Posts Tagged "cake"

Coconut and Lime Cake Recipe

6th September 2015
by M-admin-bakehouse
blog, cake, recipe, , , , , , , , , , ,

Coconut and Lime Cake Recipe

coconut and lime cake

INGREDIENTS

For the cake
225g baking margarine or butter
225g caster sugar
2 limes, zest and juice
225g self raising flour
100g dessicated coconut
3 eggs

For the syrup
juice of one lime
100g sugar
100ml of water

For the buttercream
125g butter
250g Key Lime Icing Sugar from Sugar and Crumbs (using this amount of the flavoured icing sugar will give a very strong flavour. If you don’t want it so intense, you could use half/half Key Lime/Regular icing sugar, and if you’d just like a hint of the flavour, you can replace a few tablespoons of 250g of regular icing sugar with the Key Lime flavoured one).

METHOD
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease and line 3 8″ round sandwich tins with baking paper.
2. Put all of the cake ingredients in a large bowl and beat until combined.
3. Pour into the prepared tins and bake for about 25-30 minutes until risen and golden.
4. While the cakes are cooking you can make the syrup. Add the ingredients in a small saucepan and heat gently, stirring while the sugar dissolves. Turn up the heat and boil for 5 minutes or so, then take off the heat and as it cools it will produce a syrup.
5. Check the cakes.  Insert a toothpick into the centre and if the sponge is baked through it’ll come out clean.
6. Brush the syrup over the top of each cake while it is hot in the tin. Don’t drown them, just a light brushing is enough. Coconut cake can be very crumbly, this helps it to keep it’s shape a bit more and intensifies the lime flavour too.
7. Leave for ten minutes in the tin then put onto a wire rack to cool properly.
8. Make the buttercream by beating the butter with an electric whisk for a few minutes, then add the icing sugar a dessert spoonful at a time and continue to beat until fully combined and fluffy.
9. Once the cakes have cooled completely, spread the buttercream on two cakes, and sandwich together to make a cake of three layers of cake and two of buttercream. If you have any buttercream left, you can spread another layer on top but this isn’t entirely necessary. Add sprinkles if you like.
10. Put the kettle on, cut yourself a slice and enjoy!

You can follow Marie on facebook and instagram to see the latest makes.

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Rocky Horror Sugar Show

22nd June 2015
by M-admin-bakehouse
blog, , , , , , , , , , ,

rocky horror sugar show

Have you heard about this yet? Have you been to like the facebook page? If not you’ll find it here. I highly recommend you go and view it, because there will be a lot going on there in the next few months. Let me tell you a story….

A group of like minded cake artist friends were chatting together on a facebook group many months ago, when one of them, Laura, mentioned that it was the 40th anniversary of The Rocky Horror Show and wouldn’t it be a great idea for a cake collaboration to take place to celebrate it.  Well no further encouragement was needed and the ideas began to flow. Whilst one of the members of the group, Rhu, was chatting to Cake International, she asked if this group of cake makers could possibly have a table at Cake International in November 2015 to show the collaboration. They thought it was a marvellous idea, and the idea began to snowball…….

What started off as a table, then became a stage, then became a walk through installation!! A 9 x 6 metre installation in fact, housing several rooms!

So let me introduce you to the admin team….

rocky horror sugar show

Here we are, sporting our red lipstick ready to take our lippy pictures to create the banner for the Rocky Horror Sugar Show  facebook page (remember the link above? Have you clicked it yet?) I’m the shorty in the middle Marie McGrath of Marie’s Bakehouse , on the right is Rhu Strand of Pimp my Cake with Mama Rhu  and the other beauty is Laura Edwards of Mamma Jamma Cakes . Being spread around the country we decided we needed a planning weekend, and this was us after working from 9am to after midnight!! But, hey, it’s going to be sooooo worth it!

