My Birthday Weekend In Amsterdam

This weekend marked my 27th birthday. I keep forgetting I'm in my 20s and I'm still waiting to feel like a proper 'grown up', does anyone else feel like that? I'll start acting like a grown up soon I promise...maybe!

Excuse the posey pics, this was my hair for the travels!

I decided to spend the weekend in Amsterdam with my best friend Sarah. My birthday was on the Saturday so we left Friday night and came back on Sunday. We landed at in Schiphol and got a private shuttle to our hotel, The Albus. We did a lot of research for hotels and where the best places were to stay in the city. Our lengthy Tripadvisor searches we went for The Albus, and it was brilliant! A 4 star digs in a European city, who could ask for more? A special shout out to Mariska on reception who greeted us and we clicked with straight away, so friendly and helpful and drew up loads of interesting places on our map for us to go to. After hearing it was my birthday the next day she sent up a bottle of fizz for us to enjoy which was a nice touch and really lovely so we downed that straight away. 

As it was late and we'd been traveling we went around the corner for a little Italian, they were so lovely in there and the food was gorgeous. Feed me cannelloni and I like you. We then headed down to the local square for a few drinks and a nose around to see what was about. 

 

Saturday was my birthday and I was gifted with glorious sunshine! After a lay in we strolled up into the center for some pancakes and took a tip into the Sex Museum, you can't not can you? It was terrifying/hilarious/strange/brilliant all rolled into one. A lot of pictures, art and life sized figures. They had a section with Bettie Paige and Marilin Monroe, I even set the alarm off once when I pointed into the set at a record I owned - it was extremely loud and embarrassing and I pretty much ran away!

We then spent the day strolling up and down the canals, had a peak at Anne Frank's house, the queue was insane so we just had a look. We then did some shopping and more sight-seeing and stopped for some hot chocolate. Suddenly we felt a bit lost and the map wasn't making any sense until Mariska rescued us! She saw us on the street looking puzzled and walked us back! ha. She also showed us some nice places for dinner.

 

When we got back we realised they'd sent up some another bottle for us! So we got into bed and got smashed watching the rugby players on TV. 

 

It suddenly got a bit late so decided it was time to get dolled up for my birthday meal. I bought this Lindy Bop dress before I went away (£34), I love the colour and it's nice and heavy so falls really nicely. I've got a big chest so I put a little strap top underneath so the girls weren't completely on show, I don't have enough structure going on under there to keep everything in place! 

 Excuse the filters...I just can't help it!

 I teamed it with the black cherry necklace I bought from H&M earlier that day and my Lindy Bop underskirt. I absolutely loved it and wore it out to the restaurant, which annoying I felt really self consious at. Every kept staring at me, and normally when you catch someone's gaze they look away? Nope! Kept staring, and not in a nice way so it made me feel really weird but I tried to ignore it. 

After the hefty meal we went out to an area called De Pup which had a lot of cool bars in, we drank loads so I have no idea how I didn't have a hangover in the morning. We decided to spend the rest of the day before going home doing some more shopping and seight-seeing. You can't visit Amsterdam without seeing the Red Light District, I'm quite happy we went during the day, half of the people there were the same as us - just curious. The other half were gross men getting their kicks and it did feel a bit awkward going down some of the extremely narrow streets with them behind. 

Then soon again we were back at Schiphol Airport, which by the way - was amazing. All other airports take note! They did it right, it was so easy and quick and the 40 minute plane ride was a dream. 

I just really loved this shop

I did enjoy my birthday weekend away, I loved Amsterdam in the day and the hotel was lovely. By night? It unfortunately didn't do much for me but I still had a great time with my bestie I would still go again but maybe in the summer :)

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Cath Kidston Inspired Cake Pops

It feels like months since I've made cake pops, and probably because, it actually has been months! Which is a shame as I love making them, I've just been too busy so it was nice to have time to do some properly when asked to make a batch.

This particular batch were to be very pretty, pastel, floral and Cath Kidston inspired. Who doesn't life a bit of Cath Kidston? The colours, flowers, polka dots... it's all too cute and I love it.

I made three designs, two floral ones which were similar but with different base colours and one with polka dots standing up in floral cases. The two floral ones were made from being dipped in coloured white chocolate. Half in pink and half in pale blue.



For the floral part I cut out circles of fondant and set them on the cake pops with royal icing, for the flowers I cut out red fondant with flower plungers, added a gold pearl for the bud and again placed them on with royal icing. For the stalk and leaves I piped on green royal icing and to finish piped white pearls around the design.



The polka dot ones were sooo easy to make and look super cute. I saw these mini cupcake cases in the garden center and the floral design fitted in so well I couldn't pass them by. So when I had dipped the cake pops in white chocolate, just before they were set I put them head down in the cases so they stood up. To make them even sweeter I piped pink polka dots around them and boom, they were finished.

To make them look more professional I wrapped them up in their own little individual cellophane bag and silver tie. When they were finished they looked great and like something out of Laura Ashley and I hear they went down a storm.

