Yep, it’s official, I’m moving to the big city of Brum next week. I’ve been offered a job there.

I thought about it and I thought about, but there’s no easy way to tell you. Hehe! This feels like a break-up, when you keep putting off telling the other person until you really have to. Or you could just send them a text. Harsh but at least it’s in black and white.

But fear not, I shall try to keep my blog going and I am moving to a house where the over ACTUALLY WORKS – albeit with five strangers! I’ll let you know how it goes.

Keep baking. x

Preparation: 5 minutes

Total: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

60z self raising flour

60z sugar

60z butter

11/2 teaspoon baking powder

3 eggs, beaten

Strawberry jam

Cream, whipped

Icing sugar, to decorate

Directions:

1) Grease and line the base and the sides of a two baking tins with baking paper. 

2) Cream the butter and the sugar in a food mixer or by hand, if you’ve got the wrist action.

3) Fold in the flour and baking powder, followed by the eggs. Divide the mixture between the two baking tins.

4)Bake in the oven at 200C for 15-20 minutes.

5) Place the cakes on a wire rack to cool before filling the cake with the whipped cream and jam.

6) Lightly dust the top with icing sugar.

It’s been some time since I last put up a post, dear readers (if there any of you out there??). So apologies for that. I can only blame it on the Election. I bet you didn’t think I’d say that! Yep, it’s all go in the newsroom.

Can anyone give me advice on butter cream icing? Mine always seems to go a bit Pete Tong.

On a non-baking note I just got called Lady Gaga by an old man while walking through the park. He then preceeded to sing Ooh-la-la!

Perhaps I should give up my day job and sign up to one of those lookalike agencies?! Hmmm..

The Footballer (my landlord and housemate) has failed to ‘tackle’ (get it?!) the oven and get it working.  So,  I made these chocolate biscuit thingies because you just chill the mixture in the fridge. No oven required and techinally no baking involved.

They proved quite popular and I came home to find this note from him…

I bought the plain chocolate and the dried fruit seperately (much cheaper). I also used some dark orange chocolate I found loitering the fridge as well some milk chocolate with rice crispies to add a bit of crunch. You can try all kinds of chocolate. Pick your favourite. 

Makes:  10 

Preparation: 10 minutes

Total: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

275g fruit and nut plain chocolate

130g unsalted butter

90g digestive biscuits

90g white chocolate

Directions:

1) Grease and line the base and the sides of a 450g/ 1lb loaf tin with baking parchment. 

2) Break the fruit and nut chocolate into even-sized pieces and place in a heatproof bowl along with the diced butter.

3) Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir gently until melted. Cool for 20 minutes.

4) Break the digestive biscuits into small pieces with your fingers. Finely chop the white chocolate.

5) Sit the broken biscuits and white chocolate into the cooled, melted fruit and nut chocolate until combined. Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and pack down gently. Chill for two hours, or until set. 

6) To serve, turn out the mixture and remove the lining paper. Cut into slices with a sharp knife.

Strawberry cupcakes (a Dolly Mixtures’ recipe)

I made these cupcakes for Papa’s birthday on Sunday and added strawberry flavouring to the icing. Gives it a masculine edge!

I got this recipe in a Christmas present along with a pair of socks in a pink silicone cupcake mould.

You’ll need a cupcake or muffin baking tin. TK Maxx have some bargains.

Makes 12

Preparation: 25 minutes

Total: 15-20 minutes, plus cooling

Ingredients:

175g self raising flour

175g butter, softened

175g caster sugar

3 large eggs, beaten. But I would use 2 because the mixture was too runny

2 tsp vanilla essence

For the icing:

300g icing sugar

150g butter, softened

1-2 tbsp milk

A few small sweeties for decoration

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 180C or Gas Mark 4.

2) Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla essence until light and fluffy, add the eggs a little at a time, and fold in the flour with a metal spoon.

3) Fill each cupcake 2/3 full. Bake in the oven and cool on a wire rack.

4) To make the icing, cream the butter and slowly add the icing sugar then add the milk a little at a time until the butter cream is soft to shape.

5) Cover the top of each cupcake with butter cream, design a pattern with a fork or use an icing bag and sprinkle with the chosen sweeties.

