Viennese Jam Snore-Cakes

You know when you have a lie down after a long day's work, and it just feels so fantastic? Well that's what happened yesterday, I worked from 10-5 at the Maud Foster Windmill in Boston. I lugged flour about, filled bags with flour and mixed baking powder with - you guessed it - flour to make self-raising flour by the sackload. Although it may not have been the hardest day ever it was following on from a busy weekend out in the sun and travelling hundreds of miles, and that can be tiring.

So my little lie down was so very good... that it turned into a snooze. Then that snooze turned into a fully fledged hour long nap. Suffice to say that this did not leave me with very much time between work and going off to see some of my friends yesterday evening. Hence why I'm posting yesterday's blog today.

On waking up an hour before I was intending on heading out I jumped off my bed with surprising athleticism for someone who's been baking every day for the last three weeks and who'd just had a nap! I rushed downstairs to begin baking the most basic thing I could remember seeing in the book I hadn't already done. Viennese Jam Shortcakes are little cupcake style shortcakes which blur the line between biscuit and cupcake quite cleverly... and in my rush to do them I ended up over cooking them slightly.

Thankfully this was the only error in an otherwise easy recipe. Thanks to a friend of mine (and avid reader) I now know how to use a piping bag a little more efficiently and successfully squeezed mixture into cases without so much as a drop of unbaked goods anywhere on the surfaces (shocking I know!).

The Result: 

So they do look rather nice and dainty as one would hope, perfect for a lovely outside picnic in this lovely summer weather we've been having... Well, the weather we had this weekend anyway - As I read someone say recently "Summer was my favourite day this year..." -

But unfortunately, though they look rather delightful and cute looking, to my increasingly high standards of baked goods I just don't think they cut the mustard. The taste was lovely but I thought they were a little powdery for my liking, perhaps it was down to leaving them a little too long in the oven because of my rushing about or just because the recipe book I'm using is terrible and the recipes crappy. Who knows... 

Later, Banana Loaf, which should be fun considering I dislike Bananas...