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. š
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.
I made my brothers and his wifeās wedding cake and as usual overdid the volume of buttercream used for the crumb coat, adopting the āIād rather have too much than not enoughā mantra. I now have a tub of vanilla and a tub of chocolate buttercream to use up. Itās 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, thatās rather a lot of cupcakes to eat, although Iām 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. Iād 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. Thatās 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.
The eagle eyed among you will have noticed an absence of blog on Friday. This was due to a rather special event that took place requiring final preparations on Thursday, meaning I had no opportunity to consider what to write. My focus was fully on preparing and spending quality time with R when she arrived him.
The event on Friday was the long overdue and rescheduled wedding celebrations for my brother and his new wife. They actually married in July but had to postpone the celebrations until we could all get together safely.
So Friday started with an early rise to give the three of us sufficient time to get through showers and final packing. Load up the car, with the all important cake, and head off.
R had been asked to be one of the Ushers and was needed at the venue by 12 noon to help with final set up and last minute things.
Having arrived, checked in and dumped things in our rooms, we left R to her duties and C and I did a bit of exploring around the venue and had something to eat.
At about 1.30pm I started to set up the cake. Thankfully the weather had cooled off a bit over the last few days making creating and assembling much easier without risk of icing melting in sweltering heat. I had put so much time and energy in to this that I didn’t want it to fall at the last hurdle.
Having all got dressed up, family members and other guests started to arrive and R, with her fellow Ushers went about their alloted duties.
The ceremony was lovely with some poignant moments in. They had a sand ceremony which I’d never heard of before. Because this was the coming together of two established families, the bride and groom, and their respective children, all emptied small glasses of different coloured sand into a larger container. The idea being that whilst each person has their own identity (colour of sand), by mixing them into one they come together and create a beautiful new sandscape with all of them mixing together. I really liked that idea.
There was a strong identity with bubbles, brother and wife having chosen to bubble together during lockdown to get to know each other. There were the blowing kind, the drinking kind and even aero bubble chocolates on the tables.
Speeches after the wedding feast from the groom and then the bride demonstrated their clear support for each other and their families, and their gratitude to the wider family. Then the best man, a childhood friend, reminded us of times when our brother had aspirations for his own synth band.
Then the party started. More friends arrived, more fizz and then cake cutting. There was a moment of concern when one rather drunken woman was quite close to the cake flailing her arms about. My sisters and I moved in to stand guard.
I spoke to the DJ and put in a special request for a particular song to be played for the bride, groom, their children and siblings and niece (R) to dance to, to symbolically acknowledge the new family. “We are family” by Sister Sledge. And thus, the latest additions to our family were cemented.
I didn’t quite stay until the end, had quite a bit to drink and had been standing in heels far too long, so slipped off about 11.30, way passed my normal bedtime.
A thoroughly fab day full of love and laughter. Every detail carefully thought through.
Breakfast on Saturday morning was a more muted affair, some not managing at all due to the previous night’s over indulgence. For those of us that did make it, large quantities of coffee were consumed and cooked breakfast to help settle the stomach again. A final chance to speak to people before we had to depart.
Although there had been a light shower of rain on the Friday, it was nothing compared to the downpours we had to drive through on ghe way home Saturday. Spare a thought for the wedding taking place at our venue later in the day.
All arrived home safely and napped to catch up after and exhausting day and restless night thecday before. A good kind of exhausted though.
So, the deed is done. The event over. Just the rest of their lives to get to know each other more deeply. Do all the dating things they couldn’t do dur to lockdown, and have fun as a new family.
I wish my brother and his wife much love and happiness. š
We have a special event on Friday which will involve food, drink and cake. R is coming home on Thursday in readiness so we had decided to go out for dinner Thursday evening to our local Chinese restaurant.
R has declared residency until Monday so we’ve also decided to go out for lunch on Sunday before going to the local RHS garden (weather permitting). And we’re not sure what time we’ll get back home on Saturday after the event so have decided to nominate that as takeaway night.
It seems like we’ll be making up for lost ground with not having been able to eat out for so long by doing it all in the space of one weekend.
