For Erinn & John.
Dark buttermilk chocolate cake layered with dulce de leche on the the bottom.
Persian love cake layered with rose frosting and pistachio brittle on the top.
Wishing these two beautiful people a life of love and happiness.
Chrysanthemum bobble head. Pretty sure that is the scientific name.
I finally stitched some time together over the past week to update this lil old website - something I’ve been wanting to do for over 6 months.
No longer does this blog end on the 1st of October 2018!
Putting it all together made me reflect on just how many things have changed since then (and how bad I am at tech and photo stuff)! So much for a November recipe and a monthly recipe series to follow, baby growing soon kicked me out of the kitchen for a solid 4 months.
I’m glad to be back at it now. And in a new way too. Maybe I’ll reprise that recipe I was writing when morning sickness put a halt to it in November?
Thanks for sticking with me . xx
< lemon and elderflower >
I treated myself to some heart shaped tins recently and I’m kinda obsessed.
This cutie in the front has a bleeding heart of lemon curd made with homegrown lemons.
Roses from Mum’s front garden.
The King.
Imagine a cake big enough to hold this majestic beauty...!
The two “little guys” from the weekend.. Vegan Gingerbread and Pear with Salted Caramel frosting on the left. Vegan Lemon and Elderflower on the right.
On the weekend I had the honour of being my best friend’s bridesmaid and making her wedding cakes.
Three cakes. Three flavour combinations. All vegan.
I’ve worked for months on these cakes getting them just right. Vegan wedding cake baking wasn’t a forte of mine but I’m so happy with how they turned out. All the experimenting and testing on friends and family was worth it.
This big cake was coconut and sour cherry with fresh vanilla bean frosting. Two tiers, each of four layers.
Decorated with two black roses, to represent the bride and groom, surrounded by soft blushing roses and lisianthus representing their friends and family.
Athena & Stefan, I wish you a life filled with love.
How I do a wedding cake topper.
Stunning flowers from @flowersvasette.
ps black roses are hard to photograph! Is it because they are so magical?!
Getting ready for my dear friends’ wedding this weekend.
Three wedding cakes are the order of the day for these lovelies. There is no such thing as too much cake, especially at a wedding!
Here is a little TB to a past job that I never got round to sharing to get me in the mood.
< double dark choc >
It’s been a while!
I’ve been hectically busy with a massive writing deadline but I got my words in last week and now hopefully I’ll have more time for cake. This is a wee wedding cake test sample.
7 hours solid at the PhD today but somehow I feel I created more in my 1 hour out foraging with Dan the Dog.
The writing grind is real at the moment.
< spelt carrot cake with maple cream cheese frosting >
Happy Valentine’s Day.
Go give everyone and everything that you love a squeeze.
Recipe from the beautiful @flourandstone cookbook by @nadineingram.
xx
Foraging finds.
Peruvian pink pepper tree (Schinus molle). These pink peppercorns or pepper berries are safe to eat.* Those from the Brazilian pink pepper tree (Schinus terebinthifolius) are generally considered not to be. The two trees have quite different looking leaves and the difference is easy to spot.
I’m thinking they’d pair really well with a champagne or rose sponge and a lush vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream.
*Note: those with tree nut allergies should avoid these as they are from the same family are cashews etc. and aren’t actually related to black peppercorns at all.
< Victoria sponge layered with meringue and sandwiched with raspberry coolie, mascarpone and strawberries and basil poached in balsamic vinegar >
I made this for a friend’s birthday last year - I’m a bit slow with the posting.
This is the type of low key birthday cake I make for six people! I can’t help myself - I get overexcited when I’m given free reign!
Another hot week and I’m burning up like the fragile rose I am.
Keep hydrated; apply and reapply sunblock; check on the elders in your life; pop some ice cubes in your pet’s water bowl; put water out for the birds; water your garden after dusk and make a beeline for the ice cream.
Survive anyway you can!
< Sicilian ricotta, olive oil & plum cake >
After our amazing cheese making course at @thatsamorecheese on Saturday we had so much ricotta that ladling it directly into my mouth wasn’t enough to make a dint. I decided to bake with it, using olive oil, a touch of polenta for crunch and some gorgeous blood plums that are in abundance at the moment.
Our past four meals (and the next two to come) have consisted of bocconcini, ricotta, primo sale, basil and tomato. Pasta, pizza, Caprese salad and, my fave, straight on to fresh white sourdough. With lots of EVO, salt and pepper - heaven.
I am so lucky my nausea has calmed down that I could enjoy Saturday and all the cheese! 10 days ago I would have died!
Happy week all. X
< dark chocolate & raspberry layer cake >
Thank you everyone for your love, support and compassion after my last post.
I’m so grateful to all who have walked this path before me and are willing to share their experiences and tips.
I’m incredibly grateful to be pregnant. I know it isn’t something that is possible for all.
I’ll put up with all and anything to be able to meet our little bub!
ps we’ve nick-named bub Boof. Because it suits their little attitude. Might keep it for their actual name, especially if they keep sitting on my bladder!
Heading in to week 16 with left over cheesecake and my old faithful, Dan the Dog. Part of my new year Insta resolution to share more of me (eek). You ready?!
So, what have I learnt after 4 months of pregnancy? That I’m definitely not a “it’s the most beautiful time of your life” pregnant person at this stage! If you are one of those, congratulations but also, are you insane?!
*rant warning*
Just when the vomiting has finally let up it is replaced by the most agonising indigestion and heartburn. I have more acne than a 16 year old, more body hair than a gorilla and more round ligament pain than a ballon with ligaments. I didn’t even know what ‘round ligament pain’ was 16 weeks ago!
I still can’t eat what I used to love and the kitchen, where I used to live, is now a depressing place. I’ve eaten more crackers than a parrot and I hate crackers (all of them, don’t come @ me with a brand to try, I’ve tried them ALL). And now they have to be followed by a chaser of Mylanta and Gaviscon. YUM!
I used to love to move, I ran 15-20km a week, did Pilates every other day, cycled everywhere. Now I pass out from insanely low blood pressure if I move faster than my geriatric Labrador. Whilst I’ve got on board with prenatal Pilates and yoga and lots of swimming (maternity swimsuit - check), if I see one more Kayla Itsines pregnancy photoshoot of her in the gym running and pumping weights with a tiny bump and actually looking thinner at 23 weeks than she did before pregnancy I will SCREAM! Social media ads - STOP IT! Stop shaming pregnant women.
Stop pushing a “healthy” ideal body type that is based on 100% BS and is about as embracing of women’s body diversity as the tacky, s-show that is a Victoria’s Secret runway. It is plain WRONG. Making money through the manufacture and promotion of body insecurity at a point when a woman’s body is undergoing one of the biggest changes humanly possible is utterly DISGUSTING. *rant complete*
Blame it on the fact I haven’t had a cup of tea or coffee in 16 weeks. And tell me your experiences! I’ve become addicted to pregnancy tales - they make you feel slightly less alone and trapped in a body over which you’ve lost all control right?!
< baked cheesecake w/ a ginger biscuit base >
A friend that requests a baked cheesecake for their birthday is a friend worth keeping.
My first bake since Christmas. Living for all the fruit at this time of year!
I’ve crocheted many baby blankets over the years but never one for my own baby! Exciting and surreal at the same time.
Here are the beginnings, on the beginning of what will be an ever growing bump.