Two Crafty Brownies

Triple Decker Latte Coffee Cake for Father's Day

Hello lovelies

Well we are here again aren’t we? Last time Manchester and this time London. Too awful and too soon. Sometimes it is overwhelming isn’t it? I have really been touched by how many people have expressed a determination to carry on and to spread love and kindness. One person I have been drawn to is Emily Coxhead, the creator of the Happy Newspaper. She began her newspaper because of the need for happy, positive stories about wonderful people. She did something amazing after the terror attacks in Manchester, which you can read about here. Do check her out - I promise she’ll make you smile! With people like Emily around there is always hope!

Another person who makes me smile is that Jenny! I did love the magnetic notebooks she made last week. I never would have thought of making my own! I know so many people who would like one of these! Another make to add to the list I think!

Oh and one more person who makes me smile...and tear my hair out too (he won’t mind me saying I promise!) is my wonderful hubby, D! I have been married to him for almost 16 years now and we have 3 lovely kids together. Father’s Day in the UK falls very close to my birthday and we always have a little joke that he is stealing my thunder each year. But I don’t mind really, he is a fab Dad and me and the kids love celebrating him. Enough hubby admiration, now let me tell you how he drives me mad…....only joking...we don’t have all day do we?! Tee hee!

I have known for many years that D likes coffee cake, but for some reason I have never baked him one. I have put that right now though! He has been eating it all week as I’ve been experimenting and he’ll be eating it on Father’s Day too, but I haven’t heard him complaining! I have based my recipe on D’s love for a latte coffee with a shot of caramel or gingerbread syrup.

Triple Decker Latte Coffee Cake with Coffee and Vanilla Frosting and a Gingerbread Drizzle

Gosh that’s a mouthful and the cake is too!

What you need is:

For the cakes:

12oz/340g unsalted butter softened/Stork margarine (I mainly use the latter for my cakes)

12oz/340g caster sugar

13½/382g oz self-raising flour

6 eggs

1½ tsp vanilla extract

3 tblsp instant coffee dissolved in 6 tblsp boiled water (you could use decaffeinated coffee if you wanted)

8”/22cm 2 sandwich cake tins (I baked 2 cakes 1st and the 3rd after the first 2 were done)

For the frosting:

20oz/566g icing sugar, sifted

10oz/283g unsalted butter, softened

2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 4 tsp boiled water

½ tsp vanilla extract

Gingerbread or Caramel syrup for coffee (I used gingerbread) - you can get them here

What you do is:

For the cakes:

Preheat fan oven to 180°C.

Grease and line the tins (I butter the base and sides, put a disc of greaseproof paper in the bottom, grease this and dust the sides with flour - I'm a no chances taken kind of girl!).

Cream together butter and sugar in a large bowl (I use an electric stand mixer).

Add the eggs one at a time beating and adding spoonfuls of flour after each addition.

Mix in the vanilla extract.

Fold in the remaining flour using a spatula, followed by the coffee mixture.

Pour the mixture into the two cake tins as evenly as possible, leaving a third of the mixture to bake afterwards.

Exercise restraint and try not to eat big mouthfuls of the mixture at this point! Soooo tempting......

Bake in the oven for 22-25 mins. Test by inserting a skewer. If it comes out clean, your cakes are cooked through.

Remove from the oven and after about 5 minutes, take cakes out of tins and leave to cool on a wire rack.

Wash, dry, grease and line one of the tins, pour the remaining mixture in and bake as before.

For the frosting:

Cream together the icing sugar and butter.

When light and fluffy, divide into ⅔ and ⅓.

Add the coffee mixture to the ⅔ and the vanilla extract to the ⅓ respectively and mix well.

To assemble the cakes, place one sandwich cake upside down on a plate or cake board. Add a small dollop of the frosting to the plate first. This helps keep the cake in place.

Spoon some of the coffee frosting on top and using a spatula smooth and spread it out evenly.

Place the next cake on top, right way up.

Spoon some more coffee frosting on top of this and place the remaining cake on top right way up.

Spread the remaining coffee frosting around the sides of the stacked cakes up to about ⅔ or however far you wish.

Next spread the vanilla frosting on top to the edges and down the sides to meet the coffee frosting. Smooth out where the 2 frostings join.

Sprinkle some gingerbread or caramel syrup over the top - oooooo so naughty!

You can add whatever decoration you fancy. I was dying to add some colour to it (like hundreds and thousands or pink flowers!) and of course you could but instead I made a little bunting banner, using 2 wooden bbq skewers, some embroidery floss and washi tape.....

I also added some chopped chocolate (Lindt Caramel with a touch of sea salt) to the top and bottom of the cake.

#yummyinourtummies!......

Oooo look at that 'crumb'.......

I also made cupcake versions using 1/3 of the cake recipe and 1/2 of the frosting recipe for our WI meeting.... 

We all love this cake!

