Lemon and rosemary cupcakes

I've started growing a kitchen windowbox herb garden and today decided to test out adding some of my fresh herbs to cakes - starting with some lovely, fragrant rosemary. I can't describe how delicious these turned out to be - just that after the first one, I had to eat a second immediately (and am struggling not to go and polish off the rest instead of writing this!)

Apricot, almond and amaretto cake

This was the other cake I made today for Paddy's 80th birthday party at Butetown History and Arts Centre, where I'm a board member. On the way there, I thought this might have ended in disaster when the apricots looked as if they were going to slide off the top in an avalanche of whipped Amaretto cream, but luckily some emergency cake repairs in the kitchen on arrival sorted it out and it was demolished by guests very quickly - the fact that it was still a little warm (the source of the melting panic in transit!) in fact made this delicious, a warm, boozy, almondy pudding, delicately spiced with nutmeg and full of baked and fresh apricots, with a fresh, Greek yoghurt cream which lifted it perfectly. For me, this was the winner of the two! 

Chocolate ginger cake with pomegranate and raspberries

Today I was invited to make the cakes for an 80th birthday party for one of my fellow board members at Butetown History and Arts Centre, held at the gallery. It was a fantastic turnout of  so many of Paddy and Gaynor's family and friends, politicians, academics, artists, and a privilege to contribute some cakes to a day full of amazing stories and reminiscences. This cake was an enormous chocolate and ginger cake, layered with whipped dark chocolate cream and fresh raspberries and topped with shiny chocolate ganache, pomegranate berries and edible gold dragees. It was nerve racking to transport but arrived in one piece, and went down a storm. Happy birthday, Paddy, who looked as dapper today as the Great Gatsby!

Rosemary, honey and sea salt bread

I was at home today as our new kitchen flooring was being delivered and the decorators have finally come to finish painting the house after our house flooded on Good Friday. I fancied baking as it has become a staple part of my days off, but the fridge still had a few of last night's delicious chilli hot chocolate muffins so I couldn't justify making something else sweet! Instead I decided to make a loaf of bread to have with our supper this evening. This only makes a small loaf as I'd only got 300g left in the bag of bread flour in the pantry, and decided to go with that since often fresh bread doesn't keep long enough for the two of us to finish a whole large loaf. This was the perfect size for two, and delicious too! Instead of using sugar I used a little honey, and added some gorgeous fresh rosemary that's growing wildly in the herb garden I've started growing on our kitchen window ledge, a lovely sunny spot. The resulting bread was eaten warm with dinner in the garden this evening. I so wish we had more warm sunny days like this in the summer, they feel like such treasures!

Chilli hot chocolate muffins with whipped chocolate coconut cream frosting

I'm still feeling a little under the weather and decided to try spicing up some chocolate chip muffins with a kick of chilli powder, ginger and cinnamon. We'd run out of milk so instead I experimented by using the liquid from a chilled tin of coconut milk - then I whipped the solidified cream with melted chocolate to make an amazing chocolate fudge frosting!

Chocoholic’s fantasy cake

My dad is a huge chocolate lover and so for a meal for father’s day, my sister Lizzie suggested I make a death-by-chocolate style cake.  As she’s coeliac I decided to make a a version of the flourless chocolate cake I’ve made previously, Torta Gianduia, but instead of hazelnuts, this time I used ground almonds.   

I made three layers of cake – each one made with a different bar of chocolate: white, milk and dark chocolate.  A sweetened whipped cream and a chocolate whipped cream sandwiched the layers together, and then the whole cake was iced with a chocolate buttercream.  To finish, I piped lines of shiny dark chocolate ganache on top, then sprinkled shavings of each type of chocolate over it.  Happy father’s day, Dad!

Spiced honey, fruit and nut muffins

Since getting home from Sark I’ve had the most horrible fluey cold.  I think it is proof that too much fresh air and exercise is bad for you – what I need is CAKE to make me feel better!  Feeling pathetic and also fairly exhausted from all the baking I did for the wedding cakes, I want something really easy and quick, and something to nourish my sickliness.  I’m living on mugs of hot lemon and honey for my sore throat.  The answer?  Honey muffins – the quickest and simplest of all baked goods!

Part of the simplicity of muffin making is using American cup measurements for baking – it is a really quick and simple way of rustling up some delicious muffins in no time at all.  Just pour your ingredients into the cup measures, use a hand whisk to lightly beat together the wet ingredients, then add the dry ones, and give it all a quick stir (muffins shouldn’t be over-mixed – the batter is meant to look lumpy.)  Quarter of an hour in the oven is just enough time to clean up and make a cup of tea, ready to enjoy with your delicious hot muffins!

This recipe is based on a honey oat muffin recipe from the White House – you can’t get much more American than that! I added nuts and dried cranberries (any dried fruit would work just as well).  This makes it feel like breakfast (not that I need any excuse to eat cake first thing in the morning) and since there is no sugar or butter in the recipe, I think I can officially call these healthy, and definitely guaranteed to put a smile on the face of someone feeling under the weather!

Ellie and Ruadhan’s wedding cake: a baking adventure on Sark

Ellie and her wedding cake

This is the first time I’ve ever made a wedding cake, and it was a real honour to be asked by Ellie, my oldest friend, to make the cake for her marriage to her wonderful partner Ruadhan. I’ve already posted the recipes for each tier as I tested it, which you can find by clicking on the links below:

• Chocolate raspberry cake with Earl Grey gold dust

• Carrot, orange and almond cake (flourless)

• Vegan lemon cake with camomile drizzle

But as well as putting up some photos of the final wedding cake, I thought I’d also blog about the adventures and challenges of baking a wedding cake on this scale and in a far-away place!

(If you're reading this on the homepage, click on 'see recipe' below to see pictures and read all about it…)

Chocolate raspberry cake with Earl Grey gold dust

This is the final test for Ellie and Ruadhan’s wedding cake. I made it for a barbecue at our friend’s Emma and Geraint’s house – I had been waiting for a party to test it, as it is 12 inches in diameter and so I needed lots of willing testers!  8 eggs was the right amount to get a lovely tall cake which I can split in half.  For the wedding, I’ll double this and make two cakes, to slice to become either three or four layers (depending on how tall the tiered cake stand will allow it to be!) 

Originally, I tried an Earl Grey sugar syrup to glaze the cakes, but not everyone liked it, so for the final recipe, I’ve decided to use Chambord, an amazing black raspberry liqueur.  I’m not going to turn it into a syrup but use it neat, to keep the cake as moist as possible given that I’ll be making it a day or two before the wedding.

The idea of the Earl Grey dust was to make my own edible gold dust that tasted good rather than was just pretty, and it worked really well.  Despite deciding not to do an Earl Grey glaze, I still think that the Earl Grey taste of bergamot goes beautifully with dark chocolate, and everyone loved this, so it is staying in the final wedding cake!  I’ll definitely do this tea gold dust again for other cakes, but you could try all sorts of flavours – Camomile tea would be lovely I think, and work well with lemon cake.