Raspberry And Coconut Loaf Cake

Hello! For the eagle eyed of you out there, I have been a little slooow with the blog posts of late. I actually have a backlog of travel posts that I have been meaning to put up for some time, although that time just never seems to come about (although, you are very welcome to check out my Instagram over here!! -----> unless you are viewing this on your phone, in which case, I have no idea where you would find it, nor would you really care, I'm guessing *nervous laugh*).

So this weekend I decided to bake something. Yay! So off I wandered, to the local Co-op (no, they did not sponsor this post) for ingredients. I found their baking magazine, I found eggs, and I found their coconut and raspberry loaf cake.

Halloween: Of Ghosts and Pumpkins

Boo!

So I'm back (finally!) with a Halloween themed bake that I made for our department charity bake sale this week. The theme was to bake something scary for Halloween, and I was thinking "well... do you mean scary as in boo! scary or scary as in....scary..ly bad?" Because, you know, I can do the latter pretty well.

I just don't put it on my blog... :)

Eric Lanlard’s Baked Vanilla Cheesecake

This cheesecake recipe calls for 900g of (full fat) cream cheese. So when I was out picking up the ingredients the supermarket only sold them in 200g tubs, so off I went to pick up five.

That's...a lot of cheese.

Elderflower and lemon cake

I thought about starting this post with "Hello! I'm alive!! I'm still here!" as it has been over four months (that's like 5 cat years) since I last blogged.

I would like to say that I've been deprived of any baking equipment and flour and butter and sugar and an oven and I just really wanted to bake but simply couldn't. But um, I think I've just been busy eating cake rather than making it. 

So when the email came round at work for an Easter themed bake sale I jumped at the opportunity to get off my chair (which was proving difficult after all of said cake eating) and make something (ahhhhh).

I settled on an elderflower and lemon cake with almonds, decorated with pink and yellow butterflies and sparkly things and flowers. 'Cos you know, Spring.

All in all, our department bake sale managed to raise just over £520 for Great Ormond Street Hospital which is great news! Somebody bought the whole elderflower and lemon cake and shared it around her desk (well, I presume she shared it around her desk.. but I'm not judging if you eat it all by yourself, hehe).

But just to let you know (although it probably doesn't affect over over that side of the electronic screen you're looking at this from) that THIS CAKE CONTAINS NUTS. 

ALMONDS. NUTTY ALMONDS. NUTILICIOUS ALMONDS. So don't eat it if you have a nut allergy, folks. 

Cherry Bakewell Slices

At school, I was part of a group of friends, whom I love to bits, but where just the most picky eaters. One didn't eat pork, one didn't eat beef, one didn't like vegetables and the other was allergic to nuts. So every time we had a sleepover, we had margarita pizza. 

And a massive box of celebrations, of course :)

But I do feel sorry for the nut allergy sufferers, because ground almonds make the best cake. That sort of dense, fudgy texture with that smell of slightly toasted almond....coupled with cherry jam and drizzled with icing sugar....served with a cup of tea and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Aka.... cherry bakewell! (Tea and ice cream optional but encouraged).

Champagne Heart Cake

So this is my attempt at one of The Great British Bake Off's Showstopper Cakes! It's a vanilla sponge cake, with champagne flavoured icing which are iced to look like roses, with a "secret" pink marzipan centre.

Now try saying that with your mouth full of cake :)

I have to admit, this is probably one of the most difficult and most technical cakes I've ever made. It took me forever, but it was worth it!

Oh, and its finished with a sprinkling of edible pink glitter, of course.

Strawberry, Lime And Basil No-Bake Cheesecake

I have to admit, I've been off the cake market for some time. I'm not having a cake affair, I promise (I am not cheating on cake with vegetables!), but I have been busy with exams and work and the like.

Cake, will you be my best friend again??

I've entered my recipe into the Rix Aga Inspired Recipes Competition for June! The theme this month is strawberries, so I think I'm in pretty good shape here :) 

Easter bunny frosted lemon & orange Pimm's cake (with step-by-step instructions)

Did you give up anything for Lent? My housemate and I decided to do coffee (her) and chocolate (me), and whilst I was all "yeah as if you'd be able to go without caffeine for two months muahaha".... it turned out I couldn't go without cocoa for two days.

But I digress. This easter cake has no chocolate. It's orange and lemon and teeny bit of Pimm's in it, because, why not, and spring is almost (sort of) here (sometimes)! Hurrah!

However, the ingredients do call for a large quantity of icing sugar. Like, about 2 kg of the stuff.

Two days later, I've still got the sugar shakes.

*shakes about the room a little*

Paul Hollywood's Chelsea Buns

So as some of you may know, and some of you may not, and some of you may not care, I've entered to the Great British Bake Off 2014. 

I even got through to the phone interview round! But I totally freaked out when they called me ("what?! You want to talk to me?! Yes I can talk about baking I love cakes I want to eat cakes all day I've been baking for 7 years my parents don't like cake but it's okay because people at work do did I mention I love cakes wowweeee!" "Erm, thanks Xinmei".) 

Paul and Mary, at the very least I hope you'd be proud of these chelsea buns. 

