Balham Cake Off THE FINAL...

♥ Ceri makes... while so the final day of the Balham Cake Off has come.  The final challenge was to whip up a Tray Bake - an easy choice for me in choosing what to bake as I happen to have THE most delicious Brownie recipe!  Which is now also officially a prize winning recipe,  sadly for you I am going to keep this one a secret for now!

And here is my rather lovely prize certificate! 
 

Thanks to everyone who came to cheer me on!  Such a fun few Sundays at Trinity Stores and as if I needed an excuse to bake anyway...

♥ Ceri makes... xx

Balham Cake Off ROUND FOUR...

♥ Ceri makes...  in a truly traditional manner the clever organisers at Trinity Stores arranged for some rather serious judges from the Clapham WI to come and judge our 'Traditional bakes'.  I opted for one of my most popular bakes in the office - a Lemon Drizzle Tray Bake.  Its hardly suprising that it is so popular as the recipe I favour is one of Mary Berry's!

Other traditional bakes included a yummy Plum Bakewell Tart and a Sticky Ginger Loaf cake that would be perfect for a winter's eve.

Everyone is welcome to come & cheer me on in the final at Balham's Trinity Stores on 14th October,  see you there!

♥ Ceri makes... xx

Balham Cake Off ROUND THREE...

♥ Ceri makes...  today's bake off challenge at Trinity Stores was to bake 'Cakes for Kids'.  I decided to try something new & task myself with cake pops.  They really were as delicious as they look!

Future Balham Cake Off dates here...

See you there!

♥ Ceri makes...  xx

Contact the Elderly Tea Party...

♥ Ceri makes...  hosted my very first Contact the Elderly tea party this afternoon!  Contact the Elderly organise regular Sunday tea parties for elderly people who have little or no social support.  A great charity and a perfect way to spend my drizzly Sunday afternoon.  As if I needed an excuse to bake,  here are some of the treats I made...

The tea party guests including the very special guests Edmond and Daphne enjoying themselves...

If you would also like to get involved with the charity they are always keen to hear from new volunteers for driving or hosting - http://www.contact-the-elderly.org.uk/become-a-volunteer/

♥ Ceri makes xx

Salvation Jane

♥ Ceri makes...  had a lovely evening catching up with the book club girls earlier in the week to discuss our latest read Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother at the newly opened Salvation Jane near Old Street station.  A cafe by day and a bar/restaurant by evening.  

The sharing plates were delicious. However no book club meet is quite complete without some cake!! I would definitely recommend the Hello Dolly slice ...an Australian bake that is an unusual but yummy combination of white chocolate, coconut, almonds and biscuits. 

Think I'll have a go at making this at home soon, found this recipe if you want to try too... http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/Hello-Dolly-Slice-L5950.html

Enjoy! x

♥ Ceri makes xx

Feeling Jubilant...

♥ Ceri makes...  truly enjoyed the jubilee weekend and fully embraced the patriotic spirit!

Along with most of the country I celebrated the jubilee with LOTS of cake!  My friends Hatty and Mark hosted a wonderful jubilee tea party to mark the occasion.  Here is just one of the many delicious cakes that they served at their jubilee tea party...

To get into the spirit even more I also joined in with some red, white and blue dressing over the weekend in my absolute favourite print from the range of quirky jubilee products at Topshop.  SO cute!

 Happy Diamond Jubilee to our Queen Lizzy!

♥ Ceri makes xx

Christmas Adam...

♥ Ceri makes...  tradition has become that myself and the girls from school get together every year on Christmas Adam (Christmas Eve Eve!).  In honour of the occasion I whipped up a Festive Yule Log or Buche de Noel.

It may be a bit late in the festivities now but save this recipe for next year to wow your friends and family!

♥ CAKE - 70g plain flour, 10g cocoa powder, 1 tsp baking powder, a pinch of salt, 4 eggs separated, 170g caster sugar, a dash of vanilla extract, 2 tbsp icing sugar
♥ CREAM - 300ml double cream, 4 tbsp icing sugar, cocoa powder and tia maria to taste

♥ Line a swiss roll tin with greaseproof paper and pre-heat the oven to 190C/Gas Mark 5
♥ Whisk the egg whites until stiff, add a little sugar.  Beat the egg yolks,  add the sugar,  gradually mix into the flour,  baking powder and salt.  Then fold in the egg whites.
♥ Spread the mixture onto the tin evenly and bake for approx 15 minutes or until golden and remove from the oven to cool,  removing the greaseproof paper
♥ Whip the cream and mix in the icing sugar,  sieve in the cocoa powder both to suit your taste and to achieve the colour you desire,  then add a few generous splashes of Tia Maria to suit your taste
♥ Spread half the cream evenly on the cake and carefully roll.  Cut about a third of one of the ends of the cake off at an angle and using some of the cream rejoin it to the main cake to achieve a log like look!  Then cover the cake with the remaining cream mix,  finish by making grooves in the cream to complete the log look,  a sprinkle of icing sugar for some freshly fallen snow...

A sprinkle of edible glitter adds that magical Christmas touch  ...although not perhaps the most photogenic makes of late!

♥ Ceri makes...  xx

Afternoon tea anyone...?

♥ Ceri makes...  as you may know afternoon tea is definitely high up in my list of favourite weekend things to do!  While in Cardiff with the girls at the weekend Rachel booked (a very popular spot, so booking recommended!) us in for a spot of afternoon tea at the Waterloo Gardens Teahouse. 

A delicious selection of sandwiches,  scones,  a slice of cake from the rather impressive selection and of course tea were served.  An absolute bargain for £11.50 per person!

Ten out of ten to Waterloo Gardens Teahouse.

♥ Ceri makes...  xx

A crafty royal knees up...

♥ Ceri makes...  after a lovely day spent soaking up the royal wedding atmosphere in Hyde Park I headed to the V&A for a spot of crafty celebration!  As part of the Friday night lates that the museum hosts monthly they had jumped aboard the royal wedding excitement with a fantastic programme of events and had decorated the museum to suit the mood...

The fantastic programme of events included talks from leading vintage specialists William Banks-Blaney and Jane Bourvis,  a catwalk event judged by the designer Louise Gray among others,  cake from Lily Vanilli,  live music and a number of workshops  ...action packed!  I opted for the printed handkerchief workshop...

Such a simple crafty thing to make!  A beautiful range of stamps to choose from to create a very personalised memory for the day.  I decided to keep it simple and was super pleased with the finishing results...

♥ Ceri makes...  xx