Self Care cakes with Sheffield Underground Cake Club

Our second virtual cake club today …still weird in lockdown but people are keen to bake . Here we are with our cakes. Our next meeting is at Zoom on Sat 27th June 3-4 … Lary Dairy Savoury Cakes .

My cake was a cacao sponge with Creme fraiche Oatly, glucose instead of sugar . Cacao is not cocoa but from the Amazon. Chocolate makes me happy. The organic blueberries from my REGather veg box made it healthy !

Carolynn made a giant butterfly bun to make you happy . It had buttercream and jam in the middle .

Clare made use of her condensed milk to make millionaires short bread . The recipe was from Cadburys Simply Chocolate cook book . Trad recipe … Big treat. Eddie made the caramel . Some had already disappeared by the time we started .

Vicky made dark Choc and raspberry cake made for coffee time , frozen raspberries and chopped chocolates and flaked almonds, dense sunk to bottom . US site Sally’s baking addiction. https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/raspberry-chocolate-coffee-cake/

Ann made her Uplifting Pear and Yoghurt cake … A pot of natural yoghurt …. Put pot of yoghurt in a bowl and use the pot to measure other ingredients , wholemeal flour, sunflower oil, lots of baking powder , chopped pear ..serve with runny honey. From the French blog Paloma.com

Sian has made lots of cakes and chocolate log … We saw the last vestiges of it … It looked delicious. She gave us some tips on Zoom backgrounds.

Dave would have made Mary Berrys sultana and orange cake …..Clare found the recipe in her book with icing on top.

We then had a lovely chat about how we were finding lockdown. 

1 Where can you get flour ?  Lots of tips

Corner shops and one stop shops have flour. Down to Earth have flour SharrowVale Vale Road plus Saturday morning the Unwrapped shop , plus Just Natural on Crookes . Ranmoor deli selling fresh yeast. Dave made sourdough starter, then froze it . Vickys friend sent her 9 kg of bread flour.Tesco selling bagged up strong flour.Another place M and S have stuff. Loads of choice .

2 Where does Google maps say your most visited place is in the lockdown. Clare’s said Sainsburys !!

3 Where are people doing their shopping ? Dave recommends a Milkman from Manchester …. Splosh sell eco friendly detergents … , they recycle the packaging https://www.splosh.com/

4 Can you claim expenses back from work if you work at home ? You should be able to claim additional expenses back. Be careful if home

Use Martyn Lewis … Moneysaving Expert .

Line rental saver. Plusnet.

5 When do I Hoover the house ….

Where do you work ?

6 How do we move forward after lockdown ?

7 What do universities do with their money ? Universities spend most of the money on the course and staff. They are self funding from about 5 years ago when Gvt reduced central funding .

What will happen to students …. Bursaries for students .

What do we actually need to buy in future ?

8 Make a plan for your future food stock cupboard

Our next meeting is at Zoom on Sat 27th June 3-4 … Lary Dairy Savoury Cakes . Contact me Karen Perkins for your Zoom Log in

Virtual Bake Off with Sheffield Underground Cake Club

We might be locked down and staying at home ( between going to NHS & other key roles) but you can’t stop the baking spirit. So at 3pm on Sat 18th April we all met up on Zoom with our cakes . The theme was Cakes in a Mug … hopefully using minimum ingredients and giving us ideas for new quick cakey snacks.

Here are all the members !! Ready with their cakes hidden below the screen !!

Clare can be seen making her cake live . It was so popular she had to make 2 more for her son & husband !! She used choc chips & fudge , that’s what happens when you only visit a supermarket very infrequently, plus cocoa, sugar,egg, milk & oil. She recommends a large mug, to allow for expansion plus cover with cling film with a little hole pierced in it.