As I was at home Wednesday creating cake for the event breakfast mainly consisted of offcuts of cake and icing. I could feel my teeth whincing at the sugar.
I did take a break to go # bellringing for a wedding at the cathedral and on the way home C decided that we really needed to get an ice cream. Who was I to argue?
Fortunately this food fest is being slightly offset by lunch and dinner on Wednesday being Slimming World friendly, but come weigh in day on Friday morning I fear any good works done earlier in the week will have already begun to be lost.
Fingers crossed I’ll still be able to get into my outfit for the event. I’m not going to beat myself up about it. I might try and make good decisions but mostly I’ll be enjoying some time with C and R and eating out for a change. I know I’ll get back to the diet on Monday and start all over again.
Just for this weekend I shall kick back and enjoy.
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 Fridayās 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 didnāt 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 monthās cake of choice was a chocolate ganache covered swiss roll. Iāve 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 didnāt scoff the whole thing in one sitting, Iāll never know.
When I canāt do what I wanted or intended, I do the next best thing. Bake.
Itās been far too hot recently to want to spend much time in the kitchen, and thankfully I donāt do the cooking in our household anymore. But I would hate to be a professional baker or chef when its hot outside.
I love baking cakes when I get the time and of course, I love eating them too. But during the summer months my favourite kind of cake often does not require any baking at all. I do love a cheesecake. I could eat cheesecake every day. Its another type of cake I donāt get to make very often.
C and I sort of follow a Slimming World diet in as much as we use either their recipes, or Pinch of Nom or similar. I try to count calories, but I like food too much and often see that I have exceeded my recommended daily amount. Small wonder Iām not actually loosing much weight, just the odd pound here and there.
This past week we have been using the recipes from the July Slimming World magazine and I was happy to see that one of the recipes was for a vanilla and chocolate cheesecake. We donāt often have homemade desserts, generally donāt have the time to make them but not one to miss out on the opportunity of cheesecake, I decided that I would make our dessert for Sunday lunch.
I made the cheesecake on Saturday afternoon, so it had plenty of time to set. It was a chilled one rather than a baked one, so no slaving over a hot oven. Thereās always that moment of apprehension when you loosen the springform pan sides and hold your breath hoping that it wonāt slip and slide all over the place. Fortunately, it had set very well. And Iād remembered to put a sheet of baking paper under the biscuit crumb to avoid it getting stuck to the bottom of the tin, meaning I could slide it easily on to a plate. Just to make sure though, I didnāt take it out of the tin until Sunday morning.
Perfect.
As thereās only the two of us at home, the next question is how many servings we should cut it in to. The recipe says eight, even if we were generous, weād only make it six. But given that thereās only the two of us, we have a whopping quarter of it each. Somewhat negates the Slimming World part, right? Whatās the point of dragging it out over several days, it wonāt keep that long, will it? Thatās our excuse and weāre sticking to it.
This particular cheesecake tasted very nice but the consistency was a bit strange. It was more of a panna cotta style wobbly rather than a light, fluffy filling. Maybe that was the combination of cream cheese, yoghurt and quark, with the gelatine.
Anyway, it satisfied by cheesecake craving for now.
Have you ever had an inclination to want something in particular and nothing else will do? That was me in the kitchen on Sunday afternoon.
I was preparing my breakfasts and lunches for the working week ahead – this week its biscoff pancakes for brekkie and thai chicken salad for lunches – and I remembered that there was a little homemade lemon curd and some buttercream in the fridge. I was set on making a good ole Victoria Sandwich cake but lemony.
When I took the lemon curd out it had set solid. I thought it would loosen up a bit to a more spreadable consistency once it had warmed up a little so left it on the side whilst I made pancakes and salads. I went back to it half an hour later and it was still solid. It wasn’t going to spread at all. In fact when I ran a spoon around the bowl, it came away in one solid disc.
Now I have jam of different flavours and biscoff spread in the cupboard that would have made a more than adequate alternative, but I had in my head that it would be lemon. And nothing was going to change my mind.
Rather disillusioned I didn’t bake anything in the end. That meant we had no treat to go with our afternoon cup of tea.
