a little round up

This past week was hard and I don't really know why. Old things--old pains, really--seemed to ebb their way back in. And what I was meant and hoped and wished to do became marred and tinged.

So it felt better and restorative and somehow cleansing to have a happier weekend--to end the week on a much higher plane. It included seeing Jane Eyre with some beloved friends; pottering about the house with Mr Arnold; and, perhaps most constructively, abandoning uni work to dedicate an afternoon to baking.

(I made my best Victoria Sponge, to date. I'd say that was a pretty good day).

Fingers crossed for a better week, this week. And that I might, just might, bond with my new classes.

august/september bakes

Amaretto Cupcakes, w/ Disaronno sponge and frosting.

This was my thirteenth new recipe of the year, marking off another little thing on the list. So few things are still checked off, right now--but the ones that are, feel good.

I've been watching a lot of the BBC's Great British Bake-Off, lately. So baked goods and the relaxation they bring has been, a lot, on my mind. So, too, has sewing. And crafting. And reading. And writing. (A lot less for the latter, it has to be said. The words are not coming as easily as they once did).

I've been feeling so much more productive. We both have, Arnold and I. Our focuses, in these past few weeks, have changed. I feel like we are making more and more of every minute, eager to learn and produce new things. It's a very, very therapeutic feeling (for me, at least) and one I'm cherishing.

I hope that when school starts again, I'll be feeling just as inspired, in and out of academia.

Speaking of goals, have you checked out The Violet's? They (The Violet) are posting a few new goals each week. And my, they feel inspiring.

dough

For Arnold and I, yesterday was quite the lazy Sunday--but so very happily so.

We woke up late, read together and watched a little of Mildred Pierce. (I'm a fan: Arnold not so much).

I also baked a few of these.

Powdered doughnuts, made with wholegrain wheat.

(It was my attempt at making doughnuts a little, little healthier).

What did you do this weekend?

i'd like to, please

Hope #23.

Own a bakery.

Along with writing a book and becoming a mother, this kind of tops my bucket-list.

Since I started baking a couple of years ago, it is all I often dream about. I love literature and the idea of pursuing it as a career, but, these days my thoughts swing towards those homely aromas and little dainty swirls just as frequently. I scour books and blogs for inspiration--I lust after vacant retail spaces (even though I know it is such a long way off--that new skills need to be learned and old ones refined and perfected again and again). But sometimes--just sometimes--it's the thought of that space I will one day design (colour, tradition and vintage china) with the sweets and pastries and cakes I will one day create that keeps me going.

Is it wrong to dream like that? And to dream like that of many, many things? I don't believe so. I never have.

I'd Like To, Please posts are inspired by Someday Hopes, a blog that focuses on two (wonderful) ladies' future dreams. The bakery trays photographed appeared here.

july bakes

My sister turned a year older last week--so in celebration, I whipped up a batch of cupcakes. (I kind of owed her these: they were a long time coming).

Earl Grey Cupcakes w/ Lemon Buttercream Frosting.

My life doesn't revolve around cake, really... (I'm working on it).

if at first you do succeed...

...don't try again so confidently.

My sister and I made macarons a couple of weeks ago--successfully, too, for a first time effort and with a notoriously difficult recipe (I think all macaron recipes are: they have such a delicate, tricky structure).

Yet yesterday, when I attempted them again, I only ended up with six. (And it took five hours and I used nearly a dozen eggs).

Rose Macarons.

I think I'll use a different recipe next time--or not intend to gift them. You know, just in case.

july bakes

I did a bit of baking last week.

And these were probably my favourite thing I have baked so far.

Apple Streusel Muffins.

I kind of had a sneaky suspicion that the recipe would work, having seen my mum bake them for so many years, but I'd never quite achieved them myself. Until now.

I only need to bake another three things to finish my goal.*

*I really, really need to work on a few more of those things.

moon/cake

It turns out that recreating one of Arnold's favourite cakes--sticky Jamaica Ginger Cake--is a little harder than I thought.

Or it could simply be that I didn't have the right ingredients. (Like golden syrup. I'm not yet convinced maple syrup works as the greatest substitute--although on its own, it tastes so much better).

But at least I tried. And that's all that counts, right?

Homemade ginger cake.

...

How are you today?

I keep nipping outside in the hope I might, just might, spot the eclipse.

june bakes

This afternoon I had a little gathering with friends--and such a gathering pretty much demands a few baked goods, right?

Raspberry Cupcakes w/ a White Chocolate Centre and Raspberry Buttercream Frosting.

And tomorrow I start on a healthy body. No, really. I do.

that really woofs the cake

While I was not dancing in Alice's Wonderland on Friday, my (what feels like very) older* brother was celebrating his birthday.

Beforehand, though, I did a little baking--attempting to fashion a dog** out of a four-layered cake.

And, you know, it's three days on and nobody's cut it yet--and I'm not sure whether I should be thrilled or offended...

