Apricot and Almond Tart

Could I be bothered to go out again and spend money I don't have on ground almonds I would have made a frangipani filling for this tart but instead I made a sponge flavoured with almond extract.

First I blind baked a pastry case. 

Sometimes I make a sweet case and the addition of sugar makes for a nice crispy base but the sponge is sweet so didn't want to over do it.

While that was doing I marinated fresh apricots in sugar and blood orange balsamic vinegar.

And also made an almond sponge by halving my normal 8oz 4 egg sponge recipe and adding a few drops of almond extract.

I filled the base with the sponge mix and laid the apricots on top. Usually I'd lay them cut side up but they had such a glorious colour I went the other way and drizzled the marinating juices on top.

It took far longer to bake than I expected and also, the hoped for peeking out of rosy apricots didn't occur quite as planned. Although, it will make for a nice surprise when cut.

Jammy Biscuits

• Super simple to make and Mischief loves bread-crumbing the ingredients...and licking the jammy spoon!
• 200g self-raising flour
• 100g caster sugar
• 100g butter
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 4 tbsp strawberry jam
• 170 fan oven
• Rub together dry ingredients, stir in egg and bring together to form a stuff dough.
• Roll into a sausage aprox 5cm diameter and cut into slices.
• Make an indent in each slice and fill with jam.
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• Lay onto two baking sheets. Really, do this, they spread a lot!
• Put in oven for 10-11mins and turn for last few mins. Don't get distracted by your little mischief as they go from just right to over done really quickly! :) 
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• They're done when they're golden and just risen. Leave to cool for few mins before transferring to cooling rack. 

Eat and enjoy!

Rose Cupcakes

I've been drooling over the images of cupcake bouquets recently and desperately want to have a go and actually perfect one for my friends baby shower. Well the first step is to ice a cupcake like a rose. So I did some research and ordered a huuuugggeee set of piping nozzles from amazon and impatiently waited for them to be delivered. They came today!

So I made fairy cakes so I'd have more to practice on and waited for them to cool. I thought I'd have a go at something different so defrosted some mango to make the icing.

Well it took virtually a whole box of icing sugar (hubby wasn't impressed as we don't have a lot of spare readies at the mo but hey ho). I expectantly fitted my chosen nozzle in the bag and...it popped straight out. Some dodgy Chinese import that's too small for the bag. So I rumaaged about and found a large star nozzle similar to the Wilton 1M but with 8 points rather than 6. Well I'd got this far so I thought I could at least practice my piping skills if nothing else.

Although not the result I was looking for I'm pretty pleased for a first attempt. I think I'll be sourcing a Wilton 1M and 2D though (and not telling hubby). I have to say I'm a bit disappointed with the set I got as nothing similar in there even though the description said there was, but I'll hang on to it for a while as there are some interesting petal and leaf nozzles and some I have no idea of so if I can find a bag to fit I'll try them out.

Cracked the cake

After my success on Sunday I decided to see if I could replicate it. Sunday's cake was finished in record time, mostly because Mike takes a slice to work everyday and we had bible study at the house Monday night in which it was dished out.

I tried a chocolate sponge this time for something different and as they are more difficult due to the reduction of s/r flour and addition of cocoa.

Well, while not as light as the vanilla sponge it was still better than normal. So I conclude sponges cracked! Yay! And a long time in the coming.

I only made it yesterday and as you can see its already taken a great beating...

Victoria Sponge Success

So far the items posted here have been historical. Here's a bang up to date creation. My folks came to join us for Sunday lunch and tea today and as I didn't have any dessert I whipped up a Victoria Spinge whilst Mischief was being entertained. 

Now I know a Voctria Sponge isn't really anything to get excited about but sponges in my house are a bit of a hit and miss affair. Some are on but others are really heavy and dense. So today I employed all the tips I had been collecting. I creamed the softened butter and sugar as long as I could bear, I added the room temperature eggs slowly one at a time and then I barely folded the flour in.

And hey presto, a cake that rose well and was super light and fluffy. Hubby even gave it a ten out of ten! High praise indeed. Here's a couple of pics. It's filled with vanilla buttercream and last years home made strawberry jam.