Pink is the new black

Miss SMBW's wine night was a resounding success with Mr T sharing his wisdom and guiding us through the many bottles. (Mr T works for Bibendum and is not the one that works for the A-Team).

We drank three bottles of pink fizz, the winner being the Balfour Brut Rosé from Kent. We then moved onto the still wines with some rather lovely shaped bottles appearing from Provence and a dazzling array of pink shades. And finally four dessert wines.

Which brings me onto the best wine with the cupcakes. I brought along the Weltevrede Cape Muscat and it was lovely as I remembered, it wasn't the perfect partner to the cakes. The cupcakes were eaten at every stage of the evening, but they best complemented the Château Jolys Cuvée Jean 2005 Jurançon. Tart enough to cut through the sugary cakes and delicious with the cream cheese frosting.

Pink cupcakes, pink meringues and pink wine. Well done Miss SMBW!

How to bake a red velvet cupcake part 3: the icing on the cake!

Red velvet cake must have a cream cheese frosting (apologies for the American word there, but it doesn't sound right calling it icing).

And the cream cheese has to be full-fat. None of this skinny, no calorie stuff. If you're going to eat cake, which already has butter in it, then a dollop of full fat cream cheese is not going to make much difference.

I've made the icing, but I'm taking it over to Miss SMBW's to actually turn it pink and ice the cakes... more later.

How to bake a red velvet cupcake part 2

Check out the pictures!



Icing commences tomorrow. It will be spectacular.

How to bake a red velvet cupcake

So today I'm baking the red velvet cakes for tomorrow. In pink and white spotted cake cases. Miss SMBW will be proud.

I am using a completely new recipe which uses American measures. So for probably only the second time the measuring cups I bought in San Fran are making an appearance.

Oh and I will use the wrinkly egg in the fridge that is weirding Mr D out.

Baking progress to follow.

Dessert dilemna

So, Miss SMBW is hosting a rose and dessert wine soiree this Friday. I am determined to bring a dessert wine with me and convert all those doubters of the importance of a good, sweet wine into believers.

Well, not so much convert. Bribe. Bribe with red velvet cupcakes. Homemade ones. With cream cheese icing.

I can only bring one bottle and I cannot decide. With a choice of four, please cast your vote for your favourite.

Weltevrede Cape Muscat 2001
This little number is the last of my batch that I bought from Harry about 4 years ago and it is an award winner. It's very dark, like treacle and I think it's great with pears, rich dark chocolate and ice cream.

Essensia California Orange Muscat 2005
Made by the Quady winery from 100% Orange Muscat. According to their website it has an "aroma reminiscent of Orange Blossom and Apricot, and a lingering refreshing aftertaste". This wine is good with chocolate desserts and those containing almonds, peaches, apples, or apricots. It is also used for dipping biscotti, for moistening cakes, or for adding to trifles.

Elysium Calfornia Black Muscat 2005
Another Quady Wine, this one has a "provocative rose and lychee aroma" and is available at Fortnums for £10.95! It is perfect for blue cheeses, with desserts containing red fruits (such as Summer Pudding), with vanilla, custard, dark chocolate and ice cream.

Croix Milhas Rivesaltes Ambre
This one is made from Grenache Gris, Grenache Blanc, Macabeu and Muscat and is aged for 3 years on oak barrels. On the nose it has "crystallized fruit, cinnamon and gingerbread" and flavours of plum, prune and orange peel, with good acidity. Lighter than the others this complements fruit salad and ice cream.

So which is it to be, fellow winos?

Sparkles, but not the fizzy kind

You know you have too much time on your hands when you can clean your diamond earrings by 10.16am on a weekday.

Tasty but tiny

Where do you start at Taste? With a glass of rose of course! Super dry, super sharp Robert Skalli, Cotes de Provence rose to accompany me on my journey. First thing that struck me though... if you are a vegetarian, you might struggle at Taste. Most of the restaurants were serving up meat or fish and with the only veggie option dessert. Miss SMBW got stuck in straight away at Tom's Kitchen with the Daylesford organic lamb whilst I searched the menus for something that used to swim.

