A Bake Break

I was in the middle of the major tidy up when I received a newsletter from Anne Butera. Her newsletters are always a joy to receive as she makes spreading joy her business!  Her newsletters inform of the projects she has been doing, the things that bring her joy and links to other people's inspiring/interesting blog posts, recipes, book recommendations and more!

One of the links today was for a recipe for 5 ingredient beer bread.  I stopped what I was doing, made up the mixture in 5 minutes and then put it to bake for 45 minutes in the oven.  I resumed tidying up and then rewarded myself with some beer bread, chunks of cheddar cheese and a crisp Cox's apple for lunch.  The bread was delicious but more like a corn bread consistency than a farmhouse loaf.  I enjoyed it just the same especially as it was so quick and easy to do.  Would make a nice accompaniment to any dish that requires a bit of substance to go with it especially if you are a little bored of quinoa and chia seeds!

If you would like me to forward you Anne's latest newsletter via email, where she puts a link to the beer bread and another one too - Honey Butter Beer Bread - then please let me know in the comments section below and I will send you the email.

Musings and a Carrot Cake

I have realised recently that I am a comfort eater.  I have stuck wonderfully to my new healthier way of eating since September 2017.  As long as I make sure that no 'unhealthy' food is in the house I am fine but a few times over the past couple of months (at least) I have been lapsing into the 'old' ways.  Now, I don't want to become obsessive about my food and know that as long as I am eating well for the majority of the time I can eat a cake or biscuits occasionally. 

I have been miserable since returning to work after the Christmas break.  I have kept quiet about my job on the blog and tried to be upbeat and positive but sometimes there is no hiding from the true way we are feeling. Although I am now earning a wage again the thought of staying in this line of work until my retirement sends me into a blind panic.   When I am feeling low I reach for something sweet: a couple of squares of chocolate, a small bar of chocolate, a larger bar of chocolate.......... a sweet tooth and a sad soul is never satiated no matter how much of the sweet stuff is consumed.

There is a culture of bullying in this particular workplace.  People that have worked here for years rule the roost.  There is no such thing as 'all staff treated equally 'and 'every member of staff matters' which are written up and displayed on notice boards.  I find myself isolated, eating alone at lunch break, and having nothing in common with my colleagues. I have tried to engage with them and know a lot about their lives as I have shown an interest.  However they no nothing of me and my life because they couldn't give a s**t. 

Anyway.  Today I baked a sugar laden carrot cake smothered in a sweet cream cheese topping.  I will probably hate myself next week after eating it, but thank goodness I still attend my fitness class.

Baking in Not so Flaming June

I blew the sugar free diet out of the window a few weeks back.  I know I can lead a completely sugar free life if need be but I have chosen not to.  We all need a little sweetness in our lives right now without going overboard dipping into the cookie jar, but something sweet does help to satisfy a rather bitter feeling that has been present in the last week or so.

Today the sun popped by to say hello.  I went outside to greet him with the lawn mower and shortly after we parted ways the dark cloud brigade floated on in.  I got back inside the house before the rain troop and decided to bake a peanut butter chocolate brownie with white chocolate drizzle. Not a very seasonal dish but comforting none-the-less.

For many reasons this has been one of the strangest Junes I have ever encountered.  Let's hope the latter half of the month takes an upturn in fortune and the summer decides to pay us a visit.

Good Morning Muffins!

I was doing a bit of recipe experimentation this morning and came up with a recipe for breakfast muffins.  They contain Swiss muesli, yogurt and mashed bananas with a sweet demerera sugar and seed topping.  I think they are really tasty and would be nice to have along side a fresh fruit salad or some poached fruit.

Let me know if you would like the recipe and I will post it up here later.

Later..............!!!

Read through the recipe before you start to make sure that you have all the ingredients you need.

Good Morning Muffins

Pre-heat oven to 180C.  Put 9 muffin cases into muffin pans. Cooking time approx 30 minutes.

100g white flour
100g wholemeal flour
100g sugar
25g Swiss muesli
2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt

Mix all the dry ingredients (above) together in a large bowl.

125ml milk
75ml sunflower oil
1 heaped tbsp plain yogurt
1 egg

Mix all the wet ingredients (above) together in a small bowl.


Gradually mix the wet ingredients into the dry until just blended.

Mash 2 ripe bananas together.  Drop the mashed banana into a few dollops on top of the mixture.  Fold them in, in just a couple of turns.  Do not over mix.