So, there’s the 3 of us, and another 37 cake artists, some well known but many not, but all incredibly talented. We’re introducing them at the moment on the Rocky Horror Sugar Show facebook page, so go there and find out who else is involved 🙂 And you can also find out about all our contributors here on the Cake International website! Focusing on the strengths and loves of each individual, the project encompasses large sculpted work, detailed sugar models, flower work, tiered cakes, and everything in between. And you’ll be able to see some sneak peeks and progress shots as they are being made!

Things are moving along nicely. The plans are drawn up and submitted, the dummies are being ordered (one of our fantastic sponsors in Dummies Direct,) supplies ordered from another of our sponsors The Cake Decorating Company, Cakes Craft and Decoration magazine are writing their first article about the project, and this week we took delivery of over 300kg of sugarpaste and flowerpaste from another of our sponsors Renshaw Baking!!!!!!!

I’m beside myself with excitement about this project. It’s going to be fantastic, and we want to have you come along with us for the ride. So come and join us on The Rocky Horror Sugar Show facebook page (did I mention that yet?) and if you are a fan of twitter we’re over there too @rockysugarshow . So, come and join us, fill your senses, and let us see you shiver with antici…pation!!

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How to make simple sugarpaste leaves

14th April 2015
by M-admin-bakehouse
blog, cheshire, decorating, easy, Manchester, marie's bakehouse, tutorial, Urmston, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

This technique is one I use when making lots of simple sugarpaste leaves when modelling a small tree or plant, when leaf cutters are too large. It’s one I’ve used on lots of cakes, but here’s a picture of the way I used it a couple of different ways on the cake which won me a gold a few years ago at Cake International 🙂
Sugarpaste leaves

And this is how you make them!

1. Roll a small piece of green sugarpaste into a smooth ball.
2. Roll the ball into a sausage shape, making sure it is not too thin.
3. Using the end of a paintbrush press into the sausage shape as shown in the picture.
4. Pinch the paste at either end. The leaf is made!

You can follow Marie on facebook and instagram to see the latest makes.

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Gold Winning Wizard Of Oz Cake From Cake International Manchester 2015

22nd February 2015
by M-admin-bakehouse
blog, cake, cake international, celebration, cheshire, decorating, Manchester, maries's bakehouse, Urmston, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

dorothy model
 
You may have seen all of these photos before, particularly if you follow me on facebook or on pinterest, but I thought it would be a good idea to have all the pictures in one place together. And here’s Dorothy. I chose this theme in the end as I’d had a cake order for a Wizard of Oz themed cake and really enjoyed making Dorothy, so she’s the little lady that started it all. You can see the detail on the yellow brick road here. I scored the yellow paste with a Dresden tool and then used dusting powder to add the shadows to give more depth to the cake. There was a lot of work in the dusting on this cake! Hours and hours!

front view of cake

The front view had all the main characters in together so they could all be seen in one shot, but the story continues around the cake…….

side view cake house

On the side here I added Dorothy’s house with the witch’s feet poking out. I decided to take the shoes off her- not something you often see on other Wizard of Oz cakes, or in pictures, but the Dorothy figure was wearing the famous shoes, and I thought it would be odd to have two pairs on the cake. The roof tiles were dusted with a dark brown colour in the joins, and the white of the house was given a dusting of light brown to pick out the detail of the scored bricks. All the grass you can see is hand rolled, and all the leaves under the rainbow are also individually scored with detail, and then dusted. The rainbow on the top tier also has a dusting of a darker shade of each colour, on the bottom half of each strip of colour, to tie it in with the rest of the cake. The blue birds are there as a reminder of the famous song. The Emerald City you can see is dusted with sparkling gold dust.

side view trees and sweetcorn cake

The other side has all the detail of the corn field for the scarecrow, complete with crows, and the orchard underneath is from another part of the film. I glazed all the apples to make them shiny.

