Rhubarb and custard kisses

Years ago (here, actually) I made delicious custard biscuits which incorporated custard powder into the dough. The other week in one of my baking related ponderings I wondered if I could substitute the cornflour for custard powder in my Granny's recipe for kisses. . . So I tried it.

The custard powder gave the kisses (a shortbread sandwich biscuit) a lovely, golden yellow colour which the camera on my phone mostly decided to capture as a radioactive glow. The powder also gave the biscuits a sweet, vanilla-y, custard flavour.

For the filling I used a vanilla butter icing and some of last year's never-ending supply of rhubarb based jam. (I made more rhubarb jam than you can shake a stalk stick at.)

Basically I'm trying to find ways to use up the multiple jars of rhubarb jam I made last year. Despite giving away a large amount as Christmas presents (or just to any accepting friend or family member) I still have at least 10 jars left. 

Admittedly very little jam was used in this bake but the idea of rhubarb and custard kisses appealed to me and I'm happy my baking pondering was successful.

Granny's kisses with a rhubarb and custard twist

6oz margarine

2 1/2 oz Icing sugar

2oz Custard powder

6oz Self-raising flour

2oz Butter, softened 

4oz Icing sugar

A few drops of vanilla extract 

A few drops of boiling water

(Optional) A drop of pink food colouring 

A jar of rhubarb jam

Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/ 200C/ 180C Fan. Line two large baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

Cream together the softened butter and icing sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add the custard powder and self raising flour and mix together until it forms a dough.

Form the dough into 24 small balls and set onto the baking sheets, spacing them apart. Slightly flatten them with a fork. Bake in the oven for approx. 12 minutes or until the edges start looking slightly golden. Leave to cool on a cooling rack.

For the icing mix together the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract until fluffy. If it needs softening slightly add a few drops of boiling water. Admittedly I rarely weigh out my butter or icing sugar for making icing so my written quantities here are a rough guess.

Once the biscuits are cool, sandwich them together with a dollop of butter icing and a smaller dollop of jam. A little jam goes a long way. You should end up with 12 kisses.

Strawberry and rhubarb trifle

Yes, I am still wading my way through all the rhubarb in my garden. I might as well rename the blog "what do you make of my rhubarb?"

In my effort to find more ways to use rhubarb I stumbled across a raspberry and rhubarb trifle recipe online by Phil Vickery. Having never tried rhubarb in a trifle before I was suitably intrigued and decided to make it for a little family gathering to celebrate my first wedding anniversary with the Man. If anniversary trifle isn't a thing then I'm totally making it a thing.

I made some tweaks to the recipe according to taste and also what I had in the kitchen. The most obvious swap was strawberry instead of raspberry as I had two packets of strawberry jelly and two tins of strawberries in syrup in the cupboard left over from Christmas (as trifle is a Christmas necessity) so it made sense to use them.

My only other significant change was using less sugar in the stewed rhubarb and omitting the vanilla as I prefer a more tart flavour. I think the original quantities would be far too sweet as mine was sweet enough. I guess it'll vary depending on your rhubarb though.

Although not necessarily a change, I also didn't follow the recipe for the custard. I used the same ingredients but measured by eye and went by taste. It was roughly the same quantity.

Usually for trifle I make a plain Victoria sponge, however I decided to go for a Swiss roll like the Phil Vickery recipe. I used my trusty Mary Berry recipe from her "Baking Bible", once again swapping the raspberry for strawberry jam. It's been a few years since I last made a Swiss roll (9 years ago, apparently?!) so that was a fun change.

The resulting trifle was fantastic! The lemon in the rhubarb gave a lovely zingy flavour in contrast to the sweeter strawberry flavour and Swiss roll. 

Everybody thought this trifle was immensely tasty. I have to admit, the rhubarb in our garden is the nicest rhubarb I've ever encountered; it is so red and sweet. This trifle is definitely one to add to the rhubarb repertoire.

Strawberry and rhubarb trifle

Recipe based on Phil Vickery's mum's trifle

X1 Swiss roll filled with strawberry jam. I used this Mary Berry recipe but without lemon. Same method but I used the following quantities in a larger tin measuring 33 x 23cm:

4 large eggs

100g caster sugar 

100g self raising flour

At least 4 spoonfuls of jam for the filling.

