There is a special place in heaven for kids that can bake amazing cakes. Not only that there is something wonderful about having a child that can pull off making the perfect victoria sponge cake. The queen of all cakes, a sponge cake can seem really simple, but can be tricky to get just right. […]
Lemonade scones – what! Scones made with lemonade, yes indeed. These scones are super simple as there is no rubbing together or flour and butter, so perfect for cooking with kids and there is no bicarb taste that you can sometimes get.
Fat Rascals are a real Yorkshire tradition and are one of the husbeasts favorite baked goods. Whenever we visit Berry’s Tearooms he always gets a Fat Rascal. Well, Maxi and I decided that we needed to perfect making our own and guess what, they are easy to make and taste delicious.
I am a tea monster. Anyone that knows me will acknowledge that I am rarely without a cup of tea in hand! Maxi is a massive fan of shortbread so we decided to experiment and produce a tea flavoured shortbread and wow, it was a HUGE hit and so simple. Everyone in the family prefered
Top ten food safety tips to protect your family from kitchen bugs
Last week was Food Safety Week 2013, run by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and this year they focused on ways to reduce the risk of food poisoning at home. Here are some simple tips to help keep you and your family safe.
1. Wash hands thoroughly with soap and warm water before cooking and after changing nappies, touching the bin, using the toilet, handling pets or preparing raw food.
2. Wash or change dish cloths, tea towels, sponges and oven gloves regularly and let them dry fully before you use them again.
3. Remove unnecessary clutter and wash worktops before and after cooking to prevent cross-contamination.
4. Always use a chopping board and wash the board in hot, soapy water after using and in between preparing raw and ready-to-eat foods. Better still, use a separate chopping board for each.
5. You don’t need to wash raw meat or poultry as thorough cooking will kill any surface germs. Washing meat can actually splash germs and raw juices onto other surfaces and equipment.
6. Make sure your fridge is set below 5°C to prevent harmful germs from growing and multiplying.
7. Don’t overfill your fridge. Air needs to be able to circulate to maintain the set temperature. If you are using infant formula we recommend you make up each feed as your baby needs it, using boiled water at a temperature of 70ºC or above to reduce the risk of infection, and use it within 2 hours. If you have no choice but to store made up bottles, do so in the coolest part of your fridge, away from the door, and for no more than 24 hours.
8. Cook food thoroughly until steaming hot in the middle to kill harmful bacteria. Food can then be cooled to a suitable temperature for children by cutting into smaller pieces and separating into shallow bowls, or even placing in a sealed container and running it under cold water.
9. ‘Use by’ dates are typically found on perishable products (dairy, meat and fish) and are based on scientific testing to determine how long these foods will stay safe. After that date, food could be unsafe to eat even if it is correctly stored and looks and smells fine. If you need to store a food for longer, consider freezing it.
10. ‘Best before’ dates are used on foods that have a longer shelf life and tell us how long the food will be at its best. After that date it is normally safe to eat, but its flavour and texture might have deteriorated.
To see how safe your kitchen habits are and for more tips, take the FSA’s Kitchen Check online. You can get your little ones involved too by downloading their fun young people’s activities.
Kitchen Check can be found at: www.food.gov.uk/kitchen-check
Top ten food safety tips to protect your family from kitchen bugs Read More »
It has become something of a tradition that Maxi always has a chocolate smartie cake for his birthday. This year I decided to try and do something a little more eye catching. I love baking, but find icing larger cakes something of a chore. So this cake is very forgiving.
Cake Ingredients
6 oz of butter or marg
6 oz caster sugar
5 oz of self raising flour
1 oz of coco powder
1 teaspoon of baking powder
2 eggs
half teaspoon of vanilla extract
3 tablespoons of milk
Method.
Cream together the marg/butter and sugar. Then add the rest of the ingredients in and mix well!
Put in two 7 inch cake tins (I line the tins with parchment and grease) and place in to a preheated oven of 180 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. You can tell if the cakes are cooked if when you press the top it gives slightly but springs back.
Remove from oven and leave for 2 minutes before removing from tins and placing on to a wire rack to cool.
Icing Ingredients:
1 block of butter (250gm of 10 oz)
450 grams icing sugar
50 gms of coco powder
half teaspoon of vanilla extract
4 tablespoons of milk
Method
Soften the butter in a mixer before adding the other ingredients. Make sure you start mixing very slowly so you do not get icing sugar everywhere. If your mixer does not have a splatter guard then cover with a tea towel.
Assembling the cake
Sandwich together your two cakes with icing and then apply the remaining icing around and on top of the cake. You are going to use the using around the cake to stick the chocolate fingers to the cake, so make sure you have enough at the sides.
I applied the fingers and then refrigerated the cake overnight, before covering the top with smarties the following day.
I’m loving this series of The Great British Bake Off, as are most of you guys judging by the #GBBO chat on Twitter every Tuesday night. Did you know that you can now also get the Great British Bake Off App which features lots of easy to find, easy to follow recipes from Mary Berry and
English Summer Cupcakes for the Great British Bake Off Read More »
Cool on a wire rack.
Hints and tips from the first time maker.
I put far too much sauce in and it bubbled out making the muffins rather sticky to eat, but they are delicious. Next time I will put less batter in the bottom and then less sauce and more batter on top.
Whenever I make Spagetti Carbonara, I am always left with 4 egg whites, so I have been looking for a receipe, other than meranges (as MadDad doesnt like then) for quite a while.
Finally whilst looking through some old books came across one that I wrote down an age ago (when I used to rip out pages of magazines and buy food magazines, which means it was pre children). I do not know the source of this recipe, so can not quote it , sorry.
