Marvelous Mini Cakes!

Oh Boy, did I make yummy little cakes a few days ago! So yummy in fact that I have decided they will be my new dinner party trick, the real yumminess to these fancy little cakes is that they are sweet and tart all rolled into one! The other thing that attracted me to they is they are SuPeR Easy - and you all know by now my middle name is EASY! 

 

I found this recipe in our Wine of the Month Club magazine! Yes!  Of course we belong to Wine of the Month Club, we should actually belong to Wine the WEEK club..... But any hoooo, on with the rambling...

 

LSO was oohing and aaahing over said box of wine that had been delivered, I grabbed my favourite part of the delivery - No not a bottle of red, the lovely Magazine, Good Taste,  that comes with the box. There are always gorgeous articles and recipes in it, but I have never tried any before.... they all look super complicated! However this particular article had an article on high tea's and a delectable little morsel caught my eye, I mean really doesn't Mini Rose and Raspberry Cakes sound just wonderful? They did to me! And you all know me... straight to the kitchen....

Basic Vanilla and Raspberries

A basic vanilla batter, with raspberries and rosewater was really very simple. I must be honest I am very confused as to how come I had rosewater handy... honestly, I just cant think when I used it, but it was there and I was happy! Twenty or so minutes later they were in the little silicone cups and waiting to go into the oven..... EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEASY...

 

Waiting to Bake

The recipe? Well, alrighty then here it is....

Mini Rose  and Raspberry Cakes

125g Butter(soft)
150g Caster Sugar
1tsp Vanilla Essence
2 Eggs
185g Flour
1.5tsp Baking Powder
A pinch of Salt
1/2 Cup of Milk
1 cup fresh Raspberries
1 cup icing sugar
40 - 60mls Hot Water
A few drops of Rose Water

Cream the butter, caster sugar and vanilla essence
Add the eggs ,one at a time and beat well after each egg
Add the flour, baking powder and salt -beat
Add the milk - beat till smooth
Fold in the raspberries
Divide between the moulds, or you could use  a muffin pan. My moulds made 8 perfect eaty size cakes, with a muffin pan you may get more....
Bake at 170 degrees Celsius for about 25 - 30 min, but test them often... I found mine needed more time because the moulds were high

While they bake, sieve the icing sugar and add the hot water, a little at a time, drizzle consistency is what you want, add the rose water, and drizzle over the cooled cake - Yeah right, let them cool - NEVER, I had applied one to my mouth very soon after they came out the oven, and Oh Boy they are good!

 

 

Dercorated with Rose Petals

Yummy!

The rest of these little cakes made it until after dinner time,and once served,  they were pronounced winning little morsels by the entire family, except Little Madame(who else?) who proclaimed " Mama I absolutely and positively do not eat fruit in my cakes" My reply was quick and short, " Well that is  fine, more for me" And I popped another sweet, soft, spongy and tart spoonful into my mouth, closed my eyes and sighed...... xxx

New Year Ta Dahhhhh!!

It's been in production for  a long, long, long time  but here it is .... finally! It is finished, can you believe it, No ? Well to be honest neither can I , and I bet that you have all looked down the page already and seen the my big Ta Dah is in actual fact the Two shades of Grey Blanket! YES,  lovely peeps it is FINALLY finished after two long years, actually, when I think about it, it is longer, I started these, beautiful flowers when I had just learnt to crochet, and that was about 4 years ago.....  

Two Shades of Grey

The Story of this blanket seems somewhat epic. I first saw these Japanese flowers on Attic24 my FaVoRiTe blog in the whole wide world of cyber space! Lovely Lucy had made a scarf, a long soft delicate beautiful scarf, and of course I had to have one, even though I was a raw,  let me say that again RAW beginner. I sat down and got stuck in, and slowly worked it out. It was painful but in the end, I totally got it right, BUT alas as you can read in this post, it was not to be!

And A Little Pink

And so it was shelved, while I pondered it.... actually, to be honest, it was forgotten... This post and then I had an epiphany in the middle of the night.... This post and the blanket was born...  that seems like it was ages ago, and it was, I gave you an update on it last year - Here. Now four posts dedicated to one blanket seems excessive, yes even to me! But here it is and it is all done and dusted.... The pictures above are not great, I found it very difficult to photograph, it is awfully big!



It Is Huge



 

I have to do this simply because this blanket and my finger deserve a big fat, WELL DONE! So......Brace yourselves....... Here it comes......TA DAH!!!!!

And Warm

 

I asked LSO to take a few pictures of me and my "Two Shades Of Grey Blanket" As you can see I am pretty chuffed with myself! It is just like Lovely Lucy's scarf! It is soft, warm and BeAuTiFuL!!



And I Am HAPPY!

And now I hear you all ask, what are you going to do with yet ANOTHER crocheted blanket? That my lovely peeps is an easy answer... It is going to be given with all my LOVE to a very special person, who has wanted it with a sore heart since she saw it. It will wing its way oversea to the very cold city of Baltimore in the USA. and do a good job of keeping my baby sister warm! So my darling Cindy this one is for you.... xxx