Author Archives: bake

Favourite posts this week

:: I really fancy making some jam and this rhubarb, vanilla and cardamom combination is just my sort of thing. Oooh but so is bacon jam – I don’t care if “it’s SO 2011″

:: Would love to lick this bowl clean. Sorry, that may have been too much…

:: If I don’t make a dip with our next bunch of beetroot, I’m likely to make this gratin instead

:: Love Joel’s circus and can’t wait until C is ready for this kind of fun

:: Great photo project: Delicatessen with Love

:: How long has Geoguessr been around? It’s addictive! I’m useless!

:: Speaking of addictive, would you rather…?

Wishing you a very happy (long) weekend!

Bake

xoxo

Citrus polenta cake

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PEEK-A-BOO

Where are you?

No, I’m not talking to C, I’m talking to you Sunshine.

Seriously, it’s weeks like these that I wonder why we moved away from the South of France. The weather here is pathetic!

In order to fix this, in the only way I know how, let’s bake some sunshine into our lives.

Citrus Polenta Cake
serves 10

50g polenta
200g ground almonds
50g plain flour (I used wholemeal)
1 teaspoon baking powder
125ml olive oil
100g butter, melted and cooled
3 eggs
150g caster sugar
juice and grated zest of a lemon
juice and grated zest of an orange

Mix the polenta, ground almonds, flour and baking powder together in a large bowl.

Whisk the eggs and caster sugar until pale (with machine or by hand), then slowly whisk in the oil and then the butter.

Whisk in the almond and polenta mixture, then add the lemon and orange juices followed by the zests.

Transfer the mixture to a lined baking tin (I used 20cm/8″) and bake in a preheated oven 160 / gas mark 3 for approximately 45 mins.

The cake should be slightly underdone in the middle. Leave to cool in the tray for 10 mins before removing (and eating!). It’s difficult to wait, but worth it.

Enjoy!

Bake

xoxo

Our everyday life: week 20

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Making cookies for the freezer in bulk. Microwave/Oven thing tested, but can only bake 4 cookies at a time!

Sneakily stole a whole apple from the veg box…

…this is what remained after 20 minutes!

Poor cat trying to find some peace and quiet

On a very grey day when we needed to get out for some fresh air

C was happy to go for a long walk

Lots of lovely green leaves coming out

But nothing could beat all the bluebells!

Magical!

One man we met asked C if he could see the fairies. I thought he was a bit of a weirdo until…

…a little creepy, but bless them for making the effort

Waving bye-bye to the cows

Sunday lunch for friends. No roast, but a very hob-friendly broad bean, lemon, meatball recipe from this book. Deeeelicious! It never lets us down! (Recipe here too)

Broad bean ghosts

Seriously can’t leave this guy alone. Trouble.

This is what happens when you run out of Greek yoghurt. Yikes!

Have a lovely week

Bake

xoxo

Beetroot dip

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The beauty of having a fruit and vegetable box delivered each week is never knowing quite what we are going to be eating.

Even better is when your friend also has a box but doesn’t like something so willingly leaves you with a handful of fresh beetroot!

Shake isn’t the biggest beetroot fan and I didn’t really want to deal with the mess/stains with C so I selfishly ate them all myself Have to admit the colour also cheered me up on some miserable grey days this week.

Beetroot dip
serves 1 for lunch for 3 days (or one large bowl)

Beetroot, roasted (I had about 7 small)
3 tablespoons yoghurt (I used Greek)
2 tablespoons cream cheese
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste

Add all to blender and process until you achieve the consistency you like.

Mine wasn’t completely smooth, but I liked the occassional chunk of beetroot.

Serve with crudités to dip or on toasted (sourdough) bread for a simple lunch.

Enjoy!

Bake
xoxo

Favourite posts this week

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:: It’s that time of year – How to prepare and cook artichokes

:: I’ve never had a butter tart, but this might be the one to start with

:: Fresh garlic and what to do with it. Love, love, love the use of the membranes. So clever!

:: Beautiful photos and a delicious sounding strawberry jam

:: We are absolutely going to try Joy’s white chocolate rose cake

Wishing you all a happy, healthy weekend!

Bake

xoxo

Raspberry & White Chocolate Brownies

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Having just moved house and not entirely stocked the kitchen, what else was I to make for visitors other than brownies? They are just so quick and simple and don’t require any pesky baking powder/soda.

My standard recipe comes from The Hummingbird Bakery cookbook (recipe online here) but for something a little more special I threw in a handful of frozen raspberries (if you can be bothered you can defrost them, I didn’t have time!) and white chocolate chunks.

Shake loves them and took some to work to “share” with colleagues, apparently

So, my microwave oven monster successfully baked brownies. PHEW.

What should my next challenge be?

Bake

xoxo

Our everyday life: week 18 & week 19

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My Friday nights usually look like this, with a Joy the Baker podcast soundtrack

I swear he is better at tidying than I am…

So in love with these curls. Can’t bring myself to have them trimmed.

Trouble with a capital T

Making a birthday cake for Shake, courtesy of The Hummingbird Bakery

Missing his Mamie’s dog (also a dalmation)

Caramelized pears in honey about to be baked

I told you he was Trouble

Moving day!

Shake brought one cat home from France

Not impressed with the stair gate

If you follow us on twitter you’ll know we found out AFTER we moved in that the house doesn’t have an oven. Sob. Instead, we have a microwave/oven combination thing. This book needs to be studied. I am scared.

Bed yet to be constructed, but cookbooks organised. Priorities, people.

Normality and recipes will resume someday soon, I hope!!

Bake

xoxo

Favourite posts this week

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:: Recommend listening to this reunion interview with the pioneers of the Centre for Alternative Technology. Truly inspirational people, and what a fun time they made the 70s sound!

:: I’m also a huge fan of making not buying and will try this lemon curd someday soon. Maybe with some scones and clotted cream

:: Love this list of “unbelievable places”, even more justification for Japan being our dream destination.

:: What people eat in one week around the world. Not sure what to say about this.

:: Roasted strawberry salad sounds interesting. WARNING: EXPLICIT RECIPE.

:: Feta and mint croquettes, toddler friendly food!

:: Coffee: a brief history

:: Stunning Spring Follies from Mimi – I’d eat it all, pleeeeease.

:: Top 10 most annoying things at dinner parties. Do you agree?

:: A long (but worth it!) article on clothing and where it comes from, especially topical after the recent tragedy in Bangladesh.

:: Really enjoying this Spilled Milk series

We won’t have internet access until Tuesday at the earliest but I promise (myself!) that I’ll make more blog effort SOON.

Bake

xoxo

Our everyday life: week 17

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I have been useless this week – failed to charge 2 cameras properly and missed many photo opportunites out and about this weekend. Check us out on instagram for a few more snaps…

We inherited some train tracks and vehicles from the cousins this week, but think it may have been too soon!