Cake brings an end to festive gatherings

How lovely it was to have C’s other two daughters over today. With them was son-in-law and four month old granddaughter.

It required a two day intensive tidy up in the kitchen and lounge. C is a hoarder and has so much stuff, a lot of it not even ours, all over the place. Pretty much every horizontal surface has piles of stuff on it.

The girls, and M, were coming over for a few hours and a light lunch. We’d decided to make a Pinch of Nom bacon, potato and leek soup. C also baked some bread and rolls. We did those the day before. During the morning of their arrival C was finishing up the clearing whilst I baked a black forest gateau from a green BakedIn box.

Baby E was of course the centre of attention, enjoying ripping wrapping paper open, but then trying to eat it. Most things she was given went straight to her mouth. Over lunch she sucked on a slice of cucumber but also seemed to enjoy sucking on a piece of grandad’s homemade white bread roll.

All this attention, new sights, smells and interesting things to look at soon took their toll and she eventually used her daddy’s belly as a cushion for a nice long nap.

Although the black forest gateau didn’t look the prettiest, my jam was to runny and I’d used too much of the cream between the bottom layers there was hardly enough to cover the top, it did taste rather nice. The half hour or so of destoning and chopping the cherries was worth it. C and M had seconds so it couldn’t have been too bad. There was a little bit left over for me and C later on.

C stopped by his brother’s on the way back from putting flowers on his parents graves in Suffolk a couple of days before Christmas. We’ve seen most of my family at dad’s birthday gathering. Spent two lovely days with R on Christmas/Boxing Day, then some time with the other girls and M. That’s all our planned Christmas gatherings complete.

We’re lucky to have been able to see and spend time with everyone especially as others we know have had their plans changed and not been able to see family.

If everyone acts sensibly and limits their exposure to other people over the New Year, hopefully we’ll not see the return of harsher restrictions, or another lockdown.

We’ll be spending New Year at home, just the two of us, watching telly and falling asleep.

Early birthday baking

My father’s birthday is 22nd December so we use that as an excuse for the family gathering. Mum, Dad, the four of us and our attachments go out for a pub dinner, making a point of using the standard menu rather than the Christmas menu.

This year there were to be 13 of us. That turned out to be an unlucky number. One took ill with Covid and was isolating at University, then three more couldn’t come having just moved house and still trying to unpack, and fix things they’d didn’t know about until they moved in. Just too much to try and do. Totally understandable. So we were down to 9, but still had a great meal out, then back to HQ for cake.

I’d made the cake on Friday. Fruits of the Forest flavoured sponge and crumbcoat, with black icing and gold and black decorations. I had used a white chocolate drip that I painted in gold edible paint. The drip didn’t set hard so I couldn’t paint it smoothly, so it looks a bit lumpy.

It wasn’t a particularly complicated cake to make but it did remind me why I love baking cake. It was only the 2nd cake I’d made all year, the first one being my brothers wedding cake. I love the smell of the sponge cooking permeated the house. The pleasure of seeing an idea I came up with in October coming into existence.

I need to find more reasons to bake. I need to create more cakey goodness. I need to use up the things I bought; I’m a sucker for sprinkles. I need to make more use of all the gadgets and moulds and tools I have amassed over the years.

In the meantime, happy birthday to my Pops. Enjoy your cakage. 😋

Baking bonanza

Having spent a lovely weekend visiting step-daughter #1 and her family I needed a day to catch up on domestics.

E and I had VIP tickets for Cake International at the NEC and spent a lovely day wandering around, making the odd purchase, visiting the craft and Christmas shows in the next door arena, and making the most of the refreshments and sit down opportunities our VIP tickets allowed.

There were a lot fewer stands this year, understandable in the circumstances. There were a few big names noticeably absent too. Squires Kitchen and Purple Cupcakes to name a couple.

In previous years we’ve also taken part in the Renshaw modelling sessions and have have drunken snowmen, rabbits and reindeer toppers as evidence. We didn’t do that this time.

There were a lot fewer punters there too, which was no bad thing. Our Covid jab status was checked on the way in. Maybe that kept a number of people away if they hadn’t had their second jab yet.

So having taken Monday off from work to catch up with domestic stuff, I needed to get breakfasts and lunches ready for the rest of the week ahead. I’d seen recipes for roasted parsnip, garlic & haricot bean soup, which I thought would go well with a pumpkin, cheese and rosemary scone.

For the love of man there was no pumpkin puree to be found in any of the major supermarkets. I went to all of them to check. So I substituted it with butternut squash that we had in the freezer instead.

C was making bread rolls so we had competing needs for the oven but roasting the butternut coincided with baking his rolls so all worked out OK.

