Nigella's Guinness Gingerbread

This recipe was one that really tickled my taste buds after reading it in Nigella's new cookbook, "Kitchen". The picture in the book looked moist and scrummy. So I had to give it a go as I love ginger... and quite partial to a little bit of Guinness.

The actual cake mixture is more like a batter. It is quite runny so I decided to use a tinfoil tray instead of a spring-loaded cake tin as I didn't want any leaks.

As my oven in a fan oven, I reduced the temperature to 160 degrees C instead of 180 degrees C, and cooked it for 5 minutes longer. You really need to watch the cake after 40minutes as it can catch on top because of the amount of syrup and sugar in the cake. I had to cover mine with tinfoil.

Result - well, the top of the cake cracked a little and I need to play around with the temperature and cooking time for my oven for the next cake as the centre was still a little moist. It wasn't gingery enough for me, so I made a ginger and lemon fudge icing for the top and sprinkled over some chopped stem ginger.

Needs another attempt and a bit of tweaking, but it is very easy to do.

... did I tell you that I sew as well?!

I come from quite a crafty and creative family and have always been encouraged to have a go at most things. My mother is a great sewer and over the past couple of years I have learnt to sew and make clothes and home furnishings. In fitting with the Pengelly Belly I started to make aprons and other kitchen goodies like tea/coffee/ egg cosies.
Why not!?

I like to look good in the kitchen with a funky apron. So here are two of my favourite. The black one is mine and has the most adorable mini cupcake print with the text "what shall we have today", and the other was made for my friend Charlotte, of Charlotte Cake Designs, who is opening up her own cake making company - check her out on Facebook - she is so talented and artistic. The amazing fabric was from Treasure Bay Fabrics who are based across the pond in America. Check out their Etsy shop for more amazing fabrics and their wonderful blog.

I hope you like them!

Nic xoxo

What pudding shall we have?

I had a dinner party headache a couple of weeks ago. We had some really good friends coming over for supper and I couldn't decide on what pudding to make, so instead, I made miniature puddings served in shot glasses and served on a rectangular platter.

Trying to find something to serve the puddings on and in was a nightmare. Cornwall isn't the best place to find unusual serveware, and at the last minute I was saved by a local catering company who actually sells to the public as well, at the fraction of the price compared to supermarkets or M&S! Luckily for me they had 4 white rectangular platters left in their end of season sale and they where a bargain at £3.00 each, and the shot glasses were cheap as well! Both functional and totally re-usable. I've recently used the platters to serve up bowls of soup and hunks of bread.

Anyway, back to the puddings! I made a chocolate orange mousse from an adapted recipe from the Green & Blacks cookbook. I used the Co-op spiced orange dark chocolate which is amazing. The supermarkets only seem to sell orange chocolate with bits in it. The second pudding was creme brulee using Delias tried and tested recipe - it never fails me and you get a cracking (literally) brulee topping. And finally, a modification of Rachel Allen's Blackberry Mousse which I only saw her make the week before on her new dinner party series. It was really easy to knock up.

All puddings where a success, and I must admit that it really didn't take that long to actually make three batches of the puddings. I did have quite a bit extra left over after decanting into the glasses which were given to friends and family to eat! I didn't hear any complains.

Tres chic for a dinner party!

Nic xoxox

Cook book addict

I have to share a secret with you... I have an addiction... to cook books. Some women are addicted to shoes, clothes, jewellery (ok, I do have a keen eye for jewellery thanks to my mum!)... but my addiction is cook books.

I must have over 100 of them, easily. Some are real reliable favourites like Leith's Vegetarian Bible, Rachel Allen Bake, Nigella Lawson Christmas, whilst some are so beautiful that you want to display them as table books and drool over the photography. I read cook books like you read fiction. I have recently had to be ruthless and sort through my collection resulting in selling some on Ebay and at the carboot.

However, I have brought two new cook books this month; first of we have Nigella Lawson's Kitchen which is a delight to read and I can't wait to try out some recipes... guinness gingerbread and beer-braised pork knuckles are first on the menu! I will be making the gingerbread this weekend for hubby to take to rugby to feed the crowd.

And secondly, the Giraffe Cook book which is on its way in the post as we speak. This has been published by one of my favourite eateries, Giraffe. Unfortunately for me the nearest one to us is over 100 miles away in Devon so we always make an effort to find one when we go over the boarder from Cornwall. I'll let you know what the book is like when it arrives!

I'm sure I'm not the only one out there with a cook book addiction! What's your favourite?

Nic xoxo

Welcome!

Hello there!

Welcome to my first ever blog! I'm trying to embrace technology and share with you some of my passions from the kitchen and the craft room!

Please be patient with me... I'm new to this. I'm normally lurking on other people's blogs, so I bit the bullet and have now created my own.

So please, grab your self a cup of tea (or a glass of wine), make your self comfortable and you join me in my culinary and crafty travels!

Nicola xoxo