I made 3 types , as I used a mix of 1 egg, 2 oz vegan marge, 2 oz sugar & self raising flour. It was from 30 year old Sharp Microwave Cookery book . Plus baking powder & vanilla essence. Plus a tablespoon of milk or soya milk as microwave cakes tend to need more moisture. I divided the mix between 3 mugs. The first one was chopped banana, pistachios & honey . The second my partners homemade Rhubarb and Ginger compote . The third was chocolate chunks with chopped bananas.

The finished cakes didn’t look particularly aesthetic but tasted delicious . I ate the banana & chocolate one the next day , warmed up with hot custard poured on top.

Bernie made a Dalek cake with berry and white chocolate drops in it. She turned it out of the mug and coated it with melted chocolate. She recommended a small silicon Lakeland chocolate melter for small quantities . The cake too 2 mins 30 secs in the microwave.

Carolynn made a Gingerbread cake from Biggerbolderbaking . No eggs required and all mixing & prep done in the mug. She converted the US measures into UK ones. The blog has a mix of sweet & savoury cakes. It took 1 min 20 secs to cook…but like some of the other mug cakes it shrank but tasted delicious. This is the website I used and her variety of recipes – I made the ‘Gingerbread mug cake’ –https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/gemmas-mug-meals/

Vicky made a few trial cakes from BBC Good Food website. Dividing one egg into 2 and made a cinnamon cake, then a snickerdoodle , she tried buttermilk instead of egg. Then she made a chocolate cake from Table for 2 blog. It only took 1 min 10 seconds to cook. The higher the sugar content the quicker it cooks . https://www.tablefortwoblog.com/the-moistest-chocolate…/
That’s the recipe I used – probably the best out of the 3 I tried!

Dave cake was made after lots of different experiments   Check them out on Sheffield Underground Cake Club FB page 

His final version was a lime and carob …using half quantities it was still massive , really for 2 !! The issues with the previous ones were over expanding cake filling the microwave !! Plus a spice cake that came out like a bullet even the birds wouldn’t touch it !! Dave has also gone all You Tube and cooked up an online cookery lesson. https://youtu.be/MH_jLef888o  He said ” My first attempt at an online baking lesson. It’s the Sheffield Sustainable Gooseberry Cake I did for the Sustainable Cakes at Sheffield Sustainable Kitchens in Jan 2020. I don’t think Delia Smith needs to worry about competition just yet!!!!  ”

Anne sent her apologies and a photo of her cake anyway !! ” this is my sticky date and toffee cake in a cup. Not made the toffee sauce yet!x ”

We had a long discussion about getting through the Lockdown and tips to cope…here are some useful ones 🙂

• Don’t dump the local shop who has been helping you through this crisis
•  People felt that they were not clock watching & they were trying out lots of creative things & connecting with friends and family more.
•  Eating more healthily
•  Working from home brought different anxieties and pressures.
•  Being confined to home made people think about accesibilty for all events and locations for people with disablities.
•  Make a list of things you have learned and want to take forward so you dont backtrack
•  People said they wanted to go for a curry or a meal again & do hugging !!
•  Masks will be important we all felt.
•  Sticking to the new social distancing …and finding out how events etc may change in the early days . #staysafestayhome
•  Thanks ( & decent recognition and pay ) going forwards to all the key workers. There will be a need to secure proper jobs for those who lost them, took up delivery etc …and then face being sidelined again as people go back to supermarket shopping.

Join our next VIRTUAL CAKE CLUB Sat 23rd May   #Selfcare Cakes …make the cake that makes you and your cake scoffers feel really uplifted and happy !! 3 till 4   Ask me to send the Zoom login via Facebook 

Best wishes  Karen
www.karenperkinslifecoach.co.uk     Follow me @fabcoach on Insta or Twitter

 

 

5 Ways to Stay Positive on a Furlough

5 ways to stay positive on a Furlough

1 Remember it’s NOT your fault, and its great that your employer wants to keep you for the future.

2 Be kind to yourself…take a mini break at home initially to get your head round the idea, tidy your home & pamper yourself. Plan some fake holiday breaks over the next few months when you can really relax and do nothing #guiltfree . Exercise.

