Getting creative with 1 of my 5 a day...

Peach and raspberry "coffee" cake

I've had a bit of a fitness burst in the past couple of weeks.  With a three times a week kickboxing purchase off of groupon (I only go 1-2 times), tap class, my normal gym visits, and my 1-2 weekly yoga sessions, my normal 3-4 times per week workouts have been randomly upped to 5-6 since the beginning of July.  This waranted Mama Cupcakes asking me last night if I was "addicted to exercise". I laughed - because of course I'm not.  But then, I gave it a think for more than 2 seconds and realised it's not the exercise I'm addicted to...it's...well...cake.  Linked to the increase in exercise has been an increase in treats coming out of my oven.  I'm not sure whether or not they are directly correlated, but regardless it's probably for the best (the excessive exercise, not cake making).

I really should give more away at work, but with the office running at about 20% capacity (all of Norway and my fellow Norwegian colleagues here in London seem to be off) there's actually just too much cake to go around at the moment.

Last night's cake making was my standard Silver Palate "coffee cake" but with a number of delicious peaches and raspberries added to the mix.  Just after I started making it I realised I was missing a few key ingredients... just shy of the right amount of butter, not enough sugar...I filled in the blanks with a few other ingredients (e.g. brown sugar instead of white) and added 1.5 cups of the fruit to the cake batter resulting in some interesting textures and tastes.  In its virginal Silver Palate state it's a classic but with the adjustments it was part crumb-like and part delicious fruity and moist bread pudding like.  I'm not sure I could repeat in the same exact way again (I didn't measure very much), but I will keep in mind the addition of fresh seasonal fruit. It's a very palatable way to get one of your five a day I say!

Pimm's Cup(cakes)

Candied minted cucumber

Strawberries and Pimm's cream galore

Pimm's cup(cakes) with candied cucumber

What to drink at an English Summer Garden Party? Pimm's Cup (obviously).

As a party snackaroonie - maybe not quite so obvious? Some Pimm's Cup(cakes).

Last week's GP theme was "English Summer Garden Party". With Koko decked out in some festive bunting and many a party goer in their floral finest I was tempted to stick true to the theme and bake something for the gaggle of GP's motley crew of merrymakers.  Strawberries and cream was the obvious answer, but I figured I could do even better than that.

All of my ambitions aside there was a slight snafu earlier in the week.  On Tuesday, as I was mixing away with my hand mixer for a colleague's birthday cake I started to smell something burning.  Next I noticed red sparks that seemed to be going off inside the machine.  Then there were the small flames coming through the vent.  Last stage? Trying to turn it off and failing.  All speed settings (and the off position) were set to "fast."  Thankfully here in the UK our outlets have those little switches that cut off the power like a light switch.  I'm not sure how keen I would have been to frantically pull the plug directly from the wall.

The death of a much used and loved kitchen appliance is a sad day.  If I'm honest with you all though, this was a classic case of kitchen appliance abuse on my part. I took and took and took some more from this little electric hand mixer. It gave with all it's might and I gave it little time for rest in return.  In the end, it was death by cake batter.

I suppose there are worse ways to go.

So, not wanting to disappoint (and loving the idea of playing around with some candied cucumber), I managed to swing by and purchase one Friday after work right before the shops shut.

And here's what I came up with....

Minted candied cucumber

Cut 1/2 an English cucumber into slices about 1/8-1/4 inch thick and cooked them on the stove top in 2 cups of water, 1 cup sugar and a "large handful" of mint cut finely.  The temp was set to low and stirring fairly frequently I let them simmer for about 25 minutes.

After laying them out single file on a silicone baking sheet I placed them in oven set around 175F or 80C and just let them dry out.  In the end it took about 3 hours or so...although they were pretty tasty at 2 hours I was looking for something a bit crispy as opposed to chewy.  Personal preference really.

Pimm's cupcakes

Using my fail proof martha yellow cupcake recipe that's been posted on abiteof before, I replaced 1/3 of one of the cups of buttermilk with Pimm's.  I also always reduce the flour by 1/2 cup and since they don't have cake flour in the UK - just use all regular flour.  Only additional change I might make? Up the Pimm's to at least 1/2 cup - it could have done with a bit more of the flavour in the cake part of the cupcakes. Note: This recipe makes about 36 cupcakes so you may want to halve (or alternatively like me, freeze half of them for a cupcake rainy day).

For the frosting I kept it simple - I didn't want to start faffing around with a buttercream, especially as it's really not my favourite.  I stuck with something easy that I love - whipped cream and berries.  I wasn't sure how alcohol would take to cream, but seeing as I always use a healthy dose of pure vanilla extract when I whip it up anyway, instead I replaced it with about 1/4 cup of Pimm's. I also added about 4 tablespoons powdered sugar.  After whipping it all up until stiff I folded in strawberries and raspberries.  Note: I used about 1.5 cups whipping cream (and it covered 18 of the cupcakes) but you could certainly double everything if you were throwing a super shindig since you have the 36 cupcakes anyway.

For the strawberries I cut up one cup very finely. For the raspberries, I took about 1/2 cup and smooshed them completey with the back of a flat knife.  The raspberries were what gave the frosting the lovely shade of pink while the strawberries were whole enough to get that real strawberries and Pimm's cream feeling.

For assembly I used a pastry bag with a wide tip nozzle (so those pesky strawberries wouldn't get stuck) and added the candied cucumber and mint for that added flare.