lovely jubbly london

I'm addicted to expensive designer bags

Isn't the first step admitting you have a problem?

Fendi Peekaboo

Miu Miu Bows

Chloe Marcie

I've been visiting my friends on my lunch hour. 

I think one should come home with me soon.

 

p.s. Can I blame my mother?

Ina's Double Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Ina's cake in one word? Divine.

This is my new go to chocolate cake recipe.

Ina's Double Chocolate Layer Cake recipe here.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

1 Philadelphia Cadbury cream cheese

2 oz good chocolate, melted

1 stick butter, softened (113 g)

1 teaspoon vanilla

3-4 cups icing sugar, sifted 

1-2 tablespoons milk or coffee

Beat cream cheese, chocolate, butter and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually add sugar to taste. Add milk or coffee if needed.

*ignore the empty picture frame in picture 1!

Birthday Wish List no 1 {Crossbody Handbags}

It's my husband's birthday (Happy Birthday Husband!) so what better time than now to make my own birthday wish list? I think a crossbody handbag will do.

I must admit I am in love with the Mulberry bags. However, I went to see them in person yesterday and the leather feels thin and a bit cheap. Does anyone have a Mulberry and are you happy with it?

I also am in love with the Chloe but it's the smallest and most expensive (of course!).

Week In Review

Watched:

1. Country Strong. I'm not going to give anything away but I liked it.

Shopped:

2. Echo dinnerware from House of Fraser. I seriously am in love with the noodle bowls (shown above but looks are deceiving- they are big bowls!) and they're on sale for £2.25 in store which makes them a bargain.

3. Head to TK Maxx pronto. I snagged the top above with the Anthropologie tag still attached for £11! You can bet I scoured the racks for any more Anthro deals and found another sleeveless top for £6. 

Made:

4. Coconut Curry Chicken Soup. It's so good.

5. Cupcakes with buttercream. The husband's birthday is today (Happy Birthday Husband!) but you should make them too because cupcakes are especially good on a Monday.

Birthday Cupcake Throwdown

Last week was my birthday and my mom decided to come over to celebrate. The morning of her flight she called and asked if there was anything else I wanted her to bring over. Well, after reading about Crumbs over and over from Camila, I knew I wanted cupcakes!

The thing is my mom doesn't like Crumbs. She has her own favourite bakery called Two Little Red Hens. So she did what any sensible person would do- she went to both.

Enter Birthday Cupcake Throwdown 2010:

 

Crumbs {squiggle and blackout}

 

Two Little Red Hens {blackouts and yellow}

The results?

The Squiggle from Crumbs is delicious. Seriously better than the original Hostess Cupcake. 

The Blackout from Two Little Red Hens won hands down. They are more true to the original (pudding filled) and the chocolate cake was very moist.  

 

Two Little Red Hens on the right; Crumbs on the left

You can see how moist the TLRH's cupcake is compared to the other.

So next time you're in NYC and have a cupcake craving definitely try Two Little Red Hens. If it's a squiggle you're after, then Crumbs definitely delivers, but I can't say their other varieties will be as good.

birthday pie and other recipes

The evening before my birthday, I was on my way home and realised I didn't have a rolling pin. I called the husband from the train and asked him what he thought I should do- get off somewhere or go try and find one in the morning. He called me back and said he was on his way to the vicarage to see about borrowing one.  Well, he arrives at the vicarage and is ushered in. The vicar doesn't have one, so she gets out her big book of parishioners and starts making calls. After a couple calls, she calls the lady who lives across the street from us who luckily has one. Since a lot of effort was put into finding me a rolling pin, I knew I was going to be doing a lot of baking the next day! In addition to making the birthday pie, I also made some mini pies and a few hand pies as a "thank you" for the help. I am happy to say they all turned out delicious! 

birthday pie- strawberry rhubarb

Basic Pie Crust

1 1/4 c unbleached all purpose flour

1 T sugar

1/4 t salt

8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 4" cubes

3 T very cold water

Using stand mixer, stir flour, sugar and salt. Add the butter and toss with a fork or spoon to coat, then mix on medium-low until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Butter pieces should be no bigger than a pea. Add water and mix on low until dough begins to stick together. 

