Daring Bakers Bakewell Tart.

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

I was really happy this month that one of my favourite pastries from home was picked as the daring bakers challenge! I love almonds and I love pastry, so this was a total winner!

I was also happy that it was a nice quick challenge since I was a little under the weather when I made them.

This seemed like a perfect candidate for my little mini quiche pan. I cut the pastry down by half, and the frangipane to a third and it made 12 little mini bakewells and 3 larger ones in tart cases.

Thanks very much for the recipe!

Please stop by the daring kitchen to join us or to check out pictures of the challenge, or stop by and get the recipe from Jasmine or Anne Marie!

Foray into Sugarwork with Orchids

I had the pleasure this weekend of meeting up with one of my cake classmates and going for a sugar class with the immensely talented and busy Tami Utley.

It was a lot more involved than I realised, and I was pretty exhausted by the end, but now that I look at the end product, I'm really happy with it and its great learning a new skill.

These flowers are made on wires, so they are not technically food safe and the wire shouldnt actually touch the cake, so one has to make sure it is placed in a plastic flower holder.

I hope someone wants me to make them a pretty flower cake soon as I'd love to practice my new skills!!

Tami does lots of different classes, at Do it with icing, and also privately, as well as on DVD. I'd love to hear from people as to how they've got on with DVD lessons as its not a medium I've tried.

Daring Cooks Potstickers

The june challenge for the daring cooks was chinese dumplings/potstickers from one of my favourite bloggers, Jenyu at use real butter.

This was a really fun challenge for us. We made them together, which was unusual but very enjoyable as we sipped sake, mixed up the dough, and the filling and then took it in turns to roll out and shape the little potstickers. It was also a lot easier and quicker than I expected.

Since I dont eat meat I improvised a little with the filling. I halved the recipe, taking a tin of crabmeat, a tin of water chestnuts, an egg and some panko breadcrumbs in addition to the cornstarch and chopped scallions. I added a little soy sauce and siracha for flavor.

We decided on the fried route since we knew that would be tasty! It was totally simple. I'm glad I have a nonstick pan! Thankfully I've already had experience with caramel, so it wasnt too much of a shock when the water boiled up. We were also in luck that a saucepan lid fitted the frying pan perfectly!

Thanks so much Jen for this great idea, we'd never have tried this if it wasnt for you, I'll be making these for guests sometime soon! Very impressive looking recipe that is much easier than it sounds!!

Here are the assembled stickers













Fry for a couple of minutes












Very carefully adding the water












Pop a lid on












Cook for another 2-3 minutes to dry out a little