As Valentine’s Day approaches I ponder on the best V Day presents I have ever received. There was the H Samuel gold plated key ring with my beloved’s name on it – yep, I received a key ring with ‘Jonathan’ written across it in whimsical copperplate letters. Thanks Jonny! We were only 10. I might forgive him.
Then there was a lovely boy called Peter who every year left a box of Malteasers in my desk. With the benefit of hindsight I ought to have concentrated more on boys like Peter. I might have left school with a less fragmented heart if I’d paid him a little more attention than the mad, bad and dangerous to know boys.
Since then I’ve luckily received a Blu Ray player, cocktail glasses, IOU vouchers, an array of posh cordials, a silk scarf, roses, a saccherine fondant covered heart shaped cake with my name wonkily piped across it and of course underwear – always too small. I like that my backside is smaller in both my mind and the minds of boyfriends past.
What do I want this year? Not a nursing bra, that’s for sure. I’ll settle on a few of these babies thanks. You can ice or leave unadorned. They’re quite deep in flavour and rich so can happily go naked.
75g cocoa powder mixed with 200ml boiling water, cooled slightly
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
300g self-raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
400g caster sugar
50ml sunflower oil
250g unsalted butter, melted
Preheat the oven to gas 4/180C and line 2 x 12 hole cupcake tin with 18 cases. Mix the cocoa powder with 200ml boiling water, stir until smooth and allow to cool slightly. Take a big mixing bowl and mix all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon until really well mixed and gloopy. The mixture will be a pourable batter. At this point I suggest you decant half of the mixture into a jug and use to fill the cupcake cases each to almost full (leave about 1cm free of cake mixture at the top) then repeat for the rest of the mixture. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until well risen and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean.
Get the monthly newsletter...
and subscribe to get all recipes straight to your inbox!
With my husband’s 40th looming I wanted something more than a wet weekend in a British spa town. I wanted glamour, good food, a little bit of language misunderstanding, nothing too far away, or too close by – and of course some weather. I chose a wet weekend in Paris and have the paunch to prove it.
We trained it down to London and Eurostarred it across the Channel. All so easy and far more chic than the last time I traveled by Eurostar from Waterloo. St Pancras is a station to be proud of. We Brits should celebrate it and maybe even campaign for a public holiday in it’s honour.
Our hotel was in the 7th, fittingly named Le 7 Eiffel, a few minutes stroll from the massive aforementioned sight. La 7 Eiffel may be guilty of being a little on the camp side. Pink light emits from the facade, bathing the street in a kind of Hello Kitty brothel light. They had goldfish, of course too.
The hall and room carpets look like bricks; except they don’t, they look like carpets with brick print on. The room was lovely. I wish I’d taken photos to share but by the time I’d thought about it we’d trashed it with our ugly guidebooks, British de caf tea bags and wheelie case unpacking. I’d booked a superior room complete with balcony that was too cold to use and a sitting area we used to hang our bought wares in though didn’t sit in once. The room was super cool, mostly white and had the usual iPod dock, waterfall shower and flat screen. Would we stay there again? Yes, though I do wish hotels in general would sort their curtains out. We were treated to two, both fashioned from diaphanous white muslin, utterly pointless and fine-ish for winter but in summer a possible reason for 6am wake ups. Just give me a new born’s black out blind any day. Anyway, here’s reception:
Dinner on Friday was at Laperouse in the 6th, by the Seine, and holds the prize for the most expensive meal we have ever eaten and paid for.
Some years ago, when I had an office job in London, I sampled many a posh restaurant, but it was always the company money I was spending. So frankly, i don’t think I ever really stopped to evaluate whether the food was especially good, or good value. This old school, we’ve-been-around-since-1766-place was worth every last 236 Euros that we paid of our own hard earned money. And that was without me drinking properly. Just the one glass:
The service was impeccable, delivered by bow tied waiters with perpetual smiles. Mr Bell enjoyed his first taste of foie gras to start with, which he ate with such aplomb I don’t think he looked up.
I started with a parmasean, hazelnut and truffle soup served with hunks of parmasean in oil nestling in a mortar, topped with a crunchy breadstick. I admit to supping this up with a sense of urgency that does not befit such a fine establishment. No one minded though.
