You know that feeling you get after having taken some exams and you get home and don’t know what to do with yourself? I feel a bit like that this afternoon. My house is suitably de-cluttered after this morning’s yard sale and I am not pressurising myself to make any more cake this weekend. Yesterday […]
Mini Blackberry Cupcakes
These Mini Blackberry Cupcakes have little vanilla bases, richly-coloured buttercream flavoured with juicy blackberries and a fresh berry decoration to finish. Updated 2026 · Now with a printable recipe, the original 2009 post is preserved underneath. These blackberry cupcakes followed an earlier recipe for Crushed Raspberry Cupcakes; the two recipes are very similar. The raspberry […]
Classic Baked Custard
I love egg custards so I was very pleased to see how simple these were. I used up my egg yolks left over from the Pecan Pie Macarons It was also my first time baking using a bain marie. I decorated my custard with cinnamon using one of my cookie stencils. The plate you can […]
Pecan Macarons with Salt Caramel
Cupcakes are top of the pops at the moment – we even have a National Cupcake Week – but there is also a bubbling under trend for macaroons – or macarons to give them their French spelling. I have seen macarons (like these ones above) in pictures over the past year but had not seen […]
Crushed Raspberry Cupcakes
These Crushed Raspberry Cupcakes have vanilla bases topped with pink buttercream flavoured with crushed raspberries and their juice. Updated 2026 · Now with printable recipe, similar to the one from my book. This version omits white chocolate. The original post is preserved underneath the printable recipe. I was originally inspired by a photo of raspberry […]
Nigella Book Signing – Dumbstruck
Most of my friends will know that I am a huge fan of Nigella Lawson. I used to read her cookery columns for Vogue in the mid nineties and bought her first book “How to Eat”, the second it hit the shelves. She also resided in deepest darkest Shepherd’s Bush at the same time as […]
Polenta Crust Turkey Burgers with Tomato Salsa
These polenta crust mini turkey burgers were the result of my tea time cooking last night. I had some minced turkey to use and wanted something more interesting than a pasta bolognaise sauce. Normally I coat meat balls with flour but polenta has more bite. Inspiration for My Turkey Burger Recipe – Nigella’s Cornbread Topped […]
Red Velvet Cake
This month I have been baking five recipes from Rachel Allen’s Bake. This time I have baked red velvet cake for the first time. Although this is my last Bake Five blog using Rachel Allen’s Bake, I can honestly say that I will go out and buy this book. It’s been a while since I […]
Beef Stout and Anchovy Pie
The perfect Saint Patrick’s Day recipe: Rachel Allen’s Beef, Guinness and Anchovy Pie Fourth installment of my series of five “Bake” by Rachel Allen recipes. Today I have made her Beef, Stout and Anchovy Pie with hot water pastry crust in honour of my fifth wedding anniversary. We’re not big Guinness drinkers so I foresee making this […]
Chocolate Vanilla Marble Cake
Chocolate Vanilla Marble Cake is essentially plain and chocolate sponge mixture swirled together. The cake should have been done in 40 minutes but needed another 15 minutes (covered in foil as the top was done). After further checks and 1 hour 10 minutes, the cake was done but had annoyingly worked it’s way into a […]
Emma Bridgewater factory shop
Five years ago I bemused my colleagues with news of a trip I’d taken to Stoke on Trent. I had spent a happy day with my husband viewing the bottle kiln at the Gladstone Pottery Museum (pictured above), with it’s cafe that serves tea and cake on Royal Winton Chintzware, several factory shops to salivate over […]
Oat Vanilla Shortbread Cookies
This month I’m baking five recipes from Rachel Allen’s “Bake” and my next offering is Oat and Vanilla Shortbread Cookies. I was very impressed with this recipe. Using the Magimix to make the cookie dough I left it in the fridge before taking my son to playgroup. When we got back they were just right for slicing […]
