Baking adventures

Last week I decided I'd try a recipe from my breadmaker book that I've been meaning to try for ages... Anchoy and Sun Dried Tomato Loaf.  I didn't have any anchovies but I did have a tin of olives stuffed with anchovies just asking to be used up so I went with those instead.  :o)  The olives went in the dough mix but the tomatoes had to be chopped and put in the little compartment thingie in the bread maker to be dropped into the mix at a later point in the process.  All was going well until, after the tomatoes had dropped in, I could smell burning and upon investigation I discovered that goodly portion of the tomatoes had missed the pan and had settled on the element happily smoking themselves!  In order to divert a crisis I whipped the bread pan out quickly removed the offending tomatoes and shoved the bread back in to take it's chance!  The resulting loaf didn't look super promising with it's crater top...

...but happily inside all was fine and dandy:

It was a pleasant loaf, not overtly tomatoey or olivey or anchovy ish.  :o)

Other baking adventures included a birthday cake for my husband which my daughter and I had a great laugh decorating late one evening after rehearsal!  She chose a hedgehog (my husband is into wildlife) and here is our finished creation...

Her eyes are currants and her nose and mouth are sculpted from dried prumes!  Lol  The baby hedgehog minus chocolate buttons was mine since I don't eat chocolate.  :oD  It won't win any prizes for professional cake making but it was great fun to do and much appreciated by the birthday boy.  :o)