Week 16: Piñata Malt Cake

Hello (Hallo) this is Sophie, taster of baking, taker of photographs and the moral support. (Laura is captioning the photos).

So this was a BIG BIG week of baking because it was Jennifer's, Caroline's and Allan's birthdays, and as they didn't ask or want a party, and I'm British, the only thing to do was to throw a triple surprise party, which meant lots and lots of CAKE.

This started as just a party for Jennifer so that's why Caroline helped make the cake.

So the of baking was "stressy": not only did we have 3 cakes to bake, but we had to do it without Jen realising what it was for. It was fine to start with, as we knew that Jen was out, but we didn't know when she was coming back. We all got fidgety every time the kitchen door creaked opened. We had decided on the malted piñata cake as the birthday cake, chocolate cupcakes and vegan banana bread (which I'm eating just now).

Laura made a plan of attack which started with the malt cakes as it was our main cake and the most complex to create. Also everything else we were baking we had done before and had a crack team to bake, even I did some actual helping. *shock*

Pamela the one that cannot follow a recipe, Morven the sleepy head and Sophie the poser 

Laura the planner

Caroline the co-baker and encourager

The malt cake was two layers so Laura made the first but in a pan that was too big, and under careful instruction Caroline made the other in a pan that was too small, and as a result they took longer to bake than expected ... but we were still on track for time. Despite the watchful eye of Laura, Caroline forgot to mix the sugar and the butter for her cake before the liquid, this lead to a weird bubbly bit on top but it was going to be covered by icing so it was all good.

All the ingredients

Baking the cake: planer and co-baker

Caroline's pouring skills :)

We had to somehow mix in the butter to the liquid... hmm...

We were just going to bake it and see what happened

The first cake came out looking alright

Time for me to do some actual helping - Caroline was making the buttercream for the icing so I helped by adding ingredients slowly, as she whisked before we switched places. Making buttercream needs elbow grease even with the hand mixer. hahaha

Since this was a piñata cake it meant that it had gummy sweets in the middle, briefly Caroline and I forgot about this so we started icing it before we had cut the middle out for the sweets. Oops!

Placing the sweets in the middle of the Piñata cake

This wasn't a problem as it was obvious we had only done this so that when we cut the middle out we had a mini cake that we could try for ourselves hahaha. After we had put the sweets in the middle we had some left over so we used them to decorate the outside of the cake. Unfortunately, we had forgotten that gummy sweets melt and that we didn't let the cake cool properly, so when we came to cut it they had melted into a blob... but oh well it tasted good haha.

While we were busy with that Laura and Morven set about with the Chocolate Cupcakes. This is when I started to get fidgety. This may have been the result of left over coffee from the cupcakes ;) Making these cupcakes was a piece of cake (pun intended) as we have made them before.

The busiest of busy!! 

Morven making the ganache

Me bossing everyone around ;) And they all listened to me!! YES :D haha

Morven ready to put the ganache on the stove

Melting the ganache on the stove top

Cupcakes!!!! So I made the chocolate cupcakes, and placed them in Caroline's silicone cupcake cases

The cupcakes out of the oven. They were such a drag to squeeze out of the cases!

Pamela icing the cupcakes!! 

Queue the arrival of Pamela to start on the vegan banana bread! Making banana bread is not new to Pamela, but the method was as it involved following the recipe under strict instructions from Laura. We did have to alter the recipe slightly as Pamela is 90% vegan so we swapped yogurt for soya yogurt and butter for coconut oil.  

Pamela's point of view:

I just want to say, in my DEFENCE: I DID follow the instructions this time for the vegan banana bread! :D  Okay, maybe just changed butter for coconut oil. And added one more banana instead of egg. And of corse used soya yoghurt. But apart from that, I followed Laura's instructions EXACTLY. And it turned out pretty well! 

Pamela taking instructions from me!! Hence, following the recipe :D

Now she is not :()

During all this ... DISASTER!!!

Jen came in to the kitchen, ahhhh!!!! Quick thinking by Pamela to say we were helping her bake for her bake sale the next day, despite it meaning she would miss quite a lot of class, but we got away with it. 

Jen left to go on a walk with Caroline, which was our devious plan to get rid of both of them so we could set the surprise part of the party up. We got away with it, and shortly after I found myself lying of the floor laughing, because I think the stress had got to me (and the sugar and possibly the caffeine!!!!!!!!)

Sophie helping to ice the cake :)

Icing the cake :) It was a very stressful job as there was not nearly enough icing, but we somehow made it stretch ...

It was an all-in kind of operation in the kitchen

Time for some more helping. Laura, Pamela and I iced the cupcakes. When I say iced, I mean partly stick them back together because some of them crumbled a bit when we took them out of the silicone cupcake cases.

The cake!! We were so proud of the awesome creation

Time to call in the reinforcements to set up. We had some friends waiting down where the party was going to be to help decorate, and some helping bring down the mountain of cake. An hour of frantic decorating and pacing later Caroline returned with Jen and the surprise party was on.

All the baking set up for the surprise party!!

Here are the special birthday people :D HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Caroline and Allan realise here that the birthday surprise is for them as well :D hehe

The Birthday recipients, with cake!! Jennifer, Caroline and Allan

To top all of this week we had entered into a pizza making contest at our halls and we got 2nd place.

