Fanny’s Farm Shop

I was recently lucky enough to have afternoon tea in the Treehouse at Fanny’s Farm, Merstham, Surrey.

http://www.fannysfarm.com

It’s actually not far from where I live but I’d never visited before but really liked the sound of it.

When you book the Tree house you have it exclusively for an hour and a half which is perfect. Plenty of time to eat the delicious delights served and down a few cups of tea from beautiful china cups.

The inside is decorated with bunting & fairy lights, with lots of other knick knacks that are quirky and unique, right up my street!

There really is a tree inside too in case you were wondering! Brilliant.

Meeting my pals Sharon http://pinklemonadebakery.com/ & Nel http://www.thepapercupkitchen.co.uk/ was also such a treat, interestingly we all picked something different to eat, which was great as we got to sample each others cakes! I have to say the coffee cake I chose was delicious, the fruit scone (warm when I ate it mmmm) with jam & clotted cream was heavenly.

We then had a little wander around the courtyard/garden area. Stuffed with eclectic, quirky items. The farm shop stocks lots of local produce and delicious items, lots to be tempted with.

All in all a wonderful way to spend a few hours with friends, and cake of course! ♥

A few weeks back I received an emailed from a distribution company asking if I’d like to try some healthy snack bars. I get a few offers of food & food related things to test and sometimes I don’t feel they are “me”. These, however, were definitely something I was keen to try. These protein bars look interesting!

Despite all the cakes & sweet treats I bake & eat, I do have a good healthy balanced diet (not a cake in each hand type of balanced by the way). I am a vegetarian and I adore fruit & veg just as much as pizza & cake (well almost as much).

Nakd bars say “Our snack bars are made from yummy natural ingredients such as fruits and nuts which are smooshed together for you into a handy bar” great description. They’re also wheat and dairy free if that’s something you need to look out for in a snack.

The box I received had 2 of each of the 9 flavours. I actually thought I’d prefer the cocoa named bars, shows how wrong you can be……….

My favourites are Cashew Cookie & Gingerbread. That said I also loved Berry Delight. These are great to have as a breakfast on the go or a snack in your handbag just in case. The texture is soft and squishy and I did think maybe a bit of crunch to some may work well, now I see they have a crunch range recently released, so I’ll definitely be trying those!

If you’d like to know more or try some check out their website here Protein Bars

I love coffee but rarely make coffee flavoured things as I am surrounded by tea drinkers (I love tea too!) I suppose that is the perfect excuse to make something and scoff the lot really!

Anyway, in need of a coffee fix I made these which to my surprise were rather liked by Gav (darn must add more coffee next time!).

They are not overpowering in flavour but strong enough to know it’s coffee with a creamy centre, perfect with a cup of coffee of course!

Cappuccino Biscuits

For the biscuit bit

125g soft spread or butter

55g Soft brown sugar

155g plain flour sieved

1 tsp Instant coffee ground finely (I used my pestle & mortar)

For the filling bit

40g soft butter

80g icing sugar, sieved

1/4 tsp finely ground instant coffee

1/2 tbsp milk

1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

Makes 18 complete sandwich biscuits (1.5″/3.5cm diameter cookie cutter)

Biscuits

Cream the butter & sugar together until light & fluffy.

Add the flour & coffee and mix through until combined and smooth. Place the ball of dough in clingfilm in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 190°C fan 170°C gm5

Line/grease 2 baking sheets.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface (add flour as needed because the dough can be quite sticky). Once evenly at a thickness of about 0.5cm then cut out the cookies, I used 1.5″/3.5cm diameter cookie cutter. Continue to re roll all the dough and cutting cookies until all used.

Place on the baking tray with a little space around them and bake for about 12 minutes until they start to turn a light golden colour. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack.

Filling

Beat the butter until soft & creamy. Add the other ingredients and slowly beat together. Once combined increase the speed until the frosting is smooth & creamy.

Once the biscuits are cool spread or pipe the filling into the centre and top with another biscuit. Sprinkling of cocoa optional! ♥

I love experimenting in the kitchen especially when the results are delicious. So here’s the result of this weeks playing about. The cakes are delicious with a denser texture then a cupcake with the scrummy addition of ground almonds and honey.

The decoration is of course optional and easy peasy & fun to do with the children.

Measurements conversion chart here http://www.deliaonline.com/home/conversion-tables.html

Recipe printable

here

Honey Bunny Cakes

The cake bit

115g soft spread/butter

85g soft brown sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

85g sieved self raising flour

30g ground almonds

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp runny honey

1/2 tsp mixed spice

Icing bit

150g soft butter

150g cream cheese

1 tbsp runny honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

300g icing sugar, sieved

For the bunny bit

Florist paste

Pink food paste

Preheat oven to 170°C Fan 150°C GM3

Makes 10-12

Line a muffin tin with cupcake cases

For the cupcakes, cream together the butter/spread & brown sugar, beat until smooth & fluffy.

Add the rest of the cake ingredients and beat briefly until smooth & combined.

Spoon into the cases until about half full.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until firm to the touch and starting to turn a golden colour on top.

Allow to cool completely.

To make the icing, beat the butter until creamy and smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix gently until combined. Beat until smooth & fluffy.

The icing can be kept in the fridge until you are ready to pipe or spread onto the cakes.

To make the bunny bits, I used 2 of the rose cutters from a set from Pretty Witty Cakes http://www.prettywittycakeshop.co.uk/products-page/cupcake-sized-cutters/rose-petaltear-petal-cutter/ The largest & the smallest.

