French Fancies, oh how I love thee

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 
I love thee whether pink or yellow or brown
With buttercream, and icing swirls to crown
For Sunday afternoons and tea and cakes.
I love thee to the level of the highest 
Cupboard shelf, despite each extra pound. 
I love thee freely, as other girls frown;
I love thee purely, as they cry 'my waist!'.
I love thee but fear love's sweet icing will
Be my lost size eight. I love thee on my lips,
For only a moment; but, as they say. 
For a lifetime on the hips.  

The five year old inside me - actually, let's be honest, the 23 year old I am! - has been wanting to make these for ages. I could quite easily munch my way through an entire box of Mr. Kippling's French Fancies! 

These were very easy to make though the icing did take me a little while to master, complete with pink vanilla, lemon & chocolate.

click here for the French Fancies recipe

10 Days in the Life of Herman

10 days ago, I posted about the birth of Herman the German Friendship Cake. 

Well, on Sunday, after 10 days of nuturing and care, my Amish chain-letter cake was ready to be baked. 

It's not all been smooth sailing; day 3 was particuarly traumatic for poor Herman as he was transported from my home in Hertfordshire, down the M25,via a Heathrow passenger drop off to Guildford. In the process, my laptop fell on him and a suitcase came inches from crushing him. But good old Herman kept on bubbling and was deposited safely to George's kitchen work top where I was spending the week. 

The trauma didn't end there for poor Herman, however; day 10 (bake day) Herman was hungry but alas it was Easter Sunday, which in Britain is one of only three day Tesco (and therefore all other supermarkets big or small) shuts its doors. Herman had to starve for an extra day. 

Despite all this, Herman survived his 10 day ordeal in the Shearer household and so, without further a do, meet Herman the German Friendship Cake - 

Apples, raisins, cinnamon, yummy batter and ice cream - mmm Herman tasted gooood. 

Want to make your own Herman? Don't have a friend to send you your Herman-mini? Never fear, I have the recipe for a Herman The German Friendship Starter Kit. You can start your own Herman chain!

click here for your own Herman the German Starter Kit 

Herman the German Friendship Cake

On Friday, I returned home from a friend's a little before midnight. I went to the kitchen to get a glass of water and was greeted by our mixing bowl covered in a tea-towl with what seemed to be a set of typed instructed titled, 'Herman the German Friendship Cake'.

I then went on Facebook and saw my mother's status:

"thank you for my Herman The German Friends cake - it's bubbling away nicely on my work top as instructed. Most intriguing!"

even more intriguing was a reply to a comment slightly further down:

"I'm hoping Amie will care for it while I'm away."

I should have known I would end up involved. 

It turns out, a Herman cake is a chain letter in ancient Amish form originally for the needy and sick (we'll assume our Herman-sender doesn't feel we sit in that category). You receive a pot of bubbling goo (in our case from an anonoymous friend) with a set of instructions to help you nuture Herman for the following 10 days; stir, add flour, milk, etc at various intervals. Eventually, you reach a stage where you split your mixture into four parts - one to bake and three to pass on friends and so the cycle begins again. 

According to our instructions, Herman tells us,

"You cannot put me in the fridge or I will die. If I stop bubbling, I am dead."

- rather dramatic for a cake! But hey ho, we'll give it a go - we're currently on day 2 of the instructions so I'll keep you posted... 

I'd say wish us luck but mum goes on holiday on Monday so really, it's just me looking after her cake for her. No pressure then.

Watch this space...

Hello Spring!

For my birthday in January, I received a new cake book called Cake Magic by Kate Shirazi and so far, it has been a true delight - the recipies actually work as they say they will, which I have found out the hard way, isn't always the case. Highly reccomended. 

To celebrate the first hot hot hot weekend in late March (I got sunburned - woe is me) I made a Coconut & Lime Cheesecake. It was delish. It was also very easy to make whether you're lactose intolerant or a normal-digesting-type and so everyone should try it. And that's really all there is to say on the matter. 

click here for the Coconut & Lime Cheesecake recipe

Eat Dessert First Gets Professional...

This week I have some very exciting news - 

my blog has been found by Lactofree (a lactose free dairy product range developed by Arla foods) and they've asked to publish my Chocolate Brownie recipe on their website. I am very excited. 

Their new website launches on March 5th to celebrate the launch of Lactofree Vanilla Ice Cream (prepare for an ice cream cake recipe in the near future) so in celebration of my mini success, I'm giving an old favourite a shout out. 

My brownie recipe was inspired by Jamie Oliver's though I changed various elements within it. Why not give it a whirl - you won't regret it. These perfectly gooey morsels melt in your mouth and are perfect teamed with cold cream or a glass of milk... and as of next week, Lactofree Vanilla Ice Cream! 

click here for my Chocolate Brownie recipe

Love Is...

Yesterday was Valentine's Day - the perfect excuse to bake your way to a loved one's heart. Sadly, my loved-up post is a tad too late as I've been rather preoccupied having a romantic weekend with my boyfriend, taking his black lab for a walk in the snow, watching numerous movies and being cooked not one but two fabulous meals - I of course made dessert. 

First up was Red Velvet Cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery's second book, Cake Days (although according to Hummingbird, these are Halloween Cakes... I prefer to think of their opinon more as recommendations or guidelines...) 

These are a lovely light sponge including a whole bottle of Dr. Oetker's Red Colouring giving them their delicious deep red colour. They're then topped with cream cheese frosting & sprinkled with red cupcake crumbs to decorate. Et voila - 

click here for the Red Velvet Cupcakes recipe (makes 24)

This recipe can also be doubled to make a 20cm Red Velvet Cake

My man George, however, isn't much of a cake man. So after forcing him to try one cupcake, I made him Mini Lemon Cheesecake Pots with a special Valentine's touch. This recipe is my own adaptation of Jamie Oliver's from his new book Jamie's Great Britain and for a first attempt at cheesecake, I was pretty chuffed - George finished his anyway. I must, however, admit, I added too much vanilla to my adaptation so I've reduced the vanilla content for the recipe included on my blog. 

recipe coming soon - I left my scribblings at George's! oops! 

And by the way, thanks to Lactofree, these creamy pots can be made totally & utterly free of lactose! Another win for those for whom the cow is the enemy!

And just in case you're stuck for what to make for the mains, why not check out the Skinny Cook's blog for that perfect romantic recipe? I recommend the steak with his balsamic dressing salad or any of the curries.

Breaking Silence

Hello & Happy 2012! Happy February! Happy Snow Day! Happy Baking!

I am back & baking for the first time in 2012 after a month's break; my birthday, my boyfriend George's birthday and our three year anniversary made January very hectic indeed!

Last night the clouds let rip & dumped about 4-6 inches of snow on my little village. While most seem to have gone sledging on the common and then to one of the 6 pubs to warm up (yes, we have 6 pubs in one village. Don't judge us.) I have sensibly stayed in doors and taken the opportunity to break my baking silence and whip up a tasty little morsel... or two.

To start us off, an Orange Drizzle Cake. The sponge is perfectly light (even if I do say so myself!) there was, however, a slight issue getting it out of the loaf tin... clearly I'm a bit out of practice.

click here for my Orange Drizzle Cake recipe

I also made Chocolate Chip Muffins.These are great for keeping kids (or 23 year olds) occupied on snow days as you have to get your hands stuck in mixing up the ingredients. The best bit though, the truly delicious bit is when they're fresh and warm from the oven - add a cup of tea and a snowy scene (best viewed from indoors!) and you're good to go.

click here for my Chocolate Chip Muffins recipe