Sunday, 17 August 2014

Mini Courgette Cakes

Carrot cake is a common coffee shop favourite up and down the U.K. Everyone seems to have accepted that carrots can be enjoyed in cake form. And yet when I mention courgette cake I often get some funny looks. But why should it be any different? It's just another root vegetable after all. 
My family have been enjoying courgette cake for a few years now so this is a tried and tested, fool proof recipe! However in the past I have always made it in a bunt tin and this weekend I decided to use a new mini sandwich tin with individual loose bottoms. 


Ingredients 
150ml vegetable oil
250g self raising flour
50g  pistachios, roughly chopped plus extra for decoration
3 eggs
175g caster sugar
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
225g courgette, grated
125g icing sugar 

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease the tin well (very important) and lightly dust with flour - tap out the excess. 
2. Chop the pistachios or pulse in a food processor and grate the courgettes. 
3. Whisk oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla extract together in a large bowl. Sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda and stir well to combine. Finally, add the grated courgette and pistachios. 
4. Spoon the mixture into the individual tin moulds and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. 

I filled the moulds to the very top so when they were baked it created cakes with domed tops, similar to muffins. If I was to make mini Victoria sponges, or cakes which traditionally have a flatter top, then I would only half fill the moulds. 
5. Once cooled remove the cakes from the tin. Then drizzle icing over each cake and sprinkle with chopped pistachios while the icing is still wet. 




I have been thinking about what other root vegetables could be incorporated into baking. Obviously ginger cake is another common flavour and beetroot goes really well in chocolate brownies. I wonder what sweet potato or parsnip would taste like in a cake? Maybe that's one for a future experimental bake!

On another note, The Great British Bake off has started again - my TV highlight of the year! Crazy to think I almost applied to be on this season. After the first episode I've decided that Richard is my favourite, I think he is going to do very well! I'm hoping I'll get some inspiration from the Bake Off for some future bakes so stay tuned!

Hannah xx

Friday, 8 August 2014

Grandmas Bread: American baking

I'm back! I didn't have a lot of time to bake in July as I was on holiday in America for two weeks. However being on holiday didn't stop me from baking! 

My Grandma who lives in America makes the best bread I have ever tasted. The recipe was passed down from her Grandma and is incomparable to any other bread, it's just mouth wateringly delicious and I was desperate to be able to recreate it for myself! 


For Christmas she put together a hamper of all the ingredients I needed to make her special bread, known as Grandmas Bread. Bread is renowned for being very difficult to master and my first attempt didn't go very well; I ended up with two bricks - rock solid. My error was that I had killed the yeast by using water that was too hot so it didn't rise during proving. So she kindly offered to give me a master class in Grandmas bread baking while I was visiting. 

She made it look so simple. So I decided to try it again on my own, while the master class was still fresh in my mind. I'm pleased to say that this time was significantly better and the bread was actually edible, which is always a good sign when baking! I didn't kill the yeast so the dough more than doubled in size. 


It still isn't perfect because it didn't rise over the top of the bread pans as it should. I think this might be because I didn't wait for the yeast to activate for quite long enough. Also the room temperature and humidity has a big impact on bread. My Grandmas kitchen has air conditioning but obviously in England that is rarely needed. Although at the moment the weather has been unexpectedly warm and so I was baking with the door open, who knows what impact that will have had! 

This is what the perfect loaf of Grandmas bread should look like...














And this was my attempt...














Mine doesn't have the same curl over the top - No muffin top. But bread will not defeat me!


 Hopefully third time lucky! Until then I will enjoy it with some peach jam. 

Xx

Monday, 23 June 2014

Sticky Toffee Cupcakes


The inspiration for this recipe comes from the classic desert, sticky toffee pudding. The sponge is very similar to the sticky toffee pudding sponge with dates and the buttercream is flavoured with an indulgent dulce de leche sauce. 

My family have been making these cupcakes for a few years and I would say they are our show-stopping, signature bake! These are perfect to make for special occasions because while being relatively simple, they have a big impact. Since my friend (and colleague) is returning to the office this week after 6 months away, I obviously had to bake these as a welcome back present! 