I have returned from my travels and the jet-lag is finally starting to wear off.  I woke up at 6am on Saturday – I don’t even get up that early on a school day! So, what’s a girl to do when she can’t sleep? Make gingerbread men, of course.  And one-legged dogs (started to run out of mixture).

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to access my blog while in China. I’ve got plenty of stories to tell you and hundreds of pics to upload but I need to dig out my USB cable – lost somewhere in my third house move of the year!

P.S Among the many films I watched on the plane was How To Marry A Millionaire. Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall and Betty Grable play three friends who hatch a plan to marry millionaires, pooling their resources so they can rent a penthouse apartment in New York to lure the men in. But things don’t quite go to plan.  Hilarious.

Keep baking. x

Gingerbread Men (J’s recipe)

Makes: About 20 biscuits

Preparation: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 10 to 15 minutes, plus cooling

Ingredients:

350g plain flour

2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

100g butter or margarine

175g soft light brown sugar

1 egg

4 tablespoons golden syrup

Directions:

1) Place the flour, ginger and bicarbonate soda into a bowl and rub in the butter.

2) Add the sugar and stir in the syrup and egg to make a firm dough.

3) Roll out to about 5mm thick and cut out your gingerbread men. If you don’t have a gingerbread man cutter then use whatever you have – hearts, stars and one-legged dogs are just as tasty or make your own cutter using stiff cardboard.

4) Bake at 190 degrees on greased baking trays. Make sure they’re spaced out as they’ll spread. Leave to firm up for a couple of minutes before placing on a wire rack to cool.

5) Once cooled, decorate with icing and currants. Give to people you like.

Preparation: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes, plus cooling

Ingredients:

6 oz plain flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 teaspoon mixed spice

2 oz margarine

2 oz brown sugar

1 tablespoon black treacle

1 tablespoon golden syrup

1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

7 fl oz warm milk

2 eggs

2 oz stem ginger, chopped

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 160°C and line an eight inch cake tin with greaseproof paper.

2) Mix the flour, baking powder and spices in a bowl.

3) Cream the margarine with sugar, treacle and golden syrup. Beat well.

4) Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the warm milk and stir into the creamed mixture with the flour, beaten eggs and ginger. Beat well and pour into the tin.

This cake, and The Mother’s lemon drizzle cake, reminds me of my childhood. It brings back many happy memories of watching her bake in the kitchen, but more importantly eating what she’d made.

I made this last year and between you and me, it was a disaster. My friend told it to me straight – not gingery enough.

Does anyone have a similar recipe I could try?

Perhaps it’s time for a second attempt.

Keep baking. x

I am off to China next week to visit my friend Rich, who’s studying in Beijing. I shall be gone for two whole weeks! Starting to feel quite excited about it now…

I’m hoping to update my blog while I’m out there and I’ll be on the look-out for some tasty Eastern recipes to share with you.

Best get back to my day job, stories to write.

Keep baking. x

P.S A friend bought me Cupcakes and Kalashnikovs: 100 Years of the Best Journalism by Women, for the long flight ahead. What a great title for a book.

My uncle, who’s an artist, gave me this recipe (plus a very nice doodle) when I stayed with him a couple of summers ago.

I’ve used this recipe so many times, it never fails. Piece of cake. It has double the quantity of most flapjack recipes so they’re much healthier.

Makes:  It depends how greedy you are! I normally cut them quite big and make about 15

Preparation: 10 minutes

Total: 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown

Ingredients:

100g unsalted butter

100g golden syrup

100g caster sugar

100g dessicated coconut

400g porridge oats

ginger to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon)

dried fruit, glacé cherries (optional)

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. I tend to use a bit of butter to make sure it sticks.

2) Melt the butter, golden syrup and caster sugar in a pan before adding the ginger.

3) Allow the mixture to cool before adding the coconut, porridge oats and dried fruit.

4) Using a wooden spoon, place the mixture on the baking tray. Nigel’s top tip: Use your knuckles to flatten out the mixture – otherwise it will stick to your hands and gets slightly messy.

5) Cut/mark before cold. Make a brew and share with friends. They won’t last long…