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Monday, 22 March 2010

teapot birthday cake

slow roast lamb, white chocolate souffles and julie/julia...

after a rather long old time of it at work and a brain full of annoying life decisions to be made, I felt I had rather been neglecting my quest for culinary excellence...and especially after going to this scrumptious restaurant for my mum's birthday, and buying the below pot with special bonus money from work, I had to get out of my funk.

not that I have not been a'cookin..I've had cakes and pie coming out of my ears, but this has meant my dinners have been not so elaborate. This changed tonight. ok, that is a bit of a lie, I made chicken kievs on wednesday, but that doesn't count compared to this...

Slow cooked lamb shanks in red wine, served with sweet potato mash, roasted parsnips and flagolet beans...

this in itself, I do have to say, was YUM! though I do think this is in part due to my new shiny le creuset dish which is not allowed to be put away for at least a month.

but what this blog is really about is the sweet things, and this leads me to dessert...now my mum, for whom this dinner was cooked, is just a little bit fond of white chocolate so I went a little nuts on the white choc front...

...another lovely new blog discovery, another recipe I can't make again for at least a year lest the other cookie recipes get jealous.

make these cookies. eat them. share them. but also keep some in a pot in the fridge at home so you forget about them then find them when glaring at the contents willing it to make itself into dinner...and all is right again with the world...

motorbike birthday cake

alice in wonderland cupcakes

1st birthday butterfly daisy cake & cupcakes

ten pin bowling cupcakes

The Cupcakes

Chocolate cupcakes topped with coloured vanilla buttercream and mini bowling balls & pins

Sweet! Such fun to make, and as always putting them together is the best part...although I think my newly found little cupcake boxes are possibly even better! plus I have some in 'Tiffany' blue, yum!

daring bakers: nanaimo bars

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

So firstly I spent quite a long time trying to work out how to say nanaimo without people saying, nemo bars? like the fish? Then I got onto the thinking about how awesome these bars are, custard buttercream! yum. crunchy base, gooey middle and chocolate top. bliss. lots and lots of complements from my team at work who invariably get to taste test anything I bake on whims or for challenges.

i ♥ moustaches cupcakes

being as it is BFFF Lucy's birthday I took this opportunity to finally make the moustache cupcakes I have been yearning to create since I saw this. Amazing. And lo...the ultimate cupcaking gift for a Lucy was born...

The Cupcakes

Red velvet cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting

topped with dark chocolate moustaches and red candy heart sprinkles

Friday, 8 January 2010

recipe postcards

a little baking art project...I have an enormous amount of much loved scribbled down recipes that I have been photographing and have printed out on blank postcards to send to my lovely friends and family as winter treats! (well, they will be treats once baked!)

the first test card is of my own special brownie recipe, wending its way to my brother and his girlfriend...