Coconut Raspberry and Lime Cakes

♬ 'These Streets' by Paolo Nutini

After a quick glance at the royal flotilla on the Thames highway, I made a quick dash home to a) avoid the rain and  b) see if Sainsbury's had a mammoth selection on their reduced shelf. The result... caught in the drizzly rain and bought about 10 packets of fresh raspberries for under £1. The supermarket was scarce, and it was me against an elderly lady as we battled for the bargains. Unfortunately I had a small basket and she had a trolley, therefore I couldn't pack as many in! Got home, Paolo is on, and set the kitchen mixer ready to pulverise these sweet red berets. Every couple of months I tend to overload on raspberries, what do you do with them? There was another lady who picked up a packet then said to me 'what shall I do? I never use them, but for 10p I can't let them go!' I replied, 'make a hearty sweet crumble, or freeze them, stir through yoghurt, or use as a layer when making a trifle.' Her eyes lit up and she grabbed about 4 packets. 

▶ Recipe for 12 cakes:

Ingredients:

220g soft butter

150g caster sugar

3 large eggs

220g self raising flour

50g dessicated coconut

1 lime

Half a tsp vanilla essence

180g fresh raspberries

Method:

: Preheat oven to 180°c. If your using a cake mixer, add the ingredients in the order above.

: If there is no cake mixer to hand, no problem, follow this method.

Cream butter and sugar with a fork until soft and pale.

: Add eggs one at a time and whisk.

: Take the bowl off the mixer and fold the flour in with a butter knife.

: Use this method for the raspberries and coconut. Cutting through the mixture will not mash all the raspberries, so there will still be a rough muffin like texture.

: Stir in the essence and zest half of lime.

 Scoop in the cupcake tray with two dessert spoons and bake for 25 minutes.

Once risen and golden on top, take out and let them chill.

Dust with dessicated coconut and dip raspberry in a bit of honey to stick on top.

DONE!

Favourite Song:

ê 'New Shoes'

Diamond Jubilee Cake

You. Yes you are gawping at my crown cake. This golden sponge of a crown was a last minute crazy idea that took most of the night. I've seen a few crown cakes made from sugar paste, and they look great - but they don't make me want to grab it from someones head to eat it. That's right. I am wearing my crown cake, which looks a bit like a spiky golden smarties hat. 

♬ 'Born In The U.K' by Badly Drawn Boy

Every time I listen to the above album, I get a sense of proudness about being raised on British soil. Hence why it has been chosen to be played in the kitchen this weekend.

Totally proud of being born in the U.K, and I think the queen is particularly cool. I would like to meet her one day and present a piece of my cherry and almond cake. I bet she is going to have a crazy party this weekend, if anyone knows what's on the menu, leave a comment!

Seriously, this bank holiday is going to be a corker. The streets are going to burst with red, blue and white cakes, and I'm wearing everything to do with the union jack - even a cake.

A small clip of when the idea clambered in the creative cupcake brain:

Basically I made a traditional round sponge cake, refrigerated it then cut the outer circle and used scissors to create the crown effect.

And when the crown was done...

Favourite Song:

ê 'The Time Of Times' 

Have a lovely jub-ilee weekend viewers.xxx

Jubilee Cakebabs

♬ '1' by The Beatles

When the sun comes out in London, everything changes. Music bursts from every street corner, builders take their t-shirts off and tis the season for ice cream. Whereas I was plumped in the kitchen and gutted I didn't own an ice cream maker - so this meant a bit of baking! While emptying the dishwasher, I was prancing around to 'Yellow Submarine' and saw some skewers under the cutlery. That's when a little light switched on in my cake tin of a brain. Why not cut up the cake and make kebabs - with cake?! A simple sponge with fruit on a skewer, and perfect for any party, especially for the Diamond Jubilee event in June. I grabbed the whisk, flicked the album to 'Eight Days A Week' and started constructing this fantastic concept.

Recipe for 16-20 skewers, each cake tin yields 8 -10 mini sponges, and it also depends on the size of the cutter and how many you want on a skewer. I used *one sponge, and used 10 skewers.

Ingredients:

225g soft organic butter

225g golden caster sugar

225g self raising flour, sieved.

1 vanilla pod with seeds scraped out or 1 tsp vanilla essence.

4 medium eggs at room temperature.

200ml double cream

Raspberry jam

Desiccated coconut

Icing sugar for dusting the tops

Fresh strawberries

Fresh blueberries

Fresh blackberries

Method:

:Preheat oven to 180°c

: Cream the butter until soft and then add the sugar. Whisk until pale and fluffy.

: Add 2 eggs at a time and keep on whisking.

: Fold in the flour.

: Pour in two 20cm sandwich tins which have been greased lightly with butter. I tend not to use baking parchment on the base. Really depends on the quality of the tin.

: Bake for 25 minutes, once springy to the touch, leave both out to cool for half an hour, then put in the fridge.

: Once completely cold, whisk the cream and give the jam a stir in the jar to loosen it up a bit more.

: Use a cutter which is a size down from medium and not too big (see below).

: Cut 10 circles from each sponge. 

: Like I mentioned earlier, I only used one sponge and cut sandwiches from these. By doing this there was less chance of the sponge breaking.

: Cut the circle as you would a normal sponge if you were to fill it. Spread cream on one circle and jam on the other. Sprinkle desiccated coconut on top of the cream if you wish.

: Design your skewers with one or two sandwiches with fresh fruit. Try using your favourite jam or other fruits.
This is a creative moment for children to get involved.

As a test I gave a few out and they stayed on the skewer, didn't break and were easy to handle.

Here is one more shot and a Viddy because they looked and tasted so damn good.

Favourite Song:

ê 'A Hard Day's Night'

*With the other sponge, spread the rest of the cream on top and scatter remaining fruit.


