The Wee Tea Company, Darling's Coffee Shop Vote and GBBO Semi-final!

As you will know by now, I have been selected to be a BBC Good Food Show blogger and I am going there tomorrow – very excited!

One of the things that the BBC Good Food Show does is to award bursaries to producers of new artisan products. The winners of the bursaries are awarded stands free of charge at the BBC Good Food Show, which then lets them be seen by tens of thousands of people.

One such winner of a bursary is ‘The Wee Tea Company’ an online tea merchant, who sell good quality loose leaf tea via their website. I was lucky enough to be sent a selection box of their artisan teas. Jamie and Derek, the guys behind the company are based in Dunfermline,

They have several flavours to choose from including Darjeeling and rose, Earl Grey and blue flower and of course classic breakfast blend.

I have tried a couple of the teas so far from the box and found them to be full of flavour, yet mild at the same time. I shall look forward to giving the rest of the teas a good sampling soon!

If you would like to have a look at their full range of goods, pop over to the site. As well as the teas, they stock accessories for making the tea, gift sets and a very informative page about tea, they have called UniversiTea!

I look forward to seeing you at the show guys!

Remember a few weeks ago I wrote about Darlings Coffee Shop, based in Arbroath where I live? The coffee shop does great work in the community by training people with a wide range of learning disabilities, and improving their employability. Well at the time I said they were up for an award ‘The Community Project of the Year’ via the RBS Scotland’s Real Heroescampaign. Well, the vote line has now opened! Please click on the link and vote, vote, vote before 25 October! They really deserve to win.

Lastly, this week’s Bake Off. I was gutted – I so wanted Becca to win. I personally think she should have stayed over Ruby. But now I think the final is down to either flavour or style – Kimberley or Frances. Not sure who I would like to win out of those two, it will be nail-biting!

Disclosure Statement: I received the teas free to try out. Any views expressed are my own. I was not paid to write this post.

Candy Corn Striped Mallows

If you’ve seen my homemade marshmallow recipe on Cakeyboi before, then this little Halloween treat will be a doddle for you!

Marshmallows, as you probably know, are easy peasy to make, so long as you have a stand mixer on hand. And one of the usual ingredients – corn syrup – isn’t that easy to get hold of in the UK. But fear not, golden syrup works fine as a substitute. 

And this year, for some reason, I have become a bit candy corn obsessed! I seem to notice pictures of it in every Halloween decoration I pick up. But alas, it’s not on our shelves yet (well, apart from those American sweet stores, or online).

So, I thought these mallows would pay good homage to the little yellow, orange and white striped corn shaped nuggets of sweetness. They are really simple to do.

Grab my recipe for Golden Syrup Marshmallows (using corn syrup instead, if you have it). Before pouring the mallow ‘batter’ into your prepared pan, divide the mix (evenly as you can) into three separate bowls.

Using orange food colouring paste (mines was Sugarflair tangerine/apricot) mix enough in to get a vibrant orange. Mix another with yellow paste (mines was egg yellow made by Sugarflair) until you get a good yolk like yellow. Leave the last third white.

First spread the yellow in the bottom of the prepared pan and smooth out. Carefully spread the orange mix on top of this and finally the white. Try to keep each layer unswirled from the layer above or below as much as you can, to get definite layers of colour.

Proceed as normal by sprinkling liberally with your icing sugar/cornflour mix, then leave to set, before cutting into squares.

Once set, I took lolly sticks and skewered three mallows on each, then tied a ribbon round each stick. You could then pop these into cellophane bags, if you were to be handing them out for little trick or treaters.

I think these would make a nice little gift at Halloween for big and little ones alike!

Halloween Cartoon Time

It's getting closer to Halloween, so let's commence the themed toons...

'Blood' Orange Chocolate Whoopie Pies (and BBC Good Food Show ticket winners!)

These are meant to look a bit messy! The ‘blood’ orange oozing out is just a filling made from cream cheese, marmalade and icing sugar, with some orange food colouring mixed in for good measure. The rest is an adaptation of a very simple chocolate whoopie pie. Whoopie pies seemed to be all the rage for a while, but the fad seems to be a bit over now. But paired with the blood curdling tangy filling they make a perfect and sticky Halloween snack!

165 grams plain flour

65 grams unsweetened cocoa powder

1 ½ teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

½ teaspoon salt

113 grams unsalted butter, softened

200 grams light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

250ml full-fat milk

Adapted from ‘A Baked Creation’

Blood Orange Filling:

3 tablespoons full fat cream cheese

3 tablespoons smooth orange marmalade

200 grams icing sugar (may need more)

orange food colouring paste

Cakeyboi Original

Method:

Preheat your oven to 180C. Line two cookie sheets with greaseproof paper.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, bicarb and salt in a bowl and set aside.

In a mixer beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy in texture. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until the mixture thickens very slightly.

Add one third of the flour mix and mix in, then add half of the milk, mix in, another third of the flour, last bit of milk, then last bit of flour. Don’t over mix the batter.