This recipe may appear to require a lot of ingredients but the majority of these are cupboard staples which any keen baker is likely to stock, such as flour, bicarbonate of soda and icing sugar. In fact the only ingredients I had to buy specifically for this bake were the dates and light muscovado sugar (as we had run out) so it was a very cheap bake.
  

Ingredients 
180g pitted medjool dates, chopped
1 tsp vanilla extract
180g self raising flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
80g unsalted butter, softened 
150g light muscovado sugar
2 eggs

For the buttercream:
160g salted butter, softened
200g icing sugar
4 tbsp dulce de leche 
1 tsp vanilla extract 
1/2 tsp salt 

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases. 
2. Soak the dates in 180ml boiling water for 20 minutes. While soaking, gently break up the dates with a fork and stir in the vanilla extract. 
3. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl and set aside. 
4. Cream together the butter and muscovado sugar for around 5 minutes until light and fluffy. 
5. Add the eggs gradually, beating between each addition, combined with a tablespoon of flour, to prevent curdling. Then add the remaining flour and the date mixture. 
6. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and bake for 15-20 minutes.

7. While the cakes are cooling make the buttercream. Cream the salted butter and icing sugar for 5 minutes. Then add the dulce de leche, salt and vanilla extract.
8. Scoop the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a star shaped nozzle and pipe onto each cupcake. 


Note to all the health conscious bakers out there - these are definitely not fat free (not by a long way!) but everyone needs an indulgent treat every now and again and these are worth the calories, I promise! 

I haven't used buttercream for a long time (I usually use cream cheese icing) and I had forgotten how much easier it is to work with. I much prefer the taste of cream cheese frosting however it's susceptible to becoming runny when not kept in the fridge. This is a particular problem at this time of year (it was 26 degrees this weekend and it felt even warmer in our kitchen with a massive AGA still on!) Buttercream, on the other hand, sets much firmer - which is surprising given that it has a high butter content! 

View from above


Hannah xx


Tuesday, 17 June 2014

Banana Soufflé


I didn't have a lot of time for baking this weekend but there has been one technical bake which I have been wanting to try since I ordered one at my birthday dinner, back in April. That is a sweet soufflé. Soufflés have an unfounded reputation for being difficult to make. However they are relatively quick to make and use everyday fridge/cupboard ingredients. The key to a light and fluffy soufflé is to gently (but firmly) fold the egg whites into the other ingredients to keep as much air in the mixture as possible. 

Ingredients 
1 banana 
2 egg whites
55g caster sugar
butter, for greasing
icing sugar, for dusting

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Place a baking tray in the oven to heat up.
2. Mash the banana to a smooth purée. 
3. Grease ramekin dishes with butter and dust with icing sugar.
4. Whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks
5. Gradually add the sugar and continue whisking until the mixture is thick enough to hold over your head! (But if you aren't that brave it should be thick enough to leave a ribbon trail when the whisk is lifted)
6. Carefully fold in the banana purée in two stages, be careful not to over mix or the egg whites will turn watery



7. Fill the ramekins with the mixture. Run your thumb around the rim of the dishes to allow the mixture to rise evenly and prevent it from getting caught on the sides. 
8. Place the ramekins onto the hot baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, until the soufflés have risen by approximately 1 inch. Do not open the oven door during baking or they will sink.
9. Serve soufflés immediately with a dusting of icing sugar. 

As long as you follow a few simple rules, there is absolutely nothing difficult about making a soufflé  - but they appear very impressive.  Soufflés don't feature on restaurant menus very often because they have to be made to order and served instantly. But I think this just makes them more special and impressive. How often do you see brownies and sticky toffee pudding on the desert menu? 

Despite being slightly temperamental, in many ways soufflés they are very versatile because they can be pretty much any flavour you desire, sweet or savoury, and as such could be served as a starter or desert. In the future I would like to experiment with savoury soufflés. 

