70 cupcakes later

70 cupcakes, 30 brownies, hummingbird cake, coffee and walnut cake were the top sellers at todays arts and crafts fair. I only had to discount a couple of cupcakes right at the end so I didn't come home with them. That's the last of the Xmas fairs for Smiths kitchen for 2011. The rest of the year is baking for my own belly.

let the mince pie tasting begin

Christmas at MRA PR means but one thing - mince pie tasting. This year we have already give Mr Kipling's a whirl and for mass market - they weren't bad. There was plenty of filling (a touch sweet) and the pastry was a bit crumbly. But all round - they were a nice start to the season. Yesterday's outing was M&S Lattice Butter Mince Pies. I liked the lattice topping as it wasn't all pastry. The pastry itself was fim enough to hold the filling, the lattice looked pretty - there could have been half a teaspoon more mince though. But they got the thumbs up from the office too. Beating Mr Kipling by a few yards. here's a pic.

Christmas Fayre

A Christmas Fayre ensures there will be (lots of ) children. So baking for this crowd means adding decorative colour and baking lots and lots of cupcakes. But not to be outdone, parents and adults alike love cupcakes too. I just don't get it. They're quite nice - but I would much rather a big slab of cake with lashing of frosting. Having said that - I bake what sells and sell they did. All 60! The triple choc brownies were popular as was the ever-intriguing Hummingbird Cake. It was a fun day, I caught up with some old friends and most importantly, very little came home. Smith's Kitchen is next appearing at the Norbury Arts and Crafts Fair.

Pear Tarte Tartin

Caramelising the tarte

The final result

Fresh from the oven

Always a touch afraid of baking a pear tart, I have looked longingly at recipes but never ventured any further. So on Baking Mad when I was presented with no other choice than to bake the damn thing - I damn well did. Part of the fear is the bubbling sugar and butter. This to me equals a fast track to A+E. With care, confidence and a calm hand I caramelised the butter and sugar (a lot longer than I would have thought). you then place the fabulously firm pairs (yes firm) into the pan and then continue to boil. Again for much longer than I would ever have dared. The result - well the pictures do it justice. Using all butter puff pastry for the base (and yes it ok to buy supermarket puff pastry - just make sure it's all butter), you're onto a winner. I have already made this again since the course (last Thursday) and it was well received by Helen and Dave. So my new adventures as a tart-maker have just begun.

Baking Mad

Baking Mad is the perfect name for an autumnal baking day hosted by "Cake Boy" Eric Lanard. Famed for his Glamour Puds show on Channel 4, he conducts various baking courses at his cafe/kitchen location in Battersea. A birthday present for me ( yes 40) - and a whole day baking. I was in heaven. A nice bunch of people (one had flown in from Italy) we all baked chocolate, pecan and pumpkin cake, ale fruit loaf (with chocolate ale) and I learnt how to perfect a pear tarte tartin. With wine and a fabulous cooked lunch, this was a baking class with class. Eric didn't just introduce himself then hand over to an assistant. He was with us the whole day, instructing providing tips and was great fun. These courses don't come cheap, but it comes highly recommended. Thanks to Eric and his team for a fantastic day.

Triple Chocolate Brownies

From a recipe, originally taken from the Australian Women's Weekly. Served hot with ice cream and not over cooked - gooey in the middle and just firm on the top.  Sadly the recipe is not on the AWW website, but you will find it in AWW Chocolate! 3 types of chocolate, eggs, butter, sugar and SR flour.

The secret to a great brownie (that I learnt from a Jamie Oliver book) is not to overcook them. Infact, even undercook them. Check and when they are just firm to touch they will remain gooey inside. For a hot dessert, remove from the oven, cool slightly and serve. Delicious.

Those funny little things - crab apples

I've seen crab apples in gardens, along the street - all over the place, but knew little about what to do with one. Related to apples, these darn little things are not suitable for all purpose eating. What's the point of them? Feed the birds?

There are a couple of culinary uses (wine and jelly) when Brian gave me a carton at the weekend, I couldn't let them go to waste. I hit the search engines for a recipe. Not loads of options, but BBC Good Food, Waitrose and the Times online all offered different versions. Feeling rather posh at attempting to make a "jelly", I chose The Times recipe.

It's all quite simple really - boil the buggers, strain and then add sugar, then boil some more. In a nutshell, that's pretty much the recipe. Tastes nice and I got it to set first time around. Ladle the scum off the top and it's done. Now all I need is a leg of lamb and the crab apple jelly will be right at home. Let me know if you know of other ways to serve and eat Crab Apple Jelly.

Blueberries galore

For the love of blueberries I just had to take some of our homegrown berries and bake with them. I ventured beyond my traditional blueberry and white chocolate chunk muffins to a tray bake. Blueberry and Apple to be precise. There's something lovely about a traybake. You pretty much mix everything together, pour it into a baking tray (or roasting dish) and bake. I adapted a recipe from BBC Good Food (always a winner) and replaced blackberries with our trusty blueberries. It all worked perfectly. This recipe will resurface over the next month as local blackberries are just ripening up nicely.

