It's never too late...

I was meant to write this post a little while back but what with it being the busiest time of the year for me, I have kinda let it slip (much like my whole efforts with my blog and channel - again, i'm sorry about that) but since it's still December and technically festivities are still acceptable until New Year, I thought, what the heck... here's what I got up to the weekend before Christmas... the thing I like the most - baking!

Inspired by the fact I had to make a cake for Tracy's Blog I left my apron on and also whipped up my first batch of mini mince pies and this year, was so pleased with how they turned out (if you've been reading my blog since last year, you'll know of my disaster back then)...

So here's the lastest and best recipe I've found so far, (oddly enough, it's actually a recipe I adapted from back in the school cookery lesson days!)

I'm not going to teach anyone to suck eggs here... but basically, combine all the ingredients (obviously not the mince meat!) once formed into pastry, wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge for around 15 minutes... I have no idea why but apparently this helps! Then you can get to rolling it out, cutting the circles for the base, and the stars for the topping and adding the mincemeat for the middle. Head's up, the best mincemeat we found this year was from Aldi but my mum had already used that batch up, so I was stuck with Tesco's for mine, so I added a shot of Brandy to give it a kick. Then I put them into a tray (I went for minis) and chucked them in the oven for 15-20 minutes and gave them a pretty dusting of icing sugar.

I refuse to believe that Mince Pies are just for Christmas, when they taste so good and if you think they're vile... do what I did, force yourself to like them and end up loving them. They go with tea, perfectly. 

By the way, if you're at all curious about what I baked for Tracy's post... be sure to check it out: Gloriously Ungraceful - if you like ginger and you like cake... you'll love my recipe for Ginger Cake! 

With love, hugs, kisses and special wishes,
From Katy ♡

Friday is Gold!

I feel like it should be my motto in life that... when all else fails, go and bake a cake.  

It seems that with not much else to do and a real craving for some sweet stuff, most weekends recently are spent baking a treat or two (and as a result, one very filled tummy!)

(Here's last weekends Lotus Biscoff Bake; unfortunately the tin decided to cling to the sides of the sponge for dear life, so I refuse to show you the state of the edging!)

Today was no exception to the weekend rule of another baked goodie! Upon trying last weeks Biscoff inspired bake, my brother and his Fiancé had casually put in a request for a McVities Gold Bar style bake. Being as I am currently out of work (again), I had some time on my hands today and went all out there and attempted this for them!

I started with my standard sponge recipe, one which I use across cupcakes and cakes alike, doubling the quantities where needed:

100g Caster Sugar
100g Soft Marg
100g SR Flour 
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 egg
A splash of Milk


I opted for a small loaf tin, to gain a rectangular shape similar to those of a Gold Bar and let to cool. *Note to self* BUY BETTER TINS!






Once cooled, I prepared myself the caramel topping; I could only find American recipes online and annoyingly that meant it was all in Cup Measurements which I'm not too familiar in using but I did what I could and it worked pretty well (albeit, extremely sweet!)

I used a standard sized mug to measure my ingredients and roughly the measurements were as follows:
1/2 mug of Butter (not marg or spread!)
1 mug of Brown Caster Sugar
1/4 mug of Milk
1 tsp of Vanilla Essence
2-3 mugs of Icing Sugar

Melt the butter in a saucepan on a medium heat.

Once melted add the sugar and bring the mixture to the boil, stirring frequently.

Boil for 1 minute and then remove from the heat.

Add the milk and whisk, (I used an electric metal whisk) until smooth.

Add Vanilla Essence and whisk again.

Finally and gradually add the icing sugar until you're happy with the consistency, I used just over 2 mugfuls and it was still a little too runny so I could probably have done with a little more; but note that it should be of pouring consistency!

You will need to work with the mixture quickly, as it does start to set fairly soon after preparation. As you can see, mine was very runny and rolled over the sides of the cake and onto the plate but I left it to set in the fridge and then removed any evidence of the messy part!
I also set my Gold Bar into the top at this stage, so it set with the caramel topping.

I have no idea how McVities get their caramel so yellow (or gold) but the flavour is pretty similar, anyhow, so I was happy!

One set, I cleaned up the messy bit, as planned and was pretty pleased with the results: 

To the perfectionists eye, this isn't the greatest looking bake in the world, especially as the edging wasn't perfect, but I think I disturbed it a little when I was cleaning up around it - oops!

I wasn't quite satisfied enough though, so I went in with some real Gold! (or at least some gold glitter sprinkles!) to top of the look:

It made the cake look so pretty, especially as it was so sunny today and glitter in sunlight, is the perfect combination. 

I'm really pleased with it, even though it's so simple. I really like the fact that the caramel almost hardened when set in the fridge and then the inner cake was so spongey and soft, in contrast. Next time i'd love to have a go at writing 'Gold' on the top myself, in some form of icing, to make it more authentic and maybe research into how to get it closer to the colour of the actual Gold Bar, but for now, I'll have my cake and eat it! 

Let me know if you try this recipe and I hope you enjoy it, if you do! 

Lots of love, hugs, kisses & special wishes

From Katy. ♡