Linzer cookies

My first festive post of 2020! Hopefully I'll manage more but I'll see how things go. This year I was determined to try a couple of new recipes for baked Christmas gifts instead of defaulting to my usual assortment of shortbread, fudge/tablet and gingerbread biscuits.

First up are these linzer cookies, which are basically festive jammy dodger biscuits. I've had this recipe bookmarked from Katiecakes blog for a while so I'm pleased to have finally tried it. Her bakes and photography are always lovely.

These biscuits were fun to make. The dough didn't need chilling which meant they weren't too faffy to prepare either. My only alteration, if you can call it that, was rolling my dough out to 1/4" thick. The recipe says 3/8" but I felt 1/4" was thick enough considering two biscuits get stuck together. I used a 2.5" diameter round cutter and got 22 completed sandwich biscuits in total from the dough. I also used up almost an entire jar of strawberry jam to fill them.

Not much else to report other than they looked very pretty and made lovely gifts to drop off at relatives' doors this week. Vanilla biscuits with jam are always a crowd pleaser. I also have Katiecakes' chocolate and dulce de leche linzer cookies bookmarked so hopefully I'll try them sometime too.

Wishing you all (if anyone still reads) a Merry Christmas and if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a lovely Friday.

Sticky ginger and orange cake

I take all my blog photos with my phone these days. In fact all my blogging is now done from my phone since my laptop barely functions anymore. It's something I wasn't comfortable with for a long time as I know I don't put much effort into photography if I'm just using my phone, whereas I generally used to make an attractive set up when I used my proper camera.

However this year I decided to embrace my laidback approach. After all my blog is a casual baking journal, not an aspiring professional food blog, so any form of documentation will do, whether it's (vaguely) styled or just a very quick snap before the cake ends up in my mouth.

This cake is falls into the latter category. It's unfair to judge it on its unassuming appearance and uninspired photography as it is genuinely a really lovely, comforting hug of a cake. 

As with most ginger cakes this cake improved with age. It tasted so much better on the second and third day (photo above is day 2 and below is day 3.) It developed the glorious, soft, stickiness associated with a great ginger cake and the spices became more intense. I've never added orange to a ginger cake before and found it was a lovely addition. It lifted the ginger and added a fresh zing to the cake. Although I ate the cake plain, I bet it would taste amazing served with custard as a cosy, winter pudding.

Needless to say this cake smelled gorgeous in the oven. I baked it whilst watching some terrible Christmas films on tv last weekend and it made my house feel a little bit festive. Bring on all the festive, spiced bakes!

Sticky ginger and orange cake

Recipe from Mary Berry's Baking Bible.

The cake:

100g (4oz) golden syrup

100g (4oz) black treacle

250ml (9 fl oz) water

100g (4oz) softened butter (I used Stork baking margarine)

100g (4oz) caster sugar

Grated zest of 1 orange

1 large egg, beaten

275g (10oz) plain flour

1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda 

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger (I made it a heaped teaspoon for more kick)

The icing:

100g (4oz) icing sugar

Juice of 1 orange (I used less than one half)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C /fan 160C/ gas 4. Grease and line a 23cm (9") deep round tin with greaseproof paper.

Pour the syrup, treacle and water into a small pan and bring to the boil.

Meanwhile, put all the remaining cake ingredients into a large bowl and mix with a stand or hand mixer until well combined. Add the syrup mixture and beat again until smooth (it'll look lumpy as hell initially, but honestly it'll smooth out!)

Pour the cake mixture into the tin and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 50 minutes or until well risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. (I took mine out at 40 minutes as it was definitely ready, so keep an eye on it.)

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out, peel off the paper and leave to finish cooling on a wire rack.

For the icing, mix together the icing sugar with enough orange juice to make a smooth, fairly thick pouring consistency. Pour onto the cooled cake over a wire rack to any catch drips (or be like me and disregard this step and enjoy the icing puddles which develop around the plate. It's all good!) Decorate with sprinkles if you want to pimp it up or just leave the icing to set for 1 hour.