Spoon about two tablespoons worth for each pie onto the greaseproof paper, leaving some space in between, allowing for them to expand.

Place them into the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, They should feel firm to touch, but quite spongey. Let them cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing them from the greaseproof paper and letting them cool fully on a wire rack.

In a bowl mix together the cream cheese and marmalade until smooth. Add the icing sugar slowly until you get a slightly thick consistency. You may need more than recommended so have some extra on stand by.  Add enough orange food colouring to get a deep blood orange.

 To assemble, add the filling to a food bag, seal and snip off a corner. Pipe enough filling onto the flat side of one ‘pie’, so it oozes out when the top half is placed on.

And that is Blood Orange Chocolate Whoopie Pies. Messy and bloody – perfect for Halloween!

(Keeping them in the fridge stops the filling getting too runny!)

Lastly, congratulations to the lucky winners of the BBC Good Food Show Scotland ticket giveaway. Sandra, Angela, Sophie, William and Zoe (chosen by random.org) each receive two tickets each. They are in the post guys. Have a great time and maybe see you there!

The Two Fat ladies at The Buttery - BBC Good Food Show Bloggers Pre-meet

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I have been lucky enough to be selected as an official BBC Good Food Show Scotland Blogger. The show, which is held at the SECC in Glasgow, takes place this year between the 18 and 20 October.

I was asked along to a pre-show meeting/lunch with KatyTruss, and some of the BBC Good Food Show bloggers – Ananyah, House ofHerby, Food and Drink Glasgow and Alfred Foodography.

The venue was a lovely restaurant tucked away in a part of Glasgow I had never visited before, Finnieston, and the food served was delicious.

The Two Fat Ladies have five restaurants across Glasgow and are renowned for quality fish dishes. The Buttery's interior of wood and tartan certainly made for a cosy, yet elegant, atmosphere and our table was set beautifully.

We chatted a little about ourselves, I was the newbie, not having met my fellow bloggers before, and we also discussed some of what blogging from the Good Food Show would entail – stay tuned for my visit next weekend.

For the meal, I had bruschetta for starter with artichoke, cubes of salami and roasted pepper. The garlic infused oil really set the dish off very well.

My main course consisted of oven baked coley, a fish I had never tried before, carrot and cumin pilaf rice with a coriander and citrus cream. The portion was a perfect size for lunch and all the elements of the dish worked well together.

On to dessert and I plumped for the choux bun with chantilly cream and Tia Maria infused chocolate sauce. This was decadent, but very light at the same time.

And to my surprise  - we were served with plates of the most gorgeous petit four – small cream scones, tablet (which tasted like my Granny Hetty’s), weenie macaron, light and crumbly shortie. I was in heaven.

The service in the restaurant was friendly and the waiting staff were well informed and attentive.

It was great to meet my new fellow Good Food Show bloggers and good to find out more about what I can bring you over the next few weeks.

And a huge thank you to Katy for organising the lunch!

If you would like to attend the BBC Good Food Show, remember you can claim 15% discount on tickets by quoting CB15.

Candy Corn Pumpkin Blondies

I heard on the radio the other day that it is sumtumn at the moment – not quite autumn, but not quite summer either. Well, I don’t know about you, but I think autumn is well and truly upon us!

The autumn (or fall if you prefer) is all about comfort food I think and certain ingredients start to appear in many people’s kitchens at this time of year. I, for example, had a couple of cans of pumpkin lingering in the cupboard and a new bag of candy corn.

 

If you are in the UK, like me, these ingredients aren't readily on our supermarket shelves (yet!) but they can be found in speciality food stores and online of course. But baked together in these blondies, they taste just like autumn.

The pumpkin spices twinned with the melted goo of the candy corn just oozes crisp leaves and warm cuppas. I didn’t expect the candy corn to melt so much, but they ended up leaving jam like ruby coloured pools throughout the blondies and were very very delicious. The white chocolate chips and nuts also added to the varied textures going on!

Yield: 24 squares approx.

Ingredients:

250 grams plain flour

2 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

¾ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground allspice

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon salt

225 grams unsalted butter

200 grams dark brown sugar

115 grams granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 can (400g ish) pumpkin puree

100 grams white chocolate chips

100 grams candy corn

50 grams chopped hazelnuts

50 grams chopped walnuts

Adapted from The Brown Eyes Baker

Method:

Line and grease a baking pan 9”x13” and set aside. Preheat the oven to 180C.

Melt the butter in a saucepan and let cool slightly.

In a bowl, sift the flour, spices and salt together. In another, large, bowl mix together the melted butter and sugar until lighter in colour and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat through, then add the pumpkin and blend altogether. Add the dry ingredients and fold these through until just combined. Add the candy corn, white chips and nuts and fold through. 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place into the oven for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the centre. Let them cool then slice into squares. Enjoy!

I am entering these Candy Corn Pumpkin Blondies into this months Alphabakes, the letter this month being C. I’m sure this month’s host Ros ‘The More Than Occasional Baker’ and Caroline at ‘Caroline Makes’ will approve!

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