I need to get my baking a**e back into gear. I keep looking at cake designs thinking that I could actually do some of them but haven’t got the motivation to do them. It seems a bit of a waste to spend ages making an awesome cake only for the two of us.
I’ve been looking through my baking books and cake magazines and thinking yes, I’ll do that but then never get round to it. More forward planning required to make sure I have all the ingredients in ready to go when the bug bites.
For now, there will be no lemon cake. Maybe something next weekend.
I realise that this blog is called Bells, Bakes and Bettering Myself and that most of what I write about is predominantly #bellringing or something to do with learning a new technique, learning more about myself and the world Iām in, and there is very little to do with baking. Occasionally Iāll mention the latest BakedIn green box that has landed on the doormat. I did say a while back that I was going to get in the habit of baking something from series of magazines that Iād invested in and I did make a start but didnāt get very far. The trouble was some #bellringing activities took over which meant most of the time that I could put aside to bake was taken up with meetings. This is now starting to lessen so regular baking can resume.
I do have a few things in the cupboards that need using up such as flavours icing sugars that make great buttercream icing or you can use them in the cake batter to flavour it. I have a cinnamon bun kit in the cupboard that needs using up, and quite possible a brownie kit too. Then I need to get some inspiration and start getting creative again. I have all these tools and things at my disposal but I just donāt get to use them often enough. I need to get some practice in, and I do still have a voucher for a session with my friend Sarah, of The Cupcake Oven. But I need some inspiration.
I follow several cake decorators on Instagram and Facebook. Many of them are way too advanced for me, or I look at what theyāve created and think that I could actually do that if I had the time. Iām not very imaginative so I need a plan to follow or use something someone else has done for inspiration. I used to follow Paul Bradfield and I have used some of his tutorials in creating versions of Star Trek Enterprise, or standing up Santas. They are really good step by step guides.
In fact it was through following Paul that I met Sarah. I had been to a different cake making class and one of the other students in the class mentioned Paul. I googled him and found that he was due to give a demonstration at my local Sugarcraft Guild (never knew they existed). In order to get a place on the workshop, I joined the Guild for a while. Sarah was a member, and may have been on the committee at the time too, before she moved further away. I stopped going to the Guild as I found that a) I was by far the youngest in the room b) they all sat in cliques and c) when one of the committee members came up to me and said āWelcome, is this your first meetingā? to which I replied āNo, Iāve been coming here for over a yearā, I realised that this wasnāt the group for me. And to be honest, I wasnāt really learning much. The people they had in to do demonstrations where far beyond what I could do, or indeed I had already mastered several techniques and didnāt learn anything new.
It would be good to see Sarah again for another class, but Iāve done most of hers now and need to find other excuses for a visit. I need some inspiration for your average hobby baker, who can make a reasonable tasting cake, and can make it look quite good with sugar flowers and bits.
My next Bakedin bake is lemon viennese whirls. I didn’t get my box until late as you may have read previously there was an issue with my subscription. Anyway, the box is here and my Bank Holiday afternoon will be time to bake.
My first issue was buying a lemon. The supermarket only sold them in bags of about 8, I only need one. And the ones in the bag were tiny. Fortunately we have a marketplace in the High Street and there’s an epic fruit and veg stall. I was able to buy one giant lemon for 40p.
The good thing about getting the box later is that everyone else has made them and posted their pictures on the Facebook page. They’ve also told you about any problems they had and any recommendations. A few people had mentioned that their lemon curd didn’t thicken and other suggested making it the day before and putting it in the fridge. I had some time on Sunday afternoon so decided to take that advice and make the curd early.
I’ve never made lemon curd before and I do like it. It was so simple. Caster sugar, zest and juice of a lemon, butter and a whisked egg. Heat it all gently until it thickens then strain out any bits. Only took a few minutes. So simple. Naturally I sampled it before putting it in the fridge and my word it was delicious. I may never buy it in a jar ever again.
I shall use it in the biscuit bake as instructed and if there’s any left I may just slather it on a slice of bread.
Bells, Bakes & Bettering Myself 