Cranberry Scones with Devonshire Cream.

Crusty on the outside and a perfect texture on the inside...not at all a crumbly mess.

With this cool weather of heavy rain daily, it makes me feel like having hot tea with pastries fresh from the Oven. Today I had a craving for Cranberry Scones. There was some left over sour cream and heavy cream available in the fridge so it was perfect to make some scones. I really should do this more often...the family loved it! It was crusty on the outside but a perfect texture on the inside... tasted deliciously creamy. It's the perfect tea or breakfast serve when you want something that's fresh and hot from the oven....so simple and easy to make...quite fast to prepare. 

Ingredients :

• 2 1/4 cups plain flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar ( I used castor sugar)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (cut it into 1/4 inch cubes)
• 1/2 cup dried currents or cranberries ( I used cranberries)
• 1 cup heavy cream ( I used 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup sour cream)

Method :

• Preheat the oven to 450° F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
• Mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Use a pastry blender, or your fingertips and quickly cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. (This can also be done in a food processor with 8-10 one-second pulses.)  I JUST USED MY FINGERTIPS :)
• Stir in the currants. Stir in the cream with a rubber spatula until the dough begins to form, about 30 seconds.
• Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead the dough by hand 5-6 times just until it comes together. Gently pat the dough into a 9-inch circle and cut into 8 wedges. I WANTED A FAST JOB SO I JUST MIXED A LITTLE EXTRA FLOUR TO GET A NICE NON STICKY TEXTURE AND PULLED OUT EVEN AMOUNTS OF DOUGH AND SHAPED IT WITH A TWIST. 
• Place on an ungreased baking sheet. (The scones can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to 2 hours.) 
• Bake for 15 to 18 minutes OR until golden brown. MY OVEN TOOK ABOUT 20 MINUTES TO DO THE JOB.
• Cool on the pan on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes. 
• Serve warm or at room temperature with jam and butter or devonshire cream. 

Scones served with Strawberry Jam and Devonshire Cream.

I had more sour cream and heavy cream to spare so I decided to make Devonshire Cream/Clotted Cream, to go with the scones instead of just butter and jam.

Recipe for Devonshire Cream :

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon powdered sugar (or more). I used 1 tablespoon castor sugar.
• 3/4 cup sour cream

Method :

• Whip cream until soft peaks form; then add sugar and whip to incorporate.
• Add sour cream and continue beating just until fluffy and well-combined.

Strawberry Jam and Devonshire Cream. 

Tip : You do not have to follow the conventional Round or wedge shape for scones...be creative and make any fun shape ....perhaps heart shape, stars...etc.


Have a fun time baking and eating! :)

xoxoxoxo

Nur

Chocolate Cream Cheese Tarts.

First time making these mini cream cheese tarts. As you can see from the picture below, I filled the center with the chocolate cream cheese.  Really very easy to make...and if you are lazy to make your own tart cases, just buy a pack of 10 or more from the bakery supply shop.

Aesthetic wise..not so great...but ok I guess for a first trial run. Taste wise..mmmm....Deeeelicious! I love baking and cooking,....and no matter what the end result, it keeps me satisfied and happy. Baking and cooking truly de stresses me.........it was a fast 'pick me up' mood cure after a week of feeling down in the dumps!

Ice cream puddings

This is a great dessert to have at home and is so easy to make.
This one with strawberries was Inspired from Women's Weekly magazine.
You can make any flavour with any fruit of your choice...to suit individual taste!

Ingredients :

- Use i kg pound cake - either bake your own or buy the ready mix.
- 1/4 cup strawberry jam.
- 1 litre qood quality vanilla ice cream.
- strawberries, sliced.
- 60gm dark chocolate, melted to decorate.
- extra halved strawberries to decorate

Method :

1. Line 6 metal moulds (3/4 cup capacity) with plastic wrap. Slice cake lenghtwise into 3 pieces. Using a large cookie cutter, cut 2 rounds from each piece of cake, large enough to cover top of each mould.
2. Brush one side of each cake round with 2 tabsp jam.
3. Slightly soften icecream in large bowl. Stir in remaining jam.
4. Position strawberries around the side of each mould.
5. Spoon the icecream into moulds, pressing down gently with spatula.
6. Top with cake rounds, jam side down.
7. Cover and freeze overnight or until firm.
8. Remove puddings from moulds. Decorate or drizzle with melted chocolate and halved strawberries.

Enjoy!

**It's the first time I am posting to blog from my iphone. Curious to see the outcome. Just love my gadgets!!

Xoxoxoxo
Nur

Ombre Cake

Ombre - 3 shades of purple.

3 different shades of purple batter to be baked.

The finished cake.

Oreo Cupcakes.

Topped with  buttercream frosting and sprinkled with crushed oreo.

Oreo cupcakes in the making. 

All baked, cooled and ready for the frosting. 

Ready for pick up.

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganach and Buttercream Rosettes.

The chocolate cake had a twist to it's deco...I was itching to try something new. 