Battenberg cake

I've had a massive craving for battenberg cake for weeks, likely due to it appearing as a challenge in the first week of the latest series of the Great British Bake Off on tv, but somehow I only got around to making one last week. It was definitely worth the wait though. I bloody love a battenberg and to be honest it's a wonder I don't make them more often. A homemade battenberg cake is rather lovely.

I initially had plans for a fancier flavour combination, such as chocolate and orange, but the urge to make a classic pink and yellow chequered almond sponge was too strong. I'm so glad I went down the classic route, it was so yummy! As with most almond bakes I also found it tasted even better the following day.

It's not the neatest of battenberg cakes, but I'm amazed it turned out looking this presentable. Despite thinking I had coated my work surface liberally with icing sugar to stop the marzipan from sticking when rolling out, my marzipan stuck really badly. There were a few tense minutes of me very carefully unpeeling it from the table so I could wrap it around the cake. Somewhat miraculously I only ended up with couple of small tears and they were easily covered with marzipan flowers which I made from little stamp cutters from the left overs. Regardless of the tears, I think I'll use these cutters again on a battenberg cake as they make a really cute decoration. Also, it's fun to use the cutters and I feel bad about rarely using them!

Now that I've finally made a battenberg cake my thoughts have fully turned to festive bakes. I've spent the last couple of years making the same few things, but I'd really like to try some new recipes this year. I've bookmarked a couple so far, hopefully I'll get around to it.

Anyone else got festive bakes on the brain? I'd love to hear what other folk are planning to make.

Battenberg cake

Recipe from "Vintage Cakes" by Jane Brocket.

175g soft butter (I used Stork baking margarine)

175g caster sugar

3 large eggs

A few drops of almond extract

150g self raising flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

40g ground almonds

Pink food colouring gel (A few drops to achieve your desired colour)

A couple of heaped tablespoons of your desired jam (recipe suggests apricot, I used raspberry)

500g pack of marzipan

Preheat the oven to 180C/ 160C Fan/ gas mark 4. Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin with greaseproof paper. Create a divider for the tin using a strip of card (such a cereal box) cut the same length as the inside of the tin. You want it to fit snugly so your two cake mixtures stay separate whilst baking. Cover the card in a sheet tin foil (so the card doesn't burn) and then again with greaseproof paper so the cake batter doesn't stick to it either.

Whisk together the butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Add the almond extract.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour and baking powder. Add the ground almonds and mix. Tip this dry mixture into the wet egg mixture and gently fold together until everything is combined.

Divide the mixture equally into 2 bowls (I weighed mine and they were roughly 325g each.) Pour one mixture into one half of the cake tin and mix a few drops of the pink food colouring into the other. Mix until the colour is well distributed and your desired shade of pink and pour into the other half of the tin.

Bake the cake on the middle shelf of the oven for approximately 25 minutes (although I think mine took longer, like 30-35 minutes) until well risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack before lifting the two sponges out the tin.

Once cool, cut both sponges in half length ways and trim all edges so they're all the same length and have straight sides. Eat the off cuts, they're baker's perks!

Dust your work surface and rolling pin with icing sugar and roll out the marzipan to the length of your cake and long enough so that it fully wraps around the cake. (About 45cm long.)

Warm the jam gently in a small pan over the hob then with a blunt knife or pastry brush, put the jam onto the sides of the pink and plain sponges. Assemble them in a chequerboard fashion and place in the centre of the rolled out marzipan. Brush with more jam, to make  sure it is all held together and brush all the sides to make sure the marzipan sticks to the cake.

Wrap the marzipan around the cake, pressing it gently but firmly so the jam sticks. Overlap the marzipan over the top to make a seam (which will become the base) and trim with a sharp knife. Also trim the ends to make the cake look tidy. Leave plain, crimp the edges of the marzipan or cut out decorations with any left over marzipan.

chocolate jazzie cupcakes

I had no intentions of blogging these cupcakes but they turned out so cute I couldn't resist sharing.

