour on the work surface, as to stop the icing sticking to the surface, this is something my mum uses when using read to roll icing. I started with using a simple white background. My first attempts I have to say were horrid. I found the icing breaking and looking a complete mess when I placed it on the cake. I used a special tool my mum has to glide across the surface of the cake to smooth it out (WARNING: you have to be very delicate with this as I think this is what caused rips in the icing). This tool looks very much like something you would use to plaster walls, but you don't need fancy tools to make cakes look good. 

When putting on the icing, I did not bother cutting it to the exact shape of the cupcakes, if you just cut a piece of ready to roll icing off thats bigger than the cupcakes and place it over it and then rub the edges, any excess will be cut off easily by the paper case. I found a few of the cupcakes I had to redo, and I found that at the beginning I was not using any water to attach the icing but nearing the end I was. Also near the end I started using the technique of just tipping the cupcake upside down and flipping it over with the ready to roll icing instead. If you would prefer to not have to cut large pieces of icing off, you can always use the cupcake case to make an imprint in the icing and that way you only have to cut a little larger than that.

Here left to right, top to bottom is the order in which I did the cupcakes so you can see how you can improve even on your first go. he first one was awful, so this picture is after I re-iced it.

The first design I decided to do was stripes, so I rolled out the red icing and cut thin even strips of it and placed it over the cake, using water to help it stick to the white base icing. You can create a better effect by just using a long pieces and rubbing the edge of the cupcake case again once you have put the icing on to get the right length. 

I used a range of different sized star cutters, as well as an aeroplane, duck and heart cutter. The small dots were made using the end of a Chuppa Chupps Lolly Stick. 

As you can see you can really do anything, I did loose a bit of steam after a while so some of the designs are not as good as others. I find it can be quite time consuming at first, I think this will improve over time though.

If you have any questions, or even tips for me. Feel free to leave comments, plus I am happy to try and experiment with any ideas you have for me :)

Simple but Heavenly = Cheese and Potato Pie

This dish I have had ever since I can remember and although it is very simple and basic, it is utterly delicious. After moving out, it was one thing that I had not had for months but I finally managed to get suitable cookware to do it myself. Now for this I just used two cans of new potatoes and basic cheddar cheese, however my mum has always used non tinned potatoes, which I have to say is a lot more yummy, but on a student budget, where the cans are 13p each, then its not bad :p

The basics of this dish is to boil potatoes over the hob till cooked,






Add Salt, pepper and butter.

MASH :D MASHED POTATO!!!!!
Haha another childhood memory there!!

Then once all mashed yummy and smooth, spread a thin layer of potato at the bottom of a small dish. 

Add a layer of grated cheese.

Alternate between these two until the dish is full, you should have cheese on the last layer.

Place in the oven for a while on a basic temperature such as 180c or gas mark 4,  keep

an eye on it.

When the cheese has all become a crusty light to dark brown colour , take it out and serve with a lovely dollop of ketchup!

Now when I did this, we ended up having to take the pie out of the oven earlier, because we started cooking a bit too late. But trust me the best part of the pie is when you have a crunchy outside layer :)

I will hopefully upload a picture of the pie with what it should look like fully cooked to perfection, but these are pictures of the pie starting to brown off. 

You don't have to mash the potato though if you don't want to. When I went on a German Exchange in 2009, we had to put down our favourite meal and this is what i put down. My partners family made it with cutting potatoes into scallop like forms and they were just as yummy, you could also use a cheese sauce with that method instead if you would prefer :)


---- Update Thursday 19th September----
As stated above, I said I would post pictures of a more browned of cheese and potato pie so you can see what it looks more cooked :) This one we used simple baking potatoes :)