Author Archive | Rasa Pelham

Happy marriage cake

By Rasa Pelham on July 25, 2015 in Recipes, Sweet Treats, Travel

Happy marriage cake it is not a made up name for a cake, it’s a traditional Icelandic name for rhubarb jam tart. I first tried this cake on an airplane (a location not generally associated with fine patisserie, but I was craving something sweet) and I was’t impressed. But I saw potential in this cake and I knew that I could make it taste moist and wholesome. After all this cake needed to live up to it’s wonderful name!For the filling I have made a strawberry and rhubarb jam because I wanted it in pink colour and I was never able to get that colour just from rhubarb (I don’t know how other bakers do it?!). I added oatmeal to the crust as that seemed traditional for this cake.HAPPY MARRIAGE CAKE

(for the filling)

220g rhubarb, chopped
120g strawberries
150g sugar

(for the crust)

200g butter, softened
130g sugar
2 egg yolks
85g oats
170g flour
1tsp cinnamon

1. Make the jam filling first. Place the chopped rhubarb, strawberries and sugar into a small pan and bring to the boil (splash some water to begin with so it does burn). Cook for about 10-15 minutes until the mixture is thick and jammy. You then can puree the mixture with the hand processor if you prefer smooth texture.

2. Make a crust dough by creaming butter with sugar till it is light and fluffy. Gradually add egg yolks, oats, flour and cinnamon and mix everything to combine.

3. Spread the crust dough at the bottom and sides of lined baking tin reserving small amount for later. 4. Pour the jam filling into the dough. Dot the remaining crust over the top. Bake the cake in the preheated 180C for 25-35 minutes. Happy weekend everyone!

Rasa xoxo

Iceland!

By Rasa Pelham on July 20, 2015 in Inspiration, Outdoors, Travel

This is probably going to be the loooongest post I have ever posted, but there is so much to see! Our holidays in Iceland turned out to be breathtaking (at least for me) even if it was only for four days. I can honestly confirm that Icelandic scenery is completely out of this world. No wonder there were so many movies filmed here! I hope the pics below speak for themselves (especially the pic of never ending lupin field). Waterfalls were definitely one of the signature Icelandic features. Thyme that grows in Iceland! After seeing fields of lava, moss, lupin and greenery we were wondering where Icelandic people grow their veg? We got our answer after visiting one of the green house farms. Due to short summers, green houses are the way to go and because of cheap electricity due to volcanic nature here in Iceland the lighting and heating does not cost very much. Plus they have these very friendly bumble bees to pollinate the plants :-). Geysir springs were breathtaking, although very stinky! It definitely gave me few heart jumps when they exploded all unexpectedly. Glacier lagoon is another place that I loved, although it was a very cold experience. Turns out the icebergs are white/bluish from the outside because of the sun and all clear under. I love seasides and this one is exceptionally amazing! Black and white, who would have thought it exist?Me and Joni celebrated our 1st Wedding anniversary that day as well :-). Reykjavik from the church tower perspective…. And the last, but not least is the Blue lagoon. This was my main reason why I wanted to visit Iceland! I hope you are inspired to visit Iceland :-)

Rasa xx

Holidaying in Lithuania :-)

By Rasa Pelham on July 16, 2015 in Lithuanian, Travel

We just came back from our long long holidays in Lithuania and Iceland (this is why I was so silent for couple of weeks). More holiday pics to follow, but for now here are the pics from our Lithuanian adventure with Nicola (my sister) and Chris :-). First we have visited my Granny, than the forest in Kuršių Nerija National Park… …than the seaside with dunes.Rasa xoxo

June favourites

By Rasa Pelham on June 30, 2015 in Updates

June have been very exciting, mostly because we have finally decided to sell our house in London. We are hoping to settle in Bedford and buy a bigger house here. I am so looking forward to new DIY adventure (this time I am definitely blogging about it here)! Since we started the buying process I can’t think of nothing else than home deco. We have visited some family in Bristol recently and stayed in this lovely Airbnb Georgian house. I just loved the the combination of vintage deco with modern and very Mediterranean looking Montpelier neighbourhood. Sadly it was raining when we were leaving and the pictures here do not do it justice :-(. We also celebrated Joni’s 31st birthday this month (yey!). We spend the whole weekend in Mudeford (still can’t get out of my head the image of those cute little beach huts!). For this occasion I baked and made raspberry trifle cake.Thanks for letting me share. Happy July!

