GIVE AWAY!!! Tickets to Food Blogging and Self Publishing events at LitFest this weekend!

It’s all go here, hence the quiet.

I have just submitted the manuscript for my third book to my publishers, and now this weekend we have the long-awaited Ballymaloe LitFest, all my culinary super-heroes, and me, on my backdoor step! Well OK, not literally, but almost!

So on Saturday morning I will be leading a workshop on Food Writing for the Digital Generationalongside Caroline Hennessy, co founder of the Irish Food Bloggers Association; Aoife Carrigy, freelance food journalist and lecturer and Michael Kelly, founder of GIY Ireland. So if you want to get a behind-the-scenes scoop on how blogging works, what’s hot in food writing now and ask us your questions, then do come along.

Straight after that I will be introducing Michelle Darmody of the Cake Café in Dublin who will be talking about another hot topic – What’s the Big Deal? Going the Self publishing Route. As a self-published author myself, who has transitioned to the mainstream, I will be helping to field questions from aspiring authors, so do come along and pick our brains.

I will of course have signed copies of my books available to buy!!

And as a special treat I have a pair of tickets to each event available for you to win. Leave a comment below letting me know which you want to win.

You must be able to travel to Co. Cork on Saturday for the event.

Entries close at midnight tonight, Thursday May 2nd, British Summer Time. Winners will contacted by email tomorrow morning, so be sure to choose a commenting option which provides us with your email address.

The prize is a ticket for you and a friend, for the stated event, either 

•  Food Writing for the Digital Generation 
• OR
• What’s the Big Deal, Going the Self publishing Route. 

The prize does not include travel or accommodation, remember I was only joking about it being on my doorstep – I do not expect to find you outside my front door on Saturday with your suitcase in hand!!

I really look forward to seeing you there!

Little Pieces of Heaven (aka mini donuts)

You know when your 7-year-old puts something into his mouth and groans "Ohhhhhhh! Pieces of heaven!" that you have just scored major mama-points!

We have had quite enough healthy baking on this blog recently. So these are full-fat donuts - no parsnip or butternut squash in sight. 

For some reason I always thought donuts were difficult. Needing yeast and rising time and specialist equipment. Which is why I was so chuffed with my earlier Instant Donut recipe. But these. These are as good as the best donuts I have ever eaten, sold by a man on the streets of Dorchester. We had some this Easter, which my daughters adored a much as me, so I know my taste memory is not dusty. These truly earn their moniker. They are nothing short of heaven.

If your only experience of donuts is shop bought jam filled. Then let me kindly and gently say: YOU HAVE NEVER LIVED UNTIL YOU HAVE EATEN A FRESH, HOT DONUT!

And these, with three kids under 8 helping were done from first weighing out, to first donut in mouth in ten minutes. 

THEY ARE SO EASY. So I demand that you try them. NOW!!!! And then come back here and kiss me!

They are adapted from The Hummingbird Cafes's latest book Home Sweet Home - they make them to go on jam filled cupcakes - I say WHY? And they roll them in cinnamon sugar - again WHY?

So here we go. After a write up like that, I now require your trust. I know what follows looks like a sloppy scone mix. It is. But holy mother of all things wonderful, it makes donuts that will take you straight to paradise.

Preheat deep fat fryer to 160 C (medium)

Makes about 16

Ingredients

250g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

1/2 tsp baking powder

35g cold butter cut into cubes

35g caster sugar

1 large egg

120ml full-fat milk

Put all the dry ingredients into a bowl. Rub in the flour with your fingertips as you would making scones until there are no lumps of butter left. 

Whisk up the milk and egg in a jug with a fork. Make a well in the flour mix, pour in the milk and egg. Mix gently with a blunt knife. 

Pour onto some lightly floured baking parchment, it will be like a loose scone dough. gently squash together with your hands (coated in flour) and pat down to 1 cm thick. 

