Looking back I am amazed that I haven't blogged about what has to be the world's simplest chocolate cake before. This recipe came to me from my Gran and there's one for making a plain sponge (of which there is a similar recipe in Hugh F-W's River Cottage Family Cookbook). The weight of two eggs in self-raising flour The weight of two eggs in sugar The weight of two eggs in margarine Two eggs Cocoa (I usually use 2-3 tablespoons of Green and Blacks' Cocoa) A splash of milk Sieve together the flour and cocoa. Cream together the sugar and margarine in a bowl. Beat the ... read more
Chewy Molasses Cookies
When going to antenatal yoga classes locally one of the things I particularly enjoyed the tea and cake after the class, and the opportunity to meet other mums to be. This theme has continued with the baby yoga classes that I now take LMC to and Laura who runs the classes is certainly excellent when it comes to baking. She's shared a few of her recipes on the Yoga Hall's webpage and I finally got round to trying one of them myself last week: chewy molasses cookies. These are incredibly easy to make, good for you, and yummy too - what more can you ask for in cookies! ... read more
Apple muffins
Plenty of cooking and baking has been going on here recently. Whatever happens people still need to eat. This batch of apple muffins were for the wassail that took place at the WWA today. Taken from Classic 1000 Cake & Bake Recipes - a book I always forget that I own, but that contains loads (1000 in fact) fantastic baking recipes - these were incredibly simple to make. It was just a shame that I only got to eat one muffin of them out of the two batches I made. ... read more
Egg-enriched White Loaf
Continuing my cookbook challenge I decided to be a bit adventurous with my bread making. For years have just been using the same wholemeal recipe. I've no real idea why though as I do love a range of different breads. Habit I guess. Today I broke that habit though by actually using one of the two bread machine books that I have on the shelf. Admittedly I didn't become super adventurous, but to use up some of the egg glut that we seem to have I went for the egg-enriched white loaf from Bread Machine by Jennie Shapter. I have to admit that I don't think I have made a single ... read more
cookbook challenge
Christmas has been and gone in a mass of laughter, tears, food, wine, wrapping paper and new toys. Thoughts are therefore turning to the new year and the ups and downs that it may bring. Resolutions are being planned and it's fair to say that most of mine centre around family and home. The kitchen has to be at the heart of most family homes and this one is no different. I may not be anywhere near as domesticated as I want to be, but that doesn't stop me imagining I am. I love looking through new cookbooks and planning what to make. The only problem is that I'm very poor at actually ... read more
Getting back to “normal”
Little Miss C is eight weeks old today. Eight weeks! Where has the time gone. From a small baby who came into the house and did little more than sleep, eat and fill her nappy, I am instead looking down at a bigger baby playing on her play mat, making noises, hitting the toys hung above her and occasionally breaking into a smile too. The transformation has been amazing and it seems that every day there is some small change that we can marvel over.Now that we're both getting used to each other we're learning to live with each other pretty well. I'm incredibly lucky as she's not a ... read more
Hummingbird Bakery Chocolate Muffins
Life is greatly improved when you add a chocolate muffin and cup of tea to it! Muffins from the recipe in The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. Slight deviation in that I used chocolate chips rather than a bar of chocolate broken into pieces. Still tasted good though - I just need to learn how to stop the chocolate pieces sinking to the bottom! ... read more
A chocolate filled Easter
It's been an Easter weekend that I think I'm going to remember most for the variety of chocolate consumed whilst doing a million and one other things! There was only time for one bit of baking though which was an opportunity to try out a new seasonal recipe. I've had the card for Waitrose's Chocolate Nest Cakes for years (possibly since 2001 looking at the date on it!) and have only just got round to trying these, although as I needed to transport them to a friend's house in the car I made them into Easter cupcakes rather than nests so that they went in a tin ... read more
Valentines chilli and chocolate muffins
Valentines day meant something nice had to be made for Mr C when he returned from his usual SUnday morning football. I spotted the recipe for chilli and chocolate muffins in the February edition of Country Living magazine and thought that they would fit the bill perfectly - Mr C being a fan of home baking, chocolate and chilli.Very simple to make as the recipe only took a few minutes. I did decide not to include the whole bird's eye chillies on the top of each, but otherwise followed it to the letter. I'm therefore not at all sure as to why they rose and spread in quite the way they ... read more
Hummingbird Bakery Chocolate Cupcakes
With a craving for something chocolate based I searched all my cook books to find something that would satisfy my sweet tooth. There were plenty of options in The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook but the ones that most stood out were the chocolate cupcakes.I've made the plain cupcakes from this book before, but that time ate them all before getting round to making the icing. This time I was determined to complete them before sampling, and succeeded. The cupcakes are completely delicious; lovely and moist. The chocolate rich, but not too rich. The icing sweet, but not over the top. The ... read more