Hannah xx 


Monday, 9 June 2014

Revani


                               
I loved my family summer holidays when I was growing up. For many years we went to Greece and I have really happy memories from these holidays - we all learnt to waterski, I began scuba diving and we experienced a large earthquake! Greece is such a beautiful country, with some amazing food. So this week I decided to make a Greek cake called Revani. This is a moist and delicious semolina cake flavoured with orange and sweetened with a syrup flavoured with lemon and vanilla pods. 

To make the cake you will need to following ingredients:


5 eggs, separated 
100g caster sugar
50g plain sugar
100g  semolina
pinch of salt
1 orange, zest
50g unsalted butter, melted
50g no-peel marmalade 

For the syrup:
250g caster sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 lemon, zest
vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped out

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease a 24cm spring form cake tin and line the sides and base with baking parchment. 
2. Beat the egg yolks and caster sugar in a mixer until light and creamy. While the machine is running on a low speed, add the flour & semolina followed by the salt, orange zest, melted butter and marmalade. Beat until smooth.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks and gently fold into the batter in 3 additions being careful not to knock the air out. 
4. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown. 
5. While the cake is in the oven, prepare the syrup - put all of the ingredients, including the vanilla pods, in a small saucepan with 300 ml water and bring to the boil. Then reduce the heat and summer gently for 10 mins. The syrup will thicken slightly but won't be very thick. Leave to cool slightly. 

                     
6. While the cake is still warm and in its tin, cut into triangles. Strain the syrup, removing the vanilla pods, and slowly pour over the cake. 
7. Leave to cool and serve with Greek yoghurt and chopped pistachios. 

The photos do not do this cake justice at all! It was beautifully moist and sticky from the sweet syrup with a subtle orange flavour from the cake. I loved the texture of the semolina, it's so different to a fluffy flour cake. It's amazing how smells or tastes can remind you of happy memories. I'm positive they served this desert in the hotel restaurant all those years ago because the taste was very familiar and immediately transported me back to my Greek holidays.

I asked two of my Greek friends if they would like to try it and give me their opinion, since they know what real Greek Revani should taste like. I was a little nervous but they loved it and said it was exactly how it should be! So it was a successful first attempt at Greek baking - my next challenge will be to make baklava. 

Hannah xx

Monday, 2 June 2014

Earl Grey & Cardamom Tea Loaves




There is nothing I love more than baking recipes with unusual ingredients to surprise people. So when I found a recipe which combines my love for tea and a spice commonly found in Asian dishes I knew I was onto a winner. 

To look at, these mini loaves appear very simple and could be an ordinary sponge cake. But then you're hit with the most amazing aroma of cardamom which makes your mouth water; that's when you know these are much more than a just an ordinary cake. 

This recipe is taken from Pippa Middleton's food column in the March 2014 edition of the Waitrose Kitchen magazine. I have to say, up until now, I haven't been hugely impressed by Pippa's column but this recipe makes up for it!



Ingredients:
100ml whole milk
1 tbsp loose leaf Earl Grey tea
8 Cardamom pods
175g unsalted butter, softened
175g light brown soft sugar
3 eggs
175g self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder 

For decoration:
Pinch loose leaf Earl Grey tea
110g icing sugar
Rose petals (optional)

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Heat the milk and tea in a pan until steaming. 
2. Meanwhile split open the cardamom pods. Crush the seeds in a pestle and mortar, discard the pods.
3. Take the milk off the heat, add the cardamom and set aside for 20 minutes.
4. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes using an electric beater, until pale and fluffy. One at a time, beat in the eggs.
5. Strain the infused milk into the creamed butter mix and beat in well. 
6. Mix the flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt together and then fold into the wet mixture until combined. 
7. Divide between 8 mini loaf cases and place on a baking tray. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden on top and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 



8. Leave to cool on a wire rack before icing. 
9. To decorate, steep the tea in 1 1/2 tbsp. boiling water for 10 minutes, then strain and mix into the icing sugar. 
10. Pipe the icing over each loaf
11. Serve to friends or family who have been salivating over the smell in the kitchen for the past hour!



