For The Love Of Candy

Lent Baking Challenge

2012-02-23T11:18:00.001Z

I have spent the past few years giving up something for Lent, either chocolate or alcohol and one year I even gave up both. This year I will not be giving anything up I will be indulging myself in my passion instead. I have decided to set up a Lent baking challenge and want to get as many other people involved as possible.

The Lent Baking Challenge is really simple - for the 40 days of lent instead of giving up something you indulge in cooking lots of lovely things. You choose if you want to make 5 or 10 recipes and I have created a Facebook group where everyone can post up their recipes and photos of the finished food. So let’s get everyone involved, you don’t have to be the best cook in the world, you don’t even have to choose difficult recipes, just try to make at least 1 thing you have never made before. Invite as many of your friends to get involved as well.

Here is the link to the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/357742617579679/?bookmark_t=group if you go onto the group then you will see I have posted my first of the ten recipes on there that I am making tonight. My hubby is also getting involved and has posted his first recipe on there as well.

I have decided to try and use some of the cookbooks that I have not used very much or even at all. Here are my first five recipes for the challenge:

Salmon Fishcakes
Chelsea Buns
New York Cheesecake
Bitter chocolate and orange muffins
Fruit and spice soda bread

I have not made any of these before so they will all be a nice challenge for me and I intend to finish the challenge by making a Simnel cake ready for Easter.

Why not get involved and indulge yourself this Lent.

Twitter + Cake = Yummy!

2012-02-19T10:29:00.001Z

I had a very interesting morning yesterday, I made my way up to Cambridge and met with Miss Sue Flay (say it out loud) a lovely lady who runs her own business on top of a full time job and has started Twitter workshops. I use Twitter almost as much as I use Facebook and think I might be starting to become addicted to it as I look at it as soon as I wake up and just before I go to bed. I know I am a very nosey person so it helps me find out what other people are doing without actually having to talk to them.

I want to start using Twitter properly and to promote my business, Little Sprinkles, so I went along to find out what hints and tips she could pass on. I was greeted by a fantastic looking table with some very yummy looking food on it. I managed to wait at least 10 minutes before starting to eat all of this yummy food. I met three other really interesting ladies, two were foodies like me and the other a Twitter Newbie who wanted to start using it. The morning progressed, lots of tea was drunk and Cheese Scones, Coffee and Walnut cake and Rocky Road bites were eaten and it turned into a bit of an ideas session as we all bounced ideas off each other and suggested things that we could do.
It was a really worthwhile morning and I came away with my head spinning with ideas.

I have lots of things to start planning as well as real life that just keeps getting in my way. I have now left my job (or rather was made redundant) and have managed to secure another job this week which means we have to move about 80 miles from Bristol down to the Somerset/Dorset border. I start my new job on the 12th March and before then we have to find a house, a nursery for Nathan and move! I have not been slow in finding ways of getting myself out down there and have a table at a Mother and Baby Market next Saturday at Sturminster Newton so have to make a few cakes for that.

I think I can safely say that my February Challenge is going to go the same way as my January challenge but I have a new idea to get people baking and sharing their results so watch this space as I will share it with you all this week.

All in the name of love

2012-02-13T20:09:00.001Z

Well I decided to bake Stu a valentines present this year as we are not big valentines day people. And I thought I would kill two birds with one stone and make him something out of one of the books in my challenge! It's a bit cheeky but I did choose a recipe from my 1001 cakes & cookies book so I had a lot to choose from and I found something that I knew he would like. Cheese scones (heart shaped)

I haven't felt much like baking so far this month as I have had bigger things to think about. We have made a huge life changing decision, as it is my last day of work this Friday we have decided to leave Bristol behind us and start a new life in the country. We are moving down to the Dorset/Somerset border as soon as we can find a house.
It is a very scary but exciting decision and I have already started finding new ways to promote my business down there. I have a table booked at two wedding fayre (thanks to my mother in law) and a table booked at a mother & baby event so hopefully I will start to spread the word about Little Sprinkles down there.

Had better go do the washing up as it would be a bit mean to make Stu do it!

