Matcha Cream Layer Cake Recipe!

This was the only photo I managed to get of the cake as camera number 1 is broken and was playing up, camera number 2 was out of battery and my phone was not complying either!
Its in a box as I took it to my friends house as it was his birthday. He made some AMAZING sushi and everyone liked the cake so here is the recipe for you.
PS... It didn't look this good after cycling twenty minutes with it on the back of my bike over the bumpy Sheffield roads so I'm glad I took a before picture!

Ingredients

• 250g butter
• 250g sugar
• 250g self raising flour
• 4 eggs, seperated and whites whisked
• 1 tbsp matcha (green tea powder)
• Creme chantilly
• cute decorating stuff :)

Method

1. Melt together butter and sugar
2. Leave to cool slightly then add your egg yolks
3. Gradually incorporate your egg whites
4. Gentle fold in the flour and matcha
5. Place in two small tins and bake til springy and golden
6. Slice each cake in half once cooled then spread layeres with chantilly
7. Add more chantilly on top and decorate! Go wild!

Enjoy, ideally without smushing it up in a box on a bike first!

I've got a new blog!

It's mainly for healthy food recipes and tips plus general ramblings and any information I find interesting!
If that's your cup of tea go check it out!

http://apocketfulofpomegranate.blogspot.com

The Broadfield Pub

Ah, The Broadfield. I have many memories of visits to this pub, five or six years ago. "The Broady", as it was often referred to, had two pool tables back then! Unfortunately that was all they had going for them. I stopped going when I moved away from nether edge, and frankly the thought of seeing the same old miserable, drunk faces didn't exactly lure me back.
Then I heard word of a brand new ownership and re-opening. To be honest I didn't even know it had closed down, I could say this was because I was no longer interested and had moved on etc. The likely truth is that I'm quite oblivious to what's going on around me most of the time that I simply didn't notice.

Eventually, curiosity got the better of me and I went down to investigate. Wow! I couldn't believe how much it had changed! It looks amazing inside. They've knocked down the walls so its one big massive pub with a huge circular bar in the middle, housing a massive selection of whiskeys. I recognise a few of the clientele, friendly, lovely nether edge folk. Not old, not twelve and not drunk. I even spot kid acne amongst the crowd! Then one of my favourite songs started playing and after that I noticed they serve cocktails, this all made me very happy to have a great pub to call my local.

That was my first visit. I went back again a few days later to sample their extensive menu. They serve a range of modern and exciting dishes such as : thai salmon goujons with a green papaya chili dip, moonshine battered haddock with chips, mushy peas and tartare sauce and spiced cauliflower fritters with tamarind dip. There is also a separate mini board for their various pies and sausages.

I eventually decided on smoked haddock and salmon kedgeree with poached egg. My mum chose beef and ale pie with chips and mushy peas.
After a small mishap with our waitress spilling some of my mums pint of cider, which was supposed to be only a 1/2 anyway (bonus!) onto our table, the service went smoothly.

Our food soon arrived. My first thoughts were "my god that is a lot of food" and "nice egg".

This was unlike any kedgeree I had eaten before. It was under seasoned, there was very little, if any spice at all, oh and the rice was the wrong type of rice! This was more like a risotto. At least they got the egg perfect though. On the plus side there were lots of chunks of fish, albeit some rather fatty pieces of salmon. I ended up eating the chunks of fish, plus the egg and leaving a massive pile of rice.
My mum ate hers with no complaints. I tried a chip and it was nice, home-made but not the best pub chips  Sheffield has to offer.

The waitress didn't seemed too phased by our leftovers. Looking at a few plates on their way back to the kitchen I can see why. You definitely won't leave hungry after eating here. Unsatisfied, maybe but not hungry.
We decided to share a dessert and opted for the delicious sounding banana-chocolate brownie.

This was very squiggle happy presentation. I tried some sauce which was not that dissimilar from those "treats" squeezy ice cream sauce in bottles you can buy. Disappointing.
The praline under the ice cream was synthetic tasting, and the brownie itself wasn't bad, but the chunks of chewy - I'd have had no idea what the hell this was if it hadn't stated it on the menu - banana, were.

Overall, as a pub to come and have a drink, this is great. For food, I'd probably eat somewhere else.

Food 5.5/10
Service 7/10
Value 7/10

La Mama Review

La mama


Last week was my Mum's birthday. This called for celebration! So off we went in search of something tasty.

As we walked down London road, I spotted La mama. I'd never been in here before, but at the eat Sheffield awards on Monday night they won 'favourite European' restaurant so I reckoned they'd be good enough for my Ma.

