Friday 30 July 2010

Cupcakes!

Cupcakes instead of a traditional wedding cake? No problem, I can make those! How difficult can it be?

Trial run this morning:

1. Go to Sainsbury's to buy 2 dozen ready-made fairy cakes. Of course I'll make everything from scratch for the big day but this is about practising the decorating, isn't it?
2. Return home only to discover (Dur!)I forgot the butter for the icing.
3. Try corner shop but the only stock salted - need unsalted so reluctantly go back to Sainsbury's. No trolleys and only checkout available is the self-checkout ones I avoid at all costs. Nice assistant offers to do it for me...er, self checkout?
4. Back at my car, realise I forgot the butter so go back and while I'm at it, pick up disposable icing bags (on special offer), sugar strands, mini-marshmallows, choc sprinkles, and some aspirin for the headache.
5. Get home to find I already have all of the above in my cupboard but never mind, if I'm going to be making 120 cupcakes for daughter's wedding, I'll need them.
6. Getting icing to correct consistency proves difficult and maybe I've used too much red food colouring.
7. Start again.
8. Knock over food colouring
9. Spill sugar sprinkles trying to catch food colouring.
10. I can't do this
11. Why did I ever begin this?
12. Can we buy them in instead?
13. What's wrong with a traditional wedding cake anyway?

Eventually, out of the 2 dozen fairy cakes, I end up with 14 only-slightly-wonky cupcakes.
FROM THIS...









TO THIS...

Sunday 25 July 2010

Famous Five gets a make-over

Should dated language be edited for a new generation of readers? Alison Flood, a writer on guardian.co.uk/books and former news editor of The Bookseller, poses the question here.