A word about the atmosphere. We felt positively infantile in this restaurant and we are pretty good at pretending to be serious. It was grown up, full of very proper looking folks, taking their food and wine seriously. Dress up if you go. I wore my winter ski boots (I’m pregnant and it was cold, give me a break) and whilst no one made me feel out of place I did wish I’d made more effort. This is a restaurant with 6 private dining rooms that are always fully booked. You get the idea.
Mains were bass for me served with hazelnut cabbage and raw, very sweet cauliflower, cut so fine it was almost transparent. I wouldn’t have knowingly ordered so many brassicas in the same plate but I’m glad I did. It was delicious, though the portion was small. Don’t go to Laperouse and think you’ll get away with a main and some tap water. You’ll leave hungry and feeling like you arrived at the party late and still managed to leave early.
Mr Bell ordered the lamb with snails as a main and made groaning, animal sounds as he tucked in. At this point, with both feet firmly in the glutton camp we decided to seal out fate of an evening of indigestion and crazy dreams by ordering the cheese plate and a chocolate millefeuille. The cheeses were as pungent as you’d expect and want from a French plate, served with an unappetising looking salad, which upon poking revealed a hazelnut dressing complete with soaked raisins. The chef was big into hazelnuts but it all tasted so earthy and right for January then we’ll forgive him.
My millefeuille was rich, rich, rich, but perfect in every way. I did keep wandering what Paul Hollywood would have said if I’d served him a completely chocolate mille (ie/ no pastry!) as part of the Bake Off final but made a concerted effort to banish these thoughts for fear of ruining the night with nightmares of the silver fox shaking his head at my endeavours.
We walked half the way home, in the rain, from out first meal out in Paris, needing the upright motion to digest a little. Neither of us have ever eaten such beautiful, delicious food in such a grand setting. Price wise we promised to return for my husband’s 50th. We may save for the tasting menu. And I most certainly won’t be pregnant, so I’ll help out on the wine drinking front more.
We slept badly, as you might expect after consuming enough fat and animal products to keep us going for a week. Breakfast needed to be protein heavy and sustaining for our day of sightseeing and gallery going, so we gave Eggs & Co a go in the 6th.
A cute little joint that specialises in, you guessed it, eggs. I admit to loving this place at first sight upon spotting fried egg sweets nestling in Kilmer jars at the till. I lap kitsch up. This scene was happening behind my chair for example:
There’s an egg theme, check out the salt and pepper shakers:
We were led up some rickety stairs to a back room just tall enough for hobbits. We stooped our way to a small table and took in the chicken and egg related paraphernalia which tickled me but may have been lost on my very male breakfast partner.
My omelette with mixed herbs was perfect for a pregnant lady, with no especially runny centre. Purists may have been disappointed. The two al dente boiled potatoes served with breakfast seemed a little out of place but were welcome, after all we had sightseeing to do. The salad was fresh, crisp, well dressed and a perfect foil to the buttery eggs.
Mr Bell chose the eggs Benedict, complete with hollandaise, muffin, salad and potatoes. It was just right – the second egg yolk even staying runny by the time the first was finished.
We were both bitterly disappointed with the couple next to us who tried and failed to order an egg white omelette (the chef said no) and then ordered eggs florentine without any hollandaise. The waiter asked in a confused manned if they just wanted the sauce on the side. No, they did not. And they also wanted ketchup. I try not to be a food snob, goodness knows I have no right given some of the dross I enjoy indulging in, but I couldn’t help feel this couple had missed the point of Paris. But then food occupies my every thought – perhaps they have a less obsessive approach.
We spent the morning at the intestinal Pompidou centre, gazing at Kandinsky, Tamara de Lempicka and some painstaking architectural style 3D plans that pleased the part of my husband who spends more time at an architects practise each day than he does at home. We bought a very large cartoon style colouring poster of Paris and hot footed it to the Eiffel Tower.
Thank you a million times to the lady on my Facebook page who advised booking tickets online. I am impatient and grumpy when queuing so this really did save my beloved’s ears. The security man gave us strict instructions not to open our colouring map once at the top. Strictly no colouring allowed. Here’s a disappointed colouring fan:
We agreed as he looked like he meant business. We walked about, took some pics and queued to come back down. Can I be brutally honest? For me it was a waste of money and dissected the day. I think Mr B enjoyed it more but then his tolerance for heights is better.
Next we needed a late snack so set off looking for a patisserie shop with seats. After lots of false starts and a bit of a tantrum from myself (pregnant, tired and in need of food) we found Le Moulin De La Vierge around the corner from our hotel in the 7th.