X2 135g packet strawberry jelly, made according to instructions. Admittedly I didn't end up using all the jelly, but I felt it needed more than one packet.

X2 tins of strawberries in syrup (drain the syrup) or fresh, chopped strawberries

Stewed rhubarb:

350g rhubarb, chopped into small chunks

Juice of 1 large lemon

100g sugar

Approx. 1 pint of custard, fresh/homemade, shop bought or made up with Bird's custard powder.

300ml double cream, lightly whipped.

Method: 

Make the Swiss roll, cut it into slices, then cut each slice in half. Place into the bottom of the trifle bowl and around the sides. Layer the fresh, chopped or drained, tinned strawberries into the centre.

Make up the jelly according to instructions. Top tip: if using tinned strawberries, use the fruit syrup for your jelly. Add enough boiling water to melt the jelly blocks then top up the rest of the liquid with the fruit syrup.

Once cool, pour the jelly into the trifle bowl until it fully covers the sponge and fruit. Put in the fridge to set, ideally overnight.

Put all ingredients for the stewed rhubarb in a pan and simmer over a low heat until the rhubarb has softened. Set aside to cool. Once cool, add on top of the set jelly.

Make up the custard, either using the powdered variety, make from scratch or buy ready made. If you're making it though, it's best to make it on the thick side to give it a firmer set. Let the custard cool before adding to the trifle, on top of the rhubarb layer.

Lightly whip the double cream and add as a final layer on top of the trifle. Re-chill and serve, with a flourish of sprinkles for decoration.

Rhubarb and custard cake

This cake sadly did not turn out like the cake in the recipe book, but disappointing visuals aside it was a very tasty cake.

It's essentially a standard sponge cake with a layer of custard and stewed rhubarb baked on top, except with mine the custard and rhubarb sank to the bottom and the sponge rose above it. 

The juices from the stewed rhubarb were meant to be reserved for drizzling on top of the cake before serving. As you can see mine was more of a thickened sauce than a drizzle as I think I over reduced it. Still delicious though.

My "patisserie cream" (custard) didn't look right either. My electronic scale went a bit funny on me so I think I added more cornflour than intended and because I added it directly on top of the eggs to save on washing more dishes, I couldn't take it out to weigh again. It ended up pretty thick and bouncy, but still a lovely flavour so I used it anyway.

So yes, there are errors and a bit of disappointment (and a lot of washing up) but it really was a delicious cake and that's what matters most. The custard topping made a lovely change from an icing so perhaps I should revisit it again. . . but take more care with the cornflour.

On a totally separate note my 8 month old kitten got stuck on a neighbour's roof yesterday. He was wailing his head off and after a few hours of seeing him unable to get down off the chimney stack we had to go rescue him. I can tell you it's an interesting way to meet your neighbours. "Hi there, I live in the house diagonally above you. Would you mind if I put a giant ladder up the front of your property so I can retrieve my kitten?"

At least 3 other sets of neighbours came to see what was going on. I fear we're going to known as the couple in the village with *that* cat. Haha.

Rhubarb and custard cake

Recipe mildly adapted from "Bronte at home" by Bronte Aurell

Stewed rhubarb topping:

400g rhubarb, washed and cut into 3/4" chunks

30g butter

50g caster sugar (I would perhaps use slightly less next time)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pastry cream/ custard:

500ml + 2tbsp whole milk

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

1 large egg + 1 egg yolk

100g caster sugar

30g cornflour

1/2 tsp salt

25g butter

Cake:

175g butter/ Stork baking margarine

200g caster sugar

4 large eggs

200g plain flour

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 180c/160c fan/gas mark 4 and grease and line a 23cm/ 9" round spring form cake tin.

Make the stewed rhubarb first. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat then add the sugar and vanilla. Stir in the chopped rhubarb and stew for 2-3 minutes to start the cooking process then take the pan off the stove and set aside (I left mine for about 5 minutes, I'm guessing that's why I didn't end up with much juice.)

Whilst the rhubarb cools make the pastry cream/ custard. First, heat the milk and vanilla bean paste in a saucepan on the hob.

In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and sugar together then add the cornflour and combine. 

When the milk just about starts boiling take it off the heat and pour roughly 1/3 into the egg mixture, whisking continuously, then pour this mixture back into the saucepan of hot milk on the stove. Bring to the boil and keep whisking until the mixture thickens (about 1 minute) then take off the heat. Stir in the salt and butter.

