Christmas Time. Pudding and Wine.

FIRSTLY, sorry about my severe lack of pudding posts as of late. It is been a busy time of the year, as it has for everybody, and I have been awful at documenting my desserty experiences.
But as you can probably imagine, Christmas time for me is by far one of the most pudding rich times and so many food babies were had that I cannot even begin to describe my constant excitement!















Christmas Cake! Made by my Amazing  Grandma, decorated with lovely homemade icing characters by my very talented cousin Abbie. I got a wonderful delivery of this fruity alcohol fuelled cake with my parents when they came to visit for dinner and Chocolate Chip Brioche Bread and Butter Pudding. I could not wait to taste this Christmastime staple! And when I did it did not fail to impress! Packed with fruit it was moist, soft, chewy, and layered with tangy nutty marzipan, and sweet sticky icing! It has gone down very with my housemate Amy, and I this holiday season, trust me.

“Merry Christmas”- The Birmingham Bullring Bull

Christmas Dinner. What a magical experience that was. My lovely friend Sarah-Jayne kindly asked me and Amy to join her and her boyfriend for Christmas Dinner, because I could not go home until Boxing day due to work commitments.
After a scrummy starter of pate and warm bread rolls we tucked in to an outstanding Christmas Dinner. So many delicious things on one plate. Turkey and all the trimmings. Two kinds of stuffing. Roast potatoes. Different varieties of broccoli and cauliflower cheese. El dente steamed vegetables. Gravy. Yorkshire puddings. It could not have been beaten!
What Xmas dinner would be complete without a steaming hot Crimbo Pudding!? Yes we had to wait about 2 hours for dinner to digest. And yes I did actually require a sleep in this time, but when it was served, with lashings of Salted Caramel and Chantilly Cream. DELICIOUS!! Soft, sticky, gooey and tangily fruity! I could eat a hundred of them! If it didn’t clog up my stomach like a cakey puddingy lead weight that is…
And if that was not enough, when I go to work, our entire coffee room had been invaded by a buffet!! I have never seeeeeeeeeeeeen so much food!!! Spread over the whole countertop were a whole array of delicious things! I only wish I had not already eaten my bodyweight in Christmas deliciousness, I was unable to really enjoy the festive-food-ness!

[A rather rubbish panoramic photo of the Aladdin’s cave of delights!]

Oh if only I could have eaten and blogged about all of the delicious puddings, cakes, pies and gateaux’s I had the utter delight of being in a room with on Boxing Day! Post night shift sleep after work, I had a lovely family Christmas at my Auntie’s house for food, fun and frolicks. And the works of art above are just a few samplings of what puds were on offer! Lime and Chocolate Cheesecake, Viennese Mince Pies, Chocolate gateaux, Trifle, Raspberry Pavlova you name it, we probably had it! Never has a more beautiful sight besought me!
The baking component of my Crimbo consisted of these beauties, Lemon Butterfly Cakes, and Chocolate Fairy Cakes! I made these to take to my works Christmas Day night shift, and also to take home for Christmas for my family. This is by far the easiest recipe ever!

For the Lemon Butterfly Cakes:	For the Chocolate Fairy Cake
3 eggs- weigh them (Whatever the weight is, weigh the same of)- Caster Sugar, Self Raising Flour & Butter Zest of 3 lemons Juice of 1 lemon 1 tsp Baking Powder And to decorate: 200g icing sugar Juice of half a lemon 100g butter Edible glitter	3 eggs- weigh them (Whatever the weight is, weigh the same of)- Caster Sugar, Self Raising Flour & Butter 100g Cocoa Powder 30mls water 1 tsp Baking Powder And to decorate: 200g bar of Cadbury Dairy Milk Silver balls
Method:	Method:
Pre heat oven to 180C Beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy Beat in an egg and a third of the sifted flour at a time until all three eggs are combined Zest 3 lemons and add the zest to mix and combine Juice a lemon and mix with the baking powder, combine into the mix Distribute even the mix into prepared cake cases and tins, or silicone cake cases Bake in pre heated oven for 20-30mins or until the cakes are cooked (springy to touch and golden brown- not burnt!)	Pre heat oven to 180C Beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy Beat in an egg and a third of the sifted flour and baking powder at a time until all three eggs are combined Mix together the water and cocoa powder to a paste Mix the paste into the cake mixture until totally combined Distribute even the mix into prepared cake cases and tins, or silicone cake cases Bake in pre heated oven for 20-30mins or until the cakes are cooked (springy to touch and golden brown- not burnt!)
To decorate: Wait for cakes to cool Once cooled beat together the butter, icing sugar and lemon juice to form a butter cream Using a sharp knife, cut a circular shape out of the top of the cake to form a “short cone shape” when removed In the hole you have created, fill with the lemon buttercream Cut the cone shape of cake in half and place on top of the cake at an angle in a “butterfly” shape Spoon a small amount of lemon curd on the butterfly and top with edible glitter ENJOY!	To decorate: Wait for cakes to cool Once cooled, melt the chocolate over a Ban Marie until fully melted Using a teaspoon, spoon a little of the melted chocolate in a blob on top of the cake Top the chocolate with a silver ball ENJOY!

