Flu cakes™ for Sandra

It was Sandra's birthday last week but unfortunately she
was off sick with flu...

As she is one of Alice the baker's most valued customers
I knew I couldn't get away with not making something.

So I made her favourite - lemon - but with a *hilarious* twist...
Edible rice paper crumpled up to look like used tissues.

I stopped short of adding a snot substitute
and was duly reprimanded by my highbrow colleagues.

Here is Sandra showcasing the attractive tupperware
box I transported the flu cakes™ in...

And here she is, delicately sampling a flu cake™.

I think she ate approximately five that day,
the highlight being the one she stuffed whole as she left the office.

Pumpkin pie

We were going to make a Thanksgiving dinner, but my awkward
eating habits put paid to that idea, (I don't really like turkey, sorry).

Instead, I said I would make a pumpkin pie, so here it is!

Served warm with creme fraiche. Mmmm...

Mini cheese, shallot and chilli scones

So here are some little cheese, shallot and chilli scones I
made the other day.

We ate them warm with goats cheese and salsa, so they looked like
classic afternoon tea with clotted cream and jam.

I meant to take a picture of them, but we ate them too quickly.

Lemon squares

You make a shortbread-style base and bake that first, then
mix up a really sharp lemon curd and pour it on top.

After baking it again, let it cool, dust with icing sugar
and top with thin slices of fig. Though I think
strawberry or blackberry could also work well.

I love the way the lemon curd filling almost oozes out of the sides.

Cheryl Baker

So Cheryl bakes.

Of course she does.

www.cherylbaker.net

Pizza cake for Lucy

You might not believe it, but this is a birthday cake.

Yep, a birthday cake.

As savoury and meaty as the toppings look,
I promise they're all sweet.

Big thanks to Pinglewood for hunting them down.

And as if the whole thing wasn't disturbing enough,
we served it up in a pizza box. Cheers Il Bacio!

Here's birthday girl Lucy cutting the cake with a pizza wheel...

Eating a slice...

And there goes the last one.

Carrot cupcakes for Robin

Robin's favourite cake is carrot, so I made these spiced
carrot cupcakes for his birthday.

They also have pecans inside.

And instead of cream cheese icing, I made a zingy
topping with orange zest, juice and icing sugar.

Mulberry Victoria sponge at Claridge's

So I just got back from the Mulberry S/S 11 presentation at Claridge's...
a very nice way to spend a Sunday lunchtime indeed.

They were handing out these super-cute tote bags with
rabbit-in-an-Alexa-bag print, as well as a packet of carrot seeds.

But more importantly, tiny little printed boxes...

And what was inside..?

A perfect little Victoria sponge filled with cream and strawberry jam,

dusted with icing sugar.

Almond cookies with green tea cream

My mum got me an amazing book for my birthday called

1001 Cupcakes, Cookies & Other Tempting Treats,
and these almond cookies with green tea cream were requested by Scott.

You make a basic sweet cookie dough and chill it in the fridge.

One half is rolled and cut out normally, while the other is rolled
with a layer of flaked almonds so they get embedded in the dough.

Meanwhile you make a thick cream by infusing hot milk with green tea,
before adding sugar, custard powder and cream cheese.

Then you sandwich them all together with the almond side on top.

My green tea cream is more apricot-coloured than green,
but it still tastes good.

Summer berry muffins

I had loads of berries in the fridge,

so decided to make raspberry and blackberry muffins.

I really like how they look in the pale blue
and white polka dot cases.

We ate them warm with blueberry ice cream.

Sadly didn't get a photo as we ate them too quickly and the
ice cream was melting, but it was very tasty.

Istanbul canapes

I love canapes, so was excited to see what Istanbul
fashion parties had to offer...

Check out the cheese, grape and pumpkin installation
at the newly opened Pera Palace Hotel...

A feast for the eyes, if not the palate.

But who could have known what was in store on
the Bosphorus boat cruise...?

Plus potato and grease croquettes modelled by Max Usher.

Obviously Istanbul is not all about silly party snacks,
there is a veritable feast of food on offer...

So thought I would end with this poignant image of the last
baklava that no one dared finish at Hamdi restaurant today...

So good!

Technicolor cakes

Well, these are quite possibly the best-decorated cakes
I have ever seen...