Now either use a small cutter (about 2cm across), or take heaped teaspoon sized pieces in your hands and gently roll into balls and put onto a plate. Cook in batches of 6-8. Put them in using a spatula or deep frying implement with holes in. They take about 2 minutes on each side, you need to turn them over half way. Cook  till golden.

Take them out and drain for 1 minute on kitchen paper, before tossing in a bowl of 100g caster sugar. 

Eat and enjoy! These do not keep and must be eaten within a couple of hours, but preferably when still warm!

Hot Cross Buns... with a side of Food Blogging Events

I have no time for baking I'm afraid, real life is FAR too busy... Oh except for Hot Cross Buns! How I love that seasonal treat - it's so special to make something just once a year in these times when nothing is that sacred. I couldn't find my normal recipe (from Margaret Costa's Four Seasons Cookbook, so decided to try) - and of course adapt - I just can't help myself! - Nigella's from her Feast book, that I had photocopied many years ago. You'll have to wait till next year for me to share them!! But here's a pic to whet your appetite!

I am just finishing off my third book, The Rainbow Way: Cultivating Creativity in the Midst of Motherhood  and will be sending it off to the publishers at the end of the month (you can see an extract from it this week over on my personal blog, Dreaming Aloud) so you'll have to excuse my relative quiet here at the mo.

But that's not all, oh no!

I have been helping Darina Allen with her blog prior to the Ballymaloe LitFest of Food and Wine which is almost upon us.

I will be on a panel on Food Writing for the Digital Generation at the LitFest, alongside Caroline Hennessy, co-founder of the Irish Food Bloggers, Michael Kelly, founder of Grow Your Own Ireland, and Aoife Carrigey of Holy Mackerel. I will also be answering questions in the next session which is all about self publishing, sonething which I've been immersed in for nearly two years now!

Then, on 18th May I will be teaching Food Blogging at Ballymaloe Cookery School - this half day course is perfect for those wanting to start out, and those who have recently started but are wanting to grow their blog.

And finally I am delighted to share that a piece of my food writing, The Taste of Cherry Blossom, has been accepted for BlogHer's new anthology entitled Roots: Where Food Comes from and Where it Takes Us, which this time focuses on Food and Traditions. It will be launched at their June conference in Chicago!

Busy times!

Soft Soul-warming Ginger Cake

It is wild and windy outside with horizontal rain. It feels more like November than March - can you believe it's nearly Easter?! I was in need of something soul-warming, and body-warming, and this ginger cake did the trick. And I love it twice as much because it's a one pot cake - there's something very satisfying about having minimal washing up after baking!

It's really soft and springy and light as a feather, surprising for so little raising agent. It's quite different to  my  more sticky, solid Jamaican Ginger cake, that I like to eat with butter - that one improves with a couple of days wrapped in foil to mature, whereas this is heaven hot from the tin. You could ice this with a simple lemon water icing if you want, as Nigella suggests in her original recipe which I adapted heavily form How to be a Domestic Goddess, but I prefer without  - and to be honest, there's way to much sugar in it to start with!

150g butter
100g dark muscavado sugar
200g golden syrup
170g black treacle
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tsp dried ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
250ml full fat milk
3 medium eggs, briefly beaten
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda dissolved in the milk
300 g plain flour

Preheat oven to 160 C fan.
1 swiss roll/ brownie tin (25x 15) and one large loaf tin. Or a roasting tin 30x20 (in which case you may need to cook it an extra 10 mins) lined with baking parchment.

Melt the butter, syrup, treacle, sugar, gingers and cinnamon over  a low heat. When melt removed from heat and stir in the milk and bicarb, then eggs, and finally flour. It will be a very runny batter. Pour into the lined tins and cook for 30-45 mins until light and springy, and a skewer comes out clean. Keep an eye on it after 20 mins to be sure it doesn't catch on top.

Delicious warm but keeps very well for 10 days.

