Baking | Things we make

Browsing All Posts filed under »Baking«

Katie’s Cupcake Tower

January 17, 2011

On 1st December 2010 my very special friend, Katie was 40 years old. A magical masquerade ball was planned at Shottle Hall. Unfortunately due to the massive amount of snow we had in early December the party was postponed. Boo! Not to worry though as it was rescheduled to January and even more people could […]

Chocolate Orange Cake

January 8, 2011

I make this cake quite a lot. It serves many purposes: Using clementines makes it feel a little bit festive George always asks for chocolate cake, but I find chocolate sponges a bit ‘meh’ It lasts for days in a tin It is flourless There is no butter in it The flavour is reminiscent of […]

Happy Birthday, Boy

December 11, 2010

Today is the boy’s 9th birthday. George requested a chocolate cake. His wish is my command. I can’t believe where the last 9 years have gone. I made Nigella’s Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake and it looks lovely. We can’t try it yet though as we are off to The Lego Discovery Centre. We tasted a […]

Market Kitchen

December 8, 2010

I had a fabulous day at Optomen Studios, filming for Derbyshire Week at Market Kitchen. The show aired on Thursday 9th December at 7pm on the Good Food Channel. Leslie Jordan was a guest, he is perhaps most well known for his “Beverley’ character in Will & Grace. He the sweetest, funniest person you could […]

Kenwood vs KitchenAid

December 2, 2010

Here I sit, snowed in for another day. For the last month Amazon has sent me daily special offers for ‘Stand Mixers’. I find this surprising as not only did I buy my stand mixer several weeks ago, but I bought it via Amazon. I am not going to buy another. They are not cheap […]

Aunt Caryl’s Ginger Cake

November 30, 2010

I tried some of this cake last year and it was so nice I asked Ed’s aunt Caryl to send me the recipe. It’s a good one so as we are snowed in and I have just made some, I thought I would share it with you…The recipe, not the cake. The collection of golden […]

Kiflice

November 28, 2010

The best way to introduce this post is to let the host of the November Fresh From The Oven Challenge tell you herself: Hi! I’m Maja (pronounced Maya) alias mamajac from Cooks and Bakes, I live in Belgrade, Serbia. I joined FFTO a year ago, and now I’m proud to host the November challenge. I decided […]

Cookies #2

November 10, 2010

The cookies I wrote about back in 2009 seem so old fashioned and innocent now. Meet my new favourites: Choc and Peanut Chip, it’s taken us to a whole new level of cookie-ness. These ones started their lives when Deb and David brought us a serious stash of goodies back from their trip to America. […]

I Ganache

November 8, 2010

When I ran out of cherries this week, my usual fairy cakes looked a bit forlorn. I was about to rustle up some buttercream when I remembered we had a carton of double cream. Ooh…ganache, I thought. I rummaged round the cupboards to find an equal quantity of chocolate to match the cream. I couldn’t […]

Tea Loaf & Fresh Walnuts

November 7, 2010

Our friends at the Heage Firs Farm, just up the road, have a beautiful walnut tree in their garden. If it wasn’t raining quite so hard and I hadn’t got Market Kitchen heading over later today to film me making cake I would go photograph the tree plus the carpet of walnuts lying beneath it. […]

Chelsea Bunliness

October 28, 2010

If Wendy from Quirky Cookies wasn’t so lovely I would really be quite cross with her at the moment. Because I really don’t need this temptation. A sweet, doughy, baked delicious thing that I will now end up cooking regularly when really I should be doing other things. A thing that (as has been proven) […]

Luxury Scones

October 15, 2010

I have always baked the scone recipe that my mother made. The one from the ancient Dairy Diary cookbook that she bought from the milkman when I was a kid. It was a basic affair, and it did the job, but they were a bit ordinary. I have been trialling different ingredients and quantities and […]

Making Whoopie

September 30, 2010

So far I have managed to resist the urge to make Whoopie Pies. Partly, because they are a bit fashionable but also because a lot of the recipes didn’t make sense to me. Then I saw Mowie’s recipe for red velvet Whoopies with orange buttercream. Here are the factors that led to me making them: I’ve […]

Polenta Bread

September 28, 2010

It occured to me that some of you may be getting bored of my monthly bread baking posts for Fresh From the Oven. So I will try to keep it brief and breezy but I won’t be offended if you don’t look at it. Stop looking. You don’t need to see this. Are you still here? […]

Decisions Decisions

September 24, 2010

I made some cakes today so that Nell and Evie could decorate them as a little extra treat for their 3rd Birthday. Decorating cakes is a very serious business indeed and Nell concentrated on getting it just right. Meanwhile Evie was more inclined to eat the icing. I can’t blame her. I had a few spoonfuls too. […]

Brown Sugar and Yoghurt Cake

September 13, 2010

This Brown Sugar Cake is reminiscent of a brownie, yet it’s not chocolatey. George thinks it’s the best cake ever! He IS my biggest fan. The main flavour comes from the 3 types of sugar: Demerara, granulated and muscovado. Plus some depth from vanilla extract and lemon zest. Then a couple of eggs, followed by flour and […]

Brioche

August 28, 2010

Here is the result of August’s Fresh From The Oven baking challenge: Brioche. As the recipe in The River Cottage Bread Guide says it is a very wet dough. It’s a real ‘stir it with a wooden spoon’ job rather than ‘knead it on the worktop.’ Eventually with the addition of a good handful of […]

Bramble Crumble

August 22, 2010

It started with these berries. Found this little lot just at the end of the garden, sneaking over the fence. They were so gorgeous we had to pick them. Found these plums. They were destined to be together. And a few raspberries too…just because. Added a crumble topping. 25 minutes in a hot oven It’s […]

Not Nut Bread

July 27, 2010

This months Fresh From The Oven bread baking challenge was for a Wholemeal Walnut Bread. I have a confession. I don’t like walnuts. That’s not strictly true. I remember eating a whole bowl full of walnuts whilst staying in a farmhouse in France many years ago. They were straight from the tree outside and we had […]