13 days down, 1 recipe made, 5 to go in 14 days

New month, new challenge

2012-02-05T08:02:00.001Z

Well I was three recipes short on my January challenge. Life took over and baking had to take a back seat as I had to look after my little man who was properly ill for the 1st time at the end of January.

But I have decided not to let this beat me and I am going to take the remaining 3 books and add the 3 books I got for my birthday and use them as my February challenge, the other books are:
The Great British Bake Off
Old Fashioned Sweet Shop
There's a Zombie in my Cupcake

I only have 2 weeks left at work so should have a lot of free time on my hands after that. But then again I might not as the husband has 2 job interviews for proper teaching jobs this week, 1 in Yeovil and the other in Bournemouth so if he gets either we will be moving away from Bristol so the end of February could be very busy with packing and moving. I have already said I want a house with a big kitchen!!

So we now have 24 days left and 6 recipes to go. Best get baking!

January Blues

2012-01-26T20:26:00.001Z

Well I've had a hard week to say the least, it started very nicely spending the weekend with my two favourite men. We went out for lunch on Sunday and Nathan did very well with his lunch, hardly any of it ended up on the floor! He did seem to prefer the carrots to anything else on his plate, I really shouldn't complain about this.

I managed to get two recipes done on Saturday afternoon, a very yummy Chocolate Cups from my Life is Sweet book and a hard candy from the Vintage Teaparty book. The chocolates are all gone but I have popped some in the post to a very lucky lady. The hard candy are still in the fridge as they are very sticky but taste good.

The week soon went bad, had decided to work from home on Tuesday to give myself some time to start the job search when at 10.30am I get a call from Nathan's childminder to say he has been sick and can I come and pick him up. I then have him with me for the rest of the day, luckily the two times he was sick at home was in the kitchen were it is all wipe clean, my kitchen floor has never been so clean!
It is only today that we have not had to clean up any more so he can head back to the childminders tomorrow. Trying to get work done and dealing with a small child do not mix, thank god for my mother in law who did the three hour round trip to look after him today which has helped keep me sane!

So here we are with five days left in January and I have done five out of the eight books and have three left, gingerbread, doughnuts and chocolate eclairs! Am hoping to get the gingerbread and doughnuts done this weekend which just leaves the eclairs. Think I may just do this challenge by the skin of my teeth!

Baking to calm a troubled mind

2012-01-19T18:08:00.001Z

I spent last night baking my next recipe in my January challenge, ham and mushroom muffins to try and take my mind off work things. It did work for a short time but real life reared it's ugly head today. The muffins tasted good, they were lunch for both Stu and myself.
I was not sure they would turn out alright as the mixture was very gloopy and as I have not made savoury muffins before I was not sure what they should look like.

I got a cupcake and cakepop order today and Nathan took 6 steps today so it is turning out to be a good day.

I am very aware that I still have 5 recipes to make and am quickly running out of days in January but am planning on making my doughnuts at the weekend (this could be very dangerous if they turn out to be easy to make) and I hope to make the chocolates as well . The people who bought me the book that the chocolates come from might get a nice surprise in the post as well.

So we are 20 days and 3 recipes down and have 11 days and 5 recipes to go, better get cracking.

Extreme baking!

2012-01-11T21:08:00.001Z

Well it is 6 days into my task and I have done 2 out of the 8 recipes.

Today I made cola cupcakes from my Cox Cookies and Cakes book that my inlaws gave me for Christmas, they include a can of coke which I managed to break a nail opening. My first baking related injury!

I needed some time to myself today and this was a good way to take my mind off my work related issues. Am not going to bore you with the details but baking is the best therapy for me and it costs a lot less than the professionals!

I have found a distributor that I can buy sweets from and they can help me set up a sweet shop either online or on the high street. Got quite excited about this, can see things starting to fall into place for the next step I want to take with Little Sprinkles. Exciting times ahead!

Best head to the kitchen to do the washing up then am heading to bed. Nathan is sleeping through the night but still thinks 5am is a good time to wake up - not good!

