28th December 2010 - A Cow for Xmas

The Christmas cake is eaten and tasted great even if I do say so myself.  Sense of pride gleaming in my eyes.

Today my wife Lel asked me to make a Birthday Cake for one of our friends as she did not get one for her birthday which lands on Christmas day.  As I know the person who the cake is for, which makes life a little easier.  I know she likes cows and even takes a cow soft toy with her on holidays.  This cow is placed in the scenic photos she takes. Sweet =].

I had a great time with this cake.  The cake itself is a Victoria Sponge Cake with a Vanilla Buttercream filling.  All of which I made myself.  I kept some of the Buttercream to spread thinly all over the top and sides of the cake.  I then rolled out some bought pink Regalice and placed it over the cake.  After that I made the cow which took me a little while because I kept coming up with little ideas, like the daisies and ladybirds.

After the cow was finally finished (and all the daises and ladybirds were placed), I put him in the middle of the cake.  I then used a garlic press and some green Regalice to make the grass clumps.  After I had finished I look at my first fully homemade cake.  I smiled at the result and felt quite proud of myself =] =] =].


  




Giant bugs and flowers or a mini cow?



Moooooooooooo !!!

 

23rd December 2010 - Xmas Cake Version 2

Today I took the black Regalice I had coloured out of the cupboard to find that the stickiness was not as bad as it have been a few days ago.  I thought about it and gave the penguin I had wanted to do a go (again).   I was pleased with the result and removed the plastic Father Christmas from the cake and re-place him with the Penguin.

It was at this point I looked at the Snowman and the Robin and decided to have ago at those too.  The Snow-Penguin turned out well and is my favourite part of this cake.  The Robin was okay but not great, still good enough to replace the plastic one in the tree though.





Xmas version 2

18th December 2010 - Xmas Cake Finished but not how I liked

Today I put the Regalice Icing on the  Christmas Cake.  So far so good.  It was a lot easier to do than I thought.  Getting a smooth finished took a little time, but with it being my first time I don't think I did too bad.

Next came the decorating.  I bought some green Regalice and a pack of white.  I needed yellow and black colours as well but the shop I use doesn't stock a great supply of colours unfortunately.  I was left with having to colour the Regalice myself.  I did the yellow first by adding some yellow food colouring to half the white.  All went well with that and I placed it in a food bag to keep it soft. 

The black however required a lot of food colouring and went very sticky.  I tried adding icing sugar like the Internet said I should but this didn't seem to make much difference.  At this point I decided to put the black to one side and let it dry out a little in the open air while I started on the cake.

To begin with I took the green Regalice and split it into four different sized balls.  I then took each ball and rolled them into cone shapes.  Once done I took my scissors and snipped into the icing trying to make each of the four cones look like Christmas Trees.  It worked in a fashion but still looked better than plastic trees so I ain't complaining.

Next came the Penguin I wanted to do but gave up because the black Regalice I coloured was way too sticky.   I had no option but to use the plastic Xmas cake decorations Lel had gotten for me.  Still the end product didn't turn out to bad =].





Merry Xmas

14th December 2010 - A Marbleous Cake.

After I left work this morning all I wanted to do was bake a cake, any cake..... JUST LET ME MAKE A CAKE =].  But first I needed to sleep after a 12 hour shift.  I didn't know what kind of cake to make and my ingredients cupboard is none too big, so I decided to make the Victoria Sponge Cake again. 

Lel being Lel said I had done that cake already and if I insisted on making it maybe I should do something different with it.  Lel suggested Chocolate filling or a Chocolate topping.  I looked in my cupboards to see what I could find.  Milk Chocolate and White Chocolate and some Cocoa. 

I decided there and then that I would try and make a Marble Cake.  From what I remembered from some recipes (Internet and books), I make a Victoria Sponge mix and pour just half of the mix between the two cake tins.  I then add a heaped spoon of Cocoa powder into the remaining mix and whisk thoroughly until I get a creamy Cocoa Brown colour.