(You can find the recipe here, or below.)

Baileys Chocolate Brownies

What did you get for Christmas?

Fat.

I got fat.

Baileys And Chocolate Cheesecake

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."

Chocolate Yule Log (with step by step instructions)

Hello everyone! In case you're wondering where I've been, I've not gone anywhere just a little tied up lately...but,

I do occasionally crawl out of my cocoon for one thing and one thing only....

CHOCOLATE.

And CHRISTMAS.

And when it's a Chocolate Christmas then I'm there with (jingle) bells on :)

Are you excited about Christmas? I am!! I've been to three Christmas markets (Christmas market in Blenheim Palace, Oxford, Southbank market in London and the Taste of Christmas food festival in London - posts about these to come soon!) and when I'm not doing that I'm waking up my housemates at 9am on a Sunday morning with Shakin' Stevens (NOT my own rendition, thank god) and I've got Michael Buble's Christmas album on repeat, again.

Do you like Christmas? I like Christmas too. Let's be friends :)

Halloween RIP Mini-Graveyard Cupcakes

Happy Halloween!

I made these cupcakes for a Halloween bake off at work which was supposed to be on Monday.

Turns out it was cancelled, but I didn't get the message. 

But hey, who's complaining when you've got cupcakes?! :D

(Although my team did get a little suspicious when I have them cakes with 'RIP' written on them... "Xinmei, are you trying to tell us something? Have we been working you too hard?!")

Maple and Pecan Layer Cake (the rustic wobbly kind)

Did you know that it would take 11,624 pecans, stacked end to end, to reach the top of the Empire State Building? 

Did you know that it would take 144million pecans to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool??

And, did you know that it take 5,640 pecan halves to equal the weight of a standard watermelon????

No, I didn't either!

Credit goes to www.ilovepecans.org

Yeah, it's a thing.

Anyone for Pimm's?

Go on, ask me what time it is.

Do it. Pleaseeeeeee. Now. Ask me ask me ask me.

...

Oh, what time is it, you ask?

Well, I think, it might just be.....

...PIMM'S O'CLOCK!!

Individual Peach Frangipanes

Hands up who knows what a frangipane is?

One...two...really? That it?

A couple of my friends got very excited as I told them that I had baked, and they thought I must have made cupcakes. Yay cupcakes! I had to then admit I'd made frangipanes, which are much more interesting if a little uglier (my fault). The conversation went something like this...

"What?? Where's the cupcakes?

"I didn't make cupcakes. I made frangipane."

"What's that?"

"It's like a tart with almondy stuff and peaches in it"

"Hm, okay.  Hey guys, Xinmei's brought cupcakes!"

What? Where?

Although the next day, I got a very sweet thank you message for the frangipane:

"Hey Xinmei, thanks for the pecan pie yesterday!! It was delicious!"

Hm. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Happy 100th blog post! Alice in Wonderland Cupcakes

Wohoo! It's officially Pudding Pie Lane's 100th blog post. It all started on that fateful sunny July day just three years ago, when pen met paper (well, finger met keyboard) and cakes officially became my best friend. 

So, to celebrate, my blog is having an un-birthday... a very merry un-birthday... a very merry un-birthday to me!

Thanks to Rex London for the adorable mini milk bottles and paper straws (the milk bottles come in a metal crate with handles and everything!) 

Chocolate Mousse 'Mirror' Cake

Okay, so I thought it was my blog's 100th post today. Turns out, its the 99th. But I'm celebrating anyway.

A few weeks ago, I made a chocolate mousse 'mirror' cake that I saw in Patisserie Valerie, and it was just so pretty that I just had to make it. (See it here, what do you think? Do you think I did a good job? Yes??). 

The idea of being a 'mirror' cake is so that the chocolate glaze on top is meant to so so shiny that you primp in front of it. This didn't exactly happen with my version, but I'd rather not see my face covered in flour and chocolate anyway! 

But if you want the real deal, you should probably check out Pat Val. I've fallen in love with their mille feuille cake.

Oh oh and good luck to those running the London marathon today! I can see you out of my bedroom window and I am cheering you on!!!

Matcha Green Tea and Raspberry Cake

Follow me on Twitter (@puddingpielane)! I have finally made the transition and I'm (shock!) quite addicted (shock!). Well, it's really just another excuse for me to post food photos everywhere. 

It's just a good thing my photos are so beautiful. Ha.

Afternoon Tea at The Ritz, London

Let me tell you a little bit about the story behind how this afternoon tea came to be. 

Four years ago, I was accepted at Cambridge to study Economics. Of course, my parents were delighted. And as a reward, my dad was going to take me for afternoon tea! And at The Ritz! Somehow, we never really looked into making a booking. Actually, I think the word I'm looking for is that a certain someone had 'tactically forgotten'. And then I graduated and started working and that was that.

But aha! 3 months ago I was browsing the booking website at the Ritz (as you do) and it seemed someone had made a cancellation... so before any more forgetting could be done (because by the time we got round to it I have have retired... Who knows?) I made a booking for three.

Oh my, I do love afternoon tea. And thank you to my wonderful parents for taking me! :)