I think the late nights of stopping off at a kebab shop are now over, I'm diving straight into my cake tin for a Cakebab!

Jubilee Meringue's

♬ Will Smith still on Spotify.

After the jammie dodger expedition, I still had 2 egg whites sitting solemnly in a bowl. 

I'm not one to waste anything. 

This called for the electric whisk, more sugar and a strong hand in case the whisk attachment got a life of it's own. Unfortunately it did, I hand whisked the rest and now I feel like I've got an extra bit of muscle on my right bicep. Next to skipping, I think whisking a meringue by hand should be on my workout regime.

Anyhow here is the recipe for 8 of the above beauties:

Ingredients:

2 medium egg whites at room temperature

175g caster sugar

Strawberries, sliced.

Honey in a squeezable bottle.

Method:

: Preheat oven to 120°c.

: Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper.

: Whisk half of the sugar with the egg whites until stiff and glossy.

: Add the rest of the sugar and whisk until stiff. Try the bowl over the head technique!

: Pipe out 16 small meringue circles, making sure they are not too close.

: Bake for 10 minutes on the bottom shelf of your oven, then crank up the heat to 180°c for an 40mins - 1hour. 

: Once they look like a pale diluted coffee colour, tap one of the tops to see if it's hard.

: Take out, and they should easily come off the paper with a rock solid base.

: Use the honey bottle like glue and sandwich a slice of strawberry in between each meringue. Try not to use too much honey, this could get a bit sticky! I randomly did this because I possessed no cream, soft cheese and ran out of butter. Honestly they tasted great, and unfortunately I didn't Viddy this. Totally reached my daily limit with that app!

Have a great weekend.

x

Jubilee Jammie's

♬ 'Big Willie Style' by Will Smith

Who doesn't love Will Smith? I heard him on the radio this afternoon and have been playing his jiggy tracks most of the day. Apart from reminiscing and singing down the heavens when 'just the two of us' came on, I also got a bit Viddy happy. I have a feeling this fifteen second video phase is the start of another craze. My mini videos will solely be food related, not song covers or staring out the camera. 

The Jubilee is approaching and I've still got a few creative ideas in my cake tin of a brain, here is an idea that will brighten a cake stall or be lovely with a cup of tea. 

When it came to deciding on a biscuit recipe, I wanted buttery, gooey, short and slightly crumbly. Using egg yolks and icing sugar give these biscuits exactly the above, which will melt in your mouth. 

Ingredients to make 12:

2 medium egg yolks

225g soft butter

1 tsp almond essence

300g plain flour

120g icing sugar, save some for dusting.

Raspberry jam

Blackcurrant jam

Black cherry jam

Method:

: Working left down...

: Cream butter and icing sugar until soft.

: Add yolks and flour, stir in and turn out mixture on a table and press altogether to make a soft and slightly sticky dough. No need to knead too much here.

: Make it cold by keeping it in the fridge for a minimum of two hours.


: Preheat oven to 180°c.

: Cut the dough in half. Roll one half to about 5mm on a floured surface, and use a large cookie cutter (6-8cm) and cut 12 bases. 

: Lay on a large tray lines with greaseproof paper. Keep enough space between each biscuit.

: Bake for 10 minutes until they start to brown. Take out to cool and they can toughen up.

: Do the same for the second dough, but this time cut a small shape in the middle. A circle, star or even a diamond would be cool.

: Put the small shapes back in the dough to avoid waste.

Once each biscuit has cooled, use a selection of organic colourful jams and spread a small amount on each base.

Dust each top biscuit with icing sugar before placing it on top of the jammie base.

Favourite Songs:

ê 'Miami'

             

ê 'Just The Two Of Us'

Popping Jubilee Lollies

♬ Various tracks from M.I.A, particularly 'Bad Girls'! 

A plethora of gold heavy chains, rings and psychedelic prints have been at the forefront of my wardrobe this weekend. And who better than the very cool M.I.A to get playing while I jazz up my outfits and get a bit creative in the kitchen!

This year is all about captivating England, yes the weather so far has been a grey and drizzly nightmare, but we have the Olympics, Jay Z and Rihanna making an appearance in Hackney: and most importantly the Queens diamond jubilee celebrations in June. I am going to take this opportunity to go absolutely mental with my creativity and cook what I can that is blue, red, white and most importantly recreate the English palate. 

Already a fan of wearing stripes, the union jack design is one I am a complete sucker for. Anything with this theme I will hold close. In previous posts I explained that it was Geri Halliwells dress at the Brits in 1997 that sprang on my addictive tendencies for this flag. Now all major supermarkets are stocking up on my favourite three colours and my purse is deflating as I go in and buy anything and everything. 

These lollies were a random experiment, and I handed them out to local kids who's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets once they took a bite! Popping candy is such an old school nostalgic memory, the routine was to spend the last bit of change on coca cola bottles, tip tops or candy after school, unfortunately my parents would find out because I was silly enough to leave all the wrappers in my pockets.

 ▶ If you would like to make these ready for an event you are hosting or attending then give these a go:

Ingredients:

150g organic milk chocolate

Red lolly sticks

Popping candy

Blue, white and red sugar balls.

Method:

: Melt chocolate in a bowl over boiling simmering water. Once melted take off the heat.

: Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and line up lolly sticks with enough space between them.

: With a tablespoon, spread chocolate over top of the stick.

: Sprinkle sugar balls and popping candy and the chocolate circle should get bigger. Make sure your hands are dry, any moisture will jeopardise the 'pop'.

: Do the same with the others, making sure each lolly is upside down to it's partner.

: Refrigerate for a few hours.

: Peel off slowly and hand out.

Favourite Song:

ê 'Bad Girls'

' Pull Up The People'