Cheesetastic!

 

Hi there!

I’m posting a little later than usual as I have been out at an event held in the shop I volunteer for, the Cake Bake, which had nothing really to do with baking, for anyone except staff. It was a cake sale really… Owing to the success of the cheesecake I made, I have decided to share it with you, it’s really easy and sooooo yummy. Or “Amazing” as I was told earlier on. 

So here it is:

THE BASE:

• 250 g Digestive Biscuits (I believe the USA equivalent is a graham cracker but I’m not one to know, Hobnobs work well too)
• 100 g Melted butter

Smash up your biccies and mix well with the butter, squash flat into the bottom of a non stick/parchment covered loose bottom cake tin, I use my knuckles, do feel free to use the back a spoon or something!

Refrigerate for about 2 hours to set.

THE TOPPING:

• 600 g Cream Cheese (I used a low-fat one, but the world is your lobster)
• 100 g Caster Sugar (USA making me work hard again, that would be ”superfine” to you)
• 284 ml Double Cream (*sigh* Heavy Whipping Cream USA… I got a 300 ml pot and just poured it into my mixing bowl, without scraping or shaking the pot)

Mix everything together, I used an electric whisk, because it was easier. It will become a lovely thick creamy mixture.

Spoon your topping onto your now set base, and pop back into the fridge until set. Then you can push up from the bottom (hence the loose bottom pan) and slide your cheesecake onto a plate. 

Best Served Chilled. (You can top with pretty much anything, or eat it as is.)

Do feel free to help with any ingredients across the pond! 

Have a great day.

Happy Crafting!

 

Top 10 Crafty Cakes

Hi there!

Today continues a new feature I started two weeks ago in: THIS POST My Summer Saturday Top 10‘s! 

Every Saturday for the next 4 weeks (for now) I will share a Top 10 list of creative things from around the net! 

This week is “Top 10 Crafty Cakes”… and I have been looking around for some beautiful, fun and delicious creations, I’ve tried to pick a varied selection, and hopefully there’s something for everyone.

So without further ado and in no particular order, here are my top ten crafty cakes:

1. I wanted to start with some craft related cakes, and I thought this cross-stitch cake was really cool: Found here: http://www.imaginativeicing.co.uk/wordpress/tag/round
2. I then found this beautiful cross stitched wedding cake: I found this here: http://nostalgicchic.com/category/chic-celebrations/
3. It seemed only right to then look for some scrapbooking cakes, and I found more than I thought I would! I loved this one: I love the detail! Check it out here: http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1219417/graduation-scrapbook-cake
4. This cake looks very much like my scrapping area:  You can find it here: http://cakecentral.com/gallery/742823/scrapbooking-cake
5. As a musician of sorts, I fell utterly in love with this guitar cake: Truly beautiful, you can check out where I found it here: http://priscillascottage.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/cake-decorating-and-new-venture.html
6. I remember seeing a video of this playable Angry Birds cake on YouTube and I was amazed: You can find this cake, including the video here: http://www.electricpig.co.uk/2011/02/21/playable-angry-birds-birthday-cake-video/ 
7. I absolutely adored this Mad Hatter’s Tea Party:  Which you can find here: http://mydearbakes.wordpress.com/2012/07/19/ohh-mad-hatters-going-to-host-his-tea-party-at-mydearbakes-all-of-us-have-been-invited/ 
8. This Rainbow Cake looks delicious, and so fun! You can check out the post, here: http://geekyxstitch.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/rainbow-cake/
9. I loved this Sushi cake, what fun for themed parties: You can check out this and more at: http://www.laura-homemade-cakes.co.uk/luxury-birthday-cakes-gallery-4.html
10. When I think of amazing cakes, it brings back  fond memories from my hometown of Brighton in East Sussex (UK) and looking in the window of Choccywoccydoodah. Yes that’s what I said. The cakes are beautiful, and I had to put one on here: And if you can’t believe it, check out their site here: http://www.choccywoccydoodah.com/

Wow, if you’re not already hungry(!) I want to give an honorable mention to these beauties: 

From http://cakesbyhelen.wordpress.com/2012/07/09/mini-cakes-with-seashells/ These looked so amazing, I scrolled back to look at them again! Always good! 

I hope you’ve enjoyed todays post. Next week I will be looking at my Top Ten Simple Scrapbook Layout ideas…Which will be interesting and fun for me, because I don’t normally plan! 

If you think there’s anything I should consider, leave a comment and I’ll make sure to have a look! 

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Happy Crafting!

Jubilee Celebrating a Final Post

Hi there!

So, this is a slightly different post to my usual crafty goodness, but I thought I’d share some pics of our jubilee celebrations! 

Preparations for the party began on Saturday, I baked 36 cupcakes using a basic vanilla sponge recipe which I am sure you can find online so I won’t post it here. As you can see I had 24 Union Flag cases (the other 12 were plain white cases).

Once I  had finished the baking for the day I started work on other preparations:  I painted my nails myself, which was ok if you don’t mind a bit of fiddly painting, I also did my fingernails, with Union Flag thumbnails and red fingernails, but I forgot to take a photo and I’ve removed it by now! It was quite quick and easy if you fancy doing the same thing for the upcoming olympic games; First you need a blue base (get a good solid bright blue), once that’s dry using a VERY THIN brush (you can buy these, or I used one from an eyeliner I wasn’t going to use) paint a white cross, and then add in the diagonal lines, I decided to do this very last minute and had to make do, but I’d recommend using french tip whitener. Finally, once the white is dry, add a very fine cross in red (+) (again I’d recommend a good solid bright red) and then add the diagonals, leaving a small gap like the flag has. I’d also recommend covering the lot with a topcoat or some clear nail varnish to stop it chipping.