Pour the custard into a cold bowl and press a sheet of baking parchment or clingfilm on top to stop a skin from forming.

Finally, make the cake. In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy with a mixer, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition, then the vanilla.

Combine the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl then fold into the egg mixture until everything is fully combined. 

Pour the mixture into the cake tin then spread 150 - 200g of the pastry cream on top. Remove the rhubarb from the syrup and scatter evenly on top of the pastry cream. Bake the cake in the oven for approx. 1 hour until risen and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. I put a layer of grease proof paper over the top of the cake after 45 minutes to stop the top from browning further but allow the cake to continue baking.

Allow the cake to cool slightly before drizzling the reserved rhubarb stewing syrup on top. Serve the remaining custard with the cake too as it's delicious.

raspberry trifle cupcakes

I'm just going to put this out there... these are the best cupcakes I've ever made, quite possibly the best cupcakes I've ever eaten. They are THAT. DAMN. TASTY.

I've had this recipe bookmarked in the Hummingbird Bakery's "Cake Days" book for 4 years. I knew I wanted to make it at some point, but due to my aversion to recipes which don't use the whole egg I've always grumbled at the 5 egg yolks listed in the custard topping ingredients and flicked the page. When was I ever going to have 5 egg yolks lying around?

Well guess who had exactly 5 egg yolks spare after making a meringue roulade last week? The stars had finally aligned!

These cupcakes were definitely worth the 4 year wait. Hell, I would make another meringue roulade just to have an excuse to make these cupcakes again. I need to stop being such an ass about not using whole eggs.

The creamy, custard topping is to die for. It pairs beautifully with the soft, fluffy, vanilla sponge and jammy, raspberry filling.

My only change to the recipe was baking the raspberries inside the cupcake as I love the squidginess of a baked raspberry. It also means that the cupcakes keep better, not that these will hang around for long. They are pretty addictive.

I could quite happily shove endless quantities of these cupcakes in my mouth and not get fed up with them. I have no shame.

I am also delighted to report that there were no tiny bugs in these raspberries. Each raspberry was thoroughly inspected. This is the first time I've bought raspberries since *that* incident. Wow, that was almost two years ago. You'd almost think I held a grudge...

Raspberry trifle cupcakes 
Recipe from Hummingbird Bakery, "Cake Days", barely adapted.
The recipe looks long, but it really isn't that complicated. Don't feel put off!

sponge:
80g (3oz) unsalted butter, softened
280g (10oz) caster sugar
240g (8.5oz) plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt
240ml (8.5fl oz) milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, large

filling:
punnet of fresh raspberries
jar of raspberry jam

custard topping:
500ml (18fl oz) milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste)
5 egg yolks
100g (3.5oz) caster sugar
30g (1oz) plain flour
30g (1oz) cornflour
200ml (7fl oz) double cream

Preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/Gas 5 and line two cupcake trays with paper cases. (The mixture gave me 18-20 cupcakes.) Mix together the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl with a mixer set at a low speed. The mixture should look like fine breadcrumbs.

Whisk together the milk, vanilla and eggs in a jug with a fork. Pour 3/4 of this into the dry mixture while mixing on a slow speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything gets mixed in. Add the rest of the egg mixture and mix again on a higher speed until the batter is smooth.

Fill each cupcake cases with the batter until about two thirds full and press a raspberry into the centre of each cupcake. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until well risen, light golden and springy to touch. Leave to cool in the trays for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

While the cupcakes are in the oven you can make the custard topping. Combine the milk with the vanilla in a saucepan and bring to the boil. In a bowl, combine the egg yolks with the sugar, flour and cornflour to create a paste. Add 1 tbsp of the heated milk if necessary. Remove the saucepan from the hob once the milk has boiled and pour 4-5 tbsp of it into the paste. Give the paste a mix then pour it into the saucepan with the milk and return to the heat. Bring the milk back to the boil, continually whisking to avoid lumps, and boil for a further minute to fully cook the flour. Pour this custard mixture into a baking tray and cover with cling film to prevent a skin forming. Leave to cool for 30-40 minutes.

