Madhatters, Monkeys and Mayhem!

Well, I should have expected it: the theme of our classes this fortnight being Alice in Wonderland, there was bound to be a little madness and mayhem around.

It started with me melting ...yes, melting... all the demo toppers that I'd made for the first "Alice" class.
We get raided by monkeys almost daily, and they'll eat or destroy anything edible left lying about. So I put the toppers in my oven to keep them out of harms way - I often leave cookies and rusks in there to dry, and I've gotten into the habit of checking to make sure there is nothing in the oven before I pre-heat it to cook or bake. But coming home in a rush last Friday, thinking only of getting two tired tots' supper cooked, I'd completely forgotten what I storing in there....until opening the pre-heated oven's door and a tray of very sorry looking decorations appeared.

The Dormouse in the teapot was surely the most tragic...

Then, avoiding the pitfall of the oven again, I hazarded leaving the take#2 cupcakes out on the dining room table, but the inevitable happened and monkeys made off with 2 cupcakes ....and an apple. At least they still have some healthy habits.

And of course, adding to the chaos is the state of my kitchen. It is being dis-assembled daily. The floor is gone, and a chunk of work surface with it.

 Next to go is my "KitchenAid" zone.
Do you see how perilously close to the edge it is, already?!

But, have mixer....will bake. At least until it's time for the oven to be razed.
Then what?? Well, I'll be baking until the last minute - you'll see the gouges my nails make as they drag me out of there....
Ok, maybe not ; )

Enough tweedle...

I'm not going to leave you without at least one smidgen of baking info:

Have you ever battled with cupcake cases that have splayed open a little before you've used them? And when you put them in the muffin tins, they don't fit? And then when you put batter in them, they buckle and crease in a most unattractive way?

Does it make you a little crazy?

"Oh, you can't help that," said the cat, "we're all mad here."


The solution is superbly simple:
Just put the cupcake cases in the muffin tins (even though they might not quite fit)
And shortly before you are ready to fill them with batter, place into the pre-heated oven...
Leave for a couple of minutes and when you remove the muffin tin, the cupcake cases will have shrunk back down to a more acceptable size.

No Eat Me / Drink Me potions necessary!

 Wishing you a sane week ...or at least a manageably mad one!

Oh, you can't help that. We're all mad here.

xxM