Heres the promised blog post on a bit more of my baking! Now parkin is something i have had every year at bonfire night, along with cheesy baked potatoes, veggie hot dogs and cinder toffee. But i really think it must be a yorkshire thing because noone in my halls had heard of it until i made it today. Its a tray bake style ginger cake and its surprisingly easy to make. So here is the recipe i used:

12oz fine oatmeal

6oz plain flour

1tsp ginger

½tsp baking powder

½oz sugar

¼tsp salt (optional)

1lb golden syrup

4oz butter

½tsp bi-carbonate of soda

¼ pint milk

Mix together the oatmeal, flour, sugar, ginger, (salt), baking powder in a large mixing bowl.  

Add the butter to the syrup in a separate bowl and gently warm until the butter is melted. Add this to the dry ingredients and stir well. 

Dissolve the bi-carbonate of soda in slightly warmed milk and then add this to the rest of the ingredients and mix together well.

Pour into a deep greased/lined baking tray.

Bake for 1 ½ hours at 150C.

This is my great grandmas recipe that my mum gave to me, after she had a little shock that the one i find online didnt contain particular ingredients. But it means all the measurements are imperial, i just used google converter to find the metric equivalent.

I forgot to take pictures as i was going along, clearly got far too into the baking, but here's the final product. Quite impressed with how it tastes as well.

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Brownies

When i was home last weekend i had the chance to bake again. Its something i miss when i am at uni because the halls kitchen isnt really the best for baking. I dont think i have ever made brownies before, and although they are a simple thing to make, i was pretty impressed with how mine turned out. I used the recipe from a childrens cookbook and decided not to add nuts to them. I have to say, they went down well when i bought some back with me to uni :) What i really want to try out is some parkin for bonfire night!

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Rainbow cake

Not sure i ever showed this on the blog, but back in july i made this as a birthday cake for my boss at work.

The best thing about this is that you dont know if its worked and how it will look until you cut into it! I would quite like to make another one of these. Maybe before uni and take it so everyone wants to be my friend ;)
The cake itself is simple to make, but the icing and sprinkles can get a bit tricky. I love the way it turned out though and my boss said it tasted great too which is a bonus. Whats your favourite cake to bake?

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Pink Blue and Yellow

Note to self: find a brighter background!

Buns: 200g self raising flour

200g margarine

200g caster sugar

2 eggs

I backed and decorated some buns at the weekend. I got the idea from Kims post a while ago, but only just got round to doing it. Mine are nowhere near as impressive but they arent bad for a first attempt. I think i need to fill the bun cases more since some of them look a little weedy. And also cover them in more stars! The sprinkles are from sainsburys and i bought i few different kinds so will probably play about with the others soon. They tasted lovely but because i now have loads in the house i keep snacking on them, ooops.

Its been a really gorgeous day here and i love having the sun out, cant wait to not need a jacket outside. I have a lot of college work to get done these days. I have become a master of procrastination. Should really crack down for these next 3 weeks so i get it all done. Other than college i am working, playing cricket, volunteering and going to zumba (which you should really try if you havent!). So nothing that interesting to tell you about. Let me know if you have a go at any baking. And remember my giveaway closes in a week.

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Halloween Treats

Yesterday i made some halloween themed buns because i just couldnt resist. I first made rainbow buns with a friend when i was in year 8 and have loved making them ever since! So i altered the colours slightly to just orange and black for these buns. They are made with a basic sponge recipe (which i have shown below) but then go crazy with the colours and decorations.

100g margarine

100g caster sugar

100g self-raising flour

2 eggs

1. Beat together the marg and the sugar.

2. Then beat in one egg at a time, adding a little flour with each egg.

3. Fold in the remaining flour.

That is the basic recipe. However then i added a bit of vanilla essence, because the colouring can sometimes alter the flavour. Then to get halloween themed buns..

4. Split the mixture into two bowls and added different food colouring to each.

5. Spoon the mixtures into the bun cases, adding the different colours in random ways.

6. Place in an oven at 180 degrees for about 15 mins.

To decorate i sprinkled a pinch of icing sugar over any of the top bits which were showing black, this gave them an eerie look! And on the mainly orange tops i iced on some halloween shapes. Here is the final product:

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