Saturday 31 July 2010

Masterchef!!

So the cake went down very well at my in-laws 40th anniversary!
It made my day when one of my husband's 11 year old cousins told his mum that "... whoever made this cake should go on Masterchef!"
Now that might just have to be a quote for somewhere in my book!!!

Friday 30 July 2010

Something Different!


This weekend we have the In-laws 40th wedding anniversary gathering and they asked if I would make them a cake. Not the sort of thing I usually do but I was up for the challenge! Six sponge cakes later, along with an abundance of butter icing (the remains of which were lovingly licked off the whisks by Megan and Freya!) and I have the result sitting in my fridge awaiting demolition tomorrow afternoon!!

Here is a sneak preview for all of you that will and won't be getting to taste it! Not professional but definitely not a bad attempt I hope they will be pleased with it.
Just hope we can transport it ok and that it makes it to Abingdon in one piece!


So here's to sunshine and no showers for tomorrow afternoon.
Happy 40th Mike & Viv.
xxx

Tuesday 27 July 2010

Getting Published!

As I thought it's going to be difficult to find a publisher for my book, however, after a lovely chat with James today he has enlightened me to the world of self publishing. So this looks like it may well be the way to go, I'm just going to wait for James to send me some more information and will go from there.

At the moment it looks like I'm getting my apron back on, getting baking and taking more photos! So plenty more photos coming and if you're lucky and are friends that live close by then plenty more tasters too!

Saturday 24 July 2010

Photos!


So here we are. Photos of the recipes I have worked on so far.
Number 1 Chocolate Brownies, delicious and a favourite
amongst many of my friends and family, and a sure fire sell
out on Cake Crumbly day but I'll tell you about that another time!



Next, Chocolate marshmallow crispy cakes, Freya's favourite and she always loves to help in the
kitchen when these are being made.

Chocolate and Raspberry Roulade, absolutely
delicious and very moreish! Good for when you
have friends around for dinner.

Finally something without chocolate,
Baked Strawberry Cheesecake, even Megan liked
this one without the strawberries!?!

And that's all I'm showing you so far, although I have now progressed further. I'm even lucky enough, thanks to my friend Keely, to be able to speak to a publisher on Tuesday for some advice!

More news soon!
xx

Thursday 22 July 2010

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Mmm! Nothing better than trialling the recipes even if you have made them many times before! I made fresh chocolate chunk cookies for the girls to have warm before bed last night, just had to try a couple myself to make sure they were up to standard. Delicious, big chunks of milk and plain chocolate, good job I was off to the gym to work it all off!

Have been busy taking photos of all the cakes I have been making so you'll be able to have a look even if you can't taste them yourselves very soon.

xx

Tuesday 20 July 2010

So far so good!

After much help from my hubby on writing up recipes 1, 2 and 3 he has deserted me! Well gone to play golf with his friends anyway! So I have tackled recipe four by myself and actually I have to say its looking good!

Recipes so far are
chocolate brownies, chocolate marshmallow crispy cakes, chocolate and raspberry roulade, (Hmm! do I see a pattern forming?)and baked strawberry cheesecake (Maybe not then!) That's 4 down and another 56ish to go, along with things like descriptions, introductions etc!

If anyone who knows me would like to give me some input or a possible quote for any recipe that would be lovely!

Off I go then to write up recipe number 5, what do you think this one will be?

xx

Sunday 18 July 2010

So who am I?

Hmm! Now there’s a question. Basically I am a married full time mum to two gorgeous girls, Megan and Freya and I work part time as a teaching assistant in their primary school. Yippee! I now have 6½ weeks off work with them as it’s the start of the summer holidays.

I live in Oxfordshire and have the luxury of parents who live in Devon where we can holiday by the beach. I enjoy doing exercise classes at the gym which counteracts my love of chocolate and delicious desserts! (Hence the book subject!) Baking is my therapy which I love to do to relax and need no excuse for. I also love to shop given the time as do most of us girls, including Megan my eldest, who keeps badgering me for a girly shopping day which I know will be expensive!

Saturday 17 July 2010

The Time Has Come!

About 4 months ago I rashly decided that I would like to write my own recipe book!

Many of my friends and colleagues are always praising me on my baking and asking me for copies of recipes only to come back saying it doesn't taste like mine. So I thought that I would do something for myself and write my own recipe book to see if I can help others make cakes and desserts like mine.

I have spent the time since then working out a selection of cake recipes that I would like to include in my book. Whether they are ones that I have used for many years or ones that I have since come up with. I have been trialling these recipes and asking family and friends for feedback and now feel it is time to put my plan into action! My husband is enjoying the tasting but not enjoying his expanding waistline!

Now I need to decide what I need to present to publishers, so am going to be spending the up and coming weeks mocking up my book before I start the hard slog of trying to find myself a publisher. If there is anyone out there who is a publisher and fancies giving my book a chance I would love to hear from you! Obviously there are many, many cook books out there but I feel I have something a little bit different to offer.

Time to start my first draft so wish me luck and I'll update you soon.

Lisa x