Once cool, tip the custard into a large bowl (feel free to sieve the custard like me if you discover that it's a bit lumpy!) and beat with a wooden bowl to break it up. In a separate bowl, whisk the double cream into soft peaks, then fold the cream into the custard mixture. Now your topping is ready!

Using a sharp knife, cut a circular disc/hollow in the centre of each cupcake (until you reach the top of the raspberries baked inside), place roughly 1/2 tsp of raspberry jam in the centre, then press the cut off sponge back on top. Pipe or spread the custard on top of each cupcake, topping with an extra raspberry and some sprinkles for full on party trifle effect.

Baker's note: The cupcakes will keep/store better without the custard icing, so only ice as many as you're planning to eat at the time and keep the remaining custard in the fridge in a bowl covered with clingfilm.

custard creams

The number of times I've said "I'm going to bake some custard creams" over the last couple of years then proceeded not to bake them is embarrassing. I used to bake them in my uni days, pre blogging, but have somehow never baked them since.

When I was told to bring nibbles along to a small party this week I knew the time had finally come to dust off my custard creams recipe.

However I think my concept of "nibbles" is somewhat skewed. These were not dainty, finger-food sized biscuits; they were more of the World's Strongest Man variety. What can I say, I like a chunky biscuit. They're an excellent size for enjoying with a cuppa but perhaps not the best for party nibbles. In hindsight they should have been half the size.

Not that anybody really complained as they still tasted good. Buttery, custard flavoured biscuits sandwiched together with a fragrant vanilla butter icing. What's not to like?

And why has it taken me over FOUR YEARS to bake them again?! Fool.

Sadly I didn't get to enjoy any of these biscuits. I took them to the party on Thursday but only ate a few things as I didn't feel that well, then the following day (my birthday) I was inflicted with a stomach bug. I hate my stomach for cheating me out of custard creams *and* birthday cake. What did I do to deserve such cruel treatment?

Ah well, I suppose it gives me an excuse to bake these again. I'm not going to wait four years though!

Custard Creams

Biscuit recipe from Mum's battered old cookbook "Good Housekeeping's Picture Cookery" although I followed  my own method

Biscuit dough:

8oz caster sugar (I used golden)

8oz softened butter

2 egg yolk

a few drops of vanilla extract (I used some vanilla bean paste)

8oz custard powder

8oz plain flour

a splash of milk  

Vanilla butter icing (my own):

I ended up with left over icing so you may want to adjust your amounts

250g icing sugar

100g softened butter

a few drops of vanilla bean paste

2 tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 190C/Fan 170/Gas 5 and lightly flour a few baking sheets/trays. Mix together the caster sugar and softened butter. Once combined add the egg yolks and the vanilla extract/paste and mix again. Sift together the custard powder and plain flour before adding to the mixture. Add enough milk to bring the mixture together into a dough. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 20-30 minutes (probably not compulsory, but the kitchen was warm and I didn't want the dough too soft). 

Once chilled, roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface (chop the dough in half before rolling as it gives you easier portions to work with). I didn't measure the thickness of my dough but it would have been at least 0.5cm/ 1/4 inch thick. Once you've rolled the dough out cut your biscuits in whatever shape you fancy and prick the surface a few times with a fork. 

Transfer to a tray, spacing them slightly, then leave to chill in the fridge again for around 20 minutes (probably an optional step again, but it'll help to stop the biscuits from spreading in the oven and losing their shape). Bake in the oven for approximately 15 minutes until lightly coloured. Keep an eye on their edges, you don't want them going brown! Transfer the biscuits to a wire rack to cool.

Mix your icing ingredients together for a few minutes until smooth and fluffy. Use to sandwich the cooled biscuits together. I think I had nearly 30 sandwich biscuits in total.

custard and white chocolate biscuits

I've been on a bit of a biscuit theme this week. First the muesli ones and now these custard and white chocolate beauties which I photographed outside in the sunshine.

I've been meaning to bake these for a few months after spotting them on Lucy's blog, and they certainly didn't disappoint. The flavour from the custard powder really comes through and gives the biscuits a sandy, shortbread texture.

I also love how aromatic vanilla is in a biscuit, it makes a great waft when you open the biscuit tin :)

My only gripe is that I would probably want more white chocolate chunks. I actually reduced the sugar amount by 25g, after reading below the recipe that some people found them almost too sweet, so I certainly think more chocolate could be added without making them sickly.

