Pancakes

I think this is originally taken from the Annabel Karmel weaning book. It's one of the few things I can make with the children that isn't cake or biscuit based that they simply adore so I do it from memory now. This is a great one to make with children, measuring flour, sieving, mixing in eggs and milk and then they are really quick to cook. Fluffy American-style pancakes may be all the rage but mine prefer these and you can make bakes with them too! My oldest two have them with maple syrup, the baby has bits with butter and my husband has golden syrup. I'd love to say we have them with bananas and blueberries but that would be lying.

Scotch Pancakes or Drop Scones

We called the drop scones... it gets a bit confusing. Whatever they are my boys LOVE them. That's because they contain some sugar which I never realised until I had one last week having not tasted them since I was about 8. I have happy memories of my mum making us these and, of course, wanted my children to have the same, so I turned to my newest treasured possession, my mother-in-laws much-annotated Constance Spry cookery book and found her version.

My sister said these were the best she'd ever had which was nice of her, I was a bit panicked as I didn't have any baking powder so I left that out and they were absolutely fine. I've left the baking powder in the recipe below but I made them again with the baking powder and and they were exactly the same.

I melted some butter in a mug to brush on the bottom of my mini sauce pan. These are a bit more faff than a regular pancake but for tea time they are perfect. These also have a lot less sugar than the bought ones...

Scotch Pancakes

Makes about 15 drop scones 

225g flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp cream of tartar
½ tsp baking-powder
1 tbsp syrup
a nut of butter
1 tbsp sugar
1 egg
½ pint fresh milk (approx)

I melt some butter in a mug in the microwave so I can brush it on the frying pan for speed. I use a small frying pan for this and a serving spoon seems to give about the right amount of batter.

1. Mix all the dry ingredients, rub in the butter and add the syrup.

2. Add half the milk, mixing well iwth a wooden spoon, then break in the egg, beat well and add the remaining milk.

3. The mixture should just drop from the spoon (HENCE THE NAME YOU SEE!!!)

4. Allow to stand for 10-15 minutes, no longer.

5. Heat a well-greased pan and when really hot drop the mixture in spoonfuls and bake for about 3 minutes on each side until golden brown (they get quicker each time).

To keep the scones warm and soft wrap in a clean cloth. These are fine re-heated in the toaster the next day. 

Nigella Lawson's Italian Apple Pie

We've unpacked my cookery books! Finally after months of having to cook from memory I'm able to try out the huge list of recipes I've flagged for testing. One of the books I was really looking forward to getting my hands one was Nigellissima: Instant Italian Inspiration and so when I decided to have my family for a summer supper in the garden I cooked two recipes from it. The first was a pasta dish which was perfectly nice but needed some tweaking (in my opinion). The other recipe was this Italian Apple Pie which I did at the last minute realising I'd forgotten about pudding and I had some apples that needed using up.

I was really focussed on the pasta and indeed so focussed that I was happily gossiping outside not realising that the alarm was going off to let me know the pie was reading - meaning it had a few charred patches. A disaster I thought, bin it immediately. However, I was persuaded to serve it and I am so glad it was saved from the bin. It was incredibly delicious and unusual and actually very light for what is basically a cake (the sponge was so good I'm going to use this method for other cakes) and great with double cream (and strawberries on the side) for a pudding or indeed with a cup of coffee as elevenses, It is incredibly easy to make and Ned loved it so much that he learnt to say 'cake'!

Italian Apple Pie

Serves 8

100g soft unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder 
pinch of salt
150g caster sugar
2 eggs
zest 1 unwaxed lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract
75ml full fat milk, at room temperature
3 pink lady apples, or any crisp eating apples (approx 500g in total)

You will need to grease a 22/23cm springform cake tin and line the bottom with baking parchment. Pre-heat the oven to 200C/Gas Mark 6/400F.

1. Into a food processor put the flower, baking powder and a pinch of salt, 100g soft butter, caster sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla extract, and blitz until it forms a thick smooth batter. Then, with the motor still running, pour the milk gradually down the funnel to lighten the mixture.

2. To do this by hand, beat the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy, then beat in the eggs, followed by the flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla, lemon zest, and milk until you have a batter with a soft dropping consistency.

3. Halve 1 of the apples, the peel, core and chop one half into approximately 1cm cubes, add these to the batter and either pulse to mix, or beat in. Pour your batter into the springform tin.

