Happy Anniversary, My Wonderful Companion: Giant Angel Slice

Happy first anniversary to my dearest companion! You have been a rock and support to me in awful times, and a wonderful friend to enjoy the good times with, too!

In celebration, I made my companion his favourite kind of cake, although in much larger dimensions than usual: an Angel slice!

For those who don't know, and Angel slice is a Mr Kipling favourite: it's a sandwich cake, with a white and a pink layer, filled with a vanilla flavoured cream, and iced with white and pink fondant. Usually, you buy them in packets of four slices. The cake is super light and fluffy, like a fondant fancy, and the filling is sticky, sweet, cheap, and nasty.

As such, I made two 4x8 inch (10x20 centimetre) cakes using this recipe scaled up to two eggs—one left plain, one coloured with a hint of pink—and sandwiched them together with some vanilla flavoured buttercream, before topping it off with a simple fondant style icing of 8 parts icing sugar to 1 part melted butter, thinned to a nice fondant consistency with milk. I coloured some of it pink and drizzled it on the top.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the cake before he and I tucked into it as a naughty anniversary breakfast, but I did take a picture of what was left!

I also made a nice wall hanging of envelopes which I folded from fancy paper, each containing photographs commemorating each month of our first year, and pictures from the weekend when we first started dating. I was super pleased with it!

Here's to many more years with you, my dearest lovely.... ^_^ x

Viennese Whirls (Wheat Free)

I've been in a bit of a baking funk these last few weeks. I suffer badly from mood swings, and sometimes I get stuck in ruts for weeks at a time, and my baking and pretty much everything else suffers for it.

But do you know what is guaranteed to make me feel instantly better? Afternoon tea treats. Even just looking at them makes me instantaneously joyous. As such I recently went to the shop and coveted the Mr Kipling section. I love Mr Kipling cakes so much, especially the French Fancies, but unfortunately he doesn't make gluten free versions because he's a dietist!

So, I thought I'd see if I could make my own versions of his classics! This is a recipe for the basic biscuit of the Viennese Whirls. The Mr Kipling version is sandwiched with chewy jam and buttercream, but when you make them yourself you can sandwich them with anything you like, including my most recent pash orange chocolate spread.

FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
☑ Eggs

CONTAINS
☒ Gluten
☒ Dairy (use ingredients in italics for a dairy-free version)
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS:

• 4 ounces (115 grammes) butter or block margarine
• 2 ounces (55 grammes) icing sugar
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) white spelt flour or gluten-free plain flour with xanthan gum
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) cornflour
• 1 to 2 teaspoons of water, if needed

HOW TO

• Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas Mk.4, or moderate). Line one or two baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
• In a mixing bowl, beat the butter or margarine until smooth and creamy, then beat in the icing sugar.
• Add in the cornflour, and beat again until smooth. Add in the spelt flour, and beat until
  it becomes a thick mixture.
•  If the mixture looks too thick to pipe, add a teaspoon or so of water and mix again, however add no more than 2 teaspoons of water in total.
• Using a ½ inch (1 centimeter) closed star nozzle, pipe little rosettes, about an inch (2½ centimeters) apart. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until lightly browned.
• Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before either eating or sandwiching with jam, if wanted.

And there you have it! Go on, give this recipe a whirl! (cue, badum-dum-tsh!)