Make it: Blueberry and Coconut Cake

In my bid to make dairy free good stuff, I came across this recipe on the BBC Good Food website.

I took it to work and I don't think they even noticed it was dairy free, so that's always a bonus.  It was really really yummy and so easy to make.  I also decided to make this gluten free too and used Doves Farm gluten free flour.

You will need:
250ml rice bran oil, plus extra for the tin

3 eggs

225g caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

300g self-raising flour - I used Doves Farm Gluten free flour

50g dessicated coconut

175ml soya milk

140g fresh or frozen blueberries, plus extra to serve

icing sugar, to dust

Put your oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and grease a 22cm tin.

Whisk the oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla and in a separate bowl combine the flour and coconut.

Alternately, fold the flour mix and soya milk into the wet ingredients, starting and ending with the flour.

Spoon about a quarter of the mixture into the tin and then fold the blueberries into the remaining batter, before adding it to the tin.

Bake for 1-1¼ hrs, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for 10 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely and then dust with icing sugar.

I think the next time I make this, I might make some dairy free icing.  It did stay really nice and moist, but maybe a bit of icing would be good.

I'd never used rice bran oil before and I really think it worked for this recipe as it made it really wet - which is always what you need when using gluten free flour.  I will definitely use the oil again. I am already looking out for recipes!

Do you have any failsafe recipes that you use, let us know in the comments below.

H

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Blog Birthday Baking: EPIC FAIL

It's that time of year again, when it is our Birthday!  Our 3rd Blog Birthday to be precise, how time has flown!  We have had so much fun doing the blog and love telling you all about what we get up to.  We hope you stay with us, as we have lots of plans and more crafty fun adventures to share.

As with any birthday, it is not a true birthday without cake and so we thought we would give a new recipe a go, one that is dairy free for H and using agave nectar for Sammy.  We do like a challenge! 

However this time all did not go to plan.....

H found the recipe on the madhava website and you can see it here.

Now, by no means are we proficient bakers, but we do like to have a go.  We decided to make cupcakes with the mix instead of a big cake - which may well have been our first error - this is a baking fail post afterall!

We used plain flour instead of the almond flour - as H does not eat nuts.  Again, this was probably another error as plain flour is much heavier than almond flour.

They looked pretty good at this stage!  As they were smaller we only baked them for around 10 mins, which in hindsight was a bit too much, perhaps we should have given a shorter cooking time - especially for the mini ones.  They were - how do we say this - rock hard!  Obviously we had to give one a try each, but hard and hollow sounding is never going to make a successful bake.

One success was the Marshmallow frosting, it came out pretty darn well - even if we do say ourselves.  By this stage though, we were realising that are cakes were more pretty than tasty.  So we set them up and took some pictures and even those didn't go as planned, over and underexposed, really bad white balance, the list goes on...

We wanted to show you our 'fail', as it is a part of who we are, none of us are perfect. We all have bad bakes, bad 'art days', bad days in general. We are all only human.

If you do try the recipe and follow it properly, then please do let us know what it actually turns out like.  I am sure it is amazing if done well.   I think it was more a case of the bakers than the recipe here!

We are off to go buy some cake.
H & Sammy

Who's who: Hannah Bakes

This month's who's who comes via H drooling over pictures of their cakes on Instagram.  They look so good and I can only dream of making things look this good.  I am not a natural cake decorator, more a cake demolisher!  So, what better way to share the joy of what Hannah Bakes gets up to than having a little chat over staring at the cakes, rather than eating them, unfortunately.

Who are you?
We are Hannah Jacques (Chief Baker) and Callum Hawes (Chief Taster). Hannah is a sweet toothed, self taught baker and Callum is a professional eater/taster of Layer Cakes, Cupcakes and all Sweet Bakes (he also designs sweet websites too).

What do you do?
At Hannah Bakes, we create Celebration Cakes, Cupcakes and Artisan Bakes from Hannah's home kitchen in Thame, Oxfordshire. As well as delivering bespoke cake orders to local customers within Oxon, Bucks and Berks. We also love spreading the Hannah Bakes word by attending local food festivals, markets and events, armed with our favourite sweet treats.

We endeavour to be innovative, sometimes non-traditional, but always delicious. Our ‘cakethos’ is; if you’re going to spoil yourself, you may as well do it properly!

How did you start?
With a Kenwood hand mixer as old as me and a serious passion for cake, I have always enjoyed baking for friends and family but it wasn't until I met fellow cake lover Callum (and a shiny new standing mixer) that we decided to turn my hobby into Hannah Bakes.

We're still in our infancy as a company, but so far we've loved introducing our baked goods to local markets and festivals over the last few months and the reaction from our customers has been brilliant.

