News: Uckfield WI

You may or may not be aware of the new Uckfield WI group in town which meets on a Tuesday, although judging by the popularity of the exploratory meeting and subsequent 10 minute sign up of 150 members you probably are!

The wonderful founder and president of this group, Leasa, approached me just before the first meeting to ask about my baking club and to see if I'd be up for it becoming a sub-group of the new WI.  After ensuring that it wouldn't change the informal way I run it and that our existing members can still take part, I was delighted to oblige.  I'd already expressed my interest in the new WI anyway and am very lucky to have become one of the members so to be able to run the baking sub-group as part of my baking club is fab.  (And I've signed up to be a committee member as the WI's social media manager too!)

Anyway, if you're new to the club or a WI member and interested in joining us, you can read more about what we do and how we work on the about page.

I will be sharing some more recipes on the blog soon and, of course, the report of our second meeting which is now less than two weeks away!  You still have time to sign up to that meeting (at which places are limited so get in quick of you'd like to come!  I'll be checking out new venues soon in case there's a sudden influx of new members from the WI!) but please let me know by Sunday 27th March at the latest.

Event: Yellow on 3rd April

The theme for our next event will be Yellow, to celebrate spring and hopefully a bit of sunshine!

Our second event will be held on Sunday 3rd April at 7:30pm.  This was the most popular date from the poll sent to those on our mailing list and on our facebook page.

A few obvious ideas for the theme include lemon drizzle cake, banana loaf, yellow cupcakes, egg custard tarts, cheese muffins...  Or think outside the box with a caramelised onion & mustard tart or curry spiced chocolate cupcakes!!  The finished product doesn't have to be yellow, as long as there's something in there that ties in with the theme, we're not strict!  ;)

If you'd like to attend, please email Becky with your name and choice of bake and you will be sent the venue details a week before the event.  Places are allocated on a first come, first served basis so get in quick if you'd like to attend as places are limited (and we are getting more popular!)  :)

Recipe: Red Velvet Heart Whoopie Pies

For our Love themed first event, I made red velvet whoopie pies.  I've never made whoopie pies before but decided it would be easier than trying to bake a red velvet cake and decorate it (which is just as well as someone else made an amazing one anyway!)  I found this recipe on a American blog and have listed the conversions I used below with the method as I made them and a few tips. 

This recipe was supposed to make 18 sandwiched pies but I must have made my template twice as big as I only had 18 hearts making 9 once they were assembled.

Ingredients:
280g all purpose flour
15g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
115g butter
215g light brown sugar (I ran out so used 129g with 40g of light muscovado sugar and the rest golden granulated!)
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
120g buttermilk
1 bottle of red food colouring (I was hesitant to put so much in but after half a bottle the mixture was still a dirty red-brown so I did use 3/4 of a bottle!)

For the cream cheese filling:
230g cream cheese
70g butter
300g icing sugar (I had to add a lot more as it went very runny when I added the sugar to the cheese/butter mix!)
2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190oC.  

Cut out a heart template and draw around it on baking paper to give you rows of evenly spaced hearts which fit your baking trays.  Place drawn side down on the trays.

Cream together the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the egg until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.  Blend in the vanilla.  In a separate bowl, sieve together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.  With the mixer on low speed, beat in about a third of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the buttermilk, beating each addition just until incorporated.  Repeat with another third of the flour mixture and the remaining buttermilk and then mix in the final third of dry ingredients.  Do not over beat.  Blend in the food colouring.

Transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large plain round tip.  (I didn't have one of these so just used the bag without a tip).  Pipe the batter onto the parchment paper using the heart tracings as a guide.  (Mine were a bit of a mess but came out OK in the end!)

Bake for 7-9 minutes or until the tops are set, rotating the baking sheets halfway through.  (I'd stick to the lower end of timing as mine were a little dense and dry, although I have to admit, I'm not sure how they're supposed to be as I've never eaten them before!)  Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets at least 10 minutes, until they can be easily transferred to a cooling rack.  Repeat with any remaining batter.  Allow cookies to cool completely before proceeding.

To make the cream cheese icing, cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes.  Mix in the vanilla extract.  Gradually beat in the icing sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth.

Transfer the frosting to a clean pastry bag fitted with a plain, round tip.  Pair the cookies up by shape and size.  Pipe frosting onto the flat-sided cookie of each pair, leaving the edges clear.  Sandwich the cookies together so the flat sides are facing each other and press gently to help the filling reach the edges.  

To store, refrigerate in an airtight container.

Event report: Love

Our very first event went well on the 10th February with the theme of Love.  There were four of us in the end and we had some yummy bakes to nibble and had a great time chatting over a cuppa or two.

We had an amazing red velvet cake baked by Laura D:

 Amy Mc made a lovely Strawboffee pie (an interesting twist on banoffee which really works!):

And I made red velvet whoopie pies:

Rose also came along but didn't have time to bake, although she did bring us some cute heart table decorations!

We had a lovely evening and can't wait for the next event!  If you'd like to join us, just sign up to the blog emails or keep an eye on our Facebook page for details!