Wordless Wednesday - Aero Mint Ball Birthday Cake

Blocks & Baking

I haven't sewn much lately....

 but I like the way these blocks are working out.

I have definitely spent more time baking...

Chocolate cake:

  ...than I ever used to do.

Banana Bread:

And I have definitely spent more time grieving

than I ever thought possible.

I miss you Mom. every. single. day!

Gluten Free (Sugar Free) Carrot Cake

The dilemma with gluten free baking is that the consistency

of the baking is often quite dry.

I have been experimenting with a regular carrot cake recipe

and have come up with this solution.

However, not only do I want to be gluten free,

but sugar free too!

I know that honey is technically not sugar free,

but I am not into any sugar substitutes or sweeteners

so organic or anti-bacterial honey is fine for me (in small doses!)

The first time I made this I added Xantham Gum to bind the mixture,

but I forgot it the second time, so I don't think it's an essential ingredient

in this very moist cake!

I have now made it in muffin form and it is very tasty too

even without the cream cheese topping,

I like to bake with what I have on hand.

No cream cheese - no problem!

Anyway, here is the recipe:

CARROT CAKE

Ingredients

·         3Tbsp Honey

·         175ml Olive oil

·         5 medium eggs, lightly beaten

·         140g grated carrots (about 3 medium)

·         grated zest and juice of 1 orange

·         75g Ground Almonds/Almond Flour

·         75g Coconut Flour

·         1.5 Tsp Baking Powder

·         1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

·         1 Tsp Xantham Gum

·         1 tsp ground cinnamon

·         ½ tsp Mixed Spice or Nutmeg

For the ‘Icing’

·         1 Tbsp Honey

·         1 Tub of Soft Cream Cheese

·         Zest of one Lemon

Method

1.     Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. 

Grease and line the base and sides of an 18cm square cake tin with baking parchment.

2.     Lightly mix the honey, olive oil and beaten eggs. 

Stir in the grated carrots, orange zest and orange juice 

(sometimes I use Clementines or other sweet citrus fruit – whatever is in the fruit bowl ;o) )

3.     Sift the flours, bicarbonate of soda, spices and other dry ingredients, 

into the bowl. 

Lightly mix all the ingredients – when everything is evenly amalgamated stop mixing.

The mixture will be fairly soft and almost runny.

4.     Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 35- 45 minutes, 

until it feels firm and springy when you press it in the centre. 

Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out, peel off the paper and cool on a wire rack

5.     Beat together the icing ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. 

Set the cake on a serving plate and ice the cake as desired.

Decorate with Walnuts, Lemon Zest or anything you fancy.

6. Serve and enjoy

7. Let me know if you make it and how you get on xxx

Baking & Bread

Feeling this post needs to be wordless.....

...except I will say I have been baking...

... my other crafting love!

Artisan Bread-Making

There is a local-ish (about 45 minutes drive away)

 Artisan Sourdough bread maker called 'Lovingly Artisan'

and my husband just loves the bread.

It reminds us of our favourite bakery in South Africa: Ile de Pain.

Anyway he offers an artisan bread making day class called:

'Make it, Bake it, Shoot it'.

I have been gluten-free for about 12 years,

but for some reason I am able to tolerate 

(in small quantities) the sourdough bread.

The sourdough 'starter' is fermented for 24hours 

and appears to create the 'good bacteria'

that helps me tolerate the gluten.

I came home from the bread making class 

and was determined to get baking!

 After an initial hiccup with getting my 'starter' started,

I have been baking....

There have been a few failures, but here is a success:

A green olive sourdough bread!

It was so good, I definitely overindulged!!

Part of the baking course included some photography

(the 'shoot it' bit),

which I will talk about in my next post,

because these are definitely 'before' the photography class photos!! :o)

Wordy Wednesday

Instead of muttering about my bad blogging,

I will just write a photo-heavy post

to give a small indication of what I have been up to....

I have been making things 

for the Church Christmas fair with a friend

(who is now sick of pom-poms!!)

*****

I have longarm-quilted an old lady's quilt,

that needed quite a bit of TLC to even get it on the machine...

