Customer service matters. As does great cake...

As the school's here went back half-way through last week, all the toddler groups and extra-curricular activities resumed this week.  So we went back to Mini-1's sports classes and Mini-2's playgroups.  Friday morning's is my favourite, because I've met so many lovely mums there and enjoy catching up with them most weeks.  However, at about age 4 Mini-1 kind of outgrew it, as the 4yr olds tend to get morning nursery places in that area and both Mini-1 and Mini-2 had/have afternoon places.  Thus there is a predominance of 1, 2 and young 3 year olds so less kids for Mini-2 to play with.  As such, we may not go there so much from now on :(

But on to the point of this post - two mums spoke with me about cake (how exciting) at Friday's group, and I was able to help them both.  One wanted an Octonauts cake that I felt was a bit beyond my current capabilities, and the other wanted a traybake for guests coming over on Sunday.  I was able to help the first lady by suggesting other local bakers, more proficient at sugarcraft than I, and thrill the other lady with a golden sparkly Sweet & Salty Crunch Slice at short notice - so everyone was happy!

It doesn't look like much in the tray, but it sure does taste good!!

Hummingbird Lemon Drizzle Loaf

We had a classmate of Mini-Becca 1's due after school to play, Demi, and I had finished my housework early (woop, woop) so I had a flick through the book to see what, if anything, I could whip up in the time I had available.  Lemon Drizzle Loaf cake fit the bill, so to bake.

Similar to the cupcake recipe from another cookbook I'm lucky enough to own, you had to make a dry and wet mix then add them into the mixer one third at a time.  It's a bit of a pfaff, but seems to do the trick, so I just follow instructions and do as I'm told, ha ha.  Then it was into the oven for up to 1hr 15minutes, which was all the time I had left. 

Just before the timer was due to go off (at 1hr 10mins, because my oven usually needs a bit less than any stated time) I started on the drizzle sauce.  This time, it worked a treat, and they gave the very sensible idea of placing the cake on the wire cooling rack over your sink, so the drizzle mix would run straight off the cake into the sink - inspired!  Then it was time to go get the girls from school and nursery, so I ran off and left the cake in the sink. 

As soon as we returned home, the girls asked 'What have you made, Mummy?  Something smells delicious' then went looking for it.  How funny, they never noticed it because it wasn't on the stove...  Suffice it to say that the cake got the thumbs up from the Team (although I feel it could do with a bit longer in the oven next time), and Demi and her mum - yay!!  They even took some home for later, and all that's left of the cake is this...

Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing

I've had a request for a mixed batch of cupcakes for a 14th birthday, so thought I'd better practice my chocolate ones.  Well, you know, I may have forgotten how to do them.  Or what they taste like.  Or how big they should be.  Or perhaps we just needed some chocolate in our lives...

Suffice it to say, they were as good as last time, and as fun to do.  This time I even did the chocolate buttercream icing for them, which - despite having cocoa rather than chocolate within it - tasted really chocolatey.  And the smell, mmmmmmm.

I had thought to take a couple to a friend who'd recently had twin baby boys, hence the preponderance of blue sugarpaste decorations.  As it turned out, it had been her birthday the day before, so it was a triple celebration!

Mr Becca had tried one, and deemed them 'good, but they're just cupcakes'.  Fair enough, then why was the cake tin empty when I went to get more a couple of days later??  Hmmm... ha ha

New product test - Angel Delight Ice Cream

We were thrilled recently to have been approached by Angel Delight to test out and blog about their latest product, Ice Cream.  Their PR lady, Tara, said she liked what she'd seen of us and wondered if we'd be interested in trying out some recipes with it.  Sheesh, asking a couple of young kids and their baking-mad Mum to eat ice-cream?  Doh, of course!!

Our 'bloggers box' arrived this morning, before school, and we opened it immediately.  What a great surprise for early Monday morning.

There were two packets of the product, so new it's not even in the shops yet, some toffee sauce, strawberry squeezy jam, Mr Kipling Viennese Whirl biscuits, giant chocolate buttons, Jelly Babies, 100's & 1000's, a whisk with which to mix and a bowl in which to freeze it.  Oh, and lots of fat bubble-wrap to pop!  Brilliant.

So we got started, with a blatant bit of product placement

You'll be relieved to know that no orange bowls were harmed (or used) in the making of this ice-cream.  We emptied some of the powder into a bowl, then mini-Becca #2 poured in the milk.  All by herself, without spilling any (can you tell?  she was quite proud).

We did start out with the kindly supplied hand-whisk (it was pink, after all) but soon switched to our trusty electric one.  Now, you're probably thinking - gosh, what amazing hair she has.  And while I totally agree with you, and your secret thought that it should be tied up while preparing food, it usually is.  Especially if there's a chance that someone outside Team Becca may eat the food.  And there simply wasn't a chance of us sharing this bounty, tee hee.

Then it was a case of more blatant advertising, and the addition of the crushed biscuits and lashings of squeezy jam to the mix.

And here we see the finished mix, all ready to be frozen.

Here's a (gratuitous hair) shot of my lovely assistant placing our precious cargo in the freezer.  For a minimum of 4 hours, so for us that meant after school. 

Thus, onto the washing up...

After-school snack time! 

Our Strawberry Shortcake ice-cream was a hit with the Quality Assessors we employ.  Even Mr Becca (otherwise known as Daddy) got a taste, and proclaimed it good. 

Personally I only eat premium ice-creams, like Ben & Jerry's or Green & Black's or Haagen-Dazs , as the high unit cost prohibits regular consumption (thus prohibiting my waistline expanding at an exponential rate). However, this stuff was loads of fun to make, and it's so easy to add your own twist to it, that I fear my waistline may be in for some serious damage!

These last two photos are the next mini-batch ready for the freezer.  Toffee sauce and crushed chocolate buttons with Coco Pops on top.  We're calling it Toffee Crisp,  but may also call it breakfast...

Nah, just kidding