Upsy Daisy Birthday Cake

This was a lot harder to make than I thought it would be. It also took a lot longer than anticipated. Maybe that's because I'm only a baking beginner after all and need more practise, but I was still pleased with end result, as was my beautiful niece. Happy 3rd Birthday Erin! I hope you enjoyed your birthday cake :-)

Upsy Daisy birthday cake with vanilla sponge and jam and buttercream filling

M&S Easy One Pot Cook Book

M&S easy one pot cook pot is my new Saturday night bible! And yes, it only cost £3.50! Bargain! There are so many recipes in here that look delicious and they really are quite easy to make. I've tried 5 of the recipes so far and they've all turned out as their supposed to and they tasted great. I've also been working out the calories for the meals I've cooked so far and I think their quite low for main meals. These little recipe books are usually on display stands in Marks and Spencer food halls and there are a series of recipe books. I shall definitely be purchasing a few more and trying out a few more dishes. 

Peppa Pig Birthday Cake

I think I'm getting quite good at this cake making malarkey! As my son is Peppa Pig mad, I sourced a picture of a Peppa Pig birthday that looked pretty easy to make and voila! Here's my recreation of a Peppa Pig muddy puddles birthday cake for my little boy's 2nd birthday
 

Happy Birthday Ellis
Penblwydd Hapus Ellis

The bottom layer is a vanilla sponge with jam and buttercream filling

The top layer is a chocolate sponge with buttercream filling

YUMMY!

The Griffin Felinfach, Powys

Well, my bank account is empty but boy - this meal was worth it! I went here with my family to celebrate my father's 60th birthday in May as we wanted to go somewhere special for a special occasion. I didn't realise this but the food here is all locally sourced and even grown in the grounds (where possible) and this is the reason why the menu choices are limited. This did not matter at all though as the food was simply delicious. We had a complementary 'amuse-bouche' at the start of the meal, a novelty for us, which was a homemade cream of mushroom jus with some soda bread which the staff were happy to replenish as even the children polished off a few rounds of soda bread! Considering the food here was indeed 'posh nosh' the children didn't complain and enjoyed a very fancy child's portion of sausage and chips followed by homemade pineapple jelly and vanilla ice cream. Great service here, especially as we had young children with us. A great atmosphere and authenticity in this restaurant and definitely worth the money, especially if you want something more upmarket. We even had a Monmouthshire produced bottle of wine - again quite pricey at £30 per bottle, but a delicious wine nonetheless. I particularly liked the suggested dessert wines and liqueurs on the dessert menu. I went with their suggestion for the creme brûlée and wasn't disappointed. I'm not a wine connoisseur, so it was nice to try something new and different. I would definitely go back here but I'll have to wait for my bank account to recover first! I'll have to keep this restaurant on my 'special occasions' list until my numbers come up in the lottery - then I'll be a regular customer!

http://www.felinfachgriffin.co.uk/Eat.aspx

Homemade Moussaka

After having tried moussaka whilst on holidays in Greece, I thought I'd try out a recipe from my M&S One Pot recipe book. Now I don't usually eat lamb as I find it too fatty and I don't like the texture of lamb, if this applies to you then please don't be put off by moussaka as lamb mince is not that much different to beef mince. This recipe took quite a lot of preparation time (especially as this was the first time for me to make it and I wanted to make sure I got everything right), but it was quite an easy recipe to follow too. The end result was good and it was a nice family meal. A great alternative if you ever get fed up of lasagne! 

Jamie's Italian, Britsol

Well I can finally say that I have now been to one of Jamie Oliver's restaurants and I don't think I'll be going back in a hurry. Don't get me wrong, Neil and I had a lovely lunch there but I think I just expected a little bit more from this restaurant. Maybe my expectations were too high after waiting a long time to go there. The food was great - very tasty. I personally didn't like the decor. I understand the look that Jamie Oliver is hoping to achieve but it seemed as though he'd overdone the 'industrial warehouse' look, so much so, the place looked quite dirty which put me off this restaurant despite the food being great. I also didn't like the 'hard sell' of Jamie Oliver products. Every nook and cranny was filled with Jamie Oliver books, chopping boards, pots, pans, food products. It was just Jamie Oliver overload! Overall, the staff were friendly and helpful, the food was tasty and quite reasonably priced, and Neil and I both left there feeling stuffed!