Little over 3 Euros each gets you a sweet dream of a snack and a ceiling to die for.
We devoured a cream filled millefuille and a chocolate mouse cake nestling on a slightly soggy cake disc:
Finishing with cafe au lait and a PROPER hot chocolate. Take a look at this baby:
Next to Lemoine, 74 rue Saint-Dominique, to buy macarons for my dear Mother and Father who spent a weekend playing Lego with our sons in order that we should eat ourselves into oblivion.
We did of course buy some ourselves to sample with a cup of tea in the hotel room. Can heartily recommend the peanut, pistachio, rose, black currant and coconut. Mango was not our bag though.
A little rest on the bed and we set out for a local dinner. We wanted no metro ride so settled on Le Cafe du Marche, 38 Rue Cler, 7th, a rather ramshackle looking place on Rue de Cler, a pretty pedestrianised street home to independent cheese, wine, chocolate, cake, cookie and fruit and veg shops. Such colours!
Du Marche was full of French folks ordering steak tartare, house red and panda cotta. We went for the steak and the double cheeseburger which were both delicious, honest, served in less than 10 minutes and eaten in not much more. Sometimes after a night of fine dining a burger hits the spot.
We finished with cheese (for him, having no need for insisting on pasteurised wuss cheese like my pregnant self) and coconut tart, chocolate sauce and coconut ice cream. The cheese I am assured, was good. The coconut tart, I can assure you was poor.
With a margarine after taste and pastry softened and wangy, I wish I’d sent it back. My French is not good enough though and I refuse to send back inferior food with the prefix ‘parlais vous Anglais?’ – it’s what fools do.
Sunday was the big day – my husband’s 40th and also our return home. We celebrated with a breakfast fit for a 40 year old King, at Fuxia, in the 10th, a 20 minute stroll from Gare du Nord where we dumped our bags.
Now this canal side area is achingly hip yet also full of young families. It’s like the French get cooler and more attractive the more kids they have. I only the other hand have become more liable to covet Laura Ashley dresses and collect an extra chin per child. (Must channel my inner French woman.)
For brunch I had a cheese lasagne, the kind of dish an aunt might make for a visiting vegetarian. It sounds dreadful but my it was perfect. Every cheese your heart desires layered with fresh pasta and finished swimming in a white sauce.
Served with more parmesan and a very unhip 1994 style rocket and parmesan salad (yep, more cheese) free for me to spray with oil and balsamic. I think we found the key to the Parisian snake hips in these little spray bottles. No pouring and sloshing here, more a dab.
Mr Bell did what any birthday boy should do and ordered BIG.
The 23 euros brunch was a beast.
Mushroom pasta, omelette, salmon, salad, a pyramid of toasted quesadilla, hot eggy caramely panettone washes down with OJ and coffee.
He looked beaten, so ordered some red to make it slip down better. I drank the best tea I may have ever tasted.
Fuxia was so hip that by 1.30pm when we left it had a queue out the door. If you find yourself in the 10th give this place a visit. The staff even waved goodbye with a congratulations to my husband for finishing his marathon brunch. If you are in any way allergic to children or buggies maybe give it a wide berth. It was a little bit Mothercare in there at times.
And so home we went… Up the steps, past the park and weaved our way back to Gare du Nord. The only thing to ruin my good mood? Silly people thinking their bags deserve seats more than people. It might be Hermes love, but get it on the floor.
Of course my chivalrous, would-have-been-a-gallant-knight-in-Medieval-times husband offered his seat to a senior lady. Oh how I love him so. He rewarded himself with yet more vin rouge on the Eurostar home.
Get the monthly newsletter...
and subscribe to get all recipes straight to your inbox!
I’ve just come back from Paris where I spent a weekend knee deep in cream, pastry, animal fat and fizzy water. I imagined a parallel life where I listened to Mr McDermott in French lessons and could order with a flourish and an accent that impressed my French friends. Instead I was the ungainly British woman stuffing cream cakes in my mouth, holding my pregnant belly (just to be clear that my rotund appearance has NOTHING to do with a penchant for cake) and consulting my phrase book at minute intervals.
We had a whale of a time and made plans for buying a £1.2m apartment in the 7th. We haven’t worked out how we’ll gain this cash injection, nor how the kids will get to school daily in the Midlands. I’ll let you know when we work it out, but in the meantime here’s a very British sounding sweet treat. I give you chocolate orange tea buns.
