I’ve been desperate to do some Christmas baking, but haven’t found much time with Christmas prep and having a 3 year old a new born baby! So this week while Emily was at nursery I made some time to try a few new Christmas recipes. This one looked nice and easy and perfect as a Christmas pressie for Emily’s hard working nursery staff along with a few other goodies. And of course a few slices for us too! Click here to have a look at this recipe.
Posted in Christmas, Nuts, Spices, Tray Bakes, Winter | Tagged christmas baking, Mincemeat, Traybake | Leave a Comment »
I didn’t get round to uploading any photos of last years ginger bread house but anyone that’s been to our house in the last year will have seen it! It’s been on the sideboard as a permanent feature all year! There’s no chance we’ll eat it now, but it makes a great Christmas decoration and having had baby Chloe just three weeks ago there certainly won’t be time to make one this year! Click here to see more photos of my magical house.
Posted in Biscuits, Christmas, Green, pink, purple, Spices | Tagged christmas baking, gingerbread house, sugarplum | Leave a Comment »
A couple of years ago we hosted Christmas with my sister-in-law, hubby and our nephew, I wanted to make a chocolate log but really wanted to make something slightly different. One of my favourite flavours is chocolate orange which feels like quite a Christmassy flavour, so I adapted a chocolate log recipe and this was the result! Click here to find out more.
Posted in Chocolate, Christmas, Fruit/Veg, gold, Orange, Puddings, Winter | Tagged Chocolate Log, Chocolate Orange, christmas baking | Leave a Comment »
Just over a month ago it was Emily’s 3rd Birthday. Being a typical 3 year old she was changing her mind every day about what kind of party and cake she wanted, slightly tricky when trying to plan things! Her favourite cuddly toy is her panda and so when I suggested that she had a panda themed party and cake, she seemed very excited and the idea stuck, phew! She takes after both her Aunties with her love of pandas. She asked for the cake to have a Mummy panda, a Daddy panda and and Emily panda on as well as some bamboo, so I did a bit of research and came up with a design. Click here to take a look at the panda cake.
Posted in Black, Celebration Cakes, Chocolate, Figure Modelling, Green, Iced Cakes, White | Tagged Caramel Ombre Cake, Children's Birthday Cake, Panda Cake | Leave a Comment »
Can’t believe the bake off is over again for another year! It’s been another great series and I’ve really enjoyed watching it. I am quite relieved there are no more technical challenges though! I haven’t enjoyed them as much as previous years as some of them have been a bit obscure and required special equipment which has made trying the recipes at home a bit more challenging. I was tempted to get Rich to have a go at this one on the BBQ, but decided against it! I used the grill and a griddle pan instead. Click here to see how I got on with the final challenge.
Posted in Bread, GBBO Challenges, Summer | Tagged GBBO Technical Challenge, pitta bread | Leave a Comment »
I was really pleased when I saw what the technical challenge was last week – it’s been ages since I’ve made something like that and I couldn’t wait to try it! The only downside was that it’s pretty big (it’s huge!) and I was on my own for the weekend. Luckily I had a cross-country race and my team mates were more than happy to help me eat it up!
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Posted in Celebration Cakes, Chocolate, GBBO Challenges, Nuts, Other Cakes, Puddings | Tagged GBBO, GBBO Technical Challenge, patisserie, Torta Setteveli | Leave a Comment »
I was a bit disappointed with last weeks challenge as it was another one that was hard to replicate at home without the special equipment. So I decided to make it anyway but made flat pancakes instead of the balls. The flavours sounded really good, so I was still keen to have a go. Click here to see how I got on.
Posted in Fruit/Veg, GBBO Challenges, Puddings, Spices | Tagged Aebleskiver, GBBO Technical Challenge | Leave a Comment »
I love pavlova so I was looking forward to making this recipe. Apart from the fact it’s vegan it looked like a normal pavlova! I have to admit to this one not being entirely vegan – I used normal white chocolate and a normal yoghurt (I figured they weren’t the “technical” part of the challenge, wouldn’t alter the overall taste/appearance and I didn’t have them!).
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Posted in Fruit/Veg, GBBO Challenges, gluten-free, Puddings | Leave a Comment »
Like all of the bakers, I hadn’t heard of Puits d’Amour either so I was intrigued to try them out this weekend. I also have to admit that I’m not sure I have ever made a creme pat and I think the last time I made choux pastry was when I was at school! So this week was definitely a new challenge! Click here to see how I got on.
Posted in Fruit/Veg, GBBO Challenges, Pastry | Tagged GBBO Technical Challenge, pastry, Puits d'Amore | Leave a Comment »
So this is a slight change to the normal ‘Technical Challenge’ which we do each week, and that’s because the last technical challenge was a bit odd. I don’t mind trying something new but I didn’t want to have to buy random spices and moulds which I probably wouldn’t use again, just for the sake of a challenge. The other option was improvise, but given it was spice week, not having the right spices seemed to defeat the purpose. I also didn’t really agree with the challenge – I couldn’t work out what techniques it was testing. So… click here to keep reading
Posted in GBBO Challenges, Other Cakes, Spices | Tagged dates, GBBO, Ginger Cake, gingerbread, malt loaf, signature bake, sticky toffee | Leave a Comment »
Gloverly Cupcakes 