Spiced Pumpkin Tea Bread

 

Spiced Pumpkin Tea Bread

Spiced Pumpkin Tea Bread

You may have guessed by now that I’m a big fan of Pumpkins! Whether you put them in pies, soups or even cakes pumpkin is a seriously versatile vegetable that is entirely underused in the UK. Today I’m sharing my yummy recipe for Pumpkin Spiced Tea Bread. You may recall it featuring in our Halloween celebrations and it’s still a firm favourite.

Tip. I’m starting this recipe with a tip because it’s annoyingly hard to find Pumpkins in UK supermarkets past October. If you can’t find any then don’t despair, Butternut Squash makes a fabulous substitute!

Ingredients

225g/ 8oz Self Raising Flour

240g/ 9oz Caster Sugar

225g/ 8oz Pumpkin Puree (or butternut squash)

125ml/ 4floz Olive Oil

60ml/ 2floz Water

1/2 Tsp Ground Nutmeg

1/2 Tsp Allspice

1/2 Tsp Ground Cloves

1/2 Tsp Ground Ginger

1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon

 

Begin by making your Pumpkin puree. There are two ways to do this, the first option is to roast the Pumpkin, see my full instructions on this post. You can also remove all the flesh from the inside using carving tools or even an ice cream scoop and then boil in water until soft. Puree using a blender and then strain through a sieve lined with kitchen paper for several hours. You should have more than enough puree to make this recipe at least twice.

In a large mixing bowl combine all the ingredients and mix until just combined.IMG_5144

Preheat your oven to 180C/ 350F/ Gas Mark 4 and bake for 50-55 minutes until golden and cooked through.

Leave to cool and serve in cut slices. It tastes very good with a little butter spread across the surface.

 

 

 

The Great Lord of the Rings Cake Off!

A weekend spent at home can quickly become boring if you don’t have any activities or projects with which to occupy yourself. My husband and I found ourselves in just such a situation a few weeks ago. Rather than spend a weekend in front of the television, I challenged him to a cake off! The rules were simple, we would both make a cake and decorate it on a chosen theme and then let our friends vote for the winner.

After watching the recent Hobbit film we decided on a Lord of the Rings or Tolkien theme. Both cakes were mini cakes (so they could be eaten quickly and therefore keep their freshness).

I chose to make a Hobbit Hole, the cake was baked in a pudding basin and carved to give the shape. I was really quite pleased with it 🙂

My husband (the ambitious fellow that he is) chose to make Minas Tirith, it was constructed of multiple layers of mini brownie cakes, then covered in icing.

We put the photos onto our personal facebook pages and let our friends and family vote for a winner. The results crowned…..

My Hobbit Hole victorious!

It was a hilarious way to spend a weekend and basically a free activity as we had everything we needed in our cupboards.

So if you find yourself slipping into boredom one weekend how about challenging a friend or family member to your very own cake off or bake off. You can even do a challenge with a group of friends, or perhaps in aid of charity. Not forgetting that it doesn’t matter who wins as everyone gets to eat cake!!

My Dream Bathroom! Plus make a bath out of cake!!

I love relaxing into a warm bath in the morning, those few moments of quiet solitude can set you up for a wonderful day. But my bathroom is not quite the sanctuary it should be.

My bath tub has quite a few chips, it’s old and has held up very well but it’s time has most definitely come. My sink suffers from a similar affliction and just looks generally tired. The toilet on the other hand, well that is quite the comical fellow with a handle that only works if it’s attached upside down!

The truth of it is that my bathroom is old, tired and in need of a little lot of love! When it is finally made over I promise I’ll show you all it’s awful faults, so you can marvel at it’s transformation 🙂

For now though I’ll have to console myself by dreaming of my future haven of tranquility. I’d love a large deep possibly clawed bath under the window. The sink and toilet would also follow traditional lines with glinting taps and Edwardian style elegance. Think this bathroom suite from Bathshop 321, it’s called the Hamilton (even the name sounds elegant!). I suppose if we’re dreaming then my bathroom would never need cleaning and would always smell of fresh linen. Maybe I need an Edwardian maid to match my scheme, probably a butler as well because… well because having a butler would just be amazing! I may or may not be humming the theme tune to Downton Abbey as I type ;P

Of course the very best way to illustrate my vision would be through the medium of cake! It may not be as good as the real thing but at least it’s a bit of tasty consolation! So here I am languishing in my gorgeous new bath, filled to the brim 🙂 The foot shaped bathmat is essential!

If you’d like to make your own Bathtub cake below are intstructions for how I made mine 🙂

Step 1

Bake your favourite cake in a loaf tin. I made a madeira cake as I find them easier to carve.

When cooled use a knife to round the corners of your cake until it looks bath shaped.

Step 2

Spread a thin layer of buttercream over your bath.

Step 3

Roll out some ready made white fondant and cover the cake. Next I sprayed the cake lightly with a silver cake decorating spray, this gives an enamel finish to your bath.

Step 4

Cover a cake board with fondant, I made mine slate grey. Then using something long and thin (such as a ruler) lightly press lines into the fondant to create tiles. When finished pop your bathtub onto the board.

Step 5

Now the fun begins, using fondant make a rubber duck (one larger ball pinched at one end for the tail, plus one smaller ball for the head) paint his eyes on with a tiny bit of food colouring.

Then make a bathmat, mine is foot shaped yours could be square or circular etc. I used a cocktail stick to make tiny dots all the way around to simulate sewing marks. Then paint ‘Bath’ on your mat using colouring.

The tap is created out of sausage shapes, one large sausage for the centre bent over slightly. Two smaller sausages on either side, with teeny tiny crosses for the top. I dusted then with edible gold shimmer.

The person is actually just a head and two arms. The arms and made by rolling sausage shapes, one end is flattened slightly then use scissors to snip the fingers. Place into the bathtub on either side.

The head is made by rolling a ball shape, add a smaller ball for the nose and shape using your fingers or tools. Make little indentations for the eyes and mouth (these are painted on using food colouring). There is an ear either side made by rolling a ball shape. Place this onto the bath end.

The hair is made by rolling out fondant very thin, then use a sharp knife to create strands, attach these from the base of the head layering up to the crown.

Step 6

Now to fill the bath, I used buttercream but royal icing would also look good. Mix a little blue colouring into your icing, I didn’t mix it fully to leave a slightly mottled colour. Using a small knife spread this over the top of your bath. Once finish add your rubber duck.

Voila one bath cake 🙂