Sunday night cookathon

So this evening has been a cooking freenzy and my miniature kitchen currently looks like a tornedo has blown through it!  First of all I attempted the Chicken Laksa that morphed into Prawn Laksa... I scouted around the web for a receipe and plumped for Mr Gordon "I love to swear" Ramsey, courtesy of The Times and it was the perfect warming soup for a cold winters evening.  The recipe suggested rice noodles, which I liked, but I think when I make it next time, I will use egg noodles.  Luckily, I have just enough left to fill me up after tomorrow nights gym session.

Following my success with the soup, I was feeling pretty confident and I'm a firm believer of striking whilst the iron is hot!  So, I got out the scales to perpare for attempt deux of cupcake baking!  I stuck with the same receipe as last time and kept my fingers crossed that I was going to see an improvement!  This time the yield was 9 and I'm happier with the outcome!  Still not perfect, but we're getting there!

Tea and Cakes

I'm planning a second attempt of some cupcake baking this weekend and I think I need to treat (see what I did there?) myself to a beautiful cake stand to show off my mini creations!  I don't want anything too twee, so love the idea of the black or the pink one below!  But, as we all know, there is nothing wrong with a classic and the V&A and Laura Ashley stands tick that box and get a gold star!

Cupcake attempt numero uno

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As promised here is photographic evidence of my first cupcake attempt. As a beginner in the art of cake baking, I decided to start with what appeared to be the easiest recipe, the original and what some consider to be the best, "vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting". The recipe book states that the quanties would yield a batch of 12 cakes in UK muffin cases, I'm somewhat dubious as I wasn't able to fill the muffin cases to the required two thirds. So next time and there will be a next time, I think I will try and make 9 and hope that this will enable the cakes to rise to the top of the cases. All being well this will then allow me to ice the cakes so they look a little more professional! Can you tell i'm a perfectionist!?

However, O tells me they taste delicious and I was more than happy to scoff the left over frosting from the bowl! The problem is I want to make more today to try and perfect my baking skills, i'm not sure even O and I can choff our way through 21 cupcakes! I also feel quite sure that my miniature kitchen will not be able handle the mess I make... I'm definitely not a clean and tidy cook!