Now much as I love cooking and baking, I do rather like the idea of having a home full of beautiful, useful items that I have crafted with these fair hands of mine.  Only problem is, I'm rather cack-handed and clumsy, not ideal when it comes to crafting.  When I bake cakes I rarely make them smooth and styled, swirls and curls and Mr Whippy style icing are more my style.  I have had a basic sewing machine sitting in the loft for several years now.  My lovely mum gave it to me when she had a sort out and discovered she had two ... don't ask!  I look at it, I have taken the instructions out of the box, I have read the instructions. Then put them away.  Safe and secure in my total conviction that I am incapable of sewing anything ... flashbacks to sewing classes at school and my inability to make a place mat with straight edges.  I haven't been so bold as to take that one small step and remove the machine from it's box let alone the giant leap to attempt to set it up.  I really must stop making endless excuses and reasons why I simply can't and get it out.  However, I do rather enjoy hand sewing.  I saw some gorgeous felt christmas decorations while I was surfing blogland the other day and thought I'd have a go.  It was cold, wet and dreary yesterday so it seemed an ideal day to see what I could come up with.  Not bad for a first attempt - what do you think?

Finally!

Ok Ok Ok ... I said I would do this ages ago ... and finally here it is ... my raspberry and rose cake for ladies that don't exactly lunch, but got together just this once to celebrate a birthday in style ... what do you think?

There is a layer of edible glitter glistening on top which picture doesn't properly pick up.  It really did look very pretty and girly was enjoyed by all, with a glass of well chilled sparkles :o)  Freshly baked cake with whipped cream on the top just seems to me the ultimate indulgence, include jam, fresh raspberries and a bit of sparkle and quite frankly ... what's not to like??

I watched the Great British Bake Off last night ... my word how do those contestants keep delivering those kind of bakes week after week ... the pressure they must feel yet they all rise to the challenge.  Last night's episode involving french patisserie really did have my mouth watering, I must have a go at a few more sophisticated bakes.

But first off I shall give this Waitrose competition a go ... I will have my first crack at making the cupcakes tomorrow. I held off over the weekend as I want to share the cake love with someone who has done me a big favour in the past few weeks and I didn't think she was around ... we're off on holiday soon and I seriously don't need to be eating that number of cupcakes so close to take off!

Bye Bye Blog, be back soon.

Getting into the habit

I'm not doing very well am I? This blogging malarky. I have been thinking about it a lot, but somehow not managing to get myself to the PC at the right time, or when I have enough time - hah that old chestnut! I really should use this October to establish the habit of blogging every day.  I will do better. So what have I been doing?  I have made a cake to mark a significant birthday celebration for a friend. I did faf about quite a lot deciding what would work best.  Something for a group of ladies meeting at 1.00 for a drink of something sparkly, however still intending to collect children from school at 3.00. I decided raspberry and fresh cream would work well.  I do find putting fresh cream on a cake works well.  Somehow it seems to work a little better than butter cream, matter how light and fluffy it's made, there's something a bit special about using cream. Going for a delicate, feminine look, the cake was scattered with rose petals and edible silver glitter. Have to say it went down a storm :o)  Mr SW19 looked a little disappointed when I returned home with an empty cake box. I do have a picture which I shall blog over the weekend.

As well as cooking at home, I do love growing things to eat.  I've had an allotment for about eight years with my friend, we have a pretty large plot and, along with a couple of other friends, we pitch up, drink a lot of coffee, talk a lot, and grow things in a rather haphazard way.  Some years we all find ourselves with lots of time and loads gets done and lots of stuff grows. This year hasn't been one of those years. Right now, mostly due to the bizarre weather this summer - obviously, nothing whatsoever to do with a pretty amateurish approach to managing the allotment, we have quite a lot of veg but not so much variety.  A bowl of green tomatoes, that are ripening pretty rapidly inside, lots of potatoes, chard (which we all love) and that's just about it it. Now I've seen a couple of recipes for a sweet tart which has chard in it ... yes I know, weird eh?  I haven't quite brought myself to venture down that avenue, could this be the recipe that turns us into a chard-hating home?  Will mull that one over.

Tomorrow I am having my first go at baking a batch of cupcakes to enter into a cake baking competition being held by Waitrose.  You followtheir recipe and then decorate as you see fit.  The prize is a cookery course at the Waitrose Cookery School which I like the sound of. So will give it a go and the pictures will appear here soon.

Some like it hot

This is what was made yesterday, photographed, but it didn't quite make it to my Blog.  Sorry Blog. I did try harder, just didn't do so well.

This is Sweet Chilli Jam.  It's a Nigella recipe from her Christmas book.  It's so straightforward  to make, even without a food processor, it just takes about five or ten minutes to hand chop the chilli and red pepper. The original recipe is on the mild side for us here at SW19 Towers so I always include a few chilli seeds, and  have added a couple of red chillis that we have grown this year.  These chillis are a beautiful dark purple when they first grow, ripening to a deep red and even though they were described as medium hot, they certainly pack a punch.

So you may remember that I said I had a cake to make for yesterday to take for a certain milestone birthday celebration.  Thankfully I realised that the celebration is in fact today so I didn't turn up "Ta Dah" with a cake a day early.  I have decided on a raspberry and rose victoria sponge ... except ... shhhhh ... I forgot I don't have any rose water ... so it will be more raspberry and cream victoria sponge, with roses to decorate.  Hopefully elegant enough for a girls get together with a few glasses of fizz.  I will add a picture when it's made.

Could do better

Well I didn't do very well with my Blog yesterday did I?  All those people out there in Blogland who update  each and every day, they all seem to find the time for it ... hmm must try harder.

One of the things that makes me happiest is baking cakes.  Something that makes me even happier is when I bake cakes and somebody buys them from me!  How good is that?  Being paid to do something you love!  Yesterday I made a batch of egg-free frosted chocolate brownies for a local, independently-run cafe.  They sell well and it is so satisfying to receive another order and know that the local people are enjoying some of my goodies.  It's great to have a support from a local business too.

I started making egg-free cakes for my next door neighbour's son.  He was very allergic to egg when he was little ...  that just didn't seem right, to be three and not be able to eat cake, so I played around with a few ideas and recipes, found myself with some willing and able judges and these got the biggest thumbs up  ... so much so that the first one I made the paper case got eaten too!  When I got chatting to the folks with the cafe about baking cakes they were interested in what I could make, they were especially interested in "free-from" products.  So that's how I started baking for them.  As more and more were ordered I asked if they sold well because they were egg free, but seems they sell well because they taste good!

So here's what I made yesterday...

So dear Blog, I will be back later on with what I've made today.