Derby and the Comic Relief Ice-Off

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Abi

Yesterday evening members of the Derby Makers group who are based at the Silk Mill Museum held an Ice-Off Competition for Comic Relief!

Contestants were given four cupcakes to ice and also asked to make a box to hold them.

Participants were given basic equipment and asked to bring along extra items to decorate the cakes on a theme of their choice.

Two eager icers Hannah and Andrea choose to sit on the other side of the room, a cynical person might assume this was to allow for secret finger licking 😛

It was wonderful to see just how enthusiastic everyone was to take part.

The contestants had forty five minutes to compete the task. This allowed those of us who were observing to enjoy tea and homemade cakes 🙂

There were plenty of yummy treats to choose from and they were all being sold in aid of Comic Relief which is celebrating 25 years since it started.

The evening was about more than just cake with people winding wool ready for our next yarn bombing and others grappling with the 3D printer.

We even had a local newspaper turn up and insist we try out some unusual photographic poses. Here Britta is icing a lid and the photographer is taking the picture from below as I hold the flash.

He took plenty of other pictures and here are some more contestants holding their cakes up to him.

I think one person may have had some extra help with her icing! Teddy has many talents.

Once the cakes were finished everyone was asked to vote for their first, second and third choices.

These cakes were a clear winner.

These were second and the next picture shows number seven who came third.

It was not an easy choice as there were so many good ideas such as the fastest cakes on earth.

Easter cakes.

Under the sea.

And so many more.

The three winners were presented with knitted rosettes to remember their success.

The evening itself raised £90 and we are waiting for some more money to come in as cakes that were left over are still being sold.

Thank you to everyone who baked and took part in the evening.

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Sainsbury’s Comic Relief Cookie Challenge!

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Abi

As a member of the Sainsbury’s Bank Family Blogger Network I was recently asked if I would like to create a cookie design in aid of comic relief 🙂

I’m always keen to get creative so I was happy to join in the fun. Five runners up will be picked from all the designs, Sainsbury’s Facebook fans will then vote for their overall favourite design to feature on the Comic Relief baking page.

This year Comic relief is all about Dinosaurs (with toes), so with this in mind….

Watch out there’s Dinos about!

Two of these dinos are sporting red noses and one has taken inspiration from the aptly name T-Spex red nose character.

Make your own Di-nose-saurs

150g/ 51/2 oz Butter (or Stork)

225g/ 8oz Plain Flour

125g/ 4 1/2 oz Caster Sugar

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

For the Icing

The easiest way to ice biscuits is to use a Royal Icing, Sainsbury’s sell this ready to mix in a box 🙂

Small smarties or Silverspoon Coloured Choco Beans

Method

Rub together the butter and flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add in the vanilla extract and caster sugar and bring together with your hands to form a dough.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough, then cut out your Dinos.

Bake for about 10 mins in a 170C/350F oven, keep an eye on the biscuits to make sure they don’t burn.

Cool on a wire rack.

Mix up the royal icing. I usually devide this between several pots so I can mix up multiple colours. Using a fine piping bag ice the background colour onto your Dinosaur, you can also spread it on if you’d prefer. Leave for several hours to harden.

Once dry add a small white blob of icing to make the eye and leave to harden. Once dry add any final details such as smile, toes and pupil.

Finally using a blob of royal icing attach a red chocolate bean/smartie onto the nose of your Dino 🙂

The biscuits can take several hours to dry out completely, but it’s worth the wait as they can be stacked into a tin once finished without sticking together or damaging all your hard work!

Of course you can also customise your biscuits to make many other red nose characters. Our very own Spotty Crocodile made it into biscuit form sporting a dashing red nose!

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