Tuesday 26 June 2012

Simple vs WOW


So as a baker I love to try new things, I love to experiment and try flavour combos out of the norm. My problem is that when it comes to my cupcake stall there are so many things I wanna make but is simple better? Sadly I'm not lucky enough to live in America or London ( yet lol) where the new and strange is celebrated not frowned upon, even getting my h2b to try new things is a day to day struggle so this is my dilemma..


I think I've decided to come to a middle ground where the sales woman and the cook it me are both satisfied. So with this new found resolution I've finished my list of baked good for my cupcake stall;
Vanilla cupcake with a rich vanilla buttercream frosting
Rich chocolate cupcake with chocolate butercream frosting
Apple crumble cupcake with vanilla buttercream and crumble topping
Strawberry and Balsamic chocolate cupcake with chocolate ganche
Rich gooey fudge brownie
Creamy S'more brownie with toasted mini marshmallow topping
So this is what i came up with as you can see the balsamic cupcake and s'mores brownie are my little quirky add but come every cook knows cooked balsamic is like a rich sweet syrup and who doesn't love toasted brownies!! I end my case.
So to all those  readers out there who share my love of the weird and wonderful I'm at the Ford Airfield Markets in Sussex England every Saturday  come and have a taste!

 

Kendra

Sunday 24 June 2012

My little cupcake stall....

So I had my meeting with the organisers of the markets today. I woke to a stormy sky and an alarm clock that in reality was screaming at me way to early but hay like they say no pain no gain! My first priority was impression, hello vintage cupcake! Showing up in sweats doesn't really scream authenticity now does it! So despite what my h2b said i knew that looking the part was key, well that's what i thought at least. 40mins later I was ready to hit the pavement along with my man as my trusted adviser.

So this market well its split into three days two being the carboot sale and the normal market which is what we were looking at. Now despite the shitty weather the combination of stalls we're less then inspiring, I'm sorry but in my mind pillow cases, cleaning products and dips don't scream target market! But despite this i was determined to get something out of the trip, yet at 30 pounds per day my optimism was wearing thin. But suddenly a light bulb went off and the question that came from it was "Can i have my stall at the carboot sale?". Now I know it sounds weird but I have seen this carboot sale and the amount of people going to it was triple the market and when I found out I could have my stall there and it was only 10 pounds plus a tent I signed the dotted line without hesitation!

So my fate is sealed for next Saturday and I'm so excited and yet at the same time very nervous. To me cooking is like giving a little piece of myself to someone and saying "here's my soul what do you think?? ". Multiple times I've found myself crying for the mere reason my partner said it was good instead of "OMG out of this world!".

Silly but hay they say love makes all cooking taste good and god knows I got a lot of that!

Friday 22 June 2012

S'mores Brownies

So my lazy day has turned into a lazy week..

Here I am sitting on my couch, Teen Mom as my background music and an endless aray of things to do on my little pink computer screen so here I am talking to you guys :) 

To add to my list of goodies for my market stall I've put together a new recipe straight from the little kid inside me drum roll please.... S'mores Brownies!! Now the recipe I found was good but wasn't gooey enough so there's room for improvement, but apart from that I cant stop eating them! mmmmmmmmm <3            

 S'mores Brownies

 
1 cup graham cracker crumbs (made from 10 rectangular crackers)
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
Salt
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
3 cups mini marshmallows                                                                                                                                                                 

 
Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Cut two 16-inch pieces of foil and line an 8-inch square baking pan, allowing excess to hang over sides. Spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Break graham crackers into small pieces and pulse in food processor until they become fine crumbs. Melt 4 tablespoons butter. Add melted butter, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to crumbs and pulse to combine. Press into bottom of prepared pan.

Melt chocolate and remaining 8 tablespoons butter in medium bowl in microwave, 1 to 2 minutes, stopping every 20 seconds to stir with rubber spatula. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.

With a wooden spoon, mix in the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, eggs, espresso powder, vanilla, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add the flour and baking powder and mix until smooth.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the brownies comes out with moist crumbs attached. Do not over-bake. Transfer to cooling rack and top with marshmallows.

Adjust oven rack to upper third position and heat broiler. Broil until marshmallows are golden brown, 1 to 3 minutes. Cool in pan 1 hour. Using foil sling, transfer directly to wire rack and let cool completely, at least 1 hour. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.

Thursday 14 June 2012

Dont read a cupcake by its ugliness

My cupcake stall idea has exploded since I last wrote. I've been in contact with numerous vendors in the hopes of getting a stall and so far so good. I've had a positive response and they are all eager and willing so you would think that would be it right? WRONG! Apparently even though I only want to sell a small amount at a low key venue I have to have loads and loads of paper work and insurance! But I wasn't giving up just yet so I got a nice little quote for my public liability plus I have a kitchen inspection next week to get all my paper work in place.

This last week has been full of tears, vast amounts of icing sugar and one to many calls from unwanted insurance lines, but despite this I feel like the up hill climb is nearly at an end. Nearly...


Now the hardest part of this week has been finding the perfect cupcake recipe, if you said a week ago that this would be the hardest part I would think you were having a laugh but it is! Most of my tears have been due to this very fact!

My first recipe sounded to die for, it was a moist chocolate cupcake with balsamic strawberries inside mmmmmmmmm. Now my only down fall with this was I didn't have a cupcake tin so instead I just doubled the cupcake cups and hoped for the best. Ow dear god was I wrong...

Despite their sad looking structure these were sooooo yummy! The strawberries kept them moist for days after I had baked them! I then dipped the heads in a chocolate ganache which finished them off perfectly. So with a new cupcake tin in my possession these beauties will be ready to go!

Sunday 10 June 2012


So to add to my list of " Things to do" I have added yet another one! A mini business, now I know this sounds crazy but like I said I'm on my summer break plus I love to bake! Yes you herd me right I'm putting together a little baking stall. I've been looking at markets and car boot sales for the last few days in the hopes I'll find a place to sell my beloved goodies, so the search begins....

My concept is "Vintage cupcakes"

Basically everything is decked out in vintage glam including myself! 

I'm playing around with unique combos and here's what I have so far:


*Choc Strawberry and balsamic cupcakes.
*Peanut butter and choc cupcakes.
*Choc truffles
*Lemon and butter cream
*Victorian cupcake

Friday 8 June 2012

Not quite a bride

Its hard living so far away from my family and friends. Back home I picture an endless array of celebrations, girlfriends stealing me away to drink gross amounts of large cocktails twirling me on the dance floor till our feet gave up, finishing the night with a slice of pizza. Or a family BBQ filled with relatives getting drunk, mum crying about the fact her "baby girl" is growing up and a sea of food, plus the great Aussie sunshine of course. But here I am seas away from all of that. Its not a sad thing so you mustn't feel pity or sadness its merely not a story you hear many brides experiencing. But I guess my story will be different, maybe my mum will be crying while her little girl tries on wedding dresses on Skype? Who knows really, its a story yet to happen...


With a whole summer break stretched out in front of me I'm not quite sure what to do, gym membership will be the first thing on my list. Now this isn't because i want to lose weight, even though like most woman out there the mirror has never been my closest friend. But the real reason behind signing up is because having such a fast passed lifestyle I tend to get restless. So as well as the membership I'm thinking of taking up Zumba classes though in my head all i picture is a bunch of elderly woman whose stamina's probably better then mine at the moment so for that reason i shall also sign up for toning and conditioning classes. Might as well go all the way saggy breast and all.


Rant over...


My beautiful ring and beautiful man are what get me through the hard times, he is my life, love and family all in one <3

Thursday 7 June 2012

The great quest

Food is one of my greatest loves ( minus my h2b of course lol), when  ever I was stressed cooking was my one stop solution. Shopping for our weekly food always left me itching to invent new things and above all when I travel to new and exciting places my way of submerging within a culture is to indulge in exotic goodies. This is who I am and it goes without saying that I want this included in my Italian wedding!


So with two years to go planning is underway and my list of things to do is endless! Now I know what your all thinking two years is more then enough time to plan a wedding but in a perfect world you only do it once so why not making it the most amazing day of your life!

When it comes to my wedding I want the details to shine centre stage and due to this I have an ever evolving list of things I want to do. One thing that pooped into my head while I was laying in my bed this morning was food! This whole time I've been trying to find the perfect property and praying that if I was lucky their food would be top quality too, this however always came up short. But then I thought why not look for the best food in town and see what comes with it... DING!


Let the food quest begin..

Wednesday 6 June 2012

Lake of love...

As a little girl we all dream of that fairy tale wedding, the rugged and handsome prince charming, beautiful fragrant red roses and hundreds of emotional family and friends. Me myself had this exact dream along with the massive white ballgown, all though however have become nonexistent...


At the age of 18, two years to this day I packed up my life and memories in a suitcase and jetted off to England with big dreams of stardom spurring me on. A week after settling into my box size dorm room I met my real life prince charming Dan and from then on we've never looked back. We are now happily engaged and are excited to get the planning underway!


So the meaning behind my blog's name you ask? Its quite simple really along with the crazy love I have for my amazing man I also have a love for all things sweet and at the same time as planning my wedding I'm also setting up a mini cupcake business to keep me busy. So with this major headache inducing combo its sure to be an interesting ride!


Enjoy it with me.


Kendra
  P.S this is where my wedding taking place, Lake Como!