Fold in the Flour ...

That probably sounds a bit dramatic, after all this is only a cake. But it is one of the few cakes that I have made over the last six months. And it's so simple (easy to remember), and so delicious that I've made it repeatedly. As it's New Year's Eve, and tomorrow is supposed to bring the promise of new starts, I thought it was the perfect way to get back to baking on here. When I didn't really feel like doing anything, let alone heading into the kitchen, it's been my comfort food stand-by, and has been something that Mike and I have regularly enjoyed with an afternoon cuppa. It's helped me focus on something, and its simplicity when it delivers such great results, feels like it is one of the keys to getting me back into baking more often. The recipe is adapted from one in the Great British Bake Off Everyday book, but having made it once with the original blackberry filling, I then tried raspberries, and have made it that way ever s...

I had one of those moments the other day. The boys and I were out shopping and popped into our local Cadbury shop. We hadn't been in there for a while, and usually buy a treat when we do go, so had a good look around. I was absolutely amazed to see a blast from my past there. Jameson's Raspberry Ruffles. I hadn't seen these anywhere for years . They are, if you don't know, little chocolates made from raspberry-flavoured coconut fondant enrobed in dark chocolate. They taste (to me, anyway), sublime. One of my grandfather's favourite sweets, too, a fond childhood memory of mine is of him and I going on expeditions to his allotment, and returning, his bike laden with home grown veggies for tea. Of course, what he didn't tell my nan, was that we had had a brief detour via his bookies, and my reward for silence was a few of his treasured raspberry ruffles. Not that I'm easily bought, of course ... Aanyways, I hadn't seen them in ages and so just ...

With some incredibly summery weather here at last, I wanted to make something that would complement the weather, rather than fight it. A cool, fruity cheesecake sprang to mind, so I played around a bit and came up with a Mixed Berry Cheesecake - a vanilla cheesecake marbled with raspberry and blueberry purées. This gives a lovely creamy, fruity cheesecake that would be perfect as a summer dessert. Mixed Berry Cheesecake Ingredients 165g digestive biscuits 60g butter, melted 675g full fat cream cheese 225g caster sugar 1/2 tspn vanilla extract 2 large eggs For the fruit purées 100g raspberries 130g blueberries 2 tspns sugar splash water Preheat the oven to 140 Fan / 160 conventional / Gas 3. Lightly grease a 20cm (8 inch) springform or loose based tin. First make the fruit purées by placing each fruit into it's own saucepan, along with 1 tspn of the sugar and a small splash of water. On a medium heat, bring to a simmer, and soften the fruit - you'll ge...

With the Queen's Diamond Jubilee fast approaching, I've wanted to try out some ideas for Jubilee-themed baking, and so these Jubilee Rose Berry Cupcakes are the first. They are a vanilla cupcake, full of juicy raspberries and blueberries to give some red, white and blue. There's no rose flavouring involved and the 'rose' comes from the coloured cream cheese buttercream piped in the shape of a rose. I think these are lovely and summery and would be perfect for a Jubilee themed party! The cupcake recipe is simple, and makes about 12 cupcakes. The striped effect in the buttercream is made by using a cocktail stick to paint the inside of your piping nozzle with stripes of colouring (I used Wilton's gel paste in Royal Blue and Red Red). I found that the colour on the first piped cupcake was a little strong, but after that you had a lovely subtle effect - although I did need to use two piping bags for the whole lot, as the colour faded to white totally half wa...