Tuesdays with Dorie/Baking with Julia – White Loaves

  By Helen | February 7, 2012 - 12:05 am | Aardvark Cakes, Baking, Baking with Julia, Tuesdays with Dorie 32 Comments
White homemade bread

There’s a new baking group in town across the world and it start today. Old readers of mine may remember years ago that I used to join in with the Tuesdays with Dorie baking group. I learnt loads from the few recipes that I joined in with but business and babies meant that I couldn’t keep involved every week. We are starting afresh with a new book – Baking with Julia and we have a new recipe to follow every 2 weeks. I’m going to do my best to stick with this one – there are loads of recipes in the book that I’d like to crack. Some of them seem complicated, some of them a real challenge but all of them look yummy (and a teeny bit fattening too!) Our first challenge seemed like a nice introduction – White Loaves … until I remembered I have NO luck baking bread. I don’t own a bread machine but think after this attempt I need to acquire one. The bread smells and tastes lovely but is as heavy as a wet house brick – It did improve a LOT with toasting and lashings of butter (I seem to have gone all Enid more »

Tagged , ,

Tots100 Book Club: The American Wife – Curtis Sittenfeld

  By Helen | February 6, 2012 - 6:37 am | Book review Leave a comment
Screen Shot 2012-02-06 at 09.54.58

You can’t beat getting into a good book – that feeling when you finish a fabulous yarn and wish you were still in the middle of it, is like a mild grief. I’m certain most readers have experienced seeing someone reading one of their favourite reads and wishing they hadn’t read that book yet. My love of reading takes me back to my early teens when I used to stay awake until the early hours, reading secretly by the light of the street light through my blinds – I was always so grateful that we didn’t live a couple of houses further up the road where they didn’t have a street light. I try to read a variety of genres but seem to lean towards realistic stories and biographies – Like a lot of people, I occasionally feel I’ve got into a rut with what I’m reading. This happened about 7 years ago and I joined a local library book group – I’ve never looked back. I’ve been asked by the Tots100 to recommend my favourite book to another reader – no problem there. I choose The American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld. This book was a real surprise for me more »

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Bakers Pantry – 15 chances to win a month’s worth of biscuits

  By Helen | February 5, 2012 - 10:52 pm | Family, Uncategorized Leave a comment
bakers pantry logo

We love biscuits in this house – truly we do. Its sad how long we can spend discussing our favourite of the moment. My essential item in my hospital bag when I had both Violet and Tara was a pack of digestives! I have been asked to tell you about a new competition run by Bakers Pantry who supply biscuits to your home. There are 15 chances over the course of this week to win a month’s subscription of biscuits. All you have to do is click here Of course, I couldn’t tell you about this fabulous competition without having sampled a selection of the biscuits on offer so Bakers Pantry kindly sent over a box for us to try – that was a surprise when I answered the door to the postman – better than a bill any day! We received seven different types of biscuit which honestly all looked delicious – the types you tend to eat when you are on holiday in a posh hotel. We’ve not eaten them all yet but so far the favourite has been the Chocolate Chip and Cherry Cookies which come in a lovely tin – perfect for a coffee morning with more »

Tagged , , ,

Animal Print Cake – Cake of the Week

  By Helen | February 5, 2012 - 9:06 pm | Aardvark Cakes, Birthday Cake, Cake, Cake of the Week, Cakes 1 Comment
animal print cake

Not sure what exactly to call this cake – I’m thinking its animal print icing but is it a zebra or a tiger? I had completely free reign on this cake – I suggested red and black as Vicky’s sister tells me that she isn’t very girly so pink wouldn’t do. We decided on a star explosion but the rest was a surprise. I really wanted to do a funky board so was really pleased how it turned out – obviously it had the obligatory bling with the black stripes being sparkly. I had a really good catch up with Gina, Vicky’s sister who used to look after Vi at nursery – Good job she is used to kids – mine were WILD that morning! Last week’s Cake of the Week had a fabulous response – There was a real cutie from Real Suburban Mummy eating her chocolate cake and an entry from Mary Oxendine introducing us to her recipe blog. There was an amazing Twix cake from Jackie Marum which bowled me over -I hope Jackie doesn’t mind me putting a link to her photo up. So what have you been up to this week – I’ve currently got more »

