Mrs Birks Blogs

I loved watching Nadiya's British Food Adventure last year and after several weeks thinking 'I don't need another cookbook' I gave in and finally bought it (it was probably the crisp and chocolate peanut tart that persuaded me)  Since then, I've looked at it with a drooling mouth but not actually cooked anything. Until now... I needed a recipe to christen my new Bundt tin and remembered seeing one in the book called 'Caramelized White Chocolate and Hazelnut Bundt Cake'.  Now, for those not in the know, caramelised white chocolate has the brand name Caramac, a super sweet light brown chocolate that you might remember from childhood.  It can be a little difficult to get hold of, you'll find that not all the supermarkets stock it and if they do, it can be a bit pricey because it's not available in a large size.  Anyway, with this in mind, I headed to Tesco to buy the ingredients, not completely convinced I would be able to get everything but ver...

A few weeks ago, I was very lucky to receive a surprise sample of Scrumptious Sprinkles to try out.  I was very excited because I love this brand!  I first came across them when I lived in Ludlow - I was thrilled to find edible mini dinosaurs at the Food Centre and took them home to decorate the Husband's birthday cake (I had some help from a small child!). Now that I no longer live in Ludlow, it is more difficult to get hold of them (although Lakeland has started stocking them), so I always look out for their stand at the Cake and Bake show, where they normally have a special offer.  On my last visit I got two shimmer powders and some small sprinkles.  They also do cupcake cases in a range of fantastic colors and designs.  I'm due to stock up on these - they are lots of fun and very good quality.  If you look carefully, you might spot some of the polka dot ones in my older posts.   Anyway, through the post, I received a bundle of joy which incl...

Ever since I got my copy of Martha Collison's Twist a few weeks ago (just £5 on Amazon at the time), I have been really keen to try some of the recipes.  It is a great book to have in a collection of baking books and, as the name suggests, you can try different things to create a 'twist'.  It is fast becoming a favourite. The first thing I tried was the Mango and Lime Meringue Pie.  I love a Meringue Pie, the lemon variety was my absolute favourite dessert as a child and this version brought back memories of Sunday afternoons.  The recipe had different stages, as you'd imagine, plenty of chilling time for pastry and later for the curd.  It was my first time 'blind baking' even though I've had a pot of baking beads in the cupboard for several years, which meant the pastry was lovely and crisp (although the top edge was slightly overdone on one side and next time I would watch it more closely).  The curd was also a first.  Last time I tried a lemon ...

Bundt cakes are impressive, especially if you've got a super fancy tin.  At Christmas time, Bundt cakes seem particularly festive covered in a little icing sugar.  In fact, that is one of the many impressive things about Bundt cakes - they can have as little or as much decoration as you want, the tin does the hard work, so you don't have to! Talking of Bundt tins, they can be a bit pricey.  I was lucky in that I was given a well used one from my Mum.  It is a bit battered and a simple design but it did the job for my first ever Bundt bake.  Choosing the recipe was a little more difficult, having overdosed on chocolate over Christmas, I wanted to do something different, so spent some time trawling Internet recipes. I decided on this Lime and Blueberry recipe by Mary Berry. After a Christmas with a few satsumas as the only fruit, I tried to convince myself that a punnet of blueberries made for a slightly healthier cake.  The recipe suggests that you ...

What's so bad about being forty? Aside from a huge increase in grey hair and the need to apply neck firming cream, it doesn't seem so awful to me.  But then I am only a week or so into my fortieth year. One of the best things about turning 40 is that people shower you with gifts.  40 being a significant number means that the pressies are fantastic!  One beautiful gift that I will treasure always was a plum coloured Ted Baker bag with copper coloured accents.  I don't really have the lifestyle to go with such a beautiful bag but there's still time!  They say life begins and all that. To prove I'm still youngish I also got a Brits CD full of young people music.  I have already irritated the family by over-playing Justin Bieber.  I also got a beautiful silver honey pot, an equally beautiful 3 tier cake plate, some books and a Happy Valley DVD (we missed it first time around and everyone has been raving about it).  All in all, a v...

