AFTERNOON TEA AT THE SIGNET LIBRARY

Earlier this summer I was invited along to one of Edinburgh's fanciest venues, The Signet Library, to try out afternoon tea at their brand new tea salon, the Colonnades.

The Signet Library is a beautiful old building - tucked just off the Royal Mile, it's a secret treat, with beautiful Corithian columns and floor-to-ceiling rainbow bookshelves lining the room. The library has recently been restored, and they've spared no expense. It's afternoon tea at it's fanciest.

Colonnades takes afternoon tea very, very seriously - the venue has its own Tea Sommelier (imagine if that was your job!), Champagne experts and mixologists, and an on-site pastry chef to ensure everything is cooked completely from scratch and served in style.

We started with a savoury selection of the nicest miniature dishes - mini Aberdeen Angus burgers on brioche toast, smoked applewood cheese and celery tartlets (so good!), Scottish Shetland salmon infused with Edinburgh Gin, goat's cheese mousse in tiny cucumber cups, and fancy sandwiches topped with quails eggs and Avruga caviar. I felt like I was in Downton Abbey.

The puddings came next, and oh my god. Rhubard fools, blood orange jelly cubes, chocolate and sea salted caramel tarts (I could exist only on this), teeny lemon meringue tarts, passion fruit and mango eclairs topped with tiny flowers, scones with clotted cream and strawberry and champagne jam, and mille feuille - the softest pastry filled with cream and berries and sugar.

This was all served with champagne and lashings of tea (from the Wee Tea Company), and it was possibly the most delightful combination of things I have ever eaten. We ate EVERYTHING in sight (they do let you take food away, but we were committed to finishing our plates!), and it was just wonderful. Can you tell I loved it? I loved it.

I'm also particularly impressed that the afternoon tea menu changes seasonly too, to let them use the best Scottish produce available. AND they do a gluten-free version too!

Afternoon tea usually costs £30 per person, but they are doing an offer right now, where you can get tea for 2 for just £50 if you book online or over the phone (all details here). I know it seems like a lot for tiny cakes, but it's so worth it - treat yo' self!

How to: bake a chocolate (rat king!) cake

Sometimes inspiration comes from the weirdest of places...

A few weeks ago Joshua was explaining to me what a rat king was (which, if you don't want to see grizzly photos, is basically a group of rats that get their tails twisted together, forming a living bundle of rats). Wikipedia helpfully tells us that a rat king was often seen as a bad omen... which, well. OF COURSE A BUNDLE OF RATS is a bad omen. Jeeeeeeeez.

Anyway, this conversation then obviously turned into how you would best recreate this in confectionery form, and the Rat King Challenge (aka Joshua's weird birthday cake) began!

I used my favourite chocolate cake recipe, with millions of sweets to decorate. It's really rich, but not too dense, I'd recommend trying it!

You will need:

• 200g dark chocolate
• 170g butter
• 350g light brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 370g plain flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 500ml semi-skimmed milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• Loads of bowls

Start by heating your oven to 170C, and grease and line two 20cm cake tins. I have greaseproof paper circles from Lakeland and they are so useful - no more faffing around cutting paper to fit!

Break the chocolate into pieces and melt either in the microwave (be careful that it doesn't burn!) or in a glass bowl over a saucepan.

In a big mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until it is pale and smooth. Then separate your eggs, and beat the egg yolks. Add the yolks to the butter and sugar mixture, mix, then add the melted chocolate and mix again.

In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Combine the milk and vanilla in a jug, and then alternate between adding milk or flour to the chocolate-sugar-butter mixture and stirring, until all of the flour and milk has been added.

In a clean bowl (which must be spotless, because egg white is really annoying), whisk the egg white until it forms soft peaks. Fold them into the cake mix using a bowl, and gently mix together (you want to keep as much air as possible in the batter, so no enthusiastic mixing!).

Divide the mixture between both cake tins and bake for 30 minutes. You'll know it's ready when you put a sharp knife in the middle and it comes out clean.

Now for the ridiculous bit. As it's a bit of a disgusting subject matter, I wanted to make the cake as cute and pastelly as possible... while still tying in lots of rat king details.

So I used sugar mice and knotted their tails together, then made tiny little fondant crowns (which were dipped in edible glitter - SO fiddly to do!). I iced the cake in goopy green icing to try and make it look like a slimy sewer (an effect probably lost by edging the "slime" with silver dragees and chocolate buttons). And I also made a nest with chocolate matchmakers, chocolate curls, and shards of sugar (melted down sweets that looked like scary stabby glass). PHEW.

And here it is! Definitely the most ridiculous cake I've ever made, but so much fun to do!