Banana Coconut Cake

This cake originated from a Pinterest find from Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body. Just the idea of banana and coconut milk together sent me back to my days (pre-kids) of travelling round South East Asia where bananas and coconut milk were a staple dessert - either with tapioca, or as fritters or pancakes.

I loved the idea of the recipe, but the original one didn't quite work for me with the jarring note of almond essence. So this version I have created takes me back to South East Asia - with the soft brown sugar to remind me of the jaggery, so often used in Thai cooking - helping to add an even fudgier texture. I am going to try it next time with the grated zest of a lime in to up the tropical feel one more level!

Preheat oven to 160C (fan)
Line a 2 lb (large) loaf tin with a baking parchment liner.

Ingredients

3 very ripe bananas mashed
1 cup full fat coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup soft brown sugar
1/2 cup sunflower oil
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup dessicated coconut (unsweetened)


Mash the bananas well and mix in the coconut milk and vanilla. Mix together the oil and sugar with a non electric whisk, add in the eggs, and the dry ingredients, then pour over the banana mix. Mix until combined (it will be quite a runny batter).

Pour in the tin and bake for 50 mins - 1 hour. Check after 25 mins, if it is browning too fast then cover with some foil. It is ready when a skewer comes out clean.

White choc and raspberry blondies (the only butter in them is butternut squash)

I've tried a number of recipes from the super incredible Red Velvet and Chocolate Heartache cookbook which specialises in vegetable cakes: parsnip vanilla fudge, chocolate aubergine cake and two sorts of butternut squash cupcakes- one flavoured with orange and the other with ginger. All have gone down swimmingly well with adults and kids alike. No one can believe they are butter free and packed with veggies.  Oh, and gluten free too!!

There has only been one not great recipe - an orange, almond and saffron sand cake. It was very, very gritty.

But today's blondies (think squidgy brownie texture but no blonde, not dark!) were out of this world. I am not even going to try to share them with my kids! They are mine, all mine. Think a blondie, mated with bakewell tart, with a heady whiff of cinnamon.

I know, I couldn't quite get my head round them and nearly left out the cinnamon - it's not a natural bedfellow with raspberries and white chocolate. But please, just trust it!

The recipe is Harry Eastwood's but I have upped the chocolate and flaked almonds, and slightly downed the raspberries as round here they come in punnets of 125g.

Preheat oven to 180C (fan).
Line and lightly grease a 22cm square brownie tin.

3 medium eggs
120g caster sugar
250g peeled, finely grated butternut squash, no seeds!!
50g rice flour
100g ground almonds
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
150g white chocolate chopped into chunks.
125g punnet of fresh raspberries
40g flaked almonds


Whisk the sugar and eggs until quadrupled in volume and pale. Add in the finely grated squash, flour, ground almonds, cinnamon, salt and baking powder. Whisk briefly to combine. Pour 2/3 of the mixture into the tin. Sprinkle over the white chocolate and raspberries. Pour the rest of the batter over, push down any raspberries and choc chunks so they are submerged and don't burn. Sprinkle ove rthe flaked almonds.

Bake for 25 mins until risen and golden brown. Keep an eye on it to make sure the nuts don't burn.

Cool in the tin for about 15 mins before cutting into 16. Delicious served warm with vanilla ice cream!

Butternut Orange Cupcakes

OK, OK, you've been wheedling me for the recipe. So I'm sharing it in my own words.

But I need you to be clear it comes, unadulterated, from Harry Eastwood's superb book Red Velvet and Chocolate Heartache. So try it. Love it. And then go straight out and buy the book! She has put a LOT of work into developing it.

These are gluten free. And butter and dairy free too if you change the butter icing for a water icing (icing sugar made into a paste with the orange juice).

Makes 12 regular size muffins

Cupcake mix

2 medium eggs
160 g caster sugar
200g butternut squash
2 tsp baking powder
100g rice flour (NOT ground rice)
100g ground almonds
1/4 tsp salt
juice and zest of 1 orange

Icing
200g icing (confectioners) sugar
75g soft unsalted butter
juice and zest of 1 orange

Preheat oven to 180C. Fill a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.

