Christmas Farmer's Market - a labour of love...

Yesterday was the Christmas Farmer's Market. I was up until 2am on Sunday night preparing....icing these dark chocolate & rum cupcakes with whipped milk chocolate chestnut frosting...

tying up little bags of Brownie Bites & my Alternative Christmas Truffles (which are - deep breath - gluten, wheat, dairy & fat-free, with no added sugar & suitable for vegans too! also, despite all that, totally delicious!)

making labels for the loaf cakes...

and finishing the decorations on the Christmas cakes (this one was spelt, apricot & brandy)
I was up at the crack of a very frosty, sparkly dawn...packing the car and filling flasks with very hot coffee to keep me sustained! I also (from experience) knew to wear as many layers as i could - 4 in all. I resembled the Michelin Man, but I was warm...for a while!
I laid out the stall so that it looked as Christmassy and enticing as possible...

Fresh Cranberry Orange Muffins...

plenty of Mince Pies (baked with orange pastry)

my brownies of the month were Frosty Mint...loved sprinkling the glitter & piping the decorations on these...

and then the heavens opened. It poured and poured. Freezing, unending rain.Absolutely miserable. And this, coupled with the fact that our market is usually on the 4th TUESDAY of the month and no-one appeared to know that this one was on a Monday meant that most of my hard work went un-noticed! I did have quite a few regular customers who just stumbled upon the market by sheer chance and were upset that they hadn't realised earlier...but otherwise, it was all fairly miserable and disheartening and, above all, COLD!! Luckily, my 'baby' sister Lucy & nephew Will came to help me pack up at the end and I took them out for a lovely lunch afterwards. I can sell much of what I made elsewhere, but I also thought it would be nice to pack up some boxes of treats to take round to the neighbours this week...and, of course, my family will benefit from the extra cakes & brownies at Christmas!
Despite the lack of footfall, I'm very pleased to say that ALL of my Panforte (recipe in my last post) sold in record time!

So , if you haven't already, it may be an idea to make some for the festivities! I'll be baking some more tomorrow....
Stay warm and enjoy all the preparations. It's a magical time of the year (unless you're standing in the cold & wet for 6 hours that is....!) xo

Gorgeous & Gluten-Free!

Anything gluten-free sells really well, I've discovered. There seem to be more & more people who have serious problems with gluten...whether they are actually suffering from coeliac disease, or just wheat-intolerant. I have many friends to whom this applies (hi to Janie, Joann & my Mum to name but three!) and for this reason I've decided to increase my repertoire of recipes...especially on the Farmer's Market stall.

As it's 'beginning to look a lot like Christmas...' I thought I'd share a seasonal delight that I currently bake for a local restaurant - they serve it warm with cream for pudding, but it would be equally good cold with a hot cup of tea, I think! Actually, I'd eat it for breakfast - but that's just me!

Fresh Apple Cranberry Cake

1 & 1/2 cups (225g) gluten -free all purpose/plain flour

(at home I always use ....
Doves Farm flours

but while in the US I bought & brought back some Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose Baking Flour

which is a very similar blend & would work just the same!)

1 tsp baking soda
1 & 1/2 tsp gluten-free baking powder (or Doves Farm make a self-raising G-F flour which you could use & omit this)
1 tsp ground allspice (or cinnamon)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup (125g) butter
3/4 cup (160g) light soft brown sugar
2 eggs
3 tbsps apple cider (cloudy apple juice)
1 large tart cooking apple (I use Bramleys), peeled & cored
3/4 cup (150g) fresh cranberries
1 small cooking apple, peeled & cored

Preheat oven to 375f/180c
Line a 9" (23cm) square pan with baking parchment (or butter a glass dish if making as a dessert)

Sift flour, raising agents, spice & salt and set aside. In a large bowl (I use my stand mixer) beat butter and sugar together until lighter in colour and creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating in well between each addition. Beat in vanilla extract and apple cider. The mixture will be quite wet & batter-like (this is because gluten-free flour absorbs more moisture)

It should look like this! Grate or finely chop cooking apple, and chop cranberries roughly too. I do this in a food processor - chop the apple first, then add cranberries and pulse a few times. You don't want a puree - it should be quite rough still...

Scrape fruit into batter and fold in well using a metal spoon or spatula. Pour into the prepared pan and top with thin slices of eating apple. I also shake over a little more ground cinnamon & spice at this point. Bake for around 45 minutes until well browned and firm on top (it will spring back when pushed gently with a finger!)

Cool in the tin then eat & enjoy! You can also wrap well and freeze for up to a month, making this an ideal recipe for Christmas.

This morning has seen the first real winter frosts...it's cosy in my kitchen, though! I'm baking Apricot, Rum & Orange Cakes today...made with spelt flour, they will keep well as an alternative to the heavy dark traditional Christmas Cake. Totally gorgeous!

Have a great weekend - have you started any festive baking yet? xo
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A cup of coffee & a slice of cake...

This morning is damp & cold...but the birds are singing and my unit kitchen is full of the fragrance of the Walnut Fudge Brownies that I'm baking at the moment (at least I'm told it is...one of the sad effects of baking so many trays of brownies, day in day out ,is that the smell is so familiar to my nose that I no longer detect it!) I can see the wild rabbits which graze on the rich, grassy farmland just beyond the kitchen window. This little industrial estate is on the site of a huge former WW2 airfield - which means that the wild bits are largely left alone, so there's plenty of beautiful animals and birds to look at in my spare moments! But today I'm using those spare moments to savour a cup of my favourite Ethiopian Washed Yirgacheffe black coffee and tell you about this morning's Coffee Tree delivery.

Another Blue Angel Bakery creation...Fresh Pear, Cranberry & Walnut Cake.

This cake I could smell...and it was really heavenly! The top was crusted with sparkling demerara sugar and there were both fresh and dried cranberries inside for the different textures and tastes they add. The pear was a large, sweet organic one from Kent (I know it was sweet, because I ate the unwanted last quarter for my breakfast!)

I would actually love a slice to go with this coffee....but it's gone, and hopefully being enjoyed by others having a mid-morning break.

I won't post the recipe because it's an original that (if all goes to plan) will be in my book. But I promise that I'll give you a good one tomorrow....I've already decided what it will be, and I'm looking forward to making it later. In the meantime, I believe these brownies are almost ready...and then it's on to making trays of Bakewell Pudding.

Have a wonderful Thursday, and I hope that you taste something delicious at some point today. I'd love to know what it is, if you'd like to tell me in your comment....thanks for reading! xo