For a lattice topped pie or double crust, double the recipe. The dough is best worked right away. Roll out on a lightly floured surface until 1/8" thick. Before baking, brush pie gently with an egg wash.

I used this dough for the big pie and the mini pies. It was so easy since I could use the mixer! This recipe can also be put together by hand using a pastry cutter/blender in place of the mixer.

Recipe from Williams-Sonoma, recommended by Annie's Eats

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Filling

3 1/2 c rhubarb, sliced 1/2" thick

3 1/2 c strawberries, hulled and cut in half

1/2 c packed brown sugar

1/2 c sugar

1/4 cornstarch

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 t salt

Combine ingredients in bowl and toss gently to coat. Spoon into crust and bake 350-375F for 45-55 minutes.

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

I will be completely honest here and say while the strawberry rhubarb pie tastes good, I totally screwed up the filling! I was a little worried the rhubarb would fully cook, so I decided to steam it beforehand. I put the lid on it and completely forgot about it! When I looked it the pot, it was basically mush after 5 minutes. Luckily the cornstarch helped to thicken it and really it all tasted the same in the end. I ended up stirring the strawberries into the rhubarb mush and it turned out fine. Just no large chunks of rhubarb. The husband did take one bite and say, "tastes like Publix," which was a compliment in my book!  

For the mini pies, I rolled the dough out and used a drinking glass to cut out circles which I then pressed into my muffin tin. I wasn't sure they were going to come out, but they did and in fact I think I prefer the filling to crust to ratio. I will definitely make them again!

cutting out mini pies from basic pie dough

gently pressing the dough into the tin

Since I had some leftover rhubarb mush, I made hand and mini strawberry rhubarb pies and blueberry. The blueberry pies are so good!

ready to go in the oven

Blueberry Pie Filling

3 pints fresh blueberries (I used thawed frozen and it was still delish!)

1/4 c sugar

1/4 c packed brown sugar

1/8 c cornstarch

1 T lemon juice

1 t lemon zest

In small bowl, combine sugars and cornstarch. In large bowl, add blueberries and toss gently with lemon juice and zest. Sprinkle dry mixture on blueberries and stir gently to coat. Pour into pie crust.

Recipe from Good Things Catered

freshly baked

Hand pies have made the internet rounds several times and are basically mini turnovers. Since you are filling the dough, it needs to be quite pliable.

next to a 50p for reference

This dough was quite a pain and I will write the recipe below the way I made it. Really, the first step is supposed to be the freezer which I did and it just didn't work. The butter was too hard and almost broke my pastry cutter/blender. After some time to cool in the fridge, it was finally workable. Also, this dough needs to be made ahead of time since it's a lot of in and out of the fridge. Saying that, the end result is so worth it! It is tender, flaky deliciousness! 

Hand Pie Dough

2 1/2 c all purpose flour

1/2 t salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/2 c sour cream

4 t fresh lemon juice

1/2 c ice water

In a bowl combine flour and salt. Put butter pieces in another bowl. Place both bowls in the fridge for at least an hour. Remove bowls and make a well in the flour mixture. Add the butter and cut into the flour using a pastry cutter/blender until it resembles coarse meal. Make another well in the center. In another bowl, whisk together sour cream, lemon juice and water, then add half of the liquid mix to the well. With your fingers, mix together until lumps form. Remove large lumps and repeat with the remaining liquid and flour. Pat all the lumps into a ball being careful not to overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. 

Divide dough in half and roll out on lightly floured surface until the dough is 1/8" thick. Using a round cutter, cut out circles and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Refrigerate circles for 30 minutes.

Remove circles and allow to sit 2-3 minutes. Spoon filling onto each circle and seal the edges with a little water. Use the tines of a fork to press the edges together while creating a decorative border. Refrigerate filled pies for another 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375F. Remove the chilled hand pies from fridge and cut a small slit in each. Lightly brush with an egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake until pies are golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. 