4. Quarter and core the remaining apples (including the unused half apple), leaving the skin on, then finely slice them and arrange in concentric circles (or how you can) on top of the cake batter.

5. Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle this over the apples, then bake for 40-45 minutes, by which time the cake should be risen and golden. Piece with a metal skewer, should have only a few crumbs sticking to it when removed.

6. Leave to cool for 1 hour, before springing it out of the tine to cut and serve warm, or leave to cool completely once out of the tin

Flourless Chocolate Cake

As a rule I generally run away from anything free-from, vegetarian or remotely specialist. Not that I don't like these things when I have them I have just grown-up in an omnivorous house where I was (am still am) mocked as being the fussy eater. So although I've seen recipes for flourless chocolate cakes around I've never tried one until my bff Florence casually dropped a slice round when we were in packing hell. Usually I would have made my husband eat it as I'm trying to lose weight but I absent mindedly broke the nose off the slice and nibbled it and it was absolutely amazing.

Cake pretty much leaves me cold (less so since having a baby) and chocolate cake doesn't excite me very much either. It's too cooked for me - if I'm going to have chocolate I want truffles or Dairy Milk or mousse, something smooth, and flourless chocolate cake is just that. It's incredibly rich, easy to make and the perfect thing to make for a decadent pudding when you don't have a lot of time.

Florence gave me this recipe taken from her friend so I can't claim it - this makes two cakes. I used one for my lunch party and have frozen the other but if you really want you could stick these together with cream, raspberries or even chocolate icing but I think one at a time dusted with icing sugar and served with double cream is the perfect way to eat this.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Makes 2 cakes

360g dark chocolate (we use Bourneville), broken up
150g salted butter, roughly chopped into cubes
5 tbsp caster sugar
100g ground almonds
5 large eggs, separated

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. You will need two springform cake tins greased and lined.

1. Melt the chocolate and butter - ideally in a bowl over boiling water but in a microwave if not. When it's all melted together, remove from the heat stir in the ground almonds.

2. Beat the sugar and egg yolks until creamy and pale and stir into the chocolate mixture.

3. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold into the cake mixture.

4. Pour into the prepared cake tins and cook for 20 minutes but check after 15. These are best slightly undercooked rather than over, as they continue to cook a little as they cool.

5. Leave to cool in their tins for 15mins then on a cooling rack. Depending on which recipe you read you can either serve this still warm, completely cooled or even left over night. It's delicious no matter what you do.

Cadbury's Headgehog Cake

One of my stand-out memories from my childhood is my mother making a chocolate hedgehog cake. Not only was it delicious but I was convinced she was some sort of genius kitchen witch. It seemed only fitting that when Ned turned one he should have hedgehog cake and I persuaded my mum to not only make one but three (he had two birthday parties obvs) and they were just as delicious as I remembered and perfect for a birthday because you end up cutting small slices so it goes a very long way.

When it was my nephew's first birthday a few weeks later it was I was in charge of making the cake so my mum sent me the recipe and I learnt the witchcraft for myself. The recipe is actually from Cadbury's and familiar to mum's everywhere but for those of you still convinced there are other forces involved here it is in it's easiest to follow form.

I would like to point out that my mum uses raisins for eyes, I didn't have raisins so I used marshmallows as suggested in the recipe. As you can see below my hedgehog looks a little scary but possibly suitable for those children with glasses...

Cadbury's Harriet Hedgehog

Serves a childrens party of 20-25 people

The cake:
175g margarine
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
150g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
25g cocoa powder

Icing:
100g butter
175g icing sugar, sieved
1 tbsp cocoa powder

Decoration:
2 large packets of chocolate buttons
1 glace cherry
2 mini marshmallows, raisins or coffee beans

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. You will need an oven-proof basin, greased, that can hold 1.2litres/2 pints.

1. Cream the margarine and sugar together really well. Gradually beat in the eggs with a flour.

2. Sieve the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together and fold in. Add a little milk to the mixture if it's too dry.

3. Turn into a prepared basin, smooth the top with a spatula and bake for about an hour. Test with a warm skewer to see if the cake is cooked in the center. Leave in the basin to cool and then turn it out.

4. Make the icing by beating the butter with the icing sugar. Dissolve the cocoa with a tiny amount of boiling water and mix into the butter icing.

5. Spread the flat top side of the cake with icing, then cut it in half down the middle and sandwich the two iced halves together.

6. Spread the icing all over the rest of the cake leaving a small amount to make the nose, lift onto a plate and use icing to form the snout at one end. Cut the chocolate buttons in half and arrange them as the hedgehog prickles. Make the face by dragging a fork along the icing, using the glace cherry as a nose and the raisins, marshmallows or coffee beans for eyes.

My chocolate hedgehog (pre-candles) with the 'glasses'

My mother's version for Ned

The Ultimate Coffee Cake

I had to work on my birthday for the first time ever this year. Typically I've avoided being at school or work for the first 28 and then when I'm finally free from the office and working for myself I manage to land a 12 hour day. I'm not complaining as it was doing makeup on a film set so it was really fun but pretty exhausting when you are 6 ½ months pregnant. I was tired when I drove home but got back to a spankingly clean house, champagne in the fridge and my family there with lots of presents and ready to order me illicit sushi. As I didn't get home til 8 I assumed that I'd missed the cake slot but no, my Mumma had not only made me a cake but it turned out to be actually the best cake in the whole world.

Now I admit that I am one of those people who thinks their mother's cooking is the best (I know my mum's cooking is the best) and her coffee cake, which she has made me for pretty much every birthday for the last 29 years is unbeatable, but this year's took it to a whole other level. I know that a lot of people don't like coffee cake - that is because most shop bought cakes a) come with walnuts (why? WHY?) and b) are incredibly sickly because they use too much coffee but this cake has, so far, gone down well with everyone. This cake is really moist (I think because it uses margarine instead of butter... sounds gross but trust me it works) and has not too much coffee in the sponge or the icing and instead of walnuts either grated chocolate or just sprinkled with caster sugar. If you want to be as amazing as my mother's, topped with extra coffee icing and sprinkled with crumbled flake.

This cake was so good I had to cut it into individual slices and freeze them to stop me eating it all in one sitting. So she gave me the recipe and here it is... I should have take photos of my birthday cake as it was amazing but as I said it didn't last long so you'll have to make do with pictures of my less beautiful attempt. If you do want icing on the top and bottom then make double the amount of icing.

The Ultimate Coffee Cake

For the sponge:
100g soft margarine
150g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
150g caster sugar
2 large eggs
4 tbsp milk
1-2 tsp Camp coffee

For the icing:
200g icing sugar
85g butter
Camp coffee

Pre-heat the oven 180C/350F. I make all of this in a Magimix and use whatever size cake tin I feel like which I know isn't very helpful but I make one cake and chop it in half to ice it so I don't need two tins the same size. It needs to be lined on the bottom.

1. Put all the sponge ingredients into a Magimix (or food processor... or do it by hand) and blitz for 10 seconds.

2. Scrape round the edges of the Magimix bowl with a spatula and blend again for another 5 seconds.

3. Pour into your prepared cake tin and cook in the oven for 25-30 minutes until golden on top and a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean

Cake batter

4. While the cake is cooking wash and clean the Magimix and then make the icing.

Cake cooling

5. Put the icing sugar and butter into the clean Magimix and whizz until smooth. Add Camp coffee to taste, blending to mix thoroughly.

6. When the cake is cooled enough remove it from the tin. Leave to stand for 10 minutes and then cut in half with a bread knife.

7. When the cake is completely cooled layer one half with icing and then add the other half as the top. Then ice, sugar or grate chocolate onto the top.

8. I quite like this cake to be kept in the fridge and then removed 5-10 mins before I have a slice but it's perfectly happy in a cake tin.

Definitely not my most beautiful cake but my god it tasted good

Devil's Food Cake

My sweet tooth continues to rage and having watched Nigella make this on tele the other night I decided to give it a go. It is delicious although I would advise cooking for 25 mins max (rather than the 30 she advises) so it's as gooey as possible. The top on mine was a bit hard and detracted someone from the vast amounts of icing on the rest of the cake! The recipe is in Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home (although I'm sure I was watching it on an older programme of hers). A little of this goes a long way as it's really rich - I think it would be extra nice with some double cream but for some that may be a step too far.

I've reorganised the way she does this so the icing comes first - I ended up having to put mine in the fridge as it was still too runny to spread on the cake after an hour and a half. 

Devil's Food Cake

For the cake:
50g best-quality cocoa powder, sifted
100g dark muscovado sugar
250ml boiling water
125g soft unsalted butter, plus some for greasing
150g caster sugar
225g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs

For the frosting:
125ml water
30g dark muscovado sugar
175g unsalted butter, cubed
300g best-quality dark chocolate, finely chopped

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Line the bottom of two 20cm sandwich tins (not springform or loose bottomed - this batter is very liquid) with baking parchment and butter the sides.

1.  Make the icing by putting 30g muscovdo sugar and 175g butter in a pan over a low heat to melt. When the mixture begins to bubble, take the pan off the heat and add the chopped chocolate, swirling the pan so that all the chocolate is hit with heat, then leave for a minute to melt before whisking till smooth and glossy.

2. Leave for at least an hour, whisking now and again when you are passing by the pan.

3. For the cake - put the cocoa and 100g dark muscovado sugar into a bowl with a bit of space to space, and pour in the boiling water. Whisk to mix, then set aside.

4. Cream the butter and caster sugar together, beating well until pale and fluffy. Nigella uses her freestanding kitchen aid mixer, I used my magimix, you can use either... or your arms!

4. While this is going on - or as soon as you stop if you are mixing by hand - stir the flour , baking powder and bicarb together in another bowl and set aside for a moment.

5. Dribble the vanilla extract into the creamed butter and sugar - mixing all the while - then drop in 1 egg, quickly followed by a scoopful of the flour mixture, then the second egg.

6. Keep mixing and incorporate the rest of the dried ingredients for the cake, then finally mix and fold in the cocoa mixture scraping the bowl well with a spatula.

7. Divide the batter between the two prepared tins and put in the oven for about 30 mins (I think 25 max) or until a skewer comes out clean when put through the middle of the cake.

8. Take the tins out and leave them on a wire rack for 5-10 mins, before turning the cakes out to cool.

9. Once the cakes are cool enough and the icing ready to spread, set one for the cooled cakes, with it's top side down, on a cake stand or plate (I use the lid of my cake tin so the tin itself can go over the top), spread with about a third of the icing, then top with the second cake, regular way up, and spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides. The cake should keep for 2-3 days in an airtight container in a cool place.

To make ahead: The cake layers can be baked 1 day ahead and assembled before serving: wrap tightly with clingfilm and store in an airtight container.

Freezing: Un-iced cake layers can be frozen on the day of baking, each wrapped in a double layer of clingfilm and a layer of foil for up to 3 months. Defrost for 3-4 hours on a wire rack at room temperature.

Jam Cookie Sandwiches

When a friend comes for tea I try to bake something new to try although as I'm getting bigger I'm also getting slightly lazier on that front. Which is a little weird as this baby wants me to eat sweet things all the time - which is a little mean of it as I'm now the size of a house. This tea time we're having Rachel Allen's Festive Jam Cookie Sandwiches from Bake and they were actually incredibly easy to make but gave me a new found respect for the incredible neatness of the ones pictured in the book. Mine don't look half so beautiful but they are incredibly yummy and I'm now always pleased to find new ways to eat jam - this is a great one!

She says to do these at Christmas as they look festive but I think they are just fine for any time of year. I left out the lemon zest because I hate lemon... I also halved the recipe because of my fear that I'm going to give myself pregnancy diabetes if I carry on like I am. Halving the recipe made about 10 cookies but I had to use a slightly bigger cutter than she does so I could make the holes... if that makes sense. You'll see what I mean.

Jam Cookie Sandwiches

Makes about 35

425g (15oz) plain flour
75g (3oz) caster sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest (from 1 large lemon)
4 egg yolks
325g (11 ½oz) butter, softened
Raspberry or strawberry jam
Icing sugar for dusting

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. You will need  6cm (2 ½ inch) plain cutter and a 3cm (1 ¼ inch) cutter. I did half with sweet-tip raspberry jam and half with apricot. I used a magimix and it made the whole thing incredibly fast.

1. Sift the flour into a large bowl or electric food mixer and add the sugar, vanilla, lemon zest, egg yolks and butter. Mix until it all comes together in a dough.

2. Remove from the bowl and flatten with your palm or a rolling pin to about 2cm thick and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (longer if possible).

3. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured work surface until it's about 5mm thick, then, using the 6cm plain cutter, cut the dough into discs.

4. Take half the discs and using the smaller 3cm cutter, cut holes out of the centre of each, like little round windows. Bring the discarded scraps together and make more discs and tops - you want to end up with an equal amount.

5. Place the discs on several prepared baking trays and bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes until pale golden and ever so slightly firm.

6. Allow to stand for a couple of minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.

7. When the discs are cool spread the whole discs with jam and top with a disc with a hole in it. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Everyday Scones

I don't like cream teas. I know that's unheard of but, not really having a sweet tooth I'd much rather the scone just had butter on it, and that the scone was a crumpet. But the baby has other ideas and just wants doughnuts and raspberry jam so, as a treat for Joe for doing loads of chores on the whim of a hormone-laden wife, and a treat for the bump, I decided that we'd have a homemade cream tea on Saturday.

Short and Sweet by Dan Lepard had an interesting recipe invovling yoghurt and cream in the dough mixture so that's the one I chose although I'm sure you can find one in most baking books, or Delia... of course.

I ate three of these then had to have a nap... Joe finished them off making his tally a mere five. Five scones!!!


Everyday Scones

Makes 6-8

250g low fat plain youghurt
25ml double cream
25g caster sugar
400g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1/2 tsp fine salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
50g unsalted butter, softened
beaten egg to finish

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/425F/Gas Mark 7. Dan recommends cooking these in a deep roasting dish so less moisture is lost during baking so that's what I used, lined with a teflon baking sheet. You will also need a large mixing bowl and a scone-sized cutter (about 6cm).

1. Stir the yoghurt, cream and sugar together and leave for a few minutes so that the sugar dissolves.

Yoghurt mixture

2. Sift the flour, salt, cream of tartar and bicarb into a large mixing bowl and rub the butter through lightly.

3. Mix the yoghurt mixture into the flour then quickly and gently work everything to a soft sticky dough. Some cooks use a knife to stir the dough to avoid being heavy handed. I initially used my small, metal spatular and then brought it together with my hands.

4. Scoop the dough onto a well-floured work surface and lightly dust the top with flour. Pat it out to 4cm high then push the cutter firmly through the dough without twisting.

5. Place on the base of the roasting tin spaced 2 cm apart.

6. Brush the tops lightly with beaten eggg and bake for 12-14 minutes until just coloured on top.

7. Cool on a wire rack, covered with a tea towel to keep them moist.

Cooling under a tea towel

8. Serve with clotted or whipped cream and jam.

Cream tea

Basic Sponge Cake with Coffee Icing

I'm not really into cake. Most of the time I could live without it. Most of the time... about 10% of the time I want to mainline coffee cake. My mother showed me how to make this when I was quite young, partly because it's a nice thing to do and I think partly so I could bloody well start making it myself.

We cheat and use Camp coffee rather than making it fresh but I really like it this way... you can make up the coffee yourself if you would rather. I also do this in a slightly old fashioned way by weighing the eggs - I like doing it this way because I find the sponge is more moist. Will try and get a photograph of a slice before it's completely gone...

Coffee Cake

3 eggs,
butter
self-raising flour
caster sugar

For the butter icing:
200g icing sugar
85g butter
Camp coffee or strong instant coffee

The first thing I do is take the butter out of fridge. You want it to be soft so your arms don't fall off. You can make this in a mixer but I prefer to do it by hand. You will need two springform cake tins or loose bottomed ones. Approximately 7 1/2-8 inches - the bottoms lined with greaseproof paper and the sides greased with butter. 

Preheat the oven to 120C/250C/Gas Mark 1/2.

Prepared cake tins

1. Crack the eggs into a bowl and weigh them. You will then need the same amount of butter, sugar and self-raising flour.

2. Put the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat until light and fluffy.

Creaming the butter and sugar together

3. Beat the eggs and then gradually add to the creamed mixture. If it curdles then add a handful of sifted flour.

4. Fold in the sieved flour with a metal spoon.

5. Diving the mixture between the two tins and bake in the oven for 25-35 minutes until risen and golden. Check they are cooked by putting a metal skewer into the middle - if it comes out clean they're done, if not, put them back in the oven for a few more minutes.

6. Cool on a rack in their tins until they are cool enough to be removed.

7. While the cakes are cooling make the icing by mixing together the icing sugar and butter until you have a paste. Then add the coffee a tiny bit at a time until you are happy with it. Put in the fridge until the cake is completely cool and ready to be iced.

8. Ice the cakes when they are cool. I use a metal spatula and do the top first so I can use as much as possible for the middle.

Quick and Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I used to make these a lot at uni. Boys would turn up on my doorstep at 3am demanding that I make them and I haven't really made them since. But when my boss came to my flat for a meeting and wanted homemade cookies and my Hawaiian friend was on hand to eat most of the cookie dough so I didn't have to, I decided to dig out the old faithful recipe and give them a go.

The only problem was that the boss doesn't like dark chocolate really and there were no milk chocolate chips to be found so we bashed up some Minstrels and used those instead. I have to say I may just use them all the time in future - I don't really like cookies and I had two of these!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 20-30 cookies

300g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
170g butter, slightly softened
215g light brown sugar
1 tbsp Vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
300g chocolate chips (or just under 2 large bags of minstrels)

Pre-heat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5. You will need a couple of lined baking sheets - I prefer the reusable Teflon ones - two mixing bowls and a cooling rack.

1. Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt and set aside.

2. Stir together the soft butter, sugar and Vanilla extract then add the egg and the yolk. Beat well to ensure the egg is evenly distributed.

 

3. If you are using Minstrels then wrap them in a clean teatowel and bash with a rolling pin - you don't want it to be too fine though. You could also pulse carefully in a Magimix.

Jo bashing up the Minstrels

4. Stir in the dry ingredients and then fold in the chocolate chips. It may be easier to do this by hand...

Mixing in the chocolate chips by hand

5. Form the dough into a rough sausage shape, cover in clingfilm and chill until firm - at least 30 minutes.

6. When the dough is ready, make hockey puck shapes and press onto the prepared baking tray.

7. Bake for approximately 10 minutes in the pre-heated oven until the edges begin to look golden.

8. Cool on the sheet for a minute then remove to a cooling rack.

Finished Cookies

Sourdough Friendship Cake

I'm not really into cake, but I am in to trying out new stuff in the kitchen so when my sister-in-law offered me some 'Herman the German' friendship cake - essentially a sourdough starter - I jumped at the chance to try it out. This is the culinary equivalent of the chain letter but whether you've read the articles talking of people being completely obsessed with their starter I want to try a few things out, give a bit to anyone who wanted and put the rest in the bin.

Siegfried

First things first I hate the name Herman so ours was called Siegfried. Having been dismissive enough of those who got obsessed with their starter I was soon quite attached to Siegfried. It sort of sits on your worktop in its bowl bubbling away and needing to be stirred every day and fed every four. I really wanted to make bread with my starter but because it's fed with sugar I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. My friend Florence found a really easy recipe on this wonderful website - pinchmysalt.com. So I'm reproducing it here but I really recommend going there for any of your bread needs, this recipe is so fantastically yummy I've filled the freezer with sourdough.

Basic Sourdough Bread

Makes two loaves

1 cup sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups warm, filtered water
5-6 cups unbleached all-purpose or bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons salt

Now this does take time but you don't need to hover over it the whole time so you can fit it in around other things you are doing. The initial bit you make with the sourdough is called a 'sponge' but it's not really a sponge. It's just like a super-fed bit of starter.

For the Sponge:
1. Pour the cup of starter into a large mixing bowl, add the warm water and 3 cups of flour. Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon then cover with clingfilm and put it aside to work. You don't have to put it anywhere particularly warm (I left mine on the kitchen table). This period can be very flexible, but allow at least 2 hours and up to 8 hours. A longer period (at lower temperature) will result in a more sour flavor.

The Sponge

For the dough:
1. After the sponge has bubbled and expanded, remover the clingfilm and sieve in one cup of flour and the salt. Stir this in and then add more flour, a little at a time, until the dough comes together.

2. Turn it out onto a floured board and knead it for 3 to 4 minutes. Give the dough a rest while you clean out and grease your bowl with a bit of vegetable or olive oil.

3. Continue kneading for another 3 or 4 minutes, adding extra flour as needed until the dough is smooth and elastic. Add only enough extra flour to keep the dough from sticking. Place the dough in the bowl, turn it once to grease the top, cover and let it rise until doubled. This can take 1 to 2 hours.

Shaping and Baking:
1. Turn the dough out and divide in half.

2. Shape each half into a loaf and place on a lightly greased, cornmeal-sprinkled baking sheet. Cover, and let it rise until doubled - again this can take up to two hours.

3. Pre-heat the oven to 220C/450F.

4. Remove the cover and slash the tops, bake in the pre-heated oven for approximately 20 minutes or until golden brown. Turn the heat off, crack the door and leave for another 5 minutes.

5. Remove the loaves to a cooling rack and let them cool completely before slicing.

Pepparkakor

Now it would have been sensible to post this before Christmas as they are the most festive biscuit ever invented but as you may know I'm a complete Christmas obsessive and I got completely swept away by it all and didn't get round to writing these up. However, I have been crisping the leftover ones up in the oven and they're are very cheering at this depressing time of year so if you fancy a bake why not try these? Pepparkakor are the Swedish version of ginger biscuits and they are out of this world - this is a recipe from one of my mother's old Swedish cookbooks.

Pepparkakor

Makes a lot - probably 80ish biscuits

500g butter
500g sugar
2 tbsp syrup
1/2 tbsp ginger
2 tbsp ground cloves
2 tbsp cinammon
2 eggs
1kg flour
2 tbsp bicarbonate of soda

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/390F. You will need some lined baking sheets so you can do these in batches. You can use any shape cutter you like - I use a large and small star and a large heart for these. You can ice these or just sprinkle with icing sugar. The dough keeps for ages in the fridge and and if these biscuits go soggy a couple of minutes in the oven will crisp them right up.

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the sugar, syrup, ginger, cloves and cinnamon.

2. Let it cool and then add the eggs, flour and bicarbonate of soda.

3. Roll out the dough as thin as you can and cut into shapes.

Uncooked biscuits on baking sheet

4. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

Finished biscuits on cooling rack

Soft Raspberry Coconut Ice

I spent the whole of last week making food for our Christmas party which was on Saturday and didn't remember to take photos of the final products at all... one of these was the Soft Raspberry Coconut Ice from Short and Sweet by Dan Lepard. This sounds a bit strange and Joe told me not to make them because they sounded weird. However, I made them anyway and there were none left! They went down incredibly well so I can't recommend them enough. I'm cross I haven't got a finished picture of these in their little silver petit four cases (from Lakeland of course) but I will definitely be making them again so I will add photos then. Just imagine beautiful old fashioned looking cubes with a lovely pink layer on top of a white layer.

Soft Raspberry Coconut Ice
Makes about 65 squares

For the white mixture:
250g icing sugar
100g mascapone
150g desiccated coconut

For the Raspberry mixture:
50g fresh raspberries
50g mascapone
250g icing sugar
200g desiccated coconut

You will need an18cm square tin lined with non-stick baking paper. Make this the day ahead for perfect consistency.

1. Make the white ice first by beating half the sugar with the mascapone until you have a smooth runny paste.

2. Stir in the coconut and remaining sugar, mix well then press into the bottom of the tin. Pack the mixture in well and smooth the top.

The coconut layer in the tin

3. Squish the raspberries with the mascapone and half the sugar until smooth. Then stir in the coconut followed by the remaining sugar.

4. Spread this carefully over the white ice until you have it even then press it down firmly with a spatula and your fingers.

5. Loosely cover the tin, with the top of the ice exposed to the air slightly and leave overnight somewhere cool to firm.

6. The next day, use the baking paper to lift the ice out of the tin and then cut it into pieces.

Garlic Butter and Cheddar Scones

I always get over excited when I buy a new cookery book. I then get intimidated by it and ignore it for a few weeks before I finally decide what the first attempted recipe shall be. So it was with Short and Sweet by legendary baker Dan Lepard. I didn't find the cover to this particularly appealing but one short minute of peering inside and I had to have it. It covers absolutely everything from basic bread to banana fudge cookies via black russian caramels and soft raspberry coconut ice.

The real decider was Joe disappearing off with three friends on Sunday to go and watch the football and I decided that nothing would be nicer for them at half time than some Garlic Butter and Cheddar scones... so that's what they had. Now these aren't going to win any beauty contests because some of the cheese makes a sort of skirt at the bottom of the scone but this is actually a bonus because this garlicky, leaked cheese is amazing and almost better than the scone itself. What I found especially pleasing is I didn't have to tweak this recipe at all!

Garlic Butter and Cheddar Scones

Makes 6 scones

100g plain flour, plus extra for shaping
100g wholemeal or rye flour
2 tsp mustard powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine salt
1 tsp brown sugar
1 clove garlic, finely mashed
50g unsalted butter, in 1 cm cubes
200g cheddar, diced
1 large egg
about 4 tbsp low fat plain yoghurt

Heat the oven to 210C/190C fan/ 410F/ Gas Mark 6.5.  Line a baking tray with non-stick paper. I'd also like to recommend that you dice the cheddar quite small - mine was pretty small but my cheddar skirts were pretty big. I think the smaller the dice, the smaller the skirt.

1. Place the dry ingredients in a bowl and add the garlic and butter. Rub everything together until the butter has almost disappeared and toss the cheese through.

2. Beat the egg with the yoghurt and stir this in to make a soft dough.

3. Pat this out on a floured surface until it's about 4cm thick and either cut out 6 circles of dough or tidy the edges and cut into squares.

4. Place them a small bit apart on the baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden on top.

5. Leave on the tray to cool slightly before eating.

Apple and Raisin Muffins

I've wanted to make muffins for ages but never had a muffin tray... then I got one thanks to the lovely but evil le creuset sail a couple of weeks ago. Now the wedding season is finally over I spent most of Sunday in the kitchen baking and on seeing some granny smiths that needed eating I decided to launch into muffin making. They don't look like the ones in the shops that I've seen but that's fine isn't it? They went down very well with the boys at half time during the Fulham game on Sunday afternoon.


Apple and Raisin Muffins

Makes 12

225g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g caster sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
60g unsalted butter
150ml milk
2 apples, peeled and grated
1 tsp ground cinnamon
60g raisins

Pre-heat the oven to 190C/Gas Mark 5. Line your muffin tins and melt the butter and set aside to cool a bit.

1. Sift all the dry ingredients together into a bowl and then add the apple and raisins.

2. In another bowl whisk together the egg, butter and milk. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and quickly stir everything together. It should be quite thick. You can add a drop more milk if you think it's too stiff but you really don't want to overwork the mixture.

3. Fill the muffin cases until they are about two thirds full and then bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until risen and golden.

4. Leave to cool in their tin until they are cool enough to be handled and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Not bad for a first attempt!

Chocolate Butter Icing

This is an easy recipe but I thought it would be useful to have it separately. This makes enough icing to do the middle and top of a cake as long as you don't overdo either! This is really useful as you probably have everything you need in your cupboards and fridge.

CHOCOLATE BUTTER ICING

125g salted butter at room temperature
250g icing sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water

It is really important that the butter is at room temperature or your arm is going to hurt and it's not going to blend together smoothly. You can use a mixer for this but frankly it'll take you longer to set it up and then wash it all than it will to make this by hand.

1. Beat together the butter, sugar and cocoa mix in a bowl with 1 tbsp boiling water.

2. When it's smooth, check the taste and then cover with clingfilm and chill until you want to use it.

Cockeyed Cake

This is an incredibly old recipe but it is by far and away the easiest chocolate cake to make. It takes 10 mins max to make and 30 mins or less in the oven. This is a particular favourite of mine for any last minute cake necessities and things that require all attendees to bring something along (I hate that normally...). The recipe I use is based on Peg Bracken's from The I Hate to Cook Book and is all measured in cups. I have done the conversion but left the cups in as that's what I use for this and it just adds to the ease.

The reason I'm making this cake tonight is that today is Mouse's (the dog's) birthday so tomorrow as some light relief in the office we are having traditional office tea and cake. I am making Mouse a peanut butter and carrot cake which is dog friendly but thought I can't really not make one for the human attendees and this is the obvious one to choose. This cake can be iced or not - this time I made butter icing because I didn't have enough plain chocolate and cream for ganache which is what I usually do. The one thing is to not ice this too early. The icing will slide off and you will be sad.

No don't freak out when you see the ingredients, it's unconventional but it works and it makes the best tasting batter ever.

COCKEYD CAKE

1 1/2 cups (340g/12 oz) plain flour
3 tbsp cocoa
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 cup (226g/8 oz) sugar
1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp cooking oil (I use sunflower oil)
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup (240 ml) cold water

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F. I make this in an 8x4 inch loaf tin.

1. Sift the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda, sugar and salt together into a large mixing bowl.

2. Tip in the cooking oil, vinegar, vanilla and cold water and mix together until it's nearly smooth and all the flour is mixed in. This feels like pretend cooking but it will work.

3. Tip into the greased tin and cook for 30ish minutes. I check mine after 25 but this time took the full 30.

4. Leave to cool in it's tin on a cooling rack for half an hour or so and then turn it out and leave to cool completely. Ice... or not.