First stop was Asia de Cuba for their Tunapica. Light and fresh but worthy of the 10 crown price tag? Maybe not. More eating required for comparison.

With my next dish, I decided to give Salt Yard a second chance. I'd eaten there about a year ago and had been disappointed that their calamari resembled and tasted like pork scratchings. And for a fish-a-tarian that's bad. Anyway, I opted for the courgette flower stuffed with goats cheese and drizzled with honey also at a princely 10 crowns. The goats cheese could have been tangier and the dish was under-seasoned, but a much better effort than their calamari.

At this point I paused for Champagne: the rose from Champagne Veuve a Devaux. Tart and zingy to clear the palate.

Mr & Mrs A (and wee Miss O) tucked into the soft shell crab from Benares - the one dish I wish I had eaten.

Dish three was from Hereford Road. Previously unknown to me, I was lured by the seared sea trout, samphire and cucumber (and Mr S by the lamb sweetbread with lamb's tongue, parsley, mint and barley). You could watch your dish being cooked as Hereford Road were filming their kitchen live. The results did not disappoint and the one savoury dish that deserved its 10 crowns.

However outright winner for me was the Gower Cottage chocolate brownie with a coffee from Caffe Musetti. Both 2 crowns each. Bargain for £2.

We all agreed that much fun was had at Taste. But...

• it's very expensive (tickets, purchase of crowns)
• the portion sizes are small
• the Thai offerings were underwhelming (given that the focus was on Thai food this year)
• the range of wines on offer was disappointing: no Riesling or Gerwurztraminer to be seen and Mr S's Burgundy was over-oaked
• it shut at 9.30pm! And Miss SMBW and I were forced to go on to a pub in Marylebone for a large glass of red.

My advice: if you're looking for good food, wine and music then go to The Big Chill instead.

Or head to Wales and eat your own body weight in Gower Cottage brownies. Yum!

Taste: the festival for grown-ups? Or the festival for smugs?

At what point did I abandon the wellies and mud in favour of the prawn pomelo and waygu beef? All the London foodies are all heading to Regents Park this weekend for the Taste of London festival. I'm looking forward to finding some good wines to go with this year's theme: Thai. I'm hoping to be surprised by something other than Riesling or Gerwurztraminer - maybe some indigenous grape varieties. We shall see!

Yes, it probably will be smug. But no more smug that Glastonbury. Embrace the smug, I say!

Champagne or Cava?

Tuesday night's tasting was a resounding success, although my head disagreed on Wednesday morning.

We sampled a Prosecco, a Cava, a premier cru, a blanc de blanc, one rose and a Grand Cru. I was expecting the Maison Autreau Grand Cru 2003 to be my favourite - the only vintage, the most expensive...

But it wasn't. It was the colour of dirty gold and tasted sweaty.

I like my Champers lighter, greener and full of citrus. So my favourite was the Maison Autreau Premier Cru. It smelt of sponge cakes with a hint of white currants. And tasted of grapefruits. Yum. The rose was also good, and tasted like peppered strawberries; brilliant with the smoked salmon.

Miss SMBW and I extended the night and went to a bar afterwards, but I wasn't prepared to drink more wine (and dilute the loveliness of the Champagne). So I ordered an Espresso Martini.

Fizz, then caffeine. Brilliant combo. I'm sure the boyfriend concurred!

The best cocktails in St Albans?

Slight departure north of the M25... if you find yourself in St Albans, check out Mokoko. As a cocktail connoisseur, the Lychee Martini and the Saint Abbey take some beating.

Perfect summer drinking with the girls.

Bubbles for a good cause

Now I'm a lady of leisure, I've got time to devote to my favourite habit! So to get back into the swing of it, I'm off to see Harry and Mikhail for a tasting tomorrow evening. They steered me through my WSET advanced course a few years back so Miss SMBW and I are off to relive our early days of quaffing with the Wine and Food Academy.

Mr L and Miss H are getting hitched next year and they've asked me to help find some decent wine and fizz for their big day. It took me all of 5 seconds to consider their request! So this tasting is purely in aid of research...