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!

Life Lessons From Mrs Doubtfire

I guess everyone was just looking for a good bit of news in between the wars that are ripping people, families and countries apart. But, this wasn't it.

Mrs Doubtfire was such a massive part of my childhood and is still a massive part of my life now. It is one of my favourite films ever, and so when I heard that Robin Williams had died this morning, it felt like a piece of my life had shattered.

Without Mrs Doubtfire I wouldn't have half of my vocabulary. In fact, we'd just spent our summer holiday a couple of weeks ago quoting the film in various places.

I actually remember watching 'Mrs Doubtfire' for the first time. We were in a hotel in France eating pizza. It was also the first time we'd ordered room service. 

I was about 8 - the age I was picking famous role models and beginning to understand films. 

Nothing compared to Mrs Doubtfire, in my mind, for a very long time. And that film gave me my representation of Robin Williams for every subsequent film that I saw him in. That's who I believed he really was. He wasn't an actor. He was Mrs Doubtfire.

I'm finding it really hard to say what I mean. Usually that's because I've been over-blogging. Or I'm too tired. But this time I think it's just because I'm at a loss. 

So I've decided to create a list of lessons that I've learnt from Robin Williams using my favourite quotes from my favourite film of them all. 

Life Lessons from Mrs Doubtfire

1) Don't let anyone destroy who you are

2) Make sure no one gets in the way of your family

3) In every tricky situation, there is always a solution

4) Opportunities that change your life, come at the strangest of times

I spent much of my time trekking the Indian Himalaya singing: "James Brontasaurus! I eat wood, danah, danah, danah, dun ..."

5) Stop at nothing to get what you need

6) You only get once chance at life, make sure you have a good time! 

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!