and another thing...

So, last week my blue shoes were chosen to feature in this Pounce! Treasury on Etsy which promotes great shops before their first sale. Thanks, fellow Etsyers!

Also, this week I have set up a Facebook page for the other half of the three bees business, where I make cakes and desserts and such. It's all quite pretty and I'm a bit proud of it. Go! Look! Like!

(summer berry cheesecake)


(chocolate orange tarts)


(persian spice cupcakes, ready for delivery)

It feels good to be getting busy with these things again, channeling my creativity into something I can use. I still think I'll need someone outside to work through the marketing and promotion side of things as I find that stuff really difficult (as this link-heavy post will attest!), but it's all a work in process. And the family don't seem to mind being guineapigs for new flavours....

So get on board. You can say you were there when the three bees empire all began.

31 candles

Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday dear threebeescakes,
Happy birthday to meeeee!

It was my birthday last week, so I made myself a cake. Tragic? Is not. Shut up! You are! I need this!



ahem.



So, the cake: caramel cheesecake with chocolate cashew brittle. I hadn't made it before and I kind of chucked it together so I'm not sure of some of the quantities, but here's the recipe.

100g or so of Scotch Finger biscuits
75g or so of butter, melted
1 Tbsp or so of cocoa
1 cup or so of caster sugar
1/3 cup or so of water
1 cup or so of salted cashews
300 ml or so of cream
1/4 cup or so of dark brown sugar
1/4 cup of golden syrup
1/2 cup or so of caster sugar, extra
395g tin of condensed milk (I know, I know. Shhh.)
75g or so of butter, extra
250g of cream cheese
1 tsp of gelatine
1 Tbsp or so of water, extra, boiled
1/2 cup or so of chocolate
1/4 cup or so of butter, extra

Smoosh up the biscuits into little crumbs - it's a good way to relieve frustration, not that I ever have any, of course - and mix with the cocoa and melted butter. Press the mixture into a springform tin base with a pestle or the back of a spoon. Set aside.

Boil the sugar and water without stirring until it reaches a pale golden colour, then pour over the salted cashews spread out in a single layer. Set aside.

Whip the cream with the brown sugar. Set aside.

(noticing a pattern?)

Melt together the golden syrup, sugar, condensed milk and butter over a low heat until golden brown. Pour half of the mixture over the crumb base and spread out to the sides; pour the other half into a bowl with the cream cheese. Beat it all together until creamy, then mix in the gelatine dissolved in boiling water.

Fold in the whipped cream and pour it all onto the biscuit and caramel base. Whack it in the fridge to set for a few hours.

Break up the cashew brittle into little-ish pieces. Crush some to a powder in a mortar and pestle and sprinkle over the top of the cake, and chuck the rest on top of that (but, y'know, artful-like). Melt the chocolate and butter and drizzle of the top of it all.

Happy birthday to me!

cookies in the sun

Hello! Welcome to my new little blog.

As the mother of a newborn and a burgeoning teenager, with no paid employment nor income to speak of, I don't have as many opportunities to get my craft on as I used to.

But I can pretty much always make up a plate of cookies. These ones are nice.

PEANUT BUTTER AND CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

1/2 cup or so of butter
1/2 cup or so of caster sugar
1/2 cup or so of dark brown sugar
1/2 cup or so of peanut butter
1 egg
1 cup or so of chopped up chocolate
1 cup or so of peanuts
1 cup or so of self raising flour

I like recipes like this, where the quantities are pretty adaptable to whatever you've got left in the fridge and the pantry. They're very forgiving. So, to the making!


First of all, I use salted butter and salted peanuts if they're around, 'cause I really enjoy the combined sweet-salty taste, but it's up to you (obviously). When it's at room temperature, cream it with the sugars - or if you don't feel like waiting for it to warm up, you can melt it and mix the sugars in then. It seems to make the finished product slightly more crumbly and brittle, is all.

Mix in the peanut butter and the egg, then the chocolate and peanuts. Whack in the flour and mix it all up, then spoon out little blips on a baking tray. MY oven is a horrible liar and I'm never sure exactly what temperature we're really at, but at a guess I'd say I bake these cookies at around 210 degrees Celsius for six minutes or so, then let them cool (a little bit, 'cause I can't leave these alone for long) on the tray. The reason I cook them for a short time at a high heat is because I love cookies that are crispy and crumbly outside, then smoodgy* and melty inside. If you'd like them a bit more evenly crunchy throughout, just lower the temperature and cook for longer. I don't know how long. It's not exact. It's up to you.

If you're like me, you'll have nibbled away at about half of the mixture before it ever comes to baking. Otherwise, this quantity makes about 3 dozen or so cookies, which is never enough.












*Those who know me AT ALL know that my pedantry for correct spelling, punctuation, syntax and grammar coexists happily with my predilection for making up new words to suit my purposes. I choose to see this not as a contradiction, but as an adorably quirky complexity of my character. So there.