Sunday Sundaes!

There's a slight chance you may have picked up on this already, but I have a BIG sweet tooth. To my mind, there's simply nothing better than a fat slice of squidgy chocolate cake, or a hot, sweet fruit crumble, topped with a big scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream. Watching the ice cream melt, swirling itself into the syrupy fruit is one of the greatest pleasures, and my life would be far poorer without it.

Unfortunately, my somewhat excessive craving for such sweet delicacies has had a noticeable impact on my waistline and is forcing me in the direction of cutting back (cutting out is simply not an option). With that in mind, I hereby invoke 'Sunday Sundaes'. In other words, cut out treats during the week and have a (small) delicious ice cream sundae for Sunday night pudding.

One of the key benefits of this is that the temptation of something so sinful should, I hope, be enough to dissuade me from treats during the week, AND it means I get to bake something to include. This week, it was ginger and dark chocolate cookies, as I needed to adjust the recipe anyway. But this time, I made them BIG (about the size of a roll of sellotape)!!

To make an ultra-delicious combination, crumble a cookie into the bottom of a sundae bowl, add 2 scoops of ice cream (I chose Sainsbury's own-brand Red Berry & Pistachio, and Vanilla), and raspberry or strawberry sauces. SO good!!

Et voila! Sundae Sundays!

Fancy trying this yourself? Chocolate and ginger cookies now available to purchase. Just send me a message through Facebook or email me at thebuttercupbaker@gmail.com.

Have a great week!

Catering For A Coeliac

Recently, I've seen that the Come Dine With Me team are looking for contestants in my local area. Personally, I think I would have to be completely cuckoo-for-cocoa-pops to enter,  but it did get me to thinking about how stressful it must be for a stranger to the condition to have to cater for a coeliac. Not to mention the stress for a coeliac of eating out of a kitchen that handled gluten every day.

With that in mind, if you find yourself in the unenviable position of catering for a coeliac without any prior knowledge of how to do so safely, here's what you need to know.

1. A Coeliac Must Have NO Gluten Whatsoever

Coeliac disease is an auto-immune condition where consuming gluten (a protein found in wheat, barley, oats and rye) causes damage to the lining of the small intestine. This damage causes malnutrition and can increase the risk of various cancers AND diabetes type 2. And if you're thinking that surely a little bit must be okay, go grab some sand and pull out a grain. See how tiny it is? That is how much it takes to cause damage to a coeliac. It will also provoke some serious digestive pyrotechnics in most coeliacs, so if you value your bathroom, look after the coeliac!

2. It's More Difficult Than Just Not Giving Them Bread

Oh yes, this is where it gets fun, folks! See, gluten is in all the obvious places; bread, pasta, cake, biscuits, blah, blah, blah. But those crafty manufacturers sneak it into ready-made sauces, chocolate bars, ice creams, herbs and spices, even cheese! Basically, cooking for a coeliac means you are committing to checking EVERYTHING you give them. And I do mean everything. Some companies pack ground pepper out with flour. But all is not lost. Labelling laws mean that every product produced within the EU for human consumption MUST state if there is wheat or gluten on the packaging. So, check the ingredients and the allergy warnings. If you don't see 'gluten' or 'wheat' listed, you're good to go.

Notice the allergens are listed in bold on some products

3. Avoiding Cross-Contamination Means Being Very Thorough

So, you have all the ingredients and now you're ready to start cooking. My advice would be to start by cleaning down everything that your coeliac guest's food will come into contact with and certain things must NEVER be shared. So, you've bought gluten free bread for your coeliac? Get a new butter at the same time, so you don't risk transferring crumbs. Sounds silly, but my husband has accidentally 'glutened' me before by handling the butter with his crumb-covered hands, which I then transferred to my toast unknowingly when I picked up the butter. Yes, it's that easy.

Use a freshly cleaned chopping board. Make sure everything is spotless. Don't share a toaster. EVER. If you need to toast something, put foil over the grill pan and stick it under the grill. And if at all possible, cook the coeliac's food first, so you don't have to worry about washing your hands a thousand times. If you have to oven-cook things, either put the coeliac's food in at the top and the gluten-containing food at the bottom or, if possible, use a separate oven. Cook pasta in a separate pan, well away from 'normal' pasta.