Rasa xoxo

Joni’s birthday trifle cake

By Rasa Pelham on June 27, 2015 in Cake decorating, Let's Celebrate!, Recipes, Summery, Sweet Treats

I know this might be a bit delayed, but I thought I will share what cake I baked for Joni’s birthday. This year Joni wanted a trifle (he mentioned that long time ago), but as you may all know it’s a difficult one to transport (We celebrated the birthday in Mudeford). I instantly thought I of making a cake version of trifle dessert! I decided to use a basic sponge as a base and lady fingers holding the cake’s shape (hence me experiments of baking lady fingers last week). Basically the aim was to make an edible dish if you know what I mean ;-). The result was great, however if I made this again, I would have filled it with more filling (the recipe edited accordingly). Unfortunately I wasn’t prepared for such a large trifle “dish” :-D. Here it’s how I got on… RASPBERRY TRIFLE CAKE

(for the sponge)

225g butter
225g sugar
4 eggs
225g plain flour
2tsp baking powder

(for the filling)

500g mascarpone and 500g fresh custard mixed together
100ml sweet fruity liquor (such as cherry or blackberry liquor)
500g or more raspberries, drizzled with 2 tbsp elderflower cordial and lightly mashed

(extras)

lady fingers, enough to cover the cake sides (try baking your own or just buy them ready baked)

1. Bake the sponge. Cream butter with sugar then gradually add eggs, flour and baking powder. Mix everything to combine well. Spoon the cake mixture into lined round baking tin and bake it in the preheated 180C oven for 45min or so.

2. Once the sponge has cooled I have cut the top away with the knife. The reason for this was so there would be no “hill” caused by the rising cake and because I did not want the crust stopping the sponge from absorbing the liquor.3. Next I have arranged the lady fingers around the sponge base sides. I used a bit of filling cream to make them stick. I tied the ribbon to fix everything in place.4. Layer the filling! Started with the cream layer then the raspberries (then the cream and raspberries again and so on), just because I thought cream would seal the sides better and stop the raspberry juice running through the lady finger gaps. Chill the trifle cake in the fridge before serving. Enjoy!

Rasa xoxo

Joni’s Birthday/Fathers Day weekend in Mudeford + Christ Church

By Rasa Pelham on June 24, 2015 in Let's Celebrate!, Outdoors, Travel, Updates

Last weekend we celebrated Joni’s Birthday and Father’s Day in beautiful Mudeford (+ Christ Church town). It was great to spend some time with the amazing Pelham family. I will leave the pics to explain themselves ;-). Have a great the rest of the week!

Rasa xoxo

Poppyseed lady fingers

By Rasa Pelham on June 19, 2015 in Cake decorating, Recipes, Sweet Treats

I decided to try and bake these crispy and light biscuits because I had few ideas on cake decorating with it (although they may not look suitable for decorating yet). Lady fingers (so they called) taste quite plain, but because of it’s consistency they are perfect for making fresh summer desserts such as very famous tiramisu. This is my first time making these macaroon like biscuits and I am quite pleased with the outcome even if they did not come in the perfect uniform shape (more practicing needed I guess!). Overall I prefer these to compare to shop bought as they taste better and it can be custom made such as these – with poppyseed!

POPPYSEED LADY FINGERS makes about 24 lady fingers

2 eggs, separated
70g caster sugar
55g plain flour
2 tbsp poppyseed
a pinch baking powder (for cheating)

1. First whisk the egg white. Make sure eggs are in room temperature before whisking. Add 2 tbsp sugar into egg whites gradually while whisking. Well whisked egg whites should be stiff and shiny. 2. In separate bowl whisk egg yolks with the reminder sugar untill pale and creamy. Gradually fold in egg white as well as flour mix (with poppyseed and baking powder) till everything is well incorporated.

