Baking Blues

Normally I find that baking banishes the blues, but yesterday it just wasn't doing it for me and I ended up feeling quite depressed by the end. I was trying out a new brownie recipe from the Lorraine Pascale cookbook that a friend gave me a couple of months ago and things didn't get off to a great start. Or actually it did get off to a grate start as I managed to grate my thumb whilst trying to grate chocolate - fortunately no skin got mixed in with the chocolate but lots of blood started pouring out of my thumb so I had to dash upstairs to find a plaster. Bleeding stemmed I decided to chop the chocolate instead, an acceptable alternative according to the recipe. Mini-disaster no.2 was when I realised that I didn't have the right type of sugar - I had practically every other possible type of sugar in the cupboards but no light brown soft sugar... Typical! I compromised on a mix of light brown muscavado and soft dark brown sugar. Finally I got the brownies in the oven but I may not have had the oven at the right temperature initially as they took about 15 minutes longer than stated in the book to cook and even then the final product was possibly a little gooey even for brownies. Not to mention the fact that they didn't look much like the picture - it appears I may not have pushed the cookies you had to spread on top and push into the mix, in quite far enough.

Whilst the brownies were baking I thought I'd also whip up a quick batch of cupcakes as I wasn't sure whether our friend who was coming round for tea liked chocolate or not. It wasn't my best idea, possibly because I was rushing and overfilled the cases but the cupcakes didn't rise properly and just splatted out over the sides of the cases. They were rescued by slicing the tops off and making them into butterfly cakes!

So after all that effort I was left slight downhearted by my less than perfect results. Fortunately though looks aren't everything and my tasting panel (Mr W and our friend) were happy with the results, which finally banished my blues!

Hummingbird at home

A couple of weeks ago a friend gave me a copy of the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook and since then I have been looking for an excuse (and the time) to try out some of the recipes. Well the time hasn't really materialised but it being Mr W's birthday today provided the ideal opportunity for me to dust off my apron and whip up some cupcakes as a birthday treat for him last night.

I had prepared well, buying the right size eggs, full fat milk and taking the unsalted butter out of the fridge to soften prior to going to Brownies. However things started to unravel slightly as I was carefully measuring out the ingredients and realised that I was a bit short of cocoa powder. Not a lot I could do about that at 8.30pm on a Tuesday night with limited time to bake the cakes in secret before Stephen got back from running club and so I carried on regardless. After some gentle whisking the mixture was ready for transferring into the cupcake cases - I was a little surprised at how runny it was and there didn't seem to be enough to fill the cases to the specified level, but I refrained from panicking and instead put the tray in the oven. 20 minutes or so later they were done and didn't look too bad, even if I say so myself.

I then left the cakes to cool, persuaded Mr W on his return from running club that upstairs was way better than downstairs and that I definitely wasn't baking, before whipping up the frosting. Vanilla flavoured due to the aforementioned lack of cocoa powder! After five minutes of whisking the frosting as prescribed in the recipe my arms felt quite tired from holding the electric whisk in place (thank goodness I hadn't had to whisk manually!) but the results were worth it - obviously I had to have a little taste before putting it on the cakes, a girl wouldn't want to posion her hubby! A sprinkle of chocolate sprinkles and the cakes were finished - time for bed!

Fast forward to this morning and birthday tea in bed - add a candle to one of the cupcakes, locate matches to light said candle, a little bit of out-of-tune singing and you have one happy birthday boy!

Cupcakes

I went to The Hummingbird Bakery yesterday. I've been curious about it for a while having read and heard lots about it and so took advantage of a trip to visit a friend in Notting Hill to also visit this infamous cake shop.

I found the shop quite easily nestled amongst the antique shops, jewellery stalls and other quirky shops on Portobello Road and was slightly surprised by its diminutive size. A couple of tables out front for those who want to enjoy their cakes right there and then, and then a small interior with some glass fronted displays showing the days offerings - a few 'specials' and then trays of their 'standard' cupcakes all beautifully iced. I chose a selection of the latter which were quickly boxed up for me to take as a gift for my friend. The store is known for its red cupcakes but I couldn't see any available and to be honest I'm not totally sure if the idea appeals to me or not - I like my cupcakes light in both texture and colour!

Happily my friend suggested that we try some of the cupcakes when I arrived and I can confirm that they tasted as good as they looked. Lovely deep and fluffy sponge cakes topped with a generous swirl of creamy butter icing (I'm sure that I could make cakes just as tasty but my butter icing would definitely let me down) topped with some coloured sprinkles or piles of chocolate vermicelli! What on earth is there not to like?!

Being a 'local' my friend reported that there is always a long queue outside the shop on a Saturday when they walk past having bought their fruit and veg at the market, a fact for which she assures me she is grateful as otherwise it would be all to easy to succumb to the temptations of these wonderfully indulgent treats!