American Adventure, Part 1 - Pumpkin Pie

To celebrate Halloween I decided to make some classic American recipes, first up - Pumpkin Pie.

I couldn't get any canned pumpkin so had to make my pumpkin purée from scratch, which took HOURS! I bought a large pumpkin from the supermarket, scooped out middle and then chopped it into small pieces

That was really hard work, I was shattered afterwards! Then I boiled the pumpkin pieces for 20 minutes until they were soft. Then I drained them and left them to cool.

After that I moved on to the hardest part, sieving the pumpkin to make a purée. It took ages and my arm was killing me by the time I'd finished!

Then I mixed the pumpkin purée with eggs, sugar, butter, evaporated milk, cinnamon, nutmeg and all spice to make the pie filling. I lined a pie dish with sweet shortcrust pastry and added the filling.

Then I baked it for 50 minutes. I served it with cream, and it was YUMMY!

Mothers Day Adventures

For Mothers Day I made two batches of cupcakes, one for my mum and one for my mother in law :)

The first batch were lemon cupcakes, with lemon icing and sugar paste flowers and the second batch were chocolate cupcakes with butter cream swirls (some chocolate, some vanilla) and a chocolate on top!

You can't see the cases in this photo, but they were pastel colours with while polka dots - super cute! I matched the colour of the icing to the colour of the cupcake case. 

Christmas Baking Adventures - Mini Bakewell Tarts

Bakewell Tarts


Make the pastry as for the Lemon Curd Tarts

For the filling:

• 1 jar raspberry jam
• 3oz ground almonds
• 3oz caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar
• 3oz butter
• 2 eggs

Method:

• Preheat oven to gas mark 6
• Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time
• Stir in the ground almonds
• Roll out the pastry and cut into rounds. Grease a 12 hold cupcake tine with butter or spray
• Place a round into each hole and add half a teaspoon to jam to the bottom of each one
• Cover the jam with a teaspoon of the almond mixture
• Bake for 15-20 minutes then cool on a wire rack

Christmas Baking Adventures - Jam Tarts

Jam Tarts:


Recipe is the same as for the Lemon Curd Tarts, but with jam instead of lemon curd! Delicious!

Christmas Baking Adventures - Lemon Curd Tarts

Lemon Curd Tarts:


Ingredients:

• 6oz plain flour
• 1/2 oz icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon of water
• 1 jar of lemon curd

Method:

• Mix the flour and icing sugar together, then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• Mix in the egg yolk and the water until a dough is formed
• Wrap the dough in cling film and leave to chill in the fridge for 20 minutes
• Pre-heat oven to gas mark 6
• Roll out the pastry onto a lightly floured surface and cut into rounds using a cutter
• Grease a 12 hole cupcake tray with butter or spray and place a pastry round into hole. Lightly press down
• Place a teaspoon of lemon curd into each of the pastry cases
• Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown
• Place on a wire rack to cool

Halloween Cake!

And here it is, my Halloween Cake! Yummy!

If you want to make your own, the recipe is here

Adventures in Chocolate #2 - Another Birthday Cake

For my friend's birthday I made a variation on the chocolate cake I did for my mum (Death by Chocolate!)

Here it is: