Any Excuse For Cake

Amazing son number one left the house on Friday morning smelling rather fragrant. It seemed he decided to liberally douse himself in the gorgeous husband's aftershave. I do feel for anyone he had to sit next to on the bus or in the classroom. Whilst I love the smell of this particular fragrance there is a limit as to how much is acceptable when wearing it, and the amazing son number one has yet to understand this. Oh the joys of teenagers.

Following on from this, I intercepted amazing son number two trying to take money to school. In his shoes. The unusual gait gave it away. I think it is a good job I discovered this before we left the house to walk the mile to school. Blisters or holes in his socks would have been inevitable and rather unfortunate. I think he has also gone to school with Diprobase (remember this stuff?) in his hair. Don't ask me why. A good hair wash is definitely needed when he gets home.

To help cope with the SHENANIGANS I made cake. Obviously so that I could eat cake. But it was also to practise making a layer cake before a friend comes to make one with me on Sunday. Believe it or not I have never previously made a layer cake. Shocking I know. The cake is now no more. I didn't eat it all I hasten to add. I'm not telling how much I did eat, but it wasn't quite all of it. I might have to make more cake soon.

I followed Delia's all-in-one recipe which was pretty straightforward, especially using my KitchenAid. However, the frosting I made up as I went along. It was amazing, but I now have only a vague notion how to recreate it. I'm certain it involved various amounts of butter, dark chocolate, golden syrup, condensed milk, icing sugar and cocoa. I'm sure any quantities of those ingredients melted and mixed together will taste pretty delicious though.

Sun-dried Tomato and Fennel Seed Bread

I have been wanting to make my own bread for a long time, but the whole kneading thing is simply not my style. I just can't be bothered. I don't mind waiting for the dough to rise (= time for a cup of tea) but I just don't want to poke and prod dough. Therefore, another reason to love my KitchenAid. It does all the hard work for me.

After trying some amazing fennel seed bread at Carluccio's in Nottingham (my favourite place for lunch at the moment) I've been longing to use some in my baking. So with some seeds purchased, half a jar of sun-dried tomatoes discovered in the fridge and a new recipe adapted  I made this:

What You Need:

• 500g strong white flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 5g dried yeast
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 320 ml lukewarm water
• 2 tbsp  tomato pureé
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed
• 8 sun-dried tomatoes drained & chopped

What You Need To Do:

1. Mix the dry ingredients in the KitchenAid bowl using the dough hook.
2. Add the olive oil to the flour mixture and combine using the dough hook then add the water, fennel seeds, tomato pureé and sun-dried tomatoes.
3. Mix to a dough consistency on the lowest setting (add a little extra flour if necessary) and then increase the speed to 2 and let the KitchenAid do all the hard work for 10 minutes while you put the kettle on.
4. Cover the dough in the bowl with clingfilm and allow to rise in a warm place for about 60 minutes until the dough has doubled in size.
5. Using the KitchenAid again knead your dough for a few minutes. Remove it from the bowl, shape into a round loaf and place on a floured baking sheet. Dust the dough with flour, cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise again for about 60 minutes again until it has doubled in size.
6. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C and then bake your bread for 20-30 minutes until it is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

If you can wait long enough, slice when cool(ish) and enjoy with butter and some homemade soup.

In The Mix

There has been a plethora of birthdays during March, with more to come. Amazing son number 2 turned 8 last weekend and we had a wonderful day with a trip to the Gourmet Burger Kitchen (his choice, I was just glad it wasn't Pizza Hut again this year) with a few of his friends, then on to Sugacane (think sweet heaven for young boys and try to not imagine the ensuing sugar high) to get them all some pick n' mix before heading back to our house to watch a DVD. All good fun and the Lego cake pops were an outstanding success too, although I now have a feeling that the bar has definitely been raised for all future birthdays and that an ice cream cake may not cut it any more.

Somewhere in the mix was my birthday and I turned "that old" - thank you lovely friend for that. I had a number of different celebrations over the week and it was really special. Out with friends for lunch, dinner with the amazing husband the following day, and a weekend with my family in Cheltenham. Happy times. Plus I've got the excitement of my birthday present to come - a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. I'm almost giddy at the thought of the bread, pasta, cakes etc that I'll be whipping up in no time once it arrives.

First on the list will be 'macarons' though - I can hardly wait. What flavour to make first, that is the question?