sweetcorn and apples close up

You might be able to see the detail a bit better on this picture. The tree bark detail was made using a Dresden tool and a ball tool, and then dusted with dark brown. The leaves on the trees and around them were all individually modelled , scored with the Dresden tool and then dusted to pick out the detail. I used the Dresden tool (my most used one- can you guess??) to create the mud/soil texture under the sweetcorn, and the sweetcorn was textured using the end of a piping nozzle.

lion named

The Lion- I love his cute face. Obviously the most time consuming part of this one was his mane! All hand twisted and stuck on individually.

scarecrow model

The Scarecow, with all his straw poking out of the sleeves and his trouser legs. He was deceptively time consuming with his details, including the twisted belt, and getting his hat just right to sit on his head.

tin man model

The tin man. My favourite! But absolutely the most time consuming! I made the accessories to go with him, which the others didn’t have, but the most time consuming part was getting a good coverage of silver paint. I think he was painted at least 11 times!

I really enjoyed making this cake, despite the fact that it took over 40 hours, and I’m really proud I got gold 🙂

You can come and learn how to make these characters with me. We’ve made Dorothy in our Monthly Modeller Class already, but if you’d like to make the others, you’d be more than welcome to come along. Our classes are held at The Croft on Church Road in Flixton, Manchester. The dates for the modelling classes are:

The Lion- Monday 9th March 2015 7-9pm

The Tin Man- Wednesday 1st April 2015 7-9pm

The Scarecrow-Monday 11th May 2015 7-9pm

They are £25 each, with all materials, equipment and refreshments included. All you need to do is bring a box to take them home in. If you’d like to book, you can email me on marie@mariesbakehouse.co.uk or contact me on facebook or phone me on 07940121872.

 

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Monthly Modeller Classes

24th January 2015
by M-admin-bakehouse
baker, blog, cake, cake maker, cheshire, class, classes, decorating, Manchester, marie's bakehouse, Urmston, , , , , , , , , , , ,

At Marie’s Bakehouse we offer a range of different classes, but one of our most popular ones is the Monthly Modeller Class. As the name suggested we meet once a month to model something different each time. Here are some of the things we’ve modelled already……
a witch
witch model
an elf
Elf model
an owl
owl model
a dragon
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
a beach scene
BSN1
and an afternoon tea
afternoon tea
And these are all the work of students- not mine. We’ve also made a mermaid, Santa, a pirate, handbags, a princess, trains, cars and teddy bears to name but a few!
If you’d like to join us, you can find a full list of classes here with our next class being Ronnie the Robot on Wednesday 28th January 7-9pm.
Ronnie Robot model
We do have a regular group of ladies who come to most classes, or those that come to ones that take their fancy. As well as learning, and being creative for two hours, we have a good natter, cups of tea and coffee and I bring along something I’ve baked (using my ladies as guinea pigs for my latest recipe hahaha), or if I’m very lucky, one of the ladies bakes for us instead!! Everything is provided, all you need to bring is a box to take your creation home.
It’s a really nice relaxing evening, so if you fancy coming one night to one of our Monthly Modeller Classes, you would be very very welcome!
You can message me on my fb page www.facebook.com/MariesBakehouse
or via email at marie@mariesbakehouse.co.uk

[...]

Banana muffin recipe

20th January 2015
by M-admin-bakehouse
baker, blog, cake, cheshire, dessert, homemade, Manchester, marie's bakehouse, recipe, Urmston, , , , , , , , , ,

banana muffin

Banana Muffin Recipe

I have constantly got over-ripe bananas in my house, that get chucked into the freezer for using on a later date. Time to get using some! Hence the next recipe for the Bakehouse Blog!

Ingredients

200g self raising flour

pinch of salt

3 large bananas, mashed

150g caster sugar

1 egg

75g  butter, melted

Method.

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Place 12 paper baking cases in a muffin, or cupcake, tin.

2. Put the flour and salt in a bowl, then set aside.

3. Combine mashed bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter in a large bowl.

4. Fold in flour mixture, and mix until just smooth- don’t over mix.

5. Spoon evenly into baking cases in muffin tin.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until muffins spring back when lightly tapped.

