I have just finished baking and decorating Dexter's Birthday Cake!

Dexter is having a small birthday party tomorrow to celebrate his birthday with 4 of his friends from school.  I have baked him a cake just like he wanted.  He wanted a vanilla Victoria sponge cake filled with fresh fruit and in the colours of Barcelona!  This is what I came up with....

Top is whipped cream coloured blue and red and topped with strawberries on the red cream and blueberries on the blue cream

Inside has a thin layer of wild blueberry jam, whipped cream again and raspberries

Heaven on a plate every time....

Oh, my goodness, this is just a cake that is so yummy! It also makes a great stuffing for turkey (if you are interested, I will give you the recipe).....versatile, delicious and only 93 calories a slice - this is a cake I always will squeeze a space for. I dished it out this time, none of Anders sharing calculations with this one - ain't fallin' for it baby!!

Was a good girl though, only had 2 slices of pure jamaica ginger heaven with a nice cup of tea.......

Seems simple enough.......

Surprisingly enough, I don't actually crave sweet things...... that said, Anders asked "do you fancy sharing half a Reese's with me"? Mmmmm (both contemplating and thinking yum yum) quickly answered by "oh, ok then" - even the name makes you smile!

By sharing it turned out to be 2 cups for him and 1 cup for me!

Followed by the following explanation as to why he got 2 and I only got 1..........

......... seems simple enough?!!!!

What's your craving.... something a little bit spicy

Black Turtle Bean, Split Pea, Lentil & Barley Soup

w

Beef Ravioli

Ingredients: You will need Black Turtle Beans; (dried soup mix - split peas, lentils & barley); olive oil; 2 cloves of garlic; stock (I used beef & lamb stock); red wine (optional but goes well with the beef ravioli I think) and chilli, sea salt, black pepper and celery seeds (to your own taste).

The beef ravioli can of course be substituted for a different filling, and you can either buy these in or if you have the time make them yourself as they are easy to make but today I used ones I had bought in the supermarket and they were yummy!

To make this I would recommend you soak the dried pulses overnight - I did!

Cooking instructions: Place all of the beans and pulses into a pan with the olive oil and stock. Stock used should be enough to submerge to pulses and then half again (hope that makes sense?)

Bring to the boil and then simmer for around 20 minutes. Whilst simmering, add the garlic and seasoning.

You can of course have more liquid stock if you wish, but as we were having them with the ravioli, I wanted it to have a little bit of soup (almost consomme like thickness) to set off the ravioli.

About 10 minutes into the simmering time, boil another pan of water and once boiling, plonk in the ravioli which is ready when it floats.

Serve soup with ravioli placed in the middle. Drizzle with some more olive oil and add a sprig of flat leaf parsley or coriander to set it off.

except Yum Yum, and a thank you from Dexter & Anders for a nice dinner.

What's Your Craving, do you like it a little bit harder or stronger?! Oooo er Mrs!!!

Sweet & Lovely..... Two Girls & A Sailor -

Welcome to my cravings page, what's your vice!

Ooooo er Mrs!!!

--------------------------------------------------

Cooking Cherry Fudge of course, it is both sweet & lovely, just like me !!!

--------------------------------------------------

For Christmas 2009 year, one of my friends Jane cooked me some yummy Cherry Fudge. It was so yummy the whole box was consumed very quickly, it was just soooo good.

Inspired by my other friends blog, and her beautiful larder which proudly displayed on the top shelf (out of children's reach of course) I saw a lovely metal cream vibrating, pulsating and rotating gadget.

I know you are now blushing Laura and wondering

"what have I got on display on my top shelf"?

Don't! I have a big black shiny one... sadly it has not been used for a couple of months... but with this new found inspiration, I have taken mine out for a spin! What on earth could it be I hear you asking .....

..... my KITCHEN AID of course!!!

Here it is laid out in all its glory together with the ingredients for the following recipes (although the milk is not in the picture!)

So slap your thigh, hold onto yer hat and shout yee high as I am going to share it with you. Enjoy with a wee cup of tea and some of your friends and perhaps you might go onto share some more of your cravings.....

(oooo, this page could become quite interesting I think, saucy & kitch, just how I like it!!!)

The other inspiration for this section has to go to Rufus Wainwright & his song "Cigarettes & Chocolate", perhaps you could have this playing in the background as you make this and think about what other cravings you have ....

850g of granulated sugar
300 ml milk

125g butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

60g glace cherries, chopped

Put the milk into a heavy saucepan. Add the sugar ad the butter and heat the mixture slowly, stirring all the time until the sugar dissolves and the butter melts. Bring the mixture to the boil and cover the pan with a lid. Boil it for approx. 2 minutes and then uncover it. Without stirring, continue to boil the mixture steadily for about 10-15 minutes or until it reaches the soft-ball stage. Remove the mixture fro the heat, dip the base of the pan briefly in cold water, stir in the vanilla extract and leave it to cool to lukewarm. Beat the fudge until it loses its glossy appearance and is thick and creamy. Add the chopped glace cherries (or almonds/currents can be substituted if you are not a fan of cherries). Pour it into a greased (8 inch) square tin. Leave it to cool completely before marking it into 1 inch cubes.

I had mine with some Summertime Blend Tea which is meant to help with hayfever, what will you have yours with?

Yes indeed, what more can I say? For now anyway.....

and yes, after making the cherry fudge, this in my mind what I expect from Anders - I deserve it!!!

What's your craving.... why not share!

Sweet & Lovely..... Two Girls & A Sailor -

Welcome to my cravings page, what's your vice!

Ooooo er Mrs!!!

-------------------------------------------------------------

This is really an addition to my last one - Cherry Fudge

-------------------------------------------------------------

My neighbour has just discovered she is pregnant with her second child which is so nice. Having made my cherry fudge, I thought

"wouldn't it be nice to give her some by way of saying congratulations"?

This then made me think, how am I going to present it to her? A gift after all should always be nicely presented! And no I am not some domestic goddess (oh how only I and my husband & son wish, come to think of it, I wish my husband was a domestic god, but then again, if he were he would definitely not have married me - I am sure I am a goddess of something (to which my sister no doubt is cackling at the many suggestions (yes cackling is exactly what she will be doing))!

Well, what a great way to get rid of any nice crockery you have lying about but no longer use. Perhaps I could also become the Bree Van De Camp of Wysteria Lane when it comes to this type of thing!!!

Outcome in this case, turned out she is having a real sweet tooth craving so quite appropriately shared ....... what will my next craving be ?!