Put mixture into muffin tins and top with a few sprinkles of pumpkin and sunflower seeds.
Melt a couple of teaspoons of margarine/spread or butter and stir in 2 tsp of flour and 2 tbsp of demerera sugar.   Sprinkle this mixture over the muffins.  Bake for approx 30 -35 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through.  Cool on a wire rack.

I Heart You

I've still not been able to get stuck into my crafts this week - mainly because I am not home alone!  My intention also, was to make some vanilla biscuits on Valentine's Day but because I didn't get around to it I made some today instead.  I've never made them before but used the recipe from an excellent book I have had for some years - The Classic 1000 Cake and Bake Recipes. I found it for you again on this site here.  It really is a good book and the measurements are given in ounces, grams and cups too.  These particular biscuits are made with a butter cookie dough and they just melt in the mouth.  I think they would be good sandwiched together with jam or butter cream too but they won't last that long!

Well, the weekend is upon us again.  Time is moving so fast hence my desire to do something creative each day so as not to 'waste' any time.  It was good to get creative in the kitchen again even if the evidence of my creativity is fleeting!

Have a good weekend! x

Edited:  A request from Sharon and for the rest of my USA friends!

2/3 cup softened butter
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1 egg, beaten
2 cups self rising flour
A pinch of salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Pre-heat oven 180C/350F/gas mark 4

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Gradually beat in the egg and then mix in the other ingredients.  Bring together with a spoon and then knead until smooth to make a dough.  Wrap in plastic wrap and chill the dough for about 20 minutes. 

Roll out the dough thinly and cut into shapes with a cookie cutter.  Arrange on a greased cookie sheet and bake for about 12 minutes until a pale golden brown.  Leave to cool on the sheet for about 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

The recipe makes around 24 cookies so you may have to cook them in batches.

Pastry Bakes

I made pastry today.  I used a good old fashioned Amish recipe.  It would be unsuitable for vegetarians as it contains lard but I am sure you could substitute that for butter which would just give a richer pastry dough.  Unlike bread making, pastry requires cold hands and a delicate touch!  I used the pastry to make a Swiss custard peach pie and................

........ used up some homemade blackberry jelly to fill jam tarts.  More known for making cakes (among my family and blogging friends) I think I now want to concentrate more on making pastry. I want to be able to make Mediterranean style vegetable tarts, fruit pastries and pies, pasties and all sorts of delicious confections!  I really want to perfect this recipe though - I think it is a keeper!  I know it is easy to just buy ready made pastry but, in my opinion, you really can tell the difference.

Daily Bread

I got off to a good start with my list of intentions for 2014 by baking a loaf of bread.  It is not a great loaf by any means of the imagination.  Firstly it got stuck in the tin and I tried to pull it out but it wouldn't budge, then I got a knife and impatiently hacked around the edge slicing through the loaf.  I am showing you the better side!  Not too sure on the salt water crust either until I put it to the taste test.

I have ordered my dried herbs to put into the sleep pillows that I propose to make.  It was quite an expensive outlay so I think I will be growing my own herbs to harvest after I have used up the bought ones.  Hops are traditionally used in herb pillows but are to be used in moderation if one suffers from depression.  I decided to leave them out of my herbal mix altogether and will use rose petals instead.  Who would not want to fall into slumber and pleasant dreams with the intoxicating scent of a rose garden?

Before I leave, the answer to my question on the last post was *approximately 3 metres* so well done to Marigold Jam who was spot on!

*Update*  I have tried this bread and I don't think I will be using the same recipe again!  The bread was doughy and the outside very tough, breaking up as I was slicing it.  The flavour wasn't too great either!   I will try bread making again using another recipe.

The Best Banana Cake

In my opinion this is the best banana cake you will ever make!  I have tried all kinds of banana cake/bread recipes over the years.  Sometimes they are rubbery in texture, or too crumbly or too damp.  This one is just right.  Delicious eaten warm from the oven;  it tastes even better a day or two after baking.

The Best Banana Cake (the rubbing in method)

Ingredients:

250g white self-raising flour

A pinch of salt

1 tsp grated nutmeg

100g unsalted butter

125g light soft brown sugar

100g raisins

2 large ripe bananas

1 egg

Demerara sugar for sprinkling

Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.  Grease and line a large loaf pan with greaseproof paper or baking parchment.