My Dad would have loved this cake too. Father’s Day is a day we remember my lovely Dad as well as celebrating D. If Father’s day is a sad day for you, I am sending you much love and so many hugs.

Have a wonderful weekend lovelies! Jenny and I are off to Blogtacular (a blogging conference) this evening (Friday 9th June) and tomorrow and we are quite excited! We are hoping to meet some of our crafty friends from social media. There’ll be much squealing I am sure! If you are coming, do look out for us - we give free hugs! Look, we are all prepared with our name badges and everything!.....

All the love,

Lucy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Inspired by mini eggs!

Hello dear friends!

Ooo things are warming up here in London town! The Spring has sprung, the sun has been shining a little more and the world is starting to look really colourful. Here in Two Crafty Brownies Land, Jenny and I are very excited about our very first workshops. We are holding them in such a wonderful setting, the Arbour Café at The Boma Garden Centre in Kentish Town. We will be teaching how to make your very own journal/planner on the 27th April and a floral appliqué embroidery hoop on the 8th May. If you are interested in either of our workshops, you can do so and book a place by clicking on our workshops tab above or follow this link! We do hope some of you can make it!

Whilst Jenny has been inspired to decoupage with napkins, yielding beautiful results, I have been slightly obsessed with Cadbury’s mini eggs! Maybe it goes without saying that I love eating them. Over on instagram, I described them as little eggs of joy with speckled, crunchy exteriors and melt in the mouth chocolate centres. This may sound like an advert but sadly I have not been sponsored to write this post although if you are reading this Cadbury’s, you may be able to twist my arm!

I’m mostly inspired to eat them straight away but I did have enough willpower to save a few to decorate some little spring cupcakes. The kids were sooooo happy when they came home from school on this day….

I even speckled the buttercream with sifted cocoa. Look, there’s a mini egg thief about!….

I'm not impressed that Cadbury's don't make a blue mini egg! Surely there should be right? I may just start a campaign. Who's with me?......Not important enough a cause you say? Hhmph!

As well as eating them, the pretty speckled shells of mini eggs has got me crafting. I just love this look. I mean, take a look at these socks,. Don’t you just love them?.........

Also, look at those little feet! They belong to my littlest girl (all the heart eyes).

I find myself attracted to all the speckled yarn and I have to try very hard not to purchase every ball of speckled wool I see! Occasionally though, yarn just has this habit of following me home. Have you been witness to this phenomenon or is it just me? Very strange…..

This yarn is from Rico Design and I bought it from here in cream and peach too as the cream needed a friend. I am in the process of hooking up a cushion cover……….the colours make me so happy as I hook….

I’ve also had the air drying clay out again. I have played with this before as you may know. Check out the tutorials here if you fancy having a go. I made spring themed shapes using these fab cookie cutters from Paperchase....

I painted them using ceramic paint which has a glossy finish and speckled them by dipping a paint brush in gold paint and flicking the bristles with my finger. Don’t they look cute?

I am going to make them into brooches, keyrings and magnets for my little cousins as surprise Spring gifts.

I've also got a bit crafty with fabric paint, a stencil I made earlier (of an avocado stone which looks very much like a mini egg), a sponge, a paint brush and cream cotton fabric…..

I am going to transform the speckled fabric into a pouch! I might have to keep this one……...

Phew! Are you all mini-egged and speckled out? I’m not sure I am quite yet…..

The kids break up today for their Easter hols and I am very excited about the next couple of weeks of pottering and larking about with them and the hubby. Have you got any plans for Easter? Whatever your plans, do have a smashing time my lovely mini-eggs! (compliments indeed!)....

All the love and hugs,

Lucy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxzzzzzzxxxxxxxxxxx

Rhubarb and Custard Adventures!

How are you sweet friends? I do hope all is well with you.

I am really enjoying the little bit of sunshine and the slightly warmer temperatures we have been having in the last week or so. I have even managed to get out into the garden to begin that wonderful process of tidying, rearranging and planting, ready for spring and summer. I've had that cup of tea in the garden, now I'd like a cuppa and a piece of cake!

I intend to work a little harder this year and see if I can grow a few things from seed. I'm going to make one of Jenny’s brilliant junk journals where I can draw layouts, save plant labels and write notes. I’d feel like a proper gardener then! Perhaps I’ll even plant some fruit and veg. We’ll see. Baby steps I think!

I thought it was about time I had a go at experimenting in the kitchen again. Do you remember when I mucked about with pumpkins?  Jenny bought me this fab book for Christmas and as well as having some lovely recipes in it, it has a helpful ‘seasonality’ chart. I decided to have a play with rhubarb this time as it is almost rhubarb season and forced rhubarb is available now. I’ve always loved the taste of rhubarb juices and cordials. I love rhubarb and custard sweets too, the taste of which evokes such a sense of nostalgia and memories of visiting the sweet shop as a child, ordering a quarter (if my memory serves me correctly?) of these delicious sweets. Cola cubes and toffee bonbons were my favourites too! Oooo yummy! However, I've never like baked rhubarb. Perhaps it has something to do with it's slimy texture. 