Click here for the recipe from BBC Good Food: 
bbcgoodfood.com - Blackberry and Apple Traybake

Keeping with tradition

It has become tradition in our office at MRA for me to bake a cake for everyone's birthday, so keeping true to tradition I baked a cake for Emma's birthday on 4th June. Keen to try my hand at some icing skills with a piping bag, I topped off the marble cake with some sprinkles and decoration. It's only a start, but with practice and patience I think I will master the art of script with icing.

I was pleased with the initial results and it tasted damn good.

Banoffee Pie

This is the first Banoffee Pie I ever made. The recipe is from Eric Lanard (aka The Cake Boy). Great recipes and I love his cook books. Check him out. And no you can't have a piece. It's all gone.

What's on top of yours?

Shrove Tuesday (or Pancake Day) brings many choices. What recipe? How long to leave the batter standing? What will you actually give up for Lent? AND most importantly what to put on top of the pancake itself. I like sugar and lemon (traditional), golden syrup goes down a treat too. Nutella is a must but last year Karl and I tried Nutella and golden syrup together. Diabetes inducing it is. But once tried you will never go back - give it a swirl - a large one. Now, do I really have to give anything up?

Rhubarb and Custard Muffins

Always up for a challenge, I thought I would take some seasonal rhubarb and combine with a dollop of custard for a tea-time treat. I mixed the rhubard in with the basic muffin mix and thickened the custard a little more than you would for a pudding. Sprinkled with brown sugar and then baked. Next time round I might add in a touch more sugar than the 170 g I did this time. I like mine a little sweeter, Karl on the other hand thought they were great. What I loved most was that the custard started to ooze out from the cake cracks - a proper homemade look to them.

I've got one thing to say to you Kimmy, "Chocolate Ginger Cake"

Combining two of my favourite flavours and upon special  request I attempted a Chocolate Ginger Cake. Lucy (who has been freelancing in our office) left work on Thursday and like all special occasions, I mark it by baking a cake. This time upon request. There are a number of recipes for chocolate and ginger cake - but no one in particular grabbed me. I love Nigel Slater's Ginger Cake and the icing from Nigella's Choco-ginger (as well as the idea of chocolate drops from another recipe) so I set about adapting both and making my own additions. Leaving out the sultanas and adding in chopped up 70% dark chocolate (Green and Black's no less) removing a touch of the flour and replacing with cocoa - and then the most fabulous touch of all, added ginger beer to the chocolate icing. It was done. Moist, rich and a little dense but ever-so divine. We scoffed it the office like gannets. There were a couple of bits left for me and Karl at home. We popped them in the microwave for 30 seconds and topped with ice cream. OMG. I will be doing that again very soon. Recipe will be appearing on my website soon.

Paddington Bear would be proud

Famous for his love of marmalade, Paddington Bear should have made a beeline for Norbury Station and not the train station that bears his names. Last week I decided it was time to tackle marmalade. Seville, no less! A handy pack of oranges and one lemon from ASDA (yes - it was from ASDA), an hour hunting around Kingston for muslin cloth and a years' worth of saved and sterilised jars - I was ready. All was going well, but after an hour of scraping the insides of the oranges, pith and all, I was thinking, isn't it easier to buy the damned stuff? I soldiered on.  Boiling away (and after a failed first attempt at a set) it was done. Cooled off, signed, sealed and delivered - and served on hot buttered toast the next morning. Boy was it good - fabulous in fact. It got Karl's seal of approval and Stef loved it too. Worthy of any bear, any time of day. Come on over Paddington, breakfast is served.

Subscribe by email

I have now added (I hope) a successful email subscription function to the Smith's Kitchen Blog. Simply enter your email address in the section below my pretty picture that says SUBSCRIBE VIA EMAIL, you will receive a confirmation email - click on this and you will receive an email update for each blog I post. It's taken me rather a long time, as you know I'm not the most technical and there's lots of information to process in the google pages describing how feedburner works. Success? I do hope so.

Baking cakes to Save Norbury Library

I became a member of Norbury Library on Friday and took out my first book. Nigel Slater - The Kitchen Diaries. I like to watch him on TV and his books are great. Borrowing from the library means I can dip in and out without having to buy the book. So in homage to this great privilege (that may soon be taken away) and paying homage to the campaign to Save Norbury Library - I baked a ginger cake from the first chapter. Containing ground ginger, stem ginger and the delicious syrup from the jar - its rich, moist and full of flavour. A few sultanas and lots of golden syrup make it even more special. It's maturing (1-2 days) right now and will be tasted tomorrow. This is what the library has done for me today. What can a library do for you?

it's been a long time

I haven't been blogging about baking or food for a while. I didn't mention anything about Christmas, the 6kg turkey, the first time I made cranberry sauce (divine - and I'll never go back to jars) or indeed the fabulous and succulent christmas pudding. I even made for the very first time a cranberry upside down cake from Rachel Allen's - Bake.

I've been busy. busy campaigning, trying to save our local library from possible closure. Why do I love the library? I love all libraries. They helped teach me to read, to communicate and ultimately to explore. Not just in the physical or travel sense - but in my mind. I've learnt so much from books - that have come from libraries. But its important to remember that libraries are not just about books. So many weekends growing up in Devonport, I would borrow albums from the Don College library - the latest muscial score (Phantom, Starlight Express - you name it). Later there were videos or DVD''s.

So this is why the blog has been silent. It's about to get going again - and all thanks to the library. More in the next entry.