Sift together the flour, salt and nutmeg into a large bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and rub into the flour mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs.  Mix in the soft brown sugar and raisins.

In a separate bowl mash the bananas and mix with a beaten egg.  Add the banana mix to the flour/butter mixture and beat together with a wooden spoon until combined.

Spoon mixture into loaf pan and sprinkle over * demerara sugar.  Bake for about 50 minutes until cooked through.  Leave in the pan until cool.

*Do not omit the demerara sugar.  It adds a lovely crunch to the finished cake.

Windfall Apple Cake

This is an extremely easy apple cake to make - and delicious too!  The recipe can be found here.

Baking Back to Happiness

The daffodils in a jug on my dining room table remind me that it is spring.  Outside the window the weather is telling me a different story.  The last two days have been cold and grey and I have sought refuge in the kitchen.

Yesterday I made treacle bread for the first time.  It is an Irish recipe that uses soda as a raising agent and not yeast.  Served warm and spread thickly with butter, it is delicious.

 I think this bread will be featuring regularly in my week from now on.

Today I made some yogurt.  I won't know until tomorrow if it has been a success or not as at the moment it is 'incubating' in a sealed container!  I also made the sticky date cake in the photo above. I am just waiting for the cake to cool down so I can have a slice.  I would quite happily share it with all of you, although I might need to make more than one if I did that!

Effortless

'Simone is capable of much more but no effort is ever made.'

Quote from 1978 school report.

I agree! It took no effort whatsoever to polish off this mound of ginger oat biscuits. No effort at all. (A little effort was required to make them though.)

Back to School Biscuit Bake

Ready for when my son returns home from school: freshly baked peanut butter cookies. Recipe taken from here.

I highly recommend this book and am sure I will be making many of the pies and cookies contained within its pages.

Our Daily Bread

Today was a little more overcast than it has been lately so I took the chance to catch up on some ironing and bake some bread.

Granary Rolls

500g/ 1lb 2oz granary bread flour

25g/1oz butter

1 and 1/4 tsp salt

7g packet of easy bake yeast

275ml/9 fl oz warm water

2tsp sugar

1. Mix together the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl, rub in butter and stir in the yeast.

2.Stir in the water and mix by hand.

3.Turn out onto a floured surface and knead by hand for about 10 minutes.

4. Shape the dough into a large round, put back into bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Leave in a warm place for about 1 to 2 hours until doubled in size.

5.Take dough out onto floured surface and knead again for about 10 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 230 degrees C (450 F, Gas Mark 8)

6. Shape into 6 rolls and space out on a floured baking sheet. Cover with damp tea towel again and leave to rise for 10 minutes.

7. Uncover the rolls and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. They should sound hollow when tapped underneath.

The recipe above is from the back of the Hovis bread flour packet but I used allinson easy bake yeast instead of Hovis fast action bread yeast. I changed the method and cooking times to suit the rolls and allowed the dough to rise twice rather than once as suggested on the packet.

Simulated Simnel and the Moon!

A typical simnel cake has a layer of marzipan in the middle of the cake as well as on the top of the cake. It is traditionally decorated with 11 marzipan balls to represent the apostles of Jesus.

I have made my own version of a simnel cake using an Irish boiled fruit cake recipe and covering the top with a layer of apricot jam and golden marzipan when the cake was cold.

I decorated with marzipan eggs and grilled the top of the cake to brown.

The cake is lovely and moist and improves with keeping getting stickier and more succulent!

It is very easy to make and very easy to eat!

Did you see the beautiful full moon last week at the end of March? It was a beautiful clear orb in the sky and the limitations of my camera doesn't do it justice. Did you know that the March full moon is also known as the full worm, full crow, full crust, full sap, Lenten moon, seed moon and chaste moon. I found this information from the moon calender that can be found here and here.

Simone's Friday Cake Bake No.11

Easter fairy buns!!!

Made with my usual sponge flavoured with vanilla.

Pink fondant icing flavoured with rose water.

Topped with sugar coated chocolate eggs.

Totally unrelated to this post: a blissful ginger kitty chillin' out in his (my!) basket!!!

Have a lovely weekend! x

Birthday Cake Bake!

Today is my Birthday!!! I was going to go to the Country Living Spring Fair but decided to stay home and bake myself birthday cakes instead!