I love the colours pink and yellow together too.........  

I’ve come up with 2 of my very own recipes!

Rhubarb and Custard Fool

In my head, I have an image of Mr T from the A-Team reading out the name of this recipe, “Rhubarb and Custard!... Fool!” Tee hee! I do hope you get this reference, but if you don’t, this might enlighten you! I digress……

For this recipe, I had made some rhubarb cordial using Claire Thomson’s recipe from The five O’Clock Apron. I didn’t want to throw away the pulp left over, so I puréed it. This purée tastes delicious as is but I decided it would be lovely with custard and cream too!

What you need is: (serves 4 generously)

Puréed, sweetened rhubarb - To make this purée without having made the cordial, wash, trim and cut about 500g rhubarb into chunks, toss in 60g caster sugar and roast in a 180°c oven for 15- 20mins until soft. Instead of caster sugar, you could use a few tablespoons of maple syrup. Drain off the juice and purée the rhubarb. Save the juice to drizzle on top.

300ml double cream.

8-10 tblsp (approx. 250g) fresh, shop bought, fresh custard

4 Ginger nut biscuits

3 or 4 meringues (shop bought will do!)

4 jars/dishes to serve

What you do is:

Make the purée (see above) and set aside.

To make the custard cream, whisk the double cream until thickened and stiff peaks start to form. Continue to whisk, adding the custard to the cream one tablespoon at a time. This mixture should still be thick and spoonable but not runny.

Crush the ginger nut biscuits using the end of a rolling pin.

Crush the meringues separately in the same way.

Into each jar, spoon 2 heaped tblsp rhubarb purée, a handful of crushed ginger nuts, 2-3 heaped tblsp custard cream and finally a handful of crushed meringue. Enjoy straight away. If you are preparing this treat in advance, spoon the purée and custard cream into the jar in layers, adding the crushed ginger nuts and meringue just before you serve it.

You could also swirl all of the ingredients together - this reminds me of Eton mess. Or swirl the rhubarb purée and custard cream together and add the crushed ginger biscuits and meringue to the top. There are many way to enjoy this taste sensation!

 

Rhubarb Cake with Custard Cream

Rhubarb has quite a subtle taste. I tried roasting, mashing and then mixing it in with the cake mixture but the taste of rhubarb in the baked cake was too subtle. Instead I decided to add the rhubarb in it’s raw form and this seemed to work well. You can see flecks of pink goodness in the sponge which I loved!

What you need is:

For the Cake: Double ingredients to make a sandwich cake.

113g/4oz unsalted butter, softened

113g/4oz golden caster sugar

2 eggs

½ tsp vanilla extract

113g/4oz self-raising flour

100g rhubarb

For the Custard Cream:

300ml double cream.

8-10 tblsp (approx. 250g) fresh, shop bought custard

What you do is:

Preheat your oven to 180°c (fan).

Line a 20cm/8” cake tin.

Wash, trim the ends and finely chop the rhubarb. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a tablespoon of flour after each to prevent the mixture from curdling.

Mix in the vanilla extract and then fold in the flour.

Fold in the rhubarb.

Bake in the oven for 23-25mins or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tins for 5mins and then take the cake out of the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.

To make the custard cream, whisk the double cream until thickened and stiff peaks start to form. Continue to whisk, adding the custard to the cream one tablespoon at a time. This mixture should still be thick and spoonable but not runny.

You could definitely eat this delicious cake warm, however we managed to wait until it had cooled. Dust the top of the cake with icing sugar, cut into generous slices and serve with a large dollop (great word!) of the custard cream.

Yummy in our tummies!

Look at the little morsels of pink delight!......

All this experimenting has not been good for my waistline I tell you, but I have really enjoyed it. The mucking about and the eating! Rhubarb Rocks!! Both desserts were very well received by my brood, the ‘fool’ especially so. 2 out of 3 of my kiddies made very appreciative noises whilst spooning the creamy, fruity (rhubarb is a vegetable but ‘vegetabley’ didn’t sound as good!), crunchiness out of the jars and cried out for more when they had scraped the jars clean. My other baby? Well she cried too….actual tears!.....of disgust! Rhubarb is not for everyone!

I hope you have a happy weekend lovelies, full of sunshine and deliciousness!

Big love and lots of hugs,

Lucy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxzzzzzzzzxxxxxxxxxxxx

Creative Happenings

Hello loves!

This week has been half term, so we have been doing what we usually do in these short breaks from work and school, pottering, playing and finding beauty in the city and slightly beyond if possible. Of course at the beginning of the week it was Valentine’s Day and as Jenny mentioned in her last post (did you see Jenny’s iced heart biscuits? - delish!) we are not really into it, but we are huge fans of love and we enjoy giving it and receiving it all year round! This tulip petal heart is for you, lovely readers.......

