Cake seventeen

Christmas Fruit Cake

There are mixed feelings about Christmas and some of us don’t like  it for several reasons. I can see their point but I personally love it! I think there’s some kind of magic in it which, unconsciously, takes you back to the fancy world of your childhood and you shouldn’t loose. I love everything about Xmas, from the preparations for Xmas Day to the lightings in towns. 

I like to decorate my house, to buy and put up my Xmas tree and make the crib with the help of my children even though they’re grown up now. I like the smell of a real tree, of the wet moss in the crib and of the gingerbread cookies decorations. I might be a dreamer but I believe it’s a time we all stop for a while and consider our family bondings and real values. 

It’s also my favourite time for baking as I can set my fancy free. 

I start well in advance, mid November making the Xmas Fruit Cake and an Advent Chocolate Calendar and then continue until Christmas making Father Xmas House, cookies and cookie decorations.

Song: Happy Christmas 

Xmas Day’s over but I think it’s always time to wish each other a Merry Xmas, a message of peace and love

see recipe:
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2012/12/cake-seventeen-christmas-fruit-cake.html

Cake sixteen

Prince Charming 

It’s a cake I’m particularly fond of which takes me back to a time in the early 80’s when I was in Germany and had met my ‘Prince Charming’. A person from another culture, who taught me a lot about tolerance, political commitment and real love. Some of his words have been of great help over the years. I haven't seen him since then and won't see him again as he passed away some years ago. So I've named this simple though delicate cake in his honour.

It’s what the German call ‘Streusel Kuchen’ and I had first had it at that time. I don’t know why but I've kind of forgotten it for long! I only made it for the first time a few years ago when my elder son showed me a photo of a special cake he had eaten in Germany and wanted me to bake it for him. There it was again!

I found the recipe in an old German cookbook: it was 'love at first sight' for all our family.

Song: ‘In my life’

We all have a place we remember all our lives

see recipe:
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2012/11/cake-sixteen-prince-charming-fruit.html

Cake fifteen

Early Autumn Cheesecake

Fruitcakes are mostly seasonal even though we may find nearly all fruits the whole year round. Personally I don’t like eating oranges in the middle of the Summer or peaches in Winter, it might be a matter of habit but I think it’s more a matter of colours and psychological influence. Bright colours like the red of strawberries, the yellow of peaches and apricots, the purple of plums or of wild berries are more Summer colours, or colours we associate with warm countries. We also use them for clothes or home accessories in the warm season. Then suddenly when the colder months come, we prefer paler colours or all the shades of orange; so here come grapes at the end of the Summer, pears, persimmons and finally oranges.

So this cake sounds for me like the end of the Summer, when days are still warm but much shorter and pave the way to Autumn: yellow for the grapes, pale brown for the meringue and white for the cheese. 

Do I have overanalyzed it all? Maybe there’s nothing more to intend than what it actually is!

Song: A glass onion

Do we always have to look for deeper messages, can’t we simply accept reality as it is?

for the recipe follow me on: http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2012/11/cake-fifteen-early-autumn-cheesecake.html

Cake fourteen

Scary Halloween

Today’s Halloween and it’s practically celebrated worldwide. It wasn’t so when I was young and I still find it rather difficult to accept Halloween parties, pumpkins and scary cookies outside the English speaking countries.. I know for sure, it’s  a problem of generation gap! In fact my children and especially my 17-year-old daughter love it and have loved it since they were young kids. I’ve made pumpkin-shaped cookies or pizzas with them and I thought it was already much... I’d have never gone so far as to make a tomb-like cupcake with an arm coming out of a grave! This is what my younger daughter made yesterday and, most incredibly, I helped her to realize! We really do things for our children we’d never ever have done ourselves! 

At first I was kind of disgusted making the tomb or the dead arm, but after a while I must admit I was having fun..... It’s all a matter of a different perspective, I was used to seeing a graveyard as a scary place to avoid while younger people love horror stories with vampires and walking dead. I’ve come to understand it’s only a way to handle the fear for monsters and ghosts and to keep them away, which is in line with the ancient Celtic tradition, isn’t it? 

Song: Eleonor Rigby

Talking about tombs and graveyards, have you ever heard of Eleonor Rigby's sad story?

for the recipe follow me on:
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2012/11/cake-fourteen-scary-halloween.html

Cake thirteen

A Flowerbed

I love flowers and mostly love their colours. I love them in the wild, like in the endless fields of daffodils in Cornwall or of heather in Scotland. But I also like them all mixed up in flowerbeds, when you can create your own design and colour effect playing with different flower species.. 

In one of my next lives I might be a gardener, something like Laura or Rosemary in the British Tv series ‘Rosemary and Thyme’, without crimes of course, I’m not the type for them!

For the time being I can only make my balconies and windowsills look like small oasis of colour in a dull white-plastered block of flats. My family knows and complains a lot when I’m away and it’s their turn to water the flowers....