I decided to take these into work for my colleagues to sample, as I often do (much to the disappointment of my family!) Rather than tell them what flavour they were, I decided to make it more interesting by asking them to guess. It was great fun for me listening to them um and ah over what it could be. I didn't think it would be too difficult as cardamom has a very distinctive smell and taste and quite a few of my colleagues have Middle Eastern or Asian heritage. However it took quite a while before anyone guessed correctly. Two people guessed ginger and one person guessed pistachio but eventually two of the guys guessed correctly. It definitely brightened the mood in the office on a rainy Monday morning. 


Hannah xx


Tuesday, 27 May 2014

Classic Lemon Tart

I think there is only one food that I really don't like. Well, one common everyday food that is- not including strange things like snails! Lemons. I've always thought they tasted like washing up liquid - Lemonade, lemon sweets and lemon cakes. However my family do not share my dislike. In fact, lemon tart is one of my Dad's favourite deserts and he often orders it when we go out for dinner. 

I haven't had a lot of experience making tarts so this weekend I thought I would try a 'technical bake' (to quote the Great British Bake Off!) and treat my Dad at the same time; Fathers Day is only a few weeks away after all!  

This week was also quite exciting as my parents' kitchen is in the process of undergoing a refurbishment. So far the hob, sink and work surfaces have all been changed (as you may be able to tell from comparing the pictures in this blog with previous weeks) and it looks amazing. 


This recipe is taken from a baking book my Grandpa bought for me recently called Cake O'Clock by Good Housekeeping.  

Ingredients 
For the sweet shortcrust pastry - 
150g plain flour
75g unsalted butter
50g icing sugar
2 large egg yolks

For the filling -
1 large egg, plus 4 large yolks
150g caster sugar
grated zest of 4 lemons
150ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
150ml double cream

Method
1. Make the pastry by combining the flour and icing sugar and then rubbing in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then add the egg yolks and a drop of water (if necessary) to bring the mixture together until it holds. 
2. Knead the dough lightly to form a ball and wrap tightly in cling film. Then chill for 30 minutes.
3. Grease and flour a deep, loose-based flan tin. 
4. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured worksurface into a circle large enough to line the tin (including the sides) and then carefully transfer the pastry to the tin. Perform any surgery patch ups and trim the excess.
5. Prick the base with a fork and chill for a further 30 minutes. 
6. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Bake the pastry case blind (using baking parchment and baking beans) for 15-20 minutes before removing the parchment and baking for a further 5-10 minutes until golden brown. Reduce from the oven and reduce the temperature to 170 degrees. 
 


















7. Meanwhile, to make the filling put the whole egg, egg yolks and caster sugar into a bowl and beat together until smooth. Then carefully stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice and cream.
8. Ladle 3/4 of the filling into the pastry case. Then position the tin on the oven shelf and ladle in the remainder of the filling. 
9. Bake for 30 minutes until the filling bounces back when touched lightly in the centre. 
10. Cool for 30 minutes to serve warm or cool completely and chill. 
11. Serve with a big dollop of clotted cream and a dusting of icing sugar!


Despite my lifelong dislike for all things lemony, I had to try a tiny slice for my baking development. Although I wouldn't go so far as to say I've been converted, the lemony flavour was very nice - not at all like washing up liquid! The pastry was cooked perfectly if I do say so myself, no soggy bottoms, and the lemon filling set perfectly. 

I was very pleased with my first technical bake - I think Mary and Paul would be impressed and there were certainly no complaints from my family who wolfed it down within 24 hours! 

Until next week,
Hannah xx

Monday, 19 May 2014

Blackberry & Cinnamon Yogurt cupcakes with Crumble topping

This weekend has been the hottest of 2014 so far which can only mean one thing. First BBQ of the year and sunbathing! And despite wanting to spend most of the weekend in the garden, I still made time for baking. 