On a trip to our local library recently, I got a copy of the Making Cupcakes with Lola cookbook.  Before I talk about the many joys of the book, I just want to mention our local library.  We love it! The staff are so helpful, even when my 7 year old asks slightly obscure questions about Pokémon.  They run loads of special events - we've been to an indoor picnic, junk modelling and a record breaking attempt and there is a genuinely welcoming atmosphere.  When we first moved here, joining the library was one of the first things we did and the following weekend for an added bonus, they had a DVD and CD sale where we managed to pick up lots of bargains,  With cuts to all libraries over the last few years, I am so grateful for the service provided by ours - well done Downham Market library, we salute you! Anyway, back to Cupcakes with Lola.  I hadn't really thought of myself as a cupcake baker before or a cupcake buyer for that matter - I don't k...

So, I  missed blogging in the last four months of 2015 and now we're already two months into a brand new year.  Like many, I have found the start of 2016 pretty tough not just because of the lovely people we have lost in the celebrity world but also the lovely people we have lost closer to home.  Before half term we said goodbye to my father in law, one of the kindest and wisest men I have ever met and we are all much sadder without him.  So with 2016 being pretty grim so far, I thought this post would be about some highlights from the end of 2015 Cake and Bake Show Ok, so not completely 'the end' of 2015 but at some point before Christmas (I can't remember exactly when), my Mum and I went to the Cake and Bake show at ExCel in London.  Knowing that we wouldn't be the earliest of risers, I bought the afternoon only tickets and used the money I saved on tickets for a class - in our case with Rosie Drummer aka Rosie Cake Diva.  Rosie has produced amaz...

Just before going back to work in September, I had a final baking weekend where I decided to have another go at my nemesis - macarons.  On the recent series of Bake Off, everyone seemed to be knocking up macarons all over the place and not even as an actual challenge - often just for the decoration on other things!  I have tried them 3 times now and not once have I achieved the perfect macaron.  How do those bakers in the tent do it??? So back at the start of September I had a go at making them for what was the second time using Edd Kimber's recipe for Chocolate and Raspberry Macarons .  I followed his recipe carefully, although I don't have a sugar thermometer, so that bit was guess work.  The result was better than my previous attempt but the mixture was a little bit runny and I think this was due to my folding in technique.  I have never been good at folding in - I think I'm not really delicate enough generally - not just in baking but in general life....

With all our trips around Norfolk, you may be wondering if I've had time to do any baking recently.  The answer is: a bit! With the return of the Bake Off, who can resist a bit of cake baking and with a visit from friends a few weekends ago, I had the perfect excuse to bake something yummy. When I'm baking, I tend to stick to a few tried and tested cakes that I know everyone will like but this weekend, I decided to move away from the norm and try something from The Clandestine Cake Company Cookbook, which my sister bought me for my last birthday (I notice there is also a new book out).  Isn't the cover beautiful?  The recipes inside are too! I love the idea of a secret cake club where everyone bakes and shares their baking.  This book has a range of recipes from Lynn Hill and other CCC members, including classics, celebration and creative cakes.  Some recipes are themed, for example a Blue Velvet cake which was made to go with a film noir themed evening...

I have had Paul Hollywood's How to Bake for ages but not baked anything from it. I did try his Chelsea Bun recipe when filling in my (sadly unsuccessful) application for the Bake Off but found that on the internet and it was the recipe that prompted me to buy his book. It being Easter, I decided to try a recipe for Hot Cross Buns. What better way to try out the book? Chelsea Buns - a tried and tested Paul Hollywood recipe The recipe is fairly straight forward but unlike other recipes, contains pieces of apple which Hollywood says enhances the taste and adds moisture.  The only adjustment I made (and always make to fruit based recipes) was to add 230g of mixed fruit, rather than 150g of sultanas and 80g of chopped mixed peel.  I can't stand peel  - although I noticed afterwards, as I bit into a bun that the mixed fruit I had chosen did contain bits of peel.  Mixed fruit bags often contain Cranberry, which I love but it can taste a bit Christmassy which you may...

