palmiers

Had bookclub last week Thursday and wanted to make something savoury. I opted for the palmiers because they didn't look like too much work. In hindsight they weren't hugely successful. I used the recipe from the Canape's book by Eric Treuille (DK) - sundried tomato pesto. And although you make the pesto yourself, I felt it was too chunky (it is difficult to finely chop sundried tomatoes) and the garlic was overwhelming (my fault, I was heavy handed). They were demolished - not one left - but felt that they lacked a refinedness. Will try again sometime.

Hummingbird Banana loaf

Christa made banana loaf yesterday which was just scrummy - light and smooth with a good crumb. Not too stodgy. Really delish!

Nigella - chocolate guiness cake

Jackie's 40th called for Nigella's Chocolate Guiness Cake. The frosting is cream cheese, icing sugar and whipping cream - light and sweet and a perfect topping to this dense, moist chocolatey extravaganza.

Hummingbird Bakery: Strawberry Cupcakes

The coming together of two great institutions - Hummingbird Bakery and Park Side Farm in Enfield has meant that we were able to produce this fab creation. Granny & Grandpa are visiting so we went to do some PYO at our local, Parkside. We picked punnets and punnets of strawbs (honestly, you can't believe how much we came home with!) and I'd got the Hummingbird recipe off Charlotte. It took a day or two to get all the ingredients prepped and little people at the ready, but we now have a plate of 15 cupcakes with strawberries at the bottom, vanilla sponge on top of that, and then a cream cheese icing topping, finished with crumbled digestive biscuits. The combination of which is quite sublime.