e5 bake house

 

 

Call me clueless, but I don't know how to make bread. It seems like it should be so simple, just a few ingredents, a lovely warm kitchen and lots of time and presto! an amazing loaf of freshly baked delcisouness.

Enter the E5 Bake House - a farily new addition to east London - this bakery established itself in the arches at London Fields and has quickly become one of my favourite hangouts. And recently, I discovered they are now offering bread making classes! Running on Saturdays from 11am until about 5:30pm, the class teaches you how to bake four different types of bread, all using the E5's famous wild sourdough and teaches you how to make and maintain a 'mother' for your own bread.

They are fully booked through May, but I'm on the wait list and come fall, you can bet that I will be a master bread maker.

E5 Bake House, Arch 395, Mentmore Terrace, London E8 3PH

a little bit dark + a little bit pretty

There is something about bright and sunny spring days that make me think of tea parties and cakes. And this stunning and subversive china would make the perfect party piece!

I love the idea of having the girls over for a lazy Saturday afternoon sipping on our tea and chatting happily over cakes whilst discussing the merits of having a cheetah and skeleton on our china.  These pieces were created by UK artist Ali Miller, and I think she captures perfectly the spirit of British eccentricities. You can check out her other work here.

carrot cake cupcakes

I am taking a few days off to recover from Colorado and found a fairly old stash of carrots on our fridge. Thankfully, I've also had this amazing recipe saved which will make use of those old carrots. It is an inside-out carrot cake cupcake, with a delicious, oozy, creamy center. So YUM, I am going to be making these bad boys today!

Inside out carrot cake recipe available here.

cheddar + beer + bread = amazeballs

Hello friends. Hope you had a good weekend, we spent a lazy rainy Saturday reading newspapers and cooking. It was bliss!

I have been getting back into cooking and in doing so have been searching the web for some new and inspirational recipes. This weekend I discovered the most delicious blog, Smitten Kitten, the author of which created this oozy, gooey to die for bread. It's a take on Welsh Rarebit, made by taking a traditional bread loaf and mixing it with an amazing filling of cheddar cheese, mustard and beer and then baked in thin slices giving you a satisfying loaf that pulls apart. It's perfect for a lazy, rainy day.

Smitten Kitchen, cheddar, beer & mustard pull apart bread recipe here.

peanut butter + chocolate = happiness

Friends, have you heard of Spoon Fork Pig? This delectable food blog is created by two super cute girls from the good ole US of A. Coupled with awesome photography, they create crazy dishes that totally appeal to my American sensibilities. This recipe for example, combines three of my favourite ingredients - chocolate, peanut butter (!!) and ritz crackers. YUM. Something to take home to the in-laws perhaps?

Recipe here 

oh.yum.

There is something about Autumn that makes me want to get back into the kitchen and fill our home with warm lovely smells. These cider doughnuts look AMAZING and I'm happy to say aren't nearly as bad as they look. Baked instead of fried and dipped in a reduced apple cider I'm happy to say that I'd enjoy these beauties guilt free. Let the Autumnal baking commence!

Cider Doughnuts found via King Arthur Flour blog - recipe here.

so bad it's good

Sometimes I think only fellow Americans could understand how this recipe for Elvis Pancakes is clearly the most amazing recipe I've ever found. I will be making this heart attack on a plate on Sat. YUM.

Elvis Pancakes

 - Mix crispy crumbled bacon along with a handful of chocolate chips into your standard pancake batter.
 - Once the pancakes are cooked, smear with a dollop of peanut butter and top with bananas and maple syrup.
 - Revel in your awesomeness.

Recipe and picture found via Ramshackleglam

girl scout cookies

Be still my heart. Whilst London has a lot on offer, one thing it doesn't have are the (world famous?) and most delicious Girl Scout cookies. I am not ashamed to say I've stolen packets of frozen thin mints from my dad's fridge at Christmas and hidden tagalongs in my luggage on my way back home. Amazingly, thanks to this brilliant lady, I will no longer have to wait for trips to the US for my cookie (or biscuit) fix...check out here super tasty reciepe for homemade tagalongs here. Happy baking!