So my poor, neglected blog is 2 years old and what a lot has changed in the past year!  My resolution to write one post a month has gone completely out of the window but it doesn't mean I've stopped loving my blog.  I just haven't had a lot of time to update it.                                             Happy Birthday Mrs Birks Blogs...not 6 yet! Back in February, I wrote about a book called Create Your Amazing Year 2014 (read about it here)  which had been helpful in making some changes to my general routines and I was feeling happier.  Later that month, as part of making changes, I went for a job interview and after a thorough grilling, I got a new job to start later in the year.  No biggy you might be thinking but it wasn't just a new job, it also meant a new house, new school for my daughter and a new daily commute into Cambridge. Instantly...

This year I have certainly got Christmas Spirit and I don't mean the alcoholic type.  Of the recent years I can remember, this is the most excited I've been.  The Christmas tree has gone up extra early, the house has more tinsel than ever (usually completely restricted) and not only have we got an advent calendar each (thanks Mum) we also have advent crackers.  In the last few days of school, we had Christmas dinner (yum!), a carol service, Christmas films and lots of Secret Santa.  Christmas feels like it has really started even though there are still days to go (only a couple now!) There is something about a Carol Service that just feels right at Christmas.  If you no longer have young children, or don't go to church or aren't a teacher in a Christian school, there's a chance that you might miss out on singing festive classics like Once in Royal David's City and Hark the Herald Angels Sing.  Working in a school which has its own Chapel and a ...

A few weeks ago, just before Halloween, I was invited to a craft evening with the theme of biscuit decorating.  My lovely friend Kirsten had previously read my post about Princess Biscuits (see here) and, being a maker of fantastic cookies herself, suggested I have a look at the blog of the amazing Sugarbelle .  It was from this blog that our craft evening was inspired.  With some ghost shaped and circular biscuits fresh from the oven, I popped over to Kirsten's ready for a night of outlining, flooding and, of course, biscuit sampling. Using Sugarbelle's recipe, Kirsten had made up some icing - in a huge quantity! - ready for us to water down a little into the consistency desired.  This is where I picked up my first tip of the evening which was to use a water spray bottle for adding water.  This allows a bit more control and you are less likely to add too much.  I, of course, did add too much, so ended up with flood icing when I'...

You might have guessed by now that I love to bake.  I enjoy all sorts of baking and often try to challenge myself with something new (I have been in training for the Bake Off for about a million years - I hope they pick me one day!).  Joining the WI recently has given me more reasons to bake and more people to eat my baked goods - there's only so much a family of four can get through, especially when one of the four is only 10 months old! I have to confess that I have never been very good as biscuits.  I am getting better but apologies to anyone who has had to eat one of my not-so-great attempts over the years.  I have discovered that the secret of a good biscuit is all in the rolling out.  Usually the thinner the better, depending on the type of biscuit you are making. Oh and getting them out of the oven before they get too brown - usually only a little colour is perfect, even if you think they might be undercooked.  Anyway, years ago, o...

Like many, I jumped at the chance of indulging in some Great British Bake Off before the return of the new series and watched the Easter Masterclass (you can no longer see this on iPlayer but there are re-runs of series 2 - hoorah!). Of all the deliciousness on offer, I opted to make The Berry's Lemon Pavlova complete with mini nests and garnished with mini eggs. I've only ever made pavlova once before, it didn't turn out too badly, a little bit soggy in the middle but an ok first attempt. What I'd forgotten about my first attempt was how long it took to make. The recipe I followed can be found here . The pavlova is made with 6 egg whites, caster sugar and a few teaspoons of cornflour and white wine vinegar. I was a bit impatient with the meringue and really thought I had gone wrong until eventually it thickened up and I was brave enough to do the "meringue over the head" test. I probably should have whisked a bit more, as when I added the cornflour mixture ...