So in we went, me, my mum and my little sister. A friendly lady greeted us and showed us to a table by the window. I was rather surprised to see we were the only ones in, but it was around 2pm and I guess there is a chance we'd missed the lunchtime rush.

We ordered 6 tapas from their special 'happy hour' menu. The décor is what you'd expect from a tapas place: yellow walls, tiny guitars, maracas and their eat Sheffield award hung proudly amongst various other European inspired decorations.
Soon enough out came the food.

The tapas were well presented and each one had great flavour and you could tell they were home made.

The patatas bravas were crunchy with a fluffy centre and coated in a spicy tomato sauce.

The tortilla was nice and chunky. The rice was well flavoured and enjoyed very much by my sister. I enjoyed the pumpkin fritters and their accompanying green chilli and coriander salsa very much, although not as much as I enjoyed the baked aubergine and goats cheese, a nice twist on the traditional Italian melanzana parmigiana.

The mushrooms were as they read on the menu: garlicky and white wine-ey but at (cost) for 7, I felt they were a little pricey.

Tapas are all about small portions though, I suppose.

We mopped up all the juices with some house bread which was average and had been drizzled with some very very good olive oil.

Next came the desserts which I was looking forward to. We decided to share chilli chocolate cake and a banoffee pie. The banoffee looked delicious but I only got to taste a tiny bit of the sauce as it was way too creamy for me, being lactose intolerant.

My mum and sister savoured it, each mouthful accompanied by a different moan of pleasure and facial expression to match.

I had some of the chocolate cake. It was nice but I was expecting a dark, glossy sauce and dense chocolatey sponge. This however was light and with a weak sauce.

Don't get me wrong, it was nice but I am one hell of a tough critic when it comes to cakes and this didn't really fit the bill for me.

The important thing was my mum enjoyed herself and the food was overall very good.

The bill came to £34.65.

I'll probably be back as they have live music nights and I'm pleased to have found a quality tapas restaurant so close to home!


Food – 7/10

Service – 9.5/10

Value – 7/10

Cake Party success!!

Hello you may remember recently I mentioned i was having a cake party for charity.
Just an update to tell you it went well and a LOT of tasty cake was shared and eaten! Thankyou to everyone that came down and all together we raised over £40!
Here are some photos of the event.

I'm throwing a cake party for charity!

And you're all invited!
.....Although there are limited spaces available so maybe not all of you..my advice is to let me know if you want to come sooner, rather than later!

This will be a great opportunity for people to get together, show off their cake making skills, enjoy other peoples delicious cakes, share recipes, drink tea AND raise money for breast cancer

Click here for the event details on facebook or leave a comment if you don't have facebook, but want to come along.

Tai Sun supermarket

Today I visited Tai Sun for the first time since it has been refurbished and I was impressed!
It's so much cleaner and brighter and they've added loads more stock to their vast range of oriental delights.
Various exciting items (if you are easily excited as I am) included fresh brown crab, razor clams with half their juicy flesh protruding out of their shell, sushi, king prawns at about 12 for £2.50 and even fresh durian!
I could have easily spent a couple of hours in their just looking at all the food!
I bought all the items in the picture and have written a short review of some of them.
Soya milk was good in my tea and very beany on its own but, I can buy three times the amount for same price and the taste is just as good.
The pak choi and mushroom steamed frozen buns are amazing! Soft and delicately favoured plus they tasted very fresh. I'll definitely buy these again. They'll be great steamed with veggies as a healthy dinner.
The dried tofu is slightly odd and rather oily with a bit of background heat. The taste is sweet and with a meaty depth and a hint of sesame. Not too keen on those.
The red bean creams are delicious. Each one is like a hug in your mouth. They are marshmallows and their smell reminds me of being young which makes them strangely comforting.
They smell slightly custardy and don't really taste of beans... Warning these are very moreish I could easily have scoffed the whole packet of these.
The banana chips I didn't think would differ that much from regular ones but upon inspection I noticed they have no added sugar. I tried one and they are very different! They are a different texture and they also have that kind of 'slimey-ness' you get from eating a fresh banana (if you try them you'll understand).
They also stick to your teeth like nothing I've ever eaten before!
The deep fried and chilli tofu I will review by the end of the week as I've no room for them right now!

...The chilli tofu (top right in the photo) was delicious! I had it along with a vegetable and edamame stir fry and it was the nicest stir fry I've ever had! Best tofu I've ever had in fact and I've had a lot of tofu!
New staple food for me, that one!