Fold in the Flour ...

I hate to say it but over the last couple of weeks, I really lost interest in baking. And blogging. And doing anything that even remotely involved removing myself from the sofa. I've just had one of those months. It's been full of downs with very few ups (apart from Cardiff City FC finally reaching the Premier League as Champions, and my first Clandestine Cake Club meet). We are still dealing with the aftermath of bereavement, and it is amazing how much there is to do when you least feel like it. Plus I've been ill this week. Scarily ill, in that what appeared to be a minor illness deteriorated rapidly and knocked me for six to the point where my GP began talking about hospital. (That never happens to me so it was a shock but, thankfully, I've improved almost as quickly).  So on Thursday, when my copy of the newly published 'John Whaite Bakes' arrived at my door, I was, like, 'meh'. Interestingly, it's tagged as 'Recipes fo

In our house, if you want to make something for the boys that will be universally popular, there's really only one thing that will cut it. Chocolate. And lots of it. With a little bit more hidden inside, if possible. I wanted to try and make a plain chocolate cupcake into something that the boys would love. And they loved these. Kerching! These are a soft, fluffy sponge, with a hidden chocolate sauce centre, covered in rich chocolate buttercream. Not too sweet, they really hit that chocolate spot. Even Sam joined in, as I had enough of the sponge mix and buttercream left over to make 10 little bite-sized cupcakes. Just perfect for a toddler's chubby grip. The sponge is my trusty basic chocolate recipe. You can make it as an all-in-one, and chuck the ingredients into a bowl and blitz with a hand mixer. I tend to adapt the method slightly, though, creaming the sugar and butter first. I just think that if the sugar dissolves into the butter properly, it gi

I really love this cake. I mean really love it. So much so, it's my new best friend. It's like sunshine on a plate. The citrussy aroma tempts you while the sultry lemony pucker hits you full in the mouth. And who can resist anything with 'Limoncello' in the title? The mere mention of the word transports you to to the Sicilian sun. It's one more reason I have to thank Random Recipes for getting me to delve into my cookbooks. This month's challenge had a bit of a twist. Dom, of Belleau Kitchen (who runs the challenge) created a Randometer thingummy-bob to test us. You had to enter how many cookbooks you owned, and then it would generate a random number. You counted along your shelf to that book, and then entered the number of pages, to generate another number and so find your Random Recipe. The gods must have been looking favourably on me this month, as I ended up with this gorgeous lemon cake, from Peggy Porschen's 'Boutique Baking