THE BIRTHDAY CAKE

Yes I know I have been very slack with the blog lately (you never know if anyone reads it anyway) but I have been baking just not blogging about it .

Anyway it was my friends daughters birthday and I was asked to make the cake. Its always nice making a cake for a girl as I've got two now adult boys and a grandson. The cake requested was a goldfish. I really did not have the time to make a shaped cake so decided just to make a round cake and decorate it. I made celebration chocolate cake from foodlovers http://www.foodlovers.co.nz/ the cake was fantastic and huge!! then I iced it with blue buttercream icing. I had real trouble with the buttercream icing, it would just not go on an nicely, so I just decided that the fish would just have to be in rough water!!, then I coloured royal icing and cut out a fish shape. It really looked lonely on the cake by its self so I had to colour more icing and decorate round the cake with seaweed, the rest just sort of evolved until I thought it looked right. It was a fun cake to make and I have to do it all again on Friday for my Grandson's 5th Birthday he's requested a lightning McQueen cake......so will see how that one goes.....

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH TWO STRAWBERRIES?

With the first two of my strawberries ready, (birds got the first one) I wanted to make something with them that we could all (4 of us) have a taste. I decided to make the Lamington version of Butterfly Cakes from "Ladies, A Plate" by Alexa Johnston.
I actually started off just making the plain cakes then decided at the last minuted to make the Lamington ones. If I had known that these little cakes are actually very easy to make and not really that much hassle I may have made them years earlier. I only made up half of the recipe for the Lamington syrup, that was plenty. Fortunately it keeps in the fridge so should have enough left to make the recipe again, although I am keen to try the Raspberry Lamington version next.
I usually get a very ho hum response from my adult children when I ask them what they think of something I've made so for my eldest to say that I should open up a little cake shop is very high praise!! The cakes were delicious very moist and the strawberries delicious as well, can't wait for more to ripen. I think adding them to the Butterly cakes was a fairly good way of making two strawberries go a long way and still feel like we had a good taste.

MODERN COOKERY ELIZA ACTON

I am lucky enough to have a copy of a book published by Eliza Acton in 1845. It belonged to my Grandmother, who was a very English lady. I can only assume that it must have belonged to her mother . I was looking through it as its really interesting, Here is the Victorian way of boiling carrots exactly as it appears in the book.

TO BOIL CARROTS.

Wash the mould from them, and scrape the skin off lightly with the edge of a sharp knife, or, should this be objected to, pare them as thin and as equally as possible; in either case free them from all blemishes, and should they be very large, divide them, and cut the thick parts into quarters; rinse them well, and throw them into plenty of boiling water with some salt in it. The skin of very young carrots may be rubbed off like that of new potatoes, and from twenty to thirty minutes will then be sufficient to boil them; but at their full growth they will require from an hour and a half to two hours. It was formerly the custom to tie them in a cloth, and to wipe the skin from them with it after they were dressed; and old-fashioned cooks still use one to remove it; but all vegetable should, we think, be dished and served with the least possible delay after they are ready for table. Melted butter should accompany boiled carrots.

Very young carrots, 20 to 30 minutes. Full-grown ones, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Now I want to know, who cooks carrots for 2 hours!! and who dresses them!!! and mold!!

I for one am pleased I'm not eating Victorian prepared vegetables.

YOU THINK PIKELETS ARE EASY?

Now I have never been a very good pikelet maker pan too hot, burnt butter, sticking, too thin, too thick...and tonight was no exception. I thought I'd make the pikelets from "Ladies a Plate" Never fail pikelets it said and also gave a hint instead of greasing the pan rub it with a cut potato and they won't stick, MISTAKE stuck like you would not believe. I had to wash the pan and start again.

I think I made the mix a bit too thin I did add extra milk as it was very thick. I gave strict instructions that no one was to touch them until I had photographed them, which living with three boys they just could not get their head around it, so I had them all standing in the kitchen watching me .....talk about pressure, pike lets might be simple but they are certainly an art form, definitely not as easy as they look!!

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW!!!

I can't believe how fast my garden is growing, every time I go out to look there seems to be lots more leaves on the lettuces. In fact everything is growing well, there are flower buds on one of the tomato plants and the courgette even the strawberries are starting to turn red, so I'm going to have to cover them or the birds will get them before we even have a chance to get a taste.




I have decided to get into tomatoes in a big way and have multiple seedlings on the go. I am expecting some seed in the mail that I want to have a go at, a white, green and a peach tomato which even has a slight fuzz on it.



I thought if I have a go at different tomatoes this year I can just concentrate on the ones with good production and flavour next season, but obviously I'm growing some just for the novelty factor, can you imagine relish or tomato soup make with white tomatoes.......just would not be the same.



So hopefully if they all do well I'll have lots for the soup and chutneys I want to make as well as a good amount to give away

OK I ADMIT IT I'M OBSESSED!

Maybe I have a problem and maybe I don't, it all depends how you look at it. I decided to clean out the pantry in order to better fit in a few more tins I had acquired. It was while I had them all out on the table I began to think I may have a problem! In very unkind words my son told me I was obsessed, that the amount I had was ridiculous and they should all be in the garage.


I have square, round, octagonal, heart, star, fluted, rectangle shaped tins. Pie tins, cake tins, muffin pans, ring tins, you name it I pretty much have it.


I bought a few tins on a trip to the US, having made quite a number of purchases space was at a premium, so trying to cram everything into my bags (60kg's worth) I unwrapped all the packs on knickers I had bought and fitted then into all the Wilton fluted Muffin pans I had bought, then flipped the pans over and did the same from the back. Just as well my bags never got opened at customs they would have found knicker muffins.



When we built this new house I was going to have a cupboard with slots in made for all my tins but decided against it as I would have had to add another pantry and I allready had two. I settled for a large deep shelf in the pantry. But it's not nearly big enough so the tins have migrated to the pantry floor as well.


I can't really see this obsession stopping as if I see a new shaped tin that I think I might use I just have to have it......my theory is (and I'm sticking to it) if you haven't got it you can't use it.....RIGHT!!!! and the ones that are pictured are only the tins..........the silicone ones are a whole other story.

BLOSSOM DROPS

These may look good but don't be fooled! They definitely don't taste as good as they look!!. These little blossom drops are cooked in gem irons, therein lies part of the problem. Recipe says heat irons in very hot oven and bake in well greased gem irons, so how hot and do you grease the irons before you heat them up or before you put the mix in?

I made the mix but I don't think it was wet enough. I remember making ginger gems a few years ago and the mix was alot runnier. I decided to grease the irons after I had heated them, just before I put the mix in, the melted butter sizzled and spat everywhere. The mix was reluctant to go into the irons (too thick) then I threw the blossom drops into a 260 c (way too hot) oven, they might have turned out alot better if I did not have the oven so hot and had turned off the fan!

Well they say you learn by your mistakes....I've learnt NOT to make these ones again, perhaps I'm being too harsh but quite honestly there not worth the trouble of cleaning the irons. But on the plus side they did come out relatively easy enough and the icing was nice instead of mixing the icing sugar with water I used rose water, which did give a nice delicate flavour but the blossom drops themselves were way too dry, but the birds loved them!! Now that I've tried my best to put everybody off making them here's the recipe if your brave.

BLOSSOM DROPS

3 ounces butter

3 ounces sugar

5 ounces of flour

1 egg (beaten)

3 tablespoons milk

3 level teaspoon baking powder

vanilla

Cream butter and sugar, add vanilla and beaten egg. Add sifted flour and baking powder with the milk. Bake in well greased and heated gem irons in a very hot oven 8-10 minutes. ice when cool.