The obligatory Halloween Cupcakes.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

This is my first ever attempt at proper cupcake decorations. Previously I've just used buttercream toppings or had topping disasters and just eaten the cakes on their own! But today was all about decoration so i'll justify my quick cheat of using Dr Oetker's cupcake mix. The mix by the way is a great timesaver! I tend to make my cakes too light & soft so it was nice to have a proper cake to work on for once!

I made a cream cheese frosting and & tried to colour it orange however as I discovered food colourings do not adhere to the rules of primary colours. Red & yellow does not make orange. It make either pink or dark yellow, I went with latter.

After letting them set I then moving onto the design. This is where I discovered that cream cheese frosting is not the sturdiest surface to create icing decorations. Won't be doing that again!

But I think I did alright considering. One of the spiders & the skull are done by two male friends who decided that decorating was easy. They learnt their lesson quickly!

It's going to take some practice but i one day I'll create a truly pretty cupcake! With no mistakes! ;)

Sugar Rush

This week I've been living on orange chocolate chip cupcakes with a Betty Crocker chocolate fudge frosting.

It was a last minute midnight baking session which resulted in pies, tortes & both mini & normal sized cupcakes and it was beautiful. I'm not going to post the cupcake recipe because it needs work and to be honest it's a very standard batter with added chocolate chips and orange essence (I wasn't confident in the real oranges on offer at Tesco for taste)

You'll see that the picture I've posted is of some free form mini cupcakes. It was these colourful creations that inspired me to buy a proper baking sheet which arrived this morning. So we laugh a little and then say good bye to free form cupcakes!

Also, on a sub-note I'm loving the Betty Crocker chocolate fudge frosting. It's better than anything I could whip up last minute at my current level of skill so is a great cheat! I am determined to perfect a from scratch version though. Just maybe not when I'm baking at 1am...

Apple shorts

See and download the full gallery on posterous

So we had some left over short crust pastry from a balsamic onion tart (recipe to come later) And what do you do when you have left overs? Make dessert of course!
I'm not sticking amounts down for this because it really depends on how many you make but the method speaks for itself really.

short crust pastry (not the sweet short crust)
Sweet Gala Apples
Caster sugar/Demerara sugar

Line individual ramekins with the rolled out pastry.

Thinly slice the halved apples and place in the ramekins until 3/4 full

Sprinkle some sugar over the apples. Not too much as Gala's are already quite sweet but the sugar will create a yummy caramel during cooking.

Cinnamon is also a classic apple partner that would be great in this. Again just a sprinkle over the apples. We don't want to hide their taste.

Cut out a lid with the remaining pastry and place on top of the apples. You can make a tight fit or leave it open the juices steam up. Either way you've got yourself a mini apple pie!

You can if you want sprinkle a wee bit of Demerara over the top of the pastry for added sweetness.

Bake for 30 mins in the bottom shelf of a 200c oven and When it's golden brown it's done!

And of course you can't serve apple pie without a splash of cream or a good dollop of vanilla ice-cream.

Perfect.

Autumnal Sausage Casserole

This was something we threw together last minute after discovering the casserole sauce we planned to use was A. Out of date and B. Tasted awful! So after a raid of the cupboard we came up with this, it looks like a lot of ingredients but really isn't when you're doing it. Plus, it was lush!

6 pork & leek sausages
6 Cumberland sausages
1 large white onion
1 large leek
1/2 small pumpkin
3 or 4 large carrots
500g sieved passata
500g chicken stock
3 medium cloves garlic (whole)
1 stir in chicken stockpot
2 tbsp onion gravy granules
25g (1 packet) lemon thyme.
1 tbsp paprika
1 small squirt HP sauce (or worcester sauce)

Wash & largely chop all veg.
Saute in a little butter & olive oil.
Brown off sausages separately but do not cook fully.
Add everything else in to the veg, leaving a bit of thyme to stir in at the end.
Simmer until veg is tender & sausages are cooked.
Remove cooked thyme stalks and add the remaining destalked thyme and some frozen peas if you have the inclination (we did) & simmer till the peas are cooked.
Season if necessary but to be honest it shouldn't need it - the stock pot is generally salty enough.
Serve with mashed potato or champ

Technically this a quick stew rather than a casserole as it's done on the hob & takes about an hour from start to finish. Great if you want a hearty stew but don't have hours of time!

Also you'll notice that you may have half a pumpkin left, if you roast it in the oven with a couple of carrots and some garlic then purée it with some oil & a little salt & about a tbsp of water you'll have a great purée to start off a risotto or if you skip the salt and garlic some nice pumpkin cupcakes! It is Halloween season after all!

So it's been a while

Yup it's been quite a while since I had the urge to share our culinary adventures with the world. Not because I haven't been cooking... Quite the opposite! Having moved into a new place with friends we've been literally feasting on new treats and I haven't had the time! Add to that some ridiculous laptop issues and a lot of partying I've been pretty lax in the blog department. But all that's changing now. I'll be posting from my phone now so I can literally post from anywhere! This should hopefully provide some interesting & shorter updates. Anyways i'll leave you with this picture of my attempt at lavender White chocolate ganache. It tasted awesome but didn't set properly. Too much cream not enough chocolate. Will get it right next time! ;)

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut squash soup

1 squash peeled and diced evenly
3or4 carrots
1 large onion largely diced
3 cloves garlic
1 pack unsmoked bacon
1 tbsp curry powder
2 pints veg bouillon stock
Handbook White lentils (we used black because that's all we had but they darken the colour and you really want this to be a bright vibrant soup)
Pepper to season (the bouillon & bacon are salty enough, no need to add extra)

Roast the veg & garlic for 30 mins or until until tender, remove any black or burnt bits as these will colour the soup a yucky black colour.
Cube and Brown off the bacon then set aside.
Add veg, bacon & curry powder to stock and bring to boil. Once boiling reduce down to simmer and blend. You can either blend it all together with a hand blender or remove the veg & bacon and put into a mini processor and stir the resulting paste back into the stock.
Cook the lentils according to the instructions on the pack and then add them to the already blended soup. This should add texture to the now thick & yummy mixture.
Simmer for a bit longer to give the lentils time to take on the flavours of the soup and then serve up with some crusty bread!