I made this cake for my friend Ed’s mini baby shower. Basically I saw a recipe on the internet for individual fish cupcakes that DC sent me and I decided to make a larger version. Although this cake took a bit of decorating I rationalised that it was easier to do a larger cake in detail than to do several cupcakes. On a week night … Continue reading A fishy themed chocolate cake
I meant to post a pumpkin based recipe for Hallowe’en, I really did. But being able to think up nothing particularly astounding and lacking time I decided to blog a nice little recipe that everyone can knock together in under half an hour. Plus, Hallowe’en is at the end of half term week or a lot of schools in my area and this is a … Continue reading Rocky road – just in time for Hallowe’en
Buying a whole chicken and using it to make different dishes is so much more economical than buying, say, individual packs of chicken breasts. Whether you joint your chicken and use it that way, or cook if first and use the leftovers to make different things you cannot deny that is works out cheaper (and sometimes the brown meat just works better in some things). … Continue reading What to do with leftover roast chicken – chicken, bacon and leek pie
So the word on the proverbial street is that Loom bracelets are number one thank you gifts for teachers this year. When I was a little girl parents were all about buying the Body Shop goodies for teachers, Brownie leaders at the end of term. Personally, I don’t think you can go wrong with chocolate or wine. I must admit feeling a stab of envy … Continue reading Say Thank You – Cadbury Praline Chocolates
Flapjacks are one of the easiest and most versatile things you can bake. They are also delicious, the addition of the dates and apples was almost a stroke of genius on my part (check out my modesty). While I wouldn’t exactly say adding a bit of fruit to the mix makes this a healthy recipe, you could argue that it makes it healthier which is … Continue reading Date and apple flapjacks
You may have noticed I have been slightly quieter than usual lately (apparently I’m no quieter in the flesh!). I seem to be arriving home from work later and then, full of good blogging intentions, parking myself on the sofa all evening. Anyway, here are a few things that have been putting a smile on my face. 1. Cadbury with Ritz and Lu. I was … Continue reading A few things to love
As is well documented by this blog I am a fan of sweet treats. Scones are no exceptions to this rule. Occasionally I watch the Vicar of Dibley and I laugh when the Vicar says something about being greedy and it strikes a chord with me. In this case the quote, Jesus did a lot of things right, didn’t he? I mean men’s bottoms are … Continue reading The perfect buttermilk scones
I had a piece of red velvet cake at work this week that had me dreaming of making it all week. Enter Sunday, the day of the week when I usually bake. Unfortunately the red velvet cake wasn’t to be – the recipe I followed for the sponge had far too much cocoa in it for the red colour in it to show up (I … Continue reading Rich chocolate cake with mascarpone frosting
Recently I was approached by Something Sweet magazine and asked to write a post where I followed the chocolate tempering guide as featured in their first issue. In addition they sent me all of these wonderful things: To be honest I’d never really bothered going out of my way to temper chocolate before but as I realised earlier this week this was a big mistake. … Continue reading Chocolate tempering – any excuse to make truffles
I love a good loaf cake. If highly decorated cupcakes were the vamp of a cake based fictional drama loaf cakes would be the ultimate ugly duckling who turns into a swan. This cake uses spelt flour which is lower in gluten and higher in protein than normal flour and the only sugar comes from dark honey. The use of wholemeal spelt flour was entirely … Continue reading Honey and lemon loaf
The Bunfight 