Lovecrumbs, Edinburgh

Recently I met my friend Lianne for the best kind of lunch - all cake, and nothing sensible. We went to lovecrumbs, an amazing wee cakey cafe just up from Edinburgh's Grassmarket.

The cafe is lovely! It's full of quirky, mis-matched furniture, and feels like you've just stumbled into some brilliant guerrilla cake party. There's an old piano in the corner and little window nooks for curling up and watching the world go by - basically the perfect place to be if you find yourself with a free afternoon & a good book.

The cakes are displayed on old pallets and in a huge wardrobe (which is amazing - surely cake is the next best thing to find in a wardrobe... after Narnia, obv!).

It was hard picking what to go for (check out the gooey chocolate tart in the first photo), but in the end I went for a ridiculously massive slice of chocolate, banana and peanut butter cake and coffee. GOOD LORD. Lianne had an equally huge lemon cake and tea (that came in a thermos, aw).

The cakes were gooooood. Mine was really moist & the combination of chocolate, peanut butter & banana was amazing. Just writing this post is making me hungry, I need to get back!

If you find yourself in Edinburgh, check them out. Lovecrumbs is at 155 West Port (roughly between the Grassmarket & Lothian Road).

Cuckoo's Bakery

Mmm! I just wanted to share (aka show off) some amazing cakes that I had the other day! Last Sunday my sister was coming round to visit & as I didn't have time to make anything, I popped into the lovely Cuckoo's Bakery for some supplies.

Cuckoo's are a cupcake bakery based down on Dundas Street in Edinburgh. As well as having cakes to take away, they also deliver (and sometimes offer free delivery - keep an eye on their twitter!), and also have a tea room so you can sit in and have lunch.

There's a few different tearooms in Edinburgh (I love Mimi's Bakehouse & Loopy Lorna's Tea House), but I think the town is definitely big enough for all of them!

The cakes are about £2 each so they aren't the cheapest to buy for a big group, but are absolutely worth it for a special occasion! Cuckoo's make seasonal cakes too (look how cute their halloween cupcakes are!)  and every cake is made fresh each day. Definitely worth a visit!

They are based at 150 Dundas Street & you can browse their cake menu here.

POKER CAKES

A few weeks ago I had a few pals round to the house for my very first ever poker night! (How had I managed to get to 26 without ever playing it?). I can't resist the opportunity to do THEMED things.. even just for a casual Saturday night, so I made up some poker cupcakes for everyone.

They are simple vanilla cupcakes, with greeny blue icing (which was meant to resemble casino tables!).

I bought a couple of bars of white chocolate, broke these into squares & gave these to my friends with writing icing pens to draw on the card faces. It only really dawned on me afterwards that I basically gave my pals an 'activity' as if they were in primary school. Everyone seemed pretty happy though!

They were super cute and turned out to be quite a lucky poker charm. I came fourth (just missing out on money!) and Craig won the whole thing with four fours (which is good.. I think).

I love making themed cakes! Need to start plotting my next project...

Lighthouse birthday cake

It's been a while since I posted something that I baked, so I thought it was a good opportunity to show off one of my all time favourite cakes - a lighthouse cake! I made this a while ago for the accounts manager at my work - her husband used to work on lighthouses so she wanted a nautical themed cake for his birthday with matching gluten-free cupcakes.

I used fondant to make all the little details (including the life boat rings, aw), and just sloshed on blue buttercream on top to make the waves. I used an edible pen to write on happy birthday but I wished that I had cut these letters out of fondant, or iced them on instead! Argh. Next time I'll know!

The matching cupcakes were all gluten-free. I just followed my favourite cupcake recipe and replaced the flour with gluten-free stuff. I made the shells by pressing fondant into a mould, and brushed them with some lustre powder (so they were nice and sparkly, but you can't really see that here!).

They all went down a treat! I love themed cakes, they are so fun to do.

p.s. I feel a little bit like I'm cheating by showing you all a cake from days gone by, but I've never posted it on here before, so it's hopefully okay!

Afternoon tea

Mmm, it's the simple pleasures in life, huh?

Like little triangle sandwiches, miniature cakes, scones (with clotted cream AND jam AND fresh strawberries!), proper French macarons, endless cups of tea and long chats with very lovely friends.

I wish I could do this every weekend!

Loopy Lorna's Tea House

It's not really a surprise that I am a fan of cake. And tea. And particularly tea and cake. So, a couple of weeks ago, when I saw that my Science Festival event had been moved to the Church Hill Theatre I was over the moon, as it meant I had an excellent excuse to visit Loopy Lorna's Tea House.