Whilst the soup ingredients were in the soup maker, I made my biscoff pancakes for breakfasts. They turned out probably the best looking I’ve ever made them. Nice and golden colour. I guess I wasn’t rushing unlike usual.

Then all the ingredients for the scones got mixed and kneaded. I forgot to take my rings off so they all got a bit gunned up with mixture. They smelled lovely whilst they were baking so I’m looking forward to tasting them.

The soup looks a bit insipid (I suppose it would do really) but I’m sure it’ll taste fine.

After lunch I got on with one of my least favourite domestic chores, the ironing. Still, got it done and out of the way.

Ready for a three day working week.

A busy day not at the office

Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay

Well, not that one anyway. I obviously seemed in a productive mood on Friday, even from the moment I woke up.

We had a virtual #bellringing session at 10.30am but even before that I’d made a start on drafting a report that I wanted to get written. I had the results of a competition I’m running to share and that involved writing articles, emails and purchasing online prizes. I’d done most of that before #bellringing.

Ringing finished at 12 noon and after a brief chit chat, I went to the kitchen and cracked open the latest green box from BakedIn which had arrived that morning. C had already bought the fresh ingredients needed, so I had everything ready to start baking. I peeled and chopped a large cooking apple, made the cake batter, combined them. The cake was baking whilst I made the toffee sauce and the buttercream. For some reason I really can’t make toffee sauce. My sugar water never goes a lovely amber colour before the sugar starts to crystalise, so I end up catching it early, adding the butter and cream and the darkest I get is a pale beige. Tasted ok though. Cake made and, in the fridge, ready for the weekend.

Back to the in box. I have several. Three different #bellrigning accounts plus my personal account. I blitzed through a pile of emails that were either for information or needed a quick response from me. Then set about dealing with the more complicated ones. Some required further enquiry. Some required me to write another article and send that off. I currently have two articles awaiting publication in the Ringing World from different roles.

Speaking of being published, I was quoted in last week’s Sunday Express. The article was about getting more young ringers. I spoke with the interviewer at some length about the Ringing World National Youth Contest and the Young Change Ringers Association, neither of which were mentioned. I also pointed her to our website where she could download decent photos of bells and ringing but instead, they chose a photo of a European style bell. Well, at least we were in the national press again.

I needed to arrange several meetings, so Doodlepolls duly issued. Action Logs updated and circulated. I even remembered to ask for some details to be updated on a website and was given access to be able to do it myself. Oh, the power! It made much more sense to be able to update minor things like that myself than have to keep asking the webmasters to do it for me.

I managed to cross so many things off my To Do List I need to start another page and write out what’s left. Several of the things I’d accomplished will result in further work but for now they are with someone else to deal with and I’ll pick it back up later. I even dared to chase the Church of England about something too!

I really had no concept of time. The day flew by. So much achieved. A good day at the office I feel. At least I can now relax for the evening not worrying about the long list of things I still need to do. I only have a short list now!

Baking and bellringing successes

Family and friends gather online on a Thursday evening for a virtual #bellringing session. We’ve been doing this all through lockdowm and even though real life practices are up and running again, this group still meets virtually, every week to practice things we wouldn’t ordinarily get to ring in our towers.

New methods are proposed every month with the objective of attempting a quarter peal on the last week of the month. September’s method was Sandal Treble Bob Minor. None of us had rung this before.

So, we attempted a quarter peal on the last Thursday of the month and it was going along nicely, good striking and very few trips. Unfortunately the attempt was stood up because two bells had swapped over. That was a real shame.

Friday mornings bring a second opportunity for practicing these methods with a slightly different group, but the core few are the same.

Having got plenty of time before ringing was due to start I decided to make a start on this week’s bake; a chocolate orange loaf cake. I managed to get the cake batter in the oven and cooked, the crystallised peel and the orange drizzle done before ringing started.

We decided to attempt the quarter peal again as there were only six of us again. There were a few more mistakes than previously, and the treble had lag issues which almost caused problems. However this time around we successfully scored the quarter. A first in method for everyone.

Hot on the heels of that success, I finished the cake off by making the chocolate frosting and assembled it all. I must admit to being slightly chuffed with how it turned out.

Later in the evening I gave a PR presentation to the Recovery Champions, a group of ringers who are helping their local areas get back to ringing after the pandemic. Nearly 50 people joined the session which included some lively debate on how to kick start recruitment again.

In between all this, as its now autumn and the weather has definitely taken a turn for the cooler and wetter, I did the great wardrobe swap over. Summer clothes now bagged up and vacuum sealed and autumn and winter jumpers getting an airing and iron.

I feel that I’ve had a super productive day with some great wins. Yay for Friday.

Should’ve, could’ve would’ve, did

Saturday I should have been in Staplehurst competing in the Essex Trophy 10 bell striking competition. Sadly our team had to withdraw so I had one of those days that was all wrong because the plans had changed.

