Pink & white cupcakes

I was asked to make these for the Christening of a little girl called Cate. My only brief was 'Pink, white and pretty' so I kept it simple and I think they turned out quite effective...

West Ham 40th cake

A 40th birthday cake for a Hammer's fan!

60th birthday prettiness

These pretty cupcakes were for a 60th birthday party. My brief was 'pastels, sparkle, butterflies, flowers and 60'. Hopefully these did the job!

Buttons & birds

I had some ideas for some new designs of cupcakes so set to work when I was able to make them for a friends birthday.

Butterflies & flowers

The combination of butterflies, roses and blossoms make these cupcakes beautiful in the pastel colours. I love making pretty ones!

Cornish pasties

For some savoury snacks I made up some traditional Cornish pasties. I added some more veggies in so they ended up with beef, onion, swede, potato, peas and carrots in. The pastry was lovely, flakey and melt in the mouth.

Chocolate & marshmallow muffins

Chocolate muffins with chocolate chips and marshmallows, making the centre lovely and gooey.

Blueberry muffins

With a crunchy sugary topping these are a great treat for breakfast

Pink and chocolate cupcakes

Coloured sponge is the way forward!

Rose cupcakes

It's been a while since I decorated some 'grown up' cupcakes but I think these do the job. I always love the combination of sage green, pale pink and ivory.

Chocolate floral cupcakes

I didn't want my latest batch of double chocolate cupcakes to look too dreary so I sprused them up with these pink and ivory flowers.

Pink & purple cupcakes

I thought it was about time I made some pretty cupcakes. I love these coloured cases so I went for something in keeping with the decoration.

Giant cupcake

My brother bought me one of the giant cupcake tins for Christmas so I had to try it out. (There's also the new cake slice in this pic that I got as a Christmas gift from friends that clearly know m well!)

Scuba diving cake

My Dad turned 60 last week so I made this one for him.

Another In the Night Garden cake

I was asked to do another In the Night Garden birthday cake, but this time for a little girl. It's still bright and colourful, but a bit with a few more pastel shades and I went for the bandstand as a feature.

Minnie Mouse cake

Also celebrating their first birthday this week were my friends twin girls. They (& their mum) love Minnie Mouse so I set to work on making them something suitable. Hopefully this did the trick!

Christmas cake

I thought I'd do something a bit different for the family christmas cake this year. I went for this snow covered house with Santa Claus stuck in the chimney.

In the Night Garden Cake

A friends little boy turned 1 this week so it seemed fitting that Igglepiggle, Upsy Daisy, Makka Pakka and the Ninky Nonk helped him celebrate.

Jam tarts

What better way to use up some leftover pastry than jam tarts. They're so simple and it would be a shame to let the pastry go to waste. These have some of my homemade blackberry jam in them.

Carrot muffins with an orange & cream cheese frosting

You can't have any type of carrot cake without the cream cheese frosting in my eyes. The orange in this one adds a lovely edge.



Jammy doughnut cakes

Blackberry jam in the middle of almondy spongy yumminess with a sugar crusted topping. A rosybake's head type recipe.

Mince pies

'Tis the season' and all that so I rustled up some mince pies for those that braved the snow to make it into the office

Baby cupcakes

A friend of mine had a gorgeous new baby recently and I went to visit them today so I took these along with me for the new family.

Monkey Bread!

I've wanted to make this for ages but just not found the time or excuse! It's basically cinnamon bread bit baked together with syrup. A lovely 'tear & share' bread that would be great to put in the middle of the table to nibble on after dinner. Either that or serve it warm with ice cream.

Chocolate Swirl Cupcakes

Chocolate sponge. Chocolate chips. Chocolate fudge icing. Chocolate stars. There's never too much chocolate.

Pudsey Cupcakes

We had some fundraising fun in the office for Children in Need so I put these Pudsey cupcakes together to help the cause.

Bright Flower Cupcakes

Some of the prettiest I think. I can't take all the credit for them though - the idea comes from the 'What's New Cupcake' book. I love that book - loads of great ideas for weird and wonderful ways to decorate cupcakes.

Rotherfield Christmas Fair

For the first time ever, I took some of my baked goodies along to the Rotherfield Christmas Fair. I had the 4" Christmas cakes I'd baked, all sorts of confectionery including vanilla fudge, peanut brittle and coconut ice, as well as biscuits and 4 flavours of cupcakes.

A classic

I think this was one of the first things my mum taught me to bake. Sometimes it's the simple one's that are the best and a good Victoria Sandwich rarely disappoints. This one has got some of my homemade blackberry jam in the middle.

Squidgy brownies

Chocolate brownies speak for themselves. Each slice of this weighs a ridiculous amount and covers your entire mouth in chocolate with a single bite. Neither of those comments is a complaint :o)

Sundried tomato & basil soda bread

Savoury??? Yep, it's some savoury baking from my own fair hands (and you really do need to get your hands stuck in to this one to mix it all together). It went really well with Amy's lovely casserole - a good dipping bread to mop up the sauce.

Cute cupcakes

I whipped up this box of cupcakes the other day. It was fun coming up with some decorations for them. They probably look at bit more suitable for warm weather rather than the current autumnal conditions but at least they look pretty!

Raspberry & almond cupcakes

Another one from my head! I saw the raspberries in the supermarket and thought I'd put them to use. I'll pop some ground almonds in them next time to add to the texture, but otherwise they're all good.

Halloween cupcakes

It's been a bit cupcake mad in my house recently. Here are some chocolate ones decorated for a children's Halloween party

Coloured sugar

I picked up a great new tip from one of my many cake books this weekend so thought I'd try it out - using colour pastes to brighten up some dull old sugar. Dipping some frosted cupcakes into it is a lovely cheap way to decorate them.

Lemon drizzle cupcakes

I had a bit on an experiment with the recipe for these (by experiment I mean I made it up!). They turned out really well; nice and lemony all the way through with a slightly crunchy syrupy topping. Smiles all round!

Gift biscuits

We went away this weekend and visited an Aunt (technically my mum's dad's first wife's brother's wife's sister!) so I thought I'd take her some biscuits as a little gift. Luckily I made some extras for us to much on the journey!

Raspberry swirls

Whilst hunting for my macaroon recipe tonight I found this one. I managed to make a huge mess of the kitchen in the process (rustic baking I call it!) but it was worth it if only for the smell. It's a cross between homemade swiss roll and scones. Yum :-)

Cinnamon & coconut macaroons

I had some egg whites left over and these took all of about 10 minutes to make. I wanted to try them with the cinnamon in - turns out it works!