It was my uncle's birthday recently so I baked a small batch of chocolate cupcakes to drop past his house. Usually I bake a big cake but what with Covid19 household restrictions in Scotland/UK I thought a smaller amount of cake was more sensible since they wouldn't be having a bigger family gathering.

When rummaging through my baking cupboard for cake decorations I came across a bag of jazzies/snowies (white chocolate buttons covered in sprinkles.) I received them as a Christmas present from my best friend last year (she knows they're my favourite pick 'n' mix sweetie) but I was astounded to discover the bag was entirely unopened?!? Changed days. Anyway, I thought they'd make a fun topping for the birthday cupcakes.

It's been a while since I've baked cupcakes. For whatever reason I've been on more of a muffin and biscuit kick this year, so it was nice to return to them. They're always fun to make. Obviously I reserved one cupcake for myself. Quality control and all that.

I also used up the last of my pretty Lakeland paper cases when making these cupcakes. Dare I say it I think it's time to replenish the cupcake case stash as I mostly only have Christmas themed ones left. My stash was borderline out of control a few years ago so it's good to see I've worked through them!

Chocolate jazzie cupcakes

This recipes yields approx. 10 cupcakes.

cakes:

4oz soft light brown sugar

4oz softened butter or Stork margarine

2 large eggs

4oz self raising flour

1 tbsp cocoa powder

Splash of milk.

1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

decoration:

chocolate butter icing - admittedly I made this up without a recipe, but the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook's chocolate icing recipe is a favourite of mine when I do follow a recipe.)

cake sprinkles/ chocolate buttons/ jazzies for decoration.

Preheat the oven to gas 4/180C/fan 160C and line a cupcake tray with paper cases.

In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add a tbsp of the flour mix with the second egg to prevent the mixture from curdling. 

In a separate bowl sift together the remaining flour and cocoa powder then add to the main mixture along with the vanilla extract and a splash of milk. Mix until everything is fully combined.

Divide the mixture between the cupcake cases, filling each case about 2/3 full. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for approx. 25-30 minutes, until well risen and firm to touch.

 

Make your chosen icing and spread onto the top of each cupcake with a teaspoon or palette knife then liberally cover the icing with cake sprinkles. Add two chocolate buttons or Jazzies on top for extra decoration.

courgette, coconut and lime cake

My first ever courgette cake. I've been wanting to make one of these for years and am kicking myself I didn't do it sooner. This is such a lovely cake.

A few weeks ago I came across a Nigella Lawson courgette cake recipe, and variations of it, at least three times within the space of a few days. I took it as a sign that I finally needed to try a courgette cake.

My cake is yet another (slight) variation. I mostly followed Jean's variation though of adding desiccated coconut and lime zest to the cake batter.

I think all versions I came across had used lemon curd as a filling, but I made a lime curd using a lovely recipe I recently found at Only Crumbs Remain. I wanted to enhance the lime flavour in the cake and just generally fancied making that curd! I also added lime zest to the cream cheese icing (no juice though) to fully ramp up the zingy flavour and general green appearance of the cake. I also added a little bit extra icing sugar to the icing to make it slightly firmer and topped the cake with toasted desiccated coconut.

Speaking of the green appearance, I loved all the green flecks from the courgette and lime in this cake. I'm aware green isn't generally considered an attractive colour for a cake, but I thought it looked really pretty.

The courgettes gave the cake a really lovely, soft texture and the lime curd tasted insanely good. Man I love a homemade curd! I only made half a batch but had plenty for this cake filling and enough extra to add to my plain yoghurt and fruit at breakfast for a few days. Yet again, ridiculously tasty alongside blueberries and chopped banana in yoghurt.

So if you're in any ways on the fence about courgette cake I say DO IT. If you already like carrot cake and citrus flavours then you won't regret making it.

moving... sort of

Hi folks, just a heads up to let you know I've finally set up a separate blog for my sewing and knitting projects.

The new blog is called "No beige, all colour" so as you'd expect, it's going to be full of fun and colourful makes. Please do pop over to say hi and follow if you're interested.