At the beginning of the year, I wrote a wish list of all the things I wanted to do or start to do. It is different from my to-do list, which details all the nitty gritty stuff that I need to get done. For example one of the items on my wish list is ‘to write more’, whether that is poetry, a children’s book and so on. One of the items on my to-do list is ‘to update a document listing all my writing ideas’, which is more specific and leads on from the ‘wish’. Another example is that I wish to have more colour in my life and so I have been buying weekly flowers which give me a well needed colour boost, especially during these dark Winter days. I really am starting to struggle with the lack of sunshine.

I love having these two lists that relate to each other in this way. It is really working for me. I have been reviewing my wish list and thinking about my year thus far and I realise firstly that almost everything on that list is a creative ‘wish’, and secondly that I am doing very well in making those wishes a reality! So far, this year has been a whirlwind of creativity and I love it! I love that crafting, sewing, baking, photographing, writing, designing, dreaming up schemes and projects have become the things that makes me happy. I know now that if I am not doing one of these activities regularly, I will not have that wonderful sense of fulfilment and joy. That is a good place to be in life I think.

 Let’s start with that colour! Flowers, how I love thee…..

 

Sigh........

I’ve been doing a spot of baking too. I discovered this gorgeous book through instagram and ordered it straight away….

You can read all about the story behind this beautiful recipe book here but briefly, proceeds from its sale go to Unicef’s Syria Relief Fund  which helps the children of Syria, too many of whom have lost so much.

So far, I have made the Barazek shortbreads, which are made with wholemeal flour and topped with crushed pistachios, but there are so many more delicious sounding recipes I’d love to try! Yummy in our tummies!.....

My boy turned 9 in January, so I made him a chocolate cake decorated with buttercream and shards of marbled chocolate…….

I have also done a little bit of baking for our local WI meetings. Beetroot brownies (recipe from Waitrose Food).......

.....and vanilla cupcakes (Victoria sponge recipe) with raspberry ripple frosting…….

A few weeks ago, the Winter light was beautiful, so I got my camera out and snapped away. These pics were all taken on Hampstead Heath, North London which is just 20 minutes away from us. We are very lucky to be city dwellers who live so close to such a wide expanse of green…….

We noticed small signs of Spring..........(yay!)

I hear you cry, “What about crafting Lu? What have you been up to? Tell us, tell us, we’re dying to know!” Of course, last but by no means least, I have been getting busy with needle, with crochet hook and with self-adhesive glitter foam sheets too (oooooo, love this stuff!). It is great to have little projects on the go, things you can complete in an evening or two as well as the lengthier tasks. So as well as learning to cross stitch and writing my first cross stitch tutorial.......

I have done a little bit of crochet….

Some macramé….a Mollie Makes Mag free project, as is the little pin cushion above…..

A spot of embroidery…….another Mollie Makes Mag free kit…...

A tiny bit of sewing (my machine was dusty! tut tut!) with leatherette...............

And a little bit of prop making for the selfie booth at the kids’ school Valentine’s disco.…..

I had to take a pic of this sweet little lad who was transfixed by the light from the lightbox!......

In case you were wondering, yes I was in charge of the selfie booth (which was bonkers!) and yes I did embarrass my kids by wearing said props and dancing about! Job done!

Silliness makes the world go round don’t you think? Kindness and love too of course! Oh and cross stitch might play a part…..and embroidery….and crochet, paper cutting, decoupage, embossing, spray painting, pouch making, clay rolling, jewellery making, upcycling, quilting………… tee hee!

All the love poppets!

Lucy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxzzzzzzzxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A Bake for Love: Iced Heart Biscuits

Hello lovelies! Have you had a good week? Have you been inspired by Lu’s gorgeous cross stitch bunting to make something pretty? I have, but decided to go for something edible! We both roll our eyes slightly at Valentine’s Day (sorry) and feel we'd rather show love all year round. I do however get a bit caught up in all the pink and red prettiness, and I do love hearts!

This is my favourite cookie book. I have had it for years and think it's a wonderful selection of most of the cookies you would want to bake. There are recipes for shortbread, digestive biscuits, gingerbread, fig rolls, flapjacks as well as THE best squishy chocolate chip cookie.I asked the author, Kate Shirazi if I could share one of the recipes with you, and she said yes! Kate owns this gorgeous shop in Devon, and you can buy the book here.

This is our go to recipe for iced biscuits, and in the book it is the base for many other lovely treats.

Basic Butter Biscuit

(reproduced with permission)

What you need is

250g/9oz softened butter
140g/5oz icing sugar, sifted
1tsp vanilla extract
1 large free range egg yolk
375g/13oz plain flour plus extra for dusting

What you do is

Beat the butter and the sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy
Add the vanilla and egg yolk and mix well
Sift in the flour and work it into a smooth ball
Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for an hour, or freeze till needed. I have also rolled it into a log and just cut slices off.
When you're ready to bake your biscuits, let the dough come to room temperature. Roll out to 3mm and use cutters to make your shapes.