6 days in, 2 recipes baked, 6 to go in 20 days

One down, seven to go

2012-01-08T09:54:00.001Z

Well I have baked the first recipe of my January task, Green & Blacks brownie crisps.
They were something I had never made before and they have got Stu's approval as he has already eaten three!

I have got the ingredients all ready for the next recipe, cola cupcakes. As well as picking out all the other six and I am pushing myself to make some things I have never made before so this will be interesting.

I have decided that I will give myself this type of task each month as I have loads of recipe books that I don't use enough so this will make me use them more.

1 recipe down, 7 to go in 23 days

New task

2012-01-05T20:31:00.001Z

Having failed miserably on my task set at the beginning of this blog I thought it was time to rethink and set smaller monthly tasks for myself.

So my January task is to cook one recipe from each of the fabulous books I was given for Christmas, which as you can see from the photo is a fair number!

I was given the following books for Christmas:
The Vintage Tea Party book
Cox Cookies & Cakes
Green & Blacks Ultimate Chocolate collection
Doughnuts (and a doughnut maker)
1001 Cupcakes, Cookies and other temptations
The Hummingbird Bakery Cupcake & Muffins
Life is Sweet
And Dress Your own Gingerbread (that I did already own, sorry Mum)

Phew that is a lot of books - so that means I have to make a grand total of eight new things in the 26 days left in January which does sound easy, but once I factor in my full time job plus my one year old and life in general I think it is a tough challenge.

If anyone has any suggestions of any favourite recipes from any of these books do let me know. All that is left for me to do is choose the recipes I am going to make, which could take all of January!

Back to basics

2011-12-30T08:59:00.001Z

2011 was a year of experimenting and side tracks, I tried to do a lot of things and didn't achieve very much. Therefore I have decided that 2012 will be the year I go back to basics, focus on my long term goal and start taking baby steps towards it.

I want to open my own sweet shop in the long term so am going to start small and find the right people to work with in 2012.
I have a stall at a mother and baby sale the first weekend in February so I am going to use that as a starting point. I want to sell valentine themed sweets and chocolates, some I want to make myself and others I will buy in.

I want to revamp my website, my business cards and my logo so I have a lot of work to do! I will start by finding a proper graphic designer to come up with a logo for me, so if anyone knows one, please let me know!

Better crack on, I've got Nathan's first birthday cake to ice and some gluton free gingerbread to make for the birthday party this afternoon

Christmas cake

2011-12-16T21:12:00.001Z

I thought I'd have a go at making my own marzipan this year for my Christmas cake. I used the James Martin recipie and am no overly happy with the outcome.
It tastes good but seems to be cracking and sliding off the cake. Will have to see how it looks in the morning but may have to have a quick trip to the supermarket and buy some shop made marzipan.

Hope to have it all finished tomorrow so will post a photo when I'm done.

Christmas trees and a possible set back

2011-12-05T18:11:00.001Z

This weekend we had the in laws down and I spent Saturday afternoon on the sofa getting very excited about biscuits with my mother in law. We were looking at the Biscuiteers website and sat there say we can do that!
They had a couple of you tube videos that we watched and I decided that I would give it a go on sunday morning as I had been given a bottle of green cookie icing, that I had not used before and after serveral practices I was happy with the outcome.

I decided that I would make these biscuits for the Christmas fayre I am doing on Friday afternoon along with some fudge but woke up this morning with a horrible stomach bug (as this is a blog about food, I won't go into details) this puts my plans for Friday into jeopardy I wil see how I feel tomorrow night and make a decision if I am going to go ahead with it.

Good Food show

2011-11-27T20:42:00.000Z

I have had a busy couple of days, on Friday I was busy making a load of different mini puddings for an order. I made New York Cheesecakes, Key Lime Mousse cakes, brownies and a few cake pops and if I may say so they looked good! Stu was very happy as there was a few left overs and cheesecake is one of his favourite things.

