Fold in the Flour ...

  A coffee shop without some sort of coffee cake on offer seems wrong, to me at least. Since starting our own place, I've tried out a few. It's my go-to order when indulging in checking out the competition. And I have to say that good coffee cake can be hard to find. Sometimes, the coffee flavour is too overwhelming.  Sometimes, especially if walnuts are involved, I find the nuts too bitter alongside the coffee - which can be bitter as well. And I'm not a fan of overly sweet icing. As with most things, I like to be caressed. Personal quibbles, I know, but my tastebuds thank me.  I guess it's all a question of balance.  When I'm baking for Sweet, I like to vary recipes and change things up regularly. Coffee cakes on offer have included Mocha Meringue , a Chocca Mocca Layer, and sometimes, Cappucino Cupcakes. But by far a favourite in the shop, and one which usually features on a weekly basis at least, is Coffee and Pecan Cake. I...

Grey days deserve roaring fireplaces, comfy sofas, snug slippers, a mug of steaming hot tea, and cake.   An absolutely splendiferous cake.  This is mine. For a cake that contains a mahoosive amount of chocolate, sugar, cream, and cocoa, it balances the flavours perfectly. Moist chocolate sponge, with a fudgy frosting.  It's not overly sweet, but is very rich, so if you are calorie conscious, the merest sliver will satisfy the cravings of the chocolate deprived. If, on the other hand, you're a complete greedy guts, *ahem*, you will still get a significant number of portions out of it (think at least 12). Devil's Food Cake* (makes one 9 inch cake) Ingredients  330g plain flour 90g cocoa powder 1 1/2 tspn baking powder 1/2 tspn bicarbonate of soda 1/2 tspn salt 185g unsalted butter at room temperature 500g (yes, that's 500g!) soft light brown sugar 2 tspn vanilla extract 4 eggs, each around the 60g mark  375ml buttermilk at room t...

I suppose that's a bit of a misnomer for a start. After all, a classic Victoria Sponge, as beloved by the Queen it's named after, is filled with raspberry jam and cream. But I had some rhubarb lurking in the fridge that I wanted to find a use for. I'd bought it at the weekend. An impulse buy. Partly initiated by the fact that I'd never actually prepared rhubarb myself before. I remember my mum cooking it when I was little. My granddad used to grow it on his allotment, and so at this time of year, some of the crop would find its way home on the back of his bike. Sometimes it would go into a crumble. More often than not, though, it would simply be stewed to an inch of its life alongside the Sunday roast. The rosiness of the rhubarb would glow against it's usual companion of pale golden custard.   As a child, I didn't really enjoy the taste. Now, though, I can appreciate its tartness, especially when tempered with a light sweetness of suga...

Sometimes, the simplest things are the best. Nothing fancy. Just something fairly plain, made with love. Something that sometimes gives back to you in ways you least expect. But you're probably thinking, this is only a cake, after all. I should explain. I was surprised by how much Sam enjoyed this cake.   Given that he has now launched headfirst, it seems, into his toddler  days, getting him to sit in one place for longer than a minute or two is an achievement in itself. Yet he was very happy to clamber up and sit snuggled on the sofa with me, sharing a slice. A few precious moments stolen from an otherwise hurly-burly kind of day. And that made it really special.   Although I have made loaf cakes before, the results have been a bit hit and miss. I don't know why. The last one I tried (Primrose Bakery's Lemon Drizzle) I simply binned, as although I followed the recipe exactly, something happened and it just didn't turn out righ...

Dark, fudgy icing on a chocolate sponge. Normally, that would be right up my street. Yes, I should've loved this cake. But something is wrong somewhere at the moment. I feel *gasp* as though I have gone off chocolate. Whether it was the effect of some bright sunshine for a change, whether I'm just a bit jaded at the moment, or the amount of chocolate that I've eaten over the last few months - just because it's an 'easy' snack and therefore all too easy to reach for, tsk, tsk - has taken its toll, it just didn't quite hit the spot. Instead, I've found myself craving sharpness and light. So much so, that I also baked another of the Limoncello Cakes I've posted recently. Now that really got my tastebuds going and it has kept Mike and I in coffee-time treats all week.   And yet, I had been really looking forward to making this cake last weekend, as Chocolate Fudge Cake was by popular request of the boys. I had found a new recipe to...

I love the magic of baking. Particularly when you cut into a fairly innocuous looking cake, and then get this (or at least something like it): Vanilla flavour polka dots, enrobed in chocolate sponge, sandwiched together with chocolate fudge icing, covered in vanilla buttercream, with a final topping of dark chocolate, dripping down the sides. And if all that tastes good, too, then I really shouldn't complain. But, I have to be honest. This cake did not go entirely to plan. And this is version two. And, if I make it again, I will definitely do some tweaking. The idea for the cake stemmed from this amazing cake by Deb at Once Upon a Pedestal . It was doing the rounds on Pinterest in January. Someone at work, who knows about my 'hobby' sent me the link. That was it - I was hooked. I started planning, as the idea of dots in a cake was screaming 'Red Nose Day' at me. I even ordered a cake pop pan so that I could execute my grand design. (And I hate ...