Happy Birthday cake

I decided I was going to do a birthday cake to take to work. It took me a while as I am not very well but I really wanted to make one. It’s a simple Mary Berry recipe with a …

Cupcake time

I haven’t been baking for a while as I have been seriously ill and unable to have food then I have been off getting married and having a honeymoon so thought it was about time to try and make something. …

Rhubarb and Almond loaf cake

We have been growing rhubarb in the garden and so I thought rather than just doing the usual crumble I would try this cake from the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days book. I didnt add the almond flakes to the top …

Caramel Popcorn Cupcakes

After a bit of a turbulent start thanks to my mixer giving up half way through the recipe I managed to get these little yummy beauties completed. For the sponge you will need: 200g self raising flour 2 teaspoons baking …

Apple and Fruit Cake

I have previously blogged about changing jobs (see here) and this was the other cake that I made. I was a little bit naughty and used the same cream cheese frosting across both bakes to save time and washing up …

Delicious Treacle Spice Tray Bake

I have made this twice and the first time I did end up with a dip in the middle but it was all gooey and yummy. The second time I didn’t get the dip but I don’t think it was …

Eggless Coconut Cake

As I have previously said I used to take in my cakes and bakes to work as there was always so much and one colleague didn’t eat eggs and I always felt guilty as most cakes have egg in them so she could never try things. So I decided to have a look around and found a great eggless coconut cake which was really nice, even those who did eat eggs were fighting over a piece!

For the cake:
Juice of 1 lemon (or if you have a bottle of lemon juice like me use about 2 teaspoons)
50g desiccated coconut
200ml coconut cream
85g fine polenta (I couldn’t find “fine” polenta so just used normal and it was still lush)
2tsp baking powder
140g butter (soya butter works if you are doing the vegetarian / vegan version)
140g caster sugar
zest of 1/2 lemon (I used the bottle of lemon juice so didn’t have a lemon and didn’t feel it was lacking)
140g plain flour

For the topping:
2 tbsp toasted desiccated coconut (I used a lot more but it was worth it)
140g icing sugar.

1) Preheat the oven to 180C, gas mark 4.

2) Grease and line a 18cm round cake tin.

3) Cream together the butter and sugar.

4) Add 150ml of the coconut cream and the rest of the cake ingredients and beat lightly – it may look an odd texture but that’s OK!

5) Bake for 50-55mins in the middle of the oven – the top will go golden brown but it may not rise too much so don’t worry!

6) Allow to cool in the tin and once done remove and place on a plate.

7) Mix the icing sugar and enough of the remaining coconut cream to form a thickish icing.

8) Pour the icing over the top and add the toasted desiccated coconut to finish.

Enjoy it with a lovely cup of chai tea for a nice afternoon pick me up!

For other good polenta cakes check out BBC Good Food.

Apple and Almond Low GI Cake

Yes you can get healthy cake!

I was just as surprised you are to think I could still have cake when on a diet, but there are loads of options!

This is from the Low GL Diet CookBook where there are loads of yummy cake recipes! I made cupcakes rather than 1 big cake but either would be delicious, don’t worry if it looks like there is too much apple for the cake.

50g Coconut oil or butter (using coconut oil gives a great added flavour)
50g Xylitol
50g Organic Soya Flour (I couldn’t find this so used normal plain flour)
1/2tsp baking powder
50g ground almonds
50g flaked almonds
150g Bramley or other cooking apples diced and unpeeled
2 medium eggs

1) Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F, Gas Mark 4 & Grease your tin – 4inches or place 12 single cake cakes out.

2) Cream the coconut oil and xylitol together until soft and smooth.

3) Stir in the flour, baking powder & ground almonds until mix resembles breadcrumbs.

4) Mix in the flaked almonds and apple.

5) Stir in the eggs.

6) Put into tin / cases.

7) Bake for 25 mins then cover with foil and return for another 20 mins. For individual I did 20 mins and 15 mins and it was about right.

It is a really good cake for those who are watching the sugar intake so well worth a try 🙂

Blueberry American Pancakes

I LOVE blueberry pancakes and really Jamie Oliver’s ones are not that unhealthy, and the more fruit you put in the better.

Serves 4
3 large free-range eggs
115 g plain flour
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
140 ml milk
1 pinch salt

1) Separate the eggs

2) Whisk the whites with the pinch of salt until stiff – almost meringue like.

3) With the yolks mix in the rest of the ingredients to make a batter – it will be thick but you can add milk if too thick.

4) Fold in the whites to the batter and you are good to go.

I keep the pan on a medium heat and do grease the pan slightly with butter. Also after a lot of tries I would say put a spoon of the batter then a spoon of the fruit you are using then another spoon of batter as it means the fruit doesn’t burn and is a lot easier when flipping.

Even though there is some fruit in the pancakes I like to serve more on the side and also love a bit of golden syrup drizzled over the top. I have even just tried a banoffee style by adding bananas to caramel and putting it over the top – a great way to use up those brown bananas!

So go get flipping 🙂