Then on Saturday I met up with my mum and headed to the NEC for the BBC Good Food Show. Mum and I have gone to this several times over the past few years and have always had a good time.
The first stall we stopped at when we got in was a cupcake stall (unsurprisingly) and I noticed a woman that I knew from somewhere and was about to say hello when I realised that it was Mary Ann from the Great British Bake Off and I am not embarrassed to say I got a bit excited! we then saw the GBBO stand and it reminded me that I still need to finish completing my application for the next series and get it sent off.

Mum and I had a lovely day walking round, eating all the free samples and spending far too much money. I saw a few fudge stalls and made mental notes of the different flavours that I want to try out.

But the best part of the day was when my mum gave me a bag that she had been given by a friend when they heard about what I was doing. It had 4 AMAZING sweets and chocolate making books - all printed back in the 1980's and full of so many different recipes for some amazing looking sweets that I am going to have to have a go at making.

Am going to have to start cooking ready for my next Christmas fayre and my Christmas presents soon or it will be Christmas before I know it.

American candy!

2011-11-27T19:44:00.001Z

While walking through Bristol today doing a spot of Christmas shopping I spotted a new shop that I hope stays around for a long time.

It was a sweet shop that sold old fashioned sweets AND American candy! Having paid a lot of money for the 2 things in the picture below. I will try not to eat them both tonight but I can't promise anything!

Seeing all the American candy makes me want to go back to the states and when Stu suggested we just book a holiday to Florida for next summer I was very tempted to say yes!!

Stir up Sunday

2011-11-20T20:46:00.001Z

Well after a difficult week with illness and a bit of teething thrown in (Nathan, not me) I have finally found some time to make my Christmas cake. It's got about 10 minutes left to go and the whole house smells Christmasy!

Have not had any time to make any more sweets but have booked a days holiday from work this Tuesday so am hoping I'll get a chance to make something as well as update my website (www.littlesprinkles.co.uk) then meet a friend for coffee and do a bit more christmas shopping, think there should be enough hours in the day!

Am wanting to make some little sweety christmas presents for some of the family so need to start thinking about doing that as well.

I had an enquiry for a big cupcake order last week, am waiting to hear if they are happy with my quote and if they are then that will give me a bit of money to use next year to get Little Sprinkles out and about at different fairs and events so hopefully I can start making a proper go of this business rather than just playing at it as I am doing at the moment.

Oh there goes the oven timer got to go sort my cake out.....

Fridge full of goodies!

2011-11-12T17:49:00.001Z

My fridge is currently full of sweet goodness all ready for the Christmas fayre tomorrow. Have worked hard all day, my second attempt at coconut ice looks a lot better than my first attempt.

I've got four types of fudge, vanilla, chocolate, peanut butter and Baylies. I've got my festive red and green coconut ice, bags of Christmas biscuits and for the children a bag of flumps (not home made) lets hope that tomorrow is a sucess!

Coconut ice disaster

2011-11-11T16:25:00.001Z

I'm busy making sweets and treats ready for the Christmas fayre at Bernard Lovell School on Sunday. So far I have made 3 lots of fudge and tried to make coconut ice. Am not sure what has gone wrong but it is very runny and I don't think it will set.

I am going to blaime the recipes as it seemed to be to be asking for a lot of liquid and not enough dry ingredients I have put it in the fridge so we will see what happens. I have found another recipe in my new sweety book!
I treated myself to a birthday present this week and bought The Home Made Sweet Shop book which arrived today! It has got me all excited about sweets again and want to try the recipes in the book so think I will be nice and busy again.

I am also looking to update my website so feel that I need more hours in the day or need to use one of the serveral holiday days I have from work when Nathan is a nursery so I have time to sit and do this. I am wanting to start offering fudge by post via my website so watch this space for updates!

Well no rest for the wicked, that fudge isn't going to make itself!

Holy Baileys fudge Batman!

2011-11-07T06:54:00.001Z

Well I finally made more sweets this weekend, not from my book as I had a request for birthday fudge so I thought I would do something other than vanilla fudge.

Baileys fudge was a lot easier to make than I thought it would but with a quarter of a cup of Baileys it is very alcoholic tasting, which isn't a bad thing I just don't think you can eat too much of it in one go.