Using an electric whisk, beat the eggs and sugar together for 5 mins until light, creamy and quadrupled in size.

Peel the butternut squash, this uses about one third of an average size one. Remove the stringy bits and the seeds. Then start grating. By hand. Do not use a food processor. Use the finest holes on your normal box grater or Cuisipro grater. This will take some time! Do not do it in advance or it will dry out, and you need the moisture.

Add to the egg mix, along with the other ingredients. Using a spatula stir until fully incorporated.

Spoon into the paper cases and cook for 20 mins. They are ready when risen and golden. Check after 15 mins.

Leave to cool fully before icing. At least 30 mins in a cool place.

Make the icing by whisking the butter and sugar with an electric whisk. Add all the zest, and as much juice as you can, without making it too runny. Ice and enjoy!

Vegetable Cupcakes

Eating the warm, orange scented cupcake marked a milestone. A bizarre claim for a  humble cupcake. But this was no ordinary cupcake. No ma'am, it was my portal to a new world. The world of vegetable cakes!

So I have finally moved from admiring this year's favourite Christmas present, Harry Eastwood's Red Velvet and Chocolate Heartache, a book full of gluten free, low fat, vegetable based cakes (see my review here) --to actually making them! That's one giant leap for womankind!

I have found it hard to get my head around them. You see, I have a weird phobia... There's lots of things that I love to eat but won't cook: chicken liver pate, seaweed dishes, and the latest addition to this list: cakes made from parsnip, turnip and aubergine. Because if I knew what was in there, then my head and taste buds would be doing battle.

And so I took a risk. Butternut based orange cup cakes. Sounds weird, right?

Grating the butternut was the downside, 20 mins hard graft on my lousy box grater (she advises doing it by hand, not in a food processor). The mix looked odd going into the cases. But coming out was fragrant and golden. Pure orange cake, nothing dodgy.

These got a universal thumbs up from assorted mamas and fussy kiddies from 2-8 year olds. No one guessed their secret. And with no butter, only two eggs and no wheat flour were nutritionally far superior to our normal cupcake recipe. Want the recipe? Then here it is!

My neighbour was so impressed, we're going to bake something together from the book next week- so we can share the grating!

Jamaican Ginger Cake

Who can resist the warm, dark stickiness of a traditional ginger cake? I find it impossible to eat less than half a loaf! I was brought up on the shop bought variety, and always presumed they would not be repeatable at home. How wrong I was. This is simplicity itself to make: melt down the sugars and butter, before stirring in the flour. As someone who has to avoid chocolate for long period because of migraines, this cake is as close as you can get to replacing the sticky goo of a great chocolate cake. It doesn't have much butter in the recipe, nor does it have an icing. So I make up for that scandalous lack of fat calories but slathering it richly in golden salty butter. This is one of those cakes that gets better after a couple of days wrapped in foil. That's if you can resist it hot out of the oven.

This recipe is adapted from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's supreme book: Everyday, which I have been cooking my way through this winter.

Preheat oven to 180C

75 g butter
100g dark brown sugar
200g golden syrup
2 tbsp the syrup from a jar of preserved stem ginger and a little more reserved for later
75 ml dark or spiced rum (I used Captain Morgans)
2 medium eggs lightly beaten
225g self raising flour
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
75 g preserved stem ginger (in syrup), finely chopped.

1 large loaf tin (2lbs/ 1 litre) lined with baking parchment.

Melt the butter, syrups and sugar gently in a pan. Remove from the heat and leave to cool a little. Then stir in the rum, eggs and flour.

Pour into the tin and cook for 40-50mins. Check regularly after 20 mins and if it is looking like the top is getting too dark, cover it with foil. It is cooked when a skewer comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Lucy loves...Sublime Cakes on Pinterest

Have you been bitten by the Pinterest bug?

