DIY Cake Stand

This weekend I managed to find a wee bit of time to myself! I had an itch for some crafting and I had been planning to make a cake stand for a while. Last Monday I had finally found the plate I wanted to use as the top of the stand after months trawling through charity shops. In the end I found it in Marks and Spencer’s in their Picnicware section, it’s a melamine antique floral dinner plate. The whole range is stunning and durable, which is very handy for butter fingers here. For the base I wanted to use an Edinburgh Crystal champagne saucer that I had picked up in a charity shop to decorate the Christmas table a couple of years ago.

My glass and plate

This is a very simple craft project, all you need is: 

A glass of your choice – any style will work

A plate that is big enough to hold a good sized cake

Super glue

A pencil

Something to cover your work surface

So cover your work surface because the last thing you want to do is super glue something to your dining table, I just used old newspaper. Pop your plate face down on the table and position the base of your glass in the centre and use the pencil to drawer around the edge or it.

Centre the plate

Next carefully open the super glue and gently squeeze the tube around the inside of your pencil outline. Pop the base of the glass back on top of the glue, be very careful at this point as super glue dries very fast and you don’t want a wonky cake stand. I also put a little extra glue around the outside for the glass base for a really strong hold. Leave the glue to cure for at least an hour before moving it, it will take up to 24 hours to dry completely so I’d wait before popping a freshly baked Victoria Sponge on it!

Leave it to dry over night

Once it’s fully dried then flip it over and Tah Dah! you have beautiful and unique cake stand to impress your guests with! I'm totally in love with mine and planning to get my bake on this weekend! 

My finished cake stand 

Golden Beetroot and Goats Cheese Tart

If you follow my Instagram feed you’ll have seen I’ve been reaping the rewards of the school’s fruit and veg patch. We have raspberries and rhubarb coming out of our ears, the blueberries are on the turn and we spotted potatoes the other day! A couple weeks ago we spotted veggies in a planter box too, I pulled two golden beetroots on Tuesday and had no clue what to do with them. I’m not a beetroot fan really but it seems to be one of those ‘on trend’ super food veggies so I keep trying it, but really it just tastes like dirt. We did a little research into the golden variety in the office (summer holidays are a very busy time for us…) and apparently golden beetroot taste less earth than the usual run of the mill purple beetroot. After quite a bit of trawling through Pinterest, as you’ll see on my ‘Things I want in mytummy’ board, I decided to go with the faithful goats cheese and beetroot tart. I used inspiration from several recipes for my creation and a little of my own flare.

All you need is:

2 Golden beetroots

200g of Soft goats cheese

1 Packet of ready-made puff pastry (pre-rolled or block)

1 Egg - whisked

Runny honey

Fresh basil

Salt and Pepper (the seasoning not the 80’s all-female rap group)

A little flour

Preheat the oven at about 200 °C or gas mark 6.

Raw and ready to go! 

The first thing you need to do is get the beetroots roasting. Start by slicing the greens off, rub them in some olive oil and wrap them individually in tin foil and pop them in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour or until you can slide a knife in easily. Take them out and unwrap them to let them cool.

Next get your surface floured for rolling out or unrolling your pastry, you want it nice and thin. I went with a rectangle but you could be more adventurous with circles, heart shapes or even polygons, go wild! I don’t have a very large baking tray so I halved it and made two tarts. Before you start topping the tart you will want to transfer it onto your lightly floured baking tray, moving it once it’s loaded up is not easy.

Nicely roasted, isn't this bowl beautiful?

Brush your egg wash over the pastry, and scatter/spread about 2 thirds of the goats cheese on top. Now back to the beets, they should have cooled down a bit by now and you should be able to rub the skin off, it’s really easy and surprisingly satisfying too. Then you want to either careful slice your beets with a knife or if you are lucky, like me, then slice them up with a mandolin. This is when you really see how golden they are and see the beautiful layers. 

Look at those rings! 

Now you want to top the goats cheese with the beetroot slices, I went with simple over lapping lines. Finish off by crumbling the last of the goats cheese over the top and season with the salt and pepper. Pop it in the oven on the middle shelf for 20 minutes or until the pastry has a nice colour to it.

The basil on the window sill, where The Doctor is currently living...

Tah Da! All you need to do now is dribble a little honey and sprinkle some fresh basil leaves over the top and you’re good to go.

Golden Beetroot and Goats Cheese Tart

Bon appetite!