 

This blog will keep running as normal, so no worries if you're just here for the cake. You now have the option to follow my baking or crafting adventures... or both!

mixed berry and lemon drizzle cake

A fresh, fruity and zingy cake. Perfect for a sunny, socially distanced summer picnic in my mum and dad's garden a few weeks ago.

It's based on this recipe, another classic from BBC Good Food's website which I've baked before. I actually made the original version (with lime) the previous week and thoroughly enjoyed it but then fancied trying it again with lemon instead.

The recipe states to use an 8" square tin but like the previous times I've made it I used a 9" round tin (it holds the equivalent volume) as I find round cakes easier and more pleasing to slice.

Usually I buy fresh berries for baking but this time I used a bag of frozen mixed berries (a mixture of blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and red currants, maybe even blackcurrants?!) as that's what I had to hand. This worked really nicely and was also a lot cheaper. I'll definitely do this again.

And for the first time ever the berries didn't all sink to the bottom. I don't know if this had something to do with using frozen over fresh or the consistency of the batter. Regardless, I did a little happy dance when the cake came out the oven.

As far as I'm concerned this is a complete winner of a cake. It's a decent size too for feeding a family, although no judgement from me if you plan to eat it all yourself. 

carrot, coconut and lime cake

I was flicking through my baking books one sleepless night last month when I came across this recipe and thought it would be a nice cake to bake for Father's Day. My Dad loves carrot cake, coconut and lime flavours, and I'm a fan of trying new carrot cake recipes. Everyone's a winner!

This is the most summery carrot cake I've ever baked or eaten. The coconut and lime make it so light, fresh and zingy; totally different to the more traditional spiced carrot cake with darker sugar and nuts. Although I'm probably still more of a fan of the latter this was a lovely, refreshing change. I particularly enjoyed the lime in the cream cheese icing. I always forget how much I like lime.

It's worth noting that the icing tasted very butter-heavy. Although I didn't mind it I'd feel tempted to change the icing ingredient ratios if making again.

I made a couple of ingredient substitutions due to what I had in the cupboard and what I could get from the local shop. The original recipe uses shredded coconut, which I imagine would add great texture to the cake but I could only get desiccated coconut. As you can see this worked fine too. I toasted some of the desiccated coconut for decoration on top and made way too much so expect to see more coconut on the blog!

Carrot, coconut and lime cake

Recipe very mildly adapted from National Trust "Traditional Teatime Recipes" book by Jane Pettigrew.

cake:
2 large eggs
100g (4oz) soft light brown sugar (I used a mixture of muscovado and caster sugar as that's what I had in the cupboard)
75ml (3fl oz) sunflower oil
175g (6oz) grated carrot
100g (4oz) self-raising flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
50g (2oz) desiccated coconut

icing:
75g (3oz) full fat cream cheese
75g (3oz) slightly salted butter
50g (2oz) icing sugar
grated rind of one lime

topping:
grated rind of one lime and some toasted desiccated coconut

Preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/375F/Gas mark 5. Grease and line a 18cm/7 inch round tin with baking parchment. In a large bowl with an electric whisk beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the oil and mix again well. Fold in the remaining ingredients until everything is combined then pour into the prepared cake tin and level the top. 

Bake in the middle of the oven for 35-40 minutes until golden, risen and a cake skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. My cake was ready at 33 minutes, so I suggest keeping an eye on it after 30 minutes has passed. Leave to cool on a wire cooling rack.

For the icing, beat together the icing sugar and butter for a few minutes until light and creamy, then add in the cream cheese and lime rind. Mix again until well combined then spread over the fully cooled cake. Decorate the cake with more grated lime and some toasted desiccated coconut.

rhubarb jam and vanilla muffins

I had quite a lot of rhubarb left over after making my almond and rhubarb cake so I thought I'd make some jam. I've only made jam once before and it didn't go well as it over set.

Yet again my inability to make jam struck again as my rhubarb jam over set, but somewhat confusingly my thermometer was nowhere near jam setting temperature. Eventually I took the jam off the heat as I knew it would have burned had I left it longer. The resulting jam is dense and sticky when the recipe said it should have a fairly loose consistency as it uses granulated sugar rather than preserving/jam sugar. I don't understand how I got this so wrong. Perhaps my jam thermometer is faulty?! Any insight gratefully received.