NB: Gorgeous pic, clearly not taken by me, was in fact taken by my pal Minal, photographer and all round good egg.
Egg wash made from an egg with a pinch of salt stirred in
Mix together the flour, yeast, salt, olive oil and caster sugar until everything is evenly distributed. Then add the warm milk and mix again. Then add the egg, beaten and mix again. Now you need to knead until shiny and elastic – probably about 10 minutes by hand or about 4 in a mixer. I used my Kitchen Aid stand mixer as this is a VERY sticky dough – it’s enriched with milk and eggs which mean it’s hard work by hand. It isn’t impossible but I am just warning you. A dough scraper might be useful if you do do this by hand. And remove all rings.
Once shiny and elastic (but still sticky) cover in clingfilm and leave to double in size – this took about an hour for me but the warmer the kitchen the shorter the rise, basically keep an eye on it. Once doubled add the chocolate chips and zest. Mix well whilst knocking back the dough then scrape onto a floured work surface and divide the dough into as many pieces as you wish to make buns. I went for 9 but remember, the more you make, the smaller the tea cakes and the shorter the baking time.
Flour a baking tray lightly and then take your piece of dough, dip it in a little of the flour on the work surface so it doesn’t stick to your hands – then squash it in your hand and pull the edges into the middle, like you’re folding something exciting into the centre. Pinch these edges together and then place the bun pinched side down on the tray, flatten gently. Continue until all the dough is used and leave about a 1cm space between each bun. Cover loosely in clingfilm and leave to prove until double the size. This took about 40 minutes in my cold kitchen but if yours of warmer it may take a shorter time.
Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Brush each tea cake with the egg wash then pop into the preheated oven and bake for about 20 minutes but keep an eye on them as enriched doughs, especially ones with sugar in, have a tendency to burn easily. Also your buns might be bigger or smaller than mine so will likely have a different baking time. They’re done when browned and risen.
Cool on a wire rack and enjoy warm (mmmm, melted white chocolate chips? Yes please!) or toasted or even just cold for breakfast with a nice cup of tea.
Get the monthly newsletter...
and subscribe to get all recipes straight to your inbox!
I had the best birthday. I got so many nice things to be glad for, I came over all Pollyanna-like. First off I ate out 5 times in 4 days. How’s that for decadence? From boiled eggs and soldiers for breakfast to a Thai Saturday night blow out, I loved it all. It was almost like in my pre baby days when money was abundant and eating out felt like a daily right. How spoilt.
And the gifts! Oh the gifts! Beautiful maternity clothes, pretty cake tins, sewing bits and bobs, a very sharp better than champagne knife, a deer stalker hat, a snood (is that a word still) for my ever cold neck, 90s dance hit CDs, biscuits, chocolates, things to add to the bath. Oh it really was amazing.
And I realised I have turned a corner, for this was my first non alcohol spiked birthday – my first pregnant birthday. (Have very cleverly planned babies around missing my birthday and the festive season – hell, yes, I’m a selfish planner.) I am growing up; I don’t need alcohol to have a good time.
This cake could certainly add to a good time though. Lemon and blueberries are a perfect match. If you don’t have blueberries simply use some dried fruit or bake it without, slice it and slather in a berry type jam. Tastes excellent washed down with piping hot tea.
Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4 and grease and line a 2lb loaf tin (this is the regular sized one found in most shops – if you use a bigger one then reduce the baking time as the cake will be flatter and therefore bake more quickly, if your loaf tin is slightly smaller the cake may take a little longer as the cake will be taller and thus the heat takes longer to get to the centre – use the browning of the top and the skewer coming out clean as the best guide to a cake being done).
Beat together the caster sugar, butter, flour, baking powder, eggs and lemon zest for about 4 minutes in the Kitchen Aid using the flat beater at medium speed or 5 – 6 minutes using a hand held mixer. It may take a little longer if beating by hand with a wooden spoon – you’re looking for a light and creamy mixture that is lighter in colour than when you started and looks a little like whipped double cream. Fold the blueberries through the mixture with a metal spoon then transfer to the tin. Level the top and bake for 45 – 55 minutes until the top is golden brown and the cake is well risen. A skewer will be clean when poked into the centre.
Leave to cool on a wire rack, whilst still in the tin. Once cool make the icing using the lemon juice and icing sugar, beaten until smooth. Pour over the top of the cake – it will seep down the sides as this is a runny, transparent icing. You can make it thicker if you like by adding more icing sugar. Slice and eat!
