Coconut & Lemon Cupcakes

What a great way to add the lemon... yummy hints in the cake and little flavouring on top.. With or without the lemon, this was a very easy recipe which can be rustled up in no time.. 

Yummy frosting on top with the little hint of lemon :-)

Just the usual.. I got a little carried away and whipped up this loaf at the same time... same recipe as the above, leaving out the frosting.. this was equally as good.

Vanilla Madeleines

A lovely surprise for Mothers Day - yes a lovely Madeleine pan, I couldn't wait to get started.. As I had not experimented with these wonderful little treats before, I thought I would start with something simple.  A perfect batch of vanilla Madeleines was a result of this...

Madeleines in the new pan waiting to be baked! 

I just used the recipe from the BBC good food website and adapted this to remove the honey flavouring, although I think they would have been yummy too.

• Ingredients
• 100g plain flour , plus extra for dusting
• 100g caster sugar
• 100g butter , melted
• 1 whole egg , separated, plus 1 egg white
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• icing sugar , for dusting

1. Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Butter a 12-hole madeleine mould (use a tiny amount of the melted butter) and dust lightly with flour. You can use tartlet tins if you don't have the a madeleine mould.
2. Mix the flour and sugar in a bowl. Put the butter, egg yolk and vanilla into a separate bowl and whisk with a fork to mix. Whisk the two egg whites until stiff. Fold the butter mixture into the dry ingredients until evenly mixed, then fold in the egg whites in two batches using the whisk.
3. Divide between the prepared moulds and bake for 10-12 mins until golden brown and firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the moulds for a few mins, then turn out and cool on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

Easter Bunny Biscuits

Mummy and Maya's play time in the kitchen.... adorable little bunnies with a chocolate centre and marshmallow tails... Oh so cute :-)
We found this recipe online and away we went...

French Almond Cake

Ahhhh... with Dad's birthday today, instead of the usual bakewell tart, I thought i'd try something a little different... I found this fab recipe by Linda Collister from her Easy Cake Recipe book.  I read a lot about the almonds in the cake perhaps burning around the edges of the cake, so I tried a bit of forward preparation with foil over the top and a hole in the centre - worked just as well... :-)  Also, I replaced the vanilla essence with almond essence to extenuate the almond flavouring which goes down very well in my house! 

Happy Birthday Dad.... :-) 

Ingredients

8" cake pan

110g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes and leave to soften

140g caster sugar

3 eggs, lightly beaten

90g ground almonds

40g self-raising flour

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 tablespoon flaked almonds for sprinkling

Method
1.Pre-heat oven at 180C. Grease with butter and flour the sides of an 8" cake pan, line the base with parchment paper, set aside.

2.Place butter, sugar and eggs in a mixing bowl, add almond powder, flour, milk, almond extract then beat with an electric mixer. When light and fluffy, spoon into the prepared pan and spread the batter evenly. Sprinkle the flaked almonds over the top.

3.Bake at 180degC for 35 mins, or until the sponge just springs back when pressed (check when skewer inserted comes out clean.) (
Important Note: Cover the top with foil.  You can make a hole in the centre.  Leave foil on cake for about 15-20mins into baking to prevent the top from burning.

4.Run a thin bladed knife around the sides of the pan to loosen the cake, then turn out onto a wire rack and let cool.

            Recipe source: adapted from Easy Cakes by Linda Collister

Buttery Lemon Cookie

So with a few lemons to spare in the larder...... yes, that's it.. They have to be for these delicious melt in the mouth cookies.  I have previously tried a combination of orange with a little cinnamon for Christmas, but these are by far such a lovely buttery lemon flavour which i'm sure I will be visiting again.  Besides the slight chilling time, I hurried this up by popping the dough in the freezer and all seemed to go to plan..  Needless to say, these didn't last long and they had a lovely texture still the following day.  I would recommend storing them in a airtight container once they have completely cooled down.. :-) 

Easy Carrot and Walnut Cake

 So, just another day in my kitchen.... and I have baking rather than blogging, so hopefully I can share some goodness with you all.
I sometimes become quite put off with oil based recipes, as they can turn out a little oily (as it were!) but this is just a lovely balanced recipe and although moist and tasty, not in an oily kind of way!! You get me!

I used an 9inch loaf pan for this, but you could equally make this in an 8inch tin (which could be cut, sandwiched and layered with frosting.  

Ingredients

• 300g plain flour
• 300g light brown sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 300ml Canola oil
• 300g carrots, grated
• 1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Mixed Spice
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 100g chopped walnuts or pecan if preferred

Cream cheese frosting

• 225g cream cheese
• 50g softened trex
• 50g icing sugar
• a few drops lemon extract

Method

1) Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C.

2) Put the eggs, oil and sugar in a bowl and whisk until combined. Add and mix all the ingredients, except for the carrots and walnuts until they are thoroughly incorporated.

3) Add the carrots and walnuts and mix.  

4) Pour the mixture into the desired greased and lined cake tin/loaf pan and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.  The cake should be slightly brown on top.  Leave to cool for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack.

5) Combine all the ingredients for the frosting until soft, light and fluffy.  

6) Ensure the cake is completely cooled before adding the topping with a palette knife.