Baking Therapy

I have been a bit quiet here for the last couple of weeks, and this day marks the end of an incredibly long and disastrous week. From locking myself out of my apartment, to smashing my phone screen, and dropping my prized Kitchen Aid, my mood has been a little down. I definitely needed some baking therapy but unfortunately my oven has also broken this week! Luckily the promise of baked goods assists in the donation of an oven to use!

I don't think you can go past a perfectly baked scone, with a light fluffy centre paired with whipped cream and strawberry jam, and it's exactly what I fancied eating.

Firstly, thanks to my Mum for this delicious recipe and also the handy hints!

Traditional Scones and Jame

This is an incredibly simple and quick recipe, and you only need a few ingredients. Apologies these measurements are in imperial but you can change them to metric if needed.

You will need:

1 lb Self-raising Flour
1 tsp Salt
4 oz Butter
2 oz Caster Sugar
1/2 pint Milk
Jam and whipped cream to fill.

Firstly pre-heat your oven to 230oC, these treats are baked quickly but at a high heat. You will also need to prepare a lightly greased baking tray.

1. Sift flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Rub in butter until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

This may take a little while to get to this stage.

2. Add caster sugar and mix lightly. Then incorporate the milk and mix to a soft dough, it may be slightly sticky so you can add a little extra flour if required.

3. Turn onto a lightly floured surface, knead quickly and pat out to approximately 1.5cm thickness.
Note: Do not use a rolling pin, this can cause the dough to become tough and not rise as effectively.

This recipe will make approximately 20 scones

 4. Place scones on a greased baking tray and bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes. You can brush the tops with milk/whisked egg but it isn't necessary.

5. Cool on a wire rack, halve and enjoy with whipped cream and jam. I'm also looking forward to trying these with some home made lemon curd.

Top with jam and cream and enjoy!

After a little baking, and some sugar I'm feeling happier and I can look forward to a better week. Let me know if you give these a go. Have a lovely week! x

Red Velvet Dreams

Today mark's a day I am incredibly proud of. A small step closer to making my dreams possible.

I attended a presentation skills training session at work a couple of weeks ago, as a warm up exercise we were asked to select a topic card, and then talk for 2 minutes on that particular subject, with no preparation. The card I selected at random was; your favorite food. Obviously, I passionately rambled on about my love for cupcakes and sweet things in general, and I was told my excitement was infectious! The conversation continued during morning tea and I was asked if I ever made cupcakes to sell, I nervously said that it was something I'd love to do

Roll on to yesterday, I was approached by a co-worker to see if I would be able to bake something, in time for a Mad Hatter themed bridal shower this weekend. I immediately felt anxious, I'd never actually SOLD a cake, I had no idea how to price or charge for my work or time. In my mind I was thinking who would actually pay for something I had made?! The sudden doubt about my capabilities crept in, but I reluctantly accepted the challenge.

With the short time frame, I suggested Red Velvet - with the red/white colouring I thought it could symbolise The Queen of Hearts another Alice in Wonderland character. Plus they're delicious! Luckily I only had to bake 24, nothing too far out of my comfort zone but I needed each one to be perfect. A scary thought, considering I was trialling a brand new recipe, provided to me at my cupcake baking class.

Nothing more inviting than Red Velvet batter

Perfectly risen and baked 

Today, I put all my love into baking 24 perfectly iced Red Velvet cupcakes. I love the colour of the batter, and the excitement of adding the vinegar at the end to watch the explosion of air bubbles incorporating into the mixture! Again, my trusty oven thermometer, allowed my oven to be the correct temperature allowing for perfectly even cakes.

Adding the cream cheese frosting and tiny love heart decorations

I'm so please with how each and every one of the 24 came out, I would be so upset to present a box of ugly cakes - but these are pretty, and I had a sneaky taste and they are yummy too!

My main grumble about cupcake stores is the amount of icing they put on top - I have a sweet tooth but I usually end up scraping a bit off as it gets too sickly! So I consciously took that into account as I piped my cream cheese frosting on.

Red Velvet Cupcake

What do you think? Would you pay for one of these...? If you would like the recipe on how to bake these yourself, let me know and I can write another blog post tutorial x