Tagged , , , , ,

Cheeky Monkey Creme Egg Creature – Valentine’s Gift

  By Helen | February 1, 2012 - 7:08 pm | Aardvark Cakes, Cake, Crafts, Gifts 11 Comments
Cheeky Monkey Creme Egg Creature

A cheery little fellow and a new addition to the Creme Egg Creatures range. My daughter despairs that you can see the creme egg but I quite like showing what he is made of. We have had several discussions about whether his ears should be on top of his head or at the side – I won with the side. Available giftwrapped for a cheeky Valentines gift!

Tagged , , ,

Me Right Now – The Gallery

  By Helen | February 1, 2012 - 12:08 pm | The Gallery 7 Comments
A lazy morning in bed

Yes I’m in bed. It’s 9.02 and we’ve been up what feels like a million times in the night with various children. None of them ill but not asleep either. I do know that I haven’t had 2 solid hours of sleep together so when the school lot have left I’ve crawled back to bed. Baby T is now awake though so up I am for the rest of the day, hoping tonight is one of those blissful nights where I don’t move, speak or think for 8 solid hours. For Tara Cain’s Gallery we’ve been asked to send a pic of what we were doing when we read the prompt of ‘Me Right Now’ – so here you go! You didn’t think I’d actually show a photo of me in bed did you?

Tagged

Do I have to be able to sew to be crafty? – Day 29 Project 366

  By Helen | January 30, 2012 - 6:39 am | Crafts, Project 366 1 Comment
Craft room before

I’ve been asking myself this question forever. I’ve always loved having a go at ‘stuff’ – I started making cards years ago long before I discovered cakes and everyone knows where my dabble at making cakes took me. But yet, I’ve never really considered myself to be ‘crafty’ because I can’t sew. I come from a family where our Mum knows everything there is to know about a sewing machine – I’ve never needed to know how to make clothes or fix garments because Mum has always been there to do it … and so much better than I could. Last year though I made a decision to become familiar with materials other than paper and cake – I learnt to knit and discovered I LOVED it. My mission this year is to tackle crochet but I know being so short of time means that I’m not going to be able to learn everything I want to in a year. Eventually, I do want to learn how to use a sewing machine and produce lovely handmade items but in the meantime, can I consider myself to be ‘crafting’? I’ve got tons of projects planned and hope to learn how to more »

Tagged , , , , , ,

Edible Valentines Gift – Cadbury’s Creme Egg

  By Helen | January 23, 2012 - 8:58 am | Aardvark Cakes, Gifts 4 Comments
Edible Valentines Gift

I’ve been at it again with those Cadbury’s Creme Eggs – This time making edible gifts for Valentine’s Day (or indeed for birthdays/Mother’s Day/Any old day that deserves a treat) The creme egg is firstly covered in sugar paste and then given a chocolate base. The roses are all rolled sugarpaste and the ‘leaves’ are royal icing. They come gift wrapped and tied with a satin ribbon for that bit of wow. I’m really pleased with them and hope to sell a few this spring.

Tagged , , , , ,

Princess Castle Cake – Cake of the Week

  By Helen | January 22, 2012 - 5:44 pm | Aardvark Cakes, Birthday Cake, Cake, Cake of the Week, Cakes, Children's Cakes 8 Comments
Princess Castle Cake

Ooh I love a girly cake. My brief was to fit in with a Princess Party. I wanted to put my own stamp on it and not just make a princess but somewhere for her to live obviously! It was REALLY windy around here yesterday so I only added the glitter and sparkle at the venue (which was really princessey btw!) My Millie went around pretending it was for her so I think it got a thumbs up from our Princess! Have you been baking any creations this week and blogging about them? Don’t be shy – Join in!

Tagged , , ,