Springtime baking!
gluten-free simnel cakes, originally uploaded by YummyNiceBaking.
Simnel cakes for Easter with family in Scotland, Birthday cake in shades of lemon and raspberry for a friend’s birthday back in London. Hurrah for the return of colour! Check out the whole mini-set of photos on Flickr.
Cookie Spoons
Edible spoons with a dollop of something delicious. Lick the spoon and then devour the spoon as well! The perfect canape with no clean up.
Skimming through all the wonderful baking blogs out there, I found yet another gem in Sprinkle Bakes. The many clever cakes and cookies were already looking pretty good, and then I saw these:
Sprinkle Bakes - tuile cookie spoons
But as these are tuile biscuits, that means they are spread with a spoon into a very expensive stencil that doesn’t seem to be available in the UK. Surely I can make something similar, with a different batter?
I tried this out on Friday with my favourite cut-out cookie recipe, and at first I thought I’d cracked it. Cute delicious spoons, perfect. But I forgot two important things – this recipe makes pretty fragile cookies and they soften up the next day, meaning they make pretty floppy spoons.
So the hunt is on.
After I told my mother about my dream of the perfect cookie spoon, she said, “They sound like a Martha thing.” Which is shorthand for they sound wonderful, but too fussy to bother making. Martha Stewart is awesome, but she’s a robot with an army of design and art school graduates churning out dream crafts. And funnily enough, after a little internet searching, the next recipe I find for cookie spoons is from Martha herself:
Ice cream sundaes with cookie spoons
This is a much flatter cookie, but maybe more doable. For now. Until I give in and stump up the cash for the spoon stencil.
Results!
The little lady legs have become a reality. I don’t know if petticoat buttercream is within my grasp yet, but I am so pleased with this first outing!
Tipsy lady
Little legs cake
Carrot cupcakes, cream cheese frosting and marzipan legs and flowers
That ceramics degree is finally coming in handy!
Little lady legs…
I have a vision for a sweet little cupcake, frosted with concentric circles of frilly buttercream, like a lady’s petticoats, and two little marzipan legs protruding from the top. As if a tiny drunken showgirl has fallen over and gotten her head stuck in your cake. The sort of cake you’d have with Tina Tsang’s tempting tea service (oh, the alliteration)….
Blaue Blume milk jug
But, have I seen this cake somewhere before?
To find out, and to get ideas for sculpting little legs, I’ve been scouring the internet with mixed results. I’ve not seen the cake of my dreams, but the highlights of my search have been great fun:
Link (oh, if I’d only kept those Barbie shoes I was so fascinated by as a child…)
I’m pleased that the idea isn’t already done, or at least not already old hat. I think the marzipan legs can be made, and practice will make near-perfect – those years of ceramic training will not be a waste!
In the end, I might need to look into adult chocolate moulds (shudder) as there seems to be a market in men who want to chew on lady legs, or I might have to make my own silicone moulds – intriguing!
x A
February clickalong – results!
lemon and mascarpone chicken, jeruselum artichoke mash and steamed greens, followed by tarte tatin – all cooked from scratch, in just one hour. Allegra McEvedy’s recipes are always lovely and easy to follow. The chicken and mash were particularly good this time round – I’ll be doing that again.
My pictures on Flickr and again on the Guardian’s photo gallery too – I must admit it was after 9pm and husband was coming down with a cold, so we snapped a few quick shots and just tucked in. Yum.