What's Next?
We want our cakes and bakes to reach as many of your mouths as possible over the next year. We hope increase our attendance at local events over the next 12 months. Keep at eye out for us at a market near you soon...

What advice would you give yourself if you could go back to the beginning?
Baking is so much better with a Kitchen Aid.

Just look at all that cake!  Amazing hey.  I just want to face plant that white chocolate and raspberry cake above!  wow.

I think we may have to go and seek out these guys and take a trip over to Oxfordshire just to get a taste of these beauties!  They are going to be at Wallingford Food Festival on the 17th and 18th of May.  We will meet you in the queue!

drooooooooool
H and Sammy, xxx

Please Note: All pictures are owned by the interviewee and so should not be copied without permission.

Breakthrough Breast Cancer #TLC and the Great Pink Bake Off!

Last week H and I were lucky enough to be invited up to London by the lovely girls at Breakthrough Breast Cancer to visit their head office and hear about all the amazing things they have coming up in preparation for Breast Cancer awareness month in October. 

There was so much to take in, the guys at Breakthrough are always working so hard to heighten awareness of early detection and the first thing we learned more about is their TLC campaign. 

The idea behind TLC is to help everyone to be aware that the signs and symptoms of breast cancer don't always just show themselves as a lump.

#TLC stands for Touch, Look, Check.

They have produced a pocket sized guide that you can keep with you, We were really surprised as we had always thought that it was only really a lump that you needed to check for.

You can download these leaflets or find out more at Breakthrough's website.

One of the other things we were there to find out about was the Great Pink Bake Off which sounded right up our street.

This October, during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, they're asking you to put your pinny on, roll up your sleeves and show breast cancer what you’re made of. On 18 October an army of bakers will hold their own Great Pink Bake Off in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer. You can find out more and download a fundraising pack here.  They have designated Friday 18 October as Great Pink Bake Off day but don’t worry if that date doesn’t work for you – you can choose any day in October;  Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

David Bright from Bright Cake Design made an amazing cake specially for the occasion too! 

Bea's of Bloomsbury had supplied some yummy cupcakes for everyone so we ate ours whilst checking out some recipes from some familiar faces. 

This new fundraising opportunity has some great people behind it who have donated yummy recipes. Michelle Heaton who at the age of 32 underwent a double mastectomy and re-constructive surgery when she found out she had an 80% chance of developing breast cancer and a 30 per cent chance of developing ovarian cancer after being diagnosed with a mutated BRCA2 gene, has shared a healthy cupcake recipe.

Will you rise to the occasion? We do love a good pun!

The thing I love about Breakthrough and why we like supporting them is that they always manage to build a community around their campaigns, the Bake Off is no different, you can head over to the site and show off your baking creations and disasters to the other fundraisers, you can also vote for your favourites.

We had a lovely morning with the guys over at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, we learned so much and had some yummy food. We also found out all about the AW13 fashion and homeware lines, which I will be sharing next month. 

Do you fancy being a part of The Great Pink Bake Off? Head over to the site and get registered!!

Sammy xxx

Make it: Lemon and Vanilla cake

You may have noticed here over at Live it. Love it. Make it, that we LOVE cake!  There is never any reason not to have cake as far as we are concerned!

We have a few friends who make cupcakes and cakes as well, so it would be rude not to indulge! But today's beauty is all H and so of course there is a little difference than the norm of a Vanilla sponge with Jam - it wouldn't be H without it!

This is a Lemon and Vanilla sponge cake with butter cream and Lemon curd inside.  It went down a storm at work as usual and managed to not even make it to the 10.30am tea break for some!  There are some definite cake monsters at H's work! - you know who you are.

This is so simple to make and as you can see there are three cake layers to make it a mammoth cake as H felt that 2 layers just didn't look big enough - of course!  Now, if you only want 2 layers, then just do 2 thirds of the mix.  H's mum has been making this type of cake for years and its always in cookery books as a simple cake to be able to change up to whatever you want to make it into.

So to the Recipe:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/Gas Mark 4

For the cake

150g self raising flour

150g caster sugar

150g butter/margarine

3 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

a few drops vanilla essence

1/2 lemon juice

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until light and fluffy.  If the dough is too thick add a couple of teaspoons of warm water.

Split the mixture into 3 cake moulds or if using a tall cake tin, just do it in one go and cut the layers later.  You can then see if you want 2 or 3 layers then.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Let cool down completely

For the Filling

One filling was just Lemon Curd from a Jar - I know I could have made my own, but sometimes life is just too short!

The other filling is a simple butter cream:

250g butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

600g Icing Sugar

2 tablespoons of milk

Mix the butter and icing sugar together - add the icing sugar slowly as otherwise you will end up with a sugar cloud!