I share my date of birth with Sir Alan Sugar (entrepreneur), William Morris (Designer and Social Reformer) and Steve McQueen (Handsome Actor). If only I had the combined talents of all three I would be a very successful lady!

Baking is one of my favourite hobbies (as if you couldn't guess that by now!)

Would you like a pink one with white chocolate stars?

Maybe a blue one with pink sugar crystals? Or how about the hidden tray of misshapes that didn't make the grade for the photo shoot!!!

So far today has been the best of days. I have been pottering about and baking, opening cards and receiving surprises. One of the best surprises was receiving a birthday card from Diana and Walter with Walter on the card! and a beautiful ginger kitty card and button heart gift from Lyn. Thank you so much! How did you know it was my Birthday until now?!!!

I was lucky enough to receive some money for my birthday too. What I buy with this will be revealed on here at a later date. I am so excited I can hardly keep the secret. I' d best go before I give anything away!

Simone's Friday Cake Bake No. 9

These are the fairy guardians of the cake. They will let me know if someone tries to steal a piece!

A sugary topping is usually a preference.

Chocolate sponge cake with an apricot conserve and butter cream filling. Shall I get the kettle on? Care to join me? Yes? Delightful!

Other delightful things this week were the package I received from the very generous and kind hearted Michela.

These included huge sheets of beautiful Venetian paper. Much too beautiful to ever be used!

More beautiful delights were these golden yellow tulips. I was unable to buy any golden daffodils as they are on rations around here due to the late coming of Spring!

I hope that all my readers. old and new alike have a lovely weekend with friends and family, cats and dogs or just a book and a cuppa. See you next week. x

Simone's Friday Cake Bake No.5

This weekend's offering is a caramel banana cake.

I had no idea how this would turn out as I mixed measurements using American cup sizes and not the Australian cups in the recipe. I think Australian cup sizes are slightly larger. Nevertheless the cake came out wonderfully moist and moreish.

It is even slightly healthy as it contains three bananas!!! (I won't mention the sugar and fat content though)!

As most people have their favourite banana cake recipe and mine is a bit hit and miss. I thought you would like the recipe for the caramel topping to put on your own cakes.

Caramel Topping

60g/2 oz butter
half a cup soft brown sugar

2 tablespoons of soured cream

one and a half cups of icing sugar, sifted

Melt the butter and sugar in a saucepan, stirring constantly for 2 minutes without boiling the mixture. Add soured cream and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the icing sugar.

It is delicious. Very sweet and like a creamy fudge!

Simone's Friday Cake Bake No. 4

Today's offering is the classic Swiss roll. The whole thing was made from start to finish in 45 minutes including just 8 minutes baking time! Although the cake is fairly simple to make, preparation is the key to this recipe. You need to have a damp tea towel or sugar coated greaseproof paper ready spread out on the counter top. The flour needs to be warmed up and the jam needs to warm up in a basin over boiling water. Talk about multi-tasking!!!

Once the cake is cooked, it is turned out immediately, upside down onto the tea towel/paper and the paper that lined the tin is carefully peeled off. The sides are trimmed and warmed up jam is spread out evenly across the cake. Now for the fun bit: grabbing the end of the tea towel/paper you gradually lift it up with the sponge, curling the sponge over onto itself. Hold for a few seconds then roll another part of the cake and so on until it is completely rolled up. Trim the ends and dredge with sugar.

Eat all the trimmings with a cup of tea whilst you tidy up the mess!

I decided to delete yesterdays post. I am glad that I got the negativity off my chest and felt able to move on. Thank you so much to my bloggy friends who never fail to come up with useful tips and suggestions and generous comments. Your friendship and support means a lot to me.

I hope you all have a lovely inspiring weekend. I don't think the Swiss roll will last long so I think I may need to make cake bake number 5 this weekend! x

Simone's Friday Cake Bake No. 3

For today's weekend treat I made a chocolate fudge cake. Now I am sure it will taste lovely but I would be horrified to know how many calories it contained judging by the amount of sugar, butter and chocolate that was added.

Now, the above picture shows the cake at a slightly different angle. A very ugly monster of a cake! The fudge icing was so heavy that the side of the cake collapsed setting off a chocolaty avalanche!

It is not often that I have a baking disaster but thought you may like to see an example of 'when cakes go wrong'! I don't think I will be making this cake again especially as I have a huge bowl of washing up to contend with plus an icing sugar covered worktop! Have a lovely weekend. I am off to wash up and prettify the cake! x