Baby visit

It's been a busy week. My boyfriend visited, I had some driving lessons... And I've been lazy about updating. Also, I haven't gained anywhere near enough weight. But I've nearly got all my required Easter holiday revision work done. Which is a good thing, because my aunt, uncle and gran are bringing my new baby cousin over this afternoon to stay for the weekend.

Anyway, don't feel much like writin, but I'll update a picutre of a cake I made last weekend that I'm quite proud of. No real reason, just because I felt like it. It's my first attempt at a fancy decorated cake, and I'm quite pleased with the flower detail.

Snow fall

I've been a little lazy recently. Well, not lazy so much as tired...or maybe it's the same thing.

It's odd really, because I've been sleeping fine and I haven't been staying up too late or anything like that, but I just reach a stage mid afternoon where I'm exhausted and my head starts hurting and concentration leaves the building. It doesn't seem to matter what I do during the day, it still ends up like that.

Of course, add to that the mild panic that hits me every time I'm on a mid-academic year holiday and its always worse in the Spring holiday because exams are creeping towards us. So I feel guilty everytime I stop working. But I have kept baking, mainly because it's one thing that keeps me sane (and it doesn't take too much time away from revision). I've made two types of cookie recently, and whilst I can't be bothered to write up recipies, here are some pictures;

Chocolate sandwiches















Smarties cookies




















And one final thing - it snowed today. Which is really odd, because although when you think Switzerland, you usually think of snow, it doesn't often actually snow here in Geneva. And barely has all of this winter. And yet, today, it was, quite heavily at some points. It settled briefly, but is mostly gone now. Still, it was quite nice to at least see a little bit before winter properly ends.

Easter Candy Baking Challenge Entry

So I’ve never cooked for a challenge before and I’ve never made cake balls either, but I’ve been reading around and fancied trying both, so here we go. This one is for Masterbaker's Easter challenge

I’m a fan of Easter eggs. I like the thin chocolate, I like how once a year you get to eat very sweet chocolate and not feel like I should be eating something a little better quality. And I like cake and icing, so I thought – why not combine the two. And because the one thing that always made me think twice about making cake balls was the whole dipping part, this seemed like a great solution.

These are really quite simple to make. The hardest part was splitting the chocolate eggs in half without them crumbling all over the place. But I managed to split enough for it to work. And then it’s all quite simple. Bake chocolate cake, make chocolate buttercream, icing, make cake balls, stuff in eggs and drizzle with melted dark chocolate. Yummy.

As far as I’m concerned, they were a success. They were very sweet, and I might try and use dark chocolate eggs next time round. And for aesthetic purposes, maybe drizzle with white chocolate. But they got eaten, and happily.

Cake filled Easter Eggs














Cake
2oz flour
2oz caster sugar
2oz butter
1 egg
1 tbsp cocoa powder
A few drops vanilla essence.

Icing
2oz icing sugar
1oz butter
½ tbsp cocoa powder
Water as needed

Approx 6 hollow Easter eggs (depending on size)
50g dark chocolate.

1. cream together the butter and sugar.
2. beat in the egg and vanilla essence.
3. fold in the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.
4. Bake in a small tray for 15-20 minutes at 180°C.
5. for the icing, cream together the sugar, icing and butter, adding water to thin it if needed.
6. Once the cake is cool, crumble it and mix with the icing, then leave in the fridge for at least ½ hour.
7. break the eggs in half and then make balls out of the cake mixture and carefully fill the half egg shells with them.
8. Melt the chocolate over a pan of boiling water and drizzle over the cake side of the filled eggs.

A taste of summer

I've always loved pavlova. It's one of those absolutely classic desserts, that's found its way onto our dinner table year after year after year. And it's so lovely a summery, light meringue, whipped cream and red fruits. But there's an emotional connection too, because it was always my Granddad's favourite pudding.

My Granddad died of a sudden heart attack when I was 11. No one saw it coming. He was always so active, so fit, he ate healthily...it just didn't seem like something that could happen to him. I can't imagine how awful it must have been for my Grandma. She went out for a walk one morning to get the newspaper and when she got back she found him collapsed in the kitchen. I went to stay with her a few months after it happened, on my own, and remember being amazed at how strong she was.

I've always been closer to my mum's parents than my dad's. I visit my Gran when I can, and she's been to visit me at Uni and calls regularly to check how I'm doing. When my Granddad was alive, he was the one I always wanted to impress. If I was playing sports at school and got onto the team, he was the one I wanted to tell. If I got a really good grade in a piece of written work, he was the one I wanted to show. Even after he was gone, I still tried to stay close to him. I support the same football team as him - Everton - and always will. I have a picture of him on my wall at college, and I look at it often and hope that he'd be proud of me if he was here. And whenever I'm feeling a bit down but the weather's starting to clear up, I make pavlova.

Pavlova with Red Fruits














3 egg whites
6oz caster sugar
1tbs corn flour
1tsp vinegar
1/2 pint single cream
strawberries, raspberries or any other fruit.
set the oven to 150°C

1. Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
2. Beat in the caster sugar a tablespoon at a time.
3. beat in the corn flour and vinegar.
4. Spread the mixture on a baking sheet and place in the oven for around one hour. It should harden and go slightly darker in colour, but don't let it get golden.
5. whip the cream and spread over the pavlova. Top with fruits.