It has been a couple of weeks since my last post, it's all been quite busy i've just relocated from London to Marrakech with only 3 weeks to prepare! So as you can imagine i haven't had a whole lot of time for a spot of baking, saying goodbye to family and friends this past week was by far the hardest part, it all feels quite strange with all the excitement that comes with starting something new and then there's that moment that comes when it all really hits you.

So i arrived yesterday afternoon, after a restless night ( it's just so hot it's hard to sleep without waking up every  few hours) i'm slowly starting to settle myself in to my new place. The first thing i did on my arrival yesterday was go straight to the kitchen, now it's all pretty traditional but nice and simple and sufficient enough, although the oven is a little on the small side i'm sure i'll manage!

So i promise i'll be back in the kitchen in a few days and exploring around the city!

The Satisfaction of home made ice-cream

Sunday afternoon, bored, hot and wondering what cake to bake i came across something i've never ventured into before...ice-cream! I know a lot of people who regularly make their own ice-cream experimenting with different flavors and others who don't think it's worth the hassle. That's what i thought too, i was always a little intimidated by making my own and sometimes put off by all the complex looking recipes, but on this day not only was i craving ice-cream, i had found a great recipe for a caramel flavored one and i had all the ingredients to hand, the last bonus was there was a brand new unused ice-cream machine waiting in the freezer.

My first attempt didn't go entirely to plan even though i followed every word in the recipe, i ended up burning the caramel twice...in two separate pans, i tried to get as much caramel flavoring as possible into my single cream and milk mix, failing that the pans went in the sink and the caramel flavor ice-cream was abandoned, it would be simple vanilla instead! So i added a few drops to my cream and milk mix, let it all cool down then poured it into the ice-cream machine to churn for 30 minutes, then in the freezer until i was ready to eat it.
I have to say i was quite surprised by the outcome, it was light and creamy although not as sweet as i would have liked, having followed the caramel flavor recipe i didn't replace it with the necessary amount of sugar.

I think i will definitely be giving this a go again and this time experimenting with different flavors maybe even some fruit and yoghurt, once you get the hang of it it's quite easy! I've posted the original recipe i used below for the caramel flavored ice-cream , from Tessa Kiros' book 'Falling cloud berries'.


Caramel Ice-cream
4 egg yolks
150g caster sugar
500ml warm milk
250ml single(pouring) cream


1)Place the caster sugar in a saucepan on medium heat until it starts to turn to caramel, a dark golden colour and thick texture. Don't stir the caramel just swirl it around in the pan gently and watch carefully to prevent any burning.
2) Take the pan off the heat and slowly add the warm milk and single cream to the caramel, mix it all through. 
3) Whisk the egg yolks until pale and fluffy. Add a little of the milk mix to the yolks while continuing to whisk to stop the eggs from scrambling, slowly add the rest of the milk mix, whisking all the time.
4) Once all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed in together leave to cool completely.
5) Set up your ice-cream machine following the manufacturer's instructions. I left mine to churn in the machine for 30 minutes and then poured it into another container ready for the freezer. I would take it out of the freezer 5-10 minutes before you want to eat it to allow it to soften up so you have a creamy flavorful texture.

Baking eggs...crazy or chic?

Maybe i'm not in the know as much as other cake fanatics out there but today is the first i'm hearing about eggs specifically for baking.My discovery came as i was flicking through Marie Claire earlier on and stopped at a full page advertisement with the headline 'cupcake pour femme', showing a female model looking as though she was in cupcake heaven and finishing with the end line 'bake it beautiful'. At first glance i really wasn't quite sure if it was real just because i had never heard or seen these 'baking eggs' before, after a quick search on Google i found the website this advertisement belonged to, www.ellavalentine.co.uk.

The website was cute and pretty, not really explaining the point of baking eggs or why they were better than normal eggs, but filled with lovely cupcake recipes and tea time treats. They tell you where you can buy them from, local supermarkets such as sainsbury's  but not anything about the price. I'm sure these are more expensive than regular and organic eggs, which leads me to ask are these a great new product designed to improve our home baking or just an overpriced gimmick? Are they necessary? or would good quality free range fresh organic or non organic eggs do the same thing? I'm not going to completely knock these before i try them, so next time when i go shopping i think i will pick up a pack for testing and judge for myself, i'll be sure to post the results!

The Village of Eternity

Campodimele, a small village in the Lazio region of central Italy has long attracted the attention of scientists and doctors around the world who have been known to refer to it as 'the village of eternal youth',  now Journalist Tracey Lawson is on a journey to unveil the mystery of this village that has sparked the interest of so many worldwide.'A year in the village of eternity' is about this small village whose inhabitants are known to be in very good health and have a long life expectancy, the book follows Tracey and the people she meets through to the food she discovers, home grown and  fresh produce, could this be the key to good health and a long life?

A travel book and cookbook, this is filled with wonderful simple recipes and some very interesting history about this village as well as the colorful characters Tracey writes about so dearly. The emphasis is very much on fresh simple food with a few key ingredients, meals that are nutritionally balanced, easy to prepare and seasonal, no preservatives, no additives, just simplicity. Eating seasonally is something very few of us do or don't quite know how to when our supermarkets shelves are piled high with fruits, vegetables, canned good and frozen foods available all year round, what's in season or not doesn't cross our minds. This book teaches us that learning to eat fresh and seasonally is far more healthy and nutritious for us than any canned or frozen good could ever be.

                            http://www.amazon.co.uk/Year-Village-Eternity-ebook/dp/B0058RE09C