It did mean I could have a bit more of a lay in and leisurely bacon buttie for breakfast. No complaints there.

I had decided to make a Biscoff cheesecake for Sunday lunch so while C was getting ready, started to prepare. I hadn’t realised that the recipe was actually for a baked cheesecake. Not that that’s an issue, cheesecake is cheesecake and acceptable in any form, but I’d never made a baked one before.

I’ve seen so many times on GBBO how baked cheesecakes split because they’re cooled down too quickly so decided to leave it in the oven, but turn the heat off, whilst we popped into town.

I bought myself some flowers (no one gonna buy them for me) and would’ve purchased a load of fruit from the High Street Market stall. Only it wasn’t there. We ended going back up to the old market and got some from there but it didn’t look as nice.

Once home, I removed the cheesecake from the oven and was rather impressed it hadn’t sunk or cracked. Yay, me!! It needed covering in melted Biscoff spread and sprinkled with more Biscoff biscuits. Did look rather delish even if I do say so myself.

I could and probably should have then spent the rest of the day dealing with reports, emails and actions but I was far from in the right mood, feeling rather annoyed by something and nothing. So I sat reading a book, drinking peppermint tea instead. That did of course mean cramming more things into Sunday but nothing like a bit of pressure to get motivated.

I needed to be nice to myself on Saturday so revelled in self indulgence.

If only every day could be this way

I had a most enjoyable day on Saturday.

The day started with a lazy wake up. No alarm set, we got up when we woke up. As has become the norm during lockdown and lack of reason to be out early on a Saturday morning C made the customary bacon rolls for breakfast.

Whilst C was in the shower I made the Leftover Buttercream Cookies I talked about a few days ago. I added a bit of sparkle to a few. They were delicious.

I then received a lovely message from my brother saying they read my blog regularly and sometimes find it helpful. That was nice to hear. If you do enjoy reading my blog tap a ‘Like’ or leave a comment so I know you’re out there.

I picked some freshia and calla lillies from the garden. There’s an abundance of greenery after a few days of rain and its lovely to have fresh flowers about, even more so when they come from your own garden.

We popped into town to the fruit and veg stall to stock up for the week. I’ve decided not to make my usual Biscoff Pancakes for breakfasts, opting for a 0% fat free Greek yoghurt and berries combo instead. We stocked up on grapefruit (not for C though), strawberries, raspberries and blackberries and some red grapes for snacking. I can no longer say I don’t like fruit.

I bought yet another baking book, still using up vouchers from Christmas and birthday (side note: no more book vouchers please and thank you). Having looked through the recipes I look forward to making my way through them all.

In the afternoon I spent a few hours dealing with some #bellringing work, took a call from one of the workgroup leads, finalised the latest photo competition round, messaged the winners, sent their prizes, wrote up the articles for publication next week. I then had a good clear out of my many inboxes. I have Central Council, local association and personal inboxes to get through. Its nice to get back to just having the essential messages to be dealt with left.

We had a lovely facetime chat with R. Her Internet has been down for a couple of days and still didn’t look like it was going to be fixed before the weekend was through. She’d been to a small venue gig which she said was oddly not odd to be in a room with that many people. We’re going down to visit next weekend for the Hampton Court Palace Food & Drink Festival. Really looking forward to seeing her in the flesh but does mean I won’t be at a CC meeting. Opportunities to see R trump all else so, passing the baton on to someone else from my workgroup to attend the meeting in my place. R had been double jabbed on Saturday morning, so that’s good news. Thanks Dolly.

I had previously asked C if he would make his “full fat” lasagne for dinner. We’ve had slimming world friendly ones of late, which are very nice and all, but he makes THE best lasagne. So much so that I won’t order lasagne in a restaurant because I know it won’t be as good. He obliged and it was accompanied by a bottle of red wine. Y U M!

We then passed a convivial evening watching TV and reading, taking some time to chill.

I had a thoroughly pleasant day. I hope you had a good one too. How was yours?

What to do with leftover buttercream

I made my brothers and his wife’s wedding cake and as usual overdid the volume of buttercream used for the crumb coat, adopting the “I’d rather have too much than not enough” mantra. I now have a tub of vanilla and a tub of chocolate buttercream to use up. It’s seems such a waste to just throw it away when it tastes so good.

I had been thinking about what I can make to use it up and standard response was to knock out a batch of cupcakes and try different patterns of decoration, just for practice. Whilst that would do the job and be yummy, with just the two of us at home, that’s rather a lot of cupcakes to eat, although I’m sure there would be some people willing to offer their quality control expertise. So what else can leftover buttercream be used for? Google time.

The first thing that came up was Leftover Buttercream Cookies by adding an egg and flour, baking powder etc. I’d never thought about that.