P.S. I was a little over zealous in my folding, hence the blueberries sank to the bottom. Oh well, this is life. Still tasted delicious.
Get the monthly newsletter...
and subscribe to get all recipes straight to your inbox!
I’m making friends again, in that mode where making connections feels all important. I did it when pregnant with my first son. With my second, born just two years later, I couldn’t do it. I hadn’t the energy and the first lot of post natal pals were all consuming. Hence son #2 has very few friends of his own and for this, yes, I feel guilt.
So here I am trying to pave the way by sending emails to new hypno birthing friends, with a sense of trepidation and a hopeful glance at my phone, refreshing my emails to see if they’re replied. It’s like the first day of school again.
Here’s a recipe that reminds me a bit of being at school, though this pie’s not served with soggy cabbage this time.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and add the onion, celery, mushrooms and water. Fry on a medium heat, stirring constantly until the water has all evaporated and the vegetables have browned a little. Remove from the frying pan and pour into a bowl.
Make the cheese sauce by heating the butter in a saucepan until melted then adding the flour and whisking vigorously until smooth. Leave on a medium heat for about 1 minute to cook the flour off, then add the milk gradually, whisking all the time. You will have a very thick white sauce. (The thick quality is important, otherwise you might end up with a soggy bottomed pie.) Remove from the heat and add the cheese and black pepper. Mix well and pour over the vegetables in the bowl. Stir, cover and refrigerate until completely cold.
Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6. Roll the puff pastry out into a large rectangle, about 3mm thick, using a well floured rolling pin. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with non stick baking parchment. Mix the cold chicken into the vegetable and cheese mixture and place onto one side of the rectangle, leaving a 2cm edge free of mixture at the sides. Sprinkle with black pepper. Paint the sides of the rectangle with egg yolk and then fold the pastry without any mixture on, over, on top of the filled side, as if closing a book. Press the edges down.
Paint the top of the pie with egg yolk and bake for about 40 minutes until the pie is golden all over. Serve hot with green beans or peas. This is also delicious for lunch cold the next day.
Get the monthly newsletter...
and subscribe to get all recipes straight to your inbox!
In case I haven’t bored on enough about it, I’m pregnant. Yes, I am with child, up the duff, bun in the oven, whatever you wish to call it. And it’s my third child. So all that lovely antenatal yoga, reading birth stories in Mother & Baby and buying up Clary Sage oil with hopeful glances has gone out the window. I’m a realist these days. I know what’s coming. I have prepared myself mentally for the sagging, ageing, eye bags, crying and bodily fluids. I’m all good with it. Honestly.
There is one thing I am not all good with. It’s the sex of Baby Bell #3. If one more person asks me if I’m hoping for a girl after two boys I may well stick a pink sparkly princess crown on their head and scream. I still stare in wonder at the assumption that birthing a girl baby automatically means a life of colouring in quietly, going for gentile afternoon teas together and shopping for pretty dresses. Gender assumes nothing. My sons loves afternoon tea, though they’re not keen on shopping for pretty dresses for me.
And with that I bring you sesame seed bread sticks. These are delicious, really moreish and easier than you might think. Do think about going off piste and adorning the sticks with chilli seeds, dukka, cumin, black pepper, salt…. whatever you fancy.
Makes 50 – 60, depends on the length and thickness
Ingredients:
500g strong white bread flour (plus extra for rolling)
7g sachet easy blend yeast
7g salt
30mls olive oil
300mls luke warm water (you may need more of less depending on the brand of flour you use and the humidity in your kitchen)
1 egg yolk
20g sesame seeds
Mix the flour, yeast, salt and olive oil together in a large bowl, then add the water gradually until the mixture is a shaggy mess and is easy to pull together with your hands. Use your hands to knead until elastic looking and smooth, then place back in the bowl and cover in clingfilm. Leave to prove for about an hour, until doubled in size.
Once doubled, knock the dough back with your hands and then place on a well floured work surface. Sprinkle flour over the top of the dough and roll with a rolling pin until about 1cm thick. Use floured scissors to cut the dough into strips about 1cm across then place onto baking sheets prepared with greaseproof paper, about 2cm apart. Once all the dough is cut brush gently with egg yolk and sprinkle with sesame seeds, then bake in a preheated oven at 200C/gas mark 6 until golden brown and no longer doughy to touch. They should make a snap sound when broken in two. The bake time all depends on how thick you cut the bread sticks – for 1cm ones about 10 – 12 minutes, turning half way, for fatter ones like the picture this takes a little longer. Cool on a wire rack.
