So when the UK sleeps, we know you other MNers are out there part II

[tadjennyp]

I was looking for thumbwitch's recipe for that cake and found the old thread has disappeared so Linzer and I thought we'd resurrect it!

Neighbourhood bake sale for dd's school? Gifts for the neighbours? Have fun skiing tomorrow instead! Sorry about the show though when you have done so much work.

a friend has come & put them all in her freezer, will worry about it later!

mmmm cakes

Speaking of cake what recipes will freeze well and/or are superquick to make for the postnatal period?! It seems received wisdom on MN that cake is necessary.

yes to cake! zucchini cake?

Zucchini cake?! As in cake with the green vegetable in it?

A friend of mine made courgette cake (sorry, I have to be British about it! Although it was actually Zucchinikuchen) and it was delicious - she gave me the recipe, but I haven't got round to trying it out yet.

Sorry to hear about the bridal show being cancelled, kickass. We're thinking about going skiing today too (or at least taking the DC skiing).

The King's Speech was excellent (and Guy Pearce very easy on the eye - I didn't realise it was him until the credits, though). Now looking forward to Made in Dagenham and a meal out tonight.

Now I can't see how courgette would work well in a cake, I have to admit. Carrot, beetroot - yes, they are inherently sweet. Courgette? nah, can't see it.

Did anyone ever find the beetroot cake recipe again? I quite fancy giving that a go, I have to say :)

Glad you enjoyed the King's Speech, Linzer. I thought HBC did rather well as the Queen Mother as well (she's one of my "girl-crushes" though )

Sod beetroot thumb, have you ever tried Nigella's chocolate guinness cake? Yummmmm - if I ever ask my kids what birthday cake they want that's the one!

No, I haven't, tbh - but I have THE best chocolate cake recipe that I found in some other book, and have put it in the MN recipe section. I made it with spelt flour, y'see - so I can legitimately label it as a spelt flour yummy-as-anything moist chocolate cake, and it's GORGEOUS!

thumb - linky?

Although I'm not sure about the availability of spelt flour here

ah you can make it with ordinary flour - the recipe is originally with ordinary flour but I use spelt and the cake worked very well with spelt flour as well (sometimes they come out a little dry, but not this one!)

here's the link - it was a f'ing mission to find it, I can tell you! The recipe search page is really up the spout, badly. I Shall Complain.

ooh, i like choc guiness cake, though no idea if it's from nigella or not.

i've just made bellini cakes with meringue topping. OMG!!! they are just wonderful.

there is now a different wedding show I'm doing tomorrow, so been & got cakes out of friend's freezer & just 'knocked together' a few hundred more since getting back from ski-ing

'just knocked together a few hundred'

as you do kickass

That's why she's called kickass!

right - time for bed. have to leave by 8.30!!
why didn't i decide to do something like gift cards or pictures, that you can just have a stash ready? seriously, baking is just a pita to be honest!

and i bet everyone will be wanting to know if i can make glow in the dark like on telly!

Wait, you can make glow in the dark cupcakes?

wooooo, glow in the dark cupcakes? That can't be good for you, surely...
am also very :) at your knocking together a few hundred of the things - about 20 is my usual level.

I think anything like that can be a PITA - I had a friend who hand-made gift cards and stuff, her dining room was given over to it permanently, you couldn't see her table for stuff!

Good luck kickass. Your cupcakes sound fabulous!

I'm still dithering about whether to risk making a very simple cake or not. Baking is not my forte....

saw it on tv the other day - quinine (which is the 'bitter' flavour in tonic water, bitter lemon, & angustura bitters) apparently glows in the dark, so you can mix it with piping jell & brush it over cupcakes.

quinine is in those drinks cos it's anti-malerial, not for the glow-in-the-dark qualities. that's why the brits were so famous for gin & tonic - they constantly drank things with quinine in when they were in 'the colonies', and things like g&t made it palatable, otherwise the quinine is v bitter.

it was doctor's orders!

Do they still put quinine in tonic water? I thought they'd stopped that now! How did the Wedding Show go? Did you hand out hundreds of cupcakes and were they copiously iced like American ones usually are?! They're a far cry from fairy cakes, aren't they?

I think quinine is an essential ingredient in tonic water and bitter lemon even now, Tadjenny.
this is quite a cool link - roll your mouse over the pic of the tonic water bottle!

Quinine is also a very good anti-sickness drug - I had terrible car sickness once and somehow intuitively knew that I needed bitter lemon to help - which it did, because of the quinine. The level of quinine in the drinks is not sufficient to protect against malaria any more.

didn't know that about the sickness.

do you think mn would mind if i did a link to my website, then you could see the cakes? i don't use artificial colors or flavors, and there is frosting, but not as much, or as sugary, as US shop ones.

show went v well - it's amazing how popular you are if you're giving away cupcakes. getting people to buy them is harder! i have a lot of interest, but need some big orders to come in. i do a lot of baking anyway, so it hasn't cost loads to set up, still it would be nice to make some money, not just have a hobby that kind of pays for itself.

I think when I get home I'll be having a stiff drink

shame I can only have the one

I blame all this talk of gin

kickass, I shouldn't think they'd have a problem with it, it's not like you've started a thread going "LOOK AT MY FAB CUPCAKES WOT I SELL IN THE USA", which they really would object to! lots of people have linked to their own websites on here just for opinions or so their buddies can see what they do - go for it!