Forever Nigella #7 - Iced Dreams: London Cheesecake



I would love to participate in this event by making one of Nigella's ice creams, but unfortunately there is barely room in the freezer for a Cornetto never mind a whole tub of the good stuff. However an invite to a friend's BBQ last weekend presented a perfect opportunity to knock up one of my favourite Nigella chilled desserts instead, her lovely London cheesecake.

As far as I can tell this receipe is foolproof. I have made it many times and not experienced a disaster yet. In fact I dread to think how many slices of this I have eaten in the last few years. Best not to think about these things probably. The recipe comes from Domestic Goddess, but Nigella has kindly published it online as well:

http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/london-cheesecake-147

The cheesecake is lovely on its own, but I have added a few raspberries to mine for a more summery taste. These would also have worked well as a coulis drizzled on top.

Forever Nigella #7 is hosted by Arthi at Soul Curry, with the homepage belonging to Maison Cupcake. Pay them a visit to see more chilled and frozen Nigella treats.

Market Club, Rich Mix

Scrumptious Sally and I went along to Market Club at the Rich Mix Arts Centre this weekend, to set up a cake stall. Market Club is a Sunday session run by the Lake of Stars team, and features live music, table tennis and olympic sports. This month was the turn of fencing!

Olympic sports, but no Olympic athletes!

It was a truly grotty, rainy day and we were lucky to get the cake boxes from the car to the door without them getting soaked through. We thought that maybe the rain would send people indoors to hang out and buy cake, but it just seemed to keep them all at home. The combination of awful weather and the Lovebox festival down the road in Victoria Park meant that there weren't a lot of punters coming through the door. Lots of those that did come in bought cake, but we had baked far too much!

Scrumptious Sal's magnificent bundt cake

Still, the cakes were well received and we did sell some, though we may have eaten a few too many leftovers than is healthy since Sunday. We also had a great time at Market Club, which is a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon. My husband brought the kids along and they loved all the games on offer, as well as the music from Under the Driftwood Tree and Bobbie Gordon. They even had a go at fencing (in between cakes).

Market Club takes place every third Sunday of the month and is well worth a visit. 

Dinosaur Birthday Cake

Scrumptious Sally was with me when I made the first of these dinosaurs the other night and was amused to find me consulting books such as 'Dinosaurs Love Underpants' and 'Crunch Munch Dinosaur Lunch' for guidance, as opposed to reference books with more anatomically correct images. Perhaps if I had used a more grown up book for inspiration my husband (on his return from the pub) would not have mistaken my triceratops for Gromit the dog. Never mind, the birthday boy was happy and soon set about eating his favourite dinosaur. It always amazes me that kids would want to eat such a big lump of icing, but they invariably do.

Rich Chocolate and Pink Macaron Cake

I have seen a few pictures of macaron cakes around lately, mainly in pastel colours for weddings. Some of them are stunninng and certainly make an unusual and modern alternative for a wedding. Edd Kimber made one for the Great British Wedding Cake bake off in the Spring, using orange and gold macarons. My first attempt at a macaron cake was for a 30th birthday party. I baked a very rich chocolate cake using a favourite recipe from the BBC's Good Food web site, and decorated it with pretty pink macarons filled with raspberry buttercream.

Vanilla Frost Cake Stall

I will be joining up with Scrumptious Sally on the following dates to sell our cakes, cupcakes and brownies:

Sunday 17 July, Market Club, Rich Mix Arts Centre, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road

Sunday 4 September, Brentford Festival, Boston Manor Park, Brentford

Market Club not only offers delicious cakes but also live music and fencing. What more could you need on a Sunday afternoon? Hope to see lots of you there.