Black bottom cupcakes – Keep Calm and Carry On June 19, 2010

The most perfect strawberry

We have already sung the Hummingbird Cookery book’s praises plenty so I won’t do it again, but my first attempt at baking something from it took place today and as it wasn’t too much of a disaster it counts as a success! (I did not have high hopes as I know that precision is important with Hummingbird recipes…)

crazy crumbly cake mixture

I created the chocolate base mixture as per the recipe (which you can find at http://bit.ly/ajHsE) and, I’m not going to lie, I had a moment of baffled amusement as it was more like a fine crumby/rocky texture rather than a cake mixture and it was early in the process for things to be going wrong, even for me! However, they turned out fine so if you make these then don’t fret if they don’t look as expected, Keep Calm and Carry On…

Raspberry Chocolate Cheesecake Brownie June 3, 2010

I know it sounds strange but give it a chance. It’s the 4th recipe I’ve tried out from the Hummingbird Bakery recipe book (the first being the lemon cupcakes and the middle two being varying cookie recipes). It was one of those decisions that went along the lines ‘sounds so strange it must be good’. I’m sure we’ve all baked something under that proviso and it paid off. It was pretty easy to put together (although there are a couple of different layers going on so make sure you’ve got plenty of mixing bowls handy!) I made it for a BBQ and probably got the best feedback ever received on some of my baked goods so I recommend everyone to go and by the book and make them. I’ve posted a picture Cat took of the last remaining slice below.

Some thanks has to go to my beautiful, shining new KitchenAid mixer. Now I have one I’m not sure what I did without one.

Jen

The final product!

Hummingbird Bakery Awakening! May 25, 2010

I have long been a fan of baking. I don’t think there’s anything more relaxing (well at least when everything is going right-those who have seen me when things are going wrong would disagree!) Thankfully I also work with people who appreciate cake (nearly) as much as I do. Each week on Friday our office stops completely at 10.30am to gather at one end of the office for tea and cake. We have a rota and each week two members of the team bake and bring in cake. This is, understandably, my favourite part of the working week. Last week I was treated to the MOST AMAZING lemon cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook (http://hummingbirdbakery.com/more/the-cookbook/).

I heard of The Hummingbird Bakery a few years ago thanks to an American friend of mine (thanks Celeste) but somehow I never got around to picking up the Cookbook. That is until last Friday. After tasting the wonderfully light, fluffy and ‘zesty’ cupcakes at cake-time I knew that I could no longer live without this book!