Thanks to David Hockney

3 Start a Furlough Journal …on one side write down tour thoughts & feelings day by day as you go along. Its great to be able to look back over the months & see your journey & how well you coped despite everything. On the other a to do list as you go along, plus big ticks .

4 Make a list of the skills & training you
– must do to improve your current job performance ( #behonest )
– could do to get you to the next grade or promotion
– might do just for fun eg plan a new business or learn to code or do watercolours … #supermotivating
– get your CV & LinkedIn updated with all your furlough skills !!
– Volunteer ….

5 Get a weekly & daily routine … weekends off but exercise & purpose, maybe a Thursday Jim Jams morning . A daily routine plus a menu plan improves mental health. Limit your social media…save the links for work issues…then work on them away from temptation.

6 Make a plan of how you are going to gracefully re-enter the workplace. List any positive feedback for your employer, thank them, have a plan of how you can ask for an appraisal shortly after return so you can showcase all your new skills & ideas … ready for an enhanced role …or to nimbly step into your dream role if exciting new ones emerge or you face any restructuring #beprepared

If you need a chat or any support through this difficult time I offer free sessions & CoachNowPayLater too #justask

Karen Perkins is a Career Business & Life Coach in Sheffield coaching globally online . www.karenperkinslifecoach.co.uk

She’s often found walking on White Edge or talking on Radio Sheffield between coaching & helping Cavendish Cancer Care on the Sheffield Cancer Information Hub … ( re-opening when the Moor Market returns) & currently a virtual service .

Sustainable cakes with Sheffield Sustainable Kitchens

We had a lovely Sheffield Underground Cake Club hosted by Zoe & Rob of Sheffield Sustainable Kitchens . They gave a us a talk about the history of the business & the materials they use.  Recycled plastic worktops in a range of colours, recycled glass worktops & even leather style compressed paper surfaces …fabulous. Many thanks . We tried to be mindful of the carbon footprint of our cakes & baking processes. Really interesting ! Plus lots of tips shared .

Anne made a  Tender Blueberry Alpro recipe … cheesecake base … Mandarin and blueberry .Sponge with Alpro plain soya yoghurt , sunflower oil & egg yolks …then fold in whisked egg whites . It came out with a delicious baked cheesecake style top.

 

Dave  baked a Sheffield sustainable Gooseberry cake. He used local products Whirlow farm eggs & butter , Sheffield Honey Company honey. Sheffield grown wheat milled into flour in the Kenwood Food processor . Nothing has come further than 5 miles. Gooseberries from the back garden , frozen for use over winter. He used his grans cake tin.

Vicky made a light Chocolate & sour cream sponge cake with coconut & choclate frosting & raspberry jam filling.  She googled Low Energy use cakes & found this Ainsley Harriot low energy cake … 12p energy costs … to make !

Clare tried to use locally sourced ingredients & fridge leftovers plus some marzipan from Xmas . She bought no new ingredients except Beanies ( a local wholefood shop in Walkley) near her house, where she bought Suma glacé cherries and almonds. Flour from her existing  storecupboard. Cooked by solar panel , as they have solar panels on their house, which generate electricity.

Google how much it costs for different ovens to cook a cake. Most sites say Electric ovens and cookers use fewer units of energy than gas, however, gas models will still be cheaper to run, as they cost less per unit of energy than electric models. Cook other food at the same time as your cakes , make best use of the oven.

I made a vegan, gluten free Passion fruit & Chocolate cake .
All ingredients were from my home fridge or store cupboard. I replaced eggs with 300ml of unsweetened soya milk with a tablespoon of cider vinegar stirred in . The flour was Dove Farm GF …but next time I will add more moisture to the mix as GF flour tend to make a crumbly drier cake.