I applied 2 layers of frosting..the first being a chocolate ganache and then the outer layer was buttercream Rossettes which I color sprayed with Wilton Color Mist....I used a combination of red and pink. The lower end of the cake was covered with crushed oreos :) 

The Color Sprayed Buttercream Rossette.

Rich much? On contrary! It was a hit at the lunch do we were invited to and someone even commented that it was mind blowing....whoooweeee...happiness!

Next post coming up soon....Oreo cupcakes... :)

Brownies

Chewy Chocolate Brownies.

These are brownies which were made for Katty's canteen day last year.

The chewy brownies were easy enough to slice and kept a firm outer crust.

I drizzled some melted cooking chocolate over each slice to give it a more exciting look for the kids. 

Red Velvet Bars

Few days back I tried a different variation to the Red Velvet cake or cupcake. I changed and improvised the recipe to be more of a Fudge or brownie of sorts without changing the taste yet the texture was heavier and compact like a brownie. Topped with cream cheese frosting .... really superb when it is eaten chilled. 

I know it looks really really red and so you must be thinking that it has that yuckky chemical taste of the coloring. On the CONTRARY. Instead of putting so much liquid coloring....try using a better quality gel color mixed with the liquid or on it's own.

Chocolate Cake with Ruffled Buttercream

Yes, I have started taking orders again for almost all cakes and cupcakes but not chocolates or the elaborate fondant cakes just yet. All fondant orders will commence again after March 2013. For orders of any other cake, please contact me via email or sms.

Dark Chocolate Cake Ruffled with Buttercream

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Ready Red Velvet cupcakes with Cream Cheese topping

Red Velvet cupcakes before the cheese topping.

Health is the Ultimate Prize.

One of the things I come back to again and again in my conversations with family and friends is that there should never be a price set on health.  

If you can spend your money on one thing in this life, Spend it on health….on GOOD NUTRITION….because with good nutrition you have a healthy body, healthy mind and beautiful skin. People fail to understand that when they compromise on a complete and wholesome nutrition, they only end up paying out more and more money for doctors fees and medication/drugs for all kinds of health problems. Now…after 4 months, I am confident enough to say that Herbalife is the nutrition for me....it really works. My skin looks better…my aches and pains of years have all improved tremendously and best of all…no more insomnia. I sleep like a baby now and feel well rested when I wake. Even the most negative member of the family is now taking it :-) after seeing the amazing results it has on the other family members.  Health is, in a sense, the ultimate prize.

Contact me for a free health scan.

xxoxoxo

Nur

The past weekend has been the start of great change in my life...and the past 3 weeks have been an amazing period and it will be a wonderful journey of Health, Happiness, Motivation and yes, even Wealth! I have been Obese for simply too many years and I put on even more weight when I was in Europe. I could not enter a number of my clothes after returning home. It's just a start but I lost 2kg in a week and I am gradually losing more and more because I can now enter my old clothes and I will gradually but surely move towards my desired goal and target of weight loss and the bonus of it all is that my ailments also have improved tremendously. I feel GOOD. I have tried so many things in the past 20 years and nothing worked but now, I finally found a nutrition which really works to keep me healthy with guaranteed weight loss and the bonus is it keeps me Happy and motivated without starving and without even exercise! The amazing thing is that it has all the right balanced nutrients in it and with that it somehow has some effect on my happy hormones to keep me motivated and uplifted too.  I will post my progress regularly on my sweetsharings blog as a documented journal of results. 

Mediterranean Tuna Spaghetti :

- Sweet Sharings -: 
Mediterranean Tuna Spaghetti - Click for Recipe

Mediterranean tuna spaghetti.  This Mediterranean tuna spaghetti recipe features a quick tomato sauce that bursts with flavor.  Serves 4 ...

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Enjoy! 

nur diyanah magness

sweetsharings.com

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Check out all tips at my Sweet Sharings Blog!

Tease post on Cupcakes - everything you need to know to bake perfect cupcakes. | - Sweet Sharings -

Later today I will be posting the tips on Sweet Sharings Blog :

Cupcakes - Everything you need to know to bake perfect cupcakes. | - Sweet Sharings -

Tips for Baking Perfect Brownies

Tips for Baking Perfect Brownies

Click the above link to view the post on my Sweet Sharings Blog :)

The Proper way to Sear and Braise Meat

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Click the above link to view the post on my Sweet Sharings blog :)

SWEET SHARINGS BLOG

Dear Readers,

For those who wish to follow or get updates on Sweet Sharings Blog, please follow from the Sweet Sharings page itself because it's updates will not show on KakeKraft Blog. Due to encouragement and coaxing of friends, I will be keeping sweet sharings alive with posts on a regular basis. Thank You for reading my humble postings....some of which are originally mine and some of which are shared from other sites as good info or for motivational purposes.
xoxoxox.

Nur

Closed till further Notice.

Not taking any Orders or conducting Classes till further Notice.
Apologies for the inconvenience caused.
Thank You...

Nur Diyanah

April Wilton Course 1

Students busy with their Master Creations

Congratulations

One of the most fun classes. Thank You and Congratulations ladies and Izzudin :)
Sadly Alex had to be in China for a meeting so he will have to make up for the last 2 classes before graduating.