These keep in an air tight tin for 2 weeks if baked until properly dried out.
NB: The other way of rolling the bread sticks, which results in altogether chubbier cousins as per the photo, is to roll pieces of dough onto an oiled work surface into sausages, a bit like you might make snakes when using plasticine. It is harder to make thin bread sticks this way though.
Get the monthly newsletter...
and subscribe to get all recipes straight to your inbox!
This is my attempt at a low fat dessert for all those folk who harass me with requests for low fat puddings of one sort or another. I’m afraid I’m usually deeply unhelpful and suggest they either eat a very small amount of a delicious, regular pudding or that they simple have some fruit instead. I know for most people this is not helpful at all but I really don’t go in for low far puds. The lowest fat I get is a diet coke after a rare night out that induces a hangover.
So… here is a low fat pudding that does it quite by accident. Mini pavs full of sugar (yes… but you didn’t ask for low sugar, well okay some of you did) and coconut and then topped with blueberry yoghurt (fat content at your discretion) and some delicious fresh blueberries and coconut shavings.
50g shaved fresh coconut (can be bought in little pots in supermarkets or just use more dessicated if you don’t want to buy a whole fresh coconut)
Whisk your egg whites and cream of tartar until beginning to hold their peaks. Then whisk in 1 teaspoon of the icing sugar at a time. I know this is laborious but if you rush it and throw the lot in you’re less likely to make sure it all dissolves into the egg and you might end up with weeping meringue. Might.
Once the sugar’s all in, the mixture should look really white and glossy, then fold in the dessicated coconut very gently with a metal spoon. Don’t stir vigourously or use your mixer as if you do the meringue collapses.
Pop some foil or baking parchment on a baking tray, fixing it down with a little sticky meringue. Then spoon about 2 heaped tablespoons of the meringue onto the foil/parchment to make each nest. You can leave in a big snowy heap or use your fingers and the back of a teaspoon to slightly hollow out the middle for holding yoghurt later. Up to you. (You can squash the meringues after baking instead to make a pocket for the cream if you prefer, but they will crack as you do this.)
Bake at the bottom and on the middle shelf of a preheated oven at 120C for 30 minutes. (For these are the coolest areas of most ovens and we’re trying to dry these meringues out, not bake them so that they brown.) Then turn down to 100C and bake for a further 70 minutes.
Check the meringue nests are easy to remove from the foil/paper (if not leave in for longer and check again) then turn the oven off and then leave the little snowy meringues to slowly come to room temperature for a few hours in the oven – that’s right, just leave them in the oven. Easier to just make these last thing at night and leave them until the morning in your oven.
Once completely cold I fill with blueberry yoghurt and top with fresh blueberries and shaved coconut then serve immediately.
Get the monthly newsletter...
and subscribe to get all recipes straight to your inbox!
I’m not immune to the desire to diet in January, but I have always been someone who baulks at following the crowd. So in single years gone by I’ve laughed in the face of abstinence from alcohol, butter, sugar and wheat come January time and instead rather enjoyed the emptier bars cities have to offer, the quicker service and ease of finding a seat to park my ample rear.
This year I find myself pregnant for the first time in the month of January and so I shall consume (almost) whatever I want and worry about losing those pounds at a later, sunnier, salad friendly date. So, I give you my cherry Bakewell inspired cupcakes. You may or may not remember these from the Great British Bake Off, for they are what I baked in the first week when I still retched every time the director shouted ‘action.’
NB: This recipe also appears on the BBC website here in case some of you are thinking you’ve seen it before.
Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases. For the cupcakes, cream the butter/margarine in a bowl until light and fluffy. (Use the flat beater if using your KitchenAid.) Add the sugar, flour, almonds, baking powder, milk and eggs then mix until well combined.
Spoon the mixture into the cases and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until risen and golden-brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack. For the icing, mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together in a bowl until smooth.
Using an apple corer, carefully remove the middle of the cupcakes and eat/discard. Fill the holes with the raspberry jam using a teaspoon. Carefully spoon the icing onto the top of each cake until the icing reaches the sides of the cake case and top with a cherry. Leave to set before serving.
Beautiful photography courtesy of Lyndsey James.