Then a dab of water to stick the 2 together. The little nose is a small heart plunger cutter.

                                                          Naughty bunnies!

Place on just before serving. Bunny tails are optional! ♥

I love Bakewell tarts and generally the almond flavour in things and thought I’d have a go at making a traybake spin on a classic.

There’s obviously a few steps to this but it’s worth a little effort.

Sweet, almondy, cakey, jammy, shortbready well it’s got it all!

Bakewell Traybake

Shortbread base bit

185g soft spread/butter

75g caster sugar

260g plain flour

5-6 tbsp raspberry jam

Cake bit

200g self raising flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

175g soft spread/butter

175g golden caster sugar

50g ground almonds

4 eggs beaten

Optional a few drops of almond extract or flavouring

Icing bit

250g icing sugar

2-3 tbsp water

Glace cherries

25g Flaked almonds

Grease/line a traybake tin, mine measures 30cm x 20cm.

Preheat oven 180°C (fan 160°C) GM4

Shortbread base bit

Cream the spread/butter & sugar together until light & fluffy. Stir through the sieved flour and bring everything together to form a sticky dough.

Press out to flatten then transfer to the traybake tin. Gently press the dough into the base until it is evenly covered, place a sheet of greaseproof paper on top and gently ease it if it sticks to your hands.

Prick over the base with a fork and bake for 15-20 minutes until evenly golden.

Cool on a cooling rack in the tin for about 15 minutes then spread the jam on top so there is a thin even cover.

Cake bit

Cream together the spread/butter until light & fluffy. Next add the eggs, sieved flour & baking powder.

Then the ground almonds and almond extract (to taste) if using. Mix until all well combined. Gently spoon on top of the jam layer. Smooth over so there’s an even coating, try and do this without spreading the jam around too!

Bake for 25-30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

Allow to cool completely in the tin on a cooling rack.

Icing bit

Mix together the icing & enough water to make a spreadable but not too runny icing.

Spread across the top of the cooled cake and then dot on the glace cherries and almonds (I toasted my almonds in the oven for a few minutes as I like the flavour).

Allow the icing to harden before slicing and enjoying ♥

I’ve had this idea of heating sugar to get that glassy/jewel look for a while. Well at last I gave it a go. Three attempts in and I produced these beauties.

Three attempts because I tried a sort of freehand heart a few times first and that didn’t go too well.

I adore them. I love the shape (well of course) the fact that each one is unique, with colour air bubbles & variations, like a snowflake (but clearly considerably warmer to produce!)

Here’s how I did it, it’s easy, doesn’t take long and the results are so fab.

I used my grill pan, removed the rack bit and added a few sheets of kitchen roll, this helps to get the cutters in a groove.

Next I laid on some kitchen foil. I brushed this with a fine coating of vegetable oil. Oil the inside of the cutter, I found this easiest by using my finger dipped in oil. Then lay on your cutter (metal obviously not plastic as this would just melt under the heat).

I used hearts & had a go with the Eiffel Tower. Fiddly bits on a cutter can prove to be a problem (see Eiffel Tower results if you don’t believe me!). So I would stick to shapes without too much details & skinny bits as the sugar is brittle.

First go at the Eiffel tower, oops nearly got it out.

Second attempt, I am just loving that red colour! But ooops, this is smashing!

Third time lucky…………..nearly there’s a tiny break right near the top doh!

I heated my grill to max and while waiting for it to heat up, I made sure the cutters were pressed in firmly into the foil (this is when it helps to have the kitchen paper underneath) When the sugar melts it can seep under the cutter edge, having it in a groove helps if this happens.

I spread some sugar in the cutters, so there’s about 2-3 mm evenly spread sugar.

I experimented with several different types of sugar to try them out and see if one was better then the others.

Brown sugar didn’t work too well at all.

Coloured sugar (shimmer sugar sprinkles) worked quite well and gave a sort of opaque shimmer look.

I coloured some caster sugar with red gel paste to achieve this fabulous deep red.

I loved this and also the plain granulated sugar. That gave me results that remind me of amber, which I love and have several pieces of jewellery containing (amber not sugar of course).

Top tip. Do not leave the grill pan unattended, the sugar goes from not ready to burnt really quickly. The whole process takes a few minutes and you remove it from the heat when you’re happy with the colour.

It is VERY HOT so be careful. I placed the whole grill pan on a cooling rack and left it to cool completely before attempting to remove the shapes from the moulds.

When they are cool, gently stretch out the cutter, working your way around the outside. Don’t bend the cutter so hard that it goes out of shape but a little pressure helps loosen the sugar shape inside. With a bit of careful jiggling (that’s a technical term) it should be released. You can use these for cupcake decorations, big cakes, cookies, or just to say I love you ♥

As you probably know I am passionate about food, the thought that people in the world are dying from hunger is appalling and very wrong.

Please support the Save the Children campaign by signing the petition & spreading the word.

Please spare one minute to watch the video

WHAT YOU CAN DO IN:

30 seconds – sign the petition: www.savethechildren.org.uk/enoughfoodif

2 minutes - follow on social media & share the campaign link with your friends using the hashtags #if and #tellamillion

@savechildrenuk

www.facebook.com/savechildrenuk

http://tellamillion.tumblr.com/

5 minutes or more – help #tellamillion that there’s enough food for everyone

Thank you

♥