It is Cesca's actual birthday today (see below's Burger cake post)
and she has brought in yet more treats to celebrate.

Alongside a classic red velvet from Hummingbird was this
box of delights, made by Cesca's brother's girlfriend.

Vikki, I salute you.

Your cakes are awesome.

Burger cake

Wow!

Look at this beast of a cake that Cesca at work brought in today for her birthday...

Congrats to her very talented friend Zara Ferreira who made it.

I am very impressed.

C:HV cakes

As Tom is a big Chev Chelios fan I decided to make
Crank: High Voltage double shot espresso cupcakes for his birthday*.

Those weird little bits of shrapnel are actually cola-flavoured
exploding candy, for that authentic high voltage kick...

Here's Tom (aka Lee Christmas) with an arsenal of deadly treats.

And here he is, shovelling his second cake...
just before he started grinding a picture of Corey Haim (RIP).

Big thanks to Greer McNally for the awesome pics.

* which was months ago, sorry.

Supcakes™ at Joey's hen night

So, the Alice the baker creative team have been talking
about alcoholic cupcakes for a while now... great for parties etc.

And the working title is... Supcakes™.

And what better time to premiere Supcakes™, than at
Atb creative team member Joey Marshall's hen night?

We decided on Malibu and coke...

... and Baileys.

The perfect combination of nostalgia, tastiness and tackiness,
we think you'll agree.

Here's chief hen Poppy doing the honours, with a very fashionable doll.

(Don't ask...)

And here is the beautiful bride-to-be (and prolific blogger) Joey kissing said doll,
ably assisted by the lovely Lindsey D.

Happy Birthday T-Man!

Today is officially T-Man Day, so I made some cakes.

Some tiny cakes...

On the left we have choc chip with choc icing and a Minstrel...

...and on the right are lemon with citrus icing and sour laces.

And here is the lovely birthday girl herself.

You wouldn't believe it, but she ate that whole tray...

World Cup baking

We were invited to an England v USA World Cup BBQ at the weekend...

So I made an England-themed feta, onion, pine nut and red pepper tart to go with

the enormous piles of finger-lickingly good MEAT provided by Luardo's

Anyway, as we should have expected, the game was a distinctly uninspiring draw,
(thanks to some great goalkeeping by Norwich City's finest, Robert Green).

Maybe that signals the end of the World Cup baking...?

Eva's birthday cakes

Eva celebrated her birthday this weekend, so I made her

some (almost) nutritious butternut squash cupcakes as she's

about to run the Edinburgh marathon.

I iced them with glossy melted white chocolate...

...And rolled out some red royal icing which I covered
with red edible glitter...

...Then I stamped out lots of Es, Vs and As using my
awesome new mini alphabet cutter set.

And here's the birthday girl with a cake,
hot and fresh out the kitchen...

Chocolate chilli macaroons

And another first this month: macaroons.

I followed Hugh F-W's recipe for easy chocolate macaroons

in Guardian Weekend magazine, so these are a kind of rustic version

of le macaron... not quite Laduree standard.

I also took the liberty of adding a bit of chilli powder to the

macaroon dough and the ganache.

They tasted good, but are not the most attractive thing I have

ever made.... next time I'm going to try to make the real thing.

Au revoir Libby and Andre

Elizabeth Rose Bankford and Andre CMS-Rickerby are both off to bigger

and better things, so had a joint leaving do at work.

I made them my customary au revoir gateaux...

Never one to make things easy for myself, I made 3 different types:

Rocky Road cupcakes

Lavender cupcakes

Lemon buttercream whip cupcakes

The rocky road cakes were made from chocolate-rich sponge

with big chunks of white and dark chocolate and mini marsmallows

both in the sponge and on top... as well as gooey chocolate ganache icing.

The lavender cupcakes were made by whizzing up the dried flowers

with caster suger in a blender, and using that to flavour the sponge.

For added lavender flavour, I also added some more ground flowers

to the icing sugar and dropped in some violet food colouring.

And to finish... a giant Parma violet!

And nothing new, but always a favourite: lemon buttercream.

However, this time I added lemon zest to the sponge rather than

vanilla essence (thanks Julie Australian Masterchef!),

and it worked really well.

Then you add more zest and juice for that zingy, buttery icing.