Finally…

New Years Day. Me and Stacey were happy to be invited to my Auntie Andrea and Uncle Darren’s house for another lovely family gathering. Buffet time was once again upon us! So after many a homemade sausage roll, pork pie and cheese and crackers, it was delicious pud time!!
I had the treat of two helpings of profiteroles and cream…. Om Nom Nom! [Unfortunately I ate this before a picture could be taken]
But my Auntie being the wonderful human being she is, sent me home with THIS. 2 slices of Homemade Baileys and Profiterole Cheesecake!!!! Yes! Baileys AND Profiterole! OMG it was amazing! very rich and decadent, with a very tangy boozy note. Just what the New Year needs to kick of off!
So…. that was my Christmas and New Year! A big thank you to everyone for reading my blog and getting me to nearly 3900views! In 52 blog posts I am very proud! So happy reading my lovely readers! AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

Chocolate and Orange Drizzle Cake Cake [HOW TO MAKE]

Date: 8/10/12

Background: I am currently waiting to start my new job, and so I find myself with this magical thing called spare time. So I decided to make a Chocolate and Orange Cake, in a onesie. End Of.

How Much?:  Well I had most of the ingredients already in the store cupboard, so I probably spent an extra £1.30 on the orange and sunflower spread

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Ingredients:

• 3 medium free range eggs (weight ~180g- shells on)
• (weight of the eggs) 180g caster sugar
• (weight of the eggs) 180g sunflower spread/unsalted butter
• 150g self raising flour
• 30g cocoa powder
• Coursely grated rind of 3/4s of an orange + juice of half an orange
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

For the butter cream:

• 20g butter/sunflower spread
• 200g icing sugar
• 20g cocoa powder to taste

For the icing:

• 200g icing sugar
• Remaining orange zest finely grated
• Juice of half an orange

Equipment:

• 2 x 8”/20cm diameter sandwich/cake tins
• Scales
• Wooden spoon
• Spatula
• Mixing bowl
• Grater
• Sieve
• Bowl

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4
2. Grease tins with butter/sunflower spread and line with preferably baking parchment/greaseproof paper but I used tin foil
3. Weigh 3 medium free range eggs (mine weighed 180g)
4. Weigh out the equivalent in caster sugar and sunflower spread (forgive me bakers out there) or butter
5. Cream together the spread/butter and sugar until white and fluffy in a bowl using wooden spoon
6. Weigh out the flour and cocoa powder
7. Using a sieve, sift 1/3 of the flour into the wet mixture
8. Crack 1 egg into the flour, cocoas, butter and sugar mix
9. Beat gently the egg and flour together until incorporated
10. Repeat this for the remaining 2/3 flour and 2 eggs
11. When fully incorporated add the grated zest of 3/4s of an orange, the juice of half an orange and 1/2 tsp baking powder
12. Mix together carefully
13. Add half the mix to each prepared sandwich tin and level with a spatula
14. Place in the preheated oven on the middle shelf and cook for around 20mins or until a cake testing implement comes out clean and the cake springs back when gently touched
15. Allow the cakes to cool before turning out of the tins
16. When turned out allow to cool to room temperature

To decorate:

1. Beat together the cocoa powder, icing sugar and spread/butter to a smooth light butter cream
2. Spoon the butter cream onto the bottom cake and using a butter/palate knife spread evenly to a 2-3mm thickness, around 1cm from the edge of the cake
3. Carefully place the remaining sandwich on top of the cake and buttercream
4. Mix together the icing sugar, orange juice and orange zest until smooth
5. Pour the icing onto the centre of the cake and smooth outwards
6. Allow the icing to set, and ENJOY!

Video:

Whatever made me think a Onesie would be a good idea?!

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What was Good: The cake was moist and perfectly cooked! It was soft and chocolaty, slightly bitter but still deliciously sweet and the subtle hint of orange is equally as tasty. The buttercream added a nice sweetness to the pudding and thankfully did not overwhelm it and make it sickly. The icing was deliciously zingy and tangy which cut into the sweet smooth buttercream nicely. Overall, it may not have been absolutely stunningly pretty, but the cake itself was delicious, and I look forward to eating the rest of it!
What was Bad: Deciding to video myself making a cake in a onesie? I look about 5 stone heavier.. Other than that, maybe I would add the zest of another 1/2 or a whole grated orange, to make the taste of orange more present, as opposed to an after note. The only other thing was that I did not combine the icing sugar for the icing and so there were little lumps in it… Lol..

Waffle-O-Meter:





Can I ask- My 2nd biggest fan viewer base is in the USA, *woop woop* please can you facebook me at facebook.com/DidSomebodySayPudding so I know who you lovely people are? And that goes for anyone else who are either in, or not in, the UK! :D I would love to have some INTERNATIONAL input!

Who Knew Garden Centre's Were Hiding Such Marvels?

Date: 4/10/12

Background: Spending some time in Rugby with my Mumsy and G'rents- Mum wanted to go to a garden centre. So destination Bloom's!

How Much?: £2.95

What was Good: It was so homely looking! It could quite easily have been sat in a tin on my Grandma's kitchen work top on a Sunday afternoon! The top of the cake was decorated with what appeared to be glazed rings of dried apple. The cake itself was golden in colour and was sat proud in it's glass display, just waiting to be devoured.
The texture was crumbly, yet moist, not cloggy or stodgy, and was light enough to make eating the whole slice a delight, not a challenge. This was complimented by the sultana's within the cake. The flavour was very delicate actually, with an initial hit of spice from the mixed spice and cinnamon, and with an after-note of apple. This spiciness was partnered with the lovely filling, could it be cinnamon butter-cream? Or could it be a cinnamon flavoured cream cheese frosting? Regardless of what it was it was lovely, not too much and so did not make the pudding too sickly.
All in all, this was a beautiful cake! I would happily eat this again! Maybe I will start going to garden centres more often?

What was Bad: The only criticism would be the apple slices on the top of the cake. They were a bit too chewy and that is what made me think they were dried apple slices. I may be wrong but maybe fresh apple slices would be better? Other than that, I want more!

Waffle-O-Meter:

 

Keep you eyes peeled (get it ) for my next blog about my HOMEMADE Nigelissima Breakfast Banana Bread!