 Me? I'm well and truly smitten! Its become my first port of call for recipes recently, my recipe books are sitting forlorn and lonely on their shelf in the kitchen gathering dust. I am a total magpie! And the best thing about Pinterest. It doesn't cost a penny... Nor does it put any inches on your hips!

Let me share some of my favourite boards with you. Starting with: Sublime Cakes... the board title says it all really!

Here I have a host of beauties stacked up ready to try:

Pistachio Baklava Cake from hungryrabbitnyc.com 

Get a load of that Persian Love Cake from epicurious.com

Pistachio Olive Oil Cake with a Fig Compote from designsponge.com

Apple Spice Cake with Caramel Icing, Dark Chocolate Zucchini Cake, Butterscotch Mascarpone Cake... I have to stop, I'm dribbling all over the keyboard!

So do check them out here and follow me! 

I'll be sharing more of my favourite boards over the coming weeks!

On my Bookshelf: Red Velvet and Chocolate Heartache

I want to share with you what I spent most of Christmas Day reading. The book that has inspired me to get back into the kitchen after my marathon Christmas cooking bout, and to get back to writing again to boot!

Really, what's not to love about this book? From title, to photos, to the writing and recipes. This book is proudly devoted to the total indulgence of the senses and is written by a woman who understands cake completely - from its chemistry to its soul, via the emotional needs it fills. 

"Of all foods, cake is the most fun and, as such, shouldn't belong only to the elite (those with fast metabolisms who just "don't diet", those who have no intolerences to wheat or dairy, or who have never had to take into account gall-bladder or cholestrol related concerns.)"

This is no ordinary book of cakes, with the same old recycled recipes. No ma'am! These are cakes which are good for the body and the soul. A must-have for all those needing low fat, low GI, dairy free or gluten free recipes. Instead of  butter and wheat flour, she uses a combination of ground almonds, rice flour and vegetables - sweet potato, carrot, courgette, pumpkin, butternut squash, potato and even swede!

Usually healthy baking books are written by health nuts whose taste buds have been killed off by years of dedicated tofu eating and wheat grass smoothies, and so flavour or texture are compromised, because having been sugar, dairy and everything else free for so long, they are frankly delighted to find anything sweet that they can eat. 

Not so Harry, who reassuringly says: "I didn't write this book because I'm obsessed with healthy food. I wrote it because I adore cake." And this love of cake shines through the pages. It's pretty, girly and voluptuous!

Recipes include: Forbidden (beetroot) Brownies, Steamed Golden Syrup Pudding (turnip),  Lemon and Lavender Drizzle Cake (courgette), Parsnip Vanilla Fudge, not forgetting the eponymous Chocolate Heartache (aubergine!) and Red Velvet (beetroot) cakes.

These recipes have been tried and tested meticulously, and as an avid baker, reading her testing diaries was fascinating. I can't wait to try most of them. And share them with you here!

Harry Eastwood first launched her career co-presenting the TV series and book Cook Yourself Thin. She has built her reputation on real food that's better for you. Having previously known her from TV, I had no idea what a superb writer she was. The way she describes the personalities of each of the cakes is inspired. Take her "Autumn Apple and Cider Cake": 

"This cake is dignified. She takes her time but is never late, and hates shop-bought marmalade. She always remembers your birthday, and her presents are tied with real ribbon. Patient and wise, this cake is a warm shawl against the biting wind and the death of the year."

Though full of virtuous cakes, which will top up your fibre and micro nutrients, rather than your cholesterol, this book is anything but worthy. True decadence!

Christmas Traditions: Fresh cranberry choc chip cookies

These are a recent Christmas tradition for me. A discovery from Rose Levy Beranbaum's festive book: Rose's Christmas Cookies. They are by necessity a seasonal treat in a world where you can have anything you want year round, as they require fresh cranberries which we can only get for a couple of weeks in early December. Frozen cranberries don't work and dried cranberries just don't cut it for these jewelled wonders.

