Oatcakes

I made my own oatcakes. They were so simple to make and taste delightful with cheese on. I was amazed at how simple they were to make; I am never going to buy another oatcake again they keep for ages in an airtight container and are such a good snack to munch on during the late afternoon.
All you need is:
225g/8oz oats (plus a few more for sprinkling)
75g/3oz plain flour
1.5ml bicarbonate soda
5ml/ 1tsp salt
25g/2tbsp lard
25g/2 tbsp butter
A little boiling water
Preheat the oven to 220c/425f/gas mark 7. Place the oatmeal, flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl and mix together. Melt the lard and the butter together in a small pan over a low heat. Once it has melted add it the dry ingrediants and use a little boiling water to make a dough. Sprinkle some more oats over your chopping board or work surface and roll out the dough thinly. Cut into circles and place on an ungreased baking tray for 15 minutes. Finished!

Blackberry crumble squares

Have you been watching the Hairy Bikers/Bakers on TV? Last night they created wedding cakes! It was a 4 part series and each week they baked something different. They covered bread, pies, cakes/bakes and celebration cakes! I really enjoyed it; they are so funny to watch!

Anyway, here is my latest bake - blackberry crumble squares! The actual recipe was called 'Blackcurrant Squares' but I didn't have any blackcurrants so made it with blackberries. I think it would work just as well with any kind of berries especially raspberries and blueberries! Yum.

You will need:
115g/4 oz butter, softened
175g/6 oz caster sugar
1 egg
280g/10 oz self-raising flour
125ml/4fl oz milk
200g blackberries

And for the crumble topping:
115g/4 oz caster sugar
85g/3 oz plain flour
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
50g/2 oz butter

Preheat the oven to 180c/gas mark 4. Butter an oblong cake tin or I think a square one would work just as well.

Beat together the sugar and butter in a bowl using an electric whisk until pale and fluffy. Whisk in the egg, then carefully fold in the flour and milk until all the mixture is combined. Spoon into the buttered tin and sprinkle the blackberries over the top.

To make the crumble, mix the sugar, flour and lemon rind together. Rub in the butter until the mixture feels crumbly and then sprinkle this onto of the blackberries.

Bake for 45 mins until the blackberries start bursting through the golden crumble. Once cool, cut into squares and serve. Be warned though, it needs eating fairly quickly as the crumble topping doesn't stay crumbly for long! This recipe was adapted from Goodfood magazine book!

Banana Muffins

I ran the Nike Human 10k Race last Sunday. It was amazing fun! A million people from 25 different countries took part all on the same day. The race in London started at Wembley Stadium and it poured down with rain! I couldn't believe it! I managed to run the whole 10k in 1h3:55 which I think was quite good considering the weather conditions. It felt so good at the end to have finished; everybody received a t-shirt saying 'Today I raced the world' which I thought was pretty cool! For weeks beforehand I was storing up on my carbs - pasta, bread and of course, the ultimate energy food - bananas! I thought making banana muffins would be a great idea. Bananas give slow releasing energy but sometimes I struggle to eat bananas especially ones that are going off so what better way then to bake them into muffins!

You will need:
200g (7oz) plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of ground nutmeg
50g (2oz) ground almonds
50g (2oz) sugar
2-3 bananas
2 eggs
2 tbs vegetable oil
125ml (4 fl oz) milk
3 tablespoons of honey

They are extremely easy to make. First make sure your oven is preheated to 190c/375f/gas mark 5 and place the muffin cases into the tin. This recipe makes 10.

Mix the flour, baking powder and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in the nutmeg, almonds and sugar.

Mash the bananas together using a fork and mix in the eggs, oil, milk and honey to make a sloppy paste. Add this to the dry ingrediants in the bowl and mix all together.

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes!

The perfect energy food! Delicious!

One year on...

Wow, today my blog is a year old! I can't believe i've now been baking and blogging for a whole year! And so to celebrate I thought I would post up the birthday cake I have just made! Happy one year Birthday to Mrs B's Baking! Anyone for some cake?


I feel that my baking has vastly improved since a year ago. I can't believe, when I look back at all the photos how many things I have actually baked in a year and how much of it we have eaten! It's been so much fun. There have been times when I have considered giving up blogging but then I'm always baking and messing around in the kitchen so I may as well post about it! Thank you to everyone who has read it and left me comments, it's so really sweet of you all.