Never give a coeliac butter or spreads that have been used by non-coeliacs

4. Don't Make A Fuss About How Much Trouble It's Caused You

I feel like this is an important point to make. A coeliac isn't following a fad diet. They aren't 'choosing' to avoid gluten. So please just let them be another guest at the meal and don't tell them how difficult it was for you. I've eaten places before where the host has complained repeatedly about having to cater for me. If a coeliac had a non-coeliac round for dinner, it would require the same level of attention to avoid making themselves ill in the process or afterwards, so please give them a break. They would LOVE to be less of a bother to you, believe me.

And that's it for today's lesson, folks! Please remember that if you ever have any questions about catering for a coeliac, or if you're a coeliac concerned about being catered for by a friend or family member and you'd like some advice, you can email me, at thebuttercupbaker@gmail.com.

Happy munching!

The Importance of Being Bakers

Yesterday was a pretty bad day.

A sort-of friend made some comments, to my face, that strongly implied I am a boring person. Although I'm sure it wasn't said to be hurtful, it cut close to the bone, re-igniting 20 years of insecurity over that very issue, made worse because he is far from the first person to hint at my less-than-sparkling personality and lack of ability to have 'fun'.

Once I'd stopped crying (yes, I really am that pathetic), I was cast into some serious self-reflection, the result of which was that I realised...he's right. Bookish from an age at which most other children hadn't fully learned to read, I've never really been the bubbly, party-going, clubbing, sky-diving sort of girl, and the truth is that it's okay. While I'm not the first person my friends will call when they want a fun Saturday night out, I am often the first person they turn to when the shit hits the fan. My innately serious nature, and an awful lot of years of personal analysis, means I'm able to empathise and offer advice, if and when it is needed. 

Spending so much time at home also means I've been able to devote a lot of time to baking, and that skill is never more important to me than when a friend is hurting. Because while partying the night away may be a more fun way to spend your time, for most people at least, nothing soothes a broken heart as well as a great slice of cake, or a piece of creamy cheesecake, or the chewy munchiness of a freshly baked cookie. Even in the happiest of times, a home-baked gift warms the heart and lifts the soul.

And that is why being a baker is so important. We mark the highs and lows in people's lives; we console broken hearts and we help them celebrate momentous occasions like birthdays and marriages. Being able to do that for the people I care about fills me with happiness, even if, ultimately, it is at the expense of being perceived as 'fun'.

First attempt at a hen-party cake (for my sister)

Carrot cake for anniversary

My husband and I, out for a meal at Carluccio's

Back to the kitchen and Chococcino cupcakes

Why hello there, thanks for stopping by!

Long time no see and I'm sorry about that because I actually really love doing this blog. It's been a long time since my last post because things haven't really gone so well with our bathroom renovation. It means that really, my only foray into the kitchen in the last couple of weeks has been to make numerous cups of tea and coffee, and to throw some stuff on toast. Inspiring, I'm sure you'll agree!

Currently, our bathroom still looks like this:

As you can see, it's still a little like a war-zone, but the good news is that with tiles finally hitting the walls (thankfully, NOT at speed and with appropriate levels of tile adhesive), the worse of it is sorted and enough progress has been made that I can return to the kitchen. Hooray! To celebrate, I made a batch of double chocolate chunk pecan cookies for a friend going through a difficult time, andd a carrot cake for my parents for their anniversary meal dessert.

But today, I got to experiment again (yay!) and I started with the NEED to do something with coffee. Lately, I have become something of a coffee-fiend and I simply cannot get enough of it. Which is bad, by the way, as I have a preference for lattes that requires a lot of milk and sugar, but never mind. But moving swiftly on, I was eager to find a way to incorporate coffee into something, so I've worked out chococcino cupcakes - a rich, devil's food sponge but with a good deal of coffee in there as well, then topped with coffee buttercream and a dusting of cocoa powder. Soon, I intend to turn it into a big cake as well, which WILL be available for purchase.

So here we are - gluten free chococcino cupcakes!