Eteaket- Afternoon Tea in Edinburgh

Last week, my boyfriend and I took off to Edinburgh for a couple of days before I went back to Uni and life hit reality once more. Edinburgh is such a homely place for my family as my brother lived there for four years and it's always a favourite choice when taking a few days off.
I've heard people rave about Eteaket on Frederick Street and, having exhausted ourselves just enough for a cup of tea, knew we had to try it. I was completely taken away upon entering, the decor was just as I expected as I expected a 'tea boutique' to be. There were mismatched cushions and bright colours on the walls, it was exactly how I'd have my own cake shop!

We chose a cosy seat in the corner and ordered our goodies. My boyfriend had a cappuccino and a millionaire's shortbread which he said was delicious and, having sneaked a mouthful, I can totally agree.

Unfortunately, I was slightly disappointed with my order. I was really impressed with the wide range of teas on offer (that's totally how it should be in a tea boutique) but all I wanted was a bog standard cup of tea, something that they could not offer me. On the plus side, however, my scone was huge and I had sufficient butter and jam to slather both sides of it, wonderful!

All in all, a recommended place that did not fail to please. The mismatched china was so beautiful and I felt the need to take plenty of photos of it! The atmosphere was excellent, we were surrounded by art students drawing together, friends meeting for coffee and a lovely woman reading her book alone, soaking in the surroundings. The staff were lovely too, taking our order at the table and generally being more than willing to help.

Next time your in Edinburgh, give Eteaket a try, such a wonderful place!

N.B. I have since received a lovely email from the wonderful people over at Eteaket informing me that a new menu has been released with a 'regular cuppa' on it, yaaaaay! :)

Plum Cupcakes and a Very Big Thank You!

Firstly, my blog celebrated it's first birthday last week and I had been planning a special bake for a few weeks. My boyfriend and I, however, decided to go away for a few days so the bake turned into a quicker one in order to pack!

When I started off this blog, I only had one recipe book and rarely baked. Having been lucky enough to buy my KitchenAid, I was challenged to start off a blog by two very special people who knew how much I loved to bake. I eventually plucked up the courage and now, 1 year later, I feel I have succeeded in not only improving my baking skills, but in making a lovely blog. I've met (you know what I mean!) some wonderful people along the way and would like to thank you all for reading my posts, commenting on them and continuously supporting me through the process!! What an amazing year...

Right, soppy stuff over! Here are the 'Plum Cupcakes' I made from the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days book. I believe they should be called 'Plum Jam Cupcakes' as that's pretty much all that's in them...

I was so disappointed with these cakes! First of all, they use brown sugar which made them heavy and really didn't work well with the plum jam that was incorporated into the mix. Secondly, there was jam in the cupcake mix, which made the cake taste delicious, but then this was ruined by the jam layer within. I followed the recipe and used the correct amount inside the batter but this was far too much and completely ruined the cupcakes. So much so, I threw my dummy out and refused to eat them!

The recipe states jam in the cupcake, as a filling and in the buttercream but this was just overkill for me and I opted for a plain buttercream in the hope it'd tone down the jam. This worked but the jam was just so bitter!

I have hope in these cupcakes yet, so next time, I'll experiment with a lighter sugar and would also omit the jam filling!

I sent these off to my Dad's work and the feedback was great, so maybe they're being nice or I'm missing something? Who knows!!


Ingredients

For the Sponge:

120g unsalted butter, softened
340g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 large egg yolks
360g soft light brown sugar
180ml buttermilk
270g plum jam


For the Frosting:

500g icing sugar
160g unsalted butter, softened
50ml whole milk (I used Semi Skimmed and it worked fine)
70g plum jam
plum slices to decorate, optional


Method

-Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5 and line your muffin tins with cases
-Using a hand held mixer or stand mixer, mix together the butter, flour, baking powder and salt on a low speed until well incorporated and crumb like in texture
-In a jug and using a hand whisk, mix together the egg yolks, brown sugar, buttermilk and 120g of the jam until combined. Add half of this mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Add the remaining mixture, then increase the speed to medium and mix until smooth
-Fill each paper case up to one third full with batter, then top with 1 tsp of jam, followed by a similar quantity of batter (filling each case about two-thirds full)
-Bake for approx. 20 minutes or until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when you lightly press them. Leave to cool slightly before removing from the tin and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely
-For the frosting, whisk the icing sugar with the butter on a low speed until fully incorporated and still powdery in consistency. Pour in the milk while mixing on a low speed, then increase the speed to high and whisk until soft and fluffy. Finally, stir in the jam by hand, ensuring it is evenly dispersed
-Spoon the frosting on the cupcakes once they are cold, gently smoothing the tops with a pallette knife. Decorate with fresh slices of plum

Individual Bakewell Tarts

I have so much to write about! I need to share all of my bakey type Christmas and Birthday presents and a few of the bakes I've been doing recently. But for now, here are the Bakewell Tarts I made recently.

I've made a large Bakewell before (try here for the recipe!) and, having had a really strong craving for some, attempted them again. I made some individual tarts on the day after New Year's day and they turned out perfectly and, as a result, they went down a storm. My more recent attempt, however, didn't go as smoothly.

Problems:

1) In the original batch, the pastry turned out perfectly, in the 1st of this weekend's batches it did not. Solution= grease the tins (obviously? I didn't realise pastry needed greased tins!). This worked well.

2) My largest cutter did not fill the whole cupcake tin which was fine originally but worked against me this weekend.
Solution= create a bottom and attach long strips to make sides. A seemingly clever idea, until they separated upon cooking and created a Victoria Sponge type affair!

3) I used Lorraine Pascals recipe which suggests shop bought pastry. Problem is, it's rubbish!! Solution= give up and never make Bakewells again...

Yes, they weren't problems that caused major damage and they still tasted amazing, especially covered in custard but following several disastrous bakes, my morale was at it's lowest. Keep Calm and Bake On, ey?

An Overdue Christmas Update

Happy New Year everyone! This post is completely overdue as Christmas is wonderfully hectic in my family, especially as my birthday is on the 27th December, right inbetween all of the festivities! As a result, I didn't get around to doing much baking and when I did, they didn't hang around long enough for me to take photographic proof!

As I've never made a Christmas cake, I used Mary Berry's version of Delia's all in a bag cake. I hate Christmas cake, but the smell of the fruit and the spices really got me into a festive mood!

As everything was measured for you, and pre soaked, it was the easiest way to make a Christmas cake. Unfortunately, as we've had far too many indulgences over the last few weeks, my cake is yet to be decorated or eaten, so I'll keep you all updated when it is!

We also got our new oven just in time for Christmas, and I got straight on to making festive shortbread. I found some lovely little presentation bags in Morrison's and bagged them all up, ready to hand out to friends and family.

As always, the photos for my bakes are either rubbish or non existent! Alongside Christmas cake and shortbread, I made peppermint creams and miniature bakewells, all of which were eaten so quickly that I didn't get to take any pictures! I promise that my New Years resolution is to take better pictures!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year, all the best!