Some weeks ago it was my birthday and I had the nicest start of the day I could think of: a bed of flower cupcakes on my breakfast table!!! My two daughters had secretly made some splendid cupcakes with fondant flowers for me: white anemonies to be more precise, my favourite flowers! Very sweet of them, isn't it?

What did I do? I closed my eyes, took them by the hand and took them for a walk along our 'Cupcake Park', where nothing is real and nothing to get hungabout...

Song: Strawberry Fields Forever

Come, join us and let’s all go down where nothing’s to get hungabout!

for the recipe follow me on:
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2012/11/cake-thirteen-flowerbed_2.html

Cake twelve

A solitary penguin 

Penguins don’t like to live alone, they live in groups and have friends and family. They’re very much like ourselves, aren’t they? Like me, for sure! I love my independence but I couldn’t live alone. It doesn’t matter to live under the same roof, it’s a matter of psychological closeness: you feel close to your family wherever you all are. 

It does help to be altogether though... and join our forces! I’d have never dared to make this fondant penguin unless my younger daughter had insisted. She wanted to make it for her best friend’s birthday: I was kind of scared of making fondant I was quite sure it’d have been a disaster..... but she was right! We made it and I felt like one! I can be her, she can be me, we all can be the penguin! 

By the way, anybody want to adopt this solitary penguin on a rocky island?

Song: “Im the walrus’ 

Who are we? We’re not only ourselves but ‘there’s a bit of us in one another

for the recipe follow me on:

http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2012/11/cake-twelve-solitary-penguin_2.html

Wanna see the recipe? 

Cake eleven

Dough Friends

I wouldn’t call this a cake, in fact it’s more like an edible party decoration. Birthdays and festivities are more than simple dates on a calendar, they’re a chance for family and friend get-togethers.

They’re important in my family too: good food, a homemade cake and a beautifully laid table. Ever since I can remember there’s been a special occasion table with our best plates, glasses, silver cutlery and table decorations.
My mum and her sisters laid the table one day ahead, and every time the table looked different according to the time of the year or the reason for the party. Good memories which last a lifetime!

I'm still continuing this habit but I’ve added a new element to this long family tradition: edible decorations which can be made of bread or of sweeter doughs. 
In fact I love Northern Europe Christmas cooking customs - ‘Lebkuchen’ in all shapes and Father Christmas’s House are my favourite recipes! 

That’s what I have recently made for a ‘Welcome party’ for two foreign friends.

Song: In my life

We all have people and places we’ll never forget

for the recipe follow me on:
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2012/11/cake-eleven-dough-friends.html

Cake ten

Black Forest Cake

Back home from India. It wasn’t the first time to the East for me but India is indeed an experience which sticks in your mind. Everything’s different although there are some points in common after the so many years of British influence.

It’s been a total immersion in Indian life: from family to school life. If I were asked to define India I'd say it’s the country of spices and colours. As for cooking it’s amazing the way they mix vegetables, and lentils to make cakes and sweets too... Indian cakes are really far from our idea of a cake.: they’re not so sweet and are served cut in small pieces.. But when it comes to birthday cakes, I must say I’didn’t expect to see and taste so delicious and perfectly decorated cakes!

Chocolate and black forest cakes are in my opinion a must you shouldn’t miss if you happen to travel to India.

So in honour of my trip to India here’s a Black Forest cake I made for my son’s 18th birthday party a few years ago.

Song: The continuing story of Bungalow Bill
Deep in the jungle, tiger hunting to the sound of this quirky tune

for the recipe follow me on:
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2012/11/cake-ten-black-forest.html

A 10 day gap

I'll be away in India for 10 days on an AFS project. I'll be in Vadodara and New Dehli. I'm so thrilled about it. Never ever been there!
No posts until I come back home....
I've found this song by the Beatles and I think it's the right tune for my Indian experience. It was written by George Harrison but it's not very famous. So.. a good chance to listen to it

Song: The inner light
Let the Indian wisdom inspire your day

Cake nine

Cupcakes: variations on a theme

I think cupcakes are the most versatile of cakes. You're totally free with them, you can decide all except for the shape, of course, which is like a cup. 

When I’m there ready to make them, I feel like an artist in front of a blank canvas. The magic world of fantasy opens its gates and there I am deciding about cake mixture, topping and decorations. I’m a magician or am I not? You can venture in complicated shapes or simply play with coloured surfaces and sugar decorations. Details make the difference and they can be your unique creation! 

                       

When my kids were younger I used to bake any kind of cake in small baking cups and gave them for school. It was quick and easy, no need to cut a cake. Then after some years I saw the first 'cupcake' in a tea room in England and there I was: the spell was cast!

Song: Magical Mystery Tour

Ready to start? Sign in for the Magical Mystery Tour and let your fantasy take you away...

for the recipe follow me on:
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2012/11/cake-nine-cupcakes-variation-on-theme.html

Cake eight

Pavlova with strawberries

It isn’t long since I first saw this cake on a book.. It was on my way back home from one of my trips to England and I was looking through one of the new books I had just bought when I read this name: Pavlova. I was kind of flashed back in one of the sumptuous balls at the court of the Tsars in Russia. It was  certainly a cake for a young princess, as it looked like a white silk chiffon evening dress.. It was love at first sight!

