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

Fortnight ending 22nd February 2014

Here we are again, no blog last week due to time constraints put on me by the rail situation meaning my travel to Guildford and back took much longer and an extra day!! I did manage some baking last week though so will add it to this weeks list.  Will start with last week's baking first when I managed to bake a granary loaf and a white loaf, a batch of banana and sultana muffins, and a new recipe - black forest cupcakes.

First a slightly lopsided white loaf, and then a different take on my usual granary loaf, as I didn't have quite enough bread flour when I went to make it so had to find a different recipe quickly - but was more than pleased with the result :-)

Next on the list were the banana and sultana muffins which I topped with sugar nibs this time - yummy 

and finally last week I made the black forest cupcakes - the first picture shows the cupcakes with the filling of cherry jam added to the centre of the cakes after baking, the second picture shows them finished with buttercream topping and half a fresh cherry on top

Now onto this weeks baking.. I started off the weeks baking with a boiled fruit cake, swiftly followed by a white loaf, then some maple and pecan cupcakes, marble cupcakes, and using up ingredients left from the marble cupcakes I made a cheats banoffee pie, and finally today I made a batch of Easter biscuits

Boiled fruit cake

White loaf

Maple and pecan cupcakes - problem here with the caramel topping, I think I was afraid of it burning and didn't leave it boiling quite long enough to go a caramel colour but it still tasted very nice even though it should have been a golden caramel colour ;-)

Marble cupcakes - these were chocolate and vanilla mix underneath, and a cream cheese, icing sugar and cream frosting topped with caramel

Next, using up the caramel and cream of course, cant waste it ;-), a cheats banoffee pie

And finally just a little while ago the Easter biscuits - far too moreish as I've already eaten three and they are still warm!!

Week ending 8th February 2014

I've had a fairly productive week this week, starting with fairy cakes made with my grandson at their house, then a lovely granary loaf, vanilla sponge cake, attempted squashed fly biscuits (garibaldi type), oat and raisin cookies, strawberry milkshake cupcakes and coconut cupcakes. I also made a lovely trifle for dessert yesterday (not classed as baking but I did use the odd bits of cake left over (frozen and then defrosted) from the giant cupcakes I have made previously)

Max helped with these - the making and the eating of...

Then the sponge cake filled with vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam

Granary loaf

Coconut cupcakes topped with a piece of Bounty

Garibaldi type - not very successful in looks although they did taste like Garibaldi, I had to keep checking them you understand just to be sure ;-). They didn't really brown enough in the centre and the edges were a little over done, but as they had a weighted tin on top in the oven it was difficult to see how they were progressing, and I also think I didn't have an even spread of the mixture across the tray - better luck next time maybe

Oat and raisin cookies - these are always successful and popular too

Strawberry milkshake cupcakes - before and after adding a piece of strawberry - I thought they just needed a little something on top ;-)

and finally the trifle using up the strawberries too

That's it for this week folks :-)

Fortnight ending 1st February 2014

As it was my grandsons 3rd birthday party last weekend I didn't get round to much baking or updating my blog so here we go with two weeks worth - the first week ending 25th January (the weekend of the party) I made a white loaf, two batches of the oat and raisin cookies (one batch for the adults at the birthday party) some gingerbread & syrup muffins and some vanilla cupcakes with a real chocolate buttercream topped with a malteser.

First the cupcakes

Closely followed by the gingerbread & syrup muffins - they look plain but have a lovely kick of stem ginger in there - yummy

then a white loaf, I tried glazing the top with egg wash this time but it seemed to stop the rising a little, maybe I was a little heavy handed applying the egg wash

Then two batches of oat and raisin cookies

During the week my grandson Max and I made some Mars bar krispy cakes

Then this weekend I made a granary loaf, a small white loaf plus 3 mini loaves from the same batch of dough, a lemon balm cake (tried a square tin this time instead of circular) some sugar nib fairy cakes, and some red velvet cupcakes

First the granary loaf

The white loaf plus mini rolls

Lemon balm cake

fairy cakes with sultanas and topped with sugar nibs - am told they tasted like Mr Kipling farmhouse slices :-)

And finally for this week the red velvet cupcakes

Any questions, notes, comments all welcome.