Loopy Lorna's is one of several tea & cake wonder cafes in Edinburgh. They consistently win awards & receive glowing reviews, and it's not hard to see why. Not only is the food (and tea!) ace, but they do so much to support their local community & charities. The cafe was set up as an ode to the owner's mum (called Lorna) who died of cancer, and they run loads of fundraising events across the year.

Caaaaaaake.

In a world full of Starbucks & Costa's, it's lovely to see a local business with so much heart. This also means (on a selfish note), that you can feel quite smug about supporting them. Guilt-free cake! What's not to like?

So. We ate.

 Soup & a sandwich for Craig. Chicken pate on toast (with some sort of chutney-thing) for me.

Chocolate cake (with snickers on top) for Craig.

And a WONDERFUL scone for me (this defeated me, but it was glorious).

The tea house is really quirky too.. it feels a little like sitting in a forest, and there are loads of little tea-based quotes all over the walls.

Loopy Lorna's Tea House is based in the Church Hill Theatre in Morningside. If it's not obvious, I'd definitely recommend a visit!

Valentines cupcakes with Just Bake

As you may have guessed, I am a really big fan of cake. I used to run a cupcake company for several years, and developed quite a ridiculous obsession with sprinkles and cupcake cases. So it was quite exciting when  Just Bake  got in touch - I am a sucker for a baking supply shop!

It also provided an ace excuse to bake some cupcakes that would be perfect as a Valentine's Day gift. Home-made presents are brilliant because they are really thoughtful, cheap and tasty! 

Red double sugar heart decorations from Just Bake

I made vanilla cupcakes (using this very easy recipe) and coloured the sponge pink (using this trick). This is a really simple cupcake to make, but it looks really striking - especially if you pipe on bright white piping, which really shows off the bright sponge.

I then decorated the cupcakes with mega cute double hearts gifted from Just Bake, and smaller sprinkle hearts that I already owned. I added a tiny bit of edible glitter, and here you have it - perfect wee Valentine's cakes.

I've also picked out a few favourite items from Just Bake's website...

 1. Liv cupcake cases - ridiculously lovely. Imagine raspberry cupcakes with white frosting in these!

 2. Reuseable cupcake cases - this is the first time I've seen cupcake cases that you can reuse! Lovely and retro looking.

3. Gold dragees - everyone needs gold dragees (unless, random fact, you live in California where they are illegal).

4. Union Jack cupcake stand - I would like to use this at a tea party with flags please.

5. Red heart cupcake wrappers- almost too pretty to put food in. Perfect for a special occasion!

6. Marbled chocolate curls - yes! Chocolate curls are such an easy way to decorate. Put them on top of a chocolate mousse cake and you'll have the most decadent cake ever (a good thing).


Phew! If that has inspired you to bake then I have good news -  Just Bake are offering a 10% discount if you spend £20 or more. Just use the voucher code 'JULIET' when paying (this expires on 10th March 2012).

Animal Crossing birthday cake

Do you like cake? Do you like video games? Say hello to this then....

HELLO.

Isn't it beautiful? It's from the incredible Gourmet Gaming - a website dedicated to replicating food featured in video games by creating recipes in real life (how amazing and creative is that?). It's not just cake either.. there's an amazing mix of food including a Sonic chili dog, Legend of Zelda soup (this looks amazing), Sims mac and cheese and more!

Luckily for me Dani (the girl behind the site) is currently doing some design work at The List, so I was able to twist her arm and share this recipe for her Animal Crossing: Wild World birthday cake!

 

What you will need:
2 mixing bowls, hand whisk, a sieve, three 8-inch cake tins, baking paper and an icing bag/pipe.

For the Cake:

• 4 Eggs (Separated and  at room temperature)
• 4 Teaspoons Baking Powder
• 400g Plain Flour
• ½ Teaspoon Salt
• 227g Butter (at room temperature)
• 450g Caster Sugar
• 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 200ml Milk
• ¼ Teaspoon Cream of Tartar

For the Pink Coconut Icing:

• 500g Cream Cheese
• 200g Butter
• 50ml Natural Yoghurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 270g Icing Sugar (approx.)
• Few Drops Red Food Colouring

To Garnish:

• 6 Strawberries
• 2 Tablespoons of Coconut Flakes
• 4 Green Candles

This is what we are aiming for. 

Make your cake! 
Grease your cake pans, line with baking paper and preheat your oven to 175 degrees C.

In a mixing bowl beat together the butter and 350g of the sugar until it is pale and fluffy. Now add the 4 egg yolks (one at a time), followed by the vanilla extract. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, mix together, then slowly add the milk.