I even got to use my Wilton cake pop decorating stand that I got for Christmas for the first time. This shows you just how long it's been since I made them.



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Birthday Beach Cake! - Seigmenn Kake!

Looking at these pictures you may think this cake is for a child....no no...this cake was for my supervisor! It all started when I brought back these jelly men sweets from Norway, I only bought them as I needed to get something from duty free one day and thought these would be good to share around the office. Well now we are all addicted to them, they're Norway's answer to jelly babies, which I absolutely hate, they're hard, covered in powder...yuck. Jelly men however are soft, covered in sugar and just completely different. Anyway my supervisor absolutely loves them so it was a no-brainer when it came to deciding what sort of cake to do.

The obvious choice was to make a scene involving them, so a beach scene seemed a natural choice. This again was a cake I made up as I went along and luckily I think it came out really cute, it was really easy to do too so it didn't take too long.

I made the bottom fondant a sand colour my mixing Melon Yellow and Dark Brown Sugarflair pastes. For the top I covered half in plain buttercream and the other half in blue mixed with Baby Blue sugarflair paste. I made it look a bit more 'ocean' like by swirling some colouring paste through it and dusted with with cake shimmer.

For the sand I thought I would crumble up her favourite biscuits, malted milks, they're perfect sand colour too which helped, I did learn though it is hard to stick decorations to crumbs, you really have to push it down so it hits the buttercream underneath otherwise it just slides off!

The decoration was easy, cut a few jelly men in half and made them swimmers, then cut a hollow easter egg in half, making it a boat and added a couple of passengers. I'm not sure why I added the flag really I just thought it fitted in and made it look a bit more like a boat. Then for the beach part I made some fondant towels and some sun-burnt sunbathers, giving them little suits I thought they were so cute! I did think about adding a shark fin to the ocean but thought I'd leave it as a peaceful cake!

I even added a few white chocolate starfish and a big gold ribbon to finish the look. As an extra little surprise by hollowing out a bit in the middle and filling it with buttercream and another jelly man!

I have a fun cupcake job for my company coming up next week so look out for my next post :) Pin It Now!

Double Chocolate Cheesecake

I promised you this recipe a couple of weeks ago and I shall deliver! My brother actually made this for me for my birthday. As you can imagine I make A LOT of sponge, so when it came to my birthday it was really the last thing I wanted to eat, so I asked for a cheesecake! And I have to say without a doubt this is the best cheesecake I have ever eaten. Definite Nom!

I love cheesecake - a ridiculous amount and if it wasn't so calorific I would eat it everyday without question. So words cannot explain how happy I was to get this on my birthday, I cut myself a mahoosive piece and another one later in the evening and it wasn't too long until we had demolished it, I don't think it survived the week.

He got the recipe from BBC Good Food an adapted it a little so I'll mention where and what he swapped.

Ingredients

FOR THE BISCUIT CRUST

• 85g hot melted butter , plus a little extra for greasing
• 14 plain chocolate digestives, finely crushed (he used half Bourbon biscuits)

FOR THE CHEESECAKE

• 3 x 300g packs full-fat Philadelphia cheese , at room temperature (changed for one third mascapone and two thirds cream cheese)
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 4 tbsp cocoa , sifted
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp Tia Maria (changed for a shot of espresso -which I thought I'd hate but loved as didn't get just pure coffee through)
• 3 large eggs
• 284ml pot soured cream (didn't include)
• 100g bar dark coffee chocolate , melted (changed for Green & Blacks milk chocolate)
• 2-3 tbsp milk
• 284ml pot double cream
• chocolate curls to decorate (optional, see Tip below) 

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Line the base of a 25cm springform tin with baking parchment. Mix the melted butter and biscuit crumbs until well blended, then press firmly onto the base of the tin. Bake for 10 mins.
2. Turn oven temperature up to 240C/fan 220C/gas 9. Beat the cream cheese and sugar with an electric whisk until smooth and creamy, then whisk in the cocoa, vanilla, Tia Maria, eggs, soured cream and half the melted chocolate. Stir enough milk into the remaining chocolate to make a sauce consistency, then set aside until ready to decorate the cheesecake.
3. Put a little melted butter on some kitchen paper and use it to butter the sides of the cake tin. Pour in the cheese mixture, then smooth the top. Bake for 10 mins, then turn the heat down to 110C/fan 90C/gas ¼ for 25-30 mins. The filling should be set, but with a wobble in the centre. Turn off the oven, open the door a crack, then leave the cheesecake to cool in the oven for 2 hrs. Chill until ready to serve.
4. To decorate the cheesecake, carefully remove it from the tin and strip the lining paper from the base. Lightly whip the cream until it just holds its shape, then swirl it on top and drizzle with the reserved chocolate sauce, rippling the sauce through the cream with the end of a spoon. Serve as is or pile with chocolate curls, if you've made them. 
5. Eat! Nom!