Put your cookies onto a lined baking sheet. Bake at 190C/375F for 10-12 minutes until pale golden brown.
Cool on a wire rack.

Icing

Tate and Lyles Royal Icing Sugar (this makes a harder, quicker drying icing than plain icing sugar.....
Food colouring, I use these
Decide how many colours you want and split the sifted icing sugar into that many bowls. Add water sparingly (it’s easy to add too much) until the consistency is like softly whipped double cream. It should still be a bit runny but able to hold its shape. Add your colours. I use empty sauce bottles that I bought from here.

For your main colour, outline the edge of the biscuit and then ‘flood’ the middle with the same colour (see video below).The icing will smooth itself but you can help it along with a cocktail stick. Now you can let your creativity run wild…...do stripes, blobs of a contrast colour swirled with a cocktail stick, or polka dots.

If you run a stick through the dots immediately you get hearts like in the video below......

 

Leave overnight to harden, and if you need to stack them up I would wait 2 days so you don't spoil your beautiful work!

Ok my darlings, we love you loads and are so happy you are reading our blog!!

Jenny xxxxx

Best Ever Cookie Recipe

Hello lovelies! Thank you for your lovely comments on my last post. I'm happy to report I am much calmer and happier having ‘Let Perfect Go’ and I haven't yet had to put the ironing in the boot of the car as Anne's sister does, though I am sorely tempted sometimes!

As always, we have been busy as you can see from Lucy’s Busy Report. We are always making, baking and now with the markets, and selling, things seem crazy at points!! Last Saturday and Sunday we were at the gorgeous Sutton House in Hackney, pictured above.

This Saturday, my parents arrive from Malawi, and my eldest boy comes home from university for the holidays, and I cannot wait! I love having cookies, and puddings, and delicious bakes to pull out of my hat over this period, and have found it's really worth getting ahead with this a couple of months before. My freezer is my best friend during this time, and I make sure I have logs of cookie dough, bags of crumble topping and discs of pastry ready to whip out and bake. I even make mince pies and freeze them raw, to bake as necessary.......

I have been searching for years for the perfect cookie recipe. This is for when you want a large, chewy, comforting snack, and I have finally found it!! I love that you can customise this recipe with different flavourings, freeze it in a log and then cut into slices and bake whenever you need to. My recipe is adapted from the Coleman Cookies in my favourite biscuit book, Kate Shirazi’s Cookie Magic. Lu and I use her Basic Butter Biscuits over and over, I use the gingerbread recipe, and I can highly recommend this book.

So, without further ado, I give you (in my humble opinion.....)

The Best Cookie Recipe Ever………

This amount makes around 30 cookies, depending on their size of course.

What you need is:

250g butter

300g sugar

300g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

A pinch of salt

Various flavourings, see below…….

What you do is:

(I think the trick that makes these different from every other cookie I've made is that you melt the butter and sugar instead of creaming it.)

So start by weighing your butter and sugar into a pan, and melt gently over a low heat.

Once cooled a bit, whisk in the 2 eggs.

Stir in the flour, salt and baking powder, and whatever flavourings you are using.

Let the dough cool a bit further.

At this point, you could spoon walnut size lumps onto two baking trays, leaving plenty of room as they spread a lot. What I usually do is pop the pan in the fridge, and once it has cooled for a while, I tip the dough onto a large piece of clingfilm, roll it into two logs, and freeze it. When you are ready to eat warm, fresh, squidgy cookies, take a roll out, wait 5 minutes, cut it into 1 cm slices and bake as below.

Bake at 180C for around 12 minutes, keeping an eye until you have worked out what works for your oven.

Cool on a cooling rack and pour yourself a big cup of something!!

Flavours

Chocolate Chip: stir in 200g chopped milk, white or dark chocolate

White chocolate and Cranberry: 100g white chocolate chips and 100g dried cranberries

Ginger: add 2 tsps stem ginger syrup to the butter/sugar, 2 tsp ground ginger to the flour and mix in 100g chopped stem ginger

Next I'm going to try cherry and almond…...I'll let you know how that goes!! I'm also working on a oaty/peanut butter version.........

I hope you are finding some time to do whatever makes you feel happy at this rather trying time of year, darlings!

much love, Jenny xxx

Let 'Perfect' Go.....

Hello lovelies! How are you doing this week? Round here, as usual, things are busy, busy, busy. The last few weeks included a flying visit to Scotland to pick up a very special birthday gift for hubby......his new kilt! It's his very first one, and with all the regalia on, he cuts a very dashing figure. We had a lovely couple of days away with his dad, including a delicious meal at La Potiniere, a fab little restaurant in Gullane, in the Scottish borders. It was wonderful to be out of the city for a bit, walk by the sea and breathe in the country air.