Zoe from Sheffield Sustainable Kitchens baked a Yorkshire Tea fruit cake using up cupboard items. To reduce the carbon footprint she used butter and eggs from her milkman , baked in her  grans cake tin.

Clare suggests dishes & cakes cooked at same time in 1 oven saves energy. Dave cooks breakfast in the oven, beans in the actual opened tin … . We talked about how difficult it is to work out the footprint …but being mindful when you start looking for a recipe , can help . If you want vegan foods … a good site is the Accidental vegan .

Join us for our next event Sat 22nd Feb Antipodean Cakes … venue & time to follow

Best wishes    Karen
Follow me on Twitter & Insta @fabcoach 

Follow Sheffield Underground Cake Club on our Facebook page & group.

Sweet Shop Favourites become delicious cakes in Sheffield

We had a festive meeting hosted by Poptastic Dave & Hilda the cat. Choc a block with festive decorations Dave made us very welcome. Our Sheffield Underground Cake Club theme for December was Sweet Shop favourites. Have a cakey Christmas .

Anne cooked a Chocolate Lime Cake. She used 10 limes between 4 in the cake sponge, 2 for the buttercream filling & 3 for the chocolate ganache topping, plus one for grating on top.  . It was deeply chocolatey and very limey !! The recipe is from the BBC Good Food website #recommended. To make the chocolate topping she heated cream gently with dark chocolate plus Lime juice & lime zest & 2.5 tablespoons of lime marmalade .

Dave made a Revels cake . It was a rich chocolate cake with hidden secrets . The chocolate cake was a BeRo recipe weigh 3 eggs and add the same weight of flour, sugar, cocoa & butter .

He made 4 holes in the sponge with a cutter. He hade a sultana muffin, an orange rind muffin, a strong coffee muffin & finally a cinder toffee muffin. He dropped them into the holes & covered the whole lot with chocolate ganache.

I made a Sherbet Fountain Cake. The fountains sadly no longer come in paper containers, but are sherbet & Liquorice in a plastic pot that looks like the old one.  I made a swiss roll from BBC Good food website . Follow the instructions carefully & it’s easy. When the roll had cooked, I removed the baking paper then put the sponge back on it, plus a sheet on the top. I rolled the warm roll up with a clean tea towel & left rolled up to cool ready for filling. The filling was lemon curd to give the sherbet taste … plus whipped cream. On the top I sprinkled a dusting of actual sherbet. The liquorice stick finished it off.

Here are the insides !!

Our next dates are

Sat 25th Jan       Sustainable Cakes   cakes with the lowest Carbon Footprint
Sat 22nd Feb
Sat 18th April
Sat 23rd May
Follow us on Facebook @undergroundcakeclub
For more info please contact me Karen Perkins via my website www.karenperkinslifecoach.co.uk 

Happy New Year & see you in 2020 !!

Cakes that make you go Oooooo (not ew)

Sheffield Underground Cake Club were hosted by the brilliant Cafe called Coffee Boo on Middlewood Road next to Hillsboro corner . Our theme was cakes that people have been yummily surprised by .

Anne made a  Sticky Toffee Banoffee cake. She’d made it a few times & everyone has always said how nice it is. We agree.  Even someone who didn’t usually any like cake said ” it was out of this world “. She made a sponge & added mashed banana and milk to it to moisten it. The filling & topping was caramel carnation milk mixed with whipped double cream. #delicious

Carolynn made a vanilla ice cream drop, piñata rainbow cake. The sponge removed to create the pinyatta allowed her to add the ice cream blob . Covered with a White Chocolate ganache, she added pink colouring to the ganache to make the drips. She practiced on a cup before icing the cake. She had been given a set of 5 small cake tins to specifically make a rainbow cake .. so you can cook all the layers at the same time. Lakeland sell them or maybe ask Carolyn for a sustainable lend !