After all this work (haha, it really didn’t take long, and of course I didn’t sit doing nothing while my layers dried) came the task of icing cupcakes! Now I’d never done this before, and I was a little nervous about my first “swirl icing” endeavour on such a large scale! I did however spend a little bit of time talking to people and visiting a few sites online to assure myself I could do it! I made a simple butter icing, do you want the ingredients? Ok, Butter, and er Icing Sugar. Yep complicated huh! How much kinda depends on what you need! I needed quite a lot, but I did each batch separately and in different colours, (food colouring) so when it came to adding liquid, I simply used less butter. To get a good swirl, I used a star tip on a piping syringe. I love the “don’t use a round plain tip” advice online, using these produces “poo cake” for lack of a better expression. And looks pretty awful. The star tip, makes it look all pretty! When all this was finished (late Sunday night) I was ready for the party!

 And there they are! OH’s mum got me a cake stand as well, so they were set off wonderfully! As you can see, the blue was much lighter than the red, but I had no complaints! And they looked fab, even if I do say so myself!

After all this, it was time to relax and enjoy the party, which we did, I even managed to catch a little sun! Which now, on Wednesday has long gone, and the rain has come back. But still, at least we had a lovely day for celebrating!  Here’s a pic of OH and I enjoying a nice cup of tea in the sun! As you can see, nobody disappointed when it came to the dress code!

Back to the crafty posts in the morning!

I hope you have a great day whatever you’re up to,

Happy Crafting!

Christmas Eve!

Hi there!

I hope you are well, the weekend is upon us, and of course it is Christmas Eve!! 

Have you finished wrapping? Or are you one of the mad people making a last-minute dash to the shops today?!

If you are “Good Luck!!” I think you’ll need it!

I expect you have loads planned even if you are simply home today, I am celebrating the fact I managed to finish my final “make” of the Christmas period, a gingerbread house! I did cheat and use a kit – I probably could have (and would have) made it myself, but I wasn’t entirely sure of what I was doing. I wouldn’t recommend using a kit having now done it. There’s something about it – it felt quite a lot like cheating! (Well it was really). It really is simpler than it looks!

On the other hand, it came out quite well and having had a sneaky taste (had a bit of spare dough left and made some little bits for me and OH!) and that of course is the main thing! Here are a couple of pics: So yeah, not bad for a first effort – I might even attempt one completely myself next year, after finding out it wasn’t as difficult as it looks…. and I’d prefer to make it differently…

Still, I said I would make one, and I have! Success! 

My baubles now all have hanging loops and are now with the others in a line! I have packed away my stitching supplies, and least for a couple of days, and plan on making the most of OH’s time off work, and generally spending time with him, and his family. Lots of good food, wine and of course… FILMS!! My other great love! (haha) 

Today we plan on watching several, including Santa Claus the movie (loved it since I was tiny) A Christmas Carol, and It’s a Wonderful Life! All under a blanket on the sofa! 

For now though, all my making is at an end! (For Christmas anyway – I have plenty lined up for the new year – just you wait – it’s going to be fab!) I have a couple of big projects, not to mention the beginnings of a new scrapbook! But there is still a little over a week of 2012 left – and I have lots to do then too!!

For now though – I hope you have a lovely weekend, whatever you are doing!

Happy Crafting Christmas!

4 Days to Go!

Hi there!

Yesterday, after a morning of volunteering OH’s mum (H) and I braved the crowds to do the Christmas food shop, before everywhere gets too insane and crowded. I had planned to get some more cleaning and tidying done, but I have a whole day today so I didn’t mind too much! I did however manage to finally bake some brownies! I love making these, it’s so easy and they taste great! This is the first of 2 cooking jobs I have to do for Christmas (aside from making 4 boxes of chocolates as gifts), I don’t cook much but I don’t mind occasionally. This is kind-of a speciality of mine though and always goes down well with anyone who has a sweet tooth or a love of chocolate!

As not much else went on yesterday (OH packed away the boxes the decorations are stored in, and I sorted out some laundry! The excitement)! I thought I would share with you my Super Chocolate Brownies recipe! 

(Makes approx 24)

THINGS YOU NEED:

2 Mixing Bowls

Scales for measuring ingredients

A mixing spoon

A sieve

Baking Tin (baking paper optional)

A knife for cutting

Container for storage

INGREDIENTS:

185 g (0.4 lbs) Butter

185 g (0.4 lbs) Plain Chocolate

85 g (0.2 lbs) Plain Flour

3 Eggs

275 g (0.6 lbs) Caster Sugar

100 g (0.2 lbs) Chocolate Chips (I use half milk choc and half white choc)

HOW IT’S DONE:

Begin by pre-heating the oven to 160 degrees (ours is fan assisted, you may need to adjust to suit your oven) 

Melt butter and plain chocolate in a bowl (I microwave it, you can do this over a pan of water if you prefer). In another bowl mix eggs and caster sugar until creamy, cool the chocolate mixture slightly and then pour this in with the eggs and sugar and fold until mixed (you should now have a bowl of runny chocolate coloured stuff). When it is all the same colour fold in the sifted flour until the mixture is gooey and quite stiff, then gently fold in the chocolate chips. 

Pour the complete mixture into a tin (I line mine with baking paper) cook in the middle of the oven for approximately 35 minutes. Allow to cool down, (keep in the pan, just set to one side for a while) and then cut the brownies to the desired size – these are really sweet so you won’t want them too big!

ENJOY! 

From experience if kept in an airtight container, these keep really well, and they have never seemed to last long enough to go bad! 

Just thought I would share  - as someone once told me, if you can’t send a friend cake – give them the recipe!

Hope you’re having a lovely week whatever you’re up to.

Happy Crafting!