Archives for category: Strawberry

Pimms Macarons

May 14, 2013 //

So it was summer for like 5 seconds. Over last weekend’s bank holiday there was actual sun and it was warm. I wasn’t aware that this country was capable of warm anymore so it was a pleasant surprise, and perfect timing too. I mentioned we went to a birthday picnic but after that we went to a BBQ. This BBQ was amazing for many reasons, but one being the Pimms that was served. It was stuffed full of fruit and having not had it in so so long, it tasted even better. Although this weekend we didn’t have a repeat forecast (It rained and I got drenched. Boo) my friend Fiona came to stay and we decided to make macarons and immediately I knew what flavour to make. Pimms has such a great flavour and it’s one of those drinks that doesn’t taste like you’re drinking any alcohol (Dangerous. In a good way.) and reminds me so much of summer and tennis and our garden. For these macarons I began by making the shells using this recipe and had a tough time getting the pimms colour; they ended up a bit pink but I now I know for next time. For the fiilling I made a buttercream, flavoured with neat Pimms and mixed in strawberries, cucumber and mint. When assembling them I added in a large piece of strawberry in the centre which I might not do next time as it made the macarons go softer the next day and ooze strawberry goo. But boy did they taste like Pimms, especially when they were still a little chilled from the fridge. These definitely distracted me from the lack of sunshine and made it feel like summer again for 5 seconds.

Categories Alcohol, Macarons, Mint, Strawberry

Strawberry and Pistachio Cake

May 9, 2013 //

Wednesdays are becoming my favourite day of the week. As I mentioned before we have been invading our friends house to watch Mad Men every Wednesday evening since the season began. There’s something nice about a mid week gathering that allows you to pause and relax with friends. Last week I made no contribution to the evening and merely consumed everything I was offered. So this week I thought I would make something special. I didn’t have any thoughts on what this would be until I was in the supermarket and picked up the June issue of Olive Magazine. A recipe for strawberry and pistachio cake caught my eye immediately, mostly due to the gorgeous colour combination. The cake was super simple to make with few steps and clear instructions. The only change I made was to make it in a round tin. I also went a bit overboard arranging strawberries on top. It was somewhat therapeutic. I hardly use pistachio when baking but loved the texture it added to the cake and it was great with the fresh strawberries and frosting.

Categories Cake, Frosting, Pistachio, Strawberry

Valentines Marble Cake

February 13, 2013 //

I like to think that the people I love already know how much I love them. But in my opinion you can never go too wrong with giving people cake to show them just how much.This is a really simple easy cake which combines two Valentines classics, strawberry and chocolate. It’s a marble cake with part chocolate and part pink vanilla sponge, topped with fresh strawberry frosting. To decorate I sprinkled some edible rose petals. It has a lighter feel than your normal Valentine sweet treat and I will definitely be sitting down to a cup of tea and slice of this with loved ones on Thursday.

Categories Cake, Chocolate, Frosting, Pink, Strawberry

Tasty Travels: Sprinkles ATM LA

January 22, 2013 //

First stop on our adventure was LA. Between celebrating New Years Eve and catching up with friends I knew I had to fit in a visit to the Sprinkles Cupcake ATM. We managed to go on New Years Day, a very tasty way to start the year. I’ve been reading about it and watching YouTube videos (like the one below) for a while now and was desperate to experience it myself. It was just as fun as I thought it would be, complete with an annoyingly catchy theme song that plays while you order, which I’ll admit my sister and I sang to each other for the rest of the day. I chose a strawberry cupcake, I really have no idea why as it’s never really a flavour I go for, but it seemed like a good choice at the time. It was really good, but I can imagine that all the flavours are equally good. I love the thought of being able to get cupcakes outside of shop hours and hope that a few more of these open soon!

Categories Cupcake, LA, Sprinkles, Strawberry

Strawberry and Raspberry Tart

July 25, 2012 //

So summer finally decided to show up this week, and wanting to take advantage of the amazing weather before it disappears again, we decided to go fruit picking. It’s something I try to do every summer. It’s quite relaxing and reminds me of going when I was little. I came home with strawberries and raspberries and no clue what I wanted to do with them. It turned out to be a tart, which I filled with custard and topped with a kind of jam topping made from the fruit I collected. It was the perfect dessert to end our first BBQ of the summer.

Categories Pastry, Red, Strawberry, Tart

Wimbledon Party

June 25, 2012 //

Wimbledon Tennis starts this week and to celebrate we decided to have a party. Pretty much everything was green and purple themed from our clothes down to the balloons, straws, plates and candles. We started with afternoon tea, for which I made tennis ball biscuits and cupcakes and cupcakes with strawberry frosting. The rest of the evening was spent playing with giant tennis balls and rackets, hanging out on inflatable tennis ball chairs, wearing tennis player masks, watching the film ‘Wimbledon’ and of course, drinking Pimms.