Weeks ending 20th June 2014

This will be my last blog until August as I won't have much time for baking or blogging for a few weeks due to the forthcoming wedding of my son and his lovely fiancé this weekend, Wimbledon Centre Court tickets the following week, and then a >3 week holiday to Cuba - phew exhausting just writing it all down lol. 

I also intend to experiment more with savoury dishes in the future too. 

So now to catch up with the last month or so's baking - here goes....

Traditional white loaf

Banana loaf with added sultanas

Traditional white loaf but this time as 1lb loaf and four mini loaves

One mini loaf bacon sarnie :-D

                                                 

New recipe for lemon meringue cupcakes

A Mary Berry banana loaf

Lisa Faulkner banana loaf made with my young grandsons help in his mummy's kitchen

Granary loaf

Yet another fruit cake 

Oat and raisin cookies

White loaf

Three chocolates cupcakes, plain, milk & white in there somewhere!

A vanilla sponge from Jo Wheatley's A Passion for Baking - just to use up the buttercream from the cupcakes above you understand ;-)

And another white loaf

Hmm I seem to have made even more bread... yet another white loaf - but I have to say its a delicious recipe

Needed a new 2lb loaf tin hence this banana cake looks a little squashed as the dimensions are not the same as my old tin

The swiss roll rose a lot and was awkward to roll but it tasted divine with fresh cream and a side serving of fresh strawberries

Granary loaf

Ooops another new tin, this time to make mini loaves (this tin makes 12 each equivalent to a muffin size cupcake, my other mini loaf tin makes eight larger ones). I wouldn't use cupcake cases another time though, just put the mixture straight in the greased tins as it has loose bottoms, and use plenty of cake release spray - a brilliant invention.....

Granary loaf

White loaf

Vanilla sponge filled with strawberry jam

Granary loaf

Ditto

A new low sugar option for oat and raisin cookies - not tried and tested yet..... could be time for coffee now???

Finally for now my first attempt at a CHOCOLATE giant cupcake - chocolate cake covered in white chocolate buttercream and decorated with Pebbles and Giant Buttons

4 Weeks up until 4th May 2014

Oh my goodness I cant believe its 4 weeks since I had time to update my blog! where does the time go?

First I will post the things I have made up to and including Easter weekend which includes a white loaf, a granary loaf, some vanilla cupcakes topped with fondant icing, a cake made using no fat but with the fruit soaked in tea overnight, oat and raisin cookies, some rice krispy/mars bar Easter nests (helped by young Max), a batch of mini Victoria sponges duly decorated with mini eggs (for Easter of course) and another batch of mini Victoria sponges minus the eggs this time

First the two loaves

Then the vanilla cupcakes topped with fondant icing - I acquired a neat little rolling pin at the big cake show which makes lovely flower patterns in the icing, this was my first attempt using it

Next the fruit cake which is lovely as it is warm from the oven ;-) but when cold is also lovely spread with butter

Oat and raisin cookies

Hmmm these went before I could take a picture - Max and I made 12!!

Mini Vics part 1

Mini Vics part 2

That took us to Easter

Since then I have made a white loaf, chocolate brownies with rolos, choca mocha cupcakes, a vanilla birthday sponge recipe from Jo Wheatley's book A Passion for Baking topped with mini eggs, some little fairy cakes made with Max's help, a granary loaf, chocolate peppermint cupcakes and another batch of...... yes that's right - oat and raisin cookies

 White loaf

Brownies

Sponge :-)

Choca Mocha cupcakes

Fairy cakes

Granary loaf

Chocolate peppermint cupcakes

And finally the cookies

I am at home this week so may be experimenting (or if this nice weather lasts I might not) TTFN

three weeks ending 5th April

Sorry I have not been posting for a while, I was ill one weekend and the following weekend I spent a couple of days at The Big Cake Show at Westpoint, Exeter so now its time to catch up with the baking I've done in between.

The week before I was ill I made a granary loaf,  a vanilla sponge from Jo Wheatley's book, A Passion for Baking, some vanilla cupcakes with two tone buttercream topped with mini marshmallows, and of course the obligatory raisin and oatmeal cookies.

First up - the loaf

Cookies

Cupcakes - pretty?

and the sponge 

The following week I made a batch of mini victoria sponges and a batch of blueberry muffins only as I spent two days at The Big Cake Show and also managed to meet and have my photo taken with Jo Wheatley and she signed my book for me too

Mini Victoria sponges filled with cherry jam and freshly whipped cream

Blueberry muffins, different recipe using oil instead of any other fat such as butter or margarine this time

Final week, started off using up the spare biscuit dough from a previous batch of dinosaur cookies and with my little grandson Max's help we made some more 

Next a granary loaf

Followed by a country farmhouse fruit cake

Then a batch of vanilla cupcakes with a variety of toppings, mainly using up leftover buttercream from my freezer, so some plain pink, some coffee and some chocolate and one poor relation with water icing and a cherry 

And finally 1/2 hour ago these oat and raisin cookies