Any excuse for more white chocolate really :)

Vanilla kisses

It has been a week since I baked and ate these biscuits and I miss them already. Although not the most visually stunning batch of biscuits, as their piped shape melted in the oven, they were very tasty indeed.

These kisses have a melt-in-your-mouth shortbread quality with the added bonus of a slightly custardy flavour. If that doesn't sound tempting enough, they are sandwiched together with a deliciously aromatic, sweet, vanilla butter icing.

If you're a die hard custard cream fan you may find yourself eating three of these in one sitting (.... don't look at me like that, I like biscuits, ok?)

I burnt my thumb on the top oven shelf whilst putting the trays in to bake. Needless to say I was not impressed. However I forgive the oven (obviously it wasn't my fault, the shelf attacked me) as I really enjoyed these little sandwich biscuits. They were worth the momentary pain.

Vanilla kisses

Recipe from Lakeland's Cupcakes and Cookies

125g butter, softened

110g caster sugar

1 egg

50g plain flour

35g self-raising flour

100g cornflour

30g custard powder

vienna cream filling:

60g butter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (Good quality please! It makes all the difference)

120g icing sugar

2 tsp milk

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan assisted/ Gas 6. Grease two oven trays/sheets with butter then line with baking parchment. Beat together the butter, sugar and egg until light and fluffy. Sift together your dry ingredients in a separate bowl before adding to the butter mixture in two batches. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm fluted tube (I used a wilton 1M nozzle) and pipe 3cm  rosettes, swirling from the outside inwards, 3cm apart on the trays. (My shapes didn't hold at all in the oven. Perhaps putting them in the fridge for 30 minutes before baking would help retain the swirls?) Bake for 10 minutes (keeping a close eye on them as the edges can burn fast!) Leave to cool on the trays.

For the filling, beat together the butter, vanilla extract, icing sugar and milk until the mixture goes fluffy and white. Use to sandwich the biscuits together. (I had to make a little extra as I was generous with my sandwiching. No one wants a stingy filling.)

The recipe should make roughly 20 sandwiched kisses in total.

A Birthday trifle cake

Last week was my eldest brother's birthday. He is the family's chief trifle eater, known for eating left over Christmas trifle for his breakfast on Boxing Day. No birthday or Christmas is complete in his mind without a trifle, so when I saw the Caked Crusader's trifle cake at the beginning of this month I immediately knew this would be the perfect birthday cake for him.

I can't decide what was best about it, other than it is both a cake AND a trifle! Its wobbly appearance was pretty spectacular. I think all cakes should wobble from now on. My nephews definitely appreciated the cake's wobble-factor too.

The cake cut really well, had all the textures and flavours of a trifle, and looked beautiful. The colours and layers make it a really attractive celebration cake. Needless to say this cake disappeared very quickly. I can easily see this becoming a family favourite. Thank you so much Caked Crusader for a fantastic recipe!

Notes on the recipe:

I fully admit to not taking 2 days to make this cake. I started the evening before and finished the following day, so I cut a couple of corners in terms of refrigeration time. It worked fine, but it's probably better to follow the Caked Crusader's time scale!

My cake took longer than 30 minutes to cook, nearly double the time, so I put a layer of greaseproof paper over the top of the cake to stop it from burning and to allow the inside to cook for longer.

I added more powder and sugar to my custard as I like mine to resemble and taste like Ambrosia custard :)

For the jelly I used just enough boiling water to completely melt the block then made up the rest of the pint with reserved juice from the tinned strawberries/raspberries ( as I feel it makes for a tastier jelly).

As you may have noticed, I've decided to start putting my weblink on my photographs. Although I can see how fun, addictive and useful websites such as Pinterest can be, and I'm flattered that people enjoy my photography, but it does bother me when I find my photographs on there without any reference or link back to me. It would take far too long to go through all my previous photographs but I think this is something I'm going to do from now on, even though I find it difficult to include text which is visible but hopefully not detracting from the photograph. Does anyone else feel uneasy about the whole Pinterest/copyright issue?

custard and cinnamon tart

What do you do when you have a surplus of eggs? I don't know about you, but I immediately thought about making the custard tart recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days book. I also thought about omelettes, which we did make for lunch today, but they're not half as exciting.

