Cakey yumminess

I've realised it's been a while since I last posted about one of my favourite topics: CAKE. This doesn't mean I haven't been eating making cakes, but the lack of cake related posts is really due to some of them being disasters and generally scoffing them before remembering to take any pics!

The most recent baking success was the batch of cupcakes I made for Mr PC in honour of our 3rd wedding anniversary last week. I made Fizzy Orange Cupcakes as per the Cake Days recipe and I must say they turned out rather nicely. You actually use soda stream syrup to get the flavour! I'm not a fan of fizzy orange drinks but Mr PC is and I knew he'd like them so I got baking while he was at work (like a proper housewife). I even had little jelly orange segments to put on the top!

The icing was a bit dodgy in parts as the lemon zest in it was clogging the nozzle, but who cares once you've taken a bite out of it?! (Yes, I used lemon zest in orange flavoured icing cos I didn't have any real oranges)

Other recent baking adventures include the Coconut Meringue Cake from The Humming Bird Bakery Cookbook (predecessor to Cake Days). What a disaster that was!! Right from the beginning it was going wrong. I found the recipe convoluted due to having to fiddle about with the fresh coconut, baking it in the oven and grating it etc. I always wanted to make this cake and was so disappointed in how it turned out that I'm not sure I could even face trying it again. It tasted ok but it wasn't amazing. The meringue frosting separated and then went runny when I mixed it again so that caused some real problems. But as it required 9 egg whites and nearly a whole bag of sugar, I wasn't prepared to throw it out and start again. Needless to say, the cake turned out to be just 2 layers with a bit of frosting on the top, which actually soaked into the sponge before we got a chance to eat it. And the worst part is, I was asked to make it for my father-in-law's birthday... (and I don't have any pics to show how awful it looked)

I've also made some amazing chocolate brownies and these cookies from A Thrifty Mrs but there are no pics as they all got eaten within an hour of them coming out the oven! I will leave you with one pic though, of a victoria sandwich I made for mum-in-law's birthday which looked rather splendid on my posh pink cake plate, even if I do say so myself!

Victoria sandwich with whipped cream and fresh strawberries

You can read more of my cakey stories here.