Add the vanilla essence and if required the milk to the consistency you want.

When the cake layers have cooled completely, add the butter cream and lemon curd as you want it.  H did the lower layer and top with the butter cream and then a middle layer of lemon curd. Yum!

Do you have any fail safe recipes you do regularly, we would love to hear them.  If you follow us on Instagram, we usually take pictures of the cake we eat and whatever else we get up to, so go check us out, you can find both H and Sammy on there.

Make it

H & Sammy

Live it: Tea With Bea's of Bloomsbury

Last Friday we popped to a place that had been highly recommended to us by more than a few of our friends. A tea shop in the shadow of St Paul's Cathedral in London that has a reputation for brilliant tea and cake, how could we not make a visit!

Bea's of Bloomsbury surprised me slightly, as I expected to see a quaint little old school tea room, however the ultra modern exterior was not without charm.  The glass frontage let you get the full effect of the hanging teapots filling the ceiling space of the upper floor of the St Paul's branch of Bea's.

The interior was more as I had imagined, with sumptuous brocade furnishings and pastel painted dressers stacked with teacups and cake stands.

We arrived at 3pm on a Friday and it was busy! We had decided to opt for tea and cake over the full afternoon tea as we had a party to go to later that evening. They do recommend booking for the afternoon tea, and I can see why. We had to wait to be seated just for tea and cake, but it gave us a chance to have a look upstairs where the reserved tables are and to take some pictures.  I took a nosey at the 'Tea with Bea' book (which is now on my Amazon wish list) filled with yummy recipes for everything from cheesecake to 'The Perfect Scone'.

I will admit I was expecting something a little grander than we got, it may have been different had we gone for the full afternoon tea option, but sat downstairs it did feel just like a little cafe, not nearly as cosy as the upstairs booths and teapot lights atmosphere.

The staff were friendly and helpful, if a little distracted, I assume because they were busy. I think I was hoping for a little more personality.

I hate to say but I was a little disappointed with the choice of cakes, the glass cabinet that makes up the counter looked a little empty when we arrived, again I have to assume it was because they were busy, but I would like to think that a place that offered tea and cake would have had more to offer at 'tea and cake' time of day? There were maybe four flavours of cupcake and five larger cakes on offer, this may seem like enough but considering the 20 flavours of cupcake they show on their website I was surprised, and three of the larger cakes where cheesecakes, which I can't eat :(

H said she would have like the cakes to be labelled in the display, which I agree with, It's nice to know what you are looking at, I often find that when they are, it's more enticing.  H doesn't eat nuts (which makes cake choosing difficult) and I may have chosen differently had I had the chance to decide what to have whilst we were in the queue.

H and I chose two cupcakes to share, and a pot of tea for two and took a seat at our table.

We had a Chocolate Bailey's and a Double Vanilla. They were both lovely, cake part was velvety smooth with just enough Bailey's flavour, not to overpowering.  The Vanilla cake was lovely, perfectly sweet icing and the cake was deliciously spongy.

In the wall beside the downstairs seating are little vignette windows with teapots and tea memorabilia which are really cute.

Those tea pot lights really are darling.

All in all I would definitely go back to Bea's, having seen it, it will be afternoon tea next time for sure. I feel that that may have been a more relaxing, personal experience. The cakes were lovely, but I would have liked more choice, and I found the atmosphere was lacking a little in the downstairs seating area, compared to the upstairs. I feel that maybe we didn't get the best of this place, as I said when we arrived it was busy, which was, I suppose, to be expected at 3pm on a Friday afternoon but it still is definitely worth a return trip.

If you fancy paying them a visit then here's all the info you need:

Bea's of Bloomsbury - St. Paul's

83 Watling Street London EC4M 9BX

Phone number: 020 72364437 (St Paul's do not handle reservations, orders or general enquiries, please call head office for help with these issues on 0207 242 8330)

Nearest Tube Station: St. Paul's Directions:  Coming out from St. Paul's tube station you'll see a big Topshop to your right opposite the Cathedral,  turn right past Topshop and walk around the outside of the centre until you see hanging teapot lights and you're there

St Paul's store opening hours: Monday-Friday 08.00-21.00, Saturday 12.00-19.00, Sunday 12.00-19.00 

Afternoon Tea is available at the St Paul's shop from Monday- Friday, 2:00-7:30p.m. (last booking at 5:30 p.m.) and Saturday and Sunday from 12 p.m.- 7:00 p.m. (last booking at 5:30 p.m.) 

They also have two other venues in Bloomsbury and Maltby Street, more information can be found on their website.

So any recommendations people?? H and I love an excuse to have a 'cake outing'

Where are your favourite places??

Sammy xxx