Get the monthly newsletter...
and subscribe to get all recipes straight to your inbox!
This is a double whammy to see the New Year in with. I’ve been saving this for a couple of months to really get everyone off to a money saving start for 2014. First off we have this:
1. A year’s membership to the Gourmet Society dining club PLUS a home wine tasting experience for up to six people worth £168.95
As a Gourmet Society member you’ll enjoy up to 50% off meals at over 6,500 restaurants, including Café Rouge, Strada, Prezzo, Beefeater, La Tasca and Bella Italia. You’ll also get discounts at thousands of local favourites and independent eateries – you gte a great directory with your membership card with details of all the places you can save cash on throughout the UK. And to help you choose the perfect wine for your meal, we’re also including a fun at home wine tasting experience for up to six people where you and your pals enjoy 10 quality wines, with tasting tips from an experienced tutor and a free bottle for the host.
I have 2 of these great packages to giveaway – and there are lots of ways to enter – see the Rafflecopter form below. The first way is just to leave a comment on this post. Easy peasy. Closing date 31st January 2014. (See all the details on how to enter at the bottom of the blog post.)
Secondly I have a free month’s trial of the Gourmet Society that is open for anyone to claim – there are no limits on the numbers either – so if all 225 thousand of you decide you want to try it, then so be it! Here’s the deal:
2. Save money every time you eat out with a 1 month free membership to The Gourmet Society dining club
The Gourmet Society is one of the UK’s biggest dining clubs, giving members up to 50% off meals at over 6,500 restaurants across the UK. Choose from a variety of venues to suit all occasions. Your free membership gives you access to the entire restaurant network and is completely unlimited, use it as much as you like for an entire month. Plus: with the free Gourmet Society app, you can start using it straight away. All you have to do is this – click www.gourmetsociety.co.uk/januarygiveaway or call 0845 257 4477 and quote ‘JANUARY GIVEAWAY’
Here are the details of how to enter the main giveaway of a year’s Gourmet Society membership and the wine tasting for 6:
How to enter:
Complete the Rafflecopter form below to confirm your entries made via blog comments, Twitter, Facebook etc.
This giveaway will close on 31st January 2014.
Please read the rules below.
Winners are announced on the Rafflecopter form after the prize has been claimed by the winner.
If no form is showing, hit refresh and it should appear.
Complete the form – or your beloved entries will not go into the draw. And that would be such a waste of time.
Mandatory entries need to be completed first – so leave a blog comment before you try and complete any of the other methods of entry.
Want more chances to win? Come back daily after tweeting about the giveaway and fill the form in again.
If you are viewing this by email you will need to click through to enter.
Rules and things:
Open to anyone over the age of 18. Please be aware the Gourmet Society member restaurants are in the UK only so whilst you can enter if you live further afield, you will need to travel to the UK to use the card. Sorry to anyone any younger.
There are 3 prize packages of a year’s membership with the Gourmet Society plus a wine tasting for 6 to giveaway, worth up to £168.95 each. There’s no cash alternative to the prize and the prize is not transferable. No part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions.
Instructions form part of the terms and conditions. Entries using any software or automated process to make bulk entries will obviously be disqualified. The winner will be picked at random using software and then contacted by email. If you win and then don’t respond to this email within 7 days then another winner will be picked so check your emails and your spam! The goodies will be delivered to the winner as soon as possible after you have sent me your delivery address.
I am running this giveaway on behalf of The Gourmet Society who will be responsible for sending the prize to you by post should you win. Their decision is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into.
This is where I get all stern – please don’t say you have liked the post and followed me on Twitter and Tweeted away like a Tweety thing if you haven’t as guess what? If you win I will check you did do the things you said you did. It’s only fair after all. And I do like fairness.
I’m a mum of 3 boys, a cookbook writer and also a finalist on the 2011 Great British Bake Off.
I’ve decided to record the recipes I use, partly to save them somewhere and partly in case someone else might like to use them...
[Read more]
Just sign up to receive my latest blog posts straight to your inbox: Simply click here.
P.S. To sign up for my free monthly newsletter just click here. It has a baking SOS, recommendations on bits of kit I can’t live without, my kitchen catastrophe of the month, a sneak preview of a recipe coming up on this blog and a letter from me telling you what I’ve been up to.
Remember to check your inbox for a confirmation email and also to add my email recipesfromanormalmum@gmail.com to your contacts. Otherwise I could go to spam.
Holly Bell 