The winning pizza: Caroline's tomato sauce, mushrooms, roasted peppers, sweetcorn, sun-dried tomatoes and basil leaves

The winning squad, plus a friend :D

It's been a very EXTREMELY busy week, until next time. We are off to sleep for a week :D 

The Baking Students xx

Week 14: Pink Grapefruit Cake

And we have lost track of the dates!! ;) haha

Thinking back to baking this I recall how I had a bike accident the day before we made it. That is how I remembered when we made this. Not to worry, I was feeling fine. Just a little battered ;)

The day was a lovely sunny day, and I had just bought some gorgeous bluey-purple flowers, which I didn't know the name of. To top things of on this lovely day, we were all (mostly all of us) in the kitchen trying the grapefruit that was left over from the zest we needed in the cake ;) Here is Sophie trying the fruit for the first time:

So without further a do, and with our grapefruit trying done and dusted for the year (it was VERY bitter, and Sophie did have a point about it tasting like the yucky taste from drinking juice right after brushing your teeth), we got stuck in to the recipe.

Jennifer whisking up the cake batter

The batter looking very smashing, I must say!

Grating the grapefruit was my job :D We made the cake vegan, so that is why there is the paper there. I had written down the ingredients we were substituting for eggs (1/4 cup banana to 1 egg) and butter (oil margarine), so that we wouldn't get confused ;) 

All ready for the oven

Getting the grapefruit drizzle ready for when the cake came out of the oven. There was A LOT of icing sugar in that!!

In the meantime we decided to decorate our flat :) What do you think?

And we also decorated the W that we had stuck on the noticeboard during the first month in our flat. We did this because we usually have the "Wee World Cafe" meetings for International Students in our flat :D 

DRIZZLE!! We were quite unsure when to put the drizzle on, so after some brief deliberation we decided on just going with it. I had not idea cause I had never made drizzle cake before, and neither had any of the other baking students, so we went with Jennifer on this one.

It was soaking around the edges, but it somehow had soaked in to the cake in less than a minute!!

The final presentation of the Pink Grapefruit Cake :D

The taste was ... so deliciously zingy. Is that the right word? It was light, and yet it was heavy. I am not even making sense!! haha. So the citrus fruit made it very fresh on the palate, but the denseness of the glaze in the cake made it heavy. I mean, I could easily have eaten piece after piece!! haha

Till next time,

The Baking Students xx

Week 13: Date, Maple and Pecan Cookies

Jennifer wrote this post :) I have had so many wonderful reviews from these cookies!! A match made in heaven <3 

For a change we made these date, maple and pecan cookies vegan which is good because it means there is finally some baking Pamela can taste.

Laura made the maple and pecan butter by roasting pecans in the oven and then blitzing them in a blend active with maple syrup.

I beated the butter and sugars together and then stirred in the maple and pecan butter, dates and banana (which was the egg replacement).

In another bowl I sieved the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.

I folded in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

I put the dough in the fridge for half an hour. Sophie had a good music playlist on which helped pass the time as I am impatient.

After half an hour, Laura came back and we rolled the dough into many balls and pressed them with a fork.

We put the cookies in the oven for ten minutes. They were still soft when they came out but they hardened up as they cooled.

Till next time,

The Baking Students xx

Week 12: Ginger and White Chocolate Loaf

This was the day before I left Helsinki to come back to Edinburgh. Just letting you know ;) I love baking so much :D haha

So after my dad and I had come back from iceskating, a good 2 hours of pure pleasure, we both got stuck in to making this lovely Ginger and White Chocolate Loaf. 

All the ingredients ready for baking

Getting the sugar, butter and golden syrup ready for the heat

Globby mess that is soo yummy!! ;)

Having a party in the oven

Almost ready!! 

After adding the creme fraiche and white chocolate icing and crystallised ginger the loaf is looking quite gorgeous!! 

We all loved this loaf!!! I made it the day before I left to go to Edinburgh, so that meant I only got one piece of the cake :( My parents really enjoyed having some baked goods in the house though !!

Till next time,

The Baking Students xx

Week 11: Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel Sticks

This recipe is definitely my favourite in a while :) I was staying at my grandparent's place during my holidays, and thought I would try something really new, so I decided to give this a go ;) It ended up that my mum, grandmother, and I were all working together to get these done. It was such fun!!

So firstly I had to make the dough, and let it rise for two hours.

Here I am in my great grandmother's apron in my grandmother's kitchen about to start folding the dough after letting it rise for two hours :)

Folding the dough

And it was sticking to the table :(

More attempts at folding

More...

Until my grandmother came in and helped me wipe the table with more and more oil ;) (That is what the recipe said to do). This made the dough less sticky and easier to work with.

Cutting up the dough into many little sticks

That is what they are supposed to look like ;) I think ...

I then had to place them for 30 seconds in a pan of simmering water and baking soda

My dad helped out a bit ;) hehe

The interesting technique of putting dough into the water, placing it on paper towelling, and then on a tray for the oven :D  It was very fun!

My grandmother, my mum and I <3 

The Sticks came out looking like little "Tiger Breads" ;)

Pretzel Sticks

Brushing the last lot of Pretzel Sticks with egg before putting them in the oven

You can then choose to either make a dip for the Sticks, or a sugar coating. 

I wanted to make a Caramel Gingerbread Dip, but we went through some difficulties trying to make the caramel...

Two times the caramel crystallised in the pan, and we have no idea why, so after a good sleep (and when my mind was not so annoyed at the sugar and water) I decided upon a Cinnamon Sugar coating ;)

The final product!!

The taste of these cuties was exactly like donuts ;) I would definitely recommend this to everyone!! It really isn't that difficult, it just takes time. 

Till next time,

The Baking Students

xx