Raheel made a flourless, salted Chocolate and Pretzel cake, from a Donna Haigh recipe. He explained that he whipped the egg whites to peaks. He mixed the yolks into hot melted Choc then added in the egg whites with a metal spoon ( essential to ensure no loss of aeration) The cake is flourless ! Top with pretzels. The texture was like a mousse/squishy brownie.

Dave made a  White Chocolate Coconut Fig and Almond cake . Invented when he created  a different cake each day for a school during their Ofsted inspection. They must have got #outstanding He added sugar lump sized cubes of marzipan, cloves ,cardamom & flaked almonds. The topping was cream cheese melted white chocolate and coconut milk. Topped with sliced figs ..a great healthy way to add a design touch to a cake.

I made a Cardamom Spice Cake . I soaked the raisins in boiling water & dark rum, but alcohol free would be just as delicious. I added ground ginger, cinnamon, mixed spice & light brown sugar to the sponge mix. Then added in the drained fruit, with a little flour to stop it sinking to the bottom of the cake. The topping was butter, icing sugar & ground cardamom powder , around 1 – 1.5 teaspoons. It makes a great frosting. Topped with roast hazelnuts. You could add crystallised or fresh ginger instead of ginger powder.

Here are the inside views of our cakes :

Thanks to Maria, Mo & MJ at Coffee Boo. They had a delicious menu & the lattes arrived in beautiful large cups !

Our next meeting dates :
Sat 14th Dec       Sweet Shop Favourites
Sat 25th Jan
Sat 22nd Feb
Sat 18th April
Sat 23rd May
Follow us on Facebook  @undergroundcakeclub  

For more info please contact me Karen Perkins via my website

 

Autumn Cakes : Feeling #Autumnish with Sheffield Underground Cake Club

We were beautifully hosted by Gerrys Bakery in Walkley, Sheffield today. Fabulous coffee, local produce & cheeses, breads & pastries baked on the premises, plus baking courses. 6 bakers & their cakes arrived & were introduced to all his customers !

Here are our cakes

Karens Hazlenut, Plum & Dark chocolate Cake. Has ground hazlenut & chopped plums in the sponge , plus vegan chocolate pieces. I used a pestle & mortar to grind the hazelnuts so they were rough chopped but it gave a great flavour. I kept back 4 plums & halved them to top the cake before baking , followed by 2 tablespoons of whole hazelnuts.  From the BBC Good Food website . It’s an all in one cake so very easy & tastes even better the next day. I will certainly make this again & also try other fruits.

Clares Mincemeat & Almond Streusel . Good for New Year as it uses up left over mincemeat, orange juice & brandy.

Sians Honey cake is from James Martins French Trip programme. All in one cake, which you ice with honey icing whilst still warm, to give a sort of mirror glaze.

Carolynns Toffee Apple Crumble cake with custard buttercream . This cake had 2 different sponge layers. The base cake has apple & brown sugar topping, the top cake has apples chopped in & topped with crumble topping. Tip ..cool the cake..including the centre before putting the filling in !! Delicious filling tho.

Raheels Sticky Toffee cake was from the Thermomix Cookbook. This is a gadget for all in one cooking. He mixed butter, dark muscovado sugar eggs etc for the toffee sponge. The toffee butter cream was for the coating & 4 layers of filling. The toffee sauce was made from double cream, muscovado & butter. It made a delicious toffee puddle round the cake.

Dave made a Toffee Apple Hazelnut Cake . It had some mystery ingredients ..Duck eggs & smoked sea salt. He used buttermilk to raise the cake … but doesn’t advise that as it overrose from the trays !! It took 2.5 hours to cook but tasted savoury, sticky & delicious.

Here are the insides & cakey evidence

 

Join us for our next events
Sat Nov 23rd         Cakes that Make you go OOOOh !!
Sat Dec 14th          Sweetshop Favourites   for our festive Underground cake Club.
Like our Facebook page The Underground Cake Club

Any questions contact me Karen Perkins at Karen Perkins Life Coach
See you soon !!