As it is finally starting to feel like summer I wanted to bake something light, summery and fruity. I found a recipe for blackberry & cinnamon yogurt loaf which I thought sounded really nice. However, being an experimental baker, I decided to make a few changes. I didn't want to make it as a loaf so I decided to bake the recipe as cupcakes. Also, the serving suggestion on the original recipe was simply to dust with icing sugar which I thought was a little boring so I decided to add a crumble topping. 

Ingredients:
135 ml sunflower oil
175g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
200g frozen blackberries
125g golden caster sugar
125g Greek yogurt
3 eggs
zest & juice of 1 lemon

For the crumble:
50g plain flour
25g unsalted butter, chilled
15g light brown soft sugar



Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and line a muffin tin with paper cases.
2. Make the crumble by rubbing the butter into the flour using your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then stir in the sugar.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a bowl, add the frozen berries and toss to coat. 
4. In another bowl mix together the caster sugar, oil, lemon zest & juice, yogurt and eggs. 
5. Pour into the dry flour mixture and stir well to combine. 
6. Divide the mixture equally between the paper cases, approx. 3/4 full. Then sprinkle each cake with a thin layer of crumble.  
7. Bake for approx. 30 minutes until the crumble has turned golden brown. It's also a good idea to do the trusty skewer test to check that the centre is cooked! 
8. Transfer to a cooling rack. 

Tip: When dividing the mixture between the cases, I ensured that the first dollop of mixture in each case didn't contain any blackberries. This was to guarantee a solid base as I didn't want the juice from the berries to affect the bake. 

I wasn't entirely sure how long these would take to bake, as the time on the original recipe was for baking it as a loaf and thus was much longer. Generally cupcakes take between 20 and 30 minutes to bake. Since these had a high fruit content I thought it was likely to be on the longer side, but I kept checking them and rotating the tray until a skewer came out clean. 

...and 30 minutes later!
Before...

Presentation is almost as important as taste; even if you knew something tasted amazing, would you want to eat it if it looked like a dog's breakfast? Answer, probably not! Since these cupcakes require no icing or decoration, I decided to use tulip paper cases rather than the standard cupcake cases, to make them stand out and look a little bit special. I've never used this type of case before but I think you'll probably be seeing a lot more of them in later bakes because I love them. 

I love the dark purple marbling of the blackberries and the way the crumble separated out as the cupcakes rose. They definitely look better than any dog's breakfast I have ever seen!
YUM!
Hannah xx

Sunday, 11 May 2014

Tanya Burr's healthy chocolate brownies

I recently went to Whole Food Market in London and bought lots of healthy baking ingredients such as coconut sugar, coconut oil and coconut flour. There is a big hype about them in the world of healthy eating since they make great alternatives to the regular baking ingredients which are high in saturated fats.

So I was very excited last week when one of my favourite youtubers/bloggers, Tanya Burr, posted a recipe for her healthy, gluten free & dairy free brownies made with coconut sugar and oil - perfect opportunity to test my new ingredients! 



Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Coconut Oil
- 300g Dark Chocolate
- 2 cups Coconut Sugar 
- 1tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Ground Almonds
- 1 mashed Avocado
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 3 Eggs

 When I first looked at the ingredients Tanya used I was interested to see avocado on the list. Beetroot is commonly added to brownies and I often incorporate root vegetables into my baking, courgette cake is my favourite, but I was less familiar with the use of avocados in baking. While I was already aware of the health benefits of eating avocados, I hadn't thought about combining them with something sweet. They are often perceived to be 'bad' as they are high in fat however this is a large misconception as these fats are unsaturated and promote a healthy heart - not to mention being good for your skin! They are also highly nutritious, containing vitamin E, iron and potassium. 

I decided to do some research into the use of avocado in baking to see how it would change the composition of a bake. I found that avocados are a good substitution for butter as they have a similar soft, creamy texture when mashed and can therefore be substituted in a 1:1 ratio. Anyway, after that geeky baking lesson, let's get back to the baking! 

These brownies are so easy to make; all the ingredients are combined in one saucepan which makes the washing up easy, as this usually the only downside to baking!