In a separate bowl add the egg whites and whisk until fluffy (Juliet note - make sure bowls are SPOTLESS before you try to whisk egg whites, or you'll have problems!). Add the cream of tartar and continue to whisk until peaks form. Gradually add the remaning 100g of sugar until the peaks stiffen. Then gently fold the egg whites into the cake mixture, and pour evenly into cake tins. Bake for around 25 minutes.

When the cake is baked (do the stabby/prodding tests to make sure), leave to cool then pop in fridge while you prepare the frosting.

Make your icing!
Beat the butter (poor butter) in a bowl until light, then add the yoghurt and vanilla. Gently stir in the cream cheese, being careful not to over mix (this will thin the frosting and make it runny). Gradually add the icing sugar bit by bit, adding more as you need it (to thicken or sweeten the icing). Then add the red food colouring and put it in the fridge to chill.

Construct your cake! 
Aim for flat and smooth cake layers (even out with a knife very carefully if needed). Ice the bottom layer, being careful not to go over the edges, place the next layer on top and continue this until you have a stack of three layers.

Set aside 3 tablespoons of icing and cover the cake in the remaining icing - this does not have to be neat. Now place the strawberries (with stalks trimmed) pointed end up evenly around the cake. Put the last bits of icing into an icing bag/pipe, using a large nozzle, pipe drops of icing between each of the strawberries around the cake. Garnish with the green candles and a sprinkling of coconut.

Tada!

Dani's instructions are so detailed it puts my recipes to shame (ha) but I can't wait to try this out!

I was absolutely addicted to Animal Crossing a little while ago - I'd definitely recommend it if you like quirky games (particularly if you happen to enjoy collecting fruit & fishing, & hanging out with grumpy foxes. It is cooler than this sounds).

Hope you enjoyed!

How to: make sponge cake exciting

You know what's EVEN better than cake? Cake that doesn't only look nice on the outside, but also looks good on the inside. And it's really easy.

First, make your batter. This cake was  for my sister's birthday (happy birthday Tepi!) & my mum was making a chocolate pudding so I went for a simple vanilla cake to keep everyone happy. I used my go-to sponge cake recipe because it is lovely and always delivers a moist, tasty cake.

Next, add in a few drops of food colouring. I wanted to make a pink sponge, but didn't have any pink colouring so used a couple of drops of red instead. You can use anything, but remember that you still want people to actually eat the cake, so greens and blacks should probably be avoided. Unless it's Hallowe'en. Or you like to eat things that are mould coloured. (Er. Don't eat mould).

Once you are happy with the colour, just stick it into your tin and bake as normal! I noticed just before putting it in the tin that the mixture looked a tiny bit runnier than I like, so I added it a wee spoon of flour to bulk it out (but not too much to mess with the recipe).

This is what it looks like just out of the oven.

& cut in half, for speedy cooling! It's so bright!

Decorate as normal (you can spot my mum's lovely chocolate mousse in the background) and wait (patiently) for the surprise when it is finally cut into.

A lot of us were going for a sponge cake/chocolate mousse combo. We like our puddings.

Tada! Be pleased with yourself at this point that you didn't tell anyone about this cake surprise (and enjoy the happy gasps).

This would be cute with a coloured filling too, but I liked the simplicity of the red/white combo. & the birthday girl liked it, which is all that mattered!

Mimi's Bakehouse

Once upon a time I used to run a cupcake company, ever so sweet (the website is shut down now, but you can see cupcakes at my old flickr). I had a very good run...so many cakes and happy customers (highlights include making 800 cupcakes for topshop in FOUR DAYS, being burlesque props, turning down the offer to make Peter Andre's birthday cake (hah!), my launch party and 1st birthday gig at Cabaret Voltaire!).

I closed it for various reasons and am glad I did, but it means every time a new cake business pops up in Edinburgh I think 'that could have been me!' (I was the first cupcakery after all...).

Anyway, Mimi's Bakehouse is one of those places that makes me momentarily regret shutting ever so sweet, until I realise it means I can enjoy lovely cakes in super sweet surroundings without any of the hard work. Deal! We went there recently and the food... good god, the food.

This was lunch. I am healthy.

Oh scones, I love you.

& the decor was really sweet too.

It's down on the Shore and is really, really tasty and good. It's also BYOB! & caters for veggies! & cake-lovers! (obviously). Mmm.

p.s. my Fringe count continues: Dead Cat Bounce (very good!), Late & Live at Gilded Balloon (amaaaazing fun! Patrick Monahan, Axis of Awesome, and Dead Cat Bounce as the house band!) and finally, Auld Reekie Roller Girls (we won! My friends are amazing). Such a good start to the festival!