It’s been a long time since we had a recipe on the site and that just shows how long it is since I dusted off my apron and got down to some baking. The thing that always surprises me when I do make the effort is the fact it takes almost no effort at all! Especially when you consider the rewards! 

We are slowly but surely trying to clear out the surplus items from our flat in preparation for the move (still months away) and the first kitchen cupboard to get the treatment was the baking cupboard. Most ingredients went in the bin but a long forgotten tin of cocoa powder prompted a quick batch of chocolate cupcakes which were amazingly moist, light and sticky. Lovely!

Ingredients

• 165 g all-purpose flour
• 1 g baking soda
• 9 g baking powder
• 65 g unsweetened cocoa powder
• pinch of salt
• 45 g butter, softened
• 300 g white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4 ml vanilla extract
• 235 ml milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.
3. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Ideally you should then frost these cakes once cooled but we devoured them before we had the chance!

Obviously all fruit and veg tastes best when it’s in season but little gets me salivating more than new potatoes. A personal favourite (apart from slathered in lots of creamy butter!) is to par-boil them before transferring into a bowl with some good quality olive oil and finely chopped fresh rosemary. Leave for about 30minutes for the flavour to sink in and then transfer to a hot pan (I tend to use a big wok) and cook until nicely golden.

What are your favourite recipes for new potatoes? Leave a comment or email us.

With the current heatwave and my quest to lose a chunk of weight, salads have been a regular staple of my lunchbox for the past couple of weeks. I have to admit that I’m very much a member of the ’stick to what you know’ club when it comes to my eating habits but even I must confess I am getting pretty sick of my usual salad combo.

So, I’m on the look out for some great salad recipes. What’s your favourite?

Leave a comment below before I turn to chocolate cake.

Sometimes even the simplest of gestures can win you some serious brownie points. My particular forte is baking banana bread as due to my own dislike for banana flavoured foods (yes, even banoffee pie) if I make it my husband knows he can have it all to himself.

Ingredients:

• 250g of Plain Flour
• 2g of Baking Soda (I thought that was a weird amount so just added a sprinkle in)
• 200g of Caster Sugar (In the end I went with 150g Caster + 50g Soft Brown)
• 1 Egg
• 75ml of Milk (I think next time I will leave this out)
• 5g of Baking Powder (unsure why you would use this as well as BS)
• 3g of salt
• 110g of Butter/Marg (I used good old Stork)
• 225g of mashed Bananas (I used 2 and a half, I think using 3 and not the milk would work better)
• 60g of chopped Walnuts (I leave these out as hate nuts but that may explain the overly moist cake)
• Dash (how technical of me) of Vanilla Essence (I just add this to most cakey things)

So, start off by creaming together the butter and the sugar, I always mix by hand but whatever you want to use is fine with me. Once it has a nice smooth paleness to it, slowly add the lightly beaten egg and banana. I like to alternate between egg and banana, just a little at a time. Into this mixture add the dash of vanilla essence and then gently add the dry ingredients, sifting in in batches (ie. don’t tip them all in and hope you won’t get lumps). At this point the recipe said to add the milk (which I did) but it really didn’t look as if it needed it and has come out a bit more doughy tasting than I would have liked. However, feel free to give it a whirl and perhaps bake a little longer…oh, bake, yes, you should have your oven on by now(!), pre-heated to 175c. Also, add the nuts if you wish (a good tip is to add about a teaspoon of flour to the nuts and gently swish them around in a bowl to coat them, this helps stop them from sinking to the bottom of your mix).

Once this is all mixed together, pour into a lined loaf tin and bake for roughly 50mins (I hate to give a set time, just bake until golden with a deep crack along the top (see photo) and a knife comes out clean when you cut into it).

As with all our recipes if you try it yourself be sure and pop back and add a comment with any tips for improvement.

I love the fact that to rustle up a batch of scones takes 30mins from gathering the ingredients to chomping down on a warm one.

These days I’ve also become quite the penny-pincher and the mere pence it takes to bake my own cakes as opposed to buying them is staggering. I’ve not quite reached the stage of making my own jam to go with them, but who knows what will happen next year.

For those who wish to make their own, I use this simple recipe which makes about 5-6 decent size scones:

• 225g of Self Raising Flour
• 1 level teaspoon of Baking Powder
• 40g of Butter
• 50g of Raisins (optional)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Caster Sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 150ml of milk

Sieve the the flour and the baking power into a bowl. Rub in the butter. Stir in the sugar, salt and raisins. Stir in the milk with a knife. Roll out to approx one inch thick. Cut into rounds. Cook in an oven at about 225 degrees celsius for around 12mins or until golden, just like the beauties above that I made earlier (I’ve always wanted to say that!).