Cupcakes and Bunting

Photo credit: Anna Gordon

This post has been mulling since Saturday night, when I crawled into my bed just before midnight, after spending the day at Mumsnet Blogfest.

Which incidentally was bloody marvellous!  From the opening keynote speech from Miriam González Durántez right through to Caitlin Moran's hilarious closer, and in between with useful sessions and best of all loads of other inspiring women to talk to, and later swig fizz with. It was great to put faces to internet sprites stitch this and Dillytante

I've always had an appreciation for Mumsnet, I discovered it just before I got pregnant with my first baby, seven years ago now. I felt that as 'Mum' was in the title of the site, I couldn't actually post until I got pregnant and so had a valid connection with parenthood. Luckily I got the little blue line shortly after this and jumped into an ante-natal thread where women who were due at the same time talked about pretty much everything to do with early pregnancy. I can remember ranting about my super advanced pregnancy sense of smell and the awful reek of fellow travellers on public transport. And because I was talking to other women who were going through a similar experience, I didn't have to bore any of my 'real life' friends (who weren't pregnant or mothers) with the minutiae of gestational gossip.

Since then Mumsnet has given me plenty of support on all aspects of parenthood and on a more flippant note Mumsnet is also the reason that my husband and I can't talk about Centre Parcs with a straight face... (if you're curious, google Centre Parks Mumsnet, but maybe not at work).

So apart from having a marvellous time, yakking and swigging, what did I learn from Blogfest?

1. That the best way to get better at writing is to get on and write
2. That there really is such thing as a sisterhood
3. That if you hang around talking until the bitter end when chairs are stacked on tables, they'll probably run out of goody bags... oh well

And I'm not really bothered that a certain Daily Mail columnist is scornful of my type of blog, mainly because I'm a desperately earnest woolly liberal Guardian-reading type. I like knitting, so shoot me. And cakes are tasty. Blogging is my hobby, not my life, it's just something I try to fit in with all the other things that fill my days. And my life is full, and I am grateful.

Update:
I've submitted this post to the Mumsnet Bloghop, click here to see more posts about the day.

Bundting Marvellous (well sort of)

I think one of the important thing about a craft blog is sharing the things that didn't go quite to plan. Hence the photo here...

I've always wanted to make some kind of Bundt cake, but didn't have a tin - it's one with a hole in the middle. Then what should I find in Aldi on Wednesday but a half size Bundt tin, with lovely swirly patterns on the top. Thus equipped I set about making a cut down version of Nigella's 'Snow-topped Spice Cake' from Domestic Goddess. I reduced the recipe by half. It is a little faffy as you have to separate the egg yolks and whites (and whipping egg whites to a soft peak is a bit of a bastard when doing it by hand) but the texture of the finished article was really fluffy and tasted delicious.

However, when I came to turn out the tin (with lots of shaking, poking and muttered curses) a bit of a disaster occurred. Half of the cake remained stuck in the crenellations at the top of the tin, leaving the less than impressive item that you see above. Oh and I realised that I'd left out the ginger, which was kind of the main flavour of the cake. Oh well...

Of course we had to gobble it up as quickly as possible to hide my baking shame. If you'd like to have a go, the recipe is below. And apparently the proper lubrication (smirk) for such fancy cake tins is the impressively named Cake Release. Other baking supplies retailers are available, but I'm happy to tart myself for a free sample if anyone from Lakeland is reading this ;-)

Ingredients
2 eggs separated, plus 1 extra egg white
62ml vegetable oil
62ml water
1tbsp runny honey
100g dark brown sugar
38g ground almonds
75g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp all-spice (although I didn't have any of this)
good pinch of ground cloves
zest of 1/4 of an orange
50g caster sugar

How to make
1. Preheat oven to 180 (conventional) or 160 (fan)
2. Grease your tin *thoroughly*
3. Whisk together the yolks and oil in a large bowl, then mix in the water, honey and dark brown sugar.
4. Add the almonds, flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt, spices and zest and fold in gently
5. In another bowl beat the egg whites into soft peaks then gradually add the caster sugar
6. Fold the whites into the cake mixture in the large bowl.
7. Pour the mix into your Bundt tin and bake for about 35 mins or until the cake is springy on top and starting to shrink away from the sides.
8. Leave to cool in the tin for half an hour before attempting to turn out.
9. If you like you can make up some Royal Icing to decorate, but I think it was perfectly good un-iced.

That's all from me for today. I've also been doing some 'real' work, and making carrot chutney, so I'll be spending the evening washing the smell of cider vinegar out of my hair and getting ready (otherwise known as fretting about my outfit) for Mumsnet Blogfest tomorrow. Going to be on a train at stupid o'clock in the morning <yawn>