THANK YOU!

Here's to all of you, for your continued support and readership of this past year. Last week I, unknowingly, reached the 100 published posts mark and I would like to thank all of you for reading and supporting something that I really love to do!

THANK YOU!

RECIPE: Peach Cakes

At the moment, peaches are my FAVOURITE fruit and one of my favourite flavours. So, as promised ...

Here's the recipe for these sweet and delicious peach cakes! (Taken and adapted from BBC Good Food)

Makes 6
Set oven to 200 degrees C

1) Whisk (by hand) 3 eggs with 100g brown sugar and a drop of vanilla essence until the mixture is combined and foamy (but not pale)

2) Melt 25g butter and pour into the above mixture

3) Whisk until combined

4) With a wooden spoon, fold in 100g wholemeal flour (or plain flour), 1 tsp baking powder, 25g ground almonds and a pinch of salt

5) Line a muffin tray with 6 paper cases (though, if you oil the dish well then you will not have to use paper cases - I found that the mixture stuck to the paper, but it could possibly stick to the dish too.)

6) Divide the mixture evenly between the 6

7) Place a heaped tsp of peach jam in the middle

8) Then, thinly slice 1 large or 2 small peaches and place about 3 slices on top of the cake mixture and jam

9) OPTIONAL: Sprinkle with flaked almonds (I forgot this step but it tasted good all the same)

10) Bake for 20 minutes until golden and fully cooked (insert a spike into the middle of the cake. If it comes out dry then the cake is fully cooked)

11) Remove from the tray and cool (You can also have this warm with ice-cream - vanilla - which I think would taste delightful! But, equally, as good as a cooled muffin)

TOP TIPS: Try this with various different fruits. Try strawberry jam or plum jam with sliced plum on top OR marmalade. The possibilities are endless!

NEW CREATION: Christmas clusters (by mistake)

It always so happens that when I plan to how you a recipe, it always goes wrong.

I baked individual pineapple upside down cakes for my parents anniversary meal - I didn't take a picture and actually they went splendidly well. 

Still, I don't think I could have salvaged the look of that Swiss roll! 

* 

It's too early to be thinking about Christmas, by apparently it's only 20 Fridays away. 

And these cakes have nothing to do with Christmas, bar the fact that they give off, what reminds me of, a Christmassy aroma. 

The culprit: mixed spice. It is one of my all time favourite spices and I just had to add them to these rock cakes gone wrong. 

This recipe here is a mixture of some of my favourites in the baking world: the aforementioned mixed spice and rock cakes. 

Rock cakes were one of the first things that I learnt to make at school in year 7 and they've been one of my favourite things to bake. They're so simple, delicious and don't (unlike most cakes) rely on appearance to make them a winner. In fact, the messier the better. 

So what I've conjured up today is a smaller and more spices version of the traditional raisin rock cakes. 

Behold the Christmas Cluster!

Yeah ... the oven makes them look better.

We ate them as they were, but I feel like they should be served warm and with cream! Feels like winter's coming!

Rub butter into flour

Add dried fruit, sugar and spices

Add 1 egg

Add milk and stir

Bake at 200 degrees C for 20-25 mins

And you're done! Tah-dah!