Treating someone to a special day out can solve the problem, what to give someone rather than material “stuff”.Dare devil stuff like rally driving and paragliding is often associated with experience gifts however more every day activities such as beauty treatments and cookery classes are often offered too. We were invited to try out using […]
7 Classic French eclairs challenge round up
A couple of days late and it’s the Classic French eclairs round up! Nazima at Franglais Kitchen was quick off the mark with these raspberry eclairs. Caroline Makes joined in with lovely sounding mini apple and chocolate eclairs – I would love to try these as they’ve reminded me of my beloved apple doughnuts that […]
Bitesize Bits Summer Special
As well as cooling down with iced coffee recently I made these rhubarb and custard popsicles. They’re made from IKEA rhubarb syrup (and a few of those pesky raspberries for colour) topped with tinned custard. The plastic lolly mould from Sainsbury’s however gets the thumbs down for being dead impractical for removing one lolly at […]
Realistic Sugar Flowers at Squires Kitchen Exhibition
Realistic Sugar Flowers at Squires Kitchen Exhibition These are such realistic sugar flowers, you might be forgiven for thinking you’ve arrived at RHS Chelsea by mistake. But this is a cake and sugar craft exhibition. Everything in this post is made from sugar. Neither botany nor flower arranging are my forte. A friend once said […]
Baking queens to reign over Cake International
Mary Berry and Mich Turner have been announced as headlining baking acts at this autumn’s Cake International – The Sugarcraft, Cake Decorating and Baking Show at the NEC, Birmingham from 8-10 November 2013. The fairy godmother of baking, Mary Berry demonstrate favourite bakes in the Cake International Theatre. Sugar craft supremo Mich Turner MBE of […]
Yes I now drink coffee. It’s official. But only if it’s iced.
Fellow Walthamstow resident, Gail, has converted me to iced coffee. Remember how I blogged about not having given up on finding a way to drink coffee that I liked, well it turns out that I’m a skinny iced latte kind of girl. Which makes sense considering I like coffee flavour but just don’t like hot drinks. […]
Why being paid for creative work should not be pie in the sky
I may mutter and roll eyes at my inbox regularly but taking to my keyboard to complain I should probably do more often. Twice in the past 24 hours commercial brands have asked to republish my content (recipes and prose) within their Facebook apps. Both claim they have “no budget” for these projects. We have […]
Royal Baby Cupcakes (Easy Step by Step)
We may not know the name yet but the arrival of HRH baby Cambridge on Monday night means I can finally share with you my royal baby cupcakes! They’re dead simple to make without any specialist sugar craft tools and can easily be adapted for non royal babies too. Follow my step by baby steps […]
Quick Raspberry Tart with Custard Filling
This is a really Quick Raspberry Tart using two cheats: firstly a ready-made pastry case and secondly an alternative to crème patissière using custard and thick Greek yogurt. Topped with fresh raspberries, and a hidden white chocolate layer, this low-effort dessert is one you’ll use again and again. Updated 2026 · Recipe originally made using […]
Slummy Mummy Fruity Cupcakes
Summer berries to the rescue! I have officially cracked the berry fastest way to serve cupcakes. If you need to produce something in a hurry or donate something visually impressive to the school fete then look no further. For my son’s recent cupcake decorating party I indulged in buying 99p store cupcakes. The concept of the […]
Do you need a stand mixer?
Well? Do you need a stand mixer? It’s everyone’s wedding list star prize. Most regular bakers have or wish they had a stand mixer. People get really sentimental about their stand mixers. They even give them names. I never understand this, if I gave the fridge or toaster a name people would think I was […]
Google Rainbow Birthday Cake
Every year I swear I won’t still be decorating Ted’s birthday cake during the party and this year I finally managed it. Surprisingly, this was his most complicated cake yet since I tend to duck out of pressure when I am my own client. Last year I was delighted he simply requested a cake covered […]
