GBBO week 9 – madeleines

Before I start, let me just get this out of the way: Yes, they are supposed to be madeleines. Light, delicate, lemon-scented sponge cakes with a distinctive scalloped decoration on one side, and a pregnant bump on the other. My version have none of the above. I did think the instruction to ‘pour the batter […]

Junior’s taco salad bowl (easy to make vegetarian, or vegan)

When we were in Canada on holiday during the summer, we were based with some good friends of ours: Steph, Junior, and their little baby Levon. We tried to be the best house guests possible, and have apparently been ranked number one by Steph and her family! They were certainly amazing hosts, and Junior treated […]

GBBO week 8 – Danish rye bread smorrebrod

I love Danish pastries, but Andrew does not, so I chose to make a Danish rye bread for the latest Great British Bake off challenge. Have you ever heard of smorrebrod? I didn’t before I watched the Bake Off Danish week and liked the idea of topping some rye bread with creamed horseradish, smoked mackerel, […]

GBBO week 7 – vegan carrot cake

As I have no doubt mentioned before, Andrew is a carnivore. The idea of a meal without meat or fish is unacceptable for Andrew, and the only way I get through Meat Free Mondays is to use copious amounts of cheese. So veganism is never going to be likely in our household, and I have […]

GBBO week 6 – steak and ale pie with suet pastry case

For the Bake Off’s pastry week, Andrew was ecstatic as he knew it meant we’d probably end up with some kind of pie for dinner. As much as I love to be creative with my Bake Off challenges and try new things, when you have a boyfriend who doesn’t really like sweet food, you have […]

Chocolate orange birthday cake recipe (perfect for Halloween)

I woke up this morning and realised it’s the blog’s birthday … and I had forgotten to make a cake. But I had to make a cake for a Halloween party I am attending later today. So, that’s the story of my spooky blog birthday cake! This is a chocolate orange cake: orange zest in […]

GBBO week 5 – sticky gingerbread

For this week’s Bake Off, spices were on the menu, with ginger as the signature bake. The last time I made a ginger cake it was Parkin for fireworks night last year, and it was frankly a bit of a disaster. But I still fancied the idea of a sticky gingerbread that gets stodgier the […]

GBBO week 4 – raspberry blancmange

Who knew that blancmange could be so delicious? Actually I had a sneaking suspicion it was delicious as I remember being fond of it when young: a blancmange rabbit surrounded by green jelly ‘grass’ – surely the stuff of every seventies / eighties child’s diet? But this raspberry blancmange, recipe courtesy of Prue Leith, is […]

Cookbook Challenge – Rick Stein: Mexican inspired beef tortilla wraps

I recently made a delicious recipe from Rick Stein’s The Road to Mexico, called ‘chargrilled beef tacos with spring onions and guacamole’. I call them Mexican inspired beef tortillas. As usual according to the rules of the Cookbook Challenge, I followed the recipe exactly, despite having doubts about it, because I might learn a new […]