Recent Bakesale Madness

Sorry for the long hiatus. My hard drive died. It's still MIA. I'm doing this entry via flickr.

I recently made a shitload of cakes and cookies for two bakesales at my music centre: one to raise money for our tour to Dublin + Belfast next year, and one for the mass summer 'extravaganza' type thing, where all 900 students perform in their respective groups. there were about students and parents included, there were over 2000 people there. Needless to say, there were a lot of cakes.

Anyway, for both events I worked my socks off - no, I'm not ashamed to say it, because I really DID work bloody hard - and I'm pretty proud of what I achieved. For the mammoth event in particular, I spent about two days baking/frosting etc. (on and off). I think you can tell that I'm really committed to/in love with my music centre. I've been there for 11 years, and the staff and students are some of the best people I know. I definitely like them a hell of a lot more than the people at my high school. That was just Pretentious Bitch Plc., co-owned by Insane Unnecessary Pressure Ltd.

Anyway, enough about how much I hated high school. Let's get onto some delicious and fattening edible shit.

BAKE SALE #1 (The Dublin/Belfast Tour Fund)

CHOCOLATE & CHERRY RICE KRISPY CAKES

Rice Krispies + cocoa/syrup/marg + glacé cherries. Yum!

BLONDIE WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPS

Isa's recipe from the PPK. These were so fucking good. Moist + gooey and chocolate and just like heaven. Amazing.

COFFEE & DATE CUPCAKES WITH COCONUT FROSTING

Brain food! I made these up as I went along. And the frosting was melted (solid) creamed coconut mixed with icing sugar.

CHOC ORANGE SPICE FLAPJACKS

The flapjack bit had candied orange peel in, and the chocolate was Green & Black's Maya Gold chocolate. These were really popular!

MICROMINI LEMON CUPCAKES WITH STRAWBERRY

Another brain recipe. I did them in a really mini muffin pan, and then put raspberry jam inside, and covered them with strawberry buttercream + fresh strawberries.

BAKE SALE #2 (The mass event)

MEXICAN CHOC ORANGE CUPCAKES

The cupcakes had candied orange zest, orange juice, candied orange peel + mixed spice in, and the buttercream featured Green & Black's Maya Gold chocolate (that stuff is great). And yeah, I know they look a bit like tits. What's not to love? They sold out in about an hour.

BLONDIES: ROUND TWO

Isa's recipe again. They came out even better than the first lot, coz I let 'em bake a bit longer, so they had a crunchier top, but were still lush and gooey underneath. I could marry this recipe. Oh, and they sold out in 20 minutes.

COFFEE & DATE COCONUT CUPCAKES: ROUND TWO

Same recipe, but with a bit more coffee (it was pretty subtle the first time). Also for the frosting I just did a basic buttercream frosting but added in desiccated coconut, and then rolled the frosted cupcakes in the leftover 'dust' at the bottom of a Chocolate Shredded Wheats packet.

TIGER BISCUITS

Plain biscuits smeared in coffee buttercream and rolled in Grape Nuts.

ORANGE CREAM SANDWICH BISCUITS

The biscuits were orange flavoured, and so was the buttercream. So yeah, the name is pretty descriptive, eh?

LEMON & STRAWBERRY CUPCAKES: ROUND TWO

But normal size this time! I adapted the recipe a little, and this time put the jam on top instead of inside. Also the frosting was a better consistency, so it was more pipeable, rather than just being spready like the last lot.


What a fuckload of baked goods, eh? My teeth hurt just to look at it all.

Muvvaz Day Goodies & Pad Thai

Mother's Day is actually in March, not May. The yanks have it all wrong. So ner.

Anyway, back in March, I made these Coconut Custard Cubes for my ma. They're low on ingredients and are a piece of piss to make, but look really impressive. Plus she loved them, which is obviously the important thing.

COCONUT CUSTARD CUBES

STUFF YA NEED
1 can coconut milk
3 tbsp cornflour
3 tbsp icing (confectioner's) sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

4 tbsp strawberry (or whatever flavour) jam
1 tbsp arrowroot

WOT YA DO
1) Line a small-based tin (about 6" x 4 " - depth is irrelevant - but with relatively straight sides) with cling film (shrink wrap), pressing it firmly into the corners and making sure there are no wrinkles. Make sure there's plenty hanging over the edges
2) Thoroughly mix together first 5 things in a pan, then dump half of it out again, into another container and set aside. bring the mixture to the boil, stirring constantly, then quickly turn the heat right down and stir like mad to get rid of any lumps as it thickens. When it's nice and thick and gooey, pour it into the base of yer dish and put in the fridge to set (it'll do this pretty quickly - 20 mins tops).
3) Meanwhile, mix together the jam and arrowroot (in a mug is ideal) and nuke in the microwave for about 20 secs. DON'T OVERDO IT or you'll end up with a congealed too-solid mess which won't spread. Anyway, pour this thickened jam over the set coconut custard, spreading evenly, and return to the fridge.
4) Repeat the heating process with the second batch of the coconut mixture, and then carefully pour over the jam layer, making sure not to mess up the jam. When it's smooth and even, fold over the cling film tightly and return to the fridge to set fully.
5) When set (leave it as long as you like, but it'll be done in anything from 30 mins, but you could leave it up to 2 hours if you wanna be certain), carefully unwrap and turn out onto a plate or smooth surface. Cut into wee cubes and plonk in wrappers.

And yer done! They're ready for scoffin'.

PAD THAI

This has to be one of my favourite meals EVER. So good. Noodles, tofu, ginger, soy sauce... pretty much all my favourite things in one meal.

NB: This isn't the Brooklyn Pad Thai from Vegan With A Vengeance. It's from a book I picked up for £2.50 in Oxfam called Vegan Nutrition: Pure And Simple. It was written in the '90s by some beardy MD, and is basically a life guide on how to be vegan - reasons for veganism, how to get all yer nutrients, meal plans, recipes etc. etc. It's a brilliant book actually - especially since it was written over 10 years ago, when veganism was about as widespread as smallpox is today - and I feel it was definitely £2.50 well spent :o)