I was partly right: the cake was named after a famous Russian dancer, Anna Pavlova, and created in her  honour in one of her tours to Australia and New Zealand in the 1920’s. It’s a popular dish in both countries but formal research indicates New Zealand as the source.

Song: I’m so happy to dance with you

So what are you waiting for? Close your eyes and join in the dance

for the recipe follow me on:
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2012/11/cake-eight-pavlova-with-strawberries.html

Cake seven

Ice Cream Bombe

Cake or ice cream? A sponge with a heart of delicious home made ice cream or the other way round a hemisphere of ice cream hidden in a sponge? 

See it the way you want but this cake is incredibly good!! 
It’s an ice cream cake that belongs to my childhood, we only bought it for special occasions when we had guests in summer and I loved it! 
Still one of my favourites...

Song: We can work it out 

Different points of view? Let’s try and get it straight

for the recipe follow me on:
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2012/11/cake-seven-ice-cream-bombe.html

Cake six

Apricot Dreamin’

Another very hot day today, another day I’ve been dreaming to be on a beach, enjoying the fresh breeze coming from the sea and swimming in deep blue waters.. I love the summer and the blue sea though I’m not so lucky to live near the coast!

On such days what I really like are tomatoes, fruit and icecream. Something fresh and yummy like this cake would be good!

Apticot Dreamin’ is a cold fruit pudding perfect for this time of the year...

Song: A yellow submarine

Wouldn’t it be nice to live underwater?

for the recipe follow me on:

http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2012/11/cake-six-apricot-dreamin.html

Cake five

Red Heart Birthday Cupcakes

Tired of the traditional birthday cake? 
Why don’t you celebrate your birthday with a number of nicely decorated cupcakes? They’re easy to carry along and don’t need to be cut... 

Red and crystal clear candy hearts will remind you it’s your day, the day everybody sends their love to you.

Song: With Love from me to you
Let this song make your day!

for the recipe follow me on:

http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2012/11/cake-five-red-heart-birthday-cupcakes.html

Cake four

Black and White Twist

Have you ever been on a Tea Cup Ride in a theme park where you just keep spinning and spinning? You get extremely twisted and when it’s over you still feel dizzy. Imagine making a two colour choc cake in one of these swirling cups .....  It’d look like this:

It’s a delicious mousse cake which tastes good any time of the year.. Especially recommended as a birthday cake (see photo..). 

Undoubtedly a must for choc lovers..

Song: Twist and Shout

Let yourself go, enjoy the music and best of all sing along

for the recipe follow me on:
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2012/11/cake-four-black-and-white-twist.html

Cake three

Tiny Sunshine Tarts

Breakfast is my favourite meal, especially in Summer when I like to sit in my balcony and enjoy the early morning silence and fresh air. 

These small cakes are the right start for the day: sunshine rays trapped in buttery baskets.

Homemade marmelade matches well with buttery shortbread and they taste better with a hot frothy cappuccino. 

Song: Good day, Sunshine

Forget everything and get lost in the sun

for the recipe follow me on:

http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2012/11/cake-three-tiny-sunshine-tarts.html

Cake two

Sicilian Mountain

Very good for breakfast or tea time.
If you had to paint a picture of Sicily after eating this cake I'm sure you'd draw orange tree gardens and sheep grazing in rather rocky fields. 
Ricotta cheese and marmelade are the hidden treasures of this cake

Song: Lucy in the sky with diamonds

Picture yourself in a Sicilian orange grove with tangerine trees and marmelade skies

for the recipe follow me on:
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2012/11/cake-two-sicilian-mountain.html

Cake one

Rocky Flowers

This week’s cake is not a cake but cookies

Cookies which look like big flowers, with a yellow heart and red petals.. Baking and flowers are a perfect match for this time of the year. It’s springtime and you can feel it in the air.

Song: Mother Nature’s Son  
Forget everything and get lost in endless fields of flowers 

for the recipe follow me on: 
http://time-for-cake-making.blogspot.it/2012/11/cake-one-rocky-flowers.html

Baking to the sound of music, a Beatles song for each cake

I was undecided what language to write my blog, whether Italian, my mother tongue or English, the language of my soul or simply the key to a boundary free community and still I am! 

But since Italian is the language of my reality and English is the one of my dreams, I’ll use English as baking is part of my happy fancy world.

No recipe today but just a song to start with. A song which has been my life’s leitmotiv and which I dedicate to my family and all the ones I’ve really loved. 
A touching song which takes you to your dream world, an inspiring theme tune for the day:

Here there and everywhere - The Beatles

One cake a week is not enough to show I care .... for baking

When baking and music meet 

'With a little help from my'... children

Song: With a little help from my friends
"No man is an island, Entire of itself" - John Donne