I took a little field trip yesterday to the NEC for Cake International 2011. I have never been there before and am not sure if I will go back, there were some amazing looking cakes that were entered into the competition which I am not sure if I could ever emulate.
I did not buy an airbrush kit as much as I wanted one but I did buy a lot of other things that I will enjoy playing with.

I've got a stall at a Christmas faur at Bernard Lovell school in Oldham Common next Sunday so I've got a lot of sweets to make this week, am mainly making fudge but am also going to do some coconut ice and some large gingerbread people. Very busy week ahead!

Cupcakes fit for a wedding

2011-10-29T11:15:00.001+01:00

My little brother in law is getting married today with a Halloween theme. I have knocked up a few cupcakes for people to enjoy. Stu tried his hand at decorating as well and even if I say so myself they all look damn good!

Brownies!

2011-10-14T20:32:00.001+01:00

After 2 nights of very interrupted sleep (thanks Nathan!) I felt I needed a pick me up and with my parents down for the weekend I felt that I had a perfect reason to make some brownies.

I decided to use what was a proper American recipe from one of my favour cook books. And I must say they are good!

I wanted to make some fudge as well but I do not like the recipe from my candy book as it has marshmallow fluff in it, is it ok to use a recipe from another book??

Got a weekend of fun lined up, Mum bought me the British Bake off book so I will attempt making my own pastry this week and make a pie tomorrow.

Snickerdoodles

2011-10-11T15:00:00.000+01:00

I am taking a short break from my candy making and indulging in another of my favourite past times - baking.

I have decided that I also want to try lots of new recipes as I have tended to stick to the tried and tested, mainly cupcakes so I am breaking free and trying new things.

This has mainly been fuelled by watching the Great British Bake Off and wanting to make what I saw! I have downloaded the application form for the next series but having looked at it I have realised that I am really lacking in some areas so I need to start making the type of thing that is on there. For example I don't think I have ever made my own pastry so I am going to give that a go at the weekend and make a pie for my parents who are visiting.

I am going to start with Snickerdoodles which are cakey biscuits that look yummy!

Well they turned out ok, I managed to make them between bathing Nathan & cooking our tea.

Gelatine 2, Ruth 0

2011-10-07T13:49:00.001+01:00

I thought I would give the gummy bears another go last night, it did not work!

Have trays of green strawberry flavour jelly sitting in my fridge. Again they taste good but are not as solid as gummy sweets should be.

Have decided to give up on the gummy for the moment, think I will give hard candy a go.

To dream the impossible dream

2011-10-04T17:50:00.001+01:00

For a while now I have had a dream of jacking it all in and opening my own old fashioned sweet shop with rows of glass jars filled with sweets. This started about this time last year when I was facing the possibility of redundancy (I survived it and am back at work)

When I have days like I did today I start to dream my impossible dream. I am someone who needs to keep busy, I am no good at doing very little. Since returning to work last week after my maternity leave I have found myself short of things to keep me busy during work hours. This is for serveral different reasons that I won't go into on here. Most people have said that I should enjoy the quiet as it won't last long. So I have spent my time thinking of things I can sell in my sweet shop and partaking in a bit of internet shopping!
On the plus side, one of my collegues has just come back from a week in Las Vegas and brought back some Taffy for us in the office. Taffy is one of my favourite sweets that I can not get very easily here in the UK I think there is a reciepe for it in my book and I am really looking forward to making it!

I want to have another go at gummy bears this week, will do it one night after work once Nathan has gone to bed

No time for sweets, but always time for tea!

2011-10-02T18:18:00.000+01:00

Was going to make some sweets on Friday for my friend Anna's surprise 30th tea party, but Nathan was up to his old trick of not wanting much sleep during the day on Friday so I had no time to make anything. So I promise to send Anna some sweets in the post (Anna, let me know if you have any preference)

Had a lovely day on Saturday, Anna had no clue what was going on, we had a lovely old fashioned tea party in a village hall in the middle of nowhere near Cambridge. We had cucumber sandwiches and scones with clotted cream. Tea in vintage teacups and a little bit in champagne!
We also had a chance to decorate 6 cupcakes (my 2nd favourite pass time)

Am back home now and am planning to make some sweets this week, think I will give gummy sweets another go, also have to make some cakes for my brother in law's birthday next weekend.