These muffins will freeze well, but they also last for at least three days after baking too. I’m going to play with this recipe and add oats, cinnamon etc, and play about with reducing the amount of sugar too.

[...]

90th birthday cake for a very special lady

14th October 2014
by M-admin-bakehouse
birthday, cake, cheshire, edible, flowers, lace, Manchester, marie's bakehouse, Urmston, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

 
Last week I had the honour of making a very special birthday cake for a very special lady- my Gran! She turned 90 this weekend. 90!! Imagine what amazing things she has seen in the last 90 years!

Alice named

It’s not often I get free reign on a cake, or the chance to make a really pretty girly one. Most of my cake orders involve modelling of some description, but not sugar flowers. I’ve also been itching to make some edible lace but haven’t had an order that has required it yet.  So edible lace and pretty flowers were the order of the day for this cake.

alice name plaque named

For the edible lace I used Claire Bowman Cake Lace. I have to say it was straight forward to use and I would highly recommend it if you are thinking of having a go. I also used the lace in the name plaque to tie it in with the rest of the design.

Alice flowers named

I really enjoyed making the flowers. This is about the fourth time I’ve  achieved roses I would say had a ‘real’ look to them, and I really like the dusky pink tones in these roses. I added carnations as a contrast and then used gooseberry and lilac shades in other wired flowers to complete the look.

Alice with Alice

All in all, I was really pleased with the way the cake turned out, and my Gran was too, which was definitely the desired outcome!

In case you are wondering the top tier was lemon cake, with lemon buttercream, and white chocolate and lemon ganache, and the bottom tier was rich chocolate mud cake with chocolate flavoured buttercream and milk chocolate ganache. Two of my favourite flavours 🙂

I’m looking forward to the next pretty cake I can make!

www.facebook.com/MariesBakehouse

www.mariesbakehouse.co.uk

[...]

Birthday treat at Teacup Kitchen

20th February 2014
by M-admin-bakehouse
1 comment
afternoon, birthday, cream, Manchester, maries's bakehouse, review, tea, teacup, Thomas street, treat, Urmston, , , , , , ,

Yesterday was my birthday. I won’t divulge how old I was, but let’s just say I was one step closer to 40!
For the last few years, I’ve used my birthday as an excuse to make a cake that I’ve wanted to try for a while. But this year I was kinda caked out. Last week was a busy one in the Bakehouse.
So we went for a birthday treat to Teacup Kitchen on Thomas Street in Manchester.
My children (aged 5 and 7) had a large piece of Rainbow Cake between them. The cake slices are BIG, so one between them was more than enough.

It was like a battenburg style cake, jam in between the layers and wrapped in marzipan. And it certainly pleased the children 🙂
The other half and I plumped for cream tea with two different flavoured pots of tea, which also comes with free refills. There is a substantial range of teas to choose from, and we learnt ours needed four minutes to brew, being provided with an on the table egg style timer to make sure we left it for the optimal time. A very nice touch 🙂
The scone was delicious…

And certainly made a good replacement birthday cake!
I’d love to return here with some girlfriends, and we could try a selection of the cakes, the afternoon tea also looks very tempting!

[...]

Experimenting with Lakeland's agar agar (part two) Making Marshmallows!

9th February 2014
by M-admin-bakehouse
agar agar, homemade, Lakeland, marshmallows, recipe, review, , , , , , , , , , ,

Well, after the success of the panna cotta recipe, I decided to give marshmallows a go! I’ve wanted to make these for ages, so this was the perfect excuse. Like the panna cotta, I thought it was going to be a difficult process and take a long time, but quite the opposite was true.