Just a gentle suggestion, but you might want to double the quantities. That's if you're willing to share. But the heavenly smell wafting from the oven of chocolate, orange and toasted walnuts will mean that your secret won't be safe for long!

Makes 30

Preheat oven to 170C
50g walnuts, toasted
160g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
Zest of one orange, removed with potato peeler and finely chopped
75g granulated sugar
80g soft light brown sugar
110g soft butter
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
150g fresh cranberries
150g dark or white choc chips or chunks

Cream the sugars and butter with an electric whisk till light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla and orange zest. Add flour and baking soda, mix till combined. Chop the cranberries (the bigger they are, the juicier, and therefore soggier, the final cookies) and walnuts, add and stir by hand to combine.

Spoon mix out onto lined baking sheets, a heaped tablespoon for each. Don't overcrowd. It will make 30, so you will need to use 3-4 baking sheets.

Bake for about 12-15mins, turning the sheets halfway through cooking. They should be golden and still soft. Leave to cool for a couple of mins on the baking sheet before tranfering to a wire cooling rack.

Christmas Traditions: Our Simple Gingerbread House

One of our Christmas traditions is making a gingerbread house. We never had gingerbread houses in my childhood, but I loved the magic of them in stories of Hansel and Gretel: an edible house, covered in sweets - the food of every child's dreams.

This is a quick, simple melt-it-down, one pan method for yummy gingerbread, which I originally got from a kids' TV show! I have adapted it a little, but it's still super simple.

My children range from 2-7 and all helped in all the processes bar one. Sticking the house together with molten toffee is an adult's only job. Please be careful! I manage to burn myself every year!

We decorate it all together, so it is homely rather than super-fancy, but if it was too pretty we wouldn't want to eat it, and that's half the fun! My children love making it as much as eating it. It gets softer and chewier the longer it is left out. We usually admire ours for a couple of days before demolishing it with friends for a festive tea party.

See my personal blog for the mayhem that ensued when we made ours this year: Those Infamous Words: Let's Make a Gingerbread House


Preheat oven to 180C

Gingerbread

100g butter
50g white sugar
50g soft brown sugar
200g golden syrup
400g self raising flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Toffee
150 g caster sugar

Icing
1 pack of royal icing mix or 300g icing sugar sieved and mixed to a thick icing with a little water (and a couple of drops of lemon extract)

To decorate - chocolate buttons, Smarties, dolly mixtures...

First make the gingerbread. Melt sugars, syrup and butter gently in a pan. Remove from the heat. Stir in flour and spices. Stir until combined.

Pour onto a non stick sheet of parchment. Roll out to about 2mm thick. Cut out.

You will need:
2 long walls 10 cm x 25 cm - you can cut doors and windows out of it now, or ice them on later.
2 end walls 10 cm wide with a triangle on top.
Two roof pieces 25cm x 8cm.
Chimney:four pieces 2cmx 4cm, cut a triangle out of the base of two so it  attaches to the roof.

Cook for 10-15 mins, keep a careful eye on them so they don't go too dark around the edges. Cool on a wire rack before icing. Un-iced they keep well for a couple of weeks in an airtight tin, and are crisp. Iced they keep fine but are soft.

Whilst they are cooling, melt the sugar for the toffee in a pan until it is light conker colour. (remember no kiddies involved here!) Do not stir! Take off heat as it will continue cooking. Plunge into a bowl or sink of cool water. Then quickly, but carefully, use a spoon and run a line of toffee down the inner edge of one of the long wall, super fast, attach a short wall to it. Do the same with the other two walls. Then the rooves, and then stick the chimney together in one piece before attaching it to the roof. If the toffee starts to cool and get too hard, just pop it on the heat for a couple of minutes to soften.

Then mix up the royal or water icing. Use a piping bag, or spoons to cover the roof, make snowy windows etc. Cover with sweets as you go. Chocolate buttons cut in half or overlapped make great roof tiles!

No bake flap jacks

For Sarah

Five minutes start to finish. Plus an hour in the fridge. Sweet, squidgy and reasonably healthy. These met with the women's group stamp of approval!