Recipe from Annie's Eats

Oh and this is what part of my kitchen looked like while baking- you'll note the post-it's on the cabinets. Those are my recipes. I find it easy to pop them up there and that way they are at eye level as I'm baking.

happy birthday to me

birthday pie

While the husband very kindly offered to bake me a birthday cake, I wanted something different. His birthday was less than a month ago and we still have some of his cake in the freezer*. At the grocery store I saw some fresh rhubarb and I knew exactly what I wanted- strawberry rhubard pie! I only hope it tastes as good as it looks!

*When I make a large cake, I wrap slices individually in parchment or greaseproof paper followed by a layer of cling film and then put into a ziplock baggie. It only takes about 15 to thaw on the counter and still tastes good! We even had some of the husband's 8-layer cake while my mom was here.

100 years of selfridges

As you know, Selfridges is my absolute favourite store in all of London. This weekend Selfridges is kicking off their 100 year celebrations. Although, it was officially 100 years in March, they decided to hold the birthday celebrations in May. I don't quite get their logic, but each weekend in May will be full of fun events.  

I plan on stopping by just to see the Selfridgettes wearing this:

I mean, seriously? I need a picture! Giles Deacon designed it, blame him. 

I will admit, I was very unhappy with Selfridges this week. The husband's birthday present came from there and was scheduled for delivery Tuesday. After staying home all day (9-5 delivery slot!), it never showed up. Imagine my surprise when I call and they had no idea as they don't keep paperwork for their deliveries. Who keeps no paperwork for items being delivered? No way to track, track or anything?! To say I was upset is an understatement. Especially, as the husband's favourite team was playing football that night and I though it would be nice for him to watch the game on this:

Luckily they did redeem themselves by sending out a new one and promising delivery today before noon. Plus, they refunded the delivery charge. The original tv? They still don't know where it is or what happened. Anyway, I think the husband will be very happy when he gets home, don't you?

the cake

Since it was the husband's 30th birthday, a super special cake was in order. As you can see from the outside, it looked like a normal cake. Sadly, this is the only picture I have of the outside before it was cut! I took this right after I finished it and forgot to take another. (Excuse the messy backdrop.)

Once it was cut open, the surprise was revealed. All the layers were visible, all 8 of them! I got the idea for a multi-layered cake from Cooks Country. They showed a 10 layer yellow cake with chocolate ganache type glossy frosting. Knowing the husband, a yellow cake wouldn't cut it. He is a chocolate man! So I alternated layers of chocolate and yellow with a warm chocolate icing and chocolate buttercream to top it off. I really had wanted to do 10 layers, but ran out of time- as it was it took me around 5 hours!

In order to get each layer as flat as possible, I carefully measured out the batter and used about 1 cup per layer. Each thin layer took about 12 minutes in the oven. In between each layer is the warm chocolate icing and I alternated a few rows of buttercream as well. My writing isn't very pretty, so a simple 30 and some stars topped it off. Everyone loved the cake and it stayed moist. It was and still is delicious! 

If anyone is looking for a good (not from a box) cake recipe, I would definitely recommend these two. This was the first time I used these recipes, but they came out wonderful. The chocolate cake recipe was a no brainer since it used coffee which I always add to any chocolate recipe- it really enhances the flavour. 

Black Magic Cake

2 c sugar

1 3/4 c all-purpose flour

3/4 c cocoa

2 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1 t salt

2 eggs

1 c buttermilk

1 c strong coffee

1/2 c vegetable oil

1 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour two 9" round tins or sheet cake pan. Stir together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Batter should be thin. Pour into pans. Bake 30-35 mins for round pan or 35-40 minutes for sheet cake until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan, then remove to wire rack to finish cooling. 

Recipe by Hershey's

Starlight Yellow Cake

2 1/4 c all-purpose flour

1 1/2 c sugar

1/2 c butter

1 1/4 c milk

3 1/2 t baking powder

1 t salt

1 t vanilla

3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour pans. Beat all ingredients together on low for 30 seconds, scraping constantly. Beat on high 3 minutes, scraping occasionally. Pour into pans and bake 25-30 minutes for round tins or 35-40 minutes for rectangle until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes and on wire rack completely, about 1 hour. 

Recipe by Betty Crocker from Vintage Victuals

happy birthday husband

Happy 30th Birthday!

Hope you have a wonderful day! Love you! x

Birthday Blueberry Muffins to start the day! Cake pictures tomorrow, I promise!