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

Fortnight ending 15th March 2014

Two weeks worth again today - had a busy weekend last weekend visiting Killerton and Dawlish - lovely family weekend - so catching up with the blog today :-)

I'll start with the previous week ending 8th March first - and that week started mid week with a lovely batch of Dinosaur cookies - I was helped with these by my grandson Max aged 3, then I went on to make a granary loaf, some oat and raisin cookies, banana and sultana muffins, a lemon meringue pie, some cherry bakewell cupcakes and another granary loaf.

Dinosaur cookies :-)

First loaf, granary

Oat and raisin cookies

Banana and sultana muffins

Cherry Bakewell cupcakes

Lemon meringue pie - all homemade apart from the pastry which I confess to using frozen pastry ;-)

and another granary loaf to finish the first week

Now to this week - I started the week by baking some banana and sultana muffins aided and abetted by my grandson Max, then back home to Devon to make another batch of cherry bakewell cupcakes, this time with a hidden jam centre, then a gesture for St Patrick's day - some vanilla cupcakes with an attempt at a shamrock on the top, and some peanut butter and white chocolate chip cookies.

First up the muffins made with Max's help

Granary loaf

Cherry bakewell cupcakes plus the hidden jam centre

St Patrick's Day :-)

And finally the peanut butter and white chocolate chip cookies

That's all for this week folks, off to cook a breakfast brunch now....

Week ending 1st March 2014

Another week and yet more baking, looks like this week has been all about the bread .... but I also made a lovely boiled fruit cake, some more banana and sultana muffins and a batch of cupcakes I called Neapolitan.

First to start the week last Sunday I made a white loaf, followed by a lovely recipe from Mary Berry's Baking Bible for a boiled fruit cake - this was beautifully moist and would definitely make this again, would even make a lovely Christmas cake I think, next were the banana and sultana muffins, and another white loaf, then the Neapolitan cupcakes, and then finally a granary loaf.

First of the loaves 

Second white loaf

The lovely yummy fruit cake plus a small slice - its packed with fruit as you can see :-)

The Neapolitan cupcakes - vanilla in the cupcake topped with chocolate buttercream (with real chocolate in) and that was then topped with strawberry flavour buttercream and finally topped with a coupe of white chocolate buttons 

Banana and sultana muffins topped with sugar nibs

And last bake for this week was a granary loaf - it went very well with the chilli I had made for our evening meal - the loaves all courtesy of Jo Wheatley's book A Passion for Baking