Other options offered included:

grab the tub and a spoon and tuck in. Tempting, but incredibly sickly. Buttercream, by nature of the icing sugar in it, is spectacularly sweet (at least I find it so).
create fashion cookies. Use store bought cookies and sandwich two of them together with the buttercream. That’s possible, but again, sounds quite rich/sweet for me.
make cake balls. This is similar to making the batch of cupcakes. It would require baking cake, mixing the crumbed cake in with the buttercream, forming in to balls, then covering in chocolate or candy melts. Too much faffing just for the two of us.
use it as an ice cream topping. Heat it up slightly and pour over ice cream. Hmmm, not sure about this one.
spread it. Simply spread it on biscuits and cover in sprinkles. Great activity to do with kids I guess.
mix it with cream cheese and use as a dip for seasonal fruit. That could be nice but without further information on the quantity of buttercream vs cream cheese, it would be case of trial and error until you find a combo that suits.

Of the offered solutions, I think I might try finding a recipe for Leftover Buttercream Cookies.

I have plenty of time this weekend to dedicate to baking and prepping breakfasts and lunches for the weekend ahead. I shall channel my inner domestic goddess.

National disaster averted

An email arrived a few days ago to advise that my green BakedIn box was on its way and what fresh ingredients would be required to supplement the contents of the box. I was ever hopeful that the box would arrive on Friday and C even bought the fresh ingredients when he did the food shop the day before.

I saw a notification on their social media that people were reporting having issues with the seals on the boxes coming open in the post and some of the contents missing. The postman knocked on the door and left the package by the front door. The green box was wrapped in a Post Office bag apologising for the state in which the box had arrived.

I opened the box and it seemed that all the bags of dry ingredients were accounted for, there are usually about five or six bags so I guessed that the six bags present were all present and correct. I messaged the lovely people at BakedIn and they emailed me the recipe card so I could at least do the bake. Turns out it was Sticky Toffee Cookies. I figured it was something to do with sticky toffee as the box contained chopped dates and fudge, and one of the fresh ingredients was cream.

The lovely people at BakedIn wanted the dispatch code so that they could check and make sure that it didn’t happen again.

So, disaster averted, and dough made, in the fridge to chill for half an hour, then weighed out into 18 evenly sized balls ready for baking. The toffee sauce was rather yummy so I had to restrain myself from just spooning it straight into my mouth so it could be drizzled over the cookies. They were supposed to have crushed walnuts sprinkled on top but as I don’t like them, I didn’t bother.

Without waiting for the toffee sauce to set, C and I did a quality control test. The cookies were lovely and soft, and the toffee sauce was still runny, but altogether very nice indeed. Later in the afternoon C wanted to start prepping our evening meal so decided to put the cookies in the fridge to help the sauce set.

We had a virtual #bellringing session in the evening, so it was nice to test another cookie after that when they had been in the fridge for a few hours. Very nice indeed. Not sure the rest will last very long.

Another great bake from BakedIn and can’t fault their customer service as they are very responsive to any issues. They messaged me again to thank me for sending the dispatch code and said to let them know if there were any other issues.

What to do when you can’t do what you intended to?

Those that know me well enough, know what the answer to that is.

We had booked tickets to visit our local RHS garden on Friday afternoon. I had been looking forward to it for a few days. The weather had been lovely all week and although it was due to be slightly cooler that was no bad thing. However, things took a sudden turn.

Watching the weather forecast over the previous couple of days it started to become apparent that Friday’s weather was not going to be conducive to a lovely wander around the rose beds. In fact by Friday morning, the forecast promised thunderstorms and heavy rain all afternoon.

Always the optimists, we decided to leave making a final decision until lunchtime on Friday, who knows, the forecast has been known to be wrong, or it might suddenly brighten up. We didn’t really want to take the risk of being out in the open air should there be a sudden downpour and thunder and lightening (very, very frightening!). It was still quite warm and neither of us really fancied being trussed up in our raincoats getting hot and sweaty. So, lovely afternoon walk cancelled.

What to do instead?

The previous morning, the lovely green baking box from BakedIn had arrived. Seemed like the ideal opportunity to bake instead. This month’s cake of choice was a chocolate ganache covered swiss roll. I’ve only ever made swiss roll from scratch once, maybe twice before. Always considered it a bit fiddly.

Anyway, chocolate sponge baked, house smelling of chocolate (mmmmmmmmmm!!) Sponge rolled. Buttercream whipped, added some coffee to make it mocha flavoured. Unroll sponge, spread buttercream, reroll sponge. Then wait until completely cooled down before coating in chocolate ganache and drizzle with white chocolate.

How we didn’t scoff the whole thing in one sitting, I’ll never know.

When I can’t do what I wanted or intended, I do the next best thing. Bake.