3. Next, transfer the mixture into the piping bag. On lined baking tray pipe 1 cm thick and 5cm long lady fingers. My first batch was unsuccessful as I piped 2 cm thick and too close together (these biscuits do expand when baking!). Bake in preheated C200 oven for 10-15min. Very important not to under-bake as they need to come out crispy and not spongy! Let it cool for further 10 min or so while on baking sheets.My second batch looked better, but practicing is still needed as some are still wonky :-D. Hope my experience with these helps you ;-)

Rasa xoxo

Crochet this lacy crop top

By Rasa Pelham on June 11, 2015 in Crochet, Summery

I finally finished crocheting this lacy crop top that I originally was making for spring. The weather wise it’s perfect! June this year feels more like April :-D. However this top doesn’t fit me any longer (hence my new bump)…

So last weekend I met up with my sister in London, she was more than happy to model my new creation. Here is how it looks on non-pregnant woman :-). If you are interested to make one yourself the pattern is here! Thanks for letting me share ;-)

Rasa xoxo

Orange and white chocolate cake with raspberries

By Rasa Pelham on June 5, 2015 in Errors, Recipes, Sweet Treats

As I am writing this post I am munching on this cake for breakfast. It’s actually not such a big disaster after all as it taste quite nice. However there are few things I would do differently now.

One year ago, on my hen do I tasted a very similar cake and I promised to myself to recreate it. So this is how I got on…For the sponge I chose a gluten free option (I am on trial now to find out if I am actually gluten intolerant), very similar to this chocolate orange cake. I boiled three pealed oranges and pureed them. Whisked 375g sugar with 9 eggs (I know I am CRAZY!!!). Then I added pureed orange, 375g ground almonds, 2tsp baking powder and mixed everything until mixture became well incorporated. I divided the cake mixture into lined baking tins and baked them in 180C oven for 1hour. The cakes came out great, but If I did it again I would have added orange zest into the mixture as well to make it more orangey (you know what I mean!). I made pastry cream for the filling (my first time ever making it!!). I followed this recipe from BBC food, so it must be trustworthy. However I think I poured hot milk into egg mixture too quick, because I could still taste the egg in it (only slightly). I spooned the pastry cream on the bottom cake and decorated it with raspberries. Yum!Finally I have covered pastry cream and raspberries with the second cake. I covered the top of the cake with white chocolate glaze (or ganache some may call it) that was obviously too thin and runny. This is where I messed up most! I followed my original dark chocolate glaze recipe here which worked on so many occasions. I guess with white chocolate I need to add more of it to compare to dark chocolate glaze cream:chocolate ratio. Maybe 200g of white chocolate into 90ml double cream? Hope my mistakes helped :-)

Rasa xoxo

May favourites

By Rasa Pelham on June 1, 2015 in Updates

It’s June already so essentially you could call it summer, but somehow it doesn’t feel like summer :(. Although I do believe it will come soon! For now I thought I will share my May favourites.

First I was addicted to strawberries (I guess thats what baby wants and needs :-D). No wonder I ate almost one pack of strawberries almost every day! I finally tried making a clotted cream from scratch so I could have my strawberry filled cream tea. Click here to see how it went.I finished my favourite book of the year (“Two Caravans” by Marina Lewycka), the next book “Sense and Sensibility” is quite challenging (did not start it yet as I find old language difficult to understand and therefore off-putting). I absolutely loved this refreshing chilled cucumber soup, I wish warm days come soon so I can have it for every lunch (well, almost).I finished crocheting my crop top, although a little late :-(. It is making me look a bit… well… fat, because it is loose and look wide on my new bump. This made me realise the importance of highlighting the bump when pregnant as the risk of looking fat is very high!Have a fun June!