I was a bit late finishing it yesterday, so it only had about three hours to set in the fridge before my brother insisted on needing his pudding. Although this is by far my best pastry effort to date (I've decided to be more forceful with it, no timid prodding, show it who's boss!) I didn't think it was quite as tasty as the Bakewell or lemon tarts I made previously. We weren't sure if it maybe needed another flavour or to be sweeter, although we all liked the custardy/cheesecake texture. All uncertainties disappeared today as we had another slice after lunch and it was so much tastier. This tart definitely benefits from being left to set overnight.

Although it was a bit faffy to make, I really enjoyed it. Sometimes it's fun to try a more challenging recipe, especially if you're a fairly unadventurous baker like me!

Custard and cinnamon tart

Recipe from Hummingbird Bakery "Cake Days"

For the pastry

100g (4oz) unsalted butter, softened. (I tend to use salted, don't think it matters much)

225g (8oz) plain flour

80g (3oz) caster sugar

1 large egg

For the filling

500ml (18fl oz) whole milk

1 tsp vanilla essence (I use vanilla extract, it's better)

5 large eggs, separated

100g (3 1/2oz) plain flour

100g (3 1/2oz) caster sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tbsp unsalted butter (Once again I used salted butter so I omitted the above salt)

1 tsp ground cinnamon for dusting

Use one 23cm (9inch) diameter loose-bottomed tart tin

Rub the butter and flour together with your fingertips, then stir in the sugar and egg. When a dough forms, take it out the bowl and knead gently on a lightly floured surface to bring it together (Remember the less you handle it the better! It also helps to have cold hands.) Wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.

Take the pastry out the fridge and roll onto a lightly floured worktop to a thickness of 5mm (1/4 inch) and wider all round than the tart tin. Carefully press the pastry into the base and sides of the tin (I roll the pastry round the rolling pin to transfer it) Cut away any excess pastry and prick the base a few times with a fork. Put the tin in the fridge to rest for 20-30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas mark 3. Take the tin out the fridge and line it with parchment paper and baking beans to blind bake for 12 minutes. Then remove the paper and beans and put back in the oven for another 15 minutes or until the pastry is cooked through and a light golden colour. Leave to cool whilst you make the custard filling.

Pour the milk and vanilla essence into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Meanwhile, place the egg yolks in a bowl with the flour, sugar (and salt) and  mix to a thick paste. Loosen the mixture with 1 tbsp of milk if necessary. Once the milk has boiled, remove from the heat and add 4-5 tbsp to the egg and sugar paste. Stir until combined and the paste has become a thick liquid, then pour into the pan with the remaining milk mixture (I did this in stages) and set over a low heat. Stirring constantly, bring the custard to the boil for at least 2 minutes to fully cook the flour. Once it has thickened, add the butter, allowing it to melt and stir it in. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Using a hand held electric whisk, whip the egg whites until they form stiff peaks (I forgot how much fun that is!) then fold into the custard. (My mixture unfortunately went a bit lumpy at this point, but it didn't matter in the end.) Pour the custard into the prepared tart case and place in the fridge to set for a few hours or preferably overnight. Leave the tart in the fridge until you are ready to eat it and dust the top with cinnamon just before serving.

Boston cream cupcakes and new crockery!

*DRUM ROLL*

Ta-da! Here are my new ebay purchases. This is the beginning of my Woods Ware (Utility) China collection for my future house.

I first came across Woods Ware after googling "1940s kitchen" some time last year (yeah, I look up kitchen porn occasionally) and came across this page. I pretty much decided it was going to be my main crockery in my future house as I love the shape and and mix and match colours. Then earlier this year I came across blogs such as Kitschen Pink, Little Gem's World  and A Thrifty Mrs who collect the crockery too. If you want to die of crockery excitement then check out the Utility China flickr page. After not finding the crockery the old fashioned charity shop way, I went to good old ebay to start me off. Next mission is to get some of the blue Woods Ware (iris).

On to the baking..... I'm steadily working my way through the Hummingbird Cake Days book (as is my sister in law. She has been a baking like a demon recently.) Last night I made the Boston cream cupcakes which are a little bit more fiddly than I would usually bother with because it involves making custard for the filling. This is the first time I have made home made custard (woohoo!) It went a tiny bit lumpy, not much, a little bit of sieving did the trick.

Do you like my rubber duck cake cases?

Mmmmmmm custardy centre.