Dessert Table

I have, this week had the absolute pleasure of creating my very first, and long waited for, Dessert Table.

The occasion was to be a Baby Shower and as the Client had no idea if she was expecting a little pink or blue baby I was asked to keep the colours neutral, the invitations had been green and yellow so that was my starting point.

After initially discussing different options for the feature cake the rest was left up to me, perfect!

Bottom Tier Chocolate and Raspberry Cake, Top Tier Carrot Cake.

I had so many ideas for this it was hard to limit them, but I knew I wanted the overall look to be clean and sweet, so have locked away a lot of my thoughts and ideas until another opportunity arrises!

These tables are so popular in the US why is it taking so long to catch on over here!?  

Lemon and Poppy Seed Cupcakes with a lemon Curd Centre and a lemon buttercream .

Vanilla Sugar Cookies with Royal iced design.

Chocolate Brownies.

Meringue Kisses.

Gooey Chocolate Pots topped with a chocolate nest and chocolate egg.

Chocolate Eggs

Tailor Made Take Home Bags

Darling Meringues!

Today was going to be a straight forward Meringue kind of day..... Sat down and trawled the internet for the perfect recipe.... just couldn't decide which one I liked best , so scooped up 3 or maybe 4 different recipes and with a bit of tweaking came out with the 'perfect' Meringue Recipe! Well fingers crossed.

It's probably a bit different to the way my Nana would have made them, I combined the egg whites with sugar and gently heated this until the sugar melted then whisked it until cool and fluffy.
Just turned the ovens off and can barely contain myself, I am so impatient! Hopefully they will have cooled down by the time I have got back with the kiddlywinks (at what age will I stop calling them that!?)

.....A few..... hours...... later......

I have barely been able to contain my happiness - they are the most delightful sugary treats I have seen in ages and they taste heavenly! Perfectly crispy on the outside and mouthwateringly gooey on the inside.

Just got to decide how I am going to eat them!

The first one I tried was completely naked - to be honest it doesn't really need anything else - how is it possible that egg white and sugar can taste so luxuriously divine!

Then I had a brain wave...... not at all an excuse to have another one! I thought how much I love Lemon Meringue Pie..... and how much I am always disappointed at the congealed Lemony bit and how I always wish I had more Meringue and less pastry. And I remembered that in my fridge I have a huge bucket of Award winning, locally produced, organic Lemon Curd!!!!!

Sooooo.......... I had one more........

........ And this was the best!

X

Corruption of a Princess!

Today we had a fake Birthday Tea, well why not!
We had a cake!

I had an obliging Daughter!

Who got to eat cake!

As my Daughter is only used to getting the left over crumbs, this was a real treat!

Then........ Well, what can I say! All fed up with the Sweetness and Light and left alone for a few minutes.....

Turned my Pretty Princess into this, doesn't take much!

I Love A Good Fork!

This has become my new obsession, well mini obsession! I can't truthfully see it lasting too long.

Not altogether sure about why they delight me so much, but they do.
I do have a favourite, which annoyingly is the most expensive, but I like them all for different reasons.
One is a Good old fashioned sturdy fork, with a novelty twist,  another is petit and barely there to hold. Whilst I really like the twistyness to the handle and 'perfect fit' of others. The option of a little knife-ability has a real bonus too!
And lastly one of them just had to be two, as I just love it so much! It honestly makes me feel like a Princess using it!

But at the end of the day and the most importantly, lovely thing about a good fork is that it truly does make eating cake even more pleasurable!

X

Last Look At India Before I get Back to Cakey Stuff!

Well before India becomes a distant dream I just wanted to share some of my favourite pictures from my trip - hope they're not too boring! Here goes, enjoy!

Ah Sweet Gulab!

After 2 days surviving on meagre rations just had a flap up meal, cottage cheese with cashew gravy and cheese balls( mozzarella I presume!)with tikka masala, my eyes were bigger than my belly and I ordered too much especially when it came to the Gulab!
I didn't really need them but they are so so delicious! Kinda like treacle sponge balls!
X

Agra

As soon as we hit the hotel, jumping in the shower ( and using the loo!!!) was my top priority, washing away the train journey was fabulous and we were ready to go again.
Spotting the glorious sun shunning away made us decided to hit the Taj Mahal asap and kinda get it out if the way!!!
It was all that I expected, big, beautiful and busy! I can now happily tick off a Wonder of the world! I am not really a sight seeing type person and after half an hour I was itching to go.
I found the walk back to the hotel more fascinating the streets were not that busy at all, all the shops sold the same Taj goodies, managed to catch sight of a couple of roof top monkeys, a camel, a really angry looking goat and of course the obligatory cows in the road.
Once back at the hotel, realisation dawned that we had not eaten properly in 2 days! We hit the roof top terrace and ordered beer!!!!!
Unfortunately we had forgotten that unlike Goa where we could enjoy alcohol tax free! The hotel didn't have a license so had to go and fetch the beer from a shop and charge us quadruple for the privilege. Where we were enjoying a pint in Goa for 50p we are now paying £2 grrrrrrrrrr!!!!
X