After that is done I pour the Cocoa mix on top of the mix already in the two cake tins.  Then I used the handle end of a knife to slowly draw through the mixtures until I ended up with a swirly pattern through both cake mixes.  After that I popped them in the oven as normal.

Once the cake was fully baked and filled with Jam and Cream, I melted some Milk Chocolate and White Chocolate and swirled it on top of the cake.  Once all the Chocolate was on I used the back of a spoon to make a marble effect in the Chocolate to match the cake.

Tastes great and I remembered to store a piece in the fridge for Odin too =].



Double Cream and Strawberry filling.



Milk and White Chocolate Topping



11th December 2010 - Diet Cakes Yes or No?

As its Christmas and everyone always eats way to much I decided to try and bake a diet Cocoa Chocolate Cake recipe I found on a popular food website. 

I was not impressed with the results as the cake did not rise very much at all, (even with my second attempt at the recipe which I substituted the Plain Flour for Self-Raising Flour) and the cake seemed very dry while eating.  It would probably be okay with custard or ice cream but that kind of takes away the point of a diet cake really. 

Hay-ho and all that, this is the first and last time I bake diet style. 



Diet Chocolate Cake - Custard Required!!!

This week I also rolled out the Marzipan and placed it on the Christmas Cake...  I love Christmas =] =] =]





Next week I can put the fondant icing on it and try to decorate my first cake... I better start practicing making models and things with play-dough... its almost the same consistency as fondant.... maybe.... maybe not, but still worth the practice I think.  See next week if it pays off.

5th December 2010 - Fruity Success.

My wife Lel showed me how to make a very quick and tasty Banoffee Pie today.....  Lel makes it now and again and it goes down very well with the family. 

To make this Pie Lel Style =]...

Break up 14 Digestive biscuits until you get a cross between powder and small crumbs.

Melt 3oz of Margarine in a pan.  Once melted stir in the biscuit mix and fold until all the biscuit is coated.

         

Place the mix in a 30cm, 2.5cm deep glass serving tray and cover the base evenly. Place in the fridge to cool.

Chop 3 medium bananas approx 0.5cm thick and spread evenly over the biscuit mix.

Open a Tin of Carnation Caramel and spread over bananas.

Pour 250ml of Double Cream into a mixing bowl and whisk until you get soft peaks.

Scrape the cream onto the Caramel and spread evenly, carefully as not to disturb or mix with the caramel.

Grate a fine layer of chocolate over the top aaaaannnnnddddd Jump up and down spin around put it in the fridge and eat when ready.



Banoffee Pie Lel Style




Yum Yum Nom Noms =)



Yay finally got all my ingredients for a Rich Fruit Cake.....  I was a bit nervous about this cake because it seemed a bit advanced for my VERY BASIC ability in cake baking.  I used the Be-Ro recipe because this seemed so much more straight forward than Fiona Cairns book and it can all be done in a lot shorter time frame.  PERFECT.

I didn't put brandy in the mixture while i was making the cake so i am adding two caps of brandy to the top (bottom because i flipped the cake), every day for a week (poured evenly so the sponge does not go soggy)before i cover it with Marzipan next weekend.



I did it YAY... PARTY TIME =].



27th November 2010 - No Batteries

Today I was going to make Rich Fruit Cake but Tesco didn’t deliver all the ingredients Lel ordered for me. =[ I had a rummage through the cupboards to see what ingredients I could find.  Nothing that would help a Rich Fruit Cake! But enough to make other stuff.

I had enough to make some more Chocolate Chip Cookies (NNOOOO the camera has ran out of batteries =[, I must have cursed myself when I said I would take photos of all attempts.  So no photos from today unfortunately. =[)

I also made some Brownies form the Be-Ro book.  Although I re-placed the chopped walnuts with chocolate chips because the kids don’t like them.  These turned out great and were an instant hit with the family =]. 

Lastly a made a small batch of Cupcakes using the Be-Ro recipe for Victoria Sponge Cake but using only half the quantity of ingredients... because that’s all I had left.   They worked out well too... today was good day for a Gamer/Baker =].

