More birthday cakes.

Another cake commission but this one was a little different as it was for my uncle. The brief was Victoria sponge, so I did a victoria sponge but pimped it up a little! 
Nothing like  a bit of fruit and cream to bring a touch of luxury.

The ends of the earth.

My last job involved me travelling to a beautiful if inaccesible part of the world. I was working on a location shoot for another cookery programme, this time for a new chef on the block. The view from where I was chopping/cooking/baking was to die for. I realised the draw-back in living in such an untouched part of the world when I had to pick up grocery supplies and some props, a road trip would be a more accurate description than picking up some bits and pieces. The round trip which did involve almost two hours in the supermarket took 7 hours. I should have brought me a packed lunch. All saying that I'd be back in a flash, the beaches looked amazing, next time I'll organise a bit more time for relaxing.

Bangor, co. Down

Sometimes I love my job/jobs...    My last assignment took me to Bangor Co. Down to work on the Hairy Bikers new TV programme. I was drafted in for the day to assist the Home Economist a lovely lady, who was so on the ball I didn't have a huge amount to do other than fetching and carrying and making lunch for the crew. The bikers are very impressive, they are naturally very funny people. The script is all in their heads. They do most of their cooking outdoors which is fun but can bring it's own headaches. We were blessed with beautiful weather. The afternoon locationn was on a beach with the added exitement of the tide coming in. Off to the wilds of Kerry next to work on a different cookery show...

Canapes.

I had the pleasure of providing canapes for an event recently. It's an area of my business that brings me great joy. I think it's designing them in my head and then building them to meet my design, that gets my creativity flowing. It reminds me of my art college days, the design process was something I always loved.
A lovely friend took these shots for me.

Custard Creams.

For my last birthday one of my gifts was a lovely little cookie recipe book, since then I have had great fun testing out the recipes. As you can imagine this goes down with very well with my sweet-toothed other half. Many of the recipes are home-made versions of shop bought classics. I love playing around with them, there is great satisfaction from home making custard creams and chocolate digestives! 

BiBi's.

I've been doing well on the eating out front recently. My "must visit" list has had two strikes.
I went for lunch to BiBi's, a very cute little cafe deep in Dublin 8. As far as I know it's run by two sisters, one half of the venture is a clothes shop the other this cafe. The food is lovely I had a thai-style butternut squash soup and shared a carrot cake for afters. The food was good but I think my favourite thing was  the crockery. It's beautiful hand thrown stoneware, even the water beakers are ceramic. I loved the style of the place, the cakes are displayed all higgle-de-pigglety on a counter top, the menu written up on a chalk board. The one thing I couldn't understand is the fact that the outside tables are very close to a line of wheelie bins. With such attention to other detail I found this amazing, I know I am anal about hygiene but in this case I would not be alone. I hope the bins find a new home soon.
Also on my radar was Murphy's Icecream parlour. I had the joy of having some of this icecream when I was down in Dingle a few years ago. They have come to Dublin, the shop is on Wicklow street. I cannot rate their ice cream highly enough. It was fantastic. I loved the flavours they have some really good unusual ones. Check out the burnt caramel, sea salt, brown bread and lots lots more. The staff are amazingly upbeat, offering samples of any of the flavours. I had to restrain myself consoling myself that I'll just have to have a return visit to sample more! 

Birthday Cake.

For my latest adventures in cake making I took on the challenge of creating a very special cake for a 40th birthday. I went through a few design ideas before coming up with my final plan. The problem with not having loads of experience is I have a idea in my head but it doesn't always come out the same when in food form. I had some glam ideas but then realised it might look too like a wedding cake if it was all white with sparkles. I hit on the idea of using macarons to bring some chi-chi glamour but with colour! I have to admit I was pretty pleased with the end result, and when it was lit up with sparklers it looked good. The celebration was in The Cobalt Cafe on North Great Georges St. I had never been there although I had heard of it as a venue for small gigs and art exhibitions. It is gorgeous, It has beautiful georgian rooms with high ceilings ornate plaster work and massive gilded mirrors. I will definately keep it on file for events in the future.