Back in London, I've been drooling over Lucy’s Chocolate Stout Cake. Didn't it look absolutely delicious?

In my house we have a traditional Christmas cake. I love fruit cake. My men are not huge cake eaters, so I just have to please myself, right? And my parents, who come every Christmas love it too, in fact my mum takes whatever is left back to Malawi with her. I love the idea of them sitting on their veranda, with exotic birds flying through the garden, eating my cake! So this post was meant to be all about my Christmas cake, (that's last years cake, below)

However disaster has struck. Having carefully got my old, stained recipe book out to make a shopping list on Monday, I cannot now find it. I have looked high and low, in likely and unlikely places, and it has just vanished. I have had this recipe for years. I can't remember where it came from, but I do know I have modified it. I am not so keen on mixed peel, so I replaced it with stem ginger, and tweaked various other things. So there is no way I will be able to replicate it…….

After much internal debate, more searching, googling other recipes to see if I can find a similar one, I have decided to let it go for now. I'm sure it'll turn up, but for now, I am going to bake a different cake and hope for the best. I used this recipe as it seemed closest to mine, and lets you choose what fruit to put in.

This little episode matches what is happening on a larger scale in my life at the moment. I have been feeling increasingly unsettled and anxious, especially with Christmas approaching. The thing is, darlings, I love Christmas. But every year as it approaches, I find myself getting more and more stressed, rushed and further away from the calm, uncluttered, peaceful holiday that I crave.

To be sure, there has been a lot going on. This is only the second Christmas with the blog, and Lucy and I have had two markets to prepare for as well as opening our shop.

The first market was last Sunday. It was run by Bust Craftacular UK, and we have been as visitors a few times. It is a busy, bustling craft market in a hall in Bethnal Green, and we were thrilled to be accepted. Here are some pictures of setting up, (doesn't Lu look cute?) and our stall.

In the days before we had been madly making new products to sell, like these Christmas decorations and bookmarks. It was crazy and wonderful all at once. We loved being out there, and meeting friends from social media, and other crafters and makers.

But all of these things, the blog, the markets, Christmas have left me feeling increasingly unsettled. I feel like I am trying hard, but it's just not good enough.

By a funny coincidence, this week, when I am finding it all so hard, an artist that I have long admired, Kelly Rae Roberts, had a huge sale of her online courses. She is a mixed media artist, who fell into painting without any prior experience, left her job as a medical social worker to follow her dream. I have been reading her blog, and following her story for years, and have always really admired her for taking that big step. Her courses have always been financially out of my reach, until last tuesday when she offerd 90% off her courses, and I decided to sign up for her mixed media painting course.

This course is about learning to do collage with mantras, and there are various exercises you go through to figure out what mantras you are going to paint. Goodness, it has been hard and emotional work. These exercises have made me realise that I have been struggling for a while. Feeling I am letting people down by not being on top of things. And the crazy thing is that the only person who is pointing the finger is me! I have realised that in my quest for things to be perfect (as decided by me), I am constantly failing to meet the standards I have set for myself. And in that struggle to meet unrealistic goals, I am neglecting my own health and well being.So it's time to stop setting myself up for failure. Time to let go of the idea of the perfect Christmas, the perfect house, the perfect gifts for everyone. I am doing my best, and actually? That is enough. Below are my first two mantras. I have a feeling I'll be saying them to myself a lot over the next few weeks.........

Well, that's all from me today, lovelies. I really hope you are coping better than me in the run up to Christmas. If you have any advice or comments, please do leave them below, I would love to hear from you. In any case, I am quite sure that, like me, you are doing your best too. After all, we all have our own battles to fight, don't we?

Take care darlings, 

Jenny xxxxx

Chocolate Stout Christmas Cake

Hello there friends!

How is the build up to the Christmas period going for you? Are you getting lots of making done? I loved Jenny’s Christmas card and gift tags tutorial . I haven’t made any cards yet - I suspect it will be a last minute job for me this year and this tutorial will come in very handy!

I know lots of people have already made or are making their Christmas cakes, ready to enrich with booze over the coming weeks. Our family Christmas cake is a little bit different from the norm. None of us like marzipan and I am the only one of us who likes fruit cake, so if I made a traditional Christmas fruit cake, it would only be me who ate it …....hang on….there’s a thought! This cake is a firm family favourite. My lovely Aunty, who is a fabulous baker introduced me to this delicious cake years and years ago: “Lucy, this is The Cake, The Cake, this is Lucy!” I was so taken with the rich, chocolatey taste and wonderfully moist texture, that I wrote the recipe down straight away. Though I didn’t make a note of the book it came from, so I am afraid I cannot declare the origin!