*He's thirty-one, in case you were wondering. I decided candles--let alone that many--were a little too cruel.

**I even matched the cake to the breed of his dog--her name is Gracie!

i'd like to, please

Hope #12.

Make macarons.

Everyone I know who has tried making them has failed---they end up a congealed, flat mess of food colouring.

But I am determined to make a stack of these pretty things---along with all of those other little treats I am slowly building up a catalogue of making.

[My I'd Like To, Please posts are inspired by Someday Hopes (oh, it is a wonderful blogging nook of hopes and dreams!) and the above photo I got from here].

i'd like to please

I am clearly full of hope today...

Hope #10.

Make a wedding cake.

Of course, I have to get so (very) much better at them first.

(I'd Like To, Please posts are inspired by Someday Hopes and the picture above---of a cake that I love---is courtesy of Eat Cake Be Merry).

Oh, and Happy Easter! x

miniature baker

I am so absolutely smitten with these baking-related necklaces.

They're so tiny, so proportioned and oh-so-very appealing.

(The spoons/pan can be found here, whilst the measuring cup can be found here).

I will be baking again soon---first with something a little healthier and then, with the Easter weekend, a little more indulgence. And I couldn't be more excited. Simple things, eh?

cat-cakes

For his birthday this year, I made Arnold cat-related treats.

Here are a few pictures of the cat-cakes.

I like making treats. Even if they weren't as neat or as tidy as I would have liked.

Happy Birthday (again), my love!

i'd like to, please

Hope. #6.

To own a Kitchen Aid mixer.

I hope one day to own my own Kitchen Aid. At the moment, my mum is kind enough to lend me hers for my baking days---but I do look forward to the day that I have my own. It will sit, so proudly, in my kitchen. And it will be used for baking more than twice a week (this, hopefully, is a proposed understatement).

A girl can dream, can't she?

I'd probably be as excited as Elsie was---seriously, very jealous.

The one above---my favourite---is in Candy Apple Red. But I'd happily take Yellow Pepper and Blue Storm, too. Or any. So many choices.

(This post was inspired by Someday Hopes and the picture is courtesy of Kitchen Aid).

april bakes

I* spent a few hours of Saturday afternoon in the kitchen, baking.

Pistachio and Lime Cupcakes w/ Cream Cheese Frosting. (And a little bit of a spring green tint).

I am right on track with the baking part of my list and I am falling more and more in love with it every day.

*Arnold helped, too! Those pistachios were hard to grind down!

flowering buds

Here are a few photographs of my progression as a cake decorator---or as I think of it, the steps to reaching the role of premature housewife.

It may not be essays or criticism or close-reading of a scene, but I sure feel like I have achieved something this week.

on progress (a little at a time)

Last night I exercised some (premature) house-wifely tendencies. I went to a baking class. Or rather, a cake-decorating class. And in a task that probably shouldn't have made me nervous---because I chose to go, because I enjoy it, because it is something I have always wanted to learn---I still was. But---minus the cracked fondant, the air-bubble and my own awkward clumsiness---it was fun. And I learned a lot---and that, that progress is all I really wanted.

It felt a little strange to take a class in something hands on. I am not used to that, really, having moulded the last five or so years around more theoretic things. (Although, I confess, I've never really been that good with my hands---probably why my choices have been the choices they are: book-based).

But I'll go again next week. And then I'll just see what happens---you never know, I might have a (pretty) cake to show you.

baking in march

The other day I missed my train and to remedy the hour extra I spent waiting in the cold---train stations are so cold---I bought a lemon and poppy seed muffin. It seemed the only choice that wasn't chocolate and I was trying, desperately, to be at least a little better with my choices.

Pleased with the taste, the texture, the little refreshment, tonight I tried to whip up a batch of my own.

There's only one photo, taken in horrifically yellow light (I need to start baking in the afternoon, not the evening), but I just wanted to keep chronicling the new recipes I try. This is probably my least favourite, so far, because the sponge was a little too heavy and a little too dense. But the flavour? I like the lemon-zing a lot. (Which is funny because I am not big on my lemon desserts despite loving lemons themselves---I will pull faces when I eat them, though. That's a given).

The down-side to baking, still, is my relentless belief that I have to be the judge of its success.

...

In other news, I am hopeful for a productive, yet loving, weekend---for you and for me. I have Twelfth Night to read in its entirety before entertaining a little bit of Flaubert (hello, Madame Bovary)...

...and on the topic of literature, I really, really wish I could be a part of Meg's book-club.

Take care!

february's bakes

The bake sale a couple of weeks ago was deemed a success, thankfully. As a result, we had another little one today.

Red Velvet Cupcakes are pretty much all the rage right now---although I confess to preferring Cookies'n'Cream when I had one from Harrods---so I thought I'd try making some.

They're kind of seasonal, too, which is a bonus.

Another recipe down.