Monday 17 June 2013

BirthdayBashes


The last couple of months have been filled with birthday's, parties and smiles :) (Yes, I am trying to be cheesy). As a result, it has given me the opportunity to bake, a lot, as well as sample some other people's wonderful creations! So I thought I'd share some with you...

OREOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


This first one I did for my sister's 17th birthday. I came up with the idea for it on the day, with no recipe and no idea if it would turn out well! I am pleased to say that presentation wise I was very happy with the turn out, but there are some alterations I would make to the actual recipe next time I make this as the flavour balance was not quite right!

For the main cake I followed this recipe:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/easy_chocolate_cake_31070

It is a fantastic recipe and works every time and is really quick to make, especially when you are in a rush! The other great thing about it is that it is easy to adapt to however you may want to fancy it up!

Now in order to turn this into an oreo cake I made a white chocolate cream cheese filling, also made with the middles of the oreos, so when the cake was cut it looked like an oreo sandwich. I have not yet perfected the balance of ingredients, so I shall post a reference for this later on. But otherwise it is fairly simple. Once the cake is done you just layer the oreo halves all over and make it look pretty. If you wanted to be really creative you could crumble the oreo halves and make one big oreo. But who really has time for that!

Patisserie FatAthy



The next birthday to attack was my mothers. For this I went for chocolate, again, of course, why would you go for anything else, and I again had absolutely no idea how I was going to put the cake together. But by good fortune it turned out alright. At least in the pictures! 

For the main cake I followed Nigella's Chocolate Olive Oil Cake Recipe: 

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/CHOCOLATE-OLIVE-OIL-CAKE-5551

I LOVE using oil in cakes. I think it is far nicer than butter as you get a much moister cake and it lasts longer. Well, that is if you don't eat it in 24 hours. And its healthier too! All the more reason to eat more of it ;) 

As for decor what I did was actually very simple! I melted some green and blacks dark chocolate and poured it over a baking tray. I then placed it in the fridge to cool until it was solid again. Using a knife I then sliced a variety of geometric shapes before putting the shards in the freezer to solidify a bit more! Now, I tried to do this with milk and while chocolate but it did not work as well! However, I did get the delight of making accidental chocolate roses from the milk chocolate as the consistency was so much gooier than the dark chocolate. To make the roses all I did was again melt the chocolate and pour over a baking tray and leave to cool. I then used a tea spoon and scraped the chocolate off, to mold it into the rose shapes seen. 
I used icing, any will do, to stick this all together and then finished it off with frozen berries on the top. However, I would recommend that instead of frozen berries try dusting a bowl of berries with a little icing sugar and then leaving them in the fridge to form a glaze. It goes much nicer with the cake than the frozen ones do!
 The day followed with a beautiful picnic in the Isabella Plantations in Richmond Park. I provided a simple spread of cheeses, meats, fruit, quinoa and chicken salad and various other goodies. But to stick with the baking theme I wanted to tell you about the muffins I made. They were banana and brazil nut muffins, recipe taken from the hummingbird bakery cookbook. OMG SO GOOD! They were so moist and gooey and luscious and oh my, my mouth is salivating as I type this!

I shall provide the recipe as soon as I am back in London and have the book in my hands!




STANZILICIOUS

The next delight I get to talk about sadly is not one of my creations, but one of an actual patisserie. The famous Patisserie Valerie! I am sure many of you have walked past their windows and seen the delightful towers of chocolate mayhem! I always stop and stare when I walk past!

A couple of weeks ago was the beautiful Stanzi's 21st birthday, and to my excitement she let me know in advance that her cake was going to be patisserie valerie. I could not contain how excited I was for this. Prior to this my sister and I had tried to give up sugar, but within 24 hours we looked at eachother and knew that this was not a realistic goal. And am I glad we revoked that one! The picture alone does not demonstrate how great it was. Don't get me wrong, the cake was not the only great thing, the party was a phenomenal array of glamour, taste and class. But, if you are ever pondering over cake decisions, Patisserie Valerie will always be waiting with open arms. 

How she could sit and smile I don't know, I would've dived straight into the middle of this!

THE MAD FATTIE'S TEA PARTY

The Birthday Girl admiring herself before deathbyateaparty

Almost a month ago was my dear flatmate, Smelena's birthday. So the other three of us put whatever brains we had together and threw her a delightful tea party. We filled her heart with miniature scones, pink and blue clotted cream, sandwiches, cakes and so much more. 

 Afternoon tea can be a great event, and very satisfying to the belly!

Our menu consisted of:

- Sandwiches:
    - Egg Mayo
    - Beef
    - Cucumber and Cream Cheese (Of course!)
- Scones:
    - Fruit
    - Savoury, served with preserves, and coloured creams
- Carrot Cake
- Red Velvet Cake


 Recipes to follow shortly!








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