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Sweet And Salty Chocolate Cake

As you know it was my birthday earlier last week and I had a full on baking session the day before. People at work are pretty serious about birthday baking so I had to up my game. I've spent the best part of the last six weeks baking for others, I never go to have any of it so I though I'd go all out with treats I could get to try myself rather than giving them away :)

I recently got the latest Hummingbird Bakery book, 'Cake Days', I've wanted one of their books for ages so was so excited when I first got my hands on it. I've gone through this book a million times now, and this recipe always stuck out and I knew it was something I just had to bake, it was going to be amazing too, you just know don't you?

So this, their sweet and salty chocolate cake is probably the most beautiful chocolate cake I have ever made. It's a bit of a giant too, made up for three layers, though I only managed to fit two inside my cake carrier so kept and iced the last one for home, which my family loved so that worked out well.
Mine's a bit on the wonk here as I had so many to take in got a bit shuffled around, I also should have put it on a nice plate first really for the picture shouldn't I? whoops :)

It does take quite a bit of time to make so you do need to dedicate an afternoon to it, but trust me people it is so worth it. I would also like to say you do need cutlery to eat this one, it's definitely not just a 'grab a piece' cake. I have to warn you though, the caramel is so good you might have to hide it until you use it as it is easily the yummiest caramel I have ever tasted and you will be tempted to just drink it! Sorry about the ugly picture below but I had to show you how thick the frosting was, you can see knife marks!

This recipe says you need three 8inch loose bottomed sandwich tins, I don't know about you but I certainly don't have three actual tins the same size? So I used three of the cake tins that you get in a set of two from the shop, and used three of the smaller sized one. As you probably know if you're a regular reader...I have a tin obsession so this was the only way I can ever make three the same size! This is also probably why mine came out so tall, the tins should have been a big bigger.

Ingredients:

For the sponge:

• 300g unsalted butter, softened.
• 300g caster sugar
• 140g soft light brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 100g cocoa powder (I used Green & Blacks)
• 160ml buttermilk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 330g plain flour
• 2tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2tsp salt

For the salty caramel:

• 200g caster sugar
• 2tbsp golden syrup
• 120ml double cream
• 60m soured cream
• 1 tsp fine sea salt

For the frosting:

• 200g caster sugar
• 2tbsp golden syrup
• 360ml double cream
• 450g dark chocolate, chopped, 70% minimum cocoa solids plus extra to decorate
• 450g unsalted butter, softened
• Sea salt flakes, for sprinkling

 Method:

1. First make the salty caramel. In a small saucepan bring the sugar and golden syrup to the boil with 60ml water, allowing the mixture to boil for about 10 minutes, during which time it should become quite syrupy and a rich caramel colour.

2. Put the double cream, soured cream and salt into a separate pan and bring to the boil, then remove from the heat. The salt should completely dissolve into the cream.

3. When the sugar syrup is ready, remove it from the heat and carefully add the hot cream. It will bubble up as you pour in the cream, but smooth out again quickly after that, becoming a creamier golden colour. Pour the caramel into a small bowl and set it aside to cool while you make the frosting.

4. In a small, clean saucepan, bring the caster sugar and golden syrup to the boil with 60ml water, again letting this boil for about 10 minutes or until it is syrupy and caramel coloured.

5. In a separate pan, bring the double cream to the boil.  Carefully pour the hot cream into the caramel; as before, it will bubble up but settle down again shortly afterwards. Set this caramel aside to cool slightly (Don't eat it! :) )

6. Once it has cooled, add the chopped chocolate, stirring constantly while the chocolate melts (don't worry it definitely will). Using a hand-held mixer, mix the frosting for about 10 minutes or until the bottom of the bowl feels cold.

7. Add the butter to the chocolate caramel frosting and whisk together until the mixture is light and looks slightly whipped. Place the frosting in the fridge to cook and set for 40-50 minutes while you make the sponge.

8. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees celcius, gas mark 3, and line the tins.

9. Using a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment, or a hand-held one, cream together the butter and both types of sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl.

10. In a jug stir together the cocoa powder, buttermilk and vanilla with 60ml of water to form a thick paste. Sift together the remaining sponge indredients, then add these in stages to the creamed butter and sugar, alternating with the cocoa powder paste and mixing thoroughly on a low-to-medium speed until all the ingredients are incorporated.

11. Divide the batter between the three tins and bake for approximately 25 minutes or until the top of each sponge feels springy to the touch. allow the sponges to cool slightly in their tins before turning out on to a wire rack and cooling completely before assembling.

13. Once the sponges feel cold to the touch, place one on a plate or cake board and top with approximately 2 tablespoons of the salty caramel, smoothing it over the sponge with a palette knife. Top the caramel layer with 3-4 tablespoons of the frosting and smooth it out as before.

14. Continue this process, sandwiching together the other two sponges with the remaining salty caramel and a layer of frosting and leaving enough frosting to cover the sides and the top of the cake. To finish decorate with some shaved/chopped chocolate and a light sprinkle of the sea salt flakes...although this isn't easy to get on the sides, so you kind of have to throw the chocolate/salt at the sides!

15. Eat! Nom! Pin It Now!