Anyway, the jam still tasted nice despite being solid, so it wasn't a complete write off. I read online that over set jam could be salvaged by heating it up with a small amount of water. I'm so glad I tried this! I've discovered that the reheated jam tastes amazing with plain yoghurt and berries.

Anyway, I digress. Basically I heated up enough jam to dollop teaspoonfuls of it in the middle of my muffin mixture before baking. The muffin recipe is the same as last time, but with a jammy centre instead of blueberries. I also sprinkled some porridge oats on top for a bit of texture and visual interest.

The muffins tasted lovely and more importantly I didn't drop the cake tin this time. If I don't end up eating all my reheated jam with plain yoghurt I think I'll bake these muffins again.

almond and rhubarb cake

Last month my uncle dropped off a pile of rhubarb at my doorstep. What's a lady to do with a pile of rhubarb? Bake, of course!

This cake is based on one of my favourite BBC Good Food recipes. I've used it countless times over the years with different berries, but never with other fruit.

I was unsure whether chunks of raw rhubarb would cook properly in the cake so I decided to stew the rhubarb first (with the addition of vanilla extract) then added it as a jammy layer in the middle of the cake before baking.

This worked really nicely. I loved the tart, jammy frill running through the centre of the cake. I thought it looked really attractive when cut open too. I stewed another few batches of rhubarb and stuck them in the freezer so I'm all set for another cake or a crumble.

Somewhat unfortunately I think I've killed the rhubarb plant which I inherited with my house. An impressive achievement considering it's a hardy plant. I've been steadily gutting and relandscaping my garden since I bought my house two years ago as it was seriously overgrown. The rhubarb plant got dug up and chucked into a shady corner on my path with the intention of replanting it after I weedkilled and reseeded my lawn... which I finally got around to doing this year. Perhaps I put it in too dark a spot when I replanted it, or perhaps it was doomed as it had been sitting out the ground for well over a year. Either way, it's a sad stump.

On the upside, my garden is really taking shape this year. The Covid lockdown has given me time to dedicate to my garden which I otherwise wouldn't have had. My new lawn has been seeded and is growing (incredibly patchy, but still a massive step up from brown earth), I've bought and filled hanging pots for my fence (the fence was built and painted last year), I have created a new border and filled it with colourful bedding plants, and I have finally filled my big planters with flowers, strawberries, onions and carrots. My fuschia and rose bushes have also recovered from their extensive haircuts and the rosebush has loads of pink buds blooming which are going to smell gorgeous when they open. I'm a complete gardening novice so seeing all this progress is ridiculously exciting and rewarding.

Now that lockdown restrictions are lifting in the UK my Dad has been able to come to my garden to help build a new garden shed. I knocked down the original one two years ago as it was completely rotten so I cannot wait to finally have a space to store all my gardening stuff!

mini egg biscuits

Slow clap for me posting an Easter bake at the end of May. 👏

However the Mini Eggs can easily be swapped for other chocolate: chocolate chips, Smarties, M&Ms etc. Please don't dismiss these biscuits (or cookies, if that's what you prefer to call them) just because they're dressed for Easter.

I came across these biscuits through Nickki's blog (again!) I liked that they contained oats and were described as chunky and robust. After making my oat shorties I was still on an oat biscuit kick so this recipe very much appealed to me, although typically I only got around to baking two weeks after Easter. Better late than never. 

To be honest I'm impressed that I kept two bags of Cadbury's Mini Eggs on my kitchen counter for over two weeks without breaking into them. That's extreme self control.

These biscuits are indeed chunky and robust as Nicki describes, like a pimped up Hobnob. The recipe also produced a sizeable batch. I think I got 26 decent sized biscuits. The smell of oats, butter and vanilla from the oven was absolutely insane and I couldn't wait to eat one fresh from the oven. It certainly didn't disappoint.

