Saturday, 31 October 2009

Happy Halloween!



Hope everyone has suitably spooky plans for the evening, if you like that sort of thing, or suitably unscary plans if not. I am about to go create a backcombed up-do, smoky eyes and red, red lips and slip on my long black dress (no particular costume as such, but some sort of vampire maybe?) before trekking even further into South London than I am now (currently at M's) to a Halloween housewarming. We will be taking a few bottles of wine, a couple of carved pumpkins (see photo above, mine on the left and M's on the right) and some more of those pumpkin cupcakes, as I baked another lot this afternoon. I've had a request for the recipe from mise of pretty far west (hello, thanks for stopping by!), so will leave you with it, along with a photo of batch number 2, which I iced with a different piping nozzle - not sure which I prefer as I think this second lot may be a bit too pretty looking for Halloween.

I know it is probably a bit late to be of any use for today, but they are so good they are worth making anyway, Halloween or not!


Hummingbird Bakery Pumpkin Cupcakes

40g unsalted butter at room temperature
120g plain flour
140g caster sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
120ml milk
2 eggs
200g pumpkin puree (it says tinned, but I reckon you could also make your own if you can't get hold of any - I found some in Waitrose though)

12 holed cupcake tray lined with cases (there is a note at the start of the book that states that American cupcake trays are larger than British so I used a muffin tray, lined with muffin cases, if you want to use a British cupcake tray you will just get more cakes and have to reduce the cooking time slightly)

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/ Gas 3.

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and butter in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined. Gradually pour in half the milk and beat until the milk is just incorporated. Whisk the egg and remaining milk together in a separate bowl for a few seconds, then pour into the flour mixture and continue beating until just incorporated. Stir in the pumpkin puree with a spoon.

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until light golden and the sponge bounces back when touched. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.When the cupcakes are cold, spoon or pipe the cream cheese frosting on top (recipe below) and dust with a little more cinnamon.

Hummingbird Bakery Cream Cheese Frosting

125g cream cheese
50g unsalted butter at room temperature
300g icing sugar

Blend all the ingredients together until smooth.

Friday, 30 October 2009

Pumpkin Cupcakes



Pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, which I baked last night, courtesy of the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook. I took them into work today and they went down very well indeed. Planning to make some more for the Halloween party I'm headed to tomorrow night, as I figure it's not everyday you have an excuse to bake using pureed pumpkin!

Thursday, 29 October 2009

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus


Wonderful costumes. Layered fabrics in plum, russet, pine green. Nightgowns embroidered with tiny birds. Fingerless gloves. Tasselled shawls, woven with flowers and leaves or shot through with gold thread. Strings of pearls, red lips and fabulous smoky eyes. Masks and chain link and animal disguises. Turquoise ribbon wound round wrists and a chain of tinkling bells around an ankle. Flashbacks to another era, with elegant tailoring and softly waved hair.

A magical, several storied caravan painted with stars and symbols, led by black horses and furnished with drapes and hangings, ancient books and a bottomless dressing up box.

The backdrop of modern-day London, drunken twenty-somethings on a night-out, the Metropolitan police, the ever-changing river Thames, Southwark Cathedral, Tower Bridge.

The sense of magic and possibility, that stayed with me on the journey home, the feeling that co-existing with the dirt and grime of the city, alongside the rubbish bins, derelict buildings, chewing gum stained pavements, an alternative, more fantastical, reality exists.


(all images from here)

Sunday, 25 October 2009

A weekend of orange


Smoked salmon draped over soft cream cheese in chewy bagels. Aptly named, exotic looking flowers early Sunday morning at Columbia Road flower market. Leaves everywhere, turning shades, falling. A bright carrot soup to be eaten with thick slices of bread from the farmers' market, and thin slices of hard goat's cheese. Pumpkins in the supermarkets, reminding me to plan next weekend's costume. Bright coffee cups, full of hot, frothy liquid. A root vegetable korma from the pages of the new Nigel, glowing with tumeric.

And a few fantastic foxes.





(film image from here)

Thursday, 22 October 2009

Quilting and Pom-poms


I went to the sewing circle of my WI last night (the not-so-very-local-to-me-but-worth-the-journey, East End branch, The Shoreditch Sisters) where we are beginning to piece together a quilt for the Stop Domestic Violence Campaign. Members all over the country are contributing squares, and our branch has volunteered to sew them all together. We were also joined by some photographers from The Telegraph's Stella magazine in which we are to be featured in a few weeks time (v. exciting!). I also agreed to help run a WI stall at the Barbican Library's Autumn Fete tomorrow. It was all a bit last minute and I think we are just demonstrating how to make tassels and pom-poms, but do pop by if you are in the area! Details below and here.


(images from The Shoreditch Sisters)

Wednesday, 21 October 2009

Anticipation


(image via The Guardian. Hare Spat. Photograph: Morten Hilmer/Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009)

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2009 exhibition opens on Friday at The Natural History Museum. M and I go every year, and always come away feeling awed and inspired. With one or both of us being at uni these past few years we haven't usually made the visit until the Christmas Holidays, or even as late as Easter, but this year, with both of us in London, I am hoping to get there sooner. Can't wait, I'm sure it will not disappoint.

Saturday, 17 October 2009

Late night baking

We are feeling a little fragile today after last night's escapades, M more so than I, but he was the birthday boy so that's probably appropriate, so I thought I would just share a nice simple recipe.

On Thursday evening I found bags and bags of very ripe bananas in the reduced section of the supermarket and, not being able to resist a bargain, bought some to make into banana bread, milkshakes and breakfast smoothies.
I used the following recipe from 'Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights', Sophie Dahl's cookery book. It made a wonderfully moist banana loaf that is delicious toasted with butter or just by itself. It was also so, so simple to make which made it perfect for a mid-week evening.

75g unsalted butter, softened
4 ripe bananas
200g soft brown sugar (I used brown muscavado, which I'm not sure is the same thing, but it seemed to work, giving the cake a treacly quality)
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
170g flour (Sophie Dahl suggests 'spelt or whatever', I just used plain flour)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 160 fan / Gas 4. Grease a 30 x 23 cm bread tin.
Mash the bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla extract. Add the bicarbonate of soda and salt and finally mix in the flour. Pour into the prepared tin. Bake for 1 hour, remove and cool on a wire rack.

See, simple!