Rasa xoxo

Easy rhubarb and almond cake squares

By Rasa Pelham on May 30, 2015 in Recipes, Sweet Treats

Apparently rhubarb is in season (how would I know, I no longer have my garden to refer to) and my mum started using it in her bakes. This very simple rhubarb and almond cake is very popular. My mum says that a lot of people are already asking for the recipe. So today I thought I will try. After baking this cake I can confirm that it is very easy and uncomplicated to make. Although I did find it little tart (maybe a little bit too tart). So do try it out and be generous with sugar since it’s very low in fat (no butter or oil found).

RHUBARB AND ALMOND CAKE SQUARES

3 eggs
1 cup icing sugar/125g icing sugar (I used 225g golden caster sugar) + some for dusting
1 cup plain flour/125g plain flour
450-500g rhubarb stalks
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used one vanilla pod seeds instead)
3-5 tbsp almond flakes

1. Whisk eggs with sugar till pale.

2. Add flour, finely chopped rhubarb and vanilla extract. Mix everything to combine well. 3. Empty the cake mixture into lined baking tin. Scatter almond flakes all over the top.

4. Bake in preheated 180C oven for 40-50min. Check if the cake is baked with the skewer (it should come out clean).

5. Let the cake cool before slicing it into squares. Remember to dust it generously with icing sugar! Enjoy!

Rasa xoxo

My maternity wear wish list

By Rasa Pelham on May 26, 2015 in Maternity, Updates

According to my pregnancy apps today I am half way in my pregnancy (as difficult as it is to believe it!!). Although I look like I just ate a really good breakfast (don’t look very pregnant at all), I no longer fit into my regular jeans :-(. I tried the rubber band trick on the jeans to fit my new shape (pic above), but that only worked for few weeks or so. After that I had a phase of wearing dresses only. Right now I am a proud owner of two pairs of maternity jeans! I initially planned to make some alterations to my existing jeans, but then realised I did not have any not-so-liked jeans that I could risk and destroy.

So far I have two lovely maternity dresses (one from Mothercare and one from M&S), very comfy boyfriend cut jeans and super good looking skinny jeans. I am thinking I need to get nice shorts as well, but not too sure if it will be practical since I will be wearing them maximum for two months…Would love to own this so-it-seems-very-versatile black dress even if it’s a little pricy. I am also in love with this so-my-style dress, however a bit not sure about it’s length. Maybe I should make my own? And the last but not least, I am thinking I will need lots of basic vests. Can’t go wrong with them, can you?

Hope you have a great week and remember it is shorter then other weeks ;-)

Rasa xoxo

Making clotted cream from scratch

By Rasa Pelham on May 22, 2015 in English, Homemade

Had a very tiring week (maybe it’s a baby thing). Really glad that it’s a bank holiday weekend!

Few months ago or so my mum was asking for the recipe for the “butter” that she tasted once with the “fruit cake” during her visit in England. It took me a while to figure out what she meant (could that be brandy butter?). Anyways it turns out it was the fruit scones with clotted cream. We obviously don’t have clotted cream in Lithuania so I said there is no recipe for it… until my mum in law told me it’s quite easy to make. So there we go, I finally decided to try it out and make it from scratch. I researched a little bit and it seemed that Nigella Lawson clotted cream recipe is most genuine, however it needed milk so I decided to go with the simpler ones such as this or this. I was hoping for thick gooey texture with the yellow “crust” on top. So I definitely did not like this or this. At the end of my loooong experiment I got something like mascarpone, which is alright, but not perfect :(. Could that be because I used pasteurised cream? It did not say if it was ultra pasteurised I swear!So what I did was I got a pot of double cream from Tesco (300ml pot) and poured it into shallow casserole dish. I covered it and placed it into 90C preheated oven for about 8hours (I wonder how much energy did that use!). After “baking” the cream looked like soft cheese, a little bit like mascarpone without any liquid or milk behind it. But it tasted wonderful with the scones! Will have to try making the clotted cream (hopefully from unpasteurised cream) in Lithuania. But I would never make it again in UK when clotted cream is so easily available in shops. Have a lovely weekend!