I think my only alteration to these next time would be to slightly reduce the sugar amount as they seemed incredibly sweet. I don't know who I am these days as that previously would have been an unthinkable sentence to proclaim.

Saying that, they're pretty damn tasty as they are and I wouldn't hesitate to bake them again. Here's the link to the recipe if you fancy making them too.

Oat shorties

I've been on a biscuit kick over the last couple of months and realised that it has been absolutely years since I last made oat shorties. Do they look like the most exciting biscuits? No, but damn they are tasty. They're like a Hobnob-flapjack hybrid.

They smell amazing fresh from the oven too. Butter, golden syrup and oats. . . Mmmmmm.

I was going to add that these are made using store cupboard essentials, but then again perhaps lard isn't commonplace? I must admit I don't tend to have it lying around but it was definitely worth buying a block to make these biscuits. Now what to do with the rest of it, shortcrust pastry or more oat biscuits? Decisions decisions.

Oat Shortie Biscuits
A family recipe

50g (2oz) lard (such as Cookeen or Trex)
50g (2oz) margarine
100g (4oz) sugar (I used caster)
1 tsp golden syrup
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp boiling water
100g (4oz) self-raising flour
100g (4oz) porridge oats

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line a few baking sheets/trays with greaseproof paper.

In a small saucepan melt together the lard, margarine, sugar, syrup, bicarbonate of soda and boiling water. Do not bring to the boil. Add the oats and flour and mix well. 

Take heaped teaspoonfuls of the mixture, (or bigger if you want larger biscuits) shape into rough knobs  and place on the trays, leaving space for each one to spread. I think I made about 24 biscuits in total. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden.

Leave to firm up slightly on the trays before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

The tale of the blueberry muffins

Let me tell you all a story...

On the 1st of April I got up early to bake blueberry muffins to deliver to my parents' house as a surprise morning treat during lockdown. I used my Great Aunty Lizzie's recipe, which I hadn't used in years, and they turned out beautifully.

I let them cool for a few minutes then popped them in a tin, nestled in a tea towel, and rushed out my front door.

Then the clumsy arse that I am dropped the tin as I walked down the hill towards my car. I hadn't fully closed the lid as the muffins were still warm, so the muffins landed face first at the edge of the pavement. Although I was obviously gutted it was also hilariously funny. An eerily quiet, empty street with me on my knees swearing rather loudly at a heap of crumbs. Quality entertainment for any neighbours looking out their windows.

I rescued what I could but a lot was claimed by the pavement. This is what I was left with:

At least the birds got a good feed that day.

Ginger nuts

Over the last year or so I've developed a strong liking for ginger nut biscuits. Especially dunked in a hot cup of tea. Yum!

They never used to be my biscuit of choice (custard creams all the way) as I wasn't a fan of ginger or anything vaguely fiery/spicey in flavour. However my taste buds have definitely changed over the last couple of years as I can now stand a little bit of heat in my food. I even ate a (very mild admittedly) curry a few weeks ago. Who the hell have I become?!

At the beginning of the covid-19 lockdown I couldn't find any Ginger Nuts in the local shop so I took matters into my own hands and made my own, Mary Berry's Yorkshire Ginger Nuts to be precise.

There isn't a picture with the recipe but I have a feeling I went wrong somewhere. The mixture was really stiff so the biscuits didn't spread at all and they took a lot longer than stated in the oven. Admittedly I only got 35 biscuits when the recipe said it yielded 50, so I definitely rolled my dough balls too big. Saying that, the resulting biscuits are still pretty small.

Taste-wise, although perfectly nice with a cup of tea they didn't quite hit the spot for me. I think I was after a firmer biscuit with a snap.

The search for the perfect Ginger Nut recipe continues. . .

Yorshire Ginger Nuts from Mary Berry Baking Bible

100g (4oz) butter
1 generous tbsp golden syrup
350g (12oz) self raising flour
100g (4oz) demerara sugar
100g (4oz) light muscovado sugar
1 level tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 level tbsp ground ginger
1 large egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 160C/Fan 140C/Gas mark 3 and line 3 baking sheets with greaseproof paper.

