Cookie monster

This weekend is turning out to be a bit of a baking bonanza, and we're only on Friday night! It's my dear old nan's 80th birthday celebrations on Sunday, and I have been tasked with supplying the birthday cake. Of course, me being me, I'm not just going to go out and buy one of Tesco's Finest... so that's why I've spent tonight baking two big, square victoria sponges in preparation for icing and decorating tomorrow!

The whole family are getting together for nan's birthday knees up, so - good as my birthday cakes supposedly are (I've had some excellent feedback, which is always nice!), I don't think my relatives would be too impressed if I showed up with only that to offer, considering how many goodies I've been shipping off to the office lately!

So, this evening I traipsed around the supermarket collecting enough baking ingredients to feed a small army - which is quite apt, seeing as that's what my family is equivalent too!

First on the list were the Apricot and Almond Cookies. I'd never put fruit into cookies before I baked the apple and oat Hummingbird cookies last week and they were delish, so I was pretty confident these apricot ones would be a hit. And... let's just say, I only have my own opinion so far but - two cookies down already - I wasn't wrong!

Even the cookies dough for this one tastes better than I could have imagined.

...and it literally took me all of about ten minutes to knock up! One handy hint - the recipe calls for "roughly chopped dried apricots". Rather than having to drag out one of my gorgeous, but super-heavy, chopping boards, I simply used some kitchen scissors to snip the apricot right into the dough - easy, and less washing up!

My little pink Hummingbird bible recommends that this recipe gives 10-12 cookies. Either I'm being tight with my dough-per-cookie, or the Hummingbird is being more generous than Santa on Christmas Eve, but I got 15 healthy-sized cookies out of the recipe.

Only problem is, I've already munched and rounded this 15 down to a baker's dozen... and I'm not sure the remaining 13 are going to survive until Sunday! Well, 13 is unlucky for some...

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy

I think I'm a little bit in love with the loaf recipes in the Hummingbird book - the Lemon and Poppy Seed one included. Considering I'm a bit of a cupcake junkie, this is quite a revelation! Though, I must admit, it may be down to my laziness to spend my evenings in the kitchen icing each individual little cuppycake.

The loaves are all as easy as it comes - mix everything up, whack it in a loaf tin (very Jamie Oliver!), and bake for up to an hour. See, even the baking time allows you to go away and do something else. I'm always so wary when I put cupcakes or cookies in the oven as they take no time at all to bake and tan.

The Lemon and Poppy Seed loaf was no exception. Everything went in (including Ricotta cheese - who'd'a thunked it?), and came out an hour later smelling deeelish! The deliciously tart lemon syrup was dribbled over the top and, literally, that's it!

My office guinea pigs are omitting lots of mmms - I think this is a good thing!

An apple a day

If there's one way I recommend of getting your five-a-day, it's with the help of the Hummingbird. I haven't ventured far into the fruity-bakes territory yet with the Hummingbird's latest book, but I think these cookies may be the start of something beautiful.

I've made these Apple and Oatmeal Cookies tonight purely because I don't have the ingredients in for anything else! But, for once, my disorganisation has paid off. These, my friend, are LUSH!

Apples, oats, and a helping of cinnamon (my favourite!), trust me... perfect cookie rolled into one! I haven't gone wrong (yet) with a Hummingbird cookie, so I definitely plan to try some more very soon.

I did have one or two concerns while making these little delights - the recipe calls for light brown sugar, but I only had light brown muscavado sugar. I've used muscavado in cookies before, so was quite certain it would be fine. And it is, but I'm not sure if this might be the reason that my "dough" for more of a "mix". Regardless, the mixy dough has baked up just fine.

Another substitution was the use of Pink Lady apples instead of the Granny Smiths that the recipe asks for. The all-important taste test has proven that those little Pink Ladies are just as good as old Granny Smith in this instance!

Fifteen loooooong minutes in the oven, and I finally got my cookies. Why is it that time goes more slowly when you're looking through the oven glass? ;)

One word of warning - be careful when dolloping your dough on to the baking sheets, as if they're too close you'll end up with a merged, giant cookie. Actually, you might like to try this... :)

I'm sure my work guinea pigs will appreciate all the slaving over a hot oven I did(n't) do tonight. Or, as per usual, they'll all dive in as soon as I've sent the "help yourself" email round the office! I think that's a sign that my baking is all right...

Losing my marbles

The title of this blog isn't really apt, but it fits these particular cupcakes so allow me a little artistic licence, if you will.

The Marbled Cupcakes are a nice twist to both the vanilla and the chocolate cupcakes because they're both in there! What could be better!?

The method is simple, and the result looks like you've put a whole load of work into the cupcakes. Ssh, just let everyone think you have... I won't tell!

I finally got around to treating myself to a proper palette knife, which the Hummingbird recommends for icing... it's a revelation! I don't think I've ever iced a dozen cupcakes so fast!

Along with KC (the Kenwood Chef I inherited, for those of you who didn't see my earlier blogs), I think PK (Palette Knife, geddit?) may be my newest best friend! I haven't quite perfected the "Hummingbird swirl" and didn't spend too long messing around with these to try as I would have lost the marbled effect and ended up with just chocolate icing, but I'm quite sure I'll get the swirl on whichever cupcakes I do next.

A moment in thyme

Now then, I'm sure we all thought it when we first got our pink bibles. Lemon and thyme loaf... really?

Oh yes. Oh really. Oh yum!

I don't have too much to say about this one... quick and easy recipe, explained perfectly step by step by the good ol' Hummingbird, and it came out the oven looking a cracker, and only got better when I poured the glistening syrup over the top of the loaf.

