Family, food, travel, gin and a touch of hysteria…
Currently Browsing: Cakes & biscuits
Posted by
English Mum |
Feb 6th, 2012
Chocolate orange brownies with bitter chocolate orangettes
Still in pursuit of the perfect chocolate brownie, then, I made these while my children were out making giant… erm.. appendages out of snow. I would show you a video but they’re all disgusting and their grandparents might see. I don’t know where they get it from.
These brownies are utterly lush and slightly more ‘grown up’ than the version I usually make (George’s chocolate...
Posted by
English Mum |
Jan 27th, 2012
A healthier blueberry and lemon loaf
So the weekend was somewhat traumatic. I won’t fill you in on all the events, but needless to say being trapped in a packed train carriage all the way from Shepherds Bush while the three teenagers I was escorting serenaded their fellow commuters with loud renditions of My Horse is Amazing (seriously – don’t bother watching it, it’s that bad) and then being politely told that we were,...
Posted by
English Mum |
Jan 19th, 2012
George’s perfect chocolate brownies
Moving swiftly on from healthy eating, then, we must remember there are those of us at English Towers (the gangly, floppy haired ones and the skatery types) that still want a little something after school or dinner and demand treats, preferably piled up in an ungainly, chocolatey tower when doing A level revision.
This, and I don’t say this lightly, is my best chocolate brownie recipe ever. I make it...
Posted by
English Mum |
Jan 16th, 2012
Healthier baking – a bit of sciencey stuff, and a great recipe for banana, oat and honey muffins
Okay so not exactly science… just baking jiggery pokery really.
First, can I say that I’m not a fan of processed low-fat ANYTHING. If I’m going to spread butter on my bread it’s going to be butter (Yeo Valley out of preference), and nothing remotely low-fatty or weirdly whipped with water.
Still, it’s the New Year and while I love my cakey buns, I’m determined to shed...
Posted by
English Mum |
Dec 18th, 2011
Jaffa Cake Christmas Trees
So you’re going to love this. No, really, it’s a winner.
How about…
Home made jaffa cakes? Wait… wait…
In the shape of Christmas trees!
I know, right?
If, like me, you’re now wild with excitement (or even if you’re not) do have a go at making these little beauties. They taste absolutely fab and can be made in normal paper fairy cake wrappers if you’re not imbued with quite as much Christmas...
Posted by
English Mum |
Dec 17th, 2011
Icing your Christmas cake: the marzipan and fondant icing layers
Okay so last time we saw your Christmas cake it was stashed somewhere wrapped in parchment or foil and being occasionally sloshed with a bit of booze. Now it’s time for the final push… the decoration!
Making your own marzipan (or almond paste) is really easy. There are recipes everywhere so I won’t bore you with that bit. You can also pick up a block of marzipan at your local supermarket....
Posted by
English Mum |
Dec 8th, 2011
Spiced apple yoghurt cake and waiting to see if I won the X Factor…
So this weekend is the big X Factor final. As you know I work with Yeo Valley and I’ve really enjoyed their ads this year – their ‘boy band’, The Churned, has frankly been better than a lot of the actual acts!
If you missed it (or just love The Churned), the advert will be playing during the X Factor ad break this Saturday. And on Sunday, the winner of the Yeo Valley singalong competition...
Posted by
English Mum |
Nov 20th, 2011
An ‘heirloom’, personalised Christmas Cake recipe
I’ve written at length (and ad nauseum, probably) about Christmas cake before. There are all sorts of Christmas cake recipes out there – those ones that have been handed down from grandparents and great grandparents, and others from Delia or Nigella that people swear by.
As I’ve said before, I’ve got a bit of an aversion to food snobbery, and a healthy addiction to the ‘bung it all in and see what...
Posted by
English Mum |
Oct 17th, 2011
National Baking Week – thank you Asda!
So it’s National Baking Week (17th to 23rd October) and to celebrate, lovely Asda sent me a big, mahoosive parcel packed with all sorts of lovely baking kits. There were chocolate tray bakes, white chocolate chip cookies, toffee cookies, vanilla tray bakes and blueberry muffins and iced cookies (I hid the cheesecake brownie kit – that’s obviously just for grown ups).
When the slaves -sorry,...
Posted by
English Mum |
Oct 10th, 2011
Happy birthday, Mum! Pistachio cupcakes with lime and white chocolate ganache.
So it’s English Grandma’s birthday, and I really wanted to take some time and make her some absolutely beautiful cupcakes. I love pistachio (and, more importantly, I know she does too!), plus it has the added bonus of making the sponge a delicate green colour. This pistachio recipe is adapted from Xanthe Milton’s amazing Eat Me recipe book.
For the white chocolate and lime ganache, I’ve...