Melt together the butter and golden syrup in a small pan on the hob over a gentle heat. In a separate large bowl combine all the dry ingredients then add the melted butter mixture and the egg.

Form the dough into 50 balls about the size of a walnut and place on the sheets, allowing some space for each ball to spread. (This is where I went wrong as I only got 35. I also flattened the balls slightly as I couldn't see how they'd be soft enough to spread.... and I was correct.)

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Leave to firm up slightly on the trays for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

Banana and blueberry pancakes

A few months ago I came across a recipe for sugar free banana and blueberry pancakes on Nickki's blog SomethingSweetSomethingSavoury. I love both bananas and pancakes so needless to say I had to try them.

It was a bit of a Goldilocks situation perfecting these pancakes. The first time I made them my griddle was too hot, so the pancakes ended up nearly burnt on the outside and undercooked in the middle. Easily rescued with a quick blast in the microwave though. The second time I overcompensated with heat and and they took ages to cook and didn't colour particularly well. Then finally on my third attempt I got them just right. Practise makes perfect.

I absolutely love blueberries in bakes as they turn such a vibrant colour of purple and create lovely, juicy pockets. They've stained my griddle though which I'm less delighted about but I'll forgive them. After all, this is the most action my poor griddle has ever seen! As much as I love pancakes I hardly ever make them.

In my three attempts I also experimented with different ripeness of bananas and I'd say the riper the better like banana cakes. If you only have one sad banana in your fruit bowl, which isn't enough for a cake, then this is a great way to use it. The batter makes 4 small pancakes/drop scones which I've found makes a decent breakfast for one person.

Although the pancakes tasted absolutely fine as they were I couldn't resist adding a drizzle of honey. I have a sweet tooth and since there's no added sugar in the batter I felt I could add some on top guilt-free. There's something so satisfying about a honey or syrup-soaked pancake.

I'm tempted to try swapping out the blueberries for other berries or possibly even chocolate chips next time I make these pancakes. There are so many possibilities!

The only change I made to the original recipe was to use one 1 large egg as I hardly ever buy medium sized eggs. Here's a link to the recipe if you also fancy giving it a try. Nickki has loads of great recipes on her blog so she's worth following if you haven't come across her before.

Irn Bru birthday cake

I'm finally onto my 2020 bakes, woohoo! Now here's a showstopper, my middle nephew's 10th birthday cake based on his favourite drink, Irn Bru.

To those out with Scotland, Irn Bru is a sweet, fizzy drink with a difficult to describe flavour (you can read about it here on wikipedia.) I can't say I've ever been a fan, but people who love it seriously LOVE it.

To create this cake I started off with baking eight 6" round Victoria sponge cakes (an 8 egg mixture I think), although I only ended up using 7 sponges. I felt that was high enough to create the proportions of an Irn Bru can. I toyed with the idea of incorporating Irn Bru flavour into the cake as I had seen other bakers do this online, but came to the conclusion that it's really the visuals of the birthday cake that's important to my nephews, not necessarily exciting or unusual flavours.

Stacking this cake was rather intense. I think this is the most careful I've ever been with levelling cakes. Usually I'm pretty laid back (lazy) about this kind of thing but as this was going to be tall it had to be as level as possible. I took this photo mid construction as I thought it looked rather impressive.

Rolling out enough orange fondant to cover the sides was quite an event, but it actually went on surprisingly smooth and stress-free. The only scary moment I encountered was when I thought the orange colouring in the fondant had permanently stained my lovely oilcloth tablecloth, but after a lot of bleach and elbow grease I got it shifted. Phew!

To finish the cake I made some boiled sugar shards to stick on top to mimic juice fizzing and bursting out the can. Usually it takes me two or three attempts to make anything caramel/sugar shard related but this worked first time. Yay! I also used silver edible paint for the top layer of fondant which did the job at bringing the can to life. It looked more effective than a grey fondant.

The birthday boy was thoroughly delighted with the cake and it tasted good too. Victoria sponge never disappoints. I was particularly pleased with how cool the cake looked cut open. It was an impressive cross section!