Giant bubble stuff

 My stepmother has been making brilliant giant bubbles with all the kids and introduced s to them last year. They are so fun for all ages! And seemed surprisingly easy. So I thought we could try them at home…

She buys a powder from the internet and it works amazing. But I am not sure I can import that powder to Denmark easily. And I had some xanthan gum from vintage gf baking, and thought we could try some experiments…

We experimented with a few things, in the end this recipe is the best so far so I’m sticking with it. If the xanthan gum supplies run out perhaps I’ll start experimenting again (or buy the powder from the internet!). The powder is definitely better, but this works pretty good.

For one bubble wand:
2 lengths of dowel - approximately 1 cm thick and 40cm long
2 eyelet screws
Cotton string

Washer (or 5 kr piece)

For the bubble mixture:
1 tsp xanthan gum
2 tbsp glycerin
3 cups warm water
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 tsp baking powder

To make the bubble mixture, first mix the xanthan gum and glycerin in a tub until smooth. Add the warm water gradually, beating. It’ll thicken. Add the washing up liquid. Mix in baking powder. Leave for at least 24 hours before use - longer if possible.

To make the wand, take two equal length pieces of dowel and drill holes in the ends big enough to put the eyelet screws in. Put in the eyelet screws. Tie the string so there is one shorter piece and one longer piece that has the washer on it, so it makes an approximately equilateral triangle when you hold it up. We tried a few different strings and some were very tangly - you want quite a thick one - we ended up using old strings from hoodie hoods.

Amaranth granola

At Easter, we met a bunch of Germans in a house by a lake in northern Germany. Three boys who went to school together, and their partners, and their sons - one each, aged 5-7. One partner was missing though - the Swedish opera singer had to stay in Berlin to do Wagner. But she provided us with lots of goodies, including a jar of delicious granola based on popped amaranth. Which made me realize it could be time to mix up my granola game - I've been making variations on the same recipe using oats since forever - I love it, but this one was good too! Granola is great in general - simple and tasty and good to eat alone or sprinkled on top of almost anything... I asked L for her recipe but she wasn't sure if she had one, so I used this one for guidance/inspiration.

I was feeling lazy and tried to order the amaranth already popped. But when it arrived it turned out it was just the seeds. So first thing I had to do was try and pop it (I looked to here for help)... which actually, it turned out, was quite fun - the seeds are tiny (only about a mm diameter), but they pop just like popcorn! So cute...

2 cups puffed amaranth (I think I popped about 10-12 tbsp of seeds to get this much - but do a bit too much, it should store OK)

1/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts (or use pecans)

2 tbsp pumpkin seeds

2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 tsp cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground vanilla

3 tbsp coconut oil 

1/4 cup maple syrup

First pop the amaranth. You could do this in advance and keep until needed. Heat a big high-sided metal pot (dry) until pretty hot, then put in one tbsp of amaranth seeds, give it a few seconds, shaking it a bit, until it all pops - then tip out into a big bowl. If it doesn't pop and burns instead, the pan isn't hot enough - discard, let it heat up a bit more, then try again until you hit the right temperature. Keep going, 1-2 tbsp at a time (should not be more than a single layer in the pan), until you have enough. Let cool before putting in a storage jar or going right ahead to make the granola.

When ready to make granola, heat oven to 180C and line a big baking tray with baking paper.

Mix dry stuff (excluding the dried fruit) in a big bowl. In a separate bowl, warm the coconut oil gently until it is liquid (if it is not already), then mix with the maple syrup. Add wet to dry and mix well. Spread out evenly on the baking tray, transfer to the oven, and bake for c. 15 min (try less next time) until lightly toasted. Remove from the oven and let cool 20-30 min before putting in a storage jar.

 

I love this stuff, a really interesting taste / texture. Maybe a bit too much salt and syrup - could reduce next time. Also maybe a tiny bit too long in the oven - try 12 min next time. Also wasn't very clumpy - consider adding some psyllium husk next time?

Now I am wondering what else I can use popped amaranth for! Also, what else can I pop - quinoa, perhaps?

S birthday: Mango + macadamia BvB cake

  

S's birthday came around. He requested mango and nuts. Little s wanted to make it a Dortmund (BvB) cake. Soooo another go at a mango cake it is. And I decided to go with macadamias for the nuts.

I was fairly happy with my last mango cake. But it wasn't really mango-y enough, and was slightly faff-y, and also used only egg whites. I'd thought putting in mango puree might make things too dense, but this recipe looked quite promising and I decided to give it another chance...

(I baked the cake in one 9 inch cake tin, it was a bit huge, ended up cutting into three layers... a half amount would have been enough I think)

For the cake:

 

1 cup / 240 ml mango puree

1/2 cup / 118 ml oat milk

3/4 cup / 177 ml veg oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

3/4 tsp vanilla powder

1 1/4 cup / 250 g / 8 oz sugar

1 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp salt

3 cups / 375 g / 13.2 oz plain flour

 

For the icing:

230 g / 8 oz cream cheese (used 1 whole pack philadelphia)

113 g / 4 oz unsalted butter

3 cups / 390g / 12 oz icing sugar

1 cup / 4 oz freeze dried mango powder 

pinch salt

yellow food colouring

a few drops oat milk

 

For the rest:

1 pack roasted salted macadamia nuts, chopped

1 small pack black fondant

paper template for making the BvB logo (print twice, once to get the circle and overall design, once for the letters and numbers)

To make the cake: 

Grease and line cake tin. Heat oven to 350F / 180C.

Mix dry in a large bowl with a fork. Mix wet in a separate bowl. Add wet to dry and mix until just combined. Put in cake tin and then into oven. Turn down to 325F / 163C and bake until springy and a skewer comes out clean. Checked after 40 min, think it ultimately took about 55 min. Will be faster if using more than one tin (or making a half amount). Cool in tin for 10 min or so until sufficiently cooled to turn out, then let cool completely on a cooling rack.

 

To make the icing, beat the butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy, then add the sugar and mango powder and beat until well mixed, adding the salt and colour partway through, and some milk if needed.

 

To assemble the cake, slice the cooled cake horizontally into three layers. Put the bottom layer on plate or base and add a layer of icing, then chopped macadamias, then the next layer of cake. Add another layer of cake, then icing, then macadamias, then the next layer of cake. Ice all over the top and sides with the rest of the icing.

 

Cut the shapes of the outer circle, letters and numbers for the BvB logo, then place them gently on top.

 

 

It was reasonably simple and effective! I managed to get the colours right. The circle was a bit difficult to handle (slightly floppy/stretchy)... We'd considered trying modelling chocolate to make the logo pieces, perhaps that would have worked better - more rigid - but would we have needed moulds?

The cake part was really good - I think the best mango cake yet! Easy and quick, and actually tasted like mango. Sliced well and not too dense. I'd make this one again. The icing wasn't perfect, think I'm going off the freeze dried mango. But it was fine. And I somehow eyeballed just the right amount for the cake this time. And I really liked the macadamias in there.