Rasa x

Clean-out-the-cupboard granola

By Rasa Pelham on May 16, 2015 in Break-the-fast, Organisation, Recipes

Once in the blue moon I like to organise my cupboard so it is easy to find stuff I need. The cupboard gets usually cluttered with small random packages of of seeds, nuts and dry fruits (all that just from trying many baking recipes). But once in the while I feel like cleaning it all out by using it up on one something big. That tends to be granola!I must admit that granola is not the healthiest breakfast item (even though some people consider it to be on the healthy side), but it so tasty! It transforms a very boring yogurt and fruit into something more pudding like. And it is soooo useful when you run out of your regular cereal!So here is what you can use up and how to make your Clean-out-the-cupboard granola…

CLEAN-OUT-THE CUPBOARD GRANOLA

500g oat flakes (or any other flakes, I used barley flakes here)
450g seeds, nuts and fruits (will try to mention as much as I can remember):
- sunflower seeds
- poppy seeds
- sesame seeds
- pumpkin seeds
- hazel nuts, chopped
- walnuts, chopped
- pecan nuts, chopped
- almond flakes
- coconut flakes
- raising
- apricots, chopped
- dried cranberries
- dried mango, chopped
200ml coconut oil (or any other oil that does not taste strong and overpowering)
300g honey (or golden syrup or brown caster sugar)
1/2 tsp salt
spices (I used 1tsp cinnamon, but you can use ground cloves, nutmeg or few tbsp cocoa power)

1. Place all ingredients (except dried fruit if using) into the pot and “cook” it on the low heat for 5-10min till honey disappeared into the mixture and everything is well combined.2. Now spread the mixture onto large baking tray (use two trays if possible so it bakes evenly) and bake it in 180C oven for 30-40min. Check granola every 15 min to check if it’s not burning and mix it to turn around. Add dried fruits 20min before the finish. The granola should be golden colour, it will become crunchy once it cools down.3. Once it cools down store it in jars and enjoy it with yogurt (or milk) and fruits. Have a lovely weekend!

Rasa xoxo

A year with books: “Two Caravans” Review

By Rasa Pelham on May 12, 2015 in Book worm

It’s only May and I’ve finished reading my third book (I am already half way)! My reading routine became so enjoyable these days that I fall into book more often than planned. Although the other books I read were quite amazing, I enjoyed reading “Two Caravans” the most. I just wonder what would english person would think of this book as it is written from the immigrant point of view and their adventures in England.

What I like about it? Practically everything! Like in Dawn French books Marina Lewycka lets the characters to tell the story themselves. Only it is much easer to read as the foreign accent is not literally used here, but instead the words are written in eastern european or african grammar and way of speaking (depending on the character of course).

I loved the story: fast flowing and adventurous, full of unexpected surprises! There were so many times I literally shouted out “What?”, “Wow!” and laughed out load while reading this book. It was slightly romantic as well and showed how man and women have completely different view about a lot of things. It was good to learn and see how miscommunications can happen.

Because I am Lithuanian it was easy to relate to the story. I came to UK when 17 years old and quite naive so this story seem quite real to me (ok, maybe not up to that level, but I believe these things happens very often in UK).

What I did not like about it? Absolutely nothing.

Is it worth buying? Yes, yes yes and thousand times yes!Next I am going for a classic Jane Austen “Sense and Sensibility”. Looking forward!

Rasa xoxo

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Author Archive | Rasa Pelham

Happy marriage cake

Iceland!

Holidaying in Lithuania :-)

June favourites

Joni’s birthday trifle cake

Joni’s Birthday/Fathers Day weekend in Mudeford + Christ Church

Poppyseed lady fingers

Crochet this lacy crop top

Orange and white chocolate cake with raspberries

May favourites

Easy rhubarb and almond cake squares

My maternity wear wish list

Making clotted cream from scratch

Clean-out-the-cupboard granola

A year with books: “Two Caravans” Review