When I was in Waitrose at the weekend I saw some whoopie pies which reminded me I wanted to try a recipe for gingerbread whoopie pies. Apparently late last year, The New York Times proclaimed whoopie pies to be the new cupcake. The cupcake is dead, long live the whoopie pie? I don’t think so, but I’m always happy to try a new baking project. Gingerbread whoopie pie recipe Ingredients 16oz plain flour 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp ground cloves 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 6oz unsalted…
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What was I thinking?! When I saw a picture of a Union Jack battenburg cake I was thinking “I can make that”. So I did. Ok, so it doesn’t quite look like the one in the photograph but at least I tried. The sponge cake turned out rather greener than the blue I hoped for and it was quite tricky to slice the cake diagonally! It’s a time consuming project as you need to leave the cake to chill in the fridge through various stages of construction. It’s sandwiched together with layers of buttercream and strawberry jam and wrapped in…
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It’s a shame I can’t use the excuse of pregnancy but I have a sweet tooth. Yesterday I whipped up a batch of honey cupcakes and added some honeycomb for some extra crunch. They taste delicious so if you fancy trying them yourself here’s the recipe. Ingredients: 115g butter 115g caster sugar 115g self-raising flour 2 eggs 1 tbsp honey 2 tbsp honeycomb pieces Icing: 20g butter 150g icing sugar 2 tbsp water 1 tbsp vanilla essence Method: Heat the oven to 170 degrees (if using a fan oven) and place your cake wrappers in a cake tin.…
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I just adore the taste of mint chocolate ice cream and wondered if this could be translated to cupcakes!? Yes, it can! Here’s a simple but tasty recipe for 12 mint choc cupcakes. Ingredients: 225g self raising flour 4 tbsp cocoa powder 1 tsp baking powder 225g caster sugar 225g unsalted butter 4 eggs 1 tsp mint essence 100g chocolate chips Method: Preheat oven to 160. Sieve the flour, cocoa and baking powder in a bowl. In a separate bowl beat the sugar and butter, then add the eggs. Add the dry mixture to the bowl with the mint essence…
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It’s been a while since I baked something, well, at least a week. I can’t bear to let a cake tin go empty! I thought I would make something delicious and healthy as Edward enjoys the odd slice of cake too. Ingredients: 175g self-raising flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 150g caster sugar 3 eggs 3 ripe bananas 4 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp vanilla extract Method: Preheat over to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4 and grease and line a loaf tin Combine the flour, baking powder and sugar together in a large bowl. Beat the remaining ingredients in another bowl. Stir the…
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Sacla’ have teamed up with rugby legend Lawrence Dallaglio to produce a fabulous new family cookbook called My Italian Family Cookbook. All the dishes are full of goodness, easy to prepare and use the very best ingredients. Lawrence says “My Dad and I have always wanted to create the ultimate Italian family cookbook, sharing our passion, our love of cooking great food with fresh ingredients and of course our treasured family recipes. Sacla’ are now a part of our family, coming from Piedmont in Italy as we do, where they still make all their delicious products including our range, Dallaglio…
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Edward loves his finger food but unfortunately doesn’t like fruit unless it’s pureed. However I’ve found a way of making sure he gets banana by hiding them in muffins! This is a really simple recipe which takes 30 minutes from preparation to eating. Ingredients: 55g unsalted butter 100g caster sugar 1 egg 2 ripe bananas 1/2tsp natural vanilla extract 125g plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/4tsp bicarbonate of soda Method: Preheat oven to 180Oc and line your cake tin. I use a mini muffin tin for bitesize muffins but you could make these adult sized too. Beat the…
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When I saw the prompt for Ella’s Friday Carnival was cakes and cookies I knew I had to take part. I love baking and have had an idea for gingerbread cupcakes for a while. Gingerbread cupcakes To make 12 cakes I followed a standard cupcake recipe: 125g butter 125g caster sugar 2 eggs 125g self-raising flour 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence dash of milk Gingerbread Drinking Chocolate (from Hotel Chocolate) Cream the butter and sugar and add the vanilla essence. Beat the eggs and add to the mixture. Fold in the flour and add milk as necessary. The magic ingredient is…
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Tonight I am making the most random food stuff for Christmas – onion marmalade. It started off as an innocent conversation with my mother the other day. It ended tonight in me peeling 10 large onions and making marmalade for the first (and probably last time). I’m not sure how our jars of homemade marmalade will be received as Christmas gifts. I might stock up on some jars of sweets just in case. I’ve seen some lovely jars of fizzy gummies, white snowies, cola cubes and jelly babies which will go down very well. I’m hoping to have some time…