It has been baked and enjoyed at my wedding, my cousin’s wedding, big birthdays and so many other family celebrations, I have lost count! So it made absolute sense that it should become our Christmas cake! When I smell it baking, it evokes feelings of warmth, security and love and reminds me of special family times. Have I sold it enough?...

My Family Favourite Chocolate Stout Christmas Cake.

What you need is:

8oz/225g unsalted butter softened

12oz/340g light muscovado sugar

4 eggs beaten

8oz/225g plain flour

½ tsp baking powder

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

400ml stout (such as Guinness)

4oz/113g cocoa sifted

What you do is:

Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarb together and set aside.

Whisk the sifted cocoa into the stout until thoroughly combined with no lumps and set aside. I felt like stopping here and eating/drinking this delicious mixture......

If you have the will power to carry on without consuming the above, using a free standing or hand held electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 

Add the eggs a little at time with a spoonful of the flour mixture, combining thoroughly between additions.

Now alternately add the flour mixture and the cocoa mixture, combining well each time.

Pour into a greased and lined deep 20cm/8” round cake tin.

Pop into a preheated 180°c oven for 1 - 1¼ hours or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. After about 50 mins, if you think it may be catching slightly on the top, cover with greaseproof paper.

Leave in the tin for about 10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

You can definitely eat this cake as it is - warm with cream or creme fraiche is delicious. I usually ice it with buttercream but this time I decided to learn how to make royal icing. I used this recipe from the baking legend that is, Mary Berry. It finished off the cake beautifully and tasted wonderful too! When I finished faffing playing with making the icing look snow like, I popped some (inedible) decorations on top!

Let me introduce you: Lovelies, this is The Cake. The Cake, meet the lovelies!.......

My kids and hubby are so happy that I decided to do this blog post a month before Christmas. They have polished it off and are looking forward to the ‘real’ one I’ll be baking over the Christmas holidays!

Jenny and I are so excited and a little bit emotional too, to tell you that we have been featured in a series of articles about Maker Mums on Tower Hamlets Mums, an online magazine for parents and families in the Tower Hamlets area in London. Our first press feature! Have a read if you fancy!

This Sunday we will be working, selling at our very first market as Two Crafty Brownies, which Jenny told you all about last week. Wish us luck!

Have a fab weekend!

Lucy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Playing with Pumpkins!

Hello lovelies!

 

Before I go on about the merits of pumpkins, I must first just say.. Oh My Goodness! Did you see Jenny’s handmade wardrobe update? I am so very proud and impressed with the Other Brownie! She has achieved so much and her clothes are so special. One day I am sure I will give it a go myself, but in the meantime, I will just watch and admire Jenny’s endeavours. What an inspiration!

So this week has been the half term holidays. For me these breaks from school and work are always about ‘regrouping’ with my little family: Checking in with each other, talking about plans and dreams, a few adventures and a lot of down time. With the holidays comes a little bit more head space for all of this family stuff and that definitely includes more cooking and baking time. The hubby and I like to experiment and mix things up a bit with new meals and bakes - yummy things we don’t normally cook during term time, when most often we revert to tried and tested dinners and puds. You know, all those meals you could probably make with your eyes closed…...err….don’t try that at home!

For instance in the Summer hols, I experimented with ice cream making. Without churning in a special machine, I made this delicious mint choc chip ice cream, a Waitrose food recipe ..….

...and I made this blackberry and star anise sorbet, the recipe for which was adapted from here ......

If you have read our blog for a little while, you may also remember in the June half term hols earlier this year, I made a healthy watercress pesto, a tomato salad, home baked bread and these delicious bruschetta ……

This holiday has been no exception. I have been embracing the season and making spooky biscuits....

...and I've been playing with pumpkins.....#toomuchtimeonmyhands!

Like lots of families I suspect, pumpkins are not on our shopping list very often. Every year, my hubby carves one up and all those tasty innards go to waste! This year I had other ideas. I browsed pumpkin recipes in Pinterest and oh my, people like pumpkins! Such a wealth of recipes and so much inspiration! If you use pinterest (I would recommend it), check out our board ‘Yummy in our tummies’ where I have pinned lots of pumpkin recipes, amongst other scrumptious grub that Jenny and I want to try.

After being well and truly inspired, I decided to try my hand at a pumpkin cake. I started thinking about it in terms of a carrot cake, so I grated the raw pumpkin flesh, but the resulting cake was too wet and not cooked through. Instead of adjusting the quantities, I decided to treat it a bit more like a banana cake recipe. I roasted the pumpkin, so I could mash it and it worked! My brood gave it the thumbs up too!

My Honey Roasted Pumpkin Spice Cake

1 small - medium pumpkin. I used 150g (5 oz) roasted pumpkin flesh (skin taken off)

A dash of olive oil, runny honey and a sprinkle of rock salt (I did add some dried thyme too, because I wanted to use the rest of the roasted pumpkin for another recipe)

115g (4 oz) unsalted softened butter

115g (4 oz) golden caster sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

115g (4 oz) self raising flour

½ tsp baking powder

¾ tsp ground cinnamon

Prepare the pumpkin by cutting into large segments, scooping out the seeds and setting them aside, then cutting down further into chunks. Place on a baking tray, drizzle over some olive oil, runny honey and add a sprinkle of salt (and dried thyme if you wish).

