Baby Led Weaning: Dairy Free Raspberry Porridge Fingers Recipe
Weaning is going well but I’m finding it really tricky finding enough variety for Theo because of his food allergies and intolerances. I’m doing a combined approach to weaning with a mix of traditional purees and baby led weaning finger foods. Most finger food recipes include milk, egg or wheat though so are off the menu in our house. I decided to adapt the traditional porridge fingers recipe to be dairy free and it worked, they’ve been a big hit with Theo! They’re really easy to make and can be kept in the fridge for a few days after you’ve made them. He has such fun with them and is…
Honey Wholemeal Bread Recipe (For the Breadmaker)
I’m a typical British girl, I love nothing more than some sarcasm, a brew and a slice of toast. I’ve got IBS so brown bread is much better for my tummy than white bread (even though I do love it) and I’m here to tell you that this wholemeal bread recipe even gives good old white toast a run for its money in deliciousness! If that wasn’t enough, because you can make it in the breadmaker, it’s barely any effort either! What you need: 545g wholemeal flour 10g instant yeast 2 tbsp olive oil 100g honey (I always find it easier to weigh it in a glass but it’s about…
DIY Plant Pot Cake and Giant Chocolate Cupcake Recipe
Recently the lovely people at BakingMad.com sent me a package full of baking ingredients to whip up something special with! In the box was an apron to keep me tidy whilst baking, some Billington’s sugar, Allinson flour and a precious bottle of vanilla Nielsen Massey extract. With such quality ingredients I wanted to make a showstopper and decided it was time to dust off my giant cupcake pan! I’ve experimented with a couple of giant cupcake recipes for the pan but this is a trusty one that always turns out good results: 350g golden caster sugar 350g plain flour 350g unsalted butter 6 eggs (beaten) 90g cocoa powder 85g plain…
DIY Sofa Cake for Loaf’s #BakeItToWinIt Competition
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before but we’ve got a boys’ room in our house, dedicated to films and playstation! My boyfriend originally set it up with some red leather recliners but they’re starting to show wear and tear and could do with replacing. He’s got his heart set on replacing them with a sofa but times are tight so when I saw the Loaf.com Bake It to Win It Competition advertised on Facebook I knew I had to give it a go – it’d make an awesome early Valentines’ present right? The competition rules are simple – bake a replica of any sofa or bed frame in…
Sweet Potato Bread Recipe
It’s a sad truth but a lot of kitchen gadgets get used a lot at first and then start to gather dust in a corner of the worktop (a bit like a grown up version of Toy Story, if they came alive when you weren’t looking). I want to try and make the most out of my breadmaker this year and this is my first step. This sweet potato bread recipe creates a nice tear and share loaf that goes well with soup, with cheese or is just as lovely toasted. It’s a bit more effort than the tradition breadmaker recipe as you’re only using the dough cycle but it does…
How to Decorate a Minion Cake #2
Earlier this year I helped my friend make a minion cake for her little boy’s birthday and recently I was asked to make another one with a twist – a minion in a pirate costume! I’ve already written a post on how to decorate a minion cake so I won’t bore you with too many details but what I did want to show is that practice really does make perfect! Most of the techniques I used were the same as last time although there were a couple of changes I made: For the eyes I used pastry cutters to cut out the outer circle of grey and dusted it with…
The Ultimate Carrot Cake Recipe (with Cream Cheese Frosting)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the best kind of baking is baking cakes I don’t like. You get all the pleasure of producing something beautiful without any of the associated calories! This is one of my favourite recipes, I’ve made it a few times and the feedback I get on it is always phenomenal – it’s a pretty easy bake too so if you need a good cake last minute this carrot cake recipe is the one for you! I’m afraid I didn’t take any pictures during the baking process but the instructions are fairly simple and I’ve included a couple of notes on things to…
DIY Despicable Me Minion Cake
This weekend I was enlisted to help my best friend decorate a cake for her 4 year old’s birthday party. At first he wanted a Hot Wheels Transporter cake (a bit ambitious) so he settled for wanting a minion, Despicable Me is great right? Rosie baked the cakes in advance, the minion is made up of 5 stacked cakes baked in 20cm sandwich tins with jam and buttercream in between each. We then dowelled these to keep them steady. The dome of the cake was baked in a pyrex bowl, unfortunately we didn’t have a 20cm hemisphere tin which would have been perfect for the job. Next, we put on…
Valentine’s Day Cupcake Decoration Ideas
Love it or hate it, Valentine’s Day is the first gift giving occasion of the new year and it’s just around the corner. Homemade gifts always mean that little bit more (unless my boyfriend is reading this, in which case nothing means more than Mulberry!) and if you’re struggling to think of the perfect gift for a partner or a friend, cupcakes are a great way to go. I spent my weekend playing around with various options for creating some Valentine’s cupcake decoration ideas to share with you. 1. Piped Buttercream Roses This one’s lovely and simple, with a closed star nozzle, starting from the centre of the cupcake, pipe…
Christmas Comes Early: Mince Pie Recipe
I’ll let you in to a secret… I don’t even like mince pies. Over the last couple of years though, I seem to have made more batches of them than anything else. They’ve become a firm favourite of friends, colleagues and family alike. The recipe is so simple and requires so little effort that it baffles me a little how they can be so popular but as long as I don’t get any complaints I don’t mind! Despite it only being October I’ve had requests already and I promised that this weekend I’d make my first batch of the year. As I don’t eat them myself I’ve never really paid…