But it has turned out beautifully.

*****

Miss Kalico has turned 4!

A cake for home: 

Some lovely gifts from friends...

And a cake for the party! 

***** 

I made a little something for a colleague

who loves Lavender...

The Bullion stitch addiction continues

though not as relentlessly as before ;)

*****

I have made my ornament for the SSCS15...

This one took 2 evenings 

and was a lot trickier than I imagined,

but hopefully it will be well received.

******

And I am working on a few secret projects.

This one involves top levels of investigation

in order to correctly tailor the concept to the recipient.

So I am sewing although nothing for me.

I had grand plans to make Miss-Kalico and I

Halloween costumes, but I ran out of time :(

A friend gave me a Halloween costume 

in a rather tiny size. Although I was flattered,

I preferred to leave certain curves and bulges to people's imagination ;o)

Anyway, I will try and blog more soon xx

Minecraft - Steve - Tablet/I-pad case

I made this Minecraft tablet case for my son's birthday.

He unwrapped it and said:

"Ah it's Steve",

So apparently this is Steve from Minecraft.

One is never too old to learn!!

This time, I did all of it on my machine,

no last minute hand stitching any seams

and I rounded the corners of the flap to give it a better shape.

I also baked a cake.

Can you spot the number '9'?

I would like to be all caked out,

but my husband and daughter's birthday's are up next!

Miss Kalico is hoping for a purple princess party

(as one does when one is 3 going on 4!)

Daim Bar Cake

A friend at work loves Daim Bar's

and as it was her birthday,

I made her a Daim bar cake.

Basically it's a simple vanilla sponge

with some crushed Daim Bar pieces in the batter.

Then I iced the cake with 'Caramel Frosting'

(the recipe was found here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/7506/caramel-frosting-i/

I doubled the quantities of the frosting recipe

so that I could put the frosting inside and on top.

Then I topped the cake with crushed Daim bar pieces

and mini Daim bars.

I believe it tasted ok ;o)

*****

I also embroidered a sheep 

in Bullion stitch on a heart as a little gift.

*****

Now I'm making another Minecraft patchwork block

as my other son has his birthday tomorrow....

I didn't measure this one 

so it's a bit of trial and error as to what it will end up as...

A tablet case WAS the plan, but we will see!

Wordless... What Day Is It?

I have  missed a few Wordless Wednesdays...

Actually I have missed so many blogging days...

Work...

3 kids...

Grief...

I am not on top of it all...

BUT I am OK!

I have several completed quilts to photograph,

 but the weather is not up to much at the moment....

A shame as it's the school holidays...

*****

I have been doing the odd customer quilt.

This one is VERY Vintage.

A few holes, 

quite a bit of repair,

what a story it could tell....

It's going to be fabulous when it's finished as it has a white backing 

and is being quilted with 'Wildflowers' in white thread...

It has been quite a job though

as it has very thick seams on the edges requiring quite a few needle changes

*****

Outside my studio window,

I get glimpses while I quilt

of the lovely roses planted by the previous owner of our home... 

What do they say?

"Plant a garden if you believe in the future".

A wonderful legacy to leave behind...

And I love seeing the roses through the window at night.

My Mother's garden was always wonderful.... 

She would have loved these roses. I do miss her so much.

*****

As I work, I can only quilt in the evenings these days...

On my trusty Longarm...

But I do enjoy it and it gives me a chance to think...

The studio cat comes and shouts to get in.

She is not permitted a cat flap

as she is an amazing mouser and she is still

 trying to teach us her wicked ways

by bringing in live mice to kill. 

We are not ready for that yet!

*****

I still enjoy baking although I have almost given up baking gluten-free.

Once I started losing a bit of weight by cutting out sugar,

I decided to no longer lead myself into temptation.

Although I did buy a cute button mould 

and I love to make chocolate buttons to decorate my cakes.

This one was for one of the designers at work.

Wordless Wednesday - Miss Kalico turns 3!

A Story in Pictures

Here are a few(!) pictures

from my tablet to show what I've been up to 

over the last few months...

 

Baking, quilting, kids..

pretty much sums things up!