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
2/3 cup soft brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups rice crispies
3 - 3 1/2 cups porridge oats, NOT jumbo or rolled oats
1 handful each pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and unblanched almonds

Melt butter, sugar and honey gently in a largish pan, when sugar is dissolved let it come up to boil for 2 mins.

Stir in vanilla. Chop almonds into slivers. Stir in 3 cups of oats, the rice crispies and half the nuts and seeds. If it still seems too syrupy and sticky add more oats.

Turn into a brownie tin lined with baking paper. Press down and sprinkle remaining nuts and seeds over.

Chill in fridge for 1 hour then cut into 16 squares.

Butterscotch blondies

Not as tooth achingly sweet as other blondies I've had, and with a real butterscotch tang. Great bars for when you need a sweet hit but can't have chocolate.

Very simple method.

Preheat oven to 160 C fan. As its preheating toast 3/4 cup of pecans in it until 1 shade darker.

Melt 3/4 cup butter in a pan. Remove from heat.

Stir in 1 cup +1 tbsp soft brown sugar. Remove from heat and let cool for a couple of mins.

Stir in 1 1/2 cups plain flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 eggs and a pinch of salt. Add the pecans. Stir till combined.

Pour into a lined 9 in square tin. Bake for 12-15 mins till golden, no longer runny when you tip it but still slightly gooey in the middle.

Cool in tin. Cut into 16. Best first day when still warm, but stays gooey for days, just the nuts get a little soggy.

Fairy sandwiches

OK, so this is neither baking, nor really a recipe. But it's a fondly remembered sweet treat from my childhood, and now a much requested part of my children's repertoire. We have it for picnics - indoors or out - and of course birthday teas.

If you love fairies too, or have children who do, be sure to check out my article on Dancing with the Flower Fairies in the summer issue of the beautiful, free e-zine, Rhythm of the Home 

Ingredients:

Sugar Sprinkles/ hundreds and thousands

Super fresh sliced white bread

Soft butter

Spread the bread thickly with butter, allow at least one slice per person, and be prepared to make more!!

Sprinkle with multi coloured hundreds and thousands (sugar strands).

Cut into tiny, dainty triangles, fit for a fairy – be sure to take the crusts off – neither fairies nor children like them!

Eternal summer sponge with raspberries and rosewater

I make no secrets about how much I love roses - to look at, to smell... and to eat. This cake combines the three of these to create a sponge which sings of summer - yet could be met even in the depths of winter.

Imagine a lemony sponge as light as a summer cloud, filled with ripe raspberries and creamy vanilla scented mascarpone topped with a rosewater icing and crystallised rose petals. This is summer on a plate, just begging to be served outside in the sun for a perfect summer celebration.

I know it looks complicated, but I made it from start to finish in 1 hour - and I was creating the recipe as I went!! If you have kids or other willing helpers get them to make the water icing and do the rose petals. Be aware that they use raw egg - so make sure you are using really fresh egg white from a reputable source. These are even better made the day before so they can really crisp up. They last for weeks in an air tight jar.

If you want to make too much water icing, you can thicken up what's left with a little more icing sugar, roll into balls and leave to set in the fridge and then dip in dark chocolate for gorgeous old fashioned rose creams, perfect for an after-dinner treat.

Pre heat oven to 170C (fan), 180C standard

2 x 8 inch (20cm) round tins, greased and lined

Cake

210g butter

220 g sugar

4 eggs

110 ml milk (100 ml if using lemon juice)

3 tsp baking powder 

220g flour

zest 1 lemon

1 tsp lemon extract or 1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling

250 g tub mascarpone

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp icing sugar

Icing

150 g raspberries

Rose water icing

125g icing sugar

2 tsp rose water

drop of red food colouring

Crystalised rose petals

1 egg white

3 tbsp caster sugar

1 pink or white scented rose

Beat the soft butter and sugar together till light and fluffy with electric whisk. Add eggs one by one whisking in. Then flour and baking powder. Whisk for 2 mins, then add in the milk to loosen the mix a little. Add vanilla, lemon zest and juice/ extract.