Roast the pumpkin chunks in the oven at 180c for about an hour, taking them out at intervals and giving them a toss. The roasted pumpkin will be beautifully soft and caramelized and so yummy!

Scoop out the flesh from the pumpkin chunks and weigh out 150g (5 oz). Mash well with a fork or potato masher and set aside.

Sieve the flour, baking powder and cinnamon together.

Beat the butter and sugar together in an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time with a spoonful of flour, beating well between additions. Add the vanilla extract and beat again.

Using a spatula, fold in the mashed pumpkin, followed by the flour mixture.

Pop into a round 8”/20cm lined loose-bottomed sandwich cake tin (you could double the recipe and make a sandwich cake) and bake in a preheated oven at 180C for about 22 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave in the tin to cool for 5 mins then take out of tin and cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy warm with a dollop of creme fraiche or leave until cold and smear some cream cheese frosting (such as the one from this recipe) on top - delish!!

I used the rest of the roasted pumpkin flesh to make a variation of this Pumpkin Hummous recipe . I pureed 430g of roasted pumpkin, with a clove of garlic, the juice of one large lemon, 2tblsp olive oil, 3 tblsp water and 3 tblsp tahini. Served with a drizzle of olive oil, another squeeze of lemon, a sprinkle of smoked paprika, chopped fresh coriander and toasted pitta to dip, this recipe surprised me with its yumminess!

Those pumpkin seeds didn’t go to waste either. I was inspired by this Jamie Oliver recipe to roast my seeds with runny honey and a pinch of salt. The kids love them so much they were gone before I had time to take a photo!

Have a wonderful weekend and if you celebrate Halloween, have a spooky one darlings!

Lucy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxboo!xxxxxxxx

'Still Hoping For Sunshine' Fruity Coasters Tutorial

 

Hello my lovelies

It is easy in the current political and global climate to feel very sad and it would also be very easy to write a whole post about recent happenings here in the UK and in the rest of the world. However, rather than getting on my soapbox and having a big old rant, I will acknowledge the sadness and anxiety that I and many others feel right now. But I will also say that I feel reassured, calmed and hopeful because of the many wonderful like minded people there are out there in my immediate community and far beyond, who are spreading the messages of kindness, integration, unity, warmth, generosity, love and peace.

Here in the UK, the physical climate is lacking a bit too isn’t it? I have been hoping for sunshine and Jenny has been wishing the rain away but that sunshine is still elusive and the rain is still here. But I’m welcoming a bit of sparkle into our lives in the form of shiny, adhesive paper! This stuff is fab! Oh the possibilities! I’ve been sticking it on all sorts of things (tee hee!). For this tutorial, I’m sticking it onto tiles to make coasters - an easy, quick and fun tutorial to brighten things up.

What you need is:

Shiny/glittery/metallic adhesive paper - such as this or this

Templates - You can find 2 pdf files full of my fruity images (plus a flamingo and a lolly!) for this tutorial here - Download Fruity coasters templates 1 and Download Fruity coasters templates 2

Tile coasters such as these

Decoupage gloss like this one. A note on decoupage glosses: Brands differ in terms of the consistency. I find that thicker glosses leave a bumpy, ridged appearance on the tiles. My advice is to paint a tester tile with the gloss and if this happens, try thinning it every so slightly with a few drops of water.

Foam brushes

Self-adhesive protective foam pads for the bottom of the coasters. The tiles I bought came with little foam pads. You can buy them from diy shops, Ikea etc.

Black sharpie pen

What you do is:

Give your tiles a little wipe with a damp cloth and dry them to ensure they are clean and grease free.

Cut out the templates provided or make some of your own, using the tile as a guide to size your images.

Draw around the templates onto the back of the self-adhesive paper and cut out the designs. Remember here that if there is a ‘right’ way for your design, you will need to draw around it onto the back of the paper with the design facing the ‘wrong’ way.

Carefully peel off the backing from the self-adhesive paper and stick onto the tiles, smoothing down as you go.

 

Add any detail, such as the pips on the watermelon and strawberry designs. I used a black sharpie for this.

Using a foam brush, apply a layer of gloss to the surface of the tile. Smooth down any bumps that appear in the paper using your finger.

Allow to dry (follow the manufacturer’s guidelines for drying times)

Add a further coat and again allow to dry.

Once dry, your coasters can be used.

 

 

These bright, fun coasters take no time at all to create and will jazz up any coffee table! I hope you give them a go!

Big big love and peace to you always my lovelies,

Lucy xxxxxxxxxxx