Homemade marshmallows are quite unlike ones that you buy in the shops. Soft, fluffy squidgy, melt-in-the-mouth clouds of sweet vanilla-y yumminess. I don’t think I’d describe shop bought ones in the same way!
So here’s the recipe:
Homemade marshmallows
3 egg whites (I used Two Chicks)
250g sugar
100ml water
1 tbsp. honey
1 tsp agar agar powder
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
icing sugar
pink food colouring
Method
1. In a small bowl, dissolve the agar agar powder in the water.
2. Pour this into a saucepan, with the sugar and honey and warm to a medium to high heat until the syrup mixture has reached 121 degrees.
3. Meanwhile, whisk the egg whites until they are firm.
4. Add the food colouring and the vanilla bean paste.
5. When the syrup is ready, pour it slowly into the egg whites and continue to whisk.
6. Line an 8″ x 8″ baking tin with parchment paper, and pour the marshmallow mixture in the prepared tin and use a spatula to spread it.
7. Allow it to dry for 10 hours. It’s usable after a couple of hours, but will firm up more if you leave it for longer.
8. Cut it into squares and roll in the icing sugar.
I found that it was better if I allowed the icing sugar to dry off a bit, and then rolled again in the icing sugar.

Looks yummy doesn’t it? I have to admit, it is quite sticky so if you were thinking of giving it as a gift, you might need to roll it in the sugar again, or even pack it in layers of sugared parchment paper.
And if you think squares are a bit on the boring side, how about cutting shapes instead?

I know, almost too cute to eat right? Almost….
You can buy agar agar from Lakeland here.
I was given the agar agar product to use by Lakeland, but all views are my own.
www.mariesbakehouse.co.uk
www.facebook.com/MariesBakehouse

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Experimenting with Lakeland's Agar Agar Panna Cotta

9th February 2014
by M-admin-bakehouse
agar agar, dessert, homemade, Lakeland, panna cotta, recipe, review, vanilla, , , , , , , , ,

For those who haven’t used or heard about it before, Agar Agar is a vegetarian gelatin substitute produced from a variety of seaweed vegetation. It can be used in a variety of dairy-free, vegetarian and vegan recipes as a stabilizing and thickening agent.

I have never used it before, heck I’ve barely used gelatin before, so it was time to have a play with new recipes.
I decided on giving panna cotta a try. It was MUCH easier than I thought.
This is the recipe I used:
Panna Cotta
360ml full fat milk
120ml whipping cream
2 tsp agar agar powder
2-3 tsp vanilla bean paste
Strawberry coulis (recipe further down)
And the method:
1. Put the milk, cream, agar agar powder and vanilla bean paste into a pan.
2. Heat the mixture over a medium heat until the agar agar powder has fully dissolved, stirring occasionally.
3. Heat to boiling point and let it bubble for a minute or two, then remove from the heat.
4. Let it stand for about ten minutes, then pour into 4 ramekin dishes or bowls.
5. When cool, refrigerate for 2-3 hours until set.
6. To release the panna cotta, run around the edge of it with a silicone spatula or sharp knife, place a plate upside down on top of the dish, and turn the plate and dish upside down to transfer the panna cotta on to the plate.

7. Pour the coulis around the panna cotta and serve cold.

Strawberry coulis
125ml water
125g caster sugar
300g hulled and halves strawberries
Method
1. Bring the water and caster sugar to the boil and stir, making sure the sugar is dissolved.
2. Add the strawberries and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the strawberries have softened.
3. Puree the mixture, and strain through a sieve.
4. Store the puree in the fridge for up to 2 days.

Looks yummy doesn’t it? I could just eat the bit on that spoon. You know…just to test it….

Mmmmmmmmm!!!
A very easy recipe, but impressive- one that could be used to impress the in laws if the occasion required it!
And here’s a sneak peek of experimenting with agar agar part 2!

Any guesses what I made this time??
You can buy agar agar from Lakeland here.
I was given the agar agar product to use by Lakeland, but all views are my own.
www.mariesbakehouse.co.uk
www.facebook.com/MariesBakehouse
 

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