Method:
1. Pre heat the oven to 190 degrees C. 
2. Melt the coconut oil and chocolate in a saucepan over a very low heat - do not overheat or the chocolate will burn.
3. Stir in the coconut sugar
4. Add the ground almonds and baking powder
5. Pour in the vanilla extract
6. Mash the avocado on a plate before adding to the mixture
7. Crack the eggs into a mug and lightly beat before adding to the mix
8. Pour the mixture into a greased brownie tin and bake for 30 minutes
9. Leave to cool before cutting brownie into pieces. 


These are the gooiest, yummiest brownies I have ever tasted and what's even better -they are guilt free! They taste just as good as any normal brownie but have a slight hint of coconut which I really like. I feel like I should add a warning here though, do not eat too many at once or you will feel sick. I learnt the hard way! 

I would definitely recommend these brownies to anyone so why don't you give them a go?

Hannah xx



Saturday, 3 May 2014

Rhubarb & Custard Cupcakes

Over the Easter weekend I celebrated my 23rd birthday and (not surprisingly) I received a lot of baking related presents which was great! Until recently I had been doing most of my baking at my parents house as their kitchen is like Lakeland! I'm not joking - my Mum owns every piece of baking equipment and every possible size cake tin you could ever need and since I have recently moved out I am still in the process of acquiring my own bakeware.

One of the presents I was most excited to receive was my own Kenwood electric hand mixer because I have been restricted in the recipes I can make without one. So I was eager to test it out straight away! 

For my first bake I decided to take advantage of the beautiful fresh rhubarb my sister grows and combine it with the custard flavouring she bought me and bake rhubarb cupcakes with custard flavoured cream cheese frosting. 



Ingredients (for the cupcakes):
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (I only added a pinch)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup caster sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream, room temperature
1 1/2 cups rhubarb stalks, cut into small pieces 

I decided to try two different methods for incorporating the rhubarb into the cake batter. The first method was one I had seen in many recipes online, whereby the rhubarb pieces are simply stirred through the cake batter in the final step before dividing into the paper cases. 
However, I was interested to see what would happen if I cooked the rhubarb down to a soft consistency (similar to making rhubarb crumble) and then stirred it through the batter. 

I followed the following method but after step 5 I divided the batter in two - one half for each of the different types of rhubarb. 

Method:
1. Preheat oven at 180ºC. Line standard muffins tins with paper liners.
2. Whisk together flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt.
3. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla extract. Reduce speed to low.
5. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, and beating until combined after each.
6. Stir in the rhubarb.
7. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full (I made 15 cupcakes)
8. Bake, rotating thins half-way through, for approximately 30 minutes.
9. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely before frosting.

Here are the cupcakes before baking - the 6 on the right contain the rhubarb pieces and the 6 on the left contain the cooked rhubarb. 


And after 30 minutes this was the result - 


Now I know why I didn't find any recipes for cupcakes made with cooked rhubarb - it just doesn't work! They didn't turn a nice golden brown on top like the others, they were very dense on the inside and the centres collapsed once they had cooled.

However, the cupcakes with the rhubarb pieces were amazing - moist & fluffy with great rhubarb flavour.

While they cooled I had time to make the custard frosting. I used a basic cream cheese frosting recipe to add the custard flavouring to- 


Ingredients (for the frosting):
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
220g cream cheese
2 cups icing sugar (to taste)
Custard essence (to taste)

Method:
1. Cream the butter on a medium speed before adding the cream cheese. Mix until well combined.
2. Add icing sugar
3. Add custard flavouring and fold through with a spatula 
4. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes

and finally 5. EAT ALL THE CUPCAKES!! (or share them if you are feeling generous!) 

So it was a partially successful bake! One thing I need to work on is the presentation and decoration of my bakes. This is something I hope will develop throughout my blogging.


Hannah xx





About Me

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Reading (England, United Kingdom), Berkshire, United Kingdom
My name is Hannah, I'm 23 years old and from Cambridge but I currently live near Reading. I recently graduated from university with an engineering degree and have started my first job as a civil engineer. I love my job but baking is a large part of my life so I wanted to find a way to share my passion while documenting my creations and technical development.