Pour into two greased lined 8inch tins. Bake for 20-25 mins until golden and skewer comes out clean.

Meanwhile get on with the crystalised rose petals - with a clean paint brush paint both sides of each rose petal completely with egg white. Sprinkle with caster sugar and leave to dry on a sheet of baking parchment.

Leave to cool in tins for 5 mins, then carefully turn out on to a wire rack and leave to cool for at least 30 mins before icing.

To make the rose icing combine the sugar and rose water and colour in a bowl. You may need a little more icing sugar or rose water depending on consistency, it needs to be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and drip very slowly and lazily off!

For the filling mix the mascarpone with vanilla and sugar with a spatula or spoon, taste and add a little more sugar if desired. Mix through the raspberries, squashing slightly as you stir.

When the cake is cool to the touch, sandwich together with the filling, pour the rose water icing over the top (it will drip down slightly) and scatter with rose petals. Serve immediately, but keeps in the fridge for a couple of days.

Strawberry cream queen cakes

Strawberries mean summer for me. And these dinky darlings have become a classic for special summer tea parties on the lawn.

These are a grown-up take on the British classic of childhood, butterfly cakes. Think basic fairy cakes - with magical cakey wings - which just makes them taste even more special! Be warned - kiddies love them too!

Make these at the last minute so that the cream doesn't melt and the strawberries are at their best.

Makes 16

12 hole muffin tin and 6 hole muffin tin with 16 paper cases

Preheat oven to 170C

Cupcakes

270g plain flour

240g caster sugar

3 tsp baking powder

110g soft butter

240ml full fat milk

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Chantilly

200 ml cream - whipped

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp icing sugar, sieved

4 tbsp strawberry jam

150g fresh strawberries, sliced

icing sugar for dusting

With a handheld electric whisk mix the butter into the flour, baking powder and sugar until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the milk, egg and vanilla. Whisk for 2 mins until well combined. It will look much runnier than a normal cake mix! Divide between 12 fairy cake cases. Bake for 15-20 min - keep a careful eye on these, they need to be light golden and springy. They will be dry if they get to the dark golden stage.

Leave in the tin for 5 mins then transfer to a wire cooling rack. Leave for at least 40 mins until quite cool to the touch.

When they are cool, whip the cream, add the vanilla and icing sugar.

Cut off the tops (carefully!!) so that they are flat. Then cut this piece into two - these are the wings. With a teaspoon dig out a small hole, (removing just a teaspoonful of cake)- this is not needed and can be eaten as you go!!!

Then either with a piping bag (if you're confident with them) or a teaspoon, add a 1/4 tsp of strawberry jam in the bottom of the hole, then a heaped teaspoonful of cream, then 3-4 slices of strawberry- making sure that the outer, seeded sides of the strawberry are showing - then perhaps a little more cream, enough to carefully stick the wings into - they need to be placed curved sides up, baked sides in.

Do them all, then dust with a little icing sugar. Eat straight away or keep cool in the fridge.

Perfect Pecan Choc Chip Cookies

Pecan nuts and chocolate are a classic combination. In our house the kids hate nuts so I make half a batch with and half without.

I realised that I have been focusing on cakes on the blog - when in reality about 50% of my baking is cookies. A strange oversight you might think. But the reality is, photographing cookies is tricky... and they tend not to last long enough (in our house) anyway!

But that stops here - I am famous for my cookies - so here's MY recipe (with a picture that someone else took!!)

Image: smittenkitchen.com

Banana and ginger cake - low fat cake!

Low fat cake seems an oxymoron. But here we have it. A soft, moist cake where the banana and buttermilk mean a reduction of 50% of the butter and 25% of the sugar. Great for breakfast, brunch or afternoon tea. Keeps well for a week.