Just amazing!!

As you know I love make and decorating cupcakes and I have been practicing with new icing tips and nozzles over the past few months.

Whilst looking at my Craftzine subscribers email I saw the above.

I was astonished to read that this is in fact a CAKE!!

Link HERE to see even more examples of very clever cakes on the theme of craft.

Now, I have a machine exactly like this one and I think that it must have taken hours to make this.  I am in awe of the talent shown here!  Sorry gushing a little here, in fact I have a little green eye envy of the patience that must be needed.  Where do you start?

Do take a look at the link, there are scissors, knitting examples etc.  It is discoveries like this that makes the Internet so interesting to use.  I am off to look around the site a bit more.

xx

Due to personal issues I never got to sewing group  this week so my table runner is no further forward but it is on my sewing table and ready to roll. 

Sophie's Cereal Maker

Sophie asked for a cereal bar maker featured in Argos for Christmas. We had a go in the New Year and last weekend we had another try. We used cooking chocolate, just one bar. Sophie is an only child, so we do not want to make much other wise it takes ages to eat it. Not healthy to have too much anyway.

So I melted the chocolate while Sophie got the cereal bar maker ready.We then added some rice crispies, just judged it by eye.We also added some cranberries which are lovely. I put them in buns and all sort of puddings. It says that they are dried, but they are not hard at all. Very soft really. I buy them in Asda but I am sure that they can be found in other shops too.This is the cereal bar maker. It works a bit like a press and squashes the ingredients together in the two moulds that are provided. You need to line the mould with cling film. Put some mixture in the mould and press it a bit in the corners. Then wrap the cling film over the top of the mould before popping the lid on top.
There is a little flat lid that goes on the top of the mould and then you wind down the top clamp to squeeze the bar in the mould. (I hope that this is making sense).The kit comes with labels!You keep turning the clamp slowly until it makes a little squeak, then stop. Raise the clamp and pull out the mould. The above picture shows the lid still on.It should look the above.There is also a false base to help push the bar out of the mould.
A label is then put on the bar and then popped it in the fridge to finish off.

Do not leave them in the fridge as we have found that they go a bit too hard and could damage teeth. It comes with a little book and there are other ideas to try out. Sophie likes this as she can pretty much use it by herself and by mixing in some fruit and keeping the chocolate a low as possible, it is a way of getting her interested in making things in the kitchen.
Hubby is going a away on business next week so we shall be having a go at making some of our dinners because it will not matter how long it takes!
xx

Chocolate Fudge Pudding

This is a simple and lovely pudding to make but can also be eaten like a cake too. It was given to me by my Mother in law. I have only made it once but it worked and it does not take long to make.

FUDGE TOPPING

40g Butter

40g soft dark brown sugar

15g Cocoa powder

2 Tbs single cream

50g walnuts finely chopped (could use something else crunchie if you have a nut allergy)

1). Place all ingredients in a heavy based pan.

Heat gently until boiling, stirring constantly, and boil for 30 seconds.

2). I put the walnuts in a bag and crushed with a rolling pin as chopping them they kept whizzing onto the floor!)

3). Line the base of a sandwich tin 20cm wide. (I used whichever one I had)

4). Pour the mixture into the tin and leave until cold.

CAKE MIXTURE

2 eggs

125g Caster sugar

125g Butter

125g Self raising flour

1 Tsp baking powder

1). Place all ingredients in a large bowl. Beat together until well mixed.

2). Place mixture on top of cooled fudge mixture, spread evenly with a palette knife.

3). Bake in a preheated oven 160 degrees for 40-45 minutes, until risen, golden brown and firm to the touch.

4). Leave in the tin for 5 mins.

5). Invert onto a serving plate and peel away the lining paper.

6). Serve hot (or cold) with cream or ice cream (we like custard too)

Easy peasy, it even came out of the tin easily and I was worried that I would have to chisel it out!

Try it, next time I may leave the cream out of the fudge to make it a bit more crispy.

After lunch Sophie and I having another Sunday baking session.

Aprons at the ready............

xx

Cupcake Anyone?...

Sophie and I had some fun with cake mixture, piped butter icing and things to decorate!

I like Sundays.....

We made more than this, naughty aren't we?

Have a good week everyone.

P.S

Want another picture? Ok then.....

XX

Do you want a laugh??

They looked fine when they went in the oven, just right. Even lucky enough to have one of these..

..a lovely double yoker from the Grandparents newly acquired chickens.

Everything went as planned with Sophie helping so why did this happen?.

Not one mini cupcake could stand upright and they all looked like they had been desparately trying to escape! My husband said that they looked drunk but that they tasted very nice. (18 years of training to say the right thing at times like this.) Sophie laughed and called them Wonky Buns.
Well thank goodness for breadmakers..

No cooking for me today as the sun is out so some gardening and sewing and working out my new poll which will link to a tutorial. I am making a pudding later today, so wish me luck!

Enjoy the day.

PS What do you think of the new picture of Tiger in the margin?

Malteser Chocolate Bliss

Many thanks to April at Cake makes the world a better place for helping me some of the details with the recipe.

Made the following on Friday.... well two of them to be honest...

..and took it to my brother-in-law's birthday party that afternoon/evening.

I carefully cut it up, I sampled it t make sure that it was ok (well what else could I do?).

...and everyone really liked it!! It was so easy to do it was almost daft and iIcan see how it could be developed to add other things such as raisins as well as maltesers and dijestive biscuits!!

Give it a go, if I can make it, anyone can..

Tutorial finished and will be posted when I sort the photos out.

Best wishes,

XX

Cupcakes

Sophie and I made these lovely cupcakes today. They are much pinker in the flesh and the lady next door got some as well. I have not done any sewing this weekend, been too busy cleaning and tidying the house up. I have managed to take some more photos for the website which I will load this week before I forget again how to do it! I have just completed some work for the day job and Sophie is fast asleep so I think that I will go and pick up a needle for a bit and rustle up some Easter cards.
XX

Chocolate Crispies Update..

We made loads!! Even the lady next door has been given some. Hope they last long enough for Kirsty and Bella's visit on Wednesday!

YUM! YUM!

Late night jam making

Tuesday started off nice and sunny and has stayed that way. Sophie and I went to the garden centre and bought a few plants which we will show you tomorrow but it involves a large teacup. Last week I was given some apples....

Which I then added to these which I picked on a Farm near Bodmin...

and after much stirring and a little cursing when it started to stick to the bottom of the pan turned into this at 11.15pm...

I added the fabric and labels this morning. Do I normally make jam at that time, well yes in the evening so that I am not interrupted, but I encountered a slight hitch which I sorted out. I will be giving a jar to a friend of mine, just got to decide which fabric she would like the best.

The pincushion has at long last been started. What do you think?

Rubbish isn't it? Not one of my best makes but I shall soldier on and see how it turns out. I think a few well positioned leaves etc will help to hide some of the poorer bits. Update tomorrow.

Many thanks to those of you who have left a message over the last few days. Keeps me posting and hopefully you will want to come back and see what I have made next.

What do you think this is?

Tell you later in the week.

Bye.