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).

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal

As a restaurant named one of the top 10 restaurants in the world, as well as having a celebrity chef renowned for this quirky inventions and scientific experiments with food, I was so looking forward to Dinner. It’s actually easier to book than you think, and with some three or four months of advance planning (for the OCD like me), some furious mouse action, and the help of Opentable, you can get an 8pm Saturday reservation.

Despicable Me Minions Bento Box

The best part of Despicable Me? Definitely the minions.

And as I was googling around to find out some more about them, I found out that...

...there's going to a Minions film! 

Coming in summer 2015.

Exciting!

For those of you who have read my blog for a while, you may know that I used to love making bento boxes (you can see some on the right). For those of you that are new (hello!), they are a popular Japanese lunch box, and often parents prepare children's ones with rice shaped like cartoon characters, with vegetables and fruit to decorate.

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.