22nd November 2010 - The New Batch!!

Today I had another go at the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from the Be-Ro book... Success they worked out well today. Ad, T-Berry, Lel and Alfie all liked them =], as well as my friend Odin (as I know him) at work. =]

Chocholate Chip Cookies - 2nd Batch



I think I am making Rich fruit cake this coming Saturday.... could be a bit too advanced for me maybe. =\ We shall see!!!

20th November 2010 - My First Cake!!! and My First Failure!!!

I used the Victoria sponge recipe form Fiona Cairns book but I used margarine instead of butter because that’s what Lel likes to use when she bakes.  T-Berry baked one too, with margarine like I did, white sugar instead of golden caster sugar, left out the baking powder and for the filling and dollops on the top,  he used Rich and Creamy Icing (Ready to spread), with chocolate buttons placed on each dollop.




Wiggles Victoria Sponge



T-Berrys Victoria Sponge



I also baked some chocolate chip cookies from an old Be-Ro recipe book (39^th edition).  The cookies were a complete sloppy failure.  I possibly didn’t weigh the ingredients accurately... I mean definitely didn’t weight them properly.  They were almost just a cookie soup.  No photo of these because I was so embarrassed they went straight in the bin.




 

17th-19th November 2010 - My First Week

I checked out sites on the Internet for advice on baking and equipment I would need for cake art.  There is a huge amount of information out there in both text form and videos; YouTube is a good site for tutorials. It was also at this time discovered T.V programs about cake bakers/artists – Ace of Cakes and Cake Boss, I liked what I saw =]. 

Lel put a smile on my face today (17^th) =].

She bought me my very first Bake Book, Fiona Cairns, Bake and decorate.

16th November 2010 - My First Day

So today was the day I started looking into Cake Baking and Cake Art.  I know it probably doesn’t sound all that exciting or new to anyone else but it is a huge step for me.  With today being a Monday I would have to wait until Saturday for our shopping to be delivered.  Lel suggested I start baking with a simple recipe called ‘Victoria Sponge Cake’.  I said okay and she then ordered the ingredients.  I wonder if I will be able to bake or even if this 'Life Change' will last until the ingredients arrive???

14th November 2010 - My Cake Diary by Wiggles.........

I am known as Wiggles or Wigz to close friends and family.  I am a 36 year old factory worker, working for McVities as a Technical Operator.  I have no skills outside of the factory and no qualifications except NVQ’s in Information Technology (from about 1992 which is pointless), Basic Engineering (very very basic) and lastly in Business Improvement Techniques (that teaches you how to be organised, or that’s how I remember it anyway, and I fail at miserably).

One skill I have picked up throughout my life is how to be a lazy gamer.  I love playing my Xbox (GamerTag – Wiggles Whoo) and I would be lost without it and my computer, which I am now typing this on.  I can spend 12 hours plus playing games and watching movies easily in one sitting.  I get up at around 1pm on weekdays (I do nightshift in McVities) and play Xbox or watch movies/Sci-fi T.V till 9pm.  At 9pm I spend just half an hour with my wonderful wife Lel (as I know her), before I leave the house for work. 

Saturdays are non-tech days (no Xbox or pc) for me and I spend it with Lel.  We don’t do much, maybe go into town for lunch, once the Tesco delivery has arrived at our door and been put away that is.  On the evening we spend time watching T.V and DVD’s.  A Sunday consists of walking Alfie, our West Highland Terrier (Westie), from around 1pm-ish until 4pm-ish.  When we get home we bath Alfie and feed him and our ginger cat Fudge.  After that I switch on my Xbox and play through the night until 6-7 in the morning.

Along with my ‘busy’ life I have two sons, Ad (as I know him) who is 18 years old and T-Berry (as I know him) who is 15 years old.  Ad is much like me with the same interests and similar personality, and T-Berry is like his mum in both attitude and intellect (which by the way is far superior to me!!!!).

Alfie - aged 4 Months



Fudge - aged 10 years