Lonesome

One left if you hurry....

So while cooking for my Mum's birthday BBQ on Sunday my oven blew up.... and I seriously mean BLEW UP. I heard a noise that sounded like a car backfiring and looked outside... but saw nothing. When I went to get my potato dish out of the oven it was covered in what looked like sand (turned out to be small ground bits of metal!).... there was white powder everywhere and a little bit of some sort of weird looking smoke. I looked and found that one of the elements had just *exploded*.

Me without an oven to bake in is a bit like wine without cheese.... cookies without cream..... Captain without Tennille!

I prepared these this morning and drove them up to my Mum's to bake in her oven. I am sitting waiting for the oven repairman.... hopefully normal (baking) business shall resume shortly!

Jam Shortcake Recipe

PS: To 'anonymous' no I don't work for Chelsea Sugar... but I DO love their website :O)

Ring-O-Roses

My Mum turns 70 on Tuesday. Today we had a family BBQ to celebrate.

Handmade edible ribbon roses and pearls.

Chocolate fudge cake layered with ganache... thought I'd add an 'inside' shot for you to see :O)

Happy birthday Mum

Ginger Pear Baby Cakes

Happy New Year, I hope you all had a great time over the holidays.

This gingerbread and pear loaf arrived in my inbox a while ago but I just cooked them in a greased muffin/cupcake pan (for about 20mins).

Nice on their own... or a yummy dessert slightly warmed with some custard or ice-cream (or if you are a piggy like me maybe both?).

Pear and Ginger Loaf (Chelsea Sugar Recipe)

Ingredients

1 egg
1/3 cup Chelsea Soft Brown Sugar
95g butter
1/3 cup Chelsea Golden Syrup
1 1/4 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup boiling water
1 small tin pears, drained thoroughly

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C, grease and line a loaf tin (22cm x 11cm) with baking paper.

In a large bowl beat egg and sugar together until blended. Melt butter and golden syrup over a low heat, combine with egg and sugar, beat well. Sift dry ingredients into mix and stir thoroughly.

Stir in boiling water (mixture will thicken at this point), pour into prepared tin. Slice pears lengthwise into eighths and place on top of the loaf (they will sink slightly).

Bake for approx. 45 minutes until cooked.

PS: Don't fill them more than *just* above halfway as they rise quite a bit.