One of my favourite moments and highlights of my blogging year was when Channel 4 mentioned it last Christmas on their website. They were talking about christmas baking in the blog world and mentioned my blog which I was amazed at! I told all my family and friends! hehe!

I love baking treats and things for people and everyone who comes to visit hubbie and I in London always arrives to freshly baked goodies of some kind! One of my favourite things is spending time pottering around the kitchen or reading baking books! One day I would love to set up my own little cake business from home making and designing wedding cakes - it would be a dream! Until then I can just enjoy pottering!

I wish I could send everyone who reads my blog a big slice of this cake! It is a madeira cake with home made black currant jam and then I covered it in swirls of buttercream and finished it with a sugar pink rose! Can I tempt anyone for a slice? Can I? Can I? :)


Thank you once again everyone for your kind comments and all the tips. I love reading all your blogs and comments and blogging wouldn't be half as much fun without you all! Here's to the next year... x x x

Raspberry and Pine Nut bars

These are a delicious treat for summer picnics and outings! I think many people have been baking these recently as I have seen them pop up on many people's blogs! They are quick and easy to make and perfect to take with you on country walks throughout the holidays.

You need:

200g/8oz plain flour
200g/8oz porridge oats
250g pack butter, softened
175g/6oz light muscovado sugar
finely grated zest of one lemon
100g pine nuts
250g/9oz raspberries
Preheat the oven to 190c/gas mark 5 and butter a shallow square tin.

Place the oats, flour and butter into a mixing bowl and rub together until it forms coarse crumbs. Mix in the sugar, lemon zest and three quaters of the pine nuts and once mixed well compress the mixture together so that it forms large sticky clumps.

Place about 3 quaters of the mixture into the tin and press it down lightly. Sprinkle the raspberries over the top and then the rest of the mixture over the top of the rapsberries. Finally scatter the remaining pine nuts over the top and press down lightly.

Bake for about 35-40 minutes until it looks a pale golden colour. Cut into 12 slices while still warm and then leave to cool in the tray! Finished!

I'm very excited today as a few days ago I signed up for a sugarcraft course at the college near where I live. I start in September! So watch this space for some lovely sugarcraft creations! :)

Chocolate Madeira Cake

For my husband's birthday I made a chocolate madeira cake. It was delicious. I used chocolate buttercream for the filling and then covered the outside with chocolate icing! It was gone in no time!

To make the chocolate icing you will need: 30g/1oz of melted butter, 2 tablespoons of hot water, 2 tablesponns of sifted cocoa powder and 125g/4oz of sifted icing sugar.

Combine the melted butter with the 2 tablespoons of hot water and 2 tablespoons of sifted cocoa powder and stir it until it forms a smooth paste. Add the icing sugar and stir until well combined and smooth! I then used a palette knife and dolloped the icing on the top and sides and then swirled it around. It tastes divine and I really recommend this icing as a quick and easy way to cover a chocolate cake. My husband loved it!




Anyone for a slice?!

Pavlova

The perfect summer pudding. Pavlova. Light, crunchy, chewy and just delicious with whipped cream and summer fruits. I didn't take very good pictures; sometimes I feel a bit silly taking photos when everyone is waiting to eat! hehe! I made the meringue the night before and then added the cream and fruits just before we were about to eat it.

It is really easy to make and tastes so better than bought ones! You will need:

4 egg whites
225g (80z) caster sugar
300ml double cream
Summer fruits - I used strawberries, raspberries and red and blackcurrants

Preheat the oven to 140c and place a large circle of baking parchment paper on a baking tray.

Take a large bowl and make sure it is spotlessly clean! Also be extremely careful when separating your eggs. Place the egg whites in a bowl and then using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites until they are very stiff. Add the caster sugar gradually, whisking the mixture after each addition.

When the mixture is quite stiff, spoon it onto the baking parchment paper, spread in around with the back of a spoon and swirl in around into a lovley pattern. Make sure you leave a dip in the centre so the sides are slightly higher. This is so that you can fill it with fruit later on.

Bake the meringue for about 1 and a half hours. I then turned the oven off and left it in the oven over night.
The next day I whisked the cream, spooned dollops of it into the meringue and then poured over the fruits. The meringue was just delicious, crunchy on the outside and all goey and lovely on the inside! Yum!