I didn't add any thyme to the syrup as I'm not very good at cutting it finely (every chef has a weakness!) so I used the juice of two lemons, the sugar and a little drop of water, which worked perfectly. I also forgot to decorate with a sprig of lemon thyme, but who needs the added greenery?

Now all that's left to do is enjoy (another) slice and wait for feedback tomorrow from my work buddies/guinea pigs.

Cocktail Sunday!

Oh dear, I fear I have neglected my Hummingbird mission... it's been over a month since I last made anything from my little pink bible! Panic not though - KC hasn't been neglected. June is a busy birthday month for me, so we've had a lot of birthday cakes to make. Oh, and the small matter of jetting off to Dublin to see a certain Take That (squeal!) - me, not KC!

But we're back, and what better way to come back than with cocktails!

It was my birthday last week and, as the hubs and I went off to Dublin to see the boys, I didn't get a cake (sob!). But we're making up for it tomorrow with a BBQ with our friends, so I thought I'd try all the cocktail cupcakes out on the willing guinea pigs!

The four mini cocktail/alcohol cupcakes in the pink bible are the Strawberry Daquiri mini cupcakes, Pina Colada mini cupcakes, Brandy Chocolate mini cupcakes, and the Mojito mini cupcakes. To be honest, out of all of these I'd probably only drink the daquiri and the mojito, if any, as I'm not a big drinker. But I thought what the heck, let's give 'em a go!

I decided to just do half a batch of each recipe... I don't want to be rolling my guinea pigs out the door tomorrow! The three cocktail-based minis require a white rum and caster sugar mix, so I did enough for three all in one go. Killing three cupcakes with one stone, so to speak!

Once the delicious smelling rum and sugar mix had been concocted, I left the strawberries (for the daquiri) and the pineapple (for the pina colada) to soak in two-thirds of the concoction...

While the fruit was getting drunk, I got on with the Mojito cupcakes. I've never used mint before... well, apart from spooning a dollop of mint sauce on to the side of a lamb dinner! So this was a first for me. And, I've got to say, the mojito ingredients looked a little strange in KC's bowl...

I haven't tasted any of the minis yet (have to wait for the guinea pigs to arrive for the barbie tomorrow), but I had a quick lick of the spoon after I'd finished filling the mini (Christmas) cupcake cases, and it tasted nice and fresh!

Once the cupcakes were out of the oven, the smell was lovely. Minty but fruity, thanks to the lime in the mix. I mixed up the topping, leaving out the extra white rum as there are some mini guinea pigs (also known as children) coming tomorrow and I didn't want to have to tell them they couldn't have a taste.

Here are a few of the Mojito Mini Cupcakes:

Next were the Brandy Chocolate mini cupcakes. Not dissimilar to a chocolate cupcakes, with the addition of some orange zest and, of course, the brandy.

I'm not sure why, as this has never happened to my cupcakes, but the Brandy Chocolate minis came out with a real dip in the middle of the sponge. Whether I'd overdone one of the ingredients, not added enough baking powder... I don't know, but the sponge feels springy under my finger so I'm sure they'll taste fine.

Again, I didn't add any alcohol to the buttercream, but I did dunk each mini in some decoration!

Next were the Strawberry Daquiri minis. This is one of my favourite cocktails (downed quite a few in Dublin last weekend!) so I'm very keen to try this mini tomorrow.

What I love about this recipe is the "surprise" at the bottom of the cupcake. The rum-soaked strawberries sit nicely at the bottom of each case - I'm not going to tell my guinea pigs tomorrow, will let them discover the rummy-fruity goodness for themselves!

Last, but my no means least, were the Pina Colada minis. Last time I made a coconut-based cake, I gained 3lb that week as I couldn't leave the thing alone! So I may have to steer clear of these tomorrow!

The recipes for all three cocktail-based minis are very similar, so by the time I got to the pina coladas I was hardly consulting the pink bible at all!

Once again, I left the alcohol out of the buttercream but did decorate with some yummy desiccated coconut - oh, yum!!

So there you have it, tomorrow is officially Cocktail Sunday! I just hope my guinea pigs approve of my choices.

In case any of you were wondering what a Hummingbird fanatic's kitchen looks like while the magic is in action, here it is. Basically, a mess! But a wonderful, pink bible-induced, scrummy smelling mess that is worth every second of the cleaning afterwards.

The week of the cake - take two!

After baking the Coconut Layer Cake, I was left with seven spare egg whites. Being pretty useless at meringues, I had a quick flick through the pink bible to see if there was anything that I could chuck them into... and I didn't get very far through before I found the Angel Food Cake!

Ten egg whites? No butter? No caster sugar? Certainly not your typical sponge recipe, and I did ponder for a few seconds whether anything had been left off the ingredients list - but I carried on regardless!

This is definitely one that you need a hand whisk for, and preferably an electric one. Some of the Hummingbird recipes you can get away with doing by hand, but not this one! These angels require a bit of electric spark!

Egg whites all whipped up and looking angelic, I (carefully) threw the rest of the ingredients in and... that was it! So simple. The sponge bakes for 50 minutes, so longer than I'd bake a "normal" Victoria sponge, and comes out a delightful golden colour...

I took this one to my mum's house to have after Sunday lunch and, as you can see from the following picture, it went down very well. Angelically white inside and perfect with a cuppa tea in the evening, too.

Note - do not breathe out while taking a bite as you end up with "fairy dust" (ie icing sugar) all over the place!