Flour, Cake and Pastry

It's not even February but the shops already have Easter goodies on their shelves, urging you to grab a bargain before the prices shoot up in a few weeks time. So I decided since the shops are ready for Easter, I should probably get in the seasonal spirit the only way I know how, by baking. My take on Crème Egg Brownies went down a storm last year so I thought I would try and perfect them this year. So here's the recipe to this yummy chocolate treat, and the best thing is you can use the brownie batter recipe and turn it into any flavour brownie you'd like! I'll leave some of my favourite suggestions at the end of the recipe, and if you have any delicious inventive ideas of flavours then definitely leave me a comment! I'd love to hear some of your suggestions! Ingredients: 1 85g unsalted butter 185g dark chocolate 85g plain flour 40g cocoa powder 275g caster sugar 3 eggs Crème Eggs (I use 8 mini crème eggs) Method: Pre-heat your oven to 160 degrees Celsi...

So Monday morning I had a sudden urge to bake, which to be fair, happens quite a lot when you're a baker. However we didn't have a lot of ingredients in the house so I thought I'd try a bit of an experiment; the outcome? This rather yummy Chocolate Crisp. We still had a lot of biscuits left from Christmas so I thought I would use them up in this lush recipe. Granted, not the healthiest of recipes, but where's the fun in a healthy cake? Ingredients: 50g margarine 50g caster sugar 1 tbsp. cocoa powder (plus extra for dusting) 2 tbsp. golden syrup 100g Rich Tea biscuits-crushed 70g Digestive biscuits-crushed Method: Place all the ingredients in the pan except the biscuits. Heat gently until the fat melts and sugar dissolves. Stir in the Rich Tea biscuit crumbs and mix well. Press mixture into a square 15cm tin. Sprinkle over the crushed Digestive biscuits, ensuring the top of the chocolate base is fully covered. Dust the top with a thick cov...

There's no doubt about it, January has been a cold one. With temperatures rarely reaching above 0 last week here in the UK, feel-good food was necessary. There's nothing better than coming home on a cold winter's night to a huge bowl of homemade soup, freshly made bread or a big fat slice of cake. There's nothing better. So today's recipe will warm up the coldest of colds, and will satisfy your sweet tooth at the same time. Golden Syrup Sponge Cake-yum! Ingredients: 110g Golden Syrup 175g Butter 125g (4½oz) Caster Sugar 3 eggs 175g Self-Raising Flour 4 tbsp milk 4-5 tbsp Golden Syrup, to serve Method: Pour 55g of the Golden Syrup into the base of your pudding basin and set aside. Beat the remaining 55g of the Golden Syrup, the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Whisk in the eggs and then the flour, along with the milk until it resembles a cake batter. Spoon the mixture into your well-buttered pudding basin (don't fill it to the top...

Hello lovely people! I hope you're all having a fabulous weekend so far! Sadly its Monday again tomorrow but I have just the recipe to warm you up on these cold winter's nights and to make your Monday more enjoyable-freshly baked bread rolls. Perfect with a bowl of soup! This recipe is from Allinson's. When making bread of any type, I always try and use their flour, I find it's a lot more versatile and much easier to work with. They have over 120 years of milling expertise, and have been producing fine flour since 1892. They're packs of dried yeast are also an essential purchase, and can be stored for months! Perfect if you're not an everyday bread baker. Ingredients: 500g Allinson's strong white flour  1 ½ tsp salt  1 tsp sugar  15g butter  2 tsp Allinson's easy bake yeast  (7g) 300ml warm water (2 parts boiling to 1 part cold) Method: In a large bowl, add the flour and salt, and stir in the sugar and yeast. Then rub in the butter until on...

These Chocolate Crunchies are a traditional South African treat, they are completely different to anything you'll find across the globe. In the UK, we call this dish flapjack, however our version tends to be more chewy than crunchy. In the US, the closest you'll get to a crunchie is a granola bar. So this dish is a true South African delicacy-born and bred in SA. Ingredients: 250g butter 2 cups brown sugar 2 jumbo eggs 1 tsp vanilla essence 2 cups flour 2 tsps baking powder 2 tbsps cocoa powder 1 cup desiccated coconut Method: Cream the butter and sugar together, and beat in the eggs. Add the vanilla essence. Sift together and then add the flour, baking powder, and cocoa, and finally add in the coconut. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes in a greased brownie tray. As soon as they come out of the oven, cover with icing, as below. Icing Ingredients: 1 ½ cups sifted icing sugar 1 ½ tbsps butter or margarine 1 tbsp cocoa powder 1 tsp vanilla essence ...

Get in touch with your South African side with this refreshing dessert. Its a real South African favourite, with just four ingredients. It's normally eaten in the summer, but you can eat it any time of the year, and its perfect for special occasions. Ingredients: 1 tin of caramel 300ml double cream 2 peppermint crisp chocolates, grated (you can use any mint chocolate bars you can get hold of, I used Aero ) 1 packet of tennis or coconut biscuits Method: W hisk the cream until stiff and thickened. Open the tin of caramel and fold into your cream. Add 1 and a half of the chocolate bars and mix until fully combined. In a square dish place a layer of biscuits in the bottom. Cover with the cream mixture, then add another layer of biscuits. Continue this process until all of the cream mixture is used up, and end with the cream. Place the dish in the fridge to chill for 2-3 hours. Just before serving, sprinkle the remaining grated chocolate over top and voila! This is suc...

Everyone knows there's some flavours that just go. Whether it be chocolate and orange, cheese and onion or pork and apple. Some ingredients just blend to bring out the best of whatever its partnered with. And today's recipe is no exception. Today's bake is a classic coffee and walnut cake-these two ingredients work amazingly together. It just seems to have stuck as a firm UK favourite; and to be quite honest, cake doesn't come much better than this. So get your spatulas at the ready, and on your marks, get set, bake! Ingredients: For the Cake. 8oz Self Raising Flour 8oz Caster Sugar 8oz Softened Butter 4 Eggs 50ml Strong Black Coffee (or 2 tbsp. Coffee Flavouring e.g. Camp) 3oz Chopped Walnuts For the Buttercream. 4½oz Unsalted Butter 7oz Icing Sugar 50ml strong black coffee (or 2 tbsp. Coffee Flavouring e.g. Camp) 12 Walnut Halves, to decorate Method: Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and line two 8inch cake tins. In a bowl, bea...

2016. The majority of people over social media in the first 5 days of this shiny new year have all been saying the standard "new year, new me". It's such a cliché. What's the point in becoming a new or better you when you're already the only you on the planet? Surely nothing gets better than being the only person with your exact eye colour, hair colour, shape, size, personality. Why do we want to change from being unique to being the same as hundreds of other people on the planet? It baffles me every year, and in a few days or weeks the majority of people will be exactly the same as they were on 31st December 2015, only a little older. So for this new year I've decided to stay exactly the same as I was 5 days ago, and keep on baking, blogging and going to gigs. Without further a do, here is my first recipe of 2016; are you ready? Chocolate Orange Loaf Oranges are a big thing in the UK over Christmas, they're used in Christmas puddings, Christmas ...