The Dining Room, Great Yarmouth

We decided to take the kids to Great Yarmouth this Easter for a short break thinking that the weather in the UK always seems to be ok during April/May. Well as you know, Easter 2013 was the coldest Easter on record ever! It was absolutely FREEZING!!! It snowed everyday while we were there, and winter thermals were a must. However, we did have a nice break despite the cold weather and when it was that cold outside, I had the perfect excuse to gorge on fish and chips and drink hot chocolate all day long.

 

We saw a modern café called 'The Dining Room' right opposite the pier on the seafront of Great Yarmouth. It looked like it had recently been refurbished and had a roaring log burner. This, along with the biggest choice of cakes I have ever seen behind the glossy glass counter, tempted us inside. All of the cakes looked delicious! My deluxe hot chocolate was nice, but I wish I hadn't gone for the carrot and walnut cake. It was a little dry and had way too much cinnamon. However, Neil's gigantic jam roly poly was fabulous! The homemade cooked meals that we saw coming out to others looked great too.

 

Despite choosing the wrong cake, I think I'd give this place the benefit of the doubt. If I'm ever in Great Yarmouth again I would return to 'The Dining Room' but I would choose a different cake. Maybe I'll have the jam roly poly next time too!

Scones with Clotted Cream and StrawberryJam

A classic tea time treat, you can't beat a good old traditional scone! A friend bought me a basic scone cutter set for Christmas (thank you very much Adele Jenkins) which also included a simple scone recipe. Thought I'd have a go a making scones and couldn't believe how simple it was. My guests were very complimentary and they went down a treat with a nice cup of tea. Of course the jam and clotted cream were shop bought - my culinary skills haven't quite stretched to home made jam and clotted cream yet!
 

See the picture of the recipe card to make these simple scrummy scones yourself. And if your lucky enough to have some left over from the batch you can always pop them in the freezer and pull them out another time, just leave them to defrost for an hour or two and heat them up in the microwave for 20-30 seconds before serving.

 

 

 

Biscuit Pops!

My new scrumptious 'no bake' biscuit pops! After trailing the Internet for a quick 'no-bake' cake pop recipe, I have adapted a recipe that I found to create these delicious biscuit pops. Tried and tested on family and friends they have been described as 'lush', 'fabulous' and 'moorish'. A big hit with everyone and they will definitely be featuring in my wedding next year!

I know I've written a lot of instructions below but they really are so simple to make!

Ingredients (makes around 20)

200g white chocolate (I used Lidl's Belgian white chocolate)
300g biscuits (I used shortbread fingers)
65g salted butter (leave at room temperature to soften)
65g icing sugar
Raspberry sprinkles
Cake pop sticks
Cellophane bags & ties (optional)

Method:

Whisk together the icing sugar and the butter until smooth

Crush the biscuits to crumbs and add to the mixture

Stir in the crumbs well into the mixture

Grab a small handful of the mixture and squish it together inside your hand

Shape into a small ball shape and place on a tray

Gently insert the stick into the top of the biscuit pop

Repeat the above until you have used up all the mixture and place the biscuit pops into the freezer to set for around 30 minutes

While you're waiting for the biscuit pops to set melt the white chocolate

Gently dip the biscuit pop into the chocolate, taking care to cover all the biscuit

Gently tap the biscuit pop on your hand to shake off any excess chocolate

Sprinkle the biscuit pop with a pinch if raspberry sprinkles

Place the biscuit pop upright in a suitable container e.g a glass, jar, etc

Place the biscuit pops into the fridge until the chocolate has set

Enjoy eating your biscuit pops!

 

Buzz Lightyear Birthday Cake

Well I am going to blow my own trumpet today for all to hear! I have successfully recreated a Toy Story Buzz Lightyear birthday cake for my 4yr old nephew. OK, so it took me several hours to complete, but I think it looks fantastic! Many thanks to my aunt for her advice. I suppose I can't take all the credit for this cake as I copied the design from a picture I found on the internet, so many thanks also to 'Between the Pages' blog (link below).

Here it is....

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY NOAH!

Between The Pages Blog