What next??

2011-09-29T21:03:00.000+01:00

Another weekend is looming and I don't know what to do now. I am waiting for my chocolate thermometer to arrive so I dont think I will try anymore chocolate things. Might attempt another reciepe with gelatine & see if I can make friends with it this time.

Caramel filled moulded chocolates

2011-09-26T07:38:00.002+01:00

Yeah, these work! (and taste very good)

have had issues getting the final lot out of their moulds but at least these work. I need to work on the moulds as there is a nack to getting them filled but hollow. I also need to get some more normal chocolate moulds as all of mine are shaped but not necessarily the right shape and size for filled chocolates. Also need a chocolate thermometer. Lots of things to add to the old birthday list for this year!

Not sure what I will do next but am starting to flick through the book to get inspiration

Tempering chocolate - 1st problem

2011-09-25T09:13:00.000+01:00

Am attempting caramel filled moulded chocolates and have encountered my first problem. To temper chocolate you need to first heat it to 44 degrees then cool it down to 32 degrees. My sugar thermometer only starts at 40 degrees so this could be interesting!

Is this a good idea??

2011-09-23T17:23:00.000+01:00

We have had a bad week, Nathan has been ill so both Stu & I have had very little sleep and had to deal with a grumpy little man during the day.

Unsuprisingly I have not had any time to make any candy. I am beginning to wonder if it was a good idea to start this challenge as it will result in me knowing how to make all kinds of sweet goodness very easily. At the moment if I want a sweet treat I have to travel to the local supermarket and get something but now I will be able to whip something up without leaving the house! This will not help me loose the last of the baby weight I want to loose.

Never the less I have decided to continue on with my challenge and this weekend I will be attempting to make filled chocolates which means temporing chocolate which I have never done before, so wish me luck! If all goes well I will take them into the office on Monday, which is my 1st day back at work after my maternity leave.

And we have a little boy who is much better but I have caught what he had.

Giving up on gummy!

2011-09-13T20:09:00.000+01:00

I know I said that I was going to attempt gummy bears again yesterday but motherhood got in the way. Stu is back at school so I had Nathan and boiling sugar water and an 8 month old crawler do not match.
I have decided to give up on the gummy bears and come back to them later. I am looking at trying a filled chocolate next which means tempering chocolate which is something I have not done before. I am just waiting on some new chocolate moulds that I have ordered.

As it is National Cupcake Week I have gone back to what I know best and have made a batch of chocolate cupcakes to take into work with me tomorrow for my penultimate keeping in touch day before I do back to work after my maternity leave.

Gummy Bears attempt 1

2011-09-12T08:21:00.001+01:00

I thought the gummy bear recipe would be the easiest to start with so tried it yesterday afternoon.

Boy was I wrong!

It looked simple enough, I don't have a gummy bear mould so decided to use my pig mould instead (have seen a giant gummy bear mould that I fancy getting though) The recipe itself was really simple to make and I poured the mixture into the moulds and left it in the fridge. I did get excited when I saw it had started to set, but when I went to get one out I soon realised that it was just jelly rather than a gummy candy, it did taste god though

If it is possible for an inanimate object to have feelings I think that gelatin does not like me as I had the same problem with my marshmallows. But I will not be deterred, I am going to make another batch today with more gelatin in.

a jelly gummy pig

What and Why

2011-09-11T10:00:00.000+01:00

While watching Julie and Julia last night my husband Stu suggested I set myself a cooking challenge

I have started to make my own candy (sweets) and have had good and bad results so far. Thought I would start with something simple and made marshmallows that did not set. My peanut butter fudge was much better and didn't last long!

I have bought myself Field Guide to Candy by Anita Chu which has recipes for every type of candy you can think of so I have decided to make every recipe in the book, which is 113 of them.

I am starting with the ones I like and that look the easiest which may be cheating but I don't care.

I have bought myself a sugar thermometer, a large pan and 2 wooden spoons so I am ready to go!