golden tickets and party fun

here is butterslip's christmas picture showing the lovely ladies of kilkenny having a super dooper christmas party in the shop. there was supposed to be more pictures of tempting pressies and party fun but there was so much cake eating, chatting and laughing that the photos were forgotten. the cake was a worthy distraction; both extremely pretty and harbouring willy wonka style golden tickets worth €200 in butterslip vouchers. wish i had won....

chocolate chilli cake

it has rained everyday since my birthday. my birthday happens to fall on st swithin's day. if it rains on st swithin's day it is supposed to rain for 40 days and 40 nights. it is having a damn good shot at it by the looks of things.

we are keeping our fingers crossed for a nice afternoon tomorrow. tomorrow we are joining in the neighbourhood street party and are contributing this cake to the cake stall, our spare chilli plants to the plant stall and spicy chicken kebabs to the barbeque...mmmm...anybody would think we have a thing for chilli in our house!

chris came across this recipe in his mum's enviably organised folder of cut out recipes and decided it was worth a go. i'm not sure what magazine it is from but james tanner is responsible. we've adapted a bit by thickening up the ginger chocolate sauce he suggested and making it into a ganache style icing for the top. the recipe below includes our adaptations.

ingredients

100g soft butter

100g caster sugar

100g self raising flour

3 eggs

2 red chillies, deseeded and very finely chopped

50g dark chocolate drops or grated cocoa bean chilli and pink peppercorn chocolate bar

for the icing

100g dark chocolate

75ml double cream

25g butter

1 piece of stem ginger, finely chopped ( you could use a couple of peices of cocoa bean chocolate coated crystallised ginger)

method

1. preheat the oven to 180c and lightly grease a 20cm cake tin.

2. cream the butter and suagr until light and fluffy. add the flour, eggs and chillies and whisk to make a thick smooth batter.

3. pour into the prepared tin, sprinkle with the cake chocolate and bake for 15 mins until risen.

4. to make the icing heat the cream gently in a small saucepan, when it is just beginning to bubble gently at the edge remove from the heat and whisk in the chocolate, ginger and butter until the chocolate melts.

5. when the cake is cool spread the icing over the top.

6. we then went wild with tubes of coloured icing.

update

the street party was a great success!

the rain held off at the right time - terrifyingly windy though!

the cake was very delicious and even went down well enough with the 80 year old cake judge (the lady who has lived in the street the longest!). we didn't win this week but the chilli cake was certainly a talking point and that was the point of the day - to get everyone talking to each other. the chilli lends a sweetness and gentle heat but nothing too spicy and combines delightfully with the gingery flavour of the icing. definitely one to make again.

i did face painting!!!!

a trip to the 1930's

we have just returned from a fantastic weekend. not only did we go and see the amazing elbow and halle orchestra concert in manchester (mind blowingly good!) we went to our friends' wedding and had a jolly spiffing time!

the theme of the wedding was a 1930's summer fete, everyone got dressed up and, following a beautiful, moving and jubilant ceremony, played games such as skittle and coconut shy. as at any village fete one irritating person swept the prize giving taking first prize for both the cake making competition and the soap carving competition. usually this would bug me but this time i was delighted as it was....ME!!!! woohooo!!!

i won't give you instructions for carving a bar of soap but below is the winning cake recipe. originally served on the menu of woodsmoke cottage tearooms (the tearoom me and sarah ran with our elder sister and mum when we were growing up) and so admittedly i am very experienced at making it! but it is extremely good - rich but tartly lemony - the perfect afternoon tea cake.

woodsmoke cottage tearoom lemon cake

serves 8

lemon curd

(plenty for the cake and a nice bit left over for on fresh white bread with thick butter...)

ingredients

3oz butter

6oz caster sugar

juice and finely grated zest of 2 large unwaxed lemons

3 free range eggs, well whisked

sterilised jam jars

method

1. melt the butter, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest in a bain marie over a pan of boiling water (don't let the water touch the bain marie) until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved.

2. add the eggs and combine - stir continuously to ensure the eggs don't scramble. keep the mix on the heat and continue to stir until the mix is smooth and thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. this will take about 20 mins, or if you have an electric whisk about 7-8 mins (just make sure to keep it all moving and scrape down the sides of the bain marie now and again).

3. pour the hot mixture into the sterilised jars. allow to cool and store in the refrigerator.

lemon sponge

ingredients

6oz caster sugar

6oz butter

finely grated zest of 2 unwaxed lemons

6oz self raising flour, sifted

3 free range eggs

2 tbsp milk, if necessary

2 x 8" sandwich pans, buttered and floured

method

1. preheat the oven to 190c.

2. whisk the butter, sugar and lemon zest together until light and fluffy. add the egg and mix in well. fold in the flour and add the milk if the mixture is a little thick.

3. divide the mixture between the 2 prepared sandwich pans and bake for 20-25 mins or until risen, golden brown and springy to the gentle touch.

lemon buttercream

ingredients

8oz icing sugar

4oz butter, softened

juice of 1 lemon

a little water if required

method

1. blend all the ingredients together until smooth and fluffy.

assembly

when the sponges are cool spread the bottom layer with a generous layer of buttercream followed by a generous layer of lemon curd. gently place the top sponge on top and dust with icing sugar.