Monsterous Birthday Cake

It's my friend Lynn's birthday this week and since she is in the middle of moving hoose I thought I could have her over for tea, away from all the boxes and moving paraphernalia. And of course you can't have a birthday tea without cake... My train of thought went cake ... Halloween ... Monsters ... Red velvet ... Cookie Monster.

 

I have made mini cookie monsters in the past but this is the first large one I have tried or red velvet cake so a little concerned about how it will turn out.

 

I found the red velvet recipe from Pinterest ... It is a strange recipe as I have never put buttermilk and vinegar in the same recipe before. But they seem popular recipes and i liked the challenge.

Cakes turned out good, although next time I'm gonna try more food colouring as these are more pink velvet cakes.

 

The BLUE icing is a cream cheese frosting with lots of blue food colouring

 

The eye was made from fondant and the pupil

is a chocolate button

 

Ii think I can safely say that the cake was a success.. We had very full bellys and a bit if a sugar buzz.

Shetland Rainbow Tam

 

I had never thought about making a tam until my sister sent me a link to a picture of this tam about a year ago, and I thought it was very bonnie but I didn't think I had the skills to do something so tricky.

Well a couple weekends ago I was home for a flying visit and decided to buy the pattern as it was now in my head and I kinda wanted to try it and see what it would be like.

The only tricky parts were casting on and keeping count (there were 144st) and a few of the new notations, which I got my mam to help with turns out they are straight forward.

Once I started the fair isle I had a little panic as I wasn't sure about putting the blue in the pattern (in future I plan to re-sketch patterns with coloured pens and 1/2 cm square paper) but I was encouraged that it looked good so continued.

 

The pattern is very obvious when you knit it so you don't feel like you have to keep checking the pattern ... Although on the long rounds I do sound a little like rain man.

 

It took me just over a week to complete but I am on holiday so have some spare time to do this.

 

I plan to make more of these in the future as they are so pretty but I better get started on Christmas presents ASAP .... Super exciting!!!

Operation Pumpkin Pie

 

I know pumpkin pie isn't a very Scottish or British desert but I remember my Mam making it for wis at Halloween or Guy Fawkes Night and for a week afterwords having it in my packed lunch ... Sad I know but this is one of my vivid memories of being peerie. Anyhow, I know it isn't exactly Halloween but it is the 23rd and for me that is close enough.

 

I used my Mam's recipe for the filling but used Pinterest to help me with a pastry base (I wanted to try my own rather than shop bought). I found this highly recommended Martha Stewart recipe (first time I'm knowingly used one of hers) and it work ok, it's really short but a little bit of plugging up the holes and it looked fab. As this was the most stressful part I forgot to take photos.

I make my own pumpkin purée mainly because that is what my mam does but you can use canned puree in the filling recipe (below).


Making Pumpkin Puree:

You will need a small to medium sized pumpkin or butternut squash, cut it into chunks and roast in the oven at gas mark 5 for an hour (time may vary due to the size of the chunks). Do not worry about skinning the pumpkin at this stage it is much easier to do this once it has roasted and cooled.

Then add the peeled and cooked chunks of pumpkin to the food processor and pulse until its as smooth as you like it.

For mam's recipe you need a can of the puree so I pour the evapourated milk into a jug and use the empty can to measure out the puree. Any leftovers I have frozen to use again for another pie or ravioli.

Pumpkin Pie Filling:

Whisk 2 eggs with the 'can of puree' then add 6.5 oz of granulated sugar, 1 tsp of ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp of ground ginger and 1/4 tsp of ground cloves and stir till combined. Add the evapourated milk and stir again.

At this stage it smells amazing and I struggle not to taste it

Whilst I was doing this my pastry was chilling in the fridge I take it out and prick with a fork and blind bake for 10 minutes at gas mark 7 just cause I have a phobia of soggy bottoms (thanks Mary Berry) I then pour the filling into the pie crust and bake at the same temperature for 15 minutes then reduce to gas mark 4 for 45 minutes (this is rough so please keep an eye on it for the last 10 minutes).

The pie comes out much darker but don't worry its not burnt

 

Your house will smell amazing and you will feel very festive and autumnal when you eat it. Some of my friends think that it is wierd having a sweet 'vegetable' pie but most have been converted once they've tried it.

Serve with a dollop of whipped cream or warm with vanilla or original ice-cream.

 

Happy baking guys ... if you try this please let me know either on twitter or in the comments box below.

 

Thanks!

Auld School Granny Baking ...

 

I have been missing my Gran's baking recently and been intending to bake her oatmeal scones for many weekends but never gotten round to it. So today I made a point of not picking up my knitting and baking early.

This was not difficult as Fearne Cotton was  on Radio 1 with Jessie Ware in the Live Lounge, it was amazing!!!

Oatmeal Scones

First put your oven to Gas mark 4, then weight out 8 oz of self-raising flour and 8oz of pinhead oatmeal and mix together.

 

Then rub in 6oz of margarine then 4oz of sugar and 1 egg.

 

 

 

Roll this out and bake in the oven on baking trays, dusted with oatmeal, until golden - turning half way through.

I like them with butter and jam or cheese, brought me right back to sitting in my gran's kitchen with my sister and cousins having tea and oatcakes when we came home from school.

Macaroon Monday

Double Chocolate Macaroons

 

This afternoon I had a little visitor, Emma decided to work from home. Once she had done all her Aamos tasks for the day we tried to make Macaroons again, my 2nd attempt Emma's 3rd.

Meringue with icing sugar & almond flour                   Adding the coco powder     

 

There was already almond flour mixed with icing flour left over from Emma's last bake off we went for double chocolate macaroons, the general recipe came from Pinterest originally but Emma added coco to the meringue and we think that maybe made it not look so pretty. I was in charge of the ganache which was made with milk chocolate (Green & Black), cream, vanilla & a pinch of salt very say but once it's cooled we whipped it and it made it super tasty.

Pouring hot cream over the chocolate               I love when it goes all silky...nummy

 

 

Again not 100% happy with this attempt either but it just means that I will need to try again

... What a shame!

 

We think that the coco powder maybe didn't do the meringue

any favours so back to the drawing board we go

 

 

Have you got a baking nemesis? If so please let me know below.

First Couple of Days of the October Holidays ...

Some of the Aamos Designs new styles & colours

 

I am lucky that I came home to Shetland joost in time to catch the end of wool week, I accompanied Emma & Aamos Designs to the a Makers Market at the Town Hall and we had a great time meeting other crafters and people who have travelled far and wide to see what Shetland has to offer.

Emma getting annoyed at my tension

 

The thing I enjoy the most though was spending the day with my sister, her crocheting and me starting to knit my tam & finishing off the squirrel gloves.

Squirrel glove no.2 the ribbed wrist part feels like it takes ages

but once da fairisle starts you are flying

 

Emma's Granny Squares, by the evening she had joined 5 or 6 of them with a purple,

 it looks amazing may have to commission a peice from her.

 

Emma has a couple of new pieces since I wis last along the studios and they are gorgeous... I am a little biased though.

Aamos Designs Overshot Scarf she is going to make blankets like this

I didn't buy much besides coffee and a cupcake but I did get a new pattern by Outi Kater (same lady who made the tam pattern) for Christmas presents but I'm keeping dat one a secret for now.

On sunday I was feeling a little out of sorts but I did manage to finish the

ribbing on my tam, I'm liking the colours so far

All that Naughty Italian Foods

Pasta:

Roasted Veg Ravioli          

 

After watching the trailer for Simply Italian by Michela Chiappa, on Channel 4 this Summer, I decided to try my hand at Ravioli. My sister Emma used to make a stuffed pasta from a Jamie Oliver book which I loved but we did not have any of the ingredients so I decided to wing it ... a little brave I know but I was lucky and it paid off.

I diced a whole load of veg really small and put it into a pan and dry fried on a low heat making sure to keep the mixture as dry as ever, I added rosemary and garlic to give it some flavour. I then made a basic pasta recipe with 'pasta' flour and eggs then rested (I don't think you have to use pasta flour as I have used plain four and its worked really good). I now go by the rule 100g of flour to 1 medium egg- (Michela Chiappa's recommended ratio. I served this with homemade pesto and it got the families approval.

Penny Pinching Pasta                    

You know when it is the end of the month and you really want to avoid buying more food? Well my secret penny pinching recipe is Pappardelle, I use Michela's pasta dough recipe and cut it thick (1 or 2 cm) for  pappardelle or then (0.5 cm) for linguine.

I serve with left over pesto or a tin of tomatoes which is cooked down with onions, garlic, fresh chilli and a splash of red wine (if any).


Pizza:

My flatmates favourite, Blue Cheese & Chilli Pizza

 

Pizza is something I have been making from scratch since I was a student but as I have gotten wiser I have tweaked different things and now have a collection of toppings that I like cook, here are some of them.

I use a variation of Jamie Oliver's pizza dough and a tomato sauce made with a tin of tomatoes, garlic and basil whizzed up in the food processor.

Homemade pizza base & tomatoe sauce just

add mozzerella and its a quick easy meal

 

Some little tricks that I have learnt along the way are:

1.  Use fine polenta when rolling out the dough, it gives a really nice texture and taste to the base (Like dominoes);

2.  I also put a drizzle of oil (preferably a flavoured oil) into the dough mixture before you add the dry ingredients;

3.  I freeze any left over tomato sauce and it keeps really well